A crushing blow to his side caused Cloud to shout in pain, and he
felt a couple of ribs snap from the impact; a second punch knocked
him back against the Highwind's cabin.
     "Get up, little human," Griffin Claw crooned.  "You and I aren't
finished yet."
     He gritted his teeth and cast Cure3 - as the sparkling lights
surrounded him, the pain ebbed, but didn't vanish entirely.  He'd
tried every trick in his arsenal, but not even Knights of the Round
seemed to work on the monster.  If he didn't think of something
soon...
     The creature gloated over his battered form.  "You've put up a
good fight, human.  To show my gratitude, I'll kill you quickly." 
She glanced at Tifa, who was barely hanging onto consciousness. 
"That one, however, will be coming home with me.  Malice and
Despair will appreciate such a tasty treat."
     "Damn you..."  Cloud pulled himself up and raised his sword. 
Maybe he could tackle her and push them both off the Highwind, at
which point he could keep her from flying.  At least Tifa would be
safe.
     He gathered his strength for a final attack...
     And then something small and white drifted past him, floating
aimlessly down until it alighted on the tip of his sword.
     It was a snowflake.
     He turned to see a familiar shape hovering next to the Highwind. 
The pale blue woman wordlessly extended her hand, and a bitterly
cold wind blew across the deck of the airship.  A group of panther
minions were caught directly in the blast, and were abruptly frozen
in a wave of ice.  When the ice shattered a moment later, nothing
remained behind.
     Griffin Claw growled at the woman.  "I don't know who you
are," she stated, "but I won't tolerate your interference!"
     Cloud braced himself against the wall and laughed weakly. 
"That's Shiva.  It's a Summon spell - it can't talk."  He wondered
who'd cast it, though.  It hadn't been him, and Tifa was in no
condition to...
     His train of thought was derailed when Shiva smiled at him. 
"Maybe I never had anything to say before."
     He stared.  "What the...?"
     Griffin Claw just smiled.  "Whoever you are, you've just sealed
your doom."
     "Do you think so?"  Shiva asked in a voice like a winter breeze,
never losing her smile.  "Maybe we should test your theory and see
if you're right."  And she dived toward the Highwind's deck, but
midway there she called out, with words the reverberated with
power:
     "Yuffie... FLASH!"
     As she twirled in the air, the blue coloring of her skin seemed to
be stripped away, as was the thin red scarf that served as her
clothing.  For a moment, she was utterly nude... then particles
appeared from nowhere, swirling around the woman and collecting
on her limbs and body.  By the time she landed on the deck, the
display had ended, leaving her clothed in the uniform of a Shinra
SOLDIER, complete with greatsword and visored helmet.
     As shocked as Cloud was, his amazement was as nothing next to
the gasp of disbelief that arose from Griffin Claw.  "No... it cannot
be!"  She turned to what remained of her servants.  "Panther
minions!  Kill her!"
     They swarmed toward her... and suddenly she seemed to be
everywhere, her huge sword slicing through the ranks of the faceless
warriors without slowing.
     As the mysterious woman hewed her way through the minions,
Cloud hurried over to Tifa and applied some Phoenix Down.  As her
strength slowly returned he helped her to her feet, and she leaned on
him as she watched the battle before them.  "Who is *that*?" she
wondered.
     "I don't know," Cloud replied, "but I think she may be the One
who is Many..."
     The last minion fell, dissolving into a puddle of darkness, and the
SOLDIER wordlessly leveled her sword at Griffin Claw.  "Damn
you," the monster grated.  "Where did you get that power? *Who
are you?!*"
     The woman laughed confidently.  "Remember this when I send
you on a trip to Hell!  Sometimes I'm a way-cool ninja girl. 
Sometimes I'm a spirit of ice and winter.  And sometimes I'm a
SOLDIER and mistress of the blade."  She raised her sword to the
vertical.  "But, who am I really?"  As she leapt up, she tossed her
weapon in a glittering arc above her.  "Yuffie... FLASH!"
     Her uniform disintegrated, swirling back from whence it came,
but was quickly replaced by another stream of colored particles,
which wrapped tightly around her like a second skin.  Her hair
changed from curly red to long and straight blue, and her eyes
shifted to a deep green.
     When the transformation had finished, the woman was dressed in
a tight-fitting body suit, the straps of which barely covered her
bosom as they stretched up to tie behind her neck.  The straps were
a vibrant yellow, while the bottom half of the suit was dark blue and
her tall boots were pure white.  Her hair had been braided into a
long ponytail, and was sky blue in color.  An aquamarine medallion,
heart shaped, was tied around her left arm by a thin white cord.
     She reached our and caught her sword in one glove-clad hand -
as she flourished it, it grew shorter and more narrow, until she was
wielding a golden saber, which she pointed at Griffin Claw.
     "Lovely warrior," she announced, "Cutey Yuffie!"
     "Yuffie!"  Tifa cried out in relief.
     The monster watched her enemy warily.  "So..." she mused. 
"This world *does* have a Warrior of Light after all."  Then she
grinned an evil grin.  "But not the one I expected, hmm?  Maybe
you're just trying to pretend to be her..."
     Cutey Yuffie smirked back.  "There's only one way to find out,
isn't there?"
     "True enough," the monster admitted...
     ...then she charged and, in a brief frenzy of movement, her
taloned hand found its way around Cutey Yuffie's neck.  The
warrior gripped the claw to avoid being throttled, and Griffin Claw
sneered at her prey.  "Foolish girl!  It takes more than a costume and
a pretty little speech to defeat me!  I was right - you're not my true
enemy."
     "Y'know," Yuffie grated in annoyance, "this whole grabbing
thing is getting on my nerves.  Let's try something else."
     With a flick of her fingers, she threw a small pellet onto the
deck,
and abruptly both combatants were surrounded in a thick white
smoke.  When the smokescreen cleared a moment later, whipped
away by the wind, Griffin Claw realized that, instead of Cutey
Yuffie, she had been left holding a large log.  "What...?"
     "Yuffie Shuriken!"
     The monster felt a series of three sharp sensations in her arm, and
turned to see a set of golden shuriken there, blood flowing from the
wounds they'd caused.  She scowled and ripped them out, throwing
them onto the deck.  "You little bitch..." she snarled.
     Her enemy laughed and pulled another set of throwing stars from
the air.  "I haven't been training as a ninja all my life for nothing,
ya
know!"
     "Then have a taste of your own medicine!"  Griffin Claw raised
herself up, spreading her peacock-like tail behind her.  The iridescent
plumage glittered in the sunlight for a moment, then the hybrid
performed a quick pirouette, and a barrage of feathers suddenly shot
through the air toward Cutey Yuffie.  She gasped and leapt aside -
the feathers continued on, embedding themselves deeply in the
Highwind's metal railing.
     "What's wrong, girl?" the monster said with a chuckle as Yuffie
picked herself up.  "You don't seem so confident now, do you?" 
She spun around, and another set of razor-sharp feathers were
catapulted toward Cutey Yuffie, who only barely managed to dodge
out of the way - long red welts in her shoulder showed proof that
she hadn't been quite quick enough.
     As Griffin Claw laughed, enjoying this new game, Yuffie
continued to jump and dodge, avoiding the hybrid's vicious attacks. 
Her bodysuit was covered with thin rips from other occasions where
the monster had scored a near-hit, and she was beginning to run out
of breath.
     And then Griffin Claw stopped.  Cutey Yuffie looked at her
opponent warily, and the hybrid grinned menacingly at her.  "Now,
it's time to end this."  She twirled one more time, and Yuffie wearily
prepared to jump away again...
     But the hail of feathery darts weren't aimed at her.
     Cloud and Tifa, still recovering to one side, gasped as the barrage
flew toward them with deadly accuracy.  The ex-SOLDIER tried to
protect Tifa's body with his own...
     With a burst of energy she didn't know she had, Cutey Yuffie
leapt forward, interposing herself between her friends and the
monster.  She had only a moment to grin at Cloud, then she
screamed in agony as the projectiles jabbed into her back.
      "Yuffie!"  Cloud tried to catch her, but he was still too weak,
and he could barely even take a step forward.
     As Yuffie fell to her knees, blood trickling down her back from
the numerous wounds, Griffin Claw laughed in glee.  "Oh, so
foolish!  You almost *could* be our enemy, girl.  You're certainly
as reckless as she."  She lifted her talons and stepped a bit closer. 
"Now it's time for you to die..."
     Then she stopped and gaped in surprise, as Yuffie slowly lifted
herself up.  "I'm... not dead... *yet*, you freak..."
     Griffin Claw rallied, her triumphant smirk returning.  "You're
quite tenacious, girl.  Would you like a little more pain?"  She spun
around, and another hail of feathers shot toward Cutey Yuffie.
     There was a flash of gold, and abruptly the darts were falling into
a pile at Yuffie's feet.
     The monster gasped.  "Impossible!"  Again she fired her
plumage, and again Yuffie chopped them apart in midair.  "You
should be unconscious from the pain right now!"
     Cutey Yuffie glared at her opponent, her saber raised in a ready
though somewhat shaky position.  "And let you kill my friends and
destroy my home?  I don't *think* so!"  Without warning she
jumped into the air toward Griffin Claw, driving her heel into the
monster's face.
     The hybrid fell backwards, clutching at her cheek where Yuffie's
boot had left a deep gouge.  With a snarl of rage, she quickly got to
her feet.  "Worthless brat!" she screamed, leaping backwards onto a
railing.  "This time I *will* kill you!"  She jumped back again, falling
into empty air - a moment later she appeared again with her wings
spread, banking around for an attack run.
     Watching her opponent carefully, Cutey Yuffie didn't notice the
movement behind her, until a sudden light display surrounded her. 
As the feathers in her back fell off and the wounds closed, she turned
her head slightly and grinned.  "Thanks, Cloud."
     He nodded.  "Don't mention it.  Is that *really*-?"
     "No time to explain," she interrupted as Griffin Claw began her
dive toward the Highwind's deck.  "We'll talk later, if we live."
     Cutey Yuffie raised her saber, her eyes focused on Griffin Claw
as she swooped down toward her.  She attempted to stab the hybrid
and use her momentum against her, but she misjudged the hybrid's
speed, and she was knocked to one side, her sword spinning across
the deck.
     She got to her feet again, just in time to allow Griffin Claw to
blur past again, raking her claws against Yuffie's side.  She gasped
in pain as the blood began to flow, but before she could react to the
wound, the monster attacked again, ripping another series of lines
into Yuffie's arm.
     As Griffin Claw hovered nearby, pacing the Highwind, Yuffie
gripped her arm painfully.  *Okay, so much for the defensive.  Time
to show this bitch who's boss.*
     With a victorious shriek, the hybrid dived toward Yuffie, her
claw outstretched and gleaming with her prey's blood.  "Get ready
to die!"
     Yuffie narrowed her eyes, carefully gauging the monster's
velocity, then as Griffin Claw grew close, she leapt to the side,
grabbing the hybrid's claw as she did so.  The extra weight was too
much for the monster, and she was thrown to the side, landing
heavily against the railing.
     While Griffin Claw picked herself up, Yuffie backed against one
of the Highwind's structural supports and smirked at the hybrid. 
"What's the matter, freak?  Can't you get rid of one unarmed girl?"
     The monster's eyes blazed red, and with an incoherent scream of
fury, she launched herself toward her enemy.  Yuffie waiting,
choosing her time carefully... then jumped over her enemy, twisting
in the air to land facing her in a crouching position.  Without pausing
for even a heartbeat, she sprinted toward Griffin Claw.  A gleaming
aura of almost solid light appeared in her hand, quickly resolving
itself into an identical copy of her fallen sword.
     Fetching up heavily against the support, Griffin Claw tried to turn
around and face her enemy, but too late: Cutey Yuffie was already
there, shouting in anger as she slammed into the hybrid.  The golden
saber stabbed into the monster's body and through it, piercing out
the other side and pinning Griffin Claw to the support like a
grotesque butterfly mounted for display.  Her gaze met that of
Yuffie, who looked back at the monster, not with satisfaction, but
rather with resolve.  "You... you can't be her..." the hybrid gasped,
as her strength rapidly ebbed from her body.  "How...?"
     "Honey sends her regards," Yuffie told the beast, and Griffin
Claw's eyed widened.  "But *this* is for the people of Wutai." 
Releasing the sword, she leapt backwards; the hybrid tried to free
herself, but with no success.
     As Yuffie landed, her body began to glow with waves of orange
energy.  Watching from nearby, Cloud instantly recognized the signs
of a Limit Break in progress... but when the rippling energy
physically forced him back a step, he realized this was something
beyond his experience...
     Reaching up to the white and blue choker around her neck,
Cutey Yuffie briefly touched the heart-shaped medallion, then pulled
her hand away.  Her fingertips glittered with a sparkling light, which
remained suspended in the air as she inscribed a circle before her. 
As the circle was closed, it seemed to flash and take on a glassy
translucence.  "Yuffie..."
     She brought her hands above her head, and particles of white
energy began to collect on her palms, streaming toward her from
nowhere.  "...Eternal..."
     Finally, she brought her hands down, then thrust them out toward
the circle, palms forward.  "...Creation!"
     The circle gleamed brightly as it absorbed the power collected in
Cutey Yuffie's grasp, and suddenly a titanic beam of swirling white
energy extended from the circle, slicing through the air toward
Griffin Claw.  The monster screamed in terror, the impossibly bright
light reflected in her eyes... and then she was engulfed by the power,
her body disintegrating under its assault.
     After an eternity of light and pressure, the energy beam faded, its
purpose fulfilled.  Only Cutey Yuffie's saber, embedded in the
support beam, served as a marker of where Griffin Claw had stood.

     Cutey Yuffie walked over to her sword and, with a bit of effort,
pulled it out from the wall.  There was still a stain of black ichor on
the blade, but even that was beginning to dissolve in the light of the
setting sun.
     She stood there for a while, the wind tugging at her ponytail, and
Cloud and Tifa watched her silently as she contemplated the saber. 
Finally, she took a deep breath.  "That... was..."
     And she whirled around, a huge grin on her face.  "...COOL! 
Did you *see* how I kicked her butt from here to Midgar?  I think
I'm *really* gonna enjoy this One who is Many shtick."
     "Is that really you, Yuffie?"  Tifa sounded shocked.
     "Well, duh!  Of course it's me!  I'm the big hero of the day,
remember?"
     Cloud chuckled weakly.  "It's her, all right.  Nobody else has an
ego quite that big."  Yuffie was so pleased with herself that she even
let that pass.
     "It looks like this is all starting again, then," Tifa noted.
     Yuffie nodded.  "Yeah, but, y'know?  It doesn't seem so bad
now."  Her fingers traced the medallion of her choker.  "This just
feels like... I dunno, like it's the right thing to do.  Know what I
mean?"
     Her gaze fell on a brightly wrapped package on the deck,
miraculously unharmed by the combat.  She picked it up and
regarded it thoughtfully.  "Oh, yeah... there's just one more thing."
     "What's that?"  Tifa asked.  "Do you want a birthday pa-"
     In a lightning fast move, Cutey Yuffie hurled the package at
Cloud - it bounced off his forehead and clattered back onto the deck
as he fell over, more out of surprise than from the force of the blow. 
He sat up, a welt already beginning to form on his brow.  "What was
*THAT* for?!"
     "That's for ogling my naked body, you pervert!" she shouted. 
"Who do you think you are, anyway?!"
     "Wha...?  It's not like I had a choice!  You didn't exactly give me
any warning before you did it!"
     "That's no excuse!  You should have..."

     "She failed, didn't she?"
     "Perhaps.  Then again, we now know for a fact that *she*'s here,
don't we?"
     "That makes it more difficult."
     "Nonsense.  You were right, Despair - even if she tries to oppose
us, with our new powers we'll defeat her easily."
     "Are you sure?"
     "Have a little faith.  We can't let Mother down so easily, can
we?"


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

     Hiya!  This is Yuffie Kisaragi, also known as Cutey Yuffie!  After
a tough fight, there's nothing I like better than spending some quality
time at Costa del Sol.  Catch a few rays, do a little swimming, pick up
a materia here and there... What?!  You're saying it's ten degrees below
zero out there?  No way!  Somebody fire the weatherman - this is just
totally wrong!
     Next time, on Cutey Yuffie: "Sun, Sand, Snow!  The Incident at
Costa del Sol."  Don't miss it!

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