Zaland Fort City.
The town square was filled with people looking forward to the fight that is about to start. The Zaland Fight is an annual event whereby challengers from all over Ivalice, and possibly even the neighbouring countries gather at Zaland Fort City to test their mettle and skills. The risk of death was there, but if you thought that you were losing, you could always give up and pay a few thousand gil to leave. The reward was 10,000 gil. It was the most exciting event in Zaland, and all its citizens would be there to witness this.
Cloud Strife was late. He woke up late after practicing his sword skills to the wee hours of the night. Sheathing his Materia Blade, he broke into a run. The route from the alleyway where he was practicing through the night to the town square was only about a five-minutes-or-so run. Hoping that he would not be disqualified for being late. He hurried to the town square.
He arrived just in time before the judge decided not to wait any longer and start the semi-finals of the Zaland fight without him, meaning he lost the battle by default. He caught his breath and got ready his sword as the judge blew the whistle that signified the start of the battle.
He looked up to see his opponent-a Blade Master from a country north of Ivalice, Evagel. They rushed towards each other after twenty seconds of planning out an attack strategy. The Blade Master rushed forward and slashed down with his gigantic Earth Sword, which was blocked by Cloud's Materia Blade. Cloud then stepped back, causing the Blade Master to stumble from the weight of the Earth Sword. Then, he dashed forward to stab the Blade Master on the torso. Sensing danger, the Blade Master executed, 'Earth Pillar', which a pillar of sand rushes up from the ground to block an attack before braking apart.
Cloud stabbed into the pillar of sand, which broke off. By that time, the Blade Master had already recovered from the first strike. He found that Cloud was interesting and asked for his name.
"Cloud Strife. You?"
"Just call me Gerald. Come on. Let's finish this battle quickly."
The battle resumed, as the two fighters began to use their special moves more often. The audience behind were cheering the fighters on. Loud screams could be heard from all directions. Finally, both fell flat on the ground with exhaustion. The winner would be the first to stand up and deal the finishing blow. Slowly, Gerald climbed up, leaning on his Earth Sword. "The doom of a planet! Crush Punch!" Gerald screamed. Cloud heard the chant and rolled away, just as the energy solidified at where he was lying. Using the last of his energy, Cloud put the last of his strength into the final technique. "Cherry Blossom!" Cloud shouted, and before Gerald had any time to react, energy started to burst with life from the Materia Blade and covered Gerald, blasting with the three elements of fire, ice and thunder, a magnificent show of power.
The spectators of the match immediately burst into applause at the fight's results as Cloud stood up wearily to show that he was the victor. 5 seconds later, he fell onto the cold, hard floor in exhaustion. A chemist went forward to use a Phoenix Feather on Gerald, which worked for him. The chemist then applied a Hi-Potion on the wounds of both the battle-weary challengers. They both moved out of the battle ring, Gerald returning to the inn where he was staying and Cloud preparing himself for his next battle against the challenger from the other ring.
Not long after, Cloud's opponent came towards the ring. Cloud looked at his opponent in the face, and nearly choked. Another look on the weapon on his back made Cloud absolutely sure that the person he was about to do battle with was his formerly dead friend, Zack, also from his world. Zack went forward to meet his opponent. If he was surprised to see Cloud, he did not let his surprise show. Their eyes met in the ring, and as the judge said, "Fight!" Zack ran forward, swinging his gigantic Buster sword down in a huge arc, meeting Cloud's Materia blade halfway down.
Cloud wanted to ask Zack how he managed to survive the shots by the Shinra soldiers but before he had the chance to ask, Zack pulled back his sword and thrust forward with it, straight towards Cloud's torso. Cloud stepped aside just in the nick of time and decided to ask about Zack after the battle. Concentrating energy into his Materia blade, just as Zack dashed forward with his sword ready to thrust him again, he unleashed the charged up energy and slammed the floor, sending a beam of energy flying to Zack, who jumped in time to avoid it. In the sky, Zack mumbled some incantations and a green crystal orb from a crystal bracelet on his hand flared up. Suddenly, three bolts dropped from heaven and struck Cloud. He had the passing sensation of every nerve in his body pricking into his skin. Anger rose within him, and he rushed forward, recalling a spell he learned from Ramza on his journey with him quite a while back. Zack touched down and sprinted forward to strike Cloud down.
Just as the sword's blade was about to make contact with Cloud's body, it disappeared, and an old man holding a staff appeared in the sky, raining thunderbolts on Zack. At the end of the lightning rain, Zack was left lying on the floor, struggling to get up. "This is to pay back for striking me with that 'Bolt' spell."
Jumping back to his feet, Zack cleaned off the dirt on his trousers, smiling all the time. Deciding to end the battle as soon as possible, Cloud charged up energy quickly and aligned it in his Materia blade. Zack was still brushing the dirt on his shirt as Cloud was charging up energy. Soon after, Cloud stopped. There was a tense moment of silence in the crowd and the fighters. It was the deciding moment.
Cloud released the stored energy in his Materia blade, which rolled into a ball. Soon, Cloud ran towards Zack to unleash his strongest attack, "Omnislash". Just at that moment, a yellow orb on Zack's Buster sword lit up and energy gathered at an amazing speed on the Buster sword. With extreme speed and power, the energy trailing behind the two swords, a beautiful array of light was formed, and loud clashing of swords could be heard, even though no one could see what was happening. Soon, everything ended. The lights disappeared, as though it was never there in the first place.
What were seen were two men lying on the cold, hard floor, panting with wounds in the exact same areas, pumping out fresh blood, dripping on the floor drop by drop. At this sight, the judge decided that the fight was a draw, and that the prize award of 10,000 gil would be divided equally between the two contestants.
Chemists immediately tended to Cloud and Zack, applying potions to the wounds. The crowd cheered the two fighters very loudly. They then began leave the fighting arena, which was to be cleared away by noon. Cloud took Zack to the inn where he was living at, the 'Blue Barrel' located at the East of town, and they started to talk about the past.
"At the peak near Midgar, where I was bringing you to, I fought off the Shinra soldiers, if you could remember. However, I was grievously injured and died, if I'm not mistaken," Zack said. "However, somehow, when I opened my eyes, from the darkness, I was in this world, in a forest somewhere around here. My wound was gone and my Buster sword in my hand. I stumbled into this town and lived here for quite a few years, witnessing the end of the Lion War. I bought myself a house with the money I earned from being a mercenary during the War. However, a thunderstorm struck two weeks ago, which destroyed my house. I was reduced to living in alleyways. With the rest of my savings, and some borrowed money, I entered this competition to earn back money. This is briefly how I passed my past few years. You?"
Cloud told Zack about how he was transported here via the dimension machine, about how he helped Ramza to help bring and end to the Lion War, and the past few months traveling around the country. As Cloud finished his story, a pigeon flew over him, landing a small, crumpled sheet of damp paper on his lap. The pigeon then flew to the table and landed there, looking left and right. Cloud opened the piece of paper and read the few words on the paper. Then, he told Zack, "My friends have asked for a gathering at Goug Machine City. Do you want to follow? There could be a way to earn some money there."
"Alright" Was the answer. They left the town the next day, heading towards Goug Machine City.
The town square was filled with people looking forward to the fight that is about to start. The Zaland Fight is an annual event whereby challengers from all over Ivalice, and possibly even the neighbouring countries gather at Zaland Fort City to test their mettle and skills. The risk of death was there, but if you thought that you were losing, you could always give up and pay a few thousand gil to leave. The reward was 10,000 gil. It was the most exciting event in Zaland, and all its citizens would be there to witness this.
Cloud Strife was late. He woke up late after practicing his sword skills to the wee hours of the night. Sheathing his Materia Blade, he broke into a run. The route from the alleyway where he was practicing through the night to the town square was only about a five-minutes-or-so run. Hoping that he would not be disqualified for being late. He hurried to the town square.
He arrived just in time before the judge decided not to wait any longer and start the semi-finals of the Zaland fight without him, meaning he lost the battle by default. He caught his breath and got ready his sword as the judge blew the whistle that signified the start of the battle.
He looked up to see his opponent-a Blade Master from a country north of Ivalice, Evagel. They rushed towards each other after twenty seconds of planning out an attack strategy. The Blade Master rushed forward and slashed down with his gigantic Earth Sword, which was blocked by Cloud's Materia Blade. Cloud then stepped back, causing the Blade Master to stumble from the weight of the Earth Sword. Then, he dashed forward to stab the Blade Master on the torso. Sensing danger, the Blade Master executed, 'Earth Pillar', which a pillar of sand rushes up from the ground to block an attack before braking apart.
Cloud stabbed into the pillar of sand, which broke off. By that time, the Blade Master had already recovered from the first strike. He found that Cloud was interesting and asked for his name.
"Cloud Strife. You?"
"Just call me Gerald. Come on. Let's finish this battle quickly."
The battle resumed, as the two fighters began to use their special moves more often. The audience behind were cheering the fighters on. Loud screams could be heard from all directions. Finally, both fell flat on the ground with exhaustion. The winner would be the first to stand up and deal the finishing blow. Slowly, Gerald climbed up, leaning on his Earth Sword. "The doom of a planet! Crush Punch!" Gerald screamed. Cloud heard the chant and rolled away, just as the energy solidified at where he was lying. Using the last of his energy, Cloud put the last of his strength into the final technique. "Cherry Blossom!" Cloud shouted, and before Gerald had any time to react, energy started to burst with life from the Materia Blade and covered Gerald, blasting with the three elements of fire, ice and thunder, a magnificent show of power.
The spectators of the match immediately burst into applause at the fight's results as Cloud stood up wearily to show that he was the victor. 5 seconds later, he fell onto the cold, hard floor in exhaustion. A chemist went forward to use a Phoenix Feather on Gerald, which worked for him. The chemist then applied a Hi-Potion on the wounds of both the battle-weary challengers. They both moved out of the battle ring, Gerald returning to the inn where he was staying and Cloud preparing himself for his next battle against the challenger from the other ring.
Not long after, Cloud's opponent came towards the ring. Cloud looked at his opponent in the face, and nearly choked. Another look on the weapon on his back made Cloud absolutely sure that the person he was about to do battle with was his formerly dead friend, Zack, also from his world. Zack went forward to meet his opponent. If he was surprised to see Cloud, he did not let his surprise show. Their eyes met in the ring, and as the judge said, "Fight!" Zack ran forward, swinging his gigantic Buster sword down in a huge arc, meeting Cloud's Materia blade halfway down.
Cloud wanted to ask Zack how he managed to survive the shots by the Shinra soldiers but before he had the chance to ask, Zack pulled back his sword and thrust forward with it, straight towards Cloud's torso. Cloud stepped aside just in the nick of time and decided to ask about Zack after the battle. Concentrating energy into his Materia blade, just as Zack dashed forward with his sword ready to thrust him again, he unleashed the charged up energy and slammed the floor, sending a beam of energy flying to Zack, who jumped in time to avoid it. In the sky, Zack mumbled some incantations and a green crystal orb from a crystal bracelet on his hand flared up. Suddenly, three bolts dropped from heaven and struck Cloud. He had the passing sensation of every nerve in his body pricking into his skin. Anger rose within him, and he rushed forward, recalling a spell he learned from Ramza on his journey with him quite a while back. Zack touched down and sprinted forward to strike Cloud down.
Just as the sword's blade was about to make contact with Cloud's body, it disappeared, and an old man holding a staff appeared in the sky, raining thunderbolts on Zack. At the end of the lightning rain, Zack was left lying on the floor, struggling to get up. "This is to pay back for striking me with that 'Bolt' spell."
Jumping back to his feet, Zack cleaned off the dirt on his trousers, smiling all the time. Deciding to end the battle as soon as possible, Cloud charged up energy quickly and aligned it in his Materia blade. Zack was still brushing the dirt on his shirt as Cloud was charging up energy. Soon after, Cloud stopped. There was a tense moment of silence in the crowd and the fighters. It was the deciding moment.
Cloud released the stored energy in his Materia blade, which rolled into a ball. Soon, Cloud ran towards Zack to unleash his strongest attack, "Omnislash". Just at that moment, a yellow orb on Zack's Buster sword lit up and energy gathered at an amazing speed on the Buster sword. With extreme speed and power, the energy trailing behind the two swords, a beautiful array of light was formed, and loud clashing of swords could be heard, even though no one could see what was happening. Soon, everything ended. The lights disappeared, as though it was never there in the first place.
What were seen were two men lying on the cold, hard floor, panting with wounds in the exact same areas, pumping out fresh blood, dripping on the floor drop by drop. At this sight, the judge decided that the fight was a draw, and that the prize award of 10,000 gil would be divided equally between the two contestants.
Chemists immediately tended to Cloud and Zack, applying potions to the wounds. The crowd cheered the two fighters very loudly. They then began leave the fighting arena, which was to be cleared away by noon. Cloud took Zack to the inn where he was living at, the 'Blue Barrel' located at the East of town, and they started to talk about the past.
"At the peak near Midgar, where I was bringing you to, I fought off the Shinra soldiers, if you could remember. However, I was grievously injured and died, if I'm not mistaken," Zack said. "However, somehow, when I opened my eyes, from the darkness, I was in this world, in a forest somewhere around here. My wound was gone and my Buster sword in my hand. I stumbled into this town and lived here for quite a few years, witnessing the end of the Lion War. I bought myself a house with the money I earned from being a mercenary during the War. However, a thunderstorm struck two weeks ago, which destroyed my house. I was reduced to living in alleyways. With the rest of my savings, and some borrowed money, I entered this competition to earn back money. This is briefly how I passed my past few years. You?"
Cloud told Zack about how he was transported here via the dimension machine, about how he helped Ramza to help bring and end to the Lion War, and the past few months traveling around the country. As Cloud finished his story, a pigeon flew over him, landing a small, crumpled sheet of damp paper on his lap. The pigeon then flew to the table and landed there, looking left and right. Cloud opened the piece of paper and read the few words on the paper. Then, he told Zack, "My friends have asked for a gathering at Goug Machine City. Do you want to follow? There could be a way to earn some money there."
"Alright" Was the answer. They left the town the next day, heading towards Goug Machine City.