Cloud couldn't understand why Kratos was such a "hardheaded jerk". Cloud walked at slower pace than the red-brown haired "so-called" mercenary. Never taking his cold icy blue eyes off his new rival, Cloud walked just behind Raine. That didn't make Kratos too happy, he was constantly turning his attention back to his new rival. "If he keeps telling them I'm not a mercenary, my cover could be blown!" Kratos thought. "I know he's not a mercenary, he doesn't even have a mercenary emblem!" Cloud thought. The others could since their dispute, so the group traveled along in silence. Approaching the Palmocoasta ranch was very unpleasant, the dispute between Cloud and Kratos made for a very uncomfortable silence. Attempting to break the silence Lloyd tried talking to Cloud. "Hey Cloud, what kind of sword techniques do you use?" Lloyd asked trying to change the subject. "You might be able to tell that my sword is unusually large, the techniques I use, Braver and Cross-Slash, are influenced heavily by the size of the blade," Cloud explained. "Oh, and here I thought you were compensating for something!" Kratos said with slight amusement in his voice. "What did you say!?!" Cloud yelled. "What did it sound like?" "It sounded like you just implied that I'm compensating for something!" "If the shoe fits..." The sound of swords sliding out of sheaths was heard from both Cloud and Kratos. The blades crossed, the ridiculously large buster sword and the standard size long sword held in their positions for a few seconds before Raine broke up the fight. "Alright, just calm down! You're both grown men and your fighting like children!" she shouted. Cloud smirked and replied in a child-like voice, "He started it!" "You're worse than Lloyd," Raine sighed. Kratos began to completely ignore Cloud which was fine with him, he ignore Kratos as well, which in turn made the trip unsettlingly quiet again. Finally they reached the ranch. "Um, this is a little late but how do we get in?" Lloyd asked. "The way I see it, we have two options; we could bust in there or we could sneak in through a ventilation shaft or something..." Cloud advised. "Those are the dumbest options I've ever heard!" Kratos responded angrily. "Do you have any better ideas Mr. High-and-mighty!?!" Cloud asked with an equal amount of anger in his voice. "There they go again!" Genis said. "Stop it both of you!" Raine's voice boomed again, "The two of you have the maturity of two-year-olds!" Eventually the group got into the ranch through stealth and by some miracle Cloud and Kratos managed not to argue.
