Just to note before the chapter starts, Battle Arena is a no smoking zone because of an incident several years ago involving hot ash and a monster's poison spray that turned out to also be flammable. Never did find enough of the combatant to bury...
Chapter Fifty-Four - Count Down Start
"You're sure you don't want any more materia?"
Kunsel rolled his eyes at Yuffie. "I can't bring in what I can't equip."
"But you picked all boring ones! Come on, at least pick a summon. I've only seen one so far!"
"Summoning takes too long, and... hey! Hands off!"
"You need an expert materia hunter to help you. What's all this stuff in your pockets?"
"Items that cast spells." Kunsel shoved Yuffie away after making sure she hadn't taken anything. "A lot of the penalties in the arena involve losing access to materia, so it's best not to depend on it."
"That stinks! And how do you know that?"
Kunsel pointed to the sign-in desk. "I read the rules. You should try it sometime."
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him as he ran up the steps to the arena.
Just before Kunsel reached the door, Zack ran up to him. "We got seats, so we'll be cheering you on."
"No. No way. If I'm going to humiliate myself, I'd rather do it in front of strangers than friends."
Zack just laughed. "You aren't going to humiliate yourself. Come on, you're SOLDIER, how ha-"
"Don't. Don't say it."
"Okay, okay." Zack brought his hands up in defense. "Good luck!"
*7*7*
"Sir. E-excuse me, sir."
Tseng turned his head only just enough to see the trooper out the corner of his eye. One of the troopers assigned to make sure Hojo stayed in his quarters. Not a good sign.
"What are you doing away from your post?"
"I-I'm off duty, sir, but I was told to find you and say that Professor Hojo has been demanding to see you for the last two days." The poor trooper looked like he was about to make like a rabbit. Not that anyone (okay, maybe a few) could blame him, being essentially stuck between a mad man and a Turk.
Tseng's frown didn't help matters any. "I'm busy, and he has no authority to demand anything."
"B-but he... I... Y-yes, sir. Sorry for bothering you, sir."
Despite his response, Tseng was tempted to visit Hojo. What reason would Hojo have to demand his presence? There wasn't anything to gloat over, as far as he knew. Perhaps he wanted an update on his 'escaped samples.' Or demand that he be given 'proper' accommodations again. Whatever the reason, it would be an opportunity to get more information from Hojo. Not that the former executive was likely to cooperate, but Tseng did have experience with interrogation.
Hojo certainly looked like he would be uncooperative when Tseng stepped into the room. He glared at the Turk over his glasses. "So you finally showed yourself. You better have good news to justify keeping me waiting."
"I might."
"You might?" Hojo's eyes narrowed ever further. "So you have news but you don't know if I'd consider it good. Or is this one of your clumsy attempts to gain information from me?"
"Neither. Whatever news I have is for you to make of what you will. Otherwise, I am simply here to ensure ShinRa's interests."
"Is that so? If that is your purpose, then you should assign me some better facilities. I cannot conduct my experiments in these surroundings."
"Perhaps at a later date. Right now, I would think you'd be more interested in the behavior of your specimens."
This piqued Hojo's interest. "Oh? You've found them, then?"
"There have been encounters." Tseng motioned to a small table with a couple of chairs. "I admit to some curiosity as to what exactly you did with them."
"I doubt you'd understand the..."
"Try me." Tseng allowed an eyebrow to raise slightly. "Part of my duty as a Turk is gathering and interpreting information. Think of it as a test of my abilities."
Hojo chuckled, a toned down version of his customary cackle. "You think I'd consider you as a specimen? Don't flatter yourself. Still, perhaps it will serve as an interesting diversion. First, I want to hear what you've observed of my specimens."
*7*7*
"Kunsel isn't going to be happy that we're here." Aerith's repeated reminder did nothing to stir Zack, or anyone else, from their seats.
Cid chomped on an unlit cigarette in defiance of the 'no smoking' rule of the arena. "Kid needs to lighten up. He's doin' fine."
"But didn't they poison him at the start of this round?" Tifa craned her neck, trying to see around a particularly tall spectator.
"He doesn't seem to be poisoned." Zack leaned forward. "He's probably wearing a star pendant or something."
"This is boring! He's just running around poking at that whateveritis."
"Dual horn," several voices informed her.
"Round two victory to guest fighter. Round three starting with confiscation of any and all summon materia."
Zack's elbow met Yuffie's tiny ribs. "Good thing Kunsel didn't take your advise, huh?"
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to the fight.
Or what was supposed to be a fight. Between shouts of "What's he doing?" various expletives, and roaring laughter, Aerith again suggested that Kunsel wouldn't like them being there.
*7*7*
The penalties hadn't been too bad at that point. Kunsel figured he could easily last another round or two.
Until he caught sight of his next opponents.
Pleasedon'ttouchmepleasedon'ttouchmepleasedon'ttouchme...
He was starting to wish he had picked a couple offensive materia. Those frogs where hard to hit. Hard to evade, too, in such a confined space. He could have jumped up and grabbed the chain fence between the arena and the spectators, but then he'd forfeit. Somehow, he didn't think Dio would be entertained by that.
Not that he liked the show he was putting on by running away from a pair of frogs. The crowd liked it, but that wasn't the point. He was SOLDIER.
One frog hopped dangerously close to Kunsel's boot as he dug around in his pockets. He should have reorganized after Yuffie pawed through them. Skipping backwards away from his amphibian opponents, he finally pulled out a small cylinder with the Wutanese characters for 'lightning' emblazoned along its length.
Kunsel threw the cylinder into the center of the arena. It broke open, releasing shards of electricity that arched through the air and flash cooked the frogs.
A small screen flashed the words "Do you wish to continue?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Round three victory to guest fighter. Round four starting with limit placed on magic casting."
*7*7*
Tseng quickly came to the conclusion that he should have had Hojo talk first, then update him on the 'specimens.' The cackling was bad enough without having to interpret the rambling fragments of thought that came out in between. All he could do was listen and try to grab hold of something (anything) to regain control.
"Fascinating. Truly fascinating. Of course, I had Specimen Z pegged as a failure from the start. Though I thought the same of Specimen C, didn't I? Yes. Yes. There was no use for a specimen that couldn't move on its own. Though both retaining a human form is remarkable."
That was it. "Wait a moment. You were not expecting them to remain human?"
Hojo's cackle came to an abrupt end as he regarded Tseng through his glasses. "You should listen more carefully. I said they retained human forms. I never said anything about them being human."
"My apologies." Tseng bowed his head, effectively hiding any trace of emotion that might have crept into his features. "Is it safe to assume that they are not human?"
Hojo waved him off. "Obviously. Even an imbecile could deduce that much."
For a moment, Tseng considered flattery, but only for a moment. Hojo was paranoid enough without trying something that obvious. "Just making sure. After all, if they are not human, then what are they?"
That started Hojo cackling again. "Fragments of Calamity. A stray bit of research." The cackling exploded. "Better to ask what they were before! How did they survive! Years wasted! Find them! Bring them to me! I must know! I will know!"
*7*7*
Zack's grin was way too wide when the group reunited outside of Battle Square. Kunsel put the keystone in his pocket so he could properly cross his arms.
"You watched."
"Sorry." Zack looked anything but apologetic. "But it was a great show! Man, watching you running around trying to dodge those frogs. And then at the end, when the tonberry appeared... you should've seen the look on your face!"
Well, at least most of the group looked sorry. And, honestly, who could stay mad at Zack? The fight with the touch mes had been the worst (for his pride), anyway. "Fine. We have the keystone, so we should get going."
"Yeah, 'bout that." Cid strode up the steps from the station. "Just been there. The tram's out."
Barret frowned. "So we jes wait 'til it comes back. What's the problem?"
"Not that kinda 'out,' ya idjit! I mean it's broke! We're gonna haveta spend the night."
Aerith intervened before Barret could throttle Cid, or Zack and Tifa could insist that they find some way of leaving. "That doesn't sound too bad. We all need a good night's sleep if we're going to look for Cloud."
"I doubt we'll get that here," Tifa murmured.
"Oh, it'll be fine. These things happen." Cait popped up from seemingly nowhere and Kunsel made a mental note to ask Zack if Cait had been with them the whole time. "The people here know me, so ye won't have to pay, either. Follow me!"
*7*7*
"I'm so sorry about this." The guy in the corpse suit Tifa had seen at the reception desk before was replaced by a young woman who seemed to find it necessary to apologize to everyone she gave a room key to. "The tram should be up and running in the morning."
Somehow, the poor replacement receptionist became even more apologetic as Zack and Aerith approached the desk.
"I'm so sorry! I can offer you the honeymoon suite if you like."
Zack's smile stayed even as his eyes widened. "Yeah. I mean, no, well, yeah, I'd like that, I... uh..."
"Zack." Kunsel frowned and a look Aerith couldn't identify passed between the two SOLDIERs.
"Right. Sorry. Just three normal rooms is fine."
And Aerith couldn't help but wonder what that was all about.
*7*7*
Cait snuggled into one of the plush cushions in the Haunted Inn's lounge. The team had taken it over since none of their rooms were large enough to fit everyone without a fight breaking out. "Ah, this is nice. We haven't been all together and inside for a while, huh? I'm rather curious as to what all this is about. Seeing as I'm fairly new, I don't know all the details."
"Yeah. What the hell is all this?" Cid dropped into one of the chairs.
Zack pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not going to have to tell the whole story again, am I?"
Kunsel smiled. "I'll do it. Okay, in brief, Sephiroth went nuts about five years ago. We thought he was dead, but it seems he managed to survive falling into a reactor core. Don't ask how. He killed President Shinra-"
"Hey! Hold on, the news said it was AVALANCHE."
Barret glared at Cid. "They're lyin'! Not that I wouldn't've minded a chance ta do it m'self!"
Cid jumped out of his chair. "You're AVALANCHE? Why ya li'l..."
"Different group!" Kunsel pushed the two near-combatants apart. "Seriously, we need a new name." He waited until Barret and Cid returned to their seats before continuing. "Anyway, we've been following what little leads we have trying to find Sephiroth and stop him from doing whatever it is he's trying to do."
"Why'd ya wanna do that? Seems to me ya both gotta beef against ShinRa."
Kunsel raised a finger. "One, because his particular brand of crazy seems to involve torching small towns. And two," Kunsel raise a second finger, "what little he's said to us seems to indicate that he has a grudge against humanity in general, not just ShinRa."
Cid muttered something and leaned back in his chair.
"ShinRa seems to think Sephiroth is trying to get into the Temple of the Ancients." Kunsel shrugged. "Why, I have no idea."
"Perhaps because of the Promised Land?" Aerith looked around the room then down at her hands.
"ShinRa thinks it's a land rich in mako, but I'm not sure that's true."
Cid took a long drag on his cigarette. "So ShinRa's chasin' after some legend and they think Sephiroth's tryin' to get it too?"
Aerith nodded. "Something like that. The Promised Land... It's hard to explain. It's something you search for until you feel it. Like you just know, this is the Promised Land."
"Can you feel it?" Zack leaned toward her so he could take her hand.
She smiled at him. "Yes. I think so."
Kunsel cleared his throat. "One other thing. Dio told me that a guy in a black cloak was asking about black materia. I took a mythology class once and remember that being mentioned. Something about 'ultimate destructive magic.'"
"One of those creepy zombie guys was here?" Yuffie curled up her legs as if afraid one would jump out from under her chair. "Just how many of them are there?"
"Dunno. I did notice a number tattoo on one of them, though."
Zack sat up. "What number?"
"Two, I think. Why?"
Zack and Aerith looked at each other. "Could be the guy with mako poisoning from the market."
"Yes." Aerith turned her hand so she could hold his. "I'm not sure what number he had, though."
Nanaki's ears drooped. "...you know, of course... My tattoo is number 13."
"Yeah." Kunsel drew his eyebrows together. "How did you get it?"
"...Hojo put it on me." Nanaki looked away. "Everything else is just war scars, but the number was done by Hojo."
"Then there are at least twelve more?" Tifa looked like she was ready to follow Yuffie's lead.
"Possibly." Kunsel rubbed his forehead. "How long were you held captive, Nanaki?"
"About a year, I think. Why?"
"Because I don't know how you'd connect with the black cloaked guys. That set of experiments happened five years ago."
Tifa flinched. "Five years? Those men, who are they?"
"I haven't found any names yet."
For just a moment, Tifa seemed to curl in on herself. Then she was back to a semblance of normal.
Barret threw his arms in the air. "This's way too confusin' for me! I'm goin' to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow we can actu'lly do somethin'."
Kunsel waited until Barret stomped off before speaking. "It feels weird to say it, but I agree. We're all going to need our rest and there isn't much more we can do until tomorrow, anyway."
"Right!" Zack jumped up and bowed to Aerith. "May I have the pleasure of escorting you to your room?"
"Of course." Aerith looped her arm around Zack's. Together, they lead the way upstairs.
Yes, I'm missing the bit of dialog between Nanaki and Tifa where Nanaki worries that he might go nuts like those black cloak guys. It didn't seem necessary since Kunsel pointed out that Nanaki probably isn't connected to them. Anyway! The plot progresses! Slowly, but it progresses.
