Chapter 3: Mako Poisoning

"Well, when I was getting a history lesson before I came here, I learned about Cloud… and about Zack," he said. Aeris gasped softly. Naruto looked at her sadly. "Zack and Cloud were captured after facing off with Sephiroth in Nibelheim. Sephiroth's 'evil' persona had already replaced the real Sephiroth and so that's why he turned on the townspeople. After the battle they were held by Hojo and kept in glass tanks that were filled with mako. Now when the two came to Nibelheim, Zack was SOLDIER 1st Class but Cloud was just a grunt, part of Zack's squad. And as such he could not handle the massive amounts of mako around him." Naruto took a breather and looked around him. Everyone was listening in. Aeris was on the verge of having tears falling out of her eyes. And Tifa was in no better condition.

"Not only were these two exposed to medium level mako but Hojo injected Jenova cells into the both of them. Zack, being much stronger and used to mako, wasn't affected by the change but Cloud wasn't as lucky. Four years passed and somehow Zack was able to break out of his tank. He then took Cloud, who had mako poisoning which meant he couldn't support himself, and escaped Shinra Mansion. They were hunted every step of the way. Gaara and I met up with them near Midgar. We were all going to set up a mercenary business. All this time the Jenova cells were creating a false persona in Cloud. The persona was based of Zack. His fighting style, habits, speech patterns and memories. Especially about Nibelheim. While Jenova switched things around it also left big gaps in his memory. Like how he 'became' SOLDIER. Since the cells couldn't access Zacks memories of being in the elite group the cells had no choice but to leave that section empty.

"As we were travelling to Midgar we ran into some trouble. Snipers were posted alongside the road set to take them down. Zack noticed it first and went to cover Cloud. The bullet struck Zack in the back and killed him. I maybe good but I can't catch a bullet. We buried Zack on an outcropping overlooking Midgar. Then me, Gaara and Cloud entered Midgar. We were dropped off at Sector 7 Station and had only been there for a few minutes when Tifa found us." He turned to Aeris. "I'm sorry Aeris," he said sadly. Aeris shook her head. "It's all right. Somehow I already knew. I felt his spirit reach out to me before it descended into the Lifestream."

Naruto smiled at her. "Would you like to talk to him? My phone can reach people who have already passed away. He actually called me when we were at Cosmo Canyon." Aeris' eyes opened wide and she nodded quickly. Naruto then fished out his phone and went through his recent calls list. He found the number that was registered when Zack called and pressed the call button. He set the loudspeaker on and waited.

"Ring…ring…………….ring…ring………….click, Hello, this is the incredibly handsome Zack Fair speaking,"

Aeris' eyes widened even more. Naruto smiled and said, "Hey Zack! Naruto here,"

"Naruto! What you been up to?"

"Kicking monster ass, pissing off the Shinra, you know, the usual. Anyway, there's someone who wants to talk to you," said Naruto as he handed the phone to Aeris.

"U-um, Zack?" she stuttered.

"Aeris? Is that you?" said Zack, his voice sounding surprised.

"Yeah," Aeris answered.

"………Well, this is awkward. I suppose that Naruto has told you the whole story?"

"Yes,"

"Zack, some things have happened," said Naruto and he told everything that had happened so far. When he had finished, Zack confirmed that Cloud had not died.

"I would know, being dead and all," Zack finished up. "As with trying to find him, you should check out Mideel. Where are you now?"

"We're just drifting round the Junon area," answered Naruto.

"Mideel is South-East of your current position. The town is on a long strip of land, you'll be able to see it from the Highwind,"

"Thanks but how do you know that Cloud will be there?" asked Tifa.

"I don't. It's just that there's been strong lifestream activity near the island in the past week. It's quite possible that Cloud washed up on the shore there,"

"Thanks. We'll check it out," replied Naruto.

"Aeris, I want you to take care of Cloud ok?"

"Of course," said Aeris with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Ok. Bye everyone! Talk to you soon!" said Zack cheerfully before he hung up. There was a long silence.

Naruto tucked away his phone and looked out of the window. The land was crawling by slowly. By now it was completely dark. In the distance he saw a structure jutting out of the ground. It looked to be some sort of tower or fort of some kind. On top nestled a big bird. It seemed to be sleeping. Naruto turned to Tifa.

"Let's get some sleep for the night. It's been hectic for a while. We'll go to Mideel in the morning when were more focused," Naruto suggested. Tifa was about to argue but saw everyone's tired face. She herself was sleepy from all the action. She nodded.

Cid directed the ship to settle on an island near where the ancient temple used to be. Since there were no sleeping quarters on the ship the party of ten plus the crew got out tents from storage rooms placed around the airship and tucked in for the night.

*********

Naruto yawned loudly as he slowly woke up. Looking around the tent he saw Gaara and Vincent sleeping next to him. Judging by the lack of light shining through the tent, Naruto guessed that it was early morning. Since now he was awake, the blond slowly got out of his sleeping bag, got dressed into his pants and unfolded the tent flap. He almost stepped on Nanaki's tail as he was crawling out of the tent.

Outside it was still slightly dark, the sky not yet orange from Meteor. Cid had parked the airship on the west side of the island, near the sea. Naruto walked down to the beach. Small waves were crashing on the shore, a sound that was still unique for him. Getting out his phone and choosing a song, he set the electronic object on a New Age song. He then summoned his sword and slammed it into the sand. He then waited for the music to start. The song Return To Innocence by Enigma floated out of the speaker. Naruto then started to perform a series of flowing moves, similar to Tai Chi, only much more like water than the original style.

Kyuubi was woken up to see Naruto moving in such a way that she was stunned. After a few seconds, she contacted Nibi to wake Gaara and for him to wake everyone else and to bring them all down to see what she was seeing. After a few minutes Gaara, Cid, Barret, Tifa, Aeris, Cait, Nanaki, Vincent and Yuffie were hiding behind brushes as they watched the beautiful flowing dance that Naruto was showing them. The music fell silent, only to rise again in the song Beautiful Day by U2. Naruto then seemed to go to his second Kikangan stage and he transformed. He continued the martial dance while the golden chakra flared around him. His moves then picked up speed and the ninja focused the golden energy into his hands. As he moved them, the chakra left a long glittering trail behind. He then levelled out the speed and continued until the song finished. When the last cord was played Naruto stood still as the sun rose from behind the people watching him as the music changed to something new. Under a New Moon by Fatty Acid, sephfire (From the OC Remix site) sounded out of the phone as the suns light caught his chakra, making him shine in light. Naruto then manipulated his golden chakra to swirl around him in a manner no-one had ever seen before. It was as if small rivers of liquid gold were flowing and intertwining through the air. He then spread his arms and the small streams of chakra split into small spheres and floated around him slowly while pulsing in time to the beat. All the while he had his eyes closed.

After the song, Naruto released his bloodline limit and sat down when the song Not an Angel by Tsuneo Imahori from Trigun - the first donuts played. He stayed still in meditation for the song before closing the phone to continue his meditation in silence, just listening to the waves and wind; the faint cry of seagulls in the distance. After a while his audience quietly left him alone to get a few more minutes of sleep before leaving for Mideel.

*********

'Man I feel good. I haven't done that for a while. I feel so much better,' Naruto thought as he made his way back to the airship. 'Ever since Kyuu-chan said I was stressed I haven't been able to do my old exercises until now. Even in the week while Tifa was unconscious, I still wasn't able to relax cause Shinra was all around us. Now I feel much better. Doing it to music made it even better.' Naruto broke off his private thoughts when he reached the camp. Everyone was packing up and they all turned to see Naruto walk in. The blond ninja felt uncomfortable under their stares.

"What? Is something on my face?" he asked. Everyone said at the same time, "No, it's nothing," before going back to what they were doing. Suspicious, Naruto looked around at everyone before dismissing it and helping out with the packing up.

After all had been packed and put away, the team boarded the airship once again. Since the airship had been on standby since the guys began to pack up, there was no need to wait and so Cid piloted the Highwind to Mideel.

Looking out of the wide window in the front, Naruto saw the forest give way to sea. To the right of him was a large strip of land with what looked like dense jungle. He turned to the pilot.

"Hey Cid, turn to the left. Mideel should be on that island," he said. Cid nodded and adjusted his angle. It wasn't long before they were over the land. Looking ahead, Naruto spotted a cleared area with a few buildings poking out over the trees. Further ahead was a spot to settle the airship down.

*********

The outlay of the town was nice as Naruto, Tifa, Aeris, Barret, Vincent and Nanaki walked in. The first thing they saw was a small items shop on the right. Two wooden structures held up a bridge that stretched across the entrance. An old man was sitting against the left wooden support. As the group wandered into town he called out to them.

"Hey youngsters!" he said and waved his hand over to them.

'I guess we do look like youngsters to him,' thought Naruto as he looked at the many wrinkles the man had. Kyuubi giggled softly.

Once the party had moved over to the guy he looked at us more closely. He took one look at Tifa in her very short skirt and her large assets and grinned. "Ahoy! Hey ain't you a beaut!" he said as he grinned a perverts grin. (AN: Picture him with a Master Roshi grin from Dragon Ball Z when he tries to make a pass at either Chichi, Bulma, or 18. He he he.) The old man continued to talk while he was staring at Tifa, making her uncomfortable. "This here's Mideel. It's a quiet little Hot Springs town." His grin got wider as he mentioned the words 'Hot Springs'. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he remembered that Ero-sennin had the exact same grin on his face when he was talking about the exact same thing. He then deducted that the old man was up to no good. Apparently Barret arrived at the same answer and he stood in front of Tifa and flexed his muscles in a threatening way. The old man got the message instantly and coughed nervously. "Just the perfect place for old folks like me to live out our lives," he finished off quickly.

The group moved off but the old man waved Naruto back. "I hear that things ain't so peaceful on the outside," he said this with a questioning tone. Naruto nodded. The old man sighed. "Well here it's still nice and quiet. But I have a feeling that the tranquillity that flows through here will disappear soon." He then leaned back against the pole and closed his eyes.

"Naruto! C'mon!" shouted Barret. Naruto looked back and walked over to where the others were at.

Having another look around Naruto noticed that all the buildings here were made out of wood. Not stone like at Cosmo Canyon or bricks like Kalm. There were what used to be a paved path through the town but was now semi-covered by a thick layer of dust and soil. A small cat was sitting near the others with a lost look on its face. Tifa noticed the cat and squatted down to pet it. "What's the matter? Are you all alone?" she asked the cat. It mewed softly as if to agree. Tifa smiled sadly. "You got lost didn't you? Separated from someone you love…?" she asked. She then shook her head slightly as if she realised that she was talking to a cat. "Silly thing…" she mumbled, half to herself and half to the cat.

As Naruto was watching this, his enhanced hearing caught a conversation between two men, younger than the lecher by the gate.

"……guess it's been about a week now since he washed up here on the shore… Poor pokey-headed young thing…" Naruto now turned his full attention on the conversation while Tifa continued to scratch the cat's ears.

"It was really sad… but weird. He was holding this really long sword. I dunno. The whole thing feels unlucky to me. But the amazing thing was those weird blue eyes…" That was all that Naruto had to know as he walked up to the two men. "Where would that man you were talking about be?" he asked. The one who spoke said, "Um… up ahead here… At the…" here he paused slightly, as if he were a little nervous. "Uh… clinic……" he finished. He pointed at a building further along the path. Naruto thanked him and ran to the clinic. Aeris, who saw Naruto running, followed after him.

The inside of the clinic was slightly cluttered. Medical equipment was all over the place. The building was split into two rooms. A man with greenish brown hair and glasses who was dressed in a doctor's outfit was on the other side of the room's entrance. "Doc," said Naruto but he heard footsteps behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw Aeris. Meanwhile the doctor had turned around from his work and faced the blond. "Yes?" he asked politely. Naruto turned back to him. "Doc, I heard that you're taking care of someone who might be my friend?" Naruto asked as Aeris gasped slightly in surprise.

"A friend…?" repeated the doctor before nodding. "Ah yes… that young fellow. Don't worry. Your friend is next door. But I'm afraid his condition is…" he was cut off as Aeris squeezed passed Naruto and into the next room calling out for Cloud. Naruto also peeped inside the room. A nurse was in front of someone in a wheelchair. As the calls reached her ears she turned and walked out of the way. Sure enough, Cloud was revealed. But something was wrong and to Naruto, familiar.

Aeris stopped in front of Cloud and smiled widely. "Cloud!! I'm so glad you're safe!" she exclaimed. She moved closer to him but then Cloud's head, which was drooped down, jerked violently. Aeris jumped slightly. Cloud's head moved up and his eyes met Aeris'. "Cloud?" she asked. The swordsman's head continued to loll backwards before jerking forwards. "Uh…….aaa……?" he moaned.

"Oh no," said Naruto sadly as he realised what was wrong with him.

"Wh… what's wrong… Cloud…?" said Aeris in a deeply worried voice. In response Cloud's head fell forward as he moaned again.

The doctor turned to Naruto. "Mako poisoning. Quite an advanced case…" he said sadly.

Naruto sighed. "Not again…" The doctor heard this. "It seems that this isn't the first time this has happened," he asked. Naruto nodded. "Indeed it hasn't doc. But where has before it was only classed as medium intoxication, now…" he didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to. It was clear now. Aeris started to cry softly. Naruto decided to notify the rest of the team and he walked outside.

*********

"So Spiky's got high level Mako poisoning?" asked Barret. All the women, besides Yuffie, were inside with Cloud. Everyone else stayed outside as Naruto filled them in.

"That's right. Cloud, for the moment, is incapacitated. He's been shocked to the very core from what he saw in Jenova's illusion. He noticed the huge gap in his memory concerning how he 'joined' SOLDIER. Therefore he then believed that he was indeed constructed. But in reality he was just experimented on. That's all. He's still human," explained Naruto.

"Man, this is some deep shit!" said Cid in a subdued voice. "I thought we were just gonna whoop some Shinra ass. Now big ass monsters are on a rampage and a big ass Meteor is just about to crash into us." He looked up at the group. "But even if I knew all this, I think I would of still have joined up with you guys."

"I feel you Cid," Barret said, his voice also low for a change. "I thought that it was all about Shinra at the start of all this. But the more we kept going forward, the more screwed up all this gets."

"So what will we do now?" asked Yuffie. No-one answered, for no-one knew. Eventually Naruto spoke up.

"Well, I think we should ask if Aeris and Tifa will be willing to join us or stay here. That should be our first step. But for now, let's give them some space." Everyone nodded at this, agreeing silently that this was for the best. "Meet here in two hours. And after we have our answer then we'll decide where to go from here." The group then split up. Cid, Naruto, Gaara and Nanaki went to the hot springs to have a much needed soak. Barret went to gather information but his hopes weren't high for anything new. Instead he walked over to the old man at the front entrance to talk. Yuffie started playing with the stray cat and instantly took a liking to the little feline. She then picked up the cat and bounded up a small cliff to pet a white chocobo that was on top of the cliff. Cait Sith wandered to a corner of the small town and seemed to shut himself off. And as for Vincent, well he just found a shady tree to snooze under.

*********

Naruto poked his head through the door. Aeris was still in front of Cloud, holding his hand. Tifa was sitting on one of the beds in deep thought.

"Excuse me, but the group was wondering if you two are going to stay here?" Naruto asked softly. There was a minute of silence before a sound was made. Tifa shifted her weight to face Naruto but Aeris remained still.

"We've decided that we'll stay here," said Tifa. "I… we… want to be by his side…"

Naruto smiled before walking in and kneeling down beside Aeris. He gave her a quick hug and whispered "Stay strong. For Cloud's sake," before moving out of the room.

*********

As soon as everyone was back on the Highwind, Cait Sith piped up. "Guys, I have some news." Instantly everyone listened in. At the moment no-one knew what to do. Getting news from Shinra meant something to do. Naturally though, Barret had to be a smart ass.

"Yeah, what!? That you a spy?" he said, smirking. The mog moved in closer as Cait scratched the back of his head nervously. "Yeah… I've already told you I was." He turned around to where Naruto was standing, making Barret scowl at not being leader again. "Both 'Gya ha ha' and 'Kya ha ha' are up to something." His imitation of the laughing was completely off centre, but everyone knew who those laughs belonged to.

'Man! Can't those two take a brake at being a pain?' Naruto thought. Kyuubi giggled and the sound made his heart skip a beat.

"Wanna eavesdrop?" asked the cat. Everyone nodded eagerly. Even Yuffie, who was already sick. The little cat she befriended was in one arm while her other was over her mouth.

Cait was silent for a minute before he spoke again. But instead of his own voice coming through, someone else's voice crackled through his mouth. The voice was distorted, like the voice you hear through a phone, but everyone knew the voice.

"Now then… We're faced with two issues." came Rufus' voice via Cait. "First is to destroy Meteor. And the second is to remove the barrier around North Cave and defeat Sephiroth." A pause. "Any ideas?"

"Gyahaah hah hah!" came the annoying laugh of Heidegger. Barret's face lit up in anger as he heard that laugh. "We already solved the first problem! Meteor will soon be smashed to bits!" Everyone's ears were now focused entirely on the conversation. Even the engineers that were on the bridge at the time stopped what they were doing to listen in.

"The plan has already been put in motion. Namely, to collect Huge Materia from each region."

"Well…?" asked Rufus, seeming to talk to someone else.

"Huge Materia is a high density special type of materia made through a special compression process in Mako reactors." Came Scarlet's witchy voice that made everyone who heard it wince. "The energy extracted from it is 330 times the strength of normal materia. Kya ha, ha! How about that!?" She sounded like she enjoyed talking about destruction immensely. "We will gather all the Huge Materia together and ram it into Meteor. That will cause a huge explosion!! Reducing Meteor literally to bits."

"You're going to ram Meteor?" asked Rufus, slightly dubious. "Do we have the technology to do that?"

"Don't worry about that," said Scarlet. "More importantly, we've got to collect Huge Materia from each area."

"We've already collected materia from Nibelheim. All that's left is the reactors at Corel and Fort Condor," reported Heidegger. "I've already dispatched troops to Corel. Gyaa haah hah hah!" There was a small click that came from Cait signalling that whoever was transmitting in that meeting had cut the connection.

"Corel!" yelled Barret. "What else can they do to Corel!?"

Nanaki spoke up. "And the Huge Materia… They mean the Huge materia right? I've heard about it. An old Cosmo Canyon legend says that if you hold Mastered materia to the Huge materia, some sort of reaction should happen. The Legend doesn't say what though," the hound explained.

"Well we can't let Shinra get a hold of the last two Huge Materia!" said Barret. He then grinned. "Besides, when Cloud gets better, I wanna show him this Huge Materia. He's gonna be shocked." Naruto then smiled slyly. "So what are you saying Barret? Even though you're always knocking him, you really want Cloud to return." Everyone started chuckling softly as Barret turned around to get his face in order. He soon turned around and yelled as Naruto. "I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout nothin'. You just… shut your face!" Naruto started laughing and soon everyone was laughing with him. The tension had been lifted.

"Well let's get 'Operation: Reclaimer' under way. Where first?" asked Naruto, even though he and the rest of the group knew where they were already going.

"To Corel!"