Drew was familiar with all sorts of limit breaks - they were as varied as the people performing them, which was to say unique in some way, even if some of them were variations on a theme. Most SOLDIERs, for example, had a low level limit that included some sort of burst of energy, either purely in a boost of speed or being able to unleash a particularly powerful strike with their weapon - some even had non-elemental energy bursts from said strike. And as you got stronger, your limits did too. He'd seen tons over the years, training beside his fellow SOLDIERs and even training some of the up-and-coming ones. He knew what limits looked and felt like.

He'd only seen red light once with a limit break, when he'd been fighting with Valentine and he'd started towards one, only to pull the reins hard and walk it off.

(He'd had no idea you could walk off a pending limit break, but Valentine was full of surprises.)

Now Azul was gleaming red, and there was a staticky pressure in the air, energy gathering for whatever was coming next. Drew braced himself, because he knew whatever it was, it wasn't a low level, garden variety limit. This was going to be spectacular.

Even knowing he had no idea what to expect, he was somehow taken by surprise by the brilliant, blinding flash of crimson light and the way Azul's bellowing shifted to a primal, almost animal howl.

When his vision cleared, Drew corrected himself. Because it wasn't almost. Where Azul had been standing was the largest behemoth he'd ever seen (and he'd fought a King Behemoth before) that bore some passing resemblance to Azul in that it had the same glowing blue markings, even if the coloring otherwise was off completely.

Its horns were as long as his arm.

Apparently, melee combat was a no.

He went for an ether at once, popping it open and downing it in three long gulps as he eyed the beastly form of his opponent. Animal he might look, but there was still something intelligent in those gold eyes. A behemoth with anything near human intelligence was definitely something to be wary of.

The ether did its job, though, a tingling rush of magical energy flooding his system and helping level out his lowered energy levels. Adrenaline still running high, he was fairly sure he was in as good a shape as he could ask for, going into the second round of the fight.

Then Azul moved, and there was no more time for thinking. He was insanely fast for something that big, but fortunately he made a great deal of noise; there was no way he'd be sneaking up on him any time soon. Which was good, because that would be something he'd never live down.

Part of him genuinely considered not engaging at all. Limit breaks only lasted so long, and once the energy was spent, theoretically Azul should return to normal. The problem was that he really didn't know how long this sort of limit lasted. It had manifested completely differently than a single strike attack, or even a chain attack like Sephiroth's Octaslash. It wasn't an attack at all, not technically. This went deeper, fundamentally changing things on a level he could barely wrap his mind around.

Briefly, he thought it might be nice to run that by Genesis or Valentine later, but for now it was a little more important to keep evading getting skewered by those massive horns. And figure out what the hell he was going to do if it did come down to a fight.

He leapt over one of the trains, hoping to get some distance and time to think while Azul navigated the obstacle.

No luck.

Metal shrieked as Azul rammed full force into the car and buried his horns deep into the side. For a half moment, Drew thought maybe - maybe - he'd be stuck, and there would be time to attack without the threat from those same horns.

Then Azul must have reared and shook himself because suddenly Drew had a whole train car coming for him and nowhere to run. It crashed into his side and he went with the momentum of it, jumping with the motion that would have flung him forward and grabbing onto the next car with enough force that he felt it dent under his knees, the metal crinkling like it was aluminum foil under his hands instead of solid steel siding. He kept moving, heaving himself up even as he struggled to draw in a proper breath, just barely clearing the top of it before Azul mashed the cars together.

The phrase roaring with laughter didn't seem inappropriate for what sound the beastly form of his opponent had made, clearly having a ball with all this. Well, let him laugh while he could. This was far from over.

A quick assessment was all there was time for, and then he had to be on the move lest Azul have time to push the action further in his favor. Getting some distance between them was his first priority, so he took off, pounding over the roof of cars until he was several down and could safely turn back to look at Azul. He was tossing his head with enough force to rip his horns free, which was enough force to guarantee he would utterly wreck Drew if he caught him. Even if he was wearing legitimate mythril armor with a layer of mail under the plates he'd still get gored. His relatively flimsy 'reinforced' SOLDIER First uniform wouldn't do diddly against that sort of force.

He could not get caught. His life very literally depended on it.

He was about three car lengths away from Azul when he stopped to look back, meeting that feral gold gaze across the distance. Though he moved on all fours, his 'forepaws' were much like hands as they flexed. Something to consider another time, but for now it was enough to give him an odd, sick feeling of discomfort that he couldn't name and didn't really want to think about. Now wasn't the time.

Now he had to fight.

Azul came running straight for him, restricted entirely to melee combat in this form, which might just work in Drew's favor. He still had range.

He tightened his grip on his katana's hilt, breathing through the dimly felt pain where the car had impacted against him. Thank gods for adrenaline, or he might have been seriously compromised. As it was, well… lightning crackled in his hand and down the blade, and he pulled on his reserves - with the adrenaline pumping and as much damage as he'd taken, his first tier limit came to his call with ease.

The attack in itself was exceedingly simple and common - most SOLDIERs learned some variant of Blade Strike, usually a vertical slash with enough force to rip up the ground and a building or two by the time you made First. Hell, by Second it would usually release a sizable energy beam.

Unless, of course, you'd charged your sword up with a spell ahead of time. Because any preexisting condition could be maintained through the limit break, and it combined into a beautiful Spell Sword maneuver. In this case? Drew let the energy of his limit flow through him alongside the spell, the magic called from the materia mingling with his own innate well powering the limit break, both of them cresting at once as he raised the blade skyward and swung.

Yet again, the blade served as a conduit for his magic, metal conducting beautifully and the energy attack guiding it. To the naked eye, his magic was spiraling around nothing - a coil of lightning in fact curling around the invisible core of the non-elemental energy beam from the sword itself. The sheer force of it alone would have ripped a path through to Azul, but the crackling energy was what really gave it punch.

You wouldn't think a body of mere flesh and bone would hold out through an attack that tore through packed dirt like wet paper, but the only visible response to taking the blow head on was him skidding backwards slightly with a grunt. But Azul had been changed, like so many of them had been - beyond how Drew had been changed, far closer to the big three or Zack - and he was not merely anything now. If there was just one thing Hojo had been good at, it was creating killers.

Azul huffed with what might have been laughter at Drew's annoyance. He could just picture the taunting if he'd had voice for it. His massive hand-paws gripped at the ground and he bellowed challenge before taking off for Drew once more.

Azul rammed the side of the car he was on, and in a burst of unexpected speed, he reared back and tossed it. From there, it was all hard-won instinct as Drew scrambled back up it, hands digging into the metal, bodily hauling himself up as it went end over end and saving himself from becoming an ugly SOLDIER imprint on the ground.

The good news was that invisible limit gauge was ticking up fast from the damage he was taking, he could feel it simmering under his skin, a welcome bubbling heat promising a big payout if he could just hold on. He just needed one more push, and he'd have a high tier limit ready to go, something that could do something against the menace Azul had become in this behemoth form.

There were a lot of things people said about SOLDIERs that were closer to the truth than they knew, just… sort of sideways. They were adrenaline junkies, sure, but that was because adrenaline meant power. Power meant getting shit done.

Drew was fairly sure he'd maxed out his adrenaline, he was riding as high as it was going to get. But he still needed something to push him over the top, and if it wasn't adrenaline - and he'd never been the sort to talk himself into a deep enough emotional upheaval - then all that was left was stress. Physical strain. Damage. Crank up the fight-or-flight to eleven and break the knob off.

Azul was rushing him again, because that was really all Azul could do. He buried his horns deep in the already gutted car and heaved - and this time Drew went under, diving and reaching and grabbing an absolute death grip onto the behemoth's mane. He swung down onto Azul's back with bruising force, air driven out of them both, and laughed in wild disbelief that it had worked.

What happened next was like the wildest mechanical 'bo ride in the world, without any of the fun of being drunk first. Being fair, that meant he was far more coordinated, but every moment was spent with his heart in his throat, just clinging for dear life as Azul raced and bucked and eventually took to slamming himself into the cars surrounding them in an effort to get Drew off his back. It wasn't going to last, and he knew he had to do something.

The limit gauge was ticking up up up, but not quite where he needed it, not quite yet, and how was this not enough?

He shouldn't have let himself get distracted, no matter how frustrated he was. Azul reared abruptly, heaving himself to his feet and staggering them backwards into a car, with breath stealing, bone rattling force.

Numbness shocked through him, spots dancing in his vision as pain lanced through his back.

He let go.

Azul flopped over backwards, ready to slam into him and finish the goal of crushing the SOLDIER under the force of his weight.

And he might have, he really might have.

But that little ticker on his limit gauge clicked over and he felt it, the flood of energy through his body that pushed beyond pain, beyond mere human limitations, beyond any and every little thing that might have held him back.

Drew's limit break hit, with the full force of his top tier, but he was in no position for finesse or technique. If he'd been on his feet, he could have performed the attack without hesitation, even as beat down as he was. But lying flat on his back, his traditional movements were out of range.

The energy demanded outlet, pumping through him, roaring in his ears and rushing through his veins. For lack of any other options, Drew pulled himself upright, hauled his arm back, and threw all his weight and power into a punch.

It made a vicious impact, something - ribs? his spine? - cracking under his hand, and it sent Azul careening away. He hit the ground with an earth shaking thud and didn't move. Far from, red light gleamed over him once more, flared briefly, and left him in human form once more.

Drew made a weak sound of relief when he didn't move, and keyed his mic. "Azul is down. I think I'm gonna need a hand."