So Harry, up for some train-car hopping?

Harry: Huh?

You know, hopping from train-car to train-car while the trian itself is speeding down the tracks?

Sirius: What?

*sigh* Nevermind. On to the chapter.


Harry paced back and forth in the onboard War Room of the Highwind. He glanced at Barret, Cid, Cait Sith, and Red XIII. "All right, guys. Shinra's gathering the Huge Materia and will be attempting to destroy Meteor by slamming all the Huge Materia they can find through a rocket ship, which will probably be launched from Rocket Town. What should we do first?"

"Hmmn...the Huge Materia is at Corel and Fort Condor..." Cait Sith remarked aloud. "I'm sure there was another place that had it. Where was that...?"

"Harry," Red called, "let's visit Cloud and Tifa from time to time."

Harry nodded. "Of course, Red."

"Yo, Mr. Leader!" Barret beckoned. "Make up yer mind and le's go!"

"There are people guarding the reactor from the Shinra at Fort Condor," Harry mused. "They won't last forever, but they still have time. Corel, on the other hand, has no one protecting the Huge Materia at the reactor there. Let's go to Corel first, then swing by Fort Condor and lend them a hand."

"I'm on it," Cid declared. "The Highwind will have us there lickety-split!"

Up on the bridge, Cid proved his piloting skills by setting the airship down to a gentle landing just outside North Corel. Cait Sith volunteered to stay behind, not wanting to reveal that he was the one who led them there to stop the Shinra. "There's only four of us, then," Harry remarked. "Might as well all of us go. You reckon?"

Nanaki nodded. "Yeah. The four of us will stand a better chance of defeating the Shinra troops together, than sending only three of us."

As Barret walked into the town he had grown up in, the townspeople glanced at them and turned away. One little kid ran up to them, however, and began to babble excitedly. "Shinwa soldiers came awound sayin' they were gatherin' up all the Huge Materia. I think they're gonna bwing it here by the coal twain, from the Cowel Weactow!"

Harry knelt and smiled. "Thank you, kid. We'll take care of those mean ol' Shinra." The kid smiled happily and skipped off.

"Heh heh heh," Barret chuckled.

Harry frowned. "What?"

"Never woulda thought you'd like kids," he replied. "You're a lot like Cloud, kid."

Harry snorted. "Minus the split-personality, you mean?"

"Er...yeah, minus tha'."

The second trek down the tracks went much faster than it did the first time; probably, Harry mused as he ducked a cockatrice's peck before decapitating it with a half-moon overhead slice, because they were so much stronger now, as opposed to back then. They were even capable of dispatching the bomb monsters, notorious for exploding and greatly injuring travellers before they could kill it, before they could begin swelling up in preparation for their self-destuction without needing Harry to summon Shiva.

It wasn't long before they reached the Reactor. There were two Shinra guards at the entrance. "You guys are...!" was all one of them managed to get out before they were put down by Barret's gun-arm and Cid's spear.

"Guess we're safe for now," Cid remarked. There a train whistle, blowing loudly.

"Ohh!" Red gasped.

"Safe? What's that again, Cid?" Harry quipped, quirking a brow at the pilot and receiving a shrug in return.

"Da---mn!" Barret cursed. They scattered to avoid a train as it rumbled out of the reactor towards town.

"Looks like they're takin' off with the Huge Materia in that train!" Cid declared.

"NO! You damn boneheads!" Barret roared as the train began to pick up speed.

"We have to stop them!" Harry cried. He glanced back. "There's another train. Cid, you're the pilot here, can you drive it?"

"Hey, do you know who I am!?" Cid shot back. "I'm Cid - that's who the hell I am! Now just let me handle it!"

Harry nodded as they climbed aboard the train. "We're counting on you, Captain!" Cid grinned and kicked the engine lever, and shortly the train engine they were on quickly picked up speed. They caught up with the Shinra four-car train in a matter of minutes.

"How can they even drive this!?" Barret grumbled.

"Don't ask me, I don't know!" Cid cried.

"What!?" Red gasped.

"Don't worry! I can handle this kinda stuff! Two levers; one on the right and one on the left..." He flipped them, causing their train to pick up some more speed. "I see, just alternate the two levers up and down, right!? Judging from the enemy's speed, I'd say it'll take about ten minutes before they reach Corel. We're gonna fly! Hold on tight!" Cid began frantically flipping the levers. The engine groaned as it obeyed his commands, and soon, they were nose-to-caboose with the Shinra train. "All right! Jump!"

The four leapt foward, landing lightly on the last car. Now unmanned, the train they had borrowed slacked off, coming to a stop at a turn and tipped over, falling into the gorge below.

They found themselves confronted with a pair of Shinra soldiers on each of the three cars in front of them, a driver manning the controls, and a technosoldier machine on the next to last car. "Let's bust them up - and fast!" Barret cried, unleashing a torrent of gunfire that mowed down the Shinra troops. Red cast Firaga, leaving scorch marks on the technosoldier, while Cid pole-vaulted with his spear and drove the point through the machine's CPU. Harry jumped forward and confronted the driver.

"What the! You...you guys!" the Shinra soldier grunted, swinging wildly at Harry. Harry ducked and watched in amusement as the guard overbalanced and fell off. "Heh. You got guts, but tough ain't enough!" he chuckled.

"Got no time for that now!" Barret roared. Cid jumped down next to Harry.

"We got it going, but what about the brakes?" Nanaki shouted over the wind.

"I KNOW, already!" Cid protested. "Just shut up and keep quiet! If we keep this up, we'll crash right into North Corel!"

"If that happens..." Harry paled.

"I got it," Cid nodded. "If we alternately use the levers to accelerate, it should brake if we move the levers up or down simultaneously!" Cid set to work, flipping the levers.

"Hey, it's not working!" Barret cried. They were coming onto the bridge before town.

"We're gaining speed!" Red shouted.

"FUCK! The other way!?" Cid swore. "Just watch, this time, I'll..." He moved both levers, and once again, the train gained more speed.

"Hey hey HEY!" Harry yelled.

"SHIIIIIIIIT!" Cid bellowed, jamming the levers up and down with such force that they snapped off. Cid shot a look at Harry and Barret, but it was cut short when there was a great screeching of brakes. Harry leaned out through a conductor's window and found the train finally, blissfully, slowing down. The train came to a screeching halt just inches before the gate to town. Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry plucked the Huge Materia from the engineer's compartment before hopping down after Barret, Cid, and Red XIII.

The welcome they received was considerably warmer than the one when they arrived. Considering they had just saved the town from being decimated a second time, Barret found the townspeople warming up to him again. "You sure are brave. I'm impressed!" "You guys are really something!" "Aren't you the ones that stopped the Shinra Train? The Shinra was just about to destroy our lives again...It might be full of junk, but this is the only home we got, Barret!"

Barret nodded brokenly, tears leaking from his eyes as he smiled. "Of...Of course! We're all born and raised in the coal mines! No matter how tough it gets, our hearts burn bright red like coal!"

Harry nodded. "Doing what is right, instead of what is easy."

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered hearing Harry's words. "To hell with Meteor! We're Coal Miners, ain't we? We'll dig a deep tunnel and hide from the Meteor! That's it!"

Harry frowned. "That's not exactly what I meant..." But he was ignored as the people cheered and set about to making plans. With a shrug, Harry led Barret, Cid, and Red XIII back to the Highwind.

Once onboard, Harry set the Huge Materia into an orb holder in the War Room. "That'll hold it for now, until we can find a more permanent place to keep them."

On the bridge, Cid brought the ship to life and took off. "Next stop, Fort Condor!"


Harry: I'm never doing that again.

Sirius: But Harry! You did a right bang-up job, you did!

*nods* Siriusly, Harry. You could not have done much better.

Sirius: *groan* Did you have to make that old joke again?