Final Fantasy
VII
Round Two
-By
Thomas-
For my family and
friends…
[Disk One]
[Begin FMV]
The long airship ripped through the cloudy sky.
Over a long desert it flew and—in the distance—its target was clear in sight. A huge, towering red beast, huge arms raised into the air as its booming roar sent ripples through the sand.
Through the air the red-haired boy dove, dragging two swords behind him. One of those swords had a large hilt and a large blade; the other was your ordinary sabre.
A woman with long blonde hair and a braid down her back stepped up to the podium, cold blue eyes looking out over the semi-circular room. She was clad in a light gray suit. A thin smile crossed her face.
Reflecting off of the blue-green eyes was an image of a large, winged beast climbing up the side of a shallow crater, which housed a lake. Then, the red-haired boy seen earlier leapt into the air, his large sword sheathed at his back as he swung out his sabre at the winged beast…glided over it and hit the lake below with a splash.
The blonde woman spoke…
[I do not plan to run this company like my father, nor shall I run it as my elder brother had. They ended up dead because of the way they handled company affairs…]
A figure in a Depth-suit stood on the ocean floor, holding two swords. Slightly above it floated a large green creature…a blast exploded from the green creature's left side, zooming towards the aquatic warrior.
[Shinra shall strike fear into the hearts of all enemies! SOLDIER shall crush all opponents! I shall run this organization better than all previous leaders! We…we shall see to it that Midgar will once and for all be returned to us! Midgar shall be our prize!]
Eight shadowed figures stood on the edge of a crater, which contained the luxurious Lifestream, Materia drifting from all areas to spin into the pit…
The two swords, the large one and the sabre, spun through the night sky, etching out the words in green…
Final Fantasy VII
[Round Two]
-By Thomas-
[End FMV]
A shadow appeared, blocking out the light of the moon in a human shape through the skylight. A light creaking noise filled the mostly empty museum as a block of the window was pried open. A long, strong rope was dropped down into the large room through the new entryway in the ceiling, dangling just above the linoleum floor. A single figure made its way down the rope, and was nearly to the floor when in dropped another figure, flipping three times in mid-air before landing upon its feet, its knees bending from the force. At its side the figure had sheathed a sabres blade, the hilt bound in black leather, a green orb embedded into the bottom of the hilt as a pommel…it wore a black pack upon its back.
"You idiot! Are you trying to get us—," the figure on the rope began, only to be cut off by the tight security of the place.
"…Eep," muttered the figure on the ground as a group of three guards surrounded him. The figure on the rope dropped the rest of the way down, standing with his back to the other figure.
"…I'm gonna yell at you all week about this…" muttered the thief who had been on the rope.
[Anikken Kisaragi]
"Lets just kick ass," said
the other thief, the one with the sword.
[Robert Arcane]
Anikken reached over his right
shoulder, grasping his weapon and holding it out before him. It was a form of a shuriken, only it was
shaped more like the petals of a flower, as the five blades had rounded edges
and ended in a point, as opposed to the normal triangular blades.
Robert reached to his left hip,
grasping the hilt of his sabre and pulling it out, keeping the blade down as
though it was a dagger, then turning it so the blade was out to the right. The boy ran a hair through his spiked red
hair as a guard rushed at him, firing his rifle. Robert easily sidestepped the blast and spun in a half-circle to
his right, the blade slicing easily into the guard's chest. Robert pressed his foot to the guard's
stomach and kicked the guard off of his blade, causing him to collide with the
other guard in front of Robert, whom Robert charged forward to attack…
Anikken pulled his shuriken, called
The Lesath, over his left shoulder before throwing it like a discus into one of
his guard assailant's necks. It sliced
in, but didn't swing out the other end, as it hit the guard's spinal cord and
dug in…stuck. Anikken leaped into the
air in mid-run at the other guard, swinging out his right foot and catching the
guard in the left temple, knocking the guard unconscious from the blow so close
to his central mainframe-his brain.
Robert flipped his sabre in his
hand; now holding it like one would normally hold a sword, with the tip of the
blade towards pointing up. Robert
raised his right foot as he swung his blade at his guard target, the blade
slashing across of the guard's chest. The injured guard fell to his knees, holding his wound in pain to keep
from dying of blood loss. Robert pushed
the guard down with his foot, moving the tip of his sabres blade to the guard's
throat.
"…Where…is the exhibit on
Materia and Mako?" demanded Robert.
"…It's…it's in the East Wing,
on the right side…floor…floor one! Please…please don't kill me…please…"
"…I guess they don't teach you
guards to be brave…" Robert commented to the terrified security personal,
removing the blade from his neck and walking towards the other end of the room
while Anikken pulled his Lesath from the enemy's neck unmercifully. As Robert pressed the button for the
elevator, Anikken walked towards him.
"With fighting skills like
yours, I guess you're lucky I'm around." The self-confident
seventeen-year-old boy said with a nod. His black hair was cut in a crew cut, and his brown eyes were definite
sign that he was the son of the famous materia thief, Yuffie Kisaragi, idol to
many young materia hunters.
"…Remember, I control who gets
what amount of profits," Robert said with a growl.
The elevator let out that dinging
sound to tell you, 'yes, I am operating correctly' as it opened the doors. Robert and Anikken entered the elevator car.
The guard lay on the floor, blood
soaking his uniform. He reached to his
belt…grabbed his intercom. He brought
the receiver to his mouth. "…Intruders…" he managed to mutter before the blood-loss drove
him unconscious.
A huge siren filled the elevator
shaft as Robert and Anikken went from the fourth floor of the building to the
first floor. "…I told you using
the elevator wasn't a good idea," muttered Anikken.
"…It was you who made the
stupid plan!" Robert exclaimed as the elevator came to a lurching
stop. Robert looked up at to see that
they were in between the second floor and the third floor.
"…So how do we get out?"
Robert asked his companion.
"…In the movies, these cars
always have little trap-doors at the top. We could push through and get out on the second floor…but we might run
in to trouble…or, we could open the trapdoor, cut the rope, let the car fall
while we hold what's left of the rope and then drop down…and hope we can grab
on to the ledge of the elevator door opening for the first floor…"
"Wait! There's more than one elevator car,
right? That means there's bound to be
one either near the first floor or at the first floor! Lets try my idea! Open the hatch!"
Anikken reached, but try as he might
he couldn't touch the top of the car! So Robert unsheathed his sabre, thrusting the sharp blade up at the
ceiling, into the center, where it slid through.
"…Now…" Robert thought
aloud to himself as he pushed further on the sabre, causing a square-shape of
the ceiling to pop out. Robert pulled
the sabre back in, but made sure the hatch stayed open. He leapt up, re-sheathing his sabre as he
did so, and grabbed the side of the hatch. Luckily, Robert was in good health, and he pulled himself up out of the
elevator car, rolling to the side and reaching his hand in for his ally.
Anikken's gloved bare hand grasped
Robert's and Robert leaned back, pulling Anikken up through the hole. Anikken stood on the top of the elevator car
and looked at the two cars to the right. One was stopped at the floor above. The other, at what had to be the basement floor.
"So…are we going with my
idea?" Robert asked, turning to face Anikken as he stood up as well.
"…Yeah. Here's the plan, we…oh for crying out
loud! Why didn't we just take the stairs?"
Anikken yelled into the empty elevator shaft, only to be drowned out by the
blaring siren.
"…I don't think we can handle
this thing! I say we call Luke!"
Robert shouted to be heard.
"…Fine…" muttered a surly
Anikken as he removed his PHS from the pocket of his pants. He hit a four-digit-code and brought the PHS
to his ear and mouth. "Luke. The first elevator on the left. We need it moved.
The form sitting upon the roof began
typing quickly upon his small computer. He brought his right hand to his right knee then brought it up, holding
what looked like a cellular phone. "No can do, Anikken. They've locked-down the cables. …Yeah, I'll try."
The man on the roof began typing
rapidly, his fingers flying over the keys. A smirk crossed his face and he threw his arms up into the air in
victory. "Bingo, boys. You've got an entrance to the second
floor."
The elevator doors flew open and out
bounded Anikken and Robert, weapons at ready. Sometime before, the sirens had ceased, but the eerie silence of this
exhibit made it certain. All of this
exhibit's lights were on, though, and as Robert and Anikken looked around, they
realized the exhibit was of prehistoric creatures. A large Tyrannosaurus-Rex skeleton towered over them…several
saber-toothed-tiger models were standing upon a wide metal structure…a
computer-based mini-exhibit on the "Ancients"…a model Jenova…a
glowing green orb…and a group of oddly placed cavemen.
"…Cavemen didn't have guns…did
they?" Robert asked.
…Anikken turned to look at him. A smirk crossed his face as he looked to the
cavemen…Anikken through his Lesath…The large star-like weapon swerved, swooping
around the cavemen and flying into the Tyrannosaurus-Rex's form.
"…Bad aim, kid, now you're
gonna pay!" squeaked a caveman.
Anikken just kept smiling as the
"cavemen" approached. "…Look out," he told the group as the huge mass of
Tyrannosaurus bones came crashing down upon them. Anikken walked to the pile of bones, grabbing his Lesath with a
smirk.
"…Now…for that materia…"
Anikken said, stroking his chin.
The man in the black trench coat
leaned over the technical-security worker's shoulder, looking at the monitor
before him. "It appears this
facilities security…is awful…I knew your people couldn't handle this themselves…this
is definitely a job for the Turks…Here's what you can do to save your own ass
and your paycheck…make it absolutely certain…that the only exit for these
thieves…these warriors…is the exhibit in which your soldiers made a mockery of
themselves…We will corner them…and take them into custody."
"Y-y-yes sir…" the
technician managed to sputter, but the man in the black trench coat wasn't
listening, having turned around and brushing a strand of his long brown hair
from his face. He needed no answer-it
would be done no matter what.
"…Holy…crap," a wide-eyed
Anikken muttered to himself.
The exhibit was filled with useful
Materia-summons, spells, status, command, independent-most of it mastered. Robert smirked as he simply smashed his fist
into the materias glass protection-the alarms were already off; there was no
need to be careful. His gloved hand
grasped a Cure materia, a Manipulate materia, a Lightning materia, and an
un-labeled summon materia, all of which he stuffed into his pack.
Anikken had cleared out another
showcase of materia. He smirked. "Mastered 'All' Materia. We'll make a shit-load of money!"
But Robert wasn't paying attention,
because on a stand of its own was a glowing green orb-The Ultima Materia. He reached over the side of the stand, his
fingers nearing the Mako ball.
"Hold it right there,
scum." An un-familiar voice behind him snarled. "That Materia is ours."
Robert slowly turned, looking
forward at the man in a black trench coat standing only a few meters away. The man's brown hair was pushed back behind
his ears, falling to his jawbone. In
his right hand he grasped a handgun, which he kept at his side.
"I am called Janus, leader of
the Neo-Turks! As I said, that is our
Materia. We'll take it from you
peacefully-or by force. Either way,
we'll take it from you."
"*Ksssh* Yeah! Because we need it for our bosses plan! By the way, Janus, do you still have the
disk in your pocket? We need it down
here soon so we can start our 'dun dun duuuun' plan!" squeaked a voice
from Janus' walkie-talkie.
Janus' eyes widened. "…Damnit! Send out the Pegasus Prototype!"
As Janus shrank into the shadows,
Robert and Anikken drew they're weapons.
"…Luke's gonna be getting us an
exit."
A huge patch of the floor suddenly
disappeared, becoming a dark square. A
huge roar emitted from the hole and out bounded a robotic horse, gigantic and
bearing wings upon it's back.
"…Holy…crap! Robert, did you equip that Lightning materia
yet!?"
Robert leapt forward, ducking and
rolling under the beast and pushing to his feet behind it. He sheathed his sabre, raising his hands
into the air, he closed his eyes and felt a small surge of power leave him as a
crackling lightning struck the robotic Pegasus. Sparks fizzled around the metal frame, but the Pegasus-Prototype
leapt into the air, flapping twice with it's wings before dropping onto
Anikken, hooves hitting the boy in the chest and causing him to tumble
backwards.
Anikken managed to struggle to his
feet, though, and-placing his Lesath into its clip, he brought his hands into
the air. Robert watched as crystal
clear ice covered the Pegasus. Robert
smirked, using this short while in which the Pegasus was frozen to cast another
Bolt spell, the ice splintering out in shards from the Pegasus' metal body.
The robotic beast, ignoring Robert,
rammed its head into Anikken. Anikken
crumpled on the ground, not rising to his feet.
"Anikken!" Robert managed
to cry out. Suddenly, Anikken was
immersed within a red aura. He rose to
his feet, obviously annoyed.
"…[Starlit Evening]!" the
charged Anikken roared out, leaping into the air and throwing his Lesath
through the ceiling of the museum. Time
lapsed, seconds seeming like minutes. Anikken smiled as the Pegasus made its way towards him once more.
Wham! A bowling-ball sized orb of blue flames crashed into the Pegasus
beast, followed up by many more orbs, all ripping through the robot's hull and
finally, down came the Lesath, returning to Anikken's hand.
The robotic Pegasus fell to the
ground, seemingly fried. It's visual
units dimmed from a green to darkness. The green sparked back up again, only to be consumed once more by the
dark.
Robert was breathing a sigh of
relief right as the robotic Pegasus' eyes began to glow once more and it rose
to its feet. From it's back, between
the wings, erupted two cannons.
"Run!" Anikken cried,
scampering away from the beast with Robert at his heels, they leaped up,
grabbing the rope they had used to lower themselves down to this first
floor. They began climbing like mad,
leaping over the guardrail and into the museum's second floor. Running for their lives, they reached the
prehistoric creature's room just as the robotic Pegasus blasted two red charges
at Anikken, hitting him in each shoulder. The Pegasus landed on the floor, slowly approaching Anikken, who was
lying extremely still-was he dead?
Robert knew his Sabre could not
penetrate the Pegasus' hull, and he felt he hadn't enough strength for another
spell. He looked at the cylinder, which
pulsated green-read the panel below it.
[An ancient sword, said to be
created by an extinct race. Its blade
is said to be amazingly powerful, but it can only be used by-
Robert turned back to face Anikken,
who was about to be trampled by the robotic Pegasus. There was no time to read signs. He slammed his fist against the cylinder. Once. Twice. Three-times. Four-CRACK! His fist
crashed into the containment unit, grasping a hard handle. He pulled and through the casing ripped a
blade. The handle was long. The blade was huge. Upon the blade, which seemed to glow a faint
green, the word "Monolith" was inscribed. Robert turned to face the Pegasus as Anikken rolled out of the
way.
His feet pounding against the
linoleum floor, Robert leapt into the air, bringing this huge beast of a sword
over his shoulder and then down onto the Pegasus-Prototype's back. He smirked as the blade glided through the
metal hull. Robert's feet hit the ground
just before the two halves of robotic Pegasus did.
Robert felt a surge of energy enter
him as Luke bounded in through a window.
"Come on! We're getting out of here! …Now!" Luke cried out as into the room marched the Janus person and a squad of
SOLDIERs. Robert and Anikken darted to
the window, Anikken slower-filled with pain, though he hid it with grim
features. They pulled themselves out of
the window as the SOLDIERs and Janus surrounded Luke.
Luke's eyes darted around the circle
of SOLDIERs and that Neo-Turks. His
mind thought back to a previous mission.
"We can't leave him there,
Anikken!" Robert shouted, scrambling to re-enter the museum as Anikken
held him back.
"We can't go in there
either! It's too late for him!"
Luke threw his hand out, grasping
the barrel of a SOLDIERs rifle, twisting it out of the hands of its owner and
pointing it at another SOLDIER.
"Sorry, kid, but that only
works in the movies," whispered the Neo-Turks' leader into his ear just
before he struck the butt of his gun into Luke's head. Luke fell to his knees…then flat on his
face.
"…He's their trophy now…"
Three weeks later, the morning
brought well-needed light. Light which
poured into Robert's eyes through the window of the small room, which he had
used for the night. The blankets were
warm…too warm…he tossed them off, swinging his legs over the side of the bed
and sitting up. A shuffle of feet
across the carpet nearby…his hand flew to the night table, wear his Sabre was
leaning, but instead grasped a pouch of money.
"…Anikken sold some
Materia," he muttered to himself as he then grabbed his sabres hilt. He stood, holding the sabre in a fighting
stance. "Who's there?"
A red blur darted across the floor,
which Robert tracked with his eyes until it disappeared. "I've been told about you, Arcane, and
I'd like to hire you," came a youthful, male voice from the red creature.
He was about the size of a lion cub,
and looked like one too, with the exception of dark red fur. He had an average-sized tail for something
his size, which held an orange flame at the tip. His claws had metal tips, which were connected by cords to the
Titan Bangles he wore.
"…I am…"
[Raptor]
"Son of Nanaki the
Warrior! …Yet, I'm embarrassed to
admit, my fighting skills are not yet harnessed. Which is why I'm hiring you. I've read about you, Arcane. You
possess strength, intelligence, and courage. I need your help to…eh…get rid of some of the files Shinra left in
existence…namely, the files containing data upon my species…the less they know,
the better."
"…How much will I be
paid?" Robert inquired.
"3,000 gil. It's not that much, but it's still
gil." Raptor said, stepping closer to Robert. "So are you in?"
Robert thought…nodded. "I'm in."
"Good, we leave in thirty
minutes."
Raptor darted out of the room,
Robert close behind, grabbing his belongings…the sun shining over Kalm was only
dimmed by the shimmering blade of the Monolith…
The scientist pulled on the handle,
a long drawer sliding out, and mist springing from the inside. A woman sat up from inside the drawer,
blonde hair down to her waist.
"Hojo? Is that you?"
"Your partner Anikken shall be
joining us there," Raptor commented to Robert as the Buggy drove from the
Chocobo Ranch near Kalm to Midgar.
"…Okay," responded Robert,
re-adjusting the position in which he sat.
"…I know this mission is fairly
easy, but the remnants of Shinra Incorporated still exist, prowling the halls
of the former Shinra headquarters. We
must me cautious."
"…Alright."
"So…you know about my
father-Nanaki-Or at least you should know. He fought in the battle against Sephiroth alongside warriors like Cloud
Strife, Barret Wallace, and Yuffie Kisaragi-But what about your father? What about your mother? Where are they? What are they like?"
"…You ask a lot of questions I
would rather not answer," Robert replied to the nosy creature.
"…Alright, then. If you do not wish to answer-," Raptor
offered, cutting himself short with a sigh.
"…I never knew my parents. All I knew was that I was alive. …When I was young I was told they were
dead…they died climbing Gaea Cliffs…maybe they were weak…I'm not sure…but I'm
not weak…and I'd prefer neither you nor that mama's boy Anikken talk about your
great warrior parents in front of me, because I don't give a damn."
"…Hey look! We're almost there!" exclaimed Raptor,
frantically trying to change the subject.
The Buggy zoomed into Sector 4's new
garage and out bounded Robert, who took a moment to collect up his swords, and
Raptor, stepping forward to meet Anikken, who was standing at the elevator
door. This garage was for the elite
people living on the plate, and it was only through the fake IDs-which Raptor
had supplied-that their Buggy was allowed access. Anikken nodded slightly and pressed his finger against the
elevators "up" button.
"God do I hate elevators,"
commented Robert as he watched for the light, a comment that brought upon
laughter from Anikken.
The light flashed and the steel
doors slid open. Raptor led the way,
trotting into the elevator car while Robert followed, swords sheathed, the
Monolith in the new leather sheath Robert had purchased. Anikken entered last, his Lesath still
clipped to the back of his belt.
Robert hit the button for the
sixty-eighth floor. "Access
Denied," chirped a robotic voice, "Please select a floor number
between: basement…3 and floor fifty-nine."
"…Alright then! We're going to the fifty-ninth floor and
working our way up from there!" announced Raptor.
"…What if…the data is stored in
the basement's database?" asked Anikken, squatting down to look more
towards Raptor.
"…Err…uh…I'm not sure!"
the creature exclaimed, tilting his head to the right.
"…Some leader you are,"
muttered Anikken as Robert hit the button for the fifty-ninth floor. The elevator accelerated quickly, rocketing
up the elevator shaft until it hit the selected floor. Robert darted from the car, searching the
room quickly before calming down and walking towards the stairs, followed by
Raptor and Anikken. Robert pointed his
thumb in the direction of two soldiers talking, a smirk playing across his
face.
Robert calmly approached the
soldiers, hearing one tell the other "Yeah, she'll be here in a short
while, so we have to make a good impression."
"You mean…she was alive?"
"Yep. Some freezing crap, I hear, kept her from dying, and now that
there's a cure for the disease…"
"…She's returning to the head
of Shinra!"
Robert struck, moving like lightning
to un-sheath his sabre and bury it into one soldier's side. Raptor flew through the air, clawing the
other soldier's throat. Both soldiers
fell to the ground and Robert withdrew his sabre from the first's middle.
Robert knelt down, pulling the
keycard ring from the belt of the soldier he killed. "Floor's sixty through sixty-five!"
"Right-o, let's stroll on up to
floor sixty-five!" exclaimed Raptor, darting towards the stairs, Robert
close behind and Anikken following after Robert. Robert unlocked the door to the stairs and up they ran, the six
flights leaving them only slightly tired. They opened the door to the sixty-fifth floor. A huge beast lunged through, hitting Robert in the chest and
toppling him to the ground.
Robert let himself roll backwards so
that it was now the beast that was pinned to the ground. A thought entered his mind and he looked up
to see Anikken using his Sense materia.
(Guard Hound. Level 3. HP: 42. MP: 0.)
Raptor lunged at the Guard Hound,
only to be batted away easily by the creature. Raptor hit the wall and bounced back to his feet, eyes glowing red as he
growled.
"…GRRRRAAAAAH!!!" roared
Raptor, suddenly growing huge, larger than a full-grown creature of his
type. His paws were the size of frying
pans with dagger-like claws at the ends. His teeth were at least six-inches long each. This little animal had suddenly become a huge beast!
Robert backed up as this beast-form
of Raptor lunged onto the Guard Hound, ripping into its flesh with his fangs,
tearing at it with his claws. By the
time Raptor had shrunken back to normal with a smirk, all that was left of this
Guard Hound was a bloody pile of insides on the floor.
"Shall we continue?"
Raptor asked the two humans.
"…Alright…" Anikken
managed to stammer, heading into the next room as Robert picked up a Potion
left over by the Guard Hound.
"It's starting to rain…"
Raptor muttered, the sound of the drops of polluted water hitting the thick
walls of the Shinra HQ present within the building. Robert pulled the top off of the Potion and poured it on the
wound left on Raptor by the Guard Hound, leaving the empty bottle on the floor
as he followed Anikken into the sixty-fifth floor's main room. Anikken stood before a window, pulling out
ropes from his pack.
"Screw the doors, we'll go
through the windows," Anikken said with a glance back to Robert as he
untangled the three ropes, tying the end of one to a terminal across the room
and the other end around his waist. "Tell Raptor to get his ass in-,"
"-Here?" asked the young
lion-like beast, standing at Anikken's feet.
"…Yeah." Anikken opened
the center window, placing his feet on the small ledge; he leaned backwards
slowly, keeping the rope not held by his hand tight. "Robert, give me the rope."
Robert grasped the rope; handed it
to Anikken. With one hand the son of
Yuffie spun the weighted end over his head. He released and up flew the end, swinging around a transmissions rod at
the top of the building. Anikken pulled
himself back into the room, sliding the rope wrapped around his waist to his
feet.
"I'll take Fido over here up to
the sixty-eighth floor on my back. You
stay close behind…not that I care about your health or nothin'…" Anikken
muttered, kneeling down as Raptor leapt onto his back, grasping Anikken's
shoulders within his paws. Anikken
stood and hopped out the window, grasping the rope within his hands.
As Anikken pulled himself up towards
the next floor, Robert took a moment to look around. A small jewelry box sat upon a desk in the next room over. Robert darted to the desk, pulling the lid
of the box off and gazing in to see a spell materia, which he knew to be the
type for Fire, and a red summon materia labeled "Red Bahamut," both
of which he collected and placed in two of the Monolith's materia slots. He returned to the window, bounding out and
grabbing the rope, which by now Anikken had climbed to the next floor on.
Robert began climbing, but then he
heard it. The sound was that of
helicopters. He pressed his right foot
against the side of the open window and spun himself around, so he was facing
out over Sector 3 of Midgar, which was fairly far below. He looked up in shock to see seven
helicopters approaching the top of the former Shinra Headquarters, all bearing
the Shinra logo on their sides. One of
the seven lowered drastically, so low that Robert was able to see right into
the front of the cockpit, where that brown-haired Turk sat-Janus. He waved his hand in the air and suddenly
the helicopters Mako gun leveled itself with Robert, who was now trying to
climb faster. A flash of red and the
thin rope was nearly ripped into by a ball of fire launched by the cannon.
"Anikken!" Robert
exclaimed, "Get your ass up to the sixty-eighth floor and get rid of those
files!"
Another blast followed by three
more, the final one barely hitting the rope just above Robert. With a snap, Robert tumbled down towards the
ground, the remains of the rope still in his hand. His arm was suddenly jerked on, and as he looked down, he
realized he was no longer moving. A
familiar face clad in a dark blue suit stood before him.
"Luke!" Robert exclaimed,
quickly leaping to his feet. Robert's
eyes darted from Luke's face to the large butcher-knife-like sword in his
hands.
"…Yes, that is my name,
Robert. I'm glad you remembered me-you
sure as hell didn't a few weeks ago." Luke snarled.
"…I'm glad you're alive. What are you doing here, Luke?"
"Ah, funny you should ask. You see, Janus gave me three options back
that night. I could die, spend my life
in prison, or make quadruple amount the money I currently make. Die...no. Spend my life in prison...wouldn't wanna upset the ladies. Hell, Robert, they even gave me a suit. A suit! And they gave me a new weapon? So screw the good guys! I'm a
Turk!" He smirked, his red bandana
the only piece of attire left from his days of working with Robert.
"…But aren't Turks supposed to
be one of the highest ranks in the Shinra military?" Robert asked his
friend…well, former-friend.
"Yeah, so you're saying I'm not
good enough? With my fighting skills,
abilities, and knowledge of technology and weapons, I'm by far the best
candidate for the position."
"…And why'd you save me? You could have let me fall if you're with
Shinra now. And…when did Shinra return
to existence!?"
"…You'll find out soon why
Shinra is back in action. The reason I
saved you was not because I valued your existence, only because we were to take
prisoners. So Robert, I guess we can't
be friends anymore."
Luke lunged, sword swinging…driving
into Robert's chest. A long cut was
constructed through Robert's shirt…through his flesh. Robert fell backwards, landing on his back from the force of the
blow. Luke smirked, raising his sword
into the air like a dagger, bringing it down towards Robert's heart. Robert rolled to the left, crashing into
Luke's shins and toppling the Turk backwards. He rose, unsheathing his sabre, and motioned for Luke to stand with the
movement of his left hand.
Luke was a vicious fighter, and he
quickly swung his sword towards Robert's neck. Robert raised his own sabre, the two blades colliding, and grasped the
hilt with both hands, not wanting to be over-powered by this new member of the
Turks. He ducked down, stepping behind
Luke's blade and pulling his sword away, this unexpected move causing Luke's
sword to swing uncontrolled the other way. Robert quickly sunk a blow into Luke's left shoulder.
"Argh!" growled the angry
Luke, sinking forward with the motion of the blade in his shoulder. Robert pulled his sabre away just as Luke
snarled, a ring of flames exploding around him. The Turk raised his hands into the air and with a horrified
shock, Robert realized they were clawed. Luke let his sword drop to the floor as golden hair started to sprout
from his face and the back of his hands—at least, the visible hair—blending
with the blonde hair atop his head. Suddenly, several black lines streaked through the fairly light hair,
rippling muscles causing thin tears within the suit jacket he wore until the
whole jacket shredded with the growing muscle mass within his arms. He smirked, his teeth now sharply
pointed. He reached down, grasping his
sword in his hand, rushing towards Robert.
Robert watched on in horror as Luke
sped towards him, blade swinging, catching Robert too many times. Drained, bleeding, and terribly injured,
Robert dropped to his knees, supporting himself with his left hand, blood
dripping from his wounds to the metal floor.
"I suppose I should have mercy
on you, Robert, seeing as how I was once your trusted ally and…friend…"
Robert looked up at Luke. No, Luke wasn't his friend anymore. That was for damn sure.
"…Nah." Luke said to
himself with a shrug, kicking Robert with tremendous force.
Robert skittered across the floor,
falling out of the open window as he sheathed his blade.
"That was easy," commented
Luke, turning towards the door. "I
would have thought he'd be more of a challenge…"
Through the rain-filled air, Robert
fell, the salty, polluted rain causing his deep wounds to sting. Out of nowhere, he smashed into a hard metal
surface, and then…blackness.
"…You ever see the sequel to Loveless? Damn that sucked," a females voice said, heard through the
immense darkness.
"I liked the first one…my dad
made me see the remake, and it was pretty good."
"Heh, your dad liked it, that's
why. What a wimp,"
"Get the hell out!"
The sound of someone hitting a wall
filled the air.
"…Ouch…that's got to
hurt…"
The sound of a door opening…then
being slammed shut.
"…Oo, he's bleeding…I'd better
go-have to make sure he doesn't tell mom I did it…"
"See you soon,"
"Yeah, bye."
Robert sat up, which was fairly hard
to do as he was in a soft bed with blankets and sheets tucked in tightly.
"Hey, the skydiver woke
up. What's your name,
faller-from-the-sky-er?"
"…Robert Arcane…where are my
weapons?" Robert stammered, rubbing his head.
"…No thank you? Oh well…my name's…"
[Rik Highwind]
Rik had short blonde hair-which went
down past her jaw-and a dark blue baseball cap, which she wore backwards,
covered the top of her head. She was
wearing a pair of very baggy jeans, black sneakers, and a loose white T-shirt.
"Yanno, you landed on the wing
of my plane-the Andromeda…I had to land outside Midgar and secure you in a
#$%@!& seat!"
"…I was on a mission with
my-with Anikken-,"
"Kisaragi,"
"-And Raptor,"
"The son of Nanaki? Cool stuff, I'm the daughter of-,"
"…Cid Highwind, pilot for
AVALANCHE who helped fight against Sephiroth. I know the routine…so who was that guy you just kicked out?"
"…My boyfriend," she
muttered, though her eyes twinkled when she said it.
"…Thank you for keeping me
alive…"
"No problem-o, dude. By the way, your weapons are in the closet
over there." Rik pointed towards a
small door on the other side of the room.
"…Where am I?"
"Rocket Town! Former home of the Shinra number
twenty-six!" exclaimed Rik, hopping to her feet. "Come on! Let's go
to my workshop! I'll show you my
projects!"
Rik lead Robert out of the room, and
on the way they made a quick pit stop to the closet. Marching out through the door, they made their way across the
street and to the large structure, which looked somewhat like an aircraft
hanger. Rik leaned forward, pressing a
button next to a speaker by the door, and muttering "Ants In Your Pants
Make You Do A Crazy Dance," causing the metal door to slide open.
In they stepped, and as they did,
Rik flipped on the lights. A look of
horror spread across Rik's face. "My…workshop!"
The place was trashed, tables were
overturned, tools were scattered over the ground, a drawer was wide open, but
in the corner the only thing left un-touched was a large bump covered by a
sheet. "Well, at least whatever it
was didn't hurt you," muttered Rik, pulling the sheet away to reveal a
large stuffed Moogle, which possessed miniature gray wings on it's back. Its body was an off-white color. Upon the head lay a little white ball, a
shiny gold crown upon its head and a silver flute in its hand. Around its neck was a blue cape, which went
down past the beginning of her feline tail.
"…What is it?" Robert
asked, looking to his new companion.
"…She is…"
[Caity Sith]
"See, the original Cait Sith,
controlled by Reeve of Shinra Inc. grew rusty over years of no use. I decided rebuilding it would be fun, so I
first bought a large Moogle, and then I constructed Caity Sith. She's got both an A.I. chip and a Manipulate
Materia-which of course is used to bring her Moogle to "life"-within
that little kitty head of hers. Caity
Sith! Wake up!"
With a light hum, the upper half of
the cat rose, her hind legs supporting her on the Moogle's back. "…I'm…Alive!"
"Caity Sith-please state your
mission," Rik commanded.
"My mission is to protect
humans, namely Rik Highwind. I speak
many languages and can perform many useful functions. Would you like to hear my functions?"
"Save it for later. Switch to self-control mode, Caity,"
Rik announced as she heard a shuffle of feet across the workshop. She reached to the wall and grasped a
spear. This spear wasn't just any
spear; it had two blades on the end, spaced two inches apart. …The Gemini.
"Who the #$&% is
there!?" shouted Rik.
"Oo, such language, did you
hear that Merri?"
"Yep. I sure did, Saphie."
Two shadowed forms appeared,
standing not-too-far from Rik, Robert, and Caity.
"Two Turks versus two humans
and…that thing?"
"No contest,"
"Not at all,"
The first had black hair containing
dark red streaks. Her hair ran down to
her shoulders, and on the top of her head, to the back and either side, were to
ball-like fluffs of hair. She smiled,
her pierced lip covered with dark purple lipstick. Her right eyebrow had a silver hoop through it. When she closed her dark red eyes, her dark
purple eye shadow was visible as well. Two black, demon-like wings were extended from her back, the bottoms of
the wings dropping to her knees. She
wore a white dress shirt and black tights, along with black boots and black
gloves (which were the keepers of her weapons-the metal plating over the
knuckles).
The second, however, had short brown
hair, which fell to her shoulders. Wings with white feathers, like that of an angels, were extended from
her back, and like her friend, she wore a white dress shirt and black tights,
but her boots where light brown and as opposed to her friend's metal knuckles,
this one held a coiled whip at her right hip. Dark blue lipstick covered her tiers natural pink. When her pale green eyes closed, light blue
eye shadow was visible.
"…Saphie," growled the one
with the black wings.
"Merri…" announced the one
with the white wings.
"We've come for your Airship
diagrams."
"Which we now have."
"So we'll be leaving now."
"So get out of our way."
Robert unsheathed his Monolith,
leaving his sabre in its sheath at his belt. He held the huge blade in his hands, yet despite its size, it didn't
seem to weigh much at all! In fact, the
only reason he held the hilt in both hands was because it kept the blade
balanced. With his right hand palm-down
holding the bottom of the hilt and his left hand palm-up holding the upper part
of the hilt, the blade was held out to his left.
Caity held her flute up in playing
position, ready to use it to help command her Moogle.
"Oo, fightin' time!"
exclaimed Saphie, leaping towards Robert and slamming her fist into his right
cheek. She smirked at the red mark it
left and flipped backwards. "To be
one of the Neo-Turks you have to be in perfect physical condition."
"Being beautiful is just our
nature," added Merri with a smile, one that would cause a man to
drool. But Robert had been
punched. And when you're punched,
you're pissed off, not out to drool over the enemies.
Robert lunged forward, swinging his
Monolith sword in an upward arc, which brought it right through where Saphie
should have been. He felt something
hard hit his back as his swing went out of control, the Monolith hitting the
ground. Robert grabbed the sword, re-sheathing
it in exchange for his trusty sabre. He
spun, only to be punched a third time by Saphie.
Meanwhile, the end of Rik's spear
had become entangled within the weighted end of Merri's whip. Merri smirked, landing a kick across Rik's
left temple. Rik retaliated, though, by
bashing the non-bladed end of her spear into Merri's forehead, causing the
member of the Turks to fall down, where upon Caity promptly commanded her
Moogle to attack with two sharp notes through her flute. The Moogle hopped up on Merri and jumped up
and down.
"Ouch! Get this thing off of me! Saaaaaaapphiiieeee!" cried Merri.
"Oh no! Are they…ruining your eye shadow!?"
asked Saphie of her partner.
Through her tears, Merri squeaked a
yes. Saphie's eyes began to glow like
embers.
"How…dare they!" she
screamed, lunging at Caity, twin barrels repeatedly colliding with the Moogle's
stuffed body. Finally, this punishment
caused Caity's Moogle to fall backwards-along with Caity!
Robert gripped his Sabre in his
hands, concentrating on the green materia orb embedded inside. His Lightning materia began to glow as he
re-sheathed his sword, pointing his hands at Saphie. A large bolt of lightning flew from his hands with the [Bolt]
spell, and as it connected with Saphie, her bones were visible for a moment. She shook her head and, with a growl, lunged
at Robert, slamming her fist into his jaw. Robert's head snapped back, but he quickly pulled himself together,
slicing his blade from the left side of Saphie's waist to her right shoulder,
leaving a bloody cut visible through the now-ripped shirt. This act caused Saphie's eyes to widen like
dinner plates and she smacked Robert with the back of her hand, the metal
knuckles causing him to hit a wall.
Saphie then lunged at Rik, knocking
her down and decking her in the right cheek as she crouched down on top of
her. "God damnit you
@!$#%&!! Get the hell offa
me!" and Rik slammed the butt of her spear into Saphie's sternum, pushing
the Dark Angel Turk off of her. Rik had
her pinned to the floor with the butt of her spear until Saphie rolled out from
the weight the spear had on her. Saphie
stood…kicked the stuffed Moogle twice.
Robert tackled the dark angel from
behind, pinning her to the ground as she struggled. Rik spun her spear in her hand before she slashed two thin lines
across Merri's nice dress shirt. Merri
snarled, thrashing out her whip, which coiled around Rik. She pulled on the end, slowly squeezing
tighter around Rik. Caity managed to
get her Moogle up and thwacked Merri upside the head with her flute.
Saphie quickly pushed herself up,
shoving Robert to the ground. Robert
leaped to his feet, the red summon materia embedded within his Sabre beginning
to glow. Rik and Caity, this condensed
Mako-this knowledge of the Ancients…this part of the Lifestream-recognizing
them as allies, faded away into nothingness, as did Robert. In fact, they were still there, just not
visible or really "existing" there, unable to be felt or harmed. Un-noticed. They watched as a vortex appeared in the center of the room, from which
a red ball rolled out. The red ball suddenly
bounced up, arms, legs, wings, tail, and head un-tucking to form a small red
dragon. The words [Light Flare] shot
through their minds.
The dragon—Red-Bahamut—began to flap
its wings, hovering in the air, and opened its mouth wide. From its mouth came a small squeak. It closed its mouth, shook its head, and yet
again, opened its mouth. A dim light
emitted from Red-Bahamut's throat. This
brought upon laughter from Saphie and Merri.
"That's…it?"
"Hah!"
Suddenly, Red-Bahamut opened its
mouth again, a roar booming through the room, loud enough to hurt the
ears. It raised itself higher, its
mouth still open, and formed a small ball of energy within its mouth.
"…A loud roar…"
"…And a puny ball of
energy?"
Rearing its head back, Red-Bahamut
launched the ball at Saphie and Merri, the two Turks, where it hit the ground
between them and exploded, causing both to smash into the walls. As Red-Bahamut flew back into its vortex and
the rift closed behind it, Robert, Rik, and Caity reappeared.
"…That's it!"
"…You've asked for it!"
"[Black Rose]!" exclaimed
Saphie.
"[White Rose]!" exclaimed
Merri.
They both pressed their own wrists
together, spreading apart their palms. From the crevice between Saphie's wrists grew the bud of a Black Rose,
and from the crevice between Merri's grew a White Rose. The two partners smirked as suddenly the
roses bloomed, the petals opening and from the two roses' depths launched twin
orbs of energy, though Saphie's was black and Merri's was White.
Robert, Rik, and Caity simply
stepped back, the orbs from Saphie and Merri's Limit-Breaks shooting towards
one another.
"Oh no!"
"This sucks!"
With a boom, both were knocked to
the ground. Without ease they stood,
staggering.
"Fine…"
"…You can have the damn
diagrams back…"
"They weren't worth much to us
anyways…"
"…Only a few hundred-thousand
Gil…"
With that, both of these Elite
Shinra Soldiers flew through the workshop's ceiling, leaving the many Airship
blueprints lying on the ground…Rik knelt down. "I'll get started on our new Airship!" she exclaimed with a
smirk. "You can just hang around
here if you want…"
"…Where is the Weapon
Shop?" asked Robert, stepping towards the door.
"Down the street, next to the
main entrance to the town." Rik said, beginning to re-sort her scattered
items. "Take Caity with you, it's
better if she experiences what it's like out there."
Robert left his Monolith in the
workshop before stepping outside--it got in the way too much and would probably
freak out the townspeople.
Passing the Shinra Number
Twenty-Seven, which was currently under construction, Robert noticed an old man
sitting on a large treasure chest. "Rockets are wonderful. That's what my father told me. What do you think?"
"…They're…nifty," Robert
said, raising his red right eyebrow.
"…Are you being sarcastic,
young-one?" asked the old man of Robert.
"Not at all," Robert
responded, crossing his arms over his chest.
"…Right…Goodbye," the old
man groaned, waving Robert away. Robert
continued to the Weapons Shop, Caity bouncing along behind him.
"…What an old fart," Caity
muttered, which brought laughter from Robert as he entered the Weapons Shop.
In front of the counter were two
teens, the male standing taller than the female. Both had red hair, though the male's hair was hidden by his
cowboy hat.
"How much for these
nunachku?" asked the female.
The young owner of the Weapons Shop
leaned forward on the counter, looking at her. "For you, three hundred gil..."
"…Hey Bullwinkle, what about
that gun over there? How much for
it?" the male asked the clerk.
The clerk stood, an angry look upon
his face, "Three-thousand gil, as the price-tag says."
"What!? So I'm not cute enough now, huh!? Well to hell with you!" shouted the
male, turning, and a wide smirk on his face as he stormed out, the female close
behind him. Robert stared blankly
forward until Caity tapped him with her flute.
"We'd like to buy some
weapons," Caity told the clerk.
"Ah yes, what would you
like?"
The clerk showed Robert the weapons
list:
(Blue Sabre)
(Lesath II)
(Hedge Trimmer)
(Dark Claws)
(Shinra Beta)
Robert purchased the Blue Sabre,
along with three Shinra Beta's, one he immediately put on his right wrist and
another he handed to Caity. He stepped
out of the Weapons Shop, looking to where the old man had sat before-the chest
was left unoccupied. He slowly opened
the lid and inside he saw two fan-like items, with a near-semi-circle
"blade" and saw-like handles. They were white and had serrated fringes on the top, which altogether
looked like a group of feathers. Robert
pulled the fans from the box and clipped them to his belt. On the lid of the treasure chest was a strip
of gold, which said "Angel Feathers". Robert sheathed his new sabre in his old sabres sheath, holding
the old sabre in his hand as he looked up at the afternoon sky.
Later he would begin to travel. To find materia…to find himself. But for now, he was in need of a meal. He stepped inside Rik's workshop…
"…So why did we get stuck with
this job?" asked Saphie, wrapping her wings around herself. Atop the Gold Saucer's highest
"bowl" stood the seven figures, surrounded by six tanks filled with
writhing green substances-were they…alive?
"…Because you screwed up,
Saphie," Janus snarled, "You too, Merri."
"Mewwi ish sowwy," Merri
mumbled, creating a sniffling sound as she wrapped her wings around herself.
"Oh shut up," commented an
unidentified member of the Turks, pointing a dagger at Merri.
"…Hmph," muttered Merri,
looking at one of the green-filled tanks. "So what's in here anyways…?"
"Jenova cells…in junction with
Mako…in essence, there's bits of Materia in there, but as Mako is actually
Materia…" Janus explained.
"…So what does it dooo?"
asked a black-haired member of the Turks, an axe held in his hands, the area
below the double head resting upon his shoulder.
"Contaminates six
individuals…it's set to target the…strongest of them, the ones who will
survive, and these six will be corrupted with Jenova and Materia essence,
therefore turning them into…well, they'll be mutated into the Jenova beasts of
the past…" the thick voice of a scientist said, appearing out of nowhere
upon the top bowl. "Unless six of
you would like to become these specimens…I suggest you put on your
air-filters."
"…Right-o!" commented one with
a long metal rod, placing his air-filter over his mouth and strapping it over
the back of his head. The others
followed suit.
"And, when these Jenova beasts
are created, Shinra shall eventually destroy them, bringing faith back into the
company! You can thank Miss Shinra for
that…" said the scientist, laughing as he walked to a tank. He placed his air-filter on over his mouth
and nose and flipped the five switches on the tank. The tank's lid slid to the side and out flowed the Jenova-Mako
substance.
The particles shot through the air,
though staying together, zooming down to the lower bowls of the Gold
Saucer. Past the roller coaster, the
Chocobo races, and the Gondola. Over
the steps of the Chocobo Racing Forum, through the shaft for the Event Square,
where a play was underway, the particles zoomed. The green substance neared the crowd, homing in on a muscular
young man sitting next to a beautiful brunette. The bacteria, since that is what it was, flew at the man,
invading his mouth and his nose, swarming through his bodily tunnels into the
lungs, into the stomach, into the brain and heart.
In the center of the Event Square, a
man began to twitch. His
eyes-completely-turned a dark shade of green. He came to his feet, the girl next to him moving away in fear. The actors and actresses on stage looking on
as the man stumbled around the audience, parts of his body bulging out suddenly
and returning to normal. He raised his
right hand into the air…down it came, huge and a dark red color, hitting aside
a group of people who had come to see the play. His arms had grown huge, falling down to the floor, when suddenly
his legs melded together, forming one thick leg which suddenly became thicker,
his pants ripping along with his shirt, leaving the mutated man unclothed, yet
his body was now so deformed that there was no difference. Despite the red arms, base, and back, the
stomach was gray. Several small
tentacles branched out from the creature's base and finally the head mutated,
lowering on the shoulders so that the neck sprouted from below the former
human's shoulders. His arms rose into
the air, the most comfortable position for the awkward things, as his face
became gray. He opened his mouth,
needle-like teeth dripping yellow saliva down his jaw as four fairly short
tentacles sprouted from his back, hanging down.
The scientist smiled, still standing
on the top of the Gold Saucer's upper bowl, the Turks destroying the remains of
the Jenova containers as the scientist removed his air-filter.
"…Let the terror begin, my
little friends, let the terror begin."
"Erm…no, I think nine cups of
tea is my lim--ok, ten cups of tea is my limit…uh, thanks Mr. Highwind."
Shera Highwind poured the sugary tea
from her teapot into Robert's teacup. Robert picked the small cup up and quickly drank it, a slight look of
displeasure across his face.
"Dad, I think Robert's had
enough." Rik muttered, leaning back in her chair and propping her feet up
on the table, doing exactly like what her father Cid was doing.
"Nonsense! Erm…Maybe you're right." Cid muttered,
"So Robert, what brings you here?"
"Well…I'm sort of searching for
my family…and hunting for materia…and trying to stop Shinra…" Robert
explained to Mr. Highwind, gesturing to his two swords, which leaned against
the wall.
"How would you like to borrow
Rik's new invention, Caity Sith, Robert?" Shera cut in.
"No way in hell will--…Fine…he
can borrow her…" muttered Rik, defeated, "But ONLY if he takes me
along! I don't trust him with
Caity!"
"That's the spirit,
kiddo!" Cid said triumphantly.
"…Uh…Okay…?" Robert said
with a raise of his left eyebrow.
Cid tossed Robert a pouch. "That's five-thousand Gil. Go have fun. Go fight all those bad things. Go destroy Shinra! And most of
all…go make sure Rik and her boyfriend stay in separate beds along the
way! Oh, and, you might want to pass
over Mount Nibel to the southeast. It's
the quickest way to, dun dun duuuun, Nibelheim!"
Despite the urge, Robert refrained
from commenting on the weirdness of the Highwind's.
Robert grasped the rock and pulled
himself off, using the same rock to stand on as he leaned against the side of
the tall mountain. Not too far below,
Caity was bounding from rock to rock and Rik was cursing like a sailor-excuse
me, like a pilot-as she slipped on a patch of pebbles. Robert shook his head with a laugh, wiping a
few beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his right hand, which was
gloved in an old pair of Mr. Highwind's fingerless gloves.
"What if I fall?" Rik
shouted, the wind partly dragging away the sound.
Robert looked down at his new
companion. "If you fall, I'll call
your father and tell him to bring a spatula to the base of the mountain!"
"Droll…extremely--," Rik
had begun, but her talking was interrupted as she yelled: "Look out!"
Robert instinctively ducked and he
felt the wind rush slightly over his head, a pleasant feeling it would be, had
he not been in danger. He heard the
scraping of something on the rock side of the mountain behind him and lunged
up, grabbing a ledge not too far above and, without much difficulty, bringing
himself up. He turned, unsheathing his
sabre but leaving the Monolith at his back. He took a slow look over the ledge…
Blocking out the view of Rik and
Caity scampering up the mountainside was a Nibel Wolf, which lunged at Robert
from below. Robert sidestepped the
lunge and turned to look at the beast. His fur was a dark brown, but his body was like that of a normal wolf,
save for the larger paws and teeth. Robert knew this one was male, obviously protecting his territory, as
the females were generally lighter in color. Robert saw that the area of mountain near the ledge's back held a cave,
obviously where this wolf's pack was.
The wolf hopped forward, snapping
his fangs at Robert, the sharp panache ripping into Robert's sleeve. Robert kicked the wolf's snout and the wolf
hopped back for a moment, but only for a moment, because then the canine
bounded forward and rammed his muzzle into Robert. Robert's side ached from the
blow, and he'd decided he'd had enough. He spun his sabre in his hand, spun a full circle to the right and let
his blade swing out, slicing the wolf across the muzzle and leaving a deep
gash, from which light red blood trickled.
The wolf reared his head back and
let out a sharp bark and seven more wolf shapes stepped cautiously from the
den. One other male, obviously the
Omega wolf, and six females, were snarling at Robert. The Omega had a scratch over his right eye, and a mean look in
his left. The females were all mainly
the same color, though one's light-brown fur held patches of gray.
"Oh…shit…" mumbled
Robert. One of these wolves was tricky,
but eight?
"The cavalry is here!"
shouted Caity as she and Rik appeared from below the ledge. Caity's Moogle was doing most of the work,
of course.
Robert went back to work on his
original wolf, managing to stab his sabre so deep into the wolf's side that on
the other side, the skin was bulging out. Robert pulled the sabre out, re-sheathing it and, with a cynical grin,
pulled out the Monolith. Robert grasped
it tightly in his hands and leapt over the wolf, which was now attacking Robert
again. Landing behind it, he cleanly
sliced it across the back, his sword gliding through very deep until he pulled
it from the flesh, and turned to face the wolves concentrating on Caity Sith.
"…The cat…" he muttered,
and leapt into the melee, slamming his Monolith's blade through the neck of a
female wolf and into the ground, which, of course, left the female without a
head. He looked to Rik, who had
skewered a wolf by the neck with her Gemini spear and was hitting another wolf
with it. Caity was signaling for her
Moogle to strangle one while she beat the other with her flute. Robert kicked away the wolf that was
attacking Caity and sliced upward and diagonally to the left across it, sending
the sliced body over the ledge and tumbling down towards the foot of the
mountain. Caity's Moogle had finished
strangling the wolf and she looked around happily.
"Anyone up for more?" she
asked the wolves. Another wolf leapt at
her, but the Moogle laid back and the wolf went unexpectedly over the
ledge. But now the Omega wolf and the
last female (the one who was being beaten by her former companion's body) were
closing in on Rik. Their bites dug into
her legs, causing holes to grow in her jeans. Blood stained the blue fabric and Rik's eyes suddenly flared in a dark
red, a red glow surrounding her body.
Rik leapt up into the air. She had told Robert about her [Polaris]
attack, and now he was going to see it. As though it was a javelin, she hurled the spear straight up into the
air, ripping a hole through the clouds where it somehow was night. The spear disappeared from sight and the
North Star shimmered…the North Star was growing bigger! Or so it seemed, the spear came back through
the clouds it had pierced, which closed behind it. At the tip of the two blades a beach ball sized orb of energy,
the Polaris, was held. The spear
crashed into the ledge and through the air sounded an explosion that was hard
on Robert's ears as the world seemed to explode around him…no…no, it was the
ledge! The ledge was crumbling! He saw the hand of Caity's Moogle! He grabbed it and felt a hand grab his…he
was unmoving, but the rocks below them were…they tumbled down the side of the
mountain.
"Good work, Rik…" Robert
mumbled, swinging his companion on his arm and releasing, causing Rik to drop
into the cave that the wolves had made into their den. Robert followed suit and Caity dropped down,
which meant Robert and Rik had to grab the arms of her Moogle and pull them in.
Inside the cave they found several
bones and many items. Filling the cave
were ten Potions, a wolves' skeleton, an Earth materia, which Robert handed to
Caity, and a Restore materia, which he handed to Rik. Robert also found a Revive materia and a box containing ten
Phoenix Downs…these wolves seemed to have a lot of victims.
Robert had left those
fans back at Rik's workshop before they had left, and was glad too, because his
pack had limited room. Rik had trouble
while trying to bring all of her tools because of the weight.
Then Robert realized something was
missing--Monolith! His sword was
gone! He peered out over the cave
opening…no Monolith. But his thoughts
were interrupted when Rik announced that she'd found a tunnel, "with a
ladder!?"
Robert and Caity joined her at the
small opening, and Rik announced: "It leads to the top!"
Robert, glad to get away from this
nasty mountain and get to a town where he could rest, leapt into the small
shaft, grasping the grooves in the wall and climbing up behind Rik while Caity
struggled below, her Moogle barely able to fit in the shaft. As Robert climbed out into the heat, and
light, of the sun, he smiled. They were
at the flat zenith of the mountain, and looking below he saw a long valley and
a nice-looking town.
"Nibelheim…" Rik said
poetically, "Home of the famous Cloud and Tifa Strife and their
children."
Robert looked up at the sky…the
clouds…the clouds seemed to form a triangle, the top-to him-pointed behind
him. He turned and there, the top half
of the blade embedded in the rock of the mountain. Robert stepped towards it, grabbing the hilt, and pulling it out,
quickly re-sheathing it and stepping back to his friends, spooked by the cloud
formation and the fact that his sword had gotten all the way to the top. He'd ask Rik if it was even possible later.
"…Should we head down?"
Rik inquired, looking to Caity and Robert.
"…Yeah…" Caity said with a
nod.
"Yes," Robert agreed. Then, a sharp pain filled his head. He pressed the palms of his hands to his
temples as Rik and Caity turned to look at him. Falling onto his back, his vision turned to blackness…
…The little boys were on the
swing-set…the one on the left was smaller and his hair was short and red,
hanging to his earlobes. The other had
black hair, which hung to his cheeks and had silver tips. They were swinging, and their mouths were
moving, but no sound emitted from them. In fact, there was no sound, which is the eeriest sound of all. A taller brown-haired man stepped up in
front of them…
About a billion people had filled
Midgar's largest plate auditorium. A
woman stood at a podium, her face grim, blue eyes so cold that as she looked at
the crowd, they instantly grew silent.
"I…" she began, "Am
Cassidy Shinra. I am…the youngest of
the Shinra children, two being the number. I have woken up to a disgusting world…my mother was dead when I was a
child, yes, but now my father is dead. My brother is dead. Do I have compassion
for my father and brother? No. No I do not. For they…they were the ones who locked me in an icy grave. 'For the good of the people' they had
insisted. This world disgusts me. You all talk of freedom, yet you live by the
old rules of the Shinra…you salute Shinra soldiers…well good. I'm glad. This will make things much easier. First and foremost, I own you all. Yes, you might say there are over a billion of you, so why not
mutiny? There are several billion
soldiers in my army. Sev-er-al,"
she hissed, separating the word into syllables. "You disagree, you will be punished. Now…we are initiating the shield around the
city in thirty minutes. If you need to
get in or out of the city…too bad! All
you should need is here. Now I shall
introduce you to those who will be monitoring you, besides me. First, there is the Council of Five. …They are Madison, Davis, Andrews, Taklar,
and Burll. They supposedly help me make
decisions…a lot of help they are…"
Three men and two women stood to the
left of the podium and took a bow.
"Then, there are the
Turks. Lead by Janus…"
The brown-haired man stepped out,
spinning his gun on his finger and holstering it, standing to the right of the
podium.
"Calin," the brown-haired
member of the Turks had a short ponytail to the bottom of his neck, he held two
daggers with the blades pointed down, crossed his arms over his chest, and
bowed, standing next to Janus.
"Damien," the black-haired
member of the Turks ran a hand through his long black hair as he held a
double-headed axe in his right hand.
"Saphie and Merri," the
winged-duo came out, a whip at Merri's hip and the iron knuckled gloves over
Saphie's hands.
"Emanuel," the
black-haired man had silver-dyed tips on the downward spikes of hair and in his
hand was a metal staff, which he twirled a few times as he winked at a few
teenage onlookers a few rows from the front.
"And Luke." The last member of the Turks stepped out,
his face holding a smirk and the sword in his hands containing several pieces
of Materia.
The crowd clapped for a moment and
Cassidy continued.
"Each of the Turks will be
escorted by two of our Elite soldiers-for protection, though with their skills
they don't need it-our 'Silver Shields'." All seven Turks wore badges consisting of green circles with the letter
"T" in the middle. The green
was fairly bright, and seemed to pulse as though it contained a hint of Mako.
"Taxes shall be set before
tomorrow...but now, I shall introduce you to the heads of the departments. Doctor Furre, in charge of our Science
Department."
The scientist from the Gold Saucer
stepped up on stage.
"Gerald Krackon, in charge of
our Weapons Department."
A tall bald man stepped onto the
stage and took a bow.
"Admiral Leela Drayson, in
charge of our Space Department."
A woman of average height in the
black suit stepped onstage, her hair was a silver color and was kept
short. She stood at attention and gave
a nod of her head.
"And finally, Jeremy Star, in
charge of our Urban-Development Department."
The black man stepped onto the stage
in a well-tailored suit, smiling as he took a bow.
Cassidy Shinra turned and stepped
away from the podium as a dome of green light surrounded the large city of
Midgar…the Shinra personal exited behind her.
The grass tickled at his ears…a
cold…at his forehead. Robert sat up,
the cold-water covered cloth falling from his head and into his lap. He looked to the left to see Rik…then to the
right, where he saw Caity Sith and her Moogle.
"…Where are we?" Robert
asked, rubbing the new numbness from his forehead.
"The other side of Mount
Nibel…can you walk?" asked Caity.
"…Yeah…" Robert said as he
stood and took a few steps…he turned around to face Rik and Caity again. "Shall we go to Nibelheim?"
Robert's gaze turned to the run-down
Mako reactor behind them…and then back to Caity and Rik.
"Sure," Rik said with a
nod. She and Caity stepped towards him…
The ground shook as several whirs
and clangs of metal erupted from the old Mako reactor. Suddenly, the lights in the reactor
flickered on, and Robert realized how much time had elapsed, it was evening,
and now the machines in and outside of the Mako reactor began to run.
"Shit! Somehow, the thing is powered up
again!" Rik exclaimed as she stared in awe at the reactor, from which
several small creatures scurried, frightened by the noise. Or were they…? Suddenly, from the door, a large green dragon leapt, gliding down
at hitting the ground before Robert's team. It snarled, baring its long fangs, and charged…
Caity was in the warpath, and she
stood, shivering, as the dragon lunged at her, digging its fangs into-her
Moogle. Caity shrieked and blew a sharp
note into her flute, the Earth materia embedded in it beginning to glow. The ground around the dragon rose…and then
crashed down into the reptile, creating a small mound of rock over it. The rocks shook and the dragon ripped from
the effects of the spell, the shards of rocks hitting Caity, Rik, and Robert. Caity and her Moogle suddenly became
immersed in the familiar red aura of a special attack.
"[Scratch]!" she cried,
leaping from the top of her Moogle and at the dragon's face. Her arms were a flurry, scratching madly at
the dragons face…at its eyes. She bounced
back onto her Moogle…the dragon fell for a moment, rubbing its face into the
grass but continued its attack, rearing back its head a spitting a row of fire
at Rik and Caity, as Robert ducked and rolled under the flames. Rik and Caity were badly burned…they fell
down, Caity's Moogle still stood, though, despite the face that Caity was out
of the battle.
"Moogle! Keep them alive!" shouted Robert to the
Moogle as he unsheathed his sabre. Robert rushed the dragon as it reared up on its hind legs, using its
front for their claws.
He leapt at the dragon, but instead
of trying to go straight for the dragon's throat, a very stupid idea in itself,
he had aimed his jump carefully, and while the dragon expected he would attack
from somewhere high…
Robert hit the ground on his back,
sliding between the legs of the dragon with his sabre pointed up, ripping into
the purple belly of the creature. Quickly rolling out of the way of the flailing tail, Robert ran back
towards his friends, taking a "detour" to slice into the joint of the
dragon's shoulder.
The dragon let out an earsplitting
howl, turning and biting into Robert's arm in anger, leaving most of his left
arm useless and in pain, bloody with deep, deep tooth-marks.
Robert's eyes widened in the shock
of the pain…he looked to the dragon…the dragons teeth…blood covered them…fresh
blood…. He snarled, a red aura spiraling around him.
"[Arcane Destiny]" shouted
his body as his right hand grasped his sabre. His left hand moved toward it…grabbed the hilt as well. The aura stopped confining Robert and sunk
into him, a warm, good feeling…Robert charged the dragon and before the beast
could attack, he started his own. His
sabre flew through the air in his hands, driving deep into the scale-covered
flesh of the dragon. With every hit,
Robert thought to himself 'just one more'…and one more came…constantly. He kept slashing-up, down, left, right,
diagonal, right, diagonal, left, up-he finally felt the pain return to his arm
after what seemed to be fifteen anger-filled slashes, as that was about how
many deep gashes there were in the dragon's flesh.
The dragon lurched forward, as if to
attack Robert more. But Robert stepped
back and the beast just fell face-first into the soil. …Robert looked towards Moogle…
The rough cloth of the bandage,
which was soaked in Potion, was pressed to the wound on his left arm, and the
pain finally subsided. Rik pulled the
cloth away and Robert looked down to see the skin unscathed. Robert had used two of the Phoenix Downs—one
on Rik and one on Caity, so they had been revived painlessly. Robert, on the other hand, had injuries, and
since he was still alive there was pain in healing them.
Rik entered the tent Robert and
Moogle had set up, where Caity was napping on top of Rik's bag. Rik silently pulled her sleeping bag off
from the bottom and laid it out on the floor of the tent. She slid out of the tent and joined Robert
in sitting on the grass, where Moogle was keeping watch.
"So you'll be okay sleeping out
here?" she asked, seeming to drop that tough tone for a bit and act concerned.
"Yeah," Robert replied as he
un-hooked the borrowed sleeping bag from the borrowed-bag. He spread it out on the grass right under
the tent's rain-cloth, to keep out the dew. Rik looked as though she was deep in thought for a moment before
reaching beneath the collar of her shirt and pulling out a small, circular
locket. She opened the front of the
circle and inside Robert saw two pictures, one on either side.
"You already know my parents, but
look…er…this is my best friend—," she pointed to the picture on the left, of
three people, one of which was Rik. The
other girl in the picture had long black hair. "—And this is my boyfriend…I…uh…love him…he lives in Nibelheim. They both do…its not too far. We'll be able to reach it in only an hours
walking distance tomorrow…" Rik was still pointing at the picture of a boy with
spiky black hair.
"…Okay." Robert yawned, looking up
to the stars as he lay back onto his sleeping bag. Rik slid back into her tent. Robert unzipped the side of the sleeping bag and climbed in, zipping it
back around him. It was nice and warm
inside, a break from the nighttime cold at the foot of the mountain. He was just about to drift into sleep when a
voice broke the silence—as silent as it could be, do to the chirps of crickets.
"…Robert?" Rik's voice called from
inside the tent.
"Yes Rik?" Robert muttered in reply,
opening his eyes and looking to the flap of the tent, which was closed, but at
least it felt more like a conversation.
"Have you ever been in love?"
"…" Robert replied.
"Robert?"
"…Once…but that doesn't matter. Get to sleep…" Robert mumbled, and no sooner
had he said it then he fell deep into slumber.
Robert was standing in immense
darkness, wearing the same dusty clothes he had worn all day. He looked around…no one. He was alone. Or was he? Off in the
distance he could see a faint white light. He decided that it was worth a chance to check it out, and he began to
run towards it. As Robert got nearer,
it took the form of a rip in the darkness. It was as though someone had cut the air.
It seemed like an hour had passed
before the rip was right in front of him. Robert extended his hand…felt the light glowing before him. His hand disappeared into it. In shock, Robert jerked it out, muttering a
few curse words at the slight burning sensation inside the light. But no…this was the only way visible. Robert took a look back into the ominous
darkness before turning towards the rip and leaping in.
…
Memories flashed around Robert…
The two boys on the swing-set…
Anikken and him grinning as they
grabbed materia…
Two people Robert didn't know
standing in shadow…
And then…after many, many memories,
a teenage girl with long purple hair and green eyes, zoomed towards him,
stopping immediately right before him.
"…April?" Robert stammered.
She didn't seem to hear. She stood up on her "tippey-toes" and
planted a kiss at Robert's lips. She
then stepped back, standing normally.
"…Robert…" she whispered, now
bounding forward and wrapping her arms around him. "I've missed you…" She pressed her face to his shoulder.
"…Ditto…but…aren't you…?"
"In a way, you're dead too,
Robert. You've forgotten who you
are. You do have family, Robert…you
just…forgot…" April told him, looking up to stare directly into his eyes.
"…Forgot?" Robert asked, raising an
eyebrow.
"…Let me demonstrate…" April said
with a roll of her eyes.
Images flew past the two, images of
a fairly younger Robert fighting with a black haired boy, Robert wielding a
wooden sabre and the black haired boy wielding a wooden staff.
It then became Robert dancing with April at a ball, clad in a navy blue suit. A black haired boy grinned at Robert as the boy danced with a beautiful woman who looked a few years older than him. Robert smiled in return before spinning off with his partner to the other side of the room. A brown haired man stepped up to Robert and April, saying something to Robert. Robert nodded and gave April a quick hug as he followed the brown haired man out of the room.
The image changed to Robert and April walking through a park at night, clad
in the same clothes as they had been at the ball. A sudden gunshot rang through this memory-room's silence, causing
the normal Robert to jump, but the memory Robert to turn in shock and anger,
then to be pulled down as April fell onto the pathway, free hand—the one not
holding Robert's—over her chest. She
looked to Robert…raised her hand into the air…scarlet blood trickling down the
palm.
Robert awoke with a jolt as a loud nasal snore erupted through the air
around him. He rolled his head to the
side to see Moogle, snoozing away. The
sun was beginning to rise now, and Robert pulled out of the sleeping bag. He stood, taking a look around. He remembered that he had had a dream…but he
couldn't remember a single fact more than that! Ah well, he doubted it was of much importance anyways. Robert was rolling up the sleeping bag when
Rik unzipped the tent's flap.
"Gah…I can't wait 'til we get to
Nibelheim," she muttered as crawled out, fully ready to go with a pack on her
back and Caity—who was still asleep—in her hands.
Robert strapped the rolled up
sleeping bag onto his pack and pulled it onto his shoulders. Moogle took Caity from Rik and they began to
walk…
After only thirty minutes, the
small, nice-looking town came into view. Rik, getting excited, did a quick cartwheel, despite her pack, and
darted off towards the town; Moogle and Caity close behind her yelling for her
to slow down. Robert continued at a
walk, though, taking his time to observe the sky…the clouds…the grass…
Robert reached the town after only
ten more minutes of walking. By that
time, Rik and Caity were gone from sight, but in the center of the town stood a
young man who seemed to be a year older than Robert.
"Sheesh…you'd think she'd be happy
to see me…but no, she just went inside to fix my sister's car…" the young man
muttered. He then extended a hand to
Robert. "I'm…"
[Charlie Strife]
"I'm Robert Arcane." Robert replied,
shaking Charlie's out-stretched hand. He recognized Charlie from the spiked hair as the man from Rik's locket.
"Oh, so yoooou're Robert. Well, then, come on in. Rik and my sister are out back. We can go through the house."
Robert nodded slightly and followed
Charlie through the door, noticing that despite Charlie's casual attire, a
short-handled scythe hung at each side of his waist. Charlie led him through the house and out through a back door,
where two pairs of boots and one pair of paws were visible from under a
car. Moogle stood at the red convertible's
front, holding it up with ease.
"Ah, I see what the problem is. You ran out of gas, you moron!" Rik
exclaimed, pushing out from under the car. "Oh, hey Robert. I see you've
met Charlie."
A younger girl came out from under
the car. She had long black hair, which
went to her waist, and was wearing a red tube top, along with gray pants, which
had a little cloak attached to the waist. Wutai Fans hung at her hips, and even folded up Robert could tell they
weren't normal. They had Materia slots
inside the wooden ends. Robert
recognized her as the girl from Rik's locket.
"Oh…uh…Hi, I'm…"
[Ian Strife]
"Ian, this is Robert." Rik
announced, pointing to Robert with her right index finger.
"Robert? Robert Arcane? Holy
cricket—there's two very unwelcome house-guests of ours roaming the town right
now who were looking for your name in the obituary!" Ian exclaimed, hopping up
and down excitedly.
"…Who?" Robert asked, only for his
question to be answered as Anikken and Raptor came into the backyard by way of
the high fence.
"…Strange that we have the fence to
keep people like you out…" muttered Ian, mainly talking to Anikken.
"No, you're thinking of the
zoo. The fences are to keep you in."
Anikken replied smugly with a wink to Robert. Rik grabbed Ian's arms quickly as Ian leapt at Anikken, clearly
angry. Robert could see Charlie was
trying not to laugh.
Caity rolled out from under the car
and Moogle let the front down in a not-quite-gentle manner, causing Raptor to
leap into the air from the loud noise emitted from the impact. Caity snickered as she climbed back onto
Moogle.
"…Er…ahem…heh…who wants to…play a
game?" asked Charlie to keep his sister from making a big bloody mess out of
Anikken.
"Left foot…Green!" Caity shouted,
and as she did Moogle slipped, knocking Rik, Ian, and Charlie over as it
fell. Meanwhile, Robert was playing
Chess with Anikken, whose force was now down to three Pawns, a Bishop, and a
King.
"Check…" murmured Robert.
"The hell? There's no Check yet—oh, I see your Knight now…hmm…I'll move this
little spiky headed guy this way then," Anikken said as he moved the King to
the right. Robert slid his Queen in.
"Check-mate."
"Can we play something else
now? Like Monopoly?"
"…Sure. But no stealing money," Robert agreed.
"Why would I steal money during the
game, dear friend?" Anikken replied innocently, acting astonished.
"…Because you're a thief."
"Good point. Well, I get to be the little dog. So, how did you survive?"
"I hit the wing of her plane…after
fighting Luke," Robert explained.
"How did Luke survive?"
"No clue…so, did you finish the
mission?"
"Yep,"
"Did Raptor pay you?"
"Nope," growled Anikken, glaring at
the sleeping red form in front of the fire. "Cheap little critter…"
"So…Shinra reclaimed Midgar?" Robert
asked his friend.
"Yeah…and that stupid bitch is
keeping all of the citizens in…and everyone else out. Word is out that she's rebuilding her army…and that she knows
where the Promised Land our parents…well, the parents of Charlie, Rik, Ian,
Raptor, and I protected from Sephiroth and Shinra."
"…But…isn't your mother in Midgar?"
"…Well…erm…yeah…which brings me to a
question for you…could you…help me pull her out of there before she does
something crazy…? She's…" Anikken
leaned closer to Robert, "She's the only family I have…"
Robert nodded. "We'll go there. The two of us. And free
her from that hell-hole."
Anikken smiled…and so did Robert.
A high-ranking member of Shinra, he
was. His name was Emanuel, the second
strongest of the Turks. He was clad in
a black suit, his black hair in downward spikes. He entered the palace on the mountain, Crimson Palace. Its entrance room had a large window with a
great overview of Midgar in its prime. The city was completely sealed off from every other place, every other
facility, and every other person except for the people living at Crimson
Palace. Emanuel pushed open the thick
wooden doors to Janus' office.
"…Sir. I think he's…alive…"
Janus was sitting in his chair,
which at the moment was facing a window overlooking a field full of energetic
Chocobos.
"…Who do you mean by…he…?"
came Janus' low voice from the opposite side of the chair.
"Don't act like you don't
remember…Janus. Because I know you do."
Janus slowly spun his chair around
to face Emanuel. "…Do you mean the one
who forgot our purpose? The one who
went off on the romantic fiasco? The
one who forgot who he was? Are you
talking about the failure child? The
fifteen year old who was not strong enough for our cause?"
Emanuel placed his hands on Janus'
wooden desk.
"That's where you're
wrong…brother…He was strong enough to not fear you. And he's alive. I can
feel it."
With that, Emanuel stood up straight
and walked towards the door. He paused,
though, and turned to give Janus a surly salute before continuing.
"You can't pretend you didn't hate
that girl!" Janus shouted after him. Emanuel stopped for a moment before closing the doors behind him.
Emanuel walked up the stairway to
his quarters. They were large and
luxurious. Emanuel flicked on the
lights as he entered and sat down in his favorite leather chair. He began to think…
"…Then again…I can't remember much
about him…all I remember is…what was his name again? And didn't I hate him…? And that girl…? I…I can't
remember!" Emanuel exclaimed to himself.
"…Well…maybe I'll find out more
about him tomorrow…"
Robert's entire dream was walking
through the corridors of the Golden Saucer, following a trail of green slime
that covered the floor. When he awoke,
the dream was imprinted in his mind.
"…I think something's wrong at the
Golden Saucer…" Robert told his newfound and old friends over the breakfast Ian
made of pancakes and sausage.
"…Like what?" Anikken questioned,
chewing at a piece of sausage skewered on his fork.
"…I don't know, but I'd like to
check it out." Robert said after finishing his last pancake.
"…Can we come?" Ian asked him,
taking a sip of her orange juice.
"…It'll be dangerous." Robert
admitted, "If I'm right, that is…well, I think it might be dangerous…"
"…That's a pretty dumb thing to say,
Robert, because she'll want to go even more now," Charlie murmured.
"…Yeah! Let's take the car and go!" Ian exclaimed excitedly.
"…Oh brother…" muttered Raptor as
Ian and Rik scampered out through the door.
"Yeah, I'll come too…I guess I have
to keep my sister out of trouble, right?" Charlie questioned
Robert shrugged lightly.
Charlie took time to write a note,
leaving it on the kitchen table for when his parents awoke. As Charlie followed Rik and Ian, and the others
followed him, Robert took a moment to examine the note:
Dear Mom and Dad,
We're off to save the world. We ate a nutritious breakfast.
Love, Charlie and Ian
"WHAT!?" shouted a furious Emanuel
at the new member of the Turks, Luke. "You mean you had him captured and you decided to kick him out through a
window!?"
"…I was shifted…I couldn't control
myself…" Luke whispered, more to himself than to his superior officer.
"…Damnit!!" shouted Emanuel,
slamming his fist down on the table separating himself and Luke.
"But…" Luke began.
"But?"
"…His blood is still on my sword…"
A thin smile crossed Emanuel's face.
"…But…you said he was alive…but when he uh…fell from the window…he disappeared from sight. There's no way he could have survived that…"
"…There is a way," hissed Emanuel…
The convertible skidded to a halt
right in front of the beginning of the Gold Saucer's desert. A hundred yard stretch of quicksand formed
the border between near the Gold Saucer and far away.
"Damn!" Ian shouted. "So how do we get there now?"
"…The Ropeway!" Rik shouted happily.
"…It's closed," came a voice from
behind them. The group of seven turned
around to see a two members of the Turks. One had brown hair in a ponytail to the nape of his neck. The other had long black hair, which fell to
his shoulders. The one with the
ponytail wielded two daggers with Materia both Robert and Anikken identified as
Poison type buried inside the blades. The black haired member of the Turks had a large, double-headed axe.
"I am Calin," hissed the one with
the daggers.
"And I am Damien," said the other,
running a hand through his hair.
Robert looked to Ian and to Charlie,
who joined him as he stepped forward—towards the Turks.
"Rik…you and Caity get a line open
with your dad…tell him to bring us the Andromeda…Anikken and Raptor…you two
cover us…if any of us fall, one of you take our place and the other…heal the
downed ally. Ian, Charlie, lets explain
to these guys why we want to use the Ropeway…" Robert commanded, withdrawing his
sabre. He saw Ian and Charlie draw
their weapons to either side of him, Charlie spinning his scythes with a grin
and Ian holding her bladed fans at ready.
"If you insist…" Damien yawned.
Ian leapt forward, slicing across
Calin's chest and dodging a swipe of his dagger. She continuously berated the member of the Turks with her bladed
fans, slashing across his face as his slices grew wilder and wilder.
"Don't! Try! To! Hit! A! Lady!" shouted Ian, still slicing
into Calin. Calin swung his foot up,
kicking her in the side and sending her slamming into the ground. Robert darted forward, slashing at Calin
with his sabre, his blows parried by Calin's daggers.
Charlie, on the other hand, was
moving as though this was fun, ducking under, jumping over, and running away
from Damien's slashes, occasionally slicing into Damien's chest expertly with
his scythes. Charlie ducked to the
ground and rolled out of the way of one of Damien's slashes, turning and
throwing one of his scythes like a boomerang. The scythe spun through the air, speeding towards Damien's head. Damien stepped to the right, but the scythe
hit something even more important to Damien: his hair. As Charlie's scythe spun back to him and was
caught in his hand, a lock of Damien's hair hit the ground. Damien snarled as he looked at Charlie.
"…Oh shit…" Charlie muttered.
Ian pulled herself up and, as she
yelled a word Robert didn't understand, a red aura spun around her. Her foot kicked out at rapid speeds,
swinging up and down, catching Calin in the jaw many times before the angry
Turk slammed a dagger deep into her leg. Ian's eyes opened wide at the sudden pain and to the ground she fell,
clutching her injury. Calin swung his
foot at her…no, at his dagger. He
kicked it up into the air, which meant it sliced through Ian more before
actually leaving her flesh. Ian howled
in pain. Anikken darted forward,
scooping her up into his arms and carrying her back to Raptor before heading
into battle, his Lesath at ready.
Anikken dove at Calin, holding his
Lesath like a sword and slashing into the dagger-using Turk's chest. Robert followed up the attack by slashing
Calin in the arm, driving his sharp blade in. Anikken hopped backwards, throwing his Lesath right into Calin's
side. Robert kicked the Turk in the
back of the head and forward, onto the ground.
Charlie was leaping backwards to
avoid the blade of Damien's axe as Damien rushed at him in frenzy. Before long, though, the edge of Damien's
axe's blade caught Charlie along the side, causing a thick gash. Charlie growled at Damien now, holding his
scythes over his chest as a red aura began to form around him. Charlie hopped back, throwing both of his
scythes as he did so. The steel blades
dug into Damien's shoulders and Charlie leapt forward, grabbing the handles and
pulling the scythe blades down in an "X" across Damien's chest. Damien stumbled backwards.
"You haven't seen…the end of us…"
Calin wheezed as a Shinra helicopter flew towards them.
"We'll…be back…" coughed
Damien. A rope ladder was lowered from
the helicopter and they both stood…grasped onto it. The helicopter flew back in the direction of Midgar.
"Woo…we should do this more often…"
Charlie stammered with a grin.
Raptor
stepped forward, Ian leaning up against her car, Potion and Remedy soaked
bandages around her leg.
Raptor glanced around at his allies
for a moment. "…Nice work,
Charlie. You too, Anikken, and you,
Robert. Rik's got through to her father,
so he'll be flying her plane over here for us in a short while. Robert, Anikken, can I talk to you?"
Robert and Anikken nodded in reply
and followed Raptor to the side of the quicksand river.
"Robert, if you're right about the
Gold Saucer, than that means innocent people in there were probably killed, or
are being hunted right now. I…my
journey with you began to help my race and protect Cosmo Canyon…but there's
something much more important here that I've realized now…the citizens of Cosmo
Canyon care more about life than anything else…and if I don't help save lives,
I'm a failure. It's my duty as Nanaki's
son to go in there and help…so Robert, take me with you. And Anikken…here." Raptor moved his mouth
down to his left front-paw's claw, biting at something and bringing his head
back up. He opened his mouth over Anikken's
hand, dropping a piece of red materia into his hand.
"What's this?" Anikken asked with a
raise of his right eyebrow.
"Materia," Raptor explained.
"You idiot! I meant WHAT Materia?" Anikken snarled.
"Oh…well, I'm not sure…it isn't at
it's highest strength…I guess you'll need to wait and see." Raptor shrugged.
"…Great…just great…" murmured
Anikken, placing the summon Materia in his Lesath…
Suddenly a black silhouette appeared
in the sky, in the shape of a small airplane. No…it wasn't a silhouette—it was the actual color. The airplane skidded a bit as it hit the
ground, bounced once, and slowly came to a stop about twenty yards away. Robert, Rik, Ian, Charlie, Anikken, Raptor,
and Caity Sith ran forward to meet it as Mister Highwind hopped out, a thermos
in his hand. He walked towards them as
they ran towards him and finally they were all together. Cid had a white stick sticking out of his
mouth, which Rik yanked out and threw to the ground, stomping on it without
looking.
"You said you quit smoking! Liar!" Rik screamed.
"…I did…you took my lollypop…"
sniffled Mister Highwind.
Rik looked down to see pieces of
cherry lollypop smashed into the ground. "Sorry dad,"
Mister Highwind handed Robert the
thermos, "I knew you liked our tea, so I brought you some."
Robert forced a smile while Anikken
and Raptor snickered quietly.
"…Er…I forgot…there are only two
seats and a small storage area behind the back seat…I can only take one
person…"
"And me! I can fit in the storage area!" Raptor announced.
"…Right. So…Robert, will you come with us?" Rik asked, placing her Gemini
in the storage area.
Robert nodded and unclipped his
sheathed sabre and his Monolith sword, putting them side-by-side in the storage
area and leaving enough room for Raptor. He helped Raptor into the small area and pulled himself up into the
passenger's seat, Rik taking her seat at the controls. As Rik started the engine, Robert heard
Mister Highwind mutter: "Now…how to get home…"
"DNA sample insufficient. More identification needed." The computer
chirped.
"Damnit!" Emanuel shouted, the blood
sample in the machine not large enough. His eyes drifted to the Masamune in a case next to another empty glass
container eight feet high.
"Furre, give me that Masamune. I want DNA from…its handle…" Emanuel
commanded…and Doctor Furre complied.
"Nowhere to land! And I don't want to have to crash land! Robert and Raptor, you'll have to bail!" Rik
shouted, circling the Andromeda over the Gold Saucer. Robert looked to his former client…grabbed his swords.
"Bring us in closer, Rik!" shouted
Robert, attaching the sheaths to his belt. Raptor grasped the Monolith's sheath.
Rik piloted the Andromeda so it was
several meters above the top dome of the Gold Saucer and out Robert left, his
lion-like friend grasping the Monolith's sheath for dear life. Robert unsheathed his sabre and jammed it
into the side of the dome, grasping the sheath as the blade jammed in. This slowed their fall, but they were still
falling. With a thump they collided
with the roller coaster track. Robert
pulled himself up, the wooden track seeming very unstable. Raptor dropped from Monolith's sheath.
"…And Robert? If you're wrong…then I'll make jokes about
your stupidity every day while we mooch off of the Strife's." Raptor commented,
walking in front of Robert down the track that led to the Speed Square. Robert followed, drawing Monolith as he did
so. Upon entering the Speed Square,
Robert noticed the dead bodies of Shinra soldiers. They were all lying in a dark green liquid. Raptor and Robert stepped over the bodies
towards the Vac-Shaft, which would take them back to the Station.
Raptor had just reached the
Vac-Shaft when a moan of agony erupted behind them. Robert and Raptor turned in time to see the fallen Shinra
soldiers rising up from the dead, their eyes completely black as though paint
had been spilled on them.
"Holy Christ…" Raptor whispered.
"Raptor! No time risking your life on these goons! Jump into the Vac-Shaft!" Robert
ordered. Raptor did so, bounding into
the Vac-Shaft. Robert stepped back into
it slowly, the risen soldiers lurching after him. Robert stepped into the Shaft and was immediately sucked upwards,
then backwards, then straight down until he tumbled out in the Station, crashing
into Raptor.
"Wait…I heard something…it's in the
Event Square…" Raptor barked, hopping to his feet and waiting for Robert. Robert climbed to his feet as well,
following Raptor into the Vac-Shaft for the Event Square.
The green slime covered the floor,
the walls…and on the stage, the monster responsible for it stood…
It looked male, with a hairless head
hung low below high shoulders. The
beast was blood red in color with a gray chest. His arms had four huge fingers that ended in razor-sharp claws. He stood over fourteen feet tall, his mouth
wide open, needle-like teeth dripping acid-green saliva, the color coating the
floor. His legs were gone, now a huge
base ending in writhing tentacles. Four
tentacles had sprouted from his back. Robert's mind wandered back to the exhibit in the museum on the Jenova
monsters on the past…this was most-likely one of them.
"I…am…CRISIS!" the creature hissed,
rearing back his head and launching a ball of green ooze—his saliva—directly at
Robert…
"I knew this machine was worth
investing in," laughed Emanuel as he gazed inside the large glass tank.
Inside the tank floated a man who
looked to be about the age of eighteen, though he was in fact just
created. Midnight blue hair hung to his
waist and, as Emanuel watched, his blue-green eyes opened…
Robert sidestepped to the left to
dodge this "Jenova-CRISIS'" ball of spit. CRISIS lifted from the stage surface on his tentacles, letting out a
booming roar before leaping off of the high-rise, zooming in Robert's direction. Robert ducked the creature's body, but one
of his tentacles smacked Robert in the face. Robert hit the ground from the force, his sabre flying from his hand and
skittering across the floor and into a mass of crumpled chairs and green
saliva.
"Damnit!" Robert exclaimed, rolling
to his knees and standing, backing away from CRISIS.
Raptor snarled, leaping forward and
slicing into CRISIS' belly with his sharp gauntlets. Supported by CRISIS' flesh, Raptor sunk his fangs into him,
tearing at the thick, leathery skin. CRISIS grabbed Raptor in his oversized right hand and hurled him across
the room—and onto the stage. Raptor
wasn't moving.
Robert unsheathed the Monolith,
holding it with both of his hands, and rushed at CRISIS, slicing off one of the
beasts base tentacles. CRISIS howled
and smacked at Robert with the other tentacles. KA-THUNK…KA-THUNK…KA-THUNK, Robert slashed
three more tentacles off. CRISIS
snarled, waving his left hand through the air.
Robert couldn't move…couldn't move
any part of his body except his eyes…CRISIS reared his head back again, firing
a ball of green saliva at Robert from deep in his throat, the force of which
sent Robert crashing into the side of the stage. The saliva was like acid, burning his skin…no, it wasn't acid…it
was poison! It was slowly killing him
and he couldn't do anything about it, still magically stopped by CRISIS. Monolith was still clutched in his locked
hands, and his blue-pommeled sabre was still somewhere inside the pile of
chairs.
A black furred creature leapt from
the stage…strange—he looked a lot like Raptor, besides the color of his fur and
the red eyes. And the facts that this
creature's tail-flame was much larger and leathery wings were connected to his
back. It was also larger…large as Raptor
was when he shifted back in Shinra Headquarters. Yes, it had to be Raptor.
Just as Raptor was about to lunge at
CRISIS again, he stopped…turned to Robert. He turned his head, grasping something on his gauntlets and looked back
to Robert…he spit a vial at him, which smashed into Robert's rock-like magic
encasing…Remedy spilled over Robert, causing the saliva to evaporate and the
magic barrier to shatter. Robert
grinned as Raptor lunged at CRISIS.
"Now, Mister CRISIS, you're in big,
big trouble…" Robert snickered and leapt into the melee.
For all seventeen years of her life
she had been in the cell. The
unbreakable chamber walls kept her in. She knew where she was, of course. She was in the dungeon of Crimson Palace, where she had been ever since
the Shinra decided the cloning was failed. They had used the old style of cloning, using DNA from one person and
putting it into an unborn child. But
when the child was born with azure hair and a tendency to re-arrange her
quarters telekinetically, they had locked her here in this diamond prison,
where her only company was the reflection of her emerald eyes…
Robert snickered at the new
advantage he and Raptor possessed. Raptor moved extremely fast in his attacks, his claws slashing deep into
CRISIS' skin like lightning. Robert, on
the other hand, was simply slicing with Monolith as best he could, still not
used to the sword. Robert was suddenly
smacked by CRISIS' back tentacles and sent to the floor. Raptor snarled and bit deep into one of
CRISIS' base tentacles—and was slammed into the ground. Robert stood on shaky legs, raising Monolith
into the air. A green spell materia
began to glow within the blade.
A ball of fire launched from the
blade, crashing into CRISIS' right shoulder and ricocheting off, smashing out
through the ceiling and into the sky.
"…Doesn't a launched flare mean they
need help or something?" Anikken asked, looking to Rik.
"…Fine…I'll take you up there…" Rik
muttered. Anikken grinned in delight.
Robert wished he'd brought some
Potions with him, because he was aching. He was sure he had broken bones, and Raptor seemed to be out cold. Robert used the last of his inner magic to
cast a "Regenerate" spell through his bangle. He pushed himself against a wall to heal while CRISIS slowly lurched
towards him, seeming to regenerate itself as it did so.
"…Reptilian…if you don't kill it
it'll heal…no wonder those Shinra soldiers are dead…" muttered Robert to
himself, looking over at Raptor's body to see that it had reverted back to its
normal state…but he was still breathing. That was a good thing.
Step by short step, CRISIS
approached, a very human snicker escaping his mouth. "Foolish…" he hissed, "Foolish to try. Foolish to attack…something stronger than you. Foolish to think…you'll win."
"That is where you're wrong,
asshole. I have a thing called
courage." Robert growled, standing slowly as the Regenerate spell kicked in.
"And I have a thing called a
Lesath!" Anikken's voice erupted from above them. Hanging from the hole created by Robert's fire attack, he
smirked. Anikken dropped down, landing
on his feet behind CRISIS. "Sorry for
stealing your 'drop-on-in' entrance, pal, but it was the only way."
CRISIS slowly began to turn. Robert leapt forward, slashing into CRISIS'
side as he made the slow turn. The
beast howled, swinging his tentacles at Robert. Robert managed to dodge all but one, which sent him flying
backwards and into another wall, Monolith barely grasped within his right hand.
"Oo, you're messin' with my homies,
jackass!" Anikken yelled at CRISIS, throwing his Lesath right at—and into—and
through—CRISIS' left shoulder. CRISIS
howled as his arm fell to the ground, but the arm…it floated forward, wrapping
around Anikken, pressing his arms to his sides. Anikken's Lesath lay on the floor only a few feet from Robert.
Robert rose to his feet again,
grabbing the Lesath, trying to hold it like Anikken would. He held it like a Frisbee and tossed it
straight at CRISIS, but as the creature slowly moved and since Robert's ability
with the weapon was bad, it slid right into—and through—CRISIS' right shoulder,
causing that arm to fall as well. Before it could react, Robert leapt forward, jamming his Monolith into
the palm…slamming his foot down on one of the fingers and twisting the Monolith
around, making a large wound in the hand. Dark purple blood trickled from the wound and Robert hopped off of the
hand, rushing towards Anikken and the other arm.
On the way, he ducked and rolled on
the floor, grabbing the Lesath as he did so. He sliced the three longest fingers off of Anikken and handed him the
Lesath, with which Anikken cut off the thumb with a snicker.
"Now…now, to finish off this beast!"
Anikken shouted, raising his Lesath over his head as the familiar red aura
surrounded him. "[Strike Out]!"
He brought his right arm, which was
holding the Lesath, to his side, and then behind him slightly. He threw the Lesath as though it was a
bowling ball, zooming in a vertical form as it swung up slightly, slicing through
CRISIS' chest and up over his head, the large shuriken flying right back into
Anikken's hand. Anikken grinned,
waiting for CRISIS to fall. He didn't.
"SHIT!" Anikken shouted as CRISIS
opened his mouth wide, launching a ball of the green ooze at Anikken and
pinning him to the wall with it.
Robert's eyes locked on CRISIS,
anger welling up inside of him. "[Arcane Desire]!" The scarlet aura surrounded him and he ran forward,
holding Monolith in his right hand, the aura streaking behind him as he leapt up…into
the air, spinning Monolith like the propellers of a helicopter over his
head. Froze. His left hand flew up, catching Monolith's handle, and with both
hands he forcefully slashed the glowing blade through CRISIS' neck…and out the
other side. Exhausted, Robert fell to
the floor, the head landing just after him.
CRISIS lurched forward…and evaporated into bright blue powder, which
showered over Anikken, Robert, and Raptor. Robert felt as though he had just had a Potion bath. He felt extremely rejuvenated. Raptor hopped to his feet, his usual hyper
self, and Anikken fell off of the wall, only to rise to his feet with a grin on
his face. As Anikken investigated the
powder and found a Time materia, Robert kicked away several chairs and
reclaimed his sabre, which he sheathed, along with Monolith.
"We did it…" Raptor howled with his
form of a smirk.
Suddenly, Dio, the long-time owner
of the Gold Saucer who had just recently been convinced to wear more than a
Speedo, entered the Event Square.
"You three! You've saved the Gold Saucer!" he
exclaimed. "Here, take eight Gold
Tickets…wait…three times two…ah well, take these eight."
Dio handed Robert the booklet of
Gold Tickets. "These guarantee lifetime
admission to the Gold Saucer…as long as you don't lose them. Come back in a week or two, I'll have fixed
this place up by then."
"Alright. Thanks!" Robert said to the man.
"No, thank you."
"…So where are we going now? Have any psychotic dreams in there, Robert?"
Anikken asked, slapping his friend on the back.
"Don't worry. I'm laughing on the inside…but for now, I
think we should head towards the East Continent…who knows, maybe we'll do some
damage to Shinra if we head that way."
"Seven lame-ass teenagers—including
a little lion cub who's god-knows-what age and a robotic cat—against over a
billion well-trained Shinra soldiers?" Anikken asked skeptically.
"Yeah, you're right, lets give up,"
muttered Ian with a roll of her eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey, all I'm saying is
that it's gonna be a challenge. I'm up
for a challenge," Anikken backtracked.
"You ever see videos from the War At
Wutai? There were what, six thousand
Wutai soldiers and about five hundred million Shinra soldiers? And you know what? The Wutai soldiers killed a lot more Shinra soldiers than the
Shinra soldiers killed of Wutai's. It's
tactics. Shinra soldiers were in
straight lines. Wutai soldiers were
running around with their swords, launching cannons from hilltops, and using
summons from afar," Rik agreed.
"Then again, the soldiers of Wutai
had about a thousand times the amount of soldiers than we do, and the Shinra
have twice as many soldiers as they used to," Charlie complained.
"So you're becoming a Chocobo on
us?" Caity asked.
"No, I was wondering if we had
enough money for the boat trip there," Charlie explained.
"Let's take a nice boat…one without
stinky-ness." Raptor purred.
The seven sat on the wings and in
the seats of the Andromeda as it drove over the grassy landscape towards Costa
del Sol…
"I'd like seven tickets to Junon on
this cruise-ship," Charlie told the ticket agent. In the end, they had to borrow gil from the Strife's and the
Highwind's. Charlie put the gil down on
the counter.
"Yeah, okay," muttered the bland
woman behind the counter, "Just a second…" she disappeared behind the counter
and came up with a small machine. "Your
names?" she asked.
"Robert Arcane,"
"Charlie Strife,"
"Ian Strife,"
"Anikken Kisaragi,"
"Rik Highwind,"
"…Caity Sith,"
"…Raptor,"
The woman typed the names in and hit
another button. A few moments later,
ticket after ticket after ticket came out, totaling up to seven tickets.
"Oh, and lady, I expect you to take
good care of my plane in the cargo bay…"
The woman ignored Rik. "Please make sure you have all your
luggage. The ship is directly out that
door. Here are the keys to your
rooms." The woman handed each of them a
keycard.
Robert and his friends took their
tickets and walked to the door. After
the guards posted in front of the ramp cleared the tickets, they walked up…and
up…and up. Finally, Ian decided to
actually look at the ship. It was
huge! It stretched farther than the
ticket building and was twice as high.
"Jiminy Cricket…" Ian mumbled with a
whistle. Robert and Rik still had their
spare clothes in their packs and Anikken had borrowed some of Charlie's clothes
from "Villa Cloud" when Ian and Charlie stopped there to pack bags.
They entered the ship and looked
around. It was elegant, and to
Anikken's delight there were many bars.
"Let's put our bags in our rooms
first. We're in rooooooooms…U-102 and
U-104," Charlie announced.
So the team made their way to the
"Upper" deck, which, from the entrance, was a few floors down. They walked down the hall a bit and finally
reached their rooms.
"Oo, us girls are in U-102…your room
is riiiight there, gentlemen," Ian explained, pointing down the hall a bit on
the same side of the hallway.
Robert, Anikken, Raptor, and Charlie
walked the short distance to their room and—using Charlie's keycard—opened the
door. They stepped in, eyes widening at
the room.
Three soft beds, one by the window
and two on the right wall in bunk-bed style, as well as a small mound of
pillows below a desk where the chair was supposed to be pushed.
"I call this bed!" shouted Robert,
leaping onto the bed with the window next to it. Anikken pulled himself into the top bunk and Charlie muttered
something as he sat down on the bottom bunk.
"How did they know!?" Raptor
exclaimed, bounding into—and disappearing in—the pile of pillows. Robert, Charlie, and Anikken left their bags
and "instrument cases" on the floor, relaxing in their beds before a knock came
at the door.
"Coming…" mumbled Charlie, hopping
out of his bed and hitting his head on Anikken's. "Ow…Damnit…ow." He walked to the door and opened it. He stepped to the side as Rik, Ian, and
Caity Sith stepped into the room. He
closed the door behind them. Rik and
Ian sat on Charlie's bed, and Caity Sith against to side of Robert's bed. Charlie sat on the floor next to the desk.
"Nice room…looks like ours…" Ian
complimented, looking around.
"Yeah…hey, we realized, the group
our parents…well, most of our parents—," Rik said with a glance towards Robert,
"—Belonged to was called AVALANCHE…and Ian and I realized…our little group
doesn't have a name!"
"So…how about: 'HURRICANE'?" Ian asked.
"Or maybe 'TYPHOON'?" Rik argued.
"How about 'TORNADO'?" Caity asked.
"I know! We'll call it 'SHUT-THE-HELL-UP-I'M-TRYING-TO-SLEEP'!" Anikken
offered in a surly tone.
"We thought of that already, Annie-pooh,"
Ian snickered, only to stop when a pillow hit her in the face…
Robert cut at his prime rib with the
knife the boat's restaurant supplied. Around the circular table sat his friends, his allies, and his
companions.
"…I sure wish they'd gave us sharper
knives," Robert muttered, jamming the dull knife into a dinner roll.
"Hey, how about the name 'Charlie's
Angel's'?" Rik asked, snickering as she nudged Charlie. Anikken and Robert didn't seem too keen on
that idea, and Raptor had his face buried in a bowl of soup.
"…I know! How about…the…hmm…KAMIKAZE! Seeing as how we're sort of just…committing our own little suicide by
waging war against the Shinra…" Anikken muttered in a peeved mood.
"…I got it! The HEROs!" Ian exclaimed.
"…That's lame…" Caity argued.
"Oh, and the 'FURBALLS' is a good
name?" Ian laughed.
"HEROs it is." Caity announced. Robert decided to just eat the steak off of
the fork, as the knife wasn't helping. Robert looked around his friends…there was Anikken, drinking sparkling
apple cider from a champagne glass and talking to the beautiful women at the
tables around them. Anikken was
Robert's best friend for the two years he had known him. And his hair was always the same. Deep black—in a crew cut. He said he didn't like it in his eyes. Robert recollected again how much Anikken's
eyes looked like his mother's. Anikken
really wanted his mother out of Midgar—probably the reason why he went along
with Robert's plan anyways. His father
had been killed in the line of fire after walking in on a battle between two of
Wutai's clans. Anikken was a year
younger than Robert, at seventeen years of age.
Robert then looked to Caity, who was eating, and Robert was wondering
why. He didn't understand if the
robotic cat actually needed the food or was just eating for the rest of the
team to familiarize with her. She was
the youngest member of the group, obviously, being only one year old, according
to Rik.
Ian was stealing Anikken's mashed potatoes. Now there was something Robert really wondered about. Were Ian and Anikken good friends with tons
of rivalry, rivals with tons of friendship, or something else? When they weren't arguing, they seemed to
actually get along very well. Anikken
had told Robert that he had known Ian since he was a young child—how he had met
her at the AVALANCHE reunion when he was five and she was four. Ian had long black hair, which Robert
realized she had inherited from her mother, the famous Tifa Strife. Her brown eyes scanned from side to side,
making sure Anikken was still deeply indulged within his conversation. She pulled her fork away from his
plate. Robert noticed that over her
finger there was a ring with a red stone embedded in it, which looked as though
it housed a small fire…peculiar. Today she
had on fingerless gloves, the one on the left black and ending at the wrist,
and the one on the right brown and ending at the elbow…also peculiar.
Charlie and Rik were having their own conversation—Rik was wearing her
napkin like a bib. An obvious duo, they
were. Rik represented the intelligence
while Charlie mainly inhibited the strength. Robert was glad both were on his side—Rik was the type of person who
would kick your ass if you put parsley on her plate, which she threatened the
waiter with. Charlie was more
laid-back. Rik had a tendency to jump
into situations…then again, so did Charlie. Robert realized why they made such a good couple.
Charlie's hair was in the same style as his father's used to be. It was spiked in several places, yet it was
black—he inherited that from his mother just as Ian had. He was nineteen, three years older than Ian
and one year older than Rik. His eyes
were blue, a strange genetic occurrence, seeing as how his mother's brown eyes
would be dominant. He was wearing a
dark blue one-piece jumpsuit, which was styled exactly like his father's
favorite outfit. He even had the
shoulder plate over his left shoulder.
Rik's hair was the same length, residing right above her shoulders, her
blue eyes looking into Charlie's. She
was wearing a black shirt and jeans, as well as a dark green Ribbon around her
neck. She was still wearing her dark
blue baseball cap; despite the looks the waiter gave her. He didn't even seem to notice what other
abnormalities his costumers had.
Meanwhile, Raptor was lapping up what was left of his soup. Robert began to wonder how the lion-like
creature really felt about himself. If
he was more determined, he would never had come to Robert and Anikken for help,
so why did he? His red eyes looked
up—straight into Robert's. Robert gave
him a slight wave and Raptor grinned. Robert liked the creature, but still wasn't sure of his age. From his size, he could be anywhere from a
baby to twenty-something.
"Normal as always," Robert muttered,
leaning back in his chair against a wall and looking up at the ceiling. When dinner had ended, they all went their
separate ways. Rik went to go check out
the ship's control room. Ian walked off
to the shuffleboard court with Caity Sith. Anikken ran to a bar. Charlie
went to find Rik. Raptor went in search
of the pizzeria. Robert decided to just
explore.
After locating the lounge, which
reminded Robert of the Event Square, Robert met up with Anikken, who was
drinking more sparkling apple cider at the bar.
"So I looked to my friend
right? And I was like…yo dude! I destroyed the robot! Woo, what a great time we had. Man, that robot was like 'roar' and so I was
like 'hey, your gonna get your ass kicked, robot'…it was funny…" Anikken
explained to a woman who looked to be about twenty.
"Hey Anikken, how are you doing?"
Robert asked, taking the stool to the left of Anikken.
"See, Christina, this is the man I
was talking about…this is my buddy Robert…we was fighting that monster
together, yanno?" Anikken told his new 'friend'. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear…loudly, "Psst, he
thinks that he is the one who killed the monster, but that is a lie. No sir, I killed that there munster…"
"…Anikken, stop drinking the damn
cider," Robert said politely, leaving the bar and heading towards the
shuffleboard floor.
"Oh really now, bitch? Well here's what I think of your rules!" Ian
shouted as she smacked a woman—probably her opponent—with her shuffleboard
stick, causing the woman to fall over the rail and overboard. "Oh. Hey Robert! What's up?"
"Anikken's drunk…sort of…How about
you?" Robert responded.
"I just won in shuffleboard." Ian
said with a nod. Robert laughed. Caity's Moogle was hitting a wall with a
shuffleboard stick.
"Moogle doesn't understand the
game," Caity explained.
"There's some sort of show
tonight…are you guys gonna go to it?" Robert inquired.
"Sure. In fact, we'll just come with you right now," Ian agreed.
The three walked back to the bar,
grabbing Anikken and dragging him by the ear away from the bar and towards the
lounge…
Charlie looked to Rik's hand,
swinging through the air as they walked around the upper deck of the ship,
towards the front. For a moment, he had
his doubts, but Rik knew how he felt about her, so as it swung, he wrapped his
own hand around hers, bringing her hand down from it's swing to in between
them…but he kept his hand around hers.
"Rik?" Charlie asked, his gaze
wandering up to the sky as they walked.
"Yes Charlie?" she responded, still
looking at him.
"Why are yah following him?" he
asked, stopping to look at her.
"Who? Robert?" Rik wondered aloud. Charlie nodded. "I didn't want
him breaking Caity."
"Really? You sure you don't wonder if maybe he's insane? Or do you think he has an idea of what he's
talking about when he says that we should go to the east continent?"
"…I trust him," Rik answered.
"Oh really? How do you know he isn't a Shinra
agent? Or maybe he was thrown from that
window! Maybe he did some bad deed to
them even though he was on their side and he wants back in by bringing them the
children of heroes?"
"He WAS thrown out through the
window, idiot," Rik muttered with the roll of her eyes.
"So why are you really following
him?" Charlie demanded.
"…Why are you?" Rik countered,
beginning to walk towards the front of the boat by herself.
Charlie walked after her, reaching
up and grabbing the front railing as she did. "I'm following him because…well, it seemed like the right thing to do."
Rik turned to him, a grin on her
face. "You sure you don't wonder if
maybe he's insane?" She wrapped her arms around him, her lower arms resting on
top of his shoulders. Charlie grinned,
leaning forward, kissing his beloved…
Janus, leader of the Turks, sat at
his desk, facing two younger Turks—Damien and Calin—who sported several bruises
on their faces.
"So…to verify," Janus began,
intertwining his fingers with one another as he looked at them. "You not only failed to stop OUR company's
creation…but you got your asses kicked by a bunch of children?"
"…They had greater numbers…and
wicked weapons, man!" Damien shouted, breaking the silence in Crimson Palace.
"…And your Shields…where were they
at the time?" Janus questioned.
Calin's eyes fell to Janus' loaded
handgun, lying on the desk. "They were
killed by the Jenova beast…"
Janus groaned. "Not only are our forces growing weaker, but
the stronger portion of them is off in his own little world with that
scientist, doing god-knows-what with DNA…Very well, Calin, Damien…I forgive you
for your weaknesses…I have new orders for you…they'll keep you from being
beaten up again…I want you to stand guard at Emanuel's project's unveiling next
week…actually, six days. It's going to
be next Friday. So be there. And I hope you do a damn good job 'guarding'
it…because if you screw up, you're being sent back to be goddamn SOLDIERs, yah
hear me!? Now get the hell out…"
Rik's booted foot kicked at the
door. It wouldn't budge.
"Charlie, d'you have any Fire
materia?" Rik questioned, absent-mindedly spinning her Gemini.
"No…Raptor, do you have any?"
Charlie looked to the red furred creature.
"Stand back," he growled, clicking
his claws against the tile floor. He
closed his eyes…fire suddenly leapt up from the floor and at the door, burning
it…melting it… The molten metal oozed to the floor…and the three entered the
room. Rik was astonished at what she
saw. There sat the audience. Frozen. Completely covered in ice. Their
faces held looks of fear…their eyes looking towards—
"The stage!" Rik exclaimed. Charlie and Raptor turned their gazes to
it. Standing about fifteen feet tall
was a female Jenova mutation. Dark blue
skin covered most of her body, and her chest was a pale purple. She laughed a deep, raspy laugh…ruby eyes
turning to Rik.
Rik leapt forward, jamming her
Gemini into the floor and using it to vault onto the stage. She pulled the Gemini up with her, holding
it at the end, and jammed it into one of the Jenova monster's leg tentacles,
making sure the blade went down into the floor as well.
The beast roared in pain, her eyes
turning towards Rik once more. "I
am…DOOMSDAY!" the creature screamed, swiping at Rik with her claws. Rik leapt backwards, the sharp claw missing
her by mere centimeters. The creature
tried to move forward, but it only ripped the Gemini's blades deeper into
her. Rik snickered and raised her arm
into the air, the Shinra Beta Robert had given to her clipped onto her wrist
with a summon Materia Robert had given her, along with two of her own Materia.
The summon Materia began to glow…
Rik, Charlie, and Raptor, as well as
four of the frozen bodies, were yanked from the air around them and into the
"Waiting Room" of the summoned force, which was basically the same as becoming
a spirit.
A rift appeared in the air across
the lounge and from it, flying on its side, was what looked like a mechanical
bird—but it also looked like one of those new fighter jets. Words appeared within Rik's mind…Air Strike? What did that mean?
Suddenly, the mechanical bird
stabilized, the eight hatches on its wings flying open, eight cannons appearing
from underneath. A continuous boom
sounded as a bowling ball sized ball of energy shot from each cannon, zooming
towards Jenova-DOOMSDAY and colliding with her chest. The mechanical bird then flew up and over DOOMSDAY, another rift
opening, through which it flew.
As Rik and the others were warped
back into solidity, Rik grinned. "I
knight thee…Mechawk!" she shouted to the vanished bird.
Rik ran forward, ducking under
DOOMSDAY's flailing arms and jumped into the air, grabbing her Gemini and
pulling it out of DOOMSDAY's tentacle as her feet hit the ground again. Rik ran to the other side of the stage,
DOOMSDAY bounding after her. A scythe
spun through the air, catching DOOMSDAY in the right arm.
The monster turned to look to her
right, now noticing Charlie and Raptor.
"Pick on someone your own size,
bitch! Go find some other freak like
you!" Charlie chortled, throwing his other scythe. It caught DOOMSDAY in the side. The beast roared, turning to face Charlie and Raptor. Her mouth dropped open and a white mist
sprayed from it, coating Charlie from the waist down. Suddenly, Charlie felt cold…he looked at his legs to see that
they were covered in a thick layer of ice.
"Ice…? Hah! Ice! She's an ice-type monster, which means…"
Raptor began, finishing his thought by standing up on his hind legs and waving
his paws in the air…a green spell Materia glowing within his left gauntlet.
A large ball of orange fire shot
from Raptor's paws, catching DOOMSDAY in the stomach. The beast roared, exploding into water, which covered the stage
and Rik.
Raptor leapt up into the air,
landing on all fours. "We got her!" he
exclaimed.
"Good work, Raptor," Charlie said,
congratulating him.
The water on the floor began to grow
in depth, slurping towards a center point—Rik.
"Charlie!" Rik shouted as the water
wrapped tightly around her, encasing her in what seemed like a glass suit of
armor, pushing her off of her feet and up into the air, totally submerged in
the tower of water, her Gemini still in her hand, Charlie's scythes mixed in
with the living water as the water churned around. Suddenly, it took the shape of DOOMSDAY and became living tissue
again, but with a few changes…
The first change was the fact that
Rik's head was in the place of the Jenova's head, and that Rik's arms stuck out
from the sides of the Jenova's chest, her hands holding the Gemini tightly, her
eyes black—as though someone had spilled ink in them. Charlie's scythes stuck out like wings from the Rik-DOOMSDAY's
back, the blades now extremely long.
"Rik! Shit, Raptor, the thing has Rik!" Charlie exclaimed, frantic.
Raptor shook his head slightly. "We've got to worry about the rest of these
people…we've got to save them as we fight. So Charlie, take this Fire materia and SLOWLY…thaw both your legs and
them out. I'll take the super-bitch."
Raptor put a Fire materia in
Charlie's hand and leapt up on-stage. Teeth bared, he began to pace in a circle around Rik-DOOMSDAY…
Head to the place where the fires
are gold,
Head to the place where memories are
old,
Head to the place with your former
friends without woes,
Just remember that these people are
foes.
Free the girl from the prison she
does hate,
Free the man from his constant wait,
Free the soul deep within you,
A sacrifice will come—but be it who?
April's sad voice filled his dreams. The last he remembered, an actress was mutated into one of those
monsters in the middle of "Loveless". It had…done something…and then he felt as though he was asleep. And he was back inside of that white
room…the walls glowing around him.
"April! April, what do you mean by former friends!?" Robert shouted, his
voice echoing around the large room.
"…Need I show you again, Robert?"
came her voice, filling his head.
Robert's vision suddenly changed
from within the brightly lit room to at a ball with April, dancing…another boy,
this one with black hair…he was dancing with an older woman…April's violet hair
flowing behind her. She grinned up at
Robert, looking at him with her viridian eyes. She was wearing a lavender dress, which fell to her ankles…she couldn't
have been more than fifteen…and then again, from the height of things, Robert
couldn't have either. He looked to his
arm, covered by a navy blue jacket sleeve.
He continued to dance with April
until the song ended, when a young man with brown hair…Robert noticed a gun
holstered at his hip, and suddenly felt the weight of his sheathed sabre…
[Begin FMV]
April was resting her head against
Robert's arm as they walked down the pathway and into the woods, a large
castle-like structure in a clearing behind them. They continued down the pathway, April humming the song that she
and Robert had last danced to.
April: Oh Robert…don't you love the stars?
Robert: Their beauty is but a dim spark compared to
the electricity I feel coursing through my veins when you're around…
April: Oh Robert, you've been spending too much
time with them.
April giggled, blushing.
Robert: You're right, my love, I say we leave Midgar
and venture to some exotic place…Like New Mideel! I hear you can see every star in the sky there, as opposed to
simply the North Star…
Robert laughed, wrapping his arm around April's waist, lifting her up and
placing another arm under her knees. He
carried her down the path a ways like this, her left arm around his neck.
April: Oh, Robert, you dream too much…I can't leave
my parents. And I don't think my
parents want you living in a one-bedroom home in New Mideel with you… So how about we stay here?
Robert: Stay in the woods? My, you sure are adventurous.
Robert snickered. April flicked his forehead with her
forefinger.
April: No! I meant in Midgar! We can buy an
apartment in Sector Three and live closer to my parents! And then when we turn sixteen we'll get
married!
April's eyes twinkling as she looked
into Robert's. She lifted her head up,
closing her eyes and pressing her lips to Robert's as he carried her down the
looping pathway.
Robert: Hmm…maybe…you know, Janus is saying I could
get a job on one of Midgar's plates…maybe I could live right above Sector
Three's…slums. And we could visit every
day.
April: What about your fancy palace, my love? Wouldn't you rather live there where you
have your magical 'room service'?
Robert: And be a mile away from you? I can't bear it much longer, April…
Robert set her feet down on the
ground but kept his hand around her back.
April: …Want to go back to the party, love?
April pressed her head against his
upper arm once more. Robert slid his
hand from around her back and used it to hold her own, smaller hand.
Robert: Not really…I'd rather stay—
Robert was cut short as the blast of a gun echoed through the night. He felt April slump against him more before
falling over, her right hand over her heart, her left still holding
Robert's…pulling him down. Robert knelt
by her, squeezing her left hand tightly. April moaned in pain, lifting up her right hand and showing it to
Robert. Scarlet red blood trickled down
the palm…down her lower arm.
Robert let go of her hand, spreading
her arms out to either side and examining the hole made in her chest.
Robert: It's…through your heart, my love…SOMEBODY
HELP US! If…you don't make it…I'll get
you a Phoenix Down…I'll fix it…you'll see…we're supposed to be together
forever…remember?
April: "R-R-Robert…I…I…love you…
April's head rolled to the side…
Robert: APRIL! Don't…DON'T LEAVE ME!
Robert examined the bullet wound in
her chest…pressed his fingers to the wound…brought them up, a bullet with a
small, clear middle in his grip, blood covering his hand.
Robert: Dark ammunition…so it…it was you…I HATE YOU!
Robert sat by her side as the tears
fell down his face…
Robert: I'll…I'll get my revenge…
[End FMV]
Robert looked around the white room, where he was standing once more. "I don't remember anything like that
happening…I thought you were killed in battle with a Vlakorados…"
"You thought, hmm?" April asked as
she materialized in front of Robert.
"Yes…no…I don't know any more!"
Robert exclaimed, shaking his head as he noticed that April was dressed in her
lavender dress from the dance.
"Do you honestly not remember, or do
you just think you don't?" April questioned, prodding Robert in the chest with
her finger…
Raptor lunged at the beast, which
still had Rik assimilated, along with Charlie's scythes. Despite the pain of a broken blade from the
Gemini buried in his shoulder, Raptor used both of his claws to slice into the flesh
of the monster's base, careful not to accidentally slice into Rik. He opened his mouth wide, biting deep into
one of the base tentacles…so deep that the tentacle actually came off.
Charlie wiggled his legs to warm
them up as he conjured up a small cloud of fire over each member of the
audience. Keeping the materia embedded
in his bangle to preserve the flames. He knelt down, wrapping his fingers around the handle of a dagger
sheathed in his boot-sheath. He pulled
it out, looking at the three materia embedded in it. Puddles of water collected on the floor as the ice covering the
audience melted…but the water was flowing up the stage, going into the
Rik-DOOMSDAY assimilation—healing them.
"Charlie! Cut off the flames! We
can't thaw them until we finish her!"
Charlie waved his bangle-d hand in
the air, causing the flames to stop abruptly. "…How do we free Rik!?" he exclaimed to Raptor as he leapt on stage.
"I'm not sure…Gah, Charlie, cast a
Stop spell on her!" Raptor shouted, dodging a swipe from the remaining Gemini
blade.
Charlie concentrated on the Time
materia inside of his bangle. Nothing
happened.
"Shit! It's the ribbon I gave her!" Charlie shouted, ducking a swipe
from a swinging scythe. "It nullifies
all changes in a person's status! And
it must have been assimilated in the Jenova's bloodstream!"
Raptor cursed, slicing his claws
along DOOMSDAY's belly. Charlie drove
his dagger into the Jenova's side, which prompted Rik to shoot her icy breath
at Charlie, hitting him in the chest and knocking him to the ground below the
stage, pinned down by a coating of ice with only his left arm and head free.
"Ice…ice…that's it!" Charlie
exclaimed, using his bangle's Water materia to shoot a torrent of water from
his hand and into the chest of Rik-DOOMSDAY, covering it with a constant blast
of water.
"What the—ooooh!" Raptor exclaimed,
watching as the water froze around DOOMSDAY and Rik, encasing them in a layer
of ice.
"…Raptor…I'm going to melt her
ass…and I want you to grab Rik…and pull her to safety. Then we'll take this bitch and smash her,"
Charlie said as he used his Fire materia to melt the ice off of him first. He then stood, raising his left hand into
the air, a ball of white fire growing to the size of a bowling ball in his palm…then
to a beach ball…finally, it was about three feet in diameter. He hurled it at Rik-DOOMSDAY.
In that instant, Raptor leapt
through the air, biting into Rik's shirt's sleeve as the creature melted around
her. Charlie watched as Raptor pulled
Rik away from the water and dragged her towards the door, the teenager
unconscious as she was pulled.
Charlie looked up at the now-growing
puddle of water…lunged forward, grabbing his scythes. He leapt back as the Jenova beast froze solid again, slicing at
him with her claws, the sharp points driving into Charlie's chest, causing the
young man to fall to the ground, blood dripping from his fresh wounds. But he rose again, anger seething within him
at the beast…she had endangered the life of the one he loved, endangered the
lives of the whole audience, had endangered the life of his friend, and had
endangered Charlie's life as well. Charlie leapt into the air, surrounded by a red air of fury.
"[Devastator]!" His body shouted as he sliced his scythe blades deep into
the Jenova's shoulders, dragging them down in an "X" across her chest. He leapt up again…and from the air he seemed
to jump again…and again, flipping thrice, he held each of his scythes over each
shoulder. "[Courage]!" screamed his
soul as he gripped his scythes tighter, bringing them down together through the
center of the beast, his two scythes cutting straight through. He fell to the ground, the blades of his
scythes frozen solid, shattering as they hit the hard stage.
DOOMSDAY exploded in a snow-like substance, covering Charlie completely,
burying him almost above his mouth in his laying state. Charlie suddenly felt as though he had taken
a Megalixer all to himself, he was completely rejuvenated…the snow also fell
over the crowd…Charlie laughed to himself…he deserved a rest…
Robert stood on the ships deck as Junon came into view. He turned, looking to his six companions
who, like him, had celebrated Rik, Charlie, and Raptor's victory over their
latest encounter with a Jenova mutation. Robert had his swords out now, the staff on the ship not penalizing him
or any of his friends for their weapons due to the great help three of them had
been to the lives of everyone in the auditorium. Charlie had gotten several "thank you" notes, drinks, and fruit
baskets. Even a few love letters, which
Rik took and burned outside.
"…I'm going to Midgar…If any of you want to come with me, be my guest…if
you don't, then I wonder why you even came this far…If you decide not to
come…well, have fun getting back home…" Robert said as he looked over the railing
once more.
"…I'm coming," Anikken told him. Robert knew why—the promise he had made to Anikken about getting his
mother out.
"So will I," Raptor complied, nodding.
"I'm sure as hell coming! I want to
piss Anikken off some more!" Ian exclaimed giddily.
"…Then I'll come…to take care of my sister…" Charlie muttered, scratching
the back of his head.
"So will I, to keep Charlie company," Rik agreed with a grin.
"And I will too…just because…what else is there for a robot cat and her
Moogle to do? Become ninjas?" Caity
Sith said with a nod. Moogle nodded as
well, causing the robotic cat to slip and fall on her bum on the ship's deck.
"…So it's settled…we're going to Midgar…but first, we should do some
shopping at Junon…" Robert said, turning to face them, "We can't just rush in
with a few pieces of armor and a few weapons…"
Charlie grinned, "And we could do with a washing machine too."
"Four more days and you'll be free, Robby. And we can finally be together again like we used to be…Robby, I'm
sorry…" Emanuel whispered, sitting in a chair next to the DNA Construction
chamber. Blue-green eyes peered down
from behind the glass, glowing among the darkness…
Rik was growling out curse words in anger as she and her six friends passed
around the base of a mountain, starting across the plains towards Fort Condor.
"God damn cheap mother @#$%ing Junon…doesn't even have a decent weapons
shop…" Rik muttered, wielding the top portion of her Gemini, now one bladed and
more like a dagger. She glanced to
Charlie—who was sitting beside her, on the wing of the Andromeda—at least he
had a real dagger. A good nights sleep
in Junon hadn't even put Rik in a happy mood after she found out that the
weapons shop at Junon Harbor had been closed for a year.
"Look on the bright side, Rik. We're gonna go see our parents chocobooooos…!" Ian shouted in a giddy
tone, performing a cartwheel in the foot high fields of grass.
"Ian…has anyone ever called you—," Anikken began.
"No. Shut the hell up," Ian
growled, her good mood fading.
"Well, I was gonna say 'good-looking', but if you say no, then I have no
reason to argue." Anikken laughed, running towards the towering old fort—a
remnant from the days before Shinra turned Midgar into a hellhole—Ian at his
heels, fan blades being swung through the air…
Robert laughed, running after them, the Andromeda riding across the plane
ahead of Raptor, Caity holding onto Moogle for dear life as the plane built up
speed…
In no time at all, the group of seven reached the fort, a large, young male
condor perched atop it with a female. Robert looked from side to side—the fort was atop a low mound in the
plains. There was a large wooden door,
and nothing else, mind the walls. Robert shrugged, rapping his knuckles against the wood. An elderly man opened the door.
"Yeh…whatcha want?" the man asked, his gaze sweeping across the seven
before him.
"…"
"Our parents were against the Shinra and so are we. Now that they're…back in action, so to
speak, we decided to help all those residing in Fort Condor to fend them off,
as we've heard tales of how they were constantly trying to take over the fort
in the past," Ian explained, only partly the truth.
"…Aye…come on up…" the elderly man muttered. "My name is Karam…my father, my grandfather, and my
great-grandfather…they were all against the Shinra too."
After climbing up into the main room, Robert noticed the weapon above him,
in a case against the wall. A polished
steel blade…a pulsating green orb filled with a swirling mist for the pommel…a
hilt bound in black leather…he nudged Karam.
"That sabre…it's…beautiful! Where'd
your fort get it?" Robert questioned.
"Aye, the Ultima Sabre…it's got some big long history…but I fergot it…ah
well, it isn't that important."
"…May I have it?" Robert asked, grinning towards Karam.
"Oh, heavens no." Karam replied, shaking his head. "It was given to us, not to you, aye?"
"…Ah…" Robert replied, following Karam and the others, his eyes still
focused on the beautiful sabre, he followed Karam to the forge-room. Inside, several men and women stood over
flame-surrounded anvils, pounding away at metal, creating parts for guns,
spears, and swords. A woman stepped up
to the seven (and Karam).
"'Ow can I 'elp you?" she asked in a gruff voice.
"We need…weapons," Rik told her. "We need weapons so we can win the battle against the Shinra."
They all had new weapons. Anikken
wielded a larger, dark blue form of the Lesath, called Lesath II, the old one
in the storage area of the Andromeda, which Rik had taken over the mountains by
herself. Rik had bought "Second
Gemini", which she had helped construct. The spear had two large, curved black blades at the top. Charlie held single bladed axes, one in each
hand. When held with his arms hanging
down, the blades were at his ankles. He
called these axes "Axeholes", which he had decided upon after yelling at his
sister. Robert had a new sabre with a
stronger blade, a blood-red pommel embedded at the bottom. He simply called it the "Red Sabre". Ian had hand-made two new fans with violet
"blades". The weapons makers at Fort
Condor called them Evening Winds, and Ian decided that the name would
work. Caity, on the other hand, had
instructed the weapons makers at Fort Condor to give Moogle Gauntlets, which it
wore happily. Finally, Raptor had
bought his own Gauntlets, which were black with silver claw-blades…he, of
course, called them "New" but Ian insisted on the name "Phantom Claws".
Robert, Anikken, Ian, Raptor, Charlie, and Caity Sith entered the large
tunnel, which made a pathway through the mountains. The walls pulsated in green with the Mythril.
"Strange…when my parents were here there were vile creatures galore…"
Charlie muttered, his axes in each hand.
Robert blinked a few times, "I guess the fact that the people at Kalm began
to mine here again scared all of them off…"
Emerging into the light of the sun, the six peered out before them. A short area of grass and a long stretch of
swamp spread before them. Just beyond
the swamp, Robert could make out more grass.
"…Well…let's go…" Robert commanded, stepping into the squelching mud of the
swamp, greenish water rising up to his knees as he walked towards the other
side. Charlie followed directly after,
as did Raptor, but Anikken had to coax Caity and Ian to walk, as they didn't
want to get either their Moogle or their pants muddy.
"…I remember that my parents told me about creatures that live in the
swamp…I wonder where they—," Charlie was cut off as two huge, cobra-like
serpents erupted from the depths, each probably about ten feet long. They sunk back into the water, but the
telltale shadows heading toward the six told them that the creatures were
coming towards them.
"Midgar Zoloms! You had to talk,
didn't you, Charlie?" Ian yelled, running forward and between the shadows,
darting towards the other side of the swamp as the water soon rose to her
waist. Caity Sith followed quickly;
realizing Ian's plan of 'Run Like Hell' might work. Robert and Charlie stood their ground, and Anikken just stood, as
one of the Zoloms rushed towards them, the other splitting off and heading
towards Ian and Caity.
"Raptor! Go help them!" Charlie
shouted, just as the Zolom heading towards them erupted from the water,
balancing on its tail. Robert, Charlie,
and Anikken began towards the right, the Zolom's eyes following them.
It lashed out, fangs dripping venom, it's large head rushed towards
Anikken. The black-haired boy dove
backwards, submerging completely into the water as the fangs barely grazed his
shirt, ripping two long lines. Anikken
stood again, hurling Lesath II at the Zolom. The blue shuriken slashed across the Zolom's side and the serpent sank
back into the water.
"Where is it!?" Robert shouted, spinning around, sabre drawn.
Ian slashed it across it's left side with her fans as Caity turned, her
Moogle's fist crashing into the nostril-slits of the second Zolom, causing the
beast to recoil, shake it's head, and dive at Caity again. Caity slammed her flute into the Zolom's
head, the serpent falling to the right and spinning; it's fangs slicing across
Raptor's side as Raptor sliced the snake across its eyes.
"Ugh…" Raptor moaned, poison seeping into his veins. He began to lose his struggle to swim,
sinking into the muddy water. Ian dove
down after him, now in the deepest part—fifteen feet of dark water was below
Ian as she searched for Raptor.
Robert sliced across the snout of a Zolom as it rose in front of him, the
Zolom having a hard time to hide and strike in the shallows. Charlie joined in, driving his axes
relentlessly into the Zolom's scaly hide, wanting to finish this snake off and
help his sister. Anikken's leg was
caught in the Zolom's mouth. He yelled
as the fangs drove through his boot and into his foot. The Zolom slunk back, sliding away from the
three. Anikken pulled himself up,
trying to stay off of his injured leg.
"Oh no you don't!" he shouted, the water shoving back around him as a red
aura grew. He was standing on mud that
had been somehow dried. "[Rising
Fury]!"
Anikken knelt down, jamming a blade of the Lesath II into the ground to the
right of him. He spun it forward, the
blade zooming like a circular saw towards the Zolom. Anikken ran along side of it, grabbing it at the last moment and
pulling it up, along, and through the Zolom. The Zolom fell with a large splash into the re-appeared water. Red overcame the green as Anikken fell back
into the water, nursing his ankle.
Robert and Charlie ran towards the other Zolom, which Caity and her Moogle
were dodging. The Moogle had no trouble
keeping them afloat, he just puffed himself up. Charlie grabbed his sister's free wrist as she struggled to keep
the poisoned Raptor's mouth above the water. Once they reached the shallows, Ian set Raptor on the bank and followed
Charlie back in the water, but, like Charlie, she stayed in the shallower end,
where her head wasn't underwater if she stood.
"Caity! Come over here! Robert, get Anikken! Hurry up!" Charlie shouted. Caity floated into the shallow part of the
swamp while Robert hurried back to Anikken, the Zolom snapping as his ankles. Anikken was wincing ever so often, the
poison in his veins. Robert put a
bottle of Antidote in Anikken's hand and heaved his friend over his shoulder,
sheathing his sabre and running towards the other side of the swamp, feet
kicking as he tread water, his free hand pushing him forward as Anikken drank
the Antidote.
"Lemme go, Robert. I can swim
fine," Anikken complained, sliding from Robert's shoulder and into the water,
swimming towards the shore with his friend. The Zolom came up under Robert, pushing him up. Robert grinned, unsheathing his sabre, the
Zolom's eyes glowing in gold hunger as the Zolom opened its mouth, ready to
flip Robert into the air and feast.
The blade of the sabre slid through the front of the Zolom's hood and down
through it's jaw, the sharp point sticking out though the bottom. The Zolom stopped…dropping down into the
water as Robert pulled his sabre out, stepping on shore as the snake
disappeared from sight.
"Well…I'm glad that's over…" Robert muttered, wiping water from his eyes as
the water churned behind him.
A huge Zolom erupted from the water, twenty feet high with its fangs bared
and dripping venom.
"Holy mother of Midgar Zoloms…" Anikken muttered. Robert turned around, only to be rammed back by the Zolom's
head. He stood again, stepping
forward. Again, he was slammed
backwards. Pulling himself to his feet,
Robert glared, his fury intensified within a red aura.
"[Arcane Destiny]!" Robert's soul screamed as Robert flung himself at the
huge beast, his sabre slicing five blows into the Zolom. Robert landed on the ground, glaring as the
huge snake pulled itself up completely on its tail.
The Zolom began to twirl around above the water, its tail still safely
holding it in the mud. Dark red energy
grew around the Zolom, pulling Robert, Charlie, and Anikken towards it, slowly
at first, and then yanking him up with the red energy into the air, towards the
Zolom's mouth. Robert held his sabre
out in front of him.
The group of six stepped out from the mucky depths of the swamp, a
humongous serpent dead in the shallows of the swamp.
The HEROs were all standing about fifty yards from the world's largest
Chocobo Ranch and following Ian's lead they started towards it. After a minute and a half of Caity playing
her flute and hopping atop Moogle, they reached the farm. A fenced in area contained two Chocobos—both
strong looking and muscular, though one was male and one was female.
"What took yah?" Rik asked as they came into her view. Robert walked into the actual farm while
Anikken, Ian, Charlie, Caity, and Raptor joined Rik in admiring the outdoor
Chocobos, Ferret and Mongoose. Robert
returned atop a large male Chocobo with feathers of black, his swords both
sheathed.
"…Where are you going, Robert?" Rik inquired, leaning against the fence.
"…I'm going towards...I'm going alone."
Anikken raised an eyebrow, "What about…yanno…?"
"…I'm sorry to disappoint you all…but this is a journey I must make by
myself. This is where I leave…" Robert
replied.
"Robert, I thought we were friends. I thought…you know…we'd all go into Midgar…together."
"I'm not going to Midgar. What the
hell do you think this is, Rik, some goddamn story? Some goddamn group quest? Perhaps you think it's some poetic happy journey of love between you and
Charlie? It's not. This is my future…my past. You think friends never part ways? This is the only way for me to…ah, forget it
Rik. Now I have to go… And…don't follow me. If you want to help me, do something
productive, like liberating the people of Midgar who oppose Shinra. If I never see you all again…well…goodbye, I
suppose. Oh, and Rik, tell your dad not
to send tea in the mail," Robert growled, pulling on the reins of the Chocobo,
who's name was Soot. The black Chocobo
ran off towards the mountains to the west.
"…Damnit Robert!" Anikken shouted. The group watched as the black Chocobo leapt up the rock-covered
mountainside…
"…Yep. He's insane." Charlie
muttered.
"Thanks Billy," Rik shouted.
"No problem! Er…and sorry about
your Chocobo 'Fern'…" Chocobo Billy shouted back at the five Chocobo-riding
forms heading off around the mountains and the Airplane-rolling girl, Rik.
"I'll tell you if we find her!" Rik shouted back.
After a long nights rest at the Chocobo Ranch, the team—well, the remainder
of it—were ready to head out to Midgar, to help Robert by destroying its
shields. Rik's favorite Chocobo, Fern,
had gotten loose during the night, and for some reason she had headed away from
the farm.
"Rik! Charlie, Raptor, and I are
heading over the hills, following Robert's trail," Caity told Rik, sitting atop
the strong gold Chocobo 'Myst'.
"…Alright," Rik shouted back from the cockpit of the Andromeda. Ian, atop Ash, the female Black Chocobo, and
Anikken, atop the normal yet amazingly strong and fast Chocobo, Loco, flanked
the black plane.
It wasn't until the three were close
to Kalm when they heard it. The
distinct "Wark" of a Green Chocobo sounded through the still air.
"…It's got to be Fern!" Rik said,
shutting off the engine. She sat in the
plane's front seat, listening in the silence for another "Wark".
The Green Chocobo, Fern, ran
straight towards the three, eyes bloodshot, feathers becoming speckled brown as
she neared them.
"…Well #$%& a duck, it's our
lost Chocobo…" Rik murmured. The
Chocobo leapt over them, flapping her wings as its talons became black, head
becoming humanoid for a moment…
"I…am…am…" the creature began,
landing behind them. Her head suddenly
became that of a Chocobos, but with a larger beak, a beak with razor sharp
edges. "Wark? WARK! WARRRRRK!"
"…Aw, poor Fern…" Ian began. Ian got off of her Chocobo, tying its reins
to the Andromeda as Anikken did the same with Loco's reins. Rik hopped from the cockpit, holding her spear
at ready as Anikken and Ian drew their weapons.
"I hate killing things I
like…but…yanno…the @#&$ing Chocobo lost so many races that now I don't
think she was even worth it…" Rik murmured as she spun her Gemini about.
"A Chocobo mutated by Jenova…eh?"
Anikken murmured, holding his Lesath as he glared into the mutated eyes of the
green-and-brown Chocobo. Fern now stood just taller than him, eyes bloodshot,
irises red. "Well, Warky, let's go!"
Fern reared her head back; opening
her beak…she brought her mouth down, firing off a large ball of fire at
Anikken. A fist flung in front of
Anikken's face…he looked to the right to see Ian, smirking as the fire was
absorbed into the ring she wore. "You
owe me…" Ian murmured before lunging at Fern, her foot connecting with the side
of the Chocobos beak, left fan raking across its side. She landed behind the Chocobo, which soon
became in front as the Chocobo turned towards her, snapping its beak. Ian ran as Fern charged, taking the Chocobo
on a large loop towards her friends.
Fern leapt for the deathblow…only to
be stabbed by Rik's double-bladed spear. Talons flew through the air and Rik fell, lines of blood over her
middle…the Chocobo still chasing Ian. Anikken raced after the mutant bird, slashing futilely at it with his
Lesath, not throwing it in the event it might hit Ian.
Rik pressed her gloved hands to her
middle, scarlet blood trickling slowly out. Her eyes fixed on the back of the Chocobo…then the side, as it turned in
her pursuit of Ian. As Fern turned,
Anikken passed her…and leapt, grasping her back. He pulled himself into a sitting position, riding the mutated
Chocobo as it lashed about, trying to fire balls of fire back and into Anikken.
"[Hyper Drive]!" Rik's eyes became
molten fury as the aura of red grew around her. Rik stood up straight, her knuckles white as she tightly gripped
her spear. She ran forward, on a
collision course with Fern. The Chocobo
leapt…and so did she—right through Fern's front and out through her back, just
behind where Anikken sat. A large hole
had been blasted through the green Chocobo, and Rik stood behind it as its run
slowed, the aura fading away as she looked up at the sky.
Anikken brought the Lesath
back…sliced downward, the metal star taking with it Fern's head, which dropped
to the ground like a crabapple. Anikken
leapt from the Chocobo as it fell neck-stump-first into the ground, skidding
along for a moment before stopping.
"…Well…that was…fun," Anikken said
with a few blinks. Ian was standing
just in front of the Jenova mutated Fern's body, panting as the sun caused lots
of sweat to drip down her face.
"I…hated that…Chocobo…" she
muttered, hands on her knees.
"And it hated you, too. Either that or Fern was a—," Anikken
started, but was silenced by Rik's shake of a head.
"…That's gonna delay us a while…I
wonder where the others are…" Rik murmured, looking up at the afternoon sun,
which was beginning its drop to the horizon.
"I wonder where the others are…"
Anikken pondered before a ring came on his PHS. He answered the call, "…Footprints? Okay…so you'll be able to find him and yell him into hell,
right? Good. Bye, Chuck."
"…We sort of understood the
conversation…" Rik murmured, picking up her own PHS as Ian slashed like mad at
the dead Chocobo with her fans.
"Take that! And that!"
Robert wiped sweat from his
forehead, looking at the large palace before him. Made out of what looked like one smooth, crimson crystal, it
stuck out of the ground at the top of the highest mountain, overlooking Midgar
on one side and a valley on the other. Robert hopped off Soot, the Chocobo exhausted. They had headed up the mountains and across the mountain range
for over a full day now, the sun now setting across the ocean that was barely
visible from where Robert stood.
"Soot…go on down to that stream."
Robert commanded to the Chocobo, pointing down into the valley. The Chocobo was glad to, and ran downhill
with a "Wark".
Robert unsheathed his sabre, running
towards the door to the Palace. As he
prepared to slash across it's metal hinges, the crystal doors slid open. A mechanical voice chirped out…
"We've been expecting you! Come in!" It exclaimed cheerfully. Robert sheathed his sabre, peering
inside. It was a hallway, leading towards
the open doors of a ballroom full of people. Some were wearing Shinra Uniforms, and among the throngs, Robert saw the
Turks, Calin and Damien, flanked by six uniformed men and women.
Robert stepped slowly inside,
walking towards the ballroom, looking oddly out of place in his white T-shirt,
jeans, and boots as he stepped out among well-dressed men and women. He got many odd looks, and glares from the
Turks who not dare disturb the party. Robert stepped towards the back of the room, where there was a large
stage bearing a cylinder covered by a blue curtain. He looked to his right to see a blonde woman with sinister blue
eyes gazing at the cloth-covered cylinder with a look of pride on her face…to
his left, he saw a man in a white lab-coat, black hair slicked back save one
strand which dangled to his right cheek.
Suddenly, the lights all turned off,
leaving the room in darkness. A large
spotlight shone on stage, revealing a man in a black suit with black hair…
…He looked too familiar…
"Ladies…and gentleman… I am Emanuel…and you have been invited here
today to witness the…newest and greatest 'science project' of my friend Doctor
Furre. Using strands of DNA and a bit
of time magic, he was able to create…the perfect soldier. I have called him…Robby. Robby Arcane." The black-haired man
murmured, looking out over the crowd, not hearing Robert's gasp, or seeing
Robert's surprised look. "So…without
further ado…meet Robby!"
Emanuel brought his hands into the
air…and the curtain lifted, revealing…
A glass tank that was completely
empty.
"…What the hell?" Emanuel exclaimed,
staring wide-eyed at the tank. He
turned slowly to the audience.
Robert leapt onstage, kicking
Emanuel and sending him stumbling into the darkness. Robert yelled to the crowd. "Get the hell out of here! NOW!"
As the crowd trampled each other in
their race to escape, Damien and Calin ran towards Robert with their Silver
Shields. They leapt onstage in front of
the red-haired eighteen year old.
"…We meet again…now you'll die!"
Calin shouted, the four Silver Shields swarming towards Robert.
Robert unsheathed his sword,
slashing up as he did so across one Shield's chest, causing him to collapse to
the ground. He leaned back, holding his
sabre with the blade pointed behind him and leapt…the blade sunk into the chest
of a second Shield. He twirled it in
his hand, leaping forward once more and sending the shining blade through a
Silver Shield's chest, causing her to fall from the stage.
Robert's eyes fixed on Damien and
Calin.
"…Fool… You'll soon see that we're much stronger than a bunch of guards…"
Damien hissed, swinging his axe in a threatening manner as Robert sheathed his
sword.
Robert bounded forward, hands
hitting the ground in a handspring, feet pushed forward into the chests of
Damien and Calin, sending them sprawling down, to the edge of the stage. Robert leapt nimbly over a slash of Damien's
axe and delivered a kick into Damien's chin, sending the black-haired Turk over
the stage. Robert unsheathed his sabre,
bringing it down at Calin, who blocked it with his daggers.
"Why…do you work for Shinra?" Robert
asked, slamming his sabre's blade against one of Calin's daggers.
"Because I find the better paying
job to be better than normal jobs!" Calin shouted, throwing a dagger at
Robert. Robert knocked the dagger away
with his sword, stabbing Calin through the gut. Robert pulled down on his sword, Calin falling to his knees, and
kneed Calin in the nose.
"Then I'll have to kill you." Robert
told him, leaping over Calin and pulling up and back on the hilt of his sword,
the blade slicing through and out of Calin's chest…Calin fell to the
stage. "…" Robert looked over the edge
of the stage. Damien lay unconscious
below the stage. Robert turned…not
facing either Turk—dead or out cold. The blade of his sabre slid into its sheath.
"Boys…"
"They're so…"
"…Annoying…"
"And they always…"
"Wanna fight…"
"…So lets fight!"
"I'm with yah, Saphie! Let's show the man our skills!"
A whip cracked across Robert's back,
sending him sprawling forward as the Turk Saphie dropped down in front of him,
her black wings ruffling as she brought her fist back…slammed it into Robert's
face. Robert fell onto his back,
looking up at the two Turks standing at his feet.
"…Underestimating girls, eh?"
"…I guess maybe you're scared…"
"…Or maybe I'm building up magic…?"
Robert snickered. Merri yelped in
surprise as a ball of fire flew from Robert's right hand and sent her flying
back into the far wall. Saphie lunged
at Robert…
…But Robert's foot pressed to her
belly, and he flipped her over his head, rolling backwards and standing,
turning to face Saphie as he drew his sabre.
"…You're a fool." Saphie snarled,
eyes glowing in their dark red splendor. Robert stood still, sword in a defensive position. Saphie lunged, fists flying towards Robert. Robert batted her hands away with his sabre,
his foot swinging out and catching her in the hip. This small distraction gave Robert enough time to fire a blast of
water at the dark angel, sending her in the same direction Merri went. Robert leapt from the stage, running after
the Turk and her partner, disappearing into the darkness of the back of the
auditorium.
Violet hair drifted down to his
waist. Black pants started where the
hair ended, leading down to black boots. A silver plate of armor covered his chest and wrapped around to his
back, where a large red sword was sheathed. A gloved hand grasped the long hilt…pulled the sword out from the
sheath…the word "Goliath" was visible upon the blade. He leapt forward, his midnight blue eyes flashing as the crimson
blade flew through the air, held in his right hand. In his left hand—Sephiroth's legendary Masamune sword.
The silver blade of the Masamune
flew alongside the red blade of the Goliath…blood flew through the air as a
uniformed Silver Shield fell, cut in half by the blades. The violet-haired man leapt up into the
air…came down, each blade slicing through a Silver Shield as he did. The last Shield quivered, raising her gun
slowly. The Goliath flew upwards,
slicing through the gun as the Masamune stabbed straight through the woman's
heart. The warrior turned, blood
soaking his blades, drops of blood on his face. A cruel smile spread.
The world…was his.
He raised his hands into the air, an
orb of green energy appearing. He stood
on a balcony, the green orb lighting up the night. In the distance on either side of him, immense howls erupted.
"…I…am Robby Arcane…" he snickered
into the night. "And you…you are my
servants…! So come, servants, do my
bidding!"
The howls grew louder as the
creatures grew closer…
The sabre smashed into the knuckle
plate of Saphie's right glove as Robert ducked below Merri's snapping
whip. Robert pushed off from the floor,
flying backwards with a flip as his sabre was sheathed—his Monolith pulled out. Robert slammed the Monolith's green blade
through Merri's whip, severing it in two pieces. Merri through the useless bottom half of the whip at Robert,
scampering backwards to avoid the Monolith's blade.
Saphie pulled her fist back…threw a
punch at Robert. Her right fist hit the
Monolith's blade and Robert pushed forward, the green blade slicing through the
metal knuckles and into Saphie's hand. Saphie screamed in pain and flapped her wings frantically, pulling away
from Robert.
"Merri!"
"Saphie!"
"It's time for…"
"Our new attacks!"
Saphie and Merri flew to either side
of Robert, standing at ready.
"[White Squall]!" Merri yelled,
wings beginning to frantically beat.
"[Black Squall]!" Saphie yelled, her
wings doing the same.
Saphie and Merri placed their hands
in the same position they used for their Black and White Rose attacks. Orbs of energy a bit larger than those of
their Rose attacks grew within their hands, swirling and churning like a storm
at sea. Saphie's was black, and Merri's
was white, similar to those of their earlier special attacks, which they used
at Rocket Town. They pushed their hands
forward, the orbs of energy flying towards Robert. Robert took a single step backwards and Merri's energy flew
towards Saphie and visa versa.
"…Damnit…"
"…Not again!"
The energy hit, sending the two
Turks propelling in different directions. Robert just smirked, walking towards the exit as he sheathed the
Monolith. The doors slammed shut just
before he stepped through.
"…It was you! You ruined my project!" Emanuel yelled from
behind Robert. Robert turned as Emanuel
slammed one end of his staff at him. Robert held his chest where the spear had hit, drawing his sabre.
"You'll pay dearly for that,
asshole…" Robert leapt at Emanuel; sabre hitting the metal staff as Emanuel
blocked.
…Two boys fighting with wooden
weapons…a wooden sabre hit a wooden staff…
Emanuel pulled his staff back from
Robert's blade before repeatedly smashing it into Robert's chest and
sides. Robert stumbled backwards,
slashing at Emanuel in futile attempts. Emanuel's staff swung into the back of
Robert's legs and Robert fell back. The
end of the staff smashed into his sternum. Robert's eyes slowly closed…Emanuel smirked, pulling his staff back up,
ready to smash in Robert's ribs.
Robert rolled backwards, suddenly
leaping forward, a red aura streaking along behind him, sabre held tightly in
his hands.
"[Arcane Hatred]!" he yelled,
spinning a few times in the air, his sabre gleaming in the faint light of the
room. He slashed six times, leaving
gashes across Emanuel's chest and through his suit, and then Robert's feet hit
the ground. Robert's blue-green eyes
fixed with Emanuel's...
The sabre's blade was stabbed in a
direct line through Emanuel's chest…and out through his back. The red aura faded away. Emanuel fell back—off of the blade—to the
floor, lying in a crumpled heap.
"…Who…are you…?" Emanuel stuttered
out, a trickle of blood running out from his mouth and down his chin.
"Robert Arcane," was Robert's grim
reply as he sheathed the sabre.
Emanuel coughed, flecks of blood
flying from his mouth and landing on his suit. "…R-Robert? …I'm…Emanuel…Arc…Arc…" Emanuel's head slumped to his right
side…he laid still.
"What?" Robert asked, raising a
brow.
"…He said…his name is Emanuel
Arcane, brother," said the same voice as that of Janus.
Robert looked into the darkness…the
direction of the voice.
"…Brother?" Robert asked, a puzzled
look over his face…he fell to his knees beside Emanuel… "…You…you're the black haired man April was
showing me…"
"Ah, April. I remember that girl…she lead you
astray. Made you forget who your family
really was. Well, Robert, Emanuel and I
are your family. …Well, I'm your
family. You've just killed your
brother, do you realize that?"
Robert looked down at Emanuel's dead
form…a single tear began to form in his eye. "…I…remember…and I remember you!" Robert's eyes turned to look at Janus. "You killed April, didn't you!? You…killed her! And then you
tried to kill me!"
"…Wrong. I killed April, yes. But
you were the one who tried to kill me…don't you remember?" Janus scowled at
Robert, brown locks of hair covering his eyes.
[Begin FMV]
A fifteen-year-old Robert stepped
through the doorway, blood covering the hands that held April. He walked slowly down the hallway…up a flight
of stairs. His eyes were slightly red,
and his cheeks were still wet with tears. He kicked open the doors to Janus' office, where the young man sat
drinking a mug of coffee. Robert set
April down in a chair, glaring at Janus.
Robert: I hate you.
Janus: Dear brother,
what ever for?
Janus' face held a look of
innocence.
Robert: Why'd you kill her?
Janus: Ah. That. You see, brother, the
Arcane family cares ever so much about brotherhood. And then you go and tell that tramp about our affiliations with
Dr. Furre, breaking the code of silence. We trusted you, and you let us down.
Robert: I let YOU down!?
Janus: She was pulling you away from the
family. It was for your own good.
Robert: …I have something for your own good!
Robert pulled his sabre from his
sheath, leaping over the desk, preparing the slash deep into Janus. Janus brought his hand into the air…crimson
energy launched from his palm, hitting Robert in the middle of the chest and stunning
him, leaving him frozen in midair.
Janus: I should kill you…but I won't.
Robert: …
Janus: Instead…I banish you. You are no longer part of this family! To you, Arcane will just be a surname and
nothing more!
Janus moved his hand to the left and
Robert flew through the window, still in the same position.
[End FMV]
"…I…remember…I remember that I used
to trust you…and I remember that from that night on, I hated you!" Robert
yelled, standing and pulling his Monolith sword out from its sheath, holding it
before him.
Janus raised his right hand into the
air, holding the metal panel that had been below the Monolith's tank at the
museum. "And you thought you were
human," Janus said with a smirk. He
tossed the panel towards Robert, the metal plate landing just at his feet. Robert looked down at it.
[An ancient sword, said to be
created by an extinct race. Its blade
is said to be amazingly powerful, but it can only be used by members of the
Mystic race. To any non-Mystic, the
blade would be too heavy to lift. The
scientists who found it had to build this Zero Gravity tank around it. To Mystics, though, this blade can be as
light as a feather. Mystics used to be
the species of nightmares before they were hunted down and killed before Midgar
became property of Shinra. The sword
has been identified as 'Monolith', one of the three Mystic swords. The second sword reside within the home of
the famed Arcane family and the third is at an unknown location, only known
about because of ancient books written by Mystics.
-Sector 4 Plate Museum]
"…I'm not a Mystic. I'm a normal human," Robert looked back to
Janus, "It says so right here—Mystics are extinct."
"What they mean to say is that 'Pure
Mystics' are extinct. But there's no
such thing as a pure Mystic. If you
have any Mystic DNA, you're a full Mystic. There are no 'half Mystics'. So
face it, you and me should stick together."
"Riddle me this, Shinra scum, what
is this 'Robby Arcane' thing that Emanuel was talking about earlier?" Robert
questioned, holding Monolith at ready.
"…Hahaha…he wanted to remember
you…you see, you and him were best friends, and the symbol of perfect brothers
when you were younger. If he knew that
it was I who banished you, he would try and kill me. So I had to change his memories a bit. Then lately he began to remember things about you. And he decided he wanted to meet you. Totally impossible since he thought you were
dead. So he did the next best thing and
cloned you. No one dare tell him that
the clone didn't look anything like you…and…the reason the clone doesn't
resemble you at all is due to the fact that Emanuel added a bit of Sephiroth's
DNA…creating the perfect weapon. This
'Robby' is about as strong as the Planet's WEAPONs, which have now gone into
slumber…but I fear they will awaken once again if Robby unleashes his
power. He'll be able to manipulate
them, too, since he has both the powers of a Mystic and the powers of
Sephiroth…that is why we need to join forces. We need to work together to kill Robby Arcane, the perfect soldier."
"…And if I say no?" Robert
questioned, still holding his Monolith.
"…Then I'll have to kill you," Janus
hissed, drawing his gun from its holster.
"…I see. …And then what?" Robert's eyes locked with Janus'.
"…Then I take this place into
space. Up to our station with Admiral
Drayson. We'll use the cannons there to
destroy Robby," Janus' face a grim display.
"Space?" Robert raised a red brow.
"This palace isn't just what you see
above ground. Inside the mountain
itself is a huge structure—a space ship. This palace is just the ship's top," Janus nodded slightly, pointing his
gun at Robert. "So are you with me?"
Robert suddenly fell to his knees
once more, head pulsating with pain…he saw a diamond casket in a dark
room. The pain quickly subsided and he
looked up to Janus.
"…What's in this place's basement?"
The crystal casket gleamed in the
single light of the basement. The
brothers had come down the stone stairs, and Robert stepped slowly towards the
diamond case. Lying inside was a stone
still girl. Her emerald green eyes were
wide open, staring up, and azure hair hanging down to her hips. She was wearing a black leather jumpsuit, a
metal belt around her waist, black boots covering her feet. …A Summon Materia hung from a chain at her
neck.
"The C.A.I.
project…unsuccessful…we've kept her here so she wouldn't harm anyone…she's
almost been around as long as you…our parents were the ones who worked with
Furre on creating her…"
"…I'm taking her…freeing her from
you…" Robert murmured, looking back to Janus.
"…You are my brother…and I will
listen to what you want…" Janus sighed, waving his hand in the air. The diamond lid flipped back over the
diamond bottom, landing softly on the floor. Robert slowly stepped towards the girl…picked her up.
"…Where's the exit?"
"…I told you. You work with me or die."
"…I'll work with you…just not
alongside of you…we have one goal that is the same…"
"…Good point."
"…And I still hate you," Robert
murmured, holding the girl in his hands.
"I understand…goodbye, brother,"
Janus sighed as he watched Robert walk slowly back up the steps. A rumbling outside told him it was time for
the palace to take to the air.
Robby smirked to himself as he
watched a crystal-white Jenova beast draw nearer to a midnight black beast.
"TRIUMPH! APOCALYPSE! Meld, now!"
Robby called into the night. The
Jenova's pressed their tentacles together, the long appendages slowly melding
together as the beasts grew closer to one another. Robby leapt off into the night, diving between them as a mass of
green particles dropped from the dark sky.
Dying, the Jenova bacteria scanned
the area for the nearest source of immense power. It found it in the two merging Jenova beasts. The particles dropped straight down, colliding
with the beast as the male and female Jenova's became one. A flash of green light filled the air…
The mountain began to crumble as the
high-powered rockets started, the crimson spaceship pushing off from the
ground, rising slowly as the large vehicle continued to rise up from the
ground, eager to get out from the rock and away from the merged Jenova beast…
Robert set the girl down at the side
of the pool as the palace continued to rise out from the mountain. His blue-green eyes fixed on Luke, who stood
across from him on the other side of the pool. He brought his hands into the air…shot off two balls of fire, one
blasting each of Luke's Shields over the edge and to the ground.
"…We meet again…and I thought you
were dead, Robert," Luke murmured with a smirk, drawing his large sword. Robert unsheathed his sabre as Luke pushed
golden hair from his face.
Luke wasn't wearing his suit jacket,
but he was still wearing his red headband. His sword now had a serrated blade, like that of a saw. He grinned from across the pool.
"Bring it on!" Luke shouted. Robert leapt forward, landing in the
pool. Luke did the same, slowly
stepping towards Robert in the shallow water. Robert swung his sabre down at Luke, his attack parried by Luke's own
blade. Robert pressed harder on the
sabre's hilt, trying to overcome Luke. Luke leapt back, pulling his blade with him, but not quick enough, the
sign evident in the water as a tiny red mist appeared, drifting from Luke's
leg.
Luke swung a sideways slice at
Robert, nicking the flesh of Robert's right shoulder. Robert growled, doing a similar slash at Luke, only for his blade
to be blocked again. As the battle of
the strength on the blades began, Robert swung his leg from the water, foot
connecting with Luke's temple. Luke
fell back, and Robert landed a stab through Luke's right arm. Luke howled, pulling backwards away from the
blade and slashing Robert across his chest. The water began to grow crimson around the two fighters; the steel
blades clashing against one another repeatedly as each made sure the other
didn't get the upper hand.
"I…never liked you!" Luke shouted as
his blade neared Robert's leg underwater.
"And I didn't like you!" Robert
yelled back, his blade blocking Luke's as the palace finally cleared the
mountain, flying up in the air.
"Soon…the shields will appear! And you'll be stuck here!" Luke grinned,
stabbing his sword at Robert. Robert
ducked underwater—under the blade—before pushing up with his feet, landing an
upward slash from Luke's left hip to his right shoulder. Luke growled, the water around him beginning
to churn. His were-tiger transformation
began, fur growing over his body, muscles ripping at the fabric of his shirt,
claws growing where fingernails had been. "And I'll be pulling my sword from your dead body!"
Luke leapt at Robert in the water,
but the Mystic kept leaping backwards and around, leading Luke in a circle,
getting the occasional slash in at his adversary.
"I don't want to have to kill you,
Luke! But I will if I need to!" Robert
growled, suddenly lunging forward and gliding through the water past Luke. He turned around, feet hitting the bottom of
the pool. His sabre cut into Luke's
shoulder blade.
Luke let out a roar, turning to face
Robert. Robert sheathed his sabre,
drawing his Monolith sword. His eyes
fixed on Luke's. The Monolith's blade
slammed against the steel blade of Luke's butcher sword, digging into the metal
slowly, the blade shining in the moonlight.
"I tried to tell Emanuel…" Luke
began, pulling his blade away, "That you looked nothing like…" He brought the
sword down towards Robert's head. The
Monolith deflected it. "You. But he was stubborn…" he groaned, pushing
hard against the blade, "He didn't listen…!"
Luke pulled his blade back and
shoved it sideways, slicing deep through Robert's middle. He smirked as Robert let out a yelp, crimson
blood growing thicker within the water. He brought his sword back for a deathblow…
"[Arcane Inferno]!" Robert shrieked,
leaping up into the air high above the pool and holding the Monolith behind his
head, a red aura streaking along behind him. The Monolith's blade began to glow…and suddenly, it was covered in red
flames. The flames flashed, the fire
becoming orange…the flame blade grew larger. It flashed again, becoming blue and growing even larger. It flashed a third time, becoming white hot
and just longer than Robert was tall.
Robert came dropping down, bringing
the Monolith's flaming blade down straight through Luke, slashing him from the
top of his head down to his waist. Robert
leapt up again, now bringing the flaming blade over his right shoulder…he
dropped back down, the blade slicing down from Luke's left shoulder to Luke's
right hip. Once again, Robert leapt
into the air, Monolith over his left shoulder…he came down, slashing from
Luke's right shoulder to Luke's left hip. The flames suddenly ceased as the red aura diminished…Robert sheathed
his sword as the were-tiger form of Luke fell back…sword slipping from his grip
as he began to float on his fur-covered back, golden fur now stained red.
"…Those who follow the path of evil
get defeated in return…goodbye, my friend…" Robert muttered, pulling out from
the pool. He picked up the blue-haired
girl slowly, walking towards the edge of the balcony…down below, he could see
the mountains, growing tiny as the rocket flew up towards the sky. He slowly brought one leg over the
railing…then the other, leaning against it, his feet barely touching the small
rim of stone just below the rail. A
bright flash of white light grew atop the mountain that the palace had been
built in.
"…Here goes nothing…" Robert
murmured, pushing off from the railing just as the shields kicked in. He dropped downwards, the green glow inches
away from his feet. The girl in his
arms whimpered slightly, her eyes now closed as they plummeted towards the
ground.
As Robert neared the source of the
glowing light, his eyes widened in fear. It was growing…and fast. Suddenly, Robert felt a large jerk upon his leg and his drop stopped. He looked up to see a large black rope
lassoed around his boot, towing from a large black airship, the ship shaped
like the famous Highwind airship, only it had many more thrusters and two wings
which stuck out from either side, making the black ship look like a fierce bird
of prey, especially because of the pointed front.
"Well! Look at what I caught! A
suicidal skydiver!" Anikken's voice yelled down with a laugh. The ship's bottom hatch was open, and from
it the rope trailed, Anikken beginning to reel Robert and the azure-haired girl
up towards the ship with the big fishing-pole-style contraption. Robert grinned.
"I owe yah one, bud," Robert yelled
up.
"Actually, you owe me two. I drank all o' Mr. Highwind's tea just a
while ago," Anikken shouted back down.
[Begin FMV]
Both Marlene, Barret Wallace's
adopted daughter, and Caity Sith were treating Robert's wounds. He winced slightly, his red hair being blown
back by the fan in the ship's infirmary.
Rik: So you're saying that…they're going up to
that satellite?
Rik pushed her blonde hair from her
face, looking to Charlie, then Anikken, then Ian, followed by Raptor, then back
to Robert.
Robert: That's no satellite…it's a space
station. And yes. How many times do I have to repeat myself?
Charlie: That was only the fourth time, asshole!
Ian: So who's she?
Ian pointed at the azure-haired
girl, who was lying on a sick bed. Robert shrugged.
Robert: All I know is that there's something growing
down where the palace was…
Anikken: Should we check it out?
Robert: …Ask Captain Rik.
Rik: Yah! Lets check it out!
The Airship, Midnight Revenge,
dropped down from the clouds and toward the glowing white form. The white light suddenly shattered, shards
of pulsating crystal flying everywhere. Slowly rising from the ground where the white light had been came a
monstrous WEAPON. Colored a light gray,
it resembled a scorpion, each leg ending in a hand-like claw. It's head resembled the head of a snake,
though, a long, forked tongue flicking out at the air as it's tail swung
violently about. It's mouth opened
wider, long fangs dripping with acid-yellow venom as it's claws clicked against
the ground…it scampered towards Midgar, letting out a large roar as it did so.
The dragon-like WEAPON flew from its
lake with a roar, awakened by the growing power of the Jenova WEAPON. It let out a roar, flapping its large wings
and gaining altitude…it stood as a guardian over the lake, ready to attack if
the new WEAPON came near.
Deep under the surface of the ocean,
a dark green WEAPON—Emerald—rose up from a shadowed crater, lifting slowly
up…it began to propel forwards…guarding the ocean. The new WEAPON had intruded on the Planet, and the immense growth
of power had caused Emerald to awaken from its slumber, now sensing two powerful
presences invading on its Planet.
The sand-covered surface of the
desert erupted outwards and the top half of Ruby WEAPON pushed from the
ground. It's claws pressing into the
ground and it pulled its legs out. In
the distance, a glint of gold began to distract the newly awakened WEAPON, and
it lumbered towards it slowly, ignoring the growing power across the ocean from
it.
Robert shook his head in amazement.
Robert: That's…impossible…
Rik: …Damn straight…
Robert: …I have my own goals now…my first priority
is to try and get rid of—
Ian: Augh! The sensors indicate that the other three WEAPONs are awake!
Robert: …As I was saying. We have to get rid of all four of them. Then my next priority would be Shinra. And finally…my clone. Ian, does the chart say which WEAPON is the biggest threat right now?
Ian: …The…desert-ish…one…or something. It's heading towards the Gold Saucer…
Anikken: So Ruby WEAPON would be our first target?
Robert: Our first target of many…yes…Rik…set a
course of the Gold Saucer!
Rik: Right-o!
The black Airship pulled away from
Midgar and shot off into the black of night…
Robert: This began as a hunt for Materia...but now
it's become more...much more...
[End FMV]
[Please Insert Disk Two]
