It's another Norco Fanction!! That is, a fiction by Norco.
I own nothing, except for my computer, the clothes on my person, and my sanity. 
Sometimes not even that...
norco@fantasysquare.com

End of Battle; Start of War - Chapter 6

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: The attack that Barret performs here is the Hammerblow.
*ANOTHER AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is another chapter after this one, it's the 
epilougue.

 Shit!, Barret thought as he dodged another deadly salvo of magic. There was no 
time to step in and help Cloud against Sephiroth. Almost as soon as Acturus, 
Peregrine, Cloud and the fake Sephiroth had started slashing at each other, 
dozens of monsters  began dropping from the ceiling. He'd been hoping to take a 
potshot at the grim figure who was even now, pushing Cloud on the offensive. 
Their swords clashed, again and again, Cloud's blue fire causing sparks with 
Sephiroth's black. Blasting another few creatures (of which there seemed to be 
no shortage), Barret risked a quick look at their newest ally, Acturus. His 
normally straight hair was now flying all over the place, as his quarterstaff 
traded blows with Peregrine's wicked looking Katana blade. They both seem to be 
evenly matched, Barret thought. He hadn't thought that a simple metal staff 
could hold off anything but a swathe of killer ants. The two men circled each 
other, their weapons clashing, adding even more noise to the overall din.

  He turned just in time to see a small group of several deadly creatures  close 
in on Tifa and Red, the two back to back, obviously tired, and needing help. 
Barret caught Tifa's eye, and the fury that rose within him was like nuclear 
fire. He was pissed. How dare these monsters  come out and hurt some of his best 
friends. Propelled by some, unseen, eerie force, Barret rushed towards them, 
screaming something unintelligable as he did so. He slammed hard into three of 
the demons, his gun-arm firing like mad and slicing through them like a hot 
knife through butter. Without waiting to see the results of his handiwork, he 
whipped around, and let loose a deadly salvo of his on. Only a few seconds 
seemed to pass. His mind was now caught in a twisted maelstrom of fury, a storm 
fueled by years of hatred, and anger. He seemed to return to himself, and he saw 
that the others were looking strangely at him. Stranger than they normally did. 
He looked around, looking for the source of their apprehension. He saw it. All 
around him, monsters  were twisted, burning, lifeless hulks of flesh. Some of 
the flesh  had fused to the metal floor; it was impossible to tell where the 
floor began and the creature ended, except for the color. Barrett and the others 
turned to watch the battle unfolding. Mother Jenova was now standing, like a 
supporter a football match. She caught Barret's eye, and glared at him. Gingerly 
stepping around the combatants, she faced the weary members of Cloud's little 
band.

  "So," she ground out, eyeing them each in turn. "You're responsible for the 
destruction of my greatest creation? My Sephiroth? How pitiful"
  "Pitiful or not, Sephiroth was not yours," Vincent growled, a dark menace to 
his voice. "A Jenova Sample was implanted into a human woman. She gave birth."
  "Like I said, my Sephiroth." The gaze hardend. "And now, my brave little 
humans, the time of Judgement has come!" Raising her hands above her, she began 
to cast a spell. A very, very familiar Spell. The sparkling green ball crackled, 
and spat, as if some sort of dragon stuck in a giant green disco ball. 
  "DUCK!!" bellowed Barret, and for once, they didn't argue. Landing hard on his 
side, Barret winced as the bracelet he wore with his materia jammed into his 
side. His Materia!! He realized that he'd equipped one of his favourite summons. 
Concentrating of the globe of scarlet materia attatched to his arm, he let off a 
burst of bullets at the creature. She batted them away like droplets of water. 
This, Barret thought, was going to be tough. 

  Cloud's anger was powerful, when he saw this fake version of Sephiroth. His 
anger had grew, when he had seen the robots making mincemeat out of his friends. 
And now, as Sephiroth loomed over him, preparing to deliver the final blow, 
Cloud's anger and gone beyond anger. He remembered Acturus' advice.
  "When you have need of your powers, return to this moment, and they will save 
you." Time seemed to stretch, slow and almost stop. In the microseconds that 
Sephiroth's sword came down, he relived the battle with the monster, the peace 
that filled him, and the power he controlled. The sword came down, but Cloud was 
ready, bring up the sword to block Sephiroth's own. Cloud's anger began to melt, 
into something much more deadly. It was now a white hot, unstoppable fury. 
Kicking Sephiroth in the shin, he rolled out of the way, Ultima weapon in his 
hand once more. He charged, fueled by the white hot rage. Blow after blow struck 
the ancient Masamune, the weapon barely holding ground against Cloud's powerful 
strikes. With a scream of triumph, Cloud struck the evil facsimille to the floor 
with the flat of the blade. And, just as easy, Cloud drove the Ultima weapon 
into Sephiroth's exposed chest. Again. Sephiroth screamed, as his body began to 
disintergrate around him. With Sephiroth out of the way, Cloud turned towards 
the Jenova woman. Getting ready to step into the fray, he heard a familiar 
growl. He looked to the source, and grinned lopsidedly. Things just went right 
in their favour. 

  With a sudden burst of learthry wings, Bahamut breezed into the room, 
emanating it's usual radiance of self-worth and power. 
  "What would you ask of me, Cloud-in-Strife?" The creature's cat-like voice 
"spoke" in their heads.
  "Bahamut??" Cloud cried out, in equal parts confusion and relief. "We need 
your help!"
  "This I can see," the creature mumbled. Fluttering up to the ceiling, it threw 
back it's head and roared, a blood-curdling, shriek. A beam of iridescant light 
spwed forth from it's mouth, striking the Jenova woman full in the chest, the 
beam sending her flying hard into a bulkhead. There was a distinct "snap", and 
her body became lifeless and limp. 
  "The help has been issued," Bahamut grumbled, and fluttered away, disappearing 
as it did so. The only noise in the room came from the clashing of weapons over 
in the corner. The group turned to watch. After all this time, Acturus' defences 
were starting to wear down. His utter skill with the quaterstaff was about the 
only thing that saved his life. However, Peregrine, slamming his blade hard into 
the staff. was pushing him back. Out of the corner of his eye, Barret saw Cloud 
make a tiny gesture. He paid it no mind, Cloud was weird like that. Probably 
just twitching. Suddenly, their attention was drawn to the battle again, as with 
a grunt, Acturus was knocked to the Floor. Standing over the fallen young man, 
he grinned a dark and evil grin. He raised the blade, struck, and missed. 
Acturus was no longer there! He'd disappeared. Barret only had about half a 
second to register this, before he too, disappeared, along with everyone else. 
Suddenly, they were outside the ship, encased in a bubble of .. something.
 
  "Wha?" Yuffie stammered, almost falling over, and valiantly trying not to be 
sick.
  "Watch," Cloud said, smiling thinly. He pointed to the nearby sun, and, as 
they did so, a small, dark shape floated over it. From this distance, it looked 
like a dragon fly. But this was not an ordinary dragonfly; for it had six 
wings!. 

  "Cloud-in-Strife, we meet again," Bahamut Zero spoke his voice "sounding" like 
an middle aged man. "I can never remember a time that I have been summoned to 
feast upon the local quisine of your world. Perhaps it would be too much to hope 
that you have called upon me to rectify this oversight?" Unlike Bahamut, Bahamut 
Zero was more mature, but liked nothing better than to feast upon humans. The 
creature gave a dragon-ish grin, exposing leathal, knife sized teeth. Cloud gave 
a half-hearted, sickly grin in return. The creature's chuckle boomed in their 
heads, and rotated to face the Jenova ship. 

  As with his younger friend, Bahamut Zero threw back his massive, dragon style 
head, loosing a firey, pulsing beam of power that slammed into the head of the 
ship, where the group had just been a few moments before. The front blew apart, 
and Cloud thought that he could see a small body flying out, which changed 
direction, and sped off. With the bridge area of the ship destroyed, the engines 
ceased to function, their bright blue glow glowing no more. Gracefully, Bahamut 
Zero moved behind the ungainly looking spaceship, and pushed hard against it. It 
started to move towards the sun, and a few minutes later, a bright flash marked 
the ships detonation. And, for the second time in as many minutes, they all 
disappeared again. 

  "Where will you go now," Cloud asked Acturus, the wind ruffling his hair. It 
need a little more mousse, he thought sourly. Shinra's air force believed it was 
an alien invasion. Cloud laughed as they tried to get out of the way of the 
Dragon Kings' massive tail, as it swished at them in mid air. They'd evaded the 
air force, and were now standing near Junon, with Bahamut Zero perched nearby. 
  "Hmmmmmm," Acturus murmured. "I'm not exactly sure. I do know, that I will 
find him, and kill him. Eventually, and with the help of my good friend here. He 
looked up to see the massive dragon figure of Bahamut Zero circling above.
  "Barret," Cloud said, not taking his eyes off Acturus. "Would you mind giving 
our friend here the materia he needs?" With a complex string of guttural 
comments that only he could understand, Barret handed over the materia to him. 
Acturus fumbled with it, inserting it into his own armor. Cloud always loved 
watching people attach materia. The sight of the materia being sucked into the 
metal was so .. strange. And this time, it was no exception. Stifiling a grin, 
Cloud watched Bahamut Zero swoop down and pick their newest ally and friend up. 
Together, they flew, towards a distant planet, to settle the score with an evil 
presence.

  The troop, exhausted by their adventures, head over to Junon, where they'd 
left the Highwind. Little did they know that the adventures were just begining.

END OF CHAPTER 6