Thanks for the reviews everyone! ONWARD!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own FF7 or NMBC
Chapter Two: Well This is Odd
"Halloween Town?" repeated Cloud, raising a blonde eyebrow. Jack nodded his big round head. Cloud continued, "Where on the Planet is that?"
Sally looked to Jack. He shrugged to her.
"You brought him here."
Sally nodded and looked to Cloud, saying, "This…isn't on your…'Planet.' This is a separate world…I brought you here because someone appeared here and is making trouble that is causing the ghosts in the graveyard to complain, mothers…and children too."
Cloud lay down, putting his hands behind his head, bending one leg lazily. He had to move his wing a bit as he lay-he had forgotten it was there.
"And this concerns me how?"
"…We need your help to stop him."
"Why my help?"
Jack spoke up.
"You've defeated him before."
Cloud blinked then glared at the truth, which right now was the ceiling above him.
"I've killed many. Be more specific."
The trio was interrupted by a different trio. Three young children, all in costumes, opened the door and bounded in. One, the only girl, was dressed up as a witch. The two boys were dressed up in a devil costume and a skeleton costume, the fatter one dressed in the latter costume.
"J-Jack!" exclaimed the girl, her high pitched voice annoying Cloud a bit.
"We saw him!" cried the skinny boy, who Cloud guessed as their leader.
"He's scary!" added the fat one a bit stupidly. Cloud determined that one to be the moron of the trio ((not saying fat people are morons-Barrel's character is the dumb one, as the song says ^_^)).
"Who?" asked Jack as he bent his long, skinny legs so he could be a little closer to their heights.
"Sermaloth!" the fat one spoke up again. The witch hit him for his error.
"That's not his name!"
"Phph…as if you know his name," remarked the devil. The witch glared.
"I do! It's…it's Sakeroth!"
"That's definitely not it!" "Oh yeah? Then what is it?"
"…………….."
"See you dunno either!!"
Jack cut in.
"Who is it?!"
But the children continued to bicker. Jack looked up to Cloud.
"One moment please."
Blinking like an owl, Cloud watched as Jack pulled down his jawbone and roared at the kids, causing them to gasp and immediately shut their mouths. Jack replaced his jawbone and stood up, bending now at the waist.
"So…who was it?"
"Well, it definitely began with an 'S…'" replied the girl. Jack nodded and looked to Cloud again, straightening fully, the tail of his coat flapping slightly. Cloud seemed to get the idea.
"Sephiroth."
"That's it! That's what it was!" exclaimed all three of the kids in unison. Cloud glared again at nothing in particular.
"What…That explains the Mako eyes…but still…why is he here…"
"Mako?" asked Sally, finally speaking after all of the chattering from the children. Cloud looked to her and shook his head.
"Nevermind…how long has he been here? Why is he here?"
"He's been here about a year…"
Cloud could have guessed that. It had been that much time since Sephiroth's fall and the Lifestream's halting of Meteor destroying the planet. Midgar had suffered the most damage, but repairs were already going into effect.
"…and we're not sure why he's here," continued Jack. "This is the first time we've had ghosts like this…"
"'Ghosts?' You mean there's another ghost here besides Sephiroth?" asked Cloud. Sally nodded.
"She's a strange one…she's been picking out all of the weeds that I need for potions and-"
"Sally? Saaaaally?" called a croaky voice from downstairs. Jack looked to the door.
"That's Dr. Finklestien. Sally, I'm sure I can answer any of Cloud's other questions. Why don't we head downstairs? And thank you, you three," said Jack. He turned to the children and gave them each a candy of some sort for their help before all three ran out the still door. Sally nodded to him.
"Why don't you take him on a tour of Halloween Town so he can get used to it?"
"Good idea. How about it Cloud?" asked Jack. Cloud shrugged.
"I'm sure Sephiroth won't show himself for a while."
"Great! Down we go then!"
"Sally! I need those rat lungs!" called the doctor downstairs. Cloud blinked as he got up off the bed. Sally put her small hands to her head.
"Oh no! I forgot to replace them!"
Without another word, the rag doll ran downstairs ahead of Jack and Cloud. Cloud found that he would blinking in confusion a lot while here…
So down the two went: first Jack and then Cloud. It was a long way down a spiral staircase and Cloud noticed many unusual things on his way down. Some interesting, some scary, and others were mind boggling. Cloud was two preoccupied looking at the…whatever they were, as Cloud put it, he didn't notice that Jack had stopped and so the spiky haired ((not a word but who cares)) ex-SOLDIER bumped into him. He apologized as the skeleton looked at him oddly, ignoring Sally's faint giggles.
"It's all right-just as long as you don't knock my head off. I look incredibly silly looking around for it or if it's not on correctly," Jack replied to Cloud's apology. Before Cloud could express his confusion, however, he realized why they had stopped. A man with an oddly shaped head was staring at the three of them, his gloved hands on his wheelchair controls as if he were going to ram them down like bowling pins. He had dark circular goggles around what Cloud imagined to be tiny little eyes.
"Sally, why didn't you say we had company?" he asked, his voice even more irritable than when Cloud heard it upstairs. Sally looked to Jack quick and then back to the man in the wheelchair.
"I thought you were asleep," she lied. The man bought the fib and then glided closer to Jack and Cloud.
"Sally, why don't you go help Margaret with the dinner?" he asked of her, not glancing at her, however. She nodded and walked off slowly, as if to still listen to what the three men had to say. First, Jack spoke.
"Well Dr. Finklestien, I see Margaret is working fine."
"Oh yes," replied-Cloud tried to remember the name-Dr. Finklestien. "Her cooking is her only weakness."
"So it's certainly good that you and Sally worked things out, because you and I both know that Sally is a great cook!"
Dr. Finklestien nodded and then looked to Cloud. When Cloud said nothing, the doctor added, "When she isn't trying to poison me."
Cloud heard a faint but still loud stomp coming from the room Sally walked off to. Obviously, she was still listening. Nervously chuckling, Jack finally introduced Cloud, which was apparently what the doctor had wanted.
"Terribly sorry-I got carried away. Doctor, this is Cloud Strife, visiting on some…personal matters. Cloud, this is Dr. Finklestien, the best scientist in Halloween Town-"
"The only scientists in Halloween Town," corrected the doctor. Cloud smirked a bit, suddenly making a comparison to this doctor and Hojo, the mad scientist who was responsible for both Sephiroth's creation and his god-like abilities.
"R-right…oh, sorry again Dr. Finklestien, but I promised Mr. Strife a tour of Halloween Town."
"Then I can't keep you from your promises. Be careful of that man wreaking havoc everywhere. He may stop if he finds whatever he's looking for, but you can't be sure-"
"What? He's looking for something?" Cloud urgently interrupted the doctor.
"Well I don't know…ask the ghosts near the bridge to Oogie's old place. They say they see him around that place all the time. They speak of him looking for something."
Cloud frowned and tilted his head downward in thought. He suddenly pictured Sephiroth running around like a housemaid searching for a lost item that made him crack a smile. But he knew the seriousness ((hey cool that's really a word)) of the situation: Sephiroth could be searching for anything…and whatever it was, it couldn't be good. It might even be something that could bring destruction to the world…
"Let's head out then," spoke Jack, breaking through Cloud's thoughts. Almost dumbly he nodded in response, and then the two headed out.
"Jack, you said earlier that there were never ghosts like Sephiroth here before."
"Yes…"
"What exactly did you mean?"
Jack opened the gate that separated the observatory from the main part of Halloween Town and let Cloud go first. After Jack shut the gate again, a plain white ghost passed through the bars of it, closely resembling a bed sheet.
"Morning Jack. No need to reopen the gate for me," the ghost said, its voice chilly. Cloud could see straight through him where his eye sockets were and whenever it opened its mouth. The rest of him was partially transparent.
Chuckling a bit, Jack waved to him.
"Morning…Hey, have you been around the bridge lately?"
"Yeah."
"Have you seen…?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know if he's still there?"
"No."
Jack frowned slightly as Cloud smirked. An unenthusiastic ghost…what would he see next?
"Well, thank you anyway," said Jack. The ghost nodded and flew off as Jack turned to Cloud, starting to walk through the town. "Those are the only kind of ghosts we have. But now Sephiroth has appeared…he was quiet for a long time, but he's been attacking the ghosts that get too close to Oogie's manor…and he even destroyed the bridge leading to the manor so no one can get to him."
"Who is that Oogie guy?" asked Cloud after gaping as a slimy green-brown…man walked by him.
"His name was Oogie Boogie. He was the meanest and cruelest ghoul in all of Halloween Town…He took scaring mortals to a new level and was even convicted of killing a few. Instead of kicking him out, however, we just swore him off into an area where he couldn't get to Halloween Town very easily. Those three kids that saw Sephiroth were his helper's for a while, but in truth, they were scared of him and just helped him so he wouldn't go after them. A few months ago, he got out of hand again and tried to kill Sally and myself. However, he got caught in his own trap, and was literally ripped apart at the seams. The manor was soon reoccupied by Sephiroth, and that's when he started to get violent."
"So he was here before you stopped Oogie?" asked Cloud. He felt ridiculous saying that name.
"Yes…but he was never a threat, so we took no heed of him."
Cloud bit his lower lip softly as he pondered on the new information Jack gave him.
"What about that weed-picking ghost Sally was talking about?"
"I'm not entirely familiar with that one…"
Jack stopped at the guillotine and looked to another gate, then back to Cloud and stated, "That's the gate to the first part of the graveyard…do you want to search for Sephiroth and the other ghost?"
"Yeah…better try to finish him off for good while we can…"
Jack nodded and stepped up a few steps before getting to the gate. As he opened it, Cloud flapped his wing a bit, forgetting it was there again. He looked to it.
"I'll never get used to this thing…"
"You mean you never used to have it before you came here?"
"Never…Hey, speaking of 'before I came here,' how did I get here?"
Jack put one slender bony finger to his round chin in thought.
"You'll have to ask Sally about that…"
"I'm not dead…right? I can return to my Planet, right?" Cloud asked urgently. He thought of Tifa first, then all of his other friends…What if he never saw any of them again?
"…I'm sorry Cloud, but I'm really not sure…"
Muahahahaahaha! IS Cloud dead? WHAT is Sephi searching for? WHO is Margaret? …Well, I can answer that last one actually. At the end of the movie, Dr. Finklestien had created another helper-y'know the whole half-a-brain thing. I decided to give her a name, and seeing as I had JUST watched the Simpsons, all I could think of was "Marge." So Margaret it is. Well, review as always! Thanks a bunch, bai bai! ::bows and runs away::
DISCLAIMER: I don't own FF7 or NMBC
"Halloween Town?" repeated Cloud, raising a blonde eyebrow. Jack nodded his big round head. Cloud continued, "Where on the Planet is that?"
Sally looked to Jack. He shrugged to her.
"You brought him here."
Sally nodded and looked to Cloud, saying, "This…isn't on your…'Planet.' This is a separate world…I brought you here because someone appeared here and is making trouble that is causing the ghosts in the graveyard to complain, mothers…and children too."
Cloud lay down, putting his hands behind his head, bending one leg lazily. He had to move his wing a bit as he lay-he had forgotten it was there.
"And this concerns me how?"
"…We need your help to stop him."
"Why my help?"
Jack spoke up.
"You've defeated him before."
Cloud blinked then glared at the truth, which right now was the ceiling above him.
"I've killed many. Be more specific."
The trio was interrupted by a different trio. Three young children, all in costumes, opened the door and bounded in. One, the only girl, was dressed up as a witch. The two boys were dressed up in a devil costume and a skeleton costume, the fatter one dressed in the latter costume.
"J-Jack!" exclaimed the girl, her high pitched voice annoying Cloud a bit.
"We saw him!" cried the skinny boy, who Cloud guessed as their leader.
"He's scary!" added the fat one a bit stupidly. Cloud determined that one to be the moron of the trio ((not saying fat people are morons-Barrel's character is the dumb one, as the song says ^_^)).
"Who?" asked Jack as he bent his long, skinny legs so he could be a little closer to their heights.
"Sermaloth!" the fat one spoke up again. The witch hit him for his error.
"That's not his name!"
"Phph…as if you know his name," remarked the devil. The witch glared.
"I do! It's…it's Sakeroth!"
"That's definitely not it!" "Oh yeah? Then what is it?"
"…………….."
"See you dunno either!!"
Jack cut in.
"Who is it?!"
But the children continued to bicker. Jack looked up to Cloud.
"One moment please."
Blinking like an owl, Cloud watched as Jack pulled down his jawbone and roared at the kids, causing them to gasp and immediately shut their mouths. Jack replaced his jawbone and stood up, bending now at the waist.
"So…who was it?"
"Well, it definitely began with an 'S…'" replied the girl. Jack nodded and looked to Cloud again, straightening fully, the tail of his coat flapping slightly. Cloud seemed to get the idea.
"Sephiroth."
"That's it! That's what it was!" exclaimed all three of the kids in unison. Cloud glared again at nothing in particular.
"What…That explains the Mako eyes…but still…why is he here…"
"Mako?" asked Sally, finally speaking after all of the chattering from the children. Cloud looked to her and shook his head.
"Nevermind…how long has he been here? Why is he here?"
"He's been here about a year…"
Cloud could have guessed that. It had been that much time since Sephiroth's fall and the Lifestream's halting of Meteor destroying the planet. Midgar had suffered the most damage, but repairs were already going into effect.
"…and we're not sure why he's here," continued Jack. "This is the first time we've had ghosts like this…"
"'Ghosts?' You mean there's another ghost here besides Sephiroth?" asked Cloud. Sally nodded.
"She's a strange one…she's been picking out all of the weeds that I need for potions and-"
"Sally? Saaaaally?" called a croaky voice from downstairs. Jack looked to the door.
"That's Dr. Finklestien. Sally, I'm sure I can answer any of Cloud's other questions. Why don't we head downstairs? And thank you, you three," said Jack. He turned to the children and gave them each a candy of some sort for their help before all three ran out the still door. Sally nodded to him.
"Why don't you take him on a tour of Halloween Town so he can get used to it?"
"Good idea. How about it Cloud?" asked Jack. Cloud shrugged.
"I'm sure Sephiroth won't show himself for a while."
"Great! Down we go then!"
"Sally! I need those rat lungs!" called the doctor downstairs. Cloud blinked as he got up off the bed. Sally put her small hands to her head.
"Oh no! I forgot to replace them!"
Without another word, the rag doll ran downstairs ahead of Jack and Cloud. Cloud found that he would blinking in confusion a lot while here…
So down the two went: first Jack and then Cloud. It was a long way down a spiral staircase and Cloud noticed many unusual things on his way down. Some interesting, some scary, and others were mind boggling. Cloud was two preoccupied looking at the…whatever they were, as Cloud put it, he didn't notice that Jack had stopped and so the spiky haired ((not a word but who cares)) ex-SOLDIER bumped into him. He apologized as the skeleton looked at him oddly, ignoring Sally's faint giggles.
"It's all right-just as long as you don't knock my head off. I look incredibly silly looking around for it or if it's not on correctly," Jack replied to Cloud's apology. Before Cloud could express his confusion, however, he realized why they had stopped. A man with an oddly shaped head was staring at the three of them, his gloved hands on his wheelchair controls as if he were going to ram them down like bowling pins. He had dark circular goggles around what Cloud imagined to be tiny little eyes.
"Sally, why didn't you say we had company?" he asked, his voice even more irritable than when Cloud heard it upstairs. Sally looked to Jack quick and then back to the man in the wheelchair.
"I thought you were asleep," she lied. The man bought the fib and then glided closer to Jack and Cloud.
"Sally, why don't you go help Margaret with the dinner?" he asked of her, not glancing at her, however. She nodded and walked off slowly, as if to still listen to what the three men had to say. First, Jack spoke.
"Well Dr. Finklestien, I see Margaret is working fine."
"Oh yes," replied-Cloud tried to remember the name-Dr. Finklestien. "Her cooking is her only weakness."
"So it's certainly good that you and Sally worked things out, because you and I both know that Sally is a great cook!"
Dr. Finklestien nodded and then looked to Cloud. When Cloud said nothing, the doctor added, "When she isn't trying to poison me."
Cloud heard a faint but still loud stomp coming from the room Sally walked off to. Obviously, she was still listening. Nervously chuckling, Jack finally introduced Cloud, which was apparently what the doctor had wanted.
"Terribly sorry-I got carried away. Doctor, this is Cloud Strife, visiting on some…personal matters. Cloud, this is Dr. Finklestien, the best scientist in Halloween Town-"
"The only scientists in Halloween Town," corrected the doctor. Cloud smirked a bit, suddenly making a comparison to this doctor and Hojo, the mad scientist who was responsible for both Sephiroth's creation and his god-like abilities.
"R-right…oh, sorry again Dr. Finklestien, but I promised Mr. Strife a tour of Halloween Town."
"Then I can't keep you from your promises. Be careful of that man wreaking havoc everywhere. He may stop if he finds whatever he's looking for, but you can't be sure-"
"What? He's looking for something?" Cloud urgently interrupted the doctor.
"Well I don't know…ask the ghosts near the bridge to Oogie's old place. They say they see him around that place all the time. They speak of him looking for something."
Cloud frowned and tilted his head downward in thought. He suddenly pictured Sephiroth running around like a housemaid searching for a lost item that made him crack a smile. But he knew the seriousness ((hey cool that's really a word)) of the situation: Sephiroth could be searching for anything…and whatever it was, it couldn't be good. It might even be something that could bring destruction to the world…
"Let's head out then," spoke Jack, breaking through Cloud's thoughts. Almost dumbly he nodded in response, and then the two headed out.
"Jack, you said earlier that there were never ghosts like Sephiroth here before."
"Yes…"
"What exactly did you mean?"
Jack opened the gate that separated the observatory from the main part of Halloween Town and let Cloud go first. After Jack shut the gate again, a plain white ghost passed through the bars of it, closely resembling a bed sheet.
"Morning Jack. No need to reopen the gate for me," the ghost said, its voice chilly. Cloud could see straight through him where his eye sockets were and whenever it opened its mouth. The rest of him was partially transparent.
Chuckling a bit, Jack waved to him.
"Morning…Hey, have you been around the bridge lately?"
"Yeah."
"Have you seen…?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know if he's still there?"
"No."
Jack frowned slightly as Cloud smirked. An unenthusiastic ghost…what would he see next?
"Well, thank you anyway," said Jack. The ghost nodded and flew off as Jack turned to Cloud, starting to walk through the town. "Those are the only kind of ghosts we have. But now Sephiroth has appeared…he was quiet for a long time, but he's been attacking the ghosts that get too close to Oogie's manor…and he even destroyed the bridge leading to the manor so no one can get to him."
"Who is that Oogie guy?" asked Cloud after gaping as a slimy green-brown…man walked by him.
"His name was Oogie Boogie. He was the meanest and cruelest ghoul in all of Halloween Town…He took scaring mortals to a new level and was even convicted of killing a few. Instead of kicking him out, however, we just swore him off into an area where he couldn't get to Halloween Town very easily. Those three kids that saw Sephiroth were his helper's for a while, but in truth, they were scared of him and just helped him so he wouldn't go after them. A few months ago, he got out of hand again and tried to kill Sally and myself. However, he got caught in his own trap, and was literally ripped apart at the seams. The manor was soon reoccupied by Sephiroth, and that's when he started to get violent."
"So he was here before you stopped Oogie?" asked Cloud. He felt ridiculous saying that name.
"Yes…but he was never a threat, so we took no heed of him."
Cloud bit his lower lip softly as he pondered on the new information Jack gave him.
"What about that weed-picking ghost Sally was talking about?"
"I'm not entirely familiar with that one…"
Jack stopped at the guillotine and looked to another gate, then back to Cloud and stated, "That's the gate to the first part of the graveyard…do you want to search for Sephiroth and the other ghost?"
"Yeah…better try to finish him off for good while we can…"
Jack nodded and stepped up a few steps before getting to the gate. As he opened it, Cloud flapped his wing a bit, forgetting it was there again. He looked to it.
"I'll never get used to this thing…"
"You mean you never used to have it before you came here?"
"Never…Hey, speaking of 'before I came here,' how did I get here?"
Jack put one slender bony finger to his round chin in thought.
"You'll have to ask Sally about that…"
"I'm not dead…right? I can return to my Planet, right?" Cloud asked urgently. He thought of Tifa first, then all of his other friends…What if he never saw any of them again?
"…I'm sorry Cloud, but I'm really not sure…"
Muahahahaahaha! IS Cloud dead? WHAT is Sephi searching for? WHO is Margaret? …Well, I can answer that last one actually. At the end of the movie, Dr. Finklestien had created another helper-y'know the whole half-a-brain thing. I decided to give her a name, and seeing as I had JUST watched the Simpsons, all I could think of was "Marge." So Margaret it is. Well, review as always! Thanks a bunch, bai bai! ::bows and runs away::
