"All right, I'll go with up the power line. You guys find whatever way you can." Cloud said and went down the path to the beach. The others went their own way, leaving just the two teenagers and Red XIII.

"So, anyone have an idea how to get up there?" Yuffie asked.

"No, the only time I came through here was in a cage." Red explained.

"Possibly. Allot of people owe me favors. And my fathers name still carries weight." Sephiroth said. He went over to the guard and, making sure they couldn't hear him, started talking to him. He made it seem to the two watching him that he was bargaining, manipulating, and dropping the Valentine name in the conversation. Even went so far as to rest a hand on the pommel of his katana.

In actuality, he was saying, "Hey Faiell, how you been?"

"Good. And you?"

"Can't complain. Hey, I'm going to have to cancel going to that party, I got something big to take care of and it will take a bit."

"That bites. I guess I'll have it over at your house once you're done. So, you need to go up?"

"Yeah, me and my friends."

"Okay. Hey, say hello to my mom if you go by Windsong."

"Sure."

He stepped to the side and let the three enter. At the top, they entered the locker room and grabbed some uniforms. Yuffie, got a sailor uniform, Red XIII got in a standard soldier uniform, and Sephiroth got in a Soldier 1st class, swords master uniform, the only one that fit him.

"I think I might be noticed in this," he said, referring to the green, sub color blue, uniform.

"Not as much as with that black coat," Yuffie said from inside the changing booth.

A sergeant came in and, upon seeing the uniform and rank, saluted. "Sir, anything I can help you with?"

"No, Sergeant. I'm just under orders to take this sailor and soldier down to the docks."

The sergeant looked at Yuffie, who had just came out, and nodded in approval after seeing nothing wrong. Then he looked at Red XIII. He was sitting down like a human did and had what would be his fore arms resting on his legs and his paws between his legs. And it was obvious to his friends that he was barely living through this indignity. The sergeant didn't nod approvingly at him.

"Sir, maybe another soldier is in order."

"No. My commander ordered me to over see personnel placement for the 7th unit and the 22nd sailors unit to make sure that the right one are in sight and the wrong ones, the sloppy ones, are not. This soldier is the definition of excellence but his image is bad so I'm taking him to his assignment on board the cargo ship. The sailor on the other hand will be at the boat as a guard for the President as he enters."

"Yes sir." The sergeant saluted and left.

"That was impressive. You know, that rank is going to be useful." Yuffie said as she sat down on the bench. "How did you do that?"

"My father was a Turk and he was determined to make sure I knew protocol in everything. Soldier and the Shin-Ra army eventually came up. By the way, back down stairs, I didn't force our way in, I knew him from home. I was just seeing if you two could see me faking."

"I thought something was up." Red XIII said.

"I knew something was up." Yuffie said, crossing her arms.

"Well soldiers, let's move out."

Outside, Sephiroth looked around and made sure that no one was watching and moved the two out to the hall. As they left, Sephiroth saw Cloud come through a door and the sergeant ream him for not being in uniform. With the two safely out of sight of anyone who would recognize them as fakes, Sephiroth walked over.

"Sergeant, make sure this soldier is in uniform and in the parade, then put him on the send off team. 2nd class, swordsmen, why aren't you in uniform? Forget it. Put him in a Warrants Officer's uniform and give him a gun."

"Sir," the Sergeant answered.

Before leaving, Sephiroth looked Cloud in the eyes and let him know who was under the helmet by saying, "Thin but strong," and pointed to his katana.

He knew he got Cloud mad at him for demoting him to a second class instead of his previous rank and he laughed at it. "Okay, now let's go."

At the boat, Sephiroth set Red XIII as a watch on a parapet. And set Yuffie on the honor guard as he said he would and took a spot by her.

"All right, here's what you need to do. For the time being, you are supposed to be motionless. So don't move if you can help it. Bend your knees a little so they don't cramp while waiting. Don't worry; the others here are doing the same. When the President gets here, you are to salute to him, no one else. On saluting, raise your right arm in a and have your fore finger over your right eyebrow. You are to stay that way until he salutes to you and lets it down."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yes. Make sure that you do it in time with the other sailors. And don't worry too much about being the center of attention. The send off team will be."

"And what will they do?"

"You'll see."

After a few minutes, the President and the send off team arrived. The team started going through a routine meant to impress the sailors. A return will be done to the soldiers from the sailors when the President leaves the ship. But these are only done for ceremonies.

"The soldier on the right, does he look familiar?"

"Yeah, but who is he?"

Sephiroth smiled and said, "Cloud."

Yuffie nearly broke her composure, wanting to laugh. "How did he end up in there?"

"Yours truly."

"He he, nice. Thank you for putting me here."

"Thought you would enjoy it."

They did their finishing move and the President headed over. The sailors and the First Class in charge of this group saluted in unison. Rufus made a quick salute and boarded, not very interested in this group after the show held by the soldiers.

"They were good this time."

"It was the warrant officer, he was new. I'm sure he had something to do with the change."

"Well, we got some new personnel to, a new sailor and commander. Sir, any ideas on how to beat them next time?"

"Hmm, maybe this." Sephiroth did a flourish that outshined even Cloud's. It was taking his sword and doing a diagonal spin with his feet off the ground. The blade would come close to the neck of the person on his right but if done right, the distance between the blade and the flesh would be wide enough to put a fist in.

"That's great, sir. We'll get right on practicing it."

On board with nothing else to do, he drilled the five until they could do it perfectly with the practice sword then the real one.

When the alarms went off, he told them to go guard the President and went to look for Cloud and the others.

"What happened?" asked Cloud.

"I don't know, all of us are here so who can it be?" Tifa said.

At hearing this, Sephiroth turned and headed down the stairs, drawing his sword and not even bothering with the uniform.

"That hot head," Cloud muttered. "Aeris, come on, he'll most likely need your healing spells."

Down stairs, they heard the clang of mythril meeting mythril. Going through a door, they saw Sephiroth caught up in a fight with Ganglere. And, even though he was being pushed back, he wasn't being overwhelmed in the first moments like everyone else.

He would have continued but when Ganglere noticed Cloud was there, he had to stop the fun.

"Sorry, whelp, have to go. After all, you're only a side character in this story." He flew off, leaving behind one of Jenova's hands.

After the fight was over, Cloud turned on Sephiroth. "What is wrong with you! You endangered everyone in this group just running off like that! You want to kill him, fine! But continue to act so recklessly, there will be no place for you in this group! Do you understand me!" Cloud said, expecting him to argue back.

"…Yes, sir," Sephiroth said in a calm and even voice. He messed up and he knew it. Cloud's surprise was evident on his face. Sephiroth bent and picked up the material that Jenova dropped and turned and left.

Author's Notes: I don't own Final Fantasy 7