Installment 2: The Hidden Consciousness

The sun was shining bright, the very opposite of the deteriorating soil surrounding Midgar. Cloud leaned against his bike as he flipped off the cap of his drink. Construction workers and Geo-Scientist were working to restore the land, by digging and studying the earth.

"Hey, mercenary! Why don't you use some materia to help move the earth around here!" a worker manning a crane yelled down as he slammed the large tool into the ground. Cloud was unflinching to this and simply sipped at his drink, "That's not what I'm here to do," he said calmly, "...my job is to protect you from monsters, and I don't see any monsters," he glared off into the distance.

The worker leaned out of the window of his machine, "I'll...uh...pay ya extra!"

"Hey!" a scientist yelled, "Stop pestering the merc! Now get back to work!" the scientist had long black hair pulled back in two pony tails running down his back, "There is something here, something big. We have no time for games," he stepped into a large portable. Cloud looked off into the distance.
"Ahhh! Monster!" workers started running past Cloud; he glared at the beast as he took his giant sword in hand.

"Behemoth, they're not common in these parts," he said to himself. The scientist from before turned toward him, "Do not damage any of the equipment!"
"Whatever, you'd better go before you get hurt," Cloud held his blade at an angle as the beast stomped large foot prints into the hard decayed earth. Cloud leapt into the air lunging at the beast head but was deflected by its vicious jaws. Cloud bounced back to a slide as the Behemoth made two attempts with its claws. Cloud jumped back dodging an attack, then swiftly parrying the blow slicing straight through its claws. It let out an ear piercing screech then took a lunge with its jaws at Cloud. He jumped back then leapt onto its head, the Behemoth stood to its full height of two stories on its hind legs. Cloud raised his blade above the beasts head, and without hesitance drove the large deadly blade into its skull. With another cry it fell onto its back creating a large crack in the distorted ground. Cloud fell off the beasts head and rolled near a group of machinery. The workers and scientists were watching from a distance, they approached with caution, but soon halted as the crack from the Behemoth spread across the soil to create a gaping hole. The beast fell through into small river of green water, "...Lifestream," the head scientist muttered. The gaping hole revealed a pathway of caverns lit by glowing crystals in the walls. Cloud pulled out his cell phone, "Yuffies gonna love this..."