Cloud
was lying down on the grass and staring at the stars. His mind was somewhere
else. He could see Aeris's face everywhere he looked. He just couldn't get
Aeris's sweet face off his head.
Cloud
rolled on the grass and felt something in his pocket. He checked his pocket
with his left hand. He felt something bulky inside. He pulled it out and took a
look at it. It was his PHS. It wasn't working.
"Duh...
cheap batteries…" Cloud complaint and changed the batteries.
The
moment when Cloud put his new batteries into the PHS, the PHS rang. Cloud
turned it on and listened.
"Dad!
I am through! Cloud!You moron! It took me six hours of non-stop calling to
finally get through!" Yuffie shouted through the phone.
What
is it?" Cloud asked.
"Wait
for a second will ya?" Yuffie said and then someone else talked into the phone.
"Ah!
Why is it so hard to contact you?!" Godo shouted through the phone.
"Lord
Godo?" Cloud said.
"Yes.
I have to warn you about something. Tell the army not to engage battle with
this thing! I repeat! Don't engage battle with this thing that attacked Junon!"
Godo shouted through the phone.
"Why?"
Cloud asked with a curious tone.
"Don't
ask! Just don't attack them!"
Godo's
shouting was heard through the PHS again. Something was really wrong here.
Cloud
then saw something moving in the darkness. He streched his eyes and looked.
Something big was coming. Cloud's face turned white.
"It's
probably too late…" Cloud dropped the PHS with his mouth wide opened.
It's
here. It's here already.
Cloud
didn't care about his PHS and ran back into the Fort. He stumbled into Michael
when he just entered.
"They
are here." Cloud said nervously and grabbed Michael tightly.
Michael
understood what Cloud meant at the moment he heard these words that Cloud said.
He called a soldier nearby him to come near.
"Execute
the evacuation plan." Michael said and the soldier ran out of the room and
spread the words.
Michael
looked back at Cloud.
"Hide
the Highwind. We don't want that airship destroyed." Michael said and walked
out of the room.
Cloud
straight away rushed out of Fort Condor and ran towards the Highwind. He never
wanted Cid's favorite toy to turn into ashes.
Although
there was an evacuation plan, the refugees in Fort Condor panicked and ran for
the exit. In just a short while after the soldier spread the words, havoc
started.
The
soldier of Fort Condor tried to keep order as much as they could. Sometimes,
they were forced to use force to keep order.
In
about an hour's time, everyone was out of Fort Condor. Luckily, nobody was
killed in the evacuation and now, the refugees are heading towards the
mountains for cover.
The
Avalanche was also now outside of Fort Condor. Michael was with them; they
offered themselves to help Michael.
"I
want you all to take care of the refugees. Bring them to the mountains and they
will be quite safe there." Michael gave out orders to the Avalanche.
"But
we could provide help here." Cait Sith said.
"No.
The refugees needed you all more. We could handle this attack. They will see…"
Michael
said and walked away to join his soldiers. The avalanche looked as he left.
"Let's
go. The refugees needed us." Red XIII said and walked towards the group of
refugees.
The
other members of the Avalanche looked at each other. They finally decided to
follow Red XIII. Although they wanted to aid Michael in that battle, they
didn't. If they aid him without him knowing it, they would probably spoil his
plan.
Red
XIII slowly walked away, the other members of the avalanche ran to catch up
with him.
Michael
hid in a bush somewhere around Fort Condor. He observed the movement of the
'thing'. It moved slowly towards the Fort. Michael took a look at the
grassland. The Highwind wasn't there already. Cloud had flown it away to hide
it.
The
'thing' slowly approached the Fort. Suddenly, it stopped. A bright light was
formed and then it was launched into the sky. The light fell onto the Fort and
an explosion was seen. In only a short while, more and more light was launched
into the sky and bombarded Fort Condor. Luckily Cloud saw this 'thing' coming,
or not the casualties will be enormous.
After
ten minutes of bombardment, the 'thing' seized fire. It now walked closer
towards the Fort.
Michael
could now see clearly what this 'thing' was. It was a huge army of men wearing
robe. Magician probably. They walked slowly along a road.
"Check
for survivors." A man in robe commanded. A few of the other men nodded. They
walked faster towards Fort Condor.
"Attack!!!"
Michael
shouted and immediately, soldier of Fort Condor rushed out everywhere. They
started firing their weapons and attacked the army. The men in robe were caught
by surprise. The soldiers of Fort Condor just ambushed the 'thing'. Shouts came
from everywhere when the battle begun. The men in robe quickly cast defensive
spells and soon, barriers and healing magic was seen.
A
short while after they cast defensive spells, bolts of lightning and bright
lights of fireballs came down and struck the Fort Condor soldiers. But the
soldiers of Fort Condor didn't care. They weren't afraid to die. They just kept
on fighting until the enemy killed them. They will fight until…
Suddenly
a cry was heard. The cry was so familiar and made all Fort Condor soldiers
turned theirs heads towards the direction of the cry. They saw Michael, their
leader was struck by a lightning spell. Immediately after that, he was burnt to
charcoal.
The
soldiers were shocked to see this happened. Their leader was death. Nobody will
give them commands on what to do. They knew something like this will happen,
but not this early. Although Michael had commanding soldiers under him, without
a leader, they were all loose and didn't know what to do next. Some soldier fought
recklessly without taking cover, some were killed when deciding what to do, and
many failed to escape from the battle.
After
about half an hour, the fighting stopped. The men in robe stood silently in the
middle of the battlefield. Around them were dead bodies of the soldier of Fort
Condor. The soldier of Fort Condor failed to defeat the men in robe. Although
they gained advantage by ambushing the men in robe, but after Michael was
killed in action, they became panic and entered a disadvantage situation.
The
leader of the men in robe walked towards Michael's burnt dead body. He stared
at it for a moment, then he cast a fire spell and incinerated Michael's dead
body. The leader turned back and walked towards his army. And then, the army
marched towards their next target-Kalm.
"Everybody
alright?"
Tifa
asked the refugees. The refugees nodded. Most of them hadn't recover from the
shock seeing Fort Condor destroyed. About an hour after they escaped, Fort
Condor was blown into pieces. They were lucky for not being in Fort Condor at
that time.
"Someone's
coming this way."
Red
XIII said while looking into the darkness. The others could hardly see what was
out there.
The
figure came nearer and nearer. It is a man with silver hair helping a Fort
Condor soldier to walk. It was Cloud.
"Cloud!"
Aeris
shouted and went in front of him. She took a look at the soldier. He was badly
injured. He probably couldn't make it here without Cloud's help. Aeris cast a
healing spell and made the soldier felt better. The soldier thanked Aeris and
Cloud laid him onto the floor to let him rest.
"What
happened?" Red XIII asked.
The
rest of the team was now in front of Cloud. They can't wait to know who won the
battle.
Cloud
just stood silently. He looked at everybody, and then he shook his head.
"They
failed."
Everybody
was shocked to hear this. A few refugees happened to overhear what Cloud said.
Soon, there was all kind of expression among the refugees. Some of them were
crying, some of them blaming their luck, and some of them just kept quiet.
The
Fort Condor army failed? It can't be. They defeated the Shinra soldiers before,
they were one of the best army in the planet. They just couldn't have failed?
Who is going to protect them now?
"Are
you sure?" Tifa asked Cloud.
"After
I hid the Highwind, I ran my way back here. But I happen to come across this
soldier. He told me that Michael was killed and everything went wrong. I took a
look at the direction where this soldier came from. I saw something big moving
towards north. It couldn't be Fort Condor's army, so it must have been the men
in robe." Cloud answered.
"The
men in robe?" Aeris asked.
"That
what this soldier address this 'thing'. This thing is probably a spellcaster's
army." Cloud replied.
"What
are we going to do now?" Cait Sith asked.
Everybody
looked at Cait Sith. He just asked a very good question. What are they going to
do? Cloud just stood there silently. He looked at the refugees. Then he spoke
to them.
"As
far as I know, you all are quite safe for the moment. This army is heading
towards north so you probably could be quite safe if you all stay away from the
north." Cloud said.
The
refugees looked at each other. Cloud is right. The army won't want to look for
them all the way just to kill them. They would probably attack another city
first.
"Then
you all should go to Kalm." A refugee stood up and said to Cloud.
The
Avalanche looked at the refugee. They were surprised to hear him say something
like this.
"The
people of Kalm needed you all there. We are safe for the moment so don't worry
about us." The refugee continued.
The
Avalanche just looked at the refugee. The refugees were now talking about this.
"We
can't just leave you all here, could we?" Aeris said.
"Just
go. The people of Kalm needed you all more." Another refugee stood up and said.
More
and more refugees agreed with that decision. They put their safety at risk to
save the people of Kalm.
"You
all are very brave. Thank you." Cloud said to the refugees and left the place
to the Highwind with the other members of the Avalanche.
"Send
our regards to the people of Kalm!" A refugee shouted.
This
shout was followed by many other cheers and hat throwings. The refugees are
indeed brave and unselfish people.
"What
can the few of us do to defeat such an army?" Cait Sith asked.
"Don't
worry about that. There is something waiting for them in Midgar." Vincent
replied.
"Get
yer lazy a$$ working you %$*((*(*!!!"
Reno
stared at the plate on top of Midgar. He could hear Cid's cursing even from
such a distance. That man can really curse a lot.
"Everything
ready?" Elena asked Joseph.
"No
problem. The minute it reach here it will be toasted." Joseph answered.
"You
confident in this battle?" Elena asked again.
"I
really can't tell. We didn't even know what this 'thing' is. It had really a
lot of firepower to destroy Junon in one night. But, we are not weak either.
Our Shinra soldier are one of the best trained men and most of them had
fighting experience in Wutai." Joseph answered.
"Flying
object approaching from the south sir!" a soldier scouting from the watchtower
shouted.
Reno
took out a pair of binoculars and looked at that flying object.
"It's
the Highwind." Reno said.
"I
don't really like those guys." Joseph said.
The
three Turks stared at Joseph. They were waiting for him to continue.
"I
fought these guys before. They probably wouldn't recognize me. Before the fall
of Shinra, they were rebels and that time my job was to track them and hunt
them down. A few of my men I and finally found them in Wutai, but we were
defeated. My other men were killed and I had to survive for so many days in
pain until help arrived." Joseph talked about his past.
The
three Turks didn't know about that. They just know that the Avalanche was once
their enemy but now they were their allies. Without them, they probably were
still in the prison of Fort Condor.
"Unknown
army spotted in the north-east sir!" the soldier in the watchtower shouted.
"Everyone
to their positions!"
Soon
after Joseph gave this command, all Shinra soldiers rushed for their position.
Although they never thought that this force will come from the north-east, they
had a plan to hold the force from the north –east. The soldiers sat still in
their positions, waiting for Joseph to give them commands.
"Sir!
It's Godo army from Wutai!"
The
soldier at the watchtower shouted again. Joseph was surprised to hear this. He
had no idea why the Wutai army is here. He stood still for a while, then he
shouted.
"Prepare
a negotiating team!" Joseph commanded.
"Affirmative
sir!" A soldier replied and ran into the main camp.
Soon,
a negotiation team was in front of Joseph. They were ready to meet the Wutai
army.
"I
am coming too." Joseph said.
The
Shinra soldiers were surprised when they heard this.
"But…"
A soldier said.
"Godo
will be there too. I don't think he will dare to pull any tricks. Reno, Rude ,
Elena, follow me." Joseph said and leaded the negotiating team with the three
turks.