Tori: Still no cookies…

SA: We have pizza at the moment.

Tori: Pizza isn't cookies.

Saria: Chocolate…

Zas: Man, if Rachas ever really did wind up in Gaia she would probably go through one of the worst withdraws for chocolate ever.

zzzzzzzzzz

Junon

Cloud could honestly say that he was getting nervous as their group rushed through the streets of Junon. He honestly felt as though they were either forgetting or missing something crucial. But what could it be? Their group consisted of those that Shinra had not shown interest enough in to mobilize a force to capture as of yet. They had the plans for how to get to the reactor all in order and there should be plenty of escape pods and subs for their use in case they got stuck. Still though, that feeling persisted.

"Alright, so we go down this walkway to the elevator," Tifa quietly informed their group as they trudged into the central complex of Junon.

They all walked at an even pace, trying their best to look like they were guards going on duty. From his vantage point near the back of the group, Cloud could admit that they did look a bit out of place. Zack and Vincent looked too tall and Barret just plain didn't look right. Red looked almost like he were slipping around, Cid was doing his exaggerated swagger, and there was no denying that Tifa was a woman.

There was a small group of guards doing a drill at the end of the hall and leading them was a sergeant Cloud was sure he remembered from his own days in the military. The man was notorious for hard drills and harsher expectations.

"Alright pansies, let's see how hard you trained!" the officer shouted as he turned around. The men in his platoon exchanged looks the moment his back was turned then all of them did an impromptu about-face. "Charge!" The officer took three steps forward before realizing that his troops had used his moment of inattention to runaway.

"He-hey! That's the Underwater Reactor! Come back!" he shouted when he saw where his troops were headed. "Those wimps can't take a little practice, can they?" he declared before focusing his eyes on the disguised heroes. "You ladies here to train or on duty?"

"Just clocking on," Zack replied as he led their group past the officer. "Need to hurry to our assignments."

"Good to see some initiative still around here," the officer remarked as he picked up his own feet and over took Zack so that he was now leading the group. "Gotta get my bunch of slackers now, hopefully they aren't bothering too many of the ladies."

They parted ways with the officer at the end of the hall as he shoved his way into the first elevator and stood by the door, preventing any of them from also boarding. The second elevator arrived a few seconds later and Cloud had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as the runaway troops exited the elevator and ran for the exit. Two of the men stayed on the elevator though, both of them intent to hit on the elevator attendant.

Barret nodded at the attendant politely as they boarded the elevator and she blushed as she took in the forms of Vincent, Zack, and Cloud. The two soldiers both scoffed when they saw this and rather than fight one another they came to an impromptu agreement.

"How 'bout, whoever stays alive, gets to take her out," one of the men told his comrade.

"All right, you're on," the other declared as they both entered a fighting stance.

Cloud rolled his eyes as he glanced at Zack who also wore an exasperated look.

"Look fellas, we don't want a fight! I already have a girlfriend!" Zack declared before stepping aside as one of the men attempted to swing at him. The man's fist connected with the metal wall of the elevator as the other attempted to take a swing at Vincent.

The former Turk didn't attempt to step aside, instead opting to bring his bionic arm up to catch the man's fist, his clawed fingers cutting deeply into the man's flesh. The trooper squeaked as he dropped to his knees, holding his lacerated arm.

The attendant who had first watched with great interest as the men seemed to want to fight for her seemed very disheartened by Zack's announcement of having a girlfriend and put-off by Vincent's claw.

"… Great. There went two perfectly good men!" she grumbled as the elevator came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft.

None from AVALANCHE offered her any words as they piled out of the elevator into the hall where another man stood who looked like he was just about to come off of duty.

"Okay, back to work. Back to work!" he yelled and pointed towards the end of the hall towards the reactor as another trooper appeared from that direction, helmet already off as he yawned loudly.

"… I'm sleepy." The second man rubbed his baggy eyes as he stepped around AVALANCHE without a second glance and entered the elevator they had just left. "And if you're the group that ran away, your officer is starting to look pretty mad."

"That fucker ain't with us!" Cid said before Tifa caught him in the ribs with an elbow.

Cloud covered for him. "We're just clocking on now."

The first guard stepped around them to the elevator now and nodded as he did before glancing at Cid. "Don't let him hear you talking like that, that guy can make your life hell."

The elevator closed behind them and Zack was quick to take the lead down the hall, descending several short staircases as they went.

"We should be approaching another elevator soon," Tifa told them as they turned another corner and descended a longer staircase than what they had previously encountered. Sure enough at the end of the hall was a service elevator and they all clambered onto the platform right as the harried looking officer appeared.

"Have you seen those wimps that ran?" he demanded before any of them could get the elevator moving.

Red decided to speak up first as everyone else glanced at one another. "They evaded you by taking the elevator you didn't use back up."

The red clad officer cursed as he turned and headed back into the hall. "When I get my hands on those smart-asses, I'm going to drill them into the ground!" he promised aloud as he stomped back towards the stairs.

Everyone exchanged glances before Cid reached over and pressed the down switch, starting the elevator to the lower levels. There were still no alarms going off so it seemed that no one was aware of their presence just yet.

The elevator reached the bottom of the shaft and Cloud and Zack led the way out, ready to deal with any threats that might be present. All they found was a dimly lit service corridor, the walls, ceiling, and even portions of the floor were covered in steaming pipes and electrical cords. A narrow walkway led down the hall, just wide enough for one or two people to walk through.

"I'll go first," Cloud told Zack as he stepped out and began to walk slowly through the corridor, ears and eyes tuned for any possible threats. Behind him he was keenly aware of Zack and the others following him onto to walkway. A glance at his watch revealed that it was almost a quarter til two.

"Wow," Zack murmured from behind him as they turned a corner and found themselves staring out at marine life. "Best aquarium I've ever seen!"

The group continued into the underwater corridor, a number of them staring at the amazing view of the fish and dark water that was lit up by the lights of the reactor. Tifa smiled at the dolphin that swam near the walkway while Red stared hungrily at a school of fish that swam back and forth before him.

"Man, Marlene'd love this!" Barret declared as the dolphin twisted before their eyes, barrel rolling.

There were no guards in this place though they did see a chained up monster that was obviously meant for security purposes. It looked not unlike a skeleton that had been glued to a wooden pirate ship while wielding an oar. It roared at them as they passed by and waved its oar frantically, obviously trying to hit one of them before casting a strange blue fire spell.

Red yelped loudly as he was burned by the flames and fell to all fours before turning his head to check the wound that had been caused by the fire while Zack and Cloud rushed the thing, swords drawn and ready to strike.

"I got this," Tifa assured Red as she pulled out a Restore materia and cast a weak Cure.

Red studied the wound and saw the burn return to a normal skin color though his fur was unlikely to grow back in that area. He growled lowly as he stood back up on his hind legs while Vincent and Barret backed up Cloud and Zack who hacked solidly at the ship portion of the monster.

The skeleton was pretty tough and had a fair amount of life in it, but it was chained up pretty tightly and couldn't reach the majority of them. The tunnel setting made a number of spells such as Fire or summoning impossible to perform but that didn't stop spells such as poison.

THUNK! "Fuckin' hell! What kinda retard makes such a low ass ceiling?" Red heard Cid yell and realized that the pilot had attempted to jump into the fray as well but had obviously hit his head if the way he clutched it was anything to go by.

Tifa sighed but raised the obviously young Restore materia and cast the spell. "Use materia!" she called to him since he would need more room than what was immediately available to them.

"Right!" Cid yelled back as he yanked out a yellow materia that neither Red nor Tifa had seen him use before. "Take this you bum-skull!"

The yellow materia glowed for a moment and then Cid rushed the skeleton monster also, slashing at it with his spear which glowed yellow. His blow struck true, stabbing the skeleton right between the eyes and the monster went limp for a moment before its form glowed yellow and began to shrink.

"The hell?" Barret declared as they all stared at the glowing form that became a rectangular shape that was easily recognized as a book as soon as the glow began to dissipate.

Cloud reached out and grabbed the book and read "Guide Book" on the cover.

"Maybe Rachas or Aeris can make use of that," Red suggested and Cloud nodded as he tossed the book to Barret who quickly stashed it into his pack.

They left the area quickly, rushing through the last portion of the tunnel and entered what appeared to be the last elevator. Tifa walked to the far side of the elevator and pressed the down button.

Normal

I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised about my phone number getting out and though it was just twice that I had an unexplainable phone call, I was already very much starting to worry.

After thirty minutes of stewing in the cockpit while staring at the phone, I climbed up to the deck for some air and found Kunsel still there on guard duty. Yuffie was curled up, asleep on the deck with Kunsel's jacket covering her.

"Something wrong?" Kunsel asked when he saw me on the deck.

I shrugged before staring out at the darkened land around us, a cool breeze blowing slightly. "Is it possible for Shinra to follow a person's phone? Track them?"

A thoughtful look from Kunsel was what I received as he thought on the possibility. "I think the Turks worked out a system where they can get a general idea where someone is located by using a cell phone. It takes a while to work though, and the area isn't small, fifty miles if I remember right. Why-" He cut off when he saw my phone in my hand.

"I just got a strange call, and whoever it was didn't say anything."

We stared at the phone for a moment longer before both of us glanced out at the horizon. There was no movement, no lights, nothing we could see. That didn't mean nothing was out there.

"Fifty miles might be hard to find individual people, but this ship will be very easy to spot," I said before turning back to the door. "Get Yuffie and yourself inside, we're moving!" I ran through the ship to get back to the cockpit fast, there was no telling how much time we had left before a possible attack force may reach us.

"Everyone up!" I called as I pushed through the door, jolting the crew who was nodding off into wakefulness. "We're moving; maintain five hundred feet above ground level at highest to avoid radar detection. No lights, we can't let anyone know that we are about!"

"Where to?" the pilot asked as he straightened up behind the helm.

I thought for a moment and realized that since everyone else should be gaining a sub, there was no reason for us to stay on the East Continent, and I wanted to get the hell away from Junon. As for contacting the others, we would have to use Kunsel's PHS and get somewhere where we would have reception since I doubted we'd be able to make use of the Highwind's antennae. Momentarily I thought of trashing my PHS but stopped when I realized that one person in particular would be endangered if I did: Reeve.

"Take us out over the ocean, away from any radar environments." Pulling out a map, I indicated where the weapon seller's house should be. "There should be a village in this area, if the others call then we should receive the message and still be close enough to do something."

"Yes sir!" the pilot called out as the navigator began to plan the course after giving the pilot a rough heading to follow.

"Estimated time enroute is four hours!" the navigator called out as Cait Sith rushed onto the bridge.

"What's goin' on lassie? The others done?"

"No Cait, we need to move as a precaution."

"Why?"

I stared at the cat, uncertain whether I should tell him or not. If I admitted what had happened then Reeve would hear and though he was smart, I didn't want him to take any more unnecessary risks. "T-th-th-" I tried my best to lie but at that moment a pain went through my mouth and I couldn't say what I wanted. My eyes widened as I thought back to those months ago when I made that deal with Minerva to save Sector 7, the deal that I couldn't lie if it wasn't necessary to hide my identity. Reeve may be important to me but I couldn't lie to protect him, Minerva wouldn't allow it! When we made that deal it wasn't at my discretion, she had actually made it impossible to lie unless it was necessary for protecting my identity!

Snapping my mouth shut, I was spared from trying to say anything as Kunsel charged into the bridge, Yuffie on arm.

"Have you already set a course?" he demanded when he saw the navigator setting down his pen and giving the pilot a final course heading.

"Yeah, we're heading to the Western Continent. We'll be close enough to respond when they call."

"Why are we moving?" Cait Sith repeated his question loudly, and Kunsel turned to the robot.

"Shinra might have a way to track us, we're moving as a precaution."

"How?"

Kunsel glanced at me and I shook my head, I didn't want him to tell.

"Rachas's PHS number seems to have gotten out."

"What?" Yuffie demanded as she glanced around. "How can they track us using a PHS?"

"The towers that pick up signals, it's not accurate but they can get a general idea."

"You can't tell Reeve!" I declared as I stepped forward and grabbed Cait. "You cannot tell him!"

"I'm supposed to report on you all though. Certainly Reeve can he-"

"He'll be endangered if he does! Protect your creator and we'll keep moving!"

Cait Sith stared at me before nodding slightly.

Underwater Reactor

They had just crossed a catwalk overlooking what seemed to be a submarine hangar and into yet another hallway.

"Can't make this easy, can they?" Barret grumbled as they exited the hallway and found three guards on duty.

The three men seemed surprised to see them, that was for sure. The one patrolling the room actually jumped slightly.

"What 'er you guys doin here?" one of the guards by the far door asked. "Thought the shift change got pushed back an hour!"

"No, regular change," Cloud replied as he stepped to the front of the group again.

"Better check," the second guard said as he walked to a phone on the wall. He was stopped by Tifa as she punched him hard across the side of his head, knocking the man out.

"You! The terrorists!" the pacing guard declared as he raised his firearm only to be set upon by Red who clawed and bit his query.

The last guard, who was the first to speak, was brought down by Cloud himself as he smacked the man with the broad side of his sword.

"Well, we might still be able to sneak out," Cid said optimistically.

Cloud shrugged and they moved into the next room to find two more guards who had apparently heard the commotion. One was talking into a wall phone while the other had his gun aimed, ready to fire. Vincent took them both out inside of seconds, first shooting the armed guard then the one on the phone.

"No more surprise," Zack declared as he tore off the infantry helmet and yanked off the top of the uniform. Everyone followed suit as they walked into the next room, Red being the only one to completely remove the uniform.

The next room was yet another catwalk that passed very close to a reactor core where a crane was reaching into the machine.

"What is that?" Tifa asked as she watched the crane begin to retract.

"The Huge Materia," Cloud replied.

Cid seemed to realize what was happening at the same moment as Vincent. "That's what you think! Fucker!" he shouted as a case was raised from the core and the crane began to move towards an opening in the wall, all of them turning and following along the catwalk.

"There it is!" Zack pointed at the container that was being lowered into a red submarine.

"What are you doing? Help load!" came a voice that most of the group recognized at least in part. Standing by and watching the loading of the equipment was Reno, his back turned to them.

"Don't think so!" Zack replied as he jumped back slightly, lowering himself into his attack position with his Buster sword drawn.

Reno stiffened then turned to face the group. "Zack? Cloud? You're alive?" The Turk looked torn between shock, relief, and anger.

"I refuse," Vincent deadpanned, earning him a whoop from Barret and a laugh from Cid.

"You know I don't work for cheap!"

Zack laughed a bit at Cid's remark before turning to Reno. "Give us that materia or else!"

Reno almost looked sorrowful as he looked them over. "Unfortunately, I don't have time to deal with you. My priority is the Huge Materia." As he spoke a strange robot hobbled towards them, its large arms reminding several of them of the carrying pole used by milkmaids or water-carriers. Reno raced off while the rest of them were transfixed by the robot.

The robot fired a laser at them the moment that it was within range and because the lot of them were still on the walkway, it was very hard to dodge the laser.

Barret yelped loudly when he couldn't move fast enough to avoid the laser and landed hard on his side, sporting a nasty scorch on his leg. Glancing down at his leg, the gunner roared then leveled his gun at the machine and opened fire.

Tifa rushed to his side, the Restore materia in hand and began to cast. "Agh, should have gotten either Aeris or Rachas's high level Restores instead of this thing," she grumbled as the wound healed from a black scorch to a red scorch.

Zack yelled as he regained his feet and rushed the machine, dodging a swat from one of those arms. His sword bent the metal of the main core of the metal monster before he was knocked away by one of the arms.

"Get the arms first!" Cloud yelled as he rushed the right arm, his sword denting the metal while Red latched onto the other arm, but his teeth and claws had very little impact.

Vincent leveled his gun as Tifa cast Cure again on Barret and aimed at the machine's yellow eye. One shot later and the robot was flailing around, blind.

Cid and Zack both attacked then, Cid jamming his spear into the joint of the arm that Cloud was occupying as Zack slammed the metal of the opposing leg.

The robot jerked from the combined force of the four combatants slamming into it and the bullets of Barret's second salvo. It caught itself on its three legs and in a surprising show of dexterity managed to snag Red around his lower regions.

Red howled angrily and attempted to snap at the machine as he was dragged into the air.

"Oh come on!" Zack exclaimed as he stopped himself, bordering on a limit break.

Tifa had finally managed to heal the rest of Barret's burn and now found herself staring at the situation involving Red. "What happens if we attack?"

The machine didn't give them a chance to find out as it slammed Red against the ground and tossed away his unconscious body.

"That answers that, freakin' machine!" Cid spat as Zack charged towards the downed Red, digging a Phoenix Down from his pack as he did.

The robot chose to fire its laser at them again and the lot of them jumped or dove to avoid the attack.

Finally able to join the attack, Tifa charged forward as Cid jumped high. She wove around the flailing arms of the machine and kick-flipped off of one of the legs and nailing the core of the machine. As the brunette woman followed up with another kick that summoned water to add to the damage, Cid came down with his spear and drove it hard into the circuits of the robot's backside then yanked it free and jumped high again to repeat the attack.

The robot refused to go down though, not yet, and fired its laser again only for everyone to once again dodge. Vincent and Barret, who had ceased firing when Tifa charged, returned fire between Cid's assault dives until Cloud rushed forward and slammed his blade into the middle of the machine's central area, his blade slicing straight through to the other side.

Cloud yanked his sword free as the machine finally seemed to die, the lights on its front panel extinguishing.

"Guys, the sub!" Zack yelled from where he was helping a woozy looking Red.

Cloud and the rest finally saw that while they had been occupied the submarine had indeed left.

"There's one left."

"Hold on to your horses, let's get it from them!" Cid declared as he pointed at a submarine that was located at the far end of the marina, troops still racing to board the vessel.

Cloud led the rush across the bay this time with Tifa and Vincent close behind. Zack supported Red across the bay while Barret and Cid followed.

"Ugh!" Barret yelled as he tripped over what looked to be a pole near the ramp to the submarine.

"Can't keep your feet under ya?" Cid asked the man as he gave him a hand up.

"Hah," Barret replied dryly as he yanked the metal pole out and prepared to toss it aside.

Cid's eyes widened at the sight of the pole. "Wait!" he yelled and grabbed at the weapon Barret now hefted. Running a critical eye over the weapon, Cid nodded his approval and took it from Barret. "I can use this."

"Wonder what else we can use," Barret wondered aloud as he glanced at the various crates that surrounded them before grabbing several and hauling them onboard as soon as he saw that Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent had cleared the way.

"Wait!" Cid yelled then shrugged and grinned as he grabbed a crate himself and dragged it onboard. Extra supplies would only do them good! He boarded right as Zack and Tifa tossed the former crew out.

"Who knows how to operate a submarine?" Cloud's voice rang through the sub.

Shinra

It was extremely late but if you were trying to catch someone unaware, it was the perfect time to be up and about. Such was the case with Hojo that particular night.

"Try calling the number again!" he demanded again after so many fruitless attempts. At his urging they had waited an hour after the initial call so the specimen would relax and hopefully be careless enough to answer a second call in a half awake manner which would allow it them to get a better fix on its location. That was starting to seem like a mistake because the calls no longer seemed to be connecting. All they knew from the short time they had had previously was that the specimen was located a fair distance away from Junon, obviously intending to strike come the morning.

Hojo didn't care one way or the other, he and his specimens would be perfectly safe from Meteor once secured in Deepground. For now all that mattered was securing his wayward specimens; the former Turk, SOLDIER, and the blond Ancient. If possible he might have the other Ancient taken as well and several more SOLDIERs.

Most likely they were moving already and the Ancient had shut off the device for their approach into Junon so as not to attract attention. Little did they know that Rufus had stepped up the date of the launch of the Huge Materia to three days from now. The boy seemed certain that AVALANCHE wouldn't have the time or means to interfere.

Yet again a no service signal sounded from the tracking device that they were using to try to find their targets and Hojo sneered before turning away and marching from the room. The specimens had to be on the move, had to be enroute to Junon, and he didn't have the time to get a capture team there!

Had any of his specimens been this difficult to catch? None that he could recently remember with the exceptions of Z and C when they had unfortunately escaped. He really had been blind with those specimens; his only success had been kidnapped by his most profound failure while he couldn't move! And it had happened at the same time that he had had that Ancient in easy reach!

Well, the past taught him several important lessons and he would be sure to use them and the first of them was don't send the slowest after the one most likely to run unless you had some means of enticing them to stay and fight.

Pulling out the various profiles of those he could possibly deploy for capture teams again, he began the tedious process of finding the perfect balance of strength and speed. Both of those elements would be necessary for the capture and he would also have to insure that there was no possibility of in-fighting.

Submarine

Operating the sub proved to be a group effort with Cid yelling directions at the same time as Barret while Vincent tried to help make small adjustments and Cloud fought with the unfamiliar controls. Just leaving the reactor almost resulted in them smashing into the walls of the marina.

At least Tifa had taken over the radar and kept track of the red sub that held the Huge Materia while Zack went crazy with the weapons system on board, firing torpedoes at mines, rocks, other subs, and finally sinking the other sub with two of their last five bombs.

Now they were all gathered around the hatch, arguing over how they should recover the materia from the downed submarine. Red refused to go since he had no opposable thumbs and thus wouldn't be able to open the hatches. Barret refused to go due to the fact that he couldn't swim very well. Zack, Tifa, and Vincent were willing to go though they weren't entirely sure how to go. They had found some diving suits and two tanks but with the exception of Vincent none of them knew how to dive.

Cloud was just about to declare that they all go when a squawk from the cockpit drew his attention. Glancing around to see if anyone else had heard, he walked down the hall to the control room.

"Sub two, come in," a voice squeaked over the radio. "Are you there sub two?"

Picking up the transmitter, Cloud responded "Sub two here."

"Good, sub two. Report back to base. We'll be flying the Huge Materia from the Junon Airport to Rocket Town."

"Copy that," Cloud replied before tossing down the receiver and heading back down the hall.

"I'm saying that the materia is right there!" Zack insisted as he pointed out to the turret of the opposing sub where a large gash could be seen. Someone had apparently found a way to adjust the sub's searchlight while he was away because it gleamed through the gash and Cloud was certain he could see the materia's container.

"Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it soon. Shinra's going to launch the materia from the airport."

Vincent ended the argument by grabbing an air tank and stepping through the hatch to the airlock alone and shutting it behind him.

"Hey!" Zack yelled after him, banging his fist against the door as the chamber began to fill with the brackish water of the ocean. Through a nearby viewing panel, they all watched Vincent swim quickly over to the wrecked sub and reach through the tear in the sub, widening it with his claw at one point, before retracting his arm which held one end of the materia container. He was back in the airlock a minute later, the hatch to the outside already closed behind him. It took less time for him to retrieve the materia than it took for them to find the suits and tanks.

"So, are we headed back to Junon?" Red asked as they headed back to the control room.

Normal

My PHS didn't ring again the entire night though I took no comfort in that. My limited knowledge of early cell phones was that they were bulky, a bit unreliable, and had difficulty making calls from quickly moving vehicles.

At some point I must have nodded off because one moment I was scanning the sky for any possible signs of pursuit or attack and the next I was being shaken awake by Kunsel as the Highwind landed gently on the outskirts of the town that the weapon collector lived in. The sky outside was still dark so there was no reason for me to go skipping off to his house just yet. Besides, Kunsel had his phone out and was talking to someone on the other end.

"Okay, so you guys have a sub now and don't need us to come back for you?" Kunsel asked aloud as he met my eyes and I automatically sat up a bit straighter. "Alright, I see. We'll keep a sharp eye out, so call us if you can't reach that plane in time."

He hung up the phone then and met my eyes, a very serious expression on his face. "They were able to collect the Huge Materia and think they might be able to intercept another at the Junon Airport but we'll be standing by just in case."

I nodded then glanced around at the crew, all of them looking a little worse for wear. There wasn't a single set of eyes that didn't look exhausted at the moment. "Do they anticipate the plane to be headed for Rocket Town?"

Kunsel nodded as he sat down next to me and unfolded the map I had used the previous night to indicate where I wanted the crew to take us. "Our position is just about perfect for an intercept if the plane does escape them since they are headed for Rocket Town."

"Good to know." I was tired beyond belief and sporting a spectacular headache. The only person who had gotten a decent night of sleep at this point was Aeris and I was very envious. She was probably still asleep and we had to stay up several hours more to insure the Gelnika went down.

"Gonna get something with caffeine," I informed Kunsel as I stood.

"Could use something myself."

We both left the cockpit along with the pilot and navigator, if I remember their names were Ran and Drix respectively. The four of us walked to the galley, hoping the cook wouldn't throw a fit over our being there. The man surprised us by already being up and having a pot of coffee and a pot of tea already ready. The Drix and I took tea while Kunsel and the Ran took coffee.

"Maybe the Captain is right about you not being a pilot," Ran teased sleepily as the four of us sat down with Kunsel's PHS between us.

"Not all pilots are chain-smoking drunks who use profanity in every sentence," I replied.

"Any idea how long it'll be before we know if we need to stay awake another four hours?" Drix asked as he yawned.

Kunsel nudged his phone slightly then looked up. "Should be within the hour."

Thunk.

Glancing over, I saw that Ran had just slumped over the table and banged his head against the surface.

"Hope they stop that fucking ship…" he murmured into the surface of the table and I didn't have the heart to tell him that they wouldn't.

"You're starting to sound like Cid," I pointedly told him instead. Ran just groaned and turned his head slightly to give me a half-hearted glare.

The cook came out a few minutes later carrying four bowls of hot oatmeal for us to go along with our beverages. He had even been nice enough to throw some berries on top of it that I didn't recognize.

"Hard to stay awake on empty bellies," he declared as he shoved the bowls in front of us.

I accepted the spoon he offered with a smile. "Easier than when they're full."

The man laughed warmly as the others all picked up their own spoons and began to eat. "Do you speak from experience?"

"Yep, a degree in Aeronautical Engineering usually results in at least one all-nighter a week while in college. Thank god I wasn't in Engineering Physics though, those guys pulled all-nighters three times a week. And I'm talking about regular times during the year, not exams."

"What happened during exams?" Kunsel asked.

"I worked in the tutoring lab so you can believe me when I say that the sign-up sheet for tutoring was 24-hours, 7-days-a-week the week before exams started."

All around me the men choked, even Kunsel.

"College for Engineering isn't for the faint at heart," I told them with a grin as I spooned up some of the oatmeal. "Though I did get to see some of the hilarious things some people do when sleep deprived. One of my roommates actually danced with a trash can while singing Sally's Song from Nightmare Before Christmas."

Kunsel pounded on his chest to help himself breath again. "And I thought SOLDIER exams were hard! Wait a moment, what's Nightmare Before Christmas?"

Ran's eyes traveled between Kunsel and me, he looked to be trying to decide which of us was crazier. "The Captain is right about you, you're not a pilot! Unlike what he thinks though, you're far too crazy to be a pilot!"

Drix laughed also as we continued to eat and cleaned his bowl first before standing and walking his bowl over to the return window. Right as I finished Kunsel's phone rang and everyone was instantly on edge as Kunsel raised the PHS to his ear.

"Did you get it?" Kunsel was silent for a moment then his shoulders visibly slumped. "So you missed it? Okay, we'll be on the look-out for it. And just so you guys know, we're in that village where we caught the bus to Gold Saucer last time we were there. You should be able to make the trip easily in that sub."

Ran groaned as he stood also and walked his bowl to the dish return window as well. "I'll get back to the cockpit."

"When does the second pilot take-over?" I asked as I dumped my bowl also.

"He's sick," Ran replied as the lot of us headed back to the bridge.

"Do you know how fast the Gelnika travels?" Kunsel asked Drix as we re-entered the bridge.

"Yeah, I'll get some estimations going on how soon it'll be here."

"Any instructions until then?" Ran was looking at me to take command again and it took a moment to get my thoughts in order.

"We'll stay on the ground for now; we'll be able to see them better while it'll be more difficult for them to see us. Make sure to keep the engines warm though and ready to go the moment anyone sees anything. Have all crew members that aren't essential for flight operations serve as look outs starting one hour before Gelnika is supposed to arrive, facing towards the east and north where the aircraft will most likely come from." I was going to put off any sort of take-off for as long as possible, WEAPON was out there and ready to attack, and that was how the Gelnika sank in the game.

"Gelnika should be in the vicinity in two hours forty six minutes," Drix announced.

"Got it!" Ran made the announcement to the crew over the intercom of the ship and several minutes later Aeris entered the bridge, eyes wide.

"The Gelnika? What happened?" she demanded as she wove her hair into its customary braid.

"We had to move last night because it seems Shinra might have a means to track us."

Aeris's eyes widened and she glanced over to Kunsel for confirmation. He nodded grimly.

Taking a deep breath, I began to explain the situation and help her get caught up on what had happened while she slept.

Submarine

Sneaking out of Junon hadn't been difficult and now with a sub at their disposal evading Shinra's eyes was easier than ever. The only problem that any of them had with the sub was that it was still a lot slower than the airship was. Crossing the ocean to their location would take seven hours!

Barret growled lowly as he tore through the crates he and Cid had liberated from the Shinra submarine hangar. Thus far he had found a trumpet of some sort, the scales of a dragon/lizard, food, water, and some ammunition. Not a bad haul really though some of the items, namely the trumpet and scales, confused him since he didn't know what they were for.

"Anything we can use?" Red asked as he walked into the cargo bay.

Barret shrugged as he pulled out a package of food and a bottle of water. "Not much else here though we can definitely make use of these."

Red nodded then sniffed at the package of food. "I preferred being on the Highwind. The meat the cook provides might not be as good as a freshly hunted meal, but it beats this dried stuff."

"Beggars ain't choosers!" Barret replied as he tore open the package and took a bite. He chewed for a second then made a horrible face and spat into the package. "Stuffs rank!"

Red barely suppressed a laugh as Barret wrenched the bottle of water and took a large mouthful.

A loud shuffling from the door alerted them to the approach of another and moments later Zack stooped through the door. "Hey, thought you guys would be down here!"

Barret shrugged before reaching into the crate and yanking out another packet of food and tossing it the former SOLDIER. "Somethin' ya need?"

"Thanks, and I want to see that book we picked up from the skeleton," Zack replied as he tore open the pack.

"Why? Can't open it, tried that already."

"A book you can't open?" Zack looked intrigued as he pulled out a piece of the processed food and raised it to his mouth. "What goods that?"

"Don't know."

Zack shrugged then stuffed the ration into his mouth then made a face and spat it back into the pouch also. "Goddess, what is this?" he demanded as he looked over the package. "Barret, this stuff expired two years ago!"

Normal

Everyone was on deck and waiting by the time two hours had passed from the time Kunsel had received the call. Aeris, Yuffie, and I were on deck and ready to cast summons and spells while Kunsel took over the bridge. The crew, even the chocobo minder, were spread out along the side of the ship, all eyes turned to the sky as the Highwind hovered just off the ground.

Yuffie had gotten some sleep during the night so she was ready to go, Aeris was fully rested, and I had just downed three ethers, four cups of tea, and the bowl of oatmeal. Now staring out at the ocean I tried to think of what spells I could possibly use.

Given the location a water summons would be best but I didn't have any, if I did I would be trying to use it to construct my sword as soon as I could master it. What were water materia anyway? Technically Ice so Shiva could be included in that. We didn't have Typhoon yet and then there was Leviathan…

Turning, I studied Yuffie's bangle and shuriken. I hadn't seen her use Leviathan yet and I was pretty sure she had it. Seeing no red in either her bangle or shuriken, I thought of the summons I had available. Choco/Mog had been handed over to Aeris, I kept Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh, Cloud had Titan, Cid had Bahamut, I had Kjata and Neo Bahamut, Yuffie had Leviathan, and Aeris had Phoenix. I had a number of summons that would suit Yuffie better than me that I didn't use, maybe I could make a deal with her seeing as how she didn't even equip Leviathan.

"Hey Yuffie," I started. "Would you happen to have any summons? Something we might be able to use against the plane?"

Yuffie thought for a moment then pulled out a summon materia. "Yeah, I've got Leviathan right here!"

"Haven't you ever used that summon?"

The ninja shook her head in the negative. "It's… Well… I know that Leviathan is sacred to Wutai and a good summon but…"

"Doesn't feel right?" I offered, knowing exactly what she meant. Some materia just didn't agree with me in the least, it was hellish the one time that Kunsel let me try his Gravity materia during a slow time. I couldn't get the damn thing to work at all.

Yuffie groaned but nodded. "It's like Leviathan likes me fine but we're no right so we can't work together."

"May I see it?"

Yuffie shrugged then handed the materia to me and I felt the rush go through me the moment my fingers connected with the orb. It wasn't forced like Fire was for me and felt even more right than Shiva or even my Ice did.

"If I promised to give you the offspring when it's mastered, may I keep this?" My question must have caught Yuffie by surprise because I felt her jump a bit.

"Umm… I don't know, Leviathan is a pretty rare materia."

I reached into my own pack and pulled out Kjata and handed it to her. "That is a materia from the Ancient City. Let me hang on to Leviathan and you can have that as well as the new materia when Leviathan is mastered."

Yuffie's tone took a bit more of a business edge, obviously hoping to gain a few more materia in this exchange. "I'm still not sure, I mean come on, I had to defeat the entire Pagoda of my people single handed to gain that!"

"And I went with Aeris to a place where I knew an attack from Sephiroth and Jenova was quite likely and gained that."

Yuffie pursed her lips, obviously still less than happy. "Ah, come on! I know you have more materia than what you use!"

I laughed then pulled out Ifrit and offered the materia to her. Yuffie grinned broadly as she grabbed the materia.

"And remember, I get the new materia when Leviathan is mastered!" she reminded me as she bounced slightly and slotted the two materia into slots on her armlet or shuriken, gazed at them for a moment, then unequipped one and left the other. I simply slotted Leviathan into my current sword.

"Did you get any sleep?" Aeris asked as I focused back out on the sky.

It took a moment before I realized she was talking to me. "Uh… I might have gotten an hour or two when I nodded off at one point. Kunsel's likely on even less than me," a loud yawn reminded me once again that we were going to need to hurry; I needed to get some sleep, visit the weapons collector, then we'd all have to get going to Rocket Town after picking up everyone else and I wasn't sure how much time we had to accomplish all of this! Should I just forgo sleep for a while longer and tank up on enough caffeine and sugar to give the cookie monster a heart attack and go straight to try to get Great Gospel and try to have my hilt made?

"There it is!" Yuffie's yell caused me to jump as I stared out at the sky where she was pointing and sure enough there was a ship approaching at high speed. But it wasn't moving in a straight manner, it was dodging around like it was trying to avoid something.

I grabbed the phone to the bridge as quickly as I could. "Get us down! It's WEAPON!"

"What?" Kunsel demanded.

Yuffie yelled at the sight of the Gelnika's pursuer. "It's a WEAPON in the sea!"

I turned to see Emerald had indeed risen from the sea and was glad I had ordered for the ship to remain low to the ground as it began to fire one of its attacks at the ship. Gelnika did its best to dodge and avoid the attack but it must have been lucky to have avoided the blasting attacks up to this point as they were widely spread.

The Gelnika's wing and fuselage were struck and the plane began to lose altitude rapidly as we settled back on the ground. The plane struck the water hard and after a minute one of the doors was forced open and a single life raft floated out onto the water as the wounded plane began to sink. Emerald wasn't going to let them get away so easily though and it fired another laser attack at the helpless little raft. The raft exploded under the laser fire and distantly I heard the echoing cries through the Planet as the crew of the Gelnika died.