Life's Ups and Downs
"How do we get out of this place anyway?" Tifa asked, exasperated after travelling down countless tunnels one after another.
"There has to be some sort of ladder that takes us up to the slums," Cloud replied, not sure if they would ever find one, "They can't be completely cut off of the sewer system!"
"Maybe the ladders are concealed behind something?" Aeris proposed, eyeing the slime-covered walls nervously, as if something would jump out at them.
"I don't think so. I haven't seen anything that-" Cloud began, but cut off when he heard, quite distinctly, a loud splashing noise further down the tunnel.
"Is it just me, or did someone else hear that splash?" Tifa asked the rest of the group, staring avidly into the darkness.
"I heard it, but I'm not quite sure what it could be. I'm not aware of anything living down here except for that huge sewer beast." Cloud replied, his hand moving towards the hilt of his sword.
"Do you think it could be another one of those things? They seem to thrive on the sewage around here," Aeris squeaked nervously. Suddenly, without warning a shoddy trident came spinning out of nowhere, nearly spearing one of them. There was no doubt that something hostile was somewhere in that darkness.
"Try to blind it!" Cloud ordered, dodging another of the tridents be kicking off of the tunnel walls. Seconds later, bright flares of light were shot down into the darkness, illuminating the creatures. Cloud's first impression was that the things were huge tortoises that stood upright. Yet, they had a humanoid appearance, as if it were just a green, scaly human wearing a shell. There were so many that the three of them might not be able to hold them off. Frantically searching for a way out of the place, Cloud spied an ancient, rusty ladder. His eyes followed it up into another dark hole.
"Quick, let's get out of here while they're still dazed!" Cloud shouted, gesturing frantically at the ladder. Tifa and Aeris ran for it, scrabbling up the ladder like mice from cats. Cloud quickly followed them, hearing the whistle of the tridents flying through the air. Finally, the three burst out of a manhole in what seemed to be a junkyard. Slamming the cover back down, Cloud gazed at his surroundings, trying to ascertain where they were.
"Hey, I know where we are!" Tifa exclaimed joyfully, "We're in the Train Graveyard. The station is over there!" She gestured across the mess of destroyed trains.
"Great," Cloud groaned, "More obstacles. At least we know where to go now." With that, he took a deep breath and began to climb the closest train to him. The others followed him, relying on Cloud to get them through the maze of trains. Helping the girls onto the roof of the trains, Cloud stared at the maze of trains, trying the find a feasible path they could take without much delay.
"Come on, I think we have to go somewhere along this train and switch to that other one that's collided with this one. That way, we should be able to reach the train station that Tifa was talking about," Cloud planned, pointing as he mapped their path through the smashed trains. When he had completed dictating their path through the mess of steel and other metal alloys, Cloud and his companions raced as fast as they could by way of the path mapped out for them. Yet, when Cloud placed a foot on a seemingly sturdy metal crane arm, he felt the bridge creak ominously beneath his weight. Immediately, he backed off, wildly searching for another way across. At that moment, however, Tifa plowed into him, shoving him forward onto the bridge. For a second, Cloud thought that the bridge held his weight. Then, the other end of the bridge screeched as the sharp ends sliced through the weakened, rusty walls of an old compartment. Cloud rode the falling structure like a surfboard until the moment just before it made contact with the ground. At that crucial moment, Cloud pushed off forcefully with both feet and shot out of the billowing dust like a cannonball, landing on the other side.
"Cloud! Are you alright?" a voice wandered out of the clouds of dust as Cloud waited for them to dissipate. Slowly, the dust thinned out, and Cloud could see the faint outlines of the two girls across the gap that separated them. Waving his arms until they acknowledged his safety, Cloud scanned the entire length of the train for another crossing point. Finding one a hundred yards or so further down, Cloud pointed as he yelled back, "There's another place you two can cross down there! I'll meet you guys there!"
"No, you go ahead. We'll meet up at the station," Tifa shouted back at him. Cloud nodded and continued his course along the wrecked trains, taking huge strides in his attempt to reach Sector 7 as soon as he possibly could. About halfway to the station, Cloud heard distant sounds, mostly low-pitched booms. It sounds like they're having a war down there, Cloud thought as he leaped and sprinted along the trains like a trained athlete. He glanced back and saw Tifa and Aeris picking their way across the mess. Suddenly, a loud screech caused Cloud to stumble. Barely regaining his footing, he twisted his head only to catch a glance of a single, steel bird flying towards him. Cloud dove and hugged the roof of the compartment he happened to be standing on as the bird whooshed by him. He got to his feet, and as the flying conglomerate of blender blades glided towards him, he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
Sure that it was going to kill the thing that had intruded upon its territory, the steel-clad bird, whose kind created nests at places where lots of metal and ores were located, picked up speed, ready to gouge the fleshy thing. Yet, Cloud was more than ready to handle a solitary bird. Just before the claws could scratch him, he sidestepped and flashed out he sword, bringing it down in a vertical cut, shearing off its left wing. The bird, no longer able to stay aloft, wavered before losing altitude. Unable to control its flight, the bird plowed into the Plexiglas windows of the adjacent car, shattering the hardy material and coming out dazed on the other side. Hot blood was pouring out of the open wound as it lay there in agony. By this time, Tifa and Aeris had caught up to Cloud.
"What held you? You didn't decide to wait for us here, did you?" Tifa asked as Cloud shot her a look of annoyance, sheathing his sword. He pointed to the crippled bird and held up the shorn wing. "Oh, you didn't have to explain to that exact a degree," Tifa said weakly as blood dripped from the wing into a shallow pool of blood on the room of the compartment. Cloud tossed it away and said, "Let's go, we don't know how much time the people have before the plate comes crashing down." With that, they jogged the last few yards to reach the station. The booms became much more distinct as they neared the station.
"Barret and the rest of them are probably holding off Shinra in order to save the Sector!" Tifa exclaimed as they sped towards the chain fence that allowed them to enter the sector. With his steel shoulder pad, Cloud rammed the gate, violently knocking open the door. Seconds later, the other two burst into the area, where several spectators had gathered. Two guards, who seemed thoroughly appalled at the battle that raged above them that they did not think to either help Shinra crush the renegade group or drive the bystanders away from the action. They just stood there stupidly watching the flashes of gunfire above. For a moment, Cloud and Tifa stood there, astounded. Then, Aeris snapped them back to the real world.
"Hey you two! We have to stop Shinra from destroying the sector!" Aeris exclaimed. Suddenly, someone fell from the top scaffolding, where the controls for manipulating the pillar support strength was located. A great groan came out of the audience, shaking Cloud from his reverie. He leapt and tried to catch a wounded Wedge to break his fall, but as his hand closed in on his shirt, the cloth ripped, and a scrap came away in his hand. Since he was depending on using Wedges weight as he dropped back to the ground, Cloud tumbled through the air and plowed into a bunch of bushes a few feet away. Despite his own fall, Cloud could still hear a very clear thump and a very audible cracking sound, signifying something broken. Dragging himself to his feet, Cloud hurried over to Wedge, who already had Tifa and Aeris kneeling over him. Looking down, he saw a pair of frightened eyes staring back at him grow yet wider.
"Cloud… you came," Wedge choked as blood leaked out of his mouth. It appeared that Wedge would no longer be able to do much, if he was able to do anything at all, assuming he got out of this ordeal alive.
"Where does it hurt?" Tifa asked him, frantic to try and save his life. Wedge almost smiled and managed to choke out, "No matter… what happens…" Suddenly falling silent, Tifa asked him the same question over and over again.
"There isn't anything we can do about it," Cloud muttered, looking at Wedge's chest wounds and the blood that soaked his shirt, "We have to get up there and save anyone who's still alive! If Shinra manages to take over the pillar, there won't be anybody left here! Wiping her eyes free of tears, Tifa nodded and stood up.
"Could you go to a bar called Seventh Heaven?" Tifa asked, turning to Aeris, "There's a little girl in there called Marlene. Take her somewhere safe, would you please?" Aeris nodded gravely and disappeared down the street. "Hey, you two!" Tifa called, addressing the two guards, "Get these people somewhere safe! This place might fall at any given second!" The guards, surprised at hearing such a rational order coming from some little girl who lived in the slums, tried to usher the crowd away from the pillar without questioning the girl's authority. For just a second, Cloud and Tifa looked at each other, as if assuring each other that it was going to end up being alright, that Sector 7 would be saved. Perhaps they would have stared at each other for an eternity, but the sound of gunfire on the platform above them forced them out of their reverie. They nodded, just once, to each other and dashed to the broken chain gate. There they stopped, surveying the time it would take them to get to the top.
"It's going to take us at least seven minutes to get to the platform," Cloud announced, eyeing the steel stairs with distrust, "If we dash the way up, we might be able to get there before Barret's overrun. However, if we meet up with some resistance on the way..." Cloud trailed off, knowing that if they encountered any trouble on the way up, their chances of saving Sector 7 would be drastically reduced. Without another word, the two of them raced up the stairs, which were wound around the pillar. It wasn't long before they found Biggs, his body braced against the pillar, in terrible condition. Though not quite dead, numerous gashes, both long and deep, showed just how much pain he was enduring. Upon seeing Cloud, he tried to straighten himself up, but gave up in a howl of pain.
"Barret's on the platform with Wedge," Biggs told them. Jessie's further up the pillar. Shinra really did give us everything they had..." He laughed weakly, but suddenly gave a gawked at something beyond the railing. Cloud swiveled and saw what looked like a guy in a spacesuit with helicopter blades whirring above his head. Cloud noted that they were attached to the helmet, leaving the hands free. Suddenly, without warning, the helicopter trooper plunged towards them. Cloud quickly brought his blade up, hoping to jam the propellers. Yet, whether the blades were spinning too fast or there was some other force existent, Cloud's blade merely glanced off of the edge. However, the person was thrown back and he tripped on the railing, causing him to tumble head over heels in the air. Cloud took advantage of this situation to point the tip of his sword at the helpless trooper. Taking careful aim, Cloud loosed a continuous stream of electricity. Just as he expected, the trooper did not bother to insulate his suit, probably thinking it wasn't necessary. After a few seconds, something malfunctioned, and black smoke billowed out of the man's back. No longer able to sustain his position in the air, the unfortunate soldier fell down.
"Come on, we have to go," Cloud said, turning to his companions. Biggs shook his head, indicating for them to go ahead without him. "Well, in that case get somewhere safe just in case we can't stop Shinra," Cloud commanded as he and Tifa began to ascend again. Biggs feebly rose and dragged himself down the stairs. Not long after leaving Biggs to get to safe ground, a shower of bullets fell upon them. Though none managed to hit Cloud or Tifa, they recoiled nonetheless. Glancing up, Cloud noticed a chopper above the platform firing at something at the top. The bullets had apparently whizzed through the mesh platform and towards them.
"Better stay low to avoid the bullets. I don't think appearing on the platform riddled with them is going to cause any consternation among the enemy," Cloud said with the slightest hint of amusement. Quietly, yet quickly, the two rescuers sneaked up the stairs. After a few minutes of climbing, they caught a glimpse of Jessie in a heap. Tifa called out to her, but no response came back from the limp form. Upon reaching Jessie, they found that she bore scores of the same kinds of cuts that had brought down Biggs. Since she was unconscious, there wasn't much they could do about her.
"Should we take her with us?" Tifa asked. Cloud looked upwards at the pillar's support mechanisms.
"I don't think we can do that," Cloud responded slowly after a moment's thought, "It'd slow us down too much and I don't know what we'd do with her if we were engaged by Shinra forces at the summit." He didn't want to sound so cold, but there seemed to be no alternative. Tifa, seeming to understand, nodded and they made their way up the last few flights of stairs to the platform, where they found Barret plugging away at a chopper, which in turn was firing back at Barret. Quickly tossing Tifa some fire Materia, Cloud loosed a bolt of lightning at the chopper. Tifa, drawing power from the Materia shot what appeared to be a fiery blast from a dragon. The chopper, seeing the reinforcements, backed off and disappeared behind the huge pillar. Barret, who saw the magic whizzing by from behind, whirled around, still firing his gun, thinking that it was Shinra reinforcements that were trying to get him from behind.
"Hey, stop shooting you idiot!" Cloud yelled as he leapt aside to avoid the spew of bullets from Barret's arm. Barret blinked, not believing his eyes.
"What're you?" he drawled, "You, you're s'posed ta be dead, aren't ya?" Cloud smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. He'd forgotten that he was talking to someone with the IQ of a sewer rat.
"No, I'm not dead, as you can clearly see. Now, if you've stopped being an idiot, which I suspect you haven't, we're here to help you," Cloud retorted sharply. Suddenly, he noticed a dark silhouette fiddling with something in the shadows where the controls for the support mechanisms were. Darting past the two, Cloud pounced onto the figure. In the split second that it had to move out of the cleaving cut of Cloud's enormous sword, the suited person leapt out of the darkness, where Barret and Tifa were waiting for him. Nimbly, the person somersaulted backwards, putting more distance between him and the other three. For a few seconds, the opposing sides stared at each other, each side analyzing the situation.
"Who is this guy?" Barret growled, "He looks like he's goin' to a party or somethin'." Getting a good look at him, Cloud suddenly recognized the guy as the Turk he had met at the church.
"He's a Turk," Cloud told Barret coldly, "and probably more skilled than you are." Turning towards the Turk, Cloud said, "Remember me from the church?"
"So, it's you," the aloof opponent drawled as he brandished a baton, which didn't look very menacing at first glance.
"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Barret remarked loudly, "You think you gonna beat us with that stick o' yours?" Instead of responding to Barret's foolish remark in words, the Turk swung his baton towards Barret, loosing an electrical bolt towards him at the best point in the swing. Barret yelped as a couple thousand volts of electricity knocked him backwards. As if it were a signal, Cloud and Tifa rushed towards him. Blocking Cloud's downward cut with his baton and narrowly dodging Tifa's barrage of punches, the opponent managed out, "The name's Reno, think you can beat me now?" With that, he twisted so that Cloud nearly spliced Tifa in half had he not averted his cut so that it swished by harmlessly. With a wary eye, Cloud turned to face his enemy. Reno, he thought, Could it really be him? Wasn't he the one who ranked number 2 in the Turk Academy? I think it was all in the news a few years back…
Barret, getting up off the ground, turned to shoot Reno from behind. However, he underestimated his opponent's prowess once again. Deftly clipping his temple with his baton, Barret slid once again into a state of dazed stupor. Yet, this little maneuver cost Reno a painful punch in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Even winded, Reno tripped Tifa, for it was indeed Tifa who had given him such a blow in order to prevent what he suspected to be an even more painful follow-up attack. Swiftly retreating to catch his breath as Tifa crashed to the ground, Reno had to dodge another downward chop from Cloud's enormous sword. Pressed hard by both Tifa and Cloud, Reno struggled to keep his ground. Even one as skilled as he was couldn't stop the dual assault. Though they had not formulated any sort of plan, Cloud and Tifa worked as an almost seamless pair. Actually, it was only Cloud that followed after Tifa's attacks, making it appear to be a follow-up assault. Yet, their repeated barrages could not conquer him. It was a bloodless, though difficult battle as the two sides attacked and defended, neither side giving in to the other. All this time, Cloud wondered where the chopper had gone to Should it return, the tide of the battle would shift to his opponent's side unless Barret got up from his position on the ground. The three fought each other around the main column of the pillar for what seemed to be hours. Reno, knowing that he was going to lose this battle not because of skill but of endurance. The two of them would be able to endure the battle longer than he could. Cloud, seeing Reno's reaction rate slowing down, drove on relentlessly, slashing until the blade became a gray blur. Retreating quickly away from the two, Reno retreated to the bomb he was setting before Cloud and Tifa began their attacks. Quickly punching in a code, Reno glanced over his shoulder to see Cloud's cold eyes with a look of pure fury on his face. Pressing the activation key, Reno completed setting the bomb, but did not manage to bring his baton up in time to block Cloud's downward cut. Finally finding its mark, the sword cut a deep gash in his side. Hearing the sound of the chopper down below, Reno sped towards the edge, with one bloody hand covering the terrible wound in his side.
"You've got nowhere to go!" Yelled Barret, finally waking up from his state of stupor. Aiming his gun at Reno, Barret was about to pull the trigger on his gun when the chopper flew above the level of the platform. Two uniformed soldiers pulled the wounded Turk into the chopper. Ignoring everything else, Barret began to plug away at the chopper, but the bullets did not seem to affect the chopper.
"You don't want to be firing that so recklessly," A black-haired person dressed like a Turk said calmly, "You might hurt our little friend here." He motioned his hand towards a figure next to him.
"Aeris!" Cloud shouted out in surprise, raising his blade in response to the sudden change of circumstances. Seeing that the hostage was important to Cloud, Barret ceased firing too.
"Oh, you are acquainted with each other? Either way, we're beginning to understand each other now," the man laughed softly.
"Don't worry, she's safe," Aeris suddenly yelled at the three. The man made as if to hit her, but stopped inches before contact. He then turned back to Cloud, Tifa, and Barret. "Today has been our lucky day. We get to crush AVALANCHE in a single blow and we get the last Ancient. There is no doubt that we will be well rewarded for our efforts." With a hint of laughter in his voice, he motioned towards the bomb. "By the way, you might want to consider escaping, as your time has been running while we have been having our friendly chat." With that, the chopper soared away from the pillar.
For a second, the three stood rooted to the ground as the man's words sank in. Suddenly, Tifa broke into a mad dash for the panel. "Cloud, I don't know how to stop this thing! You have to come and help!" she called out after staring at the complicated controls for a few seconds. Dreading what the outcome of this might be, he ran over to see what the problem was. One glance told him the situation was hopeless. He'd never even heard of the likes of a bomb like this, not even when he was with Shinra.
"Barret! Find a way down from here! We don't have much time before it blows!" Cloud shouted as he looked for a way down. "There isn't enough time to get down the stairs, so we're going to have to find another way down." Barret, spying a thick steel cable hooked onto the railing, bounded over to it. With a Herculean effort, Barret wrenched the cable free.
"Here, we kin use dis to swing down and outta here!" Barret pronounced proudly, holding up the hook. Cloud looked at the cable, and immediately saw a problem with Barret's proposition.
"Barret, that thing's not going to save us. Swinging from that thing would mean we'd still have to fall about 40 meters!" Thinking hard, Cloud analyzed the situation with the tools they had. If they heated it until the cable became long enough, yet still hold their weight, they might be able to swing down from the platform and through the gate, which looked no bigger than a coin from where they were.
"Quick, Tifa, start heating the cable. I'll try and keep a part of it cool so that we can hold on to it!" Cloud ordered, grabbing the cable away from Barret and focusing ice magic to cool his part of the cable. Tifa, on the other hand, poured fire magic into the rest of the cable, increasing its internal temperature by hundreds of degrees. Sure enough, the rope lengthened to twenty, thirty, then forty meters.
"That's enough for us to go, Barret, you hold on to this end of the cable and we'll climb on top of you," Cloud said quickly, as a deep rumble sounded from within the pillar. Quickly piling on top of Barret, the pillar's supports retracted, causing the pillar and the section of plate above to wobble violently. Explosions broke gargantuan chunks of steel and chunks of stone from the larger pillar right next to it. Taking off as they were showered with pebbles, the three swung through the air, shielding themselves from the rocks as they steered themselves towards the gate. At Cloud's command, Barret let go of the cable so that the momentum they had would carry them through the opening to freedom.