One moment there was complete silence as everyone stood completely still. In one smooth motion I pulled out one of the grenades, pulled the pin and tossed into the crowd of guards. The explosion tore through their ranks and left a gap in the middle that I raced through, hacking at exposed limbs as I ran by. As I made it to the stairs I felt a sharp pain in my back. I turned around to see a SOLDIER standing behind me, gripping a bloody sword. Most of the normal guards had been killed or severely wounded in my charge and now only the strong were left to attack me. I cured myself just as 20 SOLDIER's charged forward with a yell. The first one swung his blade in an arc over my head but I ducked and thrust my own sword up through his gut. I tore it out and blocked another swing. By now I was being forced up the stairs step-by-step as I fought to stave off my attackers. As I reached the top I cast Haste on myself and ran out into a huge office area that took up the entire 70th floor. Through the windows behind the gigantic desk I could see a helicopter with its rotors spinning. The guards were right on my tail and had situated themselves between me and the door leading out to the helicopter pad. I was desperate and tired. I could hear reinforcements on the floor below. There was nothing left to do so I took a running start, used the desk as a spring board, and jumped right through the window. The guards were yelling something and I suspected were racing to catch me. A man that looked like a pilot was staring at me with surprise. I ran up to him and put the tip of my sword at his neck.
"Can you fly that helicopter?" I asked gruffly.
"Y, yes," he answered nervously.
"Then get in and lets go," I ordered.
He didn't have much choice so he got into the pilots seat and I slid in to the one next to him. He put on his helmet and pushed a few buttons before pulling back on the control stick. We lifted off the helo-pad just in time. I could see the guards running to where we had been only seconds before, some even tried to grab the chopper. I sighed and relaxed, thinking that I was home free, wrong again! The guards were shooting at us and the pilot was busy trying to control the shaky chopper.
"Do something will ya?!" he yelled at me. "This is an executive helicopter, not an army gunship!" I took out my last grenade and flung it down onto the pad. This time the guards were ready for it and most managed to jump out of the way. The chaos that ensued gave us enough time to fly out of range. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, still nervous.
"I don't know, I just wanted out of there," I motioned towards Shinra HQ.
"Well you better think of something fast before they release the attack choppers on us," he said. As he said this a missile shrieked past the front of the helicopter. "Too late!" he yelled, "we're getting out of here now!" Flack and rockets whizzed past us but the pilot always managed to avoid danger. We flew south out of Midgar, bobbing and weaving to escape the gunships. I looked out the window and saw that we were over a desolate wasteland that seemed to surround the city. In front of us was a large mountain range.
"Why are you heading for the mountains?" I asked.
"We might be able to give our friends the slip, these helicopters were designed for maneuverability. There are not many choppers that can operate beneath the plates and this is one of the few that can. We should be able to run circles around those monsters," he motioned behind us, "once we get into the mountains." He was the pilot so I didn't argue. As we neared the mountain range he made a sharp descent straight down into one of the mountain paces. The enemy followed. We made many twists and turns, eventually forcing several of the hunters out of the chase. We came to a sharp turn that caught one of the choppers flowing us on the rotor. Immediately the helicopter disintegrated, I even saw what remained of the pilot fall down into the ravine below. We now only had two pursuers, but they appeared to be elite. They would not back down and did make any mistakes. Eventually we flew out of the mountains and I could see the sea in front of us. A large city was down below us and it looked like a giant cannon was resting on it. "That's Junon Harbor!" the pilot yelled. We were coming in low and I realized that he was trying to land on the huge airfield that was resting on top of huge girders and steel columns. It rose above the sea floor so it could be better connected to Junon. As the skids were about to touch the ground a rocket hit the ground underneath us and several bullets tore through the chopper. "We're hit!" he yelled, "the landing gear is totaled and they're still attacking I have to try and get out of here!" He pushed down on the joystick and we began to soar only a few feet over the airfield. As we approached the edge the pilot yelled something that I couldn't hear. Then the second rocket hit us. The entire back of the helicopter was blown away and we began to skid along the runway. For a moment I thought that we might stop, but then we were out in open air. We were falling, falling, falling; I closed my eyes and waited for the end as the ground loomed up below us.
I slowly rose to my feet among the wreckage. My legs were shaky and my head was spinning, I wasn't even sure I was alive. I heard noise above me and looked up to see the two attack choppers coming in to attack again. I looked down and saw that the pilot was unconscious. It was all up to me now and I could not afford to fail. As the chain guns on the side of the gunships lit up I erected a wall around the chopper, protecting the pilot and myself. The bullets nearly shattered my barrier and left the glassy surface of my wall cracked in several places. I knew even before the choppers turned around that my wall would not withstand another attack and there was no place to run to. The attack choppers fired on us again, this time my barrier broke and bullets tore through my body.
I was a bloody mess lying on the ground and only barely managed to heal myself with a Cure3. As I rose to my feet again I could feel a new kind of power growing within me, a force I had not yet experienced. It felt as if it was coming directly from inside me, pushing me to unleash its wrath on my enemies. I let go and let it go in one mega-attack that shook the earth and nearly blinded me. A gigantic ball of seething plasma formed around my body. My vision was red and hazy so that all I could see were the two helicopters coming in to attack again. With a feral scream I unleashed my attack in a blinding flash that almost knocked me unconscious. When my sight began to return I looked around expecting the helicopters to attack again. Instead, all that I saw was a huge hunk of burning slag off in the distance with what looked like a rotor blade sticking out towards the sky. I was totally drained. I rummaged around in my bag of supplies and used an Ether and a Hi-Potion to boost my strength. With a heave I threw the unconscious body of the pilot over my shoulder and started walking back towards Junon while I still had the strength the walk. I was becoming dizzy and my step faltered. I was kneeling on the ground, but before I fainted I saw someone, or something approaching from a distance.
I could not be sure how long I was asleep, but when I woke I was lying in a clean warm bed in a small but cozy house. My head was still spinning and the voice was still ringing in my ear. The voice had come while I was asleep, it had talked to me, but for some reason I actually hadn't heard anything audible. I couldn't remember exactly what it had said, something along the lines of what the Sephiroth specter had told me. It had said that it was my subconscious, and that I was simply trying to tell myself the truth. I was more confused now than ever before. I could not be one of Sephiroth's slaves could I? And I wanted to know what JENOVA had to do with anything. What got me really depressed was that Aeris still had not shown up, and now I had no idea what to do. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and got up with a long groan as I stretched. I walked over to a sink and splashed water on my face. It occurred to me as I looked into the mirror, that I should probably shave soon if I didn't want a beard. With another groan I shuffled out the door and walked into town. The village was small and obviously poor. I saw some fish skeletons lying around and the smell of salt water saturated the place along with another scent, which I could not place. As I walked up the street an old man walked out of a door, "O my, so you're finally up young man. Good thing we got you into town as soon as we did, you were pretty wasted and the Shinra patrols went through that field with a fine-toothed comb. Yesire, you are one lucky boy, would you like to come in?" He motioned towards the door he had just walked out of and I followed.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Why, you're in Junon," he replied.
"I though that the city was Junon," I said, somewhat confused.
"No," he growled, "Those dirty Shinra built that city right on top of this one, didn't you notice the airfield? They erected it directly over our town, polluting everything." I had not looked up at the sky since waking up so I walked to the window and looked up. My host was correct; the sky was covered up by a huge flat piece of metal which was held up by gigantic steel columns. It reminded me of being in the slums again. I now recognized the scent; it was the stench of refuse and oil.
"So that's why this town is so rundown," I said. "But why have you treated me with such kindness?"
He smiled, "because you brought Lance back."
"Lance who?" I asked, "Who's Lance?"
"Why Lance is the name of the pilot you saved, the Shinra took him many years ago to train him because he exhibited excellent flying skills. By the way, thank you so much, his little sister Priscilla is like a granddaughter to me, and you have made her so very happy. They have not seen each other in a long time." He was beaming, "Ah, here they are now." I looked over to see the pilot, Lance, carrying a little girl in a swimsuit on his shoulders. They were both laughing together and looked so happy that I couldn't help but smile myself. Lance didn't look the worse for wear, a few cuts and bruises and a bandage wrapped around his head.
He looked at me, "Hello Mr. Hijacker, thanks for saving me but could you perhaps tell us your name?"
"My name is Zack, pleased to meet you under these happier conditions," we shook hands and sat down at the table.
"Well Zack," said the old man, "perhaps you could tell us what in the name of fried swordfish that attack was you used on those helicopters. We probably wouldn't have found you soon enough if it hadn't been for that blinding flash."
My memory started to clear a little, "It was my level 3/2 Limit Break, and I call it Holy Flare."
"Well whatever you call it, that was sure some fireworks show, you must be really strong to have a Limit Break that powerful," the old man said. He looked me straight in the eye and a look of surprise crossed his face, "why no wonder, you've got mako eyes! You're in SOLDIER!"
"Was in SOLDIER," I said, "I have no affiliation with Shinra anymore, not after what they did to me."
Lance spoke up, "Well whomever you worked for I sure am glad you got me out of that place, the only reason I stayed was because they threatened to destroy this town if I left. Now that I got kidnapped they have no one to blame but themselves." He smiled and tussled the hair of his little sister.
"You must be some pilot for them to pay so much attention to you," I said.
He smiled and straightened his shirt, "I'm the best, I was President Shinra's personal pilot until Sephiroth killed him and Rufus demoted all of his father's head staff, including me."
"Thank you for everything," I said, "but I really need to be going."
"Don't be silly," said the old man, "It's almost night out and you look exhausted, stay and rest one more night. You can leave tomorrow morning once you're rested."
There was no point to arguing, the old man had made up his mind and I was still tired so I stayed one more night. I talked with Lance and the old man, whom everyone called gramps. I learned some interesting things about what was happening in the world. Apparently President Rufus had begun to search for a place called the Promised Land near a huge glacier on the northern continent. I went to bed early and wondered if the voice would return tonight. I indeed had a visitor, but this one was more welcome. It was Aeris; it had taken her longer to regain her strength than expected. We talked about many things. I wanted to tell her about the voice but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do it. Finally we got to her instructions.
"Where should I go?" I asked her.
"I need you to head southeast from here, there you will find a canyon were you will encounter a friend who will help you on your journey," she said.
"But Shinra is heading north, shouldn't I follow them?" I asked.
"No," she said, "I have someone taking care of that situation, although he will fail, the experience will make him stronger. He will need all the strength he can get if he is to defeat the horrible enemy that threatens us all," she was frowning and seemed very sad.
"You mean Sephiroth right?" I asked.
Her frown grew deeper, "Not necessarily, there are things in this world that can manipulate and twist a persons mind. Sephiroth was the victim of a falsified life were no one could be trusted except himself. I do not blame him for what he did, and you shouldn't either. To destroy this evil we must strike at the root, then the rest will die."
"What's the root?" I asked.
"I'm not sure yet," I know it has something to do with the 'calamity from the sky', an ancient being of evil that destroyed my ancestors. I think that Hojo may have released it from its prison. If this is the case we are all in more danger than you could possibly imagine. I must go soon Zack so I will leave you one piece of advice, trust Lance, he is an honest and worthy man who can aid you on your quest." With this her spirit drifted off in the mist and I was left to slumber.
"Can you fly that helicopter?" I asked gruffly.
"Y, yes," he answered nervously.
"Then get in and lets go," I ordered.
He didn't have much choice so he got into the pilots seat and I slid in to the one next to him. He put on his helmet and pushed a few buttons before pulling back on the control stick. We lifted off the helo-pad just in time. I could see the guards running to where we had been only seconds before, some even tried to grab the chopper. I sighed and relaxed, thinking that I was home free, wrong again! The guards were shooting at us and the pilot was busy trying to control the shaky chopper.
"Do something will ya?!" he yelled at me. "This is an executive helicopter, not an army gunship!" I took out my last grenade and flung it down onto the pad. This time the guards were ready for it and most managed to jump out of the way. The chaos that ensued gave us enough time to fly out of range. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, still nervous.
"I don't know, I just wanted out of there," I motioned towards Shinra HQ.
"Well you better think of something fast before they release the attack choppers on us," he said. As he said this a missile shrieked past the front of the helicopter. "Too late!" he yelled, "we're getting out of here now!" Flack and rockets whizzed past us but the pilot always managed to avoid danger. We flew south out of Midgar, bobbing and weaving to escape the gunships. I looked out the window and saw that we were over a desolate wasteland that seemed to surround the city. In front of us was a large mountain range.
"Why are you heading for the mountains?" I asked.
"We might be able to give our friends the slip, these helicopters were designed for maneuverability. There are not many choppers that can operate beneath the plates and this is one of the few that can. We should be able to run circles around those monsters," he motioned behind us, "once we get into the mountains." He was the pilot so I didn't argue. As we neared the mountain range he made a sharp descent straight down into one of the mountain paces. The enemy followed. We made many twists and turns, eventually forcing several of the hunters out of the chase. We came to a sharp turn that caught one of the choppers flowing us on the rotor. Immediately the helicopter disintegrated, I even saw what remained of the pilot fall down into the ravine below. We now only had two pursuers, but they appeared to be elite. They would not back down and did make any mistakes. Eventually we flew out of the mountains and I could see the sea in front of us. A large city was down below us and it looked like a giant cannon was resting on it. "That's Junon Harbor!" the pilot yelled. We were coming in low and I realized that he was trying to land on the huge airfield that was resting on top of huge girders and steel columns. It rose above the sea floor so it could be better connected to Junon. As the skids were about to touch the ground a rocket hit the ground underneath us and several bullets tore through the chopper. "We're hit!" he yelled, "the landing gear is totaled and they're still attacking I have to try and get out of here!" He pushed down on the joystick and we began to soar only a few feet over the airfield. As we approached the edge the pilot yelled something that I couldn't hear. Then the second rocket hit us. The entire back of the helicopter was blown away and we began to skid along the runway. For a moment I thought that we might stop, but then we were out in open air. We were falling, falling, falling; I closed my eyes and waited for the end as the ground loomed up below us.
I slowly rose to my feet among the wreckage. My legs were shaky and my head was spinning, I wasn't even sure I was alive. I heard noise above me and looked up to see the two attack choppers coming in to attack again. I looked down and saw that the pilot was unconscious. It was all up to me now and I could not afford to fail. As the chain guns on the side of the gunships lit up I erected a wall around the chopper, protecting the pilot and myself. The bullets nearly shattered my barrier and left the glassy surface of my wall cracked in several places. I knew even before the choppers turned around that my wall would not withstand another attack and there was no place to run to. The attack choppers fired on us again, this time my barrier broke and bullets tore through my body.
I was a bloody mess lying on the ground and only barely managed to heal myself with a Cure3. As I rose to my feet again I could feel a new kind of power growing within me, a force I had not yet experienced. It felt as if it was coming directly from inside me, pushing me to unleash its wrath on my enemies. I let go and let it go in one mega-attack that shook the earth and nearly blinded me. A gigantic ball of seething plasma formed around my body. My vision was red and hazy so that all I could see were the two helicopters coming in to attack again. With a feral scream I unleashed my attack in a blinding flash that almost knocked me unconscious. When my sight began to return I looked around expecting the helicopters to attack again. Instead, all that I saw was a huge hunk of burning slag off in the distance with what looked like a rotor blade sticking out towards the sky. I was totally drained. I rummaged around in my bag of supplies and used an Ether and a Hi-Potion to boost my strength. With a heave I threw the unconscious body of the pilot over my shoulder and started walking back towards Junon while I still had the strength the walk. I was becoming dizzy and my step faltered. I was kneeling on the ground, but before I fainted I saw someone, or something approaching from a distance.
I could not be sure how long I was asleep, but when I woke I was lying in a clean warm bed in a small but cozy house. My head was still spinning and the voice was still ringing in my ear. The voice had come while I was asleep, it had talked to me, but for some reason I actually hadn't heard anything audible. I couldn't remember exactly what it had said, something along the lines of what the Sephiroth specter had told me. It had said that it was my subconscious, and that I was simply trying to tell myself the truth. I was more confused now than ever before. I could not be one of Sephiroth's slaves could I? And I wanted to know what JENOVA had to do with anything. What got me really depressed was that Aeris still had not shown up, and now I had no idea what to do. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and got up with a long groan as I stretched. I walked over to a sink and splashed water on my face. It occurred to me as I looked into the mirror, that I should probably shave soon if I didn't want a beard. With another groan I shuffled out the door and walked into town. The village was small and obviously poor. I saw some fish skeletons lying around and the smell of salt water saturated the place along with another scent, which I could not place. As I walked up the street an old man walked out of a door, "O my, so you're finally up young man. Good thing we got you into town as soon as we did, you were pretty wasted and the Shinra patrols went through that field with a fine-toothed comb. Yesire, you are one lucky boy, would you like to come in?" He motioned towards the door he had just walked out of and I followed.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Why, you're in Junon," he replied.
"I though that the city was Junon," I said, somewhat confused.
"No," he growled, "Those dirty Shinra built that city right on top of this one, didn't you notice the airfield? They erected it directly over our town, polluting everything." I had not looked up at the sky since waking up so I walked to the window and looked up. My host was correct; the sky was covered up by a huge flat piece of metal which was held up by gigantic steel columns. It reminded me of being in the slums again. I now recognized the scent; it was the stench of refuse and oil.
"So that's why this town is so rundown," I said. "But why have you treated me with such kindness?"
He smiled, "because you brought Lance back."
"Lance who?" I asked, "Who's Lance?"
"Why Lance is the name of the pilot you saved, the Shinra took him many years ago to train him because he exhibited excellent flying skills. By the way, thank you so much, his little sister Priscilla is like a granddaughter to me, and you have made her so very happy. They have not seen each other in a long time." He was beaming, "Ah, here they are now." I looked over to see the pilot, Lance, carrying a little girl in a swimsuit on his shoulders. They were both laughing together and looked so happy that I couldn't help but smile myself. Lance didn't look the worse for wear, a few cuts and bruises and a bandage wrapped around his head.
He looked at me, "Hello Mr. Hijacker, thanks for saving me but could you perhaps tell us your name?"
"My name is Zack, pleased to meet you under these happier conditions," we shook hands and sat down at the table.
"Well Zack," said the old man, "perhaps you could tell us what in the name of fried swordfish that attack was you used on those helicopters. We probably wouldn't have found you soon enough if it hadn't been for that blinding flash."
My memory started to clear a little, "It was my level 3/2 Limit Break, and I call it Holy Flare."
"Well whatever you call it, that was sure some fireworks show, you must be really strong to have a Limit Break that powerful," the old man said. He looked me straight in the eye and a look of surprise crossed his face, "why no wonder, you've got mako eyes! You're in SOLDIER!"
"Was in SOLDIER," I said, "I have no affiliation with Shinra anymore, not after what they did to me."
Lance spoke up, "Well whomever you worked for I sure am glad you got me out of that place, the only reason I stayed was because they threatened to destroy this town if I left. Now that I got kidnapped they have no one to blame but themselves." He smiled and tussled the hair of his little sister.
"You must be some pilot for them to pay so much attention to you," I said.
He smiled and straightened his shirt, "I'm the best, I was President Shinra's personal pilot until Sephiroth killed him and Rufus demoted all of his father's head staff, including me."
"Thank you for everything," I said, "but I really need to be going."
"Don't be silly," said the old man, "It's almost night out and you look exhausted, stay and rest one more night. You can leave tomorrow morning once you're rested."
There was no point to arguing, the old man had made up his mind and I was still tired so I stayed one more night. I talked with Lance and the old man, whom everyone called gramps. I learned some interesting things about what was happening in the world. Apparently President Rufus had begun to search for a place called the Promised Land near a huge glacier on the northern continent. I went to bed early and wondered if the voice would return tonight. I indeed had a visitor, but this one was more welcome. It was Aeris; it had taken her longer to regain her strength than expected. We talked about many things. I wanted to tell her about the voice but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do it. Finally we got to her instructions.
"Where should I go?" I asked her.
"I need you to head southeast from here, there you will find a canyon were you will encounter a friend who will help you on your journey," she said.
"But Shinra is heading north, shouldn't I follow them?" I asked.
"No," she said, "I have someone taking care of that situation, although he will fail, the experience will make him stronger. He will need all the strength he can get if he is to defeat the horrible enemy that threatens us all," she was frowning and seemed very sad.
"You mean Sephiroth right?" I asked.
Her frown grew deeper, "Not necessarily, there are things in this world that can manipulate and twist a persons mind. Sephiroth was the victim of a falsified life were no one could be trusted except himself. I do not blame him for what he did, and you shouldn't either. To destroy this evil we must strike at the root, then the rest will die."
"What's the root?" I asked.
"I'm not sure yet," I know it has something to do with the 'calamity from the sky', an ancient being of evil that destroyed my ancestors. I think that Hojo may have released it from its prison. If this is the case we are all in more danger than you could possibly imagine. I must go soon Zack so I will leave you one piece of advice, trust Lance, he is an honest and worthy man who can aid you on your quest." With this her spirit drifted off in the mist and I was left to slumber.