XSYS Arena
Because balance is overrated.
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Recap 2/23: Aeris Runs it Back
23 Feb 2024 - XSYS Team
Heroes: Rue (Wrathguard), Herringway (Arbiter), Amon (Bouncer), Lana/Rhi (Decider), Dragoshi (Profaner), oakandlinden (Arcanimist)
Rhi showed up on time, but the rest of us had started a little early, since I decided to let six heroes in. I was especially excited to see Amon in, since he hadn’t gotten a chance to fight in this system yet. Rhi mentioned early on that something seemed off, though– Sephiroth’s HP was going down fast.
And she was right.
When Sephiroth hit zero, his Last Stand activated, and he used Sin Harvest to knock everyone to 1 HP. He transformed into “Safir Sephiroth” (class: Ambassador of Jenova), but Aeris leapt onto the field with a new class: Rosecutter!
…Well, that’s how it was supposed to go. But Dragoshi had dodged an attack with Violence Step, and was temporarily invulnerable, so he was on the field too, harassing Sephiroth and his rogue SOLDIERs Genesis and Revelation. Eventually, Sephiroth cut down a chunk of arena to cut him off from the fight, and that left Sephiroth and Aeris fighting to the finish.
Rhi found a really good DPS option, and burnt through all Aeris’s materia with “With a Steel Chair,” a five-hit combo that deleted the last chunk of Sephiroth’s HP!
I awarded 250 pyroxene, 250 tomestones, and 1000 nuyen for the victory. Thanks for playing Final Fantasy 7!
…
…
Sephiroth stumbles back, clutching his chest. Behind him, the mako reactor at Nibelung glows bright. Both he and Aeris are bleeding; because Aeris is being played by a synth, it’s glowing cyan fluid for her. They rush each other and clash, long katana against Aeris’s quarterstaff.
- EXIME as SEPHIROTH: Tell me… What is it you cherish, more than anything? Give me the pleasure of taking it from you.
- DR OKAZAKI as AERIS: You’ll never extinguish justice. And you’ll never outrun the reaper.
Aeris stops resisting the clash, making Sephiroth suddenly overshoot– and she spins around and catches his head with the back of her staff, knocking him into a window on the reactor. The glass cracks, mako starting to leak through.
- SEPHIROTH: Hah… so your desire burns even stronger than mine… If you want to destroy Shinra so badly, then go ahead. I’ll give you exactly what your heart desires.
The reactor glows bright white– Aeris casts Sanctuary again, and it explodes, powerful enough to form a small white bloom on the scale model. When the light recedes, Sephiroth has evaporated.
The barrier fades, revealing that the Avalanche crew is still safe. Aeris puts a hand to her ear. Her eyes are now noticeably blue-green, like something changed in her when she called upon her true power.
- AERIS: Come in, Earthquake Squadron. Are you there?
- VOICE ON RADIO: We read you, Commander. But I’ve got bad news. Something’s happened to the moon.
- AERIS: …Sorry, repeat? I couldn’t have heard that right.
- VOICE ON RADIO: You did. Get outside and see for yourself.
Crawling up through the wreckage of the Gold Saucer, the crew looks up– and finds the moon glowing red-black in the night sky. In the distance, monsters are starting to fall from its surface.
- AERIS: …Could Sephiroth really be so powerful? Turk! Come in, Turk! What’s your status?
- TURK: Turk here. We’re waist-deep in these monsters coming from the moon, but we’re doing what we can to hold them back.
- AERIS: Arm the Juno Cannon. Aim for the moon.
- TURK: …Commander, you can’t be serious…
- AERIS: It’s the only way to stop this. Sephiroth started some kind of spell using the mako in the Nibelung Reactor, and we’re going to have to destroy the materia to stop it.
- TURK: …You can’t mean…
- AERIS: I do. I think the moon is a huge materia.
- TURK: …Roger, Commander. I hope you’re right. Arming the Juno Cannon!
Moments later, a giant cannon raises from the surface of the floating city, and all the lights dim across the disk as it points toward the moon…
The impact scores a massive hole into the surface, shaking off the dust, and revealing the moon’s true form: a glowing blue-green orb. But despite the spiderweb of cracks across its surface, it’s still looming in the night sky…
- AVALANCHE SOLDIER: Damn… it still wasn’t enough…
- MASSIME as BARETT: Hang on. I think… the planet wants in on this fight?
A giant fountain of mako is pouring off into the night sky, making their coats whip dramatically around them.
- AERIS: …Then we’ll take the fight to this thing, whatever it is. Cloud Squadron, prepare to advance!
Aeris leaps off the ground, and the mako current catches her, carrying her and the rest of the heroes, one by one, up towards the shattered moon…