Apologies for the delay. For the last month and a half, I have had no internet connection. In fact, if it weren't for my mobile, I would have had absolutely no means of communicating with the outside world. And then, while I DID get the internet back before last week… this chapter's file was corrupted or something… Or else aliens randomly decided to translate about half of the work into their own language. I was forced to spend this week re-writing it, and I still don't feel it could compare to the lost stuff… ah well… Enjoy.


Chapter 28: The Best Laid Plans

The problem with plans is that even the best laid plan is doomed to fail. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and the enemy for my plan was the land itself.

Oh, and the big ass-monsters. Never forget the big-ass monsters.

So, while I'd planned out a good route to the Wutain capital, the land itself had set out to ruin that plan.

The problem with my little GPS program on my PHS, is that it does a very bad job of pointing out hills and how damned steep they were. It also fails to mention anything about monsters, but I can't blame it for that. And yet, that doesn't stop me from being pissed off at the whole situation.

These were the thoughts running through my head as I sat at the table in a small town that I was passing through. In my hands was a large glass of Pepsi, something I hadn't had a good drink of in so long, I had forgotten what it tasted like. Hard to believe that once upon a time I was addicted to the stuff… or maybe it was just the caffeine in the stuff.

Yeah, once upon a time. Feels like a lifetime ago now.

Huh, maybe it was a lifetime ago.

Still, no use wallowing in despair. My latest plan was to finish my drink and then continue on this hike. Maybe, just maybe, that plan won't fail.

Gulping down the last of the caffeinated drink, I stood up, dropping some change on the tabletop, enough to pay for the drink and then some. Time to figure out which way was north and start marching.

Have I ever told you how much I love the fact that I no longer have to wear shoes? It's great. Despite all the walking I've done, I haven't got a single blister, because I have no shoes to GIVE me blisters. I hate blisters.

Off topic I know, but…

I pause as I take in the sight of the motorcycle parked outside the tavern I'd just exited. And it was thus that my inner child came out and screamed:

"Oh my god, freaking awesome, I want, I want, I want!"

Thankfully, the street was empty. No-one around to see me acting like a hyper little kid.

Still though, the bike in front of me was awesome. It made the bikes that Cloud and I rode out of the Shinra Tower look like mopeds. I'm not joking. This thing is a beast, the mother of all motorbikes. And I want one. I bet Cloud would be thinking the same thing.

"Fuck off Lizard-brat." A familiar voice muttered behind me. "No touching my bike."

I turned and stared at the man who'd spoken. He was dressed in torn jeans, and a worn looking leather jacket, had messy brown hair. He had tattoos running all down his arms and looked like a freaking gangster… and felt really, really familiar.

"Do I know you?" I asked, uncertainly.

The gangster stared at me, frown marring his features. It was clear to me that he recognised me, but damned if I could recognise him.

"You've made my professional life a misery since you entered it, and you can't even remember me?"

Erm…

"Nope, doesn't ring a bell."

The gangster's eye twitched and he took a step towards me, arms outstretched in a gesture that implied he wanted to wrap his hands around my throat.

"Ever since we met in Sector 7, your existence has mocked me at every turn, and you don't even remember me?" He snarled.

I don't recall meeting a gangster in Sector 7…

'Nor do I…' Spike mumbled.

"Sorry, I still have no idea what you're talking about." I shrugged.

"And to think I felt sorry for you when that she-devil attacked you." The gangster mumbled.

I stroked my chin in thought, trying to recall the moment he was talking about.

"…I have no idea what you're talking about." I finally told him. "Are you sure that you aren't mistaking me for someone else?"

"Are there any other lizards walking around?"

"Ok, good point… maybe you're mistaking me for some kid dressed in a lizard costume?"

"No, it was you! The irritating little bastard with the gunblade!"

"Now I'm certain you're mistaking me for someone else, while I use a gunblade, I'm not an irritating little bastard."

The gangster dropped his arms and stared at me, eye twitching. Finally, he shook his head and turned around, walking into the tavern, pretending I didn't exist.

Good, if he's going to go about mistaking me for kids dressed in costumes, I'm not sure I want to have him talking to me.

Still, he is the owner to the most freaking awesome motorbike in existence. I wonder how he got it, and whether he'd tell me how to get one of my own. Oh, wait, I already own a tank… I still want that bike.

And it was then that I realized that my plan to hit the road immediate after finishing my drink, simple as it had been; had been destroyed. Yeah, even the best laid plans. Still, it wasn't that bad, I did meet a very disturbed gangster.

"Hey, kid."

I turned to look at the new voice, and found myself face to balaclava with some guy dressed all in black, with a fierce looking dog at his heels. Fierce as the dog may look; I doubt it'd be a match for Murphy… Wow, how long has it been since I last thought about that miserable brute of a dog that had made it its life mission to make my life a misery?

"You want something?" I asked the balaclava clad man.

"You heading up to the capital?"

"And if I am?"

"Hmm… Shinra troops and monsters are blocking the way. Normally I'd charge, but since we'd be heading in the same direction…"

"You want to team up?"

"In this instance, it'd be mutually beneficial."

"And what makes you think I wouldn't be dead-weight?"

Now that I'd looked at the man, I noticed that he was literally covered in weapons: kunai and shuriken mostly, but there were a couple of katana sheathed to his back. He was clearly an experienced warrior, from the way he held himself.

"Three reasons. One: You're wearing an anklet with Materia equipped to it. Clever idea, hiding your Materia like that."

I glanced at my right ankle. Even though I knew it was there, I couldn't see any evidence of the anklet that the man was talking about.

"How did you…?"

"If you know what to look for, you can see the slight bulges where the Materia is equipped."

Now that he mentioned it, yes, there were slight bulges, practically invisible.

"And the other two reasons?" I asked.

"Two: You've pissed off the President of Shinra enough to place a bounty on you, as well as made an enemy out of two of the Turks. That's either very brave, or very stupid. And seeing as you're still alive…"

"And reason three?"

"Three: You have the respect of Seifer Almasy, and that is practically impossible. The fact that you managed it says a lot."

News travels fast it seems.

"Right, so you want us to work together until we get to the capital? What's the catch?"

"We need to go through a Shinra camp. The captain has a bounty on his head I intend to collect. You help me, and that will be your payment for my help getting to the capital."

That sounds rather reasonable. And who am I to not jump at the opportunity to hurt the Shinra when given the chance?

The balaclava clad man must have taken my silence for acceptance. He turned and began to walk away, expecting me to follow, uttering two words.

"Come, Interceptor."

The dog turned to follow its owner, after giving me a rather odd look.

Since when did dogs give me odd looks? Am I really so out of place that even animals give me odd looks?

Shaking my head, I followed the ninja.

"Nice dog." I said.

"Not really." He countered. "He's a vicious son of a bitch."

At the ninja's remark, the dog snorted, as if in amusement. I shook my head, small grin tugging at my lips.

"And you?"

"People say I'd slit my own mother's throat for a nickel." The man shrugged.

"And would you?"

The man shrugged again.

"You're not one for conversation, are you?"

"No."

This… was going to be a long trip.


Before we reached the camp, I did manage to get the ninja to talk a bit more. Admittedly, all I could get him to talk about was this job that I was to help him with.

I managed to get him to talk about the background of the mission.

Apparently, this Shinra camp was laying siege to an old Wutai fortress that was the last refuge of the Wutain Samurai. The only reason that it had never attracted the attention of the Shinra before now, was because the Samurai had never, officially at least, been considered a part of the Wutain military during the war. They had stuck to acting as Lord Godo's personal guard and acting as a police force of sorts. What little they had actually fought during the war had usually been purely defensive in nature.

Maybe Godo had realized that the war was not one that he was going to win and had set about minimizing the amount of damage that would come at their defeat?

Well, not quite, the fort is actually privately owned, and has an open door policy for the Samurai of Wutai, so while Samurai were still trained, there was still a base of sorts for them to live in.

However, this one Shinra captain had not taken being publically beaten in a dual against one of the Samurai lightly, and was now determined to kill every last Samurai in Wutai, starting with this fort which held the single largest gathering of them. So now he had laid siege to the fort, and was waiting for them to either starve to death, or come out like lambs to the slaughter.

Shadow had been hired to kill the captain, and provide a distraction for the Samurai, so that on leaving the fort, they wouldn't be instantly cut down by machine-gun fire.

If it weren't for the distraction part, I wouldn't be needed.

My companion, being a ninja, was specialised in the art off assassination, he knew more ways to kill the captain than I would ever want to know, and he'd do it without anyone ever knowing that he was there. But in full frontal confrontation, he could hold his own in one-on-one fairly well, but against an entire camp, a little help would go a long way, and really, what better way to distract the camp, then by having two publicly known anti-Shinra elements making an assault on the guys assaulting the fort?

I like this plan.


We arrived at the camp before sun-down. There are probably all sorts of ways to describe the camp, each making the aforementioned camp sound interesting.

Regrettably, words fail me at this point, and the only way I can really describe the camp is… well, it's a camp. Lots of tents, lots of Shinra troopers walking around aimlessly and lots of shouting coming from the captain, who, from the sounds of things, was lecturing his men on… something or other, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. Oh, and a big fortress at one end of the camp, can't forget that.

There were also machines buzzing around, likely automated weapon systems or some such, because the Shinra always seems to enjoy killing without the risk of being killed first. I would make a comment about their cowardice, but in all honesty, the Shinra's standard military is so useless, I really can't fault them for trying to lower the death ratio. I don't like it, I really can't see a fortress full of noble and honourable samurai liking it, and judging from the way Interceptor was growling, the dog didn't like it either.

I really can't tell one way or the other whether the ninja liked it or not, because he gave no physical reaction and the balaclava prevented me from seeing his facial expressions.

"Plan?" I asked, scratching my snout in thought.

"You enter from the north, making a lot of noise. I'll enter from the south slitting everyone's throats while they're looking towards you, exposing their backs to me. Interceptor will enter from the east and do whatever pleases him."

"You want me to singlehandedly take on the entire camp while you safely stab them all in the back?"

"Only until the samurai leave the fort, then we'll have an army of samurai evening things out."

"You'll still be in the shadows even while the cavalry arrives, won't you?"

The ninja gave no verbal answer. He just started to move towards the south side of the camp. Interceptor gave me a look of mild amusement.

"Is he always like this?"

The dog seemed to consider my question before giving a nod.

That is one intelligent mutt.

"So what will you be doing in the camp?"

The dog gave me a grin that implied that in all honesty, I really didn't want to know. Strangely, I found myself agreeing; I didn't want to know.

Shaking my head, I moved northwards, so that I could go make some noise and be as provocative as possible so that my temporary companion can stab people in the back. Now that I think about it, I have the easy job.

Entering the camp, I was surprised at how lax the security was. I had expected the Shinra goons to see me and start doing what Shinra does best long before I actually entered the premises. As it was, I'd entered the camp with absolutely no trouble at all.

"Why are we attacking this place again?" I heard somebody ask.

"Because the Captain is a bastard." Somebody replied.

"What exactly does he have against the samurai?"

"Do you really think that the Captain needs to have a reason? It's the Captain."

"Good point. But is SOLDIER really necessary?"

SOLDIER was here? That kind of threw a wrench in the works. SOLDIER are that much harder to defeat than the standard Shinra military, though not unbeatable. Admittedly, my experience with SOLDIER is limited to fighting Kain and Cecil, both of whom are now allegedly working for the Midgar branch of AVALANCHE.

Problem, that fight it was us outnumbering them, this time the opposite is true. This… might be a little harder than anticipated.

"Probably not." The voice spoke up. "Especially not when we add all the technological shit that the Captain obsesses with."

"It does seem overkill." The first voice mumbled.

"Not in the Captain's eyes. He has no concept of overkill…"

"And he's proud to admit that he has no mercy."

"Shh… here he comes."

I heard footsteps approaching the source of the two voices, and a third voice, one that just grated on my nerves, spoke up.

"What are you doing?"

"S-sir! Just patrolling the camp, Sir!"

"Hmph… well get on with it then, useless ingrates."

"Y-yes, Sir!"

I heard more footsteps, and then all was quiet.

'Well, that was interesting.' Spike mused. 'The Captain sounds like the Joker.'

Now that the lizard within had mentioned it, the Captain did sound vaguely like Mark Hamill's Joker. All that was missing was the laugh.

Wait… it can't be… Jade can't be that cruel…

'What?'

Just a thought for who that voice could be...

"You, what are you doing here?"

Busted. Looks like I had stayed in one spot for too long. Oh well, the plan was that I make a nuisance of myself.

Standing up from where I had crouched in order to listen to the voices, I held my arms up and looked at the man who had found me. Just a regular Shinra grunt. There would be little difficulty in taking him out.

I swung my arm down, pulling my gunblade into existence. The grunt had clearly not expected the blade to appear from thin air as it had, and was felled without any struggle.

Only problem with killing someone like that, at least in a situation where you want to cause a ruckus, is that blades don't made much noise, and the bloke I just killed didn't exactly make a loud death scream. It's an easily solved problem, however. Just point the gunblade in the air and pull the trigger, repeatedly.

Once I had done so, there was a moment of silence, before the camp burst into action. Every tent had at least a small number of Shinra troops exiting them, all armed with various weapons. The regular military generally carried rifles, the guys dressed in similar clothing to Cloud, they generally carried broad swords.

There were exceptions to both rules, but that was hardly the point. The point was, there were a lot of men, carrying various weapons, all coming for me.

Maybe I shouldn't have pulled the trigger so quickly.

One of the standard military types aimed his rifle at me and fired a short burst of gunfire.

Swearing, I dived to the side, avoiding the hail of gunfire, focusing on my Materia, before exhaling a breath of fiery death upon the idiot stupid enough to take a shot at me. The grunt screamed as he was burnt to death, but I didn't dwell on the scene, I was too busy, getting back to my feet and avoiding a slash from one of the SOLDIERs.

The SOLDIER managed to parry my retaliatory slash, but clearly hadn't experienced the awesomeness of a gunblade before, as while he held the blade away from him, the end was still pointed at his head. I quickly pulled the trigger, already turning to face the next person foolish enough to try and start a fight with me, missing the scene of violence that was the result of my trigger pulling.

Ducking under another SOLDIER's attempt at slice me in two, I thrust my weapon into the chest of a grunt, pivoting around the next SOLDIER to try and attack me, introducing a healthy dose of Matra Magic to him in the process.

A small gathering of regular infantry was wiped out when I cast Beta. A SOLDIER was quickly felled when I slammed my elbow into his neck, generating a loud crack.

Hissing angrily as a bullet grazed me, I cast another Beta, wiping out another gathering. A SOLDIER tried to attack me, but I grabbed a still unharmed infantryman and pulled him in front of me, using him as a shield. While the SOLDIER was still registering the fact that he had just killed one of his team-mates, I aimed my weapon at him and pulled the trigger.

It never occurred to me that I was actually killing living, breathing people, rather than monsters. Maybe it was just the fact that I don't actually know any of these people, and that this was all in self-defence. Would it be harder for me if I knew whether this man I had just gored had a pregnant wife back home, or whether this SOLDIER I had just killed was a single parent of two?

Panting, I leapt back to put some space between myself and the enemy. It wasn't to be, however, as on leaping back, I had simply moved from one group of enemies to another.

Maybe, just maybe I had overestimated myself here. I was slowly tiring, and when it came down to it, I hadn't managed to take out that many of the Shinra forces.

A growl alerted me to the ninja's dog, seconds before it leapt out and killed a man with its teeth. Suddenly, I was glad that I wasn't on the bad side of that dog.

As if the dog's arrival had granted me some strength, I continued the fight with renewed vigour, weaving through the blades of the SOLDIERs, keeping close enough that the infantry with the rifles dare not take a shot for fear of friendly fire. I was the incarnation of death, not one of the Shinra military was able to strike a blow any more lethal than a slight graze. I didn't just limit myself to the blade; more than a few of the Shinra forces were killed by my Flame Breath, Beta, or Matra Magic.

It wasn't long before the enemy realized that a tactical retreat was in order. I just wish they hadn't used a flash-bang in order to make that retreat, as it left me trying to rub the dark spots out of my eyes.

Still, in the long run, I didn't kill that many.

The ninja stepped out of the shadows, wiping blood from his katana, inspecting the bodies.

"Did you see the Captain?" He asked.

"Heard him before this all started." I panted. "Never got a look at him though."

The ninja nodded slowly, before looking up sharply. I followed his gaze and found myself staring at… a clown in military uniform?

The clown was clearly not impressed.

"How dare you strike down my men?" He screeched, and I recognised the voice instantly.

"That's the Captain?" I muttered, shocked.

"Captain Kefka of the Shinra." The ninja nodded. "Not a high ranking officer, but high enough that he does what he likes and gets away with it."

I groaned at the name. Kefka? Why Kefka of all people. He was the single most annoying of all the villains of the Final Fantasy series. I doubt I could keep myself from getting a headache when the source of that annoyance is an actual person in front of me.

"Die clown!" I roared, leaping forwards, DragonHeart swinging around in a move to kill him as quickly as possible.

Kefka was clearly more agile than I anticipated. He managed to dodge the blow and skipped back, making a face that under other circumstances, would have been fairly comical.

"Ooh… I am not a clown!" He shouted at me.

"Don't care, just die!" I hissed, making another attempt to kill him.

"I can tell I'm unwanted." Kefka said, more to himself than anybody else. "Later folks!"

And with that he moved to run away.

"Wait!"

"Wait he says… do I look like a waiter?" He laughed.

"Yes…"

Ok, it had been at a kid's birthday party, but the party had still had a clown as the waiter.

Kefka looked shocked for a moment, clearly not expecting me to reply so. When he noticed me approaching, he resumed running. Cursing, I took several shots at him, but the only effect was to make him shout unflattering things as he sort of hopped along.

---

While I was clown hunting, (a sport that I appear to be quite bad at) the fortress gate opened, releasing a swarm of samurai warriors. My fight with the Shinra army had been distraction enough to release the proverbial hounds. And like hounds the Samurai were. They charged in, slaughtering anything that stood in their way.

One of the samurai took a place beside the ninja, stroking his moustache.

"It isn't like you to make such noise." He nodded.

The ninja shrugged.

"Wasn't me."

"Oh, you recruited help this time?"

"Mutually beneficial deal. He helps me with this; I help him get to the capital without getting lost on the way… which he would."

"What has he done? It is most unlike you to help anybody without being given a large sum of gil."

"Besides being respected by Seifer Almasy of all people?"

"You never put much stock in other people's opinions."

"You know me a little too well." The ninja shrugged. "Jethro 'Spike' Logan, one of the main faces of this latest incarnation of AVALANCHE, has a habit of pissing off powerful people and surviving. Non-human."

"AVALANCHE?"

"I know what you're thinking, but this latest group isn't like the original AVALANCHE."

"I heard they dropped one of Midgar's plates…"

"Shinra said that they dropped the Sector Seven plate. Remember that propaganda does just as much damage as a knife in the dark."

The samurai nodded, hesitantly, frowning.

"If it makes you feel better, Godo's daughter is a member."

The Samurai looked up sharply at the last statement.

"She what? When did Princess Yuffie…"

"She joined them when Spike fought her to a standstill despite being at a disadvantage. I think she was secretly impressed."

"And that is why you aren't shadowing her at this moment?"

The ninja shrugged.

"The group is capable of looking after her without me playing guardian angel. She's their problem now."

"You shouldn't speak of the Princess like that."

"You've got to admit that she is a brat, Cyan. Granted she has the interests of Wutai at heart, but… well, even as a kid she was spamming that SOLDIER's inbox with her so-called 'treasure hunts'."

Cyan sighed, shaking his head ruefully.

"Indeed."

It was at that point that I came into the scene, panting for breath.

"Damned clown is faster than he looks." I mumbled, collapsing.

"He got away?" The ninja asked.

"Managed to duck behind a large group of SOLDIERs. I'm not trying my luck when they're actually prepared."

Cyan gave a sound of approval.

"Nice to see that you aren't over-confident in your abilities. It's the mark of a wise man when you know when the time to retreat is."

I nodded from my position on the floor.

"Thanks. Who are you again?"

The samurai gave a wry grin.

"I am Lord Cyan of Fort Doma." He introduced himself.

"Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Spike." I managed to say, as I picked myself up.

"Indeed. Shadow mentioned your name, and your affiliation."

"Eh?"

"That you're a member of AVALANCHE."

"Ah, gotcha."

"Now, enough idle gossip. Now that we have numbers on our side, let us go and kill that 'clown' before the opportunity is lost forever."

---

'Numbers on our side' clearly didn't mean much, when Shadow just vanished the moment we began to move. Yeah, yeah, he was being a ninja and therefore striking from the shadows… that sounded really lame. Shadow striking from the shadows… ouch.

Still, the dog, Interceptor, trotted at Cyan's side, though the judging from the wary looks that Cyan kept giving it, he either wasn't a dog person, or he just didn't like Interceptor. Going by the fact that it looked like the dog was smirking every time Cyan glanced at it, I'll go by the latter.

Around that point, a pair of SOLDIERs leapt out, swords at the ready.

As I had mentioned before to Cyan and Shadow, now that they're actually prepared, they're actually pretty tough opponents. The element of surprise and the fact that everyone was getting in each other's way before was the reason that I was able to kill a number at the start of this.

Now, we had a pair of ready SOLDIERs, whom understood what the hell was going on.

I blocked the first slash against me, hopping back to put some distance between us. The SOLDIER mimicked my hop, with one slight variation: he hopped forwards, negating the usefulness of my hop back. Of course, he was also swinging that broad sword of his around for take 2 while he was at it.

Clumsily ducking under the second slash, I lashed out with my fist, catching the SOLDIER in the stomach. And then I swore as it felt as though I had just punched a brick wall.

The SOLDIER openly laughed at my expense, swinging his blade around. If I hadn't rolled out of the way, it was highly likely that my head would be taking a trip away from my neck. A permanent trip.

Really, despite the weirdness that goes on within it, I'm rather attached to my head, so I'd rather it not go flying off without the rest of me. The fact that this SOLDIER had tried to do such was… worrisome, as to be fair, for whatever reason, the rest of the world had generally gone for moves that wouldn't be a permanent death. Or even a quick death. This guy had just tried to decapitate me.

I wasn't given a chance to dwell on that fact, however, as the SOLDIER came in for another try.

I blocked his blade with my own, grunting as the sheer force of the SOLDIER's attack sent shockwaves running through my system. I was then forced to duck as my opponent swung his leg around. I had no idea whether or not SOLDIER used steel toecaps, and even if they didn't, I really didn't want to be kicked by a SOLDIER anyway.

Cyan didn't seem to be having much luck with his own opponent. Their styles, even to my untrained eye, just didn't mesh well. Cyan used a lot of counter-attacks, holding his katana firmly in two hands, he would parry a blow and the while the opponent was still registering the fact, come in with a powerful attack of his own. Only his opponent was like a child hyped up on sugar, he was in, and out before you knew it.

My opponent was relentless. He would get in my face and attack, attack and keep attacking. Any attempt I made to gain some breathing room was negated, promptly. I had no chance to counter-attack, no chance to plan, no chance to do jack-all. I couldn't even gather any energy for magic attacks. This would have been the ideal time to summon or cast Fira or something, but no, I hadn't the chance too.

You know what, give me Cyan's opponent. The guy likes to move, I can deal with that.

"Swap." I grunted, hopping back, so that Cyan and I were next to each other.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that Cyan gave a small nod.

As my opponent made another particularly vicious looking swing at me, I leapt back, twisting around to face the other SOLDIER, while Cyan swung his katana and blocked the attack of the SOLDIER I had previously been struggling against.

My new opponent, a tall lanky guy, held the same type of sword as his partner; I'm assuming that the blade is the SOLDIER standard. His style of hit and run was also useless against me. He learnt that the hard way.

The SOLDIER hopped in, swung his sword at me, and on my blocking it, hopped far enough back that any counter-attack on my end. Except, he clearly didn't consider the fact that I was using a blade that could be used as a gun.

The SOLDIER yelped when I shot at him, barely deflecting the bullet with his blade in time. And then he had to deflect a second. And a third. Around that point, he realized that distance against me, was most likely not the wisest of choices. To be honest, no it wasn't. I don't get tired out when shooting bullet, where he get's tired out from deflecting the things. A game of endurance, at this range, was an easy win on my end.

And it was thus he hopped back up to me, blade swinging in an attempt to emulate his partner's style of combat.

He was clearly not very good at it.

This SOLDIER had neither the speed, nor the aggressiveness that his partner had, so for me, it was much easier to defend against. He was still good enough that any openings were invisible to my inexperienced eye, but hey, I'd still rather fight this guy then the other one.

Besides, this guy didn't account for the fact that I have a tail. In fact, he seemed to have tunnel vision, he was ignoring everything but me. His loss.

The SOLDIER gasped as my tail coiled around his sword-arm, preventing a slash. While he tried to free himself, I swung my weapon in a downwards arc, driving it through his collar-bone and into his upper chest. He began to cough up blood, a sign that I'd managed to cut into his lungs. He had no sympathy from me.

Releasing his arm, I kicked him in the stomach region, sending him sliding along the length of the weapon that was impaled into him, eventually freeing my blade from his flesh. With my weapon no longer holding him up, he just sort of became gravity's bitch a fell to the floor. Hard.

Gravity is a harsh mistress at times.

I looked away for two seconds, and then suddenly some arsehole decided that I wanted a grenade. Minus the pin.

Swearing enough to make Barret blush with embarrassment, I dived away from the explosive. I didn't get far enough to completely avoid the explosion, but I was relatively unharmed, if a dozen or so yards away from where I'd been previously. Looking up, and found the Shinra grunt responsible having his throat ripped out by Interceptor.

Cyan finished off his opponent and wiped the blade clean before sheathing it.

But my attention wasn't on the samurai. It was more on the machine that had marched up to us, twin machine guns pointed at him.

"Crap…" I muttered, leaping to my feet and launching myself at Cyan, pushing him to the ground.

Luckily, I was in time to help him avoid the hail of machine gun fire. Not very gracefully, but we were both alive, that was the important detail.

The large red machine turned slightly, scanning both myself and the samurai. And behind the machine, I could see a tail attached to it. Something about this thing is familiar. Like a feeling of déjà vu? I don't think I've ever seen this thing in my life though…

A click was all the warning we had before it unleashed another hail of bullets at us. Fortunately, a click was all we needed. Both Cyan and myself dived in opposite directions, dodging out of the way of the gunfire.

For a moment the vaguely scorpion shaped machine seemed at a loss as to which target it should go for, before it beeped a couple of times and turned to face me. I feel so loved, being a priority target.

Of course, facing me meant that the machine had left its back vulnerable to Cyan and his katana. Seeing the opening for what it was, the samurai moved in, unleashing a flurry of blows.

You know what the one problem with fighting machines is though? It's the fact that, unlike humans, you can't tell how effective an attack is, because they aren't exactly about to go 'ooh, that hurt' or 'ARRRG!' The only indication that Cyan's attack had done anything was the sparks, and that was probably just the result of his sword connecting with the armour or something.

I would normally make a comment about how much my opponent of the fight disliked being attacked, but as I'd already mentioned, it was a machine, and therefore, emotionless.

It must have known that being hit was a bad thing though. Because that scorpion-like tail swung out and almost hit Cyan. Fortunately, the samurai had good reflexes, and was able to avoid the attack.

I couldn't let Cyan have all the fun though.

Focusing, I released a Thundara, the bolt of electricity slamming into the machine. Whilst it was suffering from the electrical overload that it had been forcibly introduced to, it gave off these strange sounds. It also shook a lot.

I took the opportunity to move in and attack, but it recovered quicker than I anticipated, and I was forced to twist my body around to avoid being pumped full of hot lead. The nearest machine gun was within reach, so I threw myself forwards, grabbing onto the weapon and swinging myself up so that I was standing on the oversized gun.

The machine clearly knew that I was there, but it couldn't seem to register a way to get me off, so it appeared to shift its focus onto Cyan, lifting the tail up so that it was peeking over its head. Nothing good could come of that.

My last statement was proven true when the end of the tail pointed itself at Cyan, and released a beam of laser.

The samurai managed to leap over the beam of superheated energy, so he wasn't cut in two.

Muttering under my breath, I thrust my gunblade into the 'chest' of this scorpion wannabe. It took a fair amount of effort to actually penetrate the armour of the machine. Once I felt the blade was stabbed in deep enough, I leapt from the machine gun, grip tight on my weapon, and used my momentum and gravity to tear this heap of junk a new one.

Back on the ground, the scorpion bot decided to shift its focus back to me.

Taking a deep breath, I focused on my enemy skill Materia and exhaled a good dose of fire. I managed to maintain the fire breath long enough that I managed to melt one of the two machine guns, but the other, while hot, was still operational. And it swivelled around to aim at me.

"Crappit!" I cursed, diving.

My dive saved my from death, but I still felt a number of the bullets graze me.

Shadow chose that moment to appear, katana in hand. I don't know if it's some kind of ninja trick, or whether he has some spell or something, but he just literally appeared in the air, freefalling towards the machine. Once he was close enough, he swung his katana and managed to slice through the still working machine gun… and completely sliced it off.

Cyan then charged in and executed a move that strongly reminded me of Cloud's climhazzard. He stabbed his own katana into the gash that I had torn in the armour. However, rather than leaping upwards, he began to run up the scorpion bot's body, hunching low enough that he could continue to drag his sword through the machine's insides.

Once he reached his climax, Cyan leapt from the machine, and pivoted around in mid-air, adding several more slashes to the mix, before landing on his feet.

I stepped in, energies surrounding me. Despite being a fair distance from the machine, I swung my blade in vicious slashes. Obviously, at this range, slashes were hardly going to hit the machine, but I smirked, watching the air distort with each slash. The distortion appeared to fly towards the machine, where they connected, and then each slash appeared on the machine itself.

Limit Breaks are awesome. Feats of power that kick ass in ways you'd never normally be able to.

The machine shuddered, before finally collapsing.

"The clown escaped." Shadow said, without hesitation.

"What? How?" I asked, annoyed.

I'd wanted to kick that clown's ass.

"Helicopter. Without him, the rest of the Shinra forces are suffering from a lack of morale. The samurai are winning this battle."

"I should think so." Cyan huffed. "We're much better trained than the Shinra military. What of the SOLDIER?"

"Left with Kefka. Even Kefka isn't fool enough to throw away SOLDIER's like that. Rufus would have his head."

"Shame. It would have been nice if the President did our job for us." I commented.

"Alas, life is not so easy." Cyan shook his head. "However, we should not relax just yet, there are still Shinra infantry about, and it would be a most shameful way to die, being killed due to our letting our guard down."

A snort from Shadow told us what he thought of that.

"Let us go and finish of the remains of the Shinra…" Cyan commanded, readying his katana again, and charging off.

"Friendly guy." I said, aloud.

"To a fault. He often let's his emotions get the better of him. He was rather restrained today."

"Right… I suppose you're going to help clear out the remaining Shinra?"

"If it helps me get my pay quicker."

"I thought you had to kill the captain to get the pay?"

"That was for the bonus."

I didn't get a chance to say anything else, as he pulled out a kunai and threw it at a Shinra infantryman who had just come into view. With nary a word, he stalked off, katana held lightly.

Shaking my head, I readied my own weapon. Best finish off the Shinra here. Sooner Shadow get's his pay, sooner he finishes taking me to Wutai.


AN:::

Yeah, yeah, the ending was crap. Like I said, the original was ruined, and I couldn't remember the exact sequence of events or the words used... I hate my luck sometimes. Still, if I ever get the chance, maybe I'll come back an improve it at some point, but for now, this is it.