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..
Alrighty then. I'm getting deeper and deeper into this thing. I'll be adding more
humor as soon as I can. Oh, and please don't flame me if you don't like the way the
story's goin - I just had to write a post-FF7 fic, and I wanted it to keep up with
this storyline's character, so... yeah. Besides, the Skyship'll be back up soon
enough.
((in a dark, dark meeting room...))
"Good.. so it was successful."
"It died out too quickly, though."
"We'll work on it. Make sure no one knows."
"We're considered dead. You'll never be suspected."
"I suppose so.. Now will somebody fix the blasted lights in here!?"
((Skyship theme plays as the YMCA music pops on))
And now, for the ever-confusing Seventh Episode of..
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A Call for Concern
It has been a good deal of time now. Tifa, Barret, Cloud and Reeves had reconstructed
Midgar and shut down its reactors. The ShinRa was taken over by Reeves, and the company
shut down their reactors. The Turks hadn't been heard from since the encounter with
Sephiroth, however, and have been considered dead. Here's a quick overview of their
ages now;
Cloud - 24
Tifa - 23
Yuffie - 18
Vincent - ? (Technically around 45, but no one knows how long the coffin kept him from
aging, so his age is unknown, though he appears to be around 22.)
Cait - er, I mean Reno - er, I mean Reeves -- 28
Cid - 30
Barret - 26
Marlene - 7
Red XIII - About 16-and-a-half, but has been alive for nearly 50 years
Well, that's about it for the briefing of our main group. Reeves has a curved blade on
a chain now as a weapon, lashing out at enimies with a brute force Cait Sith never
displayed. And *gasp* The SKYSHIP has been repaired!! Happy, happy! Joy, joy!!.. well,
for everyone except poor Yuffie, who's father now traveled away from Wutai often, warning
her not to get into trouble or he'll find out eventually. And now, we continue the
storyline in the meeting room of the currently landed Skyship for their now annual
meet. Nanaki had taken time off from his studies, saying he could make up for lost time
tonight, despide Tifa telling him that he should be rested to remember what he studies.
Cloud was now head of the mercinary group AVALANCHE, which, although they did do jobs
much like mercinaries, they worked in cooperation with the new ShinRa in attempts to
restore the Planet and preserve it. Oh, yes, one last little thing I forgot to mention;
Cloud and Tifa are engaged to one another. With that said let's continue.
Everyone sat in the meeting room; Needless to say, Tifa and Cloud were sitting
next to eachother. Barret, Cid, and Reeves filled the left half of the table, CLoud
sat at the head of it, and Tifa (who was closer to Cloud than the others), Yuffie,
and Vincent were on the other. Yuffie had been in a few more mood swings than
usual - You see, she used to have a bit of a crush on Cloud, but mainly she was
jelous because she was still single. Barret and Cid (the immature ones, I might
add) made childish gagging motions whenever they saw the couple kiss - even
though Cid was already married and was being quite hypocritical. Reeves kept to
himself, but was friendly to anyone that came up to him; He preferred to stay
on the outer deck of the ship. Vincent and Yuffie had been living as brother
and sister almost, and were rubbing off on eachother; Yuffie sometimes went into
mood swings and acted much like him, while he said once he had an obnoxious urge
to act a bit hyper on occasion.
"It's great seeing you all again." said Cloud, with a more serious tone than he'd
normally used. "I'd like to say this is just a friendly reunion, but that would be a
lie. As you know, ShinRa is now owned by president Reeves, and has shut down their Mako
Reactors all over the world. However, a quickly rising orginization - Kyra inc. - has
put in a request to buy and run the Mako Reactor near Nibelheim to produce materia.
ShinRa has so far rejected this offer, but we found out last week that the power in the
Reactor had been turned on, and although it needs repairs before it can be active, we
already know what's coming. We have to find out exactly what they're doing; Reeves and
Barret will stay near the Highwind and call Kyra's co-president, Tarren Lyvos, asking
about the Reactor and asking them nicely to shut it down - This is the way things
should work, but if negotiations fail-"
"Like they won't.." Cid said sarcastically, hardly audible.
"- then we will have two groups spread out and find what's going on. Vincent, you,
Yuffie, and Red will spy on the building and find out what's going on, then you will
report to the SKyship and fly it out of Kyra's communication range, then call us. We'll
be directly outside the range of them, and will ride through the mountains quickly with
the Mountain Chocobos and come as ambassidors to stop them. We'll call for backup if
things get rough, as should you. And Cid, have your best pilot on the Skyship - If things
get too bad, we'll need that new weaponry you got on it."
"Right, right. I've already trained William to fly like an ace, weapons and all."
"Well, with that said, we can't waste any time; The scouts should go ahead and
rest up now before we get there. Dismissed."
Everyone talked for about ten minutes before heading to bed for the trip. A few
hours later, Yuffie was the first to wake up as the Skyship took flight - Yuffie held her
mouth shut and ran downstairs for the bathroom. Everyone else woke up five minutes later
and got ready. Twenty minutes passed, then the Skyship landed and everyone got out. Reeves
put the cell phone up to his ear and dialed some numbers. Cloud and Tifa took out the
green chocobos from the stable and walked them outside, with Cid following close behind,
tooth brush sticking out of his mouth (he was in a hurry). Vincent and Nanaki walked
out next, with Yuffie stroking his fur softly ("Such a cute kitty"). After about ten
minutes, they were still waiting.. "Hey guys, I was thinking.." said Cloud, who had been in
deep conversation with Tifa and Cid, "I think you might not be suited for spying.."
"WHAT!?" shouted Yuffie. "WHAT DO YA MEAN!? YOU JERK!! I CAN SPY!! NO ONE'LL EVEN NOTICE
ME!!"
"Untill you open your mouth, that is." said Cloud. "We'll spy while you three wait with
the birds if things go wrong."
Just as Yuffie was being held back from killing Cloud by Vincent, Reeves walked out
of the skyship, slamming his cell to the ground in anger. "Negotiations.. failed.." he
said coldly. Cloud nodded and his party started walking off.
Yuffie sighed out of annoyance. Vincent walked over to the edge of the shore nearby,
sitting on a large rock, staring out into the sea. Nanaki started sketching some images
in the dirt. Yuffie ran up to him. "Hey Nanaki, will you play with mee? I'm bored!" said
Yuffie, annoyed. The lion looked up at her and shook its head before looking back down at
his sketching. Yuffie sighed, annoyed, and and then walked over to Vincent.
"Hey Vinnie, will you play with me?" she asked.
"... will you stop calling me that!?" Vincent snapped, not moving.
"Ugh, you two are so dull at times!" yelled Yuffie. "Fine, I'm going to rob that place
all by myself and none of you can stop me!"
"Huh? Y-yuffie, wait!" Nanaki said, jumping up. The thief was headed towards the
Reactor already.. "Er, Vincent, if you don't mind, could you-"
He looked over and noticed Vincent was already gone, then caught a red cloak disappearing
behind a canyon wall.
****************************
"That wasn't very smart.."
"We should have played along.."
"Silence. Even if this reactor gets shut down by them, there are plenty others,
and our resources are already working on a transport."
*****************************
Ten minutes later, the PHS back at the Skyship rang. Reeves picked it up.
"Reeves speaking." he said. "Report."
"They're definately using it to make materia, not monsters. I don't think they'll
give this one up without a fight. Send out the reinforcements, we'll need their help-"
"The second group has disappeared, Cloud." Reeves said. "Everyone except Red 13
already went to the reactor."
"WHAT!? This isn't good.. We were supposed to meet up outside the reactor.."
Yuffie ran towards the guards in front of the reactor, when a cold claw suddenly
pulled her back and a human hand covered her mouth. "Yuffie!" whispered a harsh voice.
"What do you think you're doing?" He uncovered her mouth once he knew she wouldn't scream
(Which later she claimed she wasn't scared one bit.)
"I'm taking out my boredom and stealing myself some really good materia."
"You don't even know how potent that materia is, it could kill you!"
"Feh, I'll read up on it."
"Either way, you shouldn't run up to guards like that. Who knows what reinforcements
they've got?"
"Well, what do you suggest, vamp-boy?" (*ahem* She's ticked off right now if she's
calling him that.)
"I suggest we lure them over here and take their clothes as a disguise, then find some
reason to lure the other guards outside."
"OH, yeah, real detailed plan." sighed Yuffie sarcastically.
"Look, just cause some sort of disturbance."
Yuffie shrugged and walked up to the guards. 'I hope she knows what she's doing..'
The thief girl walked up to the guards and smiled cutely. "Hiya, fellows!"
The two pointed their guns at her. "Aah! I'm unarmed! THat's uncalled for!" she
said quickly, stepping back.
"Who are you? What do you know? What are you doing here?!" asked the left guard
frantically.
"M-My name's Yuffie, I know I came here on a vacation to see my boyfriend, and
I just felt like taking a hike." said Yuffie, making things up as she went along.
The guards looked at eachother skeptically. Yuffie ran up to them and hugged the
one with the bigger gun tight, looking up at him with sad eyes.
"You wouldn't shoot a cute little girl like me, would you?" she said pitifully,
fake tears welling up in her eyes. THe guards sighed and put their guns away.
"YaY! You guys are so nice! I oughta give you somethin! Now, wait right here,
I'll be right back!" said the girl slipping away and hugging the other guard for a
few seconds and running back to where Vincent was. The guards looked at eachother
(Boy, how stupid can you get..) and then waited... for about five minutes... then
finally got tired of waiting. "Hey, do.. your pockets feel a bit lighter?" asked the
right guard. The left guard looked at him funny, then blinked, a bit wide-eyed.
"Argh! That little %@^* stole my monthly salary!!" yelled the guard, pulling his
gun out in unison to the other guard. "Let's get'er!"
They ran down the path after them, not knowing they already passed them.. Because there,
hanging right below the path, was Vincent, his gold claw clutching through the rock wall,
holding Yuffie with his other arm. He helped her up then pulled his claw out of the wall,
using his cape as a parachute as he whipped out his gun, landing on the ground just as the
guards rounded the curve below.
'Well,' thought Vince, sighing, 'guess I'll have to play along...'
The guards stopped in front of him. "MOVE ASIDE, MAGGOT!" yelled the right guard.
Vincent growled inaudibly, but kept a good face. "Pardon me, but have you two seen a
cute teenage girl walk through here? She's been gone all morning.."
"Yeah, that little %@&^*$ robbed us blind!!" yelled the left guard. Vincent's left
eye twitched slightly, keeping his claw and his Death Penalty rifle hidden under his
cloak..
"You know, you should be careful who you make enemies with.."
"And what are you, some sort of demon?" laughed the guards. Vincent smirked, pushing
his cloak back, revealing his golden claw and his gun. He twirled the gun around once and
aimed at the guards, who had both their mech guns aimed at his head.
"One wrong move, pal, and we blow your brains out.." growled the left guard. Vincent
laughed and kicked the left guard's rifle out of his hand, using his claw to block the
shots from the right guard as he swapped gun hands and shot both guards in the neck. He quickly
stripped them of their clothes and jumped back up to where Yuffie was, clutching the wall and
climbing up, handing her the smaller outfit. They donned the outfits before Yuffie held her
arm out and casted a Bolt spell that any wild monster could have done as they ran into
the building. "Th-There's monsters out there!" Yuffie yelled as a few inspectors and guards
looked them over. "They're attacking!" Just then, the Bolt Yuffie cast earlier hit the building.
The guards dashed outside. Yuffie giggled with delight as she kicked open one of the
machines and pulled out a shimmering, pulsating orb. "I wonder what it does..." she said,
staring at it before laughing and robbing the rest of the cases, replacing them with some
meek HP Plus she had stole from the Guards. Thankfully, there really was a dragon walking near
the Reactor, so their front held up as the guards fought fiercly, but then something whacked
them both over the head from behind and everything went black...
*********************************************
'What's wrong with me...?'
'You know what's wrong with you.'
'No.. I don't..'
'Yes, you do.. You've lost something..'
"I.. I lost Lucrecia, years ago.."
'And now your heart is empty after all these years.'
"....."
'And it is coming back because of someone..'
"... Shut up.."
'And you don't know how to cope with emotion after all this time of coldness..'
"I said shut up.."
'You know what I'm talking about.. Don't deny your emotions, or it will be the
death of you..'
"Shut up!!"
**********************************************
Vincent woke with a start, breathing deeply. He'd been having deams such as this for
years.. decades.. where he was surrounded by darkness, a voice speaking to him, haunting
him for his faults, his problems, his sins.. He looked around quickly. He was stuck in a
prison cell, a rather large one. Yuffie was looking out of a barred window nearby, tuning
out everything around her. No one had realized she'd stolen the materia - what idiots -
so she still had it concealed in various hiding places. Of coarse she had no idea what
it did yet.
Yuffie turned to face Vincent and smiled. "Glad to see you're awake. Why didn't you
warn me someone was about to bash me over the head!?" she yelled. Vincent blinked.
"If I knew we were about to get bashed over the head, Yuffie, I would have shot
whoever did it." he snapped. "And untill we find a way out, we're stuck in here, so
you might as well get comfy."
Yuffie shrugged and kicked at the door some more. "THey confinscated out weapons.."
she mumbled, kicking the door again. "Even the stuff I had my personal Materia Collection
attached to!" She kicked the door harder, making a dent in it. "Oh well, atleast they were
polite enough not to find the others." she said, chuckling at her handywork of being a
thief and hiding the stolen orbs well. "Hey Vinnie, will you play with me?" she asked
innocently.
"What?"
"I said, 'Hey Vinnie, will you play with me?'"
".... Is that all you can think about?"
"Well I'm boOored!" pouted the thief girl. "And I stole some cool cards that were
invented a few months ago called 'Triple Triad'-" (ok, so I'm taking a bit from FF8,
but heck, it's my fic, and I'M ADDICTED TO THAT CARD GAME!! :p)
".. 'Triple Triad'? You've gotta be kidding me.."
"Nuh uh, that's what it's called, said so on the package." Yuffie said. "Some kinda
future tellers made it and the card designs up. See?" She took out a bag before anyone could
see where it was hidden and showed a few. There were mostly monsters imprinted on each
card. "I stole the whole set!" Each card had four numbers in a diamond shape on the
top-left corner, and a good many had an elemental symbol on the top-right.
She heard footsteps coming and quickly put the cards back away before anyone could see
where. The door opened - The left door got jammed because the dent couldn't go through the
slit in the wall - and a blonde haired woman of around 26 walked in. "So, your little
posse is still alive, I see." she said. "I thought for sure Sephiroth would have killed you.
Thank the Planet that Tseng didn't die from his encounter with that demon."
"Elenor?" Yuffie asked, bewildered. Vincent blinked. He had never heard that name
before...
"In the flesh." said the woman. "Now, tell me, what are you doing here? You aren't in
league with the new ShinRa are you?"
"No, me and my fiance were just taking a stroll up the mountainside and-"
"Don't give me those lies, you annoying thief." Elenor said, slapping Yuffie across the
face. "And one more thing.." The woman pulled out several purple orbs. "What is this? It
doesn't look like the materia we were producing, not at all." she growled. Yuffie laughed
nervously. "I haven't the slightest idea.."
Elenor scowled. "Now, look here, you brat. I know you're hiding our Materia. It isn't even
big enough to be of use to us yet, or you-"
"Oh, shut up! I, of all people here, know Materia the most, and I can tell that with a bit
of carving it'd be a perfect orb ripe with magic."
Elenor scowled even more (if that's even possible), before laughing. "Fine. We'll commence
a strip search a.s.a.p."
"You little-" Yuffie shouted, dashing at her as the door closed. Elenor walked away and
kept from chuckling as there was a sickening THUD and another dent was made in the door.
"H-Hey, Vince, you'll protect me, won't you?" asked Yuffie, faking fear to annoy him. She
had faked emotions a good deal of time she'd lived in the Shinra mansion, and even though he
fell for it the first few times, eventually he became immune to when she was feigning.
"Will you stop that?" asked Vincent. Yuffie burst into a fit of giggling. "And stop
telling people I'm your 'boyfriend' or 'fiance'. It's getting annoying."
"Well, that's the only passing story for you that I could think of." said Yuffie. "What else
can you say to convince people to trust a sinister-looking cloaked man with a gold claw?"
Vincent scowled. She did have a point, but still. "Could you atleast just stick with
'boyfriend' from now on?" sighed Vincent - he'd learned from past experience that she was
quite stubborn with things like that, and you just couldn't completely win an argument..
Five minutes later, some welders came to fix the dents in the door. Yuffie sat and
watched intently as they slowly hit the dents back into the door, then kicked several
more dents in the door just to be annoying. ANd, needless to say by the swearing outside
the door, it worked. After about an hour of things like this, they finally fixed the now
horribly wrinkled-looking door and walked away. Yuffie had gotten tired from all the kicking
and just gave up. About ten minutes afterward, the doors slid open with the horrid screeching
of metal against metal from all the misshapen areas in it, as a tall bald dark skinned man
and six guards walked in - Yuffie and Vincent both recognized this man as Rude.
"Alright, we're here for the materia. We can do this the easy way, or by whatever means
necicary." growled Rude. Vincent scowled, feeling something building up inside him. "Now,
we'll give you a chance to hand it over now. Save yourself the humiliation." He held out his
hands. Yuffie scowled and stuck her tongue out at him defiantly. He slapped her across the
face and grabbed her by the collar of her halter, pulling her closer. "Look, I am trying to
keep my cool here, but you are making this very difficult for the both of us..
"If you don't hand over the Materia now, you will regret it dearly!" snapped Rude.
Vincent felt the feeling building up, clouding his mind.. He hadn't felt this before..
Then, he realized what was happening, and tried his hardest to stop. Chaos was breaking
loose.. That demon's only mentality was to kill everything in sight - He'd hardly controlled
it against Sephiroth, but Sephiroth looked so much like an angelic being in his second
form, he just figured CHaos targeted it over the normal ones and fought fiercly untill it
was knocked out..
Yuffie looked a bit horror-stricken, but still kept her defiant attitude. "Well?!" Rude
snapped, getting highly ticked off. "Answer me now! Hand over the Materia!" He held out his
hand. Yuffie spat on his hand disrespectfully. Rude scowled. "Seize her!!" he shouted. Four
guards grabbed her by the arms and ankles and held her still as two more guards stood with
Rude in front of her. Reno slapped her once on each side of her face. He had no choice now...
There was a hideous roar nearby as Vincent slowly staggered towards them. A pair of demonic
wings tore out of his back as he transformed into the demonic beast Chaos. The guards looked
up at him in horror as he slashed the advancing two to the ground, wrapping his tail around
another guard's neck and snapping it into pieces. He quickly killed the last two soldiers
and glared viciously at Reno - Yuffie slowly crept away into a corner, hopefully hidden from
sight as Reno ran out of the room, pressing the button to shut the door.
Chaos riped through the doors and glared around, seeing no one (Rude had already gone
around the corner and out of side). Then, it suddenly tore back into the room, staring wildly
to make sure there were no survivors, and its blood-thirsty eyes shot open as it saw the
young thief crouched down in the corner. He slowly stomped towards her, trying to fight
against his impulse as a claw rose into the air. Yuffie held her hands up and got ready to
fight the demon if she had to.. Then, red surrounded the beast as it landed, reverting back
to Vincent, who kneeled down, breathing heavily.
Before Yuffie could see if he was alright, red lights flashed and the warning sirens
wailed. Sounds of hundreds of footsteps could be heard from outside the door, echoing
off the walls of the corridor. Vincent jumped up, staring around before quickly stripping
two guards of their clothes and tossing one to Yuffie. They donned the ouftits and ran into
the swarm of Guards as a disguise as they passed, both carrying new rifles from the
costumes in case something went wrong. Then, they slipped into a control room unnoticed.
"Alright!" exclaimed Yuffie, running up to it and pressing hundreds of buttons. Vincent
locked the door and walked up to her, taking off the helmet - He still had his cloak on
under the disguise. "Yuffie, you do know what you're doing, right?" he asked. Yuffie
turned around and smiled sweetly. "I have no idea whatsoever!" she said, turning back around
and pressing as many commands as she could to disrupt things. (In case you're wondering,
Yuffie had also hidden her Shuriken-style weapon and still had it. She had just forgot about
it untill now.)
".... and this here... and that... and... and.. Jeeze, isn't there an OFF switch or
something?... Agh, forget the off switch, I'll do it my way..." Yuffie pulled out her
giant shuriken blade and jabbed it on the far left end of the panal, glad her costume had
rubber gloves (THICK ONES AT THAT) and running down the control panal, slicing them all,
swerving the blade back and forth and ultimately wrecking the control panel. Sparks flew
around as they dashed out of the room and ran down the hallway with the guards, blending into
the chaos so that no one noticed them as they peeked into every cel and finally found the
one with their weapons and things in it. Yuffie kicked down the door and ran in, tossing
Vincent his weapons and equipping her Materia. As soon as they were ready, Vincent
dashed out with her and they followed the flow of guards as best as they could. Then, they broke
away and ran outside, dashing down the mountainside, sliding downward. As soon as they landed,
they passed by Cloud and Tifa and Cid, who quickly turned to follow and asked what happened.
After everything was explained, they heard an earth-shaking explosion as the Mako Reactor
exploded. "... Way to go me!!" squealed Yuffie, jumping up and down. "I knew destroying that
control panel would work!" she laughed at herself as they dashed back to the Highwind.
Everyone was boarding the Highwind five minutes later. The skies seemed a bit darker now
for some reason.. Vincent turned back towards Nibelheim, staring into the sky. Yuffie noticed
this and, eager to avoid the Highwind, ran to see what was wrong. "What's up?"
"It's happening again... another storm.." he muttered. Yuffie blinked then noticed
black smoke emitting from the wreckage - Which would have been normal except for the fact
that it was rising into the air and forming a spiraling cloud, purple flashes emitting from
it. "Oh, that..." She looked up at the storm and quickly forgot her air sickness as she dashed
into the Highwind. Vincent followed soon after as the first lightning bolt sounded, blasting
a chunk of Nibelheim Mountain.. "What the heck is that thing?!" Cloud asked as they all
stood on the bridge, staring at the storm.
Just then, a communication screen popped up on a moniter. Tseng's face appeared..
"Ladies and gentlemen of the ShinRa corporation.. This is Tseng. I hope you remember
me.. Elenor, explain."
Elenor walked onto the screen. "Well, thanks to you guys, the Mako Storm producer is
out of control.. The electrical currant where the reactor is creates a powerful barrier,
so none of us will be able to shut it down now. We need your help. If we can't do anything,
the entire Planet will be in jeapordy.."
"Not again!! We just got away from Sephiroth!!" Reeves wailed, slamming his bladed weapon
to the ground. "You idiots! Didn't I always tell you stupid guys never to make a bioweapon
without a weakness!?" he yelled at Elenor, walking up to the screen. "But you never listened,
and look what happened now!!"
"Reeves, sit down. Elenor, tell Tseng that, for now, we're allies with him. Only untill
this storm.. thing, is gone. Now, what is a Mako Storm?" Cloud asked, confused.
"It's exactly what it sounds like." Tseng said, stepping on screen. "The perfect artificial
storm weapon. There's no way we know of to break it up, and if it's allowed to grow large
enough, it will continue reproducing itself and growing more powerful.. theoretically, of coarse.
So unless we can stop it, we're all doomed."
WOW!! Has this story gone down another path. Well, I'll throw in a bonus Humor fic later just
like old times, which will be a bit FF8 crossover-ish. So till then, see you next time, on..
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
(Oohh, and I finally fixed that little name glitch! YaY! Let's all
shout for joy! *gets hit with a tomato* Ouch! Ok ok so my spy
quit cuz he didn't get paid enough I admit!! Just bear with it till
I can hire another one _
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..
Alrighty then. I'm getting deeper and deeper into this thing. I'll be adding more
humor as soon as I can. Oh, and please don't flame me if you don't like the way the
story's goin - I just had to write a post-FF7 fic, and I wanted it to keep up with
this storyline's character, so... yeah. Besides, the Skyship'll be back up soon
enough.
((in a dark, dark meeting room...))
"Good.. so it was successful."
"It died out too quickly, though."
"We'll work on it. Make sure no one knows."
"We're considered dead. You'll never be suspected."
"I suppose so.. Now will somebody fix the blasted lights in here!?"
((Skyship theme plays as the YMCA music pops on))
And now, for the ever-confusing Seventh Episode of..
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A Call for Concern
It has been a good deal of time now. Tifa, Barret, Cloud and Reeves had reconstructed
Midgar and shut down its reactors. The ShinRa was taken over by Reeves, and the company
shut down their reactors. The Turks hadn't been heard from since the encounter with
Sephiroth, however, and have been considered dead. Here's a quick overview of their
ages now;
Cloud - 24
Tifa - 23
Yuffie - 18
Vincent - ? (Technically around 45, but no one knows how long the coffin kept him from
aging, so his age is unknown, though he appears to be around 22.)
Cait - er, I mean Reno - er, I mean Reeves -- 28
Cid - 30
Barret - 26
Marlene - 7
Red XIII - About 16-and-a-half, but has been alive for nearly 50 years
Well, that's about it for the briefing of our main group. Reeves has a curved blade on
a chain now as a weapon, lashing out at enimies with a brute force Cait Sith never
displayed. And *gasp* The SKYSHIP has been repaired!! Happy, happy! Joy, joy!!.. well,
for everyone except poor Yuffie, who's father now traveled away from Wutai often, warning
her not to get into trouble or he'll find out eventually. And now, we continue the
storyline in the meeting room of the currently landed Skyship for their now annual
meet. Nanaki had taken time off from his studies, saying he could make up for lost time
tonight, despide Tifa telling him that he should be rested to remember what he studies.
Cloud was now head of the mercinary group AVALANCHE, which, although they did do jobs
much like mercinaries, they worked in cooperation with the new ShinRa in attempts to
restore the Planet and preserve it. Oh, yes, one last little thing I forgot to mention;
Cloud and Tifa are engaged to one another. With that said let's continue.
Everyone sat in the meeting room; Needless to say, Tifa and Cloud were sitting
next to eachother. Barret, Cid, and Reeves filled the left half of the table, CLoud
sat at the head of it, and Tifa (who was closer to Cloud than the others), Yuffie,
and Vincent were on the other. Yuffie had been in a few more mood swings than
usual - You see, she used to have a bit of a crush on Cloud, but mainly she was
jelous because she was still single. Barret and Cid (the immature ones, I might
add) made childish gagging motions whenever they saw the couple kiss - even
though Cid was already married and was being quite hypocritical. Reeves kept to
himself, but was friendly to anyone that came up to him; He preferred to stay
on the outer deck of the ship. Vincent and Yuffie had been living as brother
and sister almost, and were rubbing off on eachother; Yuffie sometimes went into
mood swings and acted much like him, while he said once he had an obnoxious urge
to act a bit hyper on occasion.
"It's great seeing you all again." said Cloud, with a more serious tone than he'd
normally used. "I'd like to say this is just a friendly reunion, but that would be a
lie. As you know, ShinRa is now owned by president Reeves, and has shut down their Mako
Reactors all over the world. However, a quickly rising orginization - Kyra inc. - has
put in a request to buy and run the Mako Reactor near Nibelheim to produce materia.
ShinRa has so far rejected this offer, but we found out last week that the power in the
Reactor had been turned on, and although it needs repairs before it can be active, we
already know what's coming. We have to find out exactly what they're doing; Reeves and
Barret will stay near the Highwind and call Kyra's co-president, Tarren Lyvos, asking
about the Reactor and asking them nicely to shut it down - This is the way things
should work, but if negotiations fail-"
"Like they won't.." Cid said sarcastically, hardly audible.
"- then we will have two groups spread out and find what's going on. Vincent, you,
Yuffie, and Red will spy on the building and find out what's going on, then you will
report to the SKyship and fly it out of Kyra's communication range, then call us. We'll
be directly outside the range of them, and will ride through the mountains quickly with
the Mountain Chocobos and come as ambassidors to stop them. We'll call for backup if
things get rough, as should you. And Cid, have your best pilot on the Skyship - If things
get too bad, we'll need that new weaponry you got on it."
"Right, right. I've already trained William to fly like an ace, weapons and all."
"Well, with that said, we can't waste any time; The scouts should go ahead and
rest up now before we get there. Dismissed."
Everyone talked for about ten minutes before heading to bed for the trip. A few
hours later, Yuffie was the first to wake up as the Skyship took flight - Yuffie held her
mouth shut and ran downstairs for the bathroom. Everyone else woke up five minutes later
and got ready. Twenty minutes passed, then the Skyship landed and everyone got out. Reeves
put the cell phone up to his ear and dialed some numbers. Cloud and Tifa took out the
green chocobos from the stable and walked them outside, with Cid following close behind,
tooth brush sticking out of his mouth (he was in a hurry). Vincent and Nanaki walked
out next, with Yuffie stroking his fur softly ("Such a cute kitty"). After about ten
minutes, they were still waiting.. "Hey guys, I was thinking.." said Cloud, who had been in
deep conversation with Tifa and Cid, "I think you might not be suited for spying.."
"WHAT!?" shouted Yuffie. "WHAT DO YA MEAN!? YOU JERK!! I CAN SPY!! NO ONE'LL EVEN NOTICE
ME!!"
"Untill you open your mouth, that is." said Cloud. "We'll spy while you three wait with
the birds if things go wrong."
Just as Yuffie was being held back from killing Cloud by Vincent, Reeves walked out
of the skyship, slamming his cell to the ground in anger. "Negotiations.. failed.." he
said coldly. Cloud nodded and his party started walking off.
Yuffie sighed out of annoyance. Vincent walked over to the edge of the shore nearby,
sitting on a large rock, staring out into the sea. Nanaki started sketching some images
in the dirt. Yuffie ran up to him. "Hey Nanaki, will you play with mee? I'm bored!" said
Yuffie, annoyed. The lion looked up at her and shook its head before looking back down at
his sketching. Yuffie sighed, annoyed, and and then walked over to Vincent.
"Hey Vinnie, will you play with me?" she asked.
"... will you stop calling me that!?" Vincent snapped, not moving.
"Ugh, you two are so dull at times!" yelled Yuffie. "Fine, I'm going to rob that place
all by myself and none of you can stop me!"
"Huh? Y-yuffie, wait!" Nanaki said, jumping up. The thief was headed towards the
Reactor already.. "Er, Vincent, if you don't mind, could you-"
He looked over and noticed Vincent was already gone, then caught a red cloak disappearing
behind a canyon wall.
****************************
"That wasn't very smart.."
"We should have played along.."
"Silence. Even if this reactor gets shut down by them, there are plenty others,
and our resources are already working on a transport."
*****************************
Ten minutes later, the PHS back at the Skyship rang. Reeves picked it up.
"Reeves speaking." he said. "Report."
"They're definately using it to make materia, not monsters. I don't think they'll
give this one up without a fight. Send out the reinforcements, we'll need their help-"
"The second group has disappeared, Cloud." Reeves said. "Everyone except Red 13
already went to the reactor."
"WHAT!? This isn't good.. We were supposed to meet up outside the reactor.."
Yuffie ran towards the guards in front of the reactor, when a cold claw suddenly
pulled her back and a human hand covered her mouth. "Yuffie!" whispered a harsh voice.
"What do you think you're doing?" He uncovered her mouth once he knew she wouldn't scream
(Which later she claimed she wasn't scared one bit.)
"I'm taking out my boredom and stealing myself some really good materia."
"You don't even know how potent that materia is, it could kill you!"
"Feh, I'll read up on it."
"Either way, you shouldn't run up to guards like that. Who knows what reinforcements
they've got?"
"Well, what do you suggest, vamp-boy?" (*ahem* She's ticked off right now if she's
calling him that.)
"I suggest we lure them over here and take their clothes as a disguise, then find some
reason to lure the other guards outside."
"OH, yeah, real detailed plan." sighed Yuffie sarcastically.
"Look, just cause some sort of disturbance."
Yuffie shrugged and walked up to the guards. 'I hope she knows what she's doing..'
The thief girl walked up to the guards and smiled cutely. "Hiya, fellows!"
The two pointed their guns at her. "Aah! I'm unarmed! THat's uncalled for!" she
said quickly, stepping back.
"Who are you? What do you know? What are you doing here?!" asked the left guard
frantically.
"M-My name's Yuffie, I know I came here on a vacation to see my boyfriend, and
I just felt like taking a hike." said Yuffie, making things up as she went along.
The guards looked at eachother skeptically. Yuffie ran up to them and hugged the
one with the bigger gun tight, looking up at him with sad eyes.
"You wouldn't shoot a cute little girl like me, would you?" she said pitifully,
fake tears welling up in her eyes. THe guards sighed and put their guns away.
"YaY! You guys are so nice! I oughta give you somethin! Now, wait right here,
I'll be right back!" said the girl slipping away and hugging the other guard for a
few seconds and running back to where Vincent was. The guards looked at eachother
(Boy, how stupid can you get..) and then waited... for about five minutes... then
finally got tired of waiting. "Hey, do.. your pockets feel a bit lighter?" asked the
right guard. The left guard looked at him funny, then blinked, a bit wide-eyed.
"Argh! That little %@^* stole my monthly salary!!" yelled the guard, pulling his
gun out in unison to the other guard. "Let's get'er!"
They ran down the path after them, not knowing they already passed them.. Because there,
hanging right below the path, was Vincent, his gold claw clutching through the rock wall,
holding Yuffie with his other arm. He helped her up then pulled his claw out of the wall,
using his cape as a parachute as he whipped out his gun, landing on the ground just as the
guards rounded the curve below.
'Well,' thought Vince, sighing, 'guess I'll have to play along...'
The guards stopped in front of him. "MOVE ASIDE, MAGGOT!" yelled the right guard.
Vincent growled inaudibly, but kept a good face. "Pardon me, but have you two seen a
cute teenage girl walk through here? She's been gone all morning.."
"Yeah, that little %@&^*$ robbed us blind!!" yelled the left guard. Vincent's left
eye twitched slightly, keeping his claw and his Death Penalty rifle hidden under his
cloak..
"You know, you should be careful who you make enemies with.."
"And what are you, some sort of demon?" laughed the guards. Vincent smirked, pushing
his cloak back, revealing his golden claw and his gun. He twirled the gun around once and
aimed at the guards, who had both their mech guns aimed at his head.
"One wrong move, pal, and we blow your brains out.." growled the left guard. Vincent
laughed and kicked the left guard's rifle out of his hand, using his claw to block the
shots from the right guard as he swapped gun hands and shot both guards in the neck. He quickly
stripped them of their clothes and jumped back up to where Yuffie was, clutching the wall and
climbing up, handing her the smaller outfit. They donned the outfits before Yuffie held her
arm out and casted a Bolt spell that any wild monster could have done as they ran into
the building. "Th-There's monsters out there!" Yuffie yelled as a few inspectors and guards
looked them over. "They're attacking!" Just then, the Bolt Yuffie cast earlier hit the building.
The guards dashed outside. Yuffie giggled with delight as she kicked open one of the
machines and pulled out a shimmering, pulsating orb. "I wonder what it does..." she said,
staring at it before laughing and robbing the rest of the cases, replacing them with some
meek HP Plus she had stole from the Guards. Thankfully, there really was a dragon walking near
the Reactor, so their front held up as the guards fought fiercly, but then something whacked
them both over the head from behind and everything went black...
*********************************************
'What's wrong with me...?'
'You know what's wrong with you.'
'No.. I don't..'
'Yes, you do.. You've lost something..'
"I.. I lost Lucrecia, years ago.."
'And now your heart is empty after all these years.'
"....."
'And it is coming back because of someone..'
"... Shut up.."
'And you don't know how to cope with emotion after all this time of coldness..'
"I said shut up.."
'You know what I'm talking about.. Don't deny your emotions, or it will be the
death of you..'
"Shut up!!"
**********************************************
Vincent woke with a start, breathing deeply. He'd been having deams such as this for
years.. decades.. where he was surrounded by darkness, a voice speaking to him, haunting
him for his faults, his problems, his sins.. He looked around quickly. He was stuck in a
prison cell, a rather large one. Yuffie was looking out of a barred window nearby, tuning
out everything around her. No one had realized she'd stolen the materia - what idiots -
so she still had it concealed in various hiding places. Of coarse she had no idea what
it did yet.
Yuffie turned to face Vincent and smiled. "Glad to see you're awake. Why didn't you
warn me someone was about to bash me over the head!?" she yelled. Vincent blinked.
"If I knew we were about to get bashed over the head, Yuffie, I would have shot
whoever did it." he snapped. "And untill we find a way out, we're stuck in here, so
you might as well get comfy."
Yuffie shrugged and kicked at the door some more. "THey confinscated out weapons.."
she mumbled, kicking the door again. "Even the stuff I had my personal Materia Collection
attached to!" She kicked the door harder, making a dent in it. "Oh well, atleast they were
polite enough not to find the others." she said, chuckling at her handywork of being a
thief and hiding the stolen orbs well. "Hey Vinnie, will you play with me?" she asked
innocently.
"What?"
"I said, 'Hey Vinnie, will you play with me?'"
".... Is that all you can think about?"
"Well I'm boOored!" pouted the thief girl. "And I stole some cool cards that were
invented a few months ago called 'Triple Triad'-" (ok, so I'm taking a bit from FF8,
but heck, it's my fic, and I'M ADDICTED TO THAT CARD GAME!! :p)
".. 'Triple Triad'? You've gotta be kidding me.."
"Nuh uh, that's what it's called, said so on the package." Yuffie said. "Some kinda
future tellers made it and the card designs up. See?" She took out a bag before anyone could
see where it was hidden and showed a few. There were mostly monsters imprinted on each
card. "I stole the whole set!" Each card had four numbers in a diamond shape on the
top-left corner, and a good many had an elemental symbol on the top-right.
She heard footsteps coming and quickly put the cards back away before anyone could see
where. The door opened - The left door got jammed because the dent couldn't go through the
slit in the wall - and a blonde haired woman of around 26 walked in. "So, your little
posse is still alive, I see." she said. "I thought for sure Sephiroth would have killed you.
Thank the Planet that Tseng didn't die from his encounter with that demon."
"Elenor?" Yuffie asked, bewildered. Vincent blinked. He had never heard that name
before...
"In the flesh." said the woman. "Now, tell me, what are you doing here? You aren't in
league with the new ShinRa are you?"
"No, me and my fiance were just taking a stroll up the mountainside and-"
"Don't give me those lies, you annoying thief." Elenor said, slapping Yuffie across the
face. "And one more thing.." The woman pulled out several purple orbs. "What is this? It
doesn't look like the materia we were producing, not at all." she growled. Yuffie laughed
nervously. "I haven't the slightest idea.."
Elenor scowled. "Now, look here, you brat. I know you're hiding our Materia. It isn't even
big enough to be of use to us yet, or you-"
"Oh, shut up! I, of all people here, know Materia the most, and I can tell that with a bit
of carving it'd be a perfect orb ripe with magic."
Elenor scowled even more (if that's even possible), before laughing. "Fine. We'll commence
a strip search a.s.a.p."
"You little-" Yuffie shouted, dashing at her as the door closed. Elenor walked away and
kept from chuckling as there was a sickening THUD and another dent was made in the door.
"H-Hey, Vince, you'll protect me, won't you?" asked Yuffie, faking fear to annoy him. She
had faked emotions a good deal of time she'd lived in the Shinra mansion, and even though he
fell for it the first few times, eventually he became immune to when she was feigning.
"Will you stop that?" asked Vincent. Yuffie burst into a fit of giggling. "And stop
telling people I'm your 'boyfriend' or 'fiance'. It's getting annoying."
"Well, that's the only passing story for you that I could think of." said Yuffie. "What else
can you say to convince people to trust a sinister-looking cloaked man with a gold claw?"
Vincent scowled. She did have a point, but still. "Could you atleast just stick with
'boyfriend' from now on?" sighed Vincent - he'd learned from past experience that she was
quite stubborn with things like that, and you just couldn't completely win an argument..
Five minutes later, some welders came to fix the dents in the door. Yuffie sat and
watched intently as they slowly hit the dents back into the door, then kicked several
more dents in the door just to be annoying. ANd, needless to say by the swearing outside
the door, it worked. After about an hour of things like this, they finally fixed the now
horribly wrinkled-looking door and walked away. Yuffie had gotten tired from all the kicking
and just gave up. About ten minutes afterward, the doors slid open with the horrid screeching
of metal against metal from all the misshapen areas in it, as a tall bald dark skinned man
and six guards walked in - Yuffie and Vincent both recognized this man as Rude.
"Alright, we're here for the materia. We can do this the easy way, or by whatever means
necicary." growled Rude. Vincent scowled, feeling something building up inside him. "Now,
we'll give you a chance to hand it over now. Save yourself the humiliation." He held out his
hands. Yuffie scowled and stuck her tongue out at him defiantly. He slapped her across the
face and grabbed her by the collar of her halter, pulling her closer. "Look, I am trying to
keep my cool here, but you are making this very difficult for the both of us..
"If you don't hand over the Materia now, you will regret it dearly!" snapped Rude.
Vincent felt the feeling building up, clouding his mind.. He hadn't felt this before..
Then, he realized what was happening, and tried his hardest to stop. Chaos was breaking
loose.. That demon's only mentality was to kill everything in sight - He'd hardly controlled
it against Sephiroth, but Sephiroth looked so much like an angelic being in his second
form, he just figured CHaos targeted it over the normal ones and fought fiercly untill it
was knocked out..
Yuffie looked a bit horror-stricken, but still kept her defiant attitude. "Well?!" Rude
snapped, getting highly ticked off. "Answer me now! Hand over the Materia!" He held out his
hand. Yuffie spat on his hand disrespectfully. Rude scowled. "Seize her!!" he shouted. Four
guards grabbed her by the arms and ankles and held her still as two more guards stood with
Rude in front of her. Reno slapped her once on each side of her face. He had no choice now...
There was a hideous roar nearby as Vincent slowly staggered towards them. A pair of demonic
wings tore out of his back as he transformed into the demonic beast Chaos. The guards looked
up at him in horror as he slashed the advancing two to the ground, wrapping his tail around
another guard's neck and snapping it into pieces. He quickly killed the last two soldiers
and glared viciously at Reno - Yuffie slowly crept away into a corner, hopefully hidden from
sight as Reno ran out of the room, pressing the button to shut the door.
Chaos riped through the doors and glared around, seeing no one (Rude had already gone
around the corner and out of side). Then, it suddenly tore back into the room, staring wildly
to make sure there were no survivors, and its blood-thirsty eyes shot open as it saw the
young thief crouched down in the corner. He slowly stomped towards her, trying to fight
against his impulse as a claw rose into the air. Yuffie held her hands up and got ready to
fight the demon if she had to.. Then, red surrounded the beast as it landed, reverting back
to Vincent, who kneeled down, breathing heavily.
Before Yuffie could see if he was alright, red lights flashed and the warning sirens
wailed. Sounds of hundreds of footsteps could be heard from outside the door, echoing
off the walls of the corridor. Vincent jumped up, staring around before quickly stripping
two guards of their clothes and tossing one to Yuffie. They donned the ouftits and ran into
the swarm of Guards as a disguise as they passed, both carrying new rifles from the
costumes in case something went wrong. Then, they slipped into a control room unnoticed.
"Alright!" exclaimed Yuffie, running up to it and pressing hundreds of buttons. Vincent
locked the door and walked up to her, taking off the helmet - He still had his cloak on
under the disguise. "Yuffie, you do know what you're doing, right?" he asked. Yuffie
turned around and smiled sweetly. "I have no idea whatsoever!" she said, turning back around
and pressing as many commands as she could to disrupt things. (In case you're wondering,
Yuffie had also hidden her Shuriken-style weapon and still had it. She had just forgot about
it untill now.)
".... and this here... and that... and... and.. Jeeze, isn't there an OFF switch or
something?... Agh, forget the off switch, I'll do it my way..." Yuffie pulled out her
giant shuriken blade and jabbed it on the far left end of the panal, glad her costume had
rubber gloves (THICK ONES AT THAT) and running down the control panal, slicing them all,
swerving the blade back and forth and ultimately wrecking the control panel. Sparks flew
around as they dashed out of the room and ran down the hallway with the guards, blending into
the chaos so that no one noticed them as they peeked into every cel and finally found the
one with their weapons and things in it. Yuffie kicked down the door and ran in, tossing
Vincent his weapons and equipping her Materia. As soon as they were ready, Vincent
dashed out with her and they followed the flow of guards as best as they could. Then, they broke
away and ran outside, dashing down the mountainside, sliding downward. As soon as they landed,
they passed by Cloud and Tifa and Cid, who quickly turned to follow and asked what happened.
After everything was explained, they heard an earth-shaking explosion as the Mako Reactor
exploded. "... Way to go me!!" squealed Yuffie, jumping up and down. "I knew destroying that
control panel would work!" she laughed at herself as they dashed back to the Highwind.
Everyone was boarding the Highwind five minutes later. The skies seemed a bit darker now
for some reason.. Vincent turned back towards Nibelheim, staring into the sky. Yuffie noticed
this and, eager to avoid the Highwind, ran to see what was wrong. "What's up?"
"It's happening again... another storm.." he muttered. Yuffie blinked then noticed
black smoke emitting from the wreckage - Which would have been normal except for the fact
that it was rising into the air and forming a spiraling cloud, purple flashes emitting from
it. "Oh, that..." She looked up at the storm and quickly forgot her air sickness as she dashed
into the Highwind. Vincent followed soon after as the first lightning bolt sounded, blasting
a chunk of Nibelheim Mountain.. "What the heck is that thing?!" Cloud asked as they all
stood on the bridge, staring at the storm.
Just then, a communication screen popped up on a moniter. Tseng's face appeared..
"Ladies and gentlemen of the ShinRa corporation.. This is Tseng. I hope you remember
me.. Elenor, explain."
Elenor walked onto the screen. "Well, thanks to you guys, the Mako Storm producer is
out of control.. The electrical currant where the reactor is creates a powerful barrier,
so none of us will be able to shut it down now. We need your help. If we can't do anything,
the entire Planet will be in jeapordy.."
"Not again!! We just got away from Sephiroth!!" Reeves wailed, slamming his bladed weapon
to the ground. "You idiots! Didn't I always tell you stupid guys never to make a bioweapon
without a weakness!?" he yelled at Elenor, walking up to the screen. "But you never listened,
and look what happened now!!"
"Reeves, sit down. Elenor, tell Tseng that, for now, we're allies with him. Only untill
this storm.. thing, is gone. Now, what is a Mako Storm?" Cloud asked, confused.
"It's exactly what it sounds like." Tseng said, stepping on screen. "The perfect artificial
storm weapon. There's no way we know of to break it up, and if it's allowed to grow large
enough, it will continue reproducing itself and growing more powerful.. theoretically, of coarse.
So unless we can stop it, we're all doomed."
WOW!! Has this story gone down another path. Well, I'll throw in a bonus Humor fic later just
like old times, which will be a bit FF8 crossover-ish. So till then, see you next time, on..
SKYSHIP HIGHWIND
Between the Lines
(Oohh, and I finally fixed that little name glitch! YaY! Let's all
shout for joy! *gets hit with a tomato* Ouch! Ok ok so my spy
quit cuz he didn't get paid enough I admit!! Just bear with it till
I can hire another one _