Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 2: Aftermath

THIRTY-FOUR

The journey across the rocky badlands outside Midgar was, for the most part, uneventful. As the day slowly wore on, the rain I had clearly smelled for some time finally began to fall. One of the modifications to the truck, aside from the new paint job, had been a convertible top for the back. Once Barret and I, from our place there in the truck bed, had seen the gray clouds thickening high above us, he'd had Cloud stop for a moment so he could get the top in place.

The girls had taken the opportunity to step outside and stretch for a few minutes until Cloud and Barret had finished their work. It hadn't taken long, and we'd soon gotten underway again. We had only ridden a few miles before the rain had started coming down. It didn't look like this region ever saw much of it—the place was nothing but a sprawling maze of rocky hills, canyons, and ravines, and the vegetation was either sparse or nonexistent. Not that we could see much, however. There was only a single window in the convertible top.

Barret's snoring as he took a nap was the only other sound besides the tapping of the rain upon the roof and the humming of the engine. I lay curled up in one corner amidst the piles of camping gear and other supplies we'd picked up in the slums and did my best not to indulge the strong temptation to flick Barret with my tail's flaming tip to get him to roll over so he'd quit that infernal noise.

A few hours later, the rain finally stopped as we rounded the curve of Midgar and finally began heading northeast. Our path was anything but direct, however, with the way all the canyons and ravines ran in the badlands. And the road, which was little more than a flattened strip of rock winding through the region, often bent and turned aside one way or the other before finally coming back to its original direction. Suffice it to say, it was a long and dreary trip.

We had just stopped for a break about halfway there when a pair of large machines like sweepers trundled into view from behind a nearby ridge. These were bigger, with dual guns on their arms that appeared to be able fire several different kinds of projectiles. As we soon found out, they were all extremely dangerous.

The first was a high-powered stream of bullets that churned up the dirt and filled the air with puffs of dust as we took what cover we could before launching our own assault. Cloud and Tifa fought against one of the machines while Aerith, Barret, and I handled the other. They were strong but not fast, and so it wasn't all that hard to outmaneuver them. However, they did have another tactic that prolonged the battle. One of the customized sweepers suddenly shot a pair of heavy smoke canisters at Aerith that sent her stumbling backward.

Seeing the danger, Cloud quickly unleashed a flurry of slashes that cut first one mech and then the other while I hit the one who'd fired at Aerith with a blast of magical lightning and Barret poured bullets into it. The machine crumpled and exploded, but that still left its partner. I turned to face it just as its third attack sailed toward us. It was a hail of magical projectiles, almost like missiles, and they all struck unerringly despite our best efforts to avoid them.

I winced in pain but stayed on my feet, as did the others. Curiously enough, as soon as I was hit, there was a sudden, bright flash of yellow light from the materia in my mythril clip. It was the one I'd obtained in Hojo's lab from one of his aides. I felt a rush of power, as if a part of the orb had just awakened, and realized that not only did I understand the nature of the magic I'd just been struck by, I could actually use it myself now, just as the aide had explained to us.

"Matra Magic..." I murmured.

While the others quickly picked themselves up, I focused upon the Enemy Skill materia and called forth the Matra Magic. Just as it had to us, a flurry of magical projectiles suddenly burst forth, but they hit the mech this time, blowing it apart in an explosion of fire and steel. Bits of scorched metal flew in all directions.