Jay had dropped his new items off at his room before entering the elevator and pressing the roof button, hoping the other Soldier member hadn't left yet. As he waited for the elevator to reach the top, he couldn't help but think to himself that every elevator in the building was slow. It did give him time to think though about what sort of weapon he had a mind for at the blacksmith. He was going to keep up his dual sword style since he was better in that practice than using just one blade but he needed speed to compliment his weapon.

So he decided to request that a katana be made for him and he opted for a sheath instead of open carry so he could reduce wear and tear caused by the outside. One would go on his back while the other would go across his waist to allow a faster drawing speed for the katana on his hip. He also had to factor in how much time it'd take for the pair of katanas to be made, it would generally take a week to make a sword. Problem is the mission would take him and the other soldier operative two days at the most for such a routine task. Unless the other operative had an extenuating reason then Jay would have to go back to Banora another time.

The elevator finally reached the roof and he stepped off to see the helicopter ready to take off. With surprise the 3rd class sprinted to the chopper hoping that it wouldn't take off seeing it was right there. Maybe the other operative didn't know there would be two operatives on the mission and that's why they were about to leave him. As soon as he stepped into the helicopter though, all those thoughts evaporated when he saw the red overcoat.

Of all the operatives in Soldier it just HAD to be this guy.

They both didn't make a good first impression on one other and as professional as Jay tried to be, he could not say with an ounce of truth in his soul that he liked Genesis. The 1st class's comment about him staying in the blaze of his old life wasn't appreciated and even if he was jesting, that wasn't something to be said to a child who lost everything. To avoid making another undesirable confrontation the 3rd class but on a neutral face and hoped that the 1st didn't remember him from way back then. When Genesis's bored expression lite up and had that same smug expression that got under his skin, Jay knew the 1st remebered him.

"Why if it isn't Sephiroth's personal lap dog, tell me how does it feel to have a proper collar on?" Genesis was obviously referring to the Soldier uniform that he now wore and Jay could've let the comment go as if that was just how the 1st talked. But he couldn't, that comment was meant to get a rise out of the 3rd class as it did twelve years ago when they first met. So he returned the comment with the same response he did back then; a quiet glare.

Genesis leaned back into his seat with his arms and legs crossed smiling his head off at the gesture. Jay inwardly groaned as the chopper began taking off. This is going to be a very long mission.


Sephiroth raised his blade as a hail of bullets rushed to get to him, each one being meticulously cut into pieces as he swung his Masamune. The creature behind him roared in fury and began to charge at the Soldier operative with his weapon high in the air. The Wutai troops kept their distance so they wouldn't be caught by either the Masamune or the beast's weapon. The Soldier hero noticed that the Cresent warrior held his position waiting and most likely watching as the beast got closer and closer to the legend.

When the shadow of the beast engulfed his Sephiroth swung his sword in a hard deliberate fashion and released a shockwave that blew away the bullets. Without missing a beat, he sidestepped the large beast's attack then leaped upwards and cleanly decapitated the beast. The shock was apparent on the infantrymens' faces as they took a step back in fear and that was all it took for all of them to be without heads.

All that was left was the Cresent warrior, who stood calmly as all of his soldiers were completely slaughtered. Sephiroth walked until he was a meter away from the Wutai soldier and raised his Masamune above his enemy's head.

"Now it seems we've gained more time to talk and I would like for you to answer my questions with more detail than in our earlier conversation." The Wutaiese warroior kept his stance as he tilted his head to keep the blade above his head as if it was a guilloutine ready to drop. Even with the legendary Soldier member in front of him Aqua managed to still produce a strong and firm voice when he addressed his enemy.

"My commanders has severly underestimated your abilities, we should've sent several brigades to combat you. In any event the data we collected during this incursion will be put to use in upgrading our projects to better combat Shinra. We've established our beasts can outmatch 3rd class Soldier members as well as infantrymen, we should've progressed to 2nd class then to 1st instead of going after you prematurely. I will be sure to include that in my report to the commander." The way Aqua spoke made Sephiroth chuckle, for him to make that report he'd have to get away from himself. A feat that very few can say they achieved.

It wasn't until he heard a sound coming from above him, knowing better than taking his eyes off his enemy without assurance; Sephiroth elected to wound him to take a brief glance. He swung his Masamune down towards Aqua's shoulder in an attempt to cut off his arm, but was surprised when his blade slid down the poleaxe and embedded itself into the ground. Before Sephiroth could pull his sword out of the ground for another swing at the Wutai warrior, Aqua jumped back before aiming his rifle at the ceiling. It was then that the Soldier hero noticed there was an extra barrel under the poleaxe.

A small projectile flew out of the barrel and slammed the ceiling, causing it to be covered in smoke. The sound instantly got louder as Sephiroth chanced a brief glance to see rushing water fall from the hole in the ceiling. Realizing Aqua was trying to escape, he leaped toward the Wutai warrior with another swing intended to wound. Unfortunately, Aqua casted a large Blizzaga spell in front of him that managed to slow the Masamune's swing slightly and block the Soldier's view of his target for a brief moment.

That moment was all Aqua needed, when the large slab of ice fell there was on one to be seen; only knee high water. Sephiroth landed on the bottom half of the slab of ice that floated in the torrent to look for the Wutai warrior. It seemed that Aqua didn't recieve his name for nothing because there seemed to be no sign of him, he had to come up for air at some point if he was hiding under the torrent.

The problem was, Sephiroth couldn't wait that long, if the water was already knee high after a few moments then it would be flowing at a fast pace towards the secret hideout he discovered earlier. Even if he didn't get to capture the Wutai warrior he got to see how well trained the Cresent Unit was.

There aren't many people who can parry my strikes.

The underground hideout undoubtedly had information that Shinra could use and for it to be washed away would be disadvantageos. Deciding to save the source of potential information, Sephiroth jumped off the slab and bounced off wall to wall to increase his speed and beat the torrent of water. The opening to the tunnel was coming into view and at the speed he was going as well as the distance the water had until entering the hub, he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

Swinging his Masamune in quick succession, arcs of compressed air from the sheer force of his swing hit the ceiling ahead of the water and metal chunks fell from the impacts. The torrent was halted for a moment giving Sephiroth enough time to zoom ahead of the water and land in front of the opening of the tunnel.

"Freeze." Raising his hand a massive amount of ice was created in front of the opening sealing off the tunnel. Going over to the nearest console, Sephiroth was pleased to see that there was no water damage. Walking out of the underground base, the Soldier hero contacted the nearby Shinra forces to have them investigate. When they responded that they were sending a unit, Sephiroth looked towards Fort Tamblin and considered going there to find Aqua.

He decided against it however, he now knew what was killing Soldier members and that they were developing newer beasts. If he attacked now without the proper amount of troops to surround and contain the Wutai forces so no dissidents could continue their experiments somewhere else. There was one thing that still lingered on Sephiroth's mind, it was what Aqua said before the beast attacked.

We recieved the strength to defy any army no matter how vast.

Someone seemed to be assisting them in their campaign against Shinra and whoever they were knew Soldier well enough to create countermeasures for them. This needed to be investigated much further but that would have to come for another day, he had a pupil to get back to. The sooner he got back to Midgar, the sooner he could train Jay, and he could have another capable Soldier member able to pick up missions the majority of Soldier couldn't. Fair was coming along nicely under Angeal's tutelege but time was of the essence.

As he heard helicopters overhead, Sephiroth turned his back on the entrance as he entered a chopper when all the troops went into the base. He ordered the pilot back to base so he could get a transport back to Midgar, he would report this to Lazard to follow up later. For now though, they needed to analyze the information that was inside the underground base before moving ahead with any plans.


The chopper landed in Banora with the two Soldier members getting off and watching the helicopter leave. Jay's face was in a set frown while next to him Genesis had a pleased expression on his face. The entire ride consisted of the 1st throwing snide remarks at the 3rd class in hopes of getting a more verbal reaction but Jay held out.

"Since we are on a mission and I'm a higher rank than you, I expect you to treat me as such. Is that understood?" The 3rd forced the frown off his face and straightened his posture as he went into mission mode. Even if he didn't like Genesis he knew how to respect authority and rank. The 1st raised a brown eyebrow at the sudden change in attitude of the 3rd, he honestly expected resistance but instead got obediance.

He was tempted to throw in another remark but they had a task to complete and Genesis was very protective of Banora. Nodding his head, he led the way to the fields outside of town where they saw a man working on a fence to the field. Walking up to the man, Genesis coughed to get his attention. Upon seeing who was behind him, the man beamed up when he recognized the 1st.

"Is that you Genesis? My how have you grown! It seemed only yesterday you left for Shinra, I read about you in the papers sometimes and how you're one of the best ones they got." Jay walked up to the pair and stood off to the side listening to the two, it seemed that Genesis lived here before Soldier judging by the way he made his through town and this interaction.

The 1st in question replied with tight responses as if he seemed uncomfortable talking with the farmer but didn't want to seem rude which was surprising to see for Jay. Genesis seemed to be the guy who didn't care if he was rude or not because of how superior he was compared to everyone else. Now he was attempting to be courteous, maybe it was because he was on mission, which begged the question of why a 1st would accept such a low class mission.

"There have been reports of some monsters attacking the fields, is that why you're fencing off the area?" The farmer nodded his head and pointed past the fence. "Yeah they come out at night and tear up the crops, at first there haven't been any incidents but they started coming out of nowhere." Genesis's face darkened for a moment before turning back towards the farmer.

"We will take care of the situation, for now keep people away from the fields we don't want anymore causulties. When the creatures come out tonight we will route them as well as eliminate the nest of where they might be coming from." With that, Genesis promptly turned on his heel and went back towards the town of Banora. Jay looked back towards the fenced off fields and thought that maybe they should look at the area where the creatures were last to see if they could pick up a trail.

"Permission to survey the site for more information sir?" The 1st stopped and was silent for a moment as if he was mulling the suggestion in his head. The moment stretch to several as the 3rd did not get an answer to his request, Jay reasoned it was a simple request but for Genesis, it was as if he was pondering the secrets of the universe. Just as he was about to ask again, the 1st turned around with an unreadable expression.

"Permission granted, however if met with any opposition you are to return back to town. Do not engage the enemy under any circumstance, we need to make sure that our attack is decisive and leaves no room for them to escape. When you finish surveying the area and detecting a possible trail from where they could come from return to town and go to the largest house, I will be waiting for you there." Jay nodded and hopped over the fence with ease before heading towards the site.

The fields offered little visibility, as the crops grew roughly the size of a person but there were trails kept free to walk down. After a moment of walking, Jay found torn crops with multiple footprints overlapping them. The odd part of about the footprints were the fact that they weren't monster like footprints. In fact, the 3rd could see that all of them were boot footprints. If that was so, why did the report say creatures and not people?

Well regardless of what the report said he could see a trail going further into the crops and the footprints led more that way. Getting to his feet, Jay ran down the trail deeper into the crops until he finally reached the other side. Past the crops was rock trail that led up to some cliffs. The footprints seemed to have come down the trail into the crops and then tore them up at night.

Jogging up to the cliffs, the footprints went all the way up to the edge and off the cliff as if someone walked off. Jay walked up to the edge and knelt down to look over it for anything out of the ordinary but found nothing. The sound of running footsteps made the 3rd jump high into the air before drawing his sword and landing in stance behind whoever came up behind him.

Two red masked men, wielding twin daggers turned to face him. Their clothing was a dark red form fitting shirt with a white shoulder pad accented with black feathers and their black pants had a cloth that wrapped around the waist and down to the thigh with the bottom of their pant legs tucked into red boots.

The way they swayed and twirled their daggers indicated that they were very agile even more so them himself perhaps. "So are you two the ones messing up the fields?" They didn't answer, only grasp their daggers before rushing side by side. Jay crouched and took a hard step forward, launching himself toward the two before throwing a test swing aimed at their abdomens.

With the grace of gymnist they both flipped over the swing before turning and leaving a gash on the 3rd's back. Jay shrugged his shoulders a few times to relieve some of the pain in his back as he kept his eyes on his two opponents.

Well I can't rush them, I'll have to play this smart. I also doubt I'll have the speed to get away, so I'll wait for their move.

He didn't have to wait long as the two of them rushed towards him again with one flipping over him and the other going for a slash. Jay blocked the attack then rolled to the side just in time to avoid another slash at his back. He took a swing at closest one's back but was intercepted by the other's dagger. Growling to himself, he was about to try and force it out of the man's hand by swinging his sword up with two hands but had to grab his oppenent's wrist to stop his stab attempt.

That however did not stop the other masked man from kicking the 3rd in the chest pushing him dangerously close to the edge. Righting himself from the impact, Jay looked up to see them once again rushing him. Standing to his full height, he placed his sword in his left hand then grasped the bottom with his right. After he brought his left arm across his chest while pointing the blade at his incoming enemies.

He'd studied this stance for years and knew he could imitate it successfully. Sephiroth's duel stance was usually used to deliever quick strikes or counterattack with definitive blows. While he may be able to perform the moves effectively, his sword wasn't as long as the Masamune. Part of style required the blade being able to reach the enemy first and being out of their reach as the user striked. So he couldn't use the moves exactly as Sephiroth would, he'd have to use more speed to compensate for his range.

The man on the right went for a thrust but had to quickly slide out of the way when the 3rd lunged forward while angling the blade to push the dagger out of the way by deflecting it with the flat side. Without missing a beat, Jay slammed his right palm to the left and slashed the man on the chest leaving a shallow wound. Turning to face the one on the left, he sidestepped a overhead swing then stepped on the man's hand before going for his head. The attempt was blocked by the man's free hand weapon but that didn't stop the swift kick to the man's face.

Ok I can do this, they caught me off guard before but as long as I play it smart and strike when it matters I got this.

The two masked men righted themselves before rushing toward him again charging at him at the same time. Sidestepping to the left one's side, he effectively for a short time turned the fight into one on one. The man took a swipe at Jay's neck, who ducked under it and blocked a swing at his midsection by releasing his right hand then lowering the blade to his right side. He then replaced his left hand grip with a right hand reverse grip before dashing forward and slicing deep into his opponent's open abdomen.

As he dashed past the first man, Jay surprised the second with a hilt to the gut making him double over in pain. Stepping back, the 3rd placed his left hand and acted as if he was drawing a katana from a sheathe.

Lights out.

Jay drew his sword in a vertical arc hoping to cleanly slash into the man's chest wounding him critically but not kill him. The blade met the man's right shoulder as he cut the arm off completely because the masked man jerked in time to avoid a chest wound. Even with his arm gone, the masked man tried to continue fighting by throwing his dagger at close range aimed at the 3rd's head.

Jay managed to move his head to the side but the dagger still left a thin gash above his eyebrow on the left side of his head. Blood started to flow down his face and block his field of vision making him instinctively try to wipe away the blood. That proved to be a mistake, a fetal one if the 3rd hadn't trained excessively before he joined Soldier. The masked man who got a deep cut in his abdomen, tried to tackle Jay and throw him off the cliff. The 3rd rolled out of the way but not before getting a dagger to his leg as the masked man stabbed him when they passed each other.

Jay rolled away to face the two masked men and prepare himself to face them despite his weakened state. The two in front of him looked no better and judging from the amount of blood that was flowing from their wounds they'd bleed out if they didn't get any medical attention. The two men looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the Soldier member. The one with a cut in his abdomen rushed forward and tried to grab Jay as the other reached behind and grabbed a cylinder.

The 3rd class tried backstepping to keep out of the man's reach but the wound in his leg made it difficult to do so. Strong arms wrapped around his waist and his body became much heavier. The other masked man pressed a button while running towards the struggling pair. The cylinder had made a 'clink' sound that made Jay's eyes almost bulge out of his head when he recognized the sound; the sound of a grenade's fuse being ignited.

They're going to kill me along with themselves, I have to move!

The Soldier member renewed his struggles to get away from the masked pair but his leg as well as the weight on his waist made it hard to move away from the other man. He didn't have much time, raising his sword he stabbed it deep into back of the man who was grabbing him's back. This anchored the masked man to that position and got him to slacken his grip on Jay's waist giving, the Soldier member wiggle room to push off his uninjured leg and step on the hilt of his sword.

Pushing with all of the strength he could at that moment, Jay jumped away as far as he could when the other masked man reached the sword and fuse went off. The explosion enveloped the pair of men and blew the Soldier member away with the sheer force. His body was thrown like a rag doll through the air until it hit the ground and roughly rolled to a stop on his back. He looked back to see the flames consume the bodies and turn them to ash.

Looks like I won. I think I'm going to lay here for a while and catch my breath.

That was the last thought Jay had before his eyelids became heavy and they began to close. However before they completely closed, he saw a red coat walk past him and the black boots were facing toward the remains of the two masked men.

"They held up well enough."

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I got my wisdom teeth removed and I've been out of it for a few days so I hope ya'll still reading. Please drop a review and a favorite, hopefully I can rock another update by next weekend.