I'm back, for a short while. Sorry for the delay.
Pardon my grammar, please help me resolve some of those by letting me know.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - Forgotten Forest Fight
"What're we watching?" Elm asked in-between bites of her meal. "A good fight?"
"You shall see. Do not be alarm by the sudden changes on the screen. We are situating ourselves into the dimensions we'll be observing." The massive theater screen flickered and warped internally, displaying colorful splats before reverting to its monotonic dark screen.
Cinder couldn't help but draw up a question regarding what had just happened, "Is there a reason why your screen is… How do I describe it?"
"Adjusting?"
"Glitchy?"
While not exactly the refined vocabulary Cinder was looking for, both of their vocabulary suggestions sort of fit the bill. "What my teammates said."
"This world contains a considerable number of active gods, goddesses, and other powerful beings who may not be benevolent. As such, we've taken measures to secure our own dimension so that we do not disturb them, hence the screen's distortion."
"You're saying we're at risks if those beings take notices of us?" Raven said steadily, not liking where this was going.
"No risks or harms shall befall upon any of our guests. We will protect and hide you if such a thing were to occur and the world in which hail from will remain elusive from outsiders, we assure you. It is the other gods and their world that we wish not to unintentionally alarm or harm."
Ozpin understood what the Hosts are trying to say, "You wish to observe, not influence in any way. If trouble arises, it's their world that'll be in danger."
"Correct."
"How thoughtful," Raven grumbled.
Jaune meekly raised his hand. "Um, if it's okay to ask, how will you protect us?"
"We're no strangers in participating in conflicts." The Hosts answered, "Perhaps in due time, you shall know more about us. For now, let us observe this world and its inhabitants."
The Hosts' response left a lot of questions, but their thoughts were interrupted as the lights dimmed and the dark screen flickered to life.
Deep in a luminescent forest, a blond young man with blue eyes, dressed in a black zipper jacket silently drove through the forest on Fenrir, his personal motorcycle. This young man is Cloud Strife, and his mission was to locate and rescue the missing children that are believed to be in this forest. A forest that is filled with glowing white crystal trees.
"A glowing crystal forest?!" Nora bounced up from her seat. "No fair! Why doesn't Remnant have one? Renny, I want to move to this forest. Cut down some trees, and make a nice glowing cabin!"
"I don't think that's possible."
"It's beautiful." Pyrrha softly gasped at the sight of the crystal forest.
"Hey, hey, pretty boy! Nice ride!" Yang hollered, despite knowing he won't hear her.
Cloud was conflicted; in deep thoughts.
His eyes were downcast before sensing danger, snapping his attention ahead just in time to see a muzzle flash followed by a whizzing bullet. He pulled on Fenrir's handle, jerking his motorcycle to the side, avoiding several more bullets. He maneuvered his bike through hails of bullets and deep-water puddles, finally spotting his attackers.
"And he's immediately ambushed." Marrow snarked.
The three 'Remnants' or manifestation of Sephiroth's will and spirit: Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. The trio all share a similar appearance. Smooth silver hair, fair skin, and green eyes with cat-like pupils.
Their leader, Kadaj jumped down from one of the trees, landing behind and in-between his two 'siblings' with a small smile as they continued to fire at Cloud with their gunblades.
"Found your distant relatives." Yang teased Weiss by tapping on her armrest.
Weiss half-scowled, but didn't take offense to Yang's remark for that would be underneath her. "Was that supposed to be funny?"
The weapon storage of Cloud's motorcycle slid open, revealing several giant swords stored within Fenrir.
Pietro nodded, "Impressive engineering."
"Yang…" Ruby whispered to her older half-sister, eyes shining very brightly.
"No."
"Yes."
"No. You're not turning Bumblebee into a monstrosity just to fit all our weapons in."
Cloud grabbed his fusion sword and a greatsword before accelerating his motorcycle towards his opponents using his legs to steer his motorcycle into battle. On the opposite end, Kadaj began walking forward, drawing his signature katana that has a two-parallel blade, Souba. He signaled with his hand for Loz and Yazoo to cease firing and for the children infected with the geostigma to drop down from the treetops.
"He's strong." Yatsuhashi was impressed by Cloud's arm strength to wield two massive swords like they are nothing. "Very much so."
Numerous children started descending, impeding Cloud's path as they blankly stared at the oncoming motorcycle. All but one little girl named Marlene, glanced worryingly while still holding onto her friend's hand, Denzel. However, the young boy named Denzel appeared to be in a trance-like state, staring blankly with green cat-like pupils.
"Children?!" Glynda choked.
"Where did they come from?!" Tai works as an instructor at Signal Academy, teaching children and teenagers how to fight. Aside from his two daughters, Tai takes his job seriously especially when there's any threat directed at his students. It was befitting of his reaction. "What are they doing there?!"
"They appear to be in some sort of trance, except for that girl." Vine calmly observed.
Marlene took one glance at the incoming Cloud and futilely shield herself with one arm while still holding her ground, either not able to break free from Denzel's grasp or isn't willing to let go.
"Turn!" Tai hissed.
Penny frowned, "At that speed and distant?"
Regardless, Cloud was not going to plow through the kidnapped infected children.
He jerked his motorcycle sharply, sending himself flying onto the ground while his motorcycle skitters on its side through the dirt floor. The infected children scattered in all directions, narrowly avoiding a collision with Cloud's motorcycle; Cloud himself hit the ground and rolled over several times. He lost his fusion blade to the air, but he managed to retain his other sword.
Tai and Yang winced, "Oooh…"
"Yeah. Something is off about those children." Said Fox.
"Their movements, lack of reactions, and expressions aren't quite there." Qrow nodded, "Almost like they're puppets."
Ozpin narrowed his eyes, "Very concerning."
Kadaj casually walked towards Cloud, step jumping over the still-spinning Fenrir that continued to spin its way towards Loz and Yazoo. Loz, being the embodiment of Sephiroth's physical strength as seen with his brutish appearance, lives up to his part by putting Cloud's motorcycle into a sudden stop with just a foot.
Cloud slowly picked himself off the ground, stopping himself from fully getting up as Kadaj loomed over him with his two-parallel bladed katana in hand. Surrounding the silver-haired young man are the children infected with geostigma.
"Wanna give us a name to their face?" Coco asked the Hosts.
"The blond young man is Cloud Strife. The three silver-haired young men are the embodiment of Sephiroth's spirit and will. Their names are Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo respectively."
"I'm sorry, the embodiment of what or who?" Yatsuhashi and just about everyone shared the same confused look.
"They are the manifestations of a powerful individual, Sephiroth. Kadaj is the embodiment of his cruelty; Loz, his strength; and Yazoo, his allure."
"So, they're in a sense… Pieces of that individual?" Ren asked quizzically.
"Correct."
"Glad you could make it." Kadaj cheerfully and sarcastically greeted Cloud, leaning over him, eyes flashing very briefly.
Cloud wasn't up for dealing with Sephiroth's remnants, stating his objective with a glare. "I'm here for the children."
Kadaj leaned back with a grin, circling around Cloud. "See this man?" He asked the children around him. "He's our big brother, but alas…" The silver-haired remnant stopped circling and pointed his blades at Cloud who returned it with a defiant glare. "In our happy flock, he's what you call a black sheep." He slowly drew Souba back, ready to cut down Cloud.
"What are they? A cult?" Roman shook his head, "And a creepy one that kidnaps children."
Velvet's ears twitch slightly from the tension, "They certainly sound the part."
"Cloud!" Someone called out in the forest, causing Kadaj to swiftly turn around with a defensive stance, allowing Cloud to grab his greatsword.
"What luck." Said Qrow and Clover. The two glanced at each other before smirking at each other.
With a grunt, Cloud calculatedly swung his sword at Kadaj making him leap out of the sword's reach. The children scattered out of sight as the fight between the trio and Cloud kicked off.
"Good." Glynda breathed out a sigh of relief.
Tai nodded, "Hear, hear to that."
Yazoo immediately fired his gunblade as Cloud was facing Kadaj, forcing the former 1st Class SOLDIER turned mercenary to block the bullets with his greatsword. The alluring silver-haired young man continued firing at Cloud while Loz let out a snort and charged towards the mercenary.
Loz's body was suddenly coated in a blur of white and blue, seemingly teleporting side to side along with Yazoo's bullets.
"A speed semblance? Wait, do they have semblances in their world?" Harriet asked the Hosts. "Maybe by another name?"
"They do not, but some possess abilities that may be similar to what you would call a semblance."
"A world similar to ours, huh?" Qrow fiddled with his flask but didn't drink from it.
"Indeed. It is similar and much more that is not, or could have been." The Hosts cryptically replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" But the Hosts didn't respond to Qrow's inquiry.
Cloud continuously blocked all of Yazoo's bullets, keeping track of Loz's movement as the brute closes in on the mercenary. Cloud held off a few more bullets while standing his ground before Loz was upon him.
The brutish silver-haired man let out a roar, flitting towards Cloud with his fist barreling down. The blondie swiftly avoided the attack, sidestepping and spun away from the heavy strike before resuming his defensive stance, blocking another hail of bullets. Loz then blurred in front of Cloud among the bullets, throwing a kick that was blocked by the wide handle guard of Cloud's greatsword.
"He's holding his own very well." Clover cupped his chin, "So far, that is. I wonder if he can keep up considering how heavy those swords look."
Elm leaned forward from her seat, "Guess we'll have to see."
Loz's body lit up again, shimmering in pale blue light as his movement sped up; a punch, followed by a leaping dodge as Cloud countered his attack. Loz landed on his feet, the light around him fading before igniting again. His body blurred, delivering a powerful strike onto Cloud's sword, sending him flying back.
Cloud flipped and slid back on the dirt, keeping his footing while maintaining his glare on his opponents. Loz grinned, taunting and letting Cloud go on the offense. The blond mercenary leaped towards his opponent, his greatsword dragging in the air towards Loz. But the silver-haired brute is far from a mindless fighter as he quickly demonstrated with a backflip, grappling Cloud's arm with his foot and throwing him over.
"Niiice." Mercury took note of that move. Sure, he doesn't have the same strength as Loz for certain, but that doesn't mean he can't perform a similar feat on lighter weight opponents.
Cloud flew helplessly before landing on all fours, right where his fusion blade laid.
"Bad move." Neo's sign read. She flipped it over, "Or is it?"
Emerald shook her head, "That was a bad throw. He has both of his weapons now."
"Or, it could be intentional." Cinder mused.
He wasted no time to grab his fusion blade. At that exact moment, he heard a metallic clicking noise of Yazoo making his move. Cloud swiftly stood up and blocked Yazoo's downward slash with one of his swords, allowing Yazoo to cunningly exploit a hole in Cloud's defense by delivering a kick to Cloud's face.
The mercenary stumbled back, quickly recovering just in time to deflect all the bullets Yazoo could fire at him. Cloud remained quick on his feet, jumping into the air to throw off his opponent's aim and lunged towards the alluring silver-haired remnant. Yazoo casually drew his gunblade back and slapped the flat edge of his weapon on Cloud's heavy weapon, deflecting Cloud's attack with grace.
Elm's eyebrows shot up, "That one is deceptively strong. You certainly wouldn't expect that kind of strength if you were to breakdown his fighting style."
"Guess being the embodiment of whatever gives them super strength." Marrow replied.
"That's something to take into consideration." Harriet nodded in agreement.
"I share the same thought." Vine joined in.
Cloud staggered from the impact before quickly attacking Yazoo with a lower slash, cleaving into the ground. This in turn allowed Yazoo to use Cloud's sword as a ramp and vault over the mercenary.
Cloud hastily turned around with a swing, but Yazoo interrupted his strike with another upper back kick. However, Cloud managed to block with his handle guard and fought back. Not far off, Loz reared up a punch directed at the ground with his retractable gauntlet. He released his windup punch, striking the ground with an immeasurable amount of force, causing the ground to erupt into what could be described as a roaring tidal wave of soil and stones.
"Okay, maybe I'll let you upgrade one of my gauntlets if you can make it do that."
Ruby squeezed her sister's hand. "Really?!"
"Don't go overboard."
Glynda overheard their conversations and sighed, "As if she wasn't already tearing up the city and campus."
Qrow and Tai laughed, "That's Yang for you."
The tidal wave steadily advanced towards Cloud and Yazoo. The latter having disengaged in melee as the tidal wave was nearly upon them. Yazoo lowered his weapon with a smirk before backflipping over the wave of soil and stones, turning his gunblade on Cloud midair to keep him pinned down for Loz's attack.
"Cool team attack." Nora bobbed her head.
"We have some of our own." Jaune pointed out, "We'll probably need more for the Vytal Festival. This gives me some idea…"
Pyrrha blinked, "We do?"
Ren looked confused, "What team attack?"
"…" Jaune slowly turned towards his teammates with an unreadable expression.
But Yazoo cannot maintain his air time indefinitely and eventually landed behind the tidal wave, giving Cloud time to charge up his fusion blade. Fully charged, Cloud immediately unleashed a streaking crescent beam of blue and violet towards the tidal wave.
"Awesome!" Ruby was fawning over Cloud's fusion sword.
Coco elbowed her big teammate, "Ever thought of upgrading your sword, Yats?"
"Impressive that display was, I'd still rather keep my weapon simple."
The crescent beam exploded upon making an impact, covering the forest with dust and smoke. Their vision slightly impaired, but unimpeded as Loz blurred in front of Cloud to deliver a powerful punch as the mercenary was recovering. By instinct, Cloud narrowly blocked Loz's punch but was thrown back.
Cloud's silver-haired opponents didn't allow him any opportunities; Yazoo dropped down onto Loz's arm and was launched after Cloud.
Yazoo opened up with an initial shot from his gunblade, quickly discarding it in favor of attacking Cloud with the blade of his weapon. The mercenary found himself tagged team relentlessly by the two brothers as they danced around him; Yazoo's grace and range, Loz's strength, and speed. Quick and brief, not one was able to land a hit on one another outside of their weapons.
"They're well-coordinated in their attacks," Ironwood noted.
"And not displaying much visual or audio cue." Winter coolly watched the combatants clash. "I suppose that's to be expected from them, considering what they are."
"They move almost as they're one," Vine added his thoughts in. "Perhaps it's because they were once."
Marrow rolled his eyes, "Philosophical as always."
Out of the exchange, only two parries occurred before Loz and Yazoo disengaged, changing tactics.
Loz leaped towards the blond mercenary with a dropkick, hurling both Cloud and Loz in opposite directions.
Time slowed briefly as Yazoo pluck Loz's sidearm, a gunblade and locked blades with Cloud, leaving the blond mercenary vulnerable from behind as Loz 'teleported' behind him.
"Behind!" Sun shouted before quickly snapping his mouth shut from embarrassment, remembering that he can't hear him.
Cloud had his head slightly turned to the side to keep an eye on his back and foresaw Loz's attack, instantly spinning out of the deadlock, kicking off the ground, and launched himself into the air.
"His opponents are not only powerful in terms of raw strength but also skilled." Pyrrha admires Cloud's and to a lesser extent, Loz and Yazoo's combat prowess. "Despite that, he's still managing to keep them from impairing him."
"He's an experienced fighter." Qrow had his arms crossed, tapping on his elbow with his right finger. "And by experience, I mean a truckload worth of fighting experiences. That, or he's familiar enough with his opponents."
"I would lean more on the experienced part." Ozpin weighted in.
Wordlessly, Loz lowered his arms for Yazoo to jump on and threw him into the air to give chase. Yazoo leveled his gunblades and fired. Gunshots rang across the sky accompanied by bullets. Cloud's swords blurred in response, blocking all the bullets fired his way. The distance between Cloud and Yazoo shortened, along with the bullets, eventually resulting in the two to exchange melee strikes. Their melee quickly ended as it has started with Yazoo kicking Cloud into the trees, followed up by several gunshots that disarmed Cloud from his fusion sword.
The fusion sword spiraled through the air, solidly impaling itself into a white crystal tree. Cloud landed on a tree branch not far from his fusion sword. He quickly hopped on multiple crystalized tree branches and swung around his fusion sword handle, landing on the flat side of his fusion sword's blade.
"I wonder what those trees are made out of. Professor Peach would certainly be interested in studying them." Port mused, stroking his mustache.
"Indeed." Oobleck nodded, "She most certainly would! Restless nights and days just to study them! She'll put me to shame even with my strongest coffee!"
He then noticed Loz below the tree his sword and by extension, himself were currently on. The brute grinned and shattered the base of the white crystal tree with a punch, causing it to collapse.
"He's in quite a pickle." Maria resumed munching on her cashews.
"Timber!" Elm quietly shouted.
"Isn't that what you named your weapon?" Marrow asked.
"It fits my weapons functionality," Elm replied with a grin.
Cloud remained steadfast on his foot as the tree toppled over while he held onto his embedded fusion sword. At the same time, Yazoo landed onto the timbering tree, casually strolling towards Cloud while firing his gunblade, forcing the blond mercenary to defend himself with his other sword. Finding the situation much more unfavorable than it already was, Cloud leaped over his fusion sword and pulled it out from the falling tree as Yazoo got closer.
On the ground, Loz braced his legs and leaped into the air towards Cloud, shattering the crystal tree, sending the three of them into the air.
Whilst in the air, the three of them spectacularly danced in the air with a series of wide sweeps, spins, and blocks. Still relying on the same trick, Yazoo disengaged Cloud with a kick, complimented by a hail of bullets that forced Cloud into a nearby crystal tree.
"Huh…" Jaune frowned, "Is it me, or these guys don't stick around in a fight for long? Not because they can't, but because they don't uh… Want to?"
"Good observation, Mr. Arc." Glynda pushed up her glasses, "It would appear they're obscuring their capabilities by repeatedly forcing their opponent out of his striking range."
Qrow held a similar view as well. "You get a feel of their skills, but you're not getting much of how they fight. A smart way to fight. Even to spectators like us, we're not learning that much of their true abilities."
"T-thanks, Professor Goodwitch and, uh… Ruby's uncle. I wonder how much we're giving away when we're fighting."
Pyrrha nodded, "I always asked myself that."
Her tournament matches always had many people watching, including potential opponents. If she was careless, her opponents could become familiar with her fighting, maybe even figure out her semblances which she always tried to hide.
"Guess we'll have to reevaluate ourselves the next time we train."
Cloud quickly shifted his body and landed onto the side of the upright crystal tree, quickly fusing his greatsword and fusion sword together.
Oscar blinked, "Wait, did he just put an entire sword inside another sword?"
"He did! I wonder what that would do! Probably increase the weight and swing speed, if he could hold it with one hand, which looks like he can…" Ruby rambling faded as she remained focus on the fight.
His eyes didn't track Loz and Yazoo this time, they were on Kadaj. The young man had stayed out of the fight this entire time and was observing Cloud from the ground.
"I forgot there was a third guy," Neptune admits.
"He was drawing out the entire fight." Raven snorted, "He shouldn't be playing around like that unless he wants his opponent a chance to escape."
"That's about to change. The guy is aiming for him now." Said Vernal, "Not sure if that's a good idea, but it's three against one."
Cloud kicked off the tree with all his might, lunging towards Kadaj who remained on the spot, unfazed.
His green cat-like eyes flashing, Kadaj suddenly spun his entire body, picking up enough momentum to completely countering Cloud's lunging strike.
Cloud looked slightly shocked, but there wasn't time for him to react aside from defending himself from Kadaj's blistering assault that kept him in the air. Kadaj's two parallel bladed katana struck against Cloud's combined fusion sword, juggling Cloud and his massive sword in the air like he was nothing. Gravity fought to keep Cloud grounded, by Kadaj's otherworldly strength ensured that Cloud remained airborne.
"That guy is literally juggling him and his giant weapon in the air!" Jaune yelped.
Yatsuhashi looked shocked, "No wonder he didn't bother to attack him with the others. His strength alone is already terrifying."
An upward slash threw Cloud high into the sky. The impact and sudden repositioning left Cloud defenseless, allowing Kadaj to leap over Cloud, seconds from delivering a finishing blow.
But as Kadaj's blade descended, a bullet struck the side of his katana making him miss his finisher. Kadaj clicked his tongue as he turned to meet the interloper.
"Shouldn't have played around," Raven said with a smug expression.
A red cloak flew towards Kadaj and Cloud, splaying over them, forcing Kadaj back out of caution.
"Wait, Ruby?! You're there?" Yang half-teased her sister. The flying red cloak aside, it was missing the noticeable rose petals that Ruby's semblance produced. Plus, it did not share the same texture as Ruby's red cloak; the one on the screen had a smoother liquid look to it.
"What?! I…" Ruby paused for a moment, "That's not me."
"It is not. It is someone else." The Hosts answered, "If you are curious, that someone is Vincent Valentine."
"Oh. Cool! We have similar sembl- Err, abilities? Magic powers? Something?" Ruby sheepishly scratch her cheek. "Similar cloak thingy? Almost?"
Cloud hit the ground and was rendered unconscious; his cellphone knocked loose from his pocket and fell into a puddle. Overhead, the red cloak hastily dived down and protectively covered Cloud while Kadaj and his two siblings watched warily and surrounded it.
From the red cloak, muzzles flashed as bullets flew out from the cloak that caused Kadaj to defend himself while Loz charged towards the red cloak and Yazoo to returned fire. However, the bullets directed at the red cloak seemed to burn through without actually harming it.
With Cloud secured, the red cloak took to the air, suddenly dropping to the ground, and hopped around to throw the trio off before sweeping the ground and taking to the air.
Kadaj wordlessly stared at the shrinking red cloak before clicking his tongue in frustration.
The screen darkened and the lights returned to the theater room.
"That should do it for this world for now." The Hosts announced, "Excuse us while we ensure our presence is not noticed as we leave the dimension." The screen started warping again, distorting in color and slightly in shape.
As that was happening, Blake leaned over her armrest to chat with her team leader. "Can you do what that Vincent guy was going? Like attacking when you're in your semblance or carry us?"
Ruby hummed thoughtfully, "I don't think I can move the way he can because I need to be going fast for my semblance to activate. I've carried people before with my semblance, but if they're too heavy, I won't be able to carry them far." Penny comes to mind back when they were running away from Atlesian soldiers. "As for attacking with my semblance… I haven't really tried it yet. Too disorientating trying to hit an almost stationary target with my weapon."
"We have safely left the dimension." The Hosts returned, "Now, we return to an era of conflict once more. A conflict that encompassed an entire world."
Ironwood deeply sighed, "Another war?"
"Nooo…" Ruby whimpered, making her teammates crowd around her to make her feel better.
"Correct. We return to a war known as World War 2 by the inhabitants of the world that we'll be returning to."
"War, huh?" Clover rubbed his chin, "Remnant has their own fair share of wars back then."
"The last and biggest conflict on Remnant between civilizations is the Great War." Said Vine, "Though, I supposed our Hosts is well aware of this."
"They are well-versed in our history, especially conflicts." Oobleck answered, "Some keynotes to the war and world our Hosts are talking about; their world may not have the Creatures of Grimm, aura, or Dust. But they follow a different technological path and a mindset which resulted in staggering bloodshed. Huge losses of life that exceed even Remnant's conflicts combined. Their first World War was aptly known as the Great War, and it had over 60 million soldiers partaking in the conflict."
Robyn, Pietro, and the Ace-Ops all looked shocked by that number.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Harriet waved her hands, "Say that again? 60 million soldiers?"
"We were shocked at first, too." Oobleck nodded grimly, "And this is just the first world war."
Robyn's expression was that of sorrow, "So many… I can't even imagine the casualties."
"Damn. How did they even recover to fight a second one?"
Before Oobleck can give them a small history lesson that he picked up from the documents the Hosts provided him, the Hosts spoke up. "The battle you are about to witness shall take place on a day known as D-Day. The largest seaborne invasion in their history, and a costly one. Brace yourselves, for you shall be witnessing war once more."
"This… Isn't going to be pretty, isn't it?" Marrow glanced at his teammates.
It was Ironwood that answered, "War never is."
NEXT: Saving Private Ryan - D-Day Beach Landing
**Advanced early credit and thanks to Vumanchu for giving me the notes and dialogue! I'll be sure to plaster your name on the next chapter for your hardwork!
Pardon my grammar, please help me resolve some of those by letting me know.
