Of Burglaries and Mutant Fishies
Cloud whipped his head around. He was sure he heard something that time. But there was nothing to see but Tifa, Aeris, Barret, and Red XIII, walking with him through the forest which they had entered after two days of westward travel from the Mythril Mines. "Did anyone hear that?" he asked. Barret, Tifa, and Aeris shook their heads, but Red XIII nodded. "I smell something as well, or rather someone."
"Someone besides us?" asked Aeris. Red XIII again nodded.
"It's not the Turks, is it?" Tifa asked warily.
"No," said Red XIII. "There is only one human, and it is one whose scent I do not recognize."
"Is it...Sephiroth?" asked Aeris.
"No," replied Cloud firmly. Again, he somehow knew that when Sephiroth was near, he would feel it, which he wasn't now.
'Ey! Come out!" yelled Barret into the trees. There was no response aside from the flutter of a few startled birds.
"Somehow I don't imagine that'll help," muttered Cloud.
"Y'know what, spiky-ass? I don'..."
"Boys!" exclaimed Tifa and Aeris simultaneously. They looked at each other and burst out laughing, while Barret and Cloud glowered at each other. Red XIII observed them all, then shook his head. "Humans..." But then he was struck by a difference he had just seen in Cloud. He looked again. "Cloud, do you not usually carry a Materia in your sword?"
"Huh?" said Cloud, breaking out of his staring match with Barret. "Of course I do! You can see that!" he replied when Red XIII repeated his question.
"On the contrary, I cannot see it, because it is not there," said Red XIII. Exasperated, Cloud reached back and drew his sword to show Red XIII, when he noticed it too. His Materia was missing. "Hey, who took my Ice Materia?" he said. There was a chorus of denials. "The Sense Materia is gone too," he said, searching his pockets. "C'mon people, this is moronic. Who did it?"
"Hey, my Lightning Materia is missing too!" said Tifa, staring at the empty slot in her wristband.
"What's goin' on here?" said Barret.
"I would imagine that our anonymous stalker is in fact a Materia thief," said Red XIII. "And judging back the fact that the scent is growing more distant, he seems to have stolen all of it and be getting away."
"No, wait! He hasn't gotten all of it!" said Aeris. Cloud looked around, searching for Materia in slots of weapons or wristbands, but could see nothing. He gazed at Aeris angrily when her wooden staff suddenly materialized in her hand, complete with Fire and Restore Materia.
"Tha's right! We got those two left!" exclaimed Barret happily.
"Say that a bit louder, would you?" said Cloud.
"Leader or not, I am about to kick your spiky little-"
"No, really, we want him to hear it."
"Wha, so he can steal these too???"
Cloud shook his head, then quietly explained.
It was too good to be true. They were all asleep, and in the staff held by one of the girls were two more beautiful little gems. The girl no doubt thought that by holding the staff in her sleep, she would have to be awoken for the Materia to be stolen. "'Fraid not," thought the thief, rubbing her hands excitedly. She could just approach silently, coax the gems from their sockets, and depart, leaving the staff unmoved in the girl's hand. The thief moved through the foliage, staying low to the ground and making sure to disturb the plants as little as possible. She approached the slumbering group, stepping as lightly as she could. When she reached the girl, she bent down slowly, hardly breathing as she reached for the staff. But as her fingers brushed the first crystal, the staff suddenly vanished right in front of her eyes, Materia and all! "What the..." said the thief, then backed off as the girl leapt to her feet. The thief turned to flee, only to be faced with another girl, this one much more muscular. She kept turning, only to find more enemies, finally running straight into the huge man with a gun for his arm. He used his one good hand to easily lift up the thief by her shirt.
"Hey! Lemme down, you big oaf!" she shrieked, battering the man's chest with all her might. He didn't even flinch.
"Why should I?" said Barret. "Ya stole our Materia, ya little brat!" Cloud regarded the catch with curiosity. Their thief looked young, a teenager, even. She was wearing quite diminutive khaki shorts, tennis shoes, a headband, and a green tank top. She wore her brown hair very short for a girl, and had a distinctly foreign look about her, probably Western. But the most peculiar thing about her was her weapon: a huge, curved four-point shuriken which she wore on her back.
"What's a little girl going to do with Materia, anyway?" said Tifa.
"Little girl???" exclaimed the thief furiously. "I'm twenty-one!"
Cloud cleared his throat loudly. "I'm twenty-one, and I think we'll all agree that I look somewhat older than you." The girl deflated like a balloon. "So how old are you?"
"None of your business!" spat the girl.
Barret tightened the grip on the thief's shirt until her face started to go blue. "I think we're decidin' what's our business!"
"Okay! Sixteen!" gasped the girl.
"A bit young for a professional pickpocket, aren't you?" said Aeris.
"Hey, just 'cause I'm young doesn't mean I can't handle myself!" exclaimed the girl. "The only reason you got me is because they're so many of you! I could take any of you, anytime!"
"Riiight," said Cloud as he stepped forward and started to search the girl for the Materia. "Hey, I know I'm hot stuff and all, but watch where you're puttin' your hands!" said the girl. Cloud ignored her as he searched her pockets and produced the missing Materia, which he redistributed to Tifa and himself.
"And what exactly is this?" said Tifa, taking the massive shuriken from the girl's back.
"Hey! Gimme that back!" demanded the girl, kicking furiously to no avail.
"Where'd this come from, do you figure?" Tifa asked the group.
"Somewhere in Fen-Shi, undoubtedly," said Red XIII. "And seeing as most of the continent is losing touch with its roots thanks to the ShinRa domination, I would guess Wutai."
"'Ey, is that Materia in it?" said Barret, looking down at the weapon Tifa held.
"Well, looks like it is!" said Tifa, removing two gems from the shuriken, one green and one yellow.
"Such young girls shouldn't play with weapons or Materia," said Aeris wisely. "They could hurt themselves."
"GIVE THOSE BACK!" shrieked the girl, still flailing furiously.
"What do you think, Cloud?" said Aeris, mischief in her eyes. "She tried to steal our Materia. Seems like justice to me if we take these."
"Definitely," said Cloud, taking the Materia from Tifa.
"No! You can't do this! I'll do anything!" pleaded the girl. "I'll...I'll come with you!"
"Say what???" said Barret incredulously. "Second we turned our backs, you'd be gone, along with our Materia!"
"Doesn't sound like a very good deal," agreed Tifa.
"I won't try and rob you again! I promise!" said the girl. Cloud snorted. "And I'm a good fighter! It looks like you all are warriors yourself! You could use me along! Please? Pretty please???"
"Stop whimpering," said Cloud, replacing the two Materia in the shuriken and giving it back to the girl. "We're not crooks like you. Now get out of here, before I change my mind." Barret roughly dropped the girl to the ground. She slowly climbed to her feet, looking up at him. "But...could I still come with you?" asked the girl tremulously.
"Get lost!" said Cloud, and promptly resumed walking towards Junon. The rest followed, leaving the would-be thief standing alone amidst the trees.
"Hey! We'll meet up again sometime!" shouted the girl from behind.
"I wouldn't advise it, for your sake!" replied Cloud, without turning.
"What was with her?" said Barret as they walked. "Why d'ya think she wanted to come along so bad?"
"So she could rob us again, obviously," said Cloud. "Bet she'd change her mind in a hurry if she knew who we were chasing."
Tifa spoke up from behind. "Speaking of which, how do we know that Sephiroth was heading for Junon, anyway?"
Cloud shrugged. "We don't, really. But the Turks' tire tracks lead in that direction, and seeing as finding Sephiroth was their mission, it seems like a good place to start."
"Wherever he is, I wouldn't mind finding some more chocobos," said Aeris. "I'm really not made for all this walking."
"You'll get used
to it," said Cloud. "But in the meantime, I guess we can catch a
few once we get out of this forest."
"Lookin' forward ta
getting' outta here anyway," said Barret. "Harder to get snuck
up on without all these damn trees around."
"Why do you suppose that girl desired Materia so urgently?" said Red XIII. "They aren't particularly valuable, seeing as most humans do not realize their power."
"The prettier ones fetch a decent price at a jewelry shop, but still nothing huge," said Cloud. "And she didn't even touch our money."
"Weird," remarked Aeris, and except for listening a bit more carefully to their surroundings from then on, that was the end of the matter.
Their destination came into sight as night was beginning to fall on the continent. Junon was referred to by many as a waterfront Midgar, for the basic concept was the same: take a relatively simple, happy town with a good location, and build a roaring metropolis over top of it, sentencing the original inhabitants to live in the perpetually dark and grungy remnants of their former idyllic lives. Such was the blessing that ShinRa brought to the locales where it chose to build. It was unfathomable that nearly the entire world had supported this huge amoral corporation at one point not too long in the past. But no, that wasn't true, Cloud realized. Hadn't he himself yearned to become one of ShinRa's elite SOLDIERS as a child? ShinRa's wealth and opulence and promises of luxuries had given it a glamorous sheen that was hard to see through. That was, until it had trapped your home under a huge metal plate of a sky. But at that point, of course, it was too late. ShinRa was now too powerful to even think of opposing. Rebel groups like AVALANCHE may irritate it, but were in the end inevitably doomed to failure. The company's manpower and resources were simply too vast to be overcome. ShinRa was, and forever would be, a fact of like as basic and everlasting as the sun's rising. It was with such unpleasant thoughts that Cloud entered the city of Lower Junon.
He had never seen Lower Junon before, and immediately saw that he hadn't missed much. It indeed bore a striking resemblance to Lower Midgar, with its ramshackle residences, grungy and downcast inhabitants, and dim light coming down only from the fluorescent lights mounted on the plate above. Though Cloud was relieved at the lack of a mass slaughter, it worried him somewhat: did Sephiroth really come here after all?
"Ain't nothin' ta see here," remarked Barret sadly. "Jes' like Midgar."
"That's what we hear," agreed an old man, strolling by. "I remember when this was Junon proper, not just Lower Junon. Was just a quiet little fishing town. But then the ShinRa came in here and decided they wanted a new city right here. So they built that monster of a city above and sent all their trash down here. Now the only fish we can get are all sick and mutated. Least we can leave, thought. I hear in Midgar they won't even let them do that. But still, I've lived here all my life. I'm not about to move, even if ShinRa has ruined the town."
"Dammit, the more I hear about ShinRa, the more I hate 'em," said Barret, clenching his fist.
"Well, where do we go from here?" said Aeris. "I don't think Sephiroth will be waiting to greet us."
"We split up and look for clues, I guess," said Cloud. "Ask around. A figure like Sephiroth would be pretty hard to miss." The team agreed and walked off in different directions, with the exception of Red XIII, who had long since realized that most humans were not at their most talkative when being addressed by a clawed and fanged creature on four legs. Cloud walked off to the southern part of town. He passed several people, none of whom had seen a tall, cloaked swordsman, and continued down a long hill until he reached a small beach, cut off on the eastern side by a huge metal wall. The water was green and sluggish with pollution of who-knew-what sort, but looking out past the immediate sound, Cloud could see the Tirre Ocean, sparkling beautifully in the last remnants of the red sun. He stopped still and just gazed in wonder for a moment. Even in such a horrible place, beauty could still be found. He wondered if Aeris had ever seen the ocean. She would be utterly breathless at the sight. But just then Cloud spotted at his feet a girl who was literally breathless: a young girl was lying face down in the disgusting water. He promptly bent over and easily lifted her out of the water. She still had color in her face, but was no longer breathing. Cursing, Cloud ran back to the shore and lay the girl down face up. Trying to ignore what this would look like to a casual onlooker, he immediately started to deliver CPR, alternating between delivering abdominal thrusts and breaths into the girl's mouth. Eventually, the girl started to sputter, violently coughing up polluted seawater. Cloud finally leaned back, taking a deep breath for himself.
"You...you saved me!" said the girl, her eyes now open.
"Yeah," said Cloud. "What happened to you?" But her eyes widened fearfully, turning from Cloud back to the sea. "Th...that!" she said, pointing with a shaking hand. Cloud turned to see a fish mutated to about ten times its normal size in the shallows, eying him maliciously.
"Help me!" said the girl, shrinking back.
"Don't worry, he can't get you up here," said Cloud. "I'll take care of him." He drew his Buster Sword and slowly advanced, making sure to stay out of the water. The fish started to thrash in the water, anxious to get new prey. Gripping his sword, he extended one hand and cast a Blizzard spell. The fish suddenly found itself surrounded by a thin layer of ice. It started thrashing to free itself, and the ice shattered. But Cloud quickly threw his sword into the air, reversing his grip on it, and thrust down with it one-handed as a fishing spear. Before it could escape, the fish was impaled, its foul blood spilling out to join with the rest of the filth. Cloud withdrew his sword and turned to find the girl fleeing for the town. He could hardly blame her, he thought, as he sheathed his sword and walked back to join the others.
There was a small crowd waiting at the top of the hill. Cloud soon found himself bombarded with questions about the soaked, half-drowned girl who had just run by, whose name seemed to be Priscilla. Cloud quickly explained what had happened, and the onlookers were suitably impressed and grateful. One old, worn-out looking woman stepped forward. "I can't tell you how grateful we are for you saving our Priscilla. Where are you from, anyway?"
"We've traveled from Midgar," said Cloud.
"All the way from Midgar? You must be exhausted!" exclaimed the woman. "Please, stay at my house tonight."
"No, I couldn't," said Cloud, shaking his head. "Besides, I'm with four others, who you may have seen around. I'm sure we'd be too much for you."
"No, it'll be fine," insisted the woman. "I have friends that I can stay with for the night. Please, it's the least we can do."
"What's this, Cloud?" said Tifa as she walked up. "We have a place to stay tonight?"
"Um, well...I guess," said Cloud, scratching his head.
"Great! It is getting sort of late," said Tifa. "We can start looking again tomorrow." The woman beamed at them and thanked them again as she and the rest of the crowd dispersed.
"You didn't find out anything, did you?" said Cloud. Tifa shook her head, and he sighed. He had expected to work all through the night, scouring the town thoroughly. But then, not all of the group had such endurance. "Fine, fine," he said, and allowed Tifa to lead him to where the rest of his team had gathered.
"'Ey! Not bad, considerin' that it's in the slums an' all," said Barret upon entering the cottage. Far from being a ramshackle hut made of scrap as were all too common in Lower Midgar, this home, while small, had a cozy and almost comfortable feel. The woman evidently lived alone, as there was only one small bed. Aeris took this, and the rest of the party spread out on the floor. Cloud wasn't at all tired yet, and knew that he would be up for at least an hour with his unwelcome thoughts. And indeed, he soon found his mind roaming back to the story he had told back in Kalm, of the incidence in Nibelheim. Something struck him as somewhat odd. Why had the town seemed so deserted? Tifa, for instance. She was obviously in town, as she was their guide. Yet when he had searched for her, even in her own home, there was no sign of her. Save for his own mother, the town had seemed eerily deserted until they departed for the reactor the next day. He had figured that everyone was hiding in their homes because of the danger, but what about Tifa? Why could he not remember ever seeing her alone? Something just didn't add up. But as these thoughts entered his head, he surprised himself by instantly falling into a deep sleep.
Back at school, which means back to semi-regular updates. Maybe. And it also means a return to my self-indulgent rants. I share many of your sentiments about the Turks: why do they attack at Gongaga, but just let you walk out of the Mythril Mines? So I made a big battle out of that scene, and minimized the stupid flying mutant fish attack at Junon to compensate. Yes, I left out any reference to Fort Condor, and will probably leave it out altogether. Don't yell at me, I'll have the battle scene in there somewhere, but possibly in a different, better setting. And we have, of course, the first appearance of the Yuffster. I was considering leaving her out as well, for unlike her comrade-in-secret-characterness Vincent, she doesn't really add much to the main plot. Plus I don't like her. But I figured some of you would hate me forever, so she'll be back, and I'll rewrite things to make her more relevant. I'm too nice to you all. And for those of you wondering about the lack of the voice, it hurts to leave it out, but it just didn't make sense. The voice didn't want Cloud to realize the incongruencies in his past, so why would it introduce the Tifa question? So I had Cloud realize this himself, and the voice performed its usual trick of knocking him out. Okay, enough of me. Responses to those of you who wrote enough to require them below. All else, thanksya and enjoy.
EmeraldJewel: Good eye on Red XIII's attack; it was indeed a limit break. But I meant for it to be his first, Sled Fang, where he starts running towards the enemy kinda slowly, then speeds up so much that he pretty much shoots through them. I left out the blue swirly light thingys, but it was Sled Fang nonetheless.
Dark ki: Can't say I duplicated your feat with the Zolom. How'd you take Beta and survive? Anyway, I did read that far down, so HA! And I agree about the FF movie. Never saw it, but from what I saw in ads and such it bore no resemblance to Final Fantasy whatever. Which ain't coo'.