Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's and the plot.

A/N: Not really a whole lot to say here. It's more dialogue than action in this chapter (again), but the next couple of chapters will get more interesting, I promise. A warning, though: this arc might have several spoilers from whatever I use, so if you haven't played that particular game or watched that particular show, you read at your own risk.

With that said, on with the show.

Chapter 21

"Who's Sephiroth?" Alice asked, once they had gotten Nathan calmed down. He took a deep breath as he looked into the campfire. By now, the storm clouds overhead had started to dissipate and the stars were coming out, but that didn't clear up anybody's mood.

"Sephiroth originates from Final Fantasy Seven, much like Ganondorf is from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," Nathan started.

"I'm assuming these are both video games in this world," Noel spoke up.

"Yeah," Nathan nodded. "I'm assuming you either don't have them in your realm, or else you don't play them. In any case, I can tell that your knowledge of the plots are limited."

"I only know what the Sages have told me," Noel answered.

"Which is enough, so I won't waste any time on that," he responded. "Anyways, Sephiroth is quite possibly the strongest villain to ever hit the role-playing game world. Actually, probably the video game world as a whole; he could even be more powerful than Ganondorf himself!"

"I highly doubt that," Brad countered. "You've never had to face up against him."

"And you've never had to battle Sephiroth in a boss battle. I've done it with both, and I can safely say that Sephiroth wins that vote," Nathan argued back. "However, this isn't the video game world we're talking about, so it doesn't matter. Since Ganondorf has the Triforce of Power, then realistically he's more powerful, I'll concede that."

"So what's his story?" Alice inquired.

"Well, simply put, in his world there was this extremely powerful company called Shinra," Nathan started. "They controlled pretty much everything, including the army and basically the world itself. Within the army was a special segment called SOLDIER, and Sephiroth grew to be known as the greatest General ever."

"But, of course, things take a turn for the worse," Brad entered in. Nathan merely nodded.

"While out on a mission, Sephiroth, with a couple of normal soldiers and another from SOLDIER itself, went to investigate a malfunctioning Mako reactor. Mako reactors sucked Mako, or the Lifestream as some would call it, out of the planet. Mako was useful as an energy source or to make materia out of. Materia is what's used to cast spells, like Stop, but I'm digressing. All in all, though, the reactors were hurting the planet by sucking out its life force."

"What does this have to do with the mission?" Noel asked impatiently.

"Did you see how Sephiroth's eyes glowed an eerie green?" Nathan asked, and they all nodded. "It's because everybody in SOLDIER is showered with varying amounts of Mako energy. All in all, it increases their strength and abilities. Anyway, when they got to the reactor they found monsters being created within the pure vats of Mako. They were experiments created by Shinra."

"You mean people that were placed in there?" Alice asked, horrified.

"I'm guessing so, but there's more to it than that. Sephiroth found a room that was marked 'Jenova.' Apparently he had been told that his mother had the same name, and he began to wonder if he was an experiment, especially since he had unusual amounts of power," Nathan replied. "The reactor was at the top of a mountain, and at the base of the mountain was a town called Nibelheim, with Shinra Mansion near the edge of town. In the secret basement was a large library, and eventually what Sephiroth learned through the books down there drove him insane. He burned the town, killing all the townspeople."

"How was he stopped?" Brad asked.

"Simply put, he let down his guard too soon and one of his own teammates managed to kill him. Granted, it's more complicated than that, but I don't want to give away the plot line," he gave a slight smirk, but was promptly batted over the head by Noel.

"Stop playing games," Noel said harshly. "If he died there, then where does this guy come in?"

"Years later Sephiroth showed up again," Nathan explained, rubbing the back of his head. "Actually, I should say a clone of Sephiroth showed up later. Hojo, the main scientist at Shinra, had secretly experimented on making more Sephiroths while Sephiroth was alive. I don't know all the details, but one was a success, and showed up a few years after the whole reactor incident, and went about trying to start what was called the 'Reunion.' This was where all the clones were to meet in one central spot. Here's where it gets confusing, though. During the Reunion, one of the main characters, under mind control, gives Sephiroth a powerful artifact known as the Black Materia. It summons Meteor, which is supposedly the most powerful spell ever."

"So Sephiroth has that ability right now?" Alice asked worriedly. "It sounds pretty bad."

"Actually, I'm not so sure he does have it," Nathan stated, drawing confused looks from them. "You see, the Sephiroth that actually gets the materia was imbedded in some sort of crystal, probably materia itself. I think the materia went to the real Sephiroth and the clone faded into the background somewhere along the line since his job was done. Of course, I could be wrong, and I'm sure there are those that disagree with me on that."

"But how's that possible?" Brad asked.

"And where does that leave us?" Alice added.

"Sephiroth's essence was sent back to the Lifestream, as is all living things in that world," Nathan explained. "Since the Reunion was held in a place with a high concentration of Lifestream, it's not impossible that his essence showed up in a physical form."

"What you're telling us is that you're not sure if this is the real deal or simply a clone," Noel said.

"In a nutshell," Nathan sighed. "It would all depend on when Ganondorf took him. If it's the clone and after the Black Materia incident, then he wouldn't be missed one way or another because his mission's complete. If it's the real Sephiroth or before the incident, then he could've taken him at any time."

"Either way, though, it doesn't matter. We have to send him back to his Realm of Origin to maintain the balance," Noel stated.

"Well, I hate to say it, but it's getting late and I'd better get back home before I have to deal with a force scarier than Sephiroth," Nathan stated, getting up from the log he was sitting on and dusting himself off.

"And what's that?" Brad asked.

"My mom," he said, eliciting a snicker from the group.

"It's nice to know my mother still evokes fear even in this realm," Noel smirked.

"Five feet of fury," Nathan replied. They laughed for a few moments longer before Alice spoke up.

"Speaking of which, why did you come here to begin with?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot!" he said, digging into the backpack he had been carrying. "It took me a bit, but I scrounged up some food for you guys. It's not much, but it's all I could sneak out." He pulled out a small plastic bag that had several food items in it.

"Don't worry," Noel said, gratefully taking the items. "If worse comes to worse, Brad and I know how to hunt."

"So what now?" Brad asked after the goodbyes were said and Alice went to put the food away.

"We'll start training tomorrow," Noel replied, stoking the fire a bit. "Right now, though, get some rest. We'll take turns on watch, and I'll take the first one."

OOO

Noel had just closed his eyes when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Instinctively, he turned and prepared to attack only to find Brad standing there. "What are you still doing up?" Brad asked, a little weary from sleep deprivation. "I thought Alice was going to take over for you."

"I decided to let her sleep," he said, offering Brad a seat. "I can take being up a few more hours."

"Man, I swear you're going to kill yourself one of these days doing stuff like this," he scoffed in resignation. Noel merely chuckled.

"Relax, I'm not going anywhere just yet. I've still got too much to do," he answered. There was an awkward silence.

"When do you think we'll get home?" Brad finally asked, looking up to the stars. "I'm sure Will and the others are going crazy trying to find us, and there's no telling what Ganondorf is planning."

"Tom's still there to protect the realm, and as long as we're here Ganondorf will be focused on making sure we don't get home, so he should be fine on his own for a while," Noel answered. "To tell you the truth, though, this is all my fault…"

"Oh come on, Noel," Brad cut in. "Give it a rest. There's no way you could've seen this coming."

"Maybe," Noel said, still not convinced. "I had a couple of visions of Sephiroth, and when we traveled to Hyrule before our battle I felt the disturbance with the portal. It wasn't Saria's or Will's fault that messed us up. Something was interfering long before now. It just took us this long to notice it."

"Well, whatever," Brad said, changing the subject. "The point is, we're here now. Go ahead and get some sleep for a couple of hours. If we're going to be training, we'll all have to be at one hundred percent."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he finally conceded, tossing his stick into the fire.

OOO

"How are you feeling?" Brad asked Noel a few hours later as he emerged from their tent.

"Like I got hit by a truck," he replied groggily, taking a seat next to him. He noted through the trees that the sun was well over the horizon, probably close to the nine o'clock position. "Alice up yet?"

"Not yet," he answered. "When do you want to start the training?"

"We need to start as soon as possible," he replied, but a low rumbling noise broke through his thoughts. "But a little breakfast wouldn't hurt, either," he grinned sheepishly. "I'll go get Alice."

"I'll put some of the supplies on the fire," Brad said, reaching into the nearby food sack Nathan had brought the night before.

Noel quietly unzipped the flap of Alice's tent and peeked inside. Seeing that she was still curled up in her sleeping bag, he gently stepped inside and sat next to her. "Alice," he whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a slight shake. She rolled over to face him, but didn't wake up. "Alice," he tried again, this time a little louder.

"What?" she mumbled, propping herself up on her arm and rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

"It's time to get up," he said gently, softly moving some stray hair away from her face. "Brad's got breakfast on the fire."

"Okay, okay, I'll be there in a minute," she grumbled, plopping back down on her pillow and closing her eyes. A minute later, when she hadn't sensed any movement, she opened an eye to find Noel still sitting there, staring at her with a small grin. "What?" she asked, with a twinge of ice in her voice as she sat up again.

"Huh?" he asked, snapping out of his thought. "Oh…sorry," he apologized. "I was…I was just admiring how beautiful you are when you're asleep," he said, thinking it was probably the cheesiest thing he had ever said. He leaned in to give her a kiss, but she turned her head to the side so he only hit the cheek. "Alice, is something wrong?" he asked.

"Why would you think something's wrong?" she asked with more ice in her voice this time, mixed with a little bit of sarcasm, and thereby putting him on the defensive.

It's just…it's just we haven't really been that close lately. We don't talk as much as we used to," he replied sadly.

"Don't worry about it," she said, forcing a bit of gentleness into her voice as well as a small smile. "Everything's fine." There was a small pause before Noel released a sigh.

"Okay, if you say so," he conceded, unconvinced. "Don't take too much longer, though. We need to train as much as possible, so we need to get started as soon as we can," he said, scooting to the exit. She bristled as she heard him say that, but he didn't notice because his back was to her. She didn't say a word, though, as he left the tent and zipped the flap back up.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes again before reaching into a backpack Alison had given her and pulled out a hairbrush. After brushing her shoulder-length, sleep-ruffled brunette hair, she straightened her clothes the best she could before heading out. "I've been thinking," she said casually, taking a seat across from Noel. "These are the only sets of clothes we have. What'll we wear if we tear these up?"

"She has a point," Brad agreed. "Usually Kara either fixes them or gives us special training outfits."

"Hmmm…I don't really know," Noel responded, thinking the situation through. "We could buy them as we go, but we'd have to ask Nathan or Alison what the currency is here. It may be the same as our world, but they'd have to confirm it. I say we just play it by ear for now."

"And if we don't have the right money?" Alice asked.

"Either we take some time to work for it, or else we'll have to think up something different," he said simply.

"On a different note, what about the training?" Brad asked. "If we go all out, we could seriously hurt each other, and two weeks isn't that much time to heal."

"Do you guys have your emergency canisters?" Noel asked, and they nodded in response. "We'll have to ration those then. Even just a little bit will repair some of the damage after a session."

"What about the battle?" Alice asked, worried. "What if we need them?"

"That's a risk we'll just have to take," Noel said, though the look on his face said he didn't like it. "Anyways," he said, rising from his seat, "we need to take care of the clothing issue and where we're going to train. Brad, see if you can find Nathan and ask about the clothes. I'll scout around for a spot that won't be easily noticed."

"I guess that leaves me with cleanup here," Alice sighed.

"Sorry, but we can take turns after this," he promised. "We'll meet back here in an hour, okay?" The others nodded as they set off to their tasks.

It was almost a literal hop, skip, and jump away for Brad to reach Nathan's house from the woods. He simply hopped out of the woods and across the small park, skipped over the back corner of a neighbor's backyard, and jumped into the lot adjacent to Nathan's one-story house. He heard the sound of a car starting in the driveway and he sidled up behind the bushes and between the brown wooden fence, just so he was out of view of whoever was pulling out. As he peeked through, he caught a quick glimpse of Nathan in the passenger seat and tried a quick movement to catch his attention. Fortunately, he noticed and made a steeple-like gesture with his hands while making darting glances between them and Brad. 'Steeple?' he thought. 'The church?' He nodded in response before ducking back into the bushes. Suddenly, he heard a car door slam and he ventured another look as Nathan's mom dashed back into the house. Quickly and quietly, Brad slinked over to the passenger side as Nathan slid the window down.

"What's up?" Nathan asked. "You'd better make it fast; my mom's going to be coming back out any second."

"That's fine," he replied, pulling out his a bill from his wallet. "Do you guys use this type of money?" Nathan looked the bill over before pretending to put it in his pocket.

"I don't know, I don't think we do," he said in mock innocence. Brad's joking glare and outstretched hand made the boy return the bill in fake offense.

"Thanks, that's all I needed to know," Brad said, starting to slip back into the bushes.

"I'll be by again tonight if I can slip away and give you guys an update," Nathan whispered, and Brad nodded as he took off again.

Brad arrived at the campsite just as Alice was finishing cleaning up. "We all set to go?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Brad replied. "We can use the money we have on us. If you want, you can go on ahead. I'll wait for Noel here and we'll join you as soon as we can."

"Okay, that's fine," she agreed. "Oh, by the way, I think it would be a little less conspicuous if we jogged to the store rather than flew while we're out in broad daylight, don't you agree." Brad nodded in agreement as she took off and said he'd tell Noel too.

OOO

"Oh, that looks good," Alice said to herself, looking in a nearby mirror and admiring a shirt she was holding up against herself. She had decided to use her current clothes as her training clothes, and use this trip to buy some of the new fashions to take home, assuming they got home, of course. Of course, she would still buy a few things to replace her training clothes in case they got torn up, but she had found some styles they didn't have back home and she couldn't resist a chance to shop.

Her joyous mood didn't last long, though, when she heard a semi-familiar voice behind her. "Oh, Alison, there you are. I have a couple more dresses for you to try on," the voice said, getting closer with each word. Alice prayed silently that it wasn't directed at her, but she could see in the mirror the lady that looked like her own mother approaching her. Trying to play it cool, she slowing turned and acted like she would with her own mother. "Dear," she beat her to the punch, "weren't you wearing a skirt when we came in here?"

'Oh crap,' Alice thought. 'How do I explain this away? This can't get any more awkward.' Suddenly, though, another voice made itself known from the nearby dressing room.

"Mom, what do you think of…this…blouse…uh, oh," Alison said, realizing too late what was happening as she casually walked out of the room and spotted her mom and Alice together. Mrs. Harper glanced from girl to girl and was about to let a tremendous shriek, but both Alison and Alice simultaneously slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Let's not do that," Alice whispered, quickly glancing around to see if anybody was watching. "I'd rather not draw more attention to us than necessary." Quietly, she and Alison gently pulled her into the dressing room and into one of the stalls. Alice quickly checked the only other stall in the room on her way by, and was relieved to find it empty. "If we promise to remove our hands and explain, will you promise not to scream?" she asked, shutting and bolting the door behind them. Mrs. Harper quickly nodded, but the apparent look of fear and confusion still hadn't left her face.

"Well, at least this can't get any worse," Alison whispered.

"Alice, are you in there?" came a voice from outside. Alice gave her twin the you-just-had-to-say-it-didn't-you look before opening the door again and pulling the now confused Noel inside.

"What's going…oh, boy," he said, instantly noticing Alison and her mother.

"Perfect timing," Alice said sarcastically. "Since you're here, you can explain why Alison has a twin."

"Nathan, you're in on all this, too?" Mrs. Harper asked incredulously. He heaved a long sigh as he quickly went into the same story he gave Nathan and Alison. He had rehearsed it so many times that it was like clockwork for him now.

"…And that's about it," he finished. "Did I miss anything?" he asked through the door to Alice, who was keeping watch.

"Nope, sounds good," she agreed.

"Well, that explains what happened to the camping equipment," Mrs. Harper said, turning to her daughter. "Why didn't you just tell us in the first place?"

"Would you honestly have believed me?" Alison retorted calmly. "I wouldn't believe it myself if they weren't standing in front of my face."

"Point taken," she conceded. "So now what?" Noel simply shrugged.

"We keep doing what we've been doing. Alice and I are going to finish shopping and meet up with our friend, and I guess you two are going to finish whatever you were doing," he answered.

"Are you still going to sleep in the woods? There's more than enough room in our house to sleep. And what about Nathan's mom? I'm sure she would like to know about all this," Mrs. Harper stated.

"Yes. No thank you. No. And I'd like to keep this as low profile as I can. The less people know about parallel universes, the less work I have trying to keep everybody in their Realm of Origin. I'm sorry I'm being blunt about this, but we really are on a tight schedule," he explained, heading out to meet up with Alice. They took a couple of steps together, but then he stopped and thought about it for a minute. "Actually," he said, looking at Alice and then back at Mrs. Harper. "Alice, do you want to stay with them? Brad and I can rough it, and it would give you a break. Granted, we'd have to explain it to the rest of the family, but I've done it once so I think I can pull it off again." Alice looked at him strangely for a minute, a loss for what to say.

"Uh…sure, I guess," she replied slowly, still thinking it through. "If that's all right with you, that is," she quickly added to Mrs. Harper.

"I can't see why not," she replied sweetly. Noel nodded in agreement.

"I still haven't found a good spot to train yet so I'll go back out once I'm done here. We'll get re-settled and meet back at the campsite in about two hours, okay?" he asked Alice, and she agreed.

A/N: I know I promised some action in this, but the dialogue just wouldn't shut up on me. I eventually got so sick of this chapter that I ended it where I did, even though I don't really like it. Oh well, that's the way the ball bounces, I guess.

I wanted to at least start the battle in this chapter, but I'm afraid I have to put the training and the first part of the battle in the next. I've been working these out in my head, though, and I promise that they should be doozies. In honesty, this battle and the final battle, and one other one are the three fights that I'm most looking forward to. Ganondorf's battle in the last arc was nice, but it was really unexpected in how it turned out. If that one came out that well, I believe that these will be able to easily rival it. (I have to be careful when I say that. I don't want to raise any false hopes, but if I can get what's in my head down on paper accurately, then I do think these should be pretty good.)