A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, I always love to hear your feedback. Keep reviewing!The span of time between updates will be as short as possible. Hopefully I'll be able to continue this story 'till the end of the game. Anyway… now to find out what caught up to Barret and Cloud! Enjoy. R&R!

Disclaimer: No I don't own FF7's characters or the plotline. I simply turned the game into a written/typed story.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- Chapter Two -

Battle, Escape, and Hop Aboard!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What both Cloud and Barret saw was not at all pleasant to see. Crossing the bridge and catching up to them was a rather large scorpion-looking giant red robot. It didn't look very happy, either.

"Oh boy…" Barret mumbled, aiming his gun-arm and shooting the robot several times. It raised its claws in defense, and settled in a position to attack. Cloud didn't move, but instead looked up at the scorpion creature, awaiting its next move so he could counter-attack. Meanwhile, Barret kept shooting, dealing some damage but not enough to destroy it.

"What are you doing, Cloud? Hurry up and attack it!" He yelled. The scorpion tried to ignore the shooting, and aimed for Cloud, the motionless prey. It raised its red tail, lowered its body and charged up.

"Watch out, it's gonna fire at you!"

"I know what I'm doing. Do you think I was accepted in SOLDIER for nothing?" He simply stated in response. Right when the scorpion was ready to fire, it shot its laser directly at Cloud. He quickly dodged it, acting as if it were nothing. Now that the scorpion needs to recharge, he took this opportunity to jump the robot and stab its main functional system, right on its back. But before he stabbed, he tried to maintain his balance from the struggling scorpion. Cloud's second problem was trying to avoid its tail from poking and stabbing at him.

"Ow, damn it!" He murmured as he held his hand to his upper left arm, where the tail slashed against his skin. It was nothing but a mere scratch; he was lucky. But it stung. Fortunately, he found the heart of the robotic beast on its back, and stabbed right through it. On a living creature, it would be no different than stabbing the heart right through.

"Awright!" Barret cheered, watching the scorpion stagger in circles, eventually crashing and stumbling to the ground, a blue tint of electricity tickling its steel body all over as it slowly died. Cloud quickly jumped off and walked to Barret, acting normal, as though if it wasn't much of a challenge.

"Crap! The bomb!" Barret immediately remembered, looking back at the timer. Cloud's eyes widened just a bit, also just remembering.

"Only ten minutes. Let's get outta here." Cloud warned calmly, sheathing his sword.

"Jessie! We gotta help 'er."

"We'll get her on the way. Come on Barret!"

They wasted no time. Quickly rushing across the bridge, they flew through the door and back along the same path they came in. Climbing a large set of steps, they took a few turns and into another door. But to their surprise, there appeared a dark blue large cat-like creature with a long tentacle floating above its back, hooked to the back of its head. Right after it appeared two more.

"Ah crap, just what we need." Barret complained. He took aim and shot the cat furthest on the left, and killed it in one shot. In the meantime, one leaped at Cloud. He kept it away from biting his face, but just barely. He couldn't get a chance to unsheathe his sword. Noticing this, Barret took the sword from his sheath on his back and handed it to him.

"Looking for this?" Barret winked. Cloud smirked.

"Heh… Thanks, I guess." He struggled to push the cat off of him, but took his sword in one hand, raised it and slashed through the cat, knocking it back and over.

…6 minutes and 30 seconds…

"Man your breath stinks." Cloud cringed at the dead cat, then turned his attention over to the third and final one. Barret raised his gun and shot, but the cat dodged. With another shot, he hit, and Cloud finished it off with a cross cut.

"Damn! We're wasting time. Avoid any upcoming enemies!" He commanded, and rushed quickly on.

...5 minutes and 10 seconds…

After maneuvering through as many shortcuts as possible, climbing ladders and descending staircases, they finally reached Jessie. Her foot was still stuck, but she was quite happy to see Barret and Cloud again.

"Barret! Cloud! You made it!" She said happily. Quickly Cloud kneeled down and tugged gently at her foot, moving it around so it'd harmlessly break free. He nodded to her to stand up and hurry.

…4 minutes and 30 seconds…

"Wow, thanks Cloud." Jessie smiled, moving her foot muscles around a bit so she could hurry with the others.

"C'mon, we have no time to waste." He told her, already moving ahead of her while Barret was way ahead of them, enforcing and signaling them to catch up.

...3 minutes and 48 seconds...

Four more minutes. They were so close to escaping, yet it felt like it was so far away. They've flown through doorways, ran down staircases, and nearly fell or tripped while descending ladders. But eventually... they met Wegde, and Biggs waiting for them just outside.

...23 seconds...

"Ay, you guys made it out!" Wedge happily called out to them as they approached further and further to safety, panting like a pack of dogs.

"It's gonna blow! Get back!" Barret warned. Cloud kept his same expression, and simply turned around to watch the reactor. Soon, it will be no longer. No more sucking out the life blood of the planet, at least in this sector. They're not finished blowing up reactors just yet. As Cloud watched, he could almost feel the time bomb ticking away.

...8 seconds...

Silence, nothing else was heard around him, but the tick.. tick.. tick..

...5 seconds...

He could feel his heart beat inside of him, in rhythm to the ticking of the seconds remaining...

...3 seconds...

...2 seconds...

...1 second--

With an extraordinary loud explosion, Wedge, Biggs, Jessie, Barret, and Cloud all watched intently as the reactor blew up with massive amounts of fire coming out from every direction in the tower, in one big fire cloud mixed with black smoke. It all slowly raised, the reactor tower slowly beginning to crumble and fall to its final destruction. AVALANCHE successfully and proudly accomplished their goal. Barret nodded and smiled at the reactor, watching it tumble to the ground. Cloud simply watched it unexpressingly, an intent look on his face.

"That should keep the planet going... at least a little longer." Biggs finally spoke, looking back at the others.

"Yeah." Wedge replied.

"All right, now let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 Station! Split up and get on the train!" Barret commanded. Everyone immediately rushed out in opposite directions, yet all heading to the same destination. Cloud stopped Barret.

"H, hey!"

"If it's about your money, save it 'till we get back at the hideout." Barret instantly replied, as if knowing what Cloud's complaint would be. And indeed he did, it was exactly what Cloud was going to ask. He huffed, but simply moved on.

The gang moved along to do whatever needed business in a particular area within the slums before they boarded the train to leave. Cloud sighed to himself, not really having anywhere to go or any duties to attend to before they departed. All he wanted was his money, but he'd have to wait. For now, he wandered about with his hands in his pockets, observing some scenery around him in the slums. What a sight to behold... cough. He couldn't understand how anyone could survive living in these regions of Midgar. But he also knew that no one had a choice, this city was crowded enough.

He stopped. Some number of feet before him stood a girl dressed in a pink dress-like skirt and a magenta-colored vest. Her brunette hair was braided back into one braid, a large pink bow that was used to keep her hair back, and she carried a basket full of flowers. He had no clue what a girl like her was doing in the middle of the slums, busy guys roaming around doing their duties, whatever it may be. She seemed like a colored flower in a black and white, polluted picture.

"Excuse me. What happened?" She politely asked Cloud, of which he wasn't expecting. He scratched the back of his head.

"Nothing.." He responded with a shake of his head, "Hey, listen..."

"Yes?"

"Don't see too many flowers around here." He responded with a slight smile. "I see you've got a bunch."

"Oh, these? Do you like them?" She blushed with a smile, raising her basket of flowers just a little bit. Cloud smiled with a nod. "Would you like to buy one...? They're only one gil."

"Of course." He quickly took out one golden coin and handed it to the girl, a pleased smile on her face.

"Oh, thank you!" She bowed to him politely, and handed him a flower. "Here you are." He took the flower, and carefully placed it in his front shirt pocket, nodding a thanks to the girl.

After the meeting with the girl, Cloud needed to move on. AVALANCHE was probably getting ready by now to go on the train. He hoped he wouldn't be late. Had he procrastinated that much?

"Hey! It's you again!" One man yelled from behind Cloud. Gunshots were heard from behind him, thus he quickly ducked and unsheathed his sword all in one maneuver. He spotted two guard soldiers in the same blue uniform from before. They were Shinra soldiers all right. And they're pretty upset after what happened to the Mako Reactor tower. There was no doubt Cloud was held accountable as one of the ones who blew it up.

"You! Stop where you are! Now!" Another voice yelled from his right. He was nearby a bridge that bridged above a subway, so he slowly backed up, eventually being surrounded by Shinra soldiers in a full circle.

"You blew up that reactor, didn't you?" One of them pointed their guns at him as they asked sternly. "Answer me!"

Cloud merely held a smirk on his face, but he never responded. He back up slowly, further and further to the edge. If he fell, he'd fall right onto the train tracks. His fellow AVALANCHE members must've already gotten on the train, so it shouldn't be long... before...

The further they advanced on him; it was at the perfect moment. He jumped the edge, but didn't land on the train tracks.

Instead he landed right on top of the passing train, carrying him down a tunnel before approaching the clear opening once more.

"Damn it! Damn it all!" One of the Shinra soldiers cursed, throwing his rifle to ground. The others just mumbled and murmured some curses, then walked away slowly. "There is no way he could've survived it... with how fast the train was going... Damn... it... all to hell! We almost had 'im!"

In the meanwhile...

"Cloud never came." Wedge pointed out, swinging his feet back and forth slowly, sitting atop a large steel box aboard the train. Biggs looked up at Wedge.

"Cloud... wonder if he was killed?"

"No way!" Barret butted in defensively.

"Cloud..." Jessie said quietly, almost to herself. Anyone could tell she was in deep thought about something. He practically saved her from being stuck in the reactor before explosion.

"Say, do you think Cloud's... Going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE?" Biggs pondered, looking around at the group members. They all had blank, ponderous looks on their faces.

"The hell would I know? Do I look like a mind reader?" Barret barked, he was just a tad but moody. Other than that he remained silent, an almost pouting look on his face while keeping his arms crossed. He kept his view away from the group members. "Hmph! If y'all weren't such screw-ups..." He lastly mumbled. Wedge budged in at the wrong time.

"Hey, Barret, what about our money?" He asked. Barret simply slammed his fist on the crate next to him, recrossing his arms. "Uh, nothin'... sorry."

There was a sudden thump thump heard from above them. At first no one paid much attention to this, so they ignored it. Musta been somethin-- thump thump... thump. By this, everyone started looking up, trying to figure out what was causing the noise.

The door suddenly slid open which led to outside, and Cloud jumped right in. Everyone, surprised, jumped up.

"Cloud!"

"Cloud..."

"Cloud!" Everyone but Barret called at once. Cloud smirked slightly, and then shrugged like nothing ever happened.

"Looks like I'm a little late." He said calmly. Barret immediately jumped up, being the last one to do so.

"You're damn right, you're late! Come walktzin' in here makin' a big scene!" He ranted.

"It's no big deal. Just what I always do."

"Shit! Havin' everyone worried like that. You don't give a damn 'bout no one but yerself!"

"Hmm... You were worried about me?" Cloud snickered, watching Barret just get further upset than he already needed to be. He could tell something was bothering Barret, but it was nothing than merely Cloud's attitude, and failure to show up like asked.

"Wha? I'm takin' it outta your money, hot stuff!" Barret turned to everyone else, "Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!" And with that, Barret quickly moved to the next car on the train. Everyone took this opportunity to comment on Cloud without pissing Barret off anymore.

"Hey, Cloud! You were great back there!" Wedge slapped his hand on Cloud's back as a compliment, then proceeded forth to the next car following Barret.

"Heh heh... Cloud. With you here, we'll do even better next time." Biggs added, then departed. Lastly, Jessie walked up to Cloud, the only two in the car left.

"Be careful, I'll shut this." She said, sliding the door closed that led to outside, while the train was still moving in enormous haste. She turned back to him, and noticed the black smudges on his face from the explosion. "Oh, Cloud! Your face..." She then wiped his face, cleaning the black areas off with her sweater. "There you go. Say, thanks for helping me back there at the reactor..." Cloud merely nodded with a slight smile, but not much of a one. It took quite a bit to make this guy smile big, and really mean it. He then proceeded to the next car, followed by Jessie.

A voice was heard over the intercom.

"Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7. Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23AM, Midgar Standard Time..."

This car was a bit more for passengers, each side of the train had one long bench, only cushioned and covered with red leather. Barret sat down and relaxed a bit, while Jessie was over in the front looking at some picture. He couldn't see it from where he was, so he walked up to talk to her. She was looking through it a bit intently, which got him all too curious.

"Hey, Cloud. You want to look at this with me?" He nodded a 'sure.', "It's a map of the Midgar Railing System. I'll explain it to you. I like this kinda stuff, bombs and monitors... you know, flashy stuff. Okay, it's about to start." Cloud watched the screen, now turning black. But no longer was it black, for a green model of something with an intricate and highly detailed structure of some sort. It was like a modeling plan, all green and thousands of lines constructing the model of this structure on-screen. "This is a complete model of the city Midgar. It's about 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above the ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each sector." Jessie paused for a moment, and lowered herself to a whisper. "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." Her voice returned to normal volume. "Then there's No. 2, No. 3 all the way up to the No. 8 Reactor. The 8 Reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sections. That's the kinda place this is. Phew..." The model disappeared, but then another structure took place. It looked like a closer view of Midgar than the previous screen, but not by too much. "This is next! Look. This is the route this train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is up. It can check the identities and background of each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central data bank at Shinra Headquarters." Her voice lowered back into a whisper. "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's--" She was quickly interrupted by a red alert light flashing throughout each car. Everyone looked around, but said nothing. "Speak of the devil. That light means we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you'll never know what kind of creeps'll come out." She sighed, "Anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief." Cloud nodded, after all the model thing was rather interesting. But he had not much to say. Thus he went to Barret, who seemed to be enjoying the view outside.

"Look... You can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night. If that plate weren't there... we could see the sky." Barret pointed outside the window as they passed.

"A floating city... Pretty insetting scenery." Cloud commented.

"Huh? Never expect ta hear that outta someone like you." He shook his head, "...You jes' full of surprised." He looked back out the window, "The upper world... on a city plate... It's 'cause of that &$(# pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On toppa that, the Reactor keeps drainin' up all the energy."

"Then why doesn't everyone move onto the Plate?" Cloud asked.

"Dunno. Probably 'cause they ain't got no money. Or, maybe... 'Cause they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets." He replied with some deep thought.

"I know... no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."

For awhile, Barret and Cloud continued conversing with each other while the train took them around the center of Midgar, and eventually stopping at the train station. Everyone got ready to depart the train, Cloud, Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie, stood up after it finally came to a halt. Everyone got out. This area was a bit more fixed up than the last station indeed. A lamp post stood tall nearby the nose of the train, and basically it was a large area of flat cement and three steps, but not much.

"Yo!" Barret called after a few minutes. "Get over here, all'ya! This mission was a success. But don't get lazy now. The hard part's still to come! Don't y'all be scared of that explosion, 'cause the next one's gonna be bigger than that! Meet back at the hideout! Move out!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: Alright,I tried making this chapter as long as I could. But I shall most likely revise anything needed to be edited. So leave a review, I hope you enjoyed!