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Destiny JENOVA: Before Advent (Chapter 15: A Project Gone Wrong)

Chapter 15: A Project Gone Wrong


After we finally made it outside of Midgar to meet up with Mother, and returned to the woods we had slept in last time, me and Kadaj and Loz sat down in silence around the same place where we had the fire at night time. It was dark outside and seemed to be getting late. Hojo was also still with us, and we had found him waiting with our Mother outside the city. He was sitting down across from us and began writing in his notebook again. We all felt horrible about everything that happened; none of us could even say sorry anymore. All I was able to do was sit down in sad and guilty silence, and felt tears fall from my face. Sephiroth sat next to us and sighed; he also seemed to feel bad about what happened. Mother took immediate notice to how all of us felt and said “I know you guys feel really bad about everything that happened back there. But the most important thing is you have all returned to me unharmed.” I sighed again and said “Mother, I’m really sorry… I just don’t know what to say for myself anymore… I even put Big Brother in danger because of all of this. I know you cant just forgive like that… We didn’t even make it back with the core you need to grow new wings. All of this, just to get that for you—so you could feel happy and be able to fly again… it went way wrong, and really fast. Cloud, he… he broke it..!” I was crying quietly, holding my face in my hands. Mother approached me and picked me up, holding me in her arms to comfort me “Yazoo… I’m sorry I put you through all of this, my poor son…” Sephiroth said “Good god, what a mess… if I had just woken up sooner, none of this would have happened. I’ve failed…” After Mother had calmed me, she gently put me down and sat across from me, Kadaj, and Loz. Sephiroth forced himself to focus and explained “But forget about this; we’ve got bigger problems to worry about. First is why Cloud escaped instead of challenging me head on, and second is the matter of the returning Shinra HQ and sector 7 within a brief time span, along with the missing Ultima Weapon. I have a feeling this missing creature poses a greater threat at this time. The problem is we have no way of knowing where it is now, or what Shinra is doing with it. But either way, I doubt it is a good thing. Ultima itself was already powerful enough. If they intend to upgrade its strength and powers, it could endanger this entire Planet. As you well know, my young brethren, that is an obvious threat to everything Mother has entrusted us with, and all of her expectations, which is why I’m putting the case of the beast first. Mother needs this Planet, and if the beast is powered-up by Shinra’s technology and experiments, it can take the world for itself in a mindless fashion. We cannot allow that under any circumstances.” Hojo snickered, interrupting Sephiroth’s explanation “Missing Ultima Weapon, you say? Oh, I can tell you everything about the deal with that specimen. It is by far the most precious of specimens the lab has ever taken; but it wasn’t easy to contain. Shinra once sought to control a powerful weapon for itself, and I was assigned by deceased President Shinra to oversee the experiments and studies on the specimen. Shinra wanted to use technology and science to control Ultima Weapon, and to perform experiments focused on making it more powerful. What he wanted to do with such power, I do not know, but I do know this: the ordeal was called Project Zeta. He wanted me to find a way to give Ultima a much greater and formidable form, one so powerful it could very well be invincible, even… he wanted me to turn Ultima Weapon into the new and greatly improved Zeta Weapon. The experiment went on for many years, even after Rufus became the new President of Shinra. After long and thorough research on my part of the project, I discovered the only way to force it to evolve in such a way was by flooding its entire being with massive amounts of mako. If the specimen was missing when you went to New Shinra, its most likely being held inside of a Mako Reactor.” Sephiroth gasped “No…! If you fill that thing with too much of it, it will break lose and run amok! Have you lost your mind, Hojo?” Hojo stopped writing and shrugged “Don’t be angry with me; I only did what I was told to do. Whether it breaks lose when it becomes Zeta Weapon or not, is no fault of mine.” I was very angry at him “You’re an idiot. Don’t you realize how many people something that dangerous could kill? If it becomes too powerful, there wont be a way to control it! It’ll have a mind of its own, dummy!” Kadaj said “I agree with you, Brother, but it doesn’t look like Hojo cares. He doesn’t realize how difficult a monster that strong would be to control or even defeat.” Loz asked “And which reactor? Give us more details!” Hojo laughed “I have not a clue, young specimen. That part I cannot answer.” I sighed in exasperation “Ohh man… we have to just guess, again? I’m in no mood for that…” Sephiroth shook his head “I know, Yazoo, but we have to stop it or Mother’s plans will be gravely threatened. We don’t have a choice. Hojo, may I ask about this Zeta Weapon’s prowess? Did Shinra order any specifics?” Hojo answered “If I remember correctly, he wanted it to have powerful magical abilities, for lack of better words. Even that beyond a Cetra’s potential. It’s impossible for me to give a list of things, however. The effects of the large mako injections it receives determine that part.” Sephiroth replied “Beyond a Cetra’s…? Unbelievable… do you perhaps think that sector 7 returning and Shinra HQ being completely restored overnight is this Zeta’s doing?” Hojo reacted with surprise “What?! It wasn’t supposed to be that strong! Are you serious?!” Loz stepped forward and nodded “It’s true… it was almost as if Shinra being ruined had never happened. We saw it for ourselves… it was all good as new, just like that.” Hojo appeared scared but hardened his expression “Oh no… they left it in too long! If the specimen has grown strong enough to reverse events like that, it was fed far too much mako. We werent supposed to allow it to grow powerful enough to manipulate the very fabric of time and space!” Mother grew sad, and I saw tears fall from her eye “That power… I once had that power, until Shinra broke my wings… Without them, I cant travel through other dimensions anymore…” I went to comfort “Mother… I promised I’d help you get your wings back, and I will find out how some day… even if I have to do without the core we went after.” She smiled down at me, and I smiled back. Sephiroth hardened his expression “Some overseer you were for this project. Nice going, Hojo.” Hojo protested irritably “What?! This isnt my fault! I gave specific orders, and they were to be followed! How am I at fault here?!” Sephiroth sighed and ignored his outburst. I went back to Kadaj and Loz, and asked “How in the world are we supposed to bring something that great down? We’re not even teenagers yet!” Sephiroth said “Calm down, Yazoo. I realize this is very bad, but you have to stay calm. Looks like our priorities have changed because of Hojo’s negligence as a project supervisor. We cant proceed with taking the Planet for Mother until Zeta Weapon is defeated.” Mother shook her head sadly “He’s right…” Loz said “At least it will be easy to find though with those crazy mako readings we wouldn’t miss…” Mother shook her head “No, you don’t understand something, Loz. Mako energy and JENOVA cells clash with each other. If we get too close without proper protection, we will burn away from the excess radiation.” Hojo shrugged “She isnt wrong there, I’m afraid. The Geostigma plague that ended several weeks ago is a perfect example of that, even if on a smaller scale. The radiation levels that Zeta Weapon exudes are likely so great even a human could be harmed from exposure. Too much mako even harms humans. Specimens like you who thrive on JENOVA’s cells for life would inevitably perish from exposure to Zeta.” I asked “So what do we do? We cant beat it if we cant get close enough.” Hojo replied “There’s little else that can be done except for finding a way to protect each of you from the mako radiation, so that you can stand up to it. Or, you could simply let it roam free, of course. But I doubt any of you are willing to do that.” Sephiroth said “Then we need to find a proper lab for you to work in. You cant do any testing or work like that in these woods. I hope you know where to find such a place, Hojo, because we are not going back to Shinra. Not after what happened. I don’t exactly like the idea of Cloud slowing us down, for another thing. I’ll deal with him after we destroy Zeta Weapon. But for now, let’s get some rest and get ready for tomorrow’s work: find a lab for Hojo to work in.” All of us nodded in agreement, even me. Then we laid down and focused on going to sleep; everyone did. Except Hojo, he went back to writing in his notebook. I was amazed at how carefree he acted about all of this. He even sat down and resumed writing as if it was all no big deal. Sister Kadaj was right… he really doesn’t care, I thought to myself. I fell asleep quickly that night; I was exhausted. Especially after hearing Hojo’s story about this thing he called Zeta Weapon, which sounded like Ultima Weapon’s transformation based on the way he explained everything. It was all too overwhelming for me to begin wondering about how we would defeat something so horrendously strong it turned back time somehow and restored sector 7 and the previously ruined Shinra HQ. I wanted to think Hojo was just pulling a really ugly prank here, but I didn’t think he was kidding. I could tell he was serious and telling the truth.


To Be Continued…

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You have me addicted xD
Kadaj
Kadaj
thanks ! been working very hard on these, its difficult to make time for them sometimes but im doing my best !
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