"Who
the hell are these people?" Cid asked.
About
two hours after Joseph left with the three Turks, they came back. But they
aren't alone. They brought back an entire army with them.
"These
are the soldiers of the Shinra Underground Army." Reno replied as he checked
the attendance of the soldiers.
"So
Michael was right about this army. Tell me more." Cloud said.
"Before
the fall of Shinra, Rufus had a plan in case something Shinra fall into enemy
hands. So, he formed an army called the Shinra Underground Army. Every single
soldier of Shinra is a member of this army. Their duty is to report back for
duty when called after the fall of Shinra. The three of us are in charge of
this army. And since the situation looked bad, we have no choice but to use
this army to fight whatever that is out there." Reno explained to the members
of Avalanche.
"There
are almost a quarter of our men not here." Rude asked Joseph.
"I
heard a lot of our men were killed when Junon was destroyed. Looks like what
you see here is what we have left." Joseph replied.
Joseph
climbed onto a large crate and spoke through a loud speaker.
"At
first I wanted to thank all of you for reporting back for duty. There is nothing
more important than your cooperation. As you all know, Junon was destroyed two
nights ago by an unknown force. The reason I call you all back for duty is to
destroy this thing that threatened the locals. This thing is…" Joseph started
his long lecture. Cloud wasn't interested so he walked towards Reno to ask him
something.
"What
are you going to do with such an army?" Cloud asked Reno.
"You
see, after this unknown force attacked Junon, it will probably go two ways.
Number one, it will go towards Fort Condor and number two, it will go towards
Kalm. Fort Condor was pretty safe because they had an army there to defend that
place. So, we are quite certain that this force will come straight to Kalm."
Reno explained and Cloud listened carefully.
"Not
long ago, a tunnel was dug at the mountains of north of Fort Condor. The old
tunnel's entrance was at the north of Fort Condor and leads right towards the
marsh. This new tunnel's entrance is the same as the old one but the exit is at
the south of Midgar. This tunnel was dug so that it could shorten the journey
between the two sides of the mountains." Reno continued.
"So
if we could station our troops in Midgar, this force probably won't be able to
reach Kalm without getting through us. Midgar is a place with lots of place for
cover so we think that it will a suitable place to form a defensive line."
Reno
finished explaining and looked at Cloud. Cloud nodded and stared at the ruins
of Midgar. He didn't thought that a place like this will be a base of the Shinra
army.
Cloud
was looking at the top plate when he suddenly saw something sticking out of the
top. It was the mako cannon Shinra used against the weapon.
"Reno,
do you think that cannon on top of Midgar will aid you in your battle?" Cloud
asked Reno.
"Why,
it would really aid us a lot in battle. But too bad it was wrecked already."
Reno replied.
"Cid,
do you think that cannon is repairable?" Cloud asked Cid that was standing
behind him.
"I
don't know. I probably need to go up there and take a look first. But even if
it was repairable, without mako energy the damage won't be as powerful as
before." Cid answered.
"It
will be better than nothing. Reno! Prepare a chopper to take us up to the mako
cannon."
Cloud
shouted at Reno. Reno nodded and went to prepare the chopper.
In
an hour's time, Cloud and Cid landed on top of the plate of Midgar. They walked
until they were in front of the huge mako cannon. Cid took a look at the cannon
and turned back towards Cloud.
"Yup,
it's repairable. But I need to have my team to help me with this." Cid said and
took out his PHS.
Cid
called rocket town and requested the team to aid him in repairing the cannon.
"So
that's it. Get ready with all the equipment and I will pick you up with the
Highwind." Cid talked through the phone. There was a pause.
"What
do you mean that you don't need me to pick you guys up? How are you going to
come here?" Cid asked and there was a pause again.
"You
guys got your own way of coming here in an hour's time? Well, come here as fast
as possible and by the way, don't tell Shera about this will ya?" Cid said and
hung up the PHS.
"Why
don't you want Shera here?" Cloud asked.
"We
need to finish this as soon as possible. Although she is an excellent
technician but it will take too long to complete when she is around. It is
better without her." Cid replied.
"Say,
how are you and Shera?" Cloud asked. He nearly had forgotten about Shera ever
since he was revived.
"Oh,
she went back to rocket town after you died. She said she is working on a big
project so she went back damn early." Cid answered.
"Well,
she a nice lady and you should get her before she is taken." Cloud advised Cid.
"Mind
your own business first." Cid told Cloud. Cloud was a little irritated and
started walking towards the chopper.
"I
and Vincent will go back to Fort Condor first. You stay here and repair the
cannon as fast as you can." Cloud said and boarded the chopper.
The
chopper left. Cid stared at the cannon as the chopper left.
"This
is one big piece of junk waiting to be revived by ol'Cid." Cid said to himself.
On
the ocean many miles away from the shore of Wutai, a fleet of transport ships
was moving across the ocean with full speed.
These
ships were huge and can carry about five hundred men each. These ships carried
the once brave warriors of Wutai.
"Still
no answer?"
Godo
asked Yuffie that was still on the PHS. They were in a cabin in one of the
ships. Since just after Yuffie showed Godo that materia, Godo asked her to
contact Cloud. But she just couldn't get through. She just continued trying and
trying. Godo shook his head and became more anxient.
"Why
is dat phone call so important?" Barret approached Godo from the back.
"The
rest of the team is in deep trouble. I need to warn them so that they won't march
into battle against that strange army." Godo replied.
"I
bet dat they got help from Fort Condor by now. These guys from Fort Condor can
really kick a$$." Barret said.
"That's
the problem. I don't want them to engage battle with that strange army, understand?
They don't know what that army is capable of. What happened in Junon was
probably just a small attack. They don't even have any idea what that army is!"
Godo replied furiously.
"Calm
down. Tell me about that army." Barret requested Godo to tell him more about
the army.
Godo
looked at him curiously. Barret wasn't the guy that enjoyed hearing stories.
But since he requested Godo to tell him more, Godo sat down on a cushion and
started his story.
"As
you know, long, long time ago the Ancients come and live with us humans. After
that when Jenova came, Jenova spread a virus a killed the entire Ancient
population and only a small number survived." Godo spoke and Barret nodded.
"Before
the virus outbreak, the Ancients, like us, have an army. This army was small in
number, but can cause destruction beyond our imagination. This army was
consisted of druids and spell casters, and they attack with all kinds of
destructive spells and magic. Their spells were too destructive, so the general
Ancient population banned them from using magic. Without magic, this army was
useless, and then they were then forgotten by us."
Godo
said and pulled out a materia. It was the materia Yuffie stole from a man at
the dock. Godo showed it to Barret.
"This
materia is called the 'rains of fire' materia. Normal spell casters like us are
not able to use it because we don't have the ability to cast spells as good as
the ancients. This materia can summon enormous fireballs and attack anything as
they will."
"Like
the attack in Junon?" Barret interrupted.
Godo
nodded. He then put that materia back into his pocket.
"You
see, this materia hadn't been used for such a long time and the reappearance of
this materia only meant one thing. The Ancient army returned. I believed that
somehow, someone had revived them from the death and used it at his own will.
So, that is why, I don't want them to engage with this army until we gained
more intelligence about them."
Godo
finally finished and stood up. He walked out of the cabin to take a look at his
army. Barret just sat in the cabin. He can't believe what he heard. According
to Godo's explanation, the Ancient army will probably attack the area around
Junon. Suddenly something crossed his mind.
"Marlene……"
Barret mumbled.