Yuna and Kairi were immediately shoved to the back of the room as Leon, Yuffie, and Cid stepped up to defend. Leon was easily the strongest of the three, but even he was being overwhelmed by the Nobodies. Cid and Yuffie seemed to be on the defensive, protecting Kairi and Yuna.

Kairi had had no idea Cid could fight, but the proof was before her. Wielding a long, worn spear he had somehow produced, he quickly darted in and out of the fight. He thrusted and spun his spear, hitting his targets with amazing accuracy. He seemed to be on par with Leon in terms of sheer strength.

Meanwhile, Yuffie was pulling her own weight in the battle. While she was not as physically strong as Leon or Cid, she surpassed them in terms of speed. Her movements were a blur, and thus, Kairi assumed it was her eyes playing tricks on her when she saw that Yuffie seemed to be using a folded piece of paper. Kairi soon decided it didn't matter what Yuffie was using, it worked; the ninja had just finished slicing through several Nobodies and was now again on the defensive.

Sitll, they were losing. The Nobodies seemed endless, streaming through the doorway and the broken windows. And from the looks of the cracks, they seemed to be trying to bring the wall down too.

Leon launched a large fireball into the swarm of white creatures, successfully scattering a number of them. Leon's face was grim and is clothes were torn and dirty. Kairi thought she had seen him fall at some point. Cid had a red gash across his chest, and though he tried to hide it, it was clear that the wound was causing him some serious pain. In contrast, Yuffie seemed mostly unharmed, however, she was panting heavily and her clothes were soaked with pesperation. It was obvious that they needed help, and obvious that they needed to escape.

"Leon! We have to get out of here! We're being overrun!" Kairi shouted. Leon didn't turn to look at her, but she knew he had heard her.

"I know! I've been trying to find an opening this entire time, but its useless. We're boxed in!" Leon shouted back after a time. His facial expression grew darker. "We'll just have to stick it out for as long as we can. You and Yuna need to stay back, you'll just be in the way!"

The Nobodies had collected themselves and seemed ready to renew their assault. Leon, Cid and Yuffie prepared themselves. Kairi's heart sank, they were all visibly tired; considerably weaker than only a few minutes before.

Kairi turned to Yuna to check on the girl, but when she turned she saw Yuna muttering to herself and rocking back and forth. Kairi was immediately filled with concern and fear for the girl. "Yuna?"

The other girl was crouched over like some animal, but what Kairi noticed most was the insanely wild look in her eyes. Yuna suddenly erupted into a ear-splitting scream as the ground shook beneath their feet. Kairi would only realize later that the scream had been a battle-cry.

BHK was only a few feet from the besieged small house before it exploded. BHK was picked off of his feet and hurled into the side of an adjacent building and the world went black.

When BHK came to, before he had even opened his eyes, he noticed the heat. Not exactly searing, but far too warm for comfort. It was as if someone had directed all of the sun's energy directly on him.

The second thing he noticed was the smell. 'Smoke', his scrambled mind realized. It was an acrid smell, the smell of burnt rubber, and burnt bodies. Between the smoke and the heat, BHK felt a tremndous amount of pressure pressing in on him. He gasped and coughed heavily, feeling his body answering him with a crash of pain.

BHK groaned and opened his eyes. His vision was blurry and he slowly blinked his eyes in an attempt to clear it. It wasn't the heat that created the pressure; debris had fallen on top of him while he was out. BHK gritted his teeth and stood up, feeling the dust, wood and stones slid off of him.

He looked to the small house, but at his new altitude, the smoke had thickened and it was hard to see. Even so, BHK thought he saw a hulking fiery figure crouched over a group of indistinct bodies before BHK inhaled too much and was hit was a fit of coughing.

When his vision cleared again, whatever he thought he had seen was gone, and the smoke was starting to dissipate. BHK covered his mouth and nose with a sleeved arm and cautiously approached the remains of the house. Inside the wreckage, BHK found at least a dozen crushed Nobodies that were slower in disappearing than the rest of their brethren.

BHK spotted Leon first and Yuffie first; they were buried under blackened wood and ash. Leon was already starting to stir, and Yuffie was breathing in a slow steady rhythm. They would be fine. BHK moved on.

There was a crumbling sound and BHK turned around and squinted through his stinging eyes. Cid had emerged; staggering to his feet. A cut on his chest and a few other cuts on his arms were bleeding, but he seemed ok. BHK went over to him.

"Cid!" BHK sputtered. "What happened here?" Cid turned to look at BHK at the sound of his voice. Recognizing that BHK was an ally, he lowered his broken spear and held his head in one hand.

"A summoned beast that's what the hell Happened!"Cid muttered as quietly-loud as possible. BHK assumed the old man had a massive headache.

"Summoned beast?" BHK asked. His muddled brain wasn't catching up to the conversation easily. At this point, BHK didn't not realize that he knew what a summoned beast was.

"Yeah. I've met a few of 'em in my day. Even called a few of them once or twice. With help though. It takes a lot of magic to call a beast. And if you 'aint a summoner you'll probably need some magical items too. Like materia."

"Materia?" BHK inquired. "What's that? And where's Kairi and Yuna?" BHKlooked around, but didn't see anything.

"Don't worry about materia. Ages old, that stuff and mostly long gone. That's what stumps me. There had to be a summoner around somewhere." Cid said, trailing off.

Recognition hit BHK slowly. "Yuna..." He breathed, or tried too. He coughed a few more times as smoke found its way to his lungs.

"They were somewhere over there last time I remember." Cid waved his hand vaguely and stumbled across the floor, leading the way. BHK followed and together they found Kairi and Yuna laying across the floor. They were untouched.

"They're safe. At least something's gone right today." BHK said. Cid grunted as he looked around the demolished room.

"Define 'right'."

Now, I know this is a shorter chapter than most, but I'll make up for it with the next one. By the way! 50th chapter! I'm excited anyway! Woot! And an event I forgot to bring attention to before. OVER 100 reviews! You guys rock seriously. Seriously. See you soon and keep 'em coming!