Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Squaresoft owns most of the characters, but the scene of the finding mind energy is sort of from DBZ, with my own little twist. I'm not too sure who owns them...
A/N: From now on, Maverick will be known as Marc by Tifa and as Maverick by everyone else. I will use his name interchangeably. This chapter could have been connected to the previous chapter, but it would have been too long and the bar on the side would have been a millimeter long.
Chapter 9: Mountain Training
The next day, Marc led Tifa to the tallest warm mountain as the dragons requested.
"Nice," Jess commented when they finally reached the peak after a rather dangerous climb.
"Yeah, awesome view. Now, where do we begin Jess?" Kreutz asked.
"I think we should start with Hologram. Now grasp the materia in your right hand." Tifa took the materia from a travel pack she brought and held it in her right hand. "Now close your eyes, since it's easier to concentrate that way."
"Jess?" Kreutz timidly asked.
"What?"
"Shouldn't we tell her what Hologram does?"
"You can; you're better at explaining the magic than I am."
"Right. Hologram is a spell that fools all organic matter into believing we are there. The Golden Rule of Life is to believe that your eyes fool you at all times. That way, you can always be suspicious of these things. Hologram is a basic spell, but it has the same visual effects as if you summoned us. It fools people into thinking we're there, but we're not."
'How do you want me to focus?' Tifa asked.
"Your mind energy," Jess simply stated.
"I think she needs to find her mind energy first. Ask Mr. Xavier how to," Kreutz said.
"Marc?" Tifa asked.
"Yes?"
"Could you help me find my mind energy?" Tifa asked.
"Sure. Come over here and sit down." Marc sat down on a patch of grass. He motioned for her to sit across from him. "Your mind or mental energy is one of the three types of energies in your body. The three types of energy are physical, mental, and elemental. First of all, let me make this place a protected one." Marc closed his eyes for about ten seconds. Tifa immediately felt the wind cease and there was not a sound. "I've enclosed us in something like a bubble. Just do your thing, and we'll go down the mountain."
Thirty minutes later...
"I can't do it, Marc," Tifa said, leaning back on her hands and sighing. She tried to find her mental energy herself but she failed time after time.
"Shh... It's never easy to find out about oneself." Marc got up and sat behind her. "Listen, here's what we'll do. We'll take a break and I'm gonna give you a massage." Before Tifa could say anything, she felt his strong hands on her tense shoulders and he began giving her the best massage she had for a long time. She had a flashback of her training with Zangan.
"Great Tifa!" Zangan commented as Tifa landed a swift kick on Tom, her training partner. Tom fell on the ground, groaning.
"Yay! Two for Tifa, zero for Tom Thumb!" Tifa exclaimed happily. Tom jumped up and shot her an angry look.
"Careful, Thomas. One more and you owe her a good massage. If you don't give her one, you will be answering to ME." Tifa giggled, but Zangan was serious. Tom began fighting aggressively, but was still no match for Tifa. He was forced to give her a massage, and he certainly gave a good one.
"What are you thinking about, Tifa?" Marc asked, his soft whisper tickling her ear.
"Oh, the last massage I had. You give very good ones, Marc."
"Thank you, Tifa. A nickname Melody gave me was the Healer, since I gave good massages and have powers associated with healing. As a matter of fact, I could help you with your training."
"How?"
"Like this." Tifa felt a warmth surround her body and sighed at how it seemed to warm her soul.
"What was that?" Tifa asked, surprised at how breathless she sounded. Behind her, she felt him smile.
"That was a nifty spell of mine that clears the mind of any distracting thought. It's a real pity I can't use it on myself." Tifa laughed. "Before you try your mind energy again, I have a confession to make. I wanted to pick fun at you to see how you tried to find it without guidance."
"You mean it isn't random?" Tifa fumed.
"Of course not. Finding your energy of any sort is all just a matter of knowing where to look." He moved so that he was sitting in front of her. He tilted his head sideways, looking at her with that haunting stare of his that seemed to look through her.
'Do you know what he's doing?' Tifa asked the dragons.
"He's sensing you. When he opens up a port like that, you could speak telepathically with him," Kreutz explained, "and he could sense your mood...he could also locate where to find energies. He can't, however, hear us. That's only for you, mistress."
'Marc?' Tifa asked him.
'Yeah, I could hear you. Ah ha! Eureka!' Maverick thought. Tifa felt the port close and saw the look on her face disappear. "Tifa, look at the part of your mind where your knowledge of magic is."
Tifa closed her eyes and concentrated on that part of her mind. She felt her hands feel warm and then cold and she opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. A small blue fireball was in her hands.
'The blue flame,' Marc thought with shock. 'So, her elemental and mental energy are the same, huh? She does not know how important this is. I knew she was the one, I just knew it. I can't tell her now, though. I'll tell her when she could summon the dragons.'
"I did it!" Tifa exclaimed. Marc gave her a warm smile.
"Great!" Kreutz exclaimed happily. "Focus that, just a little, and picture this symbol." Tifa's eyes closed involuntarily and she saw a red and blue yin yang symbol, except this one did not have the colored dots in the large colored fields. She did as they asked. Her eyes snapped open when she felt something leave her mind. Standing before her were two semi-transparent dragons that stood on their hind legs.
The first thing that caught her mind was a metallic red color. This dragon, which she somehow knew was Jess, seemed stocky and strong. She could see that he had a fierce personality and she assumed he had a fierce temper. This dragon was about two feet taller than the other dragon.
The second dragon was a brilliant metallic shade of dark blue. Kreutz was much more lustrous than his counterpart, but was smaller in both height and breadth. For some reason, she could feel he was not as filled with anger like Jess. He was looking down curiously at a hole he was beginning to dig with one of his toes. He looked up at her and she gasped at his eye color. It was more brilliant against his dark blue than Jess' dull red, but it was the same color nevertheless. Their eyes were bright, bright green, and they reminded Tifa of Sephiroth's eyes except for one thing: the pupil. The pupils of their eyes were black slits rather than round like Sephiroth's were.
This thought broke her concentration and the dragons as well as the hole disappeared.
"Bravo!" Kreutz cheered. He stepped back from the Wellspring, preventing Tifa from hearing his next words. "She is a quick learner, huh?" Jess hesitated and then stepped back.
"Kreutz, if you had been paying attention, you would notice that she is a quick learner because she was infused with our elements before we showed up."
"You mean..."
"Yes," Jess cut off. "She is the female part of the Holy Angel. She probably has powers that she doesn't even know she has."
"How do you know?"
"Because," Jess explained impatiently, "her mind energy is the blue flame. If Mr. Xavier's hidden mind energy turns out to be the thunder orb, then they are both halves of the Holy Angel, thus causing them to be the most powerful duo in this whole entire world."
"You mean..."
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean." Jess gave a crafty laugh.
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Yuffie walked out of her shower. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was four hours since she woke up, and Tifa was still gone. Sure Yuffie woke up late but still. That still didn't give Tifa the right to disappear. Right after Yuffie was ready to grab a bite to eat, Tifa walked in laughing. She waved goodbye to someone in the hall and pushed her hair back from her face as she closed the door.
The first thing Yuffie noticed was the different colored earrings that Tifa was wearing. The second was the pouch on her hip. It was a materia pouch.
"Nice earrings," Yuffie commented. Tifa looked at her, seemingly confused for a moment. She suddenly realized what she was talking about and answered.
"They were a gift."
"From whom?" Yuffie asked, suspicious of the different colors. Tifa sighed.
'See you boys later,' Tifa thought.
"Bye-bye Tifa!" Kreutz exclaimed.
"Hey, you're a quick learner. What more do we need of a mistress?" Jess asked. "You're one of the best, if not the best, mistresses we have ever had."
'Thanks Jess.'
"No problem. We'll be watching you." Tifa laughed out loud.
"What's so funny? And why do you have a materia pouch on you?" Yuffie asked. Tifa took her earrings off and set them on the nightstand next to her bed. Yuffie continued her bombardment of questions. "Who were you with? Could you believe I was actually worried?" Tifa turned around with a warm smile on her face.
"Marc," she sighed dreamily. Yuffie paused.
"Oh no; who or what transformed Tifa into a lovesick puppy?" Tifa laughed as she took her pouch off and set it next to her bed on the floor gently.
"Maverick, I should say." Yuffie understood suddenly.
"Oh... so you have a new flame, eh?"
"Actually, Yuffie, I'm exhausted. I'll tell you all when I wake up."
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"So this is the mighty Cloud Strife, hmm?" Melody asked. Valeria nodded.
"Rather frail-looking, if you ask me." Melody laughed. "Actually, in his state we all would probably look the same way. He has been out of it for at least two weeks. His muscles are weakening as time flies by."
"Miss Solheart," a voice came from the door. Melody and Valeria turned around.
Melody recognized the voice as one of the Ghost Captains. As she expected, they saw nothing, but felt something.
"Valeria, you stay here. I'll go see what's going on." Valeria nodded and turned back to the medical instruments. Melody felt bad for lying to her sister, but it was the only way she would keep her secret.
A/N: Are the dragons lying to Tifa? Updates will most likely slow after this, so please be patient readers!