Part 2 Chapter 3

Sephiroth huffed irritably and tried very hard to resist the urge to massage his temples. He didn't know how he had managed to be talked into this mess, he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know. Sometimes Zack's methods were better left unknown. The slippery SOLDIER first class had gotten himself landed on a mission to the slums. While missions to lower Midgar aren't all that rare, it was extremely rare to for a first class to be assigned to one, and it was almost unheard of for it to be a squad leader. Sephiroth suspected some strings had been pulled, and some favors had been called in, Zack was often disappearing down to the Slums—he had a pretty good idea as to why—but this was the first time there was no one to look after his little troop of cadets.

Zack had badgered and bothered, weaseled and whined, once he learned that all of the 'substitute's were booked for the day. The end result was Sephiroth finally agreeing, if only to shut the annoying friend up, to take over the training of his squad. It wasn't as if he had anything pressing to do, and the black haired lieutenant promised that it would be the first and last time. Of course, going by past experience, he didn't have much faith in that statement.

That was how he came to be down in the dorms hall—a place he usually avoided at all costs. He HATED the incessant staring of the cadets—staring at the door that had been assigned to Zack's squad. Sephiroth shook his head and curled his fingers around the doorknob, allowing his expression to fall back in to its usual indifferent mask. The cadets inside turned around at the sound of the door opening, a chorus of 'Good Morning's dying unuttered as they caught sight of the silver-haired general. Sephiroth knew exactly what was running through the cadet's heads, anything ranging from 'OMG the General!' to 'Someone's in trouble!'

"G-general, sir, where is Commander Zack?" One of the recruits managed to find their wits and ask the question that the other three cadets wanted answers to. Sephiroth ignore the question, silently counting the number of boy's in the common room, four, and "Is this the whole squad?"

"N-no sir," Another cadet replied, the first having been cowed by the general's casual dismissal of his inquiry. "Strife and Vitalis aren't here yet."

The general gave the boy a bored glance, "Gather them up and report to the Intermediate Training Area."

"B-but we've only been here two months! We haven't finished the beginner's levels!"

Sephiroth's cat-like eyes narrowed minutely, "Fair put you under my command. You will do what I tell you." He glanced at each cadet in turn, "Is that clear?"

All he received in response were weak nods, "Good, dismissed."

He turned on his heel and swept out of the room, ignoring the panicked words of the cadets as they ran about the dorm searching for their missing teammates. Out of sight, Sephiroth could indulge himself a smirk of amusement, if Zack was forcing him to supervise his troop, the general was not going to go easy on them. He had high standards.

Sephiroth didn't have to wait long for the entire squad to show up; it was amazing how fast he could get even the laziest cadet to do something. There were good things to being SOLDIER's General, one being the amount of fear and respect you inspire in your underlings. It was a pity Zack had been immune to it. Maybe he could've prevented all of the headaches the black-haired man had given him.

Sephiroth's eyes flickered toward the two new additions—a petite blonde and an average brunet--Strife and Vitalis respectively. He remembered the two from the tales Zack always told during what he'd dubbed 'Paper pushing time'. He moved his gaze from the two cadets and addressed the entire group, "The monsters in this center are not that much stronger than the ones you are used to, but they show up more often and in larger numbers. Non-elemental and status magic is first introduced here. No complaining." He added curtly, seeing the worried expressions on a few of the faces. He noticed Strife sigh and turn to Vitalis—one of the worried ones—and whispered something into the other boy's ear. Sephiroth's mako-enhanced hearing easily caught the words, "Strife, please repeat what you just said to the rest of the squadron."

The blonde's head snapped up, blue eyes narrowing as they focused on the silver-haired general. Sephiroth took a double take as he saw a familiar flicker in the boy's eyes, 'Mako?' It wasn't impossible for a child to be born with inherent mako in their blood; it just wasn't very common to see them in Midgar. If he remembered correctly, it usually happened when the child was born and raised in an environment with an abundance of untapped mako, such as Mideel or Nibelheim. It caused the eyes to glitter strangely and gave the child faster than normal healing capabilities but other then that did nothing. Because the child has lived with mako all their life, they also develop a bit of resistance to mako poisoning.

Sephiroth had done research in this phenomenon when he was younger, once he had realized what his own glowing eyes had meant. Unfortunately, his illusions had been shattered by Hojo when he had questioned the professor about it. Now he realized that it had been a side effect of the various mako samples the professor had been injecting him with since he was born. So much for childhood dreams of not being a living science experiment.

Strife closed his eyes and recited word for word his earlier comment, ""We are going to have to get used to fighting these monsters because a good many of them live around Midgar. This would be good practice because we will be getting assigned to patrol duty to help try and control the population."" He took a breath and opened his eyes again, "Was that acceptable, sir?"

Sephiroth replied with an approving tilt of his head, "That is one of the few reasons. I will split you all into two groups of three. Roll call."

Few of the cadets were startled by the sudden order but managed to comply. A sandy-haired youth spoke up first, "ShinRa Regular Class C, Cecil Anderson."

"ShinRa Regular Class C, Herne Grant." A lithe black-haired youth responded, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Gwydion Howell," A red-haired cadet just shrugged his shoulders, "Class C Mage in training."

"ShinRa Regular Class B, Kyros Orion." The brunet that had spoken to Sephiroth in the dorm spoke up, checking on the weapon that was strapped to his back.

"Cloud Strife," The blonde one just blinked blue eyes up at him, "Class B ShinRa Regular."

"Galen Vitalis. Class C Medic in training."

"Anderson, Vitalis, and Grant, group A. You will come with to the interior with me. Orion, Howell, and Strife you stay around the entrance until I return to switch the groups."

Strife and Orion nodded in understanding and acceptance, Howell nodded but didn't look too happy about it. Sephiroth didn't like that look, he'd seen it far too many times before some fool soldier with dreams of grandeur ran off and got himself killed. He fixed an icy glare on the group he was leaving behind, considering switching out one of his current group to avoid a future problem. After a moment of very tense silence he decided to remain with his original plan. Sephiroth glanced at Group A, "Come."

The three cadets followed him as he traveled deeper into the jungle-like depths of the training center. It was designed to be as much like a true battlefield would be. Monsters lurked everywhere in the interior, kept within the designated areas by high-level barrier spells. The entire training center itself was sectioned off like this, the different areas containing monsters of varying strengths. There were no physical obstacles separating the areas, only the lone barrier spell. However, the spell only kept out monsters; a lost cadet wouldn't feel a thing as they wandered through—which was why he'd told the other team to stay put. They weren't to the level where they could sense the spell's magic. On one side of the intermediate area was the beginner, and on the opposite was the SOLDIER. Beyond both beginner and SOLDIER was the Advanced level, the final quadrant of the circular training field.

After a few moments of travel, Sephiroth spoke, "Who is the leader of the squad?"

"Orion." Grant spoke up softly.

"Howell is the mage and Vitalis is the medic. What about the Offensive Leader?" Sephiroth thought back to the roll call, only Howell and Vitalis had actually mentioned their roles, hence his questions now.

"Anderson." Grant had elected himself the group's spokesperson to the general in Orion's absence. The other two were content to just sit back and listen.

"Scout?"

"Me."

"What is Strife's niche?" The general could not think of any more roles; all those years ago when he was part of a squad, there were only five members. ShinRa had changed the regulations due to the increase in recruits since the Wutai War and Sephiroth's own rise to fame.

"He's our joker." Vitalis beat Grant to the punch, at Sephiroth's questioning gaze he explained, "He doesn't fit in any one role. He usually helps Anderson with the main offense, but he could fill in any of the other roles without much problem. He's our wild card of sorts."

Sephiroth had stopped paying attention to the cadets, and instead was studying the surroundings. Judging by the sounds he was hearing—after tuning out the unnecessary noise being made by the mostly heavy-footed boys, monsters were coming. True to his role, Grant had noticed it as well; the scout hushed Vitalis almost immediately—the medic had been talking despite the almost constant shushings of his teammates. Two plant-like monsters stumbled out of the trees and the general watched the cadets scramble to get in position, "What materia do you three carry?"

"Base leveled Restore, Heal, and Time." Vitalis checked the glowing orbs in the slots on his belt. Grant quickly drew his weapon, a small slim sword with two yellow crystals in the blade, "Sense and Enemy Skill—currently empty." Anderson swung his standard-issue blade experimentally, it was larger and heavier than Grant's weapon but it did more damage, "I don't have any."

Sephiroth ran the scenario in his head before giving the trio their orders, taking on the role of Squad Leader due to the absence of their own, "Vitalis use haste on Grant. Anderson, cover Vitalis and concentrate your attack on whichever is closer. Grant you take the other one."

The cadets sprang into action just as the monsters decided to attack. He watched the fight play out. The plant-like monsters were one of the weaker monsters in the area, yet the cadets were struggling against them. Their individual skills were passable, but the over all strength rating was horrible. It took forever to finish a fight that should only take one blow each. He shook his head once the battle ended and Vitalis began to cast restore, "Wait. Don't waste your magic on minor wounds. Save it for when you need it."

Vitalis ducked his head, "Yes sir."

Sephiroth turned away and rolled his eyes, he hated dealing with beginners. He just didn't have Zack's patience with them. The General was about ready to give up on the group, Zack had been right about his cadets, and they probably wouldn't get much higher than a Senior Grunt and best. They just didn't have the restraint nor the skill necessary for SOLDIER, or even the intelligence and cunning needed for the Turks. Strength and ambition wasn't everything. Of course, they were only two months into their training; they still had ten months until it came to the ShinRa Military Exams. Cadets with high scores on the SME would be scouted for either SOLDIER or the Turks, passable scores would be drafted into the army, and those who failed would be kicked out of the military.

After another hour of monster hunting the general decided to switch groups. They hadn't gone very far into the center, the stronger monsters in the section were nearer to the middle, where the wedge-shaped sections intersected each other. The cadets were quite willing to take a break while he took the second group out, he guessed he had pushed them harder than Zack normally would have.

It took about 10 minute to lead the group back to the entrance to switch them off with the others, but the scene they arrived at was not what Sephiroth liked. His eyes narrowed, sweeping over the bare, dirt covered area that he'd left the other group in, and there were no signs of the expected boys. "Grant," He said coldly, eyes flashing with suppressed anger—he should have gone with his earlier plan and switched them out. "Can you determine where they went?"

The scout glanced around the cleared area, before closing his eyes and pulled one of the yellow crystals from the hilt of his sword. Sephiroth shook his head, "You can't find people with the Sense spell, cadet."

"I know that sir, but it does pick up mako. Strife had mako in his blood."

"True," The general was slightly impressed; he hadn't considered that use of the sense material. It was how the scan magic worked, reading the mako concentration of a monster and translating it into a relative estimate of difficulty. Maybe he should reconsider his earlier opinion, Grant might be able to make it into the Turks if he tried, "Carry on."

The yellow materia flared and Grant opened his eyes, "He's in that direction. About two miles away," Sephiroth's gaze moved in the direction the cadet was pointing. His lips tightened, that wasn't a good thing…two miles was the…

"The SOLDIER barrier is one and a half miles that way." Anderson spoke his thought aloud.

Sephiroth set off quickly, the three cadets falling into a run behind him. The further they went the denser and wilder the forest got. Soon it was more like a jungle than a forest and the general knew they were getting into dangerous territory. He felt a shiver run up his spine as they passed through the barrier; all of the monsters in this area were beyond any cadet's capabilities. It was filled with monsters from all reaches of the world, the most dangerous being the ones from the northern continent. His jaw clenched as a frustrated roar met his ears; he broke into a run, knowing full well that the cadets behind him could not keep up. Nevertheless, there was no choice; he knew that scream, "They've run into a Malboro, I need to get there as soon as possible."

He didn't bother waiting for an answer, bounding off in the direction of the roar. He was cursing the hardheaded recruits; they should've listened to him and stayed put. He arrived at a scene that didn't bode well for Zack's squad, Orion and Howell were both crumpled on the ground—knocked out, they were still breathing—Strife still stood, but just barely. His grip on the handle of his weapon was extremely tight, and he and the blade were the only things between the monster and his teammates. He was otherwise unharmed, save for a long bloody gash on his arm. From the greenish tint of the skin around the wound, the Malboro's poison had taken hold.

The giant tangle of tentacles pulsated and writhed before the boy. A gaping mouth was the only feature discernable in the creature, deadly teeth ringing the orifice. Severed tentacles littered the forest floor, and a still living one shot out of the main mass only to join its fellows on the ground in a silvery flash of steel. The blonde panted from exhaustion, his breath coming in uneven gasps as he struggled to keep his blade steady. The monster screeched in pain as it recoiled its stump of a limb before launching several more at the cadet. His movements jerky with fatigue, the blonde managed to dodge or cut the first few tentacles, but three more looped around behind him, diving for the cadet's unprotected back. Sephiroth leapt out, the Masumane shining as he drew it out of its sheath and engaged two of the three monstrosities. He made quick work of the mobile weapons, only to turn around and find the third plunge into the blonde's shoulder. The boy's body jerked and he shuddered in pain. A wrack of coughing overtook him, blood dripping to the ground.

Possible Internal Injuries, Sephiroth thought, cleaving the tentacle in half and yanking the embedded portion out. The longer it stayed in the more toxin Strife would absorb. He caught the blonde in his arms as the boy toppled backwards, sword falling limply from his hand and clattering the ground. Masumane met a similar fate, except that Sephiroth's abandonment of his weapon was voluntary. He shifted the unconscious boy into the crook of one arm, holding out the other one and pointing it at the monster. The Malboro screeched and shuffled forward, thinking that its prey was caught at last.

Sephiroth hung his head, his bangs shadowing his face as a pale green light began to glow around his hand, an even brighter light originating from an orb of materia on his armlet. The green fire shot from his splayed fingers, engulfing the monster. A screeching shriek pierced the air; Sephiroth knew it wasn't the monster. It was the shriek of the dead, the cry of departed souls that had returned to the Planet when they left their mortal shells behind. It was the muted sound of the LifeStream, the well of energy that must be tapped into in order to cast Ultima, the most powerful magic spell to date.

When the flames died there was nothing left of the grotesque monster that had come close to ending the lives of half of Zack's squad, Sephiroth turned his attention to the wounded blonde in his arms. He quickly took stock of the injuries. He wasn't doing too well, besides the obvious wounds there was also possible internal damage and the poison. Malboro's were one of the most poisonous monsters in the entire world, their toxin would be lethal to anyone who did not have the tolerance that mako gave them. Luckily, the boy in his arms had that tolerance; else, there would be no way for Sephiroth to save him unless he had a mastered Heal materia. As it was, he only had a low-level one, not enough to get rid of the poison, but he could use it to slow the spreading and buy them some time to get Strife to the infirmary.

Sephiroth tightened his grip on the blonde, grabbing the Masumane and sliding it back into its sheath. He didn't have to wait long before the rest of the cadets showed up, "Vitalis!" He barked, "Toss me the Heal Materia, then check the other two!"

The brunet nodded frantically and pried two emerald green spheres out of the slots on his belt, tossing one of them to the general before scuttling off to check on the other two members of the fallen team. Sephiroth caught the materia with his free hand and turned his attention back to the poisoned youth in his arms. No cadet should have been able to last against a Malboro for that long, but somehow Strife had. He had even been able to continue fighting while being poisoned. Usually victims of the Malboro's poison had their strength sapped too quickly to be able to put up any defense. Zack hadn't been mistaken when he said the boy was more talented than he let on.

Sephiroth's fingers clenched around the crystal sphere, feeling the magic within spark to life as he fed it his energy. An answering green light danced around the wound, the boy's own mako assisting with the process.

Sephiroth tossed the orb back to Vitalis and glanced at Grant and Anderson who stood to the side, "Can any of you carry them back to the infirmary?"

Anderson's hand rose, he was by far the strongest in the group. Sephiroth nodded, "Anderson, take Orion. Vitalis help Grant with Howell."

"What about Cloud?"

"I've got him." The General tucked his other arm under Strife's legs, shifting him so that the cadet was lying across his arms in a slightly more comfortable position than the one he had been in before, "What are you three staring at? Move!"

A/N: Not as long as it originally was, but I decided to split this chapter up. It's a good stopping place no?

Not as revised as I like, but I can't really think of much more to do with it. Zack and Vinny show up next chappie, and we find out exactly what happened with Cloud's groups. It's kinda obvious though…