"Cloud, this is not a good idea...!" Aeris was ducked down behind an old car. Cloud walked out from behind a truck and looked down the street; calling it a canyon would have been more accurate. Piles of buildings meshed with loose debris to make it a narrow canyon-way. Even with all the rain around them, even with the wind smacking into the canyon with force, even with the thunder in the sky, the only sound that bounced off those canyon walls seemed to be those footsteps.

"Look Aeris, Boomer's not slow. Look how fast he caught up to us...we need to try it! Hopefully this will slow it down even more... " Cloud held his sword in front of him; right down the middle of his body. "I hope stops it" Cloud muttered. Aeris clenched her staff and nodded; Cloud could not see her but that did not matter. Cloud walked the monster round the corner; the rain could have been acid and not slowed this beast down. "Come here you!" Cloud screamed out; Aeris pushed off the car and went running away from the on-coming battle. She stopped near a huge over-turned train and looked at Cloud.

"Be careful!" Aeris called out. Boomer began running towards Cloud at once; Cloud pivoted on his feet and went running towards Aeris at once. Aeris spun her staff around and watched. Cloud turned 90 degrees and jumped behind a truck. "Lightning 2!" As soon as the words left her mouth and the lightning bolt left her staff, Aeris jumped down behind the train and covered her head. The lightning bolt rammed right into the old car's gas tank. The loud explosion did not catch the monster's attention; the car that blind-sided it did. And the monster ended up getting slammed in between the canyon side and the metal car. Cloud ran out from behind the truck and climbed up the train.

"Nice shot! Let's get the others, now!" Cloud jumped down; Aeris was already sprinting away from the train. Cloud followed her lead and sprinted through the rain. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the car flying into the air; it hung in the air for all of two seconds before it smashed into the train. "Guess that wasn't enough..." Cloud narrowed his eyes; the rain rivering down his face. "Nothing is enough..."


Rays of light danced on Dallin Overton's fake oak desk. The flickered between the colors of the rainbow; red and blue would turn into orange and purple in a heartbeat when his eyes would move a degree. He tapped his fingers on his desk as he watched his free light show. "Ten more minutes and I can get to a golf course..." Dallin leaned back into his old chair and looked out the window. As he leaned his hands up to place them behind his head, a gag got jammed into his mouth. Dallin tried to lean forward; his body did move but all but not the way Dallin had hoped. He fell back into his chair; Reno pulling the night-stick away from his shoulder.

"Sit there and shut the fuck up" Reno sat on his cheap desk. Dallin spit the gag out and stood up. Rude grabbed the man's shoulder and squeezed. Dallin nearly tipped over and fell back into the chair. "I told you to sit asshole. Stand up again and we'll shock you til you drop!" Dallin looked at Rude; the statue standing above him waiting to dislocate a shoulder. He looked forward at Reno again. And he saw light again. But it was just yellow and it was coming from the very dangerous night-stick in a very dangerous man's hand.

"What on heavens could you want?" Dallin felt his lungs working overtime to keep his body full of air. He tried to pull some confidence into his lungs as he sucked int he air too. "Look, I got an important golf game I will be needing to get to-"

"Shut up or I'll break your jaw" Rude ordered. Dallin looked up; that confidence was already out of his lungs and out of his body. Dallin shifted around in his chair; his eyes locked on that night-stick. "We will not be long"

"Yeah; in fact we only have one question for you Overton. So just sit there and gasp you fat-bitch" Reno pushed the night-stick a whole inch closer. Dallin moved deeper into the chair; his massive belly hanging out in front of the rest of him. Rude put his hand down on his shoulder; the black leather of the glove still finding a way to make this man squirm.

"You know Head of City Safety Reeve. Correct?" Rude looked out the window; the light bouncing off his sunglasses. Reno began to swing his night-stick in his hands; the electric glow at the top never left Dallin's eyes.

"Yeah, he got my job. He is always being difficult. He's not from Junon...he's a blasted outsider..." Dallin hissed out. Rude began to force his fingers in deeper into the man's shoulder blade. Dallin dug his own fingers into the chair's arms. Reno stopped spinning the night-stick and sliced through the air. The stick stopped an inch from Dallin's face; the fat man was too afraid to even blink.

"So you wanted to kill him?" Reno pressed the charger button on his night-stick; a few bolts of pure energy jumped off the stick at Dallin. The tiny bolts landed on his nose; Dallin slammed his eyeballs shut.

"Why would I kill him...?" Dallin squirmed; the sparks from the night-stick burning on his nose and the fingers slowly separating his shoulder told him he had no escape.

"You just listed the reasons you tubby-bitch!" Reno finger pressed the charger again; the golden shower of sparks covered his face again. Dallin felt tears coming down his eyes; his body was gasping for breathe.

"I'm no killer!" Dallin screamed out. Rude let go of his shoulder and took a few steps forward. Reno stood up and walked over to the window. Dallin let out a timid breathe and relaxed his shoulder blades. "I'm glad you listen to reason..." Dallin scratched his nose a second then relaxed his shoulder once more.

"No, you are not a killer" Rude pulled out his gun and aimed it right at Dallin's nose. "You did hire them though" The bullet broke right through Dallin's nose; blood began to pour out where the huge thing had been. Reno chuckled and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, not as good as us" Reno turned off his night-stick and grinned. Rude looked over at Reno; his expression was harder than the cement on the road below them.

"Let us go help Elena with the bodies" With that Rude was walking towards the front door. Reno sighed and placed the night-stick in its holder along his belt.

"The fun is all over"


"Cloud..!" Aeris' boots were dragging along the wet ground. Her running turned into a slow jog. "Cloud, you know I can't keep this up...!" Aeris' slow jog was becoming a fast-paced walk. Cloud halted his own running efforts and turned around.

"Aeris, we can't stop now...this place is pretty wide open!" Cloud felt the rain drops rolling through his hair and down his back. And while the thunder kept trying to grab someone's attention, the only sound the two of them heard where the moans and footsteps of the killing machine following them. "We got to find the others...!" Cloud ran back through the storm and grabbed her wrist. "We sure as hell can't fight it here" Cloud turned and ran; Aeris running because she wanted to keep her arm whole.

"The others can't be that far off..!" Aeris looked over her shoulder; the mixture of clouds and rain was making it tough to see anything. But then the lightning filled the sky and in the distance she could see the huge monster; its distorted face and perfect body stalking forward. Distracted, Aeris tripped Cloud's feet up; both went tumbling to the ground in a heap. Cloud felt his face smack of the wet cement; Aeris' knee slamming into his back was just as pleasant. "I'm sorry..!" Aeris tried to stand up but her legs were tangled with Cloud's; she nearly fell over before she rolled to the left and looked backwards. Heavy footsteps were rushing towards them. Cloud rolled over and held his sword upward. Boomer appeared through the storm; his body moving like an unstoppable train. Aeris' eyes went wide; she held her staff upwards desperately. Growing closer, the monster held its rocket launcher downward at them.

"Oh no you don't!" Tifa's foot came out of no-where; it hit the beast right in the chin. Boomer staggered backwards and hissed out its horrid nose. Tifa rushed forward and kicked the rocket-launcher arm to the side. Boomer's arm only moved a few degree; it came swinging right back at her. Tifa ducked down and sprinted off towards the side. "Come on...!" She ran right towards the canyon wall. Aeris got to her feet; Cloud merely got to one knee and watched. Through the rain and mist they saw Tifa running towards the wall; Boomer running after Tifa, and Phoenix standing on top of the wall. Tifa spun around; the water allowing her to slide and spin all at once. Phoenix came off the top of the wall; his aim dead on Boomer. But unlike before, he did not catch the monster by surprise; Boomer swung his rocket launcher upward at the perfect moment. "Flip!" Tifa screamed out in horror; the boy went flying towards the others. Phoenix skidded along the wet surface until he sprung back up to his feet.

"This thing should be dead!" Phoenix gasped; his mismatched eyes looking like he was seeing a ghost. "I killed it!" Boomer turned around and stared at Phoenix a moment. Then, it reared its head back and let out a in-human scream.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The beast's arm were flung to the sides. The scream shook the wall behind Tifa; she looked up and quickly ran to the side and out from behind the beast. She sprinted towards her friends; her eyes locked onto the monster the whole time.

"You guys made it...!" Aeris screamed as Tifa got near; her voice filled with all sorts of hope. Tifa put her back to them and looked at Boomer; water dripping down her entire body from the rain.

"Yeah, couldn't let you two have all the fun. He does not seem to happy..." Tifa commented; she saw that the monster was dead-locked on Phoenix. And Phoenix seemed dead-lock on the monster. "Flip, he's paying attention to just you-"

"I will handle this. Let the battle be joined" Phoenix's staff appeared in his hands. He spun it around and dropped back into a defensive stance. Aeris stood there; her fingers beginning to lose blood from squeezing her staff so hard.

"You're crazy!" Cloud shouted from the side. "And besides...did you call him Flip?"

"That's his nickname...look, we can't let him do this-"

"It will die by my hand!" Phoenix rushed forward at the monster; who snapped out of its trance when it saw the rushing boy. Boomer held its rocket launcher right at the boy and let fire; the missile came right at him. Phoenix jumped right over the missile, putting his staff back in his sleeve in mid-air, and began to front-flip towards the beast. He landed on his feet and punched the monster right in the chest. Pain set into his fist; before he could look at his hand the monster swatted him away with his free hand. Phoenix flew backwards into the cement ground.

"Fire 2!" Aeris' broke her silence; a stern look on her face. The monster's back caught on fire for a moment; the rain helped put that out. Boomer turned around and faced them; he instantly held his rocket launcher up at them. Suddenly Phoenix jumped onto the rocket launcher arm; his left hand glowing silver with power.

"You will die!" Phoenix jammed his hand into the rocket launcher; his blast shook the rocket launcher all around. Boomer screamed out loudly; the first scream he had let out in pain since the fight had started. Phoenix smirked; that did not last long. Boomer spun around and ran a few feet, then slammed his rocket launcher into the wall. Since Phoenix was between the wall and the rocket launcher, he took the brunt of the blow. Boomer lifted the rocket launcher up again; Phoenix weakly held on. So Boomer slammed its massive arm into the wall again. This time, Phoenix was stuck into the wall.

"Damn you!" The Ultimate Weapon smashed right into Boomer's left shoulder blade; Cloud pushing down with all his might. Boomer, after letting out another painfully cry, spun around and landed his huge boot into Cloud's midsection. Cloud stumbled off to the side but held onto his sword. Boomer went to swing its rocket launcher at Cloud, but Tifa ran up and threw her knee right into the monster's midsection. Before Boomer could react Tifa cart-wheeled next to Cloud.

"Run guys! Come on!" Aeris screamed out from the distance. "Lightning 3!" Aeris let loose a huge array of lightning bolts from her staff; each one hitting the monster. Cloud and Tifa went running towards Aeris; who had already turn around and began running.

"We're gonna leave your-"

"No, he can self-heal!" Aeris grinned; her eyes glowing their soft green glow. "Plus, we all know he loves to make an entrance...!" Aeris was already gasping for breathe, but she keep pushing on. Tifa looked over her shoulder; the monster was sprinting towards them. The hisses emitting from the monster were overshadowing the raindrops pounding on the cement.

"I think its gaining on us...we got to make a plan!" Tifa looked forward again and pushed her legs even harder. "Because I'm not sure this thing feels pain!" Cloud shook his head and looked ahead; all he saw was a dead empty street ahead of himself. Cloud looked back but this time grinned.

"Hold our ground here!" Cloud spun around on the ball of his foot and held his sword out. Aeris slipped and skidded to a stop while Tifa cart-wheeled and looked back at Boomer.

"Why here?" Their voices came at once. And they saw Boomer coming up at them. Then they saw Phoenix run up beside him and throws his staff right in between the monster's legs. Phoenix jumped over the monster as it rolled on the ground and landed right near it's head.

"Kuso-tare! Big Bang Attack!" Phoenix screamed; the huge energy ball flying off his hand right into its face. Phoenix smirked as a huge cloud of cinder-dust blew into his face. The rain helped keep the dust down. A huge bolt of lightning hit in the distance; its light let Phoenix see Boomer's huge fist ramming his stomach at the last second. Phoenix's jaw flung open as the punch pushed into his ribs. The monster tossed him off his fist and tried to base-ball swing him with the rocket launcher; but instead it hit Cloud's sword. Phoenix's knees hit the ground; Tifa came running up and sprung off his back. Her foot caught Boomer right in the upper-chest and knocked him over.

"Gotcha!" Tifa rode him down before jumping off to the side. Cloud lifted his sword up to delivery a death blow but Boomer had already rolled backwards and gotten to his feet. Cloud and Tifa both took a few steps backwards. Phoenix rolled back exactly like Boomer did and stood next to his sister. Phoenix threw his arms down at his side.

"I will destroy it-"

"Calm down!" Aeris grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "We need your help..." Boomer held up his rocket launcher at them; more specifically at Phoenix. Phoenix took a few steps back; Aeris spun her staff around as a clear shield went up in front of her brother "Barrier!" A clicking sound came from Boomer's rocket launcher. But a rocket did not come from it; Boomer shook his arm a few times and then roared. Phoenix gave the monster a dark grin.

"Smart thinking" Cloud called out to the boy; who acknowledged him with only a nod. Lighting smashed into one of the remaining telephone polls in the city; it smashed down right between them and the monster. Everyone took a reflexive step backwards and watched the fire erupt on the pole. The rain-water began to hit the fire and smother some of it. Smoke rose upwards into the parade of rain falling from the sky. And through this mixture of smoke, fire, and rain came Boomer. He stood in the flames and aimed his rocket launcher again. Sparks flew off his arm and into the mass of flames all around it.

"It's busted" Tifa sneered at the monster. Boomer grabbed its rocket launcher and yanked on it. He let out a massive roar and yanked on it again. "What is it doing?" Tifa screamed. Boomer let out a hiss and yanked the rocket launcher off its arm; most of it that is. For a large sharp piece was left on its arm. Boomer walked throw the flames and pointed his new weapon at them.

"I believe he is angry" Phoenix noted. His staff appeared in his hands and he dropped back into a fighting stance. Aeris took a step back and held her own staff in front of her. Tifa crouched down into her defensive position while Cloud held his sword in front of himself. Boomer glared at each one of them before its body began to emit a sound. Not a hiss, not a moan, not a groan. It was laughing. At them. Each one of them.

"Fuck you!" Cloud screamed loudly as he ran at Boomer. Tifa put her hands up to her face and took a step back. Cloud jumped in the air and swung his sword at Boomer. Being used to this move, Boomer ducked down and head-butted Cloud in the ribs. Leaning up with the former SOLDIER on his shoulders, the monster went running forward and leaped towards the sky. Air and blood rushed out of Cloud's mouth as he acted like a cushion between the ground and the huge monster. It lifted its new weapon into the air and brought it downward; a silver blast from no where knocked to the side and into the cement.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaa-" The beast's scream was cut off as Tifa threw her whole body into him; the monster staggered off Cloud and back into the fire. Tifa ran forward and upper-cutted the monster; her body giving off a quick energy burst. Boomer fell back into the mixture of flames and smog.

"Let's go...!" Aeris bent down and helped her brother throw Cloud over his shoulder. After Tifa meet them the three of them went running in the other direction. "We need a plan. Very badly, because we can't keep trying to attack him like this"

"No kidding...!" Tifa felt the sickening mixture of sweat and rain mixing on her face. Peering through the rain she saw their new ally carrying her oldest ally. "Aeris, you're gonna have to heal him up! Because I'm pretty sure the three of us can't handle this stupid thing alone!" Phoenix pivoted on his ankles and went running to their right. "Where you going?"

"Staying in the open will draw its attention faster. He will need some time to recover" Flip spat the words out quickly; a hint of fatigue in his voice. His running body was heading towards a few small buildings that had survived; they had been spared from Meteor's wrath. "This area will give us an advantage in the fight" Phoenix slowed down and walked into one of the buildings. Aeris looked over her shoulder; in the distance she heard the beast's roar.

"Tifa, we need a plan" Aeris looked over at her friend. Tifa shook her head; a few loose rain drops flying off her hair. Aeris threw her staff over her shoulder; the pink string snapping against her. "Tifa, Cloud is knocked out and I'm not sure Phoenix is...well, a planner. It's up to you here" Aeris pleaded with her. Tifa closed her eyes and looked at Aeris. A tear mixed in with the water dripping down her face.

"I don't know!" Tifa threw her arms down at her sides. "I don't know! We've done everything we can do and besides giving it a fucking sword for an arm, we haven't done shit!" Tifa watched as Aeris turned away; both of them went silent for a moment. "I'm not pissed at you...I'm just..." Aeris looked back at her friend; both of them knew what Tifa was going to say. "I'm scared of this thing"

"We both are" Aeris quickly stated. She rung her hands together and looked at the building; her brother emerged without Cloud. "Let's get ready though. Cause I did not come back to life to die against some big monster that looks like it belongs in a bad horror movie" Aeris turned and walked towards the building; her walk full of purpose. Tifa nodded and loosened her right glove.

"It's ending here" Tifa strapped it back on tightly. Hearing the roar in the distance, she turned towards the way they had come and waited.


"A local bartender, Raymond Joseph, and one of his customers, Bill Henshell, attacked and killed Executive Member Dallin Overton today. The two attackers then got into a fire fight with two guards outside the office, killing all four of them..." Reeve put the newspaper down and looked upwards. Rude stood there; his mirror sunglasses giving Reeve a good look at himself. "You guys have not lost your edge. Not one bit"

"We were not dealing with the elite of the universe here. A fat politician, two stupid guards, and two bar junkies are not what I consider a dream team. Still, it was nice to see it actually all work like I planned" Rude put his hand on his jaw and pushed it upwards. A loud crack emitted from the jaw as he stopped pushing and looked forward at Reeve again. "Plus Overton was worthless. He ate away more money then he ever saved Junon"

"So now what you guys going to do?" Reeve folded the newspaper up and tossed it to the side. When he looked up, he knew by Rude's expression he was not getting an answer. "Alright, so I guess I'll see you guys when I see you" Reeve stood up and extended his arm towards Rude.

"That is correct" Rude shook Reeve's hand and smirked. "Whenever we show up again. But know, we are even" Rude's smirk vanished when he finished speaking. "So no more favors" Reeve flopped back into his chair and stared forward. Rude walked out of his view then out of his office.

"So much for friendship, eh?" Reeve picked up a different section of his newspaper and began to read. "I'm telling ya, some people..."