Destruction.....That's all Joe could say of the destruction around him. His city....his life....decimated. "For what reason?" was all he could ask himself. Joe was pretty good looking. Broen hair and brown eyes. He had quite a large build for his age. Most girls thought of him as handsome as he always had a date on a friday night. He didn't have anyone left or anything except his trust Shimmering Blade which he had gotten mysteriously for his birthday last year. He looked around. The great machine city of Zanarkand.....destroyed. Well, he thought, this is what we get for only depending on our machina. Just then some strange creature jumped out of the sky. It seemed to have just dropped there. Then it flipped out its pincers and the battle began.

This'll be easy, he thought. He easily swung down his blade onto the puny beast easily slicing it in half. "That's that." He said out loud. "That you Joe?" a voice asked. Joe turned around to see his friend Synea. She was gorgeous, with long flowing brown hair and beautiful brown sparkling eyes. Her face was speckled with a few freckles and when she smiled they seemed to jump out and make her face seem even more beautiful. Just behind her was her friend Sky short for Shinimegami. Joe had never really liked her. Not that she was ugly, she had black hair with pretty sparkling blue eyes. But she just freaked him out She seemed more like a God of Death than a kid. Her scythe was very imposing. "Looks like you had a little fight there." Said Synea. "There little nasty things aren't they?" asked Sky. "Sky here made quick work of them." Said Synea. Just then a vicious looking monster flew up from the ground.

"Sinsspawn!" screamed Sky. For the first time ever Joe saw fear in her face. "Wh-What the heck is that thing?" Screamed Synea. "A Sinsspawn. A monster left by the thing that destroyed this city." Said a mysterious voice behind them. The person jumped over them and sliced the Sinsspawn killing it. "Nasty." Said the man. He had black hair and a long scar going threw his eye which he kept close. He had quite a muscular build. "Well hello there. I am Shinigami otherwise known as Crazy. Hey you, what is that sword you hold in your hand? Do you not know how to handle it?" asked this man Crazy. "I-I have never used it before. I have practiced often but I haven't really been in a battle yet." Answered Joe. "It's okay Joe. There's always a first time for everything." Synea said smiling, showing off her gorgeous little freckles. "Well I guess we better be off." Said Crazy. "To where?" asked Synea. "To look for a place to stay for the night, some food and to look for anymore survivors." Said Crazy. "What was that thing that attacked us?" asked Sky. "An evil so powerful that it can......" Crazy pointed out over the vast wasteland that was Zanarkand. "It is the payment you get for depending to much on the machina." Said Crazy. "And it will never stop until someone stops it."

End Chapter 1

Joe suddenly awakened out of his less than comfortable sleep on the hard ground. It had been 4 weeks of searching the city of Zanarkand for survivors and rummaging for food. They were finally out of the city and onto to the vast grassy plain known as "Churros Plain". It stretched as far as the eye can see. Churro had once been a great warrior who had defeated the rival city of Edea's army. The ruler of Edea was none other than Sorceress Edea. She was said to be a very powerful sorcerer who ate the people who defied her. Off in the distance Joe could see Crazy talking with Sky in the early light hue of the rising sun. Sky had grown to truly like Crazy. Whenever he went out on one of his walks she would always tag along.

As for Synea, her and Joe were becoming fast friends. Even though they had been friends previously to the "Destruction" as Joe like to call it, these 4 weeks had really brought them together. Crazy had also been teaching Joe how to use his sword more effectivley. He was now able to defeat a sinsspawn without any problem. They did have random encounters with those monters with pincers. When these battles did happen Joe, Crazy and Sky did the fighting while Synea helped heal whoever got hurt with potions, and if you were knocked out something called phoeinix downs would bring you back.

As the morning sun grew brighter to the east Joe saw Crazy stiffen. He had saw or heard something. Crazy had amazing powers in battle. He could do away with an enemy in the blink of an eye. Even Sky was very talented with her scythe. Whatever had made Crazy stiffen was now getting closer. It looked like a group of people. As they got closer Joe could see there details more. One had blond hair and blue eyes. He wore clothes from Zanarkand. Joe thought he must be a survor or there all survivors. Another one had black hair and what looked like stuffed animal in her hand. Yet another one was tall with a bandana around his hand. He held a blitzball in his hand. The last one was a very pretty girl with shoulder length brown hair and she had a staff with her. Could this possibly be Sorceress Edea, coming to see who intrudes on her lands, Joe thought.

Joe silently got up and walked over to the group who were just getting over to Crazy and Sky. Crazy and Sky stood up. "Hello Lady Yuna. It is good to see you and your companions again. May I ask where is Sir Auron? He was such a great master. I remember how hard he trained me....." Crazy said with a kind of far away look in his eye as he remembered something long passed. "I am afraid he is no longer with us." Said the girl named Yuna."Where has he gone? Surely he would not have left you, being your guardian."Crazy said. "He has gone to the Farplane." Yuna answered. And Crazy turned deathly pale.

End Chapter 2

H-HE'S DEAD!! NOO!" Crazy was on the rampage. Auron had been like a father to Crazy. He had raised since he was a child when his own family had cast him out. Joe had learned the names of the guardians who protected Yuna. There was Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, Kimhari, and Rikku. The boy Tidus seemed to like Yuna alot. He stood protectively in front of Yuna. Yuna was eyeing Joe as if sizing him up. Wakka and Lulu seemed like good friends while Kimhari seemed to be really quiet. He looked the most imposing. Joe hadn't seen him before. He was what people called a Ronso. He was big and muscular with blue fur.

After a while Crazy seemed to finally accept that he was never going to see his master again. Sky had been comforting him the whole time. "She really likes him doesn't she?" asked Yuna. "Yes, i believe she does." answered Joe. The proper introductions made they set off on a walk with Sky and Crazy walking the other way. "I see you have a nice sword there." said Tidus. "It looks alot like Aurons." "I got for my birthday last year." answered Joe. "Lets see how good you are." Said Tidus. And a battle ensued. Tidus started out okay. Swinging his sword like a big man, trying to show off to Yuna and possibly Synea who had joined them a while ago. A couple of sharp waps on Tidus from Joe and he fell like a bear. "You're pretty good." Tidus said. "I've been praticing." Joe replied.

Later that night Joe wandered off into the darkness. "Its not safe to go out alone, you know." Synea said from behind him. Joe turned around spooked for a moment then he smiled. "Well i am the dangerous type."Joe said trying to act all high and mighty hoping to impress this pretty girl. Synea walked up beside him and grabbed his hand. "No one should ever go out alone." she said. Then something totally unexpexted happened. Joe leaned in to kiss her and she lightly kissed him back. They smiled at each other. "You know i have had a crush on you since first grade." Joe said. "Really? I have had one on you since first grade to." Synea replied. This is happiest moment of my life, Joe thought. And they spent the rest of the night walking until late a couple of hours before sun up they snuck back into camp and fell asleep.

End Chapter 3

3 weeks. 3 weeks since that wonderfully magical night between Joe and Synea. Now its hell for these travelers. Crazy has decided that he would like to talk to his master one last time at the farplane in Guadosalam near the Thunder Plains. Yuna and her guardians were rather hesitative to this idea because they did not have a happy last encounter with the Guado. There story was amazing, told over countless camp fires. It was a tale of fighting, betrayal and even love.

Mostly what they did day to day was walk walk walk and walk some more. As they crossed the what seemed the endless plain of "Churros Plain" it got hotter and hotter. The one thing that kept Joe sane was the fact that he still had Synea with him. He loved the warmth of her body and the touch of her hand on his. Then something broke the what seemed like the endless chain of walking. A fight.

One day as they were walking a low rumble made the ground shake. At first Joe believed it was an earthquake. But it was far from it. The largest beast Joe had ever seen came over the hill. "A Basilisk." whispered Wakka. "Here we go." said Tidus. The greatest battle Joe had ever been apart of ensued.

But before Joe could draw his blade the guardians and Yuna attacked. There great combinations of magic and physical attacks did great damage. But after a while these brave warriors tired. The Basilisk seemed to get stronger. 1 by 1 the warriors fell. Thats when Joe, Crazy and Sky stepped in.

"We'll handle this. Some can't wait to die!" Crazy said. Joe attacked first with a massive swing of his sword he slasked through the enemy. The Basilisk struck back with a massive head strike. Joe felt a strange power rise within himself. "Its your overdrive. It comes when you get hurt. It's like reserve power. Use it!" Crazy said. Joe took all this strength and summoned it into a mighty blow to the Basilisk and killing it. Joe had won a battle. "Good job!" screamed Synea and she kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Yes, well done." said Crazy. Everyone congragulated him except Tidus. Joe could have sworn he had heard him say "I could have done it!" Joe just thought " But you didn't, I did."

Well there's the end of 4

They continued walking fo what seemed like years. Crazy more quiet all the way. Tidus had been quitet since the fight and hadn't even as much as looked at Joe. Everyone else...well lets just say they really kept to themselves. They still had random encounters with enemies here and there but not really anything that made them really fight. Then just out of the blue they someone. And that someone was part of the Crusaders and boy did he have a story to tell. Joe had heard of the Crusaders before but from what he had heard there really had been no use for them since there was really no danger. But ever since this beast showed up they had been fighting it.

They had had several operations against the beast all ending in failure with severe casualties. They were about to give up all hope when they had found a new type of machina that could easily destroy the monster they had given the name "Sin". According to this Crusader they were prepareing to use the machina. "I sure hope it works." Joe heard Yuna say. "We all need some hope against this monster." "Machinas the wrong way to go,Ya?" said Wakka.

Several days after there encounter with the Crusader they met up with someone else. A man with a single black back wing growing out of his back. His name was Cloud Strife. He was a Crusader he said. But he seemed drunk and seemed to think we were fiends. "With the power of Yevon I shall defeat you!" he said. And yet another battle was fought.

Cloud Strife was an extrodinary fighter. He was the fastest person anyone had ever seen. If he hadn't been drunk he would have been impossible to beat. With his drunkinness came sluggishness. Crazy easily defeated him with a quick string of blows. "As you can see, you drunken fool, we are not fiends and i demand loyalty from you until the day you die." Crazy said. "Why you want that?" asked Wakka. "He's just a drunk fool." "He is powerful fighter and he might come in handy......" was all Crazy said. "Fine." was all Cloud Strife had to say.

From that day forward they finally had an ally as strong as Crazy. Along with the training Crazy had given Joe, Clouds also seemed to help. Joe was a stronger fighter day by day. He felt like he could beat any fiend anyday. He said as much to Synea. "My big strong hero." she said ina mocking tone.

One night as they were approaching the headlands of Guadosalam, Joe went for a short walk. He was very tired from that days walking but thought a nice walk on a cool night would be good. As he walked along a game trail he saw up ahead a sight that he shouldn't had. Crazy and Sky were kissing.

End chapter 5.

Joe tryed to walk away quietly but backed up into Synea. "I wanted to see where you....." she trailed off as she saw Sky and Crazy macking {I had to use that word} on each other. Sky and Crazy look very embarrased. "I am s- so sorry!" Joe stammered and he and Synea ran away in the other direction. "Wow! I never thought I'd see that." said Synea. With a single graceful swing of her head she put her lips to Joe's.

"From now on we are absolutely silent." Crazy said the next day as they started onto the headlands of Guadosalam. From what Joe could get from what he heard was that the Guados leader Seymour murdered his father. And that Yuna had found out that Yevon was corrupt. And that the Guado were angry at Yuna and Co. because they killed and sent Seymour. And the feelings of the Guado had not changed. "I hope we don't get caught." Joe whispered. "Me either." Synea whispered back. But before long a Guado patrol stumbled on to the group and another battle was fought.

There were 3 of them. Thats all Joe remembered of the battle. They were so powerful. It all came flooding back in a painful instant. The Guado guards had come in force but three of them seemed to be somehow diffrent then the rest. Somehow more powerful. They soon new why. They were some kind of super-warriors who all there life were trained to fight. And fight they did. Tidus and Joe easily took out the guards while everyone else focused on the Warriors. When the guards had finished and Tidus and Joe came back into the main battle they saw a horrific sight.

The warriors had petrified Crazy, Sky, Cloud, Wakka, and Lulu. It was only Yuna, Synea, Tidus and Joe left to fight. Of course Joe and Tidus fought bravely while Yuna cast cure and Synea gave potions when needed. But it wasn't enough. Joe and Tidus were simply to weak. They were thrown back and defeated. This is when Yuna summoned an aeon. What a truly magnificant sight. She summoned a beautiful what looked like frozen women. She cast aside her robe and she faught. She used mighty ice attacks that actually killed 2 of the warriors. But the last one with his last bit of strength gave one mighty blow and she went down.

Joe remembered being carried to a dungeon with Synea while the others were carried away. His entire body ached. "Here this will help." he heard Synea say and he fely instantly better. "I hid one before they could take me." she said. "Thanks." Joe said. "Here!" said a voice behind them. It was a Guado guard. He had opened the gate of there cell to give them food and water. "Now we escape." Joe Said. And before Synea could answer or react he summoned all his strength into one mighty "strife" as Cloud called it knocking the guard down and out. "My hero." Synea said and with a slight touch of there lips they were off to find the others.

End Chapter 6

Joe and Synea ran cell to cell gradually finding each of there party members. The last one they found was Crazy who seemed to be okay after his petrification. They eventually found there weopons. They wouldn't get anywhere without them.

They made there way through the dungeon they were in into to upper levels until they made it to the surface. Waiting for them was all kinds of hell. Fiends of all kinds were there. "This'll be a toughy, eh?" Joe said. All any of them could think of was getting out of there alive. "You know Joe there is something I really need to tell you......"Synea said tentatively. "What?" Joe said as he drew his sword for what he hoped wasn't the last time. "I-I w-well I well i like you i mean like really like you and well i lose everyone i seem to get close to and well i don't want to lose you...." Synea said. "You won't." was all Joe said as he plunged into the heat of battle.

The battle was an overkill. For the bad guys. There were so many of them. Joe was losing on his end. He was battling to evil little dogs that just kept coming no matter how hard he hit them. Sky was holding up well until one of the larger fiends came to attack. Crazy came to her rescue. Him seeing Sky in danger sent him into overdrive. "Bushido Dragonfang!!" With this Crazy plunged his sword into the ground killing every fiend on the field. Sky couldn't help herself. She gave the biggest ,and longest i might add, victory kiss ever. The same could be said for Tidus and Yuna even Wakka and Lulu shared a hug. As for Joe and Synea they hugged briefly with a sdmall peck on the cheek and held hands smilinig at each other and that they were still alive. "WE ARE OUT OF HERE NOW!!" Crazy yelled. And they ran. They didn't stop until they got to Rins shop in the middle of the Thunderplanes. "I've decide not to go to the farplane."Crazy said when they finally slowed down. They spent some money at Rins shop to stock up on items. "We only have enough room for 8. 2 have to sleep together." said the lady at the desk. Crazy and Sky didn't have a problem shareing a room..........

End Chapter 6

Running....thats all they did for days. "Lets stop." Joe said exasperated. "Not yet." was all Crazy said. They ran for a couple more days only stopping to get a quick rest and to get some food and sleep. Finally on the tenth day they stopped. Sky was the one to finally put a halt to it. "I can't go anymore...." was what she said. Crazy immediately agreed. "We are definitely far enough away." That night they had a long awaited rest.

The next morning Yuna decided they had to split up. "Well i do believe this is where we should split up. I have had my share of adventure. Well goodbye all." And they left. "Wow that was quick." Synea said. "Well what do we do now." Cloud asked. "I don't know." Crazy said. "Lets walk." was what he suggested. They did just that. For days they wandered with no place to go. "We stop and make camp here for a while." Crazy finally said after several days. "We shall rest here for a few weeks." Crazy said for no reason. This place was all plains. Nothing there. "Whatever." Joe said.

For a couple weeks everyone trained. Even Synea learned to use a weapon. Crazy gave her his masters sword. The Katana. He continued to use his Spectral sword which was an amazind blend of darkness and light. Joe while he was wandering on his many walks of there area he found a treasure chest. "Its the Flaming Diamond Dust sword." Cloud said. "The most powerful sword evercreted they say. It even holds some mystical powers."

Joe learned to master this new weapon. It was quite heavy but superbly more powerful than anyones weapon. Now Joe had lots of free time. He actually fell into a routine. Wakeup, train, walk. Everyday the same thing. Until an outsider stumbled among there camp.

"Are you the one known as Shinigami?" the stranger asked. "Yes." replied Crazy. "Then you and your group are tyo die by order of Yevon. My name is Sephiroth and I am here to kill you all!!"

End Chapter 7

Fast. Fast was all that could be said about Sephiroths battling skills. He had speed, power and huge amounts of energy that he could use at will. "This is...im-impossible..." mumbled Crazy. Crazy...the best fighter anyone of them had ever met was losing.

Sephiroth was the perfect mercanery. Killed without mercy or pity. Money. Money was all he wanted. Greedy SOB.

Everyone was becoming tired. No one could keep up with this monster in the first place. But now they had no chance. Then Sephiroth attacked Sky. She was on the floor cut in 2 before she could utter a single sound from her lips. "NO!! You monster you are DONE!!!" Crazy screamed in rage. "SHOOTING STAR!!!" Crazy's overdrive mode was on. Crazy attacked that monster with such ferocity that no one could follow his moves.....not even Sephiroth. Then with one final hard struck blow Crazy plunged his sword into Sephiroths chest. That as they say was the end of that.

End Chapter 7

Epilogue........5 years later.......

At the wedding Crazy walked Synea down the aisle. "Thank you." she whispered. Crazy and Sky were married several days previous. Now what other adventures lie ahead our heros can only wonder.......

THE END?