When we last left our heroes, they had jumped from a speeding train and made their way through the dark train tunnels of Midgar and found a hatch which would take them to the Sector 5 Mako Reactor, AVALANCHE's next target.
On the way there we meet up with Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie again, who point us in the right direction through a maze of tunnels and ladders. Finally, we make to the secret entrance into the reactor, and Biggs wishes us good luck and takes off back to the base along with Jessie and Wedge. Later guys.
Lets get into that reactor then:
On the other side Cloud gets to slide down some kind of chute. It is like the most secret of the secret entrances. And the most fun too:
Wheee!
Everything goes very smoothly as we infiltrate the reactor. There are a few random battles here and there but nothin' we cant handle. And Tifa uses her limit break. It's called Beat Rush and she punches stuff harder than usual or something:
Cool stuff, Tifa. Anyway, I bet Shinra doesnt even know we're here. Obviously the mission is just as important, but now we can afford some time to check out our surroundings.
Man, I'm getting some deja vu. Sure does look a lot like the Sector 1 Reactor. The only difference is a blue tint, really. I guess industrial design doesnt really need that much originality though.
Seriously, if the other reactor didn't get blown up I would swear we were in the same one. Whatever.
When we finally get to the reactor core, Cloud has another one of his episodes like from before, but this time, instead of a voice in his head, it's a full on hallucination. This is what Tifa and Barret see (reality):
Which is just Cloud freakin' out and holding his head. Maybe we can see a little more why Barret doesnt trust Cloud all that much. Crazy guys and big bombs dont mix all that well. Anyway, here's what Cloud is experiencing in his head:
Where IS that? We'll find out later. In this hallucination, which is from Cloud's memories, Tifa (in the cowboy hat) is holding her wounded father and appears to be very stressed out. She asks her dad if Sephiroth (who is that?!) did this too him and then declares that she hates, "Sephiroth...SOLDIER...Mako Reactors...Shinra...Everything!" and runs off. I guess we can see why she got involved with AVALANCHE now, but thats about all we find out. Cloud then returns to reality and assures his companions he's still cool and together and sane. Hrrm...maybe. Cant really do much about anything else now but SET THAT BOMB!
Blow it UP!This time there's no set timer on the bomb so we can take as long as we want to to leave. It's not like there's any reason to stick around though, so we're taking off promptly, but stress free.
Goin' up the ladder...
Goin up the stairs...You know what? Since we have all this time I'm gonna try something I've always wanted to do. See that big weird round thing with the ladder on it and the fumes coming out the top?
I've always wanted to like, stand on it, and there's a ladder there so I dont see why we cant do it. Hey, there might even be a surprise up there. Lets-a go check it out.
Well what do ya know, CAN get up on there!
No secrets though, I gave it a thorough search. Still, pretty cool though.
Having gone into the reactor through the back door, there are still some security measures we gotta hax our way through. Well, there's one, but it's really tough.
Sounds easy right? Maybe it would be if Tifa and Barret told you when they were gonna push their buttons, but they dont. Of course THEY always push their buttons at the same time, probably because theyre whispering in each other's ears, but Cloud has to guess when to push his. It's just cruel and mean spirited. After four or five tries we finally get lucky and disable the lock on the exit door. Now lets get the hell outta here and watch some fireworks.
Whoa were pretty high up, arent we? Look at all those buildings below. They look like factories or something. Cool. Let's leave.
Uh oh. This doesnt look good.
That's right, Barret. Something has gone terribly terribly wrong.
It's pretty obvious, Barret. Shinra knew all along. I guess they figure they've got six other reactors besides this one, and they'll be able to still turn a profit. The whole thing was a trap that Shinra let AVALANCHE set for them, and now our heroes might die in an explosion of their own making. And look at this, the man behind it all even showed up for the occasion:
Barret takes this opportunity to tell the President off for killin' the planet. The President doesnt really care though, he has to go to dinner. Cloud also asks the President if he remembers him. The President recognizes that Cloud was in SOLDIER, because of his eyes (another thing that will be explained later) but the only member of SOLDIER the President remembers is the brilliant, perhaps too brilliant, Sephiroth (who IS that?).
Well, presidents are busy men, so he jumps into a nearby helicopter and sends in the brand new Shinra Techno-Soldier (TM) to do his bidding and detain our heroes until the reactor blows up and they all get blown to bits.
Guess what? IT'S OUR SENCOND BOSS FIGHT!
beep boopAs said before, this is the Techno-Soldier, and he reminds me of a vacuum cleaner. It's not as tough as you would think a Techno-Soldier would be, nor as raving. Basically Cloud, Tifa and Barret take turns beating on it until it just can take anymore and it...
Explodes and puts a big hole in the walkway that Cloud was standing on! Our hero is now holding on to projecting debris for dear life:
That's not his only problem, either. That reactor is going to explode pretty soon, and when it does he's gonna be knocked back and fall down into the urban chasm below! Is this the end for Cloud?!
The bomb detonates and the reactor goes up in flames! BOOM!
Cloud loses his grip and falls! NOOOO!Is this the end? What's going to happen to Cloud's spikey butt? Right after the fall the screen goes dark, and we are treated to this conversation, presumably going on in Cloud's head:
Very strange. But we do know that Cloud survived the fall, and that is a relief. Let's open our eyes and find out just where we landed.
Whoa! It's the flower girl again! That is quite a coincidence (or is it?) It's in this church where we are finally properly introduced the Aeris Gainsborough, probably the only Flower Seller in all of Midgar. She has type O blood, is 5' 3" tall and 22 years old. How about that, one year older than Cloud. This is what she looks like in battle:
What's she doing in this church though? I'll tell you. She hangs out and grows flowers here, even though it is believed that nothing grows in Midgar, period. That's weird. She also mentions something about some Materia her mother gave her that doesnt do anything. This girl is full of mysteries . Cloud converses with her a while and they get to know about each other a bit:
You know, I've never actually picked the one that says "You're the slum drunk," but I've always wanted too.
While Cloud and Aeris are chatin' it up, some unwanted guests bust on in:
Shinra is just everywhere today, arent they? Those storm troopers arent after Cloud this time, but Aeris. She quickly enlists him as a bodyguard and they try to make an escape out the back of the church.
Oh and that dude with the soldiers? He's Reno, and he's a Turk, a special secret service type division of the Shinra empire. He's also kind of a dick and steps on Aeris' flowers.
What a dick.
Cloud and Aeris run to the back but the Shinra goons are hot in pursuit.
Before our heroes can make it to safety the soldiers fire their guns at Aeris (why did those guys call her an Ancient?) and cause her to fall!
You said it Cloud. The soldiers are making their way down to Aeris and if Cloud doesnt do something fast they're gonna capture her and like...that's bad. What are you gonna do Cloud? Wait are those some barrels up there?
They ARE! I hope he can push them over too. Maybe they'll fall on top of those Shinra guys and let Aeris safely escape.
Well they do.
First one down.
Barrels away!
And thats the last one. Run Aeris!
Our heroes are now high above the danger and can escape out of a hole in the church's roof. Whew, close one there. Glad we all made it out safely.
Safe on the roof of the church, Cloud and Aeris converse a little more.
Hmm. That church looked a lot bigger when we were inside. Optical illusion I guess. Anyway, Aeris tells Cloud that the Turks have been after her since she was little. Cloud knows the Turks also scout for prospective members of SOLDIER and thinks that might be the reason theyre after Aeris. But I dunno, I think they have another motive all together.
Aeris asks Cloud to escort her to her home in the Sector Five Slums (I guess he's still her bodyguard) and Cloud agrees, as the slums can be dangerous by themselves, and now Shinra is probably patrolling around too.
The two make their way through the garbage and debris of the slums and head off for Aeris' home together. Our next save point shows up too, and so ends another chapter of the story. Next time: The Sector Five Slums, Aeris' house, sick people, and a very famous grammatical error.
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