::Chapter 13 – Infestation #2::
It had been almost an hour now since the crew had started down the path to the Corel Reactor. They were almost there, but the walk seemed like it took forever. It felt more like a day than an hour. They had stopped and rested a few times, which only further delayed their getting to the reactor. In the distance you could see the top of the Reactor. From this far back it appeared to be functioning normally, with no problems whatsoever.
Upon slowly approaching the bridge just before the reactor, the crew stopped. The reactor was far from fine, and much farther from functional than previously thought. Barrett stopped in his footsteps, and stared at the mess which had been created. A giant piece of Meteor had broken away and landed here, off to the side of the reactor. There was debris everywhere, on the track they were walking on, and on parts of the reactor itself. Inside the rock lay six more eggs. Cloud quickly ran and smashed them with his foot. A pale green substance stuck to the bottom of his boot.
"I should've just exploded these damn things like we did back at Gongaga." He looked at the bottom of his boot before scraping it on the nearby piece of Meteor.
"Should we use the plastik here as well? Cid asked, almost grabbing the explosives, as if Cloud were to immediately say yes.
"No. I want to see what happens if we try to provoke it." Cloud said, removing his Sword from its harness. Everyone looked at him, and knew what was about to happen. Each drew his or her weapon.
"Just say the word, Cloud." Tifa said, making sure her gloves were adjusted.
"I don't know what you are, or where you came from, but you're not staying here." Cloud yelled, running towards the alien.
Just as quickly as he ran, one large tentacle snapped around, striking Cloud, sending him flying backwards. Vincent fired his gun, tearing off the end of the alien tentacle. Blood poured out of the open wound only long enough for it to heal back. Barrett fired his weapon, cutting off an entire tentacle, just as he was grabbed and thrown in the same direction as Cloud. Yuffie threw her Conformer directly into the glowing red eye of the beast, causing it to let out a loud wailing noise, before falling back into the hole it had dug itself. Cid jumped off one portion of the rock and stabbed the beast in the eye using his lance. Tifa hit the underbelly of the alien six times before being grabbed by one tentacle and thrown aside. Cloud, back on his feet now, ran at the beast, and shoved the end of his sword into the already wounded eye area. Again the beast wailed, as blood flowed out of the now punctured optic cavity. Just as victory was assured, the alien beast let out another wail, only this time it sent out a massive white shockwave, causing everyone in sight to drop back to the ground.
"What the hell just happened..?" Cid asked, crawling to his feet.
"I don't know. Someone help me up." Cloud asked, nearly out of breath.
"Where's the alien?" Tifa asked, crawling over to the empty hole where this battle had just taken place.
"It's not there?" Cloud asked, getting to his feet, and placing his sword back into its harness. "It ran away, just like the last one. Only this one knows about us, the last one didn't."
Barrett stood in once place, staring at the remains of the now defunct Mako reactor. "Well, 'least there'll be no more Mako harvestin' in Corel. Now maybe things'll get back to normal." He turned and walked back to meet with the others.
Twice now, the vision in Cloud's dream had been right... two reactors, two aliens. What purpose did these aliens have? Were they just part of Meteor's design? Were they something more, like a Jenova clone? Perhaps they were sent to replace Jenova if something were to happen to it. Nothing made sense anymore, not since the collapse of Shinra tower.
"So I guess that's a given we're going to Mt. Nibel now?" Cid asked, starting the fire on a new cigarette.
Cloud nodded, and kept walking back towards Corel.
"Yeah, I know, it was a stupid question." Cid replied, choking down his cigarette.
"We should stop and stay somewhere before heading to Mt. Nibel." Tifa suggested, before being silenced.
"We don't have enough time to stay anywhere. We need to hurry. The trip to the Mt. Nibel reactor alone is going to be a few hours." Cloud said, making haste.
Almost another hour later, the crew reached the small town of Corel once more, ready for another trip, this time to the cold mountainous reactor at the top of Mount Nibel. Perhaps it would all end here, perhaps not. One way or the other, this would have to be the final destination. There were no more reactors mentioned in Cloud's dream. There were no other places to go, people to see. This dawned on Cloud as he stepped foot onto the Highwind. Whatever happened here would either be the end of all the new mysteries which had arisen, or it would leave everyone clueless, with no other ideas of what to do, or where to go. Cloud took one last breath, and hopped aboard.
A few minutes later the Highwind was once more in the air, ready to return to Nibelheim, hopefully to end this, once and for all. A moment later the Highwind left the Corel region, in transit to Nibelheim. A large bit of turbulence was felt mid-flight, causing everyone at the bridge to fall and slide around.
"Son of a bitch!" Cid yelled, getting back up and running to the ships' navigation controls. After looking around for a second he looked at his pilot. "What the hell is going on now!?"
"Sir, we've got system failures in engines 1, 2, and 5. Everything appears normal on this screen here, but that screen there says otherwise. Engines 1,2 and 5 are down, the left thruster has died, and the cabin pressure is dropping. We've got to abandon this craft, or else we'll die!" The pilot responded, pointing to the parachutes.
Cloud stopped moving momentarily. He'd seen this before. This had happened once before! He was sure now, more than ever, that the dream he supposedly had was more than a dream, SOMEHOW. Only, there were more than enough parachutes, and Aerith wasn't with him. Or was she? How could she be? All of these and a million other questions raced through his head as he and the others equipped their parachutes, and made a quick dive over the side of the open deck.
Cloud looked around as he noticed the whiteness of the sky, filled with clouds, the air rushing around him, feeling intense déjà vu; he looked at the writing on his parachute straps. Everything was almost exactly as it were in his dream, minus Aerith's physical presence. He looked over at the falling Highwind, as it became completely engulfed in flames. The ship itself was headed for the ocean area near Nibelheim, not the Mountains as previously envisioned.
A few moments later, the ground was in sight for the crew as the Highwind met the ocean, causing the fire to extinguish itself.
There was complete silence as Cid stood in one place and watched the Highwind submerge into the ocean, where it would stay.
Déjà vu indeed, Cloud thought, sitting down and placing his hand over his brow.
It had been almost an hour now since the crew had started down the path to the Corel Reactor. They were almost there, but the walk seemed like it took forever. It felt more like a day than an hour. They had stopped and rested a few times, which only further delayed their getting to the reactor. In the distance you could see the top of the Reactor. From this far back it appeared to be functioning normally, with no problems whatsoever.
Upon slowly approaching the bridge just before the reactor, the crew stopped. The reactor was far from fine, and much farther from functional than previously thought. Barrett stopped in his footsteps, and stared at the mess which had been created. A giant piece of Meteor had broken away and landed here, off to the side of the reactor. There was debris everywhere, on the track they were walking on, and on parts of the reactor itself. Inside the rock lay six more eggs. Cloud quickly ran and smashed them with his foot. A pale green substance stuck to the bottom of his boot.
"I should've just exploded these damn things like we did back at Gongaga." He looked at the bottom of his boot before scraping it on the nearby piece of Meteor.
"Should we use the plastik here as well? Cid asked, almost grabbing the explosives, as if Cloud were to immediately say yes.
"No. I want to see what happens if we try to provoke it." Cloud said, removing his Sword from its harness. Everyone looked at him, and knew what was about to happen. Each drew his or her weapon.
"Just say the word, Cloud." Tifa said, making sure her gloves were adjusted.
"I don't know what you are, or where you came from, but you're not staying here." Cloud yelled, running towards the alien.
Just as quickly as he ran, one large tentacle snapped around, striking Cloud, sending him flying backwards. Vincent fired his gun, tearing off the end of the alien tentacle. Blood poured out of the open wound only long enough for it to heal back. Barrett fired his weapon, cutting off an entire tentacle, just as he was grabbed and thrown in the same direction as Cloud. Yuffie threw her Conformer directly into the glowing red eye of the beast, causing it to let out a loud wailing noise, before falling back into the hole it had dug itself. Cid jumped off one portion of the rock and stabbed the beast in the eye using his lance. Tifa hit the underbelly of the alien six times before being grabbed by one tentacle and thrown aside. Cloud, back on his feet now, ran at the beast, and shoved the end of his sword into the already wounded eye area. Again the beast wailed, as blood flowed out of the now punctured optic cavity. Just as victory was assured, the alien beast let out another wail, only this time it sent out a massive white shockwave, causing everyone in sight to drop back to the ground.
"What the hell just happened..?" Cid asked, crawling to his feet.
"I don't know. Someone help me up." Cloud asked, nearly out of breath.
"Where's the alien?" Tifa asked, crawling over to the empty hole where this battle had just taken place.
"It's not there?" Cloud asked, getting to his feet, and placing his sword back into its harness. "It ran away, just like the last one. Only this one knows about us, the last one didn't."
Barrett stood in once place, staring at the remains of the now defunct Mako reactor. "Well, 'least there'll be no more Mako harvestin' in Corel. Now maybe things'll get back to normal." He turned and walked back to meet with the others.
Twice now, the vision in Cloud's dream had been right... two reactors, two aliens. What purpose did these aliens have? Were they just part of Meteor's design? Were they something more, like a Jenova clone? Perhaps they were sent to replace Jenova if something were to happen to it. Nothing made sense anymore, not since the collapse of Shinra tower.
"So I guess that's a given we're going to Mt. Nibel now?" Cid asked, starting the fire on a new cigarette.
Cloud nodded, and kept walking back towards Corel.
"Yeah, I know, it was a stupid question." Cid replied, choking down his cigarette.
"We should stop and stay somewhere before heading to Mt. Nibel." Tifa suggested, before being silenced.
"We don't have enough time to stay anywhere. We need to hurry. The trip to the Mt. Nibel reactor alone is going to be a few hours." Cloud said, making haste.
Almost another hour later, the crew reached the small town of Corel once more, ready for another trip, this time to the cold mountainous reactor at the top of Mount Nibel. Perhaps it would all end here, perhaps not. One way or the other, this would have to be the final destination. There were no more reactors mentioned in Cloud's dream. There were no other places to go, people to see. This dawned on Cloud as he stepped foot onto the Highwind. Whatever happened here would either be the end of all the new mysteries which had arisen, or it would leave everyone clueless, with no other ideas of what to do, or where to go. Cloud took one last breath, and hopped aboard.
A few minutes later the Highwind was once more in the air, ready to return to Nibelheim, hopefully to end this, once and for all. A moment later the Highwind left the Corel region, in transit to Nibelheim. A large bit of turbulence was felt mid-flight, causing everyone at the bridge to fall and slide around.
"Son of a bitch!" Cid yelled, getting back up and running to the ships' navigation controls. After looking around for a second he looked at his pilot. "What the hell is going on now!?"
"Sir, we've got system failures in engines 1, 2, and 5. Everything appears normal on this screen here, but that screen there says otherwise. Engines 1,2 and 5 are down, the left thruster has died, and the cabin pressure is dropping. We've got to abandon this craft, or else we'll die!" The pilot responded, pointing to the parachutes.
Cloud stopped moving momentarily. He'd seen this before. This had happened once before! He was sure now, more than ever, that the dream he supposedly had was more than a dream, SOMEHOW. Only, there were more than enough parachutes, and Aerith wasn't with him. Or was she? How could she be? All of these and a million other questions raced through his head as he and the others equipped their parachutes, and made a quick dive over the side of the open deck.
Cloud looked around as he noticed the whiteness of the sky, filled with clouds, the air rushing around him, feeling intense déjà vu; he looked at the writing on his parachute straps. Everything was almost exactly as it were in his dream, minus Aerith's physical presence. He looked over at the falling Highwind, as it became completely engulfed in flames. The ship itself was headed for the ocean area near Nibelheim, not the Mountains as previously envisioned.
A few moments later, the ground was in sight for the crew as the Highwind met the ocean, causing the fire to extinguish itself.
There was complete silence as Cid stood in one place and watched the Highwind submerge into the ocean, where it would stay.
Déjà vu indeed, Cloud thought, sitting down and placing his hand over his brow.