Chapter 11: Evil has made itself known

"Cloud, please wake up. Please." Tifa sobbed. It had been three days since they attacked the asteroid. AVALANCHE had grabbed Cloud and evacuated, leaving the unknown menace to do as he wished. They were now at Tifas house in Wutai. The rest of AVALANCHE was staying at Yuffie’s house. Reeve didn’t have any idea what was going on, but wasn’t happy with what’s going on.

Cloud stirred and opened his eyes. "…Tifa…?"

"Cloud?! You’re ALIVE!" She knelt down besides the bed he was in and hugged him so hard he could have died.

"W-What happened? Where am I?!"

"Some weird creature hurt you back at the asteroid. We managed to get you out of there and to the sub before the entry tunnels collapsed." She then smiled. "And you’re at my house in Wutai. Everyone else is at Yuffies."

"…Judgement."

"Huh?"

"…call everyone together, including Reeve, I need to talk to everyone."

"Are you sure you want to this right now? I mean, you should rest."

"I’m fine Tifa! This is an emergency!"

** *

"We’re glad you still in one piece Cloud." Red XIII exclaimed.

"I’m not sure I am…" Cloud replied. The others filed into Tifas parlor and sat on her couch, including President Reeve.

"Look… I know I’ve been going nuts lately, and maybe it’s best that you do the mission without me. I’ll only cause further incident."

"Dat be nonsense foo! You waz going nutz on us wit Sephiroth and we didn’t abandon you der!" Barret replied.

"Your part of the team. One for all and all for one." Vincent said.

"Your are leader. Your staying because I had my share of leadership crap and it’s a lot of %^&*ing work." Cid said.

"We need you cloud." Tifa said.

"Cloud, the only way you could hurt the mission is if you do leave." Reeve replied.

"…If you do leave, can I have your materia?" Yuffie quickly received a thwack on the head by Barret.

"…Thanks guys." Cloud smiled. That moogle was right. He needed them and they needed him.

"All right guys! Let me fill you in on what exactly happened three days ago on the night of April 26." Cloud then told AVALANCHE what had happened in the tomb, about the constant voices in his head, the promise of Aeris, about the birth of Judgement and EONs plans. He told them how the Seed drained him of his life energy and what it’s doing to the planet. He spoke to them about his dreams and the moogles. His listeners had eager and confused faces. What exactly is going on?

"And that’s about it." Cloud finished it off.

"We have quite a predicament on our hands. If what Cloud says is indeed correct, EON is absorbing mako from deep within the earth. I guess it needs life energy to evolve." Red said.

"A living mako reactor…" Vincent put his hand up to his chin in thought.

"Judgement is ultimately powerful. I think he’s EONs body guard or something." Cloud said.

"Shit! The damn thing had to land her a couple months before my wedding, didn’t it?!" Cid spat.

"What do you think the dreams mean?" Yuffie asked.

"I don’t know for sure, but the moogle said that this would happen to both of our worlds." Cloud replied.

"Maybe deyz trying to contact us for help." Barret theorized.

"I don’t know, but we have to stop EON before it kills the planet." Cloud said.

"Hold on there. If the planet I in trouble, won’t the WEAPONS come?" Vincent said.

"Yea, I think they can take on this EON guy." Tifa said.

"I’m not sure. In my visions while I was asleep for the three days, EON had destroyed whole planets. It is a traveling death machine." Cloud said.

"So we should…?" Cid asked.

RING! RING! RING! Reeves PHS rang. E pulled it out from his jacket. "Hello?"

{President Reeve! A huge root has just appeared in Jonun. This thing is huge and still moving. It’s destroyed part of downtown Jonun already!}

"Evacuate Jonun at once. Send them on ships to Costa Del Sol. In fact, evacuate Kalm too."

{Yes sir.}

"Reeve, what’s happening?" Tifa asked.

"EON’s sprouts have just become roots. I’m evacuating Jonun and Kalm for safety purposes."

"Kalm?! That’s where Marlene and Emyra are!" Barret stood up.

"It will be o.k. Mister Wallace. They will be safely escorted onto a ship and transported to Costa Del Sol."

Cid spoke up. "All right numbskulls. What we need here is a god damn plan."

"EON is growing at an unbelievable rate! We need someone to help us think up a plan." Cloud sighed.

"Shera!" Tifa shouted.

"What?! Hell NO! My soon-to-be wife is not getting involved with this!" Cid stood up.

"If she doesn’t, we could all die!" Reeve said.

"The Midgar wastelands are growing as well. And we are stumped. This Judgement guy seems too powerful to handle." Red said.

"C’mon! We bested Seph. Why cant we take on some freak with a tall hat?" Barret said.

"…Your right Barret! But we should talk to Shera anyway! It’s not impossible!" Cloud said.

"There’s a ship heading to rocket Town from here in about an hour. I presume that we take it since the Highwind is under repair." Vincent said.

"Right! Everyone meet at the docks in an hour!" Cloud said. The crew got up and left hastily. Something was bothering him about Cid though.

** *