The FF7 Experience: (Chapter 14: Quite a Show)

Author stuff: I’ve been forgetting to do this at the start of each chapter…I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any or if characters. Also, thank Frankto for his betaing and proofreading skillZ.

Also, I changed the description of the eyes in the last chapter. Instead of brown with no pupil, they are now black iris and silver pupil. Just plain brown was a bit unhip.

-------------------BEGIN CHAPTER----------------------

I woke up early the next morning. A bit too early for my own tastes, but such was to be expected. Barret had hammered on my door telling me to ‘get cleaned up and shit, we’re goin’ for breakfast soon’. So, I groaned some kind of reply back to him and rolled off of the bed and onto my feet.

When I stood up, I felt the bandages around my head again. I was still feeling somewhat sore around the job but that was about it. It was stupid of me to push the fight like that.

I unwrapped the bandages, noting that they had been partially stained by splotches of red, and tossed them into the garbage bin in the corner of my hotel room. After stifling a yawn, I went into the small personal bathroom the room offered.

The bathroom walls were a plain white wash, with an ivory tiled shower stall. I pushed the semi-transparent curtain aside and removed all articles of clothing, before stepping in and running the hot water. I jumped back at first, finding the water a little to hot, but quickly adjusted it.

I leaned back against the hard wall and closed my eyes, letting myself be drenched in hot water. It had been some time since I had a good shower. The same was true for everyone else. For that reason, I think everyone would understand if I took a long one.

I let out a relaxed breath and reached for the tiny generic shampoo the hotel offers; a small plastic bottle with a thick mint green liquid inside. As I started cleaning myself up, my thoughts began centering around the previous days happenings.

Based on the flashbacks I had, my belief is the ‘eyes’ I had used were something Odine cooked up. The only alternative I can think of was that in this world, I was born with some really fucked up traits. My own analysis of the ability is that it diminishes my visual sight, and in exchange, offers me spatial sense. I can ‘feel’ everything. Also, I recall hearing myself say in the flashback that the ability has a range, and that anything outside of it will go unnoticed. I think that’s why Tifa disappeared all of a sudden. She left the abilities field. I’d say ‘guess I shouldn’t use those eyes too much’ but, I have no idea how to use them. They were triggered by chance only because of a flashback.

But moving past that, my next question is; what were Erika and I doing at the Temple of the Ancients? There’s no doubt in my mind that that is where we were. The interior design combined with the mention of Black Materia proves that. Of course, we had also given up on it, which suggests it wasn’t really all that important to us. Then there is the ‘White Materia’ which was mentioned shortly after. When I hear that word, the first thing that comes to mind is the materia Aeris’s mother gave her. While black summons the ultimate black magic, Meteor, white summons the ultimate white magic, Holy. In other Final Fantasy games, the two spells were strong, but usually surpassed by an ‘Ultima’ spell. It’s quite different in this particular world though.

Perhaps I should call Erika? I have her number on the phone’s auto memory. There is the chance that she’ll just say something like ‘its better you remember on your own’ though. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to try. I’ll have to do that later. Oh, and I still have to get that fire ring from the condo.

I finished cleaning myself up and turned the taps off after 15 minutes. I inhaled deeply and listened to the sounds of the water dripping to a stop on the cold stone floor. Then, I exited the bathroom to the main room and began dressing myself in full attire. My dark blue shirt and pants, black socks, steel toe boots, slightly torn green flak jacket, my two item pouches, and lastly, my weapon.

Taking a good look at myself in the circular mirror centered in the room, I nodded, pleased with how I looked this morning. I was sure to pocket everything I could from the hotel room, such as mini drinks and snacks, and even a few little soaps.

In the outside hallway, I glanced down at the multi patterned carpet that ran down the long hallway. I looked from side to side, realizing I didn’t know how to get to the main lobby from here, assuming that’s where everyone was waiting.

With a sigh, I picked going left, and hoped I’d find everyone alright.

I had found an elevator and pushed for the main floor. As different people board, I had decided on farting once the small elevator space was filled to max capacity. It was silent but deadly. I was quick to notice the contorting faces and scrunching noses. I smiled secretly to myself, feeling strangely amused by this small and immature act.

The elevator gave off a loud ping, as the two silver metallic doors slid open, revealing a brightly lit lobby packed with an assortment of people, coming and going. The room had a number of lanterns and over head chandeliers, spanning over a large space filled with red oak tables, desks, and chairs. The whole interior of the hotel had quite a different feel then Costa Del Sol itself, appearing more professional and straying from the overall laid back nature the town offered to residents and tourists.

I gazed around the area, trying to pick out familiarities. Members of AVALANCHE would be easy to spot, if not by their attire, then by the general way they carried themselves. Even if the group were to wear the same clothing as everyone else in this hotel, I’m confident that I’d be able to find them all the same. They just stand out like that, probably because of the unique charismatic qualities each of them possesses.

As expected, finding one of my friends was not difficult. To the immediate right of the hotels entrance were wooden stairs with a single red carpet running down. A sign labeled ‘Restaurant’ was left hanging above this stairway, with symbols of cutlery on each side. There were a number of low wooden benches not far off from the stair way, where I could see all of the members of AVALANCHE, minus Yuffie, present.

Barret was slumped back on the far end of the bench, rubbing his face with his human hand. He was apparently suffering from a nasty hang over. Of course, the fact that he had almost died yesterday combined with the guilt of having lost Wedge not that long ago probably put him in a drinking mood.

The others appeared a little brighter on this morning, sitting back and conversing with one another. And of course, Cloud was sitting between Tifa and Aeris. Love triangles suck, I’m glad I’m not caught in one.

I smiled at the sight of the group and made my way over, dodging a number of distracted hotel recipients.

When the group spotted me, I saw a familiar look cross over Tifa’s face. It was a look of guilt which had spawned after her victory over me in the previous night’s sparring session. It had been our first actual training session with one another, and I suspect that she will be weary in the future about having another.

Hey.” I greeted, giving a small wave.

Cloud nodded in acknowledgment. “Hey.” He peered behind me, as if expecting to see Yuffie there with me. When he found that she was not, he looked to me once more.

I smiled. “No, I don’t know what’s taking Yuffie so long. Could be she’s just taking an insanely long shower.”

Cloud shrugged. “It’s no big deal really, but if she takes too much longer we’ll have to start breakfast with out her.”

How are you feeling Grant?” Aeris asked.

I’m fine. Good job on treating me by the way. You’d hardly even know I got beaten down.” I joked. Then I grimaced, realizing this may have been upsetting to Tifa.

“…Sorry again.” She bowed with clasped hands.

Don’t worry. Next time, I’ll just have to do better.” I said in a voice as friendly as I could muster. I really did want to show that there were no hard feelings.

Tifa smiled and nodded.

Barret grunted quietly, shifting in his seat slightly. I leaned in closer and took a whiff.

Whew. You really got shitfaced last night, didn’t you?”

Barret chuckled breathily, shaking his head. “Lil too much, kiddo. Nothin’ a few cups of black coffee can’t fix.”

Coffee sounds good about now.” Cloud seconded.

Aeris made a face. I guess she wasn’t a fan of the drink.

With the sound of fast foot steps, the group glanced ahead to find Yuffie running from the elevator towards us dressed in the standard ninja gear she often wore. The sleeveless green turtle neck and the tan colored shorts. It’s true that her attire and the length of her combined with her attitude would make her seem like a tom boy of sorts, but really, the clothing was to allow her efficiency in combat while still giving her at least some personal expression. The hair length was to prevent hair from getting in her eyes. Where the attitude is concerned, she’s just naturally loud and hyper. This is all my own speculation, of course. For all I know, I’m way off base.

Hey guys!” Yuffie shouted without any regard for the volume of her voice.

Barret placed his hand back on his head and groaned. “Shu’up, damn it. Don’t need to be yellin’.”

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at the hung over man before ignoring him altogether. The ninja placed her hands behind her head and stepped a bit closer.

Sorry for the wait. I had to make myself look pretty.” Yuffie offered as an explanation.

I smirked, “That must have taken forever.”

Rather then exploding with anger like I had expected, Yuffie offered her own counter smirk.

You’re looking half-decent for someone that was knocked out for most of the night.”

Yeah, well-“ I started.

Cloud stood up from the bench. “Not now.” He said somewhat firmly. “Let’s go eat.”

I’m actually glad he stopped us, because I had no counter to Yuffie’s remark. I was just planning on saying whatever would come to mind at the moment, and that doesn’t usually end well for me.

And so, we all made our way to the second floor’s dining area. Barret trudged behind us sluggishly, but still managing to keep up.

The second floor was huge and featured a number of tables of varying sizes, all made of a dark oak wood. I swear, this place is going overboard with wood.

We all found ourselves tables next to one another in the back corner of the room, where there were few people nearby to hear whatever conversations we might have. It was a little bit dim in terms of lighting, which made the whole ‘dining experience’ feel a little more detached at first, but with friends, that was quickly forgotten.

For once, Cloud had not sat in the center seat, but rather, the left side. Weather it was intentional or not, Tifa managed to snag the seat next to him before Aeris. The rest of us picked our own seats and went over the menus while Red sat on the floor, using his tail to flip pages. We placed our weapons in a collective pile underneath the table so no one would trip over them. We’re thoughtful of others, you know.

I never paid attention to what everyone else had ordered, but I picked the breakfast special; Bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, and a coffee. I want to eat a lot before we leave, just because it could be a while before we eat anything this good again.

We passed our menus to the waitress and she went off. I should say; she was quite startled when Red ordered his own food. It was a comical sight.

Red was the first to start conversation, strangely enough.

I assume we will be traveling through the Corel mountains, correct?” the red feline supposed.

Barret’s head lowered even more and his frown deepened.

Now that I think about it, maybe another reason he was drinking so much was because he knew Corel would be a stop we’d have to make. It’s a sore subject for him from what I saw in the game. To this day, he still feels responsible for the once prosperous little town’s sudden transition into heaps of garbage ruled by a bunch of scrubs that were once his friends.

Cloud nodded as he reached for the tall complimentary glass of water the waitress offered us all until our meals came.

It looks that way. Hojo muttered something about heading west when I asked him about Sephiroth. That’s really the only way we can go too. The mountains in this area are pretty difficult to climb without the proper gear, so it’s best to take the path through Mt. Corel west of here. There’s a reactor and some railroad tracks around that part, but a train hasn’t gone through there in sometime, from what I’ve heard.” Cloud explained to give us a bit of understanding.

As Cloud sipped on his water, Aeris added to the insight our leader had provided.

The item shop owner said some of the monsters on that mountain attack with petrifaction. I picked up some ‘soft’ for the trip.”

Oh yeah, that reminds me.” Yuffie cut in, “When I was selling materia, one of the customers said something pretty random, which was weird…but any whom, he said some unusual monsters have been sighted in the Mt. Corel area lately.” Yuffie grinned, “Course, they ain’t a match for the ‘Great Ninja Yuffie’, but I just thought I should mention it.”

I snickered, but not because of Yuffie’s ego boosting statement at the end. It was the fact that someone randomly gave her information. In an RPG, it’s normal for people to do that sort of thing. As for the strange monsters, my guess is that Walter is screwing around again.

I watched Aeris steal a quick glance at Cloud before quickly looking away. She smiled enough that her dimples showed, and looked down at the table.

Tifa leaned back in her chair and wrapped her knuckles on the table in thought for a moment.

Hm. Where do you think Sephiroth is going? He seemed to be carrying pieces of Jenova, but what do you think he’s planning to do?” Tifa pondered.

He said something like ‘the time is now’…” Aeris added.

Cloud finished sipping his water and placed the cup back on the table quite loudly, showing his rising anger at the subject of the platinum haired ex-general.

At this point, it’s hard to say what he’s after. Regardless, we’ll stop him before his plans come to fruition.”

Aeris giggled, “Well said, Mr. Leader.”

Cloud smiled.

“…blah.” I said quietly. But Aeris had still heard me apparently, as she offered me a quizzical look. I looked down at my glass of water and took a sip.

It’s not that I don’t like Aeris. I like her a lot. She’s awesome, and I’ll always remember the help she gave me back in the Shinra building. I just support Cloud and Tifa being a couple more than Cloud and Aeris. But then, I probably shouldn’t pass judgment. The relationships between people as seen in person are quite different then one would see through playing the game.

I sighed and made a mental note to never do something so rude when Cloud and Aeris are flirting ever again.

About five minutes later, our food arrived. Rather then plowing into it like some kind of animal as I had done yesterday, I took my time and ate slowly, enjoying every bite. I took a moment to glance down at Red and watch him eat. I was half expecting him to eat like a well refined gentleman or something, but I guess that’s a little much to expect from someone that has no hands. He was eating just as a dog would if you put a plate of food in front of him.

During the course of our meal, there was little conversation. Mostly, everyone was just enjoying their food and thinking about their own respective problems.

Through the silence, I found myself listening to scattered bits and pieces of stranger’s talks. It was weird somehow, listening to talk of families, friends, jobs, and activities. Things they like and dislike. An entire world inside my playstation. Would that make Walter ‘God’ to these people? Maybe I shouldn’t go into that line of thought.

I bet if I asked a random person about who they were and if they had a family, they’d answer like any normal person in my own world would. As I’ve said before, I do consider this world and its people to be real, at least to me. I still find it just a little bit weird at times though.

Now that everyone had finished their breakfast, Cloud crossed his arms, feeling contently full. He pushed his chair back and reached below the table, pulling up his Mythril sword and placing it on his back.

Does anyone have any last minute preparations to make before we go?” he asked.

Tifa lifted her hand, “I do. If the monsters in Mt. Corel use petrifaction, I’m going to get some ‘soft’.”

I should get some too I guess…in case one of you happens to turn to stone.” Yuffie followed.

I stood up along with everyone else and fished my weapon from the floor underneath the table.

I need to make a quick stop at the condo. I should only be a few minutes.” I stated.

Cloud nodded to us all. “Fine. I’ll take care of our meal. The rooms were paid for up front. Meet at the front of town in 10 minutes, alright?”

As we all pushed our chairs in and made our way towards the stairs, I glanced over my shoulder and found that Aeris had stayed behind with Cloud. I would have sighed, but I do recall saying to be non judgmental not too long ago.

I felt Barret’s hand usher me forward, so I kept moving down the stairs and into the lobby.

I had planned on phoning Erika at some point to ask about the weird eyes I activated. Seeing now as a good time, I reached into my vest pocket and pulled out the small black cell phone she had given me.

I still need to find a better place to put that thing.

I exited the hotel and strode towards the condo near the town’s entrance, taking no notice of where the others had gone. I hit the auto-dial for Erika’s number and waited.

By the time I had reached the condo, there was still no answer. With a sigh, I hit the off button and slid the device back into my pocket. Either she has her phone off, is ignoring me, or is dead. I really can’t say.

I wanted to make this fast, so I entered the condo and paid little attention to my surroundings. I walked through a hallway until I reached the end, went down a set of stairs, and found a darkly lit room with two boxes in one corner. I opened the first, which held a small circular silver ring with red inscriptions running along the sides.

A man at the far side of the room turned towards me, “Oh? Those are gifts from the owner-“

Thanks.” I cut him off as I ran back upstairs with my new ring.

I left the condo, forgetting to grab the pair of gloves I would have found in the other box for Tifa. She kicks enough ass anyways, it’s no big deal.

I glance down at the shiny little ring. For something so small, you’d never expect it to completely drain fire attacks. My question is: because there are no hit points now, what will the ring do? In the game, it converted damage into life. Will it now convert it to stamina? Or perhaps MP? It’s possible it’ll still heal wounds, although that somehow seems unlikely. Either way, it’ll be handy. I slipped the ring on my right hand and headed for the entrance.

A few members of the group were already waiting. Barret looked like he wanted some alone time, as he leaned against the wall with his eyes downcast. I shook my head, feeling bad for him on the inside. Giving him some kind of uplifting speech isn’t possible either, both because he wouldn’t want one and because I’m not supposed to know all about his past.

I settled down in the shade provided by a near by structure, placed my scythe down, and took a seat on the sand next to Red. His eye glanced at me for a moment before looking ahead again at nothing in particular.

I crossed my arms and closed my eyes for a moment, deciding to just wait for the others. The only people here at the moment weren’t the most talkative ones at the moment. I suppose the silence is better then listening to a certain loud ninja yammer on.

As I waited, I started picking up clumps of sand in my hand and then letting it sift through my fingers, just for something to do. My thoughts lingered around the one part of my most recent flashback I had not delved in to. The comfortable closeness Erika and I had shared as we left the Temple of the Ancients. It would be naive of me to attribute this and all other things to just being good friends; Either we had some kind of relationship with one another, and I have no idea how deep it went; or we were siblings. We do seem to share a lot of features. We’re both about the same size, and we both have the same color of brown hair. There’s no telling what her eyes would look like without the Byakugan at this point.

Bah.” I murmured aloud, dropping the clump of sand from my hand for the last time.

I stood up and brushed my pants off. I could hear the ever growing voice of Yuffie not far off. I glanced in their direction and found Yuffie telling what sounded like a story while Tifa smiled and listened politely.

Red sat up as the commotion drew closer.

-and then I hit him with my super spinning twister kick! BAM!” Yuffie exclaimed, making all kinds of wild gestures as she spoke and even going so far as to demonstrate the aerial maneuver.

Tifa giggled in amusement at the younger girl’s energy and exuberance.

As the two joined us, Tifa was quick to notice Barret’s rapidly plummeting demeanor. She frowned empathically and placed her gloved hand on the man’s shoulder. He glanced at her for a moment, and the woman offered him a gentle smile.

Are you okay?” Tifa asked.

Barret forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Jus’ a lil hung over still I guess?” Barret wasn’t that fantastic of a liar in my opinion. Of course, it is possible that it only seems that way since I have the foreknowledge that he’s lying.

Tifa lifted her hand off his shoulder and eyed him doubtingly.

Okay. If you want to talk though…”

It’s nothin’, I told ya.”

From what I remember, Barret never talked about Corel with Tifa. She has no idea what’s eating him up inside.

Yuffie plopped down to Red’s left, giving a heavy sigh.

What the hell is taking Cloud and Aeris, huh?” she complained.

The girl grinned wide as she looked at Red’s shinning red fur and long flaming mane. Sneakily, she reached her hand out to try and pet him. Red’s eye darted to the left, noticing the girl’s movements. The feline stood and began walking away. As a reaction, Yuffie shot her arm out quicker, determined to get in at least one stroke, but Red only increased his speed in response, and the most Yuffie got was to feel part of his tail before he had slipped away.

Hey!” Yuffie called out, “Don’t be so selfish, I just want to pet you. Just once, I swear. Let me do it once and I won’t bother you again.” she pleaded, clasping her hands together in beggar’s fashion.

Red shook his head, eying her for any sudden movements. “I do not wish to be petted.”

Yuffie Kisaragi sighed disappointedly as she rose to her feet.

Alright. If you don’t want me to pet you, I guess I’ll just have to respect-hyah!” Yuffie cried as she suddenly dove at the red animal. Not at all surprised by this, Red readied himself as Yuffie came flying down at him. With graceful speed, he bounded over the girl and landed smoothly on the sand behind her while she continued to fall forward and slide slightly on the sand.

I chuckled, “I thought ninja were supposed to be graceful. What the hell was that?”

Yuffie growled in annoyance and pushed herself up by her hands, spitting out a bit of sand. “Bite me.”

Tifa suppressed a giggle and instead opted to play peace maker. She lifted both her hands up, “Now now you two, don’t fight.” She admonished lightly.

From the corner of her eye, Tifa could make out to approaching figures. She glanced their way and found the figures to be that of Cloud and Aeris.

Hey you two.”

Cloud stepped into position in center and offered her a friendly wave back before addressing us as a whole.

Everyone set?”

Yes.” We all said at once, at exactly the same time. I blinked awkwardly and glanced around at everyone before laughing to myself.

Our leader nodded. “Good. Let’s mosey then.”

As we all sifted out of Costa Del Sol, Yuffie took position next to Aeris. She nudged her lightly, “Hey, what were you two doing, huh?” she asked almost accusingly.

In response, Aeris patted her item pouch. “We bought a few ‘soft’ and I thought I’d buy us all a few things too, see?” she explained as she pulled a few bars from one of the pockets of her pouch.

Ohh, protein bars, huh? The good kind or the one that tastes like cardboard?”

Um, the good kind.” She paused. “I hope.”

We passed under the bridge, and the sand beneath our feet hit a merging point with the fields outside the town. We continued along, until the hot sandy beaches of Costa Del Sol were left behind, and exchanged for lush green grasses. The change in temperature was almost immediate, becoming noticeably cooler.

I surveyed the surrounding land a little more; something I had neglected to look into in depth when I walked along the beaches yesterday. The mountainous area was many miles away and appeared quite small from our current position. Because of the geography surrounding the mountains, we have to head south of Costa Del Sol a ways, and then wind around some slanting land until we can head north into the mountains. From there, there will be a long mountain road that leads west until we reach the actual entry into Mt. Corel. This is what I remember from the game at least. Was that too confusing?

Hey Cloud?” I called up to the front of the group.

He glanced over his shoulder, “What?”

I picked up my speed so I’d be a little closer to him, and spoke up once more.

How long will it take us to reach Mt. Corel?”

Hm. If I were to guess, I’d say that barring any long monster encounters, three or four hours to reach the road and another four or so to travel past that.” He estimated.

My shoulders slumped. “Aw man, so we’re gonna be walking for like 8 hours?”

He smirked lightly. “Well, the world is a big place, you know.”

Too big. Why don’t we ride chocobos? I’m sure there is tracks around here somewhere…” I trailed off, glancing around while continuing to walk.

At my side, Red shook his head. “While it is true that chocobo can be found near these parts, they are small in number and a rare occurrence. What is more, I don’t believe any one of us has any greens?”

Ah, Barret probably threw the choco greens out after he caught some for us back near the ranch. Without greens, getting a chocobo to stay put is pretty difficult.

Barret glanced to the side, “Sorry kiddo.”

I let out a breath. “It’s fine. I guess I could use the exercise. And, if we run into any monsters, it’ll be training.” I told myself. Yes, this wouldn’t be so bad.

Aeris continued walking along Cloud’s side. She tilted her head in his direction, “Will we be stopping to rest before climbing the mountains?”

Cloud nodded once more. “The mountains could be dangerous. The unusual monster sightings bother me a bit too. Crossing over Mt. Corel would be a bad idea if we were fatigued.”

From then on, it seemed as though conversation would drift into silence. That was, until Tifa broke the growing silence. She stopped short after catching sight of something most unusual. Before Cloud could take another step, she placed her hand on his shoulder momentarily, halting him.

What is it, Tifa?” Cloud asked.

Look.” She instructed, pointing not too far off.

We all followed with our eyes, until we caught sight of what would be described as a large hopping toy. It was oval in shape like an egg and easily 7 feet tall. It had what appeared to be round glassy eyes and a painted mouth with a crease in the center of its body. The brown toy continued hopping in our direction silently, probably lacking in any vocal instruments. I remember this creature from FF7. It can spit our smaller copies of itself. It’s called ‘Grangalan’

Barret raised an eyebrow. “Da fuck?”

That’s almost as weird as the demonic houses in the Midgar slums.” Cloud commented.

The egg shaped monster continued hopping in our direction, increasing the length of its bounds.

There appears to be another this way.” Red stated.

And indeed there was. To our side, another similar creature was making its way in our direction with notable speed. With nothing but wide open field in all directions, all we could do was fight.

Without needing words, our group split into 2 fractions. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret stepped forward to take on the first creature while Yuffie, Red, Aeris, and I moved to deal with the second.

Cloud drew his weapon quickly and went into a defensive posture, waiting to see just how such a strange monster would attack.

The Grangalan took one last hop before its top and bottom sections parted, and a large silver disk came shooting out towards Cloud.

Cloud moved to the side as the sharp disk flew past him and began scraping itself along the ground, bringing up blades of grass and bits of soil.

Red leapt out of the way as the disk continued moving onward, nearly hitting his exposed exterior.

Our leader charged forward and slashed horizontally at the monster’s center, but it rolled to its side and launched another disk.

As Cloud evaded, Barret began firing his Assault gun. The monster began rolling away, but not before a few of the scattered bullets blew sliver of wood from its body.

Regaining its composure, the Grangalan parted its sections once more. Barret braced himself, expecting a disk, but was surprised when 3 smaller replicas of the monster hopped into view, ready to enter the battle. These smaller versions were roughly 4 feet tall and held the same appearance.

The main monster prepared another disk.

From above, Tifa came down with a drop kick. The top of the creature’s body cracked, but the fact that it did not break completely showed the wood was quite sturdy and possible magically enhanced.

Tifa flipped back, and the moment she landed on her feet, sprung forward and sent a pushing kick into the egg, sending it rolling back.

A Grangalan Jr rolled at Cloud, but the spiky haired man leapt up into the air and held his sword firmly, before driving it down into the monster. It broke through completely, breaking the creature into assorted pieces of wood.

With our group, Yuffie hurled her shuriken at the demonic toy, only to have it clash against the high velocity disks it was prone to firing.

As Yuffie’s weapon returned to her, I ran forward with Red, my scythe still on my back.

Flame Thrower!” I shouted.

I blew out a stream of fire, but Red calculated its position and took aim.

Fire!” he responded.

Red’s own blast of fire shot forward, and the egg found itself unable to dodge both.

Our attacks both met with the monster and triggered an eruption of fire and smoke, as the wooden base of the creature was quickly burnt.

I relaxed, thinking it was done, when a series of smaller silver disks flew through the thick mass of black smoke and directly towards me.

I gasped.

Barrier!” Yuffie chanted.

The approaching disks clanged against a faintly grey colored light surrounding my body and fell down on the grass harmlessly.

Three smaller wooden eggs leapt through the smoke, attacking with another series of disks.

Aeris ducked under one and leapt over another, then batted the last away with her staff. With the threat neutralized, she closed her eyes momentarily. Her staff began to levitate in front of her body as she focused magical energy.

Bolt!” she shouted.

In sync, the three eggs hopped forward and parted sections. As they opened up, an additional 3 smaller eggs could be seen hopping out into the open. But they never had a chance to do anything.

A series of large lightning bolts reigned down from above, striking the eggs with excellent precision. The closely packed wave of electrical bolts made short work of the monsters, blasting them apart into singed pieces of wood.

Tifa sidestepped a disk and brought her hands out.

Quake!”

Just as the egg landed, the earth tore up from below, smashing it apart. Its pieces lay scattered at Tifa’s feet.

With the battle over, I surveyed the area. Nothing more then broken pieces of wood remained. No blood and nothing to suggest a living organ or artificial life source. What had driven the monsters?

Our two groups moved to join each other in the center of what had been out battle field. As we walked, Red offered some ‘helpful advice’.

Grant.” Red said. “In the future, you should not be so quick to lower your guard.” He said quietly.

Yeah.” Yuffie chided, having heard Red’s words. “I might not be around to save ya next time.” Her tone sounded half serious and half joking.

I sighed and slid my hands shamefully into my pockets.

Sorry. Lapse of judgment on my part.” I apologized.

We had all joined up again and Cloud looked us over. We were all in near perfect shape. The battle had not been at all difficult, and not one of us had actually sustained any damage. It is true however, that if Yuffie had not cast Barrier on me, I could have been wounded. I’m confident I could have avoided a fatal blow, but I’m also sure that I would not have been able to completely avoid the attack.

We continued along our projected path south, and I stuck to the back like usual. Yuffie had been lingering around the middle of the group and I wanted to thank her for saving my life…just not in front of everyone else.

Yuffie.” I said as casually as I could.

The ninja girl’s head perked up and she quickly turned herself around, walking backwards as she waited for me to say something.

I gestured with my hand for her to come closer.

What do you want?” Yuffie asked as she joined me at my side.

Uh. Well…” I began.

You’re welcome.” She cut me off.

I furrowed my eyebrows. Predicting my confusion, she responded.

I knew you’d thank me. Since you didn’t do it before, I figured that’s why you called me over.”

How’d you know I’d thank you though?”

You’re that kind of person. Duh.” She grinned, placing her hands behind her head.

“…Oh. Okay, go back to the middle. You are no longer needed.”

Yuffie opened her mouth, faking shock. To emphasize it, she placed her hand on her heart, as though I had wounded her.

Grant, you’re trying to get rid of me! How cruel!”

I held back my smirk.

I like peace and quiet.”

Hmph.” Yuffie crossed her arms defiantly.

Look.” I said quietly. I pointed to Red, who was walking silently among the others. “His back is turned. You’re a ninja and all. Now would be a good chance to sneak up on him and pet him, right?”

Yuffie was quiet for a moment, mentally calculating how likely it was that she’d be able to pull if off.

There are some stones up ahead…maybe if I did a replacement with one of them?”

I nodded furiously, “Yes…yes, exactly. That would work for sure.” I really didn’t know. I just wanted to keep her busy so she wouldn’t bother me.

She smiled devilishly. “I’ll do it.”

Not too far ahead, Red abruptly stopped. In turn, so did Yuffie and me, both wondering if he had heard.

I can hear you.” Red said, confirming our thoughts.

Damn, his hearing is even better then I thought. We were talking pretty quietly and he was a fair bit away. He’s a feline, but to be honest, I’m not sure how superior a cat’s hearing is to that of a human.

Yuffie snapped her fingers, “Damn it.”

Red shook his head and continued along, moving to the very front of the group where Cloud and Aeris were engaged in discussion.

AVALANCHE continued traveling with little encounters from this point on. As per Cloud’s predictions, we had indeed reached the mountain road in about three and a half hours.

I groaned as I peered down the road, unable to see any end to it. On each side of the stony road were rocky hills. If someone were to ambush us here, we’d be pretty fucked. The height on each side was several stories tall. One could take refuge behind natural barriers such as large stones of inverted areas in the terrain to launch a powerful offensive attack. But, seldom would we meet monsters capable of such a tactical maneuver.

One thing I did note was that while I could spot the occasional traveler coming or going down this road, monsters were no where in sight, no matter where I looked. Because of this fact, I had allowed myself to slip into a more relaxed mental state, not bothering to worry about monster attacks. It was the kind of thing I had been warned about not long ago, but honestly, the place is void of enemies.

Hey.” I said to no one in particular. “Why aren’t there monsters around?”

I was surprised when it was Barret that answered my question.

The road’s got bits of materia scattered around both entry points to the road. Most towns nowadays do too. ‘Enemy Away’ I think.” Barret explained.

Materia is made by refined and processed Mako energy. Sometimes materia is created naturally, in which case you can often find far more powerful materia. The more basic kinds are processed in factories owned by Shinra. They set towns and villages up with Enemy Away to thwart potential monster attacks.” Cloud elaborated.

Barret snorted, “Yeah, one way they build up trust before screwin’ ya over.”

Hm. I see.” I said, not really sure what else I could say.

Enemy Away is a kind of material that created an unseen field that propels weak, violent monsters. I guess that would explain why I’ve never seen a monster go inside of Kalm, but rather, hang out in the general area outside of it. As for the Midgar slums, a place as poor as that wouldn’t be able to afford such a defense, and it’s doubtful that Shinra would care enough about those poor bastards to pay for them.

As we traveled down this seemingly endless road, I got to thinking.

You can tell how everyone is feeling by their position when we travel.

With Cloud, he always takes the leadership position, but the further ahead he stands when he leads, the more detached he is feeling. I suspect it is times like those when he thinks about his position and about Sephiroth.

With Tifa, when she stands close to Cloud, it means that she wants some kind of exchange and interaction with him. It varies, because there are times when I think she feels overshadowed by Aeris, and so she hangs back a little more. Then, when Tifa is somewhere else, it’ll usually be because of something surrounding that person, like a recent event. For example, when we left Costa Del Sol, Tifa was sticking close to Barret.

Barret generally stays closer to Cloud. My reasoning for this is that he wants to establish at least some authority. There is a silent understanding among all of us, that should something happen to Cloud, Barret will fill the role of leader. In that sense, I guess he would be ‘number 2’ in AVALANCHE. As such, he feels he should take a more frontal position. But today, he’s sticking back a bit more. He’s doing well now in covering up his feelings, but like I said; you can tell how someone is feeling by where they stand.

Red always sticks near the back, the only exception being when he wanted to escape Yuffie. He isn’t very social yet, though he does still talk. But when he does, it is almost never about trivial things. It’s when he has something he feels is important to say. His mood is usually always the same, just because at this point, he isn’t as affected by our own dealings so much. He’s traveling with us, but he isn’t really a member of AVALANCHE yet.

Aeris is a bit harder because she’s always near Cloud. The only take I can offer is that when she is happy, she likes being around him and when she is sad, she needs to be around him to feel better.

As for Yuffie, the person she sticks to is dependent on what she’s looking for. When she wants conflict, she’ll hang near Barret since he still thinks of her as a kid. When she wants to be treated kindly, she’ll talk to one of the girls. Red is mostly for her amusement, I believe. I haven’t seen her in a crappy mood yet though, so I’m not sure where she’d stand when that happens.

And that, my friends, is how it is. I’m not going to bother analyzing myself.

Traveling down the road was becoming painfully dull. We only had about an hour left by this point in time, but conversation had slowed considerably. There is only so much you can talk about over the course of almost 7 hours, after all.

I had thought of trying Erika again, but with Red’s overly sensitive ears, there was a good chance he would hear whatever I said to her. I dismissed that thought and continued walking along, my legs feeling a bit on the heavy side.

For the most part, I’ve been going over what Aeris had told me last night. The idea of controlling magic is similar in a number of ways to the idea of controlling chakra in ‘Naruto’. If I think about it like that, it should be a little easier for me. And so, I recalled everything I knew of both magic and chakra and let the ideas swish around in my head for a while. But knowing and doing are two different things. Even if I think I may have it, I still need to try it out to make sure.

Finally, we reached the end of the road. When I saw it curve in the distance, I nearly jumped for joy. We reached the turn, and from that point, the end had been in sight.

We collectively stepped off the hard stone and made our way onto the much more inviting grass. It seemed to be a darker shade then the grasses near Costa Del Sol, possible because of its position near the mountains and the current level of the sun. I really didn’t care, to be honest.

I ran onto the grass and immediately fell down on my back, stretching my arms and legs out.

Thank gods!” I cried, “That was such a long and boring walk!”

Heh.” Cloud smirked. “I guess we’re taking a break here.”

The group all bunched together, sitting on the grass comfortably in a spaced out circle. I sat myself up and reached into my pouch to pull out a few granola bars and a slightly warm can of juice.

Aeris sat down tiredly, wiping a small bit of sweat off of her forehead. Out of us all, she had the least amount of stamina, and a walk almost 8 hours in length may have been just a little draining for her. But, in spite of it all, she reached into her bag and pulled several protein bars out.

Would anyone like one?” she offered kindly.

Everyone answered at once:

Me please!”

I’ll have one.”

I’m okay.”

Sure.”

I do not require sustenance at this time.”

I examined my pouch and confirmed that I had purchased a bar for myself. Closing it back up, I declined her offer.

No thanks, Aeris.”

She nodded and began distributing bars among the group.

I took a sip of my warm apple juice.

Aeris placed her hands in her lap and closed her eyes as she let out a small yawn. The bottom of her pink dress had smudges of brown dirt.

Cloud bit into his protein bar. His face gave no indication as to whether or not he liked it. I’m sure back when he was a soldier, he ate all kinds of gross shit.

He swallowed and made a general announcement to the group, “We’ll rest for half an hour before we move on.”

Hey, these don’t suck! Good picking, Aeris!” Yuffie complimented with a full mouth.

I looked to Red, “Aren’t you hungry?”

He shook his head, “No. My tribe could go days without food if needed.”

Hm.” I hummed with slight interest.

I peered around and stopped when I noticed the tall rocky surface not far off. I was sated for a moment longer before nodding to myself.

I finished eating my granola bar and chugged down my drink before standing up with my scythe and placing it on my back.

Since we had half an hour, I may as well do something useful. My plan was to try out some higher level magic and hope I can get the hang of it, or at the very least, improve.

A few members of the group glanced at me curiously for a moment.

I closed my eyes and emptied my mind momentarily.

Nothing exists right now, I told myself. I kept it all a blank for a few moments longer, and slowly began building it up, focusing only on my enemy skill materia and nothing more.

A few times, my thoughts tried to instinctually wander, but I kept a firm grip on my concentration.

Slowly, I began channeling magical energy into my materia. In spite of my efforts, when I concentrated, I could notice small amounts missing their mark and leaking into the air uselessly. I made sure to minimize waste as much as possible.

I opened my eyes, and now linked the materia to the mountain. Nothing exists but this materia and that mountain.

I realize in a battle, I’d need to be aware of anything and everything, but for the first step of learning higher level spells, this is how I’m going to do it.

Maintaining concentration, the air near the wall slowly…ever so slowly…began heating up. It took a full minute before I could feel the heat, as though I were standing within close proximity of a massive bonfire. But with my fire ring, even if I had somehow targeted myself, I’d be okay.

Beta!” I shouted.

The air let out one last hot wave before it rapidly began cooling.

There had been no massive explosion. There was no burnt grass or damage mountain. I had made nothing more then hot air.

Sighing, I tiredly fell to my knees for a moment and began panting. That kind of concentration wasn’t something I was used to. Mentally, I felt quite drained.

After a few more moments, I stood up and turned around, noticing they had been observing me, and made my way back over.

I flopped down onto the grass and rubbed my temples slowly.

You’re getting better.” Aeris commented, “You’ll have it soon, I’m sure.”

Yeah.” Tifa nodded, “You come up with new techniques quickly enough. I’m sure you’ll learn Beta in no time.”

I hope so. I’m definitely not up for trying it again for a little bit.

Thanks. I’ll try hard.” I replied with a small smile.

Yuffie crossed her arms, “I’m a better ninja.” She said childishly. She’s probably annoyed that techniques come so easy to me. It’s not like I work that hard to learn them, although I do have to work a bit to improve some. But for her, I have to wonder how long it took her to learn what she knows?

Not wanting to get into an argument right now, and because she was actually right, I was quick to agree.

I know.” I nodded to her.

She smiled happily and finished her protein bar off with a large and unlady like bite.

After a few minutes, my head was fine. I still didn’t want to try again for a little bit, so I thought of other potential things I could be doing with this time.

I snapped my fingers as an idea formed. Standing up once more, I dragged my scythe along with me and tossed it a few meters away. I then backed away slightly and focused on its position.

My plan this time was to work on my Body Flicker.

I took a deep breath, and mentally told myself “I WILL appear within a foot of that scythe!”

I clasped my hands together in an Ox seal, and disappeared in a heavy puff of grey smoke.

Several yards away from my weapon, another wave of smoke formed in the air, as my form appeared a second later.

I swayed my hands among the smoke and once it dispelled, frowned at seeing how off the mark I was.

Shit, I can’t do anything right.” I cursed angrily.

Hey, that’s the move you used in our spar, right?” Tifa questioned, having recognized both the seal and the produced effects.

I turned her way and nodded, “Yep. I’m supposed to appear where I want to though. At the moment, I could appear several inches or several yards away from where I want to. Seems to be random.”

Just out of curiosity, how is it that you keep pulling all these moves out of your ass?” Yuffie asked.

Because.”

That isn’t an answer.”

Sure it is. You just aren’t looking deep enough.” I smirked.

Yuffie was about to stand up, presumably to scream at me, when Cloud’s calm but firm voice halted her.

Grant, Yuffie, enough.”

It’s weird, not that long ago when he wasn’t the leader, his attitude consisted of a whole bunch of ‘whatever’s’. Now he’s fallen into a completely different role, and quite fast I might add.

The ninja girl sat back down and ‘hmphed’, crossing her arms and looking away.

I shifted my focus back onto the scythe. Enough time should have passed that I could use Body Flicker again.

I brought my hands together, disappeared in a burst of smoke, and found myself only slightly closer this time around. I grumbled another curse and waited a few minutes before trying again.

Cloud had allowed the rest period to go on a little longer then initially planned. About forty minutes later, and after numerous failed attempts at the Body Flicker, I collected my belongings and placed my scythe on my back.

I managed to decrease the variance among my flickers slightly so I would not appear quite so far away, but it was by no means precise yet.

I picked up my pace and caught up with the group, maintaining my usual position. I had made eye contact with Yuffie for a moment as she decided on talking to Aeris for a bit. She held this look for a moment before looking away, and I’m not entirely sure, but I think she went ‘hmph’ when she did so. Basically, she’s gonna be a brat and be mad at me for a while.

I turned to Barret, “Girls are weird sometimes, huh?”

Heh.” He replied.

I looked down for a moment, desperately wanting to lift his mood, which he was so crappily hiding.

Hey Barret.” I said, looking back up. “When’s the last time you talked to Marlene?”

He rubbed his beard for a moment with his human hand. “Not since Midgar. Aeris’s mom was plannin’ on taking her to Kalm, I know.”

I nodded, already knowing this.

I see. Well, I know some people in Kalm. If you’d like, I could call Glen up and have him get the number to wherever Marlene is staying. Then you could talk to heron the phone, right?” I suggested, hoping there wasn’t some flaw in this plan that I had overlooked.

Yeah…” Barret replied, slowly nodding. His voice became more and more enthusiastic. “Yeah, that could work. Could ya do that?”

I nodded, “For sure.”

He watched as I pulled my cell phone out from my vest pocket and began dialing Glen’s number. I had been sure to memorize it so when we were on the road, I could call him from time to time.

The phone rang a few times before there was a click.

Hello?” came Glen’s hearty voice.

Hey Glen.” I said.

Grant? That you?”

Yeah, it is.”

Haha, good to hear from you! How are you?”

Not too bad. I’m on the road right now. Listen, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”

Name it, boy.”

A woman and a younger child should have moved into Kalm recently, and if they haven’t, they should be soon. Can you explain to them that you’d like their number so you could give it to me next time I call? Tell the little girl she can talk to her dad this way.” I explained.

Got it. That’s no problem. The two you’re talking about may already be in Kalm, I’ll have to check. I’ll get back to you on that, alright?”

Alright, thanks. I’ll call you though.”

Reason being, I don’t want to think Erika is phoning with some more answers and get Glen. Plus, if he had my number, there’s the chance he’d phone like all the time just to make sure I haven’t died yet. I know I’m an ass, so what?

“…Alright.” Glen acknowledged, sounding a bit disappointed.

I’ll call you in a little bit, alright? Take care.”

You too son.”

And with that, I hit the off button and closed my phone, sliding back into its home in my front pocket.

I looked Barret’s way and nodded. “He’ll get their number. Next time I call, we can take it down and you can call.”

Barret smiled warmly, a definite change in his prior mood.

Thanks kid…really.”

I looked ahead and noticed Tifa had been listening. Startled, she averted her gaze top the approaching road of Mt. Corel, pretending she had heard nothing. Of course if anything, her reaction only made her look more suspicious.

I chuckled lightly.

Soon after out continued traveling, we found ourselves before the path into Mt. Corel. The reason we had chosen to take this route was that a number of roads had been built in, the terrain was easier to navigate, and train tracks suspended high above the ground would make passage far easier. So much so, that this route was much preferred over the alternatives that were available to us.

In the game, covering this area did not take long at all, but in the game, it also took 2 minutes to go from Costa Del Sol to here. Point being: this could take forever for all I know. Good thing we rested.

Let’s move.” Cloud instructed to us, in a semi enthusiastic voice.

We went deeper into Mt. Corel at his command. When we first entered, there was a small road which led to upward sloping earth.

I glanced up at the sky, and judging from the looks of it and the amount of time we had walked, my estimate is that it’s around 5 o’ clock. With any luck, we’ll be through here before it starts getting dark.

Together, we climbed up the steep soil and continued along another stone tiled path until we reached a large grey boulder that blocked the narrow path up.

Cloud lowered himself down for a moment before taking a large leap over it. For Tifa, Red, and Yuffie, it was much the same story. Barret, being not quite as nimble, took a little longer, opting to climb above the boulder and then use his massive and powerful arm to yank Aeris up to his level. When my turn came, I didn’t want to have to be pulled up, so I brought my hands together and sacrificed a small bit of stamina to Body Flicker up to the same level as everyone else.

With everyone together, we were moving once more, as the land continued to go in an uphill fashion.

We spotted a middle aged bald traveler leaning against a stone and taking a break.

Cloud’s first instinct was to ignore him, as was everyone else’s. Being only a common traveler, stopping to say ‘hi’ seemed pointless.

As we moved past the traveler, he quickly shot up and held his hand out to us all.

Wait!” he urged.

The group, myself included, stopped to look back at this strange older man. He was dressed like a common townsperson, in a white shirt and dark green overalls. He rubbed his graying hair momentarily and shook his head disapprovingly at us.

Be careful.” He instructed us. “That path is dangerous. I tried crossing over, but…it’s disturbing…” he trailed off.

Aeris tilted her head, “What is, mister?”

The older man sighed. “The monsters are up to something, I swear. They all seem to be banding together. Even when they saw me, they never bothered attacking me. I thought of shooting them…” he said, patting the rifle at his side, “But I’m telling you, it’s eerie. That path gives me a bad feeling.”

Tifa placed a hand on her chin, “Strange…What do you think is going on, Cloud?”

Cloud shrugged, seeming to take note of the man’s words, but not enough to change any of our plans.

No idea. We have to go through regardless.”

The man tried to warn us once more, “I’m telling you, it’s dangerous…why not wait a while? Maybe they’ll leave or settle or something?”

Cloud shook his head. “Thanks for the concern, but we’ll be fine. Let me ask you something though…have you seen anyone else come through here?”

The man nodded, “Yes, a man dressed in black. I warned him too but he completely ignored me.”

Cloud narrowed his eyes, “We’re definitely crossing if that’s the case. How long ago was this?”

The man hummed for a moment, glancing down at his wrist watch.

About noon or so?”

Geez, how long have you been here?” Yuffie commented.

Too long.”

Cloud turned towards the sun in the distance, which could be seen just over the top of the next hill.

Thank you for your help. Let’s get a move on, everyone.”

The man sighed in defeat and sat back down on the soil, closing his eyes again.

As we reached the top of this hill and followed a dirt path that led us to a set of narrow tracks. In the distance when you looked out, you could see what remains of Corel. Barret had made a conscious effort not to look.

I stepped to Cloud’s side, desiring to discuss something with him. Before I had even spoken, he glanced sideways at me.

Something wrong?” he asked.

I nodded, “Yeah. What the guy said about monsters banding together…when you combine that with the ‘unusual monster sightings’, it’s pretty weird. Knowing the way things work, and considering how we really need to get through here, I believe the monsters won’t be able to resist screwing with us.” I deducted.

Cloud chuckled, “That logic is a bit pessimistic, isn’t it?”

No. Murphy’s law, man.”

Well…” Cloud started, “I share your concerns, as I’m sure everyone else does. But we can’t give up just because of the possibility that we’ll encounter more resistance then we expected. All we can do it be on our guard and keep our eyes open.”

Alright, that makes sense.”

The narrow train tracks had led to a towering mako reactor centered in a large canyon in the earth. The structure was easily twenty stories tall and its exterior was comprised of shimmering metallic blue steel. The tracks continued from our current position and moved downward until it reached a large black platform surrounding the reactor.

Barret stared at the structure with a look of pure hatred and spite. I’ve seen Barret explode with anger before, but the look on his face at this moment instilled far more fear into me then any of his angry outbursts in the past had. His hatred for Shinra ran remarkably deep, and being surrounded by so many objects which invoke so many negative memories, you can notice it all bubbling to the surface.

With tightly clenched fists, Barret continued moving along.

Any member of the group that had noticed Barret’s angry complexion chalked it up to just being pissed at seeing a symbol of the Shinra, I believe. None of them had said anything.

Once we reached the black platform, I glanced over the edge and saw what appeared to be a bit of mako energy at the very bottom of this chasm.

I hurried along to catch up with the others, but I found myself worrying over unseen things; the lack of any monsters to be exact. All the moving through this area had taken about half an hour, all things considered. The fact that we haven’t seen any monster Bagnaranda, massive roosters, or demonic mushrooms was quite odd. Such monsters lived in these parts, from what I can recall.

Yes. This was really bothering me.

What followed from the reactor was a series of connected railroad tracks suspended so high off the ground at this point that falling would mean certain death. The structure of wooden tracks would rise and fall at different points, and occasionally branch into upper and lower levels. From here, I could see that the upper level had a large gap. I could also see a treasure box located right before the gap. Examination of the box revealed a ‘W-Machine gun’ arm piece for Barret.

After he studied it, he nodded to himself, convinced it was a superior weapon. He detached his current weapon along with the materia, and hucked it down the tracks, before placing the newer and superior weapon in its place.

The W-Machine gun was a shining white-ish color and could hold more ammunition. Other than its color, it looked similar to the submachine guns carried by Shinra soldiers often times. Another bonus it had was that it had had been magically enchanted to allow for greater materia growth.

As we passed by the upper level, I checked near the other end of the tracks gap to see if I could spot the ‘Manipulate’ materia that was present there in the game. I frowned, not noticing its presence. Maybe I was mistaken about its location.

The distance between the tracks and the ground gradually decreased, until we passed over an area where water was present, along with a few platforms and logs on the water’s surface. The bridge on the lower level of tracks which would have taken us to Corel, was currently raised. This left the upper level as our only option at the moment, until we could find a way past this obstacle.

Our group stopped and formed a small circle, so we might collectively spin ideas off one another.

Why don’t we cross the upper tracks and jump down to the lower level?” Aeris suggested.

That would be inadvisable.” Red commented. “The tracks here are old and largely unstable. The force caused by the weight of one individual falling from such a height may- “

Woah, hold on, I don’t care anymore.” Yuffie interrupted, waving her hands rudely at the feline.

Red closed his eye and let out a mildly annoyed sigh.

Hmm…” Tifa hummed.

The fighter jogged up ahead, taking optimal scouting position in the center of this stretch of tracks. She peered around, taking in every item and object, until her eyes rested on a small wooden shack not far along our current path.

Smiling, she spun around on and clapped her hands together.

Hey, why don’t we try that-“

Cloud suddenly shot forward at Tifa with a look of panic on his face.

Time slowed.

Tifa began turning around. There was a thud on the ground beneath her. She peered down by her feet to find a green pin less object at her feet. Her eyes went wide.

Tifa!” Cloud cried out.

I felt a lump form in my throat. My insides tightened. We all watched helplessly. Just as Cloud reached her…

The grenade went off. A large explosion followed, as pieces of wood and metal from the tracks flew out in all directions. I shielded my face with my hands, as the force of the explosion sent a strong wind my way.

Shit!” Barret shouted, readying his gun.

Cloud! Tifa!” Aeris shrieked, pulling her weapon and looking around in all directions in a panic.

When the smoke cleared, there was nothing in sight but air and a gap in the tracks.

I felt almost numb as I stared at the space where Cloud and Tifa had once been. A high pitch ringing resonated in my ears.

From below, I heard splashing. I peered down, just as a dozen green turtle heads poked out of the water. The monsters began emerging from the depths of the water, and started firing a series of high pressured water shots.

With little room, we did our best to avoid the surprise attacks. The blasts had enough pressure to blast the wood at our feet apart.

Barret aimed his gun at the water below and let loose a heavy stream of bullets, trying to wipe them out with a single line of fire.

In response, the turtles submerged in the water once more. The bullets pieced through the water like a knife, making dozens of ripples in the water a second, but with the monsters out of sight, there was no telling how effective it was.

Guys!” Aeris cried.

We turned to our left, from the way we had came.

Small mushrooms began crawling up from the spacing between tracks. The monsters were only a few feet tall and brown in color, with a red top. They had four mouths, each with razor sharp teeth, and yet no eyes. They were known as ‘Search Crown’s’

Yuffie threw her weapon at a collected group of them, but they hopped with surprisingly fast reaction speed, causing the weapon to fly directly under them.

As the shuriken was in the process of returning to Yuffie, Red charged forward and tackled them the moment they landed. Several went flying back, while other had simply leapt over the feline.

Given that we were fighting on a wooden structure, fire was a very bad idea.

The turtles known as ‘Bagnaranda’ appeared below again, sending another wave of water our way.

Shaking off my shock, I drew my weapon and charged the remaining mushrooms as I avoided the stream.

As the attacks hits, more pieces of wood blew off the track. A small sliver pierced through the back of my leg as I was charging. I stumbled forward and lost my balance, falling onto the tracks.

The Search Crown’s took this as their cue to attack and bared their teeth, hoping forward as a single unit.

As Barret continued his unsuccessful shots at the monstrous turtles in the water, Aeris ran forward with her staff and swung hard, clubbing the small monsters away and off the track.

Two remained and came down at me, but I quickly rolled to the side, careful not to roll off the track. I shot up and swung my scythe, hitting one with perfect accuracy. The other hopped away to make some distance and opened its four mouths.

Recognizing what it was about to do, I quickly shot a single snake out of my arm before it could fire its lasers. The snake bit into the mushroom, and it wailed as the venom began setting in. With a strong jerking motion, I used the snake to toss the monster off the track.

In the process of turning around, I saw a sudden rush of water coming my way from below. In a panic, I moved to the side, where a secondary blast had knocked out a part of the tracks. My left leg slipped through the hole, and I lost my grip on my scythe.

I watched with wide eyes as my weapon fell down onto the lower level of tracks, only inches away from the edge. A little more and it’d have been in the water.

Barret dodged another wave and hoped over the gap the grenade had made earlier. With more room to avoid now, Barret changed position to try and get better shots off.

The turtle monsters emerged again, but this time Barret was ready. He opened fire with calculated shots.

The first three Bagnaranda on the right were killed as the bullets ripped through the delicate skin on their faces and necks. Without a sound, the bloodied creatures sunk into the water, leaving a few red stains on the surface, which were quickly diluted by the surrounding water.

I tugged my leg out from the tracks and looked down below where my scythe rested.

A sudden shriek caught the attention of our group.

From a near by hill, a swarm of birds emerged. These small grey monsters known as ‘Thunder Kisses’ had blue tipped wings and thin beaks that could pump out electricity.

The birds all collectively cried out, as electricity crackled around their bills. In union, they fire a series of blue electrical needles.

While none had been aimed at Aeris, those of us that remained had great difficulty avoiding this last attack.

As Red danced about on all fours, he miscalculated one of his steps, and was nailed by a needle. The moment it had hit him, the electricity spread around his body, causing him to jerk for a moment and slump downwards.

Panting heavily, Red shook it off and focused magical power.

Fire!” he shouted, aiming at the airborne monsters.

All at once, the birds scattered, causing the ball of flame to sail through the sky harmlessly.

Red continued his efforts, sending a scatted blaze at the creatures.

Below, the Bagnaranda were still strong in number and continuing their attacks.

Yuffie caught her shuriken and landed gracefully on the rail, having just cut through four birds all in one toss, when a stream of water hit beneath her feet. She gasped as her footing was blown apart and she fell to the tracks beneath her.

When her body hit the hard wood, she let out a pained yelp. In spite of the fall, she quickly stood back up and grabbed the shuriken to her side, and fought on.

Growing more and more angry, the precision of Barret’s shots was decreasing noticeably.

The turtles began spreading themselves out further, making it nearly impossible for the black man to kill more than one with each hail of bullets. They were behaving in an eerily organized manner.

As more Crowns began emerging, Aeris frantically ducked and dodged as they all came at her. With swift movements, she began twirling her staff about in a surprising whirlwind of speed, knocking mushrooms back just as quickly as they would come.

Another shriek pierced through the air.

I used my snakes to rip chunks out of another three mushrooms before I looked to the hill not far off. Another wave of birds was coming. Red hadn’t even finished disposing of the first wave, never mind the next one.

Guys!” Yuffie called from the lower level. I looked down and saw her through the spacing in the tracks. She was running with a limp, making her way back up. “There are giant god damn roosters down here!”

Grab my scythe while you’re down there!” I shouted to her.

Barret shouted angrily, as he sent yet another wave of bullets at one turtle. After bloodying it up, he reached into his jacket and pulled the pin on a grenade, hucking it at another turtle just as it emerged.

Panting, he mumbled, “That’s all of em’.”

Not three seconds later, another ten emerged in perfect scatter formation and at a further distance then before.

Shit! Fuck! God damn it!” Barret shouted, expressing his anger quite colorfully.

He reloaded his gun and aimed, when something hit him from behind.

He grunted as a sharp beak pierced through his left shoulder and began jacking electricity into his body.

Arggghhh!” he yelled, swaying his arms around.

Feeling the Thunder Kiss lodged into him, he pointed his gun arm over his shoulder and blew the monster off of him. Its blood spattered over his jacket and on the skin of his arm.

The black man reached into his pouch for a potion, but was cut off as the water came.

Cursing, he rolled past a few shots, just in time to be nailed by a third. The blast threw him back, knocking him off the tracks.

He plummeted to the water below and hit with a heavy splash, going under.

Yuffie ducked under a high kick, and slashed upwards with her large shuriken. The large white Cokatolis’ throat was cut, and blood gurgled in its mouth, spraying out of its beak and over Yuffie’s face.

Ergh!” she shouted as a reaction, kicking the bird back with her feet.

She continued running, spotting my scythe near by. She reached down and grabbed it, as she moved on.

Up above, I was running to meet up with her and offer her back up.

Aeris clubbed another mushroom out of the way. She gasped as one landed on her shoulder, mere inches away from her face. It opened its mouth and began letting out a sleeping pink sleeping spray. Aeris held her breath and knocked the monster down with her hands before using her staff like a golf club to knock it into the distance.

Red fired another flame blast, singing several birds. They cried out in agony as their roasted forms dropped into the water and onto several platforms above the water.

Half a dozen birds remained, and together, they shot several more electrical blasts at Red. The feline angled around them, but the moment he had finished evading their attacks, the birds were upon him and at close range.

Red began swiping at them with his powerful paws and sharp nails, knocking them away. He winced as he felt them begin pecking at him, drawing blood in spite of his thick hide.

With his flaming tail, Red batted several away. He ducked after one that had been soaring directly at his face and rolled to the side as three came down.

Sled Fang!” Red shouted.

As he was surrounded by red energy, the remaining birds all charged with beaks ready, crackling with lightning.

Red dashed forward with tremendous speed, leaving a blue trail in his wake. He ripped through the birds with such force that their tiny bones shattered and they fell lifelessly.

I hopped over several mushroom monsters and continued running, feeling a little useless without my weapon. And then I saw something that put a damper on an already bleak situation.

Coming down tracks we had taken to get here were two monsters. They were massive and hulking beasts that vaguely resembled poodles. They had massive mouths with visible red gums and a collection of bladed teeth. Their tails were long and had a thick ball of fur at the end and their long white dog ears hung down at the sides of their heads.

Things were coming together. There were no monsters because, for whatever reason, they were waiting to ambush us. The monsters I was now seeing were the cause of the ‘unusual monster sightings’. They were creatures from Final Fantasy 9 called ‘Bandersnatch’.

The massive dogs let out a loud bark as they trotted along the tracks.

Shit…” I murmured in a daze as I continued moving.

Yuffie dropped my scythe for a moment and leapt over another large Cokatolis and landed behind it with a ninja’s agility. She spun around and hurled her star at the creature.

The shuriken ripped through the monster, causing blood, flesh, and feathers to fly.

Yuffie caught her blood soaked weapon, feeling it cover her hands. She ignored it and shook the meat off of her weapon.

Yuffie!” I called to her.

She turned to me, and grabbed my weapon from the ground.

Here.” She said, tossing it. “Duck!”

Without question, I caught the weapon and immediately dropped low with her as a wave of electricity sailed over head.

I turned around and placed my scythe on my back, focusing on my enemy skill materia.

Flame Thrower!” I cried.

A flash of searing heat cooked a collection of the grey birds, charring their feathers and flesh. A sickly smell began to fill the air.

The hollowing cry of the Bandersnatch caught the attention of Yuffie and I.

We turned just as one of the beasts took a huge bound towards us. I ran away from the creature, going back up the tracks with Yuffie not far behind.

The Bandersnatch landed, causing the support of the rail to shake.

I temporarily lost my balance and nearly fell over when Yuffie placed a hand on my shoulders and steadied me.

She turned around and prepared a spell.

Ice!” she cried with her arms extended.

The air chilled in front of her until four frozen spears formed and shot forward.

With the swipe of its front paw, the Bandersnatch shattered the spears and sustained only minor cuts on its paw. It let out another howl and began running forward.

As we prepared ourselves, the second Bandersnatch leapt down to the lower level Yuffie had been on and began running forward, likely to take care of the others.

I held my scythe in my right hand, and held my left hand out towards the creature.

Shadow Snake Hand!”

As three of the serpents launched out of the skin in my forearm and traveled out the sleeve of my shirt, the Bandersnatch took another massive bound and went directly over my head. Seeing this, I tried to swing upwards and cut its belly, but it moved to quickly.

Now behind me, I turned just as the creature struck with it’s paw.

Ugh..!” I gasped as it knocked me off the tracks with a forceful blow.

Grant!” Yuffie cried as she watched me fall.

In her moment of distraction, the Bandersnatch rushed forward and tackled the slender girl, causing her to fly back a ways. She hit the ground and began to roll. When she finally stopped, she clutched her sides, feeling them ache painfully.

I felt the wind hit my face as I dropped through the air. I landed painfully on one of the stone platforms in the water below.

From the impact I had endured, I felt myself bordering between awake and unconscious. I struggled to keep my eyes open, in spite of the spinning sky above.

The phone!

In a panic, I reached around my pocket and patted it. Feeling a phone still there, I was suddenly very grateful I had landed on my back.

Wait, for all I know we could die! What am I doing worrying about a fucking phone?

Not far off, Barret emerged from the water, coughing heavily. He swam to the shoreline where the water and the tracks met and lifted himself up onto shaky knees.

Knowing he wasn’t lucky enough to get even a moment’s break, Barret threw himself around and began firing at anything inhuman in sight, minus Red.

As usual, the few Bagnaranda that did remain submerged and shifted position under the water.

Using this lapse in attacking, Barret fished around in his pouch desperately for something to heal his shoulder wound.

Just as he had begun pouring it, the turtles emerged in close formation and combined attacks to produce a single mass of water.

Shit!” Barret cursed as he scrambled to his feet.

A sudden cry caught Barret’s attention.

Water kick!”

Tifa dashed in front of Barret, her body surrounded in a red aura, and threw a strong kick at the center of the approaching water.

The force of the kick had been enough to completely dampen the water’s pressure. What resulted was nothing more then a large splash of water soaking Tifa and Barret.

Tifa!” Barret exclaimed with relief, “I thought ya…you know…”

Tifa turned around and smiled, pointing to a purple orb in her armlet.

Is that ‘Cover’?”

Tifa nodded, “Yes. Sorry I took so long. Cloud and I had some ‘Bombs’ to deal with.”

No problem girl, but we gotta help the others, this is fuckin’ nuts!”

Right.” She nodded.

Together, the two began running up the elevating tracks to join the others when…

The structure shook once more as the mammoth of a creature landed directly in front of Tifa and Barret. It snarled, letting saliva fly freely from it’s open mouth.

Startled, Tifa took a step back into Barret.

Shit, ‘the hell is that thing?”

On the platform in the water, I shook off the overpowering feeling of grogginess. My back ached tremendously, and once again I had lost my weapon.

I stood up carefully and brought my hands together.

Healing hands!”

Using the healing properties the green glow of my hand gave off, I ran it along my aching body parts, hopeful that nothing would interrupt the process. If I were to continue aching in such a way, I’d be of little use to anyone.

Yuffie stumbled back, narrowly avoiding another swipe from the Bandersnatch.

She lost her balance and fell onto her rear.

The monster moved to trample her, but she tossed her weapon forward with lightning reaction.

The shuriken sliced into the front of the Bandesnatch’s body, even going so far as to push the beast back.

The monster growled angrily as the weapon remained lodged in its body, but still it did not die.

The Bandersnatch moved forward and brought it’s front paw up to crush Yuffie.

In a panic, the ninja held her hands out and chanted; “Barrier!”

Focusing her magical energy, she was instantly encased in a faint grey light.

The Bandersnatch’s paw made contact with the shield, and it used all of the power it had trying to push through the field, snarling and spitting in the process.

Yuffie closed her eyes tightly, feeling drained more and more with each passing second. The creature would not relent.

Someone help me!” she shrieked, having run out of options.

The Bandersnatch yelped suddenly as a mass collection of multicolored bolts struck its back from above. The creature jerked its paw off of Yuffie’s barrier and began convulsing. Its body swayed slightly where it stood, until the white beast’s eyes rolled to the back of its head and it toppled over the edge. It struck the bottom level of tracks and broke through completely before it sank into the water.

Yuffie dropped her barrier and began panting, fighting back tears. Never in her life had she had such a frightening experience.

Yuffie!” Aeris called as she ran over with her weapon still drawn.

A sudden ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’ caught the girls’ attention. Yuffie turned and found a large Cokatolis charge forward with a push kick, knocking the surprised girl back.

While on the ground, Aeris leapt over the ninja and stood in the monsters path, determined to protect Yuffie. The rooster stopped charging and backed up, preparing to leap over.

Bio2!” Aeris chanted.

Several large green orbs formed in the air and launched at the bird, exploding once they were within range. The collection of green bursts began merging with one another until they formed a great blob of poisonous green that began eating away at its skin.

When the attack’s effect ceased, the bird dropped to the ground and ceased its movement.

Aeris turned to Yuffie and knelt down. She cupped the younger girls chin and lifted her head up so they could make eye contact.

Yuffie? Are you okay?” Aeris asked gently.

With glassy eyes, Yuffie nodded. “Uh huh…”

The brown haired woman placed her hands on Yuffie’s body and closed her eyes momentarily.

Cure!”

Yuffie’s body flashed a light and gentle green for a number foe a number of seconds as dancing swirls of purity began repairing damage to her body to some extent.

Yuffie stood back up and grabbed her weapon.

Thank you.”

My wounds had been healed, and so I canceled the healing hands technique and brought my hands together once more.

Shadow Replication!”

A single replica whirred into a solid form to my right. It turned to me, waiting for guidance.

I dug into my front pocket and handed it my phone.

Take this, Body Flicker to land, and hide it somewhere where it won’t get trashed. After that, help someone.” I instructed.

Okay.” The clone nodded.

I passed off the phone and watched it disappear in a screen of smoke, reappearing on solid ground.

With that taken care of, I dove into the water in search of my scythe. When I had submerged, I did indeed find it at the bottom, which was not all that far. In addition, I found 6 turtles that had yet to make an appearance. They had been biding their time until an opening presented itself.

Seeing that I had discovered them, several of the green armored turtles opened their mouths and began firing pressure blasts at me through the water.

I avoided one just barely by swimming out of the way, but was easily nailed by the second. My mouth opened and let out air and bubbles.

The remaining Bagnaranda withdrew into their shells and began spinning rapidly in the water, launching towards me with tremendous speed.

I brought my hands together and flickered out of the water moments before being nailed, causing the Bagnaranda to fly through empty space.

Above the water, I appeared in blur of smoke on a collection of logs near the shore. Seconds later, the monsters poked their heads out from the water and began firing at me.

Watch out!”

I turned towards the voice as Cloud flew in from above, landing directly in front of me. The warrior brought his weapon up and charged power into it, glowing a strong red. Standing in its midst, I too could feel its strength.

Blade Beam!” Cloud cried.

With a single slash in the air, a massive beam shot forward, cutting through the water cleanly until it struck the grouping of monsters. The moment it struck, the single blade broke off into a series of smaller glowing beams that scattered across the surface, picking off any monsters that had not been killed yet.

Cloud turned to me and placed his hand on my shoulder, peering into my eyes.

Grant, you’ll have to take care of yourself from here, I need to help Aeris.”

Aeris?” I questioned, still wondering why exactly he wasn’t dead.

He nodded, “Haven’t you noticed? She’s the only one these monsters aren’t trying to kill. Something’s up!” Cloud shouted.

On the shoreline not far off, Tifa ducked under another swipe and hoped back. She spun on her heel and sent a spinning kick into the Bandersnatch’s face.

Barret aimed his gun, and seeing this, Tifa began flipping away.

Yarrgh!” Barret shouted as he opened fire, pumping every last bullet into the beast.

The Bandersnatch began shaking wildly as more and more lead was pumped into its body. Blood spattered all over the ground and stained its fur until finally, the mayhem ended and it keeled over. A red puddle slowly formed around its body as more and more blood dripped.

Cloud leapt off the platform and landed on the shore. He took off without saying a word and booked it up the railroad tracks to meet up with Aeris and Yuffie.

Watching Cloud go, I glanced back into the water and took a dive. With the monsters gone, I can finally get my scythe.

Red ducked under a petrification beam and tackled the overgrown bird to the ground, snapping at its neck and face with his fangs. His canines settled into the monster’s throat and tore it out with a sickening rip.

Red spat the organ out of his mouth and shuddered with the gross metallic taste growing ever more present in his mouth.

The feline turned towards Aeris and Yuffie, also wary of the monster’s desire to keep Aeris relatively unharmed. He tore down the tracks at full speed towards the pair.

My clone joined Aeris and Yuffie. While my clone had no weapon since I had none when I created it, it was still linked to me. As such, because I had all my materia, he still had access to all my spells.

Flame Thrower!” My clone shouted, breathing a stream of red hot fire at another squadron of birds.

Gawd, this is endless!” Yuffie screamed in a rage.

A sudden blast of lightning dissolved my clone.

Tifa and Barret ran upwards, also intent on joining the flower girl.

Barret was tired, injured, and low on ammunition. He had a single clip remaining and once it ran out, would have to resort to his inferior magical abilities.

Tifa’s shirt was wet and easily seen through at this point, but that was unimportant at the moment. She could worry about being embarrassed later.

Barret, this doesn’t make sense!” Tifa exclaimed.

No shit!”

The monsters are organized and behaving in an intelligent manner! What’s more, we still don’t know who threw that grenade!”

You sayin the monsters are bein’ controlled?”

Yes!” the young fighter answered.

As the two members of AVALANCHE made their way onto the main set of tracks, I emerged from the water with scythe in hand. I swam over to the shore in a hurry and sprinted to catch up. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but everyone seemed to be going to the same place, so that’s where I was going too.

As Cloud caught up to Aeris and Yuffie, he took an offensive stance in front of Aeris, set on protecting her from anything that may come. But when he scanned the area, he could see no further signs of threat. There were no mushrooms popping out from the cracks in the tracks. There were no birds shrieking in the distance. There were no turtles emerging from the now polluted water below. There were no more massive dog beasts.

Red caught up as well, and filled a position on the other side of Aeris, using his own superior senses to scout for any sighs of danger as well.

Aeris looked back and forth between the two curiously. Her arms ached and her head throbbed from casting so many powerful spells, but she did her best to stay standing and remain useful.

What is it…?” Aeris asked curiously.

The two gave no answer as they continued assessing the situation.

A moment later, Barret and Tifa had caught up as well. Barret raised his gun and looked around for any potential targets.

Yuffie huffed heavily, staggering where she stood but still highly alert.

Finally, I joined up with the group.

I stood outside the circle they had been forming, panting quite heavily myself.

While Cloud appeared alright, if you paid close attention, you’d notice that he was shifting more of his weight onto his left leg. His right had been injured.

Aeris was completely unharmed beyond being tired and mentally drained. It was exactly as Cloud had said.

Tifa’s shirt was quite wet and her hair was a complete mess. She stood in her fighter’s stance, but I could see a red splotch near her right thigh as well as a number of bruises.

Yuffie took a step forward, still carrying that same limp. She winced with each step she took. Her face and body had been covered in blood and small scattered cuts could be seen along her body.

Red’s tail was between his legs, and even with his red fur, I could spot blood red portions on his body where droplets would fall and stain the wooden surface beneath him.

Barret’s fully human arm was hanging quite limply at his side, in spite of applying potion to it, and he was ragged in appearance, soaked from head to toe.

I surveyed the area to gauge just how much damage had been done.

In addition to large holes in the tracks where one would have to leap over, the structural integrity had also been compromised on a large scale. Certain areas would wobble now with heavy movement. Pieces of wood laid scattered about, on the tracks and floating in the water below. The bodies of countless monsters were in sight. Everything from crispy mushrooms to mutilated birds. Several shells were floating on the water’s surface, and the water had been dyed a light red. It was pure madness. And to think, we lived through this shit.

When it had all happened, my adrenaline had been quick to flow. Seeing Cloud and Tifa explode would do that to you, especially since they are likely the strongest overall in this group. From there, the events that followed seemed like one great big grueling trial. The sky was slowly darkening, which made me wonder; how long had we been doing this? How long had we been fighting? When I look back after the fact, it seems like just a second ago that we were all walking along together in perfect health.

As I look around, taking into account the severity of everyone’s faces, I cringed. As my thoughts became steadily clearer, I felt my insides grow tight again.

This had been hell, but it wasn’t over yet. There was still the ass, or asses, that had thrown that grenade at the very start of this battle.

I observed as one after the other, everyone began pulling potions from their item pouches and treating any wounds they had while remaining wary of any attacks.

I gripped my scythe tightly and took up a position surrounding Aeris along with everyone else.

Guys!” Aeris exclaimed, “What’s going on? Why are you doing this?”

Cloud sighed as he hucked his potion away.

Someone is after you.” Cloud began.

Whoever it is, they were controlling all these monsters.” Tifa joined in.

They’re the same ones that threw that god damned grenade.” Barret added.

They probably ran out of monsters. How fucked is that? We just killed the entire monster population of Mt. Corel.” I added rather unhelpfully.

When I think about it, I’m sure I know who was responsible. The Bandersnatch would be a good indicator. When I think of that monster, I think of Final Fantasy 9. The first ones I think of in that game when I hear the word ‘Bandersnatch’, are ‘Zorn’ and ‘Thorn’. Those damned clowns were the ones screwing with us. But why are they after Aeris?

Red sniffed the air, “I believe they are close. There are two. They are trying to cover their scent, I believe.”

We were silent. Waiting.

We tensed, hearing talk not far off. It came from the hilltop where the birds had appeared from before. We shifted position, forming a line in front of Aeris.

It did not work!” the first voice shouted.

I know this! How was I to know it would fail!” the second defended.

You said it would work!”

I believed it would!”

Did you truly?”

Truly I did!”

There forms were obstructed by natural objects such as stones and shrubs of grass that grew up top. But I didn’t need to see them. That annoying way of talking…it was painfully obvious that it was them.

I’ll flush em’ out.” Barret stated. The large man raised his lone arm and directed it to the hill’s top. “Grenade Bomb!”

The man’s body glowed red as he activated his limit break. Energy built at the end of his weapon, forming into a large swirling ball of red. He let out a cry as he let loose the circular bomb. It flew threw the air astoundingly, creating a red afterimage in its wake, until it made contact with its target and triggered a large explosion, greater than any single grenade could accomplish.

As the orb struck its target, a loud blast followed as flames and earth pushed upwards from the structure. From the smoke and heat, two forms glided down through the air and landed silently on the tracks in front of us.

It was as I had predicted.

The first form belonged to Zorn. He would be lucky to reach my waist, he was so short. The jester was dressed in a light blue costume that hung down to its knees. His face was painted mostly white with a few black lines under his eyes. On his head was a typical jester hat with golden bells. His sleeves were so long that they completely covered his hands and nearly touched the ground.

Thorn had almost exactly the same appearance, only he wore a red and had slightly thicker lines on his face.

The two clowns jumped up angrily after landing, shaking their fists.

You! What do you think you are doing?” Zorn growled.

Barret locked his gun into place, ready fire at a moment’s notice.

The hell are YOU doin’, you little shits!”

Cloud tightened the grip on his sword. He took a step forward, and spoke with clenched teeth.

What do you want with Aeris? Are you with Sephiroth like those Black Waltzes?”

The two clowns looked at each other for a moment before laughing in sync.

Sephiroth, he says. How silly.” Zorn said as though it were truly comical.

Silly indeed.” Thorn agreed.

I’ll ask again; What do you want with Aeris?” Cloud restated.

Zorn hopped, “The girl is wanted. This is all we know.”

Thorn followed, “We do as we are told.”

Now give her up!” they exclaimed together.

I stared at a loss for words at the two jesters. Did they not remember me? They had always been a tad stupid. But what should I be doing? They could provide information as to my past, but then I’d be letting the others in on my own personal business.

After another few moments of thought, I decided to simply hold my ground. Right now, they were after Aeris and threatening my lives. My own past isn’t important at the moment.

Bah!” Yuffie suddenly exploded, surprising the clowns. “THOSE little dorks were the ones causing all this trouble? What the hell are we doing wasting time with talk! Let’s pummel the little ass clowns!”

Zorn and Thorn let their mouths hang open.

A-Ass clowns, she says!”

How dare she!”

The jesters shook their fists once more.

No more talk! We shall take her by force!” they cried together.

In turn, we readied ourselves for yet another battle.

Cloud glanced over his shoulder at Aeris. “Stay back. I don’t want them taking you.” He said gently but firmly.

Hesitantly, Aeris nodded and backed away.

Our leader glanced at Red, “Leave this to us. Please protect her.”

I’m not sure why he chose Red, but I’m sure he did have his reasons. At any rate, the feline nodded in compliance and backed far away with Aeris at his side.

Those of us that remained: Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, and I; entered battle.

If Barret’s seething anger had been bad before, it was far worse now. He let out a fierce cry as he ran forward with gun blazing.

The bullets flew through the air, but with unexpected nimbleness, both jesters began flipping backwards fast enough to make the bullets nail the tracks inches short of them.

Hearing his gun clicked, Barret knew he was out of ammo. He pulled a grenade from his jacket and bit the pin, hucking it at the pair.

The moment it left Barret’s hand, Zorn reacted with a jolt of speed. He threw his right sleeve out, and a small knife moved through the air so fast that it made a faint whistling sound.

Tifa yanked Barret back as the knife and grenade met, triggering a premature explosion. The force knocked the two back with Barret landing on top of the young woman.

Cloud charged forward and leapt at the two.

They jumped as Cloud suddenly blurred through the smoke with impressive speed. In seconds, he had fully closed the distance and was swinging with a flurry of fast slashes.

Zorn began dodging the low slashes, and hopped back. He produced another fast dagger from his sleeve.

Cloud let out a surprised breath and sidestepped, gritting his teeth as the blade cut his arm.

Ignoring the pain, Cloud ran forward and brought his blade down, intending to cleave the clown in half.

Zorn brought both hands up and pulled a dagger in each hand. Placing them together in a cross formation, he caught Cloud’s sword and halted its movement.

What?” Cloud gasped.

As he applied force down on his blade, he was shocked to find that Zorn was not losing ground nearly as quickly as he would of thought.

Ever so slowly, Zorn was being lowered by the power Cloud was applying to his weapon. But, as he lowered more, Zorn began using the tracks at his feet as a brace, until the two were at a standstill.

Thorn charged past his partner and threw three small round objects at the group. It went off, creating a thick mass of blinding smoke that made my eyes water.

Ahh!” Yuffie cried as a long knife impaled her stomach.

Still blinded, I heard her slump down onto her hands and knees.

Tifa listened for movement, and upon hearing a light shuffling, threw a low kick.

Thorn grunted and flew back.

Confirming her target, Tifa kept her eyes tightly shut to avoid any burning and threw a heavy kick at Thorn once more.

Thorn drew his dagger and sliced Tifa’s bare leg with the weapon before her kick could connect. Tifa moaned painfully as the blood squirted outwards and onto the tracks. In spite of the deep gash, she remained on her feet, however much it pained her.

The smoke surrounding us ceased, but the burning in my eyes did not. Still, I could hear Yuffie’s pained sobs nearby.

I opened my eyes and fought against the burning and blurring feeling and looked for a sleek form with a green shirt. I found her kneeling to my left.

Healing Hands!” I called as I brought my hand down to her body.

Yuffie, I can’t see where it is exactly. “ I said softly, “Please, guide my hand.”

I thought I saw her nod as she grabbed my hand. I could feel the shakiness of her own as she moved it towards a wet spot on her stomach.

As the healing commenced, Barret ran forward and swung his metallic arm at the small red blur in his sight.

Thorn acrobatically hopped up and perched himself on the black man’s arm.

Barret!” Tifa cried.

The woman dove at Barret and tackled him down just as Thorn launched a silver knife from his sleeve.

Barret grunted as the blade grazed his cheek. When he hit the ground, he placed his flesh hand onto the cut and cursed, bringing himself back up.

Tifa struggled to stand with her injured leg. She let out a deep moan as she forced herself to her feet, wobbling slightly. She shifted more weight onto her opposite leg, adjusting her fighting technique so as to minimize the use of her injured leg.

Cloud had finally forced Zorn into a position where he would be unable to overpower Cloud.

You annoy me!” Zorn exclaimed.

Zorn began backing away as Cloud’s blade slid between the cross of his knives. Then, with quick movement, Zorn slid back completely, causing Cloud’s blade to continue downwards until it cut through the wood where Zorn’s feet had once been.

Hyah!”

Zorn tossed another knife at Cloud.

The leader brought his Mythril sword up and deflected the knife quickly. The two steel weapons clashed and gave off a noisy ping, before the blade fell between a hole in the tracks.

I finished the healing on Yuffie’s body. The wound had closed and any blood loss had been replaced. But now, I was out of MP almost completely.

My vision was mostly back to normal now, so I wouldn’t need to spend MP I didn’t have casting Esuna.

I pulled my scythe back from my back and ran at Thorn.

Tifa backed away from a speedy knife slash and threw a heavy punch down into Thorn’s skull. It connected and sent the jester downward, completely breaking the wooden footing at his feet.

Tifa lifted her arm back up as Thorn fell through to the lower tracks.

Once the jester landed, the wood began cracking, ready to give way. Thorn flipped up to his feet and leapt away just as it gave way.

Mumbling some curses to himself, he hopped back up through the hole that had been made and threw both arms out, sending a long line of knives at us.

We all ducked beneath the knives, which seems to be what Thorn had been expecting.

The jester ran forward and rolled under Tifa’s kick, jamming a thin blade into her ankle. The woman winced and finally buckled over, unable to keep herself up any longer.

As Tifa fell, Thorn produced yet another knife from his seemingly endless cache.

Thorn leapt up above Tifa, preparing to drive the weapon into her chest.

Barret moved in and swung his hulking gun arm at the midget. It clunked into his tiny form and sent him flying away from the injured girl.

Fuck, am I gonna have to play healer again?

I grabbed a Hi-potion from my pouch and placed it in Yuffie’s hands before she could dive back into battle.

She glanced at it for a moment, waiting for an explanation.

Treat Tifa with that.” I instructed, not bothering to wait for a reply. She’d have to do it now.

Thorn scuffled to his feet just as Barret stomped his foot down. As he readied another blade, we were beginning to adapt to their way of fighting.

Already expecting it, Barret hopped back and avoided a slash made at his knee.

I ran past him and swung my scythe downwards. Thorn rolled to the side and stopped just short of the edge. He shot back up and charged with a knife thrust.

I moved to the side and thrust the butt of my weapon into his back to knock him off balance, following through with a quick horizontal slash.

Thorn ducked underneath it and rolled away from me. He lifted his sleeves, preparing his next attack, when Yuffie’s shuriken sailed in at an angle.

Thorn leapt above it. The moment he landed, he ducked as the weapon returned to Yuffie.

I ran in and slashed upwards quickly with my weapon. Thorn lifted his head up and attempted to back away from the slash.

My weapon came up and cut the very edge of his face, breaking the skin. I followed through with a side kick. It connected, knocking him off the tracks again.

The jester’s suit puffed out like a parachute and he glided with the wind towards his comrade.

Cloud deflected another blade and took a giant leap back as a smoke bomb came his way. Although he had not found himself trapped within the smoke, his line of sight leading to Zorn was now obstructed.

From the corner of his eyes, Cloud saw Thorn glide towards Zorn and take a position next to him. As the smoke cleared, the two began talking amongst each other.

This is taking too long!” Thorn complained.

Taking too long, it most definitely is!” Zorn agreed.

The girl is far away from them. Why do we not use our special spells?” Thorn questioned.

Use our special spells? Can this be done?”

This most certainly can be done!”

Cloud ran forward, not bothering to let them finish. Behind him, we too were making our way over. Tifa had been treated but was still in no condition to battle, but Yuffie was ready for action again.

Before Cloud reached the pair of jesters, they leapt up into the air and glided towards the near by hill top once more.

Get back here, you bastards!” I shouted.

Zorn hopped up, pointing at me.

You! You should already be dead! Away with you, now!”

Yes! Now away with you!” Thorn added.

Cloud shifted into defensive position, awaiting their next move. To his surprise, they both began hopping up in down in comical clown like fashion.

Oh shit…” I murmured.

Thorn give Zorn comet power!” the red jester declared.

I cursed and placed my scythe on my back.

Attack the red one now, or we’re all fucked!” I urged as I formed a single seal.

Time seemed to slow from this point on. Perhaps it was because everything rested on being able to stop them before they wiped us out?

Cloud began sending spears of ice at the pair. They continued hopping while avoiding the incoming ice shards in the process.

Yuffie hurled her shuriken, and began preparing to form a barrier should the need arise. Zorn leapt over the star and suffered only a minor cut as the weapon made it’s way back.

Barret channeled magical power into a single ball of flame and sent it their way.

I clasped my hands together in an ox seal. My body disappeared in a burst of smoke. I prayed to some holy being that I’d make it close to them.

I appeared within a few meters of the two, spotting a mechanical instrument held above the ground by a tripod. Inside the square black box was a yellow orb, pulsating magic outwards. They had been enhancing the effects of the materia with technology to control the surrounding monster population.

The pair turned in mid jump.

Too late!” Zorn cried, “Comet2!”

Barret’s fire spell came in from behind. I watched the approaching ball of searing heat, momentarily forgetting that I would be protected. The blast struck the two clowns, knocking them off their feet. The fire that touched me began swirling around my body before being absorbed into my ring.

Deep inside my body, my magical energy was slightly replenished. It was enough for one MP consuming technique.

From the sky above, large spherical comets made their way towards the tracks.

Magic Barrier!” Yuffie cried desperately, placing every last bit of magical power she had left into this single shield.

Zorn and Thorn began lifting themselves up from the ground.

Shadow Snake Hands!” I shouted.

Three snakes flew out of each arm. The jesters cringed as the serpents wrapped around their necks tightly and sank their fangs in, sending thinly veiled poison into their system. It was the most I could do with my remaining magic power.

Their struggles slowed.

The comets came down on the group. Yuffie’s wide glowing barrier flashed, and the first comet struck it hard before blowing into pieces. Chunks fell down heavily into the water below, making loud splashes.

Yuffie cried out and fell to her knees, grinding her teeth and clenching her eyes shut. The first comet alone had nearly drained her barrier.

She dug deeper, willing it to stay whole. Every bit of her energy and strength went into it, to reinforce it.

The second comet hit, producing a similar result. As pieces of it struck the water, the pink shielding flickered uncertainly.

Cloud and Barret stared with wide eyes at the barrier. They had thought of giving her Ether, but opening her mouth and making the conscious effort to drink it would delve into her concentration. All they could do was watch.

Come on Yuffie…” Cloud whispered.

Not far off, Aeris ran forward, her mind in an illogical haze. Her only thoughts were to reach the group and do something…anything…to help.

But Red had vowed to protect her, and at this point, any action she took was futile.

The feline tackled her to the ground and kept her firmly held down, in spite of her protests.

Let me go, Red!” she begged, “Cloud! Everyone!”

Tifa had tried to move, but her legs were unresponsive. She too, could do nothing but watch.

My snakes ran out of poison, but I kept them wrapped around the pair’s necks.

You…” Zorn whispered, “Why are you not dead?”

I’m good at not dying.” I quipped.

You will die.” Thorn stated matter-of-factly. “You are a mistake. You should never have been. The same holds true for the female.”

Erika?”

He slowly nodded.

There will be no rest for you.”

For you, there will be no rest.”

Enjoy the time you have left!” the two suddenly shouted.

Together, they lifted their sleeves and shot a pair of long silver knives. The bladed weapons entered into my skin, piercing it with ease. My tattered and already damaged Protect vest did little against the surprising velocity with which the knives traveled.

My eyes widened.

I spit out blood as I fell back. I couldn’t even retract my snakes. They lost their grip on the jesters and I fell back, hitting the ground.

I weakly placed a hand to one of my wounds. With no magical power left, I can’t use Healing Hands. With no strength in my body anymore, I can’t reach for an item.

I stared at the sky, trying to manage a call for help.

Am I going to die?

Because the clown’s concentration had been broken, no more comets would form. All that remained were the two that were currently approaching the group.

Cloud! Yuffie sobbed. A vein felt like it was ready to pop on her forehead. Her head pulsed with pure and unadulterated agony. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her will started slipping. “I can’t! I can’t hold it! I’m sorry!”

Her hands dropped limply and she slumped down to her knees before completely dropping. Her face hit the wooden tracks and her eyes began slipping shut.

The pink protective light faded, leaving the group wide open.

Fuck…” Barret cursed to himself.

The third comet came within a stone’s throw.

Fuck!” Barret shouted once more.

The former leader of AVALANCHE placed his hand on Cloud’s back and threw him off the edge towards the water below, so he could avoid being nailed by the spell. He then dove down and picked Yuffie’s unconscious form up. With no time left, he threw himself over the edge with her and wrapped his arms and legs around her, making his own body act as a shield.

The comet made contact, completely destroying this massive portion of the railway. An ear splitting sound the likes of which even Corel would be able to hear followed. A storm of wood flew up and scattered in all directions.

Tifa felt the tracks shake before the support beneath her gave way. Her eyes went wide as the structure broke apart, sending her falling towards the water. During her decent, a long sliver of wood flew from where the comet had struck and found itself in her chest. She let out a choked cry, producing little more then a spray of blood from her mouth.

Pieces of steel shrapnel from the support and wood from the tracks continuously jabbed and cut at Barret’s exposed back, ripping his clothing to shreds. The man grunted and gnashed his teeth together, keeping his tight hold on Yuffie.

As the third comet finished blowing past the suspended train tracks and made contact with the water, a large shockwave spread out in all directions.

And then there was the last comet.

Without a structure to impede its movement, the comet stuck the water near where the third had landed.

A secondary shockwave of greater proportions followed.

As both Tifa, Barret, and Yuffie found themselves underwater, the second shockwave sent them hurling back, blowing them a fair distance away from the bridge.

Already in pain, Tifa began losing air. Trying to keep herself calm, she fought against the almost irresistible desire to give up and die. She furiously swam for the surface, trying to push past the glowing burning sensation her chest gave off.

Barret was facing a similar experience, feeling more exhausted then any period he could recall in his time alive. But when he saw Yuffie, whom he still held in his arms, as he had done with Marlene so many times, he saw a helpless child in need of saving.

He kept a hold on her and pushed up with his legs, as he began swimming for the surface of the water.

Barret emerged, letting out a great breath. He began panting from unfathomable fatigue, trying not to hyperventilate until he reached some kind of land. He placed Yuffie on his back and began swimming for shore.

Tifa, who had been closer, let out raggedy breaths as she reached land. She crawled along the shore before finally stopping. She dropped onto her stomach, wary of the sand entering her wound. She managed to roll over onto her back and fiddled around in her pouch for any kind of healing item she could get at.

Not long after, Barret emerged along the shore with Yuffie on his back. He dragged her up along the ground until she was away from any water where she might drown. And then he passed out, unable to take it anymore.

After dislodging a hunk of steel from his leg, Cloud gruelingly limped across the platform he had found in the water and hobbled towards the group where he glanced between Yuffie, Barret, and Tifa. They were all looking critical and all in need RIGHT NOW.

With the damage done, Red relented his hold on the flower girl, who immediately dove into the water below and swam for shore to assist in healing. When she saw that Cloud was safe, her heart wanted so very much to hold him tightly and thank someone out there that he was okay…but her friends needed saving.

My eyes wanted to close. Really they did. But I could feel the twin clowns drawing closer in spite of the minute amounts of poison running through their system, and likely, they were going to gut me.

I rolled my head to the side, seeing the others present on the shore below. They had no idea what was going on up here…

You know what?” I said, looking back up at the sky.

They stopped for a moment.

Last words?” Zorn questioned.

I smirked, but not because I was amused or happy. I smirked with a kind of darker humor in mind. Much darker.

You’re right. Maybe I am going to die.” I finished.

And, in an action neither they nor I would have ever imagined, I used the last of my strength to roll off the edge of the hill.

I felt the wind fly through my hair. I saw the ground draw closer. I closed my eyes.

I’m going to die. My only hope is that I won’t ‘die too much’ as Walter had said before I came here.

Aeris…please be ready with a resurrection spell. Please don’t let me get so fucked up that I am un-revivable.

You know what? If this could be the end, I may as well open my eyes for this.

And I did.

-----------------------------------END OF CHAPTER---------------------------