Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ World Conflict: Final Fantasy 7 ❯ The Day Off ( Chapter 5 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Vergessener Held 
We take a day off after the reactor, which leads to a couple of us getting a little too close too soon.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 09.10.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 225 | Status: Completed
We take a day off after the reactor, which leads to a couple of us getting a little too close too soon.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 09.10.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 225 | Status: Completed
We heard the whistle blow and the loud clunk of the train cars connecting at last. Barret just sat down and looked around. Biggs and Wedge were talking, about what I don't know. Jessie was looking through the train's computer. Meanwhile, Cloud was just sitting in the corner, silent. He finally noticed me staring at him, and I noticed how weird his eyes really were. They were glowing. A scary glow. Makes you feel like they can see right into your soul. I looked away and shuddered. |Not the most friendly of characters,| I thought. I sat down and watched everything pass by, trying to mentally prepare myself for what was up next. Sirens blaring and bullets going off wasn't my specialty. I was trained to be an assassin, not a frontline grunt. "Hey, dumbass! Get ready!" shouted Barret. I jumped to my feet and tightened my gloves.
"If there are any guards at the stop, I'll handle them," I said, pulling out the wires to make sure they were sharp enough. "Whatever," was Barret's grunted response. I rolled my eyes while he turned away. I looked at the others, watching them get ready. Jessie said something, but I didn't hear it over the loud squealing of the stopping train, and the thunk and hiss of the engine. "Stay here," I said to them, slowly walking onto the platform. "Excuse me, sir. This is a restricted area," said one of the police officers, all of them walking towards me. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said. I just sighed and threw the wires of my gloves around all of them, yanking backward to dice them into pieces. "Alright, come out," I said, tightening my gloves. As everyone hopped off, Jessie saw the pile of blood and organs lying everywhere, "Oh my god...."
Everyone stared at me as if I was insane. "What!? I'm not about to let them pull out a handgun on me!" I protested. We ran down the platform and took into a series of alleys. We encountered more guards and a guard dog, but Cloud didn't seem to mind cutting the canine in half while Biggs and Wedge knocked out the guards. "Where did Barret go?" asked Jessie. "Who knows," I said, "Let's just get moving." We ran towards a large gate, where Jessie, Biggs and Wedge began tampering with the gate. Barret came out of the shadows and shouted, "I thought I never told you idiots to move in a group!?" I had had enough. "Shut the fuck up! We'll get it done, just shut your hole or someone will hear us!" I yelled. Biggs looked up at Cloud, "What's your name anyway?" Cloud looked like he was bored, "Cloud." Jessie looked up, "Why are you wearing a SOLDIER uniform? If they're the enemy, why are you with us?" Biggs shook his head, "He used to be in SOLDIER, now he's with us." I coughed to interrupt them, "Can you get a move on?"
I didn't rather like the look everyone gave me. I sighed. "I just want to get out of here, alright? I don't want to end up fighting for hours," I said. They still gave me the dirty look, then the gate moved aside slowly. We ran down the last of the alleys, running into a couple more guards. "Get out of the way," I groaned, running up to them and punching one of the guards square in the stomach. The other guard moved forward to shoot me, but I kicked the rifle out of his hands and then kicked him in the face. "Zack! Watch it!" Wedge shouted. I turned around, "Huh?" A large guard dog jumped onto me, knocking me over, and lodged its sharp teeth into my arm. "AGHH!" I shouted in pain, pulling a wire from my other glove out with my teeth. "A lirrle herp woulb be appreciated," I said, my teeth too busy holding the wire out. Cloud simply walked up to it and kicked it in the stomach, making it yelp in pain. It didn't quite release my arm, though. "I AIN'T YOUR FUCKIN' DINNER, NOW GET OFF!" I growled, gouging it in the eye with the wires of my glove. It yelped and let go, whimpering in pain.
I pulled the wire back out from my glove and slit its throat. I may kill a lot of things, but I'm not heartless enough to let it suffer the agony of bleeding to death. Biggs pulled out some bandages, wrapping it around my arm, which was dripping blood. "Thanks," I said, walking through the doorway just ahead of us. The doorway led to a vast room, a small catwalk shaped like a T hovered over a large pool of what I assumed was Mako. Wedge ran to the door opposite us and stood there, looking around, "I'll stay here to make our exit clear. You go on ahead." Barret nodded, and we ran down the catwalk towards the reactor's entrance. The doorway at the end led to a dimly lit hallway, the walls lined with all sorts of pipes and valves. Steam occasionally shot out from the connections of the pipes, but I made careful to stay away from them. Cloud was the last to walk into the hall. Barret looked at him, "Why are you here, anyway?" Cloud shrugged, "I just want to get paid." Barret showed his teeth a bit in aggravation, "The planet's dying, Cloud!" Cloud shrugged again, "I don't care. I just want my money and then I'm out of here." I groaned, ignoring what Barret said next, "Jessie, open the god damn door, please?" She nodded, pushing a few buttons on the door. We heard a buzz, then a computer's voice say, "Code deciphered." The door opened and we walked into the next room, Biggs walking to the next door and pushing a few buttons.
There was another buzz and the computer's voice said, "Code deciphered." The second door opened and we walked through, heading toward an elevator. I suppose Biggs stayed behind, because he wasn't on the elevator with us. Jessie pointed to an arrow-shaped button on one side of the elevator, "Cloud, could you push that button?" Cloud nodded and walked towards it, pushing the button. As the elevator went into motion, Barret went on with another "the planet's dying" speech. I don't know what happened. I know I saw Barret's angry face when he turned away from Cloud, but I just sort of tuned him out the entire time. Eventually, the elevator came to a stop, and we walked out into a large room with a huge device planted on the platform below. I don't know what it was for, nor do I care. We walked down the stairs, then ran into a squad of about 10 guards. "Hold it right there!" the squad leader shouted. I rolled my eyes, but didn't feel like fighting them. Cloud and Barret ran forward. Cloud whacked a soldier with the side of his sword, sending the soldier over the railing of the platform. Barret simply slugged the first soldier he ran into with the large gun attached to his arm. The soldier flew backward, hitting his spine on a railing and falling over.
They began firing their rifles at Cloud, who blocked the bullets using his enormous sword. Once they had to reload, he swung the sharp end of it at 4 of the soldiers. It cut them down like a hot knife through butter. They fired at me and Jessie. I danced out of the way of the bullets, trying not to get hit. Jessie hid behind the machine, then came out when the bullets stopped coming. I looked over to the soldiers, who were slumped in small puddles of blood, then saw the smoking barrel of Barret's gun. We walked over to the staircase and ran down it. Or atleast, they did. I jumped onto the rail and slid down it, flying off the rail when it came to an end and slamming into the yellow and black-striped iron frame around the door. I slid down it, making that squeaking noise. Barret just shook his head. Jessie must have thought it was funny, because she started giggling once I got up, a little deranged from the impact, saying, "No thanks, mom. I want tacos for dinner." Then I fell over, only being picked up by Cloud. I nodded my head in thanks, then walked through the doorway, which led to a series of ladders and girders which I assumed we would walk over.
We all hopped over a small gap and walked over to the first rusty, disgusting ladder. I could smell the horrible, unhealthy fumes that were erupting from the Mako converter. It was like standing in front of the muffler of a city bus and taking a big whiff once the muffler blew out diesel fumes. I gagged, climbing down the ladder after Jessie. When we were finally on one of the girders, I actually took the time to notice how far a fall it would be if I slipped. I began to walk slowly, trying to make sure not to fall off. "What's with you? Afraid of heights?" asked Jessie, hopping around to show off. "Yeah. When you fall out of a twenty- foot tall tree and break your leg, you tend to get mentally scarred," I said, walking down a ramp as I reached for the ladder cautiously. "Quit bein' a pussy and move yer slow ass," Barrett said, pushing me. I glared at him over my shoulder, then made my way to climbing down the ladder.
The ladder stopped at a large pipe, which we had to walk across. I didn't exactly like the idea of walking along a slippery pipe, so I tried to crawl along it. "Move damn it!" Barret yelled, kicking me in the rear. "Gah!" was the only thing I said before sliding off the side of the pipe, trying to hang on to it. "Nice job," Cloud said sarcastically. "If I get out of this alive god help you!" I yelled at Barret. I started to slip off the pipe more just as Barret and Cloud reached down and pulled me back up. "OK, I think I'll hurry now so I don't get killed by falling into a pool of that stuff," I said, shaking from just nearly dying. We walked down the pipes, my feet slipping slightly every few steps. "I hate this," I complained, climbing down the ladder. "Shut up already! I've had enough of your whining," Cloud half-shouted, half-said. I cursed under my breath, wishing I could strangle him right about now. We reached the bottom of the ladder and made our way down the catwalk.
"Halelujah! Can we plant the bomb and leave now?" I asked. "Yeah, yeah," Barret groaned, probably fed up with me, but I didn't exactly like his attitude either. As we walked toward the furnace (or whatever the hell it was), Cloud stopped and his eyes slipped out of focus. I raised a brow, jabbing him in the shoulder, "Hey, blondie! Gonna stand there all day?" He snapped out of it and gave me a glare, walking towards the furnace..... thingy. "Cloud, plant the bomb," Barret said, handing it to him. "Shouldn't you do it?" asked Cloud as he eyed the explosives. "Just do it!" Barret grunted, shoving it into his hand. "Fine, whatever," Cloud said, placing the bomb on the furnace and pushing a few buttons. Once he was finished, an ear-piercing screech for an alarm went off. "Here they come!" shouted Barret, pointing his gun arm in front of him. "Here comes what?" I asked.
It didn't take long for me to find out what it was. It was a giant robot that looked like a scorpion. "Aw, man...." I groaned. It turned towards me and shot a few bullets out of what would've been its claws if it were real. I jumped out of the way, looking for a place to hit it. Cloud rushed forward, lopping off one of the machine guns off the robot's arm. It responded by using some sort of blue scope to scan him, then shot a few rounds at him. He took a step back and held his sword in front of him like a shield, blocking what bullets didn't miss him. Barret began shooting at it, only stopping to reload. Most of his bullets merely ricocheted off the robot's armor, but a few caught it in its scopes, impairing its sight. It slowly rose its tail to strike him. I looked up at the tail, then ran forward and jumped onto the robot's back, trying to rip open the armor with my hands. "C'mon, you piece of crap!" I shouted, slicing off a piece of the armor with the wires of my gloves. I looked up at the tail and saw it shoot downward, but not at Barret. I had just enough time to dive out of the way before the tail struck the uncovered wires of the robot.
The robot let out a loud, metallic cry of pain before it began firing at me again. I threw my wires out from my gloves once more, cutting the bullets into halves, forcing them to go into a different direction. Cloud rushed forward, jumping high into the air and bringing his sword down onto the robot, cutting off it's other arm. The robot finally managed to get its tail out of its back and began striking wildly at us. I jumped backward to avoid being struck, then hopped over the railing to dodge it again, grabbing onto the ledge just before falling. Cloud ran behind it and tried to hack off its tail, but was hit by the middle part of its tail as it swung around to gore him with its tail. Barret took out a large bullet, loaded it into his arm and fired it. The robot screeched again, the parts of its tail falling into the glowing pool below. I climbed back over the railing and drew the wires from my gloves and swung them at the robot, slicing it into pieces. I watched its parts fall to the ground, then walked past it.
"C'mon, we need to get out of here unless we want to be barbacued," I shouted, running towards the ladder. Cloud and Barret ran after me as I reached the pipe and began moving as fast as I could without falling over. "How much time do we have left?" Cloud asked. "Ten minutes," Barret said, reloading his arm with a new clip of ammunition. I reached the ladder and began climbing it as fast as I could. The alarm was still going off, its screeching making my ears ring. I ran up the ramp after reaching the top of the ladder, then noticed Jessie fumbling with something on the girder. Her foot had gotten caught. I walked to her and bent down, pulling out a wire to my glove and slicing the metal around her foot. She slid it out and got up, starting to run off as she said, "Thanks, Zack." I noticed a Potion and picked it up, running after the others as they were all ahead of me. We climbed the ladder and ran out to the room with the large device. We stopped as guards and guard dogs were standing in front of the stairs.
"Stop right there!" said a soldier nervously, his hands shaking as he pointed his rifle at us. I laughed a bit and ran forward, pouncing him. I landed with my feet on his chest, then hopped off and threw one of the guard dogs as they lunged at me. I felt something hit me in the back, making a sharp pain as I fell over. The soldier that had hit me stepped on my injured forearm. I winced, then moved over and bit his leg hard. "AGH! FREAKIN' CANNIBAL!" He shouted, pointing his rifle at me, only to have it knocked out of his hands by Jessie, who then punched him square in the junk. He fell over and Jessie pistol whipped him with his rifle, then was pounced by the second guard dog. It tried to bite her, but she used the rifle to block its mouth and tried to keep it off. There was a series of bangs as bullets flew into the dog's body, making it fall over. I looked at Barret, who just smirked and ran up the stairs, knocking one of the guards over the railing with his gun-arm. We ran up the stairs, then into the elevator, where three soldiers were standing. I grabbed two of them and threw them out, kicking the third one in the cojones before throwing them. I dragged the third one out and closed the door to the elevator just as everyone went inside and the soldiers got up.
We ran out the elevator as soon as it reached our floor. Biggs ran forward and opened the door, and then Jessie. We started to slow down, nearly outside, and I ripped the guards on the catwalk new assholes with my weapon. The others and I began to run again as Barret shouted, "Hurry!" We turned to where Wedge was waving to us and ran through the doorway, Jessie tripping and Cloud helping her up just as they got out. Five minutes later, we blew open the exit and ran out, Wedge setting his ass on fire in the process. "Alright! Meet back at the train!" shouted Barret and ran off. I walked after everyone else, hoping we were safe for a while. I noticed Cloud running and ran after him to a small bridge over the train tracks. We heard the cock of a gun and turned around, seeing three soldiers. We back away, then two more appeared. Another three came, then one, then three, then four. We backed towards the edge of the bridge and noticed the train going by, then jumped onto it.
We knocked on the door of a car to get in, but noone opened it, so we pulled it open and jumped in. Everyone was surprised. "Hey!" said Wedge cheerfully. Biggs grinned, "Having fun startling us?" Jessie looked at us, "Hey, Cloud. Zack." Barret gave us this huge speech about some stupid crap. I just tuned him out. We got to one of the passenger cars and relaxed until we were at the bar.
Amber ran forward and hugged me, "Hey! You're okay!" Ian snickered, "Of course he's okay, he has to get married to his new girlfriend!" A gloved hand came down and struck him in the back of the head, "QUIT SAYING THAT!" It was Tifa. I laughed, "Try dealing with him for a long time in your life." She smiled and looked behind me, "Where's Cloud?" I shrugged, then heard a voice behind me, "Right here." Tifa smiled and walked over to Cloud, "How'd it go?" He shrugged like it was a normal day for him, "Went fine." Tifa nodded, "Oh.... Hey, is that flower for me?" I noticed Cloud was carrying a flower with him, raising a brow, "A flower? Here? In Midgard?" He shrugged and handed it to Tifa, grinning a bit. "Thanks. It smells nice," she said, putting it in a vase on the counter. "Okay! Who's hungry?" she shouted, smiling.
Everyone was messing around while we ate, and I went to bed early. "Why areyou going to bed so early?" asked Tifa. "I always do this at home. Its sort of a hobby," I said, shrugging and walking off. "Oh.... Alright, see you tomorrow then," she said, walking back into the bar. I walked into my room at the inn and went to sleep on the bed, trying to get well deserved sleep. I fell asleep, feeling like a jerk for the way I treated Tifa....
"If there are any guards at the stop, I'll handle them," I said, pulling out the wires to make sure they were sharp enough. "Whatever," was Barret's grunted response. I rolled my eyes while he turned away. I looked at the others, watching them get ready. Jessie said something, but I didn't hear it over the loud squealing of the stopping train, and the thunk and hiss of the engine. "Stay here," I said to them, slowly walking onto the platform. "Excuse me, sir. This is a restricted area," said one of the police officers, all of them walking towards me. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said. I just sighed and threw the wires of my gloves around all of them, yanking backward to dice them into pieces. "Alright, come out," I said, tightening my gloves. As everyone hopped off, Jessie saw the pile of blood and organs lying everywhere, "Oh my god...."
Everyone stared at me as if I was insane. "What!? I'm not about to let them pull out a handgun on me!" I protested. We ran down the platform and took into a series of alleys. We encountered more guards and a guard dog, but Cloud didn't seem to mind cutting the canine in half while Biggs and Wedge knocked out the guards. "Where did Barret go?" asked Jessie. "Who knows," I said, "Let's just get moving." We ran towards a large gate, where Jessie, Biggs and Wedge began tampering with the gate. Barret came out of the shadows and shouted, "I thought I never told you idiots to move in a group!?" I had had enough. "Shut the fuck up! We'll get it done, just shut your hole or someone will hear us!" I yelled. Biggs looked up at Cloud, "What's your name anyway?" Cloud looked like he was bored, "Cloud." Jessie looked up, "Why are you wearing a SOLDIER uniform? If they're the enemy, why are you with us?" Biggs shook his head, "He used to be in SOLDIER, now he's with us." I coughed to interrupt them, "Can you get a move on?"
I didn't rather like the look everyone gave me. I sighed. "I just want to get out of here, alright? I don't want to end up fighting for hours," I said. They still gave me the dirty look, then the gate moved aside slowly. We ran down the last of the alleys, running into a couple more guards. "Get out of the way," I groaned, running up to them and punching one of the guards square in the stomach. The other guard moved forward to shoot me, but I kicked the rifle out of his hands and then kicked him in the face. "Zack! Watch it!" Wedge shouted. I turned around, "Huh?" A large guard dog jumped onto me, knocking me over, and lodged its sharp teeth into my arm. "AGHH!" I shouted in pain, pulling a wire from my other glove out with my teeth. "A lirrle herp woulb be appreciated," I said, my teeth too busy holding the wire out. Cloud simply walked up to it and kicked it in the stomach, making it yelp in pain. It didn't quite release my arm, though. "I AIN'T YOUR FUCKIN' DINNER, NOW GET OFF!" I growled, gouging it in the eye with the wires of my glove. It yelped and let go, whimpering in pain.
I pulled the wire back out from my glove and slit its throat. I may kill a lot of things, but I'm not heartless enough to let it suffer the agony of bleeding to death. Biggs pulled out some bandages, wrapping it around my arm, which was dripping blood. "Thanks," I said, walking through the doorway just ahead of us. The doorway led to a vast room, a small catwalk shaped like a T hovered over a large pool of what I assumed was Mako. Wedge ran to the door opposite us and stood there, looking around, "I'll stay here to make our exit clear. You go on ahead." Barret nodded, and we ran down the catwalk towards the reactor's entrance. The doorway at the end led to a dimly lit hallway, the walls lined with all sorts of pipes and valves. Steam occasionally shot out from the connections of the pipes, but I made careful to stay away from them. Cloud was the last to walk into the hall. Barret looked at him, "Why are you here, anyway?" Cloud shrugged, "I just want to get paid." Barret showed his teeth a bit in aggravation, "The planet's dying, Cloud!" Cloud shrugged again, "I don't care. I just want my money and then I'm out of here." I groaned, ignoring what Barret said next, "Jessie, open the god damn door, please?" She nodded, pushing a few buttons on the door. We heard a buzz, then a computer's voice say, "Code deciphered." The door opened and we walked into the next room, Biggs walking to the next door and pushing a few buttons.
There was another buzz and the computer's voice said, "Code deciphered." The second door opened and we walked through, heading toward an elevator. I suppose Biggs stayed behind, because he wasn't on the elevator with us. Jessie pointed to an arrow-shaped button on one side of the elevator, "Cloud, could you push that button?" Cloud nodded and walked towards it, pushing the button. As the elevator went into motion, Barret went on with another "the planet's dying" speech. I don't know what happened. I know I saw Barret's angry face when he turned away from Cloud, but I just sort of tuned him out the entire time. Eventually, the elevator came to a stop, and we walked out into a large room with a huge device planted on the platform below. I don't know what it was for, nor do I care. We walked down the stairs, then ran into a squad of about 10 guards. "Hold it right there!" the squad leader shouted. I rolled my eyes, but didn't feel like fighting them. Cloud and Barret ran forward. Cloud whacked a soldier with the side of his sword, sending the soldier over the railing of the platform. Barret simply slugged the first soldier he ran into with the large gun attached to his arm. The soldier flew backward, hitting his spine on a railing and falling over.
They began firing their rifles at Cloud, who blocked the bullets using his enormous sword. Once they had to reload, he swung the sharp end of it at 4 of the soldiers. It cut them down like a hot knife through butter. They fired at me and Jessie. I danced out of the way of the bullets, trying not to get hit. Jessie hid behind the machine, then came out when the bullets stopped coming. I looked over to the soldiers, who were slumped in small puddles of blood, then saw the smoking barrel of Barret's gun. We walked over to the staircase and ran down it. Or atleast, they did. I jumped onto the rail and slid down it, flying off the rail when it came to an end and slamming into the yellow and black-striped iron frame around the door. I slid down it, making that squeaking noise. Barret just shook his head. Jessie must have thought it was funny, because she started giggling once I got up, a little deranged from the impact, saying, "No thanks, mom. I want tacos for dinner." Then I fell over, only being picked up by Cloud. I nodded my head in thanks, then walked through the doorway, which led to a series of ladders and girders which I assumed we would walk over.
We all hopped over a small gap and walked over to the first rusty, disgusting ladder. I could smell the horrible, unhealthy fumes that were erupting from the Mako converter. It was like standing in front of the muffler of a city bus and taking a big whiff once the muffler blew out diesel fumes. I gagged, climbing down the ladder after Jessie. When we were finally on one of the girders, I actually took the time to notice how far a fall it would be if I slipped. I began to walk slowly, trying to make sure not to fall off. "What's with you? Afraid of heights?" asked Jessie, hopping around to show off. "Yeah. When you fall out of a twenty- foot tall tree and break your leg, you tend to get mentally scarred," I said, walking down a ramp as I reached for the ladder cautiously. "Quit bein' a pussy and move yer slow ass," Barrett said, pushing me. I glared at him over my shoulder, then made my way to climbing down the ladder.
The ladder stopped at a large pipe, which we had to walk across. I didn't exactly like the idea of walking along a slippery pipe, so I tried to crawl along it. "Move damn it!" Barret yelled, kicking me in the rear. "Gah!" was the only thing I said before sliding off the side of the pipe, trying to hang on to it. "Nice job," Cloud said sarcastically. "If I get out of this alive god help you!" I yelled at Barret. I started to slip off the pipe more just as Barret and Cloud reached down and pulled me back up. "OK, I think I'll hurry now so I don't get killed by falling into a pool of that stuff," I said, shaking from just nearly dying. We walked down the pipes, my feet slipping slightly every few steps. "I hate this," I complained, climbing down the ladder. "Shut up already! I've had enough of your whining," Cloud half-shouted, half-said. I cursed under my breath, wishing I could strangle him right about now. We reached the bottom of the ladder and made our way down the catwalk.
"Halelujah! Can we plant the bomb and leave now?" I asked. "Yeah, yeah," Barret groaned, probably fed up with me, but I didn't exactly like his attitude either. As we walked toward the furnace (or whatever the hell it was), Cloud stopped and his eyes slipped out of focus. I raised a brow, jabbing him in the shoulder, "Hey, blondie! Gonna stand there all day?" He snapped out of it and gave me a glare, walking towards the furnace..... thingy. "Cloud, plant the bomb," Barret said, handing it to him. "Shouldn't you do it?" asked Cloud as he eyed the explosives. "Just do it!" Barret grunted, shoving it into his hand. "Fine, whatever," Cloud said, placing the bomb on the furnace and pushing a few buttons. Once he was finished, an ear-piercing screech for an alarm went off. "Here they come!" shouted Barret, pointing his gun arm in front of him. "Here comes what?" I asked.
It didn't take long for me to find out what it was. It was a giant robot that looked like a scorpion. "Aw, man...." I groaned. It turned towards me and shot a few bullets out of what would've been its claws if it were real. I jumped out of the way, looking for a place to hit it. Cloud rushed forward, lopping off one of the machine guns off the robot's arm. It responded by using some sort of blue scope to scan him, then shot a few rounds at him. He took a step back and held his sword in front of him like a shield, blocking what bullets didn't miss him. Barret began shooting at it, only stopping to reload. Most of his bullets merely ricocheted off the robot's armor, but a few caught it in its scopes, impairing its sight. It slowly rose its tail to strike him. I looked up at the tail, then ran forward and jumped onto the robot's back, trying to rip open the armor with my hands. "C'mon, you piece of crap!" I shouted, slicing off a piece of the armor with the wires of my gloves. I looked up at the tail and saw it shoot downward, but not at Barret. I had just enough time to dive out of the way before the tail struck the uncovered wires of the robot.
The robot let out a loud, metallic cry of pain before it began firing at me again. I threw my wires out from my gloves once more, cutting the bullets into halves, forcing them to go into a different direction. Cloud rushed forward, jumping high into the air and bringing his sword down onto the robot, cutting off it's other arm. The robot finally managed to get its tail out of its back and began striking wildly at us. I jumped backward to avoid being struck, then hopped over the railing to dodge it again, grabbing onto the ledge just before falling. Cloud ran behind it and tried to hack off its tail, but was hit by the middle part of its tail as it swung around to gore him with its tail. Barret took out a large bullet, loaded it into his arm and fired it. The robot screeched again, the parts of its tail falling into the glowing pool below. I climbed back over the railing and drew the wires from my gloves and swung them at the robot, slicing it into pieces. I watched its parts fall to the ground, then walked past it.
"C'mon, we need to get out of here unless we want to be barbacued," I shouted, running towards the ladder. Cloud and Barret ran after me as I reached the pipe and began moving as fast as I could without falling over. "How much time do we have left?" Cloud asked. "Ten minutes," Barret said, reloading his arm with a new clip of ammunition. I reached the ladder and began climbing it as fast as I could. The alarm was still going off, its screeching making my ears ring. I ran up the ramp after reaching the top of the ladder, then noticed Jessie fumbling with something on the girder. Her foot had gotten caught. I walked to her and bent down, pulling out a wire to my glove and slicing the metal around her foot. She slid it out and got up, starting to run off as she said, "Thanks, Zack." I noticed a Potion and picked it up, running after the others as they were all ahead of me. We climbed the ladder and ran out to the room with the large device. We stopped as guards and guard dogs were standing in front of the stairs.
"Stop right there!" said a soldier nervously, his hands shaking as he pointed his rifle at us. I laughed a bit and ran forward, pouncing him. I landed with my feet on his chest, then hopped off and threw one of the guard dogs as they lunged at me. I felt something hit me in the back, making a sharp pain as I fell over. The soldier that had hit me stepped on my injured forearm. I winced, then moved over and bit his leg hard. "AGH! FREAKIN' CANNIBAL!" He shouted, pointing his rifle at me, only to have it knocked out of his hands by Jessie, who then punched him square in the junk. He fell over and Jessie pistol whipped him with his rifle, then was pounced by the second guard dog. It tried to bite her, but she used the rifle to block its mouth and tried to keep it off. There was a series of bangs as bullets flew into the dog's body, making it fall over. I looked at Barret, who just smirked and ran up the stairs, knocking one of the guards over the railing with his gun-arm. We ran up the stairs, then into the elevator, where three soldiers were standing. I grabbed two of them and threw them out, kicking the third one in the cojones before throwing them. I dragged the third one out and closed the door to the elevator just as everyone went inside and the soldiers got up.
We ran out the elevator as soon as it reached our floor. Biggs ran forward and opened the door, and then Jessie. We started to slow down, nearly outside, and I ripped the guards on the catwalk new assholes with my weapon. The others and I began to run again as Barret shouted, "Hurry!" We turned to where Wedge was waving to us and ran through the doorway, Jessie tripping and Cloud helping her up just as they got out. Five minutes later, we blew open the exit and ran out, Wedge setting his ass on fire in the process. "Alright! Meet back at the train!" shouted Barret and ran off. I walked after everyone else, hoping we were safe for a while. I noticed Cloud running and ran after him to a small bridge over the train tracks. We heard the cock of a gun and turned around, seeing three soldiers. We back away, then two more appeared. Another three came, then one, then three, then four. We backed towards the edge of the bridge and noticed the train going by, then jumped onto it.
We knocked on the door of a car to get in, but noone opened it, so we pulled it open and jumped in. Everyone was surprised. "Hey!" said Wedge cheerfully. Biggs grinned, "Having fun startling us?" Jessie looked at us, "Hey, Cloud. Zack." Barret gave us this huge speech about some stupid crap. I just tuned him out. We got to one of the passenger cars and relaxed until we were at the bar.
Amber ran forward and hugged me, "Hey! You're okay!" Ian snickered, "Of course he's okay, he has to get married to his new girlfriend!" A gloved hand came down and struck him in the back of the head, "QUIT SAYING THAT!" It was Tifa. I laughed, "Try dealing with him for a long time in your life." She smiled and looked behind me, "Where's Cloud?" I shrugged, then heard a voice behind me, "Right here." Tifa smiled and walked over to Cloud, "How'd it go?" He shrugged like it was a normal day for him, "Went fine." Tifa nodded, "Oh.... Hey, is that flower for me?" I noticed Cloud was carrying a flower with him, raising a brow, "A flower? Here? In Midgard?" He shrugged and handed it to Tifa, grinning a bit. "Thanks. It smells nice," she said, putting it in a vase on the counter. "Okay! Who's hungry?" she shouted, smiling.
Everyone was messing around while we ate, and I went to bed early. "Why areyou going to bed so early?" asked Tifa. "I always do this at home. Its sort of a hobby," I said, shrugging and walking off. "Oh.... Alright, see you tomorrow then," she said, walking back into the bar. I walked into my room at the inn and went to sleep on the bed, trying to get well deserved sleep. I fell asleep, feeling like a jerk for the way I treated Tifa....