Final Fantasy VII-
ENDGAME
Book I
Reactor 7
A slender young woman walked down a dimly lit corridor. She was a flower girl, and one arm was looped through the handle of a wicker basket containing an assortment of red, yellow and purple. She had taken care to present herself as nicely as possible today. She was wearing a long, pink dress. She also filled her basket with nothing but her finest flowers; because she knew that today she had more of a chance to sell her wares. She continued down the corridor. It was built of concrete, and had lights evenly spaced to provide some illumination. Approaching her from the right as she walked was a small fountain built into the wall. The fountain was a semi-circle protruding from the wall with the mouth of a beast spurting water into a small pool. She paused to examine her reflection in the pool for a moment. She had a fair complexion, and eyes that glowed a pale green. Her hair was brown and done into a braid that came down to the middle of her back. She decided she looked good and continued onward. As she approached the end of the corridor, the flower girl started to hear the sound of activity. Cars honked, peddlers yelled to people across the street, and people generally went about their daily lives. All at once, the concrete corridor emptied out into a main thoroughfare and she stopped momentarily to admire the sheer grandeur of the sight of the city before her. On either side of her was a huge steel cylinder, from which she had emerged. It stretched on for kilometers, and was a hundred meters thick. Lining that was a main road that was used equally by cars and pedestrians. Several such steel cylinders, which were main power conduits, shot out from a central circle. Between the steel cylinders thousands of city blocks were home to countless shops, office buildings, homes and factories. At the end of each cylinder was a reactor which gave power for the city, but the structure at the beginning of each was the most amazing thing of all. In the central circle of the city, a towering skyscraper loomed ominously like a dagger rising above all else. The city's name was Midgar. It gave people a sense of insignificance. And yet in spite of, or perhaps because of the vastness of Midgar, the entire place had a sense of underlying uneasiness to it. All but the coldest of people who visited felt some unholy presence. To add to this effect, no living thing seemed to want to grow in Midgar or the area around it. It was night time, and when viewed from above it glowed as if a light were cast upon a spider's web with droplets of water clinging to its strands. It started to rain, and the flower girl shivered. She sought shelter underneath a balcony and began peddling her wares.
Crisscrossing Midgar was a series of train tracks to provide a means of public transport. About 100 trains covered the expanse of the city at a time to serve the entire superstructure. It was on one of these trains bound north towards one of Midgar's reactors that a man shivered. The man was tall and had spiky blonde hair. His otherwise white skin was smudged with the dirt and grease that comes from living a life on the road. His eyes stuck out as being sharp green. His name was Cloud Strife. "It's raining," he said. Cloud was in a section of the train used for storage with 4 other people. One of them, Barret Wallace, replied: "Yeah, so what?" Barret was one of the types who didn't tolerate other people getting overly talkative. He was a burly black man who had several battle scars. His most striking feature was that his right hand had been crushed and replaced with a machine gun grafted into his arm. Most people respected his authority. Cloud Strife didn't. "What do you care?" said Cloud. Barret was getting noticeably peeved at this point. "Lissen up, spiky boy. The only reason I chose you over that loud mouth sonofabitch Jackson is 'cause he smiled too much. Now, don't make me start to regret my decision, because that's gonna make me mad, real mad, maybe even mad enough to shove you outta this door." Upon saying this, Barret grabbed Cloud by the collar and shoved open the door to the outside of the moving train. Cloud had been leaning near the door in a relaxed manner, which he retained. "I'm not afraid of that," said Cloud as he gently pushed Barret's hand away. "And why the fuck not?!" "Because you paid me 1,000 gil in advance, and I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't throw away your purchase so easily, at least not without getting your money's worth. And besides," said Cloud as he sank back into his former position, "you couldn't kill me even if you wanted to." Before Barret could reply, a woman who had remained inconspicuous thus far, Jesse Aelron, interrupted. "Hey, hey! Settle down, boys. Remember, our focus is on fighting Shin-ra, not each other. This whole mission could be a disaster if one of us loses our temper." As she spoke, she shut the door. Jesse was a woman of moderate proportions, and that usually reflected her attitude. She was a clear thinker, and was always good for morale. Even her soft, red hair reflected her friendly nature. One would come to wonder how she had become a mercenary. "Yeah, well, after this jobs over with, you better watch your back, 'cause I just may set out to prove you wrong," Barret warned Cloud. There was an uneasy silence, broken by one of the two men who had been sitting in the back of the train section and watching Barret's outburst with amusement. "So, what's the game plan?" he asked Barret. The man who had spoken, Bruce Biggs, had been working with Barret for a long time. He always worked with his partner, Jeff Wedman (known as Wedge), who was the man sitting next to him. The two made a great team on the battlefield, since each knew what the other was thinking just by making eye contact. Biggs and Wedge had been together ever since childhood, and shared an emotional bond. "Lissen up. I managed to sneak some stuff aboard, hopefully it'll be enough to fight our way in and out of the reactor" Barret lifted a heavy wooden crate and dropped it in the center of the circle in which the five people were now standing. With one great heave, he ripped off the top of the crate in an impressive display of strength. After sorting through some packing material, he came up with a duffel bag bulging with equipment. He unzipped it to reveal an impressive cache of weaponry. "We got flak jackets for everybody, plus back-holstered machine guns. We're trying to evade notice for as long as possible, so don't use 'em unless you need 'em," Barret said as he passed out the weaponry. "I also managed to scrounge up some hand grenades. Then there's the crown jewel." Barret lifted up a rectangular hunk of plastique, and handed it to Jesse. "She's the expert with dat shit, so I'll let her handle it. Any questions so far?" "Just one," voiced Cloud as he finished adjusting his jacket. "Make it fast, spiky boy." "There's only four guns." A brief silence settled over the group. "I guess he doesn't know about the implant," Wedge said slowly. "Implant?" Cloud inquired. Without speaking, Barret slowly grasped his right hand, and twisted it to the left. There was a mechanical whirring, and his hand separated from his arm at the wrist. Then, in place of his hand, a gun barrel extended outwards, and a sight popped up at the end of it. "Imagine that." "Seen enough, spiky boy?" "Yeah." The barrel withdrew, and Barret screwed his hand back on. "Why do you act so sullen about it?" There was another brief silence. "I prefer not to talk about it." There could be seen, for an instant, a far off look in Barret's eyes that was the closest thing he ever came to true sadness. Jesse broke the mood by unrolling a set of blueprints. "This is a set of blueprints showing the layout of the reactor." Cloud nodded. Barret snatched the blueprints, and slammed them onto a crate. Everyone huddled around, and Barret pulled out a knife. "We gotta get here." Shouted Barret as he slammed the knife into the blueprints at the reactor switching station, which controlled the power input for both the reactor and, as Barret strongly disliked, the entire city, which tended to leave many citizens of the city wondering just what would happen if one of the reactors were to explode. "Here." Barret pointed at a dot near the switching station. "No." Cloud interjected. Everyone looked at the blonde mercenary. Cloud stared coldly at Barret, who was shaking. "Ah don't think you got the authority to tell me what ta do." Barret continued shaking and slammed his fist into a crate. He would do this a total of ten times in the next two minutes. Cloud leaned back against a crate and folded his arms. His muscles twitched, and all could see that the mercenary was a strong, experienced man. Except for Barret. "Shit. You ain't tellin me what to do. I-" Cloud raised a hand. "I will tell you what I think will benefit the group." Cloud paused and looked around the cabin. "The guards move in teams of five, circling the perimeter of the reactor every half-hour. At any one single moment in time, there are a total of 84 guards in the entirety of one reactor. The only place which is not guarded closely at all times is" --Cloud picked up Barrets knife and slammed it back down on a different location-"Here."
"SHIIITTTT!!" The guard frantically fired his gun at the large black man running at him. How the hell did they get in? This isn't possible, he thought to himself. Barret had his gunarm raised level with the guards head and he was about to fire when he heard something from behind. He spun and saw a second guard with a handgun raised. The guard squeezed the trigger and then froze. His features relaxed and he slowly fell forward. An extremely large sword, one the likes of which Barret had never seen, was protruding from the mans back. Cloud Strife pulled the sword out and whirled it around his head. He let go of the sword. Barret fell to the ground and he felt the sword fly over him. He rolled around just in time to see the first guards torso fall to the ground. Cloud whirled around and pulled out two handguns, one with a C on it and the other with an S. He flew over Barret while firing into a third guard. Cloud hit the ground and emptied both clips. He rolled, pulled his sword out of the dead guard, and popped up into a ready position. Barret blinked. His mouth fell open. "What the fuck are you? You ain't human." Barret was shaking his head. "I was in SOLDIER." Barret looked at Cloud. The green eyes told him something. "Ah think ah like you, spikey boy. You stick with me from now on. HEY EVERYONE!!! LESS GO!!" The group made their way deeper into the heart of the life sucking Mako reactor. Cloud looked up and saw the reactor. It was almost cylindrical, except for the top, where it leveled out. A large S was painted on the side of it. "Ah don' like dese tings. Day make me nervis." Barret turned and looked at Cloud. "Spikey boy, see dat over there?" Barret motioned at a computer console with two large red buttons on it. "We press dose buttons at da zact same time", Barret raised his eyebrows, " and that door opens." He pointed to a large metal door. He pulled out two keycards and tossed one to Cloud. "Ah got dese off a friend. We use dese to activate da security console." Barret looked at the group. "WELL, LESS GIT IT ON!!?" "Wait." Jesse ran over to the console and slammed the palm of her hand into an acess panel, which popped open. "It's wired." She set to work rerouting curcuitry, and a green light turned on. "Now." Barret and Cloud took a couple of tries before they could get it right, but the door eventually opened. Biggs ran off, shouting something about an escape route. The inside of the reactor was as cold and stark as the exterior. Cloud saw an elevator and ran toward it. He got in, followed by Barret. "Shit, Shin-Ra don' know whats dey doin'st o' da planet." Said Barret. Cloud's eyebrow raised. "Dese reactors suck da life out da plannet. It ain't fair. I gost ta raise ma kid out here. ARRRGHHHH!!!" Barret plunged his fist into the side of the elevator. "Das why we ga ta stop em'." Cloud could see that far off look in his eyes again. They exited from the elevator on the fortieth floor. A large catwalk led to the reactor core, where Jessie would set the bomb. Jessie ran to the core followed by Barret and Cloud. Cloud was in mid stride when he heard a ringing in his ears. He fell to the ground. The ringing got more intense, and soon Cloud couldn't hear anything else. "You awright Spikey Boy?" Barret put a hand on Clouds shoulder. Clouds ears stopped ringing. "It's okay. Nothing." Cloud shook his head. "Go on. I'll stay here." Barret nodded and ran toward the core with Jessie. Barret stopped for a moment. "Where da hell is Wedge?"
"Fuck, shit, son of a bitch!" Wedge was backed into a corner. He had emptied four clips into the guard unit. It just didn't stop. He thought about popping a pineapple, but then reconsidered. Wedge remembered Barret saying something about electricity shutting the patrol units down. Wedge could see the unit coming toward him, and next to it was a power line. He looked down at his gun. One bullet. Wedge raised the gun shakily and aimed.
"Shit, Ah wasn't bankin' on dis happenin'." Barret and the others were immersed in complete darkness. A single red light told them where the reactor core was. Jesse knelt down and pulled out the bomb. It beeped for a moment. "We've got ten minutes."
Wedge couldn't see anything. He was backed into a corner with no light, no ammo, and a god damn robot was going to kill him. He pulled out a grenade and shakily pulled the pin out.
Cloud was wondering what the hell was taking so long. He had been sitting on the catwalk for five minutes in total darkness. He was whistling when he heard the muffled explosion. He jumped to attention. His eyes darted in all directions and he fingered his sword. Two seconds after the explosion, a concussion wave hit Cloud. It knocked him forward and he lost his balance. As Cloud fell over the catwalk railing, he wondered for a moment if Barret and Jessie had succeeded.
"Whut was dat?!" Barret exclaimed. Jessie was fingering her sub-machinegun. "I don't like this. In this darkness, I can't remember exactly where we came from. Jessie looked to Barret for a response, but he was staring at something in the distance. Jessie could make out a clicking noise. Probably machinery. "Get DOWN!" Barret dove to the ground. He rolled and looked at Jessie. She was on the ground as well. He wasn't sure if the bullets from the patrol unit had hit anyone. Barret ran to Jessies side and saw that she lay in a pool of slowly spreading blood. Barret twitched. He got up and saw the unit coming toward him. If he was going down, he was taking the whole place with him.
Biggs was working on unlocking a door when he saw Cloud run down a hallway. There was blood running down his leg, and he seemed bruised. "Lets go." Cloud said. "What about-" Biggs let the question hang in the air for a moment. Cloud shook his head. "We gotta go. NOW." Biggs and Cloud had made it the Sector 8 plaza when it happened. At first the explosion wasn't that loud, but as different sections of the reactor exploded in the chain reaction, it was impossible to ignore. All at once, the entirety of the reactor imploded and then exploded. It was done. All around them, cars, peddlers, and people going about their daily lives all screamed and took cover as shrapnel flew overhead. Cloud caught sight of a pretty young flower girl who was lying in the path of a large chunk of stone. "GET OUT!" Cloud yelled as he wrapped his strong, muscular arms around her slender waist and sent them both flying around a corner. Cloud snapped out of his moment of emotion, and helped her up. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I-I think so." "Here you go." He handed her one gil and took a flower from her basket.
Avalanche
Sector 7. The slums. Helluva place to crash, thought Cloud as he made his way towards a trashy bar at one end of a dirt road. The slums were what remained of the original town before Shinra came and covered it with the plate. "This blows. They're all dead." Biggs was freaking out. "We've alerted Shinra to our presence. They're gonna be all over us." Cloud ignored him and continued. He entered the bar, and looked around. "Did everything go alright?" asked Tifa. "No." Cloud sat down at a table and picked up a mug of beer. He heard the noise after the mug was on the ground. Cloud whirled around. "JESSS ME SPIKEY BOY" Barret let out a huge laugh and sat down at a table. Cloud noticed a large pool of slowly spreading blood underneath Barret. Barret smiled and nodded. He motioned for Tifa to come over and order him a cup of beer. Looking up, he noticed Cloud was staring intently at him. "Now, for my payment." Barrets eyes narrowed. He stood up and walked up to Cloud. Cloud noticed the blood dripping from three gashes in Barrets leg. Barret looked at Cloud and slowly brought his gun within Clouds view. "You git rite to the point, donn' ya, spikey boy?" Barret led out a thunderous laugh. "I like dat shit in a merc, you be good now, don spend it all in one place."
"I'll take that, that, and that one over there." Cloud motioned at the large hunks of stone sitting on the cashiers table. The cashier looked up, and smiled. He was an elderly Chinese man. "You sure no reconsider? That one over there-" he pointed at another, slightly larger stone " -is better. It improve health." The man gave a wide grin, displaying rows of rotting teeth. Cloud gave him a cold glare. The cashier understood and moved to pack the stones up. Cloud heard a noise, and whirled around. "Ahh tot I'd find yo' spikey ass hea." Barret smiled. "Now you sho' dis black muthafucka how ta use dis shi." Cloud grabbed the bag from the cashier, laying down all of his payment. "You've got to have it in you." "What da FUCK is dat suppos ta mean???" "IT." Cloud brushed past him. "Come back hea mudda fucka!" Cloud walked off. "Ah, fuck it." Barret turned to the Chinese cashier, who was saying something about improving his health. PART FOUR: WUTAI IS ABOUT TO E X P L O D E
Reno raised the gun and fired four shots into the blue suited man. "Shit, you're getting blood everywhere." Tseng pulled out a hankerchief and sneezed. Reno holstered the gun. "As long as it runs on the soil of this despicable nation." He kicked the now dead man, and spat upon the ground. "Well, lets go." Rude jumped from the stone he had been sitting on and threw the remainder of a sandwich on the ground. He looked at his watch. Ten to three. Time to dine.
The Turtles Paradise Inn was always busy on Saturdays. The Turks sat in a far corner of the bar, cradling their drinks. "Well, tomorrow we go to Costa Del Sol." "I hear they've got good beaches." "Yeah." Reno leaned forward and took a swig of his drink. One more hit before retirement. Rude examined a mark on his hand. It was a scratch from the previous assignment. "How are the tacos down there?"
"Where?"
"Costa Del Sol."
Reno wiped a speck of blood off of his jacket. "They're good. Not the best though. Go to, ah, Cosmo Canyon."
"The hell is that?" "Some hippy joint."
"Gotcha." Reno and Rude stood up, motioned toward Tseng, who tore himself away from the woman he had been flirting with, and left the inn. It was gonna be a busy weekend.
Aeris looked over the crystal clear waters of Costa Del Sol. So different from the city she had grown up in. She turned, and was about to say something, when she heard a noise. She looked back at the horizon. A dim black shape emerged. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this." She shivered. Tifa turned. "Yeah, I think a storm's about to come in. We should get back with the others." "No. Listen." Tifa looked to the horizon, and heard a distant rumbling. Probably thunder. A stream of bullets tore across the beach. Two of them made contact with Aeris' left leg. "AAH!" "Shit! We've got to get out of here!" "GO! I'll stay behind!" Aeris' eyes began to glow an intense green. Tifa examined herself. She was wearing shades and a skimpy bikini. Meat for the grinder. She decided to run.
"GET DA FUCK DOWN!" Barret Wallace took two shots in the chest. He felt a surge of energy and ran at the blue suited man. Raising his gunarm in a heroic effort, Barret aimed and fired. Reno was blown backwards. Eighteen plutonium bullets tore through his right shoulder, seperating it from his arm. Enraged, he raised his ElectroBlade and slammed it into the wounded black man.
Cloud saw Barret go down. Not like this. He unsheathed his Ragnarok and threw the sword at the Turk. Barret fell as the sword flew over him and sliced the turks other arm off.
Reno swore out loud. They wanted to play hard ball. He motioned toward Rude, who mounted the chaingun. A stream of bullets cut down the fallen black man, tearing him apart. The heavens opened. A red dragon, full of fury, swooped down and swept up Rude and his Vibro Boat. Bahamut had done well. But the cost was great. On that beach, Barret Wallace died.
Aeris was unconscious. Barret was dead. Tifa and the wolf creature were nowhere to be seen. Cloud clenched a fist as he heard the sound of a helicopter approaching him from behind.
"Damn, they took out Reno and Rude." Elena smiled. "Don't worry. This should take care of them." She fingered the control for the mako cannon mounted on the side of the helicopter. Tseng looked up. "Wait. What's that?"
Cloud was mad. His eyes gloweds green. "YOU will PAY"
Reno raised the vvibro blade despite the losss of his arm. Payback time. Elena exploded as Tseng went "Nu" Cloud was in a crater. Barret lay in a pool of lood. "Go on, ah don wanna see marlene like dis, leave MEEEEE! Tifa nodded. It was all she could do. Barret looked up. "No" "Make one false move and she gets one in the head." He fingered the grenade3. Cloud ran afeter the turks. They had taken hostages. Cait Shi, rolled firing the gun at reno. He would't let them take him alive. But they already had. Reno looked at cait shi. Cait sh;I wavered. I'm not really here, you didn't take any REAL hostages. Tifa and Ananaki were runnin' Cait Shi' was at the door to the Highwind. "GET OUVA HEA!" cid was madd. They sat around the condference table of the highwind. The barret torso looked up, a grave expression on his face. "Ah told yah we shoulnt ha gone ta costa d soul." Aerith nodded. Hes right. Buganhagen enetered. What the torso says is true, said buganhagen. "but we must proceed to the north cave.
Part 2 - The redemption
Barret turned to the china man. "You gonna teach me ta use dis shi"
"easy." He fingered the button. Goku looked down. "well, the china man, whos name will not be revealed, stared at the torso on the oplush leather chai. "Just what do youu want with this thing?" "Fwell, that's a faire questsean, ans I is gonsta tells you why" Barret was promptly cut off as THE CHAIR BECAME A CRATER. Materia Mopnger Chiang flew out of the desruction. His levitate spell had barely saved him. Suddenly, he noticed something.
MASTZER TONBERRY turned. "You see dat." Barret pointed at the creature. "Over dere, bout hundred yards." He paused his facil features widening.
"AH SEE YOUUUUUUUUUUUU" Cue song: keep hope alive Interior\\\Exterior: Midgar slums Go Barret had a mako launcher. He tore through the throngs of mudocreatures towards Sephiroth. Sephiroth turned. The sword glowed red. Cloud exploded, taking half of neo midgar with him.
Barret fired the mako beam just as Cloud jumped in front of Sephiroth. S. H. I. T.""" "Do you think we made it in time?" Tifa was concerned. The explosion had caused a nu crator to form. Cloud was nowhere in sight. Nunaki frowned. I hape os oso.
Midgard had dissappeared in a haze. The survivors huddled inside the Highwind. It was time to kill Rufus Shinra. Rufus surveyed the cannopn. Tifa slapped scarlet. YOU BITCH. Ruby wepon landed, it's eyes glowing. "WE CAN T FIGHT DIS TIZNG A LONE. WE NEED DA POWERE OD F DA
KINGHTS OF DA ROUND." Cue pump music. The city of Junon exploioded; in the night time haze the explosion looked spectacular - - - THOUGHT HOJO. The highwind swooped way from the ruby weapon. cid screamed "LESS BLOW DI S FUCKSTAND." Barret roared in approval.
Cloud was dead, but the soul still burns.
Vincent looked up. Yuffie was on fire. Vincent cast the chais soell. Not like THIS --- Vincent became Chaos. Lucretia surveyed the destruction, turning toward vincent. Yuffie started to run. Vincent and yuffie ran as fast as they could, but the ubermonster was too fast.Aeris sliced through the heavens, hoping she would arrive in time to stop it. The green eyes glowed throu the fires and then there was silence. Aeris prayed. WE HAVE TO FIND THE HOLY MATERIA YELLED CLOUD Ato VINCENT. Suddenly, reality itself seemed to fall apart as a blinding white light overcame the land. Vincent didn't want to die,not toda,not like this. Alexander roared: "Noooo!"; not like this. Barret had made the journey to corel prison to make amends with an old friend, the same friend who would attempt to kill him: DYNE.Suddenly, a big hand caught him. Barret reached o;ut for dyne yelling "Grab holdma hand dyn." Suddenly, a shockwave was comin'; it was holy. "No," Dyne said and exploded, Barret screaming at the top of his lungs
DYNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? Cid looked at the planet from his pod "Too fuckin bad" he laughed. Hojo floated in orbit, waitng for th;e next opportunity to strike. Part 3
The planet was apart, but that didn't stop Sephiroth. He would have his revenge. Oh yes. Sweet revenge. Cid looked up.jhgfsesreygoiiiiiiiiiiiygygdrtfyvgiukyrwetrdyuyhttrjetcdk gdjhj,khyf,gi8glgfuy,g j,yfygf uyfhigyufhtfcb ,hvdrts.kfjswswrde sgfeddchi tvikgyfhfrevjnhyf\sendouvhyfdigkfhgidfguikjfdhngiohfgiudrngkjhegijhduo[szfh Poszjh[Dhkdrzjftiofghjkfgkdgkfsdjgkjdiokjnmgtfhnkjfxngfxnlkfdjoirsdjglksdngk ljshgkjdfnjjfoijxdlkhiuthrsnfjgoifdhtoib oesoysitueoighs rdif vdlghdlis;rjfioseJFLKJP;RDHTDOURHDREHSOURHOSEIHGO ISJBOISDFLNGSDLJHGOIRSHTJNORESSYUPRTJESAIURIEUROESIJTOKASEMGJDZV DYNE lvl9ridfsdlknfvo vjdprnvkrdjtg rs" Zidane LOOKED UP Squall had two gunblades.
ENDGAME
Book I
Reactor 7
A slender young woman walked down a dimly lit corridor. She was a flower girl, and one arm was looped through the handle of a wicker basket containing an assortment of red, yellow and purple. She had taken care to present herself as nicely as possible today. She was wearing a long, pink dress. She also filled her basket with nothing but her finest flowers; because she knew that today she had more of a chance to sell her wares. She continued down the corridor. It was built of concrete, and had lights evenly spaced to provide some illumination. Approaching her from the right as she walked was a small fountain built into the wall. The fountain was a semi-circle protruding from the wall with the mouth of a beast spurting water into a small pool. She paused to examine her reflection in the pool for a moment. She had a fair complexion, and eyes that glowed a pale green. Her hair was brown and done into a braid that came down to the middle of her back. She decided she looked good and continued onward. As she approached the end of the corridor, the flower girl started to hear the sound of activity. Cars honked, peddlers yelled to people across the street, and people generally went about their daily lives. All at once, the concrete corridor emptied out into a main thoroughfare and she stopped momentarily to admire the sheer grandeur of the sight of the city before her. On either side of her was a huge steel cylinder, from which she had emerged. It stretched on for kilometers, and was a hundred meters thick. Lining that was a main road that was used equally by cars and pedestrians. Several such steel cylinders, which were main power conduits, shot out from a central circle. Between the steel cylinders thousands of city blocks were home to countless shops, office buildings, homes and factories. At the end of each cylinder was a reactor which gave power for the city, but the structure at the beginning of each was the most amazing thing of all. In the central circle of the city, a towering skyscraper loomed ominously like a dagger rising above all else. The city's name was Midgar. It gave people a sense of insignificance. And yet in spite of, or perhaps because of the vastness of Midgar, the entire place had a sense of underlying uneasiness to it. All but the coldest of people who visited felt some unholy presence. To add to this effect, no living thing seemed to want to grow in Midgar or the area around it. It was night time, and when viewed from above it glowed as if a light were cast upon a spider's web with droplets of water clinging to its strands. It started to rain, and the flower girl shivered. She sought shelter underneath a balcony and began peddling her wares.
Crisscrossing Midgar was a series of train tracks to provide a means of public transport. About 100 trains covered the expanse of the city at a time to serve the entire superstructure. It was on one of these trains bound north towards one of Midgar's reactors that a man shivered. The man was tall and had spiky blonde hair. His otherwise white skin was smudged with the dirt and grease that comes from living a life on the road. His eyes stuck out as being sharp green. His name was Cloud Strife. "It's raining," he said. Cloud was in a section of the train used for storage with 4 other people. One of them, Barret Wallace, replied: "Yeah, so what?" Barret was one of the types who didn't tolerate other people getting overly talkative. He was a burly black man who had several battle scars. His most striking feature was that his right hand had been crushed and replaced with a machine gun grafted into his arm. Most people respected his authority. Cloud Strife didn't. "What do you care?" said Cloud. Barret was getting noticeably peeved at this point. "Lissen up, spiky boy. The only reason I chose you over that loud mouth sonofabitch Jackson is 'cause he smiled too much. Now, don't make me start to regret my decision, because that's gonna make me mad, real mad, maybe even mad enough to shove you outta this door." Upon saying this, Barret grabbed Cloud by the collar and shoved open the door to the outside of the moving train. Cloud had been leaning near the door in a relaxed manner, which he retained. "I'm not afraid of that," said Cloud as he gently pushed Barret's hand away. "And why the fuck not?!" "Because you paid me 1,000 gil in advance, and I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't throw away your purchase so easily, at least not without getting your money's worth. And besides," said Cloud as he sank back into his former position, "you couldn't kill me even if you wanted to." Before Barret could reply, a woman who had remained inconspicuous thus far, Jesse Aelron, interrupted. "Hey, hey! Settle down, boys. Remember, our focus is on fighting Shin-ra, not each other. This whole mission could be a disaster if one of us loses our temper." As she spoke, she shut the door. Jesse was a woman of moderate proportions, and that usually reflected her attitude. She was a clear thinker, and was always good for morale. Even her soft, red hair reflected her friendly nature. One would come to wonder how she had become a mercenary. "Yeah, well, after this jobs over with, you better watch your back, 'cause I just may set out to prove you wrong," Barret warned Cloud. There was an uneasy silence, broken by one of the two men who had been sitting in the back of the train section and watching Barret's outburst with amusement. "So, what's the game plan?" he asked Barret. The man who had spoken, Bruce Biggs, had been working with Barret for a long time. He always worked with his partner, Jeff Wedman (known as Wedge), who was the man sitting next to him. The two made a great team on the battlefield, since each knew what the other was thinking just by making eye contact. Biggs and Wedge had been together ever since childhood, and shared an emotional bond. "Lissen up. I managed to sneak some stuff aboard, hopefully it'll be enough to fight our way in and out of the reactor" Barret lifted a heavy wooden crate and dropped it in the center of the circle in which the five people were now standing. With one great heave, he ripped off the top of the crate in an impressive display of strength. After sorting through some packing material, he came up with a duffel bag bulging with equipment. He unzipped it to reveal an impressive cache of weaponry. "We got flak jackets for everybody, plus back-holstered machine guns. We're trying to evade notice for as long as possible, so don't use 'em unless you need 'em," Barret said as he passed out the weaponry. "I also managed to scrounge up some hand grenades. Then there's the crown jewel." Barret lifted up a rectangular hunk of plastique, and handed it to Jesse. "She's the expert with dat shit, so I'll let her handle it. Any questions so far?" "Just one," voiced Cloud as he finished adjusting his jacket. "Make it fast, spiky boy." "There's only four guns." A brief silence settled over the group. "I guess he doesn't know about the implant," Wedge said slowly. "Implant?" Cloud inquired. Without speaking, Barret slowly grasped his right hand, and twisted it to the left. There was a mechanical whirring, and his hand separated from his arm at the wrist. Then, in place of his hand, a gun barrel extended outwards, and a sight popped up at the end of it. "Imagine that." "Seen enough, spiky boy?" "Yeah." The barrel withdrew, and Barret screwed his hand back on. "Why do you act so sullen about it?" There was another brief silence. "I prefer not to talk about it." There could be seen, for an instant, a far off look in Barret's eyes that was the closest thing he ever came to true sadness. Jesse broke the mood by unrolling a set of blueprints. "This is a set of blueprints showing the layout of the reactor." Cloud nodded. Barret snatched the blueprints, and slammed them onto a crate. Everyone huddled around, and Barret pulled out a knife. "We gotta get here." Shouted Barret as he slammed the knife into the blueprints at the reactor switching station, which controlled the power input for both the reactor and, as Barret strongly disliked, the entire city, which tended to leave many citizens of the city wondering just what would happen if one of the reactors were to explode. "Here." Barret pointed at a dot near the switching station. "No." Cloud interjected. Everyone looked at the blonde mercenary. Cloud stared coldly at Barret, who was shaking. "Ah don't think you got the authority to tell me what ta do." Barret continued shaking and slammed his fist into a crate. He would do this a total of ten times in the next two minutes. Cloud leaned back against a crate and folded his arms. His muscles twitched, and all could see that the mercenary was a strong, experienced man. Except for Barret. "Shit. You ain't tellin me what to do. I-" Cloud raised a hand. "I will tell you what I think will benefit the group." Cloud paused and looked around the cabin. "The guards move in teams of five, circling the perimeter of the reactor every half-hour. At any one single moment in time, there are a total of 84 guards in the entirety of one reactor. The only place which is not guarded closely at all times is" --Cloud picked up Barrets knife and slammed it back down on a different location-"Here."
"SHIIITTTT!!" The guard frantically fired his gun at the large black man running at him. How the hell did they get in? This isn't possible, he thought to himself. Barret had his gunarm raised level with the guards head and he was about to fire when he heard something from behind. He spun and saw a second guard with a handgun raised. The guard squeezed the trigger and then froze. His features relaxed and he slowly fell forward. An extremely large sword, one the likes of which Barret had never seen, was protruding from the mans back. Cloud Strife pulled the sword out and whirled it around his head. He let go of the sword. Barret fell to the ground and he felt the sword fly over him. He rolled around just in time to see the first guards torso fall to the ground. Cloud whirled around and pulled out two handguns, one with a C on it and the other with an S. He flew over Barret while firing into a third guard. Cloud hit the ground and emptied both clips. He rolled, pulled his sword out of the dead guard, and popped up into a ready position. Barret blinked. His mouth fell open. "What the fuck are you? You ain't human." Barret was shaking his head. "I was in SOLDIER." Barret looked at Cloud. The green eyes told him something. "Ah think ah like you, spikey boy. You stick with me from now on. HEY EVERYONE!!! LESS GO!!" The group made their way deeper into the heart of the life sucking Mako reactor. Cloud looked up and saw the reactor. It was almost cylindrical, except for the top, where it leveled out. A large S was painted on the side of it. "Ah don' like dese tings. Day make me nervis." Barret turned and looked at Cloud. "Spikey boy, see dat over there?" Barret motioned at a computer console with two large red buttons on it. "We press dose buttons at da zact same time", Barret raised his eyebrows, " and that door opens." He pointed to a large metal door. He pulled out two keycards and tossed one to Cloud. "Ah got dese off a friend. We use dese to activate da security console." Barret looked at the group. "WELL, LESS GIT IT ON!!?" "Wait." Jesse ran over to the console and slammed the palm of her hand into an acess panel, which popped open. "It's wired." She set to work rerouting curcuitry, and a green light turned on. "Now." Barret and Cloud took a couple of tries before they could get it right, but the door eventually opened. Biggs ran off, shouting something about an escape route. The inside of the reactor was as cold and stark as the exterior. Cloud saw an elevator and ran toward it. He got in, followed by Barret. "Shit, Shin-Ra don' know whats dey doin'st o' da planet." Said Barret. Cloud's eyebrow raised. "Dese reactors suck da life out da plannet. It ain't fair. I gost ta raise ma kid out here. ARRRGHHHH!!!" Barret plunged his fist into the side of the elevator. "Das why we ga ta stop em'." Cloud could see that far off look in his eyes again. They exited from the elevator on the fortieth floor. A large catwalk led to the reactor core, where Jessie would set the bomb. Jessie ran to the core followed by Barret and Cloud. Cloud was in mid stride when he heard a ringing in his ears. He fell to the ground. The ringing got more intense, and soon Cloud couldn't hear anything else. "You awright Spikey Boy?" Barret put a hand on Clouds shoulder. Clouds ears stopped ringing. "It's okay. Nothing." Cloud shook his head. "Go on. I'll stay here." Barret nodded and ran toward the core with Jessie. Barret stopped for a moment. "Where da hell is Wedge?"
"Fuck, shit, son of a bitch!" Wedge was backed into a corner. He had emptied four clips into the guard unit. It just didn't stop. He thought about popping a pineapple, but then reconsidered. Wedge remembered Barret saying something about electricity shutting the patrol units down. Wedge could see the unit coming toward him, and next to it was a power line. He looked down at his gun. One bullet. Wedge raised the gun shakily and aimed.
"Shit, Ah wasn't bankin' on dis happenin'." Barret and the others were immersed in complete darkness. A single red light told them where the reactor core was. Jesse knelt down and pulled out the bomb. It beeped for a moment. "We've got ten minutes."
Wedge couldn't see anything. He was backed into a corner with no light, no ammo, and a god damn robot was going to kill him. He pulled out a grenade and shakily pulled the pin out.
Cloud was wondering what the hell was taking so long. He had been sitting on the catwalk for five minutes in total darkness. He was whistling when he heard the muffled explosion. He jumped to attention. His eyes darted in all directions and he fingered his sword. Two seconds after the explosion, a concussion wave hit Cloud. It knocked him forward and he lost his balance. As Cloud fell over the catwalk railing, he wondered for a moment if Barret and Jessie had succeeded.
"Whut was dat?!" Barret exclaimed. Jessie was fingering her sub-machinegun. "I don't like this. In this darkness, I can't remember exactly where we came from. Jessie looked to Barret for a response, but he was staring at something in the distance. Jessie could make out a clicking noise. Probably machinery. "Get DOWN!" Barret dove to the ground. He rolled and looked at Jessie. She was on the ground as well. He wasn't sure if the bullets from the patrol unit had hit anyone. Barret ran to Jessies side and saw that she lay in a pool of slowly spreading blood. Barret twitched. He got up and saw the unit coming toward him. If he was going down, he was taking the whole place with him.
Biggs was working on unlocking a door when he saw Cloud run down a hallway. There was blood running down his leg, and he seemed bruised. "Lets go." Cloud said. "What about-" Biggs let the question hang in the air for a moment. Cloud shook his head. "We gotta go. NOW." Biggs and Cloud had made it the Sector 8 plaza when it happened. At first the explosion wasn't that loud, but as different sections of the reactor exploded in the chain reaction, it was impossible to ignore. All at once, the entirety of the reactor imploded and then exploded. It was done. All around them, cars, peddlers, and people going about their daily lives all screamed and took cover as shrapnel flew overhead. Cloud caught sight of a pretty young flower girl who was lying in the path of a large chunk of stone. "GET OUT!" Cloud yelled as he wrapped his strong, muscular arms around her slender waist and sent them both flying around a corner. Cloud snapped out of his moment of emotion, and helped her up. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I-I think so." "Here you go." He handed her one gil and took a flower from her basket.
Avalanche
Sector 7. The slums. Helluva place to crash, thought Cloud as he made his way towards a trashy bar at one end of a dirt road. The slums were what remained of the original town before Shinra came and covered it with the plate. "This blows. They're all dead." Biggs was freaking out. "We've alerted Shinra to our presence. They're gonna be all over us." Cloud ignored him and continued. He entered the bar, and looked around. "Did everything go alright?" asked Tifa. "No." Cloud sat down at a table and picked up a mug of beer. He heard the noise after the mug was on the ground. Cloud whirled around. "JESSS ME SPIKEY BOY" Barret let out a huge laugh and sat down at a table. Cloud noticed a large pool of slowly spreading blood underneath Barret. Barret smiled and nodded. He motioned for Tifa to come over and order him a cup of beer. Looking up, he noticed Cloud was staring intently at him. "Now, for my payment." Barrets eyes narrowed. He stood up and walked up to Cloud. Cloud noticed the blood dripping from three gashes in Barrets leg. Barret looked at Cloud and slowly brought his gun within Clouds view. "You git rite to the point, donn' ya, spikey boy?" Barret led out a thunderous laugh. "I like dat shit in a merc, you be good now, don spend it all in one place."
"I'll take that, that, and that one over there." Cloud motioned at the large hunks of stone sitting on the cashiers table. The cashier looked up, and smiled. He was an elderly Chinese man. "You sure no reconsider? That one over there-" he pointed at another, slightly larger stone " -is better. It improve health." The man gave a wide grin, displaying rows of rotting teeth. Cloud gave him a cold glare. The cashier understood and moved to pack the stones up. Cloud heard a noise, and whirled around. "Ahh tot I'd find yo' spikey ass hea." Barret smiled. "Now you sho' dis black muthafucka how ta use dis shi." Cloud grabbed the bag from the cashier, laying down all of his payment. "You've got to have it in you." "What da FUCK is dat suppos ta mean???" "IT." Cloud brushed past him. "Come back hea mudda fucka!" Cloud walked off. "Ah, fuck it." Barret turned to the Chinese cashier, who was saying something about improving his health. PART FOUR: WUTAI IS ABOUT TO E X P L O D E
Reno raised the gun and fired four shots into the blue suited man. "Shit, you're getting blood everywhere." Tseng pulled out a hankerchief and sneezed. Reno holstered the gun. "As long as it runs on the soil of this despicable nation." He kicked the now dead man, and spat upon the ground. "Well, lets go." Rude jumped from the stone he had been sitting on and threw the remainder of a sandwich on the ground. He looked at his watch. Ten to three. Time to dine.
The Turtles Paradise Inn was always busy on Saturdays. The Turks sat in a far corner of the bar, cradling their drinks. "Well, tomorrow we go to Costa Del Sol." "I hear they've got good beaches." "Yeah." Reno leaned forward and took a swig of his drink. One more hit before retirement. Rude examined a mark on his hand. It was a scratch from the previous assignment. "How are the tacos down there?"
"Where?"
"Costa Del Sol."
Reno wiped a speck of blood off of his jacket. "They're good. Not the best though. Go to, ah, Cosmo Canyon."
"The hell is that?" "Some hippy joint."
"Gotcha." Reno and Rude stood up, motioned toward Tseng, who tore himself away from the woman he had been flirting with, and left the inn. It was gonna be a busy weekend.
Aeris looked over the crystal clear waters of Costa Del Sol. So different from the city she had grown up in. She turned, and was about to say something, when she heard a noise. She looked back at the horizon. A dim black shape emerged. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this." She shivered. Tifa turned. "Yeah, I think a storm's about to come in. We should get back with the others." "No. Listen." Tifa looked to the horizon, and heard a distant rumbling. Probably thunder. A stream of bullets tore across the beach. Two of them made contact with Aeris' left leg. "AAH!" "Shit! We've got to get out of here!" "GO! I'll stay behind!" Aeris' eyes began to glow an intense green. Tifa examined herself. She was wearing shades and a skimpy bikini. Meat for the grinder. She decided to run.
"GET DA FUCK DOWN!" Barret Wallace took two shots in the chest. He felt a surge of energy and ran at the blue suited man. Raising his gunarm in a heroic effort, Barret aimed and fired. Reno was blown backwards. Eighteen plutonium bullets tore through his right shoulder, seperating it from his arm. Enraged, he raised his ElectroBlade and slammed it into the wounded black man.
Cloud saw Barret go down. Not like this. He unsheathed his Ragnarok and threw the sword at the Turk. Barret fell as the sword flew over him and sliced the turks other arm off.
Reno swore out loud. They wanted to play hard ball. He motioned toward Rude, who mounted the chaingun. A stream of bullets cut down the fallen black man, tearing him apart. The heavens opened. A red dragon, full of fury, swooped down and swept up Rude and his Vibro Boat. Bahamut had done well. But the cost was great. On that beach, Barret Wallace died.
Aeris was unconscious. Barret was dead. Tifa and the wolf creature were nowhere to be seen. Cloud clenched a fist as he heard the sound of a helicopter approaching him from behind.
"Damn, they took out Reno and Rude." Elena smiled. "Don't worry. This should take care of them." She fingered the control for the mako cannon mounted on the side of the helicopter. Tseng looked up. "Wait. What's that?"
Cloud was mad. His eyes gloweds green. "YOU will PAY"
Reno raised the vvibro blade despite the losss of his arm. Payback time. Elena exploded as Tseng went "Nu" Cloud was in a crater. Barret lay in a pool of lood. "Go on, ah don wanna see marlene like dis, leave MEEEEE! Tifa nodded. It was all she could do. Barret looked up. "No" "Make one false move and she gets one in the head." He fingered the grenade3. Cloud ran afeter the turks. They had taken hostages. Cait Shi, rolled firing the gun at reno. He would't let them take him alive. But they already had. Reno looked at cait shi. Cait sh;I wavered. I'm not really here, you didn't take any REAL hostages. Tifa and Ananaki were runnin' Cait Shi' was at the door to the Highwind. "GET OUVA HEA!" cid was madd. They sat around the condference table of the highwind. The barret torso looked up, a grave expression on his face. "Ah told yah we shoulnt ha gone ta costa d soul." Aerith nodded. Hes right. Buganhagen enetered. What the torso says is true, said buganhagen. "but we must proceed to the north cave.
Part 2 - The redemption
Barret turned to the china man. "You gonna teach me ta use dis shi"
"easy." He fingered the button. Goku looked down. "well, the china man, whos name will not be revealed, stared at the torso on the oplush leather chai. "Just what do youu want with this thing?" "Fwell, that's a faire questsean, ans I is gonsta tells you why" Barret was promptly cut off as THE CHAIR BECAME A CRATER. Materia Mopnger Chiang flew out of the desruction. His levitate spell had barely saved him. Suddenly, he noticed something.
MASTZER TONBERRY turned. "You see dat." Barret pointed at the creature. "Over dere, bout hundred yards." He paused his facil features widening.
"AH SEE YOUUUUUUUUUUUU" Cue song: keep hope alive Interior\\\Exterior: Midgar slums Go Barret had a mako launcher. He tore through the throngs of mudocreatures towards Sephiroth. Sephiroth turned. The sword glowed red. Cloud exploded, taking half of neo midgar with him.
Barret fired the mako beam just as Cloud jumped in front of Sephiroth. S. H. I. T.""" "Do you think we made it in time?" Tifa was concerned. The explosion had caused a nu crator to form. Cloud was nowhere in sight. Nunaki frowned. I hape os oso.
Midgard had dissappeared in a haze. The survivors huddled inside the Highwind. It was time to kill Rufus Shinra. Rufus surveyed the cannopn. Tifa slapped scarlet. YOU BITCH. Ruby wepon landed, it's eyes glowing. "WE CAN T FIGHT DIS TIZNG A LONE. WE NEED DA POWERE OD F DA
KINGHTS OF DA ROUND." Cue pump music. The city of Junon exploioded; in the night time haze the explosion looked spectacular - - - THOUGHT HOJO. The highwind swooped way from the ruby weapon. cid screamed "LESS BLOW DI S FUCKSTAND." Barret roared in approval.
Cloud was dead, but the soul still burns.
Vincent looked up. Yuffie was on fire. Vincent cast the chais soell. Not like THIS --- Vincent became Chaos. Lucretia surveyed the destruction, turning toward vincent. Yuffie started to run. Vincent and yuffie ran as fast as they could, but the ubermonster was too fast.Aeris sliced through the heavens, hoping she would arrive in time to stop it. The green eyes glowed throu the fires and then there was silence. Aeris prayed. WE HAVE TO FIND THE HOLY MATERIA YELLED CLOUD Ato VINCENT. Suddenly, reality itself seemed to fall apart as a blinding white light overcame the land. Vincent didn't want to die,not toda,not like this. Alexander roared: "Noooo!"; not like this. Barret had made the journey to corel prison to make amends with an old friend, the same friend who would attempt to kill him: DYNE.Suddenly, a big hand caught him. Barret reached o;ut for dyne yelling "Grab holdma hand dyn." Suddenly, a shockwave was comin'; it was holy. "No," Dyne said and exploded, Barret screaming at the top of his lungs
DYNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? Cid looked at the planet from his pod "Too fuckin bad" he laughed. Hojo floated in orbit, waitng for th;e next opportunity to strike. Part 3
The planet was apart, but that didn't stop Sephiroth. He would have his revenge. Oh yes. Sweet revenge. Cid looked up.jhgfsesreygoiiiiiiiiiiiygygdrtfyvgiukyrwetrdyuyhttrjetcdk gdjhj,khyf,gi8glgfuy,g j,yfygf uyfhigyufhtfcb ,hvdrts.kfjswswrde sgfeddchi tvikgyfhfrevjnhyf\sendouvhyfdigkfhgidfguikjfdhngiohfgiudrngkjhegijhduo[szfh Poszjh[Dhkdrzjftiofghjkfgkdgkfsdjgkjdiokjnmgtfhnkjfxngfxnlkfdjoirsdjglksdngk ljshgkjdfnjjfoijxdlkhiuthrsnfjgoifdhtoib oesoysitueoighs rdif vdlghdlis;rjfioseJFLKJP;RDHTDOURHDREHSOURHOSEIHGO ISJBOISDFLNGSDLJHGOIRSHTJNORESSYUPRTJESAIURIEUROESIJTOKASEMGJDZV DYNE lvl9ridfsdlknfvo vjdprnvkrdjtg rs" Zidane LOOKED UP Squall had two gunblades.