Again, I apologize for the slow rate at which I am writing this. College finals are rough. So is working for your education. Anyway, here's something for you to chew on.

Shout-outs:

X-Over: I have some ideas about how things will get explained and how meetings will go. I haven't forgotten about Ed and Ein, even though the Bebop crew appears to have done so. Appears, of course. Thanks for the offer of web links, but I think I'm okay in the research department. I do have to admit that capturing the Bebop spirit is a pretty big challenge, though.

Cloud drew his sword and looked at the rest of the team. They readied their own weapons in silence and nodded. Cloud nodded, and with a shout, leapt through the hole, swinging his blade over his head in a powerful downward slice. As the rest of the team jumped through the jagged opening, a tortured metallic screech met their ears. Barret brought his flashlight to bear on the source of the sound, and illuminated Cloud with his sword buried deeply in a computer console. The red lights that they had mistaken for eyes were indicator lights, now swiftly dimming away to nothing as sparks jumped from the huge gash in the metal.

"I think it's dead, goldilocks." Barret quipped, lowering his weapon.

"Yeah, I suppose." Cloud tugged the weapon free and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, at least we have power." Red XIII said. "Maybe we can turn the lights on."

He moved to another console and peered at it. After a minute or two, he twisted a dial with his paw. A low vibration came through the floor, rising in pitch. When it held steady, Red punched another button.

The lights flickered and came on, though half of them shorted out immediately in showers of sparks. They revealed a room that was once apparently a secondary control room for the Shin-Ra building. It was wall-to-wall computers, with several places where the ceiling had collapsed, spilling rubble onto the floor. A door on one side of the room was marked 'stairway' and had an arrow pointing up.

The illumination also revealed the creature sharing the room with them. It was ten feet tall and had skin that resembled granite. It had apparently been sneaking up on them, because it was about three feet away from Cloud. The monstrosity bellowed in rage and hammered Cloud with a massive fist. He flew across the room, slamming into the wall and sliding limply to the floor, leaving a body-shaped impression in the soundproofed metal. His sword clattered noisily on the floor beside him.

It took the team a second to realize that arguably one of their best fighters had just been taken out. That gave the creature the second it needed to backhand Cid back out the hole they came in. A dull thud signaled his meeting with the heavy pipe wall.

That snapped Barret out of his shock. "You bastard!" He bellowed, opening up with his Gatling gun. The bullets slammed into the creature's stomach, pushing it back but not penetrating its thick hide. It bellowed back and advanced into the hail of lead.

A ball of red fur, teeth, and claws pounced on the creature and immediately slid off as Red was unable to find any purchase on its stony exterior. He succeeded in distracting it for a second, though, as it stopped its advance to shrug him off, tossing him into an expensive piece of computer hardware.

"Take this, you meanie!" Cait Sith shouted. From nowhere, a double line of tiny soldiers appeared and advanced toward the enemy, firing their tiny weapons. The creature didn't even pause as it ground them underfoot.

Barret looked over at Tifa, the only one yet to join the battle. She was kneeling, with both hands in front of her, palms pressed together, deep in concentrating. Still blasting away with his gun, he bellowed at her. "Not to rush you, Teef, but we could sure use some help about now!"

The monster came closer, roaring in defiance. Barret began backing away, still unloading lead at it. Cait was fumbling with Materia, trying to find one that would work on the creature. Red was nowhere to be seen. Barret backed up another step, and felt the cool metal of the wall at his back. Then, his gun clicked empty.

"Oh, shit." Barret fumbled at his belt for a reload while ejecting the spent magazine. He knew he'd never make it. The beast drew back its fist, preparing a blow that he knew would put him out of the fight. "Tifa! Help!"

Tifa's eyes opened, a flame burning in their depths. Smoothly, she rose to her feet. One hand fell away while the other formed a fist before her. The rage and focus in her eyes seemed to transfer itself to her fist as it began to glow with an intense golden light. She took one step forward and drew her fist back. Another stride brought her to the beast's side. Its fist began to move forward as if it were in slow motion, still oblivious to her presence. A third step and she pistoned her fist into the creature's gut as hard as she could.

For Barret, it seemed like a blur. One moment, he was preparing to die, the next, Tifa was standing before him with one fist out, and the creature had made a new dent in the room. To his surprise, he saw a purple fluid seeping from a crack in the creature's midsection.

The monster levered itself out of the dent in the wall, but Tifa gave it no respite. She was on it in a flash, hammering it with her fists, spin kicking it, power driving it, and generally giving it hell. Finally, she drew back her fist and the same energy burst into being around it in a nimbus so bright it hurt the eyes.

"Leave my friends alone, beast! Final Heaven!" She screamed, slamming the creature again in its vulnerable gut and finally blowing it through the wall and back into the pipe. It slammed into the wall and slumped there, not moving. Purple ichor flowed down its skin and mixed with the scummy water in the pipe. Tifa dusted off her hands and turned around. Barret was staring at her.

"What?" She asked, as if beating the stuffing out of a ten-foot rock monster was an everyday occurrence for her. Barret shut his jaw. Of course, not that long ago it would have been an everyday occurrence to him, too, but a few months of trying to rebuild his town had apparently softened him up.

"Remind me to never make you mad." He muttered, and they turned to attend to their teammates. Red, realizing that his natural weapons would be useless here, had already been casting Life on Cloud, so all Cloud needed was a couple of cure spells. A similar treatment got Cid on his feet, and they all went back into the room.

Cloud rubbed the back of his head and grimaced, looking at the creature that Tifa had downed. "I do hope there aren't any more of them."

"Think that's what scared off every other critter?" Cid asked, stretching his shoulder where an old war wound became stiff every time he was magically healed.

"I sure hope so. Tifa was the only one that could even put a dent in it." Barret said. "If there's anything worse, we're gonna have to hightail it out of here."

Cloud grimaced again. "Much as I hate to say it, I think you're right." He turned around and indicated the stairs. "Cait, will you do the honors?"

"Sure thing, boss!" Cait cheerfully hopped over to the door and pushed it open. The cat part of his body jumped through the opening and looked around.

"All clear!" It said, hopping back on the mog's head. Cait pushed the door open the rest of the way and went through, the rest of the team following.

"Lookit that!" Barret whistled appreciatively. They had reached the site of the crash, and an impressive sight greeted them. The spacecraft that had landed was vaguely boat-shaped and fully as large as the freighter that made the run between Junion and Costa del Sol. It had crashed into the back of the building and was half-buried in rubble, but the sunlight shining in through the ruined glass made the scene of the destruction eerily beautiful.

"Shall we go investigate?" Red asked, indicating a breach in the skin of the craft near the bottom.

"Lead on." Cloud said. The group moved toward the opening, but Cloud stopped when he heard something metallic bounce off of his boot. Following the rolling sound, he spotted the culprit: a very elongated bullet jacket. He stopped and picked it up.

"What is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked. The entire team had stopped and was looking at him. He held up his find.

Barrett frowned. "Say, isn't that…?"

The child moved through the darkness, at one with the night. It was seeking something. What exactly it was seeking it wasn't sure, but it would know it when he came across it. It moved swiftly across the grasslands, shifting from shadow to shadow. The creatures that roamed these lands it avoided easily, they weren't its goal.

Then, a new smell crossed its nose. It intrigued the child, and it followed it. Soon, it saw strange shapes on the horizon, a lot of them. The smell was coming from there. It slunk into the midst of them, and realized that they were not the source of the smell, it was instead emanating from inside the shapes. Reasoning that if there was something in the shapes that there must be a way to get to that something, it picked a shape and walked all around it.

Finally, it chose its point of entry. The relatively soft wood gave easily before the child and it slipped into the darkness. It followed the smell into the structure, stalking the object of its curiosity like a feral cat, until it passed through one final wooden panel and found a creature shaped like itself lying on a padded surface. The child leaned over the creature, curious. The man's eyes snapped open, and he started up in surprise at a stranger leaning over him. The child's instincts took over, and the man only managed to get out one noise of surprise.