Smoke drifted through the ruined streets of Tamblin Fort. The smell of cordite mixed with something entirely different.
Pork. Soy sauce. Simmering bone broth.
"Thirty-two," the Wutai noodle vendor squeaked, his hands trembling as he dried a porcelain bowl with a rag. He kept glancing nervously at the sky, waiting for another Shinra gunship to rain hellfire.
"Make it thirty-three! And extra pork this time!" Ryu slammed his empty bowl onto the wooden counter. A resounding crack split the wood.
The vendor whimpered, frantically tossing fresh noodles into a vat of boiling water.
Zack sat on the stool next to Ryu. He wasn't eating. He was staring into his leather wallet, his face a portrait of utter despair. "I'm ruined. I am financially ruined. Do you have a hollow leg? Are you part Behemoth?"
"I have a high metabolism," Ryu corrected cheerfully, snapping apart a fresh pair of wooden chopsticks. "Fighting makes me hungry. Thinking makes me hungry. Actually, being alive just makes me hungry."
Zack groaned, letting his head hit the counter. "I'm an infantryman, Ryu. I don't make Executive salary. You're eating a month's pay."
"I'll have Scarlet reimburse you," Ryu waved a hand dismissively. "She has, like, infinite money. Besides, you need to eat too! You'll never get big and strong like Sephiroth if you just do squats."
Zack perked up slightly at the mention of his idol. "General Sephiroth is a legend. But my mentor is amazing too. Angeal. He's a First Class. The definition of honor."
"Honor is cool," Ryu nodded, slurping a massive tangle of noodles into his mouth in one breath. "But strength is better. If you aren't strong, your honor just gets you killed."
Zack frowned, opening his mouth to debate the philosophy of SOLDIER.
He didn't get the chance.
A sharp, whistling sound sliced through the air above them.
Ryu didn't look up. He simply reached out with two fingers, right next to his ear, and clamped down.
Clack.
A four-pointed steel shuriken vibrated furiously between Ryu's index and middle fingers. It was an inch from his temple.
"Sneak attack," Ryu mumbled, his mouth full of pork belly.
Zack's eyes bulge, his hand flying to the hilt of his broadsword. He caught a throwing star without looking?!
"Give me your Materia, Shinra dogs!" a high-pitched, entirely unintimidating voice yelled from the rooftop.
Ryu swallowed his food and turned around.
Standing on the edge of the pagoda roof was a tiny girl. She couldn't have been older than seven or eight. She wore a green, oversized sweater that swallowed her frame, and a pair of baggy shorts. She was trying to look menacing, pointing a wooden kunai at them, but her knees were shaking.
"A kid?" Zack blinked, relaxing his grip on his sword. "Hey, little girl, it's dangerous out here."
"I am the great ninja of Wutai!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. "Hand over the shiny rocks!"
Ryu looked at the shuriken in his fingers. Then he looked at the girl. Her stomach gave a loud, rumbling growl that echoed in the quiet street.
Ryu's expression softened. He recognized that sound anywhere.
He hopped off his stool. The girl flinched, raising her wooden toy defensively. Ryu didn't draw a weapon. He didn't power up. He reached onto the counter, grabbed a massive, steaming pork bun wrapped in wax paper, and threw it with pinpoint accuracy.
The girl gasped, dropping her kunai to catch the hot bun with both hands. "Ow! Hot!"
"You're hungry," Ryu smiled. It was a pure, blindingly bright Goku smile. No malice. No arrogance. Just an innocent understanding between two warriors with empty stomachs. "It's hard to fight on an empty stomach. Eat up. Get strong. Then come back and try to fight me again."
The little girl stared at him. A fierce blush crept up her cheeks, turning her face as red as a Fire Materia. She looked at the bun, then at the spiky-haired boy who just radiated warmth. Her heart did a strange, unfamiliar flutter.
"I-I don't need your pity, Shinra jerk!" she stammered, clutching the bun to her chest. "But I'll spare you today! Remember the name Yuffie!"
She threw a smoke bomb at her own feet. It went off with a pathetic pop. When the thin white smoke cleared a second later, she was awkwardly scrambling over the roof tiles, fleeing into the city.
"Weird kid," Zack laughed.
"She has good potential," Ryu noted, his tail swishing behind him. "Her Ki is bright."
Zack turned back to his wallet. "Well, that's one enemy defeated. Now about this bill—"
BOOOOM.
The earth shattered.
The noodle stand splintered into a thousand pieces of shrapnel. A massive shockwave threw Zack backward, sending him tumbling through the dust. The vendor shrieked, diving into a nearby alleyway.
Ryu didn't move. He stood in the epicenter of the crater.
The dust cleared, revealing two towering figures. They were Wutai heavy infantry, but mutated. Vajradhara Wu and Vajradhara Tai. Standing twelve feet tall, wearing traditional demon masks and wielding massive iron clubs that weighed more than a truck.
One of the iron clubs rested heavily on Ryu's left shoulder.
The giant monster pushed down, trying to crush the boy into the pavement.
Ryu's knees didn't even bend.
"You..." Ryu whispered.
The air temperature spiked. The wind stopped blowing.
Ryu looked down. At his feet, soaked into the dusty, cracked pavement, was his thirty-third bowl of noodles. Ruined.
"You spilled the broth," Ryu's voice dropped an octave. It wasn't playful anymore.
Zack scrambles to his feet, feeling the sudden, suffocating pressure in the air. He's not a kid. He's a monster.
A brilliant white aura exploded from Ryu's body, kicking up a cyclone of debris. The force of his Ki alone blasted the iron club off his shoulder, throwing the massive Wutai giant off balance.
"Kill the Shinra demon!" Vajradhara Tai roared, swinging his secondary club in a horizontal arc aimed at Ryu's ribs.
Ryu vanished.
Crack!
The giant's club smashed into a stone wall, obliterating it.
"Up here, slowpoke," a voice echoed.
Both giants looked up. Ryu was suspended in the air, ten feet above them. He wasn't falling. He was hovering. His Ki control was finally stabilizing in the heavy atmosphere.
Ryu dropped straight down like a meteor. He drove his knee into Vajradhara Wu's face. The demon mask shattered into dust. The giant's head snapped back with a sickening crunch, and the twelve-foot beast collapsed backward, completely unconscious.
One hit.
Vajradhara Tai roared in fury, raising his club with both hands to smash the airborne boy.
Zack lunged. "I got your back, Ryu!"
Zack swung his broadsword, deflecting the giant's massive club just enough to throw off its trajectory. The iron slammed into the dirt next to Ryu.
"Nice assist, Zack!" Ryu landed lightly on the back of the giant's club. He ran up the length of the iron weapon like a ramp.
The giant tried to shake him off, but Ryu's speed was terrifying. In a blur of motion, Ryu reached the giant's chest. He planted his left foot, pulled his right fist back to his hip, and twisted his waist.
Turtle School Style. One-Inch Punch.
Ryu drove his fist forward.
There was no explosion of light. No energy beam. Just pure, unadulterated kinetic force. The impact echoed like a cannon shot. The giant's massive torso rippled. A shockwave burst out of the beast's back, blowing the armor off its spine.
The monster's eyes rolled back in its head. It crashed to the ground like a felled redwood, shaking the entire street.
Ryu exhaled a short breath, rolling his shoulders. The white aura around him faded. He landed softly on his feet, his tail uncoiling.
"Man," Ryu sighed, looking at the ruined noodle stand. "I was really looking forward to that pork."
Zack stared at the two unconscious behemoths. He dropped his sword. It clattered against the stones.
"What... what are you?" Zack breathed, his voice barely a whisper. "No Materia. No Mako eyes. Just... raw power."
"I told you," Ryu grinned, his cheerful demeanor returning instantly. "I train hard. Speaking of training, you need to work on your footwork, Zack. You stepped into that block instead of sliding. If that club was a few inches heavier, it would have snapped your wrists."
"You're analyzing my form?" a new voice cut through the dust.
Deep. Calm. Demanding absolute respect.
Out of the shadows of the alleyway stepped a man. He was tall, heavily muscled, with slicked-back black hair and a strong, stoic jawline. He wore the black uniform of a First Class SOLDIER. Slung across his broad back, strapped in thick leather, was a massive, iconic weapon.
The Buster Sword.
"Angeal!" Zack snapped to attention, saluting so hard he nearly smacked himself in the forehead. "Sir! The perimeter is secure, sir!"
Angeal Hewley didn't smile. He walked forward, his heavy combat boots crunching on the broken stone. He completely ignored Zack, his dark eyes locked intensely onto Ryu.
Ryu stared back. He tilted his head, his tail flicking side to side in curiosity.
"You feel different than the silver guy," Ryu said bluntly. "Sephiroth felt like a freezer. You feel like... dirt. And iron. Heavy. Stubborn."
Angeal's eyes narrowed slightly. "You can sense my spiritual energy without Mako? Impressive. You must be Executive Scarlet's classified asset. The anomaly the Turks have been whispering about."
"Not an asset. Just Ryu," he corrected, stretching his arms over his head. "You gonna fight me too? Because I'm still pretty fired up."
"I am a SOLDIER," Angeal said, his voice steady. "We fight to bring an end to conflict. Not to start them for sport. You fight with rage over spilled food. That is a waste of strength."
Ryu stopped stretching. He dropped his arms. His innocent smile faded, replaced by a sharp, calculating stare.
"Waste?" Ryu stepped forward. "I fight to test my limits. I fight to protect the things I care about. And yeah, I like food. But don't lecture me about honor when you guys are the ones invading this country."
The air grew tense. Zack looked frantically between the massive First Class SOLDIER and the terrifyingly strong pre-teen.
"Uh, guys?" Zack stepped between them, holding his hands up. "Let's all just calm down. We're on the same side, right? Shinra?"
Angeal stared at Ryu for a long moment. Then, slowly, the tension bled out of his shoulders. He let out a quiet huff that might have been a laugh.
"You have conviction," Angeal admitted. "Raw, unrefined, but pure. I respect that. Keep an eye on Zack for me. He tends to jump before he looks."
"Hey!" Zack protested.
Before Ryu could answer, his earpiece violently screeched to life.
"Ryu. I have your coordinates." Scarlet's voice wasn't hysterical this time. It was low. Dangerously soft. The kind of soft that meant someone was going to get fired, or executed. "The chopper is waiting at Sector 4. You are coming home. Now. Or I will personally march into the President's office and burn this entire war to the ground."
Ryu winced, pulling the earpiece away from his drum. "Alright, alright, sis. Keep your dress on. I'm coming."
He tapped the comms off.
"Duty calls," Ryu sighed, looking at Zack. "I owe you a spar, Zack. Next time we meet in Midgar, I'm holding you to it."
Zack grinned, his usual energy returning. "You got it! I'll be a Second Class by then! I'll beat you for sure!"
Ryu chuckled. He turned his attention to the sky. He bent his knees, his aura flaring just slightly, enough to push the dust away from his boots.
"Angeal," Ryu called out, not looking back. "That big sword on your back. Use it next time. A weapon is meaningless if you just carry it around like jewelry."
Angeal's eyes widened slightly, a flash of genuine surprise crossing his stoic face. But before he could formulate a response about honor and wear-and-tear, Ryu exploded upward.
The ground cracked. A sonic boom echoed through the Wutai valley as Ryu launched himself into the sky, a streak of white energy disappearing into the clouds.
Zack whistled, shielding his eyes from the dust. "He is so cool."
Angeal reached over his shoulder, his fingers resting on the hilt of the Buster Sword. He looked at the sky where the boy had vanished.
"Yes," Angeal murmured. "But I fear for the day he realizes what Shinra truly is."
High above the clouds, Ryu wasn't thinking about Shinra's politics. He was thinking about Midgar. He was thinking about his next training regimen. He was thinking about how he was going to save this doomed planet.
And mostly, he was hoping Scarlet actually had that A5 Wagyu steak waiting for him.