Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Vinyl Scratch collapsed to the grassy ground as Noatak's grip was released. The unicorn couldn't move a muscle. Whatever the man had done, it left her in a daze, unable to do anything other than look around at her friends, held helpless in the air.
Slowly, she turned to her adversary. "What... d-did you... do...?" She managed to say horse-ly.
Noatak turned his attention from his captives to the grounded pony and smiled a devilish smile. "I simply took your magic." He waved his hands around in random motions, dropping the others to the ground. "You'll never use that horn again."
Vinyl attempted to stand, but only fell back to the ground. She grunted as she crawled to pummel Noatak in the esophagus... or at least try. "You... you're a... m-monster." She said, pounding her hoof weakly into his boot, not inflicting any kind of physical distress at all.
"Tsk tsk. Pitiful." He said, not even deeming the ivory unicorn worthy of harming. He simply walked toward the others, namely the angel with a single wing. "I expected more from you to be honest."
Sephiroth, aggravated, agitated, animated, aviated, abbreviated, desperated, constipated, aggravated, and relatively upset, looked at the opponent with hate in his eyes. "Keep talking... We'll see where that gets you."
"Oh we shall see alright." Noatak egged on. He turned his attention to Yakko, who was also lying on his stomach in defeat. "I didn't really expect anything from you," he turned to the Pyro and continued. "Nor you. Or those snacks you brought with you."
"I'm more than a snack." GLaDOS retorted from the sidelines. "And if I had a number of needlessly complicated puzzles, and you had nothing except exactly what you need to solve them, things would probably have turned out much different."
Noatak just stared at her, unsure exactly how to combat such stupidity. "... Right." He strolled away from the group, back to the tree in which the battle had started.
Without him noticing, Vinyl had slowly limped to Sephiroth. "Sephy... are you... ok?" She whispered, careful not to be noticed by their powerful foe.
"I was going to ask you the same thing Vinyl." Sephiroth answered. He reached his hand into a pouch just inside his coat and seemed to be rummaging through a pocket for something.
Vinyl Scratch in the mean time tried to use her magic on a nearby pebble. She struggled and strained, using every ounce of magic she thought she had. But it was no use. Noatak's words proved true. She had lost her magic to the fiend. She was now as useless as Applejack (just kidding :D). "Sephy... he did it... he took my..." she tried to hold back the tears. She felt so weak and helpless. Right in front of all of her friends, she had lost everything.
Sephiroth gave a look of almost compassion, then held his hand out. In it, he held a small glass vial filled with a bluish liquid. "Here. I've been saving this ever since we started this journey." He said, making sure Noatak didn't see it. He was monologueing though, so he probably wasn't paying attention to them.
"What is it?" Vinyl asked, wiping her eyes.
"It's an Elixir." He said, going into exposition mode. "It's a potion from my world. It has the ability to completely restore one's health and magic to their maximum. It may be able to restore yours."
Vinyl Scratch was stunned at Sephiroth. Was he really willing to sacrifice such an incredible potion to her? And to think, she had almost taken Noatak's deal and left such wonderful friends behind. "Sephy... I... I don't know..."
"It's nothing." Sephiroth said quickly, handing the vial to her. "Just take it quickly."
The unicorn uncapped the bottle with her hooves, sloppily I might add as she was used to doing almost everything by magic. But just as she raised the glass to her lips, she stopped and pulled it away. "But Sephy... how are we gonna beat him afterwards?"
"We'll think of something." Sephiroth insisted.
"But he could just take my magic away again." Vinyl argued, handing the vial back. "You take it."
"Me?"
"You're the only one who has a chance at beating him." Vinyl reasoned. "My magic would only go so far. Sephy, you're amazing. It has to be you."
"Vinyl..."
She smiled at her friend. "Don't worry about me." She closed his hands around the elixir. "Just... don't show him any mercy."
He was taken aback just how much Vinyl believed in him. With a nod from them both, and a smile from one, he raised the vial to his mouth hole.
"... And that is why I will never trust a sea urchin again." Noatak finished, shivering slightly. "But that's a story for another time. As I was saying, the Captain wishes me to bring you all to him alive." He turned around to see his defeated. "That means the pony, the mutt, the idiot, the potato, the taco, and the-" He stopped, raising his finger to count. "Wait a second..."
Sephiroth appeared out of thin air right behind Noatak and whispered quietly, "Looking for me?"
Noatak turned around to see the angel and took a few started steps away from him. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
Sephiroth drew his masamune, holding it behind him with one hand. "Maybe. But I've never been one to follow the rules." He quickly swung his sword horizontally with tremendous speed.
Noatak jumped away, the blade just barely slicing his robe. "Ah! Have you learned nothing?!" The crazed bender raised his arms again. "I control everyone! You are nothing compared to me!"
Sephiroth felt his arms pin to his sides in agonizing pain. "Aah!" He was lifted off of the ground against his will, as his blood once again turned on him.
"This time I won't hold anything back!" Noatak shouted, obviously furious. "I'll just tell the Captain that there was a slight complication! I'm sure he'll understand!"
"SEPHY!" Vinyl Scratch called out, extending a weak hoof.
"And once I'm done with you, I'll make your little pony over there suffer for your insolence!" Noatak laughed at his own cruelty.
Sephiroth fought against his invisible bindings, but it proved futile. Hearing Vinyl Scratch call out for him didn't help either. It only made him panic more. He had to find some way out of this.
Then... he had it.
"V-Vinyl..." He choked out, trying desperately to even speak. "Th-thank... y-you..."
Without a moment to spare, Sephiroth was gone. vanished right out of Noatak's sight and grasp.
"W-WHAT?!" Noatak shouted, as he clearly didn't expect any more surprises from the One-Winged Angel of Gaia.
"You hurt my friends." Sephiroth's voice came from nowhere, yet it seemed to be everywhere. Noatak was rightfully freaking out. "You underestimated my powers."
"What?" Noatak searched all over, but couldn't find the swordsman anywhere. "Where is he?!"
"And worst of all, you took my friend's gift." Sephiroth finally appeared right in front of his opponent. "And for that, I will kill you."
Noatak panicked, quickly raising his hands again to blood bend Sephiroth. But before his bending could take effect, his target was gone again.
"How is he doing that?" Yakko asked quietly to the others.
"Hmmph mm hmm!" The Pyro added.
"Show yourself you coward!" Noatak yelled at the top of his lungs, becoming ever angrier.
And as if on command, Sephiroth appeared again, to his side, already ready to strike. "As you wish."
The blade swung horizontally again, but this time Noatak was unprepared and unfocused... and his jump was kinda sloppy either way. The sword slashed his side, sending waves of pain through his body.
The evil blood bender hit the ground, gritting his teeth and putting his hand on his wound to stop the bleeding. The cut wasn't too deep, but still... kinda hurt.
He thrusted his other palm forward to retaliate, but yet again, Sephiroth was already gone.
"How...?" Noatak whispered to himself. Before he had too much time to contemplate, Sephiroth was already above him, baring his enormous sword straight down for him, just like how he mercilessly slaughtered Aerith. Only this time, his opponent was intelligent enough to move.
The masamune dug hilt deep into the ground, as Noatak rolled away from the blade just in time. However, Sephiroth effortlessly pulled his sword from the earth and teleported yet again.
At this point, Noatak was too weak to fight back and simply tried to evade the strikes. But this proved to be futile as Sephiroth disappeared and reappeared faster and faster, throwing in jukes and fake outs to confuse him.
Noatak was losing the battle, his body taking more and more small slashes here and there. He began to try and anticipate where Sephiroth would appear, which only made it easier for the legendary swordsman to slice him open.
"Predictable." Sephiroth said, just to the side of the wounded adversary.
Noatak was mortified as he turned his head slowly to his left. But it was too late.
With one skyward slash, Sephiroth delivered an almost fatal blow to the bender, severing his left arm at the elbow.
The pawn of Captain Planet let loose a blood curdling cry of anguish, as he fell to the grass. He lied on his back, blood drenching the grass below him. "I... have to... stop... the bleeding!" He gasped. With his right hand, he made a few motions in the air, causing the blood flow to cease. With another motion, the blood began to reenter his body through his numerous wounds.
Yet in his state of weakness, Sephiroth approached his foe. "You must be very proud of those arms." He lowered the blade to his right wrist.
"You... w-wouldn't..." Noatak choked out from his deathbed.
Sephiroth glared down at him, eyes like daggers. But slowly, he raised his sword away from Noatak's wrist. "You're right. I'm not as cruel as you."
Noatak breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's why I'll go ahead and put you out of your misery." With that said, he raised his sword one last time, and before he had a chance to think about it too hard, he swung it at a blinding speed through Noatak's neck.
"It's done." Sephiroth murmured, turning away from the body as it lay still on the grassy moon.
"You did it Sephy!" Vinyl cheered from the ground, trying to get to her feet.
"Don't move Vinyl." Sephiroth said, kneeling down next to her. "You're still weak."
The others ran to congratulate their friend on a job well done dismembering their enemy's head from his shoulders.
"Great job Seph!" Yakko said, patting his friend on the back. "I guess you can say that Noatak wasn't thinking a head!"
"Everyone gather around." Sephiroth said, feeling through his pouch again. "That battle took its toll on all of us. So it's a good thing I have these potions."
The leader handed out one potion to each of the teammates who actually needed them. Yakko and the Pyro drank the potions.
"Don't you have another one of those elixir things Sephy?" Vinyl asked, holding off on drinking the dark blue liquid.
"... I'm sorry." Sephiroth said disheartedly.
"Oh..." Vinyl said, looking down at the grass. The two were silent while the others rounded up their belongings to head off.
"Don't worry Vinyl." Sephiroth encouraged. "We will find a way to get your magic back. I promise."
"... Thanks." Vinyl muttered, though she didn't really believe it could be done.
*****
The six walked through the grassy fields, hoping to find some way out of the moon's mouth hole. Although, tensions were riding high when they passed the same tree for the tenth time.
"How the heck are we gonna get out of this one?" Yakko asked, irritatedly.
"Hmmph hmm hmm hhmmmphmm." The Pyro mumbled.
"I agree Pyro... I have no idea." Sephiroth translated. "We may have won the battle with Noatak, but he may have won all the same. We're stranded here without any clue of how to escape."
"Not to mention we are running out of food." GLaDOS added.
"Wha- you don't even have to eat." Yakko said, bamboozled at the potato's statement.
"I know. But it will be a big problem for you guys soon."
"GLaDOS, we don't need you making things any more difficult." Vinyl Scratch said, rolling her amp with the Pyro's help.
"Relax guys, we've still got at least half a taco." Yakko said, pointing to the hardened tortilla.
"HMMPH!" The Pyro stopped pushing the amp and took a defensive stance between Latisha and Yakko. "HMMPH HMM MMPH MM MM HMM HMMPH!"
"What!?" Yakko argued. "Someone already ate her! Besides, I was only joking!"
"GUYS!" Sephiroth yelled from the front. Instantly, the others turned to the frustrated angel. "This is not helping! Unless you have something useful to say, then shut up!"
"Well what if we ask that pony up there for help?" Vinyl pointed just ahead.
"What? Pony?" Sephiroth turned to face whoever Vinyl was pointing to. He squinted his eyes, and then through the dense fog, he saw him.
"You..."