A/N A summary of my four months of absence.
got new shit computer, got into college, was confused as hell, financial aid was screwed up for the next three, college was moe chill than I thought, all classes are pretty okay besides english, had to write 8 page paper, got stumped so i finished his intstead. aid is still screwed up now, so happy o be back.
That out he way I guess its only oppropriat that with my absence we missed the 1 year annaversery of my first fic, so i guess party popes to that. And so evryone knows, weekly updats will be back up. I only have a few weeks of class left before winter break and I have kept on my material pretty well. So next saturday another chapter will be up. But before you reread the entire fic to reaquaint yourself with it i also announce i have had some headway on redoing the chapters that my good beta reader Saria19 (who even beta'd this without a fuss after 4 months of no contact) didn't revise because she was just a reviewer like the rest of you guys. Those will also be updated next week.
and there will be a poll up to finalize who cloud will end up with at the end of this fic since i could never decide and I meant to do this months ago. each voter has one vote, make it count.
ladies and gents, Ace is back with a 10,000 ord chapter in hopes to ake up for everything, so here is...
Ch 41
I sighed as I finished organizing my materia decently which was a little annoying. I didn't have the versatility I once did now. I had my mastered Lightning with my Comet materia on my left with my new Contain, MP Absorb, and Gravity on my right. It irked me to cut down but my set up would cover just about everything without causing harm to our team. Even I didn't think summons like Neo-Bahamut were going to discriminate who they vaporized with its attack in a crowded area. Then again I didn't expect to fight at Fort Condor, but afterwards I should be prepared.
Now my next problem is finding a change of clothes. Fighting in country clothes is going to limit me and I need more protection. Since I can't spend any gil at a town I guess I can only hope someone on here might have something for me.
"Hey Cid, you have any spare clothes on this thing or what? I kinda need a change." I asked. The man looked back at me.
"The hell would I have clothes for your for?"
"Cid, I haven't changed out of these country clothes since I left Mideel and in my own opinion, I don't want to go defending a reactor in jeans and a cheap shirt. Plus you're the closest in height to me that may have more than one set of clothes." I still don't understand how everyone else has stayed with the exact same clothes throughout this whole endeavor, I can barely stand staying in these clothes for a few days and everyone else has stayed in the same ones for a month and a half now.
"I guess there are a few spare MP uniforms from when we stole this back. You might find something your size, but hurry up. We hit Fort Condor in twenty." An MP uniform? Awwwww, I guess I'll take it. I walked off looking for where the MPs would suit up. Lucky for me the Highwind wasn't too big and I was able to find where the soldiers would suit up. I was lucky enough to find one in my size. Putting it on, I actually started to like the uniform. In Crisis Core it actually looked kind of cool. The shoulder pads were cool, I had a flak jacket for extra security, and the cloth was light. All in all the uniform was cool.
When I was done I still had time before we landed.
I decided to talk to Aeris about the Mideel dilemma. It had only been a day but hopefully there was some progress. Last I remember she was on the deck. Cid was going slower while we were over land. I saw the brunette looking down at the ground passing us by. She had a very somber look though.
"This isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be the first time I saw this." She said out loud.
"Didn't you want to ride on the Highwind?" I remember she wanted to be on it and Cloud promised... Ah.
"He'll recover, as long as we get through this he'll be alright," I tried to comfort her.
"Are you sure?" She asked. To be honest I wasn't. Everything I would do had repercussions in some way. I should have realized saving Aeris wouldn't be sunshine and rainbows. Her death had some significance and I just ignored it in favor of not seeing a friend die.
"How's talking to the Planet going?" I changed the subject. It was the number one priority on my mind at the moment, Cloud would come soon enough.
"It's... different from the city or temple. It's like I have to reach out before I get something back, not the other way around."
"Have you been able to hear anything that could help?" She shook her head.
"It's still like trying to listen to conversations in a crowd; I'm not used to it yet." That didn't comfort me as much as I hoped it would. She must have noticed when she continued.
"Don't worry; I'll pick it up soon. Let me worry about it, you worry about your things." I smiled, how she could know how a person was feeling like that was uncanny.
"Now if I let only you worry you're going to try that hero crud again. Aeris, as much as you care for others, if you don't let other people help you when it comes to this kind of stuff." She had a small smile at my words.
"You need to let the rest of the group act like heroes too you know. Everyone else in this group needs to make stupid decisions." I laughed a little while she giggled.
"Like you always wanted?" She asked playfully. I almost forgot I told her about wanting to be a hero. Thinking about it though, I was more comedy relief than anything.
"I'm just a supporting character. Cloud is the main guy here, I mean everyone in the group is important but its Cloud that was the focus because of his past and the connection he has to Sephiroth." Before I could elaborate my PHS went off. Hearing the annoying tone I chose made me groan.
I need to have a talk with Reeve about me getting my phone with all my cool stuff back.
"Something important?" Aeris asked.
"I set an alarm so I could have time to think of new attacks and practice them before we get to Fort Condor." I also wanted to talk to everyone else on the airship so I could maybe get them to experiment with new tricks I couldn't do. But I did groan looking at the brick I had in my hand.
"You look disappointed."
"Hearing this thing and looking at it reminds me a little of home actually. And every time I hear that ring tone I remember I lost my phone and music player." Aeris just smiled while I got grumpier.
"A phone means that much to you?"
"Well I liked my phone. It was durable, had all of my old contacts in it, and pictures. It has so much from my world... really its proof." She raised an eyebrow at the last one.
"Proof of what?"
"That I don't belong here. It has pictures of my family, landscapes that don't exist here, music made by people that were never born here. It is proof of my existence." I would like to see some of my pictures again; it's felt like forever since I'd seen the Rockies or the clear landscapes back home. It was all the small things it contained that made me miss home more.
"You value it that much? I thought you liked being here." I leaned onto the railing, looking at the passing ground beneath.
"Don't get me wrong, I love being here. I dreamt for most of my life of escaping from reality into one that suited me better. I was even able to, but as time passes by I start feeling like this is my world now. There's no game anymore, no levels or quests, its real life. Being here for the last few months has made the last seventeen years of my life seem like a dream... But I still like earth, it had its charm and I became the person I am there. It's the little things like those pictures or the music I had that gave me a small comfort in knowing it wasn't just a dream or fantasy, by being proof of my existence." When I stopped I didn't hear Aeris say anything. She just started looking at the passing ground like I was. For the rest of the way we didn't talk,
"Alright we're right outside of Fort Condor, everyone get your shit and get off my plane!" Cid yelled. I had already gotten my sword, armor, and all of my materia together. Everyone met on the deck and climbed down the ship's ladders. It wasn't long before we got to the back entrance to Fort Condor with the same guard as last time.
"Hey, remember us?" I asked him. He seemed to think before his eyes widened.
"You're the guys that helped us last time." Wow, I would have thought we were forgotten actually.
"Didn't we make only a small donation of gil?" I know we could barely manage over 1000 gil to help them out before.
"Every contribution counts. In fact you guys were the only ones outside the village to donate to us." Wow, I guess we would be remembered then.
"Are you here for the battle coming up?" The guard asked hopefully
"Yeah, we're here to get the Huge materia." Cid butted in.
"Huge... materia?" The man tested the word, oblivious to what we wanted.
"Just let us talk to your boss." I said. The guy nodded and motioned for us to go up the ladder. Everyone went up and most of the group found the familiar surroundings of the village and soon enough the mountain base and the same old looking man apparently napping on the table until we walked up.
"You've come at a good time. Shinra's changing its strategy now. It seems they want to destroy the reactor and take the materia that's inside."
"Man, we can't lose now." Barret said.
"So we have to protect this area too." Cid grumbled.
"Guys we have a few days before Shinra gets here. Let's just help these guys prepare traps and help them hire a few mercs," I said.
"How much money do we even have anyway? We haven't bought a lot of new weapons because we kept finding better ones." Yuffie questioned.
"Yuffie, even after you stole all of our materia, no one took the time to become the team's new item manager, that is your job." I pointed out. Granted that was a valid question. We would buy supplies every now and again but no one really counted their money anymore.
"I have about 10,000 gil," Responded Vincent.
"24,052." Cid said.
"I have over 50,000," Everyone stared at Barret.
"I really wish I didn't fall into the Lifestream now. You'd think traveling the world would have been expensive, not profitable," I said. The group then decided for each person to contribute, giving the old man a grand total of 34,875 gil.
"How many mercs can this hire, it doesn't seem like enough," I said out loud, converting gil to dollar it was only about 13,000. That wasn't a lot by Earth standards.
"We don't hire many mercs, only a couple to help lead. Their prices are often too high. We use it to have our construction workers build traps and buy decent weaponry for our own men," the old man replied.
"Well what can we do?" Barret asked.
"You could help set up some of the traps and if you want, participate in the fight. One of our men will show you around the field so you can get a feel for it. But wander around if you want. You're more than welcome here." The old man nodded toward us before he got up with the bag of gil we gave him.
"So how does this one play out?" Barret asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea. This escalated way more than I thought it would." I would just set up tons of traps and a few soldiers before the monsters came up, and did as much as I could before the Grand Horn showed up. But now we have not only monsters, but MPs and a few SOLDIERs from 3rd to probably 1st class. Without any clear cut fights I couldn't predict how the mini-game would play out.
"So we just sit around here with our thumbs up our asses?" Cid asked.
"Nah, I can only use one arm but I can still help." I walked up to the ladder that led to the battle field.
"Like what?" Yuffie asked.
"I'm going to make an ice wall for these guys. I know shits about to go down, and creativity could save a lot of people right now." I started climbing the ladder with my one arm. Thinking of the different ways I could defend the base from the full military force of Shinra.
ATE
Rufus groaned, the first of the Huge materia was behind schedule by a few days. He had made orders to his underlings to make sure that the stone would arrive in time to be loaded into Palmer's rocket ahead of schedule. And yet no one could make heads or tails of where it was.
"It's just a delay sir and not even a bad one, you should concentrate more on the cannon's transportation," Scarlet told him. Rufus remembered the other problem that he had, managing the transportation of the Sister Ray. The success of the last WEAPON's death made for him to plan sometime before to get the cannon placed in Midgar. Technically the construction wouldn't be a problem; Midgar had made preparations years ago in case Wutai ever tried to invade from the eastern coast by Kalm. The transportation would be the problem.
Without the Highwind it would take more personnel to get the cannon out. But they had enough men to get the job done within the week at least.
"The Sister Ray is fine, but the fact that a Huge materia is possibly missing is more disturbing. I should have heard something by now."
"Maybe those twits down at Corel got in the way." Scarlet said, more to herself than anyone else but Rufus heard it.
"And why would they get in the way?" He raised a brow.
"Their town is built right on the tracks; the train could have plowed through it for all we know," she explained with a haughty grin. The president of Shinra however was less than amused.
"You didn't tell the town about valuable cargo being transported through?" Scarlet flinched at the cold tone from her boss, but didn't answer.
"You didn't... You do realize that for all we know the train crashed through their homes and made it so they had to transport it by foot, or we lost it in the crash?" His temper was rising.
"Sir, they're just some junk town people living in tents, it didn't concern them what we would have done," she tried to explain.
"And the fact we had to transport valuable cargo meant we didn't have to send men to clear the way?" he growled. Corel may have hated Shinra, but a squad of armed guards was more than enough to keep them in line and clear the path. Scarlet just stood in place.
"Get out of my office; you're just like Heidegger and Palmer." The deadly look in his eyes caused Scarlet to freeze up before she stumbled out the office. Rufus pinched the bridge of his nose with the new information. He knew Scarlet, Heidegger, and Palmer were brash, arrogant, pig headed, and had those annoying sounds they all made. He expected competence from them but even that was in short supply. The only one's he could really trust were the Turks and Reeve.
At least he didn't have to worry about AVALANCHE trying to ruin anything. Reeve had given him his latest report and he was at the very least a little bit pleased. Even though they did steal the Highwind they were looking for Strife, the possibility of him being dead was high, and even if he was alive, the number of Mako fountains in the world he could have washed up on would occupy them long enough for Shinra to destroy Meteor.
Rufus checked some documents. Even if Shinra was short on men he would have to send some from Rocket town to Corel so he could see where the Huge materia had gone. By then the small invading force at Fort Condor should have gotten the other piece. They were already making sure it was safe to get the Huge materia from the Junon's backup underwater reactor, and the one in Rocket town was successfully in place and ready to be launched.
He could only hope their plan would succeed with only a few problems
"Has everything thing been put into place right?" I looked over the trap.
"Yeah, I did this one right," I answered. I had set up a boulder trap with one arm with only the minimum amount of help. I felt good about the battle now. Everyone else was already prepped and ready for today, we even had a plan of action to see whether we would be ready for Sephiroth or not.
Everyone knew that it would be monsters and attack animals that Shinra would send in first, then MPs, then their SOLDIERS. The traps and ambushes set up would deal with the monsters. When MPs came in, the men in Fort Condor would start fighting. When Soldiers were sent it would be AVALANCHE to take care of them. Cait gave us more details and told us it would only be about nine or so SOLDIERs sent in due to the WEAPONs causing havoc everywhere else which required Shinra to send most of their SOLDIERs out to aid other towns. But considering the circumstances, nine SOLDIERs of varying classes would be the worst. But I wouldn't see any of that action. I would remain in the back, and with a broken arm I could only pick off the occasional flying monster that would get by.
But having made plans earlier with the soldiers and mercenaries I had a few things set up to insure I could help out all over the battle field. I made sure there were lightning rods connected to metal meshes on the ground so when I cast an area spell it would hit something. My firewall idea would be great at the start with the monsters, and having Contain really helped in another idea I set up from the start.
"Has the ice melted at the bottom of the hill yet?" I asked. The mercenary next to me shook his head.
"Still hard as a rock, they'll have to chip through it with fire spells so any men with materia will be weakened from the start." I would have used earth to make a solid wall but Barret had it and I would most likely cause more destruction than good since I can't control earthquakes... yet.
"Then we're ready for them?" I asked anxiously.
"Yup." He pulled up his binoculars. "I can already see them in the town below. Looks like today's the day kid. Start setting up everyone!" The mercenary yelled. I made a light jog to the back end of the battle field. Having familiarized myself with the terrain a little, I could see why Shinra had so much trouble trying to take the reactor.
The only access to Fort Condor that Shinra knew of was through the village below it. The problem for them was that the fort was on higher ground and the men here were resourceful enough to use the elements against the more powerful force. Add the fact Shinra didn't send much more than monsters and MPs due to having issues everywhere else in the world, they could only spend so many resources to try to take down one small contingent.
One of the downfalls to being the only global super power in a world full of monsters attacking everything, terrorists out for your guts, and everyone having the capacity to do magic. Even as small as Gaia was compared to Earth, it was still too much land for one power to have full control over.
I reached the back where I saw the rest of AVALANCHE getting prepped and ready for battle.
"Everything is ready guys; you all should get into your positions." I said.
"Finally, I've been waiting to kick ass," Cid said, his cocky grin showing.
"I'm still a little nervous about this." Aeris said being honest.
"I'm not; it's time to show Shinra that the Great Ninja Yuffie has only gotten stronger since I started traveling!" Yuffie fist pumped.
"I've been wanting to stick it to Shinra again for a long time now," Barret added.
"Hope they don't recognize me," Cait said.
"Hopefully we're strong enough," Nanaki said.
"Hm," Vincent just grunted.
"Alright guys, I'll have to stay back here. I'm rooting for you guys and if you're lucky an attack of mine might help out," I joked.
"Like that will happen. You don't have to do any of the heavy fighting; we have to face at least one SOLDIER each." Barret commented.
"Barret, I do recommend you guys get into groups of two to help each other out. I would help out but getting spit out by the Planet kinda leaves a mark on you." I would have wiggled my arm if it didn't sting. Thank god I can get this off in a few more days; if this was Earth I would have this for months.
"Well if that's it then good luck guys," I finished. Everyone nodded and went further down the hill while I headed back inside the fort to get a better view.
"Are you sure your friends can handle SOLDIERs?" One of the mercenaries that was recently hired asked me.
"We're AVALANCHE, we have extensive experience in fighting Shinra, I think my friends can handle Shinra's best if they stick together."
"For their sake, I hope so." I ignored the man in favor of focusing on the field. I could see practically the whole field. After a few minutes I saw the first set of monsters start to appear. I chuckled a little seeing what looked like two dozen Dark Nations run up to the ice wall I created. It took a few minutes before some of their mechs came and shot down the wall. The mix of trained monsters and machines started funneling through the leftover shards and boulders.
"Now!" the mercenary next to me yelled into his radio. The minute the hounds tried running through the obstacles the first traps were sprung. The mounds of large rocks that were barely held up by some wires suddenly fell on top of the attack dogs. As strong as they were I doubted they could take a few hundred pounds of solid rock, and just as suspected, the ones unfortunate enough to get caught in the traps were crushed. The mechs... not so much. They were designed like the Sweepers around the Midgar area. They were too sturdy for the kind of traps at the start.
"We need gunmen at the front!" I glanced at the mercenary yelling again. Looking back down, I saw the first of the volunteers and hired men getting into their positions. The now more or less dented mechs kept coming up the hill until they were met by the firing line.
"Shoot at the generators, make every bullet count." The minute the command was given all of our men started firing at the nearest mech. The echoing sound of gunshots even reached up to the shed we were at.
"Can they hold the line?" The son of the old man said nervously.
"Maybe, they seem like decent shots. It's the fact reinforcements are coming that I'm worried about," The mercenary commented. Almost on cue I could see a few more mechs and even MPs start to appear. But what I was concerned with was the sudden appearance of some monsters flying directly to the shed.
"They sent in the Wyvern." I took that as my cue to get onto the battlefield. Getting prepped I stood near some metal conductors. Downhill I could see the flying creatures quickly gaining wind and start to charge at the base. I closed my eyes and started to concentrate on my strongest Bolt spell. Above my head I could see the clouds start to swarm to strike down where I aimed. Instead I just let the magic keep building and building as the Wyverns got closer.
"Just shoot them out of the sky like the rest of the men!" I ignored the order; I wanted to wait for the perfect moment to strike. I started to hear their wing beats as the monsters got closer. I could feel the air condense around me as the spell got stronger. Crackles in the sky started to form. Finally I heard the screech of a Wyvern too close for my comfort.
"Thundaga!" In a split second the Wyvern was struck down. The others became alarmed but were soon struck by the ever increasing amount of lighting. I could see down the hill the steel rods catching the electricity, most likely hitting those unfortunate to be standing on the meshes connected. I would have to cast again to make sure the spell continued to get rid of the lucky flying enemies.
My ears perked up when I hear an explosion not caused by my attack, looking down I saw smoke clearing from what looked like a powerful Fire attack.
"They finally sent in the SOLDIERs, I really hope we haven't been under leveling this whole journey."
Barret was having the time of his life. He was finally doing something on the scale he hoped to against Shinra. He was fighting a full invasion force from Shinra and they were winning!
"Come on, you know you want some more!" He yelled out as he was emptying full clips from his gun arm. He had opted to shoot at the front lines with the rest of the men of Fort Condor and he had been doing a fantastic job keeping away the small looking dragons and MPs. Unloading bullets into bodies was Barret's specialty.
"Hey! They're falling back!" Barret heard a yell from one of the defenders.
"Keep pressing the attack, shove them back more!" A few of the defenders started moving forward, making Barret stop his assault as they continued to push down. He frowned since his fun was basically cut short. He was stuck at that spot just in case anything bad happened and now it seemed like everything was going to be fine.
Suddenly the three men that marched passed him were thrown back by an explosion. Barret covered his face and ducked as a strange blackish fire flew out from the smoke leftover, hitting the rock behind him and another two men to his right. Rising up, he frowned.
The man was in a purple military suit, looking over the destruction he had caused. He quickly looked towards Barret when the smoke completely cleared. An angry look on the part of the face he could see since he was wearing the standard Shinra helmet.
"Just Shinra's luck to have AVALANCHE here, but then again that does mean I could get promoted if I kill one of you guys." He brandished his broad sword. Barret just raised his gun arm.
"You can try punk, but you guys ain't got us yet for a reason!" Barret yelled back, the SOLDIER just scoffed.
"We're not like the MPs you kept running into; we're the cream of the crop. SOLDIERS are the most powerful force Shinra can send after someone." He was apparently done chatting when he lifted his hand and launched a few fireballs at Barret. The large man dived behind one of the large boulders to dodge. Barret started blind firing over his shoulder before looking back to see the SOLDIER gone.
"Damn." Barret cursed. He kept his back to the boulder and started searching. The place was big enough for someone to hide from bullets; he had to find the SOLDIER before...
"Gotcha!" He heard before he felt a sharp sting on his back. He looked before he sent another spray behind himself, but the SOLDIER ran behind another boulder before he could get a clean shot. His back didn't burn, so the bastard just cut him and ran. He was lucky he was able to afford actual flak jackets to wear along with his ripped leather jacket. The Cover materia he got didn't hurt to have either. The swords those SOLDIERs had were made to slash monster hides with ease, the extra armor made it so it only penetrated a little on his back. But that didn't comfort him in the fact that this guy would take pot shots whenever he wished.
"You should know everyone in SOLDIER was informed about every member in AVALANCHE, we know what your moves are, how you guys act separately and as a team. You may have a gun, but you're a brute." Barret focused on the materia in his gun, he was thankful to have his team pick his materia for him. He quickly turned to his right and blocked a broadsword with his gun. He went for a quick gut punch, making the winded SOLDIER jump back.
"I'm a brute, but I got a team to help me out with that" The Sense materia he got from Aeris was very useful. Barret would normally be a gut instinct kind of guy, and the Sense materia gave him a sense of his surroundings that felt natural to him. He didn't have as much magic power as some of his team, but enough planning could make even him find the right matches.
He sent another spray of bullets at the man and was able to clip his arm as he used his sword to block a few bullets and get behind a rock. Barret was about to go after him when a few fireballs were shot at him again. He rolled out of the way and decided to reload instead. Barret did not want to get hit by those flames, the dark tint they had didn't sit well with him and he didn't want to find out how those materia Shinra made personally worked.
"Smart to avoid those, Dark Fira is a very good materia. All the power of burning, poisoning, and silence packed into one orb."
"Just cuz you got three materias in one don't mean your gunna win!" Barret yelled before he smiled and shot the ground at an angle, the blue and green materias in his weapon glowing faintly.
Suddenly the SOLDIER jumped into his view along with a spike coming out of the ground. From what Barret could tell he was surprised. He shot again and this time hit the SOLDIER's leg and shoulder before he tossed fire at him again and Barret moved to another boulder. He was starting to get agitated, the field worked against him. He wouldn't get a clean shot and the SOLDIER would keep up his hit and run tactics. But the same could be said for his opponent since Barret could shoot out spikes of earth to create openings and couldn't charge him with his sword.
Barret would have to conserve though, he couldn't shoot earth bullets left and right. He could only abuse so much of his magic before he would get tired.
Barret hissed when he felt his arm get cut, he turned only to keep strafing to the right when a sword came down on the ground. Barret kicked the SOLDIER back and opted to follow up with a punch from his gun arm. The close quarters wouldn't help him to try to use his gun when his opponent used a sword. The SOLDIER blocked with the blade causing a heavy clang sound of steel.
"I'm surprised you can keep up with a 2nd class. I guess those muscles aren't just for show." Before Barret could retort he was hit in the stomach by a flame shot by the man's spare hand. He sputtered before he stomped and caused a small sinkhole to trip up the 2nd class. Barret aimed down and charge up his Big shot and fired. But the SOLDIER jumped out of the way at the last second and used the dust to disappear.
"Damn it, takes too long to charge." He muttered. He needed something to take out the guy in one go so he could go help out his friends.
Barret's senses tingled before he ran to a different boulder as a few fireballs fell on his old location. Barret was starting to get tired of the field now, the SOLDIER would try to outsmart him if this kept up. But that one hit idea might be something he could work with, one solid Hammerblow could knock down a large monster. He just needed enough magic to increase his strength for the hit and to make sure the SOLDIER couldn't get out of the way.
With a new plan in mind Barret turned and fired a shot at the boulder he was leaning on, he heard a grunt and went to another boulder before he shot at another boulder. Barret sprinted to another opening and shot again. He sprinted to the next available boulder but stopped when a series of flames were in front of him.
"Running won't do you any good. Even as strong as you are, I can still run faster than you." The second class jumped in front of Barret holding his sword high above his head. Barret held up his gun arm to block when the SOLDIER swung and had got his sword to cut into the metal on the side of his gun. He smiled when he let go of his sword and started preparing another dark fire. Barret decided to keep going with his swing even with the added weight of the blade. He focused on his Earth materia and aimed for the SOLDIER.
Again the enhanced opponent jumped out of the way, but when Barret continued his course and connected with the ground it suddenly spiked out all around him as he caused a small crater, braking off the swords hilt from his weapon.
"You really are a brute, aren't you?" Barret heard. It wasn't so much a question but a taunt. But even with his gun jammed with steel he could still pull his off.
"And this brute's gunna knock you on your ass before you blink," He said confidently. The smirk the SOLDIER had was quickly replaced with a deep frown. Barret backed up and reared his arm, leaving himself wide open. The second class took advantage of the opening and cast another set of dark flames at the larger man. The fireballs hit their mark and started burning the top layer of Barrets jacket. But instead of screaming the SOLDIER only heard a grunt.
Barret looked very much in pain, but the heat he was focusing on was the burn of his gun finally getting overloaded. When the SOLDIER saw the gun, he immediately tried to jump away only to hit his back on rock. The SOLDIER's eyes widened when he noticed the crater's jagged spikes and the shot Barret made earlier made a wall around the both of them.
The last thing he saw was a steaming mass of steel smash into his ribcage.
Barret kept putting more force into his Hammerblow. He could already hear and feel the SOLDIER's ribs crack under the pressure. Barret kept pushing though. Suddenly he heard a large crush and opened his eyes.
The SOLDIER's body was now imbedded into the rock wall. Only his hands and legs were sticking out while the rest of him was pushed through making a somewhat human shaped imprint. The shards of his now broken gun and the upper half of the SOLDIER's sword now just heated, bloody chunks spouting out of his body.
Barret slunk down to the ground, taking a few shaky breaths. He was completely ecstatic. He beat a SOLDIER all by himself. Granted only a Second class, one but he won all the same. Barret lifted up his stump of an arm and tried to cheer when he noticed his voice was gone. Suddenly he felt like he wanted to puke too. He pulled out an antidote and a potion to ease his first two ailments so he could get the third fixed so he could gloat. Hopefully the rest of the gang was done and he could get help from Aeris.
"Wonder how everyone else is doin?"
"Both of you get a hold of yourselves! Use your brains instead of your muscle, we don't need reinforcements!" Yelled the Second class. He, as well as two Thirds, were currently ducking behind an old boulder trap used on some monsters they set free before. The Thirds were running their mouths after their last confrontation.
"But sir! There was nothing saying they had the funding to be well equipped, or that they had AVALANCHE as support!" one yelled.
"And those two were just the animals on their team, what about the rest of them? Like the ex-SOLDIER?!" The other added.
"That Wutaian kept helping them too, I even walked past her when I tried to attack that mog and I didn't know. She was behind a sheet that looked like the rock. A SHEET!"
"Both of you will calm down or I'll make sure the science wing has their way with you! Now as organized they are we are still an oiled machine as a squad. Now move out and stay close to the boulders." All three men pulled out their respective broadswords and started walking up the hill.
"HELLO!" Suddenly all three SOLDIER's ear drums were bombarded with a loud piercing yell. Both Thirds were taken back but the Second steeled himself to see the large mog on top of one of the boulders to his right. But the patter of paws running up on his left was becoming the closer threat so he turned to see the escaped lab experiment surrounded by a red shield as it charged. He went for a low swipe when the thing hopped over him and instead attacked one of his subordinates.
The guy was hit by the red energy and was knocked against a boulder when the other threw a fireball at the beast. The spell luckily hit and scorched it a bit before it ran away. The Second recognized that the group was taking pot shots at them so they wouldn't have to face the three directly. As a group, SOLDIER's were a force to be reckoned with, but even he knew they would be hard pressed one on one with a member of AVALANCHE.
Out the corner of his eye he saw the ninja from before run around them.
"Behind us!" The simple yell caused both Thirds to shoot lighting and ice right as the Wutaian passed by them. The attacks collided and the ninja jumped away. However the SOLDIER smiled as he raised his hand and focused on his materia.
"Energy pulse!" Out from his palm flew orbs of pure magic. The orbs followed the airborne girl before she screamed as one hit her in the stomach. Her momentum carried her behind a boulder. The rest followed her behind it when and they all exploded from contact. He was sure of the first hit; worst case she would be weakened, best is she died. He held his breath on the last thought, being optimistic and careless would only cause him more problems.
"Back in formation." The two others made their usual triangle. He knew he still had problems with the animals. But when the group started to move they saw several red boxes about the size of his head were rolled onto the ground. In fact they looked like... dice?
"Giant dice? What are they trying to pull?" his squad mate asked.
"YAHTZEE!" Another microphone attack struck the three. All of them were prepared and had made sure to tune out the frequency with their helmets. But what caught the leader by surprise was the sudden explosion of the dice in front of their group. Each of a varying degree causing debris and even a different die to fly up, making either a smaller or larger explosion. All three were knocked back by the attack. The two Thirds impacted the ground or a boulder while the leader was able to catch his ground. Being slightly disorientated he tried to find the rest of his team.
"Looks like this lad isn't getting up from that one." In his blurry vision and past the ringing in his ear he saw the large Mog inspecting the Third that hit the boulder right next to the experiment. He felt a familiar surge of magic run through his veins when he held out his hand.
"Electrocute." The bolt of lightning he let out was small. But the purpose of this materia was to chain shock a group of enemies. His comrade was already dead, using his body as a conduit wouldn't matter much.
The bolt shot for his old teammate and then sprung out a web of bolts hitting the two terrorists. Both were surprised which was enough for the SOLDIER to capitalize on. He sprung into action and went for the beast first. He swung down only to have the dog-looking thing jump to the other side of his ally. However the magic attack still affected the two so he shoved the mog to the ground and took another slash at the beast.
A clang rang as the SOLDIER tried to force his sword, but it stayed. Inside the mouth of the beast was the broadsword that his squad mate had dropped when he was thrown back. It was strong enough to keep him at bay.
"Smarter than the average monster too," He mumbled.
"Don't mistake me for some common monster." The experiment suddenly spoke with the handle in its mouth. The SOLDIER was no doubt surprised but he kept his cool and jumped back when the experiment twisted its head and took a swing at him. It was slow so he wouldn't have to worry about having a sword fight with the thing. But when he went to knock the weapon away to take another strike, something impacted the ground in front of him. A very large amount of white smoke encompassed him as well as the surrounding area. The leader growled before he put a cloth mask on, the ninja was still alive after all. The explosions were to make sure his group couldn't check and get an extra jump on them.
"Sir, what's going on?" He heard from his right. The Third must have woken up finally. He quickly moved to the sounds origin and made the man duck. He made a few hand signs on the man's chest before he heard a grunt. The leader had already formed a plan and told it to the Third in silence.
He knew that the three would try to take another one of them out while they were disoriented and trying to escape the smoke. But he would have the Third cause a distraction so he could draw at least one out to be hit by the Second class. Afterwards the two would stick together and wear down the other two since the three of them were hit in some way or another. He made a couple more hand signs moved silently away. His most powerful spell being charged.
"I see one!" the Third yelled out before he unleashed a random Ice spell. The Second class changed his helmet's input. He couldn't focus much on anything but sound so he changed his visor's input to display where sound waves were originating. Not a second later he heard what was supposed to be a high pitched siren and saw the source aimed at the Third who had moved away.
"Hell Firaga!" The deadly black and red flames blew up on his target. There wasn't any sound of screaming but the body made a big enough impact for him to pick up. He moved to inspect the body as the Third kept an eye out in the clearing fog. He looked at the large amount of charred parts of the body. One opening showed that the mog was nothing more than a machine. The SOLDIER was taken aback that a machine was causing problems for SOLDIER along with a group of terrorists.
"We have to... cough... keep an eye out... cough." The Second looked at his subordinate and saw the man looking slightly pale under his helmet. The smoke must have been poisoned then. Before he could give the man an antidote he felt two sharp objects stab him in the back. He turned to see the ninja throw her large star at him when he quickly lay down to avoid the spinning blades. The star flew by and started curving upward and back to the girl. He stood and ran at her when she pulled smaller stars and threw them at the SOLDIER.
He dodged to the side only to realize he was right in the large stars path and was cut on his side when he tried to correct himself. He glanced at his last man and saw he was having a coughing fit and was having a hard time moving. In that second he was kicked in the stomach and fell to the ground. Falling flat on his back he lost grip of his sword and tried to get it back only to have his arm bitten by the experiment with a... cat on his head?
"Looks like you're done for. Your friends succumb to the poison and you're pinned down laddie." The cat spoke. In the last few seconds before the large ninja star impaled him he hoped that the First class commander would take AVALANCHE out.
Aeris made an ice shard appeared right in front of her, but it wasn't meant to attack, it was meant to stave off the lightning bolt coming at her. She ran away again, her breath already shallow from sprinting before. Aeris didn't think that she would have to fight so hard in her life. She had been casting healing magic to help the mercenaries and Cid who had tagged along with her. When the battle started winding down she had taken a few ethers and kept at her job.
Then the mercenaries started to panic with screaming in the distance. Cid told her to stay put and he ran ahead to see what was going on. She ran in thinking she could help heal and possibly cast some offensive magic to aid them. But getting to the scuffle she was suddenly confronted by one of the SOLDIERs charging in and trying to wipe out the crowd swiftly. Aeris had cast some ice magic to stop him but his quick reflexes got him away from being impaled. He had looked in her direction and focused on her ever since.
She was taking another breather now. She didn't worry too much about Cid, he could handle himself in a fight with a Third class, she was confident in him. But she knew she couldn't go against even her SOLDIER physically, and even if she had a mastered Ice with Enemy Skill magic with her, he was faster. The only way she could win would be to fight smart. She had one of the largest pools of magic power out of the group so she could use that to her advantage. She still had Enemy Skill materia so she had a variety of attacks to work with.
"Hey, where did you run?! I thought AVALANCHE was going to put up a fight!"
She just needed time to think how to get away from the guy. She was sure if she was careful she could win. Judging by the light blue uniform, he was only a Third class. She could work with that.
"Found you!" Aeris eyes widened before she ducked, a broadsword cutting the air where her head had been. She turned and took a breath before breathing out a stream of fire. The SOLDIER jumped back but was still caught by some of the flames. Aeris didn't feel relief though, the flame settled on his armor before it suddenly started to vanish into his cloth.
"You would think you'd stop casting magic after you tried to impale me with that ice shard." He remarked before he made another slash at Aeris. She guarded with her Great Gospel which held up remarkably well against the SOLDIER's combined broadsword and strength. But she couldn't hold up against him for long. Aeris then kicked the SOLDIER, knocking him off balance, and started running again.
She couldn't keep this up forever. She would get tired and then trapped by the man. Aeris paused and took time to catch her breath and start casting on herself. At least with Mighty Guard she could dull some of the damage dealt to her person and regen could keep her alive just enough to think of a plan.
Suddenly something crashed near her and made Aeris jump before she raised her staff offensively towards the object that created the dust cloud right next to her. A figure slowly stood up inside the cloud and seemed to look in her direction before it started walking towards her.
"You're having trouble as well?" A very familiar voice said to her. She lowered her weapon when the figures waving red cloak started to show through the dust. Aeris couldn't help but to smile.
"A little, but I could use some help Vincent." Aeris said, relieved and overjoyed she ran into someone that wasn't threatening... well at least not to her anyway.
"Cast Mighty Guard and Haste on me. I'll take on my target and try to help you out while you support with magic." He planned. Aeris nodded before she started casting the mentioned spells. She threw in another before a different SOLDIER landed across from them.
This one didn't have the same helmet her's did. He had feathery black hair and brown eyes along with a scar on his chin. He wore a black uniform and held in one of his hands a dual blade. He looked at Aeris and Vincent with a calculating glare. He must have been the leader of the attacking squad.
"You're making this far more troublesome than this should be AVALANCHE. Our target is the reactor, if you run now you might get away while we are trying to get our objective." He said in a gruff disgruntled tone.
Vincent responded by pulling out one of his pistols and started firing at him. The First class started spinning his dual blades and knocking bullets away from him. Aeris took the initiative to cast Matra magic while the man was distracted however when the missiles were about to hit they exploded prematurely. Black smoke covered the man up before Vincent covered her with his cloak and jumped. A split second later the dual blade had crushed the ground where she stood. Vincent dropped them both and reloaded before he started firing again.
"That 3rd is going to cause us problems if he keeps helping." The First class SOLDIER had hidden himself behind a boulder looking over his shoulder as Vincent shot while the Third was hidden on the opposite side trying to shoot lightening at Aeris and Vincent.
"Does he have any other magic besides that?" Vincent asked, Aeris thought for a second.
"He has fire and I saw him use ice once. He might have more but all he casts are level two spells. But he absorbs any spell I throw at him." Aeris heard Vincent murmur something about the materia being "manufactured" before he stopped firing and switched to a shotgun he had strapped to his back. He aimed before a yellow materia he had attached to it started to glow.
"I'll try to keep them separated. You move when I move and shoot non-elemental spells when you can." Before she could respond Vincent shot the Deathblow charged shotgun and obliterated the boulder standing between him and the SOLDIERs. The dirt pile left behind didn't have any bodies in it, but a small trail of blood was near the ground on the Third class's side.
Aeris focused on the trail and saw the Third try to attack her. She spun her staff to knock the sword away as she chanted another spell. The Third smiled when he was about to launch a fire ball at her when he suddenly found himself surrounded by a sphere of water. Aeris then saw the Third struggle to absorb the spell like the rest of her attacks. He attempted to attack her still when he shoved his sword holding arm out of the water and stab at her, but she quickly started channeling an ice spell. Soon enough the sphere started to change into a snow globe with the SOLDIER struggling to breathe inside. He was stuck in place as he was completely iced over when Aeris fell down from exhaustion. She stood shaking as she took out an Elixir and drank its contents. Looking at the frozen man now, she saw the odd looking bracelet that he had on, in fact it glowed like a ribbon reacting to spells. Before she could think any more she heard more shots being fired not too far away. She would come back later; she still had to help Vincent after all.
She started jogging to see where there was fighting when she noticed Vincent's crimson cloak blow in the wind as he jumped and fired his gun at the SOLDIER keeping up with him. Aeris ran to get as close as she could to her teammate before she was knocked back by a large fire spell. She got up with some trouble since her dress had singe marks all over it. The First class was throwing magic at Vincent left and right while deflecting his shots. Vincent had almost his whole arsenal with him but long range was all he worked with.
As if to prove her wrong, Vincent stopped shooting his assailant for a short time and moved in close. Taking the SOLDIER by surprise, he kicked the man. The force was enough to knock the man far enough away to give Vincent some breathing room. Aeris ran up and looked him over. He had a few cuts but he was healing already.
"I can't get any clean hits in. He's faster than me and I can't fight him hand to hand with his sword." He stated. Aeris thought for a second, the man was tough and Vincent needed an extra boost to take him out.
"Why don't you transform?" She asked. He simply shook his head.
"I don't have the energy anymore; I was saving myself for when it was just me and him on the field. But he's taken too much out of me." He said. Aeris' thoughts raced for a second before she took a step back and began chanting. Vincent looked at her when magic started affecting the air. He saw a reddish sphere seem to take shape around him before he started feeling invigorated. Soon Aeris looked winded, but Vincent felt better than when he started the battle.
"Change into something with power; I'll handle all of the magic," She said. Vincent nodded before the familiar miasma started to surround him as he morphed. Aeris took a step back to give him room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the man get back up and grab his weapon and charge at Vincent. Aeris channeled her magic and let loose her Matra Magic spell. The SOLDIER jumped to the side and avoided the missiles. But he braced himself at the last second when a spear was chucked at him. He spun his weapon but Cid came in and knocked the man away. Aeris was relieved but also mortified at the sight of the man. Cid had most of his clothes torn and charred. He barely had anything covering his torso, and his goggles were cracked. Apparently his fight had gone just as bad as her's before he won.
"God damn monsters and Shinra, how do you like getting dropped on?" The SOLDIER didn't have a response as a large grey skinned man threw a punch at him. Vincent had fully changed into his Death Gigas and was ready for action.
Gigas took its other fist and swung down when the SOLDIER deflected it with the handle of his weapon and tried to move out of the way. Cid took a stab at the man and he retaliated by punching Cid. Aeris took charge and cast a bolt spell at the man. The quick attack caught the man off guard but he took the shock in stride and threw his own lightening spell back at her. Before she could dodge she saw the Gigas rush in front of her. The spell hit him dead on but it only seemed to liven him up. The SOLDIER then started spinning his weapon before he jumped and made a cut across the Gigas's torso. But the wound was ignored as the large man/monster roared as electricity flew off of its body, catching the metal weapon and shocking the SOLDIER. Cid shook his head and took another stab at the SOLDIER. The spear pierced his shoulder as the man grunted and shifted ever so slightly to get a stab at Cid's abdomen.
Taking advantage of the man's stunned being; Aeris concentrated and pointed her weapon at the man. A concentrated beam hit him square in the back. However this did jolt him and he took another slash at the Gigas. This caused the changed man to groan as he clenched the particularly deep wound inflicted upon him. The SOLDIER ran away and hid behind some boulders. Aeris started on healing the Gigas and Cid as much as she could. The First was still keeping up with them even with their advantage in magic and strength.
But Aeris did notice how instead of hopping away to cover the distance the SOLDIER ran instead. He looked like he was sweating too. Aeris thought about what could give them both a better edge. An idea suddenly struck her when she was done healing.
"Cid, go and keep attacking, he's getting tired." The man just grunted and hopped over the boulder; even winded he was still very spry and caused the First to move. While she kept healing Gigas, Cid kept the man occupied as he would launch maybe one or two spells and nick Cid. But with the SOLDIER now almost over tired she needed to just hit him a few more times.
Gigas jumped back into the fray and charged after the First. The man dodged from the smashing attack but Aeris had already chanted what she needed. Instead of her pole, she now had an oversized hammer. She ran up and hit the man. He grunted from the pain and hit her with a fire spell. She almost screamed at the burning she felt but she took a step back to make another swing and hit on the SOLDIER.
The man shoved her off when Cid tried to help her and did the same when Gigas threw a chunk of boulder at the man and he ducked out of the way. Aeris ignored her burns and made another hit at the man. Clearly agitated he punched Aeris and she fell down on the ground. He had his sword poised to strike when he clumsily dodged another boulder and a slash from Cid. He tried to stab him instead but Cid jumped out of the way so Gigas would charge at him, but this time he didn't even run. The drain on his magic and stamina had him taking heavy breaths by now. He held up his sword to brace for the arm about to smash him. Gigas raised his first and slammed down on the weapon. A very audible shatter of steel was heard before the sickening sound of bones being crushed under the man's force echoed.
Aeris heard some grunts and more smashes before she heard a groan and some wisps of smoke come into vision. She saw Vincent walk slowly over to her, covered in sweat and near exhausted, but forcing himself to stand none the less. He held out his gauntlet covered hand. Aeris took a few more breaths before she grabbed it and was heaved up on her feet. She looked around to see Cid sitting next to a rock, clearly exhausted, and enjoying his favorite pastime. She looked around to see if anything else was going on. But all she heard was silence.
"I think we won." Vincent said dryly.
"Well where's the cheering, I expected fireworks by the end of all this." Aeris couldn't hold back the laugh that popped up. She, Vincent, and Cid started for the Fort, all limping along the way.
"Is it over?"
"I saw them retreating out of the town!"
"We did it!"
I heard voices start to rise and cheer. I looked around and saw bloody looking men and women almost jumping for joy that the battle had been won. For a time I was nervous when I saw large explosions and spells being cast all over the place. But I put my troubles aside hearing the fanfare. I was absolutely sure that everyone lived through the ordeal, and thinking it was against actual SOLDIERs, I really believed we could take on Sephiroth in the future.
Coming up the hill I saw all of my teammates in varying conditions. Barret looking beat up and sweaty, Yuffie covered in dust and burns, Nanaki the same, Cait riding on a mangled looking mog, Aeris, Vincent, and Cid looking the worst out of everyone being exhausted and covered in wounds and burns of all degrees. But looking at each of them I couldn't help but start to laugh. They all had some kind of smile on their face. Against such odds, they had conquered and drove away Shinra, a mega corporation that had sent in some of its finest. We all seemed to be relaxed at that moment, taking the time to hear the yells of a job well done. I really couldn't be more proud of them. But with the battle ended, new worries had sprouted into my head. I started sweating now.
How much would Cid would hurt me when he found out he was just fighting to protect a giant egg?