Chapter 4: Regroup
"Where did they go?" asked Chun Li.
She and the others from the Capcom side were stunned and confused at the disappearance of their enemies. They had vanished into thin air and had taken the orb with them.
"They got the orb" said Dante.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Sakura.
"We need to head back to our base and regroup. Lets tend to any wounded and plan our next move" said Guile.
Everyone agreed with Guile and they all made their way back to the base. They discussed the fight and started planning what should be done next.
"Did any of the people you fought have strange abilities? The person I fought was able to slow me down with some type of spell" said Strider.
Chun Li then spoke about her fight.
"Yes, some of them have magical abilities such as barriers and I saw a few do fire and thunder spells. I noticed that ki attacks break through their barriers though."
X came from the machine room in the tower with information on the location of the other orbs.
"The monitor in the tower is picking up two orbs, one of them is in a place called Enix Tower and its northeast of here. The other is southeast of here in a place called COM Cave. I believe that we should send two teams after them and cover more ground"
X proposed his idea to the entire Capcom team. They had spent most of their day resting, repairing and healing any cuts and bruises. They focused now on making groups to go after the remaining orbs. Dante also had an idea that he wanted to present to the group.
"What about the orb that they already have? We should create a group to attack their base. Chances are they will send groups out to find the orbs themselves. I'm assuming that they will try to guard their orb in their base."
"Dante, would you be willing to lead an attack group on their base? Asked Guile.
"Yes, I'll do it. Who wants to join the attack group?"
Dante looked around the group for volunteers.
"I'll go with you, cutie."
Morrigan stood up and walked over to Dante.
"We'll help you as well"
Captain Commando and the rest of the Commando Squad volunteered.
"Hoover, is your suit fully functioning now?" asked Dante.
Hoover pulled the pacifier out of his mouth and spoke.
"Yeah, it should be ok. X helped me fix it up."
Cammy and B.B. Hood decided to volunteer next.
"I'm ready to go" said Cammy.
"I'll do it" said B.B. Hood.
Guile continued on with the group formations.
"Ok, so the attack team consists of Dante, Morrigan, Captain Commando, Sho, Jennety, Hoover, Cammy, and B.B. Hood. Who wants to go after the orb in COM cave with me?"
Chun Li, Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Zangief volunteered to join Guile. Jill led the team going to Enix tower. Her group consisted of Guy, Maki, Hayato, Strider, and X. After separating into three groups the Capcom team began their missions.
Meanwhile in the Square base the Square team teleported into their base with the use of Cloud's exit materia. They healed up with several Curaga and Cure 3 spells and discussed the fight. They also made plans on what they should do next.
"Whoa that was a wild ride, ya? What was that?"
Wakka was amazed at how the entire group was instantly teleported to their base.
"That was exit magic" said Cloud.
"So you guys can use magic too, huh? There are mages on our world that could do some of the magic I saw you do. My friend Lulu is very good with it and Yuna used to be able to summon Aeons like Squall and Rinoa did."
"Aeons?" asked Squall.
"Yeah you know like Bahamut and Ifrit I saw you summon them in the fight. Are you a summoner on your world or something?" asked Wakka.
"Well on our world we call them Guardian Forces. I guess we really do come from the same universe. Some of the same magic spells and techniques exist on our worlds" said Squall.
"What about the techniques of the ones we fought today? They did some pretty amazing things too" said Red.
"Yeah, some of their attacks can even break through our barrier spells" said Tifa.
"So from now on we can't underestimate them. Now we need to focus on getting the other orbs. Cid where are they?" said Cloud.
"The machine shows two orbs one in a place called Enix tower and the other in COM cave. So who is going where?
"What about the orb we have now? We need to protect it. We should have a group to defend it just in case" said Vincent.
"Good Idea, Vincent will you lead it?" asked Cloud
"Yes Cloud I'll do it. Who else will help defend the orb?"
"I'll volunteer" Aya raised her hand
"So will I" said Red
"We'll help too."
Kou, Sion, and Volt decided to help defend as well as Zell and Quistis.
"Well someone has to do it" said Quistis.
"So, the defending group is decided who wants to come with me to Enix tower?" asked Cloud.
Squall, Rinoa, Tifa, Barret, and Cid decided to go with Cloud to Enix tower. The group to COM cave consisted of Seifer, Wakka, Yuffie, Rikku, Selphie, and Irvine. After separating into their three groups the Square team began their missions.
COM cave was located deep in the forests on the eastern end of the Floating Island. The entrance of the cave stuck out of the side of a hill that was adjacent to a small stream. Inside the cave was one of the orbs of power. The Capcom group got there first and were about to enter the cave.
"This must be it. Be careful." said Guile to his group.
Guile, Chun Li, Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Zangief prepared to enter the cave when suddenly they heard howling all around them.
"Wolves?" asked Ryu.
The group looked into the forest and saw several glowing eyes watching them. Then a pack of wolf like creatures emerged from the foliage. The creatures looked like wolves but they were almost as big as bears. They surrounded the group and bared their fangs.
"Let's just think of this as training" said Chun Li as the entire group got into their fighting stances.
There were seven wolves that surrounded the group. Two rushed at Zangief but he made quick work of them. He grabbed the first wolf by the neck as it lunged at him. The other wolf tried to rush him but he hurled the first wolf directly into it.
"Like wrestling bears back home!" said Zangief.
"SHORYUKEN"
Ryu hit one of the wolves with the dragon punch and sent it flying back. Behind him a wolf repeatedly slashed at Sakura. She evaded the strikes and countered with a kick to beast's snout. The wolf wimpered and ran off.
"Yaaah!"
Ken jump kicked a wolf that was about to attack Chun Li from behind.
"You have to watch out" said Ken.
Chun Li then pushed Ken out of the way and punched a wolf that was about to attack him from behind.
"Maybe YOU should watch out" said Chun Li.
The last wolf circled Guile as if waiting for the right moment to attack.
"Come and get it" said Guile.
The beast lunged at him and Guile did his Somersault Kick which caught it right in the chin. All the wolves had been beaten. They weren't used to going after prey that fought back so they slumped off into the forest to lick their wounds.
"That wasn't so bad" said Sakura
Then another voice yelled to them from the hill above the cave
"Your troubles have just started" yelled Seifer from the hill above the cave.
Wakka, Yuffie, Rikku, Selphie, and Irvine stood along side Seifer directly above the cave entrance.
"Hmm, are you guys willing to fight or are you going to use your magic to run away again?" asked Guile.
"Whatever we'll see who is running in a few minutes. Wakka you ready to blitz?" said Seifer
"Of course brudda, my mind is always on the game."
Wakka spun his blitzball on one finger and it began to pick up great speed. The ball began to spark with lightning as Wakka unleashed his Element Reels Overdrive. Wakka punted the lightning blitzball into the middle of the Capcom group.
"Woo Hah!" he yelled as the Capcom group scattered to get away from ball.
The blitzball hit the ground and sent out a big electric shock. Guile and the others barely escaped it. Wakka's blitzball bounced off of the ground and returned to his hand. The Square team then jumped off of the hill and prepared to fight.
Seifer immediately charged at Guile with his gun blade.
"So now I have to fight another guy that can't decide whether he wants to use a gun or a sword" said Guile.
"Look at your hairdo. You can't decide whether you want a mohawk or a mullet" said Seifer
Seifer swung and slashed his gun blade at Guile but he was much too quick. Guile dodged each swing. Then Seifer lunged forward and attempted to thrust his gun blade into him. Guile sidestepped him and kicked the gun blade out of his hand. Seifers gun blade flew through the air and landed on the ground a few feet away. Seifer ran to recover his weapon but Guile was a step ahead of him and kicked it away from him.
"You shouldn't rely so much on your weapons boy."
"Who are you calling boy!"
Seifer stepped back and prepared to cast a Firaga spell at Guile.
"SONIC BOOM!"
Guile shot his sonic boom attack right before Seifer could finish the spell. It connected with Seifer like a freight train hurling him through the air. Seifer crashed to the ground hard and was unable to move.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"YAHH!"
Selphie yelled and swung her nunchaku at Chun Li. Selphie could not hit her, she evaded every attack.
"Hold Still!" shouted Selphie.
"Sure, whatever you say."
Chun Li stood still while Selphie swung her nuchaku. Chun Li grabbed the end of Selphie's nunchaku with one hand. Then she delivered a hard and fast kick to Selphie's midsection that knocked the wind out of her. Irvine saw Selphie go down and tried to help her.
"Selphie!"
Irvine pointed his rifle at Chun Li only to have it kicked out of his hand.
"No guns aloud"
Ryu had kicked the gun from Irvine's hand. He then grabbed Irvine and threw him. Irvine hit the ground hard as his cowboy hat flew off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"You again? I'm so sick of you!" Yuffie yelled at Sakura.
"The feelings mutual."
Yuffie hurled her weapon at Sakura and she dodged it. Yuffie's weapon flew past Sakura and started to return to Yuffie's hand. Sakura crouched down quickly and grabbed a handful of dirt. She then ran toward Yuffie and threw the dirt in Yuffies' eyes.
"Huh?!?"
Yuffie rubbed her eyes and Sakura got out of the way of the returning ninja star. Yuffie could not see. Then she remembered that her weapon was returning to her. Yuffie blindly jumped out of the way as fast as she could. Her weapon whizzed by her and the spinning blades cut Yuffie's shoulder.
"AAAH!"
Yuffie fell to the ground clutching her bleeding shoulder.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Take this!"
Wakka threw his blitzball at Zangief with a large amount of force. The ball connected with Zangief and knocked him to the ground, but Zangief quickly bounced back up.
"Whoa, that shot would have knocked out a behemoth, ya?"
"You can't defeat the mighty Zangief with a puny toy!"
Zangief charged at Wakka but Rikku stopped him.
"I got a toy that can stop you."
Rikku mixed two power spheres together to make a Frag Grenade. She threw the grenade in front of Zangief and it exploded throwing him back.
"HADOKEN!"
Ryu and Ken shot their fireball's at Wakka and Rikku. The Square team was incapacitated which left the orb ready for the Capcom team to take.
"Looks like their all put out of commission. I'll run in and get the orb keep an eye on them" said Guile.
Guile ran into the cave and grabbed the orb from the altar inside. Its light shined brightly in the darkness of the cave. The Capcom team had gotten the orb and were about to leave. They looked at the Square team lying on the ground.
"Guile, they are just kids. Are they really bad like that Raimuz guy said?" asked Chun Li
"I don't know. I didn't really trust that guy anyway. You're right they don't look like evil warriors, but we can't take that chance. We have to get the orbs first."
Sakura looked at Yuffie on the ground. She noticed that she was a young girl probably close to her age. Yuffie cast a Cure 3 spell on herself that stopped most of the bleeding, but she was still in a little bit of pain.
"I'm sorry" whispered Sakura.
Sakura then left with her teammates.
"She's sorry?" thought Yuffie to herself.
A few minutes after the Guile and the others left the COM cave the Square team started casting Cure spells on each other.
"Dammit, they got the orb. We failed, you know?"
Wakka was very angry at not getting the orb.
"I'm really starting to think that we shouldn't be removing these orbs and that we shouldn't be fighting those people" said Yuffie.
"What do you mean?" asked Rikku.
"It's just everything about this situation is odd. The guy that told us about the orbs . . . well he was a little shady and these people . . . they don't really seem bad . . .they are kind of like us."
Meanwhile Cloud, Tifa, Rinoa, Squall, Barret, and Cid arrived at Enix Tower. The Silver colored tower ascended high into the sky. A bright light could be seen shining from the window of the highest room.
"That has to be the orb" said Cloud.
The group stared at the tower for a moment then proceeded. Stone steps led up to the base of the tower and the entrance was a tall metal door. The group stopped when they heard a loud screech from the sky. Looking up they saw a giant bird swooping down on them.
"Scatter!" yelled Cloud as the bird swooped down on them.
The group scattered and ran out of the way. It looked like the bird was trying to grab at least one of them and fly off. It then turned around and made another pass at them.
"It looks almost like a Zu" said Cloud.
"I got it!" Rinoa jumped up and cast a spell on the giant bird.
"Blind"
The spell struck the bird in its eyes and blinded it. The bird flailed around blindly and flew directly into the large metal door knocking it down. The bird then got up and flew away.
"That spell will wear off eventually. I bet it will think twice about coming here again" said Rinoa.
"Yeah and you even got the door open for us" said Tifa.
The group walked through the broken metal door and found themselves in a long hallway with many strange writings on the walls.
"What do these mean?" said Tifa
She investigated the symbols on the wall as the group proceeded down the hallway. They were written in some strange language but most of the symbols were pictures that could be made out. On one of the walls were pictures of people standing in front of some type of portal. The next picture showed them coming out a portal on the other side. Further down the hall was a picture of the floating island.
"Is that the island we are on now?" said Tifa.
The picture of the floating island stood between two other pictures. On both sides of the island were several circular objects that looked like planets. Pictures of four orbs were placed above the picture of the island and it seemed to connect both of the groups of planets.
"Are those the orbs?" asked Squall.
"I don't know but I'm really starting to think that taking these orbs is something that we shouldn't be doing" said Rinoa.
The group reached the end of the hallway and approached a platform that looked like an elevator.
"Is it powered?" said Cloud.
Cid looked at the platform for a few minutes and found a power switch.
"I think this is it."
Cid flipped the switch and the elevator powered up. The group got on the platform and ascended into the towers upper room.
"Is anyone getting a bad feeling about all this?" said Tifa.
"I am" said Rinoa.
"I never trusted that purple freak Zael in the first place" said Cid.
"You're, right but what choice do we have. If our universe is in danger then we have to get the orbs. It's too late to turn back now. There ain't no gettin' off of this train we're on" said Barret.
Cloud and Tifa looked at Barret because they knew he loved to use that train saying a lot.
"Barret you were just waiting for the opportunity to use that train quote weren't you" said Cloud.
". . . Yeah . . . I was" said Barret.
The group got to the top room of Enix tower. It had several windows around it that one could see the entire island from. The orb sat on top of an altar radiating its brilliant light. Cloud walked up to the altar and removed the orb.
"This was easy enough" said Cloud.
"Let's stay on our toes. We haven't made it out of here yet" said Squall.
"Is he always so serious?" whispered Cloud to Rinoa.
"Yeah pretty much"
They all got back on the platform and went back down to the main hall. Once they got out of the tower they were surprised by the Capcom group.
"Hand over the orb and no one gets hurt"
Jill ordered them to hand over the orb. She pointed her Beretta at Cloud who was holding the orb.
"I'll just teleport us out of here" thought Cloud
Cloud then tried to use his Exit Magic put the spell failed.
"What?!?" said Cloud.
X saw the confused look on Cloud's face and smiled.
"I guess you're trying to cast that little spell to run away again aren't you? I picked up the frequency your spell used to teleport you all the first time and I'm jamming it now.
The blue robot pointed his buster gun at Cloud and the others.
"You're not getting away this time. Just give us the orb and maybe we'll go easy on you."
"Fine, if it's a fight you want then, bring it on blue man!" yelled Barret.
When Barret yelled that a fight ensued. Barret shot a blast of plasma at X. X canceled it out by shooting at the blast.
"That all you got?" said X
"Just getting warmed up" said Barret.
Barret prepared his ultimate limit break, the Catastrophe. He aimed his gun arm at the ground and shot a constant stream of plasma. The propulsion shot him up very high into the air. Barret concentrated his energy and aimed his gun at X. Barret then shot a massive stream of energy at X from the air. The energy came at X very fast.
"Whoa"
X charged up his Buster Gun and shot a large burst of energy at Barret's energy hoping to cancel it out, but it was no use. Barret's energy was just too much. It quickly absorbed X's energy and struck him head on.
"AARGH!"
X was nearly engulfed in the energy blast. Barret came down from the sky and landed on his feet.
"Looks like you're going to have a big repair bill."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Cid blocked Maki's attacks with his spear. She went on the offensive, striking at Cid with her tonfa's.
"I normally don't like hitting girls, but I'm going to make an exception with you."
"Whatever you say" said Maki
Maki swung her tonfa at Cid's head and he ducked under the attack. Cid then pushed Maki back with his spear.
"I can't call the Highwind so this will have to do" thought Cid
Maki was caught off guard by Cid's Big Brawl limit break. (*His second best limit break, the Highwind being the best) Maki was hit several times as Cid unleashed a furious combo with his spear.
"I won't hit her with the tip of my spear" thought Cid.
Cid held back the power of the attack considerably because he didn't want to hurt the girl too badly. Maki couldn't fight back any more after Cid's limit break.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Guy saw his sister in law get hit by Cid. He ran over to help her as fast as he could but Tifa blocked his way.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To help my sister in law get out of my way"
Guy got into his fighting stance and then Tifa got into hers. Guy began the fight with roundhouse kick to Tifa's face. She blocked and punched at Guy with her right hand. Guy grabbed her arm and kicked her again. Tifa was disoriented and the kick struck her in the midsection. That blow took a little out of Tifa but she shook it off. Guy came in with punch to Tifa's face which she barely blocked.
"He's really good. It's now or never" thought Tifa.
Tifa kicked Guy which threw him back some. She then started her limit break combo. Tifa rushed at Guy with the first part of her Limit Break. Tifa did a quick combo of punches that Guy blocked. She then did a Somersault kick that struck guy in the chin followed by a spinning kick to guys jaw. Tifa stopped her limit break right there. Guy hit the floor and didn't fight anymore.
"No need to keep going" she thought.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jill punched at Rinoa but Rinoa's Protect magic blocked every punch. Rinoa cast an Aero spell that twirled lots of dust and gravel around like a whirlwind. Most of the dust flew into Jill's eyes. Rinoa cast another Aero spell that knocked her off of her feet and blew her several feet back. Jill would have hit the ground hard but Strider caught her. After making sure Jill was ok Strider ran toward Rinoa ready to strike her. Squall stopped him.
Squall blocked Striders attack and the two went at with a series of slashes and blocks. Striders attacks were swift but Squall was able to keep up with him. Strider did a diagonal slash which Squall blocked. Their swords were locked in a stalemate for a moment. Then Strider teleported leaving Squall confused. Strider teleported behind Squall and was about to strike him with a vertical slash. Squall swung his gunblade behind him and fired it. The round of ammunition pushed Strider back. Then Squall turned around and cast a Firaga spell at Strider. The spell exploded in front of Strider knocking him to the ground.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Hand over that orb spiky or else"
Hayato threatened Cloud and pulled out his plasma sword and Cloud unsheathed the Ultima Weapon sword off of his back.
"Come and get it" said Cloud.
Hayato lunged at Cloud with an over head strike. Cloud blocked the strike with his sword in a horizontal position and pushed Hayato's sword up. Cloud then did a horizontal slash to Hayato's chest but he blocked it. Hayato kicked Cloud and prepared his special attack.
"RASETSUZAN!"
"Nice but not enough" said Cloud.
Cloud cast an Ultima spell. The green haze of energy flowed toward Hayato, absorbing the energy of his attack. Hayato watched in amazement as his energy attacked dissipated a second later he was hit by the Ultima spell.
"Ahhhhh!"
Hayato fell to the ground in pain from the spell.
The Square team looked around at the Capcom team. They had defeated them and they were all lying on the ground.
"I think they've had enough lets move out" said Cloud.
Cloud and the others left quickly. Along the way the Tifa expressed her concerns over the situation with Cloud.
"Cloud I really don't feel right about this. Those pictures in the tower really disturbed me."
"I know what you mean Tifa, but I just don't know what we can do now. Maybe we will find something out soon."
"I felt really bad for the guy I fought at the tower. He was just trying to help the girl Cid was fighting. He said it was his sister in law. I just don't know these people don't seem like the evil type that wants to destroy a universe. They aren't that much different from us."
Tifa held her head down as the group made their way back to the base. Cloud put his arm around her and tried to comfort her.
"Tifa, you know I hate to see you worry. Everything is going to be ok, alright? We'll make it out of this.
"Ok Cloud. Thanks"
Zael and Raimuz observed them all from above the island.
"This is getting interesting. It seems they are getting more and more suspicious" said Raimuz.
"True, but even if they do find out the truth we can have fun destroying them" said Zael.
(*End of Chapter 4)
"Where did they go?" asked Chun Li.
She and the others from the Capcom side were stunned and confused at the disappearance of their enemies. They had vanished into thin air and had taken the orb with them.
"They got the orb" said Dante.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Sakura.
"We need to head back to our base and regroup. Lets tend to any wounded and plan our next move" said Guile.
Everyone agreed with Guile and they all made their way back to the base. They discussed the fight and started planning what should be done next.
"Did any of the people you fought have strange abilities? The person I fought was able to slow me down with some type of spell" said Strider.
Chun Li then spoke about her fight.
"Yes, some of them have magical abilities such as barriers and I saw a few do fire and thunder spells. I noticed that ki attacks break through their barriers though."
X came from the machine room in the tower with information on the location of the other orbs.
"The monitor in the tower is picking up two orbs, one of them is in a place called Enix Tower and its northeast of here. The other is southeast of here in a place called COM Cave. I believe that we should send two teams after them and cover more ground"
X proposed his idea to the entire Capcom team. They had spent most of their day resting, repairing and healing any cuts and bruises. They focused now on making groups to go after the remaining orbs. Dante also had an idea that he wanted to present to the group.
"What about the orb that they already have? We should create a group to attack their base. Chances are they will send groups out to find the orbs themselves. I'm assuming that they will try to guard their orb in their base."
"Dante, would you be willing to lead an attack group on their base? Asked Guile.
"Yes, I'll do it. Who wants to join the attack group?"
Dante looked around the group for volunteers.
"I'll go with you, cutie."
Morrigan stood up and walked over to Dante.
"We'll help you as well"
Captain Commando and the rest of the Commando Squad volunteered.
"Hoover, is your suit fully functioning now?" asked Dante.
Hoover pulled the pacifier out of his mouth and spoke.
"Yeah, it should be ok. X helped me fix it up."
Cammy and B.B. Hood decided to volunteer next.
"I'm ready to go" said Cammy.
"I'll do it" said B.B. Hood.
Guile continued on with the group formations.
"Ok, so the attack team consists of Dante, Morrigan, Captain Commando, Sho, Jennety, Hoover, Cammy, and B.B. Hood. Who wants to go after the orb in COM cave with me?"
Chun Li, Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Zangief volunteered to join Guile. Jill led the team going to Enix tower. Her group consisted of Guy, Maki, Hayato, Strider, and X. After separating into three groups the Capcom team began their missions.
Meanwhile in the Square base the Square team teleported into their base with the use of Cloud's exit materia. They healed up with several Curaga and Cure 3 spells and discussed the fight. They also made plans on what they should do next.
"Whoa that was a wild ride, ya? What was that?"
Wakka was amazed at how the entire group was instantly teleported to their base.
"That was exit magic" said Cloud.
"So you guys can use magic too, huh? There are mages on our world that could do some of the magic I saw you do. My friend Lulu is very good with it and Yuna used to be able to summon Aeons like Squall and Rinoa did."
"Aeons?" asked Squall.
"Yeah you know like Bahamut and Ifrit I saw you summon them in the fight. Are you a summoner on your world or something?" asked Wakka.
"Well on our world we call them Guardian Forces. I guess we really do come from the same universe. Some of the same magic spells and techniques exist on our worlds" said Squall.
"What about the techniques of the ones we fought today? They did some pretty amazing things too" said Red.
"Yeah, some of their attacks can even break through our barrier spells" said Tifa.
"So from now on we can't underestimate them. Now we need to focus on getting the other orbs. Cid where are they?" said Cloud.
"The machine shows two orbs one in a place called Enix tower and the other in COM cave. So who is going where?
"What about the orb we have now? We need to protect it. We should have a group to defend it just in case" said Vincent.
"Good Idea, Vincent will you lead it?" asked Cloud
"Yes Cloud I'll do it. Who else will help defend the orb?"
"I'll volunteer" Aya raised her hand
"So will I" said Red
"We'll help too."
Kou, Sion, and Volt decided to help defend as well as Zell and Quistis.
"Well someone has to do it" said Quistis.
"So, the defending group is decided who wants to come with me to Enix tower?" asked Cloud.
Squall, Rinoa, Tifa, Barret, and Cid decided to go with Cloud to Enix tower. The group to COM cave consisted of Seifer, Wakka, Yuffie, Rikku, Selphie, and Irvine. After separating into their three groups the Square team began their missions.
COM cave was located deep in the forests on the eastern end of the Floating Island. The entrance of the cave stuck out of the side of a hill that was adjacent to a small stream. Inside the cave was one of the orbs of power. The Capcom group got there first and were about to enter the cave.
"This must be it. Be careful." said Guile to his group.
Guile, Chun Li, Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Zangief prepared to enter the cave when suddenly they heard howling all around them.
"Wolves?" asked Ryu.
The group looked into the forest and saw several glowing eyes watching them. Then a pack of wolf like creatures emerged from the foliage. The creatures looked like wolves but they were almost as big as bears. They surrounded the group and bared their fangs.
"Let's just think of this as training" said Chun Li as the entire group got into their fighting stances.
There were seven wolves that surrounded the group. Two rushed at Zangief but he made quick work of them. He grabbed the first wolf by the neck as it lunged at him. The other wolf tried to rush him but he hurled the first wolf directly into it.
"Like wrestling bears back home!" said Zangief.
"SHORYUKEN"
Ryu hit one of the wolves with the dragon punch and sent it flying back. Behind him a wolf repeatedly slashed at Sakura. She evaded the strikes and countered with a kick to beast's snout. The wolf wimpered and ran off.
"Yaaah!"
Ken jump kicked a wolf that was about to attack Chun Li from behind.
"You have to watch out" said Ken.
Chun Li then pushed Ken out of the way and punched a wolf that was about to attack him from behind.
"Maybe YOU should watch out" said Chun Li.
The last wolf circled Guile as if waiting for the right moment to attack.
"Come and get it" said Guile.
The beast lunged at him and Guile did his Somersault Kick which caught it right in the chin. All the wolves had been beaten. They weren't used to going after prey that fought back so they slumped off into the forest to lick their wounds.
"That wasn't so bad" said Sakura
Then another voice yelled to them from the hill above the cave
"Your troubles have just started" yelled Seifer from the hill above the cave.
Wakka, Yuffie, Rikku, Selphie, and Irvine stood along side Seifer directly above the cave entrance.
"Hmm, are you guys willing to fight or are you going to use your magic to run away again?" asked Guile.
"Whatever we'll see who is running in a few minutes. Wakka you ready to blitz?" said Seifer
"Of course brudda, my mind is always on the game."
Wakka spun his blitzball on one finger and it began to pick up great speed. The ball began to spark with lightning as Wakka unleashed his Element Reels Overdrive. Wakka punted the lightning blitzball into the middle of the Capcom group.
"Woo Hah!" he yelled as the Capcom group scattered to get away from ball.
The blitzball hit the ground and sent out a big electric shock. Guile and the others barely escaped it. Wakka's blitzball bounced off of the ground and returned to his hand. The Square team then jumped off of the hill and prepared to fight.
Seifer immediately charged at Guile with his gun blade.
"So now I have to fight another guy that can't decide whether he wants to use a gun or a sword" said Guile.
"Look at your hairdo. You can't decide whether you want a mohawk or a mullet" said Seifer
Seifer swung and slashed his gun blade at Guile but he was much too quick. Guile dodged each swing. Then Seifer lunged forward and attempted to thrust his gun blade into him. Guile sidestepped him and kicked the gun blade out of his hand. Seifers gun blade flew through the air and landed on the ground a few feet away. Seifer ran to recover his weapon but Guile was a step ahead of him and kicked it away from him.
"You shouldn't rely so much on your weapons boy."
"Who are you calling boy!"
Seifer stepped back and prepared to cast a Firaga spell at Guile.
"SONIC BOOM!"
Guile shot his sonic boom attack right before Seifer could finish the spell. It connected with Seifer like a freight train hurling him through the air. Seifer crashed to the ground hard and was unable to move.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"YAHH!"
Selphie yelled and swung her nunchaku at Chun Li. Selphie could not hit her, she evaded every attack.
"Hold Still!" shouted Selphie.
"Sure, whatever you say."
Chun Li stood still while Selphie swung her nuchaku. Chun Li grabbed the end of Selphie's nunchaku with one hand. Then she delivered a hard and fast kick to Selphie's midsection that knocked the wind out of her. Irvine saw Selphie go down and tried to help her.
"Selphie!"
Irvine pointed his rifle at Chun Li only to have it kicked out of his hand.
"No guns aloud"
Ryu had kicked the gun from Irvine's hand. He then grabbed Irvine and threw him. Irvine hit the ground hard as his cowboy hat flew off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"You again? I'm so sick of you!" Yuffie yelled at Sakura.
"The feelings mutual."
Yuffie hurled her weapon at Sakura and she dodged it. Yuffie's weapon flew past Sakura and started to return to Yuffie's hand. Sakura crouched down quickly and grabbed a handful of dirt. She then ran toward Yuffie and threw the dirt in Yuffies' eyes.
"Huh?!?"
Yuffie rubbed her eyes and Sakura got out of the way of the returning ninja star. Yuffie could not see. Then she remembered that her weapon was returning to her. Yuffie blindly jumped out of the way as fast as she could. Her weapon whizzed by her and the spinning blades cut Yuffie's shoulder.
"AAAH!"
Yuffie fell to the ground clutching her bleeding shoulder.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Take this!"
Wakka threw his blitzball at Zangief with a large amount of force. The ball connected with Zangief and knocked him to the ground, but Zangief quickly bounced back up.
"Whoa, that shot would have knocked out a behemoth, ya?"
"You can't defeat the mighty Zangief with a puny toy!"
Zangief charged at Wakka but Rikku stopped him.
"I got a toy that can stop you."
Rikku mixed two power spheres together to make a Frag Grenade. She threw the grenade in front of Zangief and it exploded throwing him back.
"HADOKEN!"
Ryu and Ken shot their fireball's at Wakka and Rikku. The Square team was incapacitated which left the orb ready for the Capcom team to take.
"Looks like their all put out of commission. I'll run in and get the orb keep an eye on them" said Guile.
Guile ran into the cave and grabbed the orb from the altar inside. Its light shined brightly in the darkness of the cave. The Capcom team had gotten the orb and were about to leave. They looked at the Square team lying on the ground.
"Guile, they are just kids. Are they really bad like that Raimuz guy said?" asked Chun Li
"I don't know. I didn't really trust that guy anyway. You're right they don't look like evil warriors, but we can't take that chance. We have to get the orbs first."
Sakura looked at Yuffie on the ground. She noticed that she was a young girl probably close to her age. Yuffie cast a Cure 3 spell on herself that stopped most of the bleeding, but she was still in a little bit of pain.
"I'm sorry" whispered Sakura.
Sakura then left with her teammates.
"She's sorry?" thought Yuffie to herself.
A few minutes after the Guile and the others left the COM cave the Square team started casting Cure spells on each other.
"Dammit, they got the orb. We failed, you know?"
Wakka was very angry at not getting the orb.
"I'm really starting to think that we shouldn't be removing these orbs and that we shouldn't be fighting those people" said Yuffie.
"What do you mean?" asked Rikku.
"It's just everything about this situation is odd. The guy that told us about the orbs . . . well he was a little shady and these people . . . they don't really seem bad . . .they are kind of like us."
Meanwhile Cloud, Tifa, Rinoa, Squall, Barret, and Cid arrived at Enix Tower. The Silver colored tower ascended high into the sky. A bright light could be seen shining from the window of the highest room.
"That has to be the orb" said Cloud.
The group stared at the tower for a moment then proceeded. Stone steps led up to the base of the tower and the entrance was a tall metal door. The group stopped when they heard a loud screech from the sky. Looking up they saw a giant bird swooping down on them.
"Scatter!" yelled Cloud as the bird swooped down on them.
The group scattered and ran out of the way. It looked like the bird was trying to grab at least one of them and fly off. It then turned around and made another pass at them.
"It looks almost like a Zu" said Cloud.
"I got it!" Rinoa jumped up and cast a spell on the giant bird.
"Blind"
The spell struck the bird in its eyes and blinded it. The bird flailed around blindly and flew directly into the large metal door knocking it down. The bird then got up and flew away.
"That spell will wear off eventually. I bet it will think twice about coming here again" said Rinoa.
"Yeah and you even got the door open for us" said Tifa.
The group walked through the broken metal door and found themselves in a long hallway with many strange writings on the walls.
"What do these mean?" said Tifa
She investigated the symbols on the wall as the group proceeded down the hallway. They were written in some strange language but most of the symbols were pictures that could be made out. On one of the walls were pictures of people standing in front of some type of portal. The next picture showed them coming out a portal on the other side. Further down the hall was a picture of the floating island.
"Is that the island we are on now?" said Tifa.
The picture of the floating island stood between two other pictures. On both sides of the island were several circular objects that looked like planets. Pictures of four orbs were placed above the picture of the island and it seemed to connect both of the groups of planets.
"Are those the orbs?" asked Squall.
"I don't know but I'm really starting to think that taking these orbs is something that we shouldn't be doing" said Rinoa.
The group reached the end of the hallway and approached a platform that looked like an elevator.
"Is it powered?" said Cloud.
Cid looked at the platform for a few minutes and found a power switch.
"I think this is it."
Cid flipped the switch and the elevator powered up. The group got on the platform and ascended into the towers upper room.
"Is anyone getting a bad feeling about all this?" said Tifa.
"I am" said Rinoa.
"I never trusted that purple freak Zael in the first place" said Cid.
"You're, right but what choice do we have. If our universe is in danger then we have to get the orbs. It's too late to turn back now. There ain't no gettin' off of this train we're on" said Barret.
Cloud and Tifa looked at Barret because they knew he loved to use that train saying a lot.
"Barret you were just waiting for the opportunity to use that train quote weren't you" said Cloud.
". . . Yeah . . . I was" said Barret.
The group got to the top room of Enix tower. It had several windows around it that one could see the entire island from. The orb sat on top of an altar radiating its brilliant light. Cloud walked up to the altar and removed the orb.
"This was easy enough" said Cloud.
"Let's stay on our toes. We haven't made it out of here yet" said Squall.
"Is he always so serious?" whispered Cloud to Rinoa.
"Yeah pretty much"
They all got back on the platform and went back down to the main hall. Once they got out of the tower they were surprised by the Capcom group.
"Hand over the orb and no one gets hurt"
Jill ordered them to hand over the orb. She pointed her Beretta at Cloud who was holding the orb.
"I'll just teleport us out of here" thought Cloud
Cloud then tried to use his Exit Magic put the spell failed.
"What?!?" said Cloud.
X saw the confused look on Cloud's face and smiled.
"I guess you're trying to cast that little spell to run away again aren't you? I picked up the frequency your spell used to teleport you all the first time and I'm jamming it now.
The blue robot pointed his buster gun at Cloud and the others.
"You're not getting away this time. Just give us the orb and maybe we'll go easy on you."
"Fine, if it's a fight you want then, bring it on blue man!" yelled Barret.
When Barret yelled that a fight ensued. Barret shot a blast of plasma at X. X canceled it out by shooting at the blast.
"That all you got?" said X
"Just getting warmed up" said Barret.
Barret prepared his ultimate limit break, the Catastrophe. He aimed his gun arm at the ground and shot a constant stream of plasma. The propulsion shot him up very high into the air. Barret concentrated his energy and aimed his gun at X. Barret then shot a massive stream of energy at X from the air. The energy came at X very fast.
"Whoa"
X charged up his Buster Gun and shot a large burst of energy at Barret's energy hoping to cancel it out, but it was no use. Barret's energy was just too much. It quickly absorbed X's energy and struck him head on.
"AARGH!"
X was nearly engulfed in the energy blast. Barret came down from the sky and landed on his feet.
"Looks like you're going to have a big repair bill."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Cid blocked Maki's attacks with his spear. She went on the offensive, striking at Cid with her tonfa's.
"I normally don't like hitting girls, but I'm going to make an exception with you."
"Whatever you say" said Maki
Maki swung her tonfa at Cid's head and he ducked under the attack. Cid then pushed Maki back with his spear.
"I can't call the Highwind so this will have to do" thought Cid
Maki was caught off guard by Cid's Big Brawl limit break. (*His second best limit break, the Highwind being the best) Maki was hit several times as Cid unleashed a furious combo with his spear.
"I won't hit her with the tip of my spear" thought Cid.
Cid held back the power of the attack considerably because he didn't want to hurt the girl too badly. Maki couldn't fight back any more after Cid's limit break.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Guy saw his sister in law get hit by Cid. He ran over to help her as fast as he could but Tifa blocked his way.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To help my sister in law get out of my way"
Guy got into his fighting stance and then Tifa got into hers. Guy began the fight with roundhouse kick to Tifa's face. She blocked and punched at Guy with her right hand. Guy grabbed her arm and kicked her again. Tifa was disoriented and the kick struck her in the midsection. That blow took a little out of Tifa but she shook it off. Guy came in with punch to Tifa's face which she barely blocked.
"He's really good. It's now or never" thought Tifa.
Tifa kicked Guy which threw him back some. She then started her limit break combo. Tifa rushed at Guy with the first part of her Limit Break. Tifa did a quick combo of punches that Guy blocked. She then did a Somersault kick that struck guy in the chin followed by a spinning kick to guys jaw. Tifa stopped her limit break right there. Guy hit the floor and didn't fight anymore.
"No need to keep going" she thought.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jill punched at Rinoa but Rinoa's Protect magic blocked every punch. Rinoa cast an Aero spell that twirled lots of dust and gravel around like a whirlwind. Most of the dust flew into Jill's eyes. Rinoa cast another Aero spell that knocked her off of her feet and blew her several feet back. Jill would have hit the ground hard but Strider caught her. After making sure Jill was ok Strider ran toward Rinoa ready to strike her. Squall stopped him.
Squall blocked Striders attack and the two went at with a series of slashes and blocks. Striders attacks were swift but Squall was able to keep up with him. Strider did a diagonal slash which Squall blocked. Their swords were locked in a stalemate for a moment. Then Strider teleported leaving Squall confused. Strider teleported behind Squall and was about to strike him with a vertical slash. Squall swung his gunblade behind him and fired it. The round of ammunition pushed Strider back. Then Squall turned around and cast a Firaga spell at Strider. The spell exploded in front of Strider knocking him to the ground.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Hand over that orb spiky or else"
Hayato threatened Cloud and pulled out his plasma sword and Cloud unsheathed the Ultima Weapon sword off of his back.
"Come and get it" said Cloud.
Hayato lunged at Cloud with an over head strike. Cloud blocked the strike with his sword in a horizontal position and pushed Hayato's sword up. Cloud then did a horizontal slash to Hayato's chest but he blocked it. Hayato kicked Cloud and prepared his special attack.
"RASETSUZAN!"
"Nice but not enough" said Cloud.
Cloud cast an Ultima spell. The green haze of energy flowed toward Hayato, absorbing the energy of his attack. Hayato watched in amazement as his energy attacked dissipated a second later he was hit by the Ultima spell.
"Ahhhhh!"
Hayato fell to the ground in pain from the spell.
The Square team looked around at the Capcom team. They had defeated them and they were all lying on the ground.
"I think they've had enough lets move out" said Cloud.
Cloud and the others left quickly. Along the way the Tifa expressed her concerns over the situation with Cloud.
"Cloud I really don't feel right about this. Those pictures in the tower really disturbed me."
"I know what you mean Tifa, but I just don't know what we can do now. Maybe we will find something out soon."
"I felt really bad for the guy I fought at the tower. He was just trying to help the girl Cid was fighting. He said it was his sister in law. I just don't know these people don't seem like the evil type that wants to destroy a universe. They aren't that much different from us."
Tifa held her head down as the group made their way back to the base. Cloud put his arm around her and tried to comfort her.
"Tifa, you know I hate to see you worry. Everything is going to be ok, alright? We'll make it out of this.
"Ok Cloud. Thanks"
Zael and Raimuz observed them all from above the island.
"This is getting interesting. It seems they are getting more and more suspicious" said Raimuz.
"True, but even if they do find out the truth we can have fun destroying them" said Zael.
(*End of Chapter 4)
