Chapter 11: Happy Go Lucky
The Gold Saucer has been a grand source of fun and amusement for as long as anybody can recall. The place went under a huge overhaul, as the profits of the place actually quadrupled. People sought a place to forget the fact that they were soon to be crushed under meteor, and they decided the Gold Saucer would be the best place. Die having fun; it's not a bad idea. After the incident came and went, people went there even more, to try to forget the events that scared them half to death.
Dio actually got married shortly afterward to a nice but kinda ditzy girl named Cassy. She helped remake the Gold Saucer, and turned it into the Golden Saucer. She said it had a better ring to it. She also planned out the new casino rooms filled with slots and card tables, two restraunts, a larger hotel, a longer speed ride, and even a pool area. Personally, Kuro liked the new upgraded VR games, and the speed ride was kinda a hobby; he held one of the top scores. He wanted to beat his number 2 score, but aiming while moving at a high speed is not as easy as it looks.
Rin was in awe, and she stared at the directory board to figure out what she wanted to do first. "Ooo, a stage preformance at 8 o' clock! No wait, the pool and the wicked water slides! WAIT! They have chocobo racing!" She squealed at the posibilties. "Now Rin...oh what the hell. Fine, but we cannot overspend what funds we have. I'd say...4000 Gil. Each." He shoved the money into Rin's eager hands, and watched her as she jumped into a slide and went to the chocobo betting room. Kuro, on the other hand, went directly to the bar.
He flew upward with a loud FWOMP sound, and as he landed, walked toward the nearest barstool he saw. A large mog in the corner caught his eye. "No way. Reeve?" The cat dancing ontop the mog head fell over with a loud thud. "Ah! Dont do that!" The cat hastily climbed back ontop his large stuffed ride. "Yeesh. Well, if it isn't the best customer of practially any bar around here. What makes you come back? Tryin' to beat my high score? Or just kicking back?"
Kuro tapped 3 times, and got a regular beer. "Kickin back with a nice little vixen demon. Im on a buisness trip, but figured, why not a bit of fun before the shit hits the fan?" The cat tilted his head. "A girl, with you? Thats so unlike you. I didn't think you were capable of feelin' love man..." the cat wagged a finger at Kuro. "Looks are decieving I suppose. Nobody thinks this is a machine, they think it's a man in a suit. Nobody ever thinks im controlling this thing cept the crew. So...is she your girlfriend?"
Rin watched as the most cutest pink chocobo she had ever thought possible ran neck and neck with a jet black chocobo, with a yellow and white not too far behind them. "Come on! I know you can do it! I have 50 Gil and a Hi Potion riding on you!" She yelled enthusiastically, watching them both give it their all to come out on top. Suddenly, the yellow chocobo ran past them both, and not wanting to be outdone, so did the pink. The yellow finished first, but the pink came out on second. Rin failed to win a Hi Potion, but got a nice Mini materia instead.
"Aww...oh well. Better than nothing!" She began picking again, choosing the cutest two chocobo instead of the two best.
"Aheh...I dont know. We've only been together a few days. She's a bit dense, but an okay girl. I guess we're just friends for the time being." Kuro sipped the last drops of beer and placed 100 gil on the table. He tapped 2 times, and got a scotch on the rocks. "Friends eventually bloom into something else, if they let it." Kuro knew that wherever Reeve was, he was laughing it up. "I dont disagree with that. But im kinda thinking on other things at the moment. So if you dont mind me changing subjects, what are you up to these days?"
The mog raised its hands and dropped them. "It's been rough. Im more or less the mascot now. Ever since Shinra went kaput, I needed a job. So this pays the bills. Could be better though, so I gamble from time to time." The cat gave him a smirk. "Did I mention that Heddigar is a janitor here? My job seems like heaven compared to that." Kuro grinned back, raised his glass in a toast fashion, and downed it. "Amen to that. Hey, did they ever fix...you know." The cat couldn't help but give a look of detirmenation. "Bring it on."
"Woo hoo! That makes 3 out of 5 that I won!" Rin gave herself a mental pat on the back, and looked at her goodies: the Mini materia, the Ether, and her favorite, a chocobo plushie that was bright blue. She considered making another bet, but it has already cost her 200 of her precious 4000 gil. "...Better conserve this. Have more fun somewhere else." She skipped off with her earnings through the pipe that lead to the arcade. "Maybe Kuro went there... the techno geek." She giggled.
"Damn. You've gotten better at this." Kuro nodded his approval to Reeve, who had 5 more wins. He slammed another 25 gil into the machine, and started wailing as hard as he could on his opponent. "Fire blast!" A wave of fire hit his virtual opponent. Reeve countered with a series of punches and kicks, but Kuro kept up a solid defense. "Wait for it...Grand Slam!" He used the best move he had for his character, and a punch engulfed in energy slammed his foe into a wall.
"Well your not too rusty anyhow. Great at fighting games and fighting monsters." The giant mog hand slapped Kuro on the back, and then started walking away. "I got to do my job, the break is over. See you around." The pink mog slipped away, and was replaced by Rin, who was estatic about her winnings. "Those are very nice. How much you have left, I got like... 3650 to my name." Rin held up a respectable 3800 gil. "Okay..." He checked his watch. "I suppose you want to see the show. it's in 3 hours, so lets meet at the main entrance at 7:45. Okay?" Rin nodded, and Kuro drifted out of the arcade, and with good reason.
Rin looked around. "What to play...what to...pl..." She just hopped onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine, and started dancing her butt off, smiling all thewhile.
Kuro made his way back to the entrance and rounded the corner. The G man was waiting. "You know my wages. How much you want?" Kuro shoved 1000 into his hands and took 50 G back. "Have a nice day." Kuro, practically running, went straight toward the speed tube and did a flip into it. He didn't stop moving like the world was ending till he was in the roller coaster seat holding his laser cannon. "Fasten your seatbelts, this will be a hell of a ride." And the carts began moving...
By this time, Rin was exhausted...but not only from DDR, but from the wrestling game, and the super hoop game. Her arms felt like jello, and her legs worse. "Excuse me...but do you know the time?" The attendant looked at her watch, then responded "It's nearly 6:45." "Thank you." She hopped into the tube with the label Casino, and decided to relax with some card games. "Blackjack is so much fun..." She said to herself, the weight of the urgent matters at hand seemed miles away.
"Come on baby...come on...SWEET!" He pumped his fist into the air, as the scoreboard flashed him as the highest score ever. "I never guessed I would've beaten that. A near flawless score, beaten by an even nearer one. Makes you wonder if anybody could..." He shrugged, and took his prize of a portable lazer cannon with that worked like a laser pen, only with a larger beam. "Lets see... 6:50...Hmm. I need a workout." He jumped through a tube, though I hardly suppose anyone needs to know which one he went into.
With Fang at his side, the Battle Arena seemed like childs play. Even after losing all his magic and armor, he held his own against the foes that kept trying to beat him down. But luck eventually faded, and Kuro got turned into a tiny foe with a very sharp toothpick. Fortunately, luck favored him one more round, and he had to fight some frogs. It was on even terms, but an experienced warrior knows when to run, so after slaying the frogs (made easy with fang), he quit with a decent 7863 battle points. He got himself a whole bunch of holy ammo.
But he had spent alot of time in the arena, and it was nearly 7:50. "Wuh oh. Time to go!" He scooped up the ammo he had won into his bag, and rushed to the main entrance tube.
Rin impatiently tapped her foot as Kuro flew out of the tube and in front of her. "It's about time! We're gonna be late for the show!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the room. "Man...this better be a good show for all this trouble." They sat down in the virtually unchanged theater room (the only difference was comfy seats and more lighting), and the lights slowly dimed. Then, a spotlight flashed on a sole person in the middle of the stage, holding a guitar. Slowly, he began to play a tune.
It was slow, and mournful. Soon, another spotlighted flicked on and shone on a girl playing a flute, adding onto the sadness of the song. She also lightly danced around on the stage, captivating anyone with her grace and elegance. Then, on cue, the tune went upbeat and drums and violins offstage began to play and bring the song in full circle. Nobody expected what happend next.
A clear, 3D projection of a valiant knight trying to save a princess from a dragon that resembled Ultima Weapon, began dueling to the beat of the song. Then, the song went just to the flute player as the knight was blown away by the atack known as Shadow Flare. But then a bold red light surrounded the man, and then he was surrounded with his comrades. They all atacked in unison, each one making the great dragon howl in pain and misery. The knight leapt up high, and with a mighty stroke, brought down his sword and cleaved the dragon in two. He slowly made his way to the princess, collapsed in her arms, and everybody could tell he was mortally wounded. But with his final effort, he kissed the princess.
The music ended, the image of the princess sobbing into the brave knight's chest faded and formed the famous red materia, and a uproar of cheers and applause came. The man and woman bowed, and proceeded offstage.
The 3D projection went into something rather predictable to Kuro; it portrayed the battle between the 8 hero's of this world against the mighty "one winged angel" as they named him. Tifa, Barrett, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, and Cloud were fighting for their lives, giving it all they got, and music was blaring in the backround, very upbeat and heroic-like.
Then another unsurprising thing to Kuro; he remembered that fabled atack called Omnislash, and Cloud was using it on Sephiroth. The fury of each blow seemed to pale in comparison to the last, and when the final blow landed home, the universe seemed to shatter, and they were all flung back. It even went as far as when they were escaping in the Highwind, and Holy was banishing Meteor away. This landed more uprorar from the crowd as the explosion took out Midgar and Meteor in one fell swoop.
Then, probably for respect for each one, they had a scene dedicated to each one with their name coming in after them in bold text. Cid was flying high in the sky, smoking a ciggerate with the wind blowing through his hair. Tifa was serving up drinks, and eventually tossed out a bar crasher. Yuffie was dancing with her materia. Cait Sith was entertaining kids around the Gold Saucer and Barrett took Marlene to school (which got an "awwww" from the audience). Red XIII was teaching his kids how to play, but Vincent, oddly enough, was resting above a waterfall, staring pensively at the sky. Cloud, like the egotistical guy he is, was riding his motorcycle around Junon, doing all sorts of crazy tricks.
Then there was a battle between the 3 most powerfull dragons ever; Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, and Bahamut Zero. The dragons clashed with eachother, blasting eachother. The music was more dramatic and scary, and a loud screech from a violin would emit everytime they landed a claw scratch or a flare atack. Eventually, the dragons merged together to form the most mythic of all the dragons, rumored to be impossible to see or achieve, Infinity Bahamut. A beast with 3 heads, each one of the dragons themselves, and they circled the earth in all their glory.
The music died down, and the audience gave one last round of roaring applause. Rin clapped her hands sore, and gave a few whistles. Kuro did it in a more mild fashion, slowly clapping. The room emptied, and it was 10:30. Kuro decided that one more ride would be fine before they went to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow.
He grabbed Rin's arm, and escorted her to,what he put as, "the best damn show here". The lift started up, and they rode on the skytram around the Golden Saucer, with the fireworks blaring one after the other.
It was the first time that Kuro felt a sense of ease in a long while. He stared at the stars, the fireworks, and Rin..so carefree, even though danger is lurking around the next corner. "Its proof," he told himself. "Proof that anything can be healed with time..." He went back to viewing the amazing fireworks; Dio had really outdone himself now! "Kuro...Did you happen to see Hikari?" She looked out the corner of her eye and saw him shake his head. "Kind of a good thing you didn't. Otherwise, we would've missed such a beautiful evening or a fun filled day." She looked at him and smiled. Kuro just smiled back.
And...They wore the same smile all the way to the hotel room.
Authors Notes- Yea, I am being kinda hard on Cloud arent I? Well I think he's too egotistical at times. Too self centered. Anyhow, I explained the reason its the Golden Saucer now. Chapter 12 will be up around the weekend (if I get around to it), and im thinking of another negative short chapter. Oh, and if you need to know that that red materia is, Play FF7, get a gold chocobo, and go to that small island out in the middle of nowhere that nobody can get into without the shiny gold bird. Seriously, if you dont know, you should NOT be reading anything with a Final Fantasy hint in it.