AVALANCHE Insurgency The AVALANCHE Insurgency is the war between two eco - terrorist organizations known as AVALANCHE and Shinra Electric Power Company that spans " Before Crisis - Final Fantasy VII - " and the beginning of " Final Fantasy VII " , and lasts between εγλ 0001 and εγλ 0007 . The war , which ends with the total defeat of the first incarnation of AVALANCHE and the marginalization of the second incarnation , sees the use of guerrilla warfare , terrorist attacks , genetically engineered super soldiers and Summon Materia . Background . With the conclusion of the Wutai War , which resulted in the complete debilitation of Wutai , the last major stronghold against the Shinra Electric Power Company was gone . An anonymous man who had studied life in Cosmo Canyon established AVALANCHE and under the leadership of Elfé and Fuhito , the movement became a global insurgent group fighting to save the Planet from the misuse of Mako energy . Fuhito is a ruthless and cold leader , willing use any methods deemed necessary to achieve his goals . First AVALANCHE incarnation . Sometime after the formation of AVALANCHE , a girl named Felicia who had lost her memories , came to Cosmo Canyon and became the organization ' s leader taking on the name " Elfé " . She worked with a scientist named Fuhito , whose plans far exceed a revolution of Shinra - he wants all people returned to the Planet , essentially seeking a total genocide . Elfé and Fuhito meet a bandit leader named Shears , who has his own reasons to hate Shinra . Together the three work to destroy Shinra with an army of insurgents . They recruit the Shinra Vice President , Rufus Shinra , to fund their operations and supply them with intelligence of Shinra defenses and movements . Rufus cares not for AVALANCHE ' s beliefs , but hopes for AVALANCHE to kill his father , President Shinra , so Rufus could succeed him . Using SOLDIER data , Fuhito creates an attack squad called the Ravens . This movement of AVALANCHE is vicious , willing to do anything to defeat Shinra . AVALANCHE fights the Turks , a Shinra black - ops group , but most of their battles end in draws . They unsuccessfully try to bomb the Sector 8 Mako Reactor , and attempt to capture the Mako Cannon at Junon and use it to attack Midgar - a mission foiled by Sephiroth who also duels Elfé . They conduct a number of missions across the globe , in far - off places like Modeoheim and even inside the Shinra Headquarters . Eventually cornered in Wutai , they survive a Shinra onslaught by feigning their movement is defunct , something they can only do with the help of Rufus . They later resurge in Corel attempting to destroy the local reactor but suffer a devastating defeat ; the town is destroyed by the Shinra army , and Rufus Shinra - AVALANCHE ' s most important supporter - is captured by the Turks . Barret Wallace , who will later become the founder of the second smaller AVALANCHE movement , is involved in the battle on Shinra ' s side . Soon after Elfé loses her strength from an ancient Summon Materia called Zirconiade inside her , and Shears leaves the organization to work with the Turk leader , Veld , who is Elfé ' s father . The Turks defect with their leader to find four Materia to defeat Zirconiade . Rufus is punished for aiding AVALANCHE , and is placed under house arrest in Junon , but is labeled as being on an " extended assignment overseas " . While Shears is gone and Elfé is too weak to lead , Fuhito becomes the true leader of AVALANCHE . During his command , the group breaks down as AVALANCHE soldiers act as little more than zombies of Fuhito ' s will . Several members leave , disgusted how the group has changed . One of them is Shalua Rui , who sustains great injuries during her escape , but ends up being killed in battle on October 5 , εуλ 0007 . What remains of this AVALANCHE group is either defeated or falls apart , and Elfé leaves with her father to escape Shinra . This marks the end of the first AVALANCHE movement and , at least for the time being , all serious opposition to Shinra hegemony in the world . Rufus is neither killed nor stripped of his title for being a traitor ; President Shinra merely orders him to be placed under house arrest in Junon . His absence is explained by claiming he is on an " extended assignment overseas " . Second AVALANCHE incarnation . A second , far smaller , AVALANCHE is created in Midgar by Barret Wallace , a former citizen of Corel . After Corel was destroyed and several AVALANCHE members defected the organization , Barret met up with one such member in Cosmo Canyon and was told of the ideals that drove AVALANCHE and their goals before being taken over by Fuhito . This gave Barret the incentive to form a resistance group of his own ( it ' s unknown whether this was after the full destruction of AVALANCHE or not , but it is likely due to the timescale and implied injuries Barret sustained from Scarlet ) . Although having some fundamental disagreements with Fuhito , Barret takes up the fight where Fuhito left off . On December 9 , εуλ 0007 , AVALANCHE bombs the Sector 1 Reactor , killing an unknown number of civilians . They launch a similar operation the next day , with the Sector 5 Reactor as their target , but are taken by surprise by the Shinra Intelligence Agency and face the Air Buster . The battle splits up the group , as Cloud Strife , a mercenary hired by AVALANCHE , falls into the Midgar Slums . While AVALANCHE tries to reunify and gather intelligence they discover Shinra plans to drop the plate above Sector 7 to wipe out the group . AVALANCHE fails to prevent this , and everybody in Sector 7 is killed including three members of the group . This marks the practical defeat of the second AVALANCHE movement , although the remaining members still put up a fight to rescue Aeris , who was kidnapped by the Turks before the destruction of Sector 7 . They infiltrate the Shinra Headquarters but are arrested by the Turks and imprisoned . Sephiroth reemerges and indirectly helps the party escape . The surviving members choose to pursue him rather than to keep fighting for a lost cause in Midgar . AVALANCHE can be said to live on with Cloud ' s party , but the group rarely identifies itself with that name following the events in Midgar , and Barret Wallace eventually makes clear AVALANCHE is no more . Although he later declares the rebirth of AVALANCHE , this " third " incarnation rarely engages the Shinra directly and focuses on dealing with Sephiroth and the Weapons ( see the " Jenova War " ) . Aftermath . The surviving members from the second incarnation of AVALANCHE keep working against the Shinra although their main focus is to stop Sephiroth . They finance a local resistance during the Siege of Fort Condor , scoring a ( albeit indirect ) victory over Shinra . Cloud ' s party prevents the Shinra from obtaining the Huge Materia s and eventually finishes off the Shinra leadership by killing Scarlet and Heidegger in the aftermath of the Raid on Midgar . After these events , the group presumably disbands , though the former members keep in touch with each other . The memory of AVALANCHE ' s struggles may be symbolized along with the memory of Aerith ' s death by the pink ribbons worn around the arms of the party .