Vex smiled and jumped around on the open road. Everyone else was looking on with happiness when they saw him so happy. Red looked around cautiously and Barret and Cloud were walking towards the town of Kalm. Vex was checking everything and getting into the bushes and anything else.

Vex: "Wow!!" (Looks at the birds) "Animals and plants! I was worried that everything in the world was going to be like Midgar." (The birds fly about and land on his head and shoulders. He looks around at them and smiles.) "Wow, neat!"

Red 13: (Runs up to him and the birds fly off) "I'm glad you like nature...did you mean what you said to Rufus about the planet back there?"

Vex: "Of course! I love this land."

Barret: "So you're going to join AVALANCHE?"

Vex: "Okay!" (Nods to him and runs ahead and looks at the town down the hill.) "Hey! That must be Kalm!"

Barret: "We're almost there!"

    Suddenly they were alerted by something. Two men approached them and told them that in order to use the road, they had to pay a special tax. Vex was already suspicious of them and Cloud caught on. They were thieves and a battle was immanent. When they wouldn't fork over their cash, the Prowlers took out their knifes and decided to take the money from them.
    Vex leapt high in the air and came down hard on the first one. He was struck to the ground and grunted from the force. Vex then took him by the ankle and started to swing him around. The other Prowler advanced on Cloud and Barret but they took out their weapons. The prowler stepped back but was suddenly struck from behind. The Prowler suddenly got knocked to the ground by the other prowler when he was flung by Vex. They laid groaning on the ground. Vex went and picked up a large bag of gil that they have been swiping from people.

Vex: (Puts the money in his pocket) "To the victor go the spoils."

Cloud: "You can't take that!"

Vex: "Watch me." (Walks to town and turns back to Barret and Cloud.) "This is the way to town, right? Let's go!" (Runs to the town.)

    They followed Vex to the town and checked it out. It was a cute looking little hamlet with dutch style houses and had a bar underneath the stores that were on an upper level. There was a tiny Mako reactor in the center of town and the Inn was right there in front of them. Vex ran into the inn and let Red 13 in and he said thanks in return. Vex then made the effort to shut the door right in front of Cloud and.

Cloud: "Usually one would hold a door open for people when they wanted in..."

Barret: "Who really gives a damn, it saves only about 2 seconds."

Cloud: (Turns to Barret) "It just isn't polite..."

Barret: "How polite does an eight year old have to be for you?"

Cloud: "I'm just saying is all..." (Opens the door and they walk in. The inn was tiny but well laid out. It was clean, respectable and the Innkeeper was watching them.)

Innkeeper: "Your friends are upstairs in the room."

    Cloud and Barret ran up the stairs and they entered the only room in the whole inn. Aeris, Tifa, Red 13 and Vex were in there already. Aeris got up and walked up to Cloud in a scolding sort of way.

Aeris: "Cloud, you're late!"

Vex: "Yeah! You're late!"

Cloud: (Stares at Vex) "Well, I would have been on time if a certain kid opened the door for me...!"

Vex: "Oh...who?"

Cloud: "You!"

Vex: "Ohhh..." (Nods to him.) "Anyway, could you please tell a long winded story about how you and Sephiroth were friends and became enemies? I need to pick up my laundry in about an hour."

Cloud: "I was wondering why you were wearing nothing but your underpants..."

Vex: "I have to wash my clothes sometime..."

Cloud: "Are you ever going to wash your underpants?"

Vex: "No, this is a new pair. I bought them from the store..."

Cloud: "Too much information...anyway, you wanted a story right?" (Sighs and sits on the bed.) "During the war, Sephiroth and I were assigned to the same unit. But by the time I made first class, the war was over. It was SOLDIER'S duty to put down any resistance against the shinra after it became a mako company. That was five years ago...I was 16." (The flashback begins.)

    The setting at first was a small van carrying some cargo and five men were inside. One was driving the car, and the other four were in the cargo section. Among them was a motion sick guy, Cloud and Sephiroth. It was pouring rain and it could be heard pounding on the truck as they drove to the place of the mission.

Cloud: "It sure is raining hard..." (Walking around and talks to the sick guy.) "How are you doing?"

Sick Soldier: (Sickly motions to him.) "I'm all right..."

Cloud: "I wouldn't know, I never got motion sickness..."

Sephiroth: (Sitting, relaxed on a crate.) "Hey."

Cloud: "Hey Sephiroth..." (Begins enthusiastically jumping around.) "I just got some new materia! Can't wait to use it."

Sephiroth: (Chuckles to himself and nods, mildly amused.) "Just like a kid..."

Cloud: "What's our mission? MISTER Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth: "To investigate a reactor...there were reports of it malfunctioning, producing brutal creatures." (Looks up) "Well...we're supposed to dispose of the creatures and find and neutralize the problem."

Cloud: "Where?"

Sephiroth: "At the mako reactor near Nibelheim..."

Cloud: "Nibelheim?" (Scratches his head.) "That's where I'm from."

Sephiroth: "Hometown..."

Driver: (Suddenly they get mildly hit by something outside the truck, making a crash and jerked the Van.) "Uh, something strange just crashed into the truck."

Sephiroth: (Stands up) "That would be our monster." (Both Cloud and Sephiroth get out of the back of the van.)

    The monster they saw in the rainy darkness was a dragon. The dragon was huge, winged and had horns and fangs. It looked really aggressive and prepared to attack. Cloud and Sephiroth took a defensive stance and Sephiroth lunged at it and chopped at it with his masamune sword. The dragon roared in pain. Cloud attacked too but the Dragon tailed him in the chest and he was knocked to the ground. Cloud slowly got up and watched in amazement as Sephiroth lunged at the dragon again, chopping and slashing coldly at the dragon until it was a bloody corpse. Sephiroth proudly put his sword away and they both returned to the van. The flashback paused for a second.

Cloud: "As you could see, I was mesmerized by the way Sephiroth's strength. His strength is incredible, he's much stronger in reality than any story you've heard about him. We were friends at that time..."

Barret: "You call that a friend?"

Cloud: "Well...he was older than me and hardly ever talked about himself... I guess you could call us "War Buddies." We trusted each other, until one day..."

Aeris: "What do you mean, one day?"

Tifa: (Gets a little sad.) "... ..."

    The flashback resumed at Nibelheim, the storm ended and everyone got out of the van. The town didn't look any different, the tiny reactor in the center was still the same and the dutch style houses were horseshoed around it. At the top of some steps was a large expensive looking victorian called the Shinra Mansion. Beside the mansion was the path to Mount Nibel, where the main reactor of the area was.

Sephiroth: (Walked to the gates of town.) "So, how does it feel?"

Cloud: "What about your hometown...?"

Sephiroth: "I wouldn't know because I don't have a hometown...my mother was Jenova, she died right after she gave birth to me...my...da..d... (Begins sobbing and weeping silently but composes himself after a couple of seconds.) "What does it matter..."

Barret: (Suddenly intervenes) "Wait! Isn't jenova that damn headless spook that was in the shinra tower?"

Cloud: "Yes."

Tifa: "Could we please continue the story?" (Story continued)

Cloud: (Ran to the tiny reactor in the center of town.) "Where is everybody? They're probably scared to come out of their houses because of the monsters...or were they afraid of us?"

Sephiroth: "...The mako smells pretty bad here. (Walks to Cloud and turns to the other soldiers.) "We only need one guard so the rest of you should get some sleep...and you can also visit your family and friends." (Enters the Inn.)

Cloud: (Nods and runs to his own house and walks into it. He walked up to a woman working at the stove and she turns to him. Cloud scratches his head nervously.) "Um..."

Woman: (Walks up to him.) "Can I help you?" (Looks closer.) "...Cloud?"

Cloud: "Yes...mother." (Cloud tells everyone in the flashback that his mom hadn't changed, she was a very energetic woman...but a few days later, she died. At the time, she seemed just fine.)

Mom: "Are you eating okay?"

Cloud: "I'm okay, the company takes care of me."

Mom: (Almost dejected) "Oh, is that so?" (Returns to her stew on the stove.) "I know you can't cook..."

(Suddenly it flashes and Cloud appears on his bed. His mother approached him.)

Mom: "My, how you've grown." (Nods and smiles.) "I'll bet the girls never leave you alone."

Cloud: (Sighs) "Not really..."

Mom: "I don't feel comfortable about you leaving again...there's a lot of temptations in the city. I'd be more comfortable if you settled down with a nice girlfriend."

Cloud: "I don't think so..."

Mom: (Looks up in thought.) "It should be...an older girl, one who will take care of you."

Cloud: (Frowns) "I'm not interested..."

Mom: (Sudden flash) "You know what I think..." (Flash) "I want you to..." (Flash) "Okay, Cloud..." (Flash) "Cloud?" (Flash) "Cloud..." (Flash) "You know, Cloud..." (Flash) "I'll always be your mother..."

Cloud: (From outside the flashback) "Let's stop this..."

    Cloud went back outside to the outside Nibelheim. Cloud walked into the inn and surveyed the nice looking quarters. The floors were hardwood and the kitchen was in the back and the counter guy looked clean and respectable. There was a tough looking guy next to him.

Tough Man: "You know Tifa?"

Cloud: "And who are you."

Zangan: (Jumps over Cloud.) "I'm Zangan, I teach the martial arts to children. I have 128 students all over the world, including Tifa. (Jumps over Cloud back to where he was.) "Tifa has good sense, she'll make a powerful fighter."

Cloud: (Nods and runs upstairs and saw Sephiroth looking out the window.) "What are you looking at, Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth: "This scenery...I feel like I've known this place... Say, are you going to go to sleep?"

Cloud: "Yeah..."

Sephiroth: "Good. We leave for the mako reactor at first light. Get some sleep, I'm not going to wake you."

    They both went to bed and they had a good sleep. They went to the area beside the Shinra Mansion to the beginning of the Nibel Mountain. They were grouping about and there was Tifa's father and a guy who wanted a picture.

Sephiroth: "They've hired a guide to take us to the reactor. I heard she's young though, hope we can rely on her."

Tifa's Dad: "Listen, Sephiroth...I..."

Sephiroth: "Don't worry about it."

Tifa: (Walks up to them and smiles to them all.) "Hey, everyone."

Cloud: (Runs up to Tifa) "Tifa! What are you doing here?"

Tifa: "I'm the guide! It just so happens that I'm the number 1 guide in town."

Cloud: "It's too dangerous! I can't involve you!"

Sephiroth: (Turns to the two) "There's no problem if you protect her. Let's go..." (They start to enter the trail that leads to the mountain but the picture guy calls after them. They stop to hear him.)

Picture Guy: "I was wondering... I want to take a picture of this as a memento of this day!"

Sephiroth: "All right." (Sephiroth, Tifa and Cloud get together and the picture guy takes their picture together. After, he walks away and Cloud and Tifa were still there.)

Picture Guy: "Thank you. I'll give you all a copy once it's developed."

    They all enter the trail and they took a look at the mountain. It was a twisted, jagged looking mountain with lots of paths weathered over the years. The two peaks are connected by a bridge that wasn't looking too good. The cold mountain air smelled the same of the town. Sephiroth and Cloud along with two soldiers and Tifa began the mountainous hike. They took a run along the path to the bridge and Cloud walked onto it. Tifa and Sephiroth as well as the soldiers followed them onto the bridge. Everyone looked back on an unsteady piece creak and it suddenly snapped.
    The bridge lost one of its sides and Cloud grabbed Tifa's hand. Sephiroth was holding on to the other side when the other side also snapped. They fell down off of the bridge which snapped in half by now. They fell down to the ravine below. They came to about 10 minutes later and checked themselves for broken bones.

Sephiroth: "All okay?"

Tifa: "I'm all right...looks like we'll have to take the long way though..."

Cloud: "Where are we?"

Tifa: "On the peak with the Reactor, we'll make it from here and...one person seems to be missing." (They look around to notice one soldier was not with them.)

Sephiroth: "It may seem cruel but we have no time to search for him. Let's go through the mountain." (Walks up the trail leading to the caves and Tifa, Cloud and the other soldier follow him.)

    They walk into a cave with many paths. The walls were covered in mysterious colors and the inside smelled of mako as well. Tifa ran ahead of them and looked around. The boulders, walls, stalactites and stalagmites were colored green, blue, gray and azure.

Cloud: (Looks around) "What is this?"

Tifa: "An oddly colored cave..."

Sephiroth: "It must be mako. This mountain must be especially abundant in it which is probably why the Reactor was built here. What about the caves?"

Tifa: "These caves are intertwined, like an ant farm...we'll find our way through them so let's go."

    They all take the path that lead north and took a look around. The next area was an open area which had some plant roots about and in the middle was a mako fountain. The fountain beamed with bluish green light and there was natural materia there. Tifa ran up to it and viewed it with awe.

Tifa: "Wow...what is this?"

Sephiroth: (Leaned against a stalagmite) "A mako fountain, a miracle of nature..."

Tifa: "It's so beautiful...and if the reactor continues sucking up the mako, this fountain will go dry too..."

Cloud: (Walks up to it and looks it over.) "What's in the center?"

Sephiroth: (Sighed at what he just said.) "You were in soldier and you don't know this?" (Points at the crystal in the center.) "That is materia, naturally made. When mako condenses, it becomes Materia. Seeing materia like this is very rare. It contains the powers and wisdom of the Ancients."

Cloud: "What a mysterious power..." (Suddenly Sephiroth laughs and Tifa nearly falls over in disbelief) "Huh? Did I say something funny?"

Sephiroth: "You should never use unscientific terms for things like this. Don't call it mysterious power, it shouldn't even be called 'Magic.'"

Cloud: "Who told you this?"

Sephiroth: "Professor Hojo, an inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a brilliant scientist. I still remember how angry he was...Hojo is a walking mass of complexes..."

Tifa: "We should get going..."

    They walked away from the mako fountain and walked through the twisted caverns and eventually made it to the mountain summit with the Mako Reactor. The reactor was old but still fully operational and was ever pumping Mako from the earth. They entered the steps and Tifa was stopped by Cloud.

Sephiroth: "Here is the Reactor, Tifa, you'll have to stay here!"

Tifa: "Why?!"

Sephiroth: "Inside are all of Shinra's industrial secrets, you take care of the lady while Cloud and I go inside." (Cloud and Sephiroth went into the building.)

Tifa: (Soldier blocks her and she huffs angrily and turns away from him.) "Humph, better take real good care of me!"

    Cloud and Sephiroth go into the reactor. Since it was older, the reactor didn't have the same design as the ones in Midgar and you had to risk jumping to the ladder to go down to the area. Cloud and Sephiroth jump to the ladder and go to the lower level. They walk across the guard area below and go into the next area. The next area was kind of plaza like with many tanks and the Jenova tank was at the top of the stairs. The tanks were large and there were cables all over the floor.

Sephiroth: (Walks to a broken part.) "Here's the problem, this part is broken. Cloud, you close the valve."

Cloud: (Closes the valve and the part was repaired. Cloud gets up and turns to Sephiroth and asks.) "What was wrong with it?"

Sephiroth: (Walks to a pod and looks in the window and gasps.) "Oh, now I see...Hojo...but doing this will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast." (Turns to Cloud) "Now, what do you get when Mako is condensed?"

Cloud: (Scratches his head and smiles.) "Oh yeah! It becomes materia."

Sephiroth: "Right, when it's working normally. Hojo however put something else in here...take a look through the window." (Moves to the side.)

Cloud: (Looks through the window and sees an ugly humanoid monster with its teeth bared and it's eyes closed. Cloud jumps down and turns to Sephiroth) "What was that?!"

Sephiroth: "A monster..." (Ponders) "I wonder...SOLDIERS are humans who have been showered with Mako." (Turns to Cloud) "You're different however, they've been exposed to a higher degree of mako than you." (Blinks in horror and takes out his sword and starts hitting the pod.) "Was I...too?"

Cloud: (Cloud jumped back and watched him.) "Whoa! Sephiroth, what are you doing?!"

Sephiroth: (Still hitting a pod with his sword and breathing hard in horror in disbelief.) "Was I created this way too!?"

Cloud: "Sephiroth..."

Sephiroth: (Turns to Cloud wildly and glares.) "You saw it!! All of them...were human."

Cloud: "Human?! No way!?" (They both look at a pod that was shaking and steam was coming out of some areas and the creature within screamed for life. The pod burst open and it laid whining and screaming on the pod lid. Sephiroth ran up to it and stabbed and slashed at it until it was dead. Sephiroth angrily leaves the pod chamber and Cloud followed him, calling after him.)