Alrighty then. Sixth episode. Eleventh chapter and running. And now I have to make stuff up off
the top of my head because the game storyline is off. Oy vey. Let's hope I pull this
post-FF7 fic off... Oh, and I'm going to keep using dumb humor as much as possible, but,
well, those of you that don't want to read ANYTHING other than humor, you may not like
this all that much. I'm tossing in a lot so it has a bit of almost everything.
DISCLAIMER
Ok I don't own FF7 we get the point. Do I even have to keep posting this? *sigh*
Waste of space if you ask me.. I mean you all know we don't own this stuff we
write about..
((YMCA theme plays as the theme for the show/fanfic plays))
And now, we're into the SIXTH AND FINAL (NOT REALLY) EPISODE OF...'
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Red's Responsability
Everyone was standing outside Cid's place. Nanaki was licking the backsides of his
paws; Yuffie was happily sorting through her Materia (she had recently purchased a
high-level ALL materia from some nice man in Rocket Town); Vincent was polishing
his Death Penalty rifle, glancing at Yuffie every now and then; Cloud was talking with
Tifa, and started polishing his Ultima Weapon as he noticed many bloodstains of
different colors all over it - For a so-called Ultimate Weapon, you'd think it'd clean
itself, jeeze!; - Barret was loading up his arm/gun... thingie.. as Red and Cait
began discussing in a more serious tone than usual - Reeves was being himself
today, happy that he wasn't gonna die. Basically, they were horribly bored.
Suddenly, there was a loud BANG!!! from the alleyway beside Cid's place. Everyone
jumped up and looked at it warily, drawing their weapons and prepared to strike as
a hideous, mechanical noise drew near, when suddenly..
An old, beaten-down haywagon drove out of the alleyway. Cid peered out and waved.
"Sorry about the *^@%y ride, that woman in there won't let me borrow her car."
complained the pilot as he drove the haywagon around. Everyone sighed out of
relief and withdrew their weapons as the large cow-carrier (which had been cleaned
of any manuer and bad smell and filled with soft Curiel Greens, courtesy of the
Chocobo ranch for saving the Planet) slowed to a halt in front of them. Cid and Tifa went
up into the front seat beside Cid, while the others pulled a black unbreakable material
around the back wagonish part of it as a weather guard, leaving a slit open in the back
to climb in and out as the rest of the group hopped in; Vincent quickly found a patch of
Greens piled up to sit behind, away from the others; Yuffie sat on the other side, looking
around in awe; The rest sat around in random spots as Nanaki stood up, and began
taking out Materia they'd never found use for after buying it and never would,
and implanting it in several "posts" of Curiel Greens, illuminating the room with the soft
glow of Mako so they could see as the truck's engine fired up and took off with a start.
"I hate 'dis truck.." Barret complained as they hit a bump. Yuffie, however,
was rolling around in the grass and quite enjoying herself.
"What do you mean, you hate this truck? It's a great truck!" Yuffie said,
half-seriously and half-just to tick him off, which seemed to work as
Barret clutched his fist, irritated...
He stood up and ran towards Yuffie, who rolled out of the way as the truck hit
another bump and caused Barret to fall on his face.. Yuffie giggled as Nanaki,
Cait, and Barret (who stood up and scowled grudgingly before joining in on
Reeves&Red's conversation) talked together.
((hours later))
"Cloudie? Are we there yet?" Yuffie shouted from the back - She had gotten bored
and had came up with aggrivating nicknames for everyone in the group. Cloud turned
around and looked out of the back window of the driver's part of the wagon, and saw
Yuffie inches away from the windowless hole as the road got rougher. "We're in the
Cosmo Canyon lands, so we'll be there in no time." Cloud said, turning back around
and sitting down, rejoining the conversation between himself, Tifa, and Cid (who
occasionally swore at the mention of ShinRa).
After around fifteen minutes, the truck finally sputtered to a stop in front of
Cosmo Canyon's pathway that led up a small mountain and into cosmo canyon
itself. Everyone hopped out of the beaten-down truck and walked up the path, then
split up - Cloud and Tifa went with Red to visit with the Elders and set something up
while Barret and Cid went to the bar - Everyone else was just wandering the city.
Vincent walked up another flight of outdoor stairs then went inside the higher
floor, staring curiously at a large metal door at the end of it..
"WOW!! You just imported new Materia!?" gasped a voice inside one of the
shops. Vincent peeked to his right and walked into the shop where he heard the
voice out of curiosity, although he could already guess who it was.
It was the materia shop, but it was stocked full of glass cases containing
hundreds of glowing orbs of random types, anything from Time magic materia to
HP Plus and even some rare leveled-up materia such as a Thunder magic materia
that was MASTER-level - and very expensive, needless to say. At the front
counter, he saw a middle-aged man who was a bit unkempt, and in front of
the counter stood a young lady with short, raven hair. She looked about 14,
although Vincent knew she just looked two years younger than she was. She wore
a black halter and white shorts, and had some sort of armor surrounding her left
arm. On her back was strapped a shimmering shuriken-like blade that was roughly
the size of a small nightstand top, which had her collection of Materia orbs
equipped around the center of it. She turned around suddenly to look at the
Materia then stopped.
"Hey, Vinnie, what're you doin' up here?" she asked innocently. Vincent
growled silently - He hated it when she called him 'vinnie'..
"I was going to buy something, what else?" he said, a bit coldly as he turned
to one of the glassed-off cases and browsed through the purple orbs inside.
Yuffie shrugged - she was used to his 'charming' personality - and
then happily skipped over to the different shelves.
((some hours later..))
Everyone turned in for the night, all renting seperate rooms in the Inn.
Nanaki was the only one not with them - he was studying intensly in the
observatory. And in about seven hours, the sun shone through, illuminating
every room; There were no doors, after all. Yuffie was the first to jump
up ("I've gotta get to the Materia store!") - She had taken too long
browsing last night, but said she knew exactly what orb she wanted now.
She dashed down the steps two at a time, then felt into her pockets.
"Ohh, man, I don't have enough gil.." she sighed, before she saw Vincent
walking out the door... She skipped up to him happily and hugged him tight
from the front and looked up pitifully.
"No, you can't have any of my materia." Vincent said in advance.
"I wasn't going to ask you that!"
"Sure you weren't."
"Seriously! But um you sure have a lot of cash so I was wondering.."
"No, Yuffie. You can't borrow any money either."
"That's mean." she sighed, letting go. "But thanks anyway!" she
said happily, skipping towards the store. Vincent blinked, then suddenly
realized his pockets were much lighter than they had been...
An hour later, after everyone had eaten and gotten up good, they were
all standing under the welcome sign to the city. "It's been a great
experience helping you all." Nanaki said, bowing deeply. "I've learned
much from all of this. I won't forget any of you."
"Are you going to be able to come when we schedule a meeting?" Cloud
asked out of curiosity. Nanaki shook his head.
"It depends. If it's anytime soon, I can't make it. I still have much
to learn before I'm responsible enough to lead my people." he sighed. "But
once I've learned all that's required, I'll be more than glad to join you."
And so, everyone said their goodbyes, Yuffie, Tifa and Cait all hugging
the lion goodbye before walking down the stairs and back to the truck.
Cid, Cloud and Tifa hopped into the front as like last time, and
everyone that remained hopped back into the truck like they had been.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A Mysterious Storm..
"Sir, the test was a success." said a deep voice inside a dark
room aboard a large black skyship.
"And.. there's nothing to trace it back to us?" came a feminine voice from
nearby.
"No, ma'am.. Unfortunately, although we did target it to die out overseas,
I'm afraid it'll strike a large island before it dies down.."
"Those poor people." came a gruffer voice from the darkness of the unlit
meeting room, speaking in mock sympathy. "Stop worrying about the storm now
and make yourself useful. Get someone to repair the lights of this blasted
room for one.."
((Time: Noon))
((Place: CHocobo Farmlands))
The group had drove aboard the ferry to Junon, and then drove around all the
way to the Chocobo Ranch farmland. And now, the truck slowly came to a stop
outside the Chocobo Ranch building. Cloud, Yuffie, and Vincent hopped out -
Barret and Cait Sith were actually talking without fighting today, as Reeves
had given up on acting a fool to hide his identity by now, no matter how
fun it was to him. Cloud walked into the stables as the two kids ran up to
see him. "Hiya, mister!" shouted the little kiddies. Cloud waved.
"Whatcha need?"
"I need Icey&Rif, Billy. My friends here need a way to get to Wutai, and
those are the best River Chocobos I know of." The little girl skipped
merrily up to VIncent as 'Chocobo' Billy helped CLoud with Icey, the female
aqua-blue Chocobo, and Rif, the blue male Chocobo.
Vincent looked down at the little girl with annoyance. The little girl stared
back at him, not blinking.
"Are you a vampire, mister?" asked the girl innocently. Vincent scowled under
his cloak, even moreso as he heard giggling from the teenager behind him..
"Didja hear me, mister? I asked if you were a vampire." she asked again.
Vincent leaned down and whispered something into her ear, and the little girl
screamed and ran away. Yuffie looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
".. all I did was tell her I was a vampire." Vincent said, shrugging.
"That wasn't nice." Yuffie said mockingly as Cloud handed them both the leash-like
things for the Chocobos. Yuffie hugged everyone as they said their goodbyes and
then the two jumped up onto the ostrich-like creatures, riding off into the shallower
sea.
"So.. what's it like at your home town?" Vincent asked, actually starting a
conversation for once as the two rode alongside eachother down a shallow strip
of water across the ocean, scattered with islands.
"Ugh, it's so dull..." Yuffie sighed. "Nothing ever happens there anymore. Not to
mention we hardly have any imported materia, if any.."
"... I've heard the others talk about it.. they said it was peaceful and soothin-"
"Don't even start about that." Yuffie scolded. "It's boring! That's all there is
to it!"
In the early afternoon, they finally strode close to the town. "I just came to visit
my father.. to let him know I'm alright.. after that, we're leaving." Yuffie said in
a defiant tone as she dismounted the Chocobo and walked towards the town. Vincent jumped
off the side of Rif and reached to pet it with his left hand. The river chocobo
stepped back out of reach as it saw Vincent's golden claw that filled the lower half
of his left arm.. He sighed and hid his arm in his cloak, catching up to Yuffie, who was
already halfway to her father's house. He looked around the town in awe, although he made
sure no one saw how amazed he was with it..
Everyone they passed stared at Vincent. He ignored them; he'd gotten used to it by
now, after all the towns he was in with the others. There was a slight rumbling in
the distance as Yuffie walked into the large house that belonged to her father, Lord
Godo. He looked to his right and saw a storm cloud in the distance, and shrugged; There
hadn't been many thunderstorms lately, but they never bothered him. He breathed in the
pure air of Wutai before walking in after Yuffie. Even the inside of her house was
peaceful.. well, except for the yelling.
"What do you mean you didn't bring back any materia!?" shouted a deep, gruff, booming
voice from somewhere in the house. The vampyrish man sighed and walked over to Godo's
room where he and Yuffie were arguing. "Father, it's not like I didn't try!" yelled
Yuffie. "And besides, I stole just enough for myself!"
"Well, let me have it."
"No, it's mine."
"Yuffie, you said you would give any materia you stole from them to Wutai."
"Well I changed my mind. And if you're ugly about it you won't get so much as an
invitation to my wedding whenever I get married."
"If I don't say so you won't get married!"
"In two years you won't have a say so."
"I'm your father, and I don't care HOW old you get, I will ALWAYS have say so in
what you do with your life!"
"Then I'll run away and get aloped and only tell Cloud and the others about it." said
the thief, sticking her tongue out.
Godo growled and looked over at the door. "And who's that?" he said, pointing at
the doorway. "Your fiance?"
Vincent was about to say something when Yuffie blurted out "Yes he is." just to annoy
her father - And it worked.
"Grr.. YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER FREAK!" Godo yelled at Vince. He merely stared
at him with cold crimson eyes, hiding his annoyance at what was going on.
"Father, shut up!" Yuffie yelled.
"Who's going to make me, you?"
"If necisary! I kicked your tail once, I'll do it again!" Yuffie shouted, pulling out
her weapon.
"You had better not even try it, daughter. I was being easy on you then." he said
coldly. Vincent was getting increasingly annoyed at the argument..
"I've got enough Materia to wipe the floor with your-"
"Don't give me that sass, young lady! Now hand over the Materia like you agreed
to do in the first place."
"I said no! I might give some to Wutai but not to you!!"
"Yuffie, I thought you just came to tell your father you were alright.." Vincent said,
getting impatient.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!!" Yuffie and Godo yelled in unison.
"Alright, fine, you can keep your materia. But you're too young to be engaged!!"
"Ugh! You're so immature!" Yuffie said, a bit red in the face. "Besides, I'm not
really engaged, I just said that to tick you off."
"... Well, why aren't you engaged?"
"DAAAD!" yelled Yuffie. "Shut up already!"
"Is my daughter not good enough for you?" Godo asked Vincent, who still stared
coldly back at him, his expression hidden under his cloak.
"Shut up, Father! He is not by boyfriend!" yelled Yuffie.
The argument continued for nearly half an hour in this way before finally Yuffie
ended up telling her father off and running out. Vincent looked back at Godo one more
time before walking out of the house.
Yuffie stopped as she saw a little red-headed girl skipping around. "Hey, little girl!"
shouted Yuffie, pulling out the new Lv.1 Restore Materia she'd gotten during the fight with
Seph. "Here, take this." She gave the girl the green orb then ran off to the inn to rest -
There was no way she was going to stay in the same house as her father..
Later that day, near evening, Vincent could be seen perched atop a slightly tall
building near the edge of town. He just couldn't see how anyone could hate this place..
well, as long as you didn't cross paths with that Godo character.. He breathed in
the air deeply, then suddenly his eyes shot open in a cold glare. Something was
wrong.. The air was.. different.. familiar... like Midgar... The smell of Mako..
But that was impossible, there weren't any reactors around for hundreds of miles...
There came a familiar crashing of thunder from above.. Vincent looked up and saw a
huge black cloud engulfing the sky above Wutai and a good ways over the ocean.. He
would have shrugged this off, considering it a normal thunderstorm, but the smell
of Mako was incredibly thick in the air now, and there were purple flashes emitting
from the clouds as a purple bolt of lightning crashed through the sky, luckily not
striking anything as it rose back into the clouds. He clung to the roof of the building
and stared at the storm in shock, then felt incredibly uncomfortable so high during a storm
and jumped off, landing on his feet and jumping up.
Another bolt crashed down, this time hitting a tree which caught fire; The fire died out,
however, as the tree fell into the stream, but things might not be so fortunate if
another tree got struck.. Vincent dashed out of the alleyway he was in and stared around
the town warily as he put an Ice materia onto his gun in case something caught fire.
Then, the storm, which was quickly dying, began raging worse than before as the eye
of it was only a few miles away; A purple bolt shot out of the sky and tore into a
large oak nearby, which quickly caught fire. Vincent turned and cast Ice1 on the tree,
quickly putting out the fire as another bolt crashed behind him. He grunted and ran
to the quickly spreading fire and blasted it out with an Ice2 spell as two more bolts crashed
behind him. Swearing silently as several people ran out of their homes to see what was
happening, he dashed up to the bonfire nearby and cast Ice3 on it, taking an Ether
as five more bolts shot down one by one. A large commotion broke out as several
voulenteers set out to help Vincent put out the fires; As soon as he put out two fifths of
the flames, four more crashes could be heard from all around town.
Vincent jumped back and summoned Shiva, who put out half of the flames with Diamond
Dust before seven more bolts crashed down throughout town. Everyone took shelter in the
underground paths and in the caves of Da-Chao, leaving Vincent behind to deal with the
storm.. He quickly casted several Ice3 spells as the storm stopped for a bit, and had
blown out most of the fire when three more bolts thundered down, catching a house on
fire this time. He quickly casted more spells, taking an Elixer as more lightning
crashed down, catching the inn and two houses close together on fire. Vincent quickly
dashed towards the other fire when suddenly a bolt of lightning struck down on HIM..
Then everything went black..
He woke up about a minute later, and over half the town was on fire... THe first
thing that went into his mind was whether Yuffie was alright or not, but he shook
his head quickly. 'What am I thinking, she can take care of herself, I need to keep
putting out the fire..' he thought, quickly dismissing his previous worries as he
continued casting Ice spells to put out flames, but the fire was quickly spreading,
even though the storm above was practically gone. Then suddenly, the crashing of water
could be heard.. A giant serpet of water flew above the town - Vincent quickly saw what
was coming and transformed into the Chaos demon, flying high above as a large wave
washed over the town without destroying any houses, but drowning out all the fire.
Vincent slowly landed as the water flowed back into the seas. Yuffie ran out from behind
the Inn, her white shorts now black with ash from the inn's smoke, and her amor dusty.
"There you are! I've been looking for you since I had that fight with Father!" Yuffie
shouted, running up to him. "I want to get out of here!"
"I think we should wait untill things settle down, Yuffie. We're the only two here
that can stop another disaster like this one.."
The thief sighed. "If I have to endure one more of Father's arguments over when I'm
settling down I'm going to strangle you for making me stay.." grumbled Yuffie, walking to
the caves grudgingly.
After a few days, the damages were repaired and Yuffie and her father had pretty much
made up with as little tension as possible, after two more agruments that Vincent was almost
drug into. Yuffie woke up early this morning and stretched out; Finally, she thought, I'm
getting out of this dull city...
She walked to the outskirts of town, saying bye to the people he knew before walking out
of it, then noticed there was only Icey was standing out there, waiting for her.. 'Did
Vincent ditch me?! That jerk better not have!' she said mentally, then noticed some
chocobo tracks and followed them.
Vincent sat off the edge of a cliff nearby.. 'What's wrong with me?' he thought,
breathing a bit heavier than he normally did. 'I've been emotionless for years now..
Why am I suddenly feeling such pain? I can't even feel love for her.. for
my lost wife..'
"Vince, there you are!" shouted Yuffie, breaking his train of thought. "I thought you'd
ditched me!! I Was about to KILL you!"
"You could have just called me on the PHS."
"Well, yeah, but you had both of them with Rif!" she shouted. "And you owe me! I saved
your life today!"
"I would have been alright. The only thing you saved was your home town."
"What!? You were practically eaten by those flames untill I froze a few!" said Yuffie
angrily. "I had to put out half the town by the time you woke your slow butt up so you
wouldn't die before I could summon Leviathan!"
Vincent blinked. 'Well, that's a first.." he growled mentally. This was about the
first time in his life he'd been told off.. "Ok, fine.. I owe you something."
"You actually agreed with someone? That's a first." Yuffie said, hopping back on Icey.
Vincent sighed. "Don't get used to it. You just happened to make too much sense this
time..."
Vincent climbed on top of Rif and rode back towards the sea. ".. Well, where are we
headed now?" Yuffie asked. Vincent looked at her for a second.
"Well, I'd thought you were staying at Wutai with your father.."
"You kiddin'? My father is a total creep! You think I could stand living with him
untill Cloud sets up a metting?"
"No, I suppose you couldn't. I was going to set up home in the old mansion in
Nibelheim."
"Really? Well, um, I don't really have a place to stay, and the mansion is really
big, so I was wonderin' if I could move in with you for a while."
"As long as you keep to your own wing of the mansion, it's fine. Just don't bother
me when I'm busy.."
"Yessir!" said Yuffie mockingly.
And, while I'd love to continue this in this one story, I'm afraid there just isn't enough
memory. So, we'll see you next time, here on...
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
(which is now actually a post FF7 fic, but I couldn't help myself. Besides, the
SKyship will play an important role later anyway. And be grateful - I'm fixing all the Reno things now so it'll all be Reeves. What an
embarrassing mistake!! _
the top of my head because the game storyline is off. Oy vey. Let's hope I pull this
post-FF7 fic off... Oh, and I'm going to keep using dumb humor as much as possible, but,
well, those of you that don't want to read ANYTHING other than humor, you may not like
this all that much. I'm tossing in a lot so it has a bit of almost everything.
DISCLAIMER
Ok I don't own FF7 we get the point. Do I even have to keep posting this? *sigh*
Waste of space if you ask me.. I mean you all know we don't own this stuff we
write about..
((YMCA theme plays as the theme for the show/fanfic plays))
And now, we're into the SIXTH AND FINAL (NOT REALLY) EPISODE OF...'
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Red's Responsability
Everyone was standing outside Cid's place. Nanaki was licking the backsides of his
paws; Yuffie was happily sorting through her Materia (she had recently purchased a
high-level ALL materia from some nice man in Rocket Town); Vincent was polishing
his Death Penalty rifle, glancing at Yuffie every now and then; Cloud was talking with
Tifa, and started polishing his Ultima Weapon as he noticed many bloodstains of
different colors all over it - For a so-called Ultimate Weapon, you'd think it'd clean
itself, jeeze!; - Barret was loading up his arm/gun... thingie.. as Red and Cait
began discussing in a more serious tone than usual - Reeves was being himself
today, happy that he wasn't gonna die. Basically, they were horribly bored.
Suddenly, there was a loud BANG!!! from the alleyway beside Cid's place. Everyone
jumped up and looked at it warily, drawing their weapons and prepared to strike as
a hideous, mechanical noise drew near, when suddenly..
An old, beaten-down haywagon drove out of the alleyway. Cid peered out and waved.
"Sorry about the *^@%y ride, that woman in there won't let me borrow her car."
complained the pilot as he drove the haywagon around. Everyone sighed out of
relief and withdrew their weapons as the large cow-carrier (which had been cleaned
of any manuer and bad smell and filled with soft Curiel Greens, courtesy of the
Chocobo ranch for saving the Planet) slowed to a halt in front of them. Cid and Tifa went
up into the front seat beside Cid, while the others pulled a black unbreakable material
around the back wagonish part of it as a weather guard, leaving a slit open in the back
to climb in and out as the rest of the group hopped in; Vincent quickly found a patch of
Greens piled up to sit behind, away from the others; Yuffie sat on the other side, looking
around in awe; The rest sat around in random spots as Nanaki stood up, and began
taking out Materia they'd never found use for after buying it and never would,
and implanting it in several "posts" of Curiel Greens, illuminating the room with the soft
glow of Mako so they could see as the truck's engine fired up and took off with a start.
"I hate 'dis truck.." Barret complained as they hit a bump. Yuffie, however,
was rolling around in the grass and quite enjoying herself.
"What do you mean, you hate this truck? It's a great truck!" Yuffie said,
half-seriously and half-just to tick him off, which seemed to work as
Barret clutched his fist, irritated...
He stood up and ran towards Yuffie, who rolled out of the way as the truck hit
another bump and caused Barret to fall on his face.. Yuffie giggled as Nanaki,
Cait, and Barret (who stood up and scowled grudgingly before joining in on
Reeves&Red's conversation) talked together.
((hours later))
"Cloudie? Are we there yet?" Yuffie shouted from the back - She had gotten bored
and had came up with aggrivating nicknames for everyone in the group. Cloud turned
around and looked out of the back window of the driver's part of the wagon, and saw
Yuffie inches away from the windowless hole as the road got rougher. "We're in the
Cosmo Canyon lands, so we'll be there in no time." Cloud said, turning back around
and sitting down, rejoining the conversation between himself, Tifa, and Cid (who
occasionally swore at the mention of ShinRa).
After around fifteen minutes, the truck finally sputtered to a stop in front of
Cosmo Canyon's pathway that led up a small mountain and into cosmo canyon
itself. Everyone hopped out of the beaten-down truck and walked up the path, then
split up - Cloud and Tifa went with Red to visit with the Elders and set something up
while Barret and Cid went to the bar - Everyone else was just wandering the city.
Vincent walked up another flight of outdoor stairs then went inside the higher
floor, staring curiously at a large metal door at the end of it..
"WOW!! You just imported new Materia!?" gasped a voice inside one of the
shops. Vincent peeked to his right and walked into the shop where he heard the
voice out of curiosity, although he could already guess who it was.
It was the materia shop, but it was stocked full of glass cases containing
hundreds of glowing orbs of random types, anything from Time magic materia to
HP Plus and even some rare leveled-up materia such as a Thunder magic materia
that was MASTER-level - and very expensive, needless to say. At the front
counter, he saw a middle-aged man who was a bit unkempt, and in front of
the counter stood a young lady with short, raven hair. She looked about 14,
although Vincent knew she just looked two years younger than she was. She wore
a black halter and white shorts, and had some sort of armor surrounding her left
arm. On her back was strapped a shimmering shuriken-like blade that was roughly
the size of a small nightstand top, which had her collection of Materia orbs
equipped around the center of it. She turned around suddenly to look at the
Materia then stopped.
"Hey, Vinnie, what're you doin' up here?" she asked innocently. Vincent
growled silently - He hated it when she called him 'vinnie'..
"I was going to buy something, what else?" he said, a bit coldly as he turned
to one of the glassed-off cases and browsed through the purple orbs inside.
Yuffie shrugged - she was used to his 'charming' personality - and
then happily skipped over to the different shelves.
((some hours later..))
Everyone turned in for the night, all renting seperate rooms in the Inn.
Nanaki was the only one not with them - he was studying intensly in the
observatory. And in about seven hours, the sun shone through, illuminating
every room; There were no doors, after all. Yuffie was the first to jump
up ("I've gotta get to the Materia store!") - She had taken too long
browsing last night, but said she knew exactly what orb she wanted now.
She dashed down the steps two at a time, then felt into her pockets.
"Ohh, man, I don't have enough gil.." she sighed, before she saw Vincent
walking out the door... She skipped up to him happily and hugged him tight
from the front and looked up pitifully.
"No, you can't have any of my materia." Vincent said in advance.
"I wasn't going to ask you that!"
"Sure you weren't."
"Seriously! But um you sure have a lot of cash so I was wondering.."
"No, Yuffie. You can't borrow any money either."
"That's mean." she sighed, letting go. "But thanks anyway!" she
said happily, skipping towards the store. Vincent blinked, then suddenly
realized his pockets were much lighter than they had been...
An hour later, after everyone had eaten and gotten up good, they were
all standing under the welcome sign to the city. "It's been a great
experience helping you all." Nanaki said, bowing deeply. "I've learned
much from all of this. I won't forget any of you."
"Are you going to be able to come when we schedule a meeting?" Cloud
asked out of curiosity. Nanaki shook his head.
"It depends. If it's anytime soon, I can't make it. I still have much
to learn before I'm responsible enough to lead my people." he sighed. "But
once I've learned all that's required, I'll be more than glad to join you."
And so, everyone said their goodbyes, Yuffie, Tifa and Cait all hugging
the lion goodbye before walking down the stairs and back to the truck.
Cid, Cloud and Tifa hopped into the front as like last time, and
everyone that remained hopped back into the truck like they had been.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A Mysterious Storm..
"Sir, the test was a success." said a deep voice inside a dark
room aboard a large black skyship.
"And.. there's nothing to trace it back to us?" came a feminine voice from
nearby.
"No, ma'am.. Unfortunately, although we did target it to die out overseas,
I'm afraid it'll strike a large island before it dies down.."
"Those poor people." came a gruffer voice from the darkness of the unlit
meeting room, speaking in mock sympathy. "Stop worrying about the storm now
and make yourself useful. Get someone to repair the lights of this blasted
room for one.."
((Time: Noon))
((Place: CHocobo Farmlands))
The group had drove aboard the ferry to Junon, and then drove around all the
way to the Chocobo Ranch farmland. And now, the truck slowly came to a stop
outside the Chocobo Ranch building. Cloud, Yuffie, and Vincent hopped out -
Barret and Cait Sith were actually talking without fighting today, as Reeves
had given up on acting a fool to hide his identity by now, no matter how
fun it was to him. Cloud walked into the stables as the two kids ran up to
see him. "Hiya, mister!" shouted the little kiddies. Cloud waved.
"Whatcha need?"
"I need Icey&Rif, Billy. My friends here need a way to get to Wutai, and
those are the best River Chocobos I know of." The little girl skipped
merrily up to VIncent as 'Chocobo' Billy helped CLoud with Icey, the female
aqua-blue Chocobo, and Rif, the blue male Chocobo.
Vincent looked down at the little girl with annoyance. The little girl stared
back at him, not blinking.
"Are you a vampire, mister?" asked the girl innocently. Vincent scowled under
his cloak, even moreso as he heard giggling from the teenager behind him..
"Didja hear me, mister? I asked if you were a vampire." she asked again.
Vincent leaned down and whispered something into her ear, and the little girl
screamed and ran away. Yuffie looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
".. all I did was tell her I was a vampire." Vincent said, shrugging.
"That wasn't nice." Yuffie said mockingly as Cloud handed them both the leash-like
things for the Chocobos. Yuffie hugged everyone as they said their goodbyes and
then the two jumped up onto the ostrich-like creatures, riding off into the shallower
sea.
"So.. what's it like at your home town?" Vincent asked, actually starting a
conversation for once as the two rode alongside eachother down a shallow strip
of water across the ocean, scattered with islands.
"Ugh, it's so dull..." Yuffie sighed. "Nothing ever happens there anymore. Not to
mention we hardly have any imported materia, if any.."
"... I've heard the others talk about it.. they said it was peaceful and soothin-"
"Don't even start about that." Yuffie scolded. "It's boring! That's all there is
to it!"
In the early afternoon, they finally strode close to the town. "I just came to visit
my father.. to let him know I'm alright.. after that, we're leaving." Yuffie said in
a defiant tone as she dismounted the Chocobo and walked towards the town. Vincent jumped
off the side of Rif and reached to pet it with his left hand. The river chocobo
stepped back out of reach as it saw Vincent's golden claw that filled the lower half
of his left arm.. He sighed and hid his arm in his cloak, catching up to Yuffie, who was
already halfway to her father's house. He looked around the town in awe, although he made
sure no one saw how amazed he was with it..
Everyone they passed stared at Vincent. He ignored them; he'd gotten used to it by
now, after all the towns he was in with the others. There was a slight rumbling in
the distance as Yuffie walked into the large house that belonged to her father, Lord
Godo. He looked to his right and saw a storm cloud in the distance, and shrugged; There
hadn't been many thunderstorms lately, but they never bothered him. He breathed in the
pure air of Wutai before walking in after Yuffie. Even the inside of her house was
peaceful.. well, except for the yelling.
"What do you mean you didn't bring back any materia!?" shouted a deep, gruff, booming
voice from somewhere in the house. The vampyrish man sighed and walked over to Godo's
room where he and Yuffie were arguing. "Father, it's not like I didn't try!" yelled
Yuffie. "And besides, I stole just enough for myself!"
"Well, let me have it."
"No, it's mine."
"Yuffie, you said you would give any materia you stole from them to Wutai."
"Well I changed my mind. And if you're ugly about it you won't get so much as an
invitation to my wedding whenever I get married."
"If I don't say so you won't get married!"
"In two years you won't have a say so."
"I'm your father, and I don't care HOW old you get, I will ALWAYS have say so in
what you do with your life!"
"Then I'll run away and get aloped and only tell Cloud and the others about it." said
the thief, sticking her tongue out.
Godo growled and looked over at the door. "And who's that?" he said, pointing at
the doorway. "Your fiance?"
Vincent was about to say something when Yuffie blurted out "Yes he is." just to annoy
her father - And it worked.
"Grr.. YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER FREAK!" Godo yelled at Vince. He merely stared
at him with cold crimson eyes, hiding his annoyance at what was going on.
"Father, shut up!" Yuffie yelled.
"Who's going to make me, you?"
"If necisary! I kicked your tail once, I'll do it again!" Yuffie shouted, pulling out
her weapon.
"You had better not even try it, daughter. I was being easy on you then." he said
coldly. Vincent was getting increasingly annoyed at the argument..
"I've got enough Materia to wipe the floor with your-"
"Don't give me that sass, young lady! Now hand over the Materia like you agreed
to do in the first place."
"I said no! I might give some to Wutai but not to you!!"
"Yuffie, I thought you just came to tell your father you were alright.." Vincent said,
getting impatient.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!!" Yuffie and Godo yelled in unison.
"Alright, fine, you can keep your materia. But you're too young to be engaged!!"
"Ugh! You're so immature!" Yuffie said, a bit red in the face. "Besides, I'm not
really engaged, I just said that to tick you off."
"... Well, why aren't you engaged?"
"DAAAD!" yelled Yuffie. "Shut up already!"
"Is my daughter not good enough for you?" Godo asked Vincent, who still stared
coldly back at him, his expression hidden under his cloak.
"Shut up, Father! He is not by boyfriend!" yelled Yuffie.
The argument continued for nearly half an hour in this way before finally Yuffie
ended up telling her father off and running out. Vincent looked back at Godo one more
time before walking out of the house.
Yuffie stopped as she saw a little red-headed girl skipping around. "Hey, little girl!"
shouted Yuffie, pulling out the new Lv.1 Restore Materia she'd gotten during the fight with
Seph. "Here, take this." She gave the girl the green orb then ran off to the inn to rest -
There was no way she was going to stay in the same house as her father..
Later that day, near evening, Vincent could be seen perched atop a slightly tall
building near the edge of town. He just couldn't see how anyone could hate this place..
well, as long as you didn't cross paths with that Godo character.. He breathed in
the air deeply, then suddenly his eyes shot open in a cold glare. Something was
wrong.. The air was.. different.. familiar... like Midgar... The smell of Mako..
But that was impossible, there weren't any reactors around for hundreds of miles...
There came a familiar crashing of thunder from above.. Vincent looked up and saw a
huge black cloud engulfing the sky above Wutai and a good ways over the ocean.. He
would have shrugged this off, considering it a normal thunderstorm, but the smell
of Mako was incredibly thick in the air now, and there were purple flashes emitting
from the clouds as a purple bolt of lightning crashed through the sky, luckily not
striking anything as it rose back into the clouds. He clung to the roof of the building
and stared at the storm in shock, then felt incredibly uncomfortable so high during a storm
and jumped off, landing on his feet and jumping up.
Another bolt crashed down, this time hitting a tree which caught fire; The fire died out,
however, as the tree fell into the stream, but things might not be so fortunate if
another tree got struck.. Vincent dashed out of the alleyway he was in and stared around
the town warily as he put an Ice materia onto his gun in case something caught fire.
Then, the storm, which was quickly dying, began raging worse than before as the eye
of it was only a few miles away; A purple bolt shot out of the sky and tore into a
large oak nearby, which quickly caught fire. Vincent turned and cast Ice1 on the tree,
quickly putting out the fire as another bolt crashed behind him. He grunted and ran
to the quickly spreading fire and blasted it out with an Ice2 spell as two more bolts crashed
behind him. Swearing silently as several people ran out of their homes to see what was
happening, he dashed up to the bonfire nearby and cast Ice3 on it, taking an Ether
as five more bolts shot down one by one. A large commotion broke out as several
voulenteers set out to help Vincent put out the fires; As soon as he put out two fifths of
the flames, four more crashes could be heard from all around town.
Vincent jumped back and summoned Shiva, who put out half of the flames with Diamond
Dust before seven more bolts crashed down throughout town. Everyone took shelter in the
underground paths and in the caves of Da-Chao, leaving Vincent behind to deal with the
storm.. He quickly casted several Ice3 spells as the storm stopped for a bit, and had
blown out most of the fire when three more bolts thundered down, catching a house on
fire this time. He quickly casted more spells, taking an Elixer as more lightning
crashed down, catching the inn and two houses close together on fire. Vincent quickly
dashed towards the other fire when suddenly a bolt of lightning struck down on HIM..
Then everything went black..
He woke up about a minute later, and over half the town was on fire... THe first
thing that went into his mind was whether Yuffie was alright or not, but he shook
his head quickly. 'What am I thinking, she can take care of herself, I need to keep
putting out the fire..' he thought, quickly dismissing his previous worries as he
continued casting Ice spells to put out flames, but the fire was quickly spreading,
even though the storm above was practically gone. Then suddenly, the crashing of water
could be heard.. A giant serpet of water flew above the town - Vincent quickly saw what
was coming and transformed into the Chaos demon, flying high above as a large wave
washed over the town without destroying any houses, but drowning out all the fire.
Vincent slowly landed as the water flowed back into the seas. Yuffie ran out from behind
the Inn, her white shorts now black with ash from the inn's smoke, and her amor dusty.
"There you are! I've been looking for you since I had that fight with Father!" Yuffie
shouted, running up to him. "I want to get out of here!"
"I think we should wait untill things settle down, Yuffie. We're the only two here
that can stop another disaster like this one.."
The thief sighed. "If I have to endure one more of Father's arguments over when I'm
settling down I'm going to strangle you for making me stay.." grumbled Yuffie, walking to
the caves grudgingly.
After a few days, the damages were repaired and Yuffie and her father had pretty much
made up with as little tension as possible, after two more agruments that Vincent was almost
drug into. Yuffie woke up early this morning and stretched out; Finally, she thought, I'm
getting out of this dull city...
She walked to the outskirts of town, saying bye to the people he knew before walking out
of it, then noticed there was only Icey was standing out there, waiting for her.. 'Did
Vincent ditch me?! That jerk better not have!' she said mentally, then noticed some
chocobo tracks and followed them.
Vincent sat off the edge of a cliff nearby.. 'What's wrong with me?' he thought,
breathing a bit heavier than he normally did. 'I've been emotionless for years now..
Why am I suddenly feeling such pain? I can't even feel love for her.. for
my lost wife..'
"Vince, there you are!" shouted Yuffie, breaking his train of thought. "I thought you'd
ditched me!! I Was about to KILL you!"
"You could have just called me on the PHS."
"Well, yeah, but you had both of them with Rif!" she shouted. "And you owe me! I saved
your life today!"
"I would have been alright. The only thing you saved was your home town."
"What!? You were practically eaten by those flames untill I froze a few!" said Yuffie
angrily. "I had to put out half the town by the time you woke your slow butt up so you
wouldn't die before I could summon Leviathan!"
Vincent blinked. 'Well, that's a first.." he growled mentally. This was about the
first time in his life he'd been told off.. "Ok, fine.. I owe you something."
"You actually agreed with someone? That's a first." Yuffie said, hopping back on Icey.
Vincent sighed. "Don't get used to it. You just happened to make too much sense this
time..."
Vincent climbed on top of Rif and rode back towards the sea. ".. Well, where are we
headed now?" Yuffie asked. Vincent looked at her for a second.
"Well, I'd thought you were staying at Wutai with your father.."
"You kiddin'? My father is a total creep! You think I could stand living with him
untill Cloud sets up a metting?"
"No, I suppose you couldn't. I was going to set up home in the old mansion in
Nibelheim."
"Really? Well, um, I don't really have a place to stay, and the mansion is really
big, so I was wonderin' if I could move in with you for a while."
"As long as you keep to your own wing of the mansion, it's fine. Just don't bother
me when I'm busy.."
"Yessir!" said Yuffie mockingly.
And, while I'd love to continue this in this one story, I'm afraid there just isn't enough
memory. So, we'll see you next time, here on...
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
(which is now actually a post FF7 fic, but I couldn't help myself. Besides, the
SKyship will play an important role later anyway. And be grateful - I'm fixing all the Reno things now so it'll all be Reeves. What an
embarrassing mistake!! _