Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 3: Pursuit

FORTY-FIVE

The clashing of blades filled the air as Cloud and I fought, our eyes locked on each other. We circled one another warily in the middle of a large, grassy field just outside Rocket Town a day after making our way off Mt. Nibel. Sweat poured off our bodies as we spun and slashed, and my heart was pounding in my chest. But I felt good.

While the others had gone into town to have a look around, Cloud and I had come out here to do a little sparring. It was a nice day, warm for late winter, and the afternoon sun shone brightly overhead. I wasn't using any of my suit's abilities, and we had both put our materia aside. It was just us and our own skills and resourcefulness.

After I'd first joined Cloud and the others on this journey, I'd asked him to help me keep up my training. I'd learned a lot from Kunsel back in Wall Market while preparing for the tournament, but I wanted to get even better and not lose all the progress I'd made. Cloud had agreed, so we'd sparred together whenever we could during our journey. He was a great teacher, always patient but pushing me hard so I'd go farther, and I knew it was because of him that I was growing so much as a fighter. If I was gonna stop Jenova, I had to be the best I could.

"Keep at it, Jessie," Cloud said, blocking a low backhand slash with Buster as he deflected a high jab from my other blaze talon with Force Stealer. "Always think at least ten steps ahead. Know what you're gonna do before you do it. And watch your surroundings."

"Words to live by!" I flashed him a grin as I spun away and quickly cut at him again from the other side.

Cloud was just as fast, though, easily parrying the blow and slicing at me at the same time. I barely got my other talon up in time to block. And so it went, both of us trying to get past one another's defenses and both of us keeping the other out. As strong as Cloud was, it wasn't easy for me to keep deflecting his heavy blows, but somehow I managed as I darted around him in the grassy field. I swept my blaze talons across in a tight forward arc, one high and one low only for Cloud to whip Force Stealer around in an instant and knock them aside.

Then he lightly tapped Buster's blunt edge against my side before I could recover. "Too slow, Jessie. Keep trying."

"Thought I was," I panted, falling back a few steps.

"You're faster than this," Cloud's baby blue eyes met my cinnamon browns. "Don't think you are. Know you are."

I readied my weapons. "Yeah. I can do this."

"Then stop trying to hit me and hit me," he replied.

"If you insist," I fired back.

Then I rushed at him, eager to meet his challenge. My blaze talons flashed, their orange glow bright in the afternoon sun, and I slashed at him again and again, spinning and ducking and dodging and switching back and forth between high and low strikes. But I must've been a little too eager because he blocked every one and then sent me staggering to the ground with the flat of Force Stealer's purple blade. As I rolled over onto my back, I found Buster hovering over my heart.

"Better," Cloud quipped. "But you're still dead."

I panted for breath. "Damn... got ahead of myself, I guess."

He nodded. "Fight with your head, not your heart."

"Right," I agreed. He relaxed and backed up as I got to my feet and moved into position. "Ready for more, SOLDIER boy?"

"Bring it," Cloud beckoned to me.

I attacked more cautiously this time as an idea formed in my mind. There was no way I could overpower Cloud—he was simply too strong for me to do that—so I knew that I'd have to be a little unconventional to beat him. As we circled each other and fought, our weapons clashing against one another, I kept moving until the sun was at my back. Then I gave Cloud an opening. He took it just as I'd known he would, Buster coming in low to slap lightly against my forearm.