DISCLAIMER: Yesh, the characters are Squaresofts. All I came up with is Zenobius. (Damn.) ^_~ (A little trivia for ya: the name Zenobius means 'Zeus gave life'. I think it's a neat little detail, considering Zenobius was of Hojo's design.)
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Heeh!! I know you're probably dying to find out what happened to everyone after Tiny Bronco crashed? ..But before that: Gaah am I so in need of coffee right now! I stayed up practically the whole of last night trying to figure out this chapter. It was really frustrating! Unfortunately all the good stuff will be in the next chapter.. Still, this is not all bad..? I hope. ^_^
CHAPTER 22.
I touched your eyelids
that one day must close,
Your lips as perishable as a rose:
And say that all must fade, before we know
The thing we know of but we do not know.
- F. T. Prince -
"Congratulations, Heideggar.." Scarlet smiled at the middle aged Shin-Ra executive, who was following his machine, Barracuda-577 in action with a pair of binoculars.
"It's a success alright." Heideggar said confidently. "I told you this would be big." He continued, and grabbed a radiophone. "Release the other two." He announced, and then listened to their response.
"Alright, Sir." A female voice answered. As the radio-phone went silent again, Heideggar placed it back on a table, and grabbed the binoculars hangind around his neck in a black string. "There they go.." He laughed anxiously, as he followed the three machines gather on a clearing. They stood in a neat line in perfect formation, their shining metallic shields reflecting the afternoon sun.
"They're quite beautiful." Scarlet seemed pleased by the way the machines moved, on their hind legs. They were designed very streamlined, which suggested they were capable of moving at fast speeds.
"Oh, I designed them.." Heideggar's expression was bashful, as he glanced at Scarlet. Soon the three machines arched their long necks, and a Mako-green glow lit up in their large eyes that were located at the sides of the their small heads. In a syncronized manner, the machines opened their jaws, and fired a blaze of energy at the forest.
"Mobile Mako-cannons?" Scarlet seemed intriqued.
The energy from the Barracudas mouths turned more severe, as the tree metallic monsters united their strength and shot at the forest. Several trees fell down with a loud crash. "They have some basic artificial intelligence, which means several Barracudas can function as a unit.." Heideggar continued to praise his machines. "I'm sending them after that plane we shot down.." He explained, as the robots began to march deeper into the forest, shooting trees and plants that were in their way.
"I like those Barracudas already.." Scarlet snickered, laughing with her high-pitched voice.
"Do you still think it was AVALANCHE?" Heideggar asked.
"Yes.. Emphasis on the word *was*.." Scarlet said, smiling maliciously. "Now where can we find that Temple?" She asked.
* * * * *
Aeris opened her eyes, feeling pain all over her body. She was lying in a pile of dry, dead leaves, staring up at the remains of Tiny Bronco, that were caught up in the branches quite high up. She forced herself to her feet, and faltered away from the plane, in case the branches might break under the heavy weight of it. Aeris was glad all of her bones were intact after such a long fall, the branches and the soft ground must've broken her fall. She had been lucky she had not gotten any worse injuries than a few cuts and bruises.
"Ouch." Aeris tried to avoid putting any weight on her right ankle, which she seemed to have twisted. Glancing around her in the falling darkness of the forest, she couldn't see the others anywhere. The tall, big trees grew everywhere, vines wrapping their leaves around their colonnade. Not much grew on the ground level, since hardly any sunlight reached it through the treetops. For how long had she been unconsious? Aeris thought, and felt a little bit frightened of the thought of being left alone in the forest. She managed to hop on her good foot to a tree, from which she noticed her staff, still in perfect condition.
"Oh, thank god." Aeris grabbed her weapon of choise, and held it close to her for comfort. Where were the others? Aeris couldn't understand. She glanced up at the remains of the aeroplane, yet she couldn't see anything of particular interest. She sat down with her back against the trees tall roots, and went through her backpack. Aeris took a sip of a bottle of fresh water she had with her, then closed it and returned it to her bag.
"Hello!!" Aeris shouted, mentally hitting herself for sounding so weak. "Is anybody out there!!" Aeris repeated, not hearing even a one single reply.
Some monkeys made a lot of noise, jumping midst the treetops. Some half eaten leaves flew down slowly, like feathers. Aeris watched them in silence, trying to gather enough strength to go searching for the others. Still, she felt weak and shaken after the violent crash. Aeris shuddered, in the moist, cooling air of the jungle. She hoped she wouldn't have to spend the night alone in this forest. She remembered once camping out on her backyard, especially the part where she she had run back into the house and into Elmyra's bed, shivering of cold and fear. Aeris wished Sephiroth was here.. She always felt so safe and secure with him.
"Please, anybody? Can you hear me!?" Aeris tried to shout again, and just like the times before, she heard no answer. Aeris tried to think how Sephiroth would act in a situation like this. He'd probably say something like it was wise to stay close to the plane and not wander anywhere.. But of course, Sephiroth was far more used to being alone, and surviving without anyone's help. Aeris pouted to herself. Suddenly a flock of birds flew over Aeris, chirping with shaken voices as though something had frightened them into motion. "..Hello?" Aeris said cautiously, scanning the darkening night with her eyes.
"Stop shouting, you'll lure them to you."
Aeris suddenly heard Sephiroth whisper from behind her. She turned her head in an instant, and studied his apperance carefully. Sephiroth didn't look like he was hurt, with the exception of a small cut over his brow, that wasn't even bleeding much.
"Oh, Sephiroth!" Aeris stood up and hugged him passionately. "Am I glad you're here.." She whispered, tears in her eyes. Aeris was so relieved that he was OK, and that she wouldn't have to be alone.
"Shh.." Sephiroth whispered her, pulling her towards some darker shadows.
"What's wrong?" Aeris asked him in a whispered voice, sencing there was a reason for Sephiroth's concentrated expression.
"Right after the crash, I got separated from the others.. Shin-Ra's new toys are roaming these forests, so it's difficult to find anyone. I'm just glad I was able to get back to the plane. Quite clever of you, to stay close to it." Sephiroth complimented.
"Thanks." Aeris smiled. "But I really had no choise.. I think I twisted my ankle." She added.
"Oh, I'd better carry you then.. The machine's are rather fast." Sephiroth turned his back at Aeris for her to climb on.
"OK.." Aeris jumped on his back from a small rock. "So you don't know where the others are?" She asked, as Sephiroth carried her deeper into the forest.
"No.. I haven't seen them. I suppose they've seen the machines also, and don't want to make any excess noise." Sephiroth assumed.
"I hope everyone's OK.." Aeris bit her lip. She was deeply worried, if those machines were the same that had shot their plane down, it meant they were powerful and very accurate weapons, even from a long distance. "Can you fight them?" She asked Sephiroth, who then gave her a look.
"Of course. But it is not wise under these circumstances." Sephiroth explained.
"Why?" Aeris asked, fearing the answer might be her. She could hardly help Sephiroth in battle, except maybe by healing him. It was possible she was only slowing him down.
"They have the ability to communicate with each other, which means when one machine comes across with any enemy resistance.." Sephiroth began his explanation. "..Others will come for the rescue." Aeris finished his sentence with a sigh.
"How many of them are there?" She wondered, understanding that it would be difficult for even Sephiroth to fight off a whole platoon of war-machines on his own.
"I'm not sure. Therefore it's not wise to rush into fighting them." Sephiroth said, carrying Aeris up to a cliff.
"Where are we going?" She asked curiously.
"We should search for some landmark.. It's likely the others will too." Sephiroth said. "It is the way SOLDIER's are trained to act in cases of getting lost from the main group." He said with a smile.
Aeris returned Sephiroth's smile, breathing in the scent of his hair. She was glad of Sephiroth's experience, since he always seemed to know what to do, and how to make a difficult situation seem simple and easy to handle.
"Sephiroth!" Tifa said as she ran down to meet Aeris and him.
"Have you seen any of the others? Cloud?" Tifa sounded worried.
"No.." Aeris frowned apologetically. "I'm sure they're OK, though." She added, as Sephiroth continued to carry her towards a smooth rock closeby on top of the ridge.
"Sit down here." He told Aeris, and she slid down his back onto groundlevel.
"Ouch.." She hopped on her good foot to the rock, and sat down.
Sephiroth kneeled in front of her, inspecting her swollen ankle, careful not to twist it any further. "It looks pretty bad.." He muttered, and began untying the shoe-laces of Aeris' brown leather shoes.
"So did you see those machines..?" Tifa asked Aeris, sitting down on another rock.
"Well, I didn't.. But Sephiroth saw them, didn't you?" Aeris asked him, as he gently took Aeris' shoe off.
"Yes." He stated flatly, as he removed the white sock from Aeris foot. He then poared some wated onto it, and cast a weak ice-spell onto the sock.
"What on earth are you doing?" Aeris giggled. "I'm pretty sure it's dead." She smiled at Sephiroth, and heard Tifa chuckle at her remark a small distance away.
Sephiroth looked up at Aeris, slightly irritated by the two women making fun of him. "Your ankle needs something cold.." He muttered, and placed the frozed sock around Aeris' ankle. He then placed Aeris' shoe back on and tied the laces tightly. "Better?" He then asked.
"Yeah." Aeris smiled at him as a thankyou.
"Where do you think the others are?" Tifa asked Sephiroth, her eyes turned to study the forest spreading in every direction.
"..Probably on their way here." Sephiroth shrugged. Tifa just glanced at him, not surprised by his lack of interest. This was exactly what she'd expected from him.
"What if they're fighting those weird machines?" She asked.
"Well then there's very little we can do to help." Sephiroth responded.
"What did you say?! We should go looking for them!" Tifa raised her voice at him.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Sephiroth glared at her.
"Hey, stop it!" Aeris gave both Tifa and Sephiroth warning looks. "This doesn't help anyone." She told them and wringed her brow, deep in thought. Sephiroth couldn't help smiling at her, even if he was still irritated with Tifa. Aeris looked very cute, almost childlike as she tried to decide what they should do. "I'm worried about the others too, Tifa.." Aeris glanced at the dark-haired woman, "but I think we shouldn't go back there.." She spoke, frowning at Tifa's frustrated expression.
"Figures." Tifa rolled her eyes, and turned her back at Sephiroth.
"It's just that.. We don't know the first thing about these machines.. And walking about might do Cloud and the others more harm than good. Besides, we have no idea where they are exactly.." Aeris tried to explain her motives.
"Yeah, Aeris.. I know." Tifa sighed. "I just don't like sitting around, doing nothing.." She continued.
"Feel free to go back then, I won't stop you." Sephiroth smirked, and both Aeris and Tifa gave him a look.
"Be quiet Sephy." Aeris sighed.
* * * * *
"Psst. Yuffie?" Red whispered to the young ninja. They were sitting on a treebranch, not far from the spot where they had regained consiousness. They both figured they had been the first one's to fall from the plane. After a few hours of searching for the others in vain, Yuffie had thought she might be able to see the plane's crash site from high up. Climbing up a tree had been a difficult task for even Red, even if he had long, sharp claws. The long climb had in fact taken most of Yuffie's strength, so sitting still on a thick branch was a welcomed change from the walking, even if they couldn't really see anything in the setting sun.
"What?" Yuffie glanced in the direction Red was looking at, and noticed two large machines, prowl past them on their hind legs. The machines seemed to move swiftly, unlike any other robots Yuffie had ever seen. "What are they..?" She though aloud, and Red just shook his mane.
"..Look, there's something like.. Barracuda written to their sides.." He whispered, scared stiff as a machine stopped and glanced in their direction. After a moment of charged silence it turned it's metallic head back, and continued to walk after it's partner.
"Whoa.." Yuffie heaved a sigh of relief. "For I moment there I thought it saw us.." She mumbled, not wanting Red to know she had felt a little bit threatened by the huge robots, whose eyes glowed like those of Sephiroth's..
"Do you think the others.." Yuffie turned to Red, wondering if he knew what was going on any more than she did. "..are OK?" She swallowed, not comfortable with the thought of the robot's patrolling the woods.
"I honesty don't know." Red answered, closing his amber coloured eye. The red-furred creature sat in silence a moment, before opening his eyes again. "Still.. We can't stay here." He turned to face Yuffie.
"I know." Yuffie nodded, a little frightened look in her eyes. "But I don't really wanna fight those robots on our own.." She explained, and prepared to climb back to ground, as they suddenly noticed a certain young blonde wander past them, never looking up. He had drawn his sword, and looked like he was waiting for someone to attack him any minute.
"Cloud!" Yuffie tried to whisper as loudly as she could, not wanting the machines to hear her. Yuffies voice never reached Cloud's ears, as he just continued to walk away. "God is he frustrating to work with." She muttered, and grabbed a yellow, ripe fruit from it's branch and threw it at Cloud. It landed next to him, making him jump in fright.
"Yuffie? Red?" Cloud blinked as his eyes focused on the two AVALANCHEr's sitting high up.
"Yeah. It's us." Yuffie replied, and quickly climbed down so that she wouldn't need to shout. Red was a little faster in getting down than her, so he quickly began asking the blonde leader about the others.
"So you haven't seen anyone but us yet?" Red thought.
"No.. Did you see the.." Cloud said, pointing in the direction the large machines had walked to.
"Yeah, we saw them alright." Yuffie snorted. "Let's just get away from here.. I don't wanna be here when they come back." She muttered.
"Sure." Cloud nodded, agreeing that escaping was the best alternative until they found out more about what was going on.
"It was probably one of those freaky robo-dragons that shot our plane down." Yuffie told Cloud.
"I think so too.." He nodded, searching the surroundings for any clues as to where the remains of Tiny Bronco were. "Do you know where the plane crashed? Maybe there's someone there." Cloud's voice was hopeful.
"I couldn't see it from up there." Red shrugged. "There are too many plants and trees around.. It's impossible to see through them. There wasn't any smoke from the plane either, so.." He continued, implying it was nearly impossible to find back to the plane, especially since it was getting darker and darker.
"We should look for any landmarks.." Cloud thought aloud. "I know that's what Sephiroth would do.." His voice turned a little cold at the mention of the ex-SOLDIER General. For a passing moment, Cloud wished Sephiroth had not survived the fall.
The three of them walked ahead in silence, wandering aimlessly as they had no idea where the others were.. Or even if they were all right. Yuffie tried to keep her eyes in the treetops in case the others were hiding high up too, but she didn't notice anyone. "Red.. Can't you.. smell them or something?" She glanced at the beast walking closeby, slightly frustrated and growingly irritated. It was late, and the day had been long and tiring. Above all she wanted to rest.
"This is a jungle.. There are so many smells, I cannot concentrate on any single one." Red answered her, uncomfortable about talking of his enhanced sences. He had been raised by humans, so at times Red forgot how different from them he actually was.
"..Great." Yuffie sighed, and turned to look at Cloud. He seemed tired too, but still kept walking ahead. Yuffie realized he was probably worried about the others, especially Tifa. "Look Cloud.. I don't think I can walk much further without taking a break." Yuffie stopped, and watched as Cloud turned to face her.
"Red?" Cloud turned to the red furred creature.
"I'm tired too.." Red's voice was quiet.
"OK.. It's no use to look for them in the dark, anyway." Cloud gave in with a sigh.
* * * * *
"Damn." Barret stumbled on a tall root, miraculously maintaining his balance. As he lifted his gaze and studied the surroundings, he noticed the peek of a ridge rise above the scenery. "Huh?" Barret stared at it, and then began to walk slowly towards it. The sudden noises of birds taking wing from the treetops made Barret jump a little, since he was not used to being in forests. The constant noises that didn't seem to seize even during night, were unfamiliar to him - he had grown used to the noises of Midgar, but a nightly jungle was something quite different.
"Oh man, where is everybody.." Barret said under his breath, suddenly hearing something approach him with considerable speed. As he turned his head, he noticed two large machines run past him, as though chasing some invisible enemy.
"Wha--?" Barret stared at them, as the other suddenly stopped and turned it's small head, located at the top of it's streamlined body. Barret gulped, and raised his gun-arm at the robotic dragon. It took cautious steps towards him, while the other kept running. As Barret was about to fire at the machine, it turned on it's hind legs and followed the other robot slowly, as though it was reluctant to leave.
Barret walked to the path the two machine's had been running on, and stared after them with a bewildered look on his face. They didn't seem anything like the clumsy robot the AVALANCHEr's had encountered at the Sector 5 reactor.. Their movements were so fluent and lifelike, Barret had never seen anything like them from Shin-Ra. He was concearned, that his old enemy seemed to be growing stronger and more dangerous. He wasn't sure what the robot's meant, but it was likely it had been one of those machines that had shot the AVALANCHEr's down. Barret began to follow the robotic monsters, as it seemed they were heading the same way as Barret had intended. Both the machines were headed straight for the ridge, not far from where Barret was standing now. Barret wondered, why the machine hadn't attacked him.. Judging by the speed they were running at, they were in a hurry to get somewhere. Barret hastened his pace, and the closer he got to the ridge, the more clearly he heard sound of struggle and fighting. "I knew it.. Damn you Shin-ra." Barret snorted, and ran up the side of the hill.
He saw Sephiroth and Tifa fight the two machines side by side, as Aeris cast her healing spells. Judging by a growing pile of metal junk on top of the ridge, they had been at it a while.
"Barret!" Aeris waved her hand at Barret, a relieved smile on her face. "I don't think I can keep this up for much longer.." She sighed, and it was only now that Barret noticed she wasn't putting any weight on her other leg. It must be hurt, he thought, and joined Tifa and Sephiroth. The very same machine, that had glanced at Barret, was just about to attack. Barret shot at it a few times, the bullets doing very little damage to it's hard surface. Most of them bounced right off, Barret noticed to his dissappointment.
"They seem to be immune to lighting based attacks as well!" Tifa shouted over the noise the two machines made as they were gathering strength from the Mako running in their engines.
"Only limit-break attacks seem to do some damage.. It takes horrible amounts of time to destroy even one machine and they just keep coming and coming.." Tifa's eyes were filled with despair, as she spoke. "I'm so tired.." She said, trying her best to block out an attack of the other metallic beast. It lifted Tifa into the air on it's nose, and then threw her down like a toy the robot had grown tired of.
"Well let's see how it likes this!" Barret shot at the beast, one of his bullets bouncing off into the robot's eye. Pasific green liquid gushed through the machine's broken eye, which seemed to slow it down quite a bit. Still, it showed no signs of stopping. When Barret destroyed the other eye too, the machine eventyally came to a halt, stopping midst it's attack just before hitting Aeris.
"Are you OK?" Barret heard Sephiroth ask, as he glanced at Aeris. She just nodded back at the silver-haired man, and the four of them turned their eyes to the other machine, still in working order.
"I'll destroy it--" Barret muttered, as the robot opened it's jaws and a thread of energy hit him straight in his chest. The bolt sent Barret to the ground, and left him light-headed. Barret rose to his feet shakily, trying to focus his eyes on the machine. "Damn.. I can't see.." He mumbled, seeing nothing but vague shadows in the darkness.
"You've been blinded." Sephiroth snorted, just before he jumped into an attack, slashing the robot with such quick, feverish movements.
Aeris watched in awe, as he fought.. Even when fighting, Sephiroth never lost his composure. He was almost as though practising; it was like Sephiroth hardly noticed he was fighting a real enemy. Sephiroth finished his attack with a kick below the metallic monsters jaw, and the three others fighting aside him watched the monster break in two, neatly from the middle. Barret glanced at Tifa, who didn't seem as surprised as he was.
"Oh, that was the second time he did that." Tifa explained with a shrug.
"Man dat guy is good at slicing stuff." Barret sighed, and watched the three broken robots on the ridge in turn.
"It looks like there aren't more coming.. Now, anyway." Sephiroth muttered, walking away from Tifa and Barret.
"Barret, I'm glad you found us! Did you see any of the others?" Tifa asked curiously. Even Aeris stared at the former leader of AVALANCHE for an answer.
"Naw.." Barret shook his head apologetically. "All I saw was these.. Barracudas?" Barret read from the side of one of the robots. "And it's pitch dark down there.." Barret stated, implying he thought it would be best to wait till morning.
"Yeah.. There's no chance of us finding anyone in the dark." Aeris smiled as she answered for Barret, since she well understood Tifa's worry.
She couldn't help letting her eyes wander back to Sephiroth though, who was standing at the edge of a cliff, staring down into the undergrowth. He looked troubled, but Aeris felt he probably wanted to be alone. She smiled to herself, it felt good to think maybe she understood him a little better now. She remembered once being a little frightened of the hard shell behind which Sephiroth liked to hide, but now that she knew deep inside he was really not that different from Aeris, she didn't feel frightened by anything about him at all.
"So we should stay 'ere right.. Mabbe they'll find their way to us." Barret said cautiously, sencing Tifa probably wanted to search for Cloud even in the dark. It was no use though, and she knew it.
"OK.." Tifa gave in, and yawned as she finally began to accept the thought of resting. They were all too weary to search for anyone, nor fight if they encountered any enemies. It would be stupid not to rest.. "Let's look for them in the morning." She nodded at Barret and Aeris, her eyes sweeping quickly over Sephiroth. Even if she remembered finding her father dead as clear as if it had happened yesterday, she couldn't help noticing a change in Sephiroth. Maybe Aeris had been right about him all along.. "It's not like there's much that can change over night!" Tifa laughed nervously, looking at Aeris as though she had asked a question and was waiting for an answer.
"Yeah.. Not much." Aeris answered Tifa with a calm smile.
Tifa watched as Aeris walked over to Sephiroth, careful not to put too much weight on her sore foot. She seemed to be coping better with it than a few hours ago, Tifa figured maybe Sephiroth's clumsy healing method's had worked.
"..You were pretty amazing back there."
Tifa heard Aeris compliment Sephiroth. He then turned his head to Aeris, and then the two just stared at each other, as if the eye contact had rendered them speechless.
"Geez.." Barret snorted at the sight of them. "I can't believe Aeris ain't frightened of 'im.." He muttered, and noticed Tifa give him a look.
"She's in love.." She answered, as though it explained everything.
* * * * *
"Any news of the Barracudas?" Heideggar asked a lower rank officer of his war department.
"No Sir. They seem to have stopped on top of a ridge, all three of them. The emergency signal has been activated, which would indicate.. that they've been destroyed Sir." The man answered.
"..General.." Heideggar snarled, and hit his fist against a table.
"Is this going to be a problem?" Another male voice asked from beside Heideggar. He was a blond-haired, neat looking young man, dressed in a white suit.
"No, Mr. Shinra, I'm sure well be able to prevent the AVALANCHEr's from destroying this mission, using some other weapons. I'll order SOLDIER's to go patrolling the nearby woods." Heideggar assured the man.
"Just call me Rufus.." The blond man said, sneering at the scenery. "And Heideggar, I doubt it'll do much good to send any more of our men for Sephiroth to slaughter.. It's stupid to try outpowering him.." Rufus continued.
"Y-yes, Mr Shinra.. I mean Rufus.. But what then?" Heideggar asked.
"Well think.. He must have some weaknesses?" Rufus turned to Heideggar, and looked at him almost accusingly.
"I'll contact Professor Hojo immediatly." Heideggar nodded at Rufus and turned his back. He quickly marched out of the cockpit of a huge airship, still floating quite a distance above ground. "Heideggar here, can you hear me groundbase 1?" He spoke to his radiophone, and noticed the lower rank officer he had spoken to before, run after him.
"Yes we hear. Do you have new orders?" A womans voice asked.
"Yes.. Gather a platoon ready, I'll give you further instructions within the next two hours." Heideggar's voice was determined as he marched towards his office at the lower parts of the ship.
"We'll do that." The woman said.
Heideggar closed the small black radiophone, and tried his best to hide his irritation with the Presidents son. His know-it-all attitude was unbearable.. Allthough the President wasn't much better himself. It seemed they were both as thirsty for money and power. The thought of AVALANCHE threating Shin-Ra's dominance over the world was unbearable for him too, but it seemed Rufus, Hojo and Scarlet had some other interests too. For many occasions during the last few months, the three of them had been seen talking rather suspiciously. Something was about to happen, Heideggar was sure of it, and he wanted to play his cards right. The last thing he wanted, was to be on the losing side. He had tried to ask Scarlet about it, but she just denied everything and laughed. Rufus was almost equally mysterious.. Heideggar wondered what was going on.
* * * * *
"I can't believe the bastards shot my plane down! What's so secret about this place, a man can't even fly over it!?!" Cid snorted, turning his head to Vincent as he waited for an answer. He didn't say anything, so Cid just continued his complaining. "Do you know how long it took me to build that plane!? Ten fucking years!" He raised his voice, growing more and more irritated with Shin-Ra.
Vincent glanced at him with his crimson coloured eyes, yet remained silent.
"You're a pretty quiet guy." Cid snorted.
"I prefer to stay silent unless I have something meaningful to say." Vincent finally spoke.
"Wha? You're suggesting I don't have anything to say?!" Cid asked him. "You'd better not be, 'cos--" A sudden loud sound interrupted Cid's thoughts. "Man, I don't like this frickin' jungle." He spoke in a whispered hush, hoping that whatever had caused the sound was not after them.
"Do you think it might be another Barracuda-577?" Vincent suggested, staring into the shadows.
"Naw.." Cid shook his head. "That's something bigger.." He continued in a little bit frightened voice. Although they had not seen but one Barracuda, it had been enough to frighten him. It seemed Shin-Ra had become more talented with building machines. Of course, Cid snorted, they'd never use their expertice for anything but creating better weapons.
I think this was not one of my best chapters.. Just when things were about to get interesting, I decided to leave it for the next chapter. It'll be pretty cool! So this chapter was all about building up tension. Sorry!! _ Try to hang in there, I guarantee the best chapters are yet to come!! ^_~