Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X are copyrighted to Square Enix.
Word Count: 4,154
Pages: 12
AN: Thanks to all the reviewers so far, I hope I get more for this chapter though. I also wanted to mention that a reviewer, Midnight Phase, started writing her own FFVII/FFX cross-over, if some of you would like to check that out.
A loud scream could be heard across the Midgar skyline. The source of the cry of agony sprang from a blond man with ocean blue eyes that were shut tight, as if trying to squeeze out the pain he was experiencing.
Tidus had been looking out at the panorama of the city at night, when the view sparked inside him a powerful memory. The lights of the city's buildings ignited a flashback of Zanarkand's nights illuminated by skyscrapers with waterfalls pouring out the side. The night sky was devoid of any stars, but the vast canvas of the darkened city replaced the celestial lights with balls of luminosity of its own. It was as if the heavens had dropped down to the world and Zanarkand played its host.
The flashback that erupted in Tidus's mind displayed the dream city. Everything seemed to speed up as he walked through the city streets under the rivers in the sky. The flowing torrents of water added a subtle bubbling noise that could be heard under an announcer's voice that was prepping Zanarkand's crowds for an upcoming Blitzball game in which Tidus would be participating. The flashback sped through a part where he was being stopped by a group of young kids and Blitzball fans wanting his autograph. Normal pace resumed when he found himself in the Sphere pool ready to start the game. He enjoyed reliving playing his beloved sport and just as he was entering in the final stage of his father's trademark Jecht-shot Mark III did the chaos start.
In his inverted position Tidus saw the destruction of his city, upside down. The city spires and cupolas erupted into a shower of destroyed stone, and skyscrapers and waterfalls both came thundering down onto the streets below as balls of energy shot through the buildings towards the Sphere pool and stadium. A heaping organism of a colossal size came into view. Sin. His father. That was when the pressure in his head had become overbearing and Tidus screamed in pain, clutching his head.
The flashback ended and Tidus tried to focus his eyes, his vision had blurred from the pain in his head, and had turned the world fuzzy.
He raised both his head and his sword in time to fend off an attacking Dark Nation. The beast took his blade in between its teeth, but Tidus kept his grip strong. The pain in his head increased with the strain on his left arm, and just when he thought he was about to pass out, Paine rushed to his side and alleviated the assault of the fiend.
Giving in to the cerebral agony, Tidus's knees buckled and the blond fell to the ground using both hands to compact his skull to try to compress the throbbing in his head.
Before Tidus could see what happened to Cloud and Rufus, he passed out.
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When Tidus came to he could feel a tingly sensation coursing through his nerves that he recognized as the effect of having white magic performed on the body.
Opening his eye lids, Cloud came into his line of sight. The warrior was standing by the Blitzer's side with a faint in his armlet that had been ebbing away. The swordsmen offered his companion his hand and the Blitzer locked his grasp around the other blonde's forearm. One blond pulled the other up and steadied him on his feet.
"What happened?" Tidus asked, his head swimming.
"Rufus got away, but I had him in my sword's path," Cloud recounted, regret in his voice, "I should have killed him, but I showed him mercy for a minute, and he escaped on his helicopter."
Tidus sighed, "True strength is found not in the damage you inflict upon your opponents, but by the mercy you show your enemies."
"I never figured you for someone deep Tidus," Paine admitted.
The blond shrugged his shoulders with a goofy grin on his face. "I don't know what I figure myself as either. I can't remember."
"How's your head?" Cloud asked.
"The pain has settled, but there's still have a light sensation in my head as a reminder. It's like a feeling you get when you're really tired physically, and emotionally."
"What caused it?" Paine enquired.
"I was looking out onto the city, and a vision of Zanarkand floated into my mind, but it didn't hurt until Sin started to destroy everything." The blood from the tanned blonde's cheeks left, giving him a slightly pallid complexion.
Cloud's expression didn't change, but his silence revealed he was pensive over the information Tidus revealed. Paine gave one nod in comprehension.
"Shouldn't we be getting back to the others?" She hastened.
Cloud raised his head, snapping out of his contemplative state. "I suppose. Let's go."
The 3 sword wielders left the rooftop balcony, picking up the dropped Gil, and items along the way.
"I know Gippal would appreciate this," Paine thought out loud while taking Rufus's dropped shotgun.
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Tifa sat on a counter beside the entrance to the room hosting the duel twisting staircases on the 69th floor. Thoughts flew through her troubled mind. How did ShinRa come about 12 Ancients? Where was the 12th? What was going to happen to the Electric Company? Was AVALANCHE's fight over? Did Cloud deal with Rufus? Why couldn't Cloud remember her? Why couldn't Tidus remember anything? And finally the pangs of jealousy hit when she questioned what the addition Aerith and four other females in the equation meant.
As this last thought was mulled over in her mind, footsteps could be heard pattering down the staircase. Tidus came bouncing down the stairs with Cloud, and Paine calmly following behind him.
The worried bartender ran up to Cloud, hastily looking him over for injuries.
"Cloud! Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"No, I'm fine Tifa," Cloud muttered, "but Rufus got away."
"Oh, Cloud…I'm sorry."
"There's nothing you can do. We should see if the others made it down safely."
The 4 of them walked down the corridors until they neared the one with the elevators.
In front of the lift were Yuna, Rikku, Baralai, Kimahri, young Shinra, and Cid.
"What's the problem?" Tifa asked the inert group.
"The platform won't come up again," Yuna answered for them.
"Shortly after the rest went down, the second platform rushed after them with a large machina on it," Baralai continued.
"Ma-kee-na?" Cloud questioned, pronouncing each syllable with a raised eyebrow.
"Metal creations built by the Al-Behd to ease our lives or to attack," Cid eased Cloud's confusion.
"So…machines?" Tifa asked.
"Yes, it was a war machine that went after them," Cid said.
"Then we better see if they're okay," Tifa worried.
"Right," Cloud confirmed and went over to the elevator to try to get it working. No movement was apparent after he jabbed the downwards arrow button numerous times, and the absence of the telltale shifting of gears informed the group that the elevators were not going to function.
Fed up with the lack of results, Cloud rammed the Buster Blade in the slit between the closed doors that led to the elevator platform and began to pry.
The doors gave in and Cloud pushed them open, revealing a view of the city of Midgar framed between the entrance of the elevator, but no platform, nor a way of descending.
Cloud heard a gasp from behind him, and he turned to see Yuna gazing at the panorama agape.
"Looks like we're taking the stairs," Tifa stated, looking down at the elevator platform 69 floors below them.
Everyone but the astonished Yuna and worried Tidus turned to move down the hallway, the blond Blitzer staying to check what had troubled her.
"Is this…Zanarkand?" Yuna asked, eyes pleading.
"No," Tidus replied with a shake of his head.
"Do you remember your city?"
"Yeah, I sort of had another flashback while we were fighting Rufus on the rooftops…I saw the city and the memory came to me,"
"I always wanted to see your home,"
"I'm sorry Yuna,"
"Don't be…this is beautiful…the lights…it's like that stars have found homes in the city."
Tidus, at this point, went up behind Yuna and wrapped his arms around her waist. The former Summoner leaned into the chest of her guardian.
"I dreamt of seeing tall buildings, like these, illuminated at night, but little Shinra said the energy used to power a city like this wouldn't be achievable in our generation. I didn't think I'd ever see a sight like this…"
Tears blurred Yuna's view of the lights of the city; creating ting halo's surrounding each illuminated dot. She closed her eyes to squeeze the tears out, and felt a gentle touch wiping away the saline drops of mixed emotion.
Eyes opened, she turned her head to see Tidus smiling at her.
"I don't know what happened, Yuna, or how we got here, or where we are, but I promise to find a way to make everything alright."
"Even if we have to live here?"
"Even then…"
Out of the corner of their eyes, Rikku could be seen bounding around the corner ecstatically.
"C'mon you guys! Cloud said we need to tackle this humongous set of stairs!" The blonde girl threw her arms wide open to illustrate the size of the stairs.
Yuna sighed; though upset her moment with Tidus was interrupted, but knowing that her immature cousin's disposition could not be helped.
"Coming Rikku," Yuna called.
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"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
A squealing Rikku flew by Cloud's view as the hyperactive girl slid down another railing.
The group happened to make an even of descending the set of stairs. Tidus had challenged Yuna to a race, and they took off by jumping to the bottom of every level. Cloud and Tifa were running down, while Paine, Baralai, Cid, Shinra, and Kimahri followed at a more reasonable pace.
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Having reached the ground floor of the Shin-Ra building after their elevator fight, Aerith, Lulu, Wakka, Red XIII, Gippal, and Barret stood around, pondering their next move.
"Cloud said for us to get out, but we have to wait for the others still," Aerith remarked.
"Good, wait here while I see if I can find a way out!" Barret exclaimed.
The large man ran out of the main entrance, seconds later gunfire could be heard erupting from outside.
The entrance doors burst open as Barret bowled through, breath heaving.
"Shit…they got the entire front covered," Barret wheezed.
Gippal and Wakka pulled several large benches in front of the entrance to block anyone from entering.
"Well that exit is ruled out," Gippal stated, "There's gotta be another way,"
At that moment Tifa and Rikku came running out from the exhibit area of the electric company building.
"Where's Cloud?" Barret asked.
"C'mon, you'll see soon! We found a way out!" Tifa motivated.
"Hurry up!" Rikku called.
The long haired brunette and the blonde ran to the show room section of the Shin-Ra building, where several of the company's vehicles were exhibited.
On a sleek, black motor bicycle, dubbed the 'Hardy-Daytona', was Cloud seated on top of the two wheeled machine.
"Everybody find a spot, we're getting out of here!"
Lined up alongside the left wall were three trucks. The first, closest to the entrance was slate in colour and it had a cubicle cabin area where the driver was seated. In the near was a truck bed that rested on 2 wheels.
Next to it was a revision of the first truck. The same cabin area was retained, but the rear end of the vehicle was redesigned to have a higher guard on the bed, with only one back wheel. Most if the car was more curvaceous as compared to the box-like shape of the previous model. The colour of this truck was a light blue-grey.
The final model was a lot smaller and compact to the previous builds. The teal truck retained the 3-wheel feature added onto the model prior to it, with a yellow mud guard suspended over the back tire.
Beside the platform on which the trucks were situated was a plaque that read 'sA-17', 'sA-27', and 'sA-37' respectively, referring to each build in chronological order, and small segments of information were given about the evolution of the vehicle series.
Cid was already behind the wheel of the sA-17, with Yuna in the passenger seat of the cabin, and little Shinra squeezed between them. Lulu and Wakka chose to hop into the truck's bed and declared they were ready to go.
In the back of the sA-27 sat Baralai and Kimahri, neither of them knowing how to drive the vehicle, nor having a good sense of machinery, thus not being able to operate the machine. Gippal jumped in the front, eager to test out the new machinery, with Rikku in the seat next to him.
That left the sA-37 to the remainders. Tifa sat behind the wheel with Aerith in the front, with Red XIII and Barret seated in the back. By the right wall Tidus was arguing with Paine over who was going to drive the pA-86. The small, green, 4-wheel, 2 passenger, high velocity vehicle stood in between the two quarrellers when finally Tidus jumped in the driver seat and declared he would be driving.
"Tidus, you don't even know how to start it! I have driven machine vehicles in my Crimson Squad days."
The green machine rumbled into life as Tidus fumbled with the control panel.
"Fine. You drive." Paine sighed as she sat next to the madly grinning blond.
Clouds lead the small caravan of vehicles out the exhibition room and up the spiral stairs stopping to wait for the others to reach the 3rd floor. All the sA vehicles made it up successfully, but the over enthusiastic Tidus drove the pA-86 into a column.
"Brilliant," disgruntled Paine grumbled.
"I was too excited. Sorry." Tidus apologized.
"Get up! I'm driving!"
The two switched seats right before the exposed red motor on the front of the vehicle started to go up in smoke, and the pA-86 refused to start again when Paine tried.
"Now what? Why am I always stuck with the blondes…" Paine mumbled shaking her head.
"I wanna ride one of those things that Cloud's riding!"
Cloud sighed in frustration. He got off the motorbike and walked to the 3rd floor balcony and pointed to something on the 2nd floor. Tidus went to the swordsman's side and looked down.
"There are several motorbikes down there. Let's make this lesson quick before we get attacked."
After a short motor bicycle lesson, Tidus and Paine were prepared.
"Okay, ready to go?" Cloud asked at the front of the group.
A loud bang from the main entrance answered in response, as Shin-Ra troops crashed into the lobby.
"I'll take that as a yes." Ripping the accelerator on the Hardy-Daytona, the bike flew through the 3rd story window and landed onto the empty 6 lane highway with 5 vehicles falling in line behind him.
The group drove at a reasonable pace, until the lagging Tidus heard the sound of a motor coming from behind him. Turning his head and seeing the squadron of red and orange Shin-Ra motorbikes, he decided he had to warn the others, "Hey! We have company!"
Tifa looked in her mirror and cursed under her breath.
"All the trucks pull ahead!" Cloud ordered and waited for until the sA series of vehicles were pushing the motors' limits and going at top speed. "Tidus, Paine. Draw your swords."
The 3 sword wielders pulled their blades out of their harnesses; Tidus and Paine had scavenged holsters of their own from a couple of felled troops back at the Shin-Ra building.
"Ready to have some fun?" The Blitzer asked the ex-Crimson Squad member.
"Want to make it fun? Whoever drops more motorcyclists is victorious." Paine replied.
"Deal. Go!"
There were two kinds of Shin-Ra motorbikes chasing them. One was orange in colour, the other red. The orange ones, as they soon found out, were not built for agility and kept charging after their targets, making them easy prey. The red ones, however, had better manoeuvrability and braking capabilities. Whenever one of the 3 warriors raised a sword, the driver of the bike would put the brakes on and pull back or draw away to the side.
The warriors staggered off. Cloud was in the front as a last line of defence if anyone happened to get through, and with Tidus and Paine in the back, off to the left and the right.
An orange bike pulled up on Tidus' left. The brave- or stupid- Shin-Ra trooper tried to speed past the Blitzer, but the blond reacted before he could get further. His sword slashed across the front tire, promptly causing the rubber to blow off and propelling the biker to flip forward and be expelled onto the paved highway.
Another bike pulled through the centre, Paine had it covered. Driving up closer to it, she rammed her sword into the bikes' gas tank and sliced the back wheel, sending the cycle skidding onto the cement. The sparks created from the friction between the sliding bike and the highway flew into the gasoline, igniting the fuel and exploding the motorbike, taking the driver and 3 other approaching bikers as well.
"That counts as 4!" Paine shouted so Tidus could hear her.
"No fair!" Tidus protested as he smashed the steering handle of the biker he was dealing with, making the driver lose control of his cycle and roll of the vehicle. "I'm only on 2!"
A red motorcycle sped through the gap in between Paine and Tidus, avoiding hits from their swords. Cloud got ready to take care of the red biker, but when he slashed out with the Buster Blade, the biker pulled away. He followed after him with a raised sword, and again the driver pulled back…right into the back of Tidus's sword, who was readying a slice at out another approaching bike. The biker, clad in red, was knocked forward off his reversing bike, which fell over and got caught in the motorbike behind it.
Tidus laughed victoriously, "Four already!"
Paine, however, was counting to herself the numbers she had defeated.
"5!" She called striking a biker to her left, wounding his arm and making him lose balance. Using the momentum of her Hardedge, she swung at the driver on her right and knocked him of his bike. "6!"
Turning her body 90 degrees to the right, right arm extended fully with her sword held tightly at the hilt, she took the head off the tailing biker.
Tidus turned to see a biker to his right drawing up. He swung his sword at him, but it was blocked by a spear-like weapon with an electrical prod at the tip. Catching the Blitzer ff guard, the biker pulled his weapon away from the sword and lashed out at the blond. Tidus managed to pull his head back a second before the spear hit home. He got a hold of the biker's weapon and pulled hard. The biker came off his bike, pitching head first into the highway, and relinquished the electric spear to Tidus.
"5!" Tidus turned to confront the biker on his left and thwacked him across the head with the spear; the biker collapsed from the electrical shock the tip of the spear produced. Another orange bike pulled up to his left; he rammed the spear into the bike, effectively short circuiting the vehicle. The bike dropped back and nearly took out a red biker who just managed to avoid it, by veering to the side and pulling past Tidus.
The Blitzer had recovered the spear before the bike fell away. To handle both weapons, Tidus had to let go of the accelerator, which meant he was coasting up until now, but he was losing serious speed heading into the pack of Shin-Ra motorcycles behind him. He was also sacrificing balance by carrying the sword and the spear together.
Spear clutched in his right hand, he brought his arm back and thrust the weapon forward overhead, releasing it on its climax and rocketing the spear into the red biker about 20 feet ahead of him. The biker went into a spasm as the spear impaled him through his right shoulder and fell off his bike.
"That's 8!" Tidus grinned, his hand gripping the accelerator again, and speeding forward to challenge a red biker. The motorcyclist swerved to avoid Tidus' strike and pulled forward.
Cloud tried attacking as well, but having similar results as Tidus. The red biker hung at the left side of the highway, where he pulled a grenade off his belt. With nimble fingers he pulled the pin out of the grenade one handed and lobbed the explosive at the sA-17.
Cloud counted off the seconds left before detonation in his head as he rocketed forward on his Hardy-Daytona.
3…
The grenade was just overhead.
2…
He had his sword raised in both hands as he struck out and batted the explosive back towards the diminishing squadron of Shin-Ra motorcycles.
1…
A huge explosion occurred behind him. The detonation took out a chunk of bikers.
"10!" Cloud called out to Paine and Tidus, a small smile on his face.
Tidus' expression changed from the usual one of joy. Anger flashed across his eyes, as they zoned in on the biker. Zeroing in on the Shin-Ra troop who almost blew up the truck holding Yuna, he held his left arm high. Tidus brought down his sword across the back of the biker's neck, severing the head from its body. Blood sprayed onto the driverless cycle's windshield and onto Tidus' bike's front wheel.
"Ha! Nice Catch!" Tidus shouted mirthlessly over his shoulder as the dead driver's head smacked into a fellow motorcyclist, causing the terrified biker to fall off his bike screaming in horror.
The last 10 remaining Shin-Ra bikers decided that the best chance they had was to attack all at once, so they charged.
Paine struck to her left first, smacking the lever that controlled the front brake on the motorbike, pitching the motorcycle forward on completely vertical. The biker fell off. And his vehicle followed him crushing its driver underneath. Following up on her right, Paine slashed at the biker who blocked with an electric spear. A short attack-and-parry battle was wage with Paine emerging as the victory, Shin-Ra biker knocked off his vehicle and his spear clutched under Paine's arm.
Tidus leaned on his motorcycle, pulling it left hard and slamming a biker into the guard rail until the driver lost balance, and his bike lost control, flying over the side of the highway and plummeting to his death, when it hit a break in the railing.
Cloud whirled his sword left and right knocking two motorcyclists on either side of him off their bikes in rapid succession and striking out at the back tire of a motorcycle in front off him, felling the third.
Three bikers still manage to get away from the sword wielders and bumping into each truck.
One drew up to the side of the sA-27, ready to throw in a grenade into the driver cabin, when a shotgun popped out the window and blew off the front tire of the attacking cyclist, causing him to lose control and bringing his bike to an irregular stop. Gippal grinned, satisfied with his new weapon, as he clutched Rufus' firearm, having gotten the shotgun from Paine while the group waited for the others in the exhibition room back at the Shin-Ra building.
The biker attacking the sA-37 had his spear ready to puncture the back tire of the truck, but Barret popped out of the truck's bed and unleashed a round of machine gun fire onto the biker.
Bullets exploded out of the biker's back, blood blowing out of his exit wounds as he was thrown off his motorcycle from the impact of the rounds.
The last remaining biker met an equally painful demise as he was on the receiving end of one of Lulu's lightning attacks. The bolt zapped the driver and short circuited his vehicle.
AVALANCHE and the 'Ancients' drove for approximately a quarter kilometre before having to stop at the highway ended, unwilling to face a 30 foot plummet to the ground from the edge.
"It doesn't seem like we'll be able to make it down this way," Baralai pointed out. The others were about to respond, but were cut off by the loud sound of an approaching machine with a powerful motor.
They turned, expecting to face more motorcycles, but instead they gazed at the monstrosity of a war machine in disbelief. Each of its enormous 6 tires towered over them at least by a head, excepting Kimahri.
"How are we supposed to beat this sucker!?" Gippal proclaimed, voicing everyone's opinion.
AN: Was the action satisfactory? So the crew are finaly out the Shin-Ra building, but still not out of their clutches. I apologize if there are any spelling mistakes, I'm afraid my keybroad is dying on me. Thanks for all the reviews so far!