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Yokohama, Japan

Shallot bent to one knee as the large blade belonging to Sephiroth grazed the ends of his hair, cutting a few strands instead of decapitating him. With a flick of his wrist, Shallot flit the coffee table forward as an obstacle, trying to get some kind of distance between him and his enemy.

"Game Master must really be sweating right now," Shallot said. "Sending someone like you...tch."

Sephiroth paused, placed his sword to his shoulder and narrowed his green eyes. "On the contrary. You fell right into his trap. You don't have the slightest idea who it is you're up against."

Shallots feet and arms spread apart. With a 'haaa...ah' his hair burned a brilliant red, likewise the same aura glowing around his form. He leveled a confident expression to Sephiroth and said, "From what I can see, you're the one who has no idea who they're up against!"

"Hm. An interesting transformation," Sephiroth replied, "but I doubt it will do very much."

From the side of his red eyes, Shallot noticed the gaming setup, still showing Xenoverse to be loaded. He couldn't let Sephiroth break the game. It would be better to take their fight elsewhere, but he didn't know if GM only sent one enemy, or more. Which meant Shallot would need to disconnect the game and stash it somewhere in case someone broke in while they were fighting.

"Hide the game? Well, it's a good idea. If only I wouldn't know exactly where to find it," Sephiroth said.

'Shit! I forgot he can read minds!'

A bead of sweat ran down Shallots cheek. He dipped down and brought his hands behind him, "In that case I'll just destroy you here and now! I beat you as a kid, and I'll do it again! Ka...me...ha...me...ha!"

The blast wave hit a direct attack, however, Sephiroth cleaved the wave into two and it went around him, burst through the dining room and out the wall. A loud rumbling began as the structure wall began to give way to the powers of a saiyan fight, dust cracking through the ceiling. After the kamehameha wave had vanished off into the distance, hitting another building, Shallot could hear the screams of civilians.

An alarm bell alerting an earthquake rang out and deafened them both.

Sephiroth made a face at the noise and said, "I'll be waiting outside. Face me and your death."

Like that the villain of Final Fantasy VII left through the new exit Shallot had made.

"Shit. He's hella tough..." Shallot dropped his hands and listened to the sway of the building as more dust rained down from above. "My kamehameha wave was nothing to him!"

He ran over to the gaming setup and ejected the disc, put it into a case and grabbed his work laptop, shoving both items into his briefcase, where he would at least keep them safe from thieves. As he did so, his eyes fell on the origami Chisato had made with Tie a few months ago. The cute bird figure sat there on the shelf among his novels and games, and Shallot snatched it absentmindedly.

'She worked forever on this...'

That day it had been raining and she'd not yet began to find a job, and her and Tie had been in their pajamas in the kitchen at the bar-stool, looking over the tutorials on how to make one. Amused, Shallot listened to them as he did paperwork for the travel agency after hours, seeing how hard his wife had tried, all her attempts one big pile of printer paper in the floor. Finally, she'd constructed just one bird, to Tie's multiple, and had hurried over to show Shallot her efforts. He'd told her it was a priceless keepsake now and should be passed down to the next generations, much to her embarrassment and his amusement.

["Don't joke with me, Shiroui. Ano...it's just a paper crane!"]

How Shallot wished he could go back in time and watch her do that again. He tucked that crane into his business suit and stood, throwing the briefcase across his shoulders.

It was time to face facts. The time spent as her husband was gone now; all he had left were the memories of being the only one she saw. Shallot grit his teeth; the next moment they met, she'd be Trunks Briefs wife again, and would probably hate him for all he'd done.

What a selfish person he was.

The hand which had his wedding band on it clenched into a tight fist. Even so; Shallot had a job to do.

He flew out of the hole and to the rooftop, setting the briefcase down on the shaking building. Yokohama was soon to be covered in rain, a fitting backdrop for his end of the world battle against Sephiroth.

At least he had a back up. His real world save watch. With one use he could gain the time needed to prepare for Sephiroth and Game master. But it was a last resort, especially considering his wife wouldn't be present and accounted for, nor Tie.

Shallot looked up at the dark gray clouds and wondered what she was doing there. If she missed him as he did her. Doubtful.

'She's with him now.'

He rolled his shoulders, charged his energy and sought out one dark Ki lingering above the city.

'There.'

With a whoosh he took off and didn't stop until face to face with the ex-SOLDIER Sephiroth, who had been quite patient.

"Took you a while, Shiroui Yuusuke." Sephiroth said.

"Be quiet."

"You might have won against me as Cloud Strife, but I assure you those rules don't apply here." Sephiroth looked around, "I could kill every one of these people with barely any effort. You can prevent that by bringing me that girl, Chisato."

"Go ahead and kill 'em," Shallot said. "Won't do you any good. I don't care about them and there's no way in hell I'd ever let you get your nasty Jenovah germs on my wife!"

"Then please, by all means...allow me to demonstrate!" Sephiroth rose higher into the dark and storming clouds. Shallot watched, one streak of lightning exposing his enemies silhouette as his hands spread wide.

Shallot knew that attack.

"Not...Super Nova?!"

He had to stop Sephiroth. And last time Shallot checked, his health wasn't 9999 at all. With a ferocious shout, his energy surged from his body and out into the sky, darkening the already cloudy weather with his new level of power. Shallot closed the gap, going right into the clouds and began to attack Sephiroth, distracting his opponent.

"So you do have a little brains," Sephiroth said, avoiding the blows.

"You'd kill everyone with that!" Shallot shouted, his foot finding Sephiroth's face. Down he went, all the way to the city street. A large crater from impact gave Shallot a boost in his confidence; finally he'd got in one attack.

Shallot descended to Sephiroth and saw he was gone already from the crater as the dust settled. Amidst the blaring horns and screaming, fleeing people, Sephiroth stood. He held a woman by her hair and hoisted her high into the sky, smirking. "You wouldn't mind it if I ended her life, would you Shiroui?"

"Tch...! Put her down!"

As he flew over to him, Sephiroth swung his blade and the woman was cut into two halves; the bottom portion of her person falling to the ground where the legs twitched a moment. Blood spurt out and didn't stop from both sides. Horrified, Shallot stopped flying and watched as Sephiroth discarded the woman, tossing her onto the sidewalk. He flicked his long blade clean.

"You...monster," Shallot said. He tapped down and ran to Sephiroth. "Take this you creep! Emperor's Death Beam!"

Over and over his index finger shot the high powered laser. It would have been effective if Sephiroth wasn't so fast, knocking aside the beams with his sword over and over again, each time a 'shing' ringing out loud and clear.

"Dammit!" Shallot roared.

'There has to be something I can do to win this!'

Try as he might, Shallot wasn't nearly powerful enough to stop a final boss such as Sephiroth, not short of Unbridled Rage.

'Wait..'

Sephiroth chuckled. "You want to try? Fine, I'll amuse you."

"Stop reading my mind!"

"I'm going to take your wife for myself. You see, she's far more valuable to me than to Game Master. His ability to expunge me from this reality....isn't a desirable end for me. I'd prefer to stay here. The only bargaining chip I have is her." Sephiroth said. He stepped closer, long silver hair shining with rain, glistening like spun spider silk. Down his sharp nose he added, "I know how dear she can be. What do you think she'd do to save you, Shiroui? Would she give me her body if I asked?"

Shallots pulse began to race.

"I'm sure she would do anything to save you. That's...just how she is, isn't it. She trusted you so much, believing every little lie you told her until nothing else made sense. Sure, you said some truth, but deep down...the roots were foul." Sephiroth leered. "Far be from me to keep you two apart. Go fetch her so I can steal her away...I promise, she won't be screaming from pain."

'You...bastard!'

Shallots energy began to skyrocket. His mouth pulled back and exposed flat, white teeth. "You won't touch her!"

"On the contrary. She'd be the one touching me. I bear a striking resemblance to that Trunks, don't I?" Sephiroth chuckled. "Changing my appearance a little would be easy enough to do. My cells are quite good at that."

Before his eyes Sephiroth morphed into Trunks, down to the last hair on his lilac head. Even his voice changed to a more raspy sound as he added, "Shallot. I trusted you, but you took her from me!"

"S-Shut up! I know that isn't him!"

"Chisato is my wife. How could you?"

Shallots right sneaker stepped back one foot. "I...I..was protecting her..."

"You stole her from me! Stole Tie!" Sephiroth drew his blade, "You're going to answer to my sword!"

"Tch! Fine by me!"

A new voice interrupted Shallots battle pose.

"Shallot, you're going with me."

That voice belonged to Zamasu, who had his hood on, covering his features. He tapped down on the city street and grabbed Shallot by the arm. Both vanished.

They appeared again atop the roof of Shallot's apartment. Zamasu grabbed the briefcase and said, "You've made a huge mess of things."

"I....I'm sorry, Zamasu. You're here because something awful will happen, aren't you?" Shallot asked, watching as Zamasu looked to his Time Rings and pulled one off. He extended it and Shallot slid it on. The silver glint.

"Of course. I've been through time and it doesn't end well. After going to the King of Time, he advised me to bring you there. Let us go and see to this. Chisato will be worried when she leaves the Time Chamber and cannot find me." Zamasu said.

"Eh? Time Chamber?"

"I'll explain later!"

Shallot nodded. He had been saved from fighting Sephiroth, but what was in store? He had no clue. Zamasu had said something about Chisato and the Time Chamber, but what would she be doing there?

As they 'blip' from the sky and to the unknown future, Shallot was unprepared to arrive back in Tokyo. It looked a little different, however, more futuristic. Certainly the hovering cars were new.

He watched one pass by overhead as Zamasu tugged him to a skyscraper in the middle of that city of lights. "The King is expecting us," Zamasu said. He pushed a button and a woman answered. They were let in.

Shallot couldn't wrap his brain around what just happened. One moment he was fighting Sephiroth to the death, now in the future. In just a matter of moments. The dazed feeling lingered as he followed Zamasu to the elevator and to it's top floor, where it dinged open and Shallot was staring an older, more intimidating Trunks Briefs.

Another him was there, too, and a young man who couldn't be over seventeen. As Shallot looked around the oval office, Trunks stood from his desk.

"Shallot. Welcome. I'm sorry to interrupt your battle, but this was important." Trunks said. He walked around the desk and held out his hand; Shallot could see that he didn't wear any gloves, and bore a few scars on both sides of his palm. After shaking his hand Shallot found himself a seat and waited.

"This is my son, Tie. I'm sure you two have met," Trunks said with a motion to the handsome young man.

"Y-Yeah. We uh, did. Have."

Tie dipped his head. "I'd say it was a pleasure but we're short on time. King, do you wish for me to show him the game world?"

"No, not yet Tie. Let me have a chat first." Trunks replied. He sat back down at his desk and grabbed a pen and began twirling it round and round. "As you know, I asked Zamasu to bring you here."

"Yep. I fucked up, huh," Shallot said.

"You could say that." Trunks sat down his pen and folded his hands together. "My wife won't have a happy ending if you carry on the way you're going, Shallot. You have to put her back in the game. She's safer there. At least for now."

"So you know everything huh."

Trunks nodded. "Zamasu updated me, but other than that..." he motioned to his screen, "I've got a stored backup here of the original game free of corruption. When she went back into Xenoverse new data came in. Chisato is...trying to get back to you as we speak. If she does that, with Sephiroth out there waiting..."

Shallot swallowed. "No! She can't! He'd get her for sure!"

"Precisely...." Trunks sighed. "I think you get it. She and Trunks have in mind to ask you to reload and give them time, but it won't be enough. Just like I have backups, so do he..."

With a scratch to his head, Shallot was clearly confused. Tie looked over. "Father means that GM has been getting Data since Sephiroth came out. From Final Fantasy VII. It's his own way of knowing what to expect. Even if you re-load the watch, the game Data he got would still be there, since Sephiroth isn't a part of the real world. That's also why you would things in Xenoverse, even if it's re-loaded."

"Shit!" Shallot swore. He hadn't thought of that at all. That's why Sephiroth was so cocky.

Something Trunks said dawned on Shallot. "Wait. You said...she wants to come out and save me? Is that true?"

"Against my other selves judgement, her mind is made up." Trunks replied. He eased back in his chair and sighed. "She doesn't hate you. She's just hurt. But that's another story. For now, we need to level the playing field a little. I've been working on an update for Reimu and Marisa. Hopefully their new powers will get rid of Sephiroth. But there's still the issue about GM's new version of Xenoverse. He's got it ready to release tomorrow."

"So...." Shallot stood and began pacing back and forth.

'If what they said is true, that's why GM suddenly made a move to find Chisato. He was buying his time!'

"Dammit! I got lazy," Shallot said.

"Indeed." Came Zamasu's sharp tongue. "I couldn't think of a better way to describe it. You thought she was safe as long as she wasn't near Tokyo and this tower."

"I...I did, yeah." Shallot deflated a little and sank back down into the chair. He stared at his hand, where the wedding band rest. "Chisato is in even more danger. He'll be wanting her to kill herself again, right?"

"Mom will kill herself to save you." Tie said. His nose wrinkled. "That's what happens. GM has to have a willing sacrifice for his game to run the same way as it did before. He doesn't have another vessel in mind. Seems to me like..."

Trunks nodded. "...He's stuck on Chisato. I'd be willing to bet money GM knew her before all of this. She did move around a lot."

Shallots hope died. He sighed up at the ceiling. "So we're back to square one. Chisato needs to be saved, so she stays in the game while I and my team find GM. Wait!"

He hopped up. "If that's true--he DOES know her--couldn't we just find him by going to all the locations she used to live at?"

Trunks shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. GM knew about our [Soul - Mate] link and didn't seem to care. I think it's safe to say his base could be near those areas, but not anywhere obvious. He knows I'm here too, helping from afar. I'm sure he thought about that possibility. Besides..." Trunks shut his eyes. "I already tried doing that."

"You did?" Shallot asked.

"Father went off on his own after everyone was defeated," Tie answered. "He started with where she used to live. Then went to the schools. But the only place there had been any activity at was yours."

"I get it." Shallot sighed. "Man this sucks. We gotta find this creep and take 'em out."

"You're staying here. Reimu and Marisa will have Sephiroth defeated soon," Trunks said. "Tie will escort you to Xenoverse. Don't mention anything we're planning here, though. While I got rid of the corruptions in your time, I couldn't do that here. You'll see why...soon enough."

"I don't like the sounds of that at all." Shallot stood. "Well, whatever. Let's go then Tie. I'm eager to get back to my wife."

Zamasu stepped forward to Trunks desk and bowed. "Are those two ready to go yet?"

With a look to his monitors Trunks nodded. "Their new powers just finished uploading. I'll send them your way. In the meantime, make sure to keep an eye out for GM in case he sends any lackeys. Don't worry about the game, I'll keep the game safe here until Sephiroth is defeated. We'll need a better place to load it than where it's been."

"Very well, King of Time."

Tie motioned for Shallot to follow him, and those two left.

Kuroinamida91

Here's a sneak peak at Chapter One cover art. I did it mostly in Akira's earlier style as I love it very much, but the story will be told through a harsher lens.