Chapter 25: Heading to Junon, meeting Priscilla and battle against Bottomswell
After Cloud and his group met the young girl named Yuffie Kisaragi (who ambushed, attacked and stole Tifa and Aeris materia) in the forest near Junon and asked her to joined them (which make both Barret and Kunsel unhappy), they soon left the forest and headed on toward the port town of Junon in the far west of the continent. As Cloud and his group walked through the entrance of Junon and looked around the place, they saw that the place wasn't like it used to be. The town of Junon used to be a busy port town filled with many fishermen, traders, merchants and all kinds of travellers who came to and from the continent until Shinra came and build a large city against a huge rocky cliff above it to house one of their ever-expanding company.
After Shinra built the large city (made entirely of metal) against the huge rocky cliff above Junon, it practically blocked off most of the bright sunlight from shining down on Junon, rendering the once happy, light and busy street of Junon into a dark, quiet, desolate and lonely place. Most of the quaint-looking shops and houses down here had been boarded up and left behind by their owners who left Junon for a better place to live (mostly young people while their parents and grandparents were unable to leave Junon due to them unable to afford enough gil to move away) while the shops business above Junon continues to thrive, their owners oblivious or don't care about the state of Junon and its people below them. The only way for anyone who wanted to head up to the upper city of Junon is by the elevator that was built against the concrete wall at the far right end of the town but it's being guarded by one Shinra security guard so going up there is impossible. It reminded Cloud and his group (except for Yuffie) of the lower slums town under Midgar city.
"What happened to this town?" said Cloud as he glance around the place with a sad/pity look on his face. "It's so run-down…"
"All this poor elderly people…" said Aeris sadly as she glance at the elderly people who wandered around the town.
"Goddamn Shinra company!" Barret cursed out.
"…" said both Laina and Kunsel in silence.
As Cloud and his group continue glancing around the town and its elderly people, they didn't noticed an elderly woman wearing a faded red cotton shirt with long white pants and brown slippers coming out of her house to their left, saw them and blinked her eyes in surprise. "Well now, this is such a rare surprise." said the elderly woman in a croaking tone of voice as she slowly approach Cloud and his group (which startled Cloud, Angelina, Tifa, Aeris and Barret when they heard her suddenly talked to them). "We elderly folks almost never had anyone other than those arrogant Shinra people coming to this place. So what brings you young people here to Junon?"
"We're…uh… looking for a man with long silver hair, wearing an entire black outfit and carrying a long sword." Cloud told the elderly woman while he glance apprehensively at the others. "Have you seen someone like that coming here recently?"
"A man with long silver hair, wearing an entire black outfit and carrying a long sword? Hmmm…" said the elderly woman as she closed her eyes, thinking for a moment then opened her eyes to glance at them and slowly shook her head. "Sorry, haven't seen a person like that lately."
"Really?" said Cloud with a disappointed sigh.
"Maybe he's somewhere above us in Upper Junon, Cloud. We just need to find another way to go up instead of using that elevator over there, guarded by a Shinra security guard." Angelina whisper to him and he nodded to her before they bade goodbye to the elderly woman and they headed past her deep into the town, turned to their left and went down a concrete staircase toward the beach.
When Cloud and his group stepped off the stairs onto the beach, they saw that the water of the ocean near the beach had become quite polluted (due to the Mako reactor built on the city above Junon), with hardly any fishes left with a large red-coloured electric tower built and positioned in the middle of the ocean water in front of them and rising all the way up to the city above. They also saw a small, black-haired girl about 7 or 8 years old and wearing a pink one-piece swimsuit was standing on the beach near the water, gazing out into it.
"He-y! Mr Dolphin!" the small girl called out to something in the ocean and Cloud and his group saw (to their astonishment), a blue dolphin swam through the polluted water (as though it doesn't care about it) toward the girl, popping its head out of the water to stared at her. The small girl smiled happily when she saw it.
"My name is… Pri-scil-la!" the small girl named Priscilla told the dolphin. "Now you say it."
The dolphin emitted a sequence of happy clicks to Priscilla before it jumped high up through the air and dived back into the water again.
"Woah." said Angelina with slight awed in her violet eyes.
"Look at that." said Tifa, amazed.
"It's amazin'." said Barret admiringly. "I ain't never seen any dolphins jumped like that."
Priscilla heard what they say and she turned around to glance at Cloud and his group with suspicion in her hazel-coloured eyes. "Who are you guys?" demanded Priscilla accusingly to them. "Are you all members of Shinra company?"
"No, we're not…" said Tifa calmly to Priscilla. "Stay calm…"
"… Like she says. We're not from Shinra company." said Cloud.
Priscilla didn't believe them and narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you all!" Priscilla snapped while stomping her foot on the beach ground angrily. "Get out of here!"
"Great…" said Cloud as he sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey, everyone! Look at that!" said Barret out loud suddenly to the others and they all glance up and saw a large shadow came swimming rapidly through the polluted ocean water, past the red-coloured electric tower toward them, Priscilla and the dolphin and burst out of the water in front of them, revealing itself. Cloud and his group saw that it was a long and huge blue-coloured sea serpent (named Bottomswell) with various large fins on its body, a long and pointed red-coloured face with slitted yellow eyes and a mouth filled with needle sharp teeths. Bottomswell looked down, saw Cloud and his group, the girl Priscilla and her ocean dolphin friend then it swung its head down toward the dolphin (who unfortunately was the nearest to it), intending to devour it.
"Be careful, Mr Dolphin!" Priscilla cried out to the dolphin as she ran straight into the water, dive in and swam toward the dolphin, determined to saved it from the sea serpent. Bottomswell saw her coming and it swung its tail at her and whipped across her stomach hard, knocking Priscilla away from the dolphin (who quickly swam away from Bottomswell) and causing the back of her head to knocked against a rock lying at the bottom of the water. She passed out immediately from the impact and lay floating in the water.
"Little girl!" Kunsel yelled out worriedly when he and the others saw Priscilla floating limply on the surface of the water.
"Goddammit!" Laina swored out before she turned her head to looked at Cloud and the others. "Cloud, Angelina, Kunsel! You three fight that thing! The rest of you stay back!"
"Right!" said Cloud as he pulled his sword out from his back.
"Got it, Laina!" said Kunsel as he pulled his sword out from his back.
"What about you, Laina?" said Angelina as she glance at her (while pulling her naginata out).
"I'm going in to save her!" Laina replied back to her and without waiting/hesitating, she ran straight into the ocean toward Priscilla (who floated slightly farther out to the ocean due to the slightly strong current caused by Bottomswell), dive in and swam toward her floating limp body, her hand reaching out for her.
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After Laina dive head-first into the water to get Priscilla, Cloud, Angelina and Kunsel glance at Bottomswell (who also glance at them) and charge toward it with their weapons. Bottomswell swung its tail right at them and they swiftly jumped over it while running, it then let out a loud screech and began to lunged at them with its mouth wide open, showing its needle sharp teeths. Cloud, Angelina and Kunsel jumped to their left and right to avoid its jaw and needle sharp teeths as it snap shut on thin air and they raised and swung their weapons down on its face and eyes, slashing and blinding it. Bottomswell reared its head back from them and screech in pain as green blood came bleeding out of its face and closed, blinded eyes. Cloud, Angelina and Kunsel ignored its screeches of pain and charge toward it and slashes its long body everywhere with their weapons.
Under the surface of the ocean water, Laina continue swimming toward Priscilla and finally grabbed hold of her arm, pulled her limp body close to her and quickly swim up to the ocean surface.
Bottomswell screech and snapped its jaw in thin air while it thrashed its injured/bleeding serpentine body and tail around the water with intense ferocity, hoping that it could hit them after the loss of its eyes. Cloud, Angelina and Kunsel had to dodged its injured/thrashing body and tail from hitting them before they pulled out their own Fira and Thundara materia and began casting it four times on Bottomswell. The combination of the fire burning and the thunder electrocuting its injured body causes it to screech even louder in pain as its body started smoking and twitching from the fire and thunder before it ceased its screeching and its body began to fell down toward the ocean water.
Laina's head (along with Priscilla) broke the surface of the ocean and she gasped for air at the same time she saw the long, blue-coloured sea serpent (now already dead) fell down into the ocean water nearby her and Priscilla with a huge splash (causing part of the ocean water to rise up and fall down on her and Priscilla). Laina sputter for a few seconds then looked away from Bottomswell's corpse and began to swim back to the beach with Priscilla close to her. Both Angelina and Kunsel saw Laina swimming toward them with Priscilla close to her and immediately they ran to the both of them and helped them out of the water. After Laina and Priscilla got out of the water (with both Angelina and Kunsel's help) she slowly put Priscilla down onto the beach ground before she presses her ear down on Priscilla's chest.
"How is she, Laina?" Angelina asked Laina as she glance worriedly down at Priscilla's unconscious form.
"Not good, I'm afraid, Angelina." replied Laina gravely as she lifted her head. "I can't hear her breathing."
"This is bad." said Barret with a frown look on his face. "You don't think she's dead, do you?"
"Don't say that, Barret!" Angelina snapped at him.
"Priscilla, can you hear us?" said Tifa.
"Someone has to perform CPR on the little girl and fast." said Red XIII to the others as he swung his glowing tail left and right.
"I'll do it." said Laina as she brushed away some strands of Priscilla's black hair from her face, placed both of her hands on Priscilla's chest and began compressions gently yet firmly. After she do about two dozens of chest compressions on Priscilla, she pinched the bridge of her nose, tilted her chin up then open her mouth, took a deep breath and breath it into Priscilla's open mouth while the others who stand worriedly behind them both saw Priscilla's chest rising then falling. Laina repeated the process for a while on Priscilla and when she breath into her mouth for the tenth time, she heard a gurgling noise coming from within Priscilla's throat and she quickly pull away from her. Priscilla's body shuddered slightly and she coughed out the sea water that she swallowed before she gasped desperately for air.
"Uh… ugh…" Priscilla groaned weakly.
"She's alive." said Aeris, letting out a relieved breath. "You did it, Laina."
"Yeah, you saved her life." said Kunsel as he glance at her with a happy/relieved look on his face.
"Yeah. I'm glad." said Laina, in relieved.
"Priscilla!" yelled out an elderly man's anxious voice above them and Cloud and his group all turned around and lifted their heads and they saw an elderly man wearing a faded white T-shirt with long brown pants coming down the stairs toward them and Priscilla. "Hey, hey! Priscilla, are you alright?"
"She's fine." said Laina in a reassuring tone of voice to the elderly man. "She's alive, sir."
"What happened to her?" the elderly man asked Laina in a quivering tone of voice.
"She was talking and having fun with her dolphin friend until we came and she got suspicious and angry, then a monster came and…" Tifa began telling him.
"You young people can tell me the details later." the elderly man interrupted Tifa as he kneel down and lifted Priscilla's gently in his arms. "Right now I need to get my granddaughter back home."
Cloud and his group nodded to him before they all followed the elderly man (who's now carrying Priscilla) up the stairs, away from the ocean and beach, back into the town of Junon and they watched as the elderly man went through the doorway of a semi-large two-storey house and closed the door behind him. Cloud and his group decided to wait outside the house to be sure that Priscilla's all right and a few seconds later they noticed the same elderly woman who talked to them before is now approaching them again.
"Hey, you young people." the elderly woman called out to them. "Come into my house for a while."
Without waiting for them, the elderly woman turned around and walked toward her house which is near the entrance into the town of Junon, opened the door and looked back at them. Cloud glance at the others and they nodded to him before they all walked toward the elderly woman's house and went through the opened door into it. The elderly woman closed and shut the door behind them after they are all in and they saw that the interior of her house is warm and cozy-looking, with a long peach-coloured sofa leaning against a window with white curtains, two peach-coloured armchairs opposite it, an oval table standing on a red-coloured rug on the floor in between the sofa and armchairs and a small television next to the sofa in one corner of the room. The elderly woman then went into the kitchen and came out a few minutes later with a huge tray of freshly poured cups of teas in them.
"I saw what happened just now." the elderly woman told them as she gave each of them a cup of tea (which they thanked and accepted) before she sat down on one of the peach-coloured armchairs. "That was quite noble of you when you rushed to save Priscilla while your friends fought the sea monster, young lady."
"Oh well…" said Laina.
"Thank you for saving her, young lady." said the elderly woman with a smile on her face. "And I'm pretty sure that you and your friends must be in need of a clean bath and a long rest. Go right ahead, all of you, make yourselves at home for today."
"Thank you, we appreciate your kind offering." said Angelina to the elderly woman.
The elderly woman smile at Angelina before she turned and leave her house.
Once she's gone, everyone drank the tea she just poured and gave them (which turns out to be quite good) before they all turned to looked at Cloud.
"So, what now, spiky?" Barret asked Cloud.
"I don't know yet, Barret." replied Cloud with a shrug of his shoulders.
"It's getting kinda late already, everyone." said Tifa. "Why don't we take our baths and rest for tonight?"
"Tifa's right." said Laina. "Some of us are quite filthy and tired now."
Cloud glance at both Tifa and Laina, crossed his arms and tapped his left foot lightly on the floor before he finally nodded to them. "Alright then, let's do it."
Cloud and his group then went to take their baths upstairs (one by one and without any peeking) before they went into the elderly woman's room and guest room and promptly fell asleep.