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[Mercen-X]

Chapter 2
Episode 1

Three weeks later . . .

"Couldn't find them?" Tifa's voice has consolement carefully placed within.
Kasic and the others have just returned and look fairly disappointed.
"Nothing else of interest but the constant increase in the undead…" Roger says.
Kasic has that look of sadness on his face again. No one knows what to do for him.
No one even flinches when the phone begins to ring. Though hesitant, Tifa answers.
"Kasic..!" She shouts.
Still upset, Kasic glances at her, curious.
"It's Yuffie. She's found your sister. She's found Hariet."

By Tifa's request, Cid arrives outside of Edge in the Shera.
"So Vincent's headed back to that hellhole crater? What the hell is he thinkin'?" Cid chuffs.
"If he's with my sister, they're looking for a hero." Kasic says.
"A hero..? What the hell kind of hero'd be hangin' out in that damned crater?"
"Sephiroth was the hero of the Ten-Year War." Tifa says.
"Ahh, hell no..! Don't you even call that demented asshole a hero..! I saw enough of that creep. I don't aim to put up with him again."
"It's our only hope. There's a force out there controlling the undead and only the hero has the power to stop it." Kasic mentions.
"Kasic..?"
"Stories are told in my home of Gongaga. Mostly legends, but recently they've been about ShinRa and science and evil experiments. Something far more powerful than any one man or one of anything else is behind all this. Armies never follow one man. Armies follow the few men who have devoted themselves to a cause. It may be their own. It may be another's. Either way, something too strong for any normal man to fight . . . that's what we're up against."

As the Shera lands within the devastated crater, Kasic can already see his sister waving to him from the ground. The Shera is set next to another airship; this one, seemingly not running on Mako.
"Whoo..! That's a fine-looking bird!" Cid shouts.
"It's the Shalua." Shelke says, appearing out of nowhere.
"What in the hell..!? Don't do that!"
Shelke stares up at the Shalua. "I named it in honor of my sister."
"That thing doesn't run on Mako." Cid guesses.
Shelke shakes her head. "Not technically. But there is a large crew aboard and all life on this planet carries in it the power of the Lifestream, the power of Mako. My crew is composed of former DGS and we have developed a way to use the Mako energy which has been enhanced in our bodies to power that ship."
"Way too complicated for me. Just don't overdo it. You die if all that energy is drained out of you."
Shelke nods.
Kasic approaches Hariet and hugs her. She pulls away from him.
"Kasic, the crater isn't what it used to be. We have to find a way into the deepest part, near the Lifestream."
"Why would we want to do that?"
"This crater is the only place we can use to get to the Lifestream without suffering Mako poisoning. We have to go into the Lifestream to find the hero."
"You're not talking about Sephiroth, are you?" Cid stomps in.
"No. Sephiroth's strength is not a part of the Lifestream."
"Then who d---?"
"Kasic, we have to go."

[Mercen-X]

Episode 2

"The hero has become a part of the Lifestream." Hariet says plainly.
"But who is it?" Kasic asks.
Hariet shakes her head. "I don't know." She points down into the cavernous hollow. "There. We'll find the hero there."

The group traverses the vast tunnels and pathways, leaving Cid and Shelke to tend the airships. They are separated as they continue down. Hariet continues on with Vincent and Raine as they fight through some tough beasts and an endless number of zombies. Vincent can tell that Yuffie is stalking behind them, picking off stragglers.
They reach a small chasm where they are forced to leap a ten-foot gap to another passageway. Vincent carries Hariet across as she cannot make the jump herself.
Kasic's trip is less eventful: a straight shot with almost no monsters or zombies. He can't help but feel a little disappointed and a little afraid that his sister isn't having as much luck.
Roger, Tifa, and Shale do their best to wrangle Kasic as he tends to lag behind with his usual sense of unease. It's assumed they can't rightly afford him being injured or incapacitated by a rogue skeleton. For all they know, they really need him.
Although they've reached the final corridor without interruption, the difficulty is about to be amplified. Kasic and the others can feel the caveway beginning to rumble and soon the rumble becomes a consistent shake followed by the loud reverb of an oversized footstep.
When they see the creature, they are captivated by its shear mass and height. It doesn't seem possible that it can even fit in these cramped corridors. The twin-torsoed beast stalks forward bearing most of its weight on its two massive arms. It's like a giant, deformed, green gorilla without hair.
"What is that thing!?" Roger shrieks.
"Real macho, Roger..." Shale slags him. "Looks like we'd need a tank or something to take that thing down…"
"Hey." Roger looks at it again. "It kinda reminds me of that giant red thing we fought in the desert."
Tifa looks at him. "You fought something like this in the desert?"
"I guess, Yuffie didn't mention it while we were gone?"
"No she didn't. Damn. It took all of my friends to fight off Bahamut Sin."
"Didn't you also fight off Diamond WEAPON?"
"We couldn't defeat it. It was taken out by ShinRa's Sister Ray mounted atop Midgar."
"Ultima..?"
"We had help from the Highwind; Cid's airship."
"Well," Shale steps up and takes aim with her machine gun, "we're not turning back without a fight."

Hariet's group hears the bullet-fire and Raine can tell something horrible is looming over Shale.
"Sounds like they need our help..."

[Mercen-X]

Episode 3

As Hariet and the others arrive behind the massive creature overshadowing Kasic's group, they can see they are having a hard time.
Without hesitation, Raine and Yuffie leap in to attack. As Vincent observes Raine, he recalls a conversation he had with Shelke aboard the Shalua.

"You saw it too, didn't you; the one you love?" Shelke asks. "I was surprised at the resemblance." She looks away from the navigation screen. "You didn't react. I didn't expect that you would. You are Vincent, after all. But I..." She looks at Vincent who is clearly distracted. "What's wrong?"
Vincent hesitates. "Lucrecia... is missing."
Shelke stares at him in confusion.
"She's vanished from the cave. The crystal in which she was encased has shattered." Shelke stares in disbelief.

As the creature's monstrous arm comes in to smash Raine, Chaos appears with his right hand braced against the oversized fist.
Having deflected the attack with ease, Vincent fires off a few rounds from Cerberus. The titan backpedals and tries to attack again.
Though grounded, Shale still has rounds to spend from her machine gun and squeezes the trigger with every last ounce of her strength. Raine and Vincent continue to unload hurt into the mammoth as the others struggle to their feet. Kasic tries to leap in again but is stopped by Tifa.
"Tifa. Get everyone out of here. We can't defeat this thing. Not like this." Vincent warns.
Tifa and Roger gather up Shale and she stops firing. Yuffie prods Kasic like stubborn cattle as they both watch Raine and Vincent trying to reach Hariet trapped on the other side.
Finally, Kasic shoves Yuffie aside and rushes to his sister, narrowly avoiding the beast's falling fists. He leaps and grabs Hariet and they tumble back into the deepest of the crater.
"Kasic..! Hariet..!" Raine shouts.
Vincent grabs her by the shoulder. As the two continue to fire, they back away from the beast as it tries to follow.

Kasic and Hariet find themselves trapped within the final steps. The exits have been blocked by rubble due to the rumbling of that goliath. Behind them is a varitable stairway leading into the core of the Lifestream.
Hariet takes Kasic's hand, standing slightly behind him. Though she knows what they must do next, she is still nervous.
Realizing they haven't any choice left, Kasic marches down the stairway, his sister in hand, and prepares to face the mysteries that wait.

[Mercen-X]

Episode 4

Kasic and Hariet continue down into the liquid materia that surrounds the core of the planet. It's cool like water but still overwhelming. The two allow themselves to be immersed in the glowing Lifestream. Within seconds, they lose consciousness.

"Hariet!"
The shout warrents not even an echo.
"Hariet!"
Standing in darkness, Kasic searches desperately for his sister.
"Kasic!" Hariet shouts. She searches also, unaware that she stands within inches of her brother.
They cannot see each other in the darkness. They cannot hear each others cries. There are only their bodies and their voices in the silence.
But soon enough, they cannot even see or hear themselves. They vanish.
Kasic opens his eyes to see a crescent moon hovering low over his home village of Gongaga. But he is in a time he does not recognize. He sees faces he does not know, save for one. It is the face of Zack, the hero from Gongaga and he seems to be just preparing for his move to ShinRa to become a SOLDIER.
Meanwhile, Hariet hears the sounds of a bustling city. People scurrying from place to place, noisy cars, rude pedestrians that shout and shove and otherwise run amok . . . and among this sorry scene, Hariet spies a beautiful flower. It's not a literal flower but the sight is still beautiful. The person Hariet sees is her own hero, the flower girl Aerith from Midgar. They're in Midgar and Aerith is making her rounds, trying to sell the beauty of flowers to those who need it.
Suddenly, a blonde-haired SOLDIER knocks her over. He seems to be in a hurry, but stops long enough to apologize and buy a flower. Looking closer, Hariet can see that this SOLDIER is Cloud Strife from AVALANCHE.

"I think it's a WEAPON. Although it is pretty small to fit into that crevasse. We're gonna need some serious firepower to take it out." Raine says.
"Wasn't Vincent able to destroy Omega on his own?" Roger asks.
"Not quite." Vincent says. "I played my part."
"Modest as always. I think you're worse than Cloud." Tifa remarks.
"Speaking of our knuckle-headed loner, ol' Spiky's on his way now." Cid interjects. "Sounded a bit messed up. Maybe the fact to get to ya I ditched ol' Rocket Town before he arrived pissed him off."
"Are the others on their way too?" Tifa asks.
"No. Barret can't get away from the oil fields, Reeve's got some legal thing with ShinRa, even little Red is busy at Cosmo fending off more them zombies."

"I get it. This is how I see it. The stories I was told about Zack." Kasic looks around. He watches as Zack packs his bags, says goodbye to his parents and the townfolk, and heads out of town.
Suddenly, he's not watching the same scene anymore. Instead he sees the only events Cloud Strife could recall well enough to tell the village.
Zack, Cloud, and the white-haired SOLDIER Sephiroth were standing outside of the town of Nibelheim. Cloud, dressed as an MP, could only watch as Zack and Sephiroth downed a huge dragon with only two strokes.

[Mercen-X]

Episode 5

Cloud buys a flower from Aerith. Hariet watches as Cloud runs off and is surprised to continue observing as Aerith heads home.
Meanwhile, Kasic continues to observe as Cloud defies the death-dealing Sephiroth. The more he watches, the more certain he becomes in the thought that Cloud must be the hero they seek. However, the images begin to change. Cloud is no longer the focus of these memories.
Kasic soon finds himself in a time that is beyond Cloud's own recollections; a time when Zack had to face the darkness and stop the evil man-like menace. In this, there are no images Cloud could possibly relay. No stories he could possibly tell can be found here. These events are not Cloud's memories. Furthermore, it's not Kasic's imagination either. These are...

Aerith's memories. Hariet realizes as she watches Aerith praying in the church. Accompanying this realization is a stark shift in time... to the past... where Aerith and Zack come together to this church.
But if they are Zack's memories... Kasic thinks, Why..? Why am I seeing this?
Zack's story continues to unfold and soon the light comes.

"Something's wrong." Tifa says. "Cloud should be here by now."
"It's only been about twenty minutes. Give the guy a break." Cid suggests.
"He's not exactly a normal guy."
"Well, he's not as fast as I am, but I think you're right." Yuffie says. "Maybe he ran into some zombie trouble."
"Maybe he ran into a WEAPON." Roger thinks out loud.
Everyone looks at him oddly.
"What? It's not like they're all gone. You said it yourself, Tifa, you think that thing down there is a WEAPON, right? So maybe there are more of them out there."
"It makes sense." Shale says. "WEAPONS are made to defend the planet from crisis. If the planet thinks it can stop this zombie invasion on its own, it'll be using WEAPONs."
"I hope you're wrong." Tifa says.

"Zack..." Kasic says aloud when he gets a little too close.
To his surprise, Zack turns to him with a curious look.
"Who are you?"
"What?"
"Who are you, kid? What's your name?"
"K-K-Kas..." He straigtens up. "Kasic Brunishka!"
"Brunishka? What kind of name is that?"
"I'm not sure, sir. My twin and I are the only ones who have that name, sir."
"Are you in the military, kid?"
"No, sir."
"Then stop calling me 'sir', it's irritating."
"Yes, sir, I-I mean Z-Zack."
"What's with you, kid?"
"Um... well, I'm from Gongaga. Your hometown. You're... my hero."

"Your hero..?" Aerith asks as she stares into Hariet.
"Yes, Miss Aerith. I love you for all the great things you've done for our planet. But I hate the fact that you died."
Aerith smiles. "You should... try to avoid hate. It only makes things ugly and painful."
Hariet nods.
"Why are you here, Hariet?"
"I'm... my brother and I are looking for... a hero."
"...To save the planet from its crisis?"
Hariet nods again.

"...You have to be."
"Why do you say that?"
"You're the only one... Mako... never affected you."
"Are you sure about that?"
Kasic looks at him.
"Well, even if I am this 'Hero' you're looking for... sorry, kid... but there's not much I can do without my sword."
"Your sword is a monument to your heroism. It stands outside the city of Edge."
Zack stares off for a moment. "I'll go with you."
"What?"
"All you have to do is leave, Kaz. Then... you can rely on me."

[Mercen-X]

Episode 6

"I... can rely on you?" Hariet asks staring at Zack.
Aerith approaches her. "It's time to go, Hariet. Don't worry. We'll be with you."
As those words echo in Hariet's heart, the light of this world begins to fade and in the darkness, she and Kasic are reunited shortly before the green glow of the Lifestream returns to their view in the waking world.
With a hard splash out of the Mako river riding the border between the world's crust and its fiery core, Kasic grabs hold of the rocky step which had led he and his sister into the Lifestream and the dream-like visions that followed. With one arm wrapped around his sister, he struggles with his free hand, desperate to escape the swirling liquid.

"I'm heading out." Vincent walks toward Shelke's ship, the Shalua.
"Concerned?" Shelke asks.
Vincent glances at her but continues moving.
"What about the kids?" Cid asks.
"Cloud should be here soon, right?" Roger asks.
The group is silent for a moment, lost in thought.
"Roger, Shale..." Raine calls attention to her. "Go with Cid. Take Yuffie and Tifa and find Cloud."
"But, sir---!" Shale starts.
"I don't need to beat the WEAPON. I just need to get its attention. Maybe then I could get to the kids." She stares at them for a moment and speaks again when they hesitate. "GO!"
"Raine, are you sure about this?" Tifa asks.
"Go." Raine says and turns toward the chasm, running toward the corridor where waits the massive green WEAPON.

Breathing heavily, Kasic and Hariet have dragged themselves up the steps to the outer room of the crater's core.
"How are we supposed to get out of here, Kasic?" Hariet asks nervously.
You can rely on me. Zack's voice echoes in Kasic's heart.
"You can rely... on ME!" He shouts as he leaps through the air while whipping out his bamboo sword. Surprisingly enough, the bamboo sword does not suffer any damage when it is slammed into the pile of rocks blocking the entrance. Beyond that, there are no words to describe Hariet's awe as the sword manages to crush the obstructions with ease.
Outside, Kasic expects to find the green beast which had attacked them earlier, but is surprised to find Raine holding her own against the creature.
When she finally notices them, Raine shouts. "Kasic! Hariet! Get out of here!"
While she is distracted, the beast takes its chance to slam her into a wall.
"NOOOO!" Kasic explodes. He leaps into the air and slams his Kendo Sword into the creature's head, knocking it into the opposite wall.
"Hariet! Let's go!" Kasic shouts, scooping up Raine and dragging her away with his sister close behind.

[Mercen-X]

Chapter 3
Episode 1

Aboard the Shera, Kasic and Hariet watch as the massive green beast gallops out of the crater and tries to catch them with an incredible leap. The Shera, however, is too fast for it and it halts its pursuit.

The group returns to Edge, still curious as to what has become of Cloud.
You can rely on me. Zack's voice echoes in Kasic's head as he and the others try to relax back at Tifa's bar.
"I can't get so much as a buzz from the others either." Cid says. "Lil Red and Baldy aren't responding and it's ticking me off."
"We should get them then." Kasic says.
The group turns to him.
He stands determined. "Let's save Cosmo Canyon!"
"Yeah. Once we get Barret and Nanaki's hands free, they'll be able to help us find Cloud." Yuffie suggests.

The Shera lands outside of the Canyon that Red XIII calls home. There are walking dead and skeletons piling into the canyon relentlessly. Everyone does what they can to plow through the hordes and enter the canyon. Unfortunately, most of them have to remain in order to safeguard the few that can squeeze through.
"The kids and I can handle the trip." Raine says, hoping to assure Tifa and the others.
Thus Kasic, Hariet, and Raine make their way into the dark depths of Cosmo Canyon as the village itself has been evacuated.
Deep within the dark caves, the group runs into a large poltergeist. They aren't able to defeat it with normal attacks but when Hariet casts a holy spell upon it, the poltergeist explodes and disappears.
"Damn undead... things!" Kasic blurts.
"Let's keep moving." Raine commands.
At the end of the cavern, the small group finds Barret and Nanaki battling back still more undead. Very few of the villagers remain and fewer still uninjured.
"Who the hell are you?" The loud and rude interrogation from Barret, who has pulled away for the moment, urks Kasic so that he trembles as he tries to control his childish instincts and avoid leaping at the one-armed man.
"I'm Captain Raine Rivers." Raine says, rushing into the battle. "I'm a mercenary sent to retrieve you and fight back... this." She gestures to the chaos around her. "Those are the Brunishka twins."
"Why are a coupla kids here?"
"Saving your lives!" Kasic says as he leaps into the action.
Kasic and the others help as best they can, but it's only by the help of a stranger that they are able to drive away the hordes. A necromancer has cast a spell on the inanimate remains of Nanaki's father, Seto.
"Who are you? What have you done to my father?" Nanaki asks.
"My name is Darke. The spell I cast to reanimate the dead will remain in effect until the source of the undead legion has been exed." Though Darke is aware of the group's suspicions, he does not offer any explanation for his sudden appearance or for his motives. "Know this: that no one necromancer could ever amass such a vast army of the undead, not even this one just large enough to plague Cosmo Canyon. Therefore, there must be a sect at work."

"Then Kasic was right." Tifa says when the group returns to the Shera. "We're not up against one monster. We're fighting to stop a group from tearing the planet apart with the undead."

[Mercen-X]

Episode 2

The reunited group begins their search for Cloud. Raine sends Roger with Yuffie, Barret, and Red XIII as they scour the Gold Saucer continent. Shale stays aboard with Tifa and Cid as they get the condor's view. Raine sticks with Kasic and Hariet as they explore the Midgar continent. The necromancer and his new minion disappear; apparently, they intend to search the planet's depths.

"Did anyone ever stop to think that Cloud might have ended up near Bone Village?" Roger asks.
"Don't worry about it. Tifa will look there too, don't doubt." Barret says.
Nanaki swears that no one saw Cloud pass Cosmo Canyon which he would have needed to do in order to reach Rocket Town by land. So the group starts at Costa Del Sol where a few of the patrons have returned as the zombie hordes seem to have dissipated. They learn that a spiky-haired man on a motorcycle peeled out of the harbor not too long ago.
The group visits Corel where the locals claim they saw Cloud entering the lift to Gold Saucer.
They find and talk to Deo, the progenitor of the establishment. "I don't remember seeing anyone by that description."
"By that description. You son of a...! This isn't the first time we've been here. You had us all locked up!" Barret yells.
Deo thinks about it. "Well... maybe he got locked up again."
"For what?"
"Who knows? Hmm. Look, I'll allow you to explore the desert prison to find this friend of yours. I'll give you fifteen minutes. It's not a large prison so that'll be plenty of time. Whether you've found him or not within that time makes no difference. You'll have to leave or you can stay down there permanently."
Down below, the group finds nothing and are running out of time when a prisoner claims he saw Cloud. "A guy with spiky hair, right? Yeah. I saw him." He points out of the prison. "He was heading out into the desert."
The group looks out into the vast desert and are just about to tell the man that he's crazy, when they find him missing.
Doubting that Cloud would actually travel into the desert, much less stay there, the group moves on to Gongaga.
The locals there claim to have not seen or heard anyone pass through the region.
"Obviously, Cloud disappeared before he reached this area." Roger says.
"I'm just wondering why he went to the Gold Saucer." Yuffie states.
"It does seem curious." Red says. "It was unnecessary to stop at that establishment. Could Cloud have really disappeared into the desert."
"We never found his bike either." Roger reminds them.
"Let's get movin'." Barret says.