Chapter 11

"Where does that bastard think he's going?" Cid said as he watched Ultima Weapon fly away. They had just started getting warmed up and the damned thing flew away.

"Wait, isn't that the direction of Mideel?" asked Red XIII.

"…SHIT!" Cid said as he spun the Highwind around on a Gil and headed there, hoping to get there before it did. "Damn that spiky headed idiot! He better not die before we get there, I still want to see his face when I show him those huge #$#$ Materia!"

As it turned out, when they got there, Ultima weapon was nowhere in sight.

"All that worry over nothing," Yuffie said totally relaxed. She ran up the street and went into the healing lodge.

"Hiya, Tiff, any change?"

"No, he still hasn't come back."

"Maybe a good, swift bap to the head will do it?" Yuffie said, to get her to laugh.

"Yeah…well either way, he's going to get one for doing this to me."

"He would deserve…What's that sound?" She meant this high pitch sound that just started.

"HEY YUFFIE, GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASS OUT HERE!" called Cid.

When Yuffie got to him, he tossed her a new materia. "I got it from the chocobo. You and Vincent are with me! Barret, Red XIII, you two get everyone out of town!"

Yuffie slipped the materia into her Rising Sun shuriken and looked up. Up there, circling was the reason Cid had just given those orders. Ultima Weapon came down on the three in all hell's fury.

After a couple of summons, a few Contains, and a bunch of hits, they were finally able to drive the thing off. "Yeah, you better fly off, you bastard son of a cave lizard!" shouted Cid.

Ultima Weapon turned its head around and shot a blast of energy at Cid. It hit the ground in front of him and launched him back several feet. Yuffie, whom was about to follow up with her own retort decided not to.

"What was that about? I thought he only went after Mako Reactors," she asked instead.

Vincent shrugged. The sound died down for a few moments, and then started back up. "Tifa, time to get out of there!"

He then turned around, grabbed Yuffie and then still disoriented Cid, and ran for the outside of town. Behind him, the ground started shaking, followed by the sound something big cracking.

"Tifa! Cloud! Hurry out of there!" Yuffie yelled to them.

From outside of town, they watched as Tifa pushed Cloud's wheel chair out of Mideel. But before she reached the edge, the ground heaved and fell away, taking them into the Lifestream.

"Tifa!" Yuffie screamed as she ran to help her friends.

Vincent grabbed her as she went by. "Yuffie, don't! There's nothing you can do for them!"

"LET ME GO VINNIE! THEY WOULD TRY TO SAVE US!"

Vincent wrapped his arms around her. "You can't help them like that," he said, as softly as he could. A few moments later, Yuffie started crying. She knew what would happen when you fell into Lifestream and stayed there.

When the shaking finally subsided, they moved down to the edge, and kept scanning the surface for movement.

Yuffie was sitting down, her head on her arms, over her knees, still crying. Every now and then, she muttered, "First Aeris, now Cloud and Tifa…"

Vincent was on the only remaining hill so he could see past the pieces of wood littering the surface. After a few minutes, he saw someone. He couldn't tell who it was but they were floating on their back and were breathing.

While everyone else tried to think of a way to get him, Vincent took off his boots, shirt and cloak. Grabbing a rope, he tossed one end to Barret. He only looked at it for a moment before he understood. "Hell no! #$# NO! You are not going in there!"

"Just pull me in when you feel a jerk," Vincent said before diving in. Careful to keep his mouth shut tight, he breathed out through his nose until he broke surface to keep it out of his body. He really didn't fear getting poisoned by it, he had spent allot of time in it before when Hojo experimented on him. But he was only sure thought touch, not ingestion. When he got to them, he jerked on the rope. As he came to shore, he saw it was just some unlucky guy who didn't get out of town in time.

Barret laid the guy on his side so that if any of the Lifestream got in his lungs, it could come out. At first, he wasn't responsive but now that he left it, he started moving again. Vincent sat down for a moment himself when he got to shore. The Lifestream was rather hard to swim through.

"There's allot of things under the surface. I'm going to look again," he said before getting back in.

It was an agonizing ten minutes before he found something besides tree pieces and boards. His real hand bumped into something that was soft. As he felt what it was, he realized it was Tifa's back. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he headed for the surface. But then he felt more weight then there should be being pulled up. His claw followed her arm and found it locked around Cloud's. Grabbing him to, he swam to the surface again.

After taking a breath, he called, "Pull me in!"

As he gave the two over to the others, Yuffie came up to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Good." She raised a hand and slapped him. "YOU IDIOT! What if you had died out there! And what happened to 'you can't help them like that'!"

Vincent, barely able to feel the slap, he was so numb from the Lifestream, said, "You couldn't, I could. I have already been in Lifestream before and was the only one who could do it."

His claw came to his face and wiped the lifestream off it. It was there, out in the open. Whenever the others stopped fretting over the two, their eyes drifted to his arm. More specifically, just below the shoulder where the flesh stopped and the metal started. There was a scar all around the end of flesh from where the metal was joined to the flesh. But Yuffie didn't look at it; she just kept accusing eyes on his.

"First, do something that stupid again, and you will regret it. Second," she hugged him, "thanks for saving them."

The others averted their eyes at this. They all knew that there was going to be another couple in their group. But now was not the time to joke about it… Too bad Cait Sith disagreed with that.

"Lass, he is without shirt on right now."

A blush as deep red as Meteor covered her face and she let go. "Sorry, Vinnie."

Red XIII shook his head. Why didn't humans just come out and say what their feelings were.

When the two woke up, they went back to the Highwind. And the four who saw it were merciless in their small teasing. The best part, in their opinion, was that they knew that the two cared for the other. They just didn't that the other cared for them. In other words, they know, the two know they know. But the two pretended they didn't know while not knowing the other is doing the same. And that's what they know.

"So, what's the next move?" asked Cid.

"…I've heard of some rumors concerning some powerful materia in some caves. I think it would be a good idea to get those. But first we need to get the last of the huge materia."

"…When I was a Turk, I had heard of a large detail of soldiers being posted to guard the reactor at the then Junon City. The reason being that a materia had been left in the reactor longer than normal and had grown too large to fit in any normal slot in a weapon except those made for it. But reactor the head of weapons development put forward an idea to use it for a rather large canon."

"The Sister Ray," Tifa finished.

"The one and only. Power output from the reactor is increased while it is in there. If the canon is working, as it appears to be, it would have to be there or it wouldn't work."

"That's where we're going then," Cloud said with finality.

Vincent looked around, the soldiers, which has included normal soldiers and members from the legendary Soldiers, first class and otherwise, had all been killed. "Where to next, Vincent?" asked Cloud.

"How am I supposed to know? I've only heard of this Huge Materia. I wasn't attached to its detail. But it might help if you look at this," Vincent pointed to a sign that was above and behind him. Soldiers quarters- left; Reactor/ Submarine Dock- Right.

"Well, don't I look the dork?"

"Yeah," said both Tifa and Yuffie and agreements came from Barret, Cait Sith, Cid, and Red XIII.

"There's the materia!" Yuffie said before a crane reached down and grabbed it from the reactor. "There was the materia."

Following it, they came to the docks. "Hello Cloud, Vincent."

"Reno," replied Vincent, "How you been?"

"Same shit, different day. Let me guess, you want the Huge Materia."

"Yup," answered Cloud.

"Ah, well, you know I can't just give it to you. Protocol, protocol," he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A cargo loader activated and moved behind him.

"Don't want to fight us yourself? You never would have done that when we were younger."

"I was rash then. I'm rash now too. But my win/lose ratio was never good with you and the same goes for them. And the odds don't hold to well for me, now do they?"

At that, Reno stepped aside and let the cargo loader at them.

When the fight was over, the red submarine was gone. "From bad to worst," Barret muttered before following Cloud. It only took thirty seconds before the two had it under their control. Then Cloud poked his head out. "There's only enough room for three. Yuffie, you and…"

"No, double no, HELL NO! Boats, the Highwind, sure, fine. But I cross the line at SUBMARINES!"

"…You might be right. Tifa and…What about you Vincent?"

"I never piloted one."

"Cait Sith, do you know anything about subs?"

"Aye."

"Get in. The rest of you, make your way to the surface."

They got off the sub and it moved out of the dock. As they started back, Yuffie opened the chest at the end. "Holy Leviathan!"

"WHAT!" Vincent said as he spun, drawing the Cerberus.

"Sorry, it's just that I never expected to find this here," she showed him a single scale the size of a dinner plate. "This is a scale of Leviathan. It's a treasure from Wutia and had been lost for a thousand years."

"Well, it's not lost anymore."

"I just want to know how they found it."

Vincent shrugged; he didn't know and wouldn't guess.

On the way back up, Vincent and Yuffie came across a ghost ship. Even with the two of them, it was a tough fight. But in the end, it wasn't deathblow or even Odin, he just threw his lance, it was morph of all things.

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Yuffie asked as she examined the guide book. "Wait, didn't that guy back at Kalm ask for this?"

Vincent stopped looking around for the next thing that was going to try and kill them and said, "Uhm, yes, I believe so. We'll get it to him when we get out of here."

When they got to the elevator, Yuffie asked, "Where did Reno slink off to?" Again, Vincent only shrugged. When they got on, a hand kept the door from closing.

"Mind if I go you with you?"

Vincent looked at Yuffie and said, "If you speak the devils name, you draw his attention."

Yes, you wanted me? No, be quiet. Hey, it's your fault, talking about the devil and all. Ha-ha.

"Planet save me from the ravings of demons," Vincent muttered. "Get on Reno." As he did, Vincent raised his hand and shook Reno's. "How's Rude been?"

"He's been Rude, no pun intended, how else."

"Did you find Tseng? And who is that girl Elena?"

"Yeah, we got Tseng. He's on medical leave. The first break he's taken since… you disappeared. And that was Elena, a new member, kind of a hothead... This is my floor, take care."

The girl that controlled the elevator watched Reno go and wondered aloud about where the quality men went.

When they got to the Highwind, they received a radio signal. "Testing, testing, this Strife, calling Highwind, please come in."

"Hey Cloud, how'd it go," replied Cid.

"It went good. The submarine has been sunk. But it's going to take a bit before we can get the huge materia. There are more subs around looking for us. I don't think it is a good idea to get it right now. Nor do I think we should just leave it. Hang tight for an hour, by then we should have shaken them. Emerald Weapon is on the sonar; maybe we can lure them in his vicinity."

"Roger that, over and out. So now what do we do? I don't think we should just stay here."

"I have a stop in Kalm I would like to make," Vincent offered.

"Got nothing better to do. Let's go!" Cid said as he lifted the Highwind off the ground.

"Hey old man," Yuffie said as she stepped onto the second floor of the house, "didn't you ask for this?" she said as she showed him the guide book.

"Hmm, yes this is it. Must have been difficult to ascertain." He pursed his lips and whistled. A gold colored Chocobo climbed up the steps. "This is Zen'Nathas. He's been mine for some years now. But I haven't been able to take him out of the stall for a while now. If the world is coming to an end, he should be running when it does, doing as he is meant."

Yuffie went up to Zen'Nathas and petted him. "I've never seen a gold chocobo before. Never even heard of them."

"Of course not. The world has forgotten about them. Humans seem to have that habit, forgetting things they shouldn't. I learned how to breed him from a guy called the Chocobo Sage up north. Anyway, you can train him up for the races if you want. But being as he isn't as young as he used to be, there might be some young bucks that are faster. But he'll get you anywhere you want on the planet, he goes over mountains, oceans, and everything between. Moves faster than any vehicle out there except the fastest airship." He got up out of his chair and went over to the bird. Putting a hand on his neck, he said, "Hey Zen'Nathas, I want you to go with them. I've gotten old and can't take you out now. I'm sure these two can take better care of you."

The chocobo looked at him for a moment, and then he nodded his head and warked. Zen'Nathas then looked at the two and the look he gave them shouted what he wanted. To get out and run.

"Don't worry sir; we'll take good care of him," Vincent said behind him. "And we'll let you know if we find the Earth Harp or Dessert Rose." Vincent went down the stairs, followed by Yuffie leading Zen'Nathas.

But the bird didn't even take two steps before he lost his patience. He had had patience enough for the four years he was in the stall, and in his opinion, he had waited long enough. Lowering his head, he charged down, slipping the two over his back, ran out of the house, and out of town.

In the sprint, Vincent was able to take full measure of the bird. He was large even for a chocobo, able to hold the two comfortably, and his speed suffered for that. But with the size came his real strength, endurance. When sprinting chocobos have run themselves ragged, he would have energy to spare. "Hey Vinnie, do we even have a stall to keep him in while he isn't running?"

"Uh, no we don't."

The chocobo rolled his eyes.

Pulling into the Highwind, they went and grabbed Cloud, Tifa, and Cait Sith. "So, now what?" asked Cid as he lit up another cigarette.

"The last of the huge materia has been loaded into the Rocket. It won't make as big a boom as they wanted, but it's all they have," Cait Sith said.

"WHAT!" Cid yelled, dropping the cigarette.

"We can't let them do it then. We'll go stop it," Cloud said, as he cleaned the blade of his sword and put some materia in the slots.

"I'm going with you. That's my rocket and I won't let them do this," stated Cid.

"Fine, who else is going with?"

"…I'll go with you," Red XIII said from the spot he was lying down in.

"Alright. Cid, when you're ready, take us there."

"…Cloud, a moment please," Vincent said.

"What is it?"

"Yuffie and I have come into possession of an ocean going chocobo. While you are getting the Huge Materia, I would like to go check the 'materia caves' that you spoke of."

"Do it," Cloud said before heading for his room.

"So, where to first, Vinnie?" Yuffie said from behind Vincent.

"First, we need to get some stables. I doubt this will be the last Chocobo we will have. Racing them will bring in some gil. And as far as I can tell, it isn't cheap to be and anti Shin-Ra group."

"Still, after all this fighting, we have quiet a bit."

"A good amount to get this started with."

After renting all the stables they could, they head for the closest Materia Cave, over in the Mideel area. "Okay Zen'Nathas, stop here." Getting off, they go inside and find the rumors true. "WOW!" Yuffie said as she goes over to a materia. "What have we here?" She picked up the blue materia, "Uh, I don't know what we have here."

"Let me see, Yuffie." She tossed him the materia and he examined it. "I have no clue, so let's experiment," he put the blue materia in the slot next to a mastered Ice materia and went outside. The two got in a couple of fights but still the materia didn't reveal its purpose. When they dispatched the latest bunch, Vincent sat down on a rock, dumbfounded. "Okay, I'm stumped."

"Ragh! Why won't it work!" Yuffie about shouted from her position on the ground.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm no sage," Vincent said, equally frustrated.

You know, Vinnie, it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask the help of those more knowledgeable than yourself. You know what this does? He doesn't, Vinnie, but I do. Fine, what does it do? Just let an opponent hit you next time, killing them before they even hit you will do it very little.

"Yuffie, one of the demons in my head says to let the next monster hit me. That is when it'll reveal its purpose."

"Okay, one more try, then we go to the next one." Vincent agreed.

When the next fight started, Vincent did as Chaos said. The next thing he knew, Ice 3 was being cast without him even thinking about it. "…Cool," Vincent muttered. To be sure that is what it did, he let them hit him a few times more and the same thing happened.

When the fight was over, Yuffie went over to him. "Okay Vinnie, did it do what I think it did?"

"If you mean that it made the combined materia work on its own, yes it did."

"…I WANT THE REST OF THEM!" Yuffie said before hopping on the back of Zen'Nathas. As Vincent got on, he thought, …Thank you Chaos. No problem, Vinnie.

The next Materia Cave was over by Wutai. As they got off, they heard an explosion of sorts and saw something shoot up through the sky. Yuffie's jaw dropped, "Shit, tell me that wasn't the rocket?"

Vincent pulled out his PHS and called Tifa. "Tifa, did something go wrong?"

"How did you already know?"

"I can see it lift off from here on the Wutai Island."

"Palm launched it by remote. But don't worry, Cid said there is an escape pod aboard so when they get the materia, they will get in it and jettison the pod."

"Okay, I'll tell Yuffie. By the way, the rumors are true. We just came from the cave near Mideel and we have a materia that counters attacks with magic."

"Okay, when we go pick Cloud, we'll tell him. Happy hunting."

"Yuffie, Cloud and the others are still on but they will get off soon."

"Good."

Inside they found a yellow materia. "This one is mine," Yuffie said as she put it in a slot. She then closed her eyes and went over the command list in her mind. A new one was their, Mime. When she tried to activate it, nothing happened. She frowned, "Not again."

"What does it say?"

"Mime."

"…Try something else first, and then try it."

Yuffie cast a fire spell, and then used Mime. The fire spell happened again. "Neat."

After that, they spent some time going around looking for the next materia. But with no sightings of the caves, they were wondering around with out an end location.

"Vinnie, stop, I think I'm going to be sick." He slowed Zen'Nathas's pace and stopped at a stream. And Yuffie was right, she was sick. After half an hour, they received a call. Vincent grabbed Yuffie's phone and answered it.

"Hello." "Vincent, why didn't Yuffie answer?" Yuffie threw up again. "Never mind. Hey, if you two can, I might have something for you to do," said Cloud. "There's allot of problem around the world right now and everyone is scattered, helping those they can. And I would like you to work with a guy called the Chocobo Sage. He has given us some info on how to create some forgotten breeds of chocobo. So far, we got that to create a green and blue chocobo, we need a good and great chocobo from south east of Gold Saucer and on Mideel island, respectively, and have them mate with a certain nut, and that's it. Think you two can handle this?"

"Sure," came from Yuffie. "Yeah, give us a call when you want a report."

"Well, time to go find this Sage. The first thing we do afterwards is get you a chocobo that will be easier on your stomach."

"Agreed."

Authors Note: "This is boring, Vinnie you do it."

Pulls out the Cerberus and points at author's head. "Only Yuffie can call me that, understand?"

"Yes sir, you the boss, got it."

"For that matter, why are we stuck doing chocobo breeding?"

"Would you two rather have gone up with Cloud and Cid?"

Both Yuffie and Vincent blanch at that. "Never mind, just keep writing as you see fit."

"Thank you, now can you please do the disclaimer?"

"1sniperwolf does not own Final Fantasy 7. He does own a copy of both games and the movie. But that is quiet different."

"Thank you Vinnie."

Points gun again, "What did I say about that?"

"Sorry. People, there has been over a thousand hits on this Fanfic since it was put up." Raises hands in Vs. "But only two reviews at the point of this chapter being written. I don't want to resort to begging so please don't make me."

"Oh, by the way, in the original game, while you are Tifa, if you go to her house and play the piano, you'll get an elemental materia. The guide doesn't tell you that and most people miss it."