Chapter 18:Finding a Purpose

Weeks have gone by do far ever since the kids decided to get stronger in their own separate ways. However, unlike all the other kids who were already far gone from Brunswick Villa, Cloud was on the verge of losing his mind trying to escape the large forest surrounding the destroyed town.

"Mmaannnn, how much longer does this god damn forest go on for?" Cloud said walking around impatiently in the grass. "At this rate, Darkness will probably just die of old age before I defeat him. Wait I know! I'll just fly out of here! Man I should have thought of this earlier instead of just walking this whole time." Cloud said with a sigh. Cloud jumped up into the air as he slightly started to glide up into the air, but all of a sudden Cloud started to fall straight down back on to the ground.

"WOOOAAAHHH!" Cloud screamed slamming into the grass. Cloud rose his head up from the ground with an annoyed look on his face. "GAAHHH! I'm to tired to fly out of here. Man, I really didn't notice how big this forest really was up until now. Might as well keep walking then." Cloud said with his hand on top of his head. As Cloud kept walking he noticed a familiar spot from his childhood. "Heeyyy, isn't this the place I found those people at? What was her name again?, Oh yeah! It was Tomata and her two sons, Zaike and Ikari. I wonder how their doing now and days." Cloud said walking near the lake and grabbing some water to drink. "I don't remember a waterfall here though. It has been a LONG time since I've been here though, so I probably just don't remember it." Cloud put his water bottle back in the side of his bookbag and drank some water from his hands. Just than, a man rose out of the water as his hair started to drip from the back of the man's head. Cloud yelled loudly and spitted the water out from his mouth as he started to cough as well. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?" Cloud said still coughing on the floor. The man stood still for a few seconds as he looked back at Cloud with his leaking black hair and his shiny blue eyes. The man turned back and kept on walking to his clothes which were on a big stone. Cloud stood up from off the ground and just stared at the man and noticed that on his tailbone, he had what seemed to be a stub of a cut off tail facing downwards towards the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I will be going now." The man said drying off and putting his clothes on at the same time in one swift motion. Cloud looked at him and gasped.

"Hey mister! How'd you do that trick?" Cloud asked trying to run to the man but falling into the water. Cloud looked up and saw that the man was gone. Cloud got up with a confused expression on his face. "What the hell was that all about?" He asked himself as he sat near the waterfall, preparing to take camp. Cloud took off his upper clothing and decided to train a little bit himself and started to shadow box. Cloud started to get frustrated as he punched the rocks holding up the waterfall, causing it to crack a little bit. "God..Damn...It! How am I supposed to get stronger when I don't even know where to start!" Cloud said losing control of himself and falling onto the ground and on his back. Just than Cloud exhaled and fell asleep, only to be woken up where he was surrounded by a black void.

"Huh? Where am I?" Cloud said looking around the darkness. All of a sudden, objects started to form around him and now he was spectating the fight at the Legend's house. In this version however, it just simply showed all of the kids, as well as Edward, piled up and dead on the ground as Cloud was breathing heavily in his fighting stance, and filled with wounds all over him. He saw Darkness, Caby, Moonlight, and Tion, all smiling at him with their eyes glowing purple and with an black aura surrounding them. Darkness swung his attack and rushed Cloud, shanking him and almost disintegrating him with a huge purple blast. "NNOOO!" Cloud screamed as the setting changed to the large black void, surrounding him again. "Hello, Cloud Lightning." A deep demonic voice said out loud, echoing inside of Cloud's mind. Cloud turned his head around but he still saw nothing but darkness.

"Wh-Who's there?! What do you want?" Cloud said still turning his head around. All of a sudden a large rainbow flame, ignited and circled around Cloud, almost burning him. As the flames still started to circle Cloud, it started to grow larger and it grew out into the darkness, causing the black void to disappear and surround Cloud's mine with a rainbow color. Cloud tried to extinguish the flames by flying and shooting ki blasts at them but just than, a blue flaming lasso grabbed both of Cloud's legs and dragged him back down to hold him still, but once Cloud started to try and shoot the blue flamed lasso's, more were summoned and tightly grabbed his arms as well. The rainbow flames all of a sudden extinguished and now there was nothing but the black void again. Cloud tried fidgeting around to try and escape the blue auraed lassos but nothing seemed to work. Just than he, saw a small piece of fire right in front of him, which strangely started to beat like a heart.

"What the hell is going on?" He said softly looking at the small rainbow flame in front of him. Suddenly, the flame started to speak.

"I...am... The Eternal Flame. I have been seeking over you for all these years Cloud Lightning."

"Wh-What do you want from me?" "It seems like you are looking for power...I may be able to help you."

"Well your one to get straight to the point, but there's like a thousand reasons why I don't want your help." Cloud said still fidgeting, trying to escape. "Like I don't even know what you look like for damn sakes". The flame stood quiet for a few seconds until it started to move. All of a sudden, the rainbow flame transformed into the silhouette of an rainbow flamed man. Cloud watched the transformation with a bright expression on his face and the rainbow flamed man started to talk.

"I apologize, for this is as much as you will witness from my true appearance for right now."

"Well, I guess that's a start, but why did you attack me?"

"I needed you to listen to me, and what better way for a Saiyan to listen to me than with a little discipline."

"Saiyan? What the heck is that?"

"Your joking right? You don't know what a Saiyan is? Your own race?"

Cloud nodded his head in confusion as the flaming silhouette stared at him.

"How do you expect to kill Darkness if you don't even know anything about yourself?

"I just need to get stronger right? Well that's all I'll do. I'll find some super strong guys and beat them to a pulp!" Cloud said with a smile. "Wait, how do you know Darkness? You his pal or something?"

The flaming silhouette looked at him in silence for a few seconds. "Let's just say, Darkness is very well known around the multiverse. However, that's another story for another time, as of right now we need to talk about your power. I shall teach you how to use the power of the divine flames, although i don't necessarily understand why the divine flames choose you.".

"Hey! That sounds kind of sweet! I'll gladly take you lessons, as long as it gets me stronger!

"Good choice, for if you not have accepted, I would have killed you right here and now."

"Gee, that's brutal."

"No, that's discipline young saiyan monkey. Now tell me, what information do you know about any of the flames?"

"I thought you said you've been watching me. You should know by now." Cloud said jokingly with a pouting face.

"STOP TOYING WITH ME YOU LOW CLASS SAIYAN!"

"Woah woah, relax man I'm just playing with you. Let's see here, oh yeah!. So far I've been using the black flames the most lately. I also used the white flames before but that was ages ago."

"Excuse me? You claim you have activated the flames? That's impossible."

"Yeah, it was pretty easy as we-- "

"I said that's impossible!" The flaming silhouette said. "There is no such thing as white and black flames! Unless...No! You couldn't have...There has only been one other person left that has unlocked the power of the divine flames. YOU NEED TO LEAVE! NOW!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on with you? Your the one who brought me here and now your asking me to leave? What a way to treat your guests. Also didn't you just say you were going to teach me how to master these flames?"

"I WILL NEVER TEACH YOU THE POWER OF THE SACRED FLAMES. ESPECIALLY FOR SOMEONE WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!"

"Dude what are you talking about? Are you talking about those black flames? I told you I already mastered that power. It's not going to hurt anyone." Cloud and the flaming man kept screaming at each other until the flaming silhouette flew closer to Cloud and placed his fingers on Cloud's forehead.

"YOU THINK THAT THE POWER OF THE BLACK FLAME CAN SIMPLY BE TAMED BY A MERE TEENAGER LIKE YOU? IF THAT'S WHAT YOU REALLY THINK THAN HERE. WITNESS THE TRUE POWER OF THE FLAMES OF DESPAIR!" THE FLAMING SILHOUETTE SAID AS HE PLACED HIS HANDS ON TOP OF CLOUD'S FOREHEAD, UNLEASHING CLOUD'S BLACK ,FLAMING AURA AND MAKING HIM SCREAM IN PAIN. "AAAHHHH!!!" CLOUD SCREAMED AS HE WOKE UP FROM THE INSIDE OF HIS MIND AND ROSE UP FROM THE GROUND. CLOUD CONTINUED TO SCREAM AS HIS BODY FEATURES STARTED TO CHANGE AS WELL. BLACK FLAMES SURROUNDED HIM AS HIS FACE AND BODY STARTED TO GROW BLACK STREAKS ALL AROUND HIM AS WELL AS HIS EYES WHICH TURNED FROM RED, TO A COMPLETELY POSSESSED MILKY WHITE, ALONG WITH HORNS GROWING ON THE TOP OF HIS HEAD. THE TREES AND HILLS ALL AROUND THE FOREST STARTED TO SLOWLY DIE AND DISINTERGRATE. CLOUD WALKED SLOWLY THOUGH THE RIVER AND IT STARTED TO EVAPORATE DO TO THE INTENSE HEAT OF THE BLACK FLAMES. CLOUD JUMPED UP SUPER HIGH INTO THE SKY WHERE HE SAW LARGE CITY LIGHTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FOREST. CLOUD FLEW DOWN TOWARDS THE GROUND OF THE FOREST WHERE HE DESTROYED THE GROUND IN A 10 MILE RADIUS. CLOUD SLOWLY KEPT WALKING AS IF HE WAS AZOMIBE, CONTINOUSLY DESTROYING THE LIFE AROUND HIM, UNTIL AS HE KEPT WALKING HE SAW THE SAME MAN WITH THE BLACK HAIR AND BLUE EYES JUST STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. THE MAN LOOKED AT CLOUD AND THE DEMONIC LOOKING CLOUD LOOKED BACK AT HIM.

"Hmph, it looks like you ran into a little bit of a problem there kid." The man said with a serious expression on his face. Cloud looked at him and roared as he charged his ki and swiftly rushed the man with such speed and precision. Luckily the man was able to dodge the attack at the last second, backflipping to get some space from Cloud. "Well, it doesn't look like you want to talk." The man said.

Cloud continued to roar as he rushed the man with his demonic, black flamed aura and was ready to punch him but at the same time the man just simply took his bag off his back and placed it on the ground as he than got into his fighting stance, ready to counter Cloud's attack.

CLOUD FINISHED HIS MIGHTY ROAR AND RUSHED TOWARDS THE MAN WITH A FAR JUMP AND PUNCHED THE MAN SENDING HIM FLYING BACKWARDS. LUCKILY THE MAN WAS ABLE TO PLACE HIS ARMS IN FRONT OF HIS HEAD AT THE LAST SECOND, HOWEVER THE PRESSURE IN THE PUNCH WAS SO STRONG THAT THE GROUND AND TREES WERE BEING DESTROYED IN THE PROCESS. CLOUD FLEW OVER TO THE MAN AND KEPT PUNCHING HIM UNTIL THE MAN GRABBED CLOUD'S HANDS AND SLAMMED HIM ONTO THE GROUND. CLOUD SCREAMED IN PAIN AS HE TRIED TO BREAK FREE OF THE MAN'S GRASP BUT THE MAN'S GRIP WAS JUST SO STRONG THAT CLOUD COULDN'T ESCAPE. UNTIL WITH ONE FINAL ROAR, CLOUD EXPANDED HIS BLACK FLAMES SURROUNDING HIM, BURNING THE MAN A LITTLE BIT ON HIS LEFT ARM, AS WELL AS THE ATMOSPHERE AROUND HIM.THE MAN STUMBLED BACK A LITTLE BIT, NOW WITH AN ANGRY EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE. CLOUD GOT BACK UP FROM THE GROUND AND RUSHED THE MAN ONCE MORE, PUNCHING HIM AND SHOOTING BLACK FLAMING KI BLASTS AT HIM. THE MAN TOOK THE ATTACKS BEING SENT TO HIM AND COUNTERED THEM, SHOOTING A LARGE CHAIN OF KI BLASTS RIGHT BACK AT CLOUD, AND INJURING HIM ENOUGH TO THE POINT WHERE HE COULD FINALLY LAND A PHYSICAL ATTACK RIGHT ON TO CLOUD. CLOUD DIDN'T STOP HOWEVER AS HE BALLED HIS FIST AND RUSHED TOWARDS THE MAN, SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS. "TCH, IF THIS FIGHT KEEPS GOING ON THE KID'S GOING TO GET HIMSELF KILLED. I'M GOING TO HAVE TO END THIS QUICKLY." THE MAN SAID UNDER HIS BREATH, SUCKING HIS TEETH. CLOUD GOT CLOSE TO THE MAN TRYING TO PUNCH HIM, BUT THE MAN COUNTERED HIS ATTACK AND PUNCHED CLOUD, SENDING HIM FLYING BACK TOWARDS THE TREES. JUST THAN, THE MAN CLOSED HIS EYES AND STOOD STILL, BREATHING VERY LIGHTLY. HOWEVER, CLOUD LOOKED UP AND TOOK THIS AS AN ADVANTAGE AS HE JUMPED AND RUSHED TOWARDS THE MAN WITH A GLOWING BLACK KI BLAST IN HIS HAND UNTIL THE MAN OPENED HIS EYES AGAIN AND STARTED TO SHOUT OUT LOUD,

"MY NAME IS YATO LIGHTNING, ONE OF THE HOLDERS OF THE DIVINE FLAMES, AND I SUMMON THEE...THE GREEN FLAMES OF GROWTH AND HARMONY ALONG WITH THE WHITE FLAMES OF LIGHT AND HOPE!" THE MAN SCREAMED AS HE SUMMONED A GREEN AND WHITE FLAMED AURA ALL AROUND HIM. CLOUD RUSHED TOWARDS HIM AND WAS ABOUT TO SLAM HIS BLACK FLAMED KI BLAST ONTO YATO, UNTIL THE WHITE AND GREEN FLAMED AURA EXPANDED ALL AROUND THE FOREST, STOPPING CLOUD'S ATTACK MIDAIR. YATO TAPPED ALL OF CLOUD'S PRESSURE POINTS IN FRONT OF HIM, FINISHING HIS ATTACK BY PLACING HIS PALM ON CLOUD'S STOMACH, AND SHOOTING A CALMING YET POWERFUL AMOUNT OF PRESSURE ONTO CLOUD'S STOMACH, CAUSING THE BLACK FLAMES TO DISSAPEAR AND MAKING CLOUD GAIN HIS CONSCIOUSNESS BACK. AS CLOUD GAINED HIS CONSCIOUSNESS BACK, HE GREW TIRED AS TEARS FELL OUT OF HIS EYES AND HE FLEW INTO YATO'S ARMS.

"Ya...to? Where have, I heard that name before...?" Cloud said before falling asleep in Yato's arms. The green and white flames extinguished as Yato looked down at Cloud and smiled, hugging him.

"After all these years, I've finally found you... little brother."