Thanks lots to everyone who has reviewed so far, I know this is short but hopefully more soon!
A loud knocking at the door awakened Aeris. She opened it to find Cloud in full armor."Everyone needs to meet downstairs, now. Get dressed, and hurry." His eyes were hard as he looked at her, conveying a sense of urgency. Aeris felt this right away. She nodded, shutting the door and hurrying to get dressed. What was the problem she did not know, but it was something serious.
------------------
Everyone had responded to Cloud's alarm quickly. Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Vincent, Barrett, and Red XIII were gathered standing in the entrance room of the inn. The group talked in hushed voices to each other while Cloud attempted to contact the other members of their group.
"None of them can make it in time. Yuffie and Cid are grounded somewhere near Wutai, and who knows when Cid can get the plane up again. Caitsith is still wrapping up some business with the Gold Saucer. It looks like we'll have to do this alone." Barrett, who had been shifting his weight from foot to foot for a while finally burst out,
"Are you actually going to inform the rest of the members of this team what the hell is going on, or are we expected to march blindly into whatever danger there might be with absolutely no information?" Barrett glared at Cloud in impatience while Cloud remained calm and morose. This made the rest of the team all the more concerned; Cloud usually would have had an angry word or two for Barrett.
"Alright then. I'll waste no more time." He cast a quick glance around the group. He then continued on with the solemn tones that a doctor takes on to inform the next of kin.
"There is a large group of highly intelligent monsters. For one reason or another, they have decided to band together, fight all who oppose them as a team. There have been several deaths already- village people who had entered the valley for one reason or another." After a pause, where the information sunk in, Aeris finally asked quietly,
"What kinds of monsters are these exactly?"
"No one knows for sure, there have only been a few sightings so far. Many of the people who could have told us that are now dead." Cloud looked down for a moment before continuing.
"Only recently did people begin to realize what the monsters were doing. There had been fewer sightings of single monsters, and more where over two or three were together at once. Then I heard of a man that saw these creatures in the valley, saw them corner some lesser beast by using what appeared to be a sort of battle formation. The man claims he himself was lucky to escape with his life. I won't lie to you all- there's, there's a chance that one or more of us may not return from this mission." He let his words ring in the air. Barrett cleared his throat nervously,
"We have no ties to this job. We could leave right now, with no guilt." Cloud's voice rose slightly when he replied,
"No guilt? Barrett, people are dying. This little town would be defenseless the minute we left it." Red XIII agreed,
"Cloud's right. We can't just leave them to fend for themselves, they don't even have an armory."
"It seems to me we should not waste any more time arguing amongst ourselves."
"Vincent's right." Cloud stepped forward. "Anyone who will fight, we will convene at the little item shop closest to the valley in ten minutes. I suggest you go to your rooms and collect materia, potions, weapons, whatever you may need for this battle. I don't want to lose anyone."
------------------
The moon had yet to rise. The wary members of Avalanche were silhouettes, mere shadows in the night. It was difficult to make out each person in the darkness, it was so consuming. Yet every person was present. Each wore their most powerful weapons in anticipation of a battle.
"What exactly is our plan of attack?" Tifa looked around at the poorly lit faces of her friends inquiringly. "Is it really in our best interest to barge in there knowing nothing about what we are about to fight, or the best way to attack?" The others looked about, unsure.
"Perhaps we should use tonight to find out just that." Aeris jumped involuntarily, the voice that had spoken came from a direction she had believed no one was standing. The others also had been surprised, some gasping, others reaching for their weapons. Vincent had been leaning against the item shop, and was next to impossible to see in the darkness, as he was still as a rock, and dressed completely in black. When he moved to join the group that was standing a few feet away, they recognized him and collectively let out the breath they had been holding nervously. Barrett softly breathed out,
"Jesus-"
"I think we're all a little on edge, I know I am." Tifa nervously tightened one of the straps holding the Dragon Claw in place. Aeris nodded,
"Why don't we split up, search the valley and see if we can find out what kind of creatures we're up against. We'll be able to form a better plan of attack once we know this." Everyone agreed. Tifa chimed in,
"Pairs of two?" Barrett shook his head,
"Too little, why not two teams of three?"
"With three groups instead of two we can canvas a greater area and have a greater chance of finding the monsters." After a few more minutes of arguing, it was agreed that two would be the wiser choice.
"How are we going to choose who goes with who?" Tifa looked to Cloud expectantly, but Red XIII spoke first.
"Match powers. If there should be a group that needs to fight, they must be matched well." No one could argue with this logic, so he continued.
"Barrett and Tifa would be good together. Tifa has short range attacks and Barrett can handle long range. Cloud and I, seeing as how I handle the magic part well, and Cloud is strong in the physical attacks. Aeris and Vincent are well matched for much the same reason, Aeris specializes in magic, and Vincent is a strong fighter." Tifa was the only one to raise a weak argument,
"But we all can do everything, you can't just say-" Aeris interrupted,
"Of course we can all use physical and magical attacks, but we can't argue that some of us aren't more developed in certain areas." Everyone consented.
"Look!" Vincent pointed to the sky. The moon was rising, and bathed the land in an eerie bluish glow. Cloud spoke faintly,
"If we're going, now's the time."