It is now time we continue this story again! Time to see what else will happen during Cloud's training with Sephiroth!
Ch.31
Cloud tried to not let his thoughts waver in his mind too much. He knew he had to focus much more than before. This already was proving to be something much different than he ever did in training or any mission he had gone on. He walked around the vacant town, looking for any other monsters or anything else that could show up to attack him. But over all at the current moment it was far too quiet, which led Cloud to believe that the monsters were hiding. They were hiding… and waiting to strike.
Cloud's intuition on that proved to be correct as the closer he got to the taller buildings, the more frequent the danger beasts became. He progressed through the area, fighting one after another, albeit not without difficulty. Slowly, Cloud started to tire out as the sweat began to pour course from his body as he ended up having a few scuffs and scratches from those tussles.
At one point, after putting down a couple of them, he made a run towards where the path ended and opened up into the city-like area. There was another one that was chasing him and just when he had gotten to the end, he side-stepped quickly out of the way. The monster could not stop because the momentum carried from its large body propelled it forward, causing it to slam into the wall hard. Seeing an opportunity, Cloud raised his sword and plunged it into the beast's neck and watched as it faded away into data.
"W-Wow… that was harder… than I thought it would be. This is only a training mission… but it's harder than any real mission I've been on," he admitted to himself as he hunched over and clutched his knees, taking the moment to catch his breath.
Cloud waited for a moment after that. He wanted to see if Sephiroth had anything to say to him after his latest victory. But there was only silence. No words came from the general. Cloud wondered how much he would have to do in order to get Sephiroth to say something. He wanted to try and impress Sephiroth, he knew he had to do that much, but he had no idea how high the bar was set for that.
However, he had no time to think about that as he noticed a huge shadow beginning to come over the area in which he was standing. He looked up to see there was another monster that was flying in as it landed directly in front of him. It looked almost just like the other monsters did before, the only difference being a slight difference in color. Cloud was tired, but he knew he had to try to fight it, as he still did want to impress.
"A-All right… come on."
Cloud charged at the beast just as he had the other ones, his sword held high in the air as he brought it down towards its head. He swung as hard as he could as he felt the sword collide; but, the collision was with something hard instead. He looked up to see that he indeed had hit the monster, but his strike had done nothing. For a moment, Cloud caught a glimpse of its deep, yellow eyes that stared at him before an unseen hand swiped at him, sending him flying into the wall behind him and breaking it down in the process.
Cloud nursed his head as it was tingling with pain. "Ow… what was that? I was able to do that with the others. I know I am tired but still… what gives?"
"Tsk." A simple sound was heard from the radio signal.
"Sephiroth? Was that you? What is it?" Cloud asked, but he received no response in return.
He figured he would just have to fight. There did not seem to be a way to get away at the moment. Slowly, the blond stood up and faced the beast again. However this time, the creature charged him instead. Cloud raised his sword to block its onslaught as he saw a sharpened claw swinging at his body. As the claw made contact with his sword, the latter snapped clean in half as Cloud was slightly punctured by the claws and sent crashing to the ground.
"Ahhhh!" The pain from the hit was evident as there felt to be some obvious bruising. The vestment that he wore was punctured, but it had not gone all the way through to his skin. Cloud wanted to stay and fight because he wanted to impress. He did not want to show that he was weak. But, there seemed to be no other choice.
Cloud became scared, but he was able to rise up once again. With no weapon to fight with, he turned and started to run more into the larger city as he passed by several tall structures on the way. He hoped the monster would just be gone, but his luck was not that great as he heard it rumbling behind him, crashing into the buildings as it progressed. Up ahead, Cloud noticed a path that veered to the right and quickly decided to cut that corner. He had no idea where it led, but it had to be better than just keeping a straight path.
When he did that, the creature skidded as it tried to turn, but the sudden change of direction from its prey halted its progress as Cloud was able to gain some ground. Cloud ran for a bit more until there was a turn right, which put him facing the way that he came but on a path parallel to the one he was just on. "Maybe if I can just get back to the way that I came in then I can find some place to end all this." Eventually, the path turned once more and placed him back on the original track as he kept going back the other way.
He thought that he may have actually outran the beast until he barely saw something from the corner of his eye. The building beside him started to crumble as the same monster emerged from it. Cloud somehow managed to roll out of the way, skidding on the ground as he threw himself to the side. He looked up at the monster who started to bear down on him once again. He knew this was only a simulation, but it was so real. He could feel pain, and everything else he could feel as well. He was unsure if he would actually make it out of there safely.
"What do I do? I-I don't know… I need… help," Cloud muttered before saying the last part more loudly.
As the beast raised up its arm for another attack, Cloud felt he could not move. Was it fear? Exhaustion? Whatever it was held Cloud still as he could do nothing but watch. As the large clawed hand fell down, Cloud felt the wind whip by him quickly. He looked up to see a faint silver trail that followed it out of the corner of his eye. Slowly, he turned his attention back to the monster in front of him to see that there was now a familiar man standing in between him and the monster, brandishing a long sword against the said beast.
"S-Sephiroth?!" Cloud half asked with a surprised look on his face, not having expected to see the general come to his aid.
The silver-haired man only offered him a cold glance quickly out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to the monster quickly and somehow shoved it back. And then in a movement that Cloud could really not see all that well, it was over. The monster was cut in half as it began to fade to data just like the others had before. The creature that had given him so much trouble. The one that had hurt him, broken his sword, and chased him down. Sephiroth defeated it in a single blow. Cloud looked on in awe and wonder. So this is the power of Sephiroth?
He was soon snapped out of his starstruck phase as his new mentor spoke. "That monster was not supposed to be here. Not yet at least. That was a higher level monster, an rank A. You were still suppose to go up against C ranks and then some B ranks before any A rank would even show. I suppose it could have been because I was here as well… But, you never would have stood a chance at your current level."
"Y-Yeah, I found that out. Was, that the noise I heard earlier over this then?" he asked as he pointed towards the radio on his belt.
"Yes, because I knew what was happening so I rushed over. But I wanted to see what you would do while I was on the way here," he spoke as he turned to face Cloud, an indifferent expression on his face. "However, I see all you did was run."
Cloud felt a pit form in his stomach. He could tell that the man before him was displeased. "B-But I… my weapon… I didn't know what to do…"
"I can see that now." Sephiroth then pulled out what appeared to be his cellphone and moved his fingers along the screen.
Suddenly, the world around them began to fade away as Cloud could see the training room coming back into focus. He could still feel the pain in his chest and across other parts of his body, indicating that what he felt was indeed the real deal. He took off his helmet that was able to generate all of his virtual surroundings. The only thing around him now was Sephiroth.
"You did about as well as I thought you would. You still have much more training to do. It won't be like this everyday, but I wanted to test you. Now I know your limits, Cloud."
Sephiroth extended a hand to Cloud surprisingly, to which Cloud gladly accepted. He then was pulled back up to his feet and straightened himself out. "T-Thanks."
"Cloud," the taller man began as he looked away. "Most other SOLDIERS would have tried to stay and fight believing it to be their duty. That is what you should do. But… a good SOLDIER also knows when they are outmatched. It's up to you to make those calls, which you did today. I will not tell you whether it was right or wrong, but only that you did what you thought was best in your situation."
He could not make sense of the man's words really, as it almost seemed like some sort of riddle. Maybe it was just the way that Sephiroth handled those types of situations. "Um, okay then. I will… try to remember that then."
"Go. We're done today. Get cleaned up and whatever else you need to do. We will continue work tomorrow," Sephiroth said coldly as he walked out of the room. Just as the sliding door was about to close, he glanced back at Cloud with his bright blue eyes as he narrowed his eyebrows and gave a smirk. "I'll be waiting, Cloud."
Once Cloud was completely alone, he finally let himself feel the weight of the pain that he was going through. But suddenly, he felt a jarring pain in his head, similar to the ones that he had felt before. He almost collapsed under the straing, but he tried to hold himself up; however, the physical pain was also taking a toll on him. "Gosh, why now?"
He stood there hunched over, trying to see if the pain would cease at all, but he knew better. After a few minutes of waiting, he figured he should have tried to leave and try to catch Sephiroth, but the man was probably already long gone from the area. Cloud decided it would be best to try to leave and find someone, or better yet, see about getting to the sick bay in the headquarters.
Cloud stumbled his way to the sliding door of the training room and exited it slowly, making sure to hang close to the walls for support. With his current condition, the hallway seemed much longer than it used to be. He just wanted to make it to the elevator or to some room where somebody was.
Thankfully he could hear footsteps of someone approaching. He wasn't too sure which direction though as his head was starting to hurt more. Not only that, but each step he took made his body feel heavier and heavier. Soon he was leaning up against the wall, trying to support or at least relax a little.
The footsteps came closer and then they stopped. "Cloud, is that you?"
The voice sounded familiar as Cloud glanced up to see an also familiar face. "C-Cissnei?"
He saw that Cissnei now stood in front of him, several folders in her hands. Though an expression of worry spread across her face the longer she stared at Cloud. "Yeah, are you okay? You're looking a bit pale."
Pain continued to intensify throughout his body. He tried to form the words to respond to her. "I… h-head… p-pa-". He was unable to finish as he began to fade and slumped to the ground. His vision began to blur, so he blinked a few times to attempt to regain it but to no avail. Soon, darkness encroached over his eyes and everything faded to black, with Cissnei calling out his name being the last thing he heard.
Hey Cissnei is back! What will happen next? Well we will get there soon enough heh. Thanks for reading though!