[b]Akira Ayumu[/b]

Akira was prepared to earn his keep - The young healer had earned a name for himself in previous battles alongside his mother, healing rapidly enough to make the difference between victory and defeat. Nevertheless, he felt intimidated about how it was his first time fighting alone - Well, not really alone, but beside [i]strangers[/i], and he understandably felt nervous. As Jessie told the assembled mercenaries about the explosives set up in various choke points, as well as the Sweeper prototypes, he knew that his fighting style and skills were not optimized for such a foe, which meant another day hanging back in the medical tents unless some emergency happened.

Either way, once the meeting had ended, Akira would go to his allotted room to prepare for the battle, and by that, he was going to commune with the Planet and with his fellow Half-Cetra, Kanade.

Inside his room, Akira knelt on the bed and began to pray to the Planet, slowly opening up his consciousness to its voices. [i]Pain. Suffering. Slow death - The Planet is undergoing all three. If only we can save it, if only we can stop Shinra from draining it...[/i]

<Kanade… Kanade…> Akira called out to the former noble, now member of AVALANCHE, <I need to talk to you… This has to be secret… Mother… Mom is dead. Shinra killed her when she tried to get into their HQ, and now I am all alone in Fort Condor and I don’t know what to do! Shinra’s going to attack and while I know we’ll beat them, I’ll still be stuck here. Kanade, please help - You’re the only family I have anymore!>

Tears fell from his eyes, even as the door opened - It was one of the officers, telling him that it was time to fight. That meant no tears as Akira reluctantly ceased the communion - It was time to fight.

[b]Timeskip[/b]

Despite Jessie’s explosives, Fort Condor casualties kept mounting due to the Sweepers, making Akira’s job in the medical tents even harder. Stress was building up, although not enough to create a Limit Break.

“Cure!” Akira shouted as he healed another wounded mercenary just enough to put him back in action. Then he downed an Ether provided by a fellow member of the medical staff, even as the sounds of battle and explosions drew ever closer to the medical tents - The group needed to evacuate soon, but with the large numbers of wounded and Shinra’s pitiless approach to problems, that’d cause almost as many problems as staying.

A noise can be heard outside - It clearly wasn’t friendly. Akira, sighing, took out his Naginata and said to the Head Medic, “Evacuate the place - I’ll hold off the enemy!”

Without waiting to see if his recommendation was followed, Akira walked out of the tent, his Ninja training kicking in as he scanned the area around him. He then said as he faced a rocky outcropping, “You can come out now, you know - I’m on to you...”

The response was a bullet aimed at his head, which was parried by his Naginata’s blade. Several Shinra grunts then broke out of cover, daring to charge the boy in melee. Big mistake.

“Aero!” cried the boy as he surrounded himself with a small tornado, a small tornado which broke up the enemy’s cohesion and allowed him to launch a flurry of attacks (his ‘Flurry’ skill) on the temporarily-helpless soldiers, leaving them bleeding out on the ground.

“You brat!” said the Grunt Commander as he shot at Akira with his sidearm, only for the young man to run in zig-zags, dodging the bullets with his ninja training as he launched another Aero, this time a gust of wind which ought to blow the enemy off his feet. It did, and Akira was now on him before he can get up.

“This. Is. For. Mother!” he shouted as he brought his Naginata down on the Grunt Commander’s head, dealing a final blow to the helpless man...