Author's Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Bros or any of the characters involved in it. I am earning no profit from this story, other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others! I hope you all enjoy reading it!
Cloud sighed to himself as he was carried away from Midgar, turning around and staring after the glove. Being in a tube like this again was instinctively alarming, and he had to fight the urge to bang on the glass. It wouldn't yield to him. No way it would. Not after the impossibly strong steel of those robots.
Without any other course of action, Cloud resolved to just wait until he was let out. Then he could have another chance to beat up the stupid glove. This time without the kids around as an emotional liability. He sat down, leaning against the cold glass and wincing as his evidently bruised ribs protested his motion. He glanced at the injury, noting that most of his skin along his torso was quickly turning purple and blue. Without his sword, he suddenly lacked his healing materia. He still had a lightning and ice materia equipped, but neither of those would help him heal this wound. Jenova might help a bit, but she seemed to mostly specialize in stab wounds. Unable to really help himself, he just leaned his head back against his cage and sighed heavily, running his hands through his hair anxiously.
What a mess. Again. Why did he always have to get caught up in stuff like this? He wasn't a SOLDIER. He wasn't even a mercenary anymore. He was just… a delivery boy. First that original disaster with Sephiroth and Meteor. Then that second ordeal with geostigma and Kadaj. And finally, whatever was going on here. Cloud hated to leave Tifa like this again. She didn't deserve to go through this. He'd left her hanging enough times. Mako poisoning from falling into the Lifestream was probably the worst of those times. But this just might top that. Depending on how long he was gone.
Well, Cloud didn't intend to be gone for long. As soon as that glove let him out again, it was in for the full force of his Limit Break. Even without a sword, his Limit was still to be feared. The second that door opened, Cloud was beating that glove and heading home.
Unfortunately, he had to wait a long time for that to happen. The glove and its posse of robots floated leisurely through the air in one direction, so Cloud assumed they had a destination, but the surrounding sky never seemed to change much. The only thing really of interest was that ever since entering that portal, the clouds had been beneath his cage, which meant he was really, really high up. He wasn't sure how he could still breathe all the way up here, but he supposed it was just one less problem to worry about. Getting down from here might be trouble, though. Cloud might be able to take a lot of heavy hits, and he'd fallen pretty far before and been fine, but how far up were they? How much could his body take? He wasn't sure. He'd never fallen through the cloud layer before. But he'd have to if he wanted to get back home.
His tentative planning was terminated only a few minutes later. On the edge of the horizon appeared to be a building. It was huge, bigger than most singular buildings in the slums of Midgar. And it wasn't tall like the Shinra building. It was a sprawling property that appeared to be vaguely four or five stories high from this distance, and yet it encompassed an enormous chunk of floating land with still a large yard out front equipped with both grass fields and concrete areas. Cloud had never seen anything like this mostly brown building. It was the largest mansion he'd ever seen, beating out the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim by a longshot. But maybe this place didn't have anything underground. Or perhaps it did. The rocky foundation suspended in the sky certainly extended low enough for this place to have at least one floor underground. The glove floated directly towards this mansion, so Cloud assumed that was their destination.
As they got closer, Cloud realized there were people standing out in the front yard. Not just people. Animals too. People and animals the likes of which Cloud had never seen before. The people wore an appalling mixture of clothes. Some wore ornate armor, long cloaks, and wielded thin swords. Others wore tight bodysuits and had guns equipped on their belts. Still more wore dresses and appeared to be unarmed. Cloud spotted children too; some were wearing green tunics, others winter clothes and a couple were wearing normal T-shirts and shorts. The more Cloud looked around the more variety he spotted. A boy with wings. A woman with green hair. A boy with blonde hair and a flat red blade that actually compared in size to the Buster Sword. And the animals were even more strange. He saw a thin purple dragon. A towering monster with a green, spiky shell and a thick yellow hide. A large mouse with a lightning-shaped tail and red cheeks. The creatures too were beyond his wildest imaginings. What was this place? Who were all these people and creatures? What did they have to do with the glove?
Though Cloud couldn't hear it, he gathered that there was much nervous mumbling going on amongst the crowd as he approached. Neighbors leaned and whispered into each other's ears. One young woman was comforting a small boy in green that was crying into her dress. The other boy in green had his eyes fixated on Cloud and rage sparking in his eyes. All the people here seemed in some way upset. Most seemed morose. Others seemed furious. Nobody was happy.
Cloud's cage was set down at the edge of the yard, and he took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. He wasn't sure if he'd end up fighting all these other people too, but if they pitted themselves against him, that was their fault. Blue flames danced around his body as he pulled forth the power of his Limit, his anger reaching its breaking point and power flooding his body. The crowd now had all eyes on him, intrigue glittering in their gazes instead of sadness.
"Still fighting, hmm?" the glove laughed, hovering just before his locked cage. "Give up, SOLDIER boy. You're my puppet to play with now."
Cloud seethed, but the insults only gave him more fuel for his fire. Blue tinged his vision, and he was almost shaking just waiting for that door to open.
More robots heaved open the doors to the mansion from the inside. A third exited the building, carrying on its shoulders an elaborate gun. The weapon was aimed straight at Cloud's chest. And only then did the glove snap, opening Cloud's cage. Cloud threw himself onto the floor, hissing as his bruise stretched painfully, but more importantly he hadn't been shot. The rainbow laser fired flew over his head and dissipated upon contact with the glass of his chamber. Cloud jumped to his feet and charged the glove, throwing himself into the air. The robots on the ground fired their lasers, but Cloud twisted his body as he ascended, flipping and rolling over or under the projectiles with ease. His impressive jump earned him a murmur of admiration from the spectators.
The glove wasn't that high up this time, so Cloud reached it no problem. He released the power of his Limit, his discolored eyes glowing blue. Even without a sword, he activated Omnislash, suspending himself in the air and ignoring gravity's pull through the strength of his own rage. The glove was trapped by blue flames, and the crowd down below cheered. The robots sensed true danger and ignited the jet engines on their undersides, flying to assist their commander. Cloud ignored them. He zipped around the glove, using his bare hands to try and tear it apart every time he passed it. Four or five times he flew under or over, dragging his fingers through its silky flesh and tearing it to pieces. The robots reached him, and he jumped from nothing higher up into the air. Sticking his right foot out, he flew downwards toward the ground. Crashing into the glove one final time, he smashed it into the grassy floor of the yard, dust exploding everywhere upon impact. The fire of his Limit sputtered out and he suddenly felt exhausted. His bruise was extremely aggravated from all that movement, and he rested a hand against his ribs.
Nonetheless, he stood up, dragging himself off the glove and staring at all the people who had watched his performance. Most were impressed. Others looked downright terrified. The boy in green who'd been furious before had a malicious grin on his face. The woman standing beside him was holding him back, clutching his right arm desperately. He was pulling against her hold as hard as he could.
The robots descended beside Cloud, and he raised his fists, prepared to take them down too. The glove rose from the floor, and despite Cloud's impressive display, it appeared unharmed. After all that, the only damage Cloud was rewarded with was one cut. One cut that leaked a thin trail of rainbow liquid. That was all he got for the full force of his Limit. He clenched his fists, feeling angry, but his energy had now abandoned him. His wound was sending spikes of pain through his torso. He felt exhausted. And...he felt defeated. The strongest attack he could muster, albeit it somewhat weakened by his lack of a blade, had minorly inconvenienced his captor. How was he supposed to fight against something like that? Even Sephiroth couldn't stand up to Omnislash. But this thing could. What exactly was this glove, and what did it want with him or these other people?
"Look out!" somebody screamed. Cloud whirled around. That gun from before had fired again. He hadn't been paying attention to it. The rainbow laser smashed into his stomach and he went flying backwards, colliding with the glass of his cage. His nerves were on fire, his fingers shook, and his blade fell from his hand. He raised his gaze to the robot that had fire its laser at him, glaring. Weak blue sparks flickered around his body. He lacked the strength to even activate his Limit, much less use it.
The glove approached his fallen form, shaking aside the rainbow blood irritably. "Naughty, naughty," it chided. "None of my prisoners are permitted to hurt me."
Cloud just focused on dragging himself to his feet, his ribs now feeling more broken than bruised. But he gripped the side of the chamber and pulled himself into a standing position. The crowd of people watched in silence. A couple were whispering to themselves. "Get up, get up," Cloud heard.
The glove did too. "Why bother getting up? You can hardly stand. And I'll just beat you down again. The first thing you need to understand here is that this is my world. My word is law. And you've already gone against it."
Cloud didn't care. He leaned heavily against the glass that was now smeared with his own blood. He glared up at the glove now, unable to find the strength to really resist any further.
"Goodnight, my newest puppet," the glove said, curling its fingers into a fist and hovering over Cloud's head. "I'll let you out of your punishment this time. But if you're naughty again, I'll show you a new meaning of the word pain."
With that, the glove dropped from the sky. The crowd of people cried out in worry. Cloud couldn't get himself to move. His ribs stabbed him with every motion he made, and he failed to avoid the hard attack. The glove smashed into his head, and before it even hit the ground he was unconscious, pain radiating throughout his skull.