Martial art mayhem contiunes in the magical world of pretty female warriors in sailor fukus accompanied by cute furry animals all fighting for the men (and woman) of their dreams. Sorry, wrong story. That's my Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon crossover fanfic. I don't own the characters, the game, or rights thereto. I do own a copy of FF VII and the soundtrack, but nothing more.

It was not a beautiful day, the sun was not shining, and there were no damn birds singing a chirpy damn song. It was dark, rainy, and occasionally bolts of lightning struck across the sky, providing the only real illumination in the shadow of Mt. Corral. By mid-afternoon it was infinitely better. The torrents of rain had been reduced to a heavy drizzle, there was more light to see by, and the lightning bolts were only striking nearby trees. On top of that, there was a huge gale that made it hard to hear. All in all, thought Vincent, Yuffie was taking it rather well. Only every other thing she said were complaints. The other half were insults directed to Cloud for starting the mess, the ever-present rain for being wet, the mountain for being so difficult to climb, or him for just for being there. On the plus side there was no problem finding water. He only hoped they could find a cave to dry off in. Vincent could live with wet clothing, but Yuffie most likely would not stand for it. And she would probably have him stand outside in the rain if he found a cave.

"Hey Vincent? What was that?" Yuffie yelled to be heard over the wind.

"What was what?"

"That noise."

"What noise?"

"Just listen."

Vincent stopped and did as Yuffie told him to. At first he heard nothing but the wind. Then there was a loud cry.

"It must be thunder."

"No lightning. I think it came from over there." Yuffie pointed to a small ravine a short distance from where they were. "I'm gonna check it out."

"Wait for me."

A few minutes later, Yuffie was standing at the entrance to the ravine. A small stream cut its way down the middle. The stream was the only thing that could be seen clearly through the murky darkness.

"There's nothing here. Lets move on."

"Okay."

As they turned to leave, the same cry that drew them there sounded again. Without the interference from the wind, Vincent and Yuffie could now discern what had made the noise. Shadows detached themselves from the walls and moved into the light. As the huge creatures revealed themselves, Yuffie gave a small gasp. While Behemoths were dangerous enough by themselves, the sheer number of them surprised Yuffie. There must have been dozens of them.

"What do you think?"

"I think it's like some big, bad, ugly family reunion."

"I meant run or fight."

"With this many? I think it's obvious. Let's get outta here!"

From behind them came the thunderous cry again. Several more Behemoths had crawled out of whatever hole they came from. Completely trapped, Vincent pulled out his gun. Yuffie followed suit with her Conformer. Standing back-to-back, Vincent and Yuffie faced their opponents. With a cry from Yuffie, the battle began.

With her great speed, Yuffie dashed between the ranks, slashing the monsters, while dodging their claws. Vincent stood back and disabled the ranks from afar, joining Yuffie in her evading dance from the few who slipped thru.

Vincent and Yuffie had the greater skills necessary to win. But the Behemoths had the numbers and sheer power. So bit by bit, Vincent and Yuffie began to tire, while Behemoths who hadn't fought yet rapidly replaced those who fell in battle. It was only a matter of time before one side fell. Soo the Behemoths were low on fresh allies, while Vincent and Yuffie could not keep up the pace for much longer. In between a leap, Yuffie lingered too long and was smashed from the side by a huge tail. Sailing through the air, she hit the far side of the stone wall and collapsed.

"Yuffie!"

Vincent tried to reach Yuffie's side, but the Behemoths had decided to concentrate their efforts on the last surviving enemy. There was nothing Vincent could do. He would fail and Yuffie would die. All because he couldn't protect the ones he cared about. Something snapped in his mind. Feelings rose from deep inside Vincent, anger brought new strength. His limit had been reached. Vincent stepped aside and let a true nightmare surface.

With a roar that froze the creatures in their tracks, the Galian beast awoke. Sniffing the air, it watched the assembled Behemoths. It roared again and charged the group. Leaping into the air, the Galian beast launched several Beast Flares onto the Behemoth's backs. While their hides burned and they were distracted, the Galian beast ran to Yuffie and picked her up. Checking on the Behemoths, it quickly scaled the walls and disappeared.

Several hours later Yuffie woke up. She was wet, sore, and tired but alive. What happened? She remembered getting hit and the wall. I think someone called my name. She couldn't remember anything else. Groggily, Yuffie looked around, expecting the inside of a Behemoth's stomach. She was only faintly relieved. She was in the back small cave with smooth rock floors. The entrance was only a few yards away, and Yuffie could see that the thunderstorm had turned into a blizzard.

While Yuffie was trying to recuperate, the Galian beast was searching for food. It was a keen hunter and quickly captured a rabbit. On its way back to the small cave it had found, the Galian beast passed a Snow creature. The Snow was trying it's best to turn the mountainside into a winter wonderland. Avoiding it, the beast climbed its way to the cave.

Just as Yuffie had worked up enough courage to look out the entranceway to see where she was, the Galian beast popped its head up. While Yuffie moved back as fast as she could to the back, the beast just watched. Climbing into the cave, the beast put the dead rabbit onto the floor and backed away. Yuffie was a tad confused. What did it want? She had never seen any of Vincent's transformations last this long. They were supposed to only stay like that while in battle. Feeling a little faint from hunger Yuffie decided.

"If he's not going to eat it, that means more for me."

Setting up quickly, Yuffie cleaned and gutted the rabbit. Realizing she had no fire she looked around. The Galian beast, which had been watching quietly, stood up. Yuffie tensed, but relaxed when she saw it meant no harm.

"Okay, let's try some communication. Let's see, I need some firewood. Understand? Fire wood. Got it?"

The beast cocked its head and nodded. Turning around it left and headed into the snowstorm. While it was gone, Yuffie shivered in the back of the cave as the snow piled up outside. She cursed her luck at being stuck in a blizzard with a half-wit. And she couldn't yell at it, who knows if it would take offense. Vincent was at least predictable. Except when he surprises you. Yuffie waited for half an hour before she started to drift off to sleep.

Yuffie had a dream. She was in a mountain looking for a Chocobo with blue eyes and a radical haircut. She was riding a purple dragon, trying to run away from a young girl that looked just like her. There was a bright figure with long hair that was trying to help her but she kept hitting it. She fell off the dragon and her younger self was poking her. Rolling over, Yuffie hit the hand away. But it kept poking her. Finally Yuffie woke up to yell at the girl, and found herself face to face with the beast.

In the simple mind of the Galian beast, it could not understand why the female was yelling. All it had done was wake her up. It had done what she told him to do, but she was angry. If the Galian beast was capable of true thought, it probably would have wondered how it could understand her in the first place. Since it couldn't, it didn't worry. Backing away, it tried to indicate the fire it had made before waking her up. Moving to the entrance, the Galian beast started to pile snow up and over the entranceway, effectively sealing them in.

Yuffie watched the Galian beast pile snow. She turned back to the now cooking rabbit. Why was it closing the cave off? Was it going to eat her? That made no sense. If it wanted to eat her, it could have done so while she was asleep. What was it doing? It must be closing the cave off from the cold. Why was it doing this? What could it be motive?

What was it doing? The Galian beast could not figure it out. It had a thick hide, so the cold wasn't a problem. Finishing its task, the beast laid down a short distance from the fire. Watching the female closely, the beast slowly tried to understand why it was doing what it was doing. The other self, the dark man, now asleep in his mind, wanted to protect this female. But, he was angry too. He saw her as something important to him, but was upset by it. Like a delicious prey that had spiky armor that hurts your mouth when you try to bite it's head off. The Galian beast decided to just make sure she was okay and to let the dark man deal with it when he woke up. Then the Galian beast could sleep some more, and dream.

Yuffie finished eating what she could. Sighing contentedly, she leaned against the cave wall. She watched the fire slowly die. Looking over, she caught the Galian beast watching her. It shifted its gaze towards the fire. Yuffie giggled lightly at its almost human embarrassment. Scooting over, Yuffie scratched behind its ears. The beast nuzzled up against Yuffie.

"You know? You act a lot like Vincent. You're both quiet, shy, you listen well, and you obey orders. But you're more appreciative then he is. Vincent would just mope and angst and just be really depressing. You on the other hand, just need to be scratched right. I wish he would get over that Lucrecia. He would be real handsome if he didn't look so glum all the time. But you'd better not tell him that. You got me? Good."

The Galian beast wasn't paying attention. Little did the words mean to him. They were just words. Still, he did plan to keep this from the dark man. He might perceive him as a rival and act accordingly. And a fight to the death with ones self leaves no winner, no matter how strong the combatants. Slowly it came out of its blissful haze as the female stopped scratching. Looking up, it saw that she was asleep. Seeing how she was shivering slightly, the Galian beast moved closer to her and put its head on her shoulders. Tired from the day's ordeals, the Galian beast fell asleep and dreamt of what the dark man would find in the morning.

Hope you've enjoyed it so far. Please read and review.