EIGHTEEN

Junon, like Midgar, was really two cities instead of just one. Above us loomed Upper Junon, built right into the side of the cliffs facing the ocean, and below it was Lower Junon, a fishing town that looked like it had seen better days since I'd last been here. The buildings were mostly high above ground on tall beams, probably in case of flooding, and the few that weren't were mostly near the base of the cliffs and a ways from the shore. A lot of them were badly in need of paint or repairs, and the sun was lost behind the bulk of Upper Junon.

"What happened here?" I wondered. "It's so run-down…"

Yuffie held her nose. "I know, Cloud! And the smell, it's like mako, but worse. Like something's mixed in with it."

"Fish," Red explained. "Dead fish, for the most part."

She groaned. "Ugh! I think you're right."

On my other side, Jessie sighed. "Not much we can do about it. So what's the plan, guys? Looks like we got here in time."

We all stood near the town's entrance, listening to the low bustle of people going about their business as they gave us a few curious stares. I ignored them as I thought about Jessie's question. We'd just arrived not long ago, two and a half days after leaving Fort Condor. After dropping us off, Drake had said goodbye, stocked up on some supplies, and had left to deliver them back to the fortress.

Barret took a few steps forward, then turned around and looked at us. "I know jus' what to do, Jessie! Made it here nice an' early, so let's go have us a look around. Parade don't start 'till tomorrow, so that gives us all the time we need to scope out the place."

"Good idea," Tifa agreed.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's do that. Better split up, though. Two or three groups. That way we'll draw less attention."

Aerith smiled at Jessie. "Ready when you are, Jessie!"

"Huh?" she blinked, startled. I thought I saw a flicker of uneasiness in her eyes, but then she quickly caught herself and giggled. "Okay. But how about we have Cloud come with us?"

"Thought you'd wanna have some girl time," I said.

Jessie slid her arm through mine and laughed. "Thanks, but I don't mind letting you tag along, merc. That okay?"

"Sure," I agreed.

"Then off we go!" Aerith chuckled.

Tifa pointed across the road. "There's an inn over there. Let's check in first before we go looking around."

We did that, heading over and getting set up for the night. Luckily, they had more than enough rooms for us—it didn't look like they got a whole lot of business here, no doubt since most people probably stayed in the fancier places in Upper Junon instead. Once we got all settled in and put our things away, we went back outside.

While Barret led the others toward the far end of town and the tall round tower leading to Upper Junon, I followed Aerith and Jessie. The roads were mostly dirt and paved stones, and as we made our way past several rows of homes and shops and went left onto another street, the salty smell of the ocean filled the air. It got stronger as we got closer to the shore, and oddly enough, so did the stench of mako. Didn't make a whole lot of sense, though. There weren't any reactors here, at least that I could see. Just the bulk of Junon rising up the cliffs.

At the end of the road, the ground ahead of us sloped down to the beach, and we went down a short flight of stone steps to reach it. A few people were out here playing in the sand as the waves rolled in, and the afternoon sun—at least what we could see of it—was warm and bright. But the place wasn't nearly as crowded as I'd expected it to be, probably because of the huge metal tower standing nearby.

It was a tall framework of interconnected steel girders that rose up from the water and supported part of the city above us. Most everyone stayed away from it, and I understood why at once. Sparks flew off the sides near the bottom now and then as the tower hummed with energy, electrifying the water close to it and making it extremely dangerous to venture into even as it powered Upper Junon.

As Jessie, Aerith, and I looked around, I started to understand why the beach here was so empty. Trash and dead fish were washed up here and there, and the water itself was a bit dark, not clear like it should've been. Polluted by Shinra, no doubt. Hardly anyone was in it, but then I saw a little girl, maybe nine or ten, skipping along near the edge as the waves splashed over her feet. She had long, dark brown hair tied into a little ponytail and wore a bright yellow two-piece bathing suit. The girl was calling to what looked like a dolphin.

"Hey, Mr. Dolphin!" she said, cupping her small hands around her mouth. "My name's Priscilla! Now you say it."

Nearby, an older guy maybe in his late fifties with streaks of gray in his hair chuckled fondly as he watched her play. "I think he heard you, Priscilla. It looks like he's coming this way."

She laughed. "Yeah, Grandpa! He's really smart."

The dolphin did seem to be swimming playfully toward the shore. Jessie and Aerith both gasped in delight as it cut gracefully through the water. But as we moved closer to get a better look, Priscilla turned and saw us coming. She frowned and put her back to the shore, holding her arms out to either side as if to protect the dolphin.

"Who are you?" Priscilla demanded. "Are you from Shinra?"

"No, it's not like that," I said, shaking my head.

Aerith nodded. "We don't have anything to do with Shinra. We just wanted to see the dolphin, that's all."

"I don't believe you!" Priscilla yelled.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," her grandfather added, frowning. "You people are upsetting her."

I sighed. "Fine. Let's go."

"Sorry…" Aerith apologized.

There wasn't much else we could do here, so we turned around and headed back the way we came. But we'd only gone a few steps when we suddenly heard people shouting and saw them backing hurriedly away from the water as fast as they could. Then, as we faced the shore again, Jessie immediately grabbed my arm and pointed.

"Cloud, look!" she said, her eyes wide.

Aerith and I followed her worried gaze as she pointed just past and above Priscilla, where a huge wave was rolling in, bigger than anything that should've been possible in this weather. Then, just a moment later, something big, reptilian, and monstrous suddenly erupted from out of the water, still a couple dozen feet from the shore but not far from that dolphin. As it quickly swam away, Priscilla turned around, gasped, and plunged in after it, waving her arms at the monster.

"Be careful, Mr. Dolphin!" she yelled.

"Priscilla!" her grandfather shouted. "Stay back!"

But she didn't listen. Instead, she went further into the water to try and reach the dolphin. The waves crashed over her, though, pulling her under. Priscilla surfaced a moment later and cried out as she struggled to stay afloat, but the undertow was just too strong, and it dragged her back down again before she could get very far.

"Somebody help her!" the girl's grandfather pleaded.

"Hold on!" I called. "We're coming!"

Aerith whipped out her staff, her eyes on the monster. "We'll cover you, Cloud! Go save Priscilla! Hurry!"

"We got this!" Jessie added, reaching for her blaze talons.

I tossed her the Long Range materia. "Here!"

While she caught it easily and slapped it into her mythril armlet, I stuck Buster point first in the sand and rushed into the water. The huge monster was staying some distance from the shore, so there wasn't any way we could reach it aside from spells and that materia. With it, Jessie could hit the creature with her weapons like I'd done to the archdragon back in the mythril mines when it had flown out of reach. The monster swam near the tower, looking something like a giant, multicolored fish with huge, sharp teeth and beady yellow eyes.

"Bottomswell!" Priscilla's grandfather breathed. "It's back!"

But before Jessie could lay into it, four more monsters burst out of the water and surged toward the shore, spines bristling. They were like fish, same as Bottomswell, but smaller, with with blue and white scales and round bodies that hovered in the air a few feet above the sand. She turned to meet them while Aerith pummeled Bottomswell with spells, but I knew we couldn't hold them back long. As the girls fought to buy me as much time as they could and the waves splashed all around me, I took a deep breath and dove in after Priscilla.


After Cloud, Aerith, an' Jessie went off on their own, the others an' I headed down the main road, makin' a beeline for that big tower at the northern end. Town was big an' bustlin' even though it looked ready to fall apart in places, an' it took us a good ten minutes to get to where we was goin'. An' overhead was that uglyass Shinra city on the cliffs, big an' fancy but without a soul as it faced the ocean. The worst part 'bout that place was that huge cannon right in the middle of it. Had to be at least eight hundred feet long an' fifty thick.

"Man, what a dump…" Yuffie muttered.

"Ain't their fault, runt," I reminded her. "It's 'cause of that big fancy city Shinra built up there on the cliffs above us. Blocks out the sun like the plate does back in Midgar. An' you saw the land as we got closer to this place. Dry an' barren as a goddamn bone."

Tifa looked around. "I don't see any reactors, Barret."

"True, but there's gotta be one here, sure as shit," I said. "Suckin' up mako to power the city an' everythin' else."

"I wonder where it could be…" Red murmured.

I didn't know, but it had to be somewhere. Anyway, when we made it to the tower, we found two Shinra soldiers there standin' guard with their rifles in their hands, one on either side of them big double doors. The thing was basically a giant metal an' concrete tube that rose all the way to Upper Junon. Our ticket up there, if we could just find us a way to get past them Shinra dogs. They glared suspiciously at us when they saw us walk up to the tower to get a better look.

"Hey, back off!" one of 'em said, steppin' forward. "This elevator is off-limits to everyone but Shinra personnel until further notice! Don't let us catch you snooping around here again!"

Yuffie just rolled her eyes. "Yeesh! Talk about anal! What, were you toilet trained at gunpoint or something?"

"Why, you little…!" the other guard sputtered.

"We're going now!" Tifa insisted, quickly takin' Yuffie's shoulder an' pullin' her back before she could shoot off another smart remark. "Um, sorry about all this. We were just curious."

Much as I was tempted to jus' force our way in there, she was right. Better to sneak past those Shinra mutts. Besides, we still had to tell the others 'bout what we'd found. Then we could make us a plan for gettin' to Upper Junon in time to sneak onto the cargo ship. So I led Tifa, Red, an' Yuffie back toward the inn to find our friends. Knew they'd meet us there once they got done lookin' 'round town.

We was almost halfway there when we suddenly heard some kinda commotion comin' from off to our right jus' down the road a bit. Lotsa people screamin' an' shoutin' all in a panic, with some of 'em runnin' in our direction an' away from the beach fast as they could. The others an' I jus' looked at each other for a moment.

"Hey, uh… what's going on?" Yuffie wondered.

Red padded ahead a few steps. "Some kind of disturbance down on the shore would be my guess. Shall we go?"

Tifa nodded. "Somebody might need help!"

"Then let's move, people!" I boomed, leadin' the way. "Can't count on them damn Shinra mutts to lift a finger when shit goes down. We'll handle it ourselves, Avalanche style! C'mon!"

We raced down the street, fast as we could, an' as soon as we got to the beach, we saw what was goin' on. Some bigass fish monster was out there in the water causin' all kindsa havoc while a few smaller ones was floatin' nearby above the sand lashin' out at anyone within reach. Jessie an' Aerith were fightin' 'em best they could while Cloud was swimmin' in the waves tryin' to pull a little girl to shore. That giant son of a bitch wasn't makin' it easy, though, what with the way it was whippin' its tail 'round an' bitin' at him again an' again.

I rushed onto the beach, Tifa an' the others right behind me, yellin' as I let loose with my gun-arm. "Over here, asshole! You ain't outta my reach! Guys, don't worry! We gotcha covered!"

"Barret!" Jessie called. "I—"

She had jus' cut down one of them smaller blue an' white monsters, but as she spun right to go at another, it shot a stream of bright bubbles at her, hittin' her in the face before she could get outta the way. Soon as they struck, Jessie crumpled to the sand, out cold.

"Shit!" I swore. "Red! Tifa! Help Jessie! Yuffie an' Aerith, we got big boy! We'll bring that ugly asshole down!"

"We're on it!" Tifa shouted.

She laid into one of them blue fish monsters with her mythril claws while Red tore into another, an' at the same time, I kept firin' at the big one out in the water. Flashy with all its rainbow scales, but still a damn pain in the ass. Yuffie sent her shuriken spinnin' out at it, cuttin' it with them razor tips, and the monster roared, sendin' a big wave of water at us. Cloud had the girl in his arms by then an' was swimmin' toward the shore, but that sudden blast crashed over him with a splash an' dragged him backward, nearly rippin' her away.

Aerith spun her staff an' zapped the monster with a sizzlin' shot of lightnin'. "Oh, no you don't! Cloud, hurry!"

While he tried to get himself an' the girl outta the water, the rest of us kept fightin' the monsters. Jessie woke up a moment later, shook off the last of that magic sleep, grabbed her weapons, an' sprang to her feet with a yell, slashin' at them smaller fish things one after another. An' at the same time, I unloaded on big boy with a big shot, slammin' the side of its ugly head with a big orange fireball while Yuffie's shuriken sliced through one of its fins. He jus' snarled an' whipped his spiked tail at me before I could back up, slammin' me in the chest.

"I ain't goin' down that easy!" I snarled, wincin' but stayin' right on my feet as I poured bullets into the bastard.

"And I'm in the mood for some fried fish!" Yuffie taunted.

She imbued her shuriken with fire magic, then hurled it at big boy again, blastin' it with one of her magic runes when it hit. Aerith added more lightnin' on top of it as she stood inside one of her arcane wards, doublin' every spell she cast. At the same time, I saw Jessie an' Tifa take down one of the smaller fish together while Red tore apart another. But jus' as they started to go after the last one an' Cloud got the little girl on shore, 'bout half a dozen more of them creeps suddenly burst outta the water and flew straight at him, spines bristlin'.


Priscilla was unconscious in my arms when I finally made it out of the water. But even as her grandfather rushed over, more of those blue and white fish things surged toward us, floating a little above the sand. They moved fast, but Jessie and the others were faster. She darted right in their path, blaze talons glowing and eyes narrow, while Tifa and Red caught them from behind with fists and claws while carefully avoiding the streams of bubbles the monsters spewed.

"Cloud, just take care of Priscilla!" Jessie called, slashing expertly at the nearest monster. "We'll handle these guys!"

"Blugus," Priscilla's grandfather explained. "Never seen so many of them at once before. Bottomswell must've stirred them up. But enough about that. My little girl's not breathing!"

He was right. As I carefully laid Priscilla on her back on the sand, I saw that her small chest wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed, her skin was cold, and her lips had begun to turn blue. I knelt next to her as the others continued to fight Bottomswell and the blugus around us, and I couldn't help wondering if it was already too late.

I sighed. "Not good. Is she… dead?"

"No," her grandfather sighed in relief as he checked her pulse. "Just unconscious. But I'm afraid she doesn't have very long. We need to act fast. Hmm… ah, that's it! Young man, CPR! Take a deep breath, hold it, and breathe into her until she wakes up."

"What? Mouth to mouth?" I blinked, staring at him.

He pointed at her. "Now!"

"Get your scrawny ass in gear, Cloud!" Barret added, firing another volley at Bottomswell. "That girl needs ya!"

"Alright," I said.

Trusting the others to keep the monsters away, I did what Priscilla's grandfather had said, taking a few deep breaths and breathing into her mouth as he pushed intently on her chest with his clasped fists. At first, nothing changed, but after a minute or two, Priscilla stirred and started coughing and gasping for breath. When she did, I carefully turned her on her side as the water that she'd inhaled came back up again, and her grandfather patted her on the back to help get it out. When it was over, she looked up at me with wide, wondering eyes.

"Did you… save me?" she asked, her voice still weak.

I nodded. "Yeah…"

But before Priscilla or her grandfather could say anything else, Red suddenly called to me. "Cloud! Watch out!"

I heard the blugu swooping towards us before I actually saw it and reacted at once. Spinning around, I quickly dove aside, grabbed Buster from where I'd left it, and sprang to my feet in a single fluid motion. As the monster closed in, I struck it with a string of rapid slashes followed by a leaping overhead chop that clove it in two.

"Oh, wow…" Priscilla breathed.

Jessie and Tifa took down another, making short work of it, leaving three to go. Red had torn apart the one he'd been fighting, but when we went after the rest, Bottomswell suddenly hit Tifa with a burst of bright blue energy that formed a huge bubble around her, trapping her inside and filling up with water almost at once.

I swore. "Shit! She'll drown if we don't get her outta there!"

"Red, cover us!" Jessie shouted.

"On it!" he answered, attacking the blugus.

While he tore into them, Jessie and I struck at the bubble. Tifa had tried at first to break it from the inside with a hard punch, but it hadn't budged, and now it was completely filled with water and she was trying to hold her breath as long as she could. It didn't take very many hits for Jessie and I to shatter the bubble, and when it broke, the water splashed onto the sand as Tifa doubled over for a moment, gasping for air while we helped Red keep the blugus off her.

"You okay?" I asked.

She straightened up, fists ready. "Yeah. Thanks, guys."

Jessie nodded as she hit her right glove switch to activate her speed boost. "Anytime, Tifa! Back me up?"

"Always!" she agreed.

Together, they went to town on one blugu while Red and I took out the other one. It puffed itself up like a balloon and launched itself at us, firing several of its spines, but I blocked them with Buster as Red dove aside. Then we both answered, Red with his claws and me with a triple slash that left trails of purple energy in its wake, and together we sliced the monster apart as Jessie and Tifa shredded theirs. A blazing flurry of slashes and a barrage of punches and kicks followed by a focused strike finished it off before it could retaliate.

"Could use a little help here!" Barret yelled.

"Like now!" Yuffie added.

We turned to see her and Barret diving to the sand, barely avoiding Bottomswell's spiked tail as it slammed down between them. It seemed a little redder now than before. The monster flinched as Aerith blasted it with a piercing energy beam from her staff, then quickly trapped her inside another of those giant water bubbles.

I rushed over and shattered it with a few careful slices from Buster, then caught her when the water rushed out and she fell. Jessie sliced at Bottomswell again and again with her blaze talons, and the materia I'd given her allowed her to reach it even from afar. As soon as Aerith had recovered from being in the bubble and had picked up her staff, she hit Bottomswell with more spells. Red and I added ours as well, scorching it with searing blasts of fire and lightning as Barret and Yuffie got back on their feet and pounded it with their weapons.

Tifa lifted her arm, readying her own materia. "Burn!"

There was a sudden flash of yellow light, and then a huge, flaming cyclone erupted all around Bottomswell. Firestorm lived up to its name and then some, searing the monster to the bone as the blazing inferno swept across it, blackening its scales as it screeched in pain. And before long, it crumpled under our combined assault and collapsed back into the water with final roar and a loud splash.

But the heavy impact of Bottomswell's fall sent a huge wave rolling toward the shore, forcing us to scatter to avoid being swept away by the current. Stabbing Buster into the sand again, I rushed over to Priscilla, grabbed her, and held her in my arms, shielding her as her grandfather braced himself and the wave finally struck.

It crashed over us, the water sweeping all around our legs up to my knees and reaching almost to the base of the stairs leading to the street before finally receding a moment later. When it was over and the water had returned to normal, I glanced around to check on the others. They all seemed fine, but everyone was wet and dripping, including me. And the few other people on the beach had pretty much kept away from the water and the battle and looked alright as well.

"Great…" Yuffie muttered. She was totally soaked. "That ugly brute just had to get one last laugh in, didn't he?"

Jessie giggled. "You look like one of Wedge's cats after a bath."

"I feel like it," she grumbled.

"You'll be fine," Aerith assured her as she squeezed water out of her braid. "We can all dry off at the inn."

Red shook himself off. "Indeed. I intend to."

Barret looked at me. "How's the girl, merc? She okay?"

I gently laid Priscilla back down on the sand. "I think so. Probably needs to rest for a while, though."

"Definitely," Aerith agreed, looking her over.

Priscilla's grandfather knelt on the other side of her. "Priscilla? Are you alright, sweetie? How do you feel?"

She coughed a little. "I'm tired, but… I'll be fine."

"Thank goodness," he said. Then he looked up at me. "Young man, would you mind? My house isn't all that far from here, but I have a bad back. Don't worry, I can show you the way."

"Sure," I nodded, picking Priscilla up again.

Her grandfather stood up as the others gathered around us. "We… may have misjudged you all. I'm really sorry. If you hadn't been here… Priscilla might not have been so fortunate."

"It's alright," Jessie smiled.

"Glad to help," Barret said. "The hell was that thing, anyway?"

Priscilla's grandfather led the way as we left the beach. "The terror of the coast. Bottomswell and his spawn have haunted these shores for years, ever since Shinra built the city up above us and the mako reactor underwater to power it. They've ruined this town."

"An underwater reactor?" Tifa blinked.

"It makes sense," Red replied as we made our way down the street. "The smell, as you know, is stronger near the shore. And I suspect that both Bottomswell and the blugus are mutations of some kind, possibly caused by mako leaking into the ocean."

Barret grunted. "Damn Shinra… killin' everythin' they touch."

"And then some," Jessie agreed.

Priscilla's house was just off the main street through town opposite the one that led to the beach. A pair of tall wooden staircases led up to it, and while Barret and the others waited on the front porch, I carried Priscilla inside. Her grandfather led me straight to her room, and I laid her down in bed so she could get some rest. But just before she did, she gazed adoringly up at me, her eyes shining.

"You're Cloud… aren't you?" she said. "I heard the others… calling your name… when you were fighting back there."

I nodded. "Yeah."

Her grandfather adjusted her blankets for her. "Hush, Priscilla. You just go to sleep now. You need your rest."

"Sure," she agreed. "But is Mr. Dolphin okay?"

"He's fine," I assured her.

Priscilla yawned. "He's probably… so worried about me. Cloud… I want you to come see me tomorrow… alright?"

"I'll be here," I promised.

Content now, she fell sleep, her little hand still holding mine. I held it for just a moment, then let go as carefully as I could to avoid waking her. I didn't know what she wanted me to come back for—probably just so she could thank me for saving her—but I didn't mind. I was glad she was alright. And I knew that Jessie, Barret, and the others were worried about her, too. So we'd all return in the morning and see her again once she was up and about and feeling better.

Then we'd find a way to sneak into Upper Junon.