Stronger
by: Jason Tandro
It was the fifth day on this godforsaken strip of land just east of Mideel. Even deep in the wastes as they were, Cloud could still see the Tiny Bronco resting on the shores near their encampment. Though from this distance it appeared to be just a bright red dot. It was Cait Sith and Yuffie's rest day and they were sitting at the camp, probably laying next to the fire to recuperate. The prior day had seen Yuffie receive a rather nasty sting on her right ankle. While Aeris had been able to stop the bleeding, the cartilage damage beneath was a bit too deep for her to address. Yuffie didn't blame her though. While Aeris remained as stoic as ever, the constant healing was definitely taking its toll on her. They let her set the pace, never wanting to overwork her.
The ocean breeze blew fiercely as even now a storm was forming off the coast. The heat and humidity of the tropical island made the sands of the Corel Desert seem merciful. A salty sting, coupled with fire and blood had been all that Cloud had smelt for days.
The members who had gone to train today had worked their way around earthen brown bluffs that stood barren, just like everything else on this desolate stump of rock. Cloud knew a verdant tropical paradise of Mideel was just a few dozen miles west of them, but this was where they had chosen to train. Wastes were easier to traverse than a jungle. Beneath them was a great valley, equally barren except for some thin yellowing grass which sustained the scant herbivores. There were also carnivores, and between the mutual consumption of the two beasts its amazing this rock had any life left on it.
"I would like to renew my objection to this whole procedure," Cid cursed, lighting up his last cigarette in the pack. "I've got one pack left on the Tiny Bronco and after that I'm gonna be a mean son of a bitch."
"You're a peach as it is," Tifa commented bitterly as Aeris knelt over her and was patching up a cut in her wrist.
"I can be worse," Cid huffed. "When I agreed to help you numbskulls fight off Shinra, this wasn't what I had in mind."
"Look," Cloud said, stepping on top of a nearby rock formation. "You want to be strong enough to beat Sephiroth? Because stopping Shinra means nothing if Sephiroth has his way. I was a SOLDIER First Class and I was still no match for him."
Cloud's mind flashed with the pain of the great katana cutting through him, although he could not recall the exact circumstances of the fight. He felt the flames of Nibelheim scorching him even now, beyond the heat of the day.
"But working us to death isn't going to make the task any easier," Barret said.
"You don't understand the threat we're dealing with. You've never seen him in battle like I have. Sephiroth routinely defeated entire squads of SOLDIER during training. In Nibelheim I saw him cut down a Dragon in two clean strikes. You need to be prepared. We all need to be prepared. And we all need to be stronger. Much, much stronger," Cloud explained.
"And this was the manner in which SOLDIERs were trained?" Red XIII asked.
"Sometimes we didn't even have the benefit of a healer and had to rely on Shinra brand Potions," Cloud explained.
"We can talk about this more in a moment," Vincent said looking down towards the nearby valley. "A pack of Spirals are approaching. Looks like about nine of them."
"Oh boy, one for each of us and two to boot," Barret grunted, standing up and spinning up his gunarm.
"Roly-poly bastards," Cid cursed. He already had his spear out and had been giving it some warm-up twirls.
Aeris rushed over to Cloud. "Cloud I didn't get to your arm!"
"Don't worry about it now. Just stay back and keep us protected," Cloud said.
"I can help you fight too," she insisted.
"I know you can. But we need you healing us. Protect us and we'll protect you."
Aeris sighed and nodded. She took her stance in the middle of the six warriors. The Spirals, pinkish overlarge insectoid creatures who were prone to roll into a ball and charge, always hunted in large groups and had inexplicably developed a taste for humans. Even though they were roughly half the size of their opponents, the insects had the advantage of number. Their hunt philosophy was seemingly universal: surround and conquer.
The bullseye was complete, with Aeris in the middle, AVALANCHE forming an inner ring and the Spirals a lopsided outer ring. Barret was, as always, the first person to attack, his gunarm firing off rounds into the two monsters directly in front of him. As the largest person there he was doubtlessly the juiciest potential meal.
A quick slash from his spear cut through one Spiral, but a second had taken a large bite on Cid's back thigh. Tifa didn't have the advantage of a weapon, but had no problem lifting up one by its tail and hurling it on its back before squishing its head with her boot. Viscera shot all over her leg including the Spiral's deadly venom. While its lethality was only questionable against a target as large as a human, it still burned like all hell.
Vincents shots were far more precise than Barrets and generally more accurate, though one round went wild and crashed into a nearby boulder. Faint bits of rocks crumbled to the ground, distracting one of the Spirals long enough for Red XIII to leap atop it and bite down hard at what could only be creatively called the creatures neck.
Cloud, who was the most gifted warrior in their midst from his years as a SOLDIER was in elegant form. Even with a severely wounded left arm, his great sword swung through the air like a fan, cleaving through three of the beasts in a clean dance-like kata.
It had begun to rain as the battle was drawing to a close. Now that the adrenaline was no longer flowing, Cid had time to fall forward and buckle under the pain of the Spiral's venom. Tifa followed suit. The rain helped sooth it, but Aeris's healing touch really did the trick. Cloud looked over his soaking comrades. He hated to admit it, but he knew that pushing them any harder today would do no good.
"Come on," he said. "Let's head back to camp."
It was an hours march to get back down to the Bronco and the scant tents which just now seemed to be very little help against the rain. As they arrived, Cait Sith bounded up to them, while his Mog was busy acting as a wind barrier to Yuffie who looked frozen solid.
"Tropical storm, very bad!" Cait announced. "We'd be better trying to take shelter in one of the caves downstream. I found one that looks promising. Also there's a lagoon nearby which will be better shelter for the Bronco."
"Okay. Cid, get the Bronco ready for takeoff. Everybody else, pack up the camp and then get aboard. We need to be in that shelter before the storm gets in full swing," Cloud ordered.
He himself lifted up two of the heavier food crates and packed it in the moderately sized vessels cargo stores. After the tents were broken down and stored, soaking though they were, everybody hopped atop the Bronco. While Cid and Aeris were able to sit in the pilots section of the plane, everybody else was forced to ride it as a raft. Sticking to shallow, calmer seas they'd been able to make it work, though now tossed about in a storm, even for the short ride down river to the lagoon, its obvious disadvantages were even more obvious.
In spite of the fresh water of the river, the lagoon was just as barren as anything else here, and the cave doubly so. A bit of the same yellowish crabgrass stuck to the banks, but mere footfalls off the water set them on soil which was rapidly turning into mud. It was only a few hundred feet to the cave that Cait Sith had chosen, which meant they didn't have to carry their supplies too far. The cave was cold, but it was dry, apart from the moisture they brought in with them.
"Spread out the tents and let them dry out. Don't start a fire, the air outside is too warm for the smoke to clear," Cloud ordered.
"We have some dry blankets at least, and some sleeping bags," Aeris said. "And I'll get dinner started. We can't have a proper fire, but a small bit of embers can cook us up some soup."
"Oh boy, soup again," Yuffie whined. "Cloud, I swear when you decide we're strong enough, we're going back to Wutai for a proper banquet."
"And so you can steal our Materia again," Barret grunted.
"Oh my god, quit bringing that up. That was like... three whole weeks ago!" She sighed.
Cloud walked out to the mouth of the cave and looked out at the raging storm. Rain came down as though they were standing beneath a waterfall, and winds howled fiercely even though there was nothing but grab grass to show its movements.
He wondered if this was truly worth it. If all the suffering he was causing them was really making them stronger, or if they were just growing more bitter. He wondered how long before a mutiny was declared and they left him marooned on this accursed island like the pirates of legend.
"So Cloud, if the storms clear up by morning, I think we should look around here for more game. It'd be nice to have some fresh meat for a change," Vincent suggested.
"Plus if we hunt on the bluffs any more and we're liable to kill off what little life remains," Red added.
"I'm calling it off," Cloud said. "We rest tomorrow and then we'll head to Mideel for a victory lunch."
There was a moment of silence before Aeris spoke up.
"But we're here to train."
"We were here to train," Cloud affirmed.
"Well I hardly feel any stronger," Aeris added.
"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of this new technique I've been practicing," Tifa chimed in.
"I stocked up on ammo, you better not tell me I wasted my money by bailing early," Barret said.
"You've all done nothing but complain today," Cloud said.
"Yeah," Yuffie nodded. "Training's a bitch. If it was easy it wouldn't be training."
"Cloud, we know you know what you're doing. We made you the leader for a reason," Aeris said.
"Hear hear," Cid nodded. "We're all dumbasses and you're king dumbass."
Cloud rubbed the back of his head. He put his head down and let a slight grin crease his lips.
"Is that a smile, leader?" Aeris laughed.
"Whatever," Cloud chuckled. "Get some sleep. We start back up first thing in the morning."
In a nearly uniform voice, his friends called back:
"Yes, sir."