Chapter Seven: The limits have been reached

"There couldn't be," Aeris finally said after a brief moment of silence. "I mean, there's no way that someone could be sneaking up on us after we've gotten this far."

"She's right," Barret said. "In order for anyone to be giving away information on us and our exact location, that person would have to be…"

"Don't go there!" Cloud shouted. "I don't even want to think about that! I trust everyone in this group!"

"Well, I don't," Tifa spoke, looking at Calvin. "After all, we did start to experience some trouble after someone joined us."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Calvin demanded. "Are you implying that I'm a traitor?"

"The shoe fits, doesn't it? I mean, we're thrown into the Corel Prison because you two showed up! Immediately after that, you ask to join us and you hadn't even known our story or our purpose. That sounds like a spy to me!" Tifa shouted.

"Lady, that was the first time Hobbes or I had even met the Turks or anyone from Shinra at that!" Calvin replied.

"And besides, if we were working with Shinra and we were spies, then why did the Turks try to kill us? I mean, they wouldn't want their own workers dead, would they?" Hobbes added in a calmer voice.

"Simply an act to throw us off," Tifa responded. "I mean, how could a kid and a tiger that cries for mercy from a man that isn't even going to hurt him? It doesn't make sense. If they really wanted to kill you two, they could have done it easily. Instead, they must have faked being scared of them and left so they could continue to spy on us! That has to be it!"

"LADY, I THINK YOU MAY HAVE ONE TOO MANY SCREWS IN YOUR HEAD LOOSE!" Calvin shouted. "WE…"

At that moment, everyone heard a noise from behind the bushes. It wasn't very big, but they still prepared themselves for anything.

Red XIII walked up slowly to the bushes and began to sniff them. Hobbes came and started to do the same thing. Soon, Red XIII started to sneeze hard. Hobbes did too.

"What's the matter?" Aeris asked in an anxious voice.

"There ith thomething in the butheth that ith making uth thneeze," Red XIII said, sniffling.

"I hate hay allergieth…I really do," Hobbes added, blowing his nose.

Barret walked up to the bushes to see what it was that was making Hobbes and Red XIII sneeze so hard. As he pulled the bushes back, a small flower pounced out and stood in front of the party. Its leaves were up as if it wanted to box one of them.

"This is it?" Calvin asked. "This is what we were so worked up about?"

"Fer once, I agree with the kid," Barret said in an insulting manner towards the plant. He then closed his eyes and started to say some words to himself. Soon, Barret was surrounded in green light. Then, he stepped back and…"FIRE!"

A small blaze appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the plant. The plant shrieked in pain and fell to the ground.

Calvin was shocked at what he had just seen.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

"Do what?" Barret asked.

"YOU KNOW…THAT FIRE! IT JUST CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

"Materia," Cloud answered.

"What'th materia?" Hobbes asked, still blowing his nose.

"Materia are little orbs that contain magical powers and have the ability to bless the barer with special powers. That was a magic orb. It contained the magic powers of fire."

"Orbs? You mean these?" Calvin asked, pulling out the yellow gem he had picked up earlier.

"Where'd you get that?" Cloud asked, looking at it.

"I found it on the ground when I was fighting the Turks. I saw that it fit in my dart gun here, so I put it in and when I fired a dart at the Turks, it seemed to have more power behind it. Did that orb do that?"

"It appears so," Aeris replied, looking at the orb. "Judging by the air around it, I'd say that this materia increases the attack of a weapon, or as people call it, deathblow materia."

"Cool," Calvin said with a dreamy look on his face.

At that moment, the plant Barret had just 'fired' began to shake violently. It then started to grow. Soon, it was twice its normal size and it appeared stronger than before.

Calvin immediately grabbed his dart gun with the deathblow materia and fired three powerful shots at the plant. Each shot met the target and it appeared that it had weakened the plant greatly. Barret used another fire spell, but it was stronger than the one he had used before. It was a fire level two attack. Again, the plant fell to the ground.

"Nice shot, kid," Barret shouted. "However, ya ain't as good as I am." With these words, he took a few shots at the plant with his gun arm.

It was at that moment that the plant began to shake even harder than before. As it rose, it started to grow vines where a human would normally have arms and legs. Also, it started to develop a humongous body. It was now as tall as a tree and weighed about as much as one, too.

"Oh my go…AN OCHO!" Barret shouted with a look of fear on his face.

"What's an Ocho?" Hobbes asked, not taking his eyes off the huge plant.

"One of the most deadly creatures alive. They'll paralyze you and then kill you slowly. Very dangerous," Cloud replied.

At that moment, the Ocho released a powder that was headed right for everyone. Cloud grabbed a hold of Tifa and Cloud and pulled them down before the powder got to them. He made sure they held their breaths and held his own.

"If you breathe that stuff in," Cloud started, gasping for air, "You'll fall asleep and become easy prey for the Ocho."

At that moment, they noticed that Aeris, Red XIII, Barret, and Cait Sith were asleep. The powder had gotten them.

The Ocho was starting to make its way towards the sleeping victims.

"You two stay here," Cloud ordered.

He then pulled out his sword and started charging towards the creature. As the Ocho was about to grab Aeris, could struck it with his gigantic sword. The Ocho screamed in pain and turned to Cloud. Cloud was in battle stance. The Ocho took a swing at him, but missed. At that moment, Cloud was surrounded by a green light and the level two fire spell was unleashed. Again, the Ocho shrieked in pain but still did not go down. Cloud was about to charge again, when out of nowhere, the Ocho released the powder again. This time, it got Cloud and Cloud had fallen asleep.

"Oh…no…CLOUD, NO!" Tifa shouted, jumping up to help him.

The Ocho was going to grab Cloud when a bright red light came from behind it. The Ocho turned around to see that Hobbes was on all four legs and looked very angry.

"You…will…not…HURT MY FRIENDS!" he shouted and jumped at a high speed towards the Ocho, muck like he had Elena. Hobbes nailed the Ocho with high impact and both of them went flying a distance. When they landed on the ground, Hobbes had made another path that had dug into the earth that went on for yards and yards.

"W-W-What did Hobbes just do?" Calvin asked, shocked about the red light that gave Hobbes extra power.

"Limit Breaks," Tifa replied. "They are special powers held inside of people when their anger has reached a certain level. Only certain fighters are blessed with those powers. It appears your friend is one of those fighters blessed with the gift of the limit break."

At that moment, Hobbes had climbed out of the tunnel he had just created after pouncing the Ocho. He was filthy, but looked proud of the ditch he had just created during the pounce.

"Whoo-hoo!" he began to boast. "Look at the size of this one! It's even bigger than the last one! I'm having good luck with my pounces today!"

At that moment, the Ocho climbed out of the path, weakened by the attack, but still deadly. Hobbes turned around just in time to see the Ocho raise one of its tentacles and swipe it at Hobbes. Hobbes barely jumped out of the way. He was starting to tease the Ocho by treating its tentacle swings like jump rope. Every time one of the tentacles came down, Hobbes would jump over it.

"Tuna fish! Tuna fish! In a can! How many cans can a tiger have? One! Two! Three!" Hobbes began to sing while jumping over the tentacles.

The Ocho became very angry and irritated with Hobbes and his mocking ways. At that moment, it took both tentacles and swung them towards Hobbes as hard as it could. Both tentacles struck Hobbes and made a very loud snapping noise, almost like a whip. Hobbes went flying and landed twenty feet away from the Ocho. He was still alive, but appeared to be still.

"HOBBES!" Calvin shouted in a worried manner. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!"

"Paralyzed," Tifa replied. "The tentacle of an Ocho is so powerful when it's used as a whip that it causes a great deal of pain to whomever it strikes. Due to the amount of pain, the person is literally stunned and paralyzed for a few minutes."

At that moment, the Ocho started walking towards Hobbes. Hobbes just looked at it and winced in pain. It was all he could do at the moment.

Calvin frantically tried to fire dart shots at it with the deathblow materia equipped. However, the Ocho continued to walk on as if it didn't even feel the effects of the attack.

"Hobbes! Move!" Calvin began to plead.

Hobbes did not move as the Ocho began to close in on him.

"Move, you idiot!" He yelled again, sounding angrier.

By now, the Ocho was only a few feet away from him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Calvin yelled at the top of his lungs.

As he yelled this, he was surrounded by the red light that had surrounded Hobbes earlier. Only this time, the red light covered Calvin after some time. It began to lift Calvin in the air and was affecting his body in an unusual way. After a minute of this, he landed back on the ground and the glowing stopped.

"Calvin?" Tifa asked in a concerned voice.

When Calvin sat up though, he looked different. Instead of wearing a red shirt and black pants, he was wearing a brown leather jacket that went from his chest to his feet. He also had a cowboy hat on and a cigarette in his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was different too.

"Tracer Bullet, mam," he said to Tifa, holding out a badge. "I'm a private eye. Someone called me about an Ocho problem in the vicinity. Can you pinpoint me to the over-sized plant?"

The Ocho had noticed Calvin transforming and had stopped approaching Hobbes. It was looking at the new figure of Calvin strangely.

Calvin turned around and saw the Ocho. He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and began to speak.

"This psychotic plant either is upset about the fact that a drought is in effect in the area and decided to take its rage out on these locals or it wants to kill them. Either way, I'm going to put a stop to you."

The Ocho let out a huge roar and began to charge towards the transformed Calvin.

Calvin just stood there calmly, awaiting the arrival of the Ocho.

"Let me introduce you to a friend of mine that's close to my heart…three inches to the right of it to be precise," Calvin said, reaching into his coat. Calvin pulled out a gun. It wasn't like the dart gun he had earlier. It was a real gun. He then took three shots at the Ocho. All three shots me their target and the Ocho screamed out in pain.

Tifa just stood there in shock at what she was seeing. She would have never guessed that Calvin was a warrior gifted with the limit breaks. Not only was she shocked that Calvin had limit breaks, but she was socked that the limit be bestowed was so powerful. The Tracer Bullet figure was more mature, serious, powerful, and…she hated to admit it…but cute.

The Ocho was shaking off the effects of the bullet attack and started charging for Calvin again.

"Let me tell you about the two things I own," Calvin said, pulling something else out of his pocket. 'The first is my gun and I keep it loaded. The second is this." He pulled out a bottle of what appeared to be whisky. "It's rum and it keeps me loaded. But for you, I think you need it more."

By now, the Ocho was in front of him. It was lifting one of its tentacles to strike Calvin when he took a drink of the whisky and pulled out a match. He quickly lit the match and spit the whisky in his mouth at the lit match in front of him. This caused the alcoholic beverage to catch fire and the fire spread onto the Ocho. This time, the fire attack stayed on the Ocho and it started to burn up.

The Ocho ran around and was screaming in pain. The screaming had awaken the others who had fallen asleep and were amazed that the Ocho was burning. After a few minutes, the Ocho collapsed as the fire consumed the corpse. The threat was finally over.

"I guess his mommy never told him about the stop, drop, and roll technique…lucky for me." Calvin stated.

Tifa walked up to Calvin and was looking at him with a sense of curiosity in her head. She began to touch Calvin's face as if she were wondering if the real Calvin as still there.

"You're the pushy type of dame, aren't you?" Calvin asked. "The kind who'd break a heart…or an arm, maybe. Can I help you?"

Tifa began to melt at these words. For some out of reason, she was attracted to the Tracer Bullet character. At that moment, the red light surrounded Calvin again and transformed him back into his regular self.

"Wha…EWWW! A GIRL TOUCHED ME! FIND SOME WATER!"

It was official. Calvin was back to himself and was just as he was when he transformed.