Chapter three
Chapter three The gathering.

Music was coming from the forest in the distance. There where a lot of travelers on the road, Cloud couldn't remember this place to be so lively.

"A small, remote village destroyed by an exploding Mako-reactor eh?"

Jinn gave Cloud a wicked smile. "Guess Shinra did come and made things right."

Cloud ignored him, something wasn't right here. There where to much people going to Gongaga, there was nothing there. A kart pulled by a chocobo passed by them. Cloud increased his pace and made the kart stop.

"Can you tell me why you're going to Gongaga?" He asked the driver.

"Yer not fr'm round these parts, are ya lad? D'nt yer 'eard 'bout the c'meback that there village h'd made?" The man shrugged and took another hit from his cigarette. "Nev'r mind lad, ya wanna know why I go th're? Why don't ya go th're an' see f'r yers'lf." He gave Cloud a friendly grin and rode away.

"Did you 'understand' what he just said?" Jinn had a dim expression on his face. "No not really, come lets go and see for ourselves."

They walked further in the forest. The music was getting louder and louder. In the distance they could see the remains of the reactor.

"Is that…?" Jinn voice trembled a little.

"Yes…" Cloud didn't want to say much; Jinn would have to see for himself what Shinra had done to this village.

They reached the village gate; there was a lot of traffic leaving and entering the village.

"Doesn't seem to be a small ruined village to me. More like an up and thriving town." Jinn said as he looked at the chaos at the gates. Cloud was confused; the last time he'd been here was to tell Zack's parents what had happened to him, and the village was in ruins then. Cloud looked through the masses to find out where he should go. That's when he saw a familiar face.

"You wait here, I'll be right back." Cloud mixed in the crowd and it wasn't long before Jinn lost sight of him.

"Hmph… wait here, who does he think he is.' Jinn walked towards the gates. A lot of merchants, carrying all kinds of goods entered and left the town.

"Hey Jinn, Jinn over here!" Jinn looked around him; Cloud was standing next to a red headed man.

"Jinn this is Johnny, Johnny Jinn. Johnny used to live in the same town as me. He was just about to tell me what was going on here."

The man called Johnny cleared his throat and started talking; it sounded to Jinn as if he didn't want to but had no choice.

"Like I was saying; a little while ago a man opened a new shop here. Nobody knew where he came from or why he decided to settle here. Anyway he did and his weapons are fantastic. The word traveled fast and before the people of this town knew, people from all over the world came here to buy the weapons. After the master-smith leaved, to who knows where, some of them stayed here and in no time the town grew bigger and bigger."

Jinn looked around him. "So all these people come here to buy weapons?"

Johnny sighed. "No… they come here for whatever they need. See… if you want something, this is the place to get it."

Cloud frowned. "So… we need new equipment, you think we can get it here?" "Think?? I know you can get it… if you have the Gil for it that is."

Jinn looked at Cloud. "And that's something we don't have."

Johnny yawned and glazed at Cloud. " If that's all… I'll be on my way then." "Wait, do you know how we can earn enough Gil." Johnny thought about that for a moment and then gave Cloud a wicked smile. "You could enter in the oncoming tournament, if you have 1000 Gil that is."

Cloud sighed. "You know I don't have any Gil."

"Well… I could pay you're entering fee… for a small repayment when you win." Jinn grabbed hold of his jacket. "What do you mean a small repayment!"

"O, I was thinking 55% of you're winnings." Jinn lifted him from the ground. "Erm… 45% would do just fine I guess."

"Okay sign us in, Jinn let's look around first." Cloud nodded at Jinn and walked trough the gate. Jinn gave Johnny a last glare and followed Cloud into the town. "Shees… I guess I'll better get a move on then, little punk." Johnny straitened his clothes and walked towards a big building just a few feet away from the reactor.

Cloud and Jinn walked trough the village, looking around them. "It doesn't look like a run down village to me."

"You already said that, I don't remember this place to be so… lively."

"Hey… let's check out this store you're friend was talking about." Cloud stopped and took his cocky pose.

"Now where is that shop then?"

Jinn looked around him and a particular store caught his eye. "I think it would be that one!" Cloud looked at the store, looked back at Jinn and back at the store again. "Okay… let's go then."

They walked towards the store and entered. When they came in a little bell run and they heard a man's voice shout from out back; "I'm closed, come back later." Cloud walked up to the counter and knocked on it a couple of times.

"I said I'm closed!" Jinn started to rummage through the weapons displayed in the shop. Cloud knocked on the counter again.

"Cloud, come and take a look at this!" Jinn held up a strange looking sword. Cloud walked over to Jinn and took a close look at the sword.

"It looks like a sword… combined with a…"

"Put that down and leave my store at once!" A tall man stood behind them. "Kids these day… shees."

"Let's go Cloud, this guy won't help us."

"Wait Jinn, I want to know more about this weapon." Cloud raised the sword and looked at the tall man.

"Must I keep repeating myself? The store is closed, and that's final." The man walked Cloud and Jinn to the door and locked it behind them.

Cloud was still holding the sword in his hands.

"Erm… Cloud?"

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't you give that back?" Jinn asked pointing at the sword.

"Do you want to knock on the door and piss him off even more?"

"…"

"I thought so, we'll return it later, okay?"

Jinn nodded and pointed at the tavern. "Could we get something to eat?"

Cloud shrugged, "We don't have any Gil, remember?"

"Well… I have some." Jinn said hesitant.

Cloud raised his hands; he gave up. "So you did have some Gil… and now you tell me?" Cloud marched towards the tavern. "You'll buy me my food then!"

Jinn followed him with a regretful expression on his face.

"Whadda ya mean, there's no more ships leavin' this week?" Barret shouted. "Like I said, this week the ships stay in the harbor, and for that matter it could take months even until one ship sets sail again." "But why?" Tifa asked. "Didn't you hear? There's still a WEAPON out there, it attacked a SOLDIER-gunship just this week." Tifa raised an eyebrow, "Didn't we…?" "Yeah, I thought so too." Batter replied. "So if you please?" Tifa nodded at the sailor and left the room. "Hurmph." Barret left without saying anything.

When they arrived at the bar, where they had decided to meet up, the rest of their party was already there. "…How did it go?" Vincent asked but when he saw their faces he could imagine how it turned out, "Never mind, we couldn't find a ship either." Ramuh threw his hand up in despair; "There's no way we can get across the ocean now." He got up and left the bar. "What's wrong with him?" Barret asked as Ramuh walked out. Tifa shrugged and looked at Vincent, "You've been with him longer than us, do you have any idea?" "…I think he was really thrilled by the thought of going home…" He stood up, "I'm going to check on him." Barret watched him leave and turned to Tifa, "The hell we supposed to do?" "Wait for them, I guess. There's no way we can cross the ocean now." They ordered something to eat and waited for Ramuh and Vincent to return.

"Now how am I supposed to get home? 'This is you're first task, Ramuh, it's not a hard one, deliver the invitations and come back home'. Yeah right, not a hard task my…" Ramuh threw a small rock in the water and watched it skip four times. "I should never accepted this job, it just isn't me. I knew I should have kept it with my books, at least there's an happy ending in them." He threw another rock; this one skipped once before it disappeared beneath the waves.

"Life's been hard on you, son?"

"wha…?" Ramuh turned his head and saw a man, wearing a pilot's uniform, standing behind him. "Yeah… I wanted to go home but…"

"But the ships won't leave harbor, am I right?" The man sat down next to Ramuh.

"Yes, absolutely." Ramuh reached out his hand, "I'm Ramuh."

"Nice to meet you, kid. The name's O'Brien, Dexter O'Brien."

"Yes well… the pleasures all mine, I'm sure." Ramuh let another rock skip.

"Good one, seven times. Can I ask you something, kid?"

"Go ahead, ask what you want."

"Why are you sitting here being depressed?"

"I'm not… well maybe I am but…"

"No buts kid, you wanna go home, don't you?"

"Yes, but like I said…"

"And like I said, no buts kid. You want to go home? Then find a way home."

"That's easy for you to say, you're already home. Me? I have to cross an ocean nobody wants to sail, now there's another sighting of a WEAPON there."

"Well, well. Aren't you fast with presumptions? Who ever said that I was home?"

"Erm…"

"You said you wanted to cross the ocean?"

"Yes."

"And you've asked every sailor in town?"

"Yes." Ramuh rolled his eyes.

"But Junon has more than just a harbor."

Ramuh didn't have any idea what this guy was getting at. He examined the man closer, suddenly he saw it; "You're a pilot!"

O'Brien smiled, "Finally you get it, if no one will sail over the ocean, find someone who'll fly you over."

Ramuh jumped up, "So… you will?"

"If you'd ask me."

"Will you take me across the ocean? Erm… wait it's not just me, I've got three friends with me."

"Then go fetch them, kid. I'll be waiting by the arms shop." O'Brien stood up and with a salute he left.

"Well I'll be…"

"Ramuh, there you are."

"Yes, if I'm not here, then where would I be?"

"…"

"Sorry Vince, it's just that… O never mind, let's get back to Tifa and… the other man traveling with us, I just got us a ride across the ocean." Ramuh threw a small, flat rock and watched it skip twelve times, "Yup, I'm back on track." He mumbled and stood up.

"…So, who'll sail out?" Vincent asked him when they walked towards the bar.

"No one, we're going to fly over."

"You found a…" Vincent was surprised; he'd never thought Ramuh was going to be the one who'll find means of transportation.

"Yup, now come on, he'll be waiting by the arms shop."

"…Which one?"

Ramuh rolled his eyes, "The arms shop, of course!"

Vincent sighed, "You don't know which one, do you?"

"There is only one armor shop in town."

"Yes, one armor shop and two weapon shops, with most people call…"

"Arms shops… Damn… erm, sorry." Ramuh cursed himself; he'd made the same mistake before, only to find out he'd forgotten to learn the lesson out of that time.

"…Doesn't matter, we'll visit them all." Vincent felt a little sorry for Ramuh; he seemed so proud just now.

Valerius was standing in a poorly lit room. The room was 20 feet wide and 60 feet long, on both sides where marble pillars starting from the double door, which he used to enter, and ending behind an enormous office desk. The desk stood on a blood red carpet; it didn't reach to the sides but was stretched over the full length of the room. On the desk stood a computer screen, what was about the only thing in the room that gave off light, and some documents, which were Valerius's reports on the incident aboard the ship. A man was sitting behind the desk and he was completely shrouded in shadows, except his face; the green light from the screen lighted up his left side. The man spoke clearly and slowly; "So the subject has disappeared and there has been no sight from him whatsoever?"

Valerius answered with a trembling voice; "Yes Commander, that's true, there has been no sight from him since the incident."

"And the tests? Did professor Katana complete them?"

"Yes, he did, but as you could read in my report…"

"Yes, yes. I've read you're report. A shame you've lost the results."

Valerius was getting even more uncomfortable than he already was; he didn't like the way this conversation was going. "I couldn't do anything against WEAPON, sir. If we'd…"

"Yes, I know. If you'd seen it coming sooner you could have preparations ready sooner. And for what you could have done against WEAPON? The same as SOLDIER is supposed to do with anything that stands in our way, eliminate it!"

"But sir… against WEAPON… it'll be suicide."

"Yes, for normal people it would, and that's why I needed those results. O yes, before I forget, how is our professor doing?"

Valerius was glad to change the subject and could breath a little better. "Not to good, he is mourning for the lost of his son and isn't in any hurry to get on with his research."

"Then… make sure he'll start again soon."

"How do you intend to do that?"

"Make him a proposition he can't refuse; start working or mourn for the lost of another child."

"…But, sir!"

"That will be all, now go and don't disappoint me more." With that the commander turned out the screen and vanished out of Valerius sight.

When Valerius closed the doors behind him he heard Kane's voice; "How did it go?"

Valerius sighed; "We can be glad he was in a good mood, now let's go. We must find Cloud and get Katana to continue his research."

Kane nodded and growled; "When I get my hands on Cloud, he'll be sorry for ever being born."

"Relax Kane, the commander wants him alive. Huh?" The cell-phone in his pocket was ringing.

"Val? Who can that be?"

Valerius took the phone out of his pocket; "I don't know, but it better be good news." Valerius talked to the person on the other side for a moment and hung up. "Good news, Kane. This was our contact in Gongaga; it seems Cloud is alive and he's there and… the professor's son seems to be alive too."

Kane's eyes glowed up; "OKAY Val, round two… and this time we'll be the winners."

"Kane… we won last time too, you know? We just lost them again, that's all."

Kane pointed at the doors behind him, "Could you go in and tell him that?"

"…"

"Thought so, and Val?"

"Yes?"

"Don't pretend as if you're my boss, 'couse you're not, 'kay?"

"I never do that!" Valerius pretended to be hurt.

"…'Ever, let's go." Kane stormed down the hall. Valerius rolled his eyes and after a 'why me?' he followed him.

"Lady's and gentlemen… proudly we present to you the first ever… ''Thanatos-tournament'".

The crowd cheers and the announcer waits until they settle again; "These twenty brave men will fight in hand to hand combat for the title of 'Century Phoenix' and for the grand prize of 250000 Gil!

There's a ear shattering applause and the announcer continuous; "Let me introduce the first fighters: from Wutai, the ninja-warrior Jade Scarlet! (Another round of applause.) And his opponent: from Icicle Inn, the purple haired Jinn Katana! (The crowd seemed in favour for Jade Scarlet because Jinn got a cold welcome.) And now let the fights begin!"

Cloud was watching how Jinn fought in the arena when he was slapped on the back of his head; "What the…?" He turned to see who had hit him but before he saw whom it was got punched in his stomach.

"I'll see you in the ring!" With that his attacker left.

"What was that all about?" Cloud asked himself whilst getting up.

"Hey kid! You're supposed to do the fighting in the arena, ya know." A big man sat on a bench a few feet away from Cloud. "And if you fight like that in there… boy I'd hate to stand in you're shoes." The man grinned. "The name's Camron, how are ya?"

Cloud stared at him and nodded; "Cloud's the name, did you happen to see who that was?"

Camron pointed at a man wearing a black suit. "That's the one, right there."

Cloud looked at the man and recognised him; "Reno!"

Reno turned and glared at Cloud; "Payback time, Cloud! This time the Turks won't go easy."

Cloud wanted to say something but got hit on the head again.

"…Reno's right, payback time!" Rude walked to Reno and stopped there.

"The Turks… thought you guy's had been fired because of you're failures last year."

"…That's right, and we didn't think we'd ever see you again. But now we're here and you'll pay for humiliating us."

"Yeah, as if…"

The rest of Cloud's words where engulfed by the wild applauding of the audience, it seemed the first fight was over.

"Lady's and gentlemen the first winner is…(drum ruffling.) Jinn Katana! Now for the second fight, formerly of the Turk: Reno! (The audience applauded as if their life depended from it.) And his opponent: Cloud Strife, and I hear he used to be a SOLDIER so… Turks vs. SOLDIER: who'll win? I don't know so let's find out, LET THE BATTLES BEGIN!" (The crowd went wild; two former Shinra factions fighting each other.)

Reno and Cloud where turning in circles: they where both assessing each other's weaknesses. Cloud felt confident in the outcome of this fight, he hadn't been Tifa's sparring partner for nothing. He took a risk by making the first move and got punished for that; Reno predicted his move and countered it by giving a low punch in his stomach. Cloud gasped for breath and cursed himself for being over confident. Reno saw an opening in Cloud's defence and kicked him. Cloud could barely dodge the kick and immediately punched Reno in the face. Reno lost his balance for a moment and that was enough for Cloud to unleash a series of kicks and punches.

"…C'mon Reno, get with it!" Rude was watching the fight from behind the scenes.

Jinn was standing next to Reno and started cheering for Cloud; "Yeah, that's it kick his ass! Oooh… now that's gotta hurt."

"Okay, Reno. Show him what Turks are made of!"

"Hey, shut up you, or I'll show you a thing or two!" Jinn had heard the comments Rude was giving and was getting annoyed by it.

"…You talking to me, little one?" Rude wanted to whack Jinn but a big man grabbed hold of both of them. "No fighting in here, if you want a piece of each other, wait until you get out there, ya hear."

"…" Rude followed the rest of the fight in the arena.

"Hey, let go! Humph… Okay already, can't you see I'm watching a fight!"

Camron smiled and focused his attention back at the fight outside.

Reno was pounding on Cloud, who lay under him. "See, can't mess with the Turks!" Cloud got quite a beating but it was noting compared with what Tifa had given him in the past. He wriggled his shoulders a little further into the dirt, and drew his legs upward; placing his feet around Reno's head. With a swift pull he managed to pull Reno off his chest. In a swift move he kicked Reno against his head and jumped back on his feet. Cloud turned to face Reno again and whilst he turned he kicked Reno back to the ground. "Why… Don't you… stay there… Reno? Don't… you Turks belong … crawling in the dirt?" Reno placed his hands underneath him and threw his feet in Cloud's direction, but Cloud spun around his axis and whacked Reno in the stomach and on his face. The punch broke Reno's nose. Reno got up and glared at Cloud. "Rhaaa…" Reno attacked in fury trying to punch and kick Cloud. Cloud blocked and evaded every punch and kick. "…'Night Reno!" With these words he leaped into the air and floored Reno with a spinning kick in the air. Cloud landed next to Reno, heavily breading but satisfied; this was probably the hardest fight in the competition, except for Rude perhaps.

"And the winner is… Cloud. Give him a big hand people, looks like he needs it! And now our third battle…"

Cloud slowly walked back to the gladiator's room where Jinn was waiting for him.

"Cloud… good one, you showed that Turks who's boss!"

Cloud grinned and sat down, "Yeah, but we haven't won this tournament yet."

Reno stumbled in, glared at Cloud and sat down next to Rude.

"… Reno?"

"Not now, Rude."

Rude nodded and waited for his turn to fight.

"Wow… this is great!" Ramuh pressed his face against the window and was looking at the world passing down him.

"Humph, this ain't nothin' compared to the Highwind!" Barret crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Now that was a way of travelling."

O'Brien sighed, "You're right about that one, my plane is just a bucket of bolds judged against the likes of the Highwind, but it gets the job done." He pointed at a spot in the ocean; "That's the place where WEAPON was last sighted."

A cold shiver went down Ramuh's spine; he'd heard stories about WEAPON and didn't want to face it ever. "…But it's gone now, is it?"

O'Brien shrugged; "Don't know kid, all we can do is hope it won't come back just yet."

"We've fought…oomph." Tifa kicked Barret against his leg, hushing him to be silent.

Ramuh looked outside when he suddenly shouted: "O no, its WEAPON!" He pointed at a large shadow underneath the ocean surface.

O'Brien laughed; "That's no WEAPON, it's just a whale!"

Barret thumped Ramuh; "Ya #@&^%*# moron, scarin' the hell outta me!"

Tifa chuckled and whispered; "I'm not scared of WEAPON, euh?"

Barret heard her and growled.

Vincent hadn't spoken the entire trip and stared out the window.

Ramuh noticed this and shouted; "Vincent, there's an enormous spider on you're arm!" Vincent didn't react and Ramuh bended over to shout him in the ear but before he got the chance to do so, Vincent turned and glared him in the eyes; "…I wouldn't do that…" Ramuh sat back down and, after one last look at Vincent; he stared at the world outside again.

Barret observed this all and grinned.

"Okay, my strident friends, we're almost at my end-destination; Gongaga. It shouldn't take you long to reach… what was it you where heading?"

"Back to wonderful Cosmo Canyon! Boy, I can't wait to see everybody again." Ramuh got excided by even talking about home.

"If you're going there, you should first take a load off at my place. 'Couse it's quite a walk from Gongaga to Cosmo."

After 15 minutes of flight, O'Brien landed his plane and leaded them to his house.

"What has happened here?" Tifa was surprised, the last time she was here with Cloud and the village was in ruins back then.

"That's a long story and I'm tired, but I'll tell you what, after we've eaten I'll fill you in on our towns history, okay?"

They agreed and where glad O'Brien brought up the subject of dinner; it has been a 4-hour flight and they were getting hungry.

"Lady's and gentlemen… it is time for the semi-finales!" The crowd cheered; they've had seen a couple of wonderful fights, and now there were four fighters left. "The first semi-finale is between 'Blazing' Jinn Katana and 'Howling-mad' Camron O'Reilly!" The warriors were welcomed with an ear-shattering round of applause.

"Listen bub, just 'couse we've become friends, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you." Camron bowed and took his fighting position.

"Whatever 'bub', like an musician once sang; 'let's dance!'" Jinn swept his leg over the ground, causing Camron to fall.

"Nice one… let's see how you like this!" Camron said whilst launching himself towards Jinn, giving him an uppercut immediately followed by a knee.

Jinn got hit full on his yaw and chest and stumbled backwards. He tried to hit his opponent but missed, causing him to lose his defense.

Camron made a back flip, kicking Jinn with his feet.

Jinn was off balance for a moment but recovered fast enough to storm towards Camron when he landed on the ground. Jinn punched him with his left arm twice followed by a punch of his right fist. He didn't want his opponent to recover just yet and gave him a series of kicks and punches.

Camron was an enormous man and could take a beating but these devastating blows could even bring a mountain down. He tried to block some hits but couldn't move fast enough to put an end to this onslaught.

Jinn saw his opponent couldn't take much more and finished the fight by placing one feet on his opponents knee, stepping over him and kicking him against the back of his head.

"And the winner is… 'Blazing' Jinn!"

Jinn got a standing ovation, waved at the spectators and left the arena, helping Camron walk.

"Good show, Jinn." Cloud patted him on the back and looked worried at Camron, "You okay?"

"…I'll live, looks like you're a hell of a lot stronger than you look!" Camron said whilst he congratulated Jinn.

"…Your turn Cloud!" Rude whacked Cloud against the head and headed for the arena.

"Damn… he's gonna pay for that!" Cloud ran towards the arena.

"And for our second semi-finale, 'Turks' Rude, and Cloud 'Blue eyes' Strife… and fight!"

"There he is, let's get him!" Kane was ready to storm Cloud but Valerius stopped him.

"Kane wait, did you see that other fighter just now?"

"Yes… but what does he got to do with our orders?"

"That was Jinn Katana, Ramuell Katana's son.'

"Yeah well, big woop-de-doe. So the kids still alive, so?"

"Didn't you see the glow in his eyes? I think the professors experiment had worked."

"So, lets grab the punk too!" Kane was getting tired of waiting and wanted some action himself.

"Wait! Let's see whom wins: Cloud or our profs experiment. It would be a great opportunity to see the experiment in combat."

Kane growled but agreed with Valerius for now.

"Let's sit down here. From this spot we can eat our dinner and watch the finals." O'Brien sat down and gestured the others to do the same.

"Alright, let's eat." Barret had an enormous plate of Gongaga-special standing in front of him.

Tifa looked around until something caught her eye; "Hey that's…" She jumped up and ran towards the ring.

"What the hell? Where's she goin'?"

Vincent gazed over the arena and saw where Tifa was heading. "…I think our quest ended before it got really started, there's Cloud."

"Wha!?" Barret jumped up and ran after Tifa.

"…You'll pay for what you did to Reno!"

"What do you mean?"

"You're pathetic…"

Rude slammed Cloud against the side of the arena and gave him a couple of knees.

Cloud pushed himself away from the wall and kicked Rude in the groin. He was about to punch him when something caught his ear, it sounded like Tifa!

Rude saw his chance and lifted Cloud from the ground, spun him around and threw him against the ground.

"Ouch, come on Cloud, kick his…" Tifa was cheering for Cloud.

"C'mon spiky, you can do better than that!" Barret stood next to Tifa, shouting even harder.

"…" Vincent was watching the fight from a distance.

Ramuh walked up to him and looked at the men fighting in the ring, "Whom are we cheering for? The one in black or the one with a chocobo on his head?"

"…For the one with a chocobo on his head."

"O okay… go chocoboy, go chocoboy! Erm… you got to hit you're opponent with you're fists, not try and break his hands with you're face!"

"Damn… I told you to get him when we had the chance, now his friend are here too!" Kane grabbed his axe and wanted to move towards the arena.

"Kane, not now!" Valerius grabbed Kane by the arm. "Wait a little longer."

"Yeah, and let them get fully armed before we move in? I don't think so! I let you have you're way for a while but now I'll do it my way!" Kane pulled his arm free and pushed Valerius away. "Now I'm gonna… the hell?"

The sound of their cell-phone caught his attention. "Aren't you gonna pick it up?"

"Are you going to wait a little longer?"

"Dammit Val, pick up that phone, I'm not in the mood for you're questions now!"

Valerius picked up the phone; his face turned pale. "Yes I understand, we're coming right away!"

"Whadda ya mean, coming right away? What about our assignment?"

"We have to drop it, the Citadel is under attack by WEAPON! And it seems someone is in control of it! We'll get Cloud later, let's go!" Valerius ran back to their helicopter.

Kane glared at Cloud one more time, mumbled: "Next time, spike. Next time." And followed Valerius.

Rude threw some dirt in Cloud's eyes, and punched him in his face. With a snap Cloud's nose broke and blood dripped on the dirt. "…Told you you'll pay!"

Cloud staggered backwards and fell on his knees. "Say you're prayers Rude, you're going down!" Cloud slowly stood up and unleashed his own variation on Tifa's 'My Final Heaven'.

"Hey… he learned that one from me!" Tifa said with a big smile on her face. "Never thought using him as my sparring partner would ever do him any good."

Barret grinned; he loved to watch Tifa and Cloud's sparring sessions, especially when Cloud got throw around the room. "Come on Tif, let's go see ol' spikey."

Vincent and Ramuh followed them to the gladiator's room.

"And the winner of the second semi-finals is Cloud 'blue eyes' Strife. And after a short recess we'll be back with our first ever championship fight in the 'Thanatos-tournament' and we'll find out whom will be the first one who can call himself 'Century Phoenix' so don't go away!"