Disclaimer: All FF VII material does not belong to me, it is the sole property of SquareEnix
Gadsbad
A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction
By Phoenix
Every story begins with a name. That is what I've been told all my life, and that is how I live. Every person has a story, and every story has a name."
We were sitting in arm chairs in the lobby area of the inn. The three of us, Cloud, Yuffie, and I. We had traveled to this small town near Midgar, fully intending to take a well earned rest. I had not expected them to start asking me why I had started the fight for the Planet, or why I had joined them.
But once asked, I had to tell them.
"I think it was my father that used to tell me that. Again, and again, he would say it, as if it was the most important thing for me to know. My father always had strange quirks like that, and now that I reflect on them, I realize how much they meant to me."
"So what happened to him?" Cloud asked, bluntly.
I chuckled. "I was getting to that. You see, my story begins, like yours, far away from Midgar. Mine begins in a small town, not very well known. You would not find us on a map, before or after the incident. My story begins in Gadsbad, seven years ago…"
***
Seven Years Earlier
Gadsbad
I had always loved my hometown. No question about it, Jon was a boy that belonged to Gadsbad, body and soul. We had been untouched by the revolution of Shin-Ra energy for years, and fully expected to stay that way.
The villagers had started to call our town the "Last Gem" left in this world. It certainly was a beautiful place, and I spent many summers resting in the trees in the surrounding forest. I had always thought that perhaps the "Last Emerald" would have been a better name for the town. It certainly was green and overgrown, and wasn't the green better than just the beauty that the villagers proclaimed?
I certainly thought so. But I never pressed the matter. Early on I had learned that no adult in the town would ever listen to a sixteen year old kid. Not quite a child, but not an adult either, I used to wander the town in the early hours before work.
I worked in Main Square, which was in the dead center of our town. All of the shops were located there, including the Clothing Shop, so Main Square always had a lot of people. A lot for a small town that is. We never had visitors, and if we ever had visitors, they liked our way of life so much that they stayed.
I worked for the Weapon Shop, mostly as a delivery boy although I helped forge weapons from time to time. I remember one day I ran over to the Item Shop to deliver a package for Steve, my boss.
When I got there, I noticed something that I had not seen before. A large machine shaped like a cube stood in the corner. If I had not known better, I would have suspected that it was a washing machine. A green materia stone was placed in a divot in the center of the front face of the machine, and it was hooked up to a long hose that was pumping in water into the top.
"Good morning," I said to the shop owner, as I walked in. What was this machine for? I had never seen anything like it.
"Good morning!" the shop owner replied to me cheerfully. "How may I help you?"
"I have your order of low caliber bullets Mr. Dylan," I said to him, my eyes transfixed on the machine.
"Thank you! This will keep Dorothy happy for a little while!" Mr. Dylan accepted the package from me and paid me 1200 gil.
"Sir," I interjected, "This is much too much. Mr. Kopper told me that it would cost you 600 gil."
"I know!" Mr. Dylan said cheerfully. "The rest is your tip. Go buy something nice for Cassandra. I do believe the festival is coming up soon. A good boyfriend would take her out and spend a lot of money on her…"
He let the suggestion hang in the air for a little while.
"Thank you," I said, accepting the money. I turned my gaze back to the machine.
"Ah," Mr. Dylan said, "You're interested in the Potion Maker. Want to know how she works?"
"Hell yeah," I said, dropping my messenger bag on the counter and stepping forward to examine it more closely.
"You see that materia in there?" Mr. Dylan pointed to the green stone.
I nodded
"That is a Restore materia. A low electrical current goes through the materia and stimulates the magical effect. The energy that comes from that effect enchants the water, creating Potion. I simply put a small bottle under this spigot, and pull the switch, and I can make Potions to sell!"
"Wow…" I mumbled. "Can I… have a copy of the blueprints? I'd like to copy them into my Alchemy notes, to see if I can't create something new…"
Mr. Dylan blinked at me, and for one moment I was afraid he would say no. Then he laughed.
"Create new Potions?" he chuckled. "I had forgotten you were an Alchemy buff. How long you been studying for?"
"About four years now," I replied, "and that's on my own. I hope to apprentice under a great master soon, and to do that I need to have an extensive portfolio of research."
"I see," Mr. Dylan said thoughtfully, now sobered up a little. "Well then, I will give you a copy of the machines blueprints."
My face lit up with joy as I contemplated using the machine to experiment with different materia.
"But you have to promise," He said, "that you won't go and sell Potions when you get this machine built."
"Who said that…"
"Oh please, son, I know what you're going to do with those blueprints. After you copy those prints, you'll build it and experiment with it. It's the scientist in you."
Mr. Dylan sat down on his stool behind the counter and rummaged underneath for something.
"You take after your father, you know. I remember when we were young, he would always go making plans for his latest machine to build and test. They almost never worked, but he still tried and tried. That's why he became a scientist. Your father is doing a very noble thing, you know? He is trying to find an alternate energy source to Mako… If he can find that and sell it to the Shin-Ra company before they discover us, well… Let's just say we might be the start of healing the Planet. Ah! Here it is."
He came up and handed me a folded blue piece of paper.
"Be careful with this. Don't blow yourself up."
I chuckled. "Only amateurs blow themselves up," I said. "Thank you, sir. If I find anything marketable, I'll be sure to give you the plans for it."
I left the shop and went back to the Weapon Shop. I had a long day of deliveries ahead of me.
***