(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7 or the songs that are in this story, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)

Altering Rhythm

Do the Mambo de Chocobo!

Silver: As the title says, let's dance! I'm a little happy on this chapter… just a little. Anyway, Resident Evil movie! Yeah, can't wait for both film and CGI-film to come out soon in a few months! (Mostly the CGI one.) Back to the point, enjoy!

Do the Mambo de Chocobo!

Camping out is quite normal…

But with the monsters prowling around at night and chasing after a mad man, is an entirely different experience for two girls from Earth.

"Tifa! Watch your back!" Mira shouts, the bar maid turns to see the Prowler is about to steal her and punches him on the face. Cloud cast thunder on his own set of Prowlers and Mira cures Red XIII.

But there is one thing causes the songstress to think something is off…

'Where are the Kalm Fangs?' she thought as she downs an ether once she starts feeling woozy. Usually, the dogs are with them but right now, not a single wild dog is seen. '… This is more gross than the antidote.' she gives the said bottle a look before ducking down as a Prowler lunges at her.

:::^*^:::

"Bad dog! Bad dog!" Riley shouts and beats down another Kalm Fang with her tonfas and Barret shoots the rest down.

Once they got rid of the Fangs, the group takes a break and Kunsel distribute each of the group a potion to recover some health. As they rest, Riley is digging in her bag to get her PHS and to call Mira…

"I'm surprise you're with them, Aerith." former Second said as he sits not far from her.

"Yeah… I'm glad that you are also safe." she replied, then she looks at him again. "Um, who are you again?"

Riley have to hold her laugh and imagines Kunsel falling off his seat, anime style. Of course, since he is wearing a helmet, it is obvious for the flower girl on not recognizing him at all. The former Second made a face and then introduces himself once more. That's when she remembers the said man who once visited her in the church, and refuses his offer of fixing the wheels of her flower wagons. She is glad to meet him again without the helmet on, they then exchange stories of about their life.

When…

"So have you…?"

"I have what…?" the flower girl asked as the Ex-SOLDIER utters never mind and looks away.

'Crap, I forgot, Aerith somehow sensed Zack's death and Kunsel just only knows now by our story! Shit! Better make up a convincing story on not telling Aerith about our 'meeting', and she better not know about Cloud's condition too.' she thought and looks away for a moment, then she got her PHS out of her bag and calls on the songstress.

"Hello?"

"Hey, how's it going over there? At the Chocobo Farm?" the mime asked.

"Not yet." the songstress deadpans in reply. "Riley, this is the 4th time…"

"I'm not worried! DoIlooklikeI'mspazzing?" the mime asked way too fast, with one of her eye twitching and the other looks at her strangely.

"Riley… did you ate candy again?"

"Nope!"

"… That's it I'm taking your snacks once we meet."

"I did not!" the mime protests and walks a little off the group for a while. Making sure it is far from being heard by the Ex-SOLDIER... "Anyway, we got a problem…" she hissed.

"What?"

"Remember when you told me that you told Kunsel that we met Zack twice? Well, I just remembered… that he visited Aerith once in Crisis Core to fix her wagons." she then looks back slightly to see if they are listening, to her relief they continue on recovering.

"Oh… Ginger snaps." Then there is a mid pause. "Make-up another story?"

"Yeah, just keep Chocobo and Mother-hen from finding out… Okies, see you."

"If you called again and I hear you on hype, I'm taking your snacks away."

"Oh, come on! I only ate one pack!" she shouts in defense, only to hear the beeping sound and then she glares at the phone. "Aye, be thankful that you are still my best friend, girl."

:::^*^:::

The sun sets and they have not reach the said farm, so the two group decides to camp out and check on how far they are. By guessing and the faint image, Cloud's group will be first to arrive at the Chocobo Farm.

Both girls have experiences on camping like pitching up a tent, however, the tents are quite different from the ones they have at home. So they end up winging it and only one got it right.

"Oh come on." the songstress stated sourly as one of the stakes just pops off the ground and the foundation collapse. "Yeesh… do I have to move to get this right?"

"Do you need help?" she turns around to see Cloud and Tifa are finished with theirs, as Red went off to find materials for the fire.

"… Yeah." she admitted, as the two helps her with the tent. "Usually I hold the tent up as Riley does this."

"Oh, so this is the first time you pitch this on your own?" Tifa asked.

"Yes, my first time to do it solo."

"You really are- Cloud, the hammer is other there." the bar maid points out and the blonde spots the said hammer just behind him. As he hammers the stakes more firmly in the ground. "You and Riley are really dependent on one another."

"Uh, we're not really dependent, more on supportive actually." the songstress stated, as she and Tifa holds up the tent. As they talk about friends and nature around them, Cloud finishes the task and Red came back with some woods balancing on his back. Once they light up the fire, the bar maid distributes the can of beans and jerky as the others have water in their own canteens. They talk around the fire and laugh a bit, but Mira notices the uneasiness on Cloud's face. She guess that he really want to settle the score between him and Sephiroth. Once they have their fill, Cloud takes on the role as the watcher tonight, but Mira insisted on taking it first because she have more experience. And after much debate, the group decided to let Mira take the first half of the watch, and then she'll wake him up for the other half. Although displeased, he agrees and they enter their tents with the songstress sitting on the rock.

Looking at the tent and back on her cellphone, she made sure an hour pass or she hears some snores from the tents. The ravenette then silently moves to their tents and checks if they are sleeping. And surely enough, she does hear some light snores and moves away.

After seeing she's a good distance away but near enough to shout a warning, she takes out her cellphone and calls.

Then she yells out when something appears in front of her…

:::^*^:::

After successfully setting up her tent, Riley goes around and checks the others. Kunsel seems to finish his and he is now helping Barret, who's in a lock mess with his own tent. Aerith, on the other hand, is putting on the foundation of the tent but have no idea on how to make it stand up. By that, Riley stroll towards the flower girl and takes the ropes.

"Need help?" the mime asked.

"Oh, sorry I don't-" but the brunette just waves it off.

"It's okay, I kinda half-expected that you don't go out into the wilderness that much." as she loop the ropes into the right places. Then she looks at Aerith who's looking at the sky as she pulls the rope. "It's the first time seeing the blue sky too, huh?"

"Uh? Oh… yes, this is my first time outside Midgar."

"Well, don't go dazing away on the sky when we're fighting monsters." the mime jokes as she take the stakes and tied the rope. Once she finishes putting up her tent, she looks back and still finds Barret in a knot. The scene is both hilarious and pitiful to the three, which is why she convince Aerith to take Barret and to get some fire woods. Once the two heads out, she and Kunsel takes over pitching up Barret's tent…

And she knew he's going ask her about Aerith.

"Did you tell her about Zack?" he asked.

"Eh? She knows him?"

The former Second gives her a look before he tells her that Aerith is Zack's girlfriend. "Wait… she's Zack's girlfriend?" she asked back, pretending not to know about the two's relationship.

"You don't- Hmmm… I guess he did not tell you about his girlfriend after he died, did he?"

"Kunsel, when we both arrived, he can barely get air in his lungs." she deadpans, as she holds the tent and he hammers. "So… Zack is the one Aerith's talking about back in the park, man what a small world." she utters, she then notices his look at her. "She only mentioned that her boyfriend is a 1st Class SOLDIER."

"I see." he continues hammering the stakes, he then test the tent if it's stable and the rope is tightly tied on the stakes. "You're going to tell her?" he asked.

The mime is silent for a moment and looks at the direction where the Midgar Wasteland is. She then stands and dust her skirt and leggings. "I think she already knows." she answers.

"Are you sure?" the former Second asked.

"… Yeah, she does and she does a good job on hiding the longing for him." the mime said and then looks at the grasslands.

"… I guess, you're right… Five years can make one think their love ones are gone from the face of this planet." and he stands beside her looking out the grassland. Then he placed his hand on her shoulder and she looks back at him, seeing he's not happy. "By the way, why the heck did you took the materias Zack used to own?" he asked.

'Whoops! I knew this is going to happen, Mira! I so blame you for this!' she thought as she laughs awkwardly and sweats a bit. "Yeah, well…" she then explains that they need something to beat down the monsters and troopers easily. She noted that he should be thankful that none of them have summon a Bahamut FURY out yet, he twitch on that one.

Once Barret and Aerith came back with the woods, they set up the fire and have their dinner. After having a full stomach, Kunsel ask on who's going to watch the camp for tonight and Riley volunteers for the first watch. Once they agree on Kunsel on the second watch, the three enters their tents and Riley sat near the fire. On hearing the snores, she moves away, taking out the PHS from her pouch and looks back at the tents once more before making a call.

She then dials Mira's PHS number and waited for her to answer.

"Just take a long walk and when you see the light, don't be afraid and go in it." The songstress stated as she didn't notice that she answers the call.

"Mira?"

"Oh, hey, sorry about that. A stray soul was wandering around, I had to point the poor thing to the right direction… I'm still not use to this and that guy just scared the wits out of me."

"That is so weird… I thought most people in the game die then returns back into the Planet."

"Well… I guess there are things that we don't know or did not show in the game. I mean, remember the Gi Tribe in Cosmo Canyon?"

"We have to take notes then… And I can't believe you actually have a strong sixth sense, you can see dead people who are still stuck in the plane of the living… Wouldn't that make you a Cetra or sorts…?"

"I was born with it, so suck it up. Also if I am a Cetra, I should be hearing the Planet's voice by now."

"You don't hear it?"

"I see dead people, but I cannot hear the Planet." The songstress retorted, as her best friend goes on a rant on how useful her sixth sense is. She even list of the stuffs they can do with it back in their home world like ghost hunting, psychic reading and the list goes on. And the songstress can't help but to blame the goddess on releasing her sixth sense. "Riley, back to the point what happened there?"

"Don't worry, I got it cover." she then looks back at the camp and then continues where she left off. "But we have to make sure they don't ask and stay away on any Fair-related topics."

"Got it… Okay, now once we cross the Myrtril Mine, we need to get into the woods and recruit Yuffie."

"Oh yeah, double the trouble, double the fun." she remarks with a smile.

"I forgot that I still got issue with your immaturity."

"I'll just parrot this: Suck it up. Besides, you're not the only- hold on…" she covers her PHS and looks carefully. At first she thinks it's a stone, then it moves and jump over the fire. Riley have to duck down for a while as the thing looks around and it carefully creeps into one of the tents. "I'll call you back, girl. I got an intruder to catch."

With that, she ends the call, packs up her PHS, and banish her Tonfas. She then charge back to the camp.

:::^*^:::

She watches over them…

Smiling that her and frowning at the other.

'Why..?'

But she can only watch for now and waits for the next meeting.

:::^*^:::

The next day…

Cloud's group is the first one to reach the Chocobo farm. But before arriving there, there are times the songstress encounters a few stray souls of travelers who died in their travels. She tries ignoring them but ended up whispering directions and shooing them away, before the others notices. The songstress would then try to close her sixth sense by remembering the therapy she had back…

"Don't close your eyes… Don't close your mind…"

Mira would looks around and tries to find the source, but sees nothing. It still weirded out on what the goddess said that she is different. 'Not a Cetra… and not a summon… Then why can I…?' as she remembers her childhood, they arrive in the farm.

As the blonde enters the farm to ask anything about a man in a black cloak, the group walks around and stops by the fence of the chocobos. The songstress looks at the said giant yellow bird, about as tall as the ostriches in her home but more muscular and feathery. The yellow birds notices the group, but they walked towards the ravenette and warks for her attention. Remembering about the Choco/Mog summon as one of the birds is warking at her.

Also she secretly puts her cellphone on her breast pocket, to record it. 'So Riley won't complain on missing out.' she thought.

"Okay, here goes… Wark!" she calls out, hoping she sounds like a chocobo and both Tifa and Red turns to look at her strangely. As the songstress looks away out of embarrassment, the chocobos seems to get the message and moves to their position. Tifa, Red, even Cloud who came back with the Chocobo Lure, witness the chocobos perform a whimsical performance. It made Tifa and Mira awed on their cute dance, as Red and Cloud could only smile at this. Then she notices something odd forming in the middle of the pen. After the dance, one of the chocobos picks it up and heads to where the songstress is standing. It then drops it in her hand and then rubs it's beak on her forehead, she thank the bird with a good pat and it returns back to it's companions.

"What is it, Mira?" Cloud asked, as the ravenette looks at the item with a smile and then she toss it to him.

"It's a summon materia, and I think that suits you somehow." the songstress quips, the blonde takes a good look of the materia before he gives her an annoyed look.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You keep it." as he toss back the materia to her.

"Aw Cloud, don't be so glum." she then points at the chocobos, which are now gathered at one side of the pen on where he is standing. "They think you're family."

The bar maid have to cover her giggles while Red quirks his mouth a bit, as the blonde is scowling. 'First, she downgraded my masculinity, now she compares me to these birds?!' he thought as the chocobos warks at him and in turn, he glares at them. But they did not notice it and nuzzles on the blonde. Then he yelps when one of the birds yanks him by his shoulder guard, causing him to topple over the fence and fell face first on the grassy ground.

That cause both girls to laugh as the red feline flicks his tail in amusement. The two howled in laughter again and the feline just shakes his head out of pity… Apparently one of the chocobos decided to sit on him and groom his hair.

"Get this thing off me!" Cloud shout out of annoyance as he tries to crawl out of the chocobo. But his shout merely gave the girls more laughs as the feline just watch with amusement.

"Yo! What's going… PFFFFFFF!" the four turns to see Riley and Barret is laughing so hard, they literally rolling down on the ground. Aerith uses her hands to cover her face and turns away, but the slight shaking of her shoulder indicated that she is laughing. Kunsel made funny mouth shapes as he tries not to laugh and goes to helps the blonde, he mentally wishes that he have his helmet cover some part of his face.

But Mira stops when she saw someone… and her eyes widens. 'Wait… is that Yuffie?!' she thought, as the said ninja girl also rolls on the ground laughing at the blonde's situation.

Once the blonde is up and away from the chocobos, he gives the birds one more disdain look before reuniting with the others. He immediately notices a new member in the group, a young girl wielding a big shiruken who's dusting her clothes. When he ask who is she, the girl just declares herself as the greatest warrior in Wutai and joins them in interest of taking down Shinra. He then looks at the others, who then directs him to the mime.

"What? Having a more people to help is better then nothing." the mime replies, hiding the fact that the ninja girl actually tried stealing her group's materias last night.

"She's right, y'know!" Yuffie stated quite loud as she twirls her shiruken up and down.

Sighing at this, he decided to push the issue away for a while and faces the group. "Alright, we be get going, the farmer here said that he spotted a man heading to the Mythril Mine across the marsh." he said.

"Uh Cloud, have you heard of the Midgar Zolom?" Mira asked him, as she secretly stops recording and the group looks at him. It seems by their expression, they have heard of the giant snake. He, however, looks skeptical and seems to ignore it. 'Aye, don't tell me he didn't heard of it before…'

"I know, but we need to go so Sephiroth doesn't get too far ahead."

"So we're going to catch Chocobos? I mean, they are very fast and can outrun the-" but he cuts her off.

"It will take too much time, Mira. We need to get ahead and we don't have time to catch a chocobo." the blonde stated firmly as he pockets the purple materia.

Both Mira and Riley stared at the blonde with disbelief and they look at one another.

'Not good!' they thought as they remember their first mistake when they played FF7 for the first time.

:::^*^:::

The helicopter flies over the Mythril Mines and is headed for Junon. Inside, Rufus studies the files about the AVALANCHE.

So far, the group is not the original one.

Cloud Strife, the leader of the group, is not a former SOLDIER but a former infantryman. He was at the Nibelheim Incident and was one of Hojo's experiments, which is the reason why he got abilities and strength of a SOLDIER. The reason he got out is a SOLDIER 1st, Zack Fair, got him out after he broke out of his own prison. However, the SOLDIER is declared dead and Cloud declared himself as a SOLDIER 1st Class. 'Probably the experiment swipe out his memories…' he thought.

Tifa Lockhart also came form Nibelheim but is able to get out of town… nothing special.

Kunsel, a former SOLDIER 2nd class who quit and joined the group, happens to be one of Zack's friend. 'Probably trying to find out where Strife came from…'

Barret Wallace, the said leader of the AVALANCHE, his hometown was destroyed by the company during his father's reign.

Aerith Gainborough, the last living Cetra and is what his father chasing after to get the Promised Land. She's probably special but not that important on his current goal.

The last one is Red XIII, another specimen but a different one from Strife… again nothing special.

Closing the file and taking another from the file, he remembers the two girls, Mira and Riley, wrecking all of their information as they stole the files about Banora. The village is actually home of two 1st Class SOLDIERs, Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley, who were created in a program, Jenova Project: Project G. It comes to no surprise that the village was created to observed the two former SOLDIERs grow, and the two girls survived the destruction of their hometown.

An announcement snaps him out of this thoughts and place his files aside. Right now, his main focus is on the issue of the silver general's return. The group is not much of a concern for now.

However, if the AVALANCHE interferes… he will not hesitate on giving the command to rid of them all.

:::^*^:::

"Cloudy, can we discuss it."

"I'm telling you, we need to catch up with him. And will you stop calling me that." as he looks annoyingly at the mime.

"If I had six hours to reach my destination, I'd spend the first hour preparing for the worst."

"But it not in this situation."

"It's also implied in this situation."

"Riley, how long will you bug me about this?" as the mime face palms as her mind screams profanity which is obviously directed to the blonde's attitude. Right now, they are making their way to the marsh and both girls are trying to change the blonde's mind on rushing thru it.

'Dang it, Cloud! Although we're not controlling you with the game controller, we're not going to make the same mistake me and Mira did in our first play!' Riley thought hotly, as Mira goes to Cloud's side and she tries to convince him about the chocobos.

"Cloud, charging in is not a very reasonable decision." the songstress points out, obviously not wanting to be snake foods. "I mean, think, there are giant snakes roaming around and they are natural swimmers. How can we outrun that?"

"Simple, we'll run thru the swamp before they can sense us."

"… You're really ignoring some experienced travelers' advise… are you?"

"No, the fact that Chocobos takes too much time."

"And the fact that one of them just mother-hen you."

"I think that's the main reason." the Riley pipes in. "He's still sour being sat on."

The blonde glares at her but continue on their way to the swamp. "We're crossing the marsh on foot and that's final." he stated bluntly.

Mira face palms and shakes her head. 'We're doom…' she thought and looks at Riley… whose face is puff, red and is glaring daggers at the blonde's back. "Uh Riley…?"

Then the mime just marches briskly and stops right in front of the blonde First Class. At first, he stares at her for a second and is about to order her to move out of his way, when… "That's it! Riley Alex Bautista is out! PEACE!" she yells at him, then she bumps on him and stalks away from the group.

And Cloud just stands there, stun by the brunette's declaration as she stomps out into the grassland and away from them. The ninja girl goes after her as the songstress whispered something to the former Second before heading out to go after her best friend.

As the three girls head out.

"Cloud, you're really insensitive at times." Aerith scolds him as she shakes her head.

:::^*^:::

Both Mira and Yuffie goes after the mime who is still fuming as she marches into the grassland. "Riley! Wait up!" the songstress calls out.

Thankfully, the brunette stops for a while. And looks at the two, she can understand Mira following her but Yuffie…

"You're quitting?" the ninja girl asked, looking incredulous on her. Obviously, she did not join her just to be separated from her targets. The songstress refrains on rolling her eyes on the obvious reason why the ninja tags along.

"Uh? No!" the mime said and wave her hands. "I said I'm out but not quitting. Besides, I'm going to show Cloud the difference of hurrying after time and preparing for the worst." and she takes out the purple materia from her pocket with a grin.

"Ha! I knew it! I like you now!" Yuffie shouts and glomps on the mime, nearly losing her balance by the sudden weight. She then told the ninja to find any Chocobo lurking around, nodding at this and left the two on their own. Once securing she is far out…

"By the way, how did you get Yuffie early?" Mira asked.

"Glitch in the game?" the mime jokes, hinting the glitch where the party can skip the scene of the murdered Midgar Zolom, staked on the tree. "Well, considering we're in it, I think some part of the script is thrown out of the window."

"Aye… Still, she is useful."

"Yep… But I'm puzzled on something."

"On what?"

"On why the heck you never told me about your sixth sense?" she then looks at her best friend.

"There is a reason why I never mention my ESP." there is a paused and the brunette looks at her. They stare one another for a while and then she sighs. "My parents thinks it's not normal."

"Duh, it's suppose to be that way!"

"They want me to have a normal life." the mime looks at her. "That along with I've seen a lot of scary things, which caused me to get therapy."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"That explains why…" the mime said offly, now knowing why her best friend did not bother telling her about her psychic abilities. Still it made her a little angry for not telling her a long time ago, they are best friends after all. Then again, having something not normal in Earth is a practical label of a freak and an outcast. Sighing, she looks back at her best friend before they snap their attention to Yuffie, who's yelling at them and caused the wild Chocobos to run away from her. "Really subtle, Yuffie!" she shouts back.

"OH come on!" the ninja girl shouts and chases after the yellow birds.

"Anyway, I too wonder on something." the songstress said as they jogs after the ninja, she then looks at Riley. "You can mimic others' skills and create astral projection of some equipments, how do you do that? Are you psychic too?"

"I REALLY don't know." the mime said with a shrug. "It just happen to me."

"So you're telling me that your mime ability is a latent one?"

"Probably, I was trying and testing mimicking other moves like the ones in anime and other games. But nothing happens." As the ninja yelps and runs away from some Fangs. "I think we'll discuss this issue later, right now, we need to catch some chocobos and catch up with the others." she then cast Matra Magic to the bloody hounds.

:::^*^:::

For a moment, Cloud and the gang stops for a moment, fixes their equipment and readies themselves to cross the marsh. The others looks at the horizon, hoping the girls would come back or hoping they are not caught by Shinra… Even the blonde couldn't help but to look back into the grassland, as if he is worrying on the two and their new friend. Then he shakes the thought off. 'They have decided, there is no point of dilly and dallying around. I have to find Sephiroth and fast.' he thought.

With that, he zips his pack and motions the others to get going…

Aerith also looks back and is worried for the two. She can't help to get along with them despite she couldn't figure them out and the Planet's warning. They are so contrasting but they get along despite their difference, perhaps they don't know their difference…?

She then picks up her staff and follows the others into the marsh.

Unknown to them, slit eyes spots a potential meal.

:::^*^:::

Catching a chocobo is more easier said than done, especially when the girls forgot about the greens. For the two, it's like trying to catch it without any bait on the hook at all. Mostly, Riley and Yuffie does all the chasing while Mira uses the Chocobo Lure to attract the fowls. And their attempt on catching one is not that effective… especially when Riley jumps on one, the Chocobo did a rodeo to get her off.

In the end, they are exhausted, not only on attempting to catch a Chocobo, also from fighting some stray monsters.

"Aye… Mira, please play the Chocobo song?" as the mime collapses from chasing after the fowl and fighting and laid on her back. 'At least, my Dark Fire level up, that's a bonus… Yet, I'm surprise it did level up, I guess Dark Fire is a natural materia I got from the pin cushion.'

"Chocobo song?" the ninja girl asked, she too is tired and sat down not too far from her.

"… What type?" the songstress asked as she sits down for a moment and checks her Restore and Lightning materia. 'It level up… good.' she thought.

"The Mambo." the mime answers

"Okay." the songstress adjust her instrument and plays the Mambo de Chocobo from the OST: FF: Dissidia, without the male voice that shouts 'Uh!'. As she plays, Riley relaxes a bit and Yuffie became interested on the song since it is quite new to her.

Then… they hears a warking sound which made Mira stop for a moment. See looks around and sees no chocobo. 'Must be in the keytar.' she thought, as she looks at her instrument and continues playing the song.

Then suddenly…

"ACK!"

"Hay Kabayo!" they yelp as they get out of the way, then the next thing they knew…

"What the heck is this? Disney?!" the mime shouts as she spits it out.

:::^*^:::

Crossing the swamp is the least experience the group would want to experience, especially when leeches would attempt to cling on their skin and suck their blood out. As they cross the marsh, Aerith or Kunsel would take a split-second look back before trudging on.

However, when the flower girl look back… it wasn't a friend.

"Uh, everyone…" she calls out and both Red and Kunsel looks back to see… a submerged snake head before it dives into the swamp. It didn't give the three to think of what they saw, but it is enough to set off the alarms in their head.

"RUN!" The Ex-Second shouts causing the others to look back, and on cue the Midgar Zolom rises out just behind them. He quickly lift Aerith up and sprints forward with Red, as the giant snake hisses at it's target. But suddenly the tail appears not far from them and slaps the murky waters, blocking them from escaping.

Stopping and looking back at the snake, it lunges at them. "Scatter!" Cloud shouts and jumps away as the others scrambles away from the Zolom's path. As the snake submerge into the waters, the group takes out their weapons, Kunsel places Aerith down and readies for the next strike. And it didn't take long for it to come out again, but this time it's is attacking by the side and they end up avoid it again.

But luck is not on their side when the tail lash out and squarely hits Barret, who is sent skidding on the murky waters. "Barret!" Tifa shouts with worry as the black man shakily gets up and waves back that he's okay.

Once more, the Zolom charges on them, emerging from a different place. But this time they avoid it and strikes it on the side before it submerges again. It roars in pain and hisses angrily at them, lashing it's tail to knock them out. And the unfortunate one to get hit is Kunsel, who pushes Aerith down to avoid getting hit by the tail. The former Second is sent flying and crash down on the muddy ground just a few feet from them.

"Kunsel!" the flower girl shouts and goes after their fallen friend, as Barret provides cover fire for her. Once she reaches him, Tifa charges at the huge creature and cast Fire on the reptile's side. It proved to be not effective as the snake dives into the marsh to avoid the fire, it hit the murky water extinguishing it. Then it appears again, this time lunging on the feline who manage to dash out of the way. The blonde charges after it and slashes it's sides, causing it to thrash as he avoid being crush by the tail.

It then slips into the marsh, only to be hit by some bullets on the head by the black man. The reptile rises back out and roars at them, it then lunges at the feline only to get fire o it's face. Shaking it away, it then spots Aerith healing Kunsel and locks on them. With a hiss, it dives into the marsh and slithers its way to the two weaker companions.

"Where did that thing go?" the black man asked and on cue the reptile rises out of the water. It lunges at Aerith and Kunsel, who are surprise out of their wits when it came out of nowhere. "Dang it! MOVE!"

Snapping out, the former Second pushes her away as he scrambles to avoid being bitten. But his reaction is a bit late as the fang hits his right leg, yelping as he receive a nasty gash. Rolling on the ground as the reptile hit's face first on the muddy ground, the party waste no time to strike the reptile down. Tifa, who is near the snake, strikes at it with Beat Rush and Somersault before avoiding the swing of the tail. Barret shoots which misses when the reptile to moves into the marsh. But as it submerge, the tail lashes again, this time it hits Tifa and sending her crashing on the trees, knocking her out.

Aerith attempts to approach the fallen martial artist, when Red grabs her by her skirt as the reptile appears behind him and attempts to lunge on either of the two. Kunsel, who winces at the gash, stands up and uses his sword as a clutch for a moment. He then concentrated on casting Blizzard on the serpent as it thrashes when the black man shoots it again on the head. Unfortunately, due to it thrashing, it's tail lashes wildly and knocks Red to some rocks and out for the count. Then Cloud charges at it and performs Cross Slash on it's back, the serpent hisses in pain then attempts to bite on him… it ended up biting itself and roars in pain.

Now, it is really angry and lashes it's once more to take out it's assaulters. The tail hits Aerith and she skids before hitting ground, then it attempts to do the same on Cloud but he manage to dodge it and strike the tail. The serpent lunges again only to receive a mouthful of tree, when the blonde jumps away from it. As the reptile turn, a huge block of ice fell and hits it's head. The snake shakes it off, narrows it's gaze on them and tosses the tree away… and it fell on the former Second, because of his limp, could not get away in time.

"Kunsel!" the blonde shouts, as the black man yells thru the gunshots.

"Damn it! I'm not going to be some meal to a giant worm!" Barret shouts as he shoots wildly at the snake. "My baby girl needs me!" he then releases his limit break, Big Shot and hits…

But instead of falling from the impact, the serpent stands more higher than before and it's head is down… it then emit a red glow. It then release a burst of extreme heat and pressure, the blonde quickly holds up his sword in defense. He feels the hot scorching burst burn his expose elbow as it pass. Looking over his blade, he sees Barret down on the muddy ground, fainted with some second and first degree burn from the heat burst the serpent released.

"Damn it." he swore as he staggers a bit. "I better finish this soon or-" but he didn't notice the incoming tail and it hits him squarely. Despite the blade also connects with the tail, the serpent didn't mind as long as it's prey is weak and down.

As he hits the ground and the blade clatters far from his side, his thoughts went back to the two girls who quits the party due to his plan. He should've have listen to the two… Now his cockiness and his want to catch the silver general, cause everyone pain and death by being eaten by a 30 foot snake. Right now, he couldn't help but to let fear take a grasp on him as the snake slithers towards him. Inside, he does not know whether to laugh, cry or scream in this situation.

It flick it's tongue, tasting the air, then it rears it's head back and then strikes…

"WARK!" there is a shrill cry and the next thing Cloud knows, a blur of yellow came out of the blue and collides on the Zolom right on the head.

'What?' the blonde thought with surprise as the familiar yellow fowl lands in front of him and shrilling at the giant snake.

"Back off legless! They're not lunch!" a familiar voice shouts, causes Cloud to force his body up. And there he sees the two girls and their new friend, riding on their newly acquire chocobos along with a few more besides them. Inside, he is relief to see that Mira and Riley are back and the fear is slowly losing it's grip on him.

"Mira! Riley!" the blonde calls out, which is a bad move as the snake snaps it's attention back to him. Because there's a chocobo blocking, it tries swatting the bird away… only to get hit by Riley's Matra Magic. The snake hisses angrily at the caster as Riley blows a raspberry at it, along with a wark from her chocobo.

"Hey, Slytherin! I bet you can't catch a headless chocobo can ya!" the mime taunts as it runs around the serpent, then bolts away. Seeing it as a challenge, the serpent gives chase on the mime and her chocobo.

This gives Mira and Yuffie a chance to guide the other chocobos, and help the others. "Cloud! Are you okay?" the songstress asked, she immediately cast Cura on the blonde, healing the burns he receives from the Beta. Once the wounds are close and some pains are gone, Mira proceeds helping the ninja girl tie the rest of the party on the chocobos with a rope provided by the Wutai girl. The blonde quickly limps over to see if the other Ex-SOLDIER is okay, to his relief… a tall rock manage to stop it, but some braches broke and knocks him out. He quickly motions the two to help him with the other SOLDIER and then proceeds on looking at the others.

Once they securely tied the party and link the chocobos. "Yuffie… can you handle this?" the ravenette asked as she helps the blonde gets on the chocobo, she wheezes a bit to the fact that he's almost a dead weight like last time.

"Sure thing!" the ninja girl salutes with a grin, as the blonde is now securely on the yellow fowl. As the two checks the ropes, inside the ninja's mind she is mentally rubbing her hands together and giggling. 'He, he, he, once safe on land, I'll wait for this guy to faint and take all of their materias!' Once she gets the okay signal, she then kicks the side of the chocobo and lead the others towards the Mythril Mines.

The songstress stands there for a moment before she returns to her own chocobo, to find her best friend. "Note to self, hurry back before the ninja girl steals their materias."

Not far, the ninja sneezes.

:::^*^:::

Checking her armlet again, she got the Elemental and Dark Fire Materia link and the Enemy Skill materia on her dagger. She borrowed the yellow materia so it can learn the Beta, without letting Mira take the hit.

She doesn't have an Elemental materia like she does.

She then takes a look on her other armlet, the Shinra Beta she picks out from the dumps. On it is the Poison, Sense and the Lightning Materia, and in her pouch are the potions she needs. 'Good, I'm prepared to get hit and learn the Beta… still it puzzles me on why they don't wear the armlets on each arms?' she thought.

Her thoughts are snap short when the chocobo warks in alarm, the said Zolom appears in front of them and is about to bite the two. She yanks the reign and turns sharply left but since this is the first time she rides on the chocobo, she fell off the side as the chocobo races off. The giant serpent lunged over and miss her completely, taking this chance, she takes out her dagger and stabs the belly of the reptile. It did minor damage as the Zolom submerges into the marsh, and she scrambles back up.

Sheathing the dagger and taking out her tonfas, she stands still and waits for the next attack. As she waits, the serpent swims around and raises it's head like a crocodile do. It sinks back into the water as the mime snaps her head to that direction.

"Dude, don't make me wait… I just want to learn Beta." she quips as she looks around for the snake. And to her credit, the snake lunges out of the water with open mouth, but she quickly jumps and smash her tonfas on the snout. It effectively shuts the mouth and the serpent rears back to shake off the pain. It then roars angry at her and lashes it's tail, but she is able to jump back and cast lightning. "Come on! That's all?" she taunts as she jumps to the side, to avoid the mouth again.

The serpent roars, stands high and emitting a red glow, planning to end it once and for all. Seeing the snake's position, she takes out another materia from her pouch and quickly equips it before taking defense. Once more, it releases a extreme heat blast and the mime have to keep an eye on how it works, despite the heat equivalent of a microwave oven burns her. Getting the attack into memory and notices a glow from her dagger, she quickly dives into the marsh to cool her body off. She waited as the red glow diminish and then swims up, she spits out water as she get up and looks around.

The Zolom is missing.

"Great, surprise attack again." she mutters and arms herself, she then uses the Sense materia… her eyes widens.

She quickly dives away as the serpent burst out beneath her with it's mouth open, wanting it to swallow her immediately. Rolling on the muddy ground, she quickly cast lightning at it's open wounds. The serpent roars but remains up, hissing at her with more anger, it lunges at her again.

"… Wait for it…" she mutters to herself, as the serpent nears… she then jumps forward before the Zolom opens it's mouth. Reaching the serpent's forehead, she quickly activates one of her materias and smashes it's head with the tonfas. Which, on pressure and the materia, causes it to bend. Hearing it crack, the Zolom shrieks and then rolls and thrashes around as the mime moves away. The serpent continues thrashing and shrieking…

And then… it stills.

Riley looks at her bent tonfas and then at the Zolom, which is now dead from the blow on the head she gave to it. "… Dang, I need some better weapons." she stated before she threw the bent tonfas away and checks the Enemy Skill materia. Touching it, she smiles as a replay image of the Beta appears in her mind.

As she sheaths her dagger, her best friend arrives with her chocobo. Seeing the injury the mime gave to the huge snake. "Riley… did you took the Deathblow Materia?" Mira asked, seeing that Riley cannot make that kind of injury without a materia or enhancements, of sorts.

"Uh…? Actually it's the Death Slash, it works like a Deathblow materia…" the mime said sheepishly, as her best friend looks at her before she release an exaggerating sigh.

"Riley… that materia is made by Shinra, the quality of it is quite choppy and I think it is not safe to use it at all." she reprimands the mime as the brunette clambers back on her chocobo.

"Anyway, we better mosey off, or that ninja girl is going to steal the party's materia." Riley stated, then she looks at her best friend who is rubbing her eyes. "Seeing more of them?"

"Miners and traveler which the Zolom have eaten… lots of them and a few are thanking you for killing it. Plus… I also see the Zolom hissing at you."

"You're welcome! And Slytherin, you deserve that for eating those poor people. Have a safe trip back to the Lifestream!" then the mime kicks her chocobo and the two rides towards the mines.

:::^*^:::

A smile grazes on his face…

He can't wait to meet her again.

This time, he'll be a good boy to persuade her to go back to his mother's side.

Silver: And CUT! Anyway, I'm researching about psychics and the paranormals… for this story, that will be the reason why Riley can mime and Mira can see the dead and the keytar spells. Most explanation will be on the next chapter, with our beloved Goddess explaining a few differences with theirs and from Earth's. Anyway… I'm reading something, that I think it will be also interesting for the next chapter… Also, I must keep a list of materias… I nearly forgot what materias Tifa got.