Chapter 2: The Highwind 3

Cid finally arrived with his new sleek model after Cloud had been filling Cef in on how he and his friends had beat Sephiroth and saved the Planet.

"Well Cef, this is the Highwind 3. The original was destroyed when Meteor fell." Cloud said to Cef as they walked up the ramp on to the Airship.

"Wasn't there a Highwind 2?" Cef asked.

"There was, but for Tifa's twenty first birthday party we all got hammered and Cid thought it would be fun to ram the ship into a mountain." Cloud said just before Cid came down to greet them.

"Cloud, long time no see," Cid said. "I haven't seen you since you blew up my last airship."

"Cid's a bit sketchy on the details. He hit his head really hard." Cloud whispered to Cef.

"Eh, who's this?" Cid said turning toward Cef. "You look suspiciously like he-who-should-not-be-mentioned. Yo-owww." Cloud slapped Cid on the back of the head.

"Have you been reading those Larry Stoner books again? Man, I told you those things were dangerous." Cloud said.

"Well, welcome aboard. Dinner is at seven in the dining room. And Cloud where are we going?"

"The Forgotten City." Cloud answered.

"You mean the City of the Ancients? My Mother told me stories of that place. I never thought I'd ever get to see it." Cef said excitedly.

"Okay, it'll take a few hours. Make yourselves at home." Cid said before walking off.

"I'll be on the deck." Cef said, running up the staircase. Cloud walked into one of the empty rooms and threw his bag on the bed. He sat down and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It had been a long day, so he decided to take a quick power nap. When he woke up fourteen minutes later, he saw Cid running through the hall.

"Hey Cid, where you going?" Cloud asked him lazily.

"That kid's makin' weird noises, like he's stomping around." Cid said angrily. After listening for a few moments, Cloud heard it too.

"All right, I'll go see him." Cloud said. When Cloud got up to the Deck, he saw Cef without his shirt on, at least ten pounds of weights strapped to each arm and leg, a twenty pound weight wrapped around his stomach, and had both of his katana's out and was training with them, going surprisingly fast. He sliced the air, he jumped and twirled. Watching Cef was like watching a dance. So graceful, yet so powerful. He jumped in the air, flipped backwards while he was still in the air and slashed while he was upside down.

"That's Impressive." Cloud said.

"I've always been strong," Cef said. "And I'm not quite sure how."

"Simple, you're the son of the legendary Sephiroth. That definitely has some value to it." Cloud said.

"You wanna go a round?"

"What"

"You're Cloud Strife, the only person to have ever defeated my father in a swordfight. I want to test myself against that."

"Well, okay." Cloud said. He drew his sword, it had been a while since he had held it in a fighting stance. But he still felt comfortable with it. Cef unstrapped his weights. By the noise of the thud when they hit the ground, Cloud guessed that they weighed a lot more than what he had thought. He got into a stance, and lunged at Cloud with his two swords.

Cloud put his sword up, and Cef's swords clashed with it. Cef pushed off Cloud's sword with his own, sending him up into the air. While Cef was in the air, he brought his swords above his head and crashed them down on Cloud's sword. Cloud swung his sword and Cef flew back, landed, and composed himself. He charged at Cloud, striking several times, Cloud blocked every one of them. Cef crossed his blades to make an X, and thrusted so that Cloud's sword went into it, then Cef flipped it out of his hand. It landed several feet away on the deck, and Cef pointed a sword at Cloud's chest.

"Wow, you're really good." Cloud said, never taking his eyes off Cef's sword. "Okay, I lost. You can put those away."

"Oh no, I'm waiting for you to surrender. If I put my swords away now, you grab yours and I'm left defenseless."

"Oh come on."

"Say it."

"Fine, I surrender." Cef examined him for a few moments, then put his swords away. In about half a second they were out at Cloud's throat again, intercepting him from his sword.

"Oh your good." Cloud said.

"I try." Cef said before picking up Cloud's sword, gathering it with his things and began to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Cloud shouted after him.

"You've been naughty. You'll get your toy back after dinner.

"DINNER!" they heard Cid call.

"I thought dinner was at seven." Cloud said.

"It is, we got here at six-forty." Cef answered him. The two of them went down for dinner, then two and a half hours later landed just outside The City of the Ancients.