Cloud Strife (Cody Christian / Takahiro Sakurai)[d] is a former member of SOLDIER, the elite warriors of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Shinra uses Mako, a refined form of the Planet's spiritual energy harvested by massive reactors, to power the metropolis of Midgar and develop cutting-edge technology. Disillusioned with Shinra, and at the request of his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart (Britt Baron / Ayumi Ito),[e] Cloud takes a mercenary job for a splinter cell of AVALANCHE, an ecological resistance organization, led by Barret Wallace (John Eric Bentley / Masahiro Kobayashi). Barret believes excessive Mako harvesting harms the planet and leads a bombing attack on Mako Reactor 1. Cloud is continuously haunted by memories of Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin / Toshiyuki Morikawa), an enigmatic former SOLDIER, and meets florist Aerith Gainsborough (Briana White / Maaya Sakamoto)[f] in the aftermath of the bombing. Strange ghost-like entities, who alternately help and hinder Cloud, cause him to be recruited for another attack on Mako Reactor 5, but he goes missing in action. Cloud meets Aerith again and protects her from Shinra forces. After reuniting with Tifa, the trio learns that Shinra plans to collapse a piece of the "plate" onto the Sector 7 slums. AVALANCHE fails to stop Shinra's plan, and the plate falls. Aerith helps most of the population, including Barret's daughter Marlene, evacuate in time, but is captured by Shinra.
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret infiltrate Shinra headquarters and rescue Aerith from being used as an experiment by Shinra scientist Hojo (James Sie / Shigeru Chiba). She reveals that she is the last descendant of the Cetra, a near-extinct precursor race who resided in a "Promised Land," which Shinra covets for its boundless Mako reserves. The group meets a talking feline-like creature called Red XIII (Max Mittelman / Kappei Yamaguchi), who explains that the ghostly entities are called Whispers. They exist to ensure that the course of destiny is not altered by correcting any deviations from this course. Meanwhile, Sephiroth infiltrates Shinra and steals a mysterious entity known as "Jenova," connected to the extinction of the Cetra.
In a confrontation at the top of Shinra headquarters, Sephiroth murders the president of Shinra. Shinra's son Rufus (Josh Bowman / Tōru Ōkawa) assumes control of the company and fights Cloud, but is defeated. Cloud and his allies flee the scene via the Midgar Expressway but find Sephiroth waiting for them at the end. After defeating Whisper Harbinger, an entity formed by an amalgam of Whispers, Cloud's group battles Sephiroth. Sephiroth separates Cloud from the group, asking him to join him and defy fate. Cloud refuses and fights Sephiroth, but is defeated, although Sephiroth spares him and departs. Meanwhile, as Cloud's group leaves Midgar to stop Sephiroth, SOLDIER Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce / Kenichi Suzumura) ends up alive and defeats an army of Shinra forces, and departs with Cloud to Midgar.
