Where the heck am I?
Kola Bouncytoe eyed the piece of paper in her hands. A paper dealing with the directions of the home in which these "people" lived in. They were supposedly 'harmless', yet recent news been circulating about that four caretakers this month have been driven insane by the "people" she was about to work with.
The "people" dwelled in Nibelheim, for unknown reasons held by Shinra Inc.; anyone giving information away about these "people" without consent would be exterminated from existence. So it wouldn't be a surprise to see someone walk by speaking not a word about "them". She saw some cases in which the residents of Nibelheim were swiftly taken away after knocking on the door to the "people's" home. It was a sad time for that pizza delivery boy.
And now here she stood before Nibelheim: A so-called ghost-town where hardly anybody lived; there were probably about a 10 populace, so it wasn't a good hot-spot for tourists.
She entered the front gate, eyeing top secret cameras hidden among the bushes and streetlights. Kola could tell that Shinra got a hold of the whole town and not just the residents. Which brings to show why tourists weren't coming to this place: Shinra got them locked up tight with a threat to kill their lovers and their lover's lover!—Not to mention raise the electric bill.
As in a western movie, the people looked out their window and—after seeing her—they shut the window doors and closed their curtains; it got quiet quickly. It seemed the people outside of their houses didn't mind her if she didn't walk up to them. But not knowing that, Kola did what the residents feared the most; and alas, before she could even get close to the person, he walked off into another direction saying to himself (or to Kola) that he had something important to do at home. She sighed and tried asking somebody else.
Not far was a woman watering the tulips and daisies on her windowsill. She was just minding her own like any other normal person would on a day such as this; that was, until she saw Kola walking up to her. Conversely, unlike the rest of the citizens of Nibelheim, the woman wasn't intending to run away from Kola, and smiled at her warmly with a wave of hello. Kola could only feel relieved of this as she open up her mouth to begin saying what she needed to say. Sadly, before she even said her first word, the woman's husband—could be—came out the door in a rush and dragged his wife inside unexpectedly. He put up a "Not Welcome" sign on the door and blockaded it to keep strangers like her from barging in.
It was till then that Kola noticed that the people of Nibelheim were either superstitious or just paranoid. Either way, they were all insanely crazy. It wasn't long before everyone began to scuttle inside their doors putting up "Keep Out", "Beware of Dog" (even if they didn't have any dogs), "Trespassers Will Be Shot", or "I See Dead People…And I'll Sic' Them On You" signs.
Before it was hush-hush silence, but now the town just went dead.
"Hello?" her voice echoed among the desolate town. She was beginning to get quite irritated at this whole ordeal. Shinra was going to get the butt-kicking of their life! How dare they enforce a law on something that she needed in order to get mon—I mean—to care for the sick and disoriented! Kola sighed, scratching underneath her straw hat, "I need help finding the "people"."
>
From within Shinra's HQ, SOLDIERs in a security room heard the alarm blaring out from the mention of the "people". They panic and began gathering their guns and swords. They put on their helmets and painted their face with paint that smelled of ash and soil, also it went well with camouflaging in woods (even though there were no woods in Nibelheim). Some went as far as praying to…whatever god the people of the Planet prayed to. Away from the charging and the calamity, a SOLDIER slouched on the ground; at that time, another SOLDIER came up to him.
"Come on, Jimmy. Get your gun and let's go!"
Jimmy the SOLDIER looked at the other with droopy eyes. "I don't think I can make it, Serge. I just don't feel up to it."
"Nonsense, boy, you can do it! Fight this battle for your wife and two kids."
The young SOLDIER looked at the 1st Sergeant for a minute before holding onto his gun tightly; he unlocked the safety hatch. "May this battle be like the first."
"You mean the time when Private Glenn's leg blew off and was eaten by wild wolves?"
"Not what I had in mind…but may this experience in battle feel like a winner."
"HUUAH!"
All the SOLDIERs double-timed to the exit toward the Shinra vehicles. However, the commander of the SOLDIER unit stood before them with a stern face, blocking the exit. Every SOLDIER member halted in place, looking at their commander with a slight concern. "Sir, what is it?" a SOLDIER asked.
The alarm instantly turned off, leaving everyone (save the commander) in even more confusion.
"It's OK, boys, it was only a false alarm. Turned out to be a Home Provider," he declared with a smile hidden by his mustache.
Luckily, Home Providers were safe from Shinra's 'no talk of the "people"' rule. Then again, it left the SOLDIERs pretty upset whenever there was a Home Provider and not a regular person that started the alarm to "destruction".
One of the SOLDIERs—with a despondent look upon his face—picked up a donut that was half-chewed. "Man, there goes a wasted delicacy." After looking about the room he was in, he bit into the donut and slowly savored every chew.
>
Tumbleweed tumbled by in the wind and disappeared within the shredding sand. The people of Nibelheim were smart. They didn't want to get taken away by a mistake that would instantly get them killed: Though one was…a risk-taker.
"Yes…yes…"them"," a voice neither female nor male spoke out.
Kola looked at the hunched figure shrouded in a black cloak. The unknown figure mysteriously smelled of potpourri and cinnamon and was being supported by—what looked to be—a walking stick that was nearly twice its own length. Small bells hit together to make a melody that sounded delightful to the ears and calm for the soul. Quickly, Kola shook herself back into reality. Where was Shinra? Shouldn't they capture this stranger from revealing to her about the "people"?
Not wanting to spoil this 1-in-90-day chance, she replied back, "Do you know where the "people" live?"
>
The individual went silent for three seconds before uttering out a hushed, malevolent cackle. "Do follow me."
Bells chimed together letting Nibelheim know that the mystified creature has once again walk the silent streets. On the other hand, a confused and—a little tired—Kola was to be the honored companion to be walking with the cloaked-one.
During this whole time, Kola attempted to try on figuring out how the cloaked-one didn't get captured by Shinra. Usually people were taken away or executed on the spot whenever they spoke about the "people", so why not this individual? Maybe this person was an employee of Shinra…or maybe this person was a ghost and couldn't be seen by anybody including cameras…or it could just be that this person was a figment to her imagination, and she was actually guiding herself to the home of the "people".
Whatever the case may be, Kola was still feeling a slight timid over Nibelheim and its zany residents (of evil).
"So, where do you come from?" Kola needed to talk for it was the only thing that kept her from freaking out or killing herself with madness.
"Nobody knows where I come from, dear child."
Kola kind of paused. "'Nobody knows?' But don't you know where you live?"
"I have nowhere to go because nobody knows where I live."
"And that's why you don't have a home?"
Gentle breezes blew about them before blowing away into the sky.
"Do you have a name?"
"Nobody knows my name, so why should I have one?"
Cuckoo! Cuckoo! "OK…do you have any parents?"
"Nobody knows my parents and that's why—"
"You don't have any parents…I kind of know that when people don't know you at all." Kola crossed her arms, sighing over the "Nameless One" and the craziness of Nibelheim and its residents.
>
Where the person took her was quite a fright. The home of the "people" came straight from a horror movie: Dead tree standing still in the front lawn, only its branches making movements as they whistled in the air; some dark clouds began forming above the abode like a gateway to Hell. She thought she saw a shadowed figure move away from one of the top windows.
Kola gulped. What was this place? Surely this wasn't where the "people" lived…was it?
She walked up to the front gates, leaving her personal guide behind her; the gates were open. Another gulp went down hard within her throat. "Excuse me, but I think this might be…" She turned around to face no one there behind her. "…the wrong…place." (Kola had a strong feeling to bet her conscious that she did imagine up the cloaked figure. But still…)
Nibelheim was starting to freak her out!
>
She jumped up and down among the ground trying to reach the doorbell for the past five minutes; she practically cursed her short size, until a box hidden in the tall grass came into view. Once she got the doorbell (which dingdong out the Final Fantasy victory tune), the doors opened up for her to walk through.
Now, as anybody would think from a haunted house: Dust and gloominess—and whatnot. This house surely did not portray what she thought it would be interior-wise. Quickly she thought about the saying 'Don't judge a book by its cover': it was welcoming and clean; lights on a level that could be considered romantic even, with candlelight being placed in certain areas of the mansion including the stairway. An essence of potpourri and cinnamon scented the air to go along with the hospitable feeling. She eyed the house to be enchantingly beauty—and…was that classical music playing as atmosphere?
Surely the "people" had a maid somewhere getting paid behind all of this…surely the maid didn't happen to run away or get caught by Shinra's ever-so tight security issues with the "people". Although, Kola could see just that happening before she came to this town: the maid getting taken away from her job by the Shinra…but suddenly, she acts 'Solid Snake' on them and uses a variety of tactics while in a forest to get away.
Well enough about the maid, all she wanted to do was meet the "people" and get this over with. "Hello?" Her voice echoed among the walls, though nobody would've heard it from being fainted by the orchestral music.
Creeeeeeee—BAM!
…silence…
Kola found herself holding onto a coat stand. The door had just slammed and locked itself! She whimpered out with tears falling from her eyes, I want my mommy! The poor thing had to take back the compliment about this house: no matter how cozy it was on the inside…the house was still slightly haunted. She dropped from the stand and towards the closest thing she could see: the kitchen.
>
The chiming of small bells bounced off the walls and into curious ears. The kitchen was pretty moderately sized but everything was scrunched up together. There was hardly anything to see but a few appliances and a black cloaked figure hunched in the corner…Kola squint her eyes and gasped. It was her personal guide to the mansion! Wasn't that thing supposed to be a figment of her imagination though?
A pale cackle escaped from the shadowed individual, "Hello, my precious. Welcome to your doom."
Did she just hear that right? "What was that?"
The black cloaked individual held up its staff in both hands to remove a wooden sheath in order to reveal the "walking stick" as a long and sharp sword. It repeated in a slow and dangerous tone, "Welcome…to your…DOOM!"
Kola's heart skipped as she unleashed from her fingertips a magic attack. It shrouded the figure in flames and exploded into a pillar of fire that lasted a couple of seconds. However the black cloak around the individual just swayed, leaving the figure unaffected. She unleashed even more magical attacks until she finally saw fit that the figure was nothing but dust. Yet, at the end, the cloaked-one just laughed being unaffected by her magical spells.
She squeaked and rushed out of the kitchen; the figure pursued after her looking less hunched and having the sword in its grip. The alluring bells chimed together in rhythm along with the chase.
They both ran about the main room: with Kola trying to dodge the creature's sword stroke and the creature trying to off her head. Both made a ruckus by knocking over vases and chairs; Kola dug under furniture to hide but only having it chopped up into many pieces at the end.
In time—whilst the running and damaging the house—Kola bounced off of something and landed on the ground. The cloaked-one stood over her; its sword rose over its head ready to strike into her heart. She rolled away from its attack just in time and ran away; but that same object blocked her: it looked like legs! She looked back at the creature trying to pull the sword out of the ground. Seconds of heartbeats passed by and the cloaked figure walked up to her; its face hidden within the black fabric.
Was this the end? Was this where she would die? Would she ever meet the "people"? Would she ever find happiness? Would she ever be…? (OK! OK! Enough already! To put it short: She was too beautiful and young to die.)
"STOP!" ordered the legs.
Kola watched as the cloaked-one stopped just a foot from her. It didn't drop its sword; just lowering the pointy object at its flank.
The thing with legs—supposedly human—picked her up in its arms and hugged her tightly. "Don't hurt it!" In the human's arms, Kola gagged and suffocated; if the thing didn't want to let her be killed, then why was it squeezing her to death?
She struggled weakly to hit the individual, letting it know that she was breathing her last breath here. The person looked down and softened its embrace, allowing Kola to breathe in oxygen. Kola looked up at her "savior" and saw that the "human" was actually a live chocobo! With its spiky chocobo-hairstyle and its big blue chocobo-eyes…however—safe to say—he appeared "human".
The cloaked-one swiped its sword. Kola flinched. The assassin was still there! "Please don't let it get me! Please!" she begged to the human chocobo, wrapping her tiny arms around him tightly.
"It's OK, little fella; I won't let the mean ol' bad guy get ya," the human chocobo smiled at her.
Infuriated—it seemed—the cloaked-one threw its sword on the ground and, beneath its fabric, shouted at the human chocobo, "You idiot! Don't you know that the moogle is our ticket to survival!"
That was all the cloaked-one needed to say before making the human chocobo glare through narrowed icy, blue eyes. Why would a sacred creature be considered "lunch"! Suddenly the human chocobo took out a gigantic blade from the space behind him and confronted it at the cloaked-one. "Your words sicken me."
A sort-of calm-before-the-storm sequence arose between the two. A world filled with chandelier light and a classic impression became their setting to a soon-to-be gruesome and bloody fight.
With that, the cloaked-one snickered…chuckled…then rained down upon the whole house a sinful laughter that could discourage any man's pride! Yet the human chocobo was unaffected. The cloaked-figure began to untie the cloak's string around its neck still giving off a few snickers.
"You think you can stop me, Chocobo-spawn?" it smiled evilly beneath its hood. Kola—now seen through words as a moogle—got ready for the face of her assassin; a face that she would easily mark as someone who was sent to kill her for reasons yet to be heard (probably by Shinra). "You never did have a chance. So why…" The cloak fell off the figure of the person wearing it.
Kola squeaked. What she saw, she didn't expect! She saw in her view a body made for a man with a black uniform to cover it up…but everything else on her assassin screamed…
"…now?" the assassin finished while using an unknown force to put the blade back in his hold.
"Are you a woman?"
The assassin cracked and growled crossly; on his face was plastered a peeved smirk trying not to kill the furry mole! However the human chocobo laughed through closed lips; Kola looked at him. "I'm serious! That guy looks like a girl with all that long hair, and the face makes him look even more suspiciously female."
Having enough of this, the assassin snarled through gritted teeth, "Why…that…little…bi--"
"Hey! No name-calling," the human chocobo grinned.
Even more infuriated than before, the silver-haired assassin gripped his blade tightly. "I'll get you, Chocobo-spawn—and your little rat too!"
"I'm not a--"
The human chocobo covered the moogle's nose and mouth with his hand; he smirked, "En garde."
>
A fight brewed from above the basement floor; crashing of house items clattered while walls boomed out with thunderous sounds. On the basement floor, small monsters lurked back into their tombs trying to escape from the loud noises, also running away from which the sounds might arouse.
His coffin bounced up and down to every bang and boom coming up from above. It was when he finally stops thinking about the love of his life when something—or someone—had to come up from behind and ruin the mood! For all of his life, living in a coffin where nobody would dare—upon their life—mess with him (unless it was one of those aforementioned vampire slayers) some would think that he would at least get some peace before death. It wasn't until the coffin bounced up and twisted over did the one resting within it come out flat on the floor in black pajamas carrying a cute black teddy bear with two small, pointy teeth; red bat wings; and attiring a count-look.
Sleepy from being awoken up early, the mysterious character walked out of his murky room and towards the stairs.
>
As for those on the first floor: the human chocobo dodged his opponent's blade by sidestepping away. The assassin's blade pierced through the wall easily, and with god speed, he used Ice 3 to divert the human chocobo in order to finish with a strike of his blade. Nevertheless, the human chocobo's nippy-speed saved him once again. Going for the offensive, the human chocobo stabbed at the silvered hair assassin deadly; but, as the chocobo, the silvered hair one was just as fast to get way. The silvered hair assassin slashed out and the human chocobo blocked the attack with his sword.
>
The bleak young man walked out of the basement and began his trek up the stairway.
>
The human chocobo leaped into the air and swung his sword to unleash meteoritic blows to fall upon his foe. The silver haired one smirked and raised his hand at the attack; just like that, the meteors bounced back from Barrier and at their master! Swiftly he rolled away, dodging his back-fired attacks as they flew by and out of the house.
>
By a weary mistake, the young man slipped on a step and hit the stairs, scraping his chin as the result.
>
Both assailants crashed their weapons at one another, trying to break the other's guard in order for the killing blow.
>
Taking his time so he won't end up falling off the stairs, he continued his journey, ignoring the small black widows hanging on their webs.
>
The assassin unleashed from his blade a sonic-wave that split the ground, aimed right at the human chocobo. Whilst the attack was coming towards him, the human chocobo—with his sword in hand—sliced through the ground and forced out a sonic-wave of his own. Both attacks counteract one another and detonated into uncontrollable energy that blew everything away. Kola held onto the human chocobo's shoulder tightly for dear life; the brutal winds of the aftermath tried to force her away by slicing through her skin and prying her fingers from the human chocobo's clothing. Minutes later and the detonation imploded just as fast as it came, leaving debris to stay in the air for a few seconds before falling onto the ground.
Without prior notice, serenity doused over the house. Broken wood fell from the air, and a wall collapsed. Kola coughed up the smoke that seemed to have gotten stuck into her throat; she got up from the ground weakly and looked about her. The whole house was in ruins! The ceiling was ripped from its hinges and could be seen out the shattered window on the front lawn. Everything looked broken including pictures and vases (you could say that the house itself got hit by its own tornado).
"No!" She heard from beneath the wood under her; suddenly the human chocobo got up from below the plank of wood—and Kola—with weapon in hand. "This isn't over yet!"
"I was thinking of the same thing, Chocobo-spawn!" the silver assassin snarled as he too held onto his blade tightly while getting out from underneath his own pile of wreckage.
As if this was not enough, the—seen-better-days—enemies growled at one another; throwing away their swords and lunging for the other's throat! It appeared their fight degraded into a "dog-fight", and Kola watched them from the sidelines. What should she pity more: Them destroying the house or them fighting each other like rabid mice? It was kind of sad.
Kola sighed. No wonder the caretakers ran away from their job; these "people" were insane! From the corner of her eye, she looked up at the opening door from the second floor. There was another one?
A young man in black pajamas closed the door he exited from. Everyone, by then, ceased from their activities and watched him. The mysterious character walked down the stairs in slow steps, passing by the three and into another door while closing it behind him. From outside, the trio was—nevertheless—silent. Shortly, a flush was heard and running water came on afterwards. The mysterious character walked out with teddy bear in arm and—at that point—stopped to look at them.
"Please. Continue," he said unemotionally, before walking back up to the second floor and disappearing beyond the door in which he came.
In a misty place within Kalm, there was a small apartment boarded up on the outside. The building was quite old; not in use since many years ago. However, what lurked inside the building was a mystery. Nobody dared enter its domain; within it lurks a powerful beast that can steal your electricity away…And that's why he came…
Welcome to "Four Guys, One Moogle, Total Destruction"... ...there will be lots and lots of destruction.