This story takes place after 'The Zero Factor…'. It is placed only about half of a year after the Zero factor had taken place, and after Samus pulled her life together, yet she struggled and was searching for the truth to the mystery of the man who had killed so many innocent people.
The light sound of her breathing came forth from inside the helm of her armour as she stood tiredly in that wasteland that was the hazardous mountains of Noldar. She shook her head slowly as he vision began to blur slightly, he voice trembling as she spoke to herself, being physically exhausted at this point in time of her search. "Damn, I thought that bum told me he saw some metal men up here. The Bastard…He must've lied." She then slammed her foot down towards the ground, causing a bit of dirt to fly up around her in a small puff of a cloud. She shook her head a little bit at this as she continued to climb the sides of the mountain; these paths not being very stable so she continued to go light and swift over the rugged terrain of this hellish mountain. As she continued onwards through the mountains a small gleam of light hit her visor as she looked quickly over to her left side, spotting a beam of light reflecting off the top of something, something far off, perhaps this was the place she was looking for? She didn't know but she turned her course towards the light, grasping the side of the mountain as she began to scramble over the rocks, weariness taking it's toll as she continued her ascent over the rocks until after a few hours she had finally made it to the large metallic structure that was there.
She closed her eyes as she fell to her knees, breathing in heavily, the air up in these mountains was thinner than ever, and her oxygen supply was running low so she had switched it to take in the air around her, this has been causing her to use more strength to move. Her hand slid to the ground as everything began to get blurry; She slid to her feet as she stumbled back a little, looking towards the double doors of the building as they opened slowly. Her eyes went wide at this because she had been fooled. Inside the building was a generator, one far more advanced than one she had seen herself. She quickly ducked to the ground as she could see that it was producing too much energy, it was about to explode, simply because the energy waves that were flickering outwards from it. Hitting the ground she covered her head with her arms as the generator reached its critical mass. Unable to bear the energy in for any longer, the energy was released in one burst as it engulfed her and the structure, pain racking her body all over as it overpowered her, knocking her out cold. As she lay there unconscious, the generator continued to pour out the tremendous amount of energy, the plasmatic energy becoming so incredibly great that the entire area where she was in, about the size of a football field was engulfed in this light. In one split second afterwards, it had vanished without a trace, and Samus along with It.
Samus had been engulfed in a time-rift split open by the extremely large amount of energy that was contained in such a small place, all the metal shards from the building crumbled around her. Laying on the ground in the middle of a grassy field she lay on her back now, knocked out, but unharmed except fatigue. Slowly her eyelids fluttered open. She coughed once as she looked up at the blue sky, but something was blocking her view, something very dark, she slid her right hand to cover the light that made this shadow appear as an illusion. As the figure came into her vision it was the face of a beast! A wolf like beast was upon her, or so it seemed. She drew in a breath of shock as she rolled across the ground, quickly leaping to her feet as she aimed her plasmatic cannon at the figure. It lowered it's stance and growled at her slightly as she then noticed two figures behind it, a tall man with spiky blonde hair with a fair complexion and a large broad sword. Also, there was a shorter, dark skinned man with baggy clothes and a cannon on his arm. The blonde drew forth towards Samus and the beast as he extended his hand ahead of the beast. His lips parted slightly as his voice came out, calm and cool, seeming like this was nothing very shocking for him as he spoke. "Red, Knock it off, I don't think this guy is a threat! He's not ShinRa." Red looked up at the blonde man from his crouching stance as he relaxed a bit and sat on his hind legs, looking back to the burly man as his gaze shifted back to the blonde once again. "Alright, If you say so Cloud." Cloud nodded to Red as he looked back towards Samus as he raised a slender blonde brow, extending his right hand towards the metallic person ahead of him. "Greetings, Sir, I am Cloud, This is Red and the man behind us is Barrett." Samus nodded at this, not really in the mood for battling, so she extended her metallic gloved hand towards Cloud's and grasped it slightly, shaking it a little as she looked at the three of them. "Call me, Samus." Cloud didn't seem to be thrilled about meeting her, or really caring if she was going to join them, attack them, or just leave. He shrugged as he began to speak with her once more. "So, Samus, Are you from Wu-Tai? Or did you just decide to visit here and get knocked out by something?"
She felt a tad bit of rage building in her system at this. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stood there, still not revealing herself to the strangers as she felt one thing from them that she didn't sense from most of the people she has met in her journey. She felt that she could trust them with at least the slightest bit of information on why she was here. Nodding she spoke back to them, her voice sounding to them like a muffled robotic voice due to the helm of hers. "I am here by accident…Listen, Why don't we go somewhere 'concealed' and talk about this?" Cloud nodded as he turned without another word and began to head north towards the small town that was in the distance of their sight, the town of Wu-Tai. Upon reaching Wu-Tai they finally entered Turtle's Paradise Bar as they all sat around the rather small table, being the only occupants at the time, the three of them had began to talk about Samus' journey and quest for the Robot that had slayed so many people on her planet. But about half way through the entire group had burst into the bar and walked over towards their three comrades, Tifa, Vincent, Yuffie, Cait Sith, and Cid. Of course, Aerith would have come along with them but she had been slayed by sephiroth. After introductions were made, the party sat around the table. Samus began her story from the beginning as she told them about everything that had happened on her expedition to the planet up until Shadow had destroyed the entire town and turned it into a pile of rubble, blood, and guts. The party seemed slightly shocked that something could do something that horrible. Cloud smacked his hand down on the table as his voice rose up in fury. "I bet that bastard Sephiroth has something to do with this!!" He fumed with anger as Tifa and Cid attempted to calm him down by forcing him down into his seat and in a few minutes got him to quiet down. They then began to explain to Samus about Meteor and about Sephiroth, the Ancient and Jenova. Samus' drop about hit the floor with this amazing tale that they were telling her. She nodded and stood up as she grinned to herself, hearing about this made her want to battle this guy, just to see if the beings on this planet were as strong as Barrett and the others had said they were.
Heading out of Wu-Tai, The group began to head towards Midgar in the High-Wind. Like the group had planned on doing before hand. They were going to Raid ShinRa. As the high-wind approached the ShinRa building they were informed by their ShinRa spy that Diamond Weapon was heading for ShinRa. Agreeing that they should stop the WEAPON before it could damage Midgar and the inhabitants they landed the high-wind outside of Midgar as the party prepared themselves for battle against one of the many monster beasts that protected the planet from pure evil, but killed innocents instead. Samus spoke to Vincent as Cloud and the others were to take the front lines, the long range attackers staying slightly behind the others as Diamond began to approach. "Vincent, Was it? Do you think we can win against WEAPON?" Vincent only nodded at this but a moment later he spoke back to her as Diamond began to get closer and closer, the other preparing to cast their magic and send off their attacks as Diamond was now in battle range. "Yes. Let's go." Vincent then ran forward to the others as Diamon began to fire energy at them, scattering them as they ran to dodge the bursts, Cloud rushing up with his sword, which was virtually in-effective against it. Tifa couldn't do anything but heal as she ran away frantically casting protective and healing spells on Red, Cait, and Cloud who went head to head with Diamond. Vincent went to take his place beside Barrett as they began to unload rounds of bullets into Diamond's hide. Diamond roared in pain as the bullets began to cause Damage. Turning it's sights on Vincent and Barrett, Diamond began to fire energy waves at them all, Except the one who wasn't attacking it yet, Samus. Samus laughed to herself as she saw the group rushing around, trying to defeat the monster. She rubbed the blaster on her right arm as she spoke to herself. "Don't fail me now." She then burst into a run, head on towards Diamond as she burst past the energy blasts, moving past vincent and barrett as she began to draw the fire from Diamond, she quickly burst past Cloud and the close range attackers. She laughed as all the enegry was now concentrated on her this time, she dodged to her left and right, leaping this way and that as she dodged all the bursts. Reaching the base of Diamond she leapt into the air on it's knee as she began to leap up it's body, out of firing range as she finally leaped to it's skull. Leaping in the air from this point she saw as everyone began to assault it at once. She aimed her cannon downwards as she fired off a charged plasma blast at it's shoulder, causing some damage as the creature howled in pain. The creature began to retreat as Samus came crashing into the ground in a crouched stance. She slowly rose as she looked towards the horizon where Diamond began to fire off it's waves of energy, more powerful at Midgar. Midgar counter attacked by using the sister ray against the WEAPON as it pierced the creature's body and the energy hit midgar, demolishing some of it and hitting the top of the ShinRa tower, taking out a few floors of the tower in the process.
Cloud breathed in heavily as he looked to Samus and flashed a quick smile of victory as he spoke to the team. "Let's go guys, This is our only chance to break in!" They nodded and began to run over the landscape back towards the high-wind which lifted off and circled over Midgar in the matter of mere seconds after boarding. The team then equipped their parachutes as they went to the deck of the high-wind and pushed off the ground, leaping into the air as they flew towards the ground, fluttering through the air as their parachutes caught them and let them glide into the city. As they landed Cait Sith continued to lead them through the sewers of Midgar towards the ShinRa tower until they met up with the Turks. "Aha, We meet again! You guys are going down!" Elena said with her normal cocky accent. Cloud shook his head, he didn't need this senseless battling as he waved his hand in the air. Samus looking quite formidable in those confined spaces as she motioned for Cloud to move on. "Come on you three punks, Let them go and take ME on!" The turks looked to Samus now as the team burst past them, The turks had no chance of catching up with Cloud's group so they engaged combat with Samus as Samus rushed towards Elena first. Reno came in close with his cattle-prod like weapon as Samus avoided this, spinning her body as she ran full-force right into Elena, shoving her fist into Elena's gut, knocking her into the air as Elena whimpered in pain, almost knocked out from the tremendous blow as Samus leapt into the air with Elena. Samus extended her right leg as she smashed it into the side of Elena's head, sending her flying into a nearby pipe, knocking her out cold. Samus landed on her feet as she turned to face Rude and Reno who were by now, quite angry that she knocked out one of their allies. "You…You…Bitch!" As Reno shouted this he rushed Samus solo, a mistake that would soon be realized as Samus ducked and slid to the ground, as she slipped underneath Reno she extended both of her legs in one quick action, smashing Reno in the ground and sending him into the air, smashing his head into the ceiling as he fell to the ground in a heap of pain that paralyzed him from moving for quite a while. She slide back to her feet as she came to face Rude who cracked his knuckles and rushed Samus, quickly sending a fist flying towards her. She grinned as she grasped the fist in mid-air, clamping down on it with her own strength and slowly Rude's knuckles began to give way until she cracked it, a loud popping noise was heard as she closed her hand on the bloody mass which was Rude's hand. Without a word she kept hold and swung her leg through the air, smashing it into Rude's head as he went hurdling into the closest wall, knocked out by pain, even before he hit the wall.
The group had come to find out that it was none other than Hojo who had been controlling the cannon for the second shot. They continued to make their way up towards the cannon as they reached it and Hojo began once more to rant and rave about Sephiroth and revealed to them that he was none other than the father of the true Sephiroth. With this he began his assault on the party, Looking like a crazed Scientist, Vincent came forth with his rifle and sent a single bullet to pierce Hojo's heart as he hit the ground, quivering as his body began to shake violently. The body seemed to change as it began to grow and change color, morphing into a horribly deformed monster-like hojo as the party attacked him, smacking back the tentacle like hands as Cloud rushed in, piercing Hojo with his blade as he ripped it into the air, slicing him in half as he rushed back to the group. Hojo's body once more took to shaking again, He fell forward as the body began to reform, Slowly and little by little it had reformed to a more snake looking Hojo, like a Anthro beast as the party withdrew a few feet, Hojo had worn them all out with their attacks as they were all tired. Hojo then raised his hand as he began one of his powerful magic spells. The air wisped around him for a small amount of time as it suddenly burst out violently, His skull seemed to sink down towards his body as blood began to bubble up from the corpse, leaping off him with a blood stained boot was none other than Samus, a laugh was emitted from her helm as she looked to the group of worn out warriors. "Did you miss me?" She turned towards the cannon as she cursed, the shot had to be stopped. The party slowly ended up diverting the cannon's energy as they turned their sights north, sighing slightly as they knew that this quest was far from over.
Sephiroth lay beyond the northern lands in that crater which the beam that slayed Diamond revealed after eliminating the energy barrier. Days passed as the gigantic Meteor came closer and closer to the team's precious Gaia. Time was beginning to run out, Samus trained the warriors in a few of her moves and how to dodge more efficiently. The team continued this vigorous training until the fateful day came for them to go to the crater. Soon the high-wind approached the crater, landing outside of it as the team decended into the depths of this place. Slaying many monsters along the way the group split into several teams. Samus deciding she could handle her own, she dis-banned the group as they all slowly made their way towards the core of all the evil, towards that which was sephiroth. The team waited and waited but still there was no sign of Samus as they were at the last decent into the core of the planet to fight Sephiroth. Cloud led the brave warriors head on into the battle as they descended along the jagged rocks that floated by the energy of the life stream. After a long hard battle with another form of Jenova they seemed to fall downwards into the lifestream itself until they found what they wanted. Holy, the thing that would save the planet, the thing that they were yearning for. But Sephiroth was the problem, He was mocking them as his laughter filled their minds, their ears, their very being. Soon enough the shape of sephiroth appeared as the party engaged battle. Surrounding him the party began to assault his first form with barrages of slashes, gunshots and magic spells. The weary sephiroth smacked them away like flies, But being resilient the party countered with their own might, soon slaying the first part of Sephiroth. Light seemed to engulf them as the scenery changed to that of a divine heaven like land. Sephiroth in his mighty angelic form raised his hand as those cold Mako eyes glowed with hatred. He then began to summon the ultimate spell that he had in his arsenal as a powerful meteor slammed down towards the party, seeming to have lost all hope the meteor slammed towards them with vengeance. With a mighty shot of plasmatic energy Samus once again saved the party as she fell to the battle ground beside them and blew on her smoking cannon as the nova was blown away, her eyes narrowing at Sephiroth as his face turned to that of a beast in fright. Samus then burst past the others and ran straight towards Sephiroth as her armour began to glow a dull greenish color as she leapt into the air, energy charging all over his body as she pushed her own body forward, making her gain more momentum as she spun furiously "Screw Attack!!" She shouted as the plasmatic waves shot over her body, slamming right through the middle of Sephiroth, She landed behind him as she turned to face the party. She snickered to herself as the mighty angelic man began to disintegrate into nothingness.
As everything went black, the party split their ways as the energy from the life-stream engulfed Samus, shocking her violently as she hit the ground, spinning, faster and faster as lightning seemed to smash into the ground around her. Slowly everything in sight came into view once more as she was back on Noldar. She blinked at this, wondering what had happened. Was this a dream or did she actually go to that distant planet. Shaking her head she stood up and began to descend the mountains once more.