Katrina was working Vincent over, and Zeo and Quindon were glaring at one another, both severely wounded. Tifa watched helplessly as 'Cloud' held her back from the fight. Vincent fired the gun again but it clicked.
"Out of bullets?" Yuffie's clone asked slyly.
"I'll kill you without the gun," Vincent growled, tossing the Death Penalty away and gathering magic for a spell. Katrina grinned then leapt up and Vincent followed her figure with his eyes. She landed behind him with a grunt and Cait Sith's duplicate suddenly threw Zeo at her. The white-haired boy tripped over the crouched girl, dropping his weapon as Vincent turned and cast the spell. Katrina rolled away, letting Zeo take the full force of the Fire3 spell. He screamed in pain.
Tifa made a strangled cry in her throat. Damien laughed, lowering his lips to her ear.
"You humans are all the same–slow and stupid."
Tifa growled, abruptly throwing herself backward into his waist. Not expecting this, Damien stumbled and released Tifa so he could balance himself. She ran toward Zeo and Vincent, screaming.
"Zeo! Vincent! They're crazy! They killed Hojo!"
"What!" they both looked up at her voice. Tifa ran faster, shivering as a dark shadow suddenly passed over her head. When she glanced up, it was gone. Zeo gave a scream and Tifa shot her gaze back to the battlefield. She stopped dead.

"I told you, Tifa," Damien smiled cruelly, lifting Zeo up by his neck.
"Let him go!" she shrieked.
He chuckled, shaking his head: "I told you humans were slow...now I'll prove they're stupid."
Vincent cast a Bolt3 spell at Damien. It neutralized harmlessly against his silver plate armor, which sparked and then dulled. Damien glanced at Vincent and the red-cloaked man choked on a sudden gush of blood that had welled up in his throat. Katrina and Quindon stepped aside and watched silently.
Tifa screamed as Vincent fell to his knees, clutching at his neck as it swelled to almost twice its normal size. Blood dribbled from his mouth in a dark stream. His eyes bulged out of their sockets as he struggled to breathe.
"Vincent, no!" Tifa wailed, gathering energy for a cure spell. There was a crunch and Zeo screamed in pain again. Tifa looked over to see Damien pulling something from the small of Zeo's back. It was long and curved, jagged protrusions running along its sides. Damien yanked and Zeo fell to the floor, groaning incoherently. Tifa lost her concentration as she recognized the dripping thing in his hand. She fell to her knees as Vincent's body finally collapsed. Tears flooded her eyes and she crawled over to Damien's feet and lifted Zeo's head onto hr lap.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered, wincing as she looked at the gaping hole in his back. "I never got a chance to tell you how I really felt..."
Damien tossed the mangled spinal chord aside and looked at Tifa, knelt in dismay.
"Aww...so touching; I think I'm getting a toothache," he snickered. She glared up at him. He reached down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, dragging her to her feet. The other two clones circled them, and she glanced into each of their grinning faces.
"I'm going to kill each one of you," she snarled. Quindon blinked, and Katrina threw back her head and laughed.
"You've got to be joking!" she cried, gasping for breath in between fits of giggles. Damien raised an amused eyebrow and suddenly released Tifa. She stumbled to her knees, yelping in surprise and pain.
"I'd love to see this. Come on, human, give us your best shot," he smiled wickedly. Yuffie's clone broke into another round of giggles and the beige and dark pink cat-creature held a paw over its grinning mouth.
"What is she going to do? Cry us to death?"
With this, Katrina let out a scream of laughter and fell onto her back, kicking her feet and gasping for breath. Cloud's double merely shook his head, grinning his evil, demonic grin.
"Come on, girl. I'm giving you a chance to carry out that interesting 'threat' of yours."
Tifa Lockheart stood, wiping her tears away with a swipe of her arm. She looked down at Zeo's torn body and shuddered, then over at Vincent Valentine's still figure and winced. She slowly raised her gaze to the three smug clones. Her eyes began to shine deep gold, and the fists at her sides clenched so tightly that the gloves started to tear. Around her suddenly appeared a white flare of power so bright, they had to shield their eyes.
"Wh-What's this light!" Katrina cried, shrinking behind Quindon.
Tifa screamed, throwing her head back and extending her arms out in front of her. A pink ball of energy formed in between her hands, radiating white beams of power. It grew larger, engulfing her figure and the ground around her. All of the sudden, a pink beam shot from her aura and enclosed the three clones in light.
"What's she–!" Quindon tried.
They were all slammed with a wave of power and stumbled. The air around them grew hot and electric, pulsing as something from Tifa's body rushed toward them. Cait Sith's clone meowed shrilly, and Yuffie Kisaragi's double screamed and tried to run.
The explosion was so large and bright, the entire continent was suddenly lit up like day.

"Barret!" Yuffie wailed, racing into the chamber. Barret grunted in response, casting a Quake3 spell on the large figure. It stood on four thick triple-jointed legs and had a huge, armor-covered body. Barret's gun arm wasn't having much luck. She rushed into the fight, hurling her Conformer at its head. The Elemental Keeper roared, turning on her and she poised for her next assault. Red XIII came from behind her and swung his claws at the monster's underbelly, dealing a good amount of damage. He leapt back to crouch beside the other two.
"I don' need yer help, so ge' outta here," Barret Wallace growled, unleashing an Enemy Skill–Shadow Flare.
"Like hell you don't!" Yuffie shot back, gathering red energy in her hands. She disappeared and NeoBahamut took her place.
"How stupid can you possibly be?" Nanaki growled, searching for an opening to its underside again.
"Shu'up, dog," Barret retorted.

Red snorted then dove for the Keeper again, tearing at its throat with his fangs. Yuffie returned from her summon spell, glaring at Barret.
"When we defeat this, we'll have a talk later."
She abruptly winced and fell to one knee, coughing up a great deal of blood.
"Yuffie!" Red turned to check on her and got smacked with an Ice3 attack.
"I...I think...it's those clones again..." she grunted, trying to get up. Her body trembled involuntarily as more blood spilled from her mouth and nose. Her face became deathly pale. Red XIII backed up to her side.
"Take a potion." He glanced at her. "Take an elixir."
She nodded, gulping in slow, deep breaths as she pulled the small vial of special medicine from her belt. Barret continued to fight the Elemental creature.

They watched as the two clones threw Cloud Strife's unconscious body into the bed of a truck.
"We have to help him!" Cait Sith hissed softly. Cid Highwind shook his head, watching Tifa's figure hop into the back also.
"We're no match for these guys–it's a mission to defeat just one of the bastards!" his eyes narrowed. "And that copy of Tifa...she's different."
"No she's not," the cat blinked.
"Not like that; she's strange. I don't know how to explain it...stronger?"
Waylon climbed into the driver's seat of the blue truck with the faded Shin-Ra logo on its side. The engine roared through the darkness of the tunnel mouth and the red glare of the tail lights washed over the rock walls. Cid and Cait Sith ducked lower behind the cluster of boulders, waiting anxiously as they listened to the truck pull out of the cave. They peeked back out to see them racing up the mountain trail and heading north.
"Cloud..." Cait Sith's ears drooped.
Cid growled and slammed his fist on the rock in front of him: "Bloody #&!"
Suddenly Cait Sith wailed and fell back, writhing and twisting on the floor. Cid dropped down beside him and flinched as crackles of electricity ran across the pink stuffed mog's body.
"Cait Sith! Yo, Sith!" Cid cried anxiously. The black cat atop the creature shrieked in pain, a fine spray of blood spewing up into the air from its mouth. Cid watched in terror, not knowing what else to do. The sparks of energy slowly died out and Cait Sith let out a tiny mewling noise.
"You okay, Sith?" Cid tried to sit him up.
"It's dead..." the black cat shuddered, climbing off the mog's head and onto Cid's arm. The man couldn't help but flinch in revulsion–it was covered from nose to tail with blood.
"You sure?" he averted his eyes to the still figure of the machine.
"The body's spent..." the cat groaned. "Number Three is probably...on its way right now."
"What happened to you?" Cid asked. Cait Sith curled up and closed his eyes painfully.
"My clone must have met...a terrible fate."
"You'll be fine; don't worry," the blond pilot stood, holding the mangled animal in his arms.
"We need to go back...call the others on the PHS...tell them...Midgar..."
Then he shuddered and was still. Cid stopped and looked down at the cat.
"Sith! Aw, &#..."
He exited the tunnel and blinked as the moonlight temporarily obscured his vision. As he began to pick his way over the side, a pinkish figure caught his eye someway down the path. Cait Sith prototype number three stood at the end of the trail leading to the plains, waving at him. Cid closed his eyes, then knelt and placed his friend's body on top of a brightly-lit rock face. He touched the fur of the cat's cheek for half a moment, then stood and continued down the dirt road toward the replacement.
"This is truly screwed up...we can't take much more of this..."