Snippet #1207452

Zack ran forth and into the woods - toward the castle. His determination to find information on his location led him to the assessment that the castle was the most likely answer to his questions. He darted in between bushes, sidestepped around trees and generally shot toward his target. He was a good runner but a better fighter. He avoided tunneling his vision. Who knew what was in these foreign woods or even what purpose a native creature would possess toward injuring an alien invader? Zack occasionally cocked his head from side to side, assessing the forest in which he ran. He'd though he saw a blue shade a few times, but decided to ultimately shun the notion that something, animal or not, could keep up with him silently at this speed. He was wrong.

Upon cocking his head a third time, Zack noticed a blue figure swiftly dodging a few yards parallel to him. It gave a cocky wave and a smile and said some unintelligible words in a possibly native language then lunged a Zack, swinging the giant sword on its back. "Hey!" Zack yelled in shock as he halted movement in general. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" The creature halted movement as well. Taking a pose similar to Zack’s, the mimic smiled and nodded. Zack did not draw his sword instead he remembered what Angeal had taught him. "Lose your weapon, and you'll lose your chance at victory." This statement wasn't entirely wrong in others' cases but not for Zack's.

Zack bolted forward and grabbed the back of the sword before the mimic could even swing it. "You're too slow for me." He laughed out as he delivered a punishing thrust punch to the copy. It bounced back and readied its sword again. "Come on then, strike me." Zack gestured for the opponent to close the gap in between them and drew his own sword. "I've done this several times in the Shinra building. This will be no different." Zack thought to himself. The clone quickly abided and dashed forward, horizontally swinging its blade. Zack slammed his sword into the ground, creating a barrier, then flipped it into its slot on his back and performed a beautiful punching combo. The copy blocked the headshots but took most of the more punishing comet strikes to the chest. The clone nearly collapsed. "Had enough?" The clone’s response was less than compliant.

It -Zack's mimic- picked up the sword and glowed gold. A blast of energy flew in equal and opposite directions and when Zack got a fair look again; the mimic had a single white wing. "That's a new trick." Zack said, barely getting the word "trick" out before being clobbered by a barrage of sword slashes. Zack's body wasn't about to give up, but neither was the clone's berating onslaught. One final, spiteful strike across the chest and Zack fell to the ground, his sword falling two feet from his reach. His chest was bleeding and burning. He coughed. "That one hurt." He critiqued while standing. "I suggest you try something more on me though. A green sphere glowed in Zack's left arm and green tendrils came out of the Earth and began to coarse through his wounds. Curaga had been cast -a well needed cast, one might add. Zack rushed forward and pummeled the copy with his own barrage of weaker blows. The greater number and frequency of strikes; however, dealt more damage than that of his copy's.

After the final punch Zack jumped high into the air and did a summersault with his sword drawn. He slammed down the blade through the copy, disintegrating it to shimmering dust. "If I encounter multiples of these," concluded Zack. "I might just need help." Nevertheless this obstacle was a failure to forestall his progress.