A/N: Welcome to chapter 4!
Had a nice Christmas? I did. Now I can finally play my new games! Playing those does go out of my writing time though... It's a good thing I'm on a two-week Christmas break from work.
In this chapter Bakura discovers his hidden reanimation skills, Yugi wins an award while Cloud experiences a sense of déjà vu, Joey needs a tranquilizer, Hojo shows how much he cares for children, and Vincent goes trigger happy again.
All hail the FF7 and YGO wikia for being a great source of information!
Happy reading! And reviews, ideas, suggestions, etc. are always appreciated!
0o0o0
Bakura was grumbling as he was walking through the caves of the North Crater. Working together with Marik Ishtar had been unconventional, and had ultimately failed in the end, but at least he had known what he had been dealing with back then. Right now he wasn't so sure. Sephiroth had set him out to search for Jenova's remains lying somewhere around this place. With it and combining it with Bakura's Shadow Magic they could potentially give Sephiroth a new body. The idea sounded all right, but since Bakura was dealing with forces he didn't know he was cautious about the whole matter. Despite working towards a similar goal he had no way of knowing he could trust the strange being inside the glowing green river. For all he knew it was leading him into a sense of security only to turn around and stab him in the back once it had gained what it wanted. The way Sephiroth had been rambling about Mother, having a strange look in his eyes whenever he mentioned her, made Bakura suspicious of his motives. But all he could do right now was being cautious. In the end he was the one in a strange world with no way of knowing where the Pharaoh and his annoying friends were. Sephiroth might be his only hope in achieving his own goals. He just had to go along with its, his, which one was it anyway, wishes.
Bakura grumbled some more as he continued to walk aimlessly, actually having no idea what he was searching for. Sephiroth hadn't been very specific, except for the fact that there might not be much left of Jenova. All the 'mights' and 'potentiallies' annoying him even further. He eventually reached what seemed to be the heart of the cavern. The dark blue sky stretched out high above him, offering him what little light it provided. He scowled at the walls of the crater, noticing it would be extremely difficult to get out on his own. Getting help from Sephiroth seemed to be the more favourable option after all.
Sighing to himself in resignation he looked around more intently. He looked for anything out of the ordinary, hoping it would give him a clue as to where Jenova's remains could be. Suddenly his Millennium Ring started to act up again. Bakura frowned, at first thinking that the Pharaoh might be closer than he thought, but he then noticed that it was pointing towards a big pile of rubble. He walked over to the pile and started to move away some of the rocks, wondering what had set the ancient item off. After a while he noticed there was something different among the pile of rocks. Blue-grey skin, long silver hair, and seemingly glowing eyes that looked as if they were staring right through him as if the person was still alive. Despite his own not so innocent past and disposition, he couldn't help but being a little bit unnerved as he stared at the head. At least he was sure that he had found what he was looking for. He quickly took the head and went back to where he had fallen into the Lifestream. His thoughts quickly ran over his decision, before he slid back into the glowing green river.
"Mother!" Sephiroth immediately called out.
He reached out to take the head from Bakura, but the tomb robber wasn't going to let him. With a bit of Shadow Magic he repelled Sephiroth's attempt.
"Don't get too greedy momma's boy." Bakura warned him. "I still don't fully trust you so this is going to happen on my terms."
Sephiroth glared back at him, but refrained from taking any further action. He apparently wasn't strong enough yet to withstand the other's otherworldly magic, but that would change as soon as he could merge with Jenova's remains. So for now he made no further move to take it from Bakura.
"Good, now that we have established that, how is this going to work?" Bakura said as soon as he was sure Sephiroth wasn't going to try anything.
"I will need to merge my will with Mother's remains to be able to form myself a new body." Sephiroth explained. "But you will need to supply me with additional magic to make it work as I am not strong enough yet to perform the task fully on my own."
Bakura nodded. It sounded easy enough and with minimal risk to himself and his host. "Proceed then." He said as he threw Jenova's head to Sephiroth, who caught it eagerly.
He wasted no time in pressing the head close to him, allowing his will to merge with it. The head changed, expanding to a full body and changing its features into Sephiroth's own. Bukura carefully aided him with his Shadow Magic, taking great care to only give him as much as he needed lest he absorb the excess magic and grow too strong. After a few minutes it was over. The full body of Sephiroth was floating in front of Bakura, but there was one big difference. This one was holding an impossibly long knife. It was even bigger than the man himself, which was saying something, since he wasn't short to begin with.
Bakura started to wonder whether he had done the right thing.
0o0o0
"Tifa, is Barret in? He needs to hear this too." Cloud started.
Tifa didn't miss the seriousness in Clouds tone, which made her quite worried about what this was about. "He's at the back with Marlene. I'll go get him."
"Don't be alarmed when Barret comes in." Cloud said after Tifa had left. Yugi simply raised an eyebrow at him, expecting additional explanation. "Barret can be quite gruff and intimidating, but he's a good guy at heart."
No further explanation was needed as a bulky dark-skinned man walked into the room. What was most intimidating about him however, was that his right hand had been replaced with a gun-arm. Yugi instantly hoped that the man knew what he was doing and that he wasn't going to be shot down accidently. Barret took a quick look around the room, quickly noticing Yugi sitting next to Cloud.
"Well Spikey, it seems I need to find a new nickname for you." He grinned before continuing. "That guy certainly wins the spikiest-hair-of-the-year award."
Tifa, who had been walking behind the large man and was now back at her spot behind the bar, couldn't keep in the giggles. Even Yugi cracked a smile, but Cloud wasn't that amused.
"We don't have time for this Barret." Cloud said seriously. "We've got trouble."
Both Tifa and Barret instantly turned serious, and Yugi's smile also faded from his face. "What kind of trouble?" Barret asked.
"The Sephiroth kind."
This certainly got the attention of the other two. They briefly shot a glance at Yugi, hoping that his mere presence would explain everything. They turned back to Cloud once he started explaining what Aeris had told him. The mood in the room only turned graver the more Cloud told them.
Tifa sighed once when Cloud was finished. "So it seems we've got another battle to fight." The then turned to Yugi. "And now even strangers are involved."
Yugi shook his head. "I'm no stranger to saving the world. It's what I do all the time in my world." He smiled and nodded reassuringly. "I just hope that I can be of some help to you."
"Sephiroth is not a foe to be underestimated." Barret grumbled. "And you don't look the type to know how to fight."
"Well there must be some way that I can." Yugi countered. "In any case there must be a reason why my friends and I were taken to this world, so there must be a way that we can help. We just have to find it."
Before any of the other people in the room could reply, the front door burst open to reveal something that really made Yugi frown this time. It was a big white stuffed animal with a black cat sitting on top of its head.
"Cait Sith, what are you doing here?" Tifa wondered out loud as she approached the weird newcomer.
The stuffed animal started to happily bounce up and down. "Oh Tifa! I'm so glad you're here. And Cloud and Barret too. This is perfect. I need your help guys." The cat told them.
"And why would we help you out Shinra spy?" Barret said suspiciously, not entirely trusting the robot.
Cait Sith shook its head. "It's not Shinra you'll be helping, but two children. Reno and Rude brought them in after they had supposedly popped up out of thin air in Junon. Now the President has given permission to start experimenting on them to find out where they come from and how they got here."
"Two children popped up out of thin air?" Yugi said, making his way to stand in front of the stuffed animal. "What do they look like?"
Cait Sith regarded the small spikey-haired teen before it. "And why do you want to know?"
"He also popped up out of thin air Cait Sith." Cloud intervened. "These children might be from the same world he's from."
Cait Sith nodded. "I see something big is going on." It started to bounce in place in excitement. "Well, I haven't seen them myself, but I've been told that there's a black-haired boy and a brown-haired girl."
"Mokuba and Serenity." Yugi gasped, but before he could say more he felt himself being pulled back into the puzzle so Yami could come out.
"You will tell us where I can find these children." He said ominously.
"Woah! What in the name of Gaia just happened?" Barret asked with wide eyes, turning to Cloud for an explanation.
Cloud sighed. "From what I understand two spirits share the same body Barret. You simply just witnessed the other spirit taking over."
"I'm surprised you even noticed Barret." Yami said. "Most people don't."
"People don't notice? Seriously, your voice sounds like your balls dropped in the last few seconds, you're bigger, you look older and your bangs suddenly spike upwards, and you're telling me people don't notice?" Barret said incredulously.
"That doesn't matter right now." Yami said annoyed and turned back to Cait Sith. "I've got reason to believe these children are the siblings of my friends. From what I gather they are in danger, and I must go and help them. Now, tell me where I can find these children."
"Incredible." Cait Sith muttered. "It seems like something a lot bigger is going on, but you're right, these children should be our first priority right now. They're at the Shinra HQ."
Cloud sighed again, a strong sense of déjà vu coming over him for the second time that day. Without wasting any more time the five of them prepared to leave the bar and infiltrate Shinra.
0o0o0
Seto, Joey and Red XIII briskly travelled through the barren landscape due north of Cosmo Canyon, with Red XIII leading the way. They were silent for the most part. Seto felt no inclination to talk to either of the two, and Red XIII was focussed on something the other two didn't know. This left Joey with no one to really talk to, so he also remained silent. The fact that he was struggling to keep up with the other two wasn't really helping either. This way the journey through the canyon started off uneventful at first, but that was soon about to change. The reason why Red XIII was constantly alert for something soon revealed itself when several colourful bird-like creatures jumped from behind a rock to stand in their way. Seto wanted to disregard them and move on, but Red XIII jumped in front of him to stop him in his tracks.
"Skeeskee." Red XIII growled.
"Who wants to go skiing?" Joey, who hadn't really noticed the threat yet, asked.
"Not skiing. Skeeskee. It's what those birds are called." Red XIII replied without taking his mind off the Skeeskee in front of him.
"They don't look like a threat. Can't we just move along?" Seto grumbled.
"Unless you want to be introduced by their beaks I don't recommend it." Red XIII replied.
Joey then took the time to really regard the creatures, before a grin spread over his face. "Nah, Kaiba's right. These guys don't look so tough. But they are in our way, so I guess it's time to give them a little scare to chase them away."
Disregarding Red XIII's urging to step back, Joey walked up to the small group of birds. He activated his duel disk and took the top card from his desk, grinning when he saw that it was a monster card.
"All right then, I summon my good old buddy the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" He yelled while placing the card on his duel disk.
But nothing happened.
"Uhm…Red-Eyes?" Joey stuttered, vainly attempting to try and summon his monster.
Meanwhile the Skeeskee started to advance on the blonde teen. Joey suddenly started to feel very nervous when one of them flapped his wings to gain some altitude and suddenly sped towards him. He didn't have any time to react before the impact. With a scream Joey fell backwards. In a flash Red XIII sped past him, surprising the Skeeskee and forcing their attention away from Joey to focus on this new threat. With a few well-aimed attacks, Red XIII managed to kill one Skeeskee, injure another, and chase the remaining ones away. Once he was sure they were gone he turned back to the other two.
"What in the world did you think you were doing Wheeler?" Seto demanded to know, crossing his arms in annoyance.
But Joey didn't respond. He still frantically tried to summon monsters. "Flame Swordsman! Rocket Warrior!" But none responded. "All right then! I use Foolish Burial to send one monster from my deck to my graveyard and then use Monster Reborn to bring it back! Come on up Gilford the Lightning!" But still no monster appeared.
"I knew you were a third-rate duellist, but this is ridiculous even for you mutt. Never mind though. You are not my concern right now." Seto grumbled before turning to walk away.
"It's not his fault." Red XIII intervened, making Seto stop in his tracks to regard him like he had just made the most badly misconceived statement of the century. Red XIII simply shook his head and continued. "Though I agree it was foolish of him to think he could fight those monsters with a few cards, the fact that he's frantically trying to vainly 'summon' those cards means that the Skeeskee's Rage Bomber has been successful in afflicting fury."
"Charming." Seto said dryly. "Now I hope you have some way to fix it. It's bad enough that I have to be stuck with him when he's acting normal, let alone when he's like this."
Red XIII nodded and reached into the pack he had been carrying along the way. He took out a small bottle labelled 'tranquillizer' and walked over to stand in front of Joey, who still tried to summon monsters in any way possible.
"Drink this Joey." He said as he attempted to hand the bottle to the furious teen.
But Joey slapped the bottle away. "I need to fight those chickens!" He yelled as he continued with what he was attempting to do.
"They rather looked like penguins to me." Seto noted dryly, earning him a glare from both of the other two.
Red XIII quickly turned back to Joey however. "This will help you fight them Joey. Just drink it and you'll see." He urged.
Joey paused and blinked at the bottle. He finally took it and drank its contents in one gulp. Immediately the haze in his eyes cleared and he relaxed. Red XIII felt relieved that it worked. Realizing what had happened Joey felt a surge of shame wash over him. He'd acted like an idiot. In front of his greatest rival no less. He demurely gathered the cards that had been strewn around him an stood back up.
"Let's continue then." He said calmly, though his voice and stance did betray his feelings.
0o0o0
Mokuba guessed they had been in the room for about two hours before a man with long, greasy black hair, tied in a low ponytail, wearing glasses on the tip of his nose and a long white lab coat came to get them. The man scared the creeps out of him and Serenity. The girl had finally calmed down a while ago after Mokuba had continuously reassured her that both their brothers would come to get them, but after spotting this man, and feeling the creepy aura he had around him as he scrutinized them intently, she had again been reduced to a shivering heap of fear.
"So you are the ones those Turks brought in." He said in his high-pitched voice, only enhancing his creepiness.
"What do you want mister?" Mokuba replied, not trusting this man one bit.
Hojo laughed, or rather cackled, in amusement. "Hmm, I see you'll make a fine specimen young man. Of the girl I'm not too sure, but that won't matter as long as you'll last."
Mokuba instinctively held Serenity closer to him, not liking one bit what the man implied. "What do you mean?"
Hojo shuffled closer, towering over the cowering youngsters despite his hunched over pose. "What I mean is that the President has given me permission to find out as much about you as I can, using whatever means necessary."
"But we already told him everything we know." Serenity piped up. "Please, we just want to go home."
"Ah, now if I can find out where your home is, and how to get there, you might have your wish girl. And if you'll simply cooperate, then the chances of it happening rise by 5 to 10 percent."
"What are you going to do to us? We don't know anything more than we've already told the President." Mokuba said.
Hojo cackled again. "That simply means I'll have to find another way to extract the information I need, and it's high-time that we get started."
Hojo then turned around to walk back to the door. For a moment the two children thought he was going to leave them alone for now despite what he had just said. But their thoughts soon turned out to be false when Hojo returned with two guards and ordered them to take the two down to his lab.
Mokuba started to kick and scream in an attempt to get free, but the guard was too big and too strong and had little trouble in containing the child. Serenity started to cry again and also struggled, but was even less successful than Mokuba. In the end they couldn't prevent the two men to carry them away from the room and towards Hojo's lab.
Rufus watched them being taken emotionlessly. The children were scared, which to him was a good thing. If Hojo exploited that fact he could ensure their cooperation. He was eager to find out where these two came from and how to get there. Even if there was no Mako on that world, he could find something else to do with it. Perhaps this world had another source of energy that he could exploit, or he could offer Mako energy to that world. It all came down to the same thing in the end. He would strengthen his position and make even more profit.
He would gain more power.
"Are you sure Hojo should be allowed to do this unsupervised, sir?" Reno, who was standing next to him wondered.
"What's the matter Reno. Didn't you bring them here to find out more about their world?" Rufus said with an amused tone in his voice. "You don't sound very much like a Turk right now."
Reno scoffed at the remark. "I brought them in because you would have kicked my ass otherwise when you found out." He sighed and shook his head, turning more serious. "And I too am interested in this world, but I'd hate to see two young children be hurt. To be honest sir, I don't trust Hojo after everything he's done."
Rufus nodded. "I understand what you mean Reno, but rest assured that I will not allow Hojo to randomly experiment on these two children. Especially if it will jeopardize our new mission. But if it'll make you feel better, feel free to observe Hojo's proceedings, and report to me if anything comes up."
Satisfied with the reply, Reno nodded and saluted before heading off in the direction of Hojo's lab. Rufus watched him go. He really didn't care what would happen to the children as long as they would lead them to their world. He also trusted Hojo as far as he could throw him, but knew that if someone was able to find something it would be him. In the end he was glad that Reno was concerned about these strangers. It saved him a lot of trouble in trying to find someone trustworthy to report to him. Reno was one of the few he did trust, and he knew that the chances of finding this new world grew exponentially with him on the job.
0o0o0
Land had never seemed more appealing to Vincent. It was just such a shame that he had to follow the coast for a while before reaching Rocket Town.
The intrigue he had felt when he had seen these two appear had somewhat faded by now. Sure, he was still curious as to why they were here, but he was getting quite annoyed with the way they were acting. It was like they knew how the world should be, and when it didn't meet their standards it was just weird. Tristan was particularly annoying that way. At least Tea seemed to be a lot more sensible, but her all for one and one for all mentality had managed to strike a deeper cord in Vincent, and he didn't like it. His sins were his own, and he didn't like it that they were so nosey about it. Luckily the sighting of land had shut them up for now, and after they would finally reached their destination Rocket Town would only be a small distance from the shore, where he could leave these two in the capable hands of Cid.
The silence also gave Vincent the opportunity to think. His thoughts turned back to the Jumping he'd killed in the Sleeping Forest. It was such a long way from home, and he silently wondered whether the appearance of these people had something to do with it. As soon as he had dropped them off, Vincent intended to investigate the matter. But before he could even start planning further, his thoughts were interrupted by Tea's voice.
"So, how far is this place you're taking us?" She asked a bit nervously, their recent conversation about Vincent's sins still fresh in her mind.
"We just have to follow the coast for a few more minutes." Vincent responded.
"Well I'll be glad to get off of this tub." Tristan said.
"Will you stop complaining about that Tristan?" Tea huffed as she crossed her arms. "It gets us from A to B, right? So why complain about it? What did you expect? A super deluxe cruise ship?"
This effectively shut Tristan up. Instead he just huffed and crossed his arms like a little kid who wasn't allowed some ice cream.
"Oh, way to go with acting mature Tristan." Tea scoffed.
"You sound like a married couple." Vincent piped up, causing both teens to stare at him in disbelief. He just shrugged. "The way you are arguing makes you sound as if you're married." He elaborated.
Tea's face rapidly became a very nice shade of red, but whether it was because she was blushing furiously or became very angry was unclear. "Well, he started it!" She accused.
"Now who's being immature?" Tristan grinned.
Vincent sighed as the two continued to bicker back and forth. He had hoped his suggestion would make them stop, but apparently it had only added more heat to the fire. Luckily the beach where he would land the Tiny Bronco soon came in sight, meaning that his torment would soon be over. He beached the floating plane and hopped off, surprised that the two had even noticed and also climbed down. Tristan tried to be a mature gentleman by offering Tea his help to get off, but Tea stubbornly refused. Tea should have accepted the gesture, because when she tried to get down off the plane's wing she fell down, using Tristan to break her landing. This caused a string of rather colourful words to erupt from the young man's mouth, which he was instantly berated for by Tea. Long story short, Vincent was not amused.
Eventually the two's bickering died down when they finally decided never to talk to one another again. Vincent was glad for the reprieve. But his peace was soon interrupted again by the appearance of a few monsters. Vincent frowned. They were Nibel Wolves. These creatures usually resided near Mount Nibel to the south. Though it wasn't entirely unusual for them to venture to this area, they usually stayed clear of it. The incident with the Jumping instantly came back to mind. It might mean nothing, but Vincent made sure to make a mental note of it anyway.
Tea and Tristan hadn't even noticed the threat until they suddenly heard a few gunshots. They flinched and looked up to see the wolves lying dead on the ground, and Vincent's gun still smoking.
Tea instantly became angry again. "What is it with you and killing animals?" She said accusingly.
"Again these animals would have attacked, injured, and most likely killed us if I hadn't killed them."
"You have to admit Tea, at least it wasn't a bunny this time, but wolves." Tristan piped up, earning him a glare for his efforts.
"Still not talking to you!" She said and turned around.
Vincent didn't have the patience to wait much longer, so he put his gun away and proceeded to Rocket Town. The sooner he could drop them off at Cid's the better.
0o0o0
A/N: Things that I promised and didn't happen in this chapter yet: Hojo explaining his lack of being dead, and Tristan expanding his vocabulary… Oh, and Joey didn't get owned by a chicken, but rather by a penguin. If Tea had been there I could have made a reference to her duel with Crump. Well…can't have everything I suppose…
Sephy has a body! Now what will he and Kura do?
I think it's going to be both hard and fun to write about the Shinra HQ infiltration by Cloud and co. Luckily you actually get to do that in the game. Hmm…stairs or elevators?
I've had the scene with Joey in my head since the beginning. It was funny to incorporate the Fury status with it. Now on to Nibelheim!
Mokuba and Serenity are in deep trouble. Will Cloud and co. be on time to help them?
The final scene was totally unplanned and very hard to write. I hope it was satisfactory.
Until next week! :D