Author's Notes: Well, this will be the first time I have used divisions to divide between character groups. Tell me how it goes… I am just as anxious as you are to see how this will work out. Sorry for Frog's "Olde English" thing. I found that it is a great way to keep him in character, but if it becomes too confusing, I shall remove some of the harder to figure out words. BTW, I feel so bad about betraying a certain company's name from a game, but I seriously do not remember their name. If you happen to know it (and it's not Truth and Reconciliation), then please tell me.

Chapter 6

Rise and Fall: Angels and Robots.

Rion looked up at the menacing figure that stood before him, every nerve in his body seemed to be tingling with fear. Haunting memories of their previous encounter fogged his vision. Each memory tugged at every fiber of his mind, threatening to shut it all down. Fear of this person had paralyzed his body. Every cell in his body seemed to shrink in fear at the presence at the owner of the sword. Even the trees of the surrounding areas curled their leaves in protection and fear.

Rion looked up at Robo and noticed that the sword had finally been pulled out of his hands. Robo started to whir a little, as he analyzed the situation. He finally said, "Situation, critical. Seek assistance immediately."

Sephiroth swung his sword, making contact with Robo, the sword biting into Robo's steel and short-circuiting his circuitry. Robo fell down to the ground, his body showing no sign of working at all. Sephiroth then focused his attention at Rion. Sephiroth glared at Rion, every fiber of his concentration seemed to be boring a hole right into the creature. Electricity seemed to dance around his vividly blue eyes. He spoke to Rion in a deep, yet menacing voice. Each word seemed to echo in the distance, as to make sure that everyone had received the message. He said, "It has been a while… since the last time I saw you bleed."

Rion stepped back in intimidation and said, "You… how did you come back? We destroyed you and Cloud removed any part of you that was still left inside of him?"

Sephiroth stood there for a second, never breaking his merciless gaze. Suddenly, he started to laugh loudly; it was a laugh that sent a chill down Rion's spine. He did not know what was so funny to Sephiroth, but he knew better than to say anything.

After a minute of what seemed to be a good joke to Sephiroth, he said, "Foolish people cannot defeat the determined. I have found a way back, through a path that was crimson red. Is that color not a color to rejoice for? It is the color that had saved me, and it is the color that I shall soon be spilling from your worthless body. However, before I do that, I must ask one simple question. Where is Cloud?"

Rion answered with a quick retort, "Nowhere you can find him."

Sephiroth's electric blue eyes seemed to lose its spark at that moment, as he twirled the blade he had in his hand for a second. He stopped and thrust his sword forward, stopping it right next to Rion's throat. He said, "The grass eagerly awaits to be fed with your blood. With your answers, I am sure they can all drink their fill. Unless, of course, you decide that you wish answer me correctly this time. So now, I shall ask you one more time. Where is Cloud?"

Rion barely managed to gather enough courage for his response. He spat at Sephiroth and said, "Go to hell, you heartless bastard!"

Sephiroth's mouth twitched, apparently slightly amused at the response. He replied to Rion, "Well, that wasn't a nice thing to say. I guess you decided to make the grass happy."

Sephiroth thrust forward with his sword in an attempt to slice Rion's throat. Rion quickly noticed Sephiroth's attack and barely managed to dodge. Sephiroth looked at Rion and started to laugh. He said, "Fools and cowards only fight so far."

Rion riposted, "That's why you lost, wasn't it?"

Sephiroth's vividly blue eyes started to crackle with electricity again. He said, "Fools and cowards only have temporary victories. Only the strong survive to claim what is theirs."

He swung his sword once again at Rion, who parried the attack quick a speedy hop backward. He ran as fast as he could toward Sephiroth and shouted, "Sled Fang!"

The attack made contact with Sephiroth, but it seemed he had a magical barrier protecting him, which absorbed most of the damage. Rion swore aloud and shouted, "And you have the nerve to call us cowards?"

Sephiroth simply replied, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Chrono and the rest of the team emerged from the portal, near the lake from where Chrono and Marle were training just recently. Lucca said, "Okay, we'll need a plan. We need some kind of big plan to help save everyone. We need to somehow get back in my laboratory down there."

A voice said from the trees, "Not likely."

Lucca whirled around to come face-to-face with a robot. Or rather, it was a robot body with a person in the cockpit. It seemed to be spider-like, but the robot itself was not that much bigger than a pickup truck. Lucca asked, "What do you mean, 'Not likely'? And just who are you anyway?"

The voice replied, "Why should I tell you brats who am I? You're not going back, because I was told to make sure you did not go back in."

Chrono looked furious. He shouted, "We're brats? Who the hell do you think you are?"

Marle said, "And how do you plan on stopping us from going back in?"

The person in the robot laughed. He suddenly ran the robot forward, attempting to ram into Marle. She quickly jumped up and dodged the attack. She then pulled out her bow and shot the robot multiple times, none of which seemed to do any damage. The person said, "That's one way of stopping you."

Marle said, "You'll have to do better in a piece of junk like that."

Lucca said, "Actually the robot is pretty well built. I have to give the maker credit…"

Marle said, "Geez, just whose side are you on?"

Lucca said, "I'm just pointing out the facts! Don't be so touchy. Anyway, it's not like it's anything nearly as good as I can make."

The person in the robot rammed forward again, this time heading for Lucca. Lucca pulled out her blaster gun and started to shoot the robot, but to no avail. Marle shouted, "Hey, where's Ayla?"

Marle shouted back, "She must've gotten sidetracked back in the other world, and got separated from us."

Chrono shook his head and said, "I hope Rion and Robo are faring better than we are."

Lucca looked back and said, "I'm sure they are. After all, they were waiting to ambush us here, not there."

Chrono said, "I hope so, for our sake as well as theirs."

He looked at Marle, who started to throw ice balls continually at the robot, trying to damage it. Yet, it seemed to be of no avail. Chrono realized that they were in serious trouble in this battle if they could not damage that robot. He muttered, "Oh well… here goes nothing. Luminaire!"

A bright flash of light emanated, and a trail of blazing white electricity struck the robot. The robot sparked for a second but the pilot just laughed. He said, "Is that the best you can do?"

The robot then kneeled down on the ground. Chrono walked slowly up and said, "I think it's damaged."

The pilot laughed and said, "Not quite!"

Quick as a flash, the robot got up and ran toward Chrono. Chrono was too surprised to move and ended up getting head butted. He bounced off a tree and landed on the ground, unconscious. The robot then quickly grabbed Marle with his arm and held her by her throat. He smiled at Lucca and said, "Now what do you think of this piece of junk?"

Cloud had been walking down for what seemed like ages down the path. He looked at the group and sighed. It was odd to not have Rion around, complete with his wise deductions, cool disposition, and fierce power at times. Rion was quiet unless you managed to know him a little better. Cloud sighed as he wondered how well Rion was faring at the moment.

Cloud then turned his new traveling companion. Frog was similar to Rion in only a few ways. Cloud could see a small resemblance with the fact that both were wise. However, even this new creature's wisdom just seemed different. It was in a way that Cloud could not describe it. He looked at Frog again and saw that the creature was just somewhat lonely. He was still full of spirits, but Cloud saw past that and saw that this creature was more brash and impulsive in what he did. He was more talkative than Rion, and Cloud managed to learn much about his past with his former companions.

Not only that, but Frog was a skilled swordsman. Cloud started to reminisce about the fight he had with Frog earlier. Cloud thought, at first, that it was going to be a simple pushover fight, but after the first blow, Cloud knew he had to go all out. He also noticed that Frog used a Masamune blade, which brought back some painful memories…

"Cloud! Hello, are you in there?" A voice came through and broke that had him lost in memories. He noticed Yuffie was staring him in the eyes, hardly a foot away. She finally backed off and said, "Good… about time someone flicked the on switch."

Cloud said, "Sorry, I was just thinking about something in the past."

Frog said, "'Tis memories that make a person."

Cloud said, "Yeah, sure."

Frog said, "I know that thy skills with a blade is most wondrous indeed. Yet, I could not help but wonder at how marvelous you blocked my blows with thine blade."

Cloud said, "Experience. That's all."

Frog said, "You hath shown knowledge when dealing with a Masamune blade. I trust thou hast combated one ere now."

Cloud winced as some painful memories of a previous battle came back to haunt him (or maybe it was frog's speech). He slowly replied, "You could say that I have had a few encounters with that blade type before. Although yours is much smaller than the one I have faced before."

Frog, noticing Cloud's response, decided to press no further. They emerged upon a rather run down village. Curious as to what happened, Cloud and the group entered the village. It was a normal village, with the exception that some kind of outside force destroyed most of it. As Cloud wandered through the town, they ran across a soldier. He seemed pretty badly wounded. Cloud looked at the man, who managed to look at each one in the group with terror. His eyes finally set upon Frog, which sent him into another frenzy.

"Knave, demon, true servant of the netherworld! How dare you betray us?" was all he could say before an arrow pierced his skull, killing him.

Frog jumped back and looked at the archer that stood before him. She was dressed in a red shirt, with white pants. She wore boots and a red hat with a feather in it. She looked at the group and said, "Servants of the netherworld and knights of the former Lodis Empire. Oppose us and meet an untimely demise."

Cloud stepped forward toward the archer and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talk—"

The archer, as soon as Cloud had stepped forward, fitted two arrows onto her bow. She quickly pulled back the string, and let the arrows fly. Both arrows fit snugly on top of Cloud's ears, like the arms on a pair of glasses. Cloud stopped in mid-sentence and quickly stepped backward. Another archer, clad an green, said, "Liedel, Magnus wishes to see you immediately."

Liedel nodded in response and said, "Go back, and tell him we have prisoners. Maybe this group will speak."

The other archer said, "Yes ma'am," and walked away.

Liedel looked at Frog and said, "Netherworld vermin, come with me. The rest of you will come as well. You are found consorting with netherworldly creatures, and are thus treated as bearers of the Infernal Aura and prisoners from Lodis."

Cloud looked over at Tifa and muttered, "Wonderful. Mistaken identities and a captor that could use a few pills."

Two arrows hurtled through the air, splitting both arrows in Cloud's ears cleanly in half. She looked back at Cloud and said, "No discussing escape plans." Although Liedel did not show it, she smiled on the inside. Torturing these prisoners would be so much fun…

Author's Note: ... Well, end of the chapter. Cookie for those of you who can figure out who Liedel is... here's a hint... her name is Liedel Klein. Strangely, Cookie is a unit leader in this game on my file as well.

Anyway, yeah, grammar is a bit off, as usual, but I'll work on it when I get the time.