Barret turned on some hard rock, making sure to keep it at a Tifa-safe level, and drove down the street out of Kalm. Once he had cleared the town, he floored the pedal, and his huge truck rocketed across the vast plains, it's three occupants howling with joy.
The three friends talked happily as they sped across the land, admiring the scenery all the while. The plains in the Midgar area were brilliant in the bright April sunshine. No monsters were in sight, and a few miles away, mountains, each capped with a blanket of pure, white snow, stood tall and proud. Behind them, the TV/radio antenna atop the Shinra building was slowly sinking from sight. The cool breeze was fresh, and Tifa's long, dark hair whipped about as she hung her head from the window, breathing in the scent of nature with a smile on her face.
Cloud was not quite as happy, especially on days like this. He loved sunny, warm days just as much as anyone, but they always reminded him of Aeris. In fact, just about everything in nature reminded him of her. The fresh smell of spring rain, the bright summer sun, a light breeze, the colorful trees of autumn, the smooth winter snow, the scent of spring in the air again, and of course, newly blooming flowers.
Of course, as beautiful as all that was, it paled in comparison to Aeris. Her smiling face danced in his head as he too inhaled deeply.
It's like she's part of the Planet now, making it even more beautiful.
Cloud smiled. It suited her to become part of nature.
Cloud cleared his head as Tifa directed Barret's attention to what was ahead of them. Squinting, cloud could see Chocobo Farm appearing on the horizon. At their current speed, at came into clear view within a few minutes, and Barret turned south within a few hundred yards of it.
Not too far ahead were the marshes. Cloud could see the place on the horizon where the bright green of the grass turned a bluish gray color. The marshes were quite dangerous, and Cloud jumped over his seat into the back of the truck. He found his sword, and inserted Bolt, Odin, and Bahamut materia, just in case there were some Zoloms feeling hungry.
Barret shut the windows within three hundred yards from the marshes. The doors were locked tight, and everyone fastened their seat belts. Tifa cracked her knuckles and kneaded her fists. She put on her Premium Heart gloves, and equipped a few materia. Barret had his materia ready, and plenty of Potions and Antidotes were stored in the back of the truck.
Everyone felt the truck hit the thick swamp water. The truck shook and kicked mud up behind it, and Barret struggled to keep it moving straight. The huge wheels tore at the muddy terrain, forcing their way through it. Barret kicked on the four-wheel drive, and they maintained a decent speed as they made their way across the dangerous land.
It was quiet.
"Turn down the radio." Tifa said, doing it herself before Barret could. Zoloms had good ears, and it was probably no secret that their home had been invaded, but still, it was best not to take chances. They had battled many a Zolom before, but not once had they enjoyed it.
Cloud cautiously eyed their surroundings. There was nothing visible above the swamp water, but still, Cloud had a feeling that they were being watched. He looked again, and his eyes came upon a shadow, in the water, about forty yards behind them.
Cloud uttered a few curses under his breath. "Barret, behind us!" he said.
"Wha? Damn!" Barret said as he glanced back. He slammed the pedal to the floor, and the truck jerked forward, jarring everyone in their seats.
The Zolom was moving quite fast, intent on a meal. Zoloms were far from the worst things in the world, but they were very large, and extremely aggressive. Running into one was not high on Cloud's list of priorities. He watched the distance between it and the truck, and found that it was slowly gaining on them.
"Cloud, can you Bolt it from here?" Tifa asked.
Cloud shook his head. "If I do, it'll electrify the water. We'll all get fried."
"Won't the tires protect us?"
"No, we're in up to the metal."
Tifa frowned nervously and turned back around. Cloud never took his eyes off the approaching monster.
A shrill scream brought his attention to the front of the truck. He saw Barret wrench the wheel to one side as a gigantic Zolom broke the surface in front of them. What little traction they had was not enough for evasive maneuvers though. The truck slammed against the 50 foot serpent, slamming Tifa into the dashboard. Barret screamed curses, and the injured Zolom hit the right side of the truck with it's tail. The truck's thick metal plating held up, but the force of the impact sent Cloud into the opposite wall.
"Come on!! We have to move fa-"
Cloud was cut off mid-sentence as the Zolom that had been pursuing them rammed the back of the truck. The impact was shattering, and the truck flipped forwards, crushing the head of the other Zolom into the water, and somehow landing right side up.
Tifa's lip was bleeding from hitting the dashboard, and Barret had a bruise on his forehead. But it didn't slow them down. They sprang from the truck as fast as their shaking legs would go, and confronted their attacker.
The Zolom that had been pinned under Barret's truck wasn't moving, but just to be sure, Barret used his Enemy Skill materia to cast Trine, killing it for sure. The other one shot its enormous head at Cloud, fangs barely missing him. Tifa leapt and pounded her fist into its eye as it passed, and a horrible screech sounded. She bounded out of the way as Cloud's Ultima Weapon tore through the air, spraying the Zolom's purple blood all over himself. The Zolom struck again at Cloud, who parried the blow with one of his own, splitting the creature's head down the center. It collapsed into the water with a large splash.
Gunfire drew Tifa and Cloud's attention to Barret. He was fending off a third Zolom with a barrage of bullets. The serpent had a thick hide, and the bullets barely slowed it down, and Barret dodged just in time as its fanged jaw snapped shut in the place he had just been standing. Tifa and Cloud ran to assist him by pounding the monster's head down, allowing Barret to fire directly into its brain. The dying creature thrashed wildly, sending Cloud sailing through the air, before it went limp. Cloud splashed into the water and vanished about two hundred feet away.
"Cloud!" Tifa screamed. She went to help him, but a sudden Beta spell sent her to the ground, badly injured. Barret threw a grenade at their new attacker, blowing it to pieces. But before he could help Tifa or Cloud, five more Zoloms broke the surface.
$#&*!! Why are there so many of 'em?!
The Zoloms surrounded Barret and Tifa. Barret cast Trine again and fired in as many directions as he could manage, but he was knocked off his feet by a large, slimy tail.
Barret hit the water on his back, and looked up to see a huge head coming straight at him. He rolled out of the way, receiving a cut on his back, but still alive.
Five against one. Shit man, is this how it's gonna end?
Barret's question was answered when the sky suddenly filled with clouds. Rain began to pour down. Barret was confused at first, but suddenly understood. He sank low in the water as a six-legged horse carrying a man easily twelve feet tall swooped out of the sky. An enormous steel blade cut the air with a wave of heat, once, twice, five times.
Five Zoloms split in two and fell dead.
"Thanks." Barret muttered as Odin reared his horse, which flew back into the heavens just as quickly as it had come.
As the rain stopped and the clouds dissipated, Barret looked to see Cloud righting himself in the water. The red glow of his Summon materia slowly faded.
Barret stood and looked around for the fallen Tifa. Seeing her a few feet away from him, barely conscious, he ran over, as did Cloud. Barret scooped her up from the muddy water, and brushed her wet hair from her eyes. She was hurt pretty bad from the Beta spell, but had no cuts, bruises, or burns.
She groaned slightly as Cloud removed the Restore materia from her glove, and cast Cure3. The throbbing in her head faded, and her vision cleared. Within a few seconds, she was feeling better, and Barret set her gently on her feet.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Cloud answered her as he poured a Potion down his throat. "Wow."
Tifa chuckled. "I'll say. Don't you scare me like that again, staying underwater!"
Cloud pointed to his leg. "Didn't have much of a choice. Mama's kids are a little rowdy."
Tifa looked to see a fresh Zolom bite in Cloud's left leg, left by a baby Zolom. Barret handed Cloud an Antidote, as Zolom bites, even baby Zolom bites, were extremely poisonous. Cloud grimaced as he swallowed the liquid. Antidotes certainly tasted like crap, but at least the burning in his leg stopped. An hour or two, and he'd be fine.
Content that Cloud was OK, Tifa inspected Barret's wound. The cut on his back was pretty long and ragged, but not deep. Barret insisted that he could wait until later to be bandaged.
Cloud considered saying something about drying off, since swamp water didn't smell very nice, but hearing something, suddenly whirled around. Barret and Tifa looked in the direction that Cloud was looking, and their eyes bulged.
A gigantic mass of about twenty Zoloms was appearing on the horizon.
Each of them screaming choice phrases, the three scrambled into the truck, which was surprisingly undamaged, and locked the doors. Barret turned the ignition as Tifa screamed for him to hurry.
The Zoloms were about a thousand feet away when the truck sped off to the south. Tifa turned to Cloud, on the edge of panic.
"Are we going to make it?" she asked nervously.
Cloud did not answer. His eyes were shut, and his face creased as he concentrated. Light appeared around him, and he chanted in the words of the Ancients.
Tifa looked out the rear window as the dragon king, Lord Bahamut, attacked the Zoloms. It wouldn't kill them all, but it would buy them time. Cloud was tired from using magic, and since they had no Elixirs on hand, would not do any more summoning for awhile.
Barret drove wildly through the marshes, sweating all the way. They were about halfway through, and the Zoloms were still tailing them. A few popped up here and there in front and alongside of them, and Tifa flung a couple of grenades. Cloud was in the back, rummaging through the luggage for their better materia. He had taken quite a bit of it, but it was unwisely buried in a duffel bag somewhere.
"We have to stock up Elixirs once we reach Junon." he called to Tifa and Barret. If he had an Elixir, he could summon Odin again, but was too drained from the last two summons. They hadn't been in battle for awhile, and even though he trained every day, he was a little out of practice with stronger materia.
Barret's gunfire drew Cloud's attention, and he saw a young Zolom fall a few feet from the truck as they sped by. Cloud had an idea. "Barret! Bahamut slowed them down a bit, and some are injured. Can you hit them from here?"
"Damn straight I can!" Barret proclaimed. Tifa took the wheel as Barret opened the door, a risky, but necessary move, and hung out of the truck. Cloud saw fire blaze past his window as Barret sent a hail of bullets on the Zoloms. Tifa was having some trouble steering the truck, since she wasn't as strong as Barret, but didn't do to bad.
Barret had an incredibly accurate aim. Bullets sprayed in the faces of the serpents, and a few went down, tripping up a few more.
"Yeah!" Barret hollered as he climbed back in and took the wheel.
"They're going under! Look!" Tifa yelled, pointing to their pursuers.
Sure enough, several of the Zoloms sank their ugly heads underwater, where Barret couldn't hit them. They were visible as a mass of shadows in the already dark water. Cloud glued his eyes to them. Sometimes he wondered if the Mako in his eyes aided his vision at all; there wasn't much that escaped his keen eyesight.
"Can we call Leviathan to part the water?" Tifa asked. "Barret hasn't used much magic, he might be able to do it."
"No. I gave the materia to Yuffie." Cloud answered. Tifa groaned and picked up where Cloud left off, looking for more materia.
"We don't need it!" Barret yelled. "We're almost there!"
The truck was not too far from land. Barret could see the enormous wooden stake on which Sephiroth had impaled a Zolom. Its bones were still there, but its flesh was long gone. The last time they had come this way, they had gone through a cave under the mountains, but this time, they were taking a trail that had been built over them. Reeve had ordered it built a few months back, and Cid and Vincent had been there to ward off Zoloms during the construction.
The Zoloms were only about eighty feet from them now, but it didn't matter. The truck shook wildly as it reached solid ground, and their speed increased dramatically. Barret careened towards the trail entrance, and his truck had little trouble climbing onto the rough terrain, where the Zoloms couldn't follow. Whoops of joy sounded as the truck took to the mountains. They should reach the other side in about an hour.
The joy didn't last long though. As their adrenaline cooled down, their aches and pains heated up. They would be sore for a little while, and Barret's interior was soaked in foul smelling swamp water. He could afford to have it reupholstered though.
Panting from excitement, Barret managed a few words. "The hell was that all about? I never seen so many of those bastards!"
"I don't know." Cloud answered. "It's rare to see even three Zoloms in the same general area. I've never heard of twenty attacking together. They're usually pretty solitary."
Tifa ventured a possibility. "It's not every day a truck like this comes through their home."
"But when this trail was being built, they had a few vans going through with stuff they couldn't air-lift. Cid said that they had a few Zoloms show up, but never more than two at a time. He said he and Vincent spent most of the time playing cards."
Tifa shrugged and turned back around. "Maybe we can call Red and ask him. He always seems to know about stuff like this."
Cloud nodded in agreement, and then stretched his aching muscles. The bite in his leg was healing, and he was feeling a little better. Barret turned the radio back on, and the rest of the trip through the mountains was uneventful and serene.
Deep beneath the surface of the Planet, the waters of the Lifestream began to swell…
Author's note:
Had to get some action in there. Hmm...Zolom misbehavior? Suppose it means something? Dunno...
I figure I should point this out - I'm going to use different ways of conveying certain things in the game, like levels for example. Instead of "leveling up", everyone will get better with practice. Since no one has been in any major battles lately, they're all a little out of practice, so they kinda "level down", which is why Cloud couldn't use the materia again. He's out of practice. Also, instead of "MP", the materia will drain the user's physical and mental strength, so when a lot of magic is used, the user becomes too tired to continue, kinda like they have no more MP. Elixers restore their ability to use magic. Also, for the sake of making things a little more "real", Restore materia cures mostly ailments caused by magic, and a limited amount of physical wounds. That's why the concussion Tifa suffered from the Beta spell was cured, but Barret's cuts cannot be. Potions are similar. I think you get the idea.
Next up - a little trip to Junon, a little more foreshadowing! Ooh! Comments?
