Blades of Destiny

A Final Fantasy Crossover Fanfic by Brenton Braswell

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the series of the Final Fantasy series. They all belong to Squaresoft and are being used without permission. All original characters are copyrighted by the author and are not to be used by anybody without my permission. If somebody has a problem with that, all I could say is, tough luck.

I would like to give a special thanks to Selphie Leonhart for letting me use an idea from one of her stories. Also if you didn't beat FF7/ FF8, you might not want to read this story until you beat both of them. There are major spoilers in this story for those games.

Also, I would really like to give thanks to everyone who reviewed my story so far.

I would really like to thank Ginger Ninja for supplying me with places I could put Diaz's castle. You should check out her fics as well.

Also if you want to use any of my characters, please ask me first. My email address is bbraswell54@hotmail.com

Character's direct thoughts are in parentheses ( )

In the last chapter, Squall and the others went Esthar to meet with President Laguna Loire. Once they were there, they met Kiros and Ward. After all the introductions were done, the big party went to the presidential palace. Upon arriving there, they found out Laguna had went to Odine's Lab for some reason. They all traveled to the lab and found Laguna and Odine monitoring something. Instantly, the whole group felt that something was wrong at FH. Meanwhile on the railroad bridge not far from FH, Cloud was shocked to see that Tifa pushed him out of the way and took the attack for him. After Lensey and Hayato came over to take care of Tifa, Cloud faced Sephiroth once again. Cloud let all the anger; rage, pain, and suffering that he endured because of Sephiroth, and let it manifest itself. He unleashed his power in an explosion of anger against Sephiroth and made short work of him before he retreated. Being overconfident, Cloud faced Diaz. He soon realized that he couldn't defeat him. In a desperate move, Hayato locked Lensey's powers for a short time and teleported the three to Esthar. Wasting no time Cloud, Barret, Yuffie and Kiros took an unconscious Tifa to a hospital close by. Now being able to do nothing, Lensey stood by helpless as Hayato fought Diaz. In a noble move, Hayato sacrificed himself to give Lensey and everybody else a few days to become stronger, find out the location of Diaz's castle from Oriana, and get an army strong enough for the final battle. Having her power return to her, Lensey went to the battlefield retrieved Hayato's Katana and went to Winhill to think. Upon arrival there, she met an old woman named Rosa. Inviting Lensey into her house to talk, she restored Lensey's confidence and gave her another reason to fight. Elsewhere in Esthar hospital, Tifa was in a coma and this distresses all of her friends. That night, the planet came to Tifa in her mind and questions her reasons of fighting. Having pleased the planet with her answers, she had one more test to take before she would receive its help. She had to fight a fake Zangan. Upon defeating him, she got the planet's blessing and assistance and was able to get out of the coma she was in. This pleased Cloud, Barret, Yuffie and Quistis. Deciding they all were tired, they all went to the Presidential Palace and decided to give everybody the good news in the morning. Having her confidence restored, Lensey promised Rosa that she would get rid of the evil and visit her granddaughter and her when all of this was over. She teleported back to Esthar with renewed confidence. That's where the last chapter stopped. Well, here's chapter 10 of "Blades of Destiny"

(I'm truly sorry I didn't update this sooner. I was really busy and didn't have anytime to work on this when I was halfway through. Please forgive me. Also, when you read most of the fight scenes, listen, or imagine your listening to some really cool music. What did it for me was listening to the music from the Cell Saga from DBZ that's showing on Cartoon Network.)

Chapter 10: The Alliance, Training, and the Legendary GF

Sephiroth had woken up feeling a slight pain from his battle. (Strife, our next meeting will be our last.) He then looked around to see that Ultimecia was by his bedside watching over him sitting in a chair. "What a beautiful sight to wake up to," said Sephiroth. "Have you been here all night?"

Ultimecia smiled at Sephiroth. "Yes," Ultimecia said. "I was worried that you would die from the wounds that you got from your battle, my love."

"Well, there's no need to worry now," said Sephiroth. "Do you know what happened after I left the battle?"

"Yes, Diaz told us," said Ultimecia. "After you left the battle, Strife tried to take on Diaz. He failed miserably. Diaz was about to finish him off when Hayato teleported Strife, Lockheart, Oriana and Kusanagi away. Hayato then took on Diaz. In a desperate move, Hayato sacrificed himself, greatly injuring Diaz. He was in real bad shape when he came here. Krelnar and Maximus told me his wounds were real bad and it will probably take him a few days to recover."

At hearing that news, Sephiroth was a little surprised but didn't show it. (Good thing Diaz didn't finish off Strife. That's a pleasure that I want to reserve for myself.) Sephiroth looked at his body to see his wounds were dressed. He didn't move that much because of the pain. "Are you going now?"

"No," said Ultimecia. "I'll stay with you as long as you like." She said while smiling.

"That's good," Sephiroth replied. Ultimecia then knelt down and locked Sephiroth in a passionate kiss.

Elsewhere in the castle, Diaz had woken up in a great amount of pain. He saw that there were a few servant girls along with Krelnar in his room. One of the girls wet a rag, squeezed most of the water out of it and placed it on his forehead. "Are you okay my lord?" Said Krelnar.

"Yes," Diaz said weakly. "Damn that fool, Hayato."

"What move should we take now Master Diaz?" Krelnar questioned.

"Send the scouts out and monitor the moves of Balamb Garden, Deling City and Esthar City," said Diaz. "I want to know what they are planning to do. I know they are planning to make a temporary alliance and unite against me. I want you to find out where they are meeting and send a few assassins to disrupt it."

"Yes my lord," Krelnar answered.

"We'll try to stop them from uniting," Diaz said. "Never in all of my life had I seen a world unite forces against me. This is the first time that I've been injured like this. If it weren't for unforeseen factors like Lensey Kusanagi and Hayato, I would have taken over this world by now. Krelnar, get a few more troops from off of Artuna. I'm sure they will find out the location of this castle from Oriana soon, and I don't want this castle to be overwhelmed with as little manpower that is left after the attacks on Timber and Trabia Garden. That is all."

Krelnar nodded and left the room. A servant girl came in later with his breakfast and started feeding it too him because he was too weak to feed it to himself. While he ate, he thought about a few things. (I should have never let Kusanagi unlock the powers of those people from Avalanche and SeeD. I was a fool to think that they wouldn't be that much of a challenge. Get stronger and come to my castle. Once I take care of Lensey Kusanagi, all of the attack force that will attack my castle will die. I'll have to keep a close eye on Naomi too. Blood is thicker than water. She may betray me and join her sister in fighting me. I can't be having that.) After he was finished with these thoughts, he concentrated on eating. He knew when he was better again he would be stronger. Diaz ate with knowing that comforting thought.

After teleporting from Winhill to Esthar, Lensey noticed that the sun was just rising. (I guess Esthar must be a few hours behind Winhill.) Lensey noticed there was hardly anybody out and that she wasn't that far from the presidential palace.

So she began her short walk to Esthar. She took her time and marveled at the beauty of the city. The previous day, she had been too grief-stricken to notice the scenery. She walked and just saw couple of people out and one jogger. When she finally got to the gate, she saw a few guards. She stopped just a few feet away from them.

"I'm sorry, no one can go into the palace at this time," said one of the guards in full body armor.

"I should be on the list of people that has clearance into the palace no matter what time," said Lensey. The soldiers exchanged glances. "My name is Lensey Kusanagi."

"Let me call in and check," said the other guard. He then walked a few feet away and talked into his radio. After about two minutes, the guard came back. "You've been given special clearance by President Loire," he said.

"Thank you," said Lensey while smiling and nodding.

As Lensey was walking to the platform that took her into the palace, one of the guards stopped her. "Do you know why the security around here has been increased?"

"Sure I do," Lensey replied. Lensey decided to give a short summary about what's happening in the world. "There's an evil that is threatening this world as we speak. This evil has sent assassins to Galbaldia and tried to assassinate General Caraway and some of the top officials there. A couple of Balamb Garden SeeDs and myself stopped it. Security has been tightened because we don't want what happened in Deling City to happen here. Does that answer your question?" Both of the soldiers nodded. She didn't see the expressions of the soldiers because of the helmets but she didn't have too. Lensey already knew they probably had confused or doubtful looks. That would be a hard story to swallow but they'll get the full story when they decided to go public with what is happening in the world. I know people are probably wondering what is going on now but they'll have to wait. (We don't want to cause any kind of panic just yet. I really hope the news doesn't cause any type of panic to the world's population.)

She finally sat on the platform that took her into the palace. It energized and carried her up. Once it stopped, Lensey got off and saw a few people around at this time. An attendant who had seen to them yesterday just walked around the corner. "Miss Kusanagi! You're back!" Said the man loudly. "Are you okay now?"

"Yes," said Lensey. "I'm fine now. I just needed some time to straighten out things and get my priorities straight." She then looked around. "Is this everybody who's up at the time?"

"No, Mr. Strife and his friends woke early and immediately departed to the hospital," said the man. "It seems as though Ms. Lockheart has woken up." That was really some good news to hear. "Also, the President Loire, Headmaster Cid, Commander Leonhart and Ellone are in the president's office right now discussing some things. It seems as though everyone else is still asleep."

Nodding, Lensey said, "Thanks. Can you show me to their rooms?"

"It would be my pleasure," said the attendant. Lensey then followed the attendant through a couple of corridors. They stopped in front of a couple of doors. "These are their rooms, is there anything else that you need?"

"No, but thank you. You've been a lot of help," said Lensey. The man walked away after that. Lensey decided to wait outside in the hall. She wanted to apologize to them when they first woke up. She knew disappearing on them last night wasn't cool, and she hoped they wouldn't be too mad. She just leaned against the wall while holding Hayato's Katana in her left hand.

Meanwhile in President's Loire's office, Cid, Squall, Laguna, and Ellone discussed the situation about the alliance between SeeD, Esthar, and Galbaldia.

"Are you sure Galbaldia will want to have this alliance?" Asked Laguna.

"I'm sure they will," said Squall coolly. "After what happened yesterday, they wouldn't have it any other way."

"Squall's right," said the Headmaster. "They all know the danger that we're facing, and should know that if we don't have this temporary alliance, this world is doomed." Everyone in the room knew of the animosity between Galbaldia and Esthar. Up until more than six months ago, the Galbaldian nation has been the strongest nation in the world. With the emergence of Esthar again after about seventeen years of silence, Galbaldia has competition. Being far more advanced and having long-range missiles would make Esthar one of the strongest countries in the world. But in guidance of President Laguna Loire, such ambitions such as world domination or supremacy has never crossed the minds of the people of Esthar. Now it was a matter of swallowing their pride and doing something that you would not do under normal circumstances.

"The council and you agree with meeting with Galbaldia, right?" Said Ellone to Laguna. "I wonder where the meeting for this alliance will take place? I'm sure neither Esthar, or Galbaldia governments would want to go to each other's nation and sign the agreement. We need neutral ground that is neither in either's territory. I wonder where it would be?" Now this was really something no one in the room had thought about.

Laguna then voiced his opinion, "How about having it in Fisherman's Horizon? It's not part of either of our nations territories, and I'm sure Mayor Dobe and the people of FH wouldn't mind too much."

"Are you sure?" Questioned Squall. "I'm not sure that the residents of FH would be too happy about having the Galbaldia military there again. You have to remember about over six months ago when the Galbaldian military invaded FH looking for Ellone and threatened to torch the city. I'm really sure Mayor Dobe won't forget that day."

(Now Squall does have a point there.) Pondered Laguna. "Well, there's no telling what'll happen if we don't try, right?"

"He's right Squall," said Cid. "I think they'll agree as long as there isn't any violence." Squall just nodded and decided not to say anything else about it. "I wonder is Lensey back yet?"

"Yeah, she's back," said Squall. "I felt her when she teleported into the city. This sensing thing is getting more easier now, it's almost like a reflex now."

"That's good," said Cid. "I'll go find her and see if she's alright." Cid turned around and walked out of the room.

Now Squall noticed what Cid was doing, but he didn't stop him nor did he make a move to leave. (I guess this would have to happen sometime.)

"I'll just be leaving," said Ellone.

"No stay here Ellone," said Laguna. Ellone stayed in the room by Laguna's side. "I guess you already know what I'm about to say." Laguna said to Squall.

"Yeah, I do," said Squall with a look of indifference on his face. He turned toward Ellone and asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this when we were in the orphanage Ellone?"

"I didn't want you thinking that your father didn't care about you," said Ellone. "I didn't want to add unto your sadness Squall."

"Well, it didn't work," said Squall.

"I'm sorry Squall," said Laguna. "If I had known about you earlier, I would have come and got you from the Kramer's orphanage. I'm just finding out about you myself from Ellone about over six months ago."

"Do you know how it feels to think that no one loves you, you're an orphan, and have no family," said Squall. "Then all of a sudden out of the blue, I have a father that I'm just meeting. Also, to find out the way I did." Squall explained while looking at Laguna and Ellone's sad expressions. "It feels terrible."

"I'm truly sorry Squall," said Laguna with sympathy in his voice. "If I had known your mother, Raine was pregnant, I would have went back to Winhill with Ellone."

"Save it," said Squall with anger in his voice. His expression of anger then turned back into his normal look. "I'm sorry if I being harsh, but you've got to realize the situation you put me in."

"I'm sorry a thousand times if that would make you feel better," said Laguna. "I'm sorry son."

"You're going to have to earn the right to call me that," said Squall. "Don't expect me to call you father or dad anytime soon. I'm sorry, but right now, I'm under more pressure than you can imagine. We'll talk about this more when all of this is over." Squall then walked out of the room.

"That didn't go as I expected it Ellone," said Laguna. "I thought he would be glad to know I'm his father."

"Well Uncle Laguna, you probably have to give him time," said Ellone. "I can just realize the pressure that he's going through trying to fight an evil threatening this world, and forming an alliance between two nations." (Author's note: That is how I think Squall would react to Laguna's little talk.)

Cid had been walking the hallways wondering where Lensey could be. He found her started walking toward her. Lensey just noticed him and started walking toward him. "Good morning Lensey!"

"Good morning Headmaster Cid," said Lensey. Just then, they both heard one of the doors open behind Lensey.

Out walked Selphie in some pink pajamas. "Hey, what's all the racket out here?" Asked Selphie while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Once she was finished, she noticed Lensey and she ran real fast toward her. "Booyaka! You've come back Lensey!" Selphie yelled while jumping into Lensey's arms hugging her. Lensey was unprepared for the sudden weight thrown against her and both she and Selphie fell to the ground.

"Hey, what's all the noise out here?" Questioned Zell while coming out of his room. He noticed Lensey and walked over to help her and Selphie up. Rinoa also came out of her room and Squall walked around the corner.

When all of them settled down, Lensey decided to give her apology. "I'm sorry that I ran off and disappeared last night. I just needed to clear my head and reassure myself that I'm fighting for more than just myself."

"That's okay Lensey," said Rinoa. "I'm sure any one of us would do the same thing if we were in your place. I'm sure nobody blames you, right?"

Everybody nodded. "Well, thanks guys," Lensey said while smiling. "Have you heard the news that Tifa's out of her coma yet?"

"She is?" Said Zell. "That's wonderful!"

"I have a question?" Asked Lensey. "Did any of you get Oriana to tell you where Diaz's castle was at?"

"No Lensey," said Cid. "I thought she was going to talk when Vincent bluffed about shooting her if she didn't, but she saw right through it. Do you think you'll have a better chance?"

"I sure Lensey would do it," said Zell. "She has a certain way with words that could convince anybody."

"Just show me where she's at and I'll get her to talk," assured Lensey. "Before we do that, I think getting dressed and getting something to eat would be good." She said that while gesturing to Rinoa, Zell, and Selphie who were still in their nightclothes.

After about an hour, Lensey and the group had washed up and gotten some breakfast. They were now being escorted to the holding cell that Oriana was being held in. Once they got there they saw that Oriana still had her handcuffs on. She was in a cell that had a forcefield that you could see through and didn't prevent sound from going in or out of the cell. (Those must be some strong and special handcuffs if she couldn't break out of them.) Lensey thought. The woman with black hair in a ponytail, blue tank top, black pants with combat boots on just noticed she had visitors and turned toward them. "So you've finally come Lensey," said Oriana. "Don't think that you'll have any more luck than the others who tried to get me to talk."

"Is that so?" Asked Lensey. Oriana just nodded. "You probably have to realize that Diaz has marked you for death."

"You're lying!" Yelled Oriana. "He would never do that. He'll send somebody to come rescue me."

"Are you sure?" Questioned Lensey. "Have you seen anytime that Diaz has rescued any of his soldiers once they were captured." Oriana looked down to think. She looked back up and shook her head. "What makes you think that you are any different from those soldiers?"

"Because I'm one of his elite six warriors. He trained me personally," answered Oriana.

"Well, I've got some news for you," said Lensey. "You're probably expendable to him. I think he sees you as weak for being defeated by Tifa."

"That may be so, but he can't find a person to replace me that easily", retorted Oriana.

"Then tell me how you came to be in Diaz's service," Lensey said. "Surely you don't want to be Diaz's slave forever."

Oriana looked shocked by the last thing that Lensey said. She then looked down and said, "Slave, that's something no one has called me in a long time." Oriana paused for about a minute. Zell looked ready to say something but Lensey quickly stopped him. "You can probably say that I've been a slave my whole life," Oriana continued. "When I was a teenager working for a wealthy lord, I was raped so bad by him and some of his men, I lost the ability to have children. As the years went by, I found myself losing hope and the will to live. My life changed when Diaz took over my world. Some of Diaz's troops captured me when they were raiding the castle I worked in. I was taken to Diaz's stronghold on that world and made a servant. It was way more better then my previous predicament." Oriana paused and took a deep breath. "After about a week, one of Diaz's soldiers tried to rape me, but another soldier that worked for Diaz by the name of Nicholas saved me and I was made his personal servant. Nicholas took a liking to me and secretly taught me martial arts. As time went by, I learned a lot. After about three months, the same soldier tried to rape me, but I showed him a thing or two. The other soldiers accompanying him caught me off guard and were about to kill me when Diaz intervened. He made me tell him who taught me those skills and put the soldier in the prison. A day later, Diaz came up with an idea that if I fight the soldier that tried to rape me in a hand-to-hand fight, Nicholas would be set free. I easily defeated and killed the soldier and Nicholas was set free. Diaz then approached me and asked me to become one of his elite warriors, he promised me that he would teach me personally and I wouldn't be a slave again. I instantly accepted his offer and from that day over three years ago, I've been one of Diaz's elite soldiers."

Now this was really something Lensey and the others didn't expect to hear. "So that's how you came to be one of Diaz's elite warriors," said Lensey. "Diaz probably will get another soldier or servant and train them to your level of skill. I surprised Diaz didn't send any assassins to kill you yet. I'm sure he will in a few days though. Why don't you tell us the location of Diaz's castle?"

"I can't," Oriana said looking up. "I can't betray the man who made my life better."

"Are you sure he made it better?" Asked Lensey. "Don't you question why you have to kill for Diaz sometimes." Oriana nodded. "Why don't you just tell us? I'm sure he'll try to kill you personally if we don't take him out soon. Search your heart Oriana, you know what you did when you was in Diaz's service was wrong. Just tell us and some of what you have done will be forgiven."

"Alright, I'll tell you," Oriana finally said. "It's in Centra, I'll have to be given a map to show you exactly where it is." One of the guards who escorted Lensey and the others down to the cell immediately ran to get a pencil and a map of the world. In a few minutes, he came back and handed the map to Lensey.

"Let me get into the cell and uncuff her," said Lensey. "I'm sure she wouldn't try anything with this many people around and not having her broadsword." The soldier's looked at each other for a few seconds, but did as Lensey said. They took down the shield and accompanied Lensey into the cell. The uncuffed Oriana and let Lensey give the map and pencil to Oriana. Both sat down on the cot of her cell. "Okay, show me where it is."

Oriana then circled a small island with a lot of ocean inlets. "I can't believe I'm betraying the one who made my life better than what it was," Oriana said sadly. She then handed the map to Lensey. Lensey looked at it for a few seconds before handing it to Squall.

"Wait, I remember this place," Squall said while making a realization. "This is close to the inlet where we found the white SeeD ship. I remember it took Nida and me some time before finally finding that ship. Also, if I remember it right, the island is not that small, and had small beach. We could probably land a few battle cruisers on it."

"That's good," said Cid. "We should see if we could get an satellite photo of the outside of Diaz's castle."

"That's going to be a little problem there," Lensey spoke. "Diaz has cast some magic which makes his castle invisible to the human eye and invisible to our sensing technique. Just imagine if we go there now, they could probably take out the army we take with long-range cannons and guns. We'll probably have to wait until Diaz finally lifts the magic and invites us to the castle."

"That could be a problem," said Cid. "Well, let's take this somewhere and have it entered in a computer for later purposes." Cid, Squall, and Rinoa walked upstairs.

Lensey then turned her attention back to Oriana. She saw that Oriana was looking toward the ground and she saw that a tear escaped her eye. "Now that I've told you what you want, you're going to kill me."

Lensey put an arm around Oriana's shoulders. "We're not going to do that Oriana," said Lensey. "We don't kill senselessly. You may think your life may be over now that you don't have a goal in life, but why don't you join us and fight for this world."

"What!" Yelled Selphie. "You can't be serious, she was one of the people who lead the attack on Trabia Garden. She has to pay for that!"

"I guess I should expect that kind of reaction," Oriana said sadly.

"No Selphie," Lensey immediately said. "We're not like Diaz, we don't kill just for the hell of it or revenge. We can't lower ourselves to his level."

As much as Selphie wanted to disagree, she had to admit that Lensey did have a point. "Then just stay the hell away from me Oriana!" Selphie yelled while going the way that Headmaster Cid and the others went.

"So what do you say Oriana?" Lensey asked.

Oriana looked up at Lensey smiling, "I'll join you. I'll do anything I can to redeem myself of all of the crimes and atrocities that I've committed." Lensey then hugged Oriana.

When they let go, they were about to get out of the cell when one of the guards stopped them. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to run that by President Loire before we let her go."

"Fine then, I'll do that," said Lensey while walking out of the cell. The shield was immediately put back up. "Don't worry this shouldn't take too long."

One of the soldiers then escorted Lensey to a video intercom system. Lensey was able to talk to Laguna about Oriana and he agreed to let her go. She then retrieved Oriana's belt that had her broadsword hooked onto it. They went back to the cell and the guard lowered the shield. "Well Oriana, it seems that you're free and welcome to the team," said Lensey while handing Oriana her belt with her broadsword sheathed.

"Thank you for understanding me Lensey," said Oriana. "I'm sorry for all that I've done," She said toward Zell.

"That's okay, the name's Zell," said Zell while rubbing his hand on his pants and extending it toward Oriana. Oriana gratefully shook his hand and followed Lensey, Zell, and the soldiers' upstairs. Things really looked like they were finally going good. (I sure hope that young woman can forgive me. I'm really sorry for what I've done and I want to make it up to her.) Thought Oriana while walking through the palace. Things truly were getting better for the good guys. Now the only thing left to do is make the alliance and train to get stronger for the upcoming battle against Diaz.

In Esthar hospital, Cloud and the rest of Avalanche along with Quistis and Lisa went to visit Tifa.

"And that's what Cloud told me about what happened," said Barret to Tifa who was in the bed looking fine.

"He did that?" Asked Tifa. She then got close to Cloud and hugged him saying, "My hero!" Cloud just blushed and smiled.

"You know, at first that looked cute, but now that's getting annoying," commented Yuffie.

"Awww… Does Yuffie Wuffie want a hug too?" Asked Cloud in a playful tone while going up beside Yuffie.

"No! Get away from me!" Yuffie yelled while pushing Cloud back toward the bed. Cloud had really gotten on her nerves this time and she knew it. Cloud just grinned when he sat up.

"Anyway, I can't believe Cloud would react that way and unleash his power upon Sephiroth," said Tifa. "Did I miss anything while I was in the coma?"

"Nah, nothing happened but Lensey did disappear for the night," said Kiros. "I called this morning and she's back."

Just then a nurse walked in and whispered something in Kiros's ear. "If you'll all excuse me, I'll have to go take this call, it seems as though Laguna has some news." He then walked out of the room and walked to the phone that the nurse escorted him to. "Kiros here."

"Hey Kiros, I've got some really good news. It seems that Galbaldia has agreed to meet with us. The meeting will be later today at Fisherman's Horizon," said Laguna.

"That's great," Kiros replied.

"That's not all," Laguna continued. "Lensey talked to Oriana and found out the location of Diaz's castle. The location is somewhere in Centra even though I didn't see the map, that's what Squall and Cid, told me. One more thing, it seems as though Oriana is on our side now."

"Are you sure Laguna?" Asked Kiros.

"Yes, I'm sure," answered Laguna. "She's standing here right now, Lensey assured me that Oriana is on our side now."

"That's good to know," replied Kiros. "Well, let me go tell everybody about the good news." Kiros then hung up the phone and went back to Tifa's room. He then told everyone the good news and the unexpected news.

After explaining all that Laguna told Kiros, the doctor walked in. "How is our patient doing?" The doctor asked Tifa.

"I'm doing fine doctor!" Exclaimed Tifa happily. "With your permission, I'd like to leave the hospital today."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Questioned the doctor.

"Of course," replied Tifa.

"Well, if all of you can excuse me, I'd like to check Tifa to see that she's fully recovered," said the doctor. "It's not everyday that we get a patient that goes into a coma, and comes out of it in just one day."

Everybody just left the room and waited in the waiting room for the doctor to come back with some good news. The doctor then came back in a few minutes. "Well, it seems as though Ms. Lockheart has made a miraculous recovery," the doctor addressed the group. "Right now, she's being helped getting dressed by the nurse. If you'll all wait by the entrance, we'll bring her to you."

"Thanks doctor," said Kiros. "And don't worry about the bill, President Loire and the council will take care of it later." With that said and done, the group went to the entrance and waited for Tifa for a few minutes.

They spotted her being pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse toward them. When they finally got to them, Tifa got out of the chair and thanked the nurse.

"So what's the plan now Kiros?" Asked Tifa.

"We're to go to airstation and board the Ragnarok," said Kiros. "The others are already there waiting for us. From there we'll go to Fisherman's Horizon to meet with General Caraway and some Galbaldian officials. They'll be getting a ride in Balamb Garden to get to FH."

"Well, let's move out," said Tifa. This got a raised eyebrow from Cloud. "Hey, I always wanted to say that."

They then took the cars to Airstation and took the Ragnarok to Fisherman's Horizon.

After a few hours, Balamb Garden finally got to Fisherman's Horizon. It only took a few minutes for the General Caraway, the Galbaldian officials accompanied by some soldiers, Irvine and Dan to walk to mayor Dobe's house in the middle of FH. Waiting for them at the bottom with a table set out was Headmaster Cid, Laguna, Kiros, Ward, Squall, Lensey, and some Esthar soldiers and some of the council members of Esthar's government.

"It's nice to meet you again Miss Kusanagi," said General Caraway.

"As it is you, General Caraway," said Lensey. She walked away a few feet from the table. She then took a headset radio from her belt, put it on and talked into it. "Okay, General Caraway and the Galbaldian officials are here." She then noticed some reporters with cameras and microphones following the group. "What are they doing here?" Lensey asked toward Irvine.

"Mr. Knoxville here insisted that they accompany us to mark this momentous occasion in history," Irvine replied.

"Yeah, whatever," Lensey replied. "Have anybody spotted anything out of the ordinary yet," Lensey talked into the headset.

"Nothing yet Lensey," said Red.

"No, it's all clear here," Vincent, radioed.

"All clear in this sector," said Xu.

"I can't sense nothing here Lensey," said Cloud. "Are you sure Diaz will try to send assassins here?" Cloud relayed in his headset to Lensey.

"Yes," said Lensey. "There's no doubt that Diaz doesn't want this to happen. Keep your senses sharp, if I know Diaz, he won't send some people who would give off that much of a power signature to our senses." She then got a series of Okays and rights all at one time. (Let's just hope we can catch any assassins in time before they are able to take out any of the people here. The tension between these two countries is so thick you can cut it with a butter knife. I can just see it now, 'Galbaldian and Esthar government gunned down by assassins'. Let this go off without that much disturbance.) Lensey silently prayed as she watched the people there talk.

She then looked around the area above the glass. She knew if she looked close enough, she could probably catch the sun glimpsing off the barrel of a sniper rifle. She looked around for five minutes now and she didn't see or sense any thing out of the ordinary. She was turning back to the meeting when she caught a little flash out of the corner of her left eye. She then quickly rushed over to the table and quickly put a blue energy shield around the big group of people, a second after she did that some shots were fired. They bounced harmlessly off the shield. After they stopped, Lensey kept up the shield just in case the sniper reloaded and started shooting again. The people in the shield was visibly shaken and jumped to the ground fast.

"Vincent, I think the sniper is in your area! Take him out quick!" Lensey yelled into her headset.

"Right! I'm on it!" Vincent replied quickly. She then heard some gunshots.

Vincent immediately spotted the sniper and fired upon him. The sniper was way ahead of Vincent and took cover when the shots were fired. Before the sniper took cover, Vincent noticed the sniper was in a green jacket with white pants and brown shoes. (Sneaky bastard, blending in with the locals.) Vincent took cover too when the sniper peeked out of his hiding place and returned fire. After the shots were fired, Vincent jumped up quickly and let loose a barrage of lead at the sniper. The sniper quickly went back behind his cover.

Now this is what Vincent hasn't done in a long time. Having a gunfight like this and foiling assassination attempts. It was like he was reliving his days as a Turk. (It's time to end this now.) With great agility, Vincent jumped high up into the air and fired down upon the sniper nailing him from over his cover. When he landed on the ground, Vincent ran over to the sniper and saw that he got a couple of clean shots in the sniper's chest. "All clear here Lensey," Vincent said in an emotionless tone.

"Good," replied Lensey. "Don't let your guard down yet, Diaz could have sent more than one here." She then let down her energy shield over the little group. She then heard a few more shots up above somewhere different this time. (It must be Barret taking care of a few more snipers.) After a half a minute, the shooting stopped.

"All clear over here Lensey," Barret talked into his headset. "The bastard almost nailed you when you let down that shield."

"Thanks for the assist," said the young woman in red and white. She then turned to everybody getting up off the ground. "Is everybody all right?" She got a few nods from the group.

She then saw a cameraman opening his camera up and taking out a nine-millimeter gun and pointing it a President Loire. (I'm not close enough!) Fortunately Dan also saw this and unsheathed his katana and slashed the man in the arm, making him drop the gun. In his return swing, the man jumped back and avoided it.

"It seems as though I've failed, but I'll die a hero in Diaz's book!" The man then took out a grenade and was pulling the pin.

Lensey saw this quickly flared up and ran quickly over to him. He pulled the pin. When she was close enough, she kicked him with a hard thrusting sidekick to the chest that sent him flying in the air and away from the group. Still holding the grenade, the man exploded away from the group. There was a bright flash and lots of smoke. Everyone shielded his or her eyes and looked away. Wiping sweat from her head, Lensey said, "That should be the last of them."

When she looked at everybody, she saw that a few people where still in shock and trying to get over almost getting killed. The time that followed was that of Headmaster Cid, President Loire, Squall Leonhart, General Caraway, and the others officials from Galbaldia and Esthar signing the agreement. They then talked about how they were going to organize the forces and attack Diaz's Castle. One of the Galbaldian officials suggested that Esthar fire their long-range missles at the location of the castle. Squall immediately stepped in and said Galbaldia Garden and its residents were still at the castle. They scrapped that notion.

Some of the reporters got bored and went over and asked Lensey a few questions. "Excuse me miss, you seem to have a lot of authority here. May we ask who you are and are you a high ranking SeeD?" A female reporter asked Lensey.

Lensey then looked over to Cid. "I guess it's okay to tell them what's going on," Cid told Lensey. "We can't keep them in the dark forever about all of this."

Lensey then sighed. "You know, I'm really getting tired of telling this," Lensey said to Headmaster Cid annoyed. She then calmed down and turned toward the reporters. "My name is Lensey Kusanagi and I'm not a high ranking SeeD. As you already know, a man named Diaz Marquis controls the army that devastated Timber, attacked Trabia Garden and took over Galbaldia Garden. Now he's trying to get rid of all resistance this world to rule and dominate it."

"I find this a little hard to believe miss Kusanagi," said a male reporter.

"I don't see why, you've all been through time compression and the second sorceress war, what's so hard to believe about this?" Lensey asked.

"She does have a point there," said another reporter. The rest nodded and murmured among themselves for a few seconds.

"Does this Diaz Marquis and his whole army have powers similar to yours Miss Kusanagi?" asked the same female reporter.

"No," Lensey answered. "Just Diaz and seven other individuals." Lensey stated. "Don't worry though, we have enough people with powers close to mine. They'll help me and this world."

"Excuse me, can you tell us the names of these people miss Kusanagi?" Asked another reporter.

"I'm sorry, I can't," said Lensey. "You'll find out who all of these people are after this conflict is over. That's all that I can tell you for right now." Upon hearing this, this really got the reporters asking questions almost all at one time. Lensey chose to ignore them and turned back to the meeting.

She saw that General Caraway, and the Galbaldian officials shaking hands with Laguna and the Esthar officials. They agreed to make a base camp in the desert close to the shore by the drill prison. The reason for this is so they wouldn't be that far from the Centra continent when Diaz finally let up his magic. After dropping off some Balamb Garden SeeDs and Galbaldian Garden SeeDs and cadets, Balamb Garden was to head to Trabia Garden and get any available SeeDs that Trabia could spare. During that time, Esthar and Galbaldia will get as many attack vessels as they can for the attack. During all of that time, Lensey, Avalanche, and the SeeD members whose power was unlocked will be training to get stronger. They would have to wait until tomorrow because they would have to take Laguna and the other officials back to Esthar while Balamb Garden takes General Caraway and the officials that accompanied him back to Deling City. By the time they're finished with that, it would be night and everybody would be too exhausted to train. There was some time to get in a little training today, but not as much as Lensey would have liked to have had.

After all the handshaking was done, the people went to the vehicles that would travel and take its passengers back to their homes. Lensey, Cloud, Tifa, Squall, Rinoa, Oriana, Zell, Quistis and Xu chose to go back to Balamb Garden, while the others went to escort Laguna and the Esthar officials' home in the Ragnarok.

Once everybody was in Balamb Garden, it cast off toward Deling City. Zell, Oriana, Quistis, and Tifa said they were going try a little training in the second floor gym. Cloud was going to accompany them when Lensey asked Cloud to accompany her to the quad. Cloud agreed and in a few minutes they were there and noticed just three people. (This should be enough privacy that we're going to get here.) Lensey thought. "Cloud, I'd like to talk to you about that battle on the railroad bridge by FH."

Cloud knew Lensey was going to talk about this sometime, he guessed now would be the perfect time. "Let me guess," said Cloud. "That was very foolish trying to defeat Diaz by myself. And I'm lucky to come out of the fight alive, right?"

Lensey raised an eyebrow for a second and put it down, "I wasn't going to say anything, but since you brought it up, but you're right, that was stupid. Next time don't try to go for it alone." Lensey then sat down by the newly constructed stage and Cloud sat beside her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and enjoyed the cool sea breeze against her skin. When she opened her eyes, she directed her line of sight toward Cloud. "What I wanted to talk about was how you controlled your power so much, and how you exploded against Sephiroth. I'm impressed, how did you do that?"

"Well, I remembered what you said about using rage to further the power-up technique," Cloud answered. "I guess I had a lot of pinned up rage toward Sephiroth, and after seeing Tifa on the ground unconscious after Sephiroth's attack, something inside of me snapped." Cloud looked down and sighed. "It felt like a floodgate was opened, I was scared that I would lose control and go crazy, but I didn't."

"Well, that's the first time I've seen somebody whose power I've unlocked show that tremendous amount of power and control," Lensey commented. Cloud looked up. "I thought only Hayato, Diaz, and myself achieve that type of thing. I guess I was wrong."

Cloud smiled, "Yeah, well, sometimes I amaze myself."

"Yeah," said Lensey. "When we go attack Diaz's castle, you're going to be one of the people that goes with me when we fight Diaz." Now Cloud eyebrows rose in surprise. "Don't be surprised, there's going to be one more person that goes with us. I would say we probably have three or four days to train before Diaz gets better and stronger. During that time, all of us are going to get stronger and I'll decide who will go with us. It's going to be a hard choice, but so far, I've narrowed down the field to a few people."

"You have?" Asked Cloud. "Are you going to give me a clue?"

"Nope," answered Lensey. "You'll know when the time comes. I don't want you to clue anyone to what I'm doing. I know some of these people would not back down to fight Diaz, but I don't want anyone to be reckless when fighting him. Let's just keep this between us okay?" She then stuck out her pinky as if to shake.

(Of all the things to do, I would have never thought Lensey knew about pinky shakes.) Cloud thought. Cloud put out his pinky finger and hooked around Lensey's. "Okay, I'll do that," replied Cloud. They pinky shook and got up. "Well, I guess I'll go find Squall or Seifer and see if they'll train with me."

"Sure, you can do that or just train with me, and they'll train with each other and vice versa. Later, I'll have approach Seifer about unlocking his power. I know we have enough people, but one more wouldn't hurt. Well, you do that, I'll meet you up there, I have to ask Cid to put Hayato's Katana in a safe place until all of this is over." Lensey then walked out of the quad along with Cloud and went to the elevator.

Meanwhile in the gym, Quistis just loaned Tifa some of her workout clothes and waiting for her to come out of the female's locker room. Quistis was in an orange tank top that went over her stomach, black shorts and white gym shoes. Tifa then came out of the locker room. She was wearing a blue sweatshirt with black shorts and black gym shoes without her Premium Heart fighting gloves on. She didn't think she would need those for right now. "Why don't we work on the punching bag for a while?" Asked Quistis.

"Why not, I haven't done that in a while," said Tifa. Tifa then got behind the bag and held while Quistis put on some red boxing gloves on. (I guess we have to wear those in here so as not to injure our hands.) Thought Tifa. "You ready?" Quistis nodded.

"Yeah," she replied. She then started to throw punches and combinations at the bag. Tifa had to admit, even though Quistis uses a whip, she could be a good martial artist with her skill.

After about five minutes of punching the bag, Quistis was slowing down a bit and her punches were getting weaker. "You look tired, let's switch places," Tifa commented. Quistis then stopped punching the bag and nodded her head. She took off the gloves and gave them to Tifa and held the bag. When Tifa was ready she said, "Now let's get down to business." Tifa then started punching the bag furiously and with control and power.

Quistis immediately noticed the power that was put behind those punches. (I hope she doesn't tear down this punching bag like Zell does to almost all the time.) Tifa punched with hard combinations, jabs, hooks and it didn't look like she was slowing down anytime soon. After about seven or eight minutes of punching the bag, Quistis noticed that all eyes were on Tifa, and the people that looked on with awe. After another minute, Tifa was finished and was sweating heavily. "That was excellent Tifa!" Quistis commented. Most of the people who watched Tifa workout on the punching bag clapped as Tifa finished. Tifa just blushed and smiled and waited for everyone to go back to what they were doing before. She took off the gloves and put them back on the rack so other people can use them. She then sat down beside Quistis.

"I never worked out that hard before," commented Tifa. "I guess the unlocking of our powers must have given me more stamina then I've had before."

"Yeah that must be it," said Quistis. Quistis then went over to some weights and started lifting a few weights.

Tifa looked around the gym to see everyone working out hard and she spotted Oriana sitting on a bench on the far wall opposite of her looking down. Tifa then walked over to the bench and sat down beside of Oriana. "Hey Oriana, I hope there's no hard feeling about what happened at FH," said Tifa.

Oriana looked up and said, "No, you did me a favor Tifa." She then looked at Tifa. "If you hadn't had defeated me, I would still be blindly following Diaz's orders. Lensey opened my eyes to the evils that Diaz made me do. I guess I should be thanking you."

"No problem," said Tifa. "Oriana?"

"Yes?" Said Oriana.

"Could you show me how you did that triple roundhouse kicks in the air?" Asked Tifa. "I know you use your energy when doing that kick. I want to know how you use it."

"Sure," Oriana said while getting up. They then walked to an empty mat. "The thing about using your energy for this kick is not to use a great amount. You just use enough to hold you up into the air." She stepped back a few feet and demonstrated the kick. Oriana jumped into the air, came around with her left leg and right leg and stayed in the air and spun again kicking her right leg into the air. "You have to push just enough energy under you to hold yourself up." Tifa tried three times but failed. "Try again, this time don't try as hard, just let the energy flow below you."

"Okay," said Tifa. "Here goes nothing." Before Tifa attempted the kick again, she closed her eyes and concentrated on her power. She let it flow beneath her just like Oriana said. When she opened her eyes, she did the triple spinning kicks in the air almost flawlessly. "Finally."

"That's great," Oriana complimented.

Just then Zell walked over. "Hey Tifa, do you want to spar for a few minutes?"

"Of course," replied Tifa. "Every since I've came here and seen you in action, I've been waiting for a chance to spar with you."

"Yeah, same goes for me," said Zell.

"Okay, lets lay out some ground rules here," Tifa said. Zell nodded. "No using any sort of ki blast or energy blast, because we don't want to blow any new doorways into the Garden. We can use our energy, but not the full extent, because this is training. Lastly, we stop if the other one is real tired, get too injured to do any more fighting."

"One more thing," Zell added. "Neither of us holds back our true skills, because I'm expecting a good fight."

"As am I," replied Tifa. The big mat in the middle of the room was empty because no one was using it, so Zell and Tifa walked over to the middle of it. Before they got there, one of the SeeDs that are in charge of the room threw them some black fighting gloves. They looked like boxing gloves, but not as bulky and the end of it had holes where their fingers come out. (Author's Note: Just think of Zell's fighting glove, but being a little more padded for safety, but not to padded so you won't do any damage. Oh yeah, one more thing. The training fights in the next few parts, I won't declare a winner or say anybody is stronger. These fights are just for training, and plus I think I would get some nasty reviews from some of you because one of your favorite character was beaten by another character you think is weaker. It would be very biased and all the characters that I like would win. I won't do that because I really don't want any flames that I'll have to delete later on.)

Just as Zell and Tifa were shaking hands and bowing, Cloud and Lensey walked into the room. They noticed everyone was gathering around the mat in the middle of the room, so they went over there by Quistis. "What's going on Quistis?" Asked Cloud.

Quistis turned around and said, "Zell and Tifa are going to spar." Cloud nodded along with Lensey, and turned to watch the fight with everyone else.

Tifa and Zell both got into their fighting positions and stood looking at each other with hard looks of concentration etched on their faces. Zell then made the first move and started to punch at Tifa. She blocked all of the blows with her forearms and ducked when Zell unexpectedly sent a roundhouse kick toward Tifa's head. Still in the crounch position, Tifa lashed out with her right leg and tripped Zell as he was recovering from the roundhouse kick. Zell immediately rolled backwards and bounced back to his feet. He was surprised to see Tifa was on him this fast and he was blocking various punches sent to his body and face. He caught one of her punches and kneed Tifa in the gut real hard. As she was bent over gasping for breath, Zell attempted an axe kick. Tifa instantly put up her right arm in an upward diagonal motion and let the kick hit her arm and slid off. Getting up from her crouch, she connect with a hard left uppercut to Zell's chin and knocked him back and off of his feet. Normally, a move like that would knock somebody out, but Zell got back up a little shakily and got back into his fighting stance as Tifa did hers. Tifa then rushed Zell and threw some fast kicks which Zell dodged, and when she missed a spinning roundhouse, Zell caught her with a few punches to her stomach, and a hard left to the face and Tifa fell on her butt a few feet away from Zell. Tifa was impressed and also got back up shakily and got back into a fighting stance. She quickly jumped toward Zell and connected with her newly learned technique, the triple spinning roundhouse kicks. When Zell recovered, both rushed each other and started throwing punches and kicks at each other. They traded blows with each other like people possessed.

During the little training session, the advantage constantly shifted between the two, and both fought real furiously. Everybody looked in awe, even Lensey had to admit that this was one great battle to watch. After about ten minutes of sparring, both Tifa and Zell were sweating and panting heavily. They looked at each other while still in fighting stances. Both noticed the other was physically tired and shown it. Instantly, both dropped their guards and got out of their fighting stances. "Let's call this battle a draw", said Lensey from the crowd around the mat.

Both nodded and walked over to each other and shook hands. There were some disappointed sighs and remarks from some of the spectators from around the mat, but Tifa and Zell ignored them. "Those are some nice moves you got Tifa," commented Zell.

"Thanks," Tifa. "You're are good too." They took off the gloves and threw them back to the equipment manager. Both then sat down on a bench.

"Here take this," said Quistis while handing Zell and Tifa some towels and bottles of water.

"Thanks Quisty," said Zell. Tifa and Zell rested for a little while before getting back up and working on their punches and kicks together.

In another part of the room, Lensey had just gotten finished working on the punching bag and looked around. Most of their day was spent in the training room well into the night. (That was a good workout, but tomorrow, all of us will have to train in our powers somewhere else so we can make them stronger.) Cloud, Oriana, Zell, Tifa, Quistis, and Xu took showers. After they were finished and dressed, they all went to the cafeteria, got their food and sat down by the others. They had just noticed they were back from Esthar and already eating.

During the meal, Lensey said, "We're going to have to go somewhere secluded to train tomorrow. Probably, the same place we went when we trained a few days ago or somewhere different."

"Great idea Lensey," commented Rinoa. "Why don't we fight some monsters this time, because there are some strong monsters in the desert and it would be good for our training."

"That' a good idea," said Squall. "But I don't think all of us should go. Some of us should stay with Garden when it goes to Trabia Garden tomorrow. The ones who stay in Garden can train also while up in Trabia because they've got some strong monsters over there too."

"Then it's agreed," Lensey said. "That's what we'll do tomorrow." She got nods from the big group. Everyone continued eating. When they were finished, Lensey looked around the cafeteria to spot Seifer. She spotted him eating and talking with Raijin and Fujin while eating his meal. Lensey got up and walked to his table. "Seifer, after you're finished eating, I'd like to have a talk with you in the quad."

"Sure Lensey," Seifer replied. "After I'm finished, I'll meet you there." Lensey nodded and walked out of the cafeteria to the Quad.

She noticed some lights were on outside and the Quad at night had an ethereal feeling to it. She sat down on the stage and waited five minutes for Seifer. He had finally got there and asked, "What's up Lensey?"

"Seifer I wanted to talk to you about me unlocking you power," She told Seifer. "You seem very strong, and you would be a great addition to our little group of people with unlocked powers. Are you willing to let me unlock them?"

"Sure Lensey," said Seifer. "I wouldn't mind. You're going to have to show me how to use them though."

"Don't worry," Lensey replied with smile. "It shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure you'll get the hang of them in no time. Are you ready?" Seifer nodded. "Well, just relax. It's going to feel weird and overwhelming at first, but after a little while, you'll get used to it." Lensey then closed her eyes and put her hands in a position like she's praying. She glowed red and instantly cast the magic on Seifer. Seifer felt his body was on fire for a few seconds. When Lensey was finished, she said, "Let's go to the training center to get you started."

Both went to the training center and fought a couple of grats while Lensey explained the power to them. After about two hours of training him in how to use them to an extent, Lensey was impressed by the progress that he's made. During all of that time in training, Seifer and Lensey taught a couple of monsters who were the big dogs in the TC was, for the remaining half hour, the monsters stayed away from the two. When they were finished for the night, both retired to the dorm rooms and got a good night's rest.

The next morning everyone went along in their morning rituals and ate in the cafeteria. After they was finished, Squall informed Headmaster Cid what they were doing that day. He approved and they split into two groups. The one's going to Trabia Garden in B-Garden were Selphie, Barret, Red, Vincent, Zell, Lisa, and Quistis. Those who went to the island by Cactuar Island were Squall, Cloud, Tifa, Seifer, Lensey, Rinoa, Dan, Oriana, Cid, and Yuffie. (A/N: Now that's a lot of people.) The garden took off toward the snowy Trabian region of the world while the Ragnarok piloted by Zell and Cid went to the Centra region.

Once Squall's group got to the desert, Lensey immediately paired off everybody according to their styles of fighting. Rinoa was the odd person out because she didn't have a close-ranged weapon and didn't know that much about close-ranged combat to train with everybody else. Tifa took her aside and shown her a few of the basics and advanced moves in Zangan style martial arts, but it still wasn't enough for her to train like everyone else. So she decided to concentrate on making her magic abilities stronger along with her energy attacks.

Squall and Cloud trained very intensely using their powers along with magic and limit breaks, but they knew to hold back a little because this was training and they weren't trying to kill each other. Both matched each other move for move, and slash for slash.

By the middle of the day, they took a break in the Ragnarok and ate lunch. They were informed that the trip to Trabia Garden was mostly uneventful, except for a few monster attacks. The people there didn't feel Diaz's or any of his minion's powers while there. They informed they that going to Galbaldia to drop of the SeeDs and cadets from Trabia Garden and stay there for the rest of the day. The other had decided to train there where most of the army going to fight Diaz's army was going to be. They chose a place far enough from the camp to train without injuring the occupants there.

In the late afternoon, Lensey asked Cloud a question while they were on a short break. "Hey Cloud. Do you think you can summon the amount of energy that you summoned at FH?"

"I think so," said Cloud. "After doing that, using this power seems more easier."

"Do it now," Lensey said. "I want to see how good you can channel your power now."

Cloud nodded and walked a few feet away from everybody. Cloud then concentrated on that feeling of rage. It wasn't as strong as he faced Sephiroth, but he was getting there. Instantly, everyone felt Cloud's power increase tremendously. "YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Cloud yelled as he let the golden fire surround his being. Everyone looked on as they saw Cloud go into that transformation. Now, to some of them, Cloud looked like he was more than human. He looked the same, but tremendous power radiated from his being.

Without warning, Lensey powered-up in a similar way, but her power was a little stronger than Cloud's. She then unsheathed her katana, "Come on Cloud, and let's get some real intense training in." Cloud nodded and also unsheathed the Ultima weapon from his back. They ran quite a distance away from everyone else so they won't accidentally injure any of the other with their attacks.

After they were far enough, both stopped. They stared at each other and immediately charged each other with sword clashing. They moved really fast, but not so fast where they didn't look like blurs. To the other's the battle looked very impressive. Lensey and Cloud slashed, blocked each other, matching move for move. After about a few minutes of this, they jumped apart and slashed their swords in diagonal motions toward each other. Two energy waves shot out the swords and collided with each other causing a bright blinding explosion. Once the blinding light subsided, everyone looked to see both were casting and dodging powered-up versions of magic spells. Cloud cast Ultima, and a green wave of energy swept fastly at Lensey. Lensey immediately put up an energy shield and it absorbed most of the magic. Lensey shouted, "Flame Pillar!" She cast an unfamiliar fire spell toward Cloud. Three pillars of flames appeared around Cloud and instantly came together toward Cloud. Cloud had just jumped out of the way when they did and avoided the flaring of the flame into one huge column of fire. After that, both immediately charged up power into the swords. Cloud's sword glowed a strange and bright light blue, while Lensey's sword glowed an unearthly red. They then charged toward each other and swung their swords mightily at each other. Once the swords connected, there was a mighty explosion that threw both of them back a few feet away from each other.

When the smoke cleared, both Cloud and Lensey were in a crouching position smiling. They both were tired and it shown on their face. Both instantly fell on their backs. All of the others took this as a sign to run over to the two combatants. When they got to both of them, they saw them panting while still having grins pasted on their faces. Their skin was slightly reddened from the explosion and both look exhausted. "Damn! That was exciting!" Exclaimed Lensey. "Hurry up and get to our level so you can also have intense and enjoyable battles like this," said Lensey before passing out. Cloud followed Lensey into unconsciousness a few seconds later.

Rinoa cast triple doses of curaga on them, and the group rushed them back to Balamb Garden in the Ragnarok. That was the end of the first day of training. Both Lensey and Cloud woke up a few hours later after being attended to in the infirmary.

The next day of training was more intense. This time they went to Cactuar Island and fought there. This time they worked on their speed while fighting cactuars and each other. Also, some more people got to Cloud and Lensey's level. It was Squall, Seifer, Xu, Tifa, Zell, and Cid. Now this really narrowed down Lensey's third choice about who was accompanying her and Cloud when they fought Diaz. Once the day was over and finished, everyone had made considerable amounts of improvement in their skills and powers.

Meanwhile, Cloud, Irvine, Lensey and Quistis were hanging out in a second floor classroom. Cloud asked Quistis a question, "Do you think I could borrow one of you Guardian Forces for the upcoming battle?"

"Sure," said Quistis. "But you're going to have to learn about junctioning them and their uses. Also, we're going to have to give you a good stock of magic."

"He can have mine until all this is over," said Irvine. "Which one should we give Cloud?"

"I don't know?" Replied Irvine. "But it's going to have to be one of the stronger ones if he's going to fight Diaz."

"You know, something has been bothering me ever since I got here," Lensey butted in. "I've felt a tremendous amount of power similar to that of the GF's that you all use."

"Oh yeah," said Irvine. "Which direction does this power come from?"

"It comes from really far southeast," Lensey said. She looked at the map that was on the console in the classroom. She then pointed to a section near the bottom, and to the right. "Somewhere down here is where it's coming from."

"I think it's coming from the deep-sea research center," said Quistis.

"It's probably a strong Guardian force," commented Lensey. "I guess tomorrow while some of you are training, Cloud myself and a few more people accompany Cloud when he goes to acquire it."

"Yeah, we should do that," said Squall who had just walked in the door after standing outside listening to the conversation. "Well, looks like you have the rest of your day taken up with learning about GF's and junctioning," Squall said to Cloud. Cloud nodded and went to studying on the study panel about the subject. Once and a while he asked Quistis and Irvine who stayed in the room some questions. That was how the rest of the day went for Cloud.

The next day everyone woke up early and went about their business. Headmaster Cid was informed once again about their plans for the day. They took the Ragnarok. In the party were Cloud, Lensey, Squall, Selphie, Irvine and Zell. It took a few hours to get to small research facility. This time Cloud decided to wear his cadet uniform because he didn't want to ruin his old SOLDIER outfit before the final battle. Squall had told Cloud when battling GF's the battles can get real intense.

Once they were there, they all decided that Cloud, Lensey, and Squall were going in. After a little argument with Zell, Squall convinced him to stay with Selphie, Irvine and the Ragnarok.

Inside, the place where they had acquired Bahumut looked the same. The vines were poking out of a hole and most of the equipment there looked unchanged. The three journeyed down the stairs seeing that no one has been here since their last visit.

"It looks as if no one has been here since we last came," commented Squall. "I also glad there aren't any monsters around to annoy us this time."

"Monsters?" Lensey asked.

"Yeah, there were a whole bunch of them around here when we explored here last time," said Squall while walking down the large spiral staircase.

When they were close enough, Cloud, Lensey and Squall felt the tremendous amount of power radiating from down below them. Before the last staircase, Cloud asked, "Is everyone Ready?" Squall and Lensey nodded.

The three walked down the stairs and came upon an unexpected sight. Sitting before them was a huge black lion like creature with its body slightly resembling a human's but not really. It had wings that were black and light blue. A red crown looked like it was on his forehead and a grayish beard was around its face. It was very muscular and looked like it had two blades sticking out it arms at it's forearms. Cloud thought nothing would surprise him now, he was really wrong. Lensey and Squall also had surprised looks, but Squall more surprised then Lensey. "It's Griever," said Squall.

Upon saying that, Griever looked up at the three mortals that disturbed him. "Who disturbs me?" Asked Griever in a deep and intimidating voice. He then noticed Squall. "So it is you Leonhart, my fellow lion."

Now Squall had gotten over his shock and found his tongue. "What the hell?" Said Squall. "I thought you died in time compression along with Ultimecia."

"I almost did, but my spirit was strong enough to survive and I came here," Griever answered. "Now, what brings you and your comrades here?"

Cloud stepped forward and said, "We're here because I seek your power and assistance."

"If that is so, then you'll have to prove your worth before I join you" said the lion like Guardian Force. Griever then brought his hand up and cast some magic. The room was engulfed in bright white light in which the three had to shield their eyes from the brightness. When they felt that the light had subsided, Lensey, Cloud, and Squall were at an entirely different place. They were on a huge floating rock platform, with the storm clouds above and below the platform. They were at one side and Griever was at the other hovering in the air. "Now that we're in a more suitable environment, Come forth and show me if you are worthy."

All three of them unsheathed their weapon but only Cloud stepped forward. "Let me do this alone guys," Cloud said with a steel resolve in his voice.

"Cloud, remember what I said about doing foolish things?" Lensey asked.

"Yes, I do Lensey," Cloud replied. "But since I'm trying to acquire Griever as my GF, I think I should be the only one to take the risk of beating him. I should be strong enough to defeat him alone."

"Okay, but be careful," said Lensey. "Don't go getting yourself killed."

"Take care man," Squall added. "Put up a magic barrier if he's going to cast Shockwave Pulsar. You'll feel when he's going to do it."

"Yeah, sure," Cloud said while walking toward Griever.

"So little man, you think you can take me all by yourself?" Griever Questioned Cloud. "Well, Prepare to die!"

"Yes," Cloud said. "My name is Cloud Strife, and I won't be dying here today. I've fought too hard and long for my journey through life to end right here. I'll defeat you and have you join me in my upcoming battle." Cloud stopped forty feet away from Griever.

"What's wrong?" Asked Griever. "Is all of that Bravado that you spat out scared you?"

"No, I just need to get prepared," Cloud, commented. Cloud then powered-up to a very high level of power. He then started running toward Griever with his sword held to the side. Griever saw this and cast Meteor to stop Cloud. It didn't stop him, only slowed him down as he was only hit by one and dodged the rest. Cloud was really closing the gap between them and was twenty feet away now. Griever then cast a triple dose of Ultima, Cloud was able to dodge two of them, but was caught up in the blast of one of them. He was thrown to the ground, but he quickly cast Cure3 on himself. When Cloud was ten feet away, he stopped and swung his sword in an upward diagonal motion shooting a blue energy wave at Griever. Griever was shocked, but reacted in time to avoid the energy attack. He then swooped down on Cloud and started slashing his claws at Cloud. Cloud was able to parry to claw swipes but was caught off guard when Griever swung his body around, hitting Cloud with his tail. Cloud was thrown to the ground and instantly rolled out of the way when he saw Griever coming down fast with a big balled up fist and hit the ground where Cloud previously occupied. Cloud instantly slashed Griever in the arm and jumped back. The black Lion GF roared in pain. He then flew high up into the air and threw seven fireballs from his hands. Cloud charged up his sword and deflected them all with fast and skillful slashes. Griever was thoroughly pissed and flew to the ground, landing on his feet.

"Now you shall feel really feel pain!" Screamed Griever. Cloud felt Griever's power rising and instantly cast Wall and held out his sword and made a temporary yellow iridescent shield in front of him. Griever floated off the ground a few feet and crossed his arms across his chest while bringing his leg close to his chest also.

"Put up a shield quickly Lensey! Griever's about to use Shockwave Pulsar!" Squall said loudly and quickly. Lensey then put up a strong shield over Squall and herself.

A strong electrical current started to gather at the center of Griever's being and started to show itself. Griever's body was now crackling with energy. He then threw his arms and feet away from his chest releasing a strong electrical wave of magic toward Cloud, Squall and Lensey. It expended from his being very fastly. Lensey's shield absorbed most of the damage against Squall and herself, but Cloud wasn't so lucky and took about half of the damage that Griever dished out. "Shit! We've got to help him Squall!" Lensey Yelled while unsheathing her katana.

"No," said Squall. "I have an idea what Cloud is going to do, and I really feel sorry for Griever."

Cloud was in a crouch panting and looked up at the intermediating form of Griever. "Don't tell me that is all that you can take?"

Cloud got and held his sword in a vertical position. "No that isn't," Cloud replied. The red flare of a limit break surrounded Cloud's being and engulfed him. "OMNISLASH!" Cloud yelled while charging really fast at Griever. The Ultima weapon glowed a bright blue and Cloud unleashed the fast fifteen hit combo against Griever. After every hit, there was an explosion of blue energy. The last hit sent Griever flying back to the ground.

Griever then got up slowly, "you're very strong and have proven yourself. You are worthy of my assistance, Cloud Strife." Griever then disappeared in a haze of green magic and it quickly rushed into Cloud.

Cloud had never felt something like this, and was shocked to see what Griever had done. He then felt a slight stinging sensation on his right shoulder. When it was gone, Cloud lifted his right short sleeve and found a mark of a black lion head there. It looked like the same as Squall's pendant. That is my mark Strife. Those who wear it are given my blessing in using my power. Griever's voice resided in his mind. Squall and Lensey had finally gotten close enough to heal Cloud and then they noticed the ground and their surroundings change.

They were back in the Deep Sea Research Facility. Cloud smiled as he looked at the mark on his arm. "Now that I've got Griever, I don't think we should hang around here longer than we have to," Cloud said while looking around.

"Let's go," said Squall. Cloud and Lensey followed upstairs.

When they were almost upstairs, Cloud heard Griever's voice in his mind again. You seem to have had an interesting life Cloud. (Hey! Stop going through my memories!) Why shouldn't I? They're there and I can't help but to look at them. (Well, just stay away from my more precious memories!) Cloud mentally said to Griever. I'll try, but I can't promise anything. (Just great. I get a GF with a sense of humor.) Why thank you. Griever commented. (That wasn't meant to be a compliment.) Cloud knew Griever was smiling now. "Hey Squall," Said Cloud. "Does all GF's talk to you in your mind?"

"Yeah, why?" Asked Squall.

"Because I think I just got a jokester here," Cloud replied.

"Well, don't worry about it," Squall told Cloud. "He'll get tired of it after awhile."

"I hope so," Cloud said. Don't bet on it Strife. Griever said.

Cloud just sighed as they walked out off the facility and boarded the Ragnarok. When they were on the bridge, Selphie took off and Irvine began giving Cloud his stocked up supply of spells. They were off to Balamb Garden.

Once they arrived there, it was late in the afternoon. Lensey said they should relax for the remaining time and enjoy themselves right now, because the battle of all of their lives might be tomorrow. Everyone spent their time with someone special or with friends. Zell spent his time with his girlfriend that worked in the library, Karen. Squall spent his time with Rinoa. Cloud with Tifa. Irvine and Selphie. Yuffie was hanging out with Red, Vincent, Barret and Cid. Quistis spent her time alone until Vincent came and joined her as she looked at the sunset. Dan and Lisa also spent some time alone in the not-so secret area of the training center. Oriana and Lensey enjoyed their time together by talking about what they're going to do after Diaz is defeat. Seifer, Fujin and Raijin just hung out like they always do, but Raijin left Fujin and Seifer alone for the rest of the day. Now Lensey felt everyone was ready for the battle that was inevitable. Now all of them must rise to the call of destiny and fate.

Author's Notes: Booyaka! I've finally got this chapter out! I'm sorry about the long wait that everyone had to go through, but I did say that I wasn't going to get that much time to work on this chapter. The alliance between SeeD, Esthar, and Galbaldia has finally been made after a failed assination attempt by some more of Diaz's assasins. Now everyone is stronger and feel ready to take on Diaz's army. Cloud had gotten the Legendary Guardian Force, Griever. Now things are really turning out for the better. Well, I'm sorry if I made Griever seem a little silly, but that was the little humor part in the story. I know it wasn't good, but I put it in anyway. Depending on how the next chapter goes, that may be the last chapter and then the epilogue. If it is, I'm going to try to make it real good. I've never attempted what I'm going to do in this next chapter, so everybody, wish me luck. As you all may know, the next chapter will be about the final battle against the forces of this world and Diaz's army. If the next chapter is the last chapter, it will take longer than I expect it to, and I'll immediately write the epilogue after I'm finished with the chapter and post them at the same time. Also, I'm sorry I didn't go too much into the training; I got a little lazy when I was writing those parts. Well, stay tuned for Chapter 11!

Don't forget to leave a review before you go to another story! Thanks in advance. J