#import COPYRIGHT_OWNERSHIP_DENIAL
TRIGGER_WARNINGS= "Landmines and a brief mention of their effects"
Another point of view. There's a fair bit of cussing.
Chapter 7: A Brief History of FINE
I'll do you a solid and skip the travelogue of how we regrouped and left the mine and headed for the mountain with the giant gold bird on the top.
Okay, so we arrived at Fort Condor. I figured, we need a place to rest anyway; sure, I'm pissed at SOMEBODY but we might as well see what's going on, right?
For a place that's been a battleground held against the Shin-Ra for months, by such dedicated people, the man outside let us in without a fuss. Great, so all those leeches have to do is slowly infiltrate people inside by posing as mercenaries and concerned people, then stab 'em in the back.
Fracking amateurs...they're going to get themselves killed!
Still, they were the guardians of a precious condor egg and its mother, some of the rarer life of the planet, fighting a war against Shin-Ra – of course we were going to help!
Tseng can go suck off an Ark Dragon if he's got a problem with that. Complete with a Flamethrower ending, if you know what I mean.
After a beastly battle – oh hell Aerith's rubbing off on me – the village's military...chief? General? He was vague on that. Guy in charge, he thanked all of us for our help and let us take whatever spoils we found on the field. Given that there was like one guy actually assigned to the assault, there was pretty much jack and shit, but Red has a fancy new comb out of it.
We sleep that night, only for another battle early the next morning, with nearly twice the enemies for me to beat like eggs.
And a third, a few hours after that.
It was at this point I sent an angry message off: "We are going to have to work on our communication." I wasn't expecting a reply, and I wasn't disappointed.
Barret taught a few of the mercenaries what he knew about explosives, so they started building traps which were rather more vicious than any future attackers would expect….and more dangerously indiscriminate than anybody else present was comfortable with.
Aerith had flat-out refused to participate in further battles with landmines involved. "I want to help the condor! Really! Still, I do not want to see or hear people having their legs blown off, or worse, have something not explode in battle and get set off later by someone who has nothing to do with this fight."
Big heart, indeed. And an enraged face that would make a mother Behemoth shed a tear of pride.
They stuck to wired demo charges after that, I understand.
'Mr. General Chief Sir, Minister of Defense' – Aerith's title for him – was quite understanding when we healed our behinds and left, waving off our apologies and thanking us for our help. I slipped the 'Minister' a few thousand gil – my poor wallet, she weeps! – on our way out, along with a few words of caution about looking out for infiltrators, but the reaction was unexpected.
"Actually, we had a couple try, but we have some people who… have past experience with doing that sort of thing. They fed the condors before they could do anything else."
Well, these guys sure are hardened vets at this point. They'll be fine.
I gave the giant bird at the top of the mountain a last look as we left. I hope so, anyhow.
Oh you motherfrackers have GOT to be kidding me, another bunch?
We took that camp out too, with a Hastey ambush that prevented most of the various beasts from being released from their cages and while the Wyverns were gone hunting.
This commander clearly didn't take such expensive care of his hair, opting for keeping his men healthy, judging by the jar of concentrated Megaelixir I found in his tent. We stirred some into water from our canteens and drank it – six people versus six people is a pretty even fight...but when you throw those three beasts who liked their handlers enough to not need caged, just a muzzle that can quickly be removed by anyone with working thumbs? We took some injuries, and both Barret and Aerith had some minor MP stroke from the day's conflicts, so it was well worth it.
Honestly, I'm kinda disturbed now. Somebody who actually gives a shit about others, working for the Shin-Ra corporation? I put it aside for now, but it reminds me of the spy Beth's message told me about. Don't want to think about it right now.
We took to the forest in hopes of not having more battles against overwhelming odds. We got our wish on the latter, but the former?
Well, let's just say I snagged a couple little somethings from my visit to the Don's dungeon, and they've made Yuffie so-oo-oooo much more bearable. And made Aerith give me some entertaining looks when she thinks I'm not looking.
I took the cuffs off, later – it was just so she knew better than to try stealing our stuff again.
We hurried the rest of the way to Junon without anything else really noteable happening.
At this point, its been four days since she left with the Turks, and we still haven't gotten so much as a message from our sweet, loveable, dear friend Beth.
Once we arrived in Lower Junon, we split up. Yuffie and Barret found that the 'Weapon' shop had literally zero weapons. No, really: zip, zero, nada. Red and Cloud found the elevator to Upper Junon to be locked down. Nothing really going on, but we heard rumors that there was going to be a big parade.
Meanwhile, Aerith and I went down to the beach to… talk. And no, I'm not going to tell you how it went. Our walk ended when we ran into a little girl named Priscilla playing with a dolphin… thankfully she didn't step into that polluted crap of an ocean, but was just having him jump out of the water and trying to teach him how to say her name.
Sweet girl.
Nearly became monster bait, and so nearly did we trying to save her.
Turns out, even Mako reactor pollution-mutated flying sea serpents fall to fists, if they hit like the wind. Aerith had to pop me out of some sort of bubble, and I her, along the way – it was like the weird attack Reno used, way back in Midgar. Couldn't break out from the inside, couldn't be heard from outside. Anyway, we kicked its tail fin fast enough to drag Priscilla out of the water and perform CPR on her; her dad had heard the commotion and come running from… wherever he was.
As her father carried her up the hill back to their house, he asked us to accompany him, so we did. He introduced himself as "Mister McDrogal. Redmane, to my friends, and for saving my daughter from that mutant you two count as friends." He kissed his daughter's drying forehead. "Please, come inside, my wife will want to thank you too.
Tseng was waiting at the door, with Rude standing next to him, and addressed Redmane immediately. "I understand you're busy; please, do what you need to, but afterwards, I would like to offer the services of a doctor, free of charge. Just to make sure she doesn't have any complications from the seawater, nor brain injury from oxygen deprivation, you understand." He raised a hand to interrupt before I could demand what the hell his game is, and added, to me, "No strings, no obligations."
"...I don't know you, and something like that has to go through my wife. But come inside too."
Redmane and his wife, Darlene, were rather stand-offish once I revealed Tseng as working for the Shin-Ra. After all, it was the wartime construction of what's now known as Upper Junon that's ruined the livelihood of nearly everyone who lived below.
Tseng got snippy then, and introduced himself, "Yes, I am Tseng, in charge of the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department of Shinra Electric Power Company. My colleague and I are not here on behalf of Shinra, nor any partially or wholly-owned subsidiaries. I'm here off-duty, as a personal favor to somebody, that is all."
There was some back and forth after that, and Darlene asked all of us to leave… but not before overruling her husband and accepting the Turks' offer.
The others had gotten done with whatever they'd gone off to do, and saw us walk out. "Care to tell me when or if you'll be returning Beth?" Cloud inquired, though from his tone it was meant as anything but polite.
Tseng simply answered, "No. You can ask her yourself, when the time comes. Here." He nodded at Rude, who stepped forward with a large, bulging envelope in his hands.
Cloud took it, slowly, suspicion written across his face. Tseng nodded pointedly towards it, and with a small huff Cloud opened it. I stepped up next to Cloud and frowned at the contents: six fake IDs, with pictures of people looking similar enough to us to pass at brief inspection; a few pages of instructions; and a bottle with a few pills of tranquilizers.
"What is this supposed to be?!" Cloud demanded of the long-haired man.
"You need a way on the ship, we've arranged for a safer method to do so."
"…...why?" I ask, cursing how small I always sound. "Why would you help?"
"…...the job of the Turks is to protect Shinra, Inc., by performing various missions assigned to us by any means we deem necessary. At the moment, our assignment is, as Elena so helpfully informed you, to apprehend Sephiroth." He paused a moment. "The Turks always finish the mission, no matter what. Take that as you will."
Rude picked up after that oh so freaking helpful cryptic answer. "You instructions will tell you where to find the disguises and equipment you will need to board. Your cover will not hold well under scrutiny if you enter restricted areas. I suggest you remain in the assigned quarters in the lower decks of the ship and perform the assigned patrols. As for the man in the black cape… should he appear, neutralize him, if possible."
"…...alright. That's what I was going to do, anyway."
"Reporting will not be necessary. Despite your...reluctance to do as asked, in that department," – I DO NOT WORK FOR YOU – "we'll be informed of the results."
Then they turned and left us just standing there at the base of the stairway, holding the papers and IDs. Cloud and I looked at each other, wondering, 'the hell?'
"From there, we went to the Respectable Inn and collected these uniforms from a locker, restocked on first-aid supplies, got these lovely babies you're familiar with now, spotted Rude in a dive bar, ran into the other three in another, and – denied even a goddamn drink to deal with this shit – walked onboard this lovely...luxurious...cushy courier ship, the S.S. Anne. And then I find your pale ass lying in Yuffie's bunk, waiting for us, and you play all small and apologetic and and… oh, you going to explain things. To all of us. I am not going to be carrying this shit alone.
"So, keep the Ice on that eye. We'll be –"
"Emergency alert! Reports of a suspicious character found on board! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found! I repeat, suspicious character found on board. Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found!"
"– meeting up and looking for 'Sephiroth'."
Beth...or whatever her name is, sucked in a pained breath from the floor of the quarters Aerith, Yuffie, and I were sharing. "I-I-I'm sorry, I told you..."
"Yeah, you did. You told me just enough to manipulate me," I spat, and oh wow, I haven't seen someone so horrified since Barret though Marlene had been crushed by the Sector 7 plate. "Stay here, and try not to bleed all over the place, for a bit."
Freaky little… well-meaning girl. I'm out of anger. I scoff and shove her out of my mind as I climb up the steps up to the deck, and meet up with the others.
Cloud decides to take me and a reluctant Yuffie with him to search the cargo area and engine room, while Barret takes a hilarious-looking Nanaki,and Aerith, to search the passenger areas.
"I look forward to burning this disguise," I hear Nanaki mutter as he wiggles out of it. Aerith helps him, before folding it away into her satchel. It bulges a bit at the bulk.
I quickly follow Cloud and Yuffie below deck, and we move together, shining flashlights into the corners of the cargo area. Yuffie snagged an All materia, to her quiet (and seasick) glee, but we quickly rule out 'Sephiroth' being present, and move on to the engine room.
Okay, we run smack into a group of actual marines, who were assigned to search the area and knew we shouldn't be there too, beat them up, and take their stuff, but we get there.
There's a Shin-Ra security officer standing at the controls. Odd, shouldn't there be an engineer or something, instead?
Cloud asks him if he's Sephiroth – why would you think that, Cloud? He's hardly wearing a black cape – only for the officer to blink out of existence after he turned around. "No...not Sephiroth." No shit.
The voice from my nightmares comes from the walkway above us, and I shudder before hate replaces the fear. "…...After a long sleep...the time…...time has...come."
What the hell... "Cloud, look!" I exclaim, as he'd been looking up. For once, horror movies have trained us wrong, because the monster came up from below, like a ghost through Goddess-knows how much steel
"Sephiroth! You're alive!" Cloud's as dismayed as I to discover that the rumors really were true – the hero-turned-villain who destroyed our hometown really is still alive. But...if Cloud threw him from the reactor… I shake my head of the doubts, for now.
"…...Who are you?" Well, it has been five years...
Cloud shakes his head, surprised. "You don't remember me!? I'm Cloud!" ...and given that infantry helmet, I didn't remember seeing him either.
"Cloud..."
"Sephiroth! What are you thinking!? What are you doing!?"
"...the time…...is now..."
"What?! What are you saying? Be more – aargh!"
The guy can FLY?! Hey, get back here!
Yuffie is less composed: "What the shit!? HEY! Get back here so we can - BLEARGH!"
"You gonna be alright?!" Or are you going to get yourself killed against OH MY WHAT the & ■ is that?! It's...GROWING! The arm sprouted a body, and a head, and this is so impossible. I look back to Yuffie.
She wipes her mouth. "Psshaw, it's you ya should worry about, let's just get rid of this thing… quickly..."
"Agreed." I look the ugly thing over – it looks almost...half-formed, like it began growing wings but messed them up and gave up; a small head, humanoid other than the blue mandibles, so hunched over it almost seems in the center of its chest; a wasp-like waste flares out in a mockery of a ballroom dress, and there are tails or tentacles sprouting from behind and its side. It hurts to think about too long. "I'm Sense-ing...urk…" a nauseating feeling comes through the yellow materia when I focus it, but I power through."Level 25… Jenova-BIRTH (Outsider). HP… 4000 of 4000, MP 110 of 110. No weaknesses detected."
"Got it. Try to Slow it down, Tifa. Yuffie, throw things at it." Cloud charged in with a Climhazard, dodging laser beams to stab it near the ground, and then jumped into the air. Yuffie's protest at how lame that is cut off in favor of a star-struck "Whooaaaa".
Beth's materia whispers to me from my guard bangle, a chant like she had used… but there's no Time, as I dodge another burst of laser aimed at me. I simply fire off a normal Slow, which thankfully takes effect.
Yuffie comes out of her daze and flings her large shuriken at Jenova's right wing, hoping to distract it. It works, judging from the bleary glare, but then Yuffie simply stops moving, balanced on one foot in the middle of stepping back. The shuriken returns to its owner, but thankfully scrapes across the floor and falls over instead of hitting her.
"Yuffie, move!" I tackle her away from another burst of laser, this one from its tail, but it's like knocking over a squishy statue. I roll to my feet with the inertia, and drag the ninja out of the way.
By the time I'm back in the fight, Cloud's looking somewhat the worse for wear, and I toss a Cura spell at him before I circle around behind the threat. There's not much room to do so, but I'm able to duck under one of the 'wings' and land some hard blows.
Honestly, this thing is all offense and, aside from the apparent Stop spell, no defense. I smirk as I realize this, and do my full best to all but break a foot off in its ass. Between us, Cloud and I take the thing down inside of two minutes. Yuffie rejoins the rest of us in time to grab her shuriken and land the final blow, before it breaks apart and dies.
Who knew getting seasick on it was its only weakness?
While Yuffie is freaking out over one of the tentacles still moving, Cloud's acting weird again. "That was… Jenova. This is the arm of Jenova."
"Jenova… He's been carrying this thing around?" I see Yuffie's still very much bothered, and I'm not exactly keen on it either, so I step on it and grind it into the deckplates; it twitches a few times more and stops.
"So, it WAS Sephiroth," Cloud declared, as if he went to get a jug of milk from the fridge and finding it was as expired and rancid as he'd been worried it was.
Yuffie piped in with, "He was mumbling something about time!"
"…...Time...is now?" He looked down at the deck, musing.
"I'm getting so confused..." I think out loud. Hmm. Let's see what he thinks of all this. "Cloud, explain what's happened so far."
"...I'll try, but don't interrupt me while I'm explaining." Cold. "Sephiroth went off searching for the Promised Land, so he could become ruler of the planet. That was 5 years ago." He stops and corrects himself, "No...he didn't 'go off'...that's right, I… remember… right, what Beth said, I threw him off the walkway in the reactor. He fell into the depths of the reactor, with Jenova's head."
"Then, Sephiroth came back and killed President Shinra." He turned to face me. "And then just now all of us saw Sephiroth. He was carrying Jenova with him. ...This much I do know. He told me he wants to go to the Promised Land with his mother, Jenova." He thinks for a moment. "...I guess that's about it."
"More or less." Beth's leaning against the side of the doorway, arms crossed, one eye clearly darkened but showing signs of Cure usage. Something in me rebels at this, can't she just accept her punishment?, before I in turn rebel against the thought. She...really, the gut-shot was enough to get my point across.
"Beth. You're up. ...sorry, I went overboard expressing my feelings earlier."
"...technically, I'm down, on a lower deck, and I'm very glad you didn't go overboard – we'd have no way to fish you out of the ocean." She smirks at me. "Apology accepted, but please at least try to let me explain myself first next time?"
"...agreed." I find myself smirking back at her.
The intercom sounded again, after we had our moment. "Dock workers – We will be docking in Costa del Sol in 5 minutes. Prepare for docking."
"Well, that's my cue, I guess," the auburn-haired girl sighed, and walked down the steps into the engine room. I see Rude step in behind her, no sunglasses for once – he eyes land on me before looking away. "Could y'all scoot well aside for a bit, please? Ideally, behind me. Oh, Tifa, clean the soles and outside of your shoes first, then your gloves, with these, please," she requested, handing me a bottle of 91% rubbing alcohol and a paper towel from her pocket.. She went on to explain, "Jenova has annoying properties: its cells tend to get into other organisms and control them, if there's too much biomass, or they'll absorb whatever organic matter they can to replicate and regenerate. Or they'll just violate the laws of conservation of mass and energy and magically grow a body, if there's enough of them together. Or they'll just act like a virus, and make a person sick."
As she pulls out a shuriken like Yuffie's and checks the arrangement of the materia, we decide to do as she says.
Surprisingly, Yuffie's the one to ask the logical question… or maybe she just gets to it first, "Ew, that's GROSS! So, what're we supposed to do?"
"Ideally, take off and Ultima it from orbit. Repeatedly. That's not exactly a workable option here, so…" she paused to make sure we were in position, "we'll do the next-best thing. Purifying flames, awaken, oxidize and reduce: Fira! The engine room floor where Jenova-BIRTH stood, where the arm landed, and some ways about, were blackened by the fire; the ceiling lit up from the minutes of combustion. Glad the ventilation's working, sucking the smoke out. "You'll need to do the same with your weapons, Cloud and Yuffie. Fire's more likely to work, as long as the metal heats up to at least 132 Celsius for 4 minutes."
"Wait, won't that damage them?" Yuffie asked anxiously.
"Maybe the wrapping of the grip," Beth admitted, "but that's easy enough to replace."
Cloud popped out the materia from his blade, and Beth traded another paper towel for the weapon. I handed off the rubbing alcohol, and but we hesitated when Beth added, "I'm not entirely sure the alcohol will have as much effect as we'd like, but I doubt anybody wants to risk setting their feet on fire or ruining their shoes, either, so… your choice. Oh! Maybe you can soak the soles in alcohol, then set the alcohol on fire and let it burn off. My chemistry teacher did that with a dollar bill once, it was fine… don't try it at home, kids."
I, for one, decided to take my chances… and channel a basic, sustained Fire to burn off anything from my shoes. I'm not stupid enough to take the warnings of someone who knows what they're talking about lightly. Yuffie and Cloud...stuck with the alcohol, but were thorough with it. Several times.
"...wait a second...ugh... how do you know my name?" the ninja demanded.
"I'll explain later, it's a long story," Beth answered. "Longer in the convincing than the telling."
"I am so sick of being blown off by old people...what, you think I can't handle the truth, don'tcha? You think I don't know how to keep secrets? Why, I once – oh, no, can't tell that story. But I can, all ninja are trained-"
"I believe you, and that's a relief to hear. Later, though, alright, with the others?"
"Hmph."
I swear I hear Beth mutter, "Well, ex-CUUse ME, Princess," as she finishes sanitizing Cloud's sword, but she's all smiles when Yuffie relinquishes her weapon.
MP Stroke: Know the Dangers!
As the number and variety of Materia grow and they become commonplace in our society, it's important to understand one of the inherent dangers to excessive manipulation of universal forces: MP Stroke.
It's an advanced form of MP Exhaustion, but must never be confused for the lesser.
The subject may experience anything from migraines to permanent nervous tremors, falling unconscious, or even passing into a coma if repeatedly stressed. Deaths have been reported also.
If you or a colleague have been repeatedly channeling high-level spells, or even just many more lower-leveled than you normally perform, and you begin feeling a migraine, stop immediately and seek treatment!
This is a public service notice from the Phoenix Monastic Order
Author's Note
Tifa is really shy and reserved on the outside, but she's had the weight of the world dropped on her shoulders by someone who then just up and left her with the problems… and in the process, got her involved with an arm of the corporation who killed her father. (Well, Sephiroth never collected that paycheck Anyone with a functioning sense of responsibility, justice, or just plain independence would get annoyed.
Tifa is pissed. Her thought processes reflect it, until she's had some time to get used to it (and had the opportunity to take out her frustration – I almost feel sorry for those Shin-Ra fighters. Almost.)
Today's Angry Inner Tifa brought to you by shamelessly referencing the Final Fantasy 7 Machinabridged series on YouTube. The only association I have with them is getting some damn good laughs from the series. I did try copying the same symbols they used to censor their Tifa's cussing, as shown in a segment where she was so drunk she needed subtitles...but FanFiction stripped some of them out, so it got censored the same way as the story title. Just, for thematic consistency with the inspiration. This story does have a T rating, after all.
Shoe soles are made of various different materials; I focused on what a quick search said hiking shoe soles were made of. Polyurethane, in the cross-linking/etc form used in shoe soles, is more durable (and, in my head, thus more likely to be used in such a high-wear environment as a Final Fantasy world); best I can find, it ignites around 416 Celsius, and melts (if not thermoset like I assume shoe soles would be in the process of being manufactured) from 85 Celsius to 121 Celsius. (So, a bit below to above boiling water, and both below the recommended sterilization temperatures. Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) plastics are even less resistant to heat. (I am not a materials engineer, this is all from internet searches, please don't use me as a reference. And DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME.)
Point is, in four minutes the party would certainly kill any Jenova cells, but they'd lose their footwear. The whole thing would leave them feeling...burned.
Fun fact: Priscilla is the diminutive form of the Roman name Prisca, which – from a none-too-thorough bit of research, means "ancient". The Cetra are also referred to as "the Ancients". Ifalna and Aerith (the latter of whom is only half-Cetra) are only known to be the last according to Shinra Corp and Hojo; between the Cetras' identical physical appearance to humans and the game's love of playing with unreliable narrators...I wouldn't be surprised if Priscilla is also at least part-Cetra, and if this made it easier for her to train and communicate with 'Mr. Dolphin'.
Much as if I wouldn't be if there's already a theory like this out there. _
Speaking of Mr. Dolphin, how the hell is it able to come up so close to shore without nearly running aground? Or manage to throw itself out of the water so far? (Besides "it's a Final Fantasy game, it's fantasy." and "Artistic Biology/Hydrodynamics/Physics" – I'm gonna need 50cc's of Handwaving here.)
