This chapter ended being reeeeally long, so I'm not sure whether to apologize or say "You're welcome" :P Either way, please enjoy my best attempt at a written battle! Let me know how I did, pretty please!
The Battle for Life
Barret growled from the front seat, "What were they up to tuh make them so tired?"
"Psh, your guess is as good as mine, big guy," Yuffie replied.
"If Spike was foolin' around with my little girl," the large man threatened, glaring back at the sleeping pair. Cloud cracked an eyelid and looked at Barret and Yuffie through his lashes.
Barret was shooting a mean and suspicious look at Cloud. Yuffie was trying not to laugh at Barret.
Barret tries to be tough. But anyone who knows him knows he's just a stuffed bear…wearing a marshmallow.
Cloud's head bobbed, "Mershmllow…" he drifted back to sleep and his head dipped to the right. He leaned on Tifa, and the next thing Cloud knew, the right side of his face lit like a fuse, he and Tifa fell to the floor, and the car started swerving erratically. Yuffie shrieked and the truck stopped.
"ARGH!" Cloud held his face, "WHAT THE F**K, BARRET?!" he yelled.
The bulky man loomed over Cloud and Tifa, "I should ask you, Spike!" he bellowed.
"What is going on?" Tifa exclaimed, "Cloud, your face!"
Cloud groaned. He tasted blood on his tongue. What atrocity had he done to tick Barret off?! Damn! The bastard had punched him in the face with his metal hand!
"He was over here feelin' up your chest, Teef!" Barret snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Cloud, "Not 'till you're married, you got that?!" Barret stomped back to the front of the truck and took off, leaving everyone in a stunned silence. The only noises were Cloud moaning as he held the side of his face and the truck moving out into the open landscape of the Midgar Wastelands.
Tifa closed her gaping mouth, "Cloud, let me see."
Cloud lowered his hand, revealing the rest of the angry, red, blue, and black swell on the right side of his face. Barret's knuckles were clearly visible as white marks on Cloud's cheekbone. Some blood oozed from the marks and from a cut near Cloud's swollen eye.
"Damn, Barret!" Tifa cried. She turned on the larger man, "You nearly killed him!"
Barret said nothing.
"Does it feel fractured?" Tifa asked, returning her attention to Cloud. He shrugged.
"Pleashe casht Cure, Tifa," Cloud asked. He turned the destroyed side of his face toward her. Luckily Cloud was totally numb at this point, so he was no longer writhing on the floor in pain.
"Yeah," Tifa cast the spell on Cloud's face and watched as the swelling and color receded.
Cloud winced as the loose blood cleared from the inside of his face and his veins reconnected. He could feel his cheekbone hardening as the crack in it sealed. He glared at Barret.
"I was sleeping, asshole," he snarled.
Barret remained quiet.
Barret drove the truck over to a high outcropping and stopped next to a hovering Shera. Yuffie jumped out of the car, followed shortly by Barret, Tifa, and Cloud. Cloud and Barret repeatedly shot dirty looks at one another from either side of Tifa, and Tifa did her best to ignore the boyish behavior.
Reeve climbed down the rope ladder extending from the bottom of the Shera and walked to meet the group. Vincent jumped off the ledge and landed with a thud near everyone.
"Cloud! Tifa! I'm glad you were able to make it!" Reeve started, "Let me give you the basis of what's happened since you left."
Reeve started explaining about how Deepground had been working around copies of Doctor Lucrecia Cresent's thesis. He explained that a certain "Protomateria" had been necessary to control Omega and, as it turned out, Chaos, but that it had been stolen by Rosso the Crimson. Reeve also explained in more depth how Omega was to be revived, and that Omega was actually a WEAPON.
Tifa groaned, "Please tell me that it isn't a supped-up Emerald WEAPON."
Reeve sighed, "That's exactly what it is, Tifa. Deepground is planning to slaughter a huge amount of people all at once to trick the planet into awakening Omega prematurely. Omega is essentially an elaborate safety mechanism to protect all life. It is being revived deep beneath mako reactor 0, which has been connected to the six other reactors in the city to increase its output."
"So the plan is to get to the reactors and shut them down?" Cloud asked.
"Exactly. In any way possible," Reeve nodded, "While we're working at keeping Omega from being awakened, Vincent will finish the beast."
Vincent nodded.
A small girl with auburn hair swung down the rope ladder and stared at everyone with a bored expression, "We need to leave soon. Do you have everything you need?" she looked at Cloud and Tifa, "Do they know what to do?"
"Yes, Shelke," Reeve nodded, "I just finished explaining what we were doing. Are you ready?"
"Yes," the girl, Shelke, replied coolly before starting back up the ladder.
Tifa looked at Reeve, "Why do we have a child with us?"
"She only looks like a child, Tifa. She's actually 19. I'll explain later."
"Why was she wearing the Tsviet's clothes?" Cloud asked accusingly, remembering how Rosso and Azul had been dressed.
"It's a long story, Cloud," Reeve replied, "But what matters is that she's on our side now. We couldn't have come to this point without her, actually."
Cloud crossed his arms, "If you say so."
Reeve clapped his hands, "Alright, so you three will meet up with the rest of my W.R.O. troops south of Midgar," he informed Cloud, Tifa, and Barret, "I have some gasoline in the car for your bike if you need it, Cloud. Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, Shelke, and I will get into Midgar's airspace with a fleet of my other airships and deploy troops to clear the way for you guys and start moving toward Omega…"
Tifa sat at the front of the truck with Barret. She pulled a walkie talkie off of the dashboard and pressed the button, "I see it."
Barret opened the back latch to the truck.
Cloud adjusted on the bike seat and fixed his goggles. He took hold of the handlebars.
"Time to go, Fenrir," Cloud muttered. He was more than glad to be far from Barret at the moment. He sped out of the back of the truck and pulled out in front, swerving to avoid rocks, cliff faces and the truck itself. Cloud glanced around at the small army of other trucks following him.
From inside the truck, Barret gave a holler, "All right!"
Cloud raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder. Barret must have gotten an adrenaline boost from going up against the big boss. Tifa looked at Cloud and beamed.
Cloud relaxed. He hadn't seen Tifa smile like that in a month. He sped ahead of the truck, taking the lead in the race to Midgar.
The fleet of W.R.O. soldiers slept a few miles out of the city, ready to wake and move in at a moment's notice.
The next morning, Cid's voice rang through the camp from every truck there.
"Listen up, cuz I'm only gonna say this once! If any more of you are killed by those punks, I'll drag you back from Hell and kill ya again! You really wanna piss off those S.O.B.s, then why not try stayin' alive! That's what this war's all about! If you live, everybody behind you lives! If you die, they die! You got that?! Let's go kick some Deepground ass!"
The camp roared into a cheer. Trucks started and the armada moved close to Midgar. When they neared, gunfire began to ring. Large Sweepers were exchanging fire with Cid's airships while Deepground infantrymen spread and advanced their forces. Tifa cast protect on Cloud to make up for his lack of a metal barrier as the infantry began firing at Reeve's trucks.
Tifa glanced over at the man next to her as Cloud sped into enemy forces with his sword drawn, "Barret!"
"Yoh!" Barret pressed some buttons and missile launchers rose out of the top of the vehicle and fired at the Deepground agents ahead of Cloud. Cloud sped through the carnage and continued into enemy territory.
Above, Rosso the Crimson snickered. She leapt from her perch and dove straight at Cloud, creating a whirling vortex of blades. Cloud snapped his attention to her and scowled, abandoning Fenrir just before she struck. The two jumped into the air and clashed blades.
"So nice to see you again," Rosso purred, "Although it was a mistake for you to challenge me twice."
"Tch," Cloud let loose with a flurry of blades.
While Rosso was focused on Cloud, Tifa sprinted and jumped above them. She came down and just missed kicking Rosso full across the face. She landed and glared at the red-haired woman from next to Cloud. From Cloud's desription, she was the one named Rosso, which ticked Tifa off. That Deepground dog pit Cloud against impossible odds. Damn cheater. Rosso put a hand to her grazed and bleeding cheek. She growled at Tifa.
"Let's see how you fare two against one," Tifa said with a glare.
The fight carried on for a few minutes, Rosso struggling to gain the upper hand, until her attention was diverted for a microsecond as she glanced toward Midgar reactor 0. Tifa kicked Rosso as hard as she wished she could kick Loz and the woman went flying as Cloud hit her with Thundaga. She twisted in the air and landed on her feet several yards above Cloud and Tifa, who weren't far behind.
"Sorry we can't finish this," Rosso said, dodging most blows thrown from Cloud and Tifa, "But I am needed elsewhere," Rosso turned and fled the scene, going deep into debris.
Tifa moved to give chase, but Cloud grabbed her by the shoulder, "She's not our priority. We need to get to the reactors, Tifa."
Tifa paused, breathing heavily, then nodded, "Let's go."
Cloud and Tifa met back up with Barret.
"The hell's your bike?" Barret yelled, shooting down an enemy squadron.
"Trashed," Cloud growled in frustration. Two and a half years of work. Gone.
Tifa pulled out her cell as she ran next to the men.
"What're you doin', Teef?" Barret hollered.
"Letting Vincent know that Rosso is probably headed his way," she was silent for a moment, then growled in aggravation and snapped her phone shut, "No signal wherever he is."
"He'll be fine. The man's even less human than I am," Cloud shrugged with a slightly sarcastic ring to his voice.
"Well, nothing to do about it right now," Tifa dismissed, "Let's get to those reactors. Cloud, you go to reactor one, Barret to eight, and I'll go to two. Barret, can you keep yourself alive that far?"
"Tifa, you're nuts if you think splitting up this early is a good idea," Cloud chastised.
"Well, what do you propose we do, then?"
"Stick together. We'll get to the reactors, then split off until one of us is at every reactor, then we cut the power all at once."
"I presume you're including Cid and the others?"
Cloud nodded, "Let's get going."
The trio sped deeper into the city.
The battle wore on for several hours. Cloud could see both forces being worn down, but the W.R.O. was taking heavy hits from all directions. Anywhere they ran, bodies littered the ground, and the sounds and smells of death were making it difficult to remain focused. Tifa called Vincent again as she skirted a group of fallen Deepground and W.R.O. soldiers. She wiped a bloody smear off of her brow and lit up when the line connected.
"Hey! I got through!" she called to Cloud and Barret.
Vincent's voice came through the phone, "Tifa?"
"What? You got through?" Barret hollered back, shooting down a Deepground Sweeper, "Yo-ho-ho!" he laughed and ran over, "Vincent! You still alive?!" he yelled into the phone.
Tifa rolled her eyes, "Of course he is. We're talking to him, aren't we? And do you really have to shout right next to my ear?"
Barret laughed heartily, "Sorry about that, Tifa."
Cloud made his way over after dispatching a group of hounds.
"I apologize, Vincent. Here's Cloud," Tifa passed the phone to her companion and Cloud held it to his ear.
"Vincent?"
"Cloud. It's been a while."
"Sure seems that way. Have you had any contact from the Shera?" Cloud asked.
"Cid's airship?"
"We lost contact about 15 minutes ago. I don't think we have to worry, though," Cloud cracked a half-smile, "Those two should be fine."
"Yeah," Vincent agreed, "What about you?"
"Whadaya think?" Cloud replied with a chuckle.
Tifa smiled, "Right! You can count on us."
"When I'm through," Barret shouted. He started firing his gun into a group of assailants that rounded a corner, "There won't be s single sucka' standing!"
Vincent laughed from his end, "Hm. Right."
Cloud engaged a couple troops that made it past Barret, "And as for you-" he started.
"Don't worry. Leave Deepground to me."
"Heh. Can you hold on a sec? Tifa!" Cloud tossed Tifa the phone before more properly dispatching the remaining soldiers.
"Got it! Vincent, I'm sending you a map of the ShinRa building. Deepground is below the complex. Take an elevator as far down as you can. Good luck!"
"Give 'em hell, Vincent!" Barret yelled.
"Barret, I thought I told you to-" Tifa hollered back at Barret.
"Don't go gettin' yourself killed, now," Cloud finished before Tifa hung up.
"Alright, let's get to those reactors!" Barret charged through another group of Deepground soldiers, giving a mighty war cry.
And yet, even as the moon rose above the cityscape, it seemed as though they were no closer to getting to even the first reactor. Sure, they had moved plenty, but with all of the destroyed streets, holes in the plate, and Deepground soldiers barring their way, actual progress seemed minimal. Add to that a day's worth of fighting and a near week of sleep deprivation and Cloud and Tifa were about ready to fall where they stood.
Cloud stumbled and tripped over a fallen W.R.O. soldier and landed hard on his knees. Barret shoved the man back to his feet, "C'mon, Spike. Tifa's no better off then you are. You guys need to look out for each other."
Cloud grunted and caught up with Tifa, who was slowly making her way up a pile of debris. Barret clambered up and passed his two friends. When he got to the top of the pile, he sat and tried to catch his breath. Until a small group of Deepground and W.R.O. soldiers came into view. Both groups had obviously lost about half their number, and the W.R.O. troops were having trouble against the strictly trained Deepground assassins.
"HRAAAAAAAA!" Barret's gun-arm joined in with the noise of other guns. Cloud and Tifa ran past Barret, moonlight shining off of each bloody sword in Cloud's hands and off of Tifa's easily as bloody Premium Heart gloves. The pair yelled as they charged into the fight. Barret followed, hot on their heels and firing at the Deepground troops.
The moon continued to rise and finally everyone got into position, each exhausted to their breaking point (with the exception of probably Reeve. Bloody president ShinRa), but they all feared that it would be too late as a massive outpouring of mako energy erupted from mako reactor 0 and solidified into a massive Omega WEAPON. The beast stood ten times as high as the ShinRa building. The 6 other mako reactors in the city were being sucked dry as the massive WEAPON began absorbing the power of the Lifestream from them. Everyone still alive in Midgar paused in awe and horror to stare at Omega. The beast built up power and sent out a massive shockwave, blowing away anyone within the city limits. A red streak flew across the sky and halted before advancing at breakneck speed back toward Omega.
"DO IT! NOW!" Cloud leapt high in the air and sliced through the stream of mako energy connecting his assigned reactor to Omega, severing the line and cutting Omega's power. He landed and pulled out his phone, "Sorry 'bout the wait."
Tifa pulverized her reactor until it could no longer function, cutting Omega down further. She pulled her phone, "Everything's clear over here."
The distinctive sound of Barret's gun preluded the destruction of another reactor, "They're all yours now, Vincent!" he yelled.
The side of the fourth reactor burst when all of the explosives Cid had set in it detonated. The blond took a puff of his cigarette, "All in a day's work."
"Fire," the fifth and sixth reactors imploded and collapsed on Reeve's word, "And just in time."
Everyone in the first fight to keep the world intact looked skyward, "Vincent!"
The red streak from before shone purple and shot towards Omega to finish the fight.
"Yeah!" the group cheered.
The purple streak burst through the barrier protecting Omega and punched into the beast.
Tifa dropped to her knee. She caught her breath before standing and shakily making her way back to her and her friend's meeting spot. On her trek back, she sensed more than noticed a desperate Deepground group trying to keep their mission alive no matter the cost. She jumped to dodge a round of bullets and shot a Firaga spell at the group. Tifa was too weak to use a summon at this point and knew she wouldn't get out of this unscathed if she fought the group head-on. Her best chance was to look for a way to escape. The group advanced as Tifa ran forward. The slapped her palm onto one of the soldier's faces and smashed him into the ground before jumping on a second soldier and incapacitating him. She stumbled when she landed and felt one bullet shoot into her shoulder, a second shot broke her earring. Tifa spun to her feet and was blocked from escaping by an unlucky soldier who she kicked far into the distance. She noticed a hound jump up in front of her and jumped back, but not before the stupid canine has ripped its claws through her middle and lower abdomen. Tifa gasped and fell to her knees.
"TIFA!" Cloud sprinted into the picture and continued fighting the few remaining group members. Tifa forced herself to her feet and kept the hound that attacked her from getting its claws into Cloud.
With the last few groupies dead, Tifa's knees buckled and she fell backwards. Cloud ran to catch her before she hit the ground.
Nearby in the unimportant distance, Cloud noticed Omega sprout huge angelic wings.
Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed After Advent Children so far, and an even bigger thanks to my reviewers! I'd also like to personally thank Ability King KK, KingBahamut, and ArcanineTales for being respectively my first follower (Which was a huge confidence boost), the one who really helped me get started (You don't know how much it means to me to have a total stranger like your work), and the one who kicked me back into gear when I was confused on what to do next (I love reading your reviews! I've read some of them several times!). Thank you to everyone else who has followed or favorited my story, Ya'll are the reason that I'm still writing this story! I can't tell you how many stories I've started, but I've never even come close to finishing!
Hugs and Kisses to all! xoxo