The FF7 Experience: (Chapter 4: The Bad Ass With a Giant Sword)
12 days have passed thus far. Still no sign of Cloud. At first, I panicked, thinking I had some how dome something to prevent his arrival. But then I remembered: Biggs, Jessie, Wedge, and Barret met Cloud during the bombing mission at the game’s start. Meaning, Tifa either already met him and hasn’t said anything, or she would meet him today and enlist his help, meaning I’d see him tomorrow.
Barret already explained the mission to me. My guess is that factoring in another person doesn’t have any impact on the plans, so it will be the same when Tifa tells Barret about Cloud. So anyways, we go in by train and…well…break in by force and plant a bomb on the reactor before running away. Not a very stealthy plan, but it worked in the game.
Other then this whole explanation by Barret, I’ve spent almost no time around anyone. I picked up a few tricks and learned a little from Biggs, but other then that I’ve been spending my time fighting monsters in the train graveyard. They’re a lot easier then that damned house. Which reminds me, after I made level 6, I went and fought one of those. Once again, it was close. But no where near as bad as last time. I’ve progressed in these 12 days, I guess.
So why have I been avoiding the others? I want to wait until the mission before I start getting to know them. It probably doesn’t make much sense…I can’t explain it.
Barret fiddled around with that fire materia and learned how to use it, I heard. He equipped it on one of the mythril armlets I gave him.
As I made my way towards the train graveyard this morning, I noticed someone sitting down on the ground. Yep, it was Cloud. I knew Tifa should be the one to find him and it wasn’t to late to turn and head into the Sector 6 slums, so I did.
Those houses were easier now. Not just because of my level up and training, but they’ve become predictable. When you know what to expect, it’s a lot different. Granted, I should know what to expect from every monster in this world. But fighting them in person is a lot different, and sometimes they do shit you don’t see in the game.
As the day went by and I killed a few more monsters, I became tired and decided to head back and turn in. I’d need to be up early for the mission, at any rate. As I made my way back and entered the bar, I saw Tifa and Barret talking with each other about something or another. I go to the pinball machine, ready to go down and sleep on the nice, uncomfortable floor when Barret calls my name.
“Yo, Grant!”
I stop and look back at him. “Yeah?”
“We’re havin’ another guy with us tomorrow. Got it? He’s meetin us on da train.”
I nodded, knowing who it was. I smacked the pinball machine and descended to the lower level. I’d gotten used to the floor. It was no substitute for an actual bed, but sleeping there was now doable.
I got to sleep next to Tifa this time. Usually I’d sleep at an Inn or something since beds are nice. Tonight, I slept here and Tifa’s little bed roll was next to mine. Don’t get me wrong, I have zero romantic interest in her for a number of reasons. First of all, the age difference. Second, I think her and Cloud are good for each other. I don’t know how things happen after the game, but I really hope the two of them get together. Third, the way she treats me, she feels more like ‘the sister type’. I’m a bit lonely without my family here. Sure, I’ve been fine, but I’ve been assigning people roles, weather I like it or not. Glen was like the father figure. Tifa was starting to fit into the older sister role. She makes me breakfast and dinner and worries about me. I realize it’s just because she’s a good person, not because she thinks of me as her younger brother. One thing I’ve told myself though, while I will be nice to Aeris and be her friend, I can not become too attached to her. It will only make it harder when she dies. Oh wait, I was talking about sleeping next to Tifa, wasn’t I? Well…she’s hot and it’s nice.
I woke up pretty early. The lights were still off in the room and I could see everyone still asleep. Oh wait, Tifa was moving about in her spot. She’s probably thinking about Cloud. I decided to go back to sleep for a little bit and wait for the Barret alarm. That was, for him to shout at the top of his lungs; “Git da fuck outta bed!”
I tried to sleep again, at least. Tifa’s rumbling and occasional sighs were troubling me. I doubted she wanted to talk about it though, so I sat there staring at the ceiling instead. I don’t know how much time passed, but soon the lights came on and Barret gave his special wake up call.
Once we’re all up, we head upstairs and eat. Tifa insisted that we needed a good meal to start off the day. We had the time and her cooking was damn good, so no one protested.
“You look tired.” Tifa comments as she sits across from me.
“Yeah. You were awfully restless considering you’re not even coming with us.” I mumble grouchily. I realize a second later I was an ass for saying that. “Sorry.” I apologize.
“It’s okay. I guess I’m just worried something will go wrong? I don’t want anyone to get hurt…”
“Yeah.” I agree.
With our food finished, we all march along to the train station. I have to say, I’m rather psyched up for this. The train comes at the expected time. The interior wasn’t that bad, I guess. Nothing fancy but as much as you could expect. As we enter, I spot that Shinra manager train guy. I ignore him and plop down in a seat, looking around at everyone.
Wedge and Jessie took a seat across from me while Barret and Biggs sat near me. I gaze around, trying to spot Cloud.
“…When we get there, he’ll act.” Barret says. He obviously knew I was looking for the guy, but didn’t know that I knew who he was already.
I give up on trying to spot him and stare into space. I’ve been through my share of experiences here, but we were gonna plant a bomb, beat up some soldiers, and kill a gigantic scorpion robot all in one op.
I felt my heart sink. Shit, I remember Cait Sith saying late in the game that this bombing killed a lot of innocent people. Now I wasn’t feeling so great. On a rational level, there was nothing I could do to prevent this said bombing nor the lives that would be lost. I did take some comfort in that. But now this felt…wrong. I’d best wrestle with my conscious later. I need to focus.
We passed the security ID checkpoint a good 10 minutes ago. That must mean we’re close now, right? I feel Barret tug on my arm. Yes, that confirms it. I sit forward slightly in my seat and grip the shaft of my scythe tightly.
“Don’t get so damn tense, kid.” Barret scolded me.
The train came to a stop and the doors opened. I watched through the window as Biggs and Jessie dealt with two Shinra guards dressed in dark red coats. I sprung up and out through the doors with my weapon ready. I watched Cloud land in front of me. Where the fuck had he been hiding this whole time? He gets up from his crouching position and looks ahead as Barret runs out in front of us.
“Awright! Move out!” he commands, taking off.
As he runs, two guards run right past him and towards us. What the hell? Didn’t he see them? Or is he leaving them to us? It didn’t really matter, I suppose.
It was nice to finally meet Cloud. He was rather short in person. We were almost equal height. His muscles were massive for such a small guy and he wielded his colossal sword with ease. I got into my own stance and prepared to back Cloud up. I know he wouldn’t need it, but I didn’t want to appear useless.
I prepare to charge forward, but Cloud moves first. Before they can even aim at him, he slashes the first’s gun into pieces. He brings his blade around and slashes downward, giving the guard a deep cut. Before the second can do anything, Cloud sends a kick into his gut and does a powerful horizontal slash. This all took place in about 7 seconds. Sweet jeezus.
Maybe Cloud isn’t really really far above me. Maybe those guards were just pussies? That’s what I told myself, anyways. Even though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t true.
Cloud runs ahead without so much as a word to me and I follow behind him. He’s fast. I’m a good 20 seconds behind him. Just as I round the corner, I find another 4 guards lying down on the floor. Probably dead. I should mention, I have not killed a single human being yet. And I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. It would be unavoidable, however.
Cloud glances back at me before running on ahead again. I know he’s cool later on, but in the beginning he really is an asshole.
As I run, a guard pops out from behind a wall. Duck underneath his gun fire and chant “Quake!”. The ground beneath him rips his body to shreds. His remains were a red mass of meat.
That was it. My first kill, and I felt like shit for it. Guilt welled up inside of me. It was getting hard to breathe. I didn’t think I would take it this bad, but it hit me hard. I tried to ignore it and kept moving on. I entered the elevator where Cloud was waiting for me, though I was still shaky.
As the elevator moves up, Cloud actually speaks to me. “That was the first time you killed someone, wasn’t it?” his voice sounds cold, but I get the strange impression he’s trying to help me.
“Yeah…” I nod.
“It’s never easy, but don’t let it get in the way of this mission. Understand?” he says seriously.
I wasn’t aware he was in charge…but he does have a lot more experience then I do. While he wasn’t actually in SOLDIER like he and everyone else believe, he’s been around.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” I say assuringly.
There’s a loud ding as the elevator door opens up. We run out and right into the Mako Reactor. The walls are made of a bland white concrete in this section. We run up the small set of stairs and reach Barret.
“Yo, this your first time in a reactor?” Barret asks.
“No.” Cloud replies, shaking his head. “I was in SOLDIER, you know.”
“…The reactors gather mako energy. They suck it right out of the planet.” Barret explains. Although assuming you believe Cloud was in SOLDIER, he would already know that. So Barret really didn’t need to explain.
Cloud only shrugs non caringly.
“That’s it! You’re coming along with me! You too, Grant! We’ll stick together.”
“Roger that.” I reply.
We watched as Biggs approached the first rectangular panel next to a locked security door. He entered a few numbers in and it opened up, sure enough. He did the same for the next door and Jessie opened the final one, leading us into the elevator that would take us deeper into the reactor.
Not wanting to hear Barret talk about the planet and then Cloud piss him off, I decided to ask a question to kill time until we made it down.
“I have a question, Cloud. You were in SOLDIER, right? Are we going to run into anyone from there today?”
Cloud looks thoughtful for a moment then shakes his head. “No. They won’t have a SOLDIER waste time guarding a Mako reactor such as this.”
As we exit the elevator, three guys in sky blue suits await us. They all have large helmets equipped and beam guns on their arms. From what I remember, the beams did like 5 damage in the game. But I can’t tell how strong or weak they will be now.
Barret lifted his arm and tore through the first one no problem. Guns really do work well here, it seems.
One rushed at Cloud only to be sliced up with one swift motion. The guys here were weak since this was the starting point of the game. The mission should be a breeze if it keeps up like this.
I run forward at the remaining one and swipe at him. He dodges and fires miniature beams at me. I duck underneath them and bring up my scythe, taking off a leg. I felt my adrenaline surge. My second kill. This time, I cut his leg clean off. The guy passed out, and there was no way he’d wake up alive. Not that you can wake up dead. Or can you? Moving on…
Following this were a few flights of stairs that led to the lower floor. W met little resistance on the stairs, and anything in our path was immediately shot up courtesy of Barret. At the bottom of these stairs, we entered another doorway, leading us deeper into the reactor.
I looked down below. A long fall, but the walkway to the reactor was there.
“C’mon, hurry up.” Barret says to me from ahead.
“Sorry!” I shout back, picking up my pace.
We climb down the last ladder. I don’t spot the save point that was present there in the game. Not that I was expecting it to be there.
As we walk along the walk way, I see Cloud kneel down and pick up an orb of material that was left smack dab I the middle of our path. At the end, Barret hands off the bomb to Cloud.
“Don’t you want to do it?”
“Gotta make sure you don’ try nothin’.” Barret says gruffly.
“Suit yourself.” Cloud shrugs.
While Cloud is having his little freak out Sephiroth flashback, I’m planning how to beat the boss that is to come. I already know Cloud can fry it with lightning, but I don’t know how much it will be able to take. So I’m planning what I will do myself. Quake was out since it would damage the walk way and one of us could end up falling into that glowing pool of mako below. Poison doesn’t do shit to machines, so that’s of no use. Machines don’t have a will so I can’t bind my shadow to them and make them copy me, that would a waste of time. Actually, now that I think about it, I’ll be mostly useless in this fight. That’s always good to know.
Cloud rose to his feet and shook him self out of his trance. He approached the reactor and latched the bomb onto it, before activating it. The moment he does so, an alarm goes off. We all look around in confusion, expecting the worst. Why was I so confused? In the game, the screen changed and the monster was there. Here, I have no idea where the thing will come from.
Barret turned around and pointed his gun in the direction we came from.
“Get ready, here comes!” he hollers.
I turn around and see it. A hulking red mass of metal. Two large shotguns are attached to its sides and it bears a large spiral shaped tail.
It was then I realized this would actually be hard. In the game, the area you fight in becomes bigger when you enter the battle screen. No such luck here. That thing was taking up all the space on the walkway, and then some. We wouldn’t even be able to slip past it, meaning we were stuck right in its line of fire.
“Cloud, lend me your ice materia!” I shout to him.
Without hesitation, he pulls it from his sword and gives it to me. He probably knows that in a situation like this, I’m asking for it for a reason. I pull out the choco lure from my armlet and pocket it, placing the ice in instead. I’d now have an effective means of attack other then swinging my scythe at it.
The scorpion mech lifted its right shotgun arm up and opened fire. I was standing the closest, so it targeted me. Cloud saw the attack and moved in front of me before it fired and deflected the bullets by holding out his massive sword. The bullets clashed, making a loud ‘ping’, and Cloud quickly went on the offensive with a Bolt spell.
Barret had already begun firing, but the bullets weren’t piercing the machine’s metal all that well.
This time, the mech fired with both of its guns in a scatter pattern. Cloud tried to deflect again, but one grazed his right leg. He ignored the damage and continued attacking with magic. The second wave of lightning blew off the mech’s left arm.
Then came the tail. Barret jumped back, since moving to the side was impossible. The tail now stuck in the ground, Cloud swung his blade at it, getting it halfway in but not completely severing it.
While this was taking place, I came up with a plan to get behind it. I placed my scythe on my back and jumped off the walkway to the side.
“Shadow Replication!” I shouted.
As my clone appeared next to me, I had it grab a hold me of me and hurl at an opening under the scorpion’s legs. I had to go in from the side since the front was so heavily guarded. I made it through, and brought my scythe up, thinking it would go through, but it only made it like an inch in.
“Shit.” I mumbled. I tried to pull it back out but it was jammed pretty good.
“Ice!” I chanted, aiming above me.
The frozen lances pierced through the machine’s armor a lot better then my scythe did. The damage seemed to loosen the scythe up a bit, so I pulled it out and moved behind the mech. Once I was out from underneath it, I saw the Guard Scorpion’s tail lash out at me.
I dodged the attack just in time to get shot from a rear gun. Once again, I’ve never seen that happen in the game. The bullet pierced through my lower body and I fell flat on my back.
The mecha then used one of its legs to kick Barret down. It tried to follow up by stepping on him, but he rolled to the side. He was now painfully close to the edge. Cloud nailed it with another bolt spell, taking off its remaining arm.
“Big Shot!” Barret shouted, channeling energy until a large orb of flames forms at the end of his gun arm.
The flaming ball went burning through the air, landing directly in the center of the Guard Scorpion’s body.
A few red flashed follow before the war machine fades away, FF7 boss style. That’s right; Walter said that non human bosses will disappear fancy like, unlike the normal enemies here.
Once the Guard Scorpion completely disappears, I pull a potion from my pouch and drink it down. It’s still a bit hard to stand, but this place will blow in 10 minutes so I’d best complain AFTER I’m out of here.
“Come on, let’s git outta here. Move it you two!” Barret orders, running off with us following behind him.
I take out the Ice materia and return it to Cloud as we run. He nods in acknowledgment and places it back in his weapon. As we climb up the ladders, Jessie is kneeling down, tugging at her leg. She got it stuck somehow.
Cloud knelt down near her and gently pulled her leg out from the space in the floor.
“Thanks! I got stuck…” Jessie says. She jumped ahead of us and ran off.
We continue running, and that’s when I realize, they were running slow because of me. Cloud and Barret, I mean. I’m sure they can run a lot faster then this, and yet they’re moving slowly because I am.
Once we get to the stairs, we run up them as quickly as we can. Two guards impede our path, forcing me to ask the question: Why are they trying to slow us down? They’ll be killed for sticking around too.
“Fire!” Barret shouts.
The first guard falls to the ground in a blaze, while the other avoids the fire and opens fire with his little arm beam cannon. The beams hit Barret, and while they appear to hurt him, no blood is drawn.
I was expecting Cloud to kill the guy, but note that he is presently at the top of the stairs fighting an orange and green machine gun using robot.
I turn back to the guard, who has fired another barrage of mini beams at Barret. This time, he dodges. I run in from behind the guard and swing my weapon. He turns just in time to get a deep gash on his body.
Up the stairs, it looks like Cloud has finished up with his enemy.
“How much time is left?” I ask Barret as we run up the stairs and head to the elevator.
He looked down at a watch on his left arm and his brows furrowed. “A lil over 3 minutes.”
As we enter the elevator, I go over how long it would likely take us to get out of here. 2 minutes…that’s doable. Hell, we could probably do it in 2.
“I’ve been slowing you guys down…” I say shamefully.
Cloud says nothing. Probably leaving the ‘cheer up’ stuff to Barret.
“We don’ be leavin’ anyone behind, ya hear? You’ve been helpin’ us, don’t you worry, boy.” Barret guaranteed me.
The moment we’re out of the elevator, Biggs and Jesse start entering the codes into the doors. From here, it all went smoothly. No enemies and no set backs. As we all ran towards the exit Biggs secured, the reactor begins to explode. We still had time left, but in the game it explodes just as you leave no matter how fast you are.
As we run outside, I feel the ground rumbling beneath my feet. I keep going, without looking back. Once everyone stops, I to cease with my fleeing.
I can see fire coming from the alleyway in front of me. The damage reached pretty far. I plop down onto my ass to catch my breath. Now that there’s more spare time, I pull out another potion and gulp it down. I know we’re going to be leaving this spot in like 2 minutes, but that’s enough time for me.
“That should keep the planet going, at least a little longer.” Jesse says.
“Yea.” Barret replies. “Awright fools! Meet at da train!”
At Barret’s command, the AVALANCHE crew all scatters about in different directions.
“Hey…” Cloud stops Barret.
An annoyed look crosses his face and he turns around. “If it’s about pay, save it til we get back.” With that conversation over, Barret runs off up the stairs. I follow behind him since if I stick with Cloud, I’ll have to do that whole train jumping thing.
Barret slows down once he is aware that I am following him. Damn, again I slow him down. I’d best improve soon.
Barret and I continue through the town. The reactor explosion was on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Civilians all had their own opinions, most of them leaning in the ‘what the fuck just happened?’ area. I ignore them and continue along until the train enters my view. Without hesitation, Barret leaps into the cargo car and I follow behind him.
The other members of AVALANCHE are already present and waiting for us here. Most of them, myself included, panting away. Except Barret of course. He’s a good runner for someone so big.
Another few minutes pass and the train begins to move. The crew appears worried with Cloud’s absence. I know he’s coming, so I don’t really care. I lean against a crate and ignore all conversation, thinking of where I went wrong today and what I need to do.
I need more muscle. My weapon is made from mythril. Cloud’s Mythril Sword that he can get in Kalm is better then his Buster Sword. Therefore, my weapon should be about the same as the mythril sword in terms of quality. Cloud was able to do more damage with his weapon then I was, and yet his weapon is weaker. With me so far? Thus, I really need more strength. In my time of training, I hadn’t really worked on it that much. I’m faster then Barret when I’m not in pain from a gun shot. My reflexes are decent, but could use improvement. My overall technique is nothing special. My physical strength is weak in comparison to Cloud, Tifa, or Barret. I’m stronger then the rest of AVALANCHE, at least.
I notice some thumping noises coming from the roof. I smile, knowing what that means. A few thumps later and I hear the train door open.
“Cloud!” everyone shouts in union.
I open one eye and watch as he brushes himself off and shrugs, “Guess I’m late.”
“You damn right you late! Shit! Gettin’ everyone all worried.” Barret fumed.
“Oh? You were worried about me?” Cloud says sarcastically.
“Pfft. I’m takin’ it outta your pay, hotstuff!”
I stand up and smile at the spectacle before going on ahead of the others into the passenger car. I recall all the spots that everyone took when I played the game and choose a seat that wouldn’t be used. Once I sit down, I close my eyes and take a nap. I’ll need to train once I get back.
While I couldn’t actually sleep, I did get to rest my eyes. Once I felt the train stop, I opened them up and followed the others outside. Everyone stood in a circular formation and I took my spot in an empty space.
“Ya’ll did good today. But tomorrow..we’re gonna do even better, ya hear? No screw ups or nothing!” Barret exclaims.
As everyone heads towards sector 7, I move off in the opposite direction towards the train graveyard.
“Yo Grant, you comin’!” Barret shouted to me.
I stop and turn around, waving my hand dismissively at him. “No. I’m gonna train a bit. I’ll come around later this evening.”
“Awright then.”