Chapter 7: Gold Saucer
Two six foots swords clashing in the desert. Two sets of long silver hair blowing in the with the gusts. Black capes and coats fluttering in the wind. The sight of materia blazing. Two clones duking it out. Training.
"You have improved."
"Thank you." Tyler said, slashing upwards at Sephiroth. Sephiroth easily dodged the blow and countered with a slash of his own. He caught Tyler under the chin and gave him a good sized cut. Tyler stumbled back, clutching his chin. Sephiroth swung his sword straight for Tyler's throat, stopping mere centimeters away.
"You are dead."
Tyler sighed and picked his Masamune up off the dusty desert floor. "I can't win."
"A journey is not made of only one step, or of two, or three, or four, but many steps. Some you have to take more than once. Some you can skip. But when your journey is over you will have traveled the path well."
Tyler just shook his head, wondering how come he had absolutely none of the philosphical insights Sephiroth had.
"You previous defeat to Cloud was a mere indication that your path has not yet been traveled, and that your journey is just beggining." Sephiroth looked at the sky. "Your day will come. Sooner or later, your day will come."
Tyler just nodded and began the long walk back to their home.
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Tifa watched as Cloud struggled to bake pancakes. She laughed as he tried to flip one, only to have it stick on the ceiling.
"Really Cloud, you sure you don't want any help."
"I'm doing just fine." He said jumping up and down, trying to unstick the pancake. Tifa giggled and watched his struggle to reach the pancake. Finally he gave up and went back to cooking the others.
"You really should flip those now."
"I don't need help." Cloud said, tifa just smirked.
After a few minutes Cloud finished his last pancake. "See these weren't so bad." He said, his mouth full of food.
"Yea, as long as you got past the burt taste, and the lack of sugar."
"Oh come on, they weren't THAT bad...were they?" But before Tifa could respond the stuck pancaked suddenly became unstuck. It fell right on Cloud's head as he finished swallowing his last bite. Tifa burst out laughing, and so did Cloud after he got the pancake out of hair.
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"Cloud, what do you think Sephiroth meant when he said he knew secrets about all of us, especially me?"
"I'm not to sure." Cloud whispered. "I wish I knew."
"Do you really think he knows something, maybe something we don't even know?"
"He could be bluffing, but maybe, just maybe he really does know something."
"Do you think that after Sephiroth and Tyler are gone we will live a normal life again?"
"Yea, we will. We'll settle down and have a family."
"A family? You mean like kids?"
"Well sure, why not?"
Tifa looked at him exasperated. "Oh Cloud..."
"Oh Tifa."
"Oh stop that." She tried to look mad at him, but couldn't pull it off. He pulled her in and kissed her.
"Good night Tifa."
"Good night Cloud." She said dreamily, wondering why his kiss always put her into a weird sense of happiness and total security. But she didn't dwell over the question for long, soon she was fast asleep.
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"I really don't think I should be training with you guys." Yuffie remarked.
"Cut the crap, thief." Barret replied gruffly, aiming his gun at one of the praying mantis like creatures. He shot at it three times, causing the bug to go limp and fall to the ground.
Cid jumped at another one slicing it through with his trident/spear type weapon. Yuffie just stood and watched.
"Come on Yuffie, use your materia or something." Cid yelled back over his shoulder.
A green glow appeared in the dark, damp forest. "OK...here goes..." A lightning bolt shot from the sky. It hit on of the bugs dead on. Bolt3 did the job on the little bug, but it also started the forest on fire.
"God Damn!! You always go doin' somethin' like this!" Barret yelled at her.
Yuffie wasn't paying attention though. She was running away from the fire already.
"Come on Cid, we gotta put this thing out." Barret took out an ice materia and began casting ice3 on the raging fire.
After a while the fire was put out and Yuffie was found. The group decided that was enough training for the day. So they all headed back to the Highwind.
"Yuffie you little #$%@#!! When we say use your materia we don't mean set the whole damn forest on fire!!" Barret was furious.
"Well maybe you should have told me that before I used my Bolt materia."
"You should know that Yuffie." Cid was a bit more calm then Barret, but still angry.
"Well I did. I...I..I was just seein if you guys could put it out." She patched together the make shift lie.
"You really expect me to believe that?"
"Why wouldn't you?" She replied to Cid's question with a question of her own.
"Come on Yuffie, we know you better than that."
At this Yuffie began to cry and ran off into her cabin in the airship. Cid looked perplexed but Barret just smiled. "Serves her right, she coulda killed us all."
"Come on Barret, it was a simple mistake. She doesn't deserve anything."
Barret grumbled something and went off to his own cabin, having no response to Cid's well placed comment.
Cid watched as everyone left and wondered when they were going to be leaving again. They had been searching for Sephiroth's hideout. Training whenever they stopped. Always training for the big moment when the finally found sephiroth again.
He got off the airship and went to look for some more monsters, wanting to train on his own for a while.
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This time Tifa was out training with Cloud, even though she wasn't at quite the level of training he was. "Cloud we've been out here for over 12 hours. Don't you think it's time we got back to the Highwind?"
"Just a little longer." He said, his breathing rapid.
"Cloud, we've trained all we can for the day. We've probably wiped out the entire monster population of this whole forest." Tifa said through gasps of air.
Cloud looked around for a minute. He saw that she was probably right. It had taken over 20 minutes just to find the last monster. And now he didn't see anything in sight. "Alright. We'll go back now." He sheathed his sword and held Tifa's hand as they walked back to the giant airship.
"'Bout time you two love birds made it back." Barret greeted the two.
"We weren't gone that long Barret." Cloud said.
"You missed breakfast lunch and dinner. And you've almost missed your midnight snack. What were you two doin in the forest."
"Training." They said at the same time.
Barret laughed, his deep bass causing little tremors aboard the ship.
"What's going on?" Yuffie said sleepily. She looked like she had been woken by Barret's laugh, and didn't seem to happy. "Oh Hiya Cloud! You guys were gone for so long, we were getting worried, but Barret just said that you two-"
"Were having fun training." Barret interupted Yuffie.
"No you said they were-"
"Training." His voice dropped to an even lower bass, cutting Yuffie off for the last time. She just smiled meekly and went back into her cabin.
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other. "Well we better go to bed too." Cloud said for both of them. They walked to their cabin and closed the door behind them.
"Well we know what Barret thinks we do out in the forest." Tifa giggled as she said it.
"Yea, I bet he wasn't expecting Yuffie to tell us though."
"I hope they're OK while we're gone." Her voice got serious.
"I'm sure they are. Maybe a skirmish or two, but they're fine."
"So when will Cait, Red, and Vincent be joining us?"
"They said they'd be ready when we went to the Gold Saucer to pick them all up."
"Why the Gold Saucer?"
"I'm not to sure, but Reeve told me he would use Cait Sith and get everyone there."
"Well I just hope we can trust Reeve again."
"Me too." Cloud sighed. "If we can't then we'll be three people short when we go to face Tyler and Sephiroth."
"We won't need them if you keep training like this." She smiled at him, trying to ease his tension and stress.
He smiled back.
"We should get some sleep for the night." She said.
"Yea, and tomarro we'll take a break for a while. Just relax and have some fun. And when we go to the Gold Saucer we'll be able to take a break and have some fun."
Tifa moved closer to Cloud, "But we can have some fun now."
Cloud smiled, but then his face turned to one of worry. He smelled his armpits and made a not-to-often seen face. Tifa laughed as Cloud hurried to the shower.
She went over and lay down in the bed, her mind once again going over what Sephiroth had said. What could he possibly know about me? Her thoughts raced and her mind wandered. Cloud will make it all better. He's still the hero he promised he would be. And he rescuing me all the time, rescuing me from my own mind.
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Cait Sith paced back and forth along the main entrance. Where are they? He thought desperatly, looking at the cat watch he had brought along. Humph. Already and hour late. Oh well Cloud said he wouldn't be here for a few more days. Suddenly the lift began to move. Maybe that's them!
The familiar tune played in the back ground as Red and Vincent walked from the lift. The comotion of the place was disliked by both of the new arrivals. They wondered again why Reeve had chosen this place. Was it because the huge mog fit in most here? Neither of them carred to wonder any farther. They looked at each other, knowing well that the other was thinking the same as himself.
Cait watched the two philisophical people got off the lift.
"Thanks for coming you guys. Cloud should be here any time now." He lied. Red and Vincent both knew he was.
"Where will we be staying for the night." Vincent wondered to the mog.
"Quicker then I had thought." Cait mumbled. "You'll be staying in that on spooky hotel."
"And where will you be sleeping?" Red asked.
"This body just needs a corner to stay in for the night that's all."
"SO you will be staying with us." It was a statment not a question.
"Bingo."
"Why has Cloud called upon us?"
"Sephiroth is back and a new clone has emerged. His name is Tyler." Red explained to the two.
"Sephiroth is alive?" Vincent asked, a short glimpse of surprise crossing his face.
"And this new clone seems to be almost exactly like him."
Cait moaned at the news. "Oh no, not again."
They finished their converstation on the way to their hotel room. And as they all got settled in for the night they wondered if Cloud was even alive. The two horrors that had been released on the world had a target. And that target was Cloud. Two Sephiroths against Cloud. The odds were heavily in the favor of Sephiroth.
Odd... Vincent thought. Why didn't Cloud just pick us up? It might not have been as fast, but to make us put up with Cait Sith. Interesting.
Red curled up in the corner opposite Cait. I am Nanaki. I can fight Sephiroth yet I can not put up with a stuffed mog. The twists of fate that the Planet can turn on you are amazing. He thought. I wonder why Cloud would trust him again. Maybe Cait is setting us up. Maybe Cloud never really did contact him. Or maybe my thoughts are getting the best of me, and I am letting my mind wander.
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Cait's eyes closed as Reeve shut him down for the night. A dark shadow appeared behind him in his 64th office floor in the Shinra building. After the building had been damaged by Meteor it seemed to have a spook effect on everyone.
He spun arround in his chair, but saw no one there. Hummm, getting the spooks are we. He thought. Well I am sleeping in a nightmare hotel. He thought humorously.
Suddenly he felt the presence again. He turned around this time to see a shadowy figure. The figure walked through the door and Reeve gasped. No. It couldn't be.
"Hello Reeve. Nice to see you still work here."
(A little longer than the other chapters, R&R. And oh yea, it's not Sephiroth.)
Two six foots swords clashing in the desert. Two sets of long silver hair blowing in the with the gusts. Black capes and coats fluttering in the wind. The sight of materia blazing. Two clones duking it out. Training.
"You have improved."
"Thank you." Tyler said, slashing upwards at Sephiroth. Sephiroth easily dodged the blow and countered with a slash of his own. He caught Tyler under the chin and gave him a good sized cut. Tyler stumbled back, clutching his chin. Sephiroth swung his sword straight for Tyler's throat, stopping mere centimeters away.
"You are dead."
Tyler sighed and picked his Masamune up off the dusty desert floor. "I can't win."
"A journey is not made of only one step, or of two, or three, or four, but many steps. Some you have to take more than once. Some you can skip. But when your journey is over you will have traveled the path well."
Tyler just shook his head, wondering how come he had absolutely none of the philosphical insights Sephiroth had.
"You previous defeat to Cloud was a mere indication that your path has not yet been traveled, and that your journey is just beggining." Sephiroth looked at the sky. "Your day will come. Sooner or later, your day will come."
Tyler just nodded and began the long walk back to their home.
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Tifa watched as Cloud struggled to bake pancakes. She laughed as he tried to flip one, only to have it stick on the ceiling.
"Really Cloud, you sure you don't want any help."
"I'm doing just fine." He said jumping up and down, trying to unstick the pancake. Tifa giggled and watched his struggle to reach the pancake. Finally he gave up and went back to cooking the others.
"You really should flip those now."
"I don't need help." Cloud said, tifa just smirked.
After a few minutes Cloud finished his last pancake. "See these weren't so bad." He said, his mouth full of food.
"Yea, as long as you got past the burt taste, and the lack of sugar."
"Oh come on, they weren't THAT bad...were they?" But before Tifa could respond the stuck pancaked suddenly became unstuck. It fell right on Cloud's head as he finished swallowing his last bite. Tifa burst out laughing, and so did Cloud after he got the pancake out of hair.
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"Cloud, what do you think Sephiroth meant when he said he knew secrets about all of us, especially me?"
"I'm not to sure." Cloud whispered. "I wish I knew."
"Do you really think he knows something, maybe something we don't even know?"
"He could be bluffing, but maybe, just maybe he really does know something."
"Do you think that after Sephiroth and Tyler are gone we will live a normal life again?"
"Yea, we will. We'll settle down and have a family."
"A family? You mean like kids?"
"Well sure, why not?"
Tifa looked at him exasperated. "Oh Cloud..."
"Oh Tifa."
"Oh stop that." She tried to look mad at him, but couldn't pull it off. He pulled her in and kissed her.
"Good night Tifa."
"Good night Cloud." She said dreamily, wondering why his kiss always put her into a weird sense of happiness and total security. But she didn't dwell over the question for long, soon she was fast asleep.
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"I really don't think I should be training with you guys." Yuffie remarked.
"Cut the crap, thief." Barret replied gruffly, aiming his gun at one of the praying mantis like creatures. He shot at it three times, causing the bug to go limp and fall to the ground.
Cid jumped at another one slicing it through with his trident/spear type weapon. Yuffie just stood and watched.
"Come on Yuffie, use your materia or something." Cid yelled back over his shoulder.
A green glow appeared in the dark, damp forest. "OK...here goes..." A lightning bolt shot from the sky. It hit on of the bugs dead on. Bolt3 did the job on the little bug, but it also started the forest on fire.
"God Damn!! You always go doin' somethin' like this!" Barret yelled at her.
Yuffie wasn't paying attention though. She was running away from the fire already.
"Come on Cid, we gotta put this thing out." Barret took out an ice materia and began casting ice3 on the raging fire.
After a while the fire was put out and Yuffie was found. The group decided that was enough training for the day. So they all headed back to the Highwind.
"Yuffie you little #$%@#!! When we say use your materia we don't mean set the whole damn forest on fire!!" Barret was furious.
"Well maybe you should have told me that before I used my Bolt materia."
"You should know that Yuffie." Cid was a bit more calm then Barret, but still angry.
"Well I did. I...I..I was just seein if you guys could put it out." She patched together the make shift lie.
"You really expect me to believe that?"
"Why wouldn't you?" She replied to Cid's question with a question of her own.
"Come on Yuffie, we know you better than that."
At this Yuffie began to cry and ran off into her cabin in the airship. Cid looked perplexed but Barret just smiled. "Serves her right, she coulda killed us all."
"Come on Barret, it was a simple mistake. She doesn't deserve anything."
Barret grumbled something and went off to his own cabin, having no response to Cid's well placed comment.
Cid watched as everyone left and wondered when they were going to be leaving again. They had been searching for Sephiroth's hideout. Training whenever they stopped. Always training for the big moment when the finally found sephiroth again.
He got off the airship and went to look for some more monsters, wanting to train on his own for a while.
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This time Tifa was out training with Cloud, even though she wasn't at quite the level of training he was. "Cloud we've been out here for over 12 hours. Don't you think it's time we got back to the Highwind?"
"Just a little longer." He said, his breathing rapid.
"Cloud, we've trained all we can for the day. We've probably wiped out the entire monster population of this whole forest." Tifa said through gasps of air.
Cloud looked around for a minute. He saw that she was probably right. It had taken over 20 minutes just to find the last monster. And now he didn't see anything in sight. "Alright. We'll go back now." He sheathed his sword and held Tifa's hand as they walked back to the giant airship.
"'Bout time you two love birds made it back." Barret greeted the two.
"We weren't gone that long Barret." Cloud said.
"You missed breakfast lunch and dinner. And you've almost missed your midnight snack. What were you two doin in the forest."
"Training." They said at the same time.
Barret laughed, his deep bass causing little tremors aboard the ship.
"What's going on?" Yuffie said sleepily. She looked like she had been woken by Barret's laugh, and didn't seem to happy. "Oh Hiya Cloud! You guys were gone for so long, we were getting worried, but Barret just said that you two-"
"Were having fun training." Barret interupted Yuffie.
"No you said they were-"
"Training." His voice dropped to an even lower bass, cutting Yuffie off for the last time. She just smiled meekly and went back into her cabin.
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other. "Well we better go to bed too." Cloud said for both of them. They walked to their cabin and closed the door behind them.
"Well we know what Barret thinks we do out in the forest." Tifa giggled as she said it.
"Yea, I bet he wasn't expecting Yuffie to tell us though."
"I hope they're OK while we're gone." Her voice got serious.
"I'm sure they are. Maybe a skirmish or two, but they're fine."
"So when will Cait, Red, and Vincent be joining us?"
"They said they'd be ready when we went to the Gold Saucer to pick them all up."
"Why the Gold Saucer?"
"I'm not to sure, but Reeve told me he would use Cait Sith and get everyone there."
"Well I just hope we can trust Reeve again."
"Me too." Cloud sighed. "If we can't then we'll be three people short when we go to face Tyler and Sephiroth."
"We won't need them if you keep training like this." She smiled at him, trying to ease his tension and stress.
He smiled back.
"We should get some sleep for the night." She said.
"Yea, and tomarro we'll take a break for a while. Just relax and have some fun. And when we go to the Gold Saucer we'll be able to take a break and have some fun."
Tifa moved closer to Cloud, "But we can have some fun now."
Cloud smiled, but then his face turned to one of worry. He smelled his armpits and made a not-to-often seen face. Tifa laughed as Cloud hurried to the shower.
She went over and lay down in the bed, her mind once again going over what Sephiroth had said. What could he possibly know about me? Her thoughts raced and her mind wandered. Cloud will make it all better. He's still the hero he promised he would be. And he rescuing me all the time, rescuing me from my own mind.
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Cait Sith paced back and forth along the main entrance. Where are they? He thought desperatly, looking at the cat watch he had brought along. Humph. Already and hour late. Oh well Cloud said he wouldn't be here for a few more days. Suddenly the lift began to move. Maybe that's them!
The familiar tune played in the back ground as Red and Vincent walked from the lift. The comotion of the place was disliked by both of the new arrivals. They wondered again why Reeve had chosen this place. Was it because the huge mog fit in most here? Neither of them carred to wonder any farther. They looked at each other, knowing well that the other was thinking the same as himself.
Cait watched the two philisophical people got off the lift.
"Thanks for coming you guys. Cloud should be here any time now." He lied. Red and Vincent both knew he was.
"Where will we be staying for the night." Vincent wondered to the mog.
"Quicker then I had thought." Cait mumbled. "You'll be staying in that on spooky hotel."
"And where will you be sleeping?" Red asked.
"This body just needs a corner to stay in for the night that's all."
"SO you will be staying with us." It was a statment not a question.
"Bingo."
"Why has Cloud called upon us?"
"Sephiroth is back and a new clone has emerged. His name is Tyler." Red explained to the two.
"Sephiroth is alive?" Vincent asked, a short glimpse of surprise crossing his face.
"And this new clone seems to be almost exactly like him."
Cait moaned at the news. "Oh no, not again."
They finished their converstation on the way to their hotel room. And as they all got settled in for the night they wondered if Cloud was even alive. The two horrors that had been released on the world had a target. And that target was Cloud. Two Sephiroths against Cloud. The odds were heavily in the favor of Sephiroth.
Odd... Vincent thought. Why didn't Cloud just pick us up? It might not have been as fast, but to make us put up with Cait Sith. Interesting.
Red curled up in the corner opposite Cait. I am Nanaki. I can fight Sephiroth yet I can not put up with a stuffed mog. The twists of fate that the Planet can turn on you are amazing. He thought. I wonder why Cloud would trust him again. Maybe Cait is setting us up. Maybe Cloud never really did contact him. Or maybe my thoughts are getting the best of me, and I am letting my mind wander.
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Cait's eyes closed as Reeve shut him down for the night. A dark shadow appeared behind him in his 64th office floor in the Shinra building. After the building had been damaged by Meteor it seemed to have a spook effect on everyone.
He spun arround in his chair, but saw no one there. Hummm, getting the spooks are we. He thought. Well I am sleeping in a nightmare hotel. He thought humorously.
Suddenly he felt the presence again. He turned around this time to see a shadowy figure. The figure walked through the door and Reeve gasped. No. It couldn't be.
"Hello Reeve. Nice to see you still work here."
(A little longer than the other chapters, R&R. And oh yea, it's not Sephiroth.)