Rufus recovered from his momentary shock at the soldier's announcement. "What kind of troops?" he asked.
"Chocobos," the soldier said.
"You mean troops on chocobos?" Rufus said.
"No. I mean chocobos."
* * *
Pesmerga looked out the window of the inn in the Area 5 slums where the party was staying. "Uh... you'd better come and have a look at this," he said. Rudy ran to the window. A horde of chocobos of all colors and sizes was stampeding down the streets of Midgar, trampling buildings, citizens, vehicles, and anything else that stood in their path.
"Holy @#!" Cid exclaimed. "What are those @#$in' birds doing in the city?"
"Run for it, foo'!" Barret shouted, running out the back door of the inn. The rest of the party ran after him as the chocobos continued their relentless charge down the street. The birds rushed right through the inn, bashing holes through the walls. The entire building collapsed in a pile of smoke and boards.
* * *
"Mobilize the army!" Rufus commanded. "Hurry!"
"I've seen a flood and a supernova
But there's nothing else quite like Jenova
I've traveled the world from end to end
And Jenova World's the Seph-iest place in the land
Jeno-o-ova Wor-r-ld~!" Sephiroth was singing.
"That's the worst song I've ever heard in my life," Rufus said. Then a thought occured to him. "Come with me." The president of Shinra raced out the door to the elevator. Sephiroth followed him.
* * *
"Look out!" Rudy shouted at a citizen of Midgar as the party charged down the street. "Chocobo stampede!"
The Chocobos thundered across Area 5, leaving nothing but rubble in their wake. Cloud summoned the Knights of the Round, but the chocobos trampled right over the knights, crushing them. Rudy fired the Arch Smash at the chocobos. The blast killed several of them, but the tide of rampaging birds was endless.
The chocobos stopped their onslaught momentarily when they discovered a shop carrying chocobo feed and ransacked it mercilessly. After eating every scrap of chocobo feed, they continued their relentless stampede.
The chocobos charged across a car, crushing it, and thundered towards the party. The party continued to run from the chocobos, but the birds were gaining around. As they turned a corner, they suddenly found themselves staring at a high brick wall.
* * *
"Mako energy is a fine, fine, thing
It feels real good and has a certain zing..."
"Knock it off," Rufus muttered to Sephiroth as the two of them ran outside the Shinra building. Rufus climbed into a waiting helicopter. "C'mon," he said. "We're going to go find Aerith."
"We?" Sephiroth asked.
"It's Aerith," Rufus explained. "Don't you want to finish the job?"
"I'm just a ghost," Sephiroth said.
"Now you tell me," Rufus muttered. Suddenly, the president of Shinra was knocked to the ground by a massive explosion that sent the helicopter rolling onto its back. Pieces of rubble cascaded down out of the sky as Rufus crawled underneath the seat in the helicopter and covered his head.
When the immediate showers of rubble were over, Rufus peered out the window. The entire Shinra Building had been destroyed, leaving only a wide swatch of burning desolation. Sephiroth stood unconcerned in the middle of it, being an insubstantial ghost. On the other side of the former building stood two other figures. At first, Rufus thought it was Cloud and Barret, but then he realized that it was actually the evil pair P-Cloud and Garret.
"That was cool," Garret said.
"Yeah," P-Cloud agreed.
Rufus fired at P-Cloud with his shotgun, but the younger version of Cloud ducked behind a pile of rubble. "I thought we were going to look for Aerith," Sephiroth said from behind him.
Rufus looked up. "It's about time," he said. "Let's go." As P-Cloud and Garret wandered off, Rufus pushed the helicopter upright and he and Sephiroth got in.
"I've seen a flood and a supernova..." Seph began.
"STOP SINGING THAT INFERNAL SONG!" Rufus yelled.
The helicopter took off and flew off over the rooftops of Midgar, following the trail of destruction the chocobos left behind.
* * *
"The plan seems to be going well, General Aerith," Bakusa the imp said. He and Aerith were perched on a hill overlooking the besieged city.
"Yes," Aerith agreed. "Now for the final stage." Aerith raised her hand as the army of chocobos passed by below. There was a flash of orange light in the sky. The chocobos suddenly stopped charging and stood still. Then they gradually began to merge into one single chocobo, growing larger and larger until they towered over even the tallest buildings in the city.
* * *
The party stared in mute astonishment as the huge chocobo rose up above the rooftops. "That is one big chocobo," Tifa said.
Cid swore as the chocobo crushed a shop under one massive foot. "Let's try to run under its legs," Emiko suggested. "Maybe it won't see us."
"This is like a bad dream I had once," Jane said.
As the massive chocobo turned its attention towards a circling news helicopter, the party darted underneath its legs and sprinted across the demolished Area 5 slums. The chocobo smashed the helicopter with one twelve-foot wing and turned around. Seeing the lone party scrambling across the rubble, it squawked -- a titanic sound that shattered windows across the city -- and gave chase.
* * *
Rufus and Sephiroth's helicopter darted between two skyscrapers. Both of the helicopter's occupants watched the ground carefully below, looking for Aerith. Rufus was piloting with one hand and the other clamped over Sephiroth's mouth. "Mm trmld thm wrmld frm mmnd tm mnd," Sephiroth mumbled. "Mm Mnvma Wrml's m Smmmst plmc m thm lmnd."
"Hey, isn't that Cloud and those guys down there," Rufus said, pointing with his right hand.
"Jeno-o-ova Wor-r-rld!" Sephiroth finished the verse, then squinted at the group. "Looks like it. The chocobo's after them."
"I don't like them any more than you do, but right now there are more important things to worry about," Rufus said, turning the helicopter and flying towards the outer edge of the city. "We've got to bail them out. Let's go get the Highwind."
* * *
Barret fired his ARM (which in Barret's case really was an Arm) at the Chocobo. The bullet just pinged off the chocobo's torso. Suddenly, the Highwind streaked down out of the sky. Rufus threw a rope ladder down from the deck.
Vincent grabbed the ladder and scrambled up, followed by the rest of the party. Cait Sith hopped off the back of his moogle and scurried up by himself. The moogle climbed up below him with Red XIII hanging onto its back.
On board the Highwind, the party faced Rufus and Sephiroth. "Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed.
"He's a ghost," Rufus explained hastily. "He was going to fix the Underwater Breath Materia if... well, it's a long story?"
"Fix? It was broken?" Barret asked.
"Yuffie Cave," Rufus spat. He looked out at the city. The giant chocobo was stomping through the Wall Market, crushing cars, buildings, and people. Screaming citizens fled in terror as the chocobo punched down skyscrapers. Shinra helicopters circled the chocobo, firing at it, but the chocobo did not even appear to notice.
"I suddenly feel very small and plastic-like," Cait Sith said, hopping back onto his moogle.
"What do we now?" Cecilia asked.
"That chocobo's being controlled by Aerith, right?" Red XIII said. "Seems like we ought to get back the Chocobo Control Materia back from Aerith and stop it."
"Yo!" a voice shouted down from above them. "You're too late, foo'."
The party looked back. Garret and P-Cloud were flying above the Highwind in a stolen Shinra helicopter. "It's those two again," Jack said. "The ones that blew up the submarine!"
"And the Shinra building," Rufus muttered.
"Garret!" Barret hissed.
"General Aerith's already back at the secret Cetra temple," P-Cloud taunted. "There's nothing you can do to stop the chocobo now."
"Sephiroth!" Rufus urged. "You've got to fix the Underwater Breath Materia so we can chase Aerith before the whole city's destroyed."
"Oh, I don't think so," P-Cloud said. He grabbed a rocket launcher from under his seat and started firing at the Highwind. Cid swore as the rocket pummeled the Highwind. Rudy grabbed desperately onto the rail as the airship rocked back and forth. "Have a nice day!" P-Cloud laughed.
The on-deck phone rang. Cid struggled across the violently shaking deck and grabbed it off the hook. "Hello?" he snapped. "No, I'm happy with present long-distance plan, you @#!." Then he hung up.
Without warning, Hanpan flew up from Jack's shoulder and through the window of the helicoper. "Hey, get that rat out of here," P-Cloud said. Garret tried to grab Hanpan, but the wind rat dodged nimbly out of the way and grabbed the controls of the helicopter. He turned it away from the Highwind and flew it directly at the giant chocobo.
"What are you doing?" P-Cloud shouted. "Stop!" Hanpan piloted the helicopter straight towards the chocobo's open mouth.
"NNNOOOOOO!!!!" Garret cried as the chocobo's beak start to close on the helicopter. Hanpan quickly darted out of the vehicle and flew back to the Highwind.
"Done," Sephiroth was saying, holding up the repaired Underwater Breath Materia.
"Good work, Hanpan," Jack said as Hanpan lit on his shoulder.
"That was fun," Hanpan said. "Did you see the looks on those guys' faces?"
"Now let's get to the Cetra temple and see if we can't salvage some small measure of the city," Rufus said.
"But what about Marlene?" Barret asked.
"Shut up about Marlene already!" Cait Sith snapped. "We've got work to do. Let's hurry."
| Next chapter: Magma |