I feel so much better now that my head is clear of that wretched idea. Never again shall I read a story with an odd pairing, they usually get me hooked lol. Well anyways, I don't have any comments for the story since it kind of went away from the uh... normal coarse of things. So I'll just go on and type up this next chapter. You know what though? I think it was good to write something else because I think my creativity has come back to me. I have this idea for this chapter, heh heh heh. This will be SO much fun. So everyone listen to what I have to say or else you will pay! NEVER FEAR! ACTION IS NEAR!
Disclaimer- Wow I finally caught on! Someone is hunting me down. I figured it out! All those clues were right in front of my face. The letter on the wall telling me to quit my plan to take over squaresoft, my shoes exploding when one of the ferrets started scratching the inside of them, But the clue that finally spelled it out for me is this one. (holds up a white sock) LOOK MY SOCK IS CLEAN! I never have clean socks! Someone has obviously been trying to get some dirt that's on me heh heh heh.
Chapter 49- Silent Predator
Dregon walks through the long corridors towards the room Vain is residing. Dregon's face has a scowl spread across it from the annoyance he's feeling at being summoned by Vain once again, 'He thinks he's in control. The bastard will learn soon enough.' Dregon thinks to himself as a smirk plays across his face at the thought. He opens the doors and walks into the dusty room. Vain is sitting at his desk looking through one of the old books in the room. "What do you want?" Dregon immediately demands.
Vain looks up to shoot a glare at Dregon, "Remember who you're speaking to." He warns. He leans back in his seat and places his feet up on the desk. He folds his hands in his lap as he stares at Dregon, who stands there waiting for what Vain has to say. "I wish to know the progress with Hojo's.."
"Hojo's finished." Dregon cuts Vain off not letting him finish, "He was sent out after them two days ago. We're expecting results soon." Dregon says as he crosses his arms, "Anything else?" He questions.
Vain shakes his head and waves Dregon off. Dregon turns away and walks out of the room. Vain takes his feet of his desk when Dregon leaves, 'I know you're up to something Dregon. But what?' He questions, scratching his head
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"You guys sure?" Tifa asks as the group stands at the entrance of Cosmos Canyon, ready to get on their way.
Jessie nods her head, "It's best if we stay here. We'll only get in the way if we go with you. If you guys ever need any help come get us." Jessie says giving Tifa a warm smile.
Biggs nods giving a grin, "Yea! We'll be prepared for anything!" He states confidently.
"I'm just glad we're not going to be running blindly into battle with them." Wedge says in relief, after all, he is quite the coward when it comes to fighting.
Tifa gave them each a hug and said goodbye, "Well it was great seeing you guys a again." Tifa says.
"Yea it was great meeting you and thanks for the uh... modifications." Yuffie says while giving them a grin.
Jessie smiles, happy that she was of help in some way, "I do apologize however for not being able to help the two of you." She says glancing over to Vincent and then Rima.
"It's not necessary. I shall find my own way to fight them." Vincent says reassuringly before turning around and walk down the steps of the canyon. The rest of the group quickly said their 'thanks' and 'goodbyes' before following Vincent as he leads them out of the canyon.
Vincent leads them out of the canyon, Red XIII at his right side keeping up with Vincent's long strides. Zack, Tifa, and Yuffie tailed behind the two talking a bit while Rima follows a little bit behind, opting to keep her distance from the others. Everyone is weary about Rima once they learned that she's some kind of vampire, Yuffie knew this would happen, one of the main reasons she didn't want to tell them. Yuffie noticed that the instant Rima walks out of the inn that the rest of her friends tried to keep some distance from her. Except for Vincent, Vincent acted like himself and just stood where he was and didn't say a word.
Red XIII glances up at Vincent curiously after witnessing the silent gunslinger keep looking back towards the group every once in a while. Red XIII sees him do it again and decides to see what exactly Vincent keeps looking at. Red XIII follows Vincent's gaze to the direction of Rima about twenty feet behind them. Why Vincent keeps glancing back at her, Red XIII doesn't know. He glances back up to Vincent as his gaze turns back to the road ahead, "Why do you keep looking back at Rima?" Red XIII questions.
Vincent lowers his gaze to look into Red XIII's feline eyes. The golden orbs help great wisdom and strength behind them that Vincent has always admired about the creature. Vincent turns his gaze back to the road ahead, "She's weak." He states.
Red XIII blinks in confusion at the comment. Red XIII turns his head again to look back at Rima. Red XIII examines her stride, her feet drag on the ground, her shoulders are dropped and her gaze is lowered to the ground. Red XIII looks back up at Vincent understanding what he's saying, "She looks tired."
Silence falls upon the two as they each become absorb in their own thoughts. The only sounds around the two are the three behind them talking and the sounds of feet stepping on the grass they walk on. "She's dieing." Vincent says suddenly. Red XII glances back up at Vincent in confusion, his eyes beckoning him to explain. "Whether she likes it or not, she's a vampire. She's neglecting her need for blood and it's slowly killing her."
"What can we do?" Red XIII asks concerned for his new comrade.
Vincent's brows lower in thought, "I believe she just doesn't want to harm others in order to feed, I could be wrong though. However if that is the case then she may except blood if she doesn't have to take it from a person. In the laboratory of the Shin-Ra mansion, there's stored blood. Perhaps she can use them from now on instead of having to hunt others." Vincent explains. Red XIII nods in agreement as the two fall into silence again. Now all they have to do is wait until they reach Nibelheim.
Yuffie nods her head again, half paying attention to Tifa's rambling, she forgotten what the fist fighter is suppose to be talking about when most of her attention directed to the two in front of them. She noticed the two kept looking back and then they started speaking. Yuffie tried to make out what they were talking about but couldn't hear anything. Now the two are silent, their conversation seemingly over.
Yuffie sighs as she gazes up into the clouded skies. It's a good thing it's cloudy today because walking across the plains under the blazing hot sun is not something Yuffie wanted to do. Of coarse Yuffie knows it's going to rain soon. The dark clouds and the heavy scent of the rain clings in the air. 'I just hope it holds out until we reach Nibelheim.' As if hearing her silent pleas, the gods above strike lightening across the sky and rain begins to fall. 'Figures.' Yuffie mumbles to herself.
Red XIII keeps his snout hanging down towards the ground to help prevent water from getting into his nose. His fiery maim is flattened to his neck thanks to the rain making it wet and heavy. Miraculously, the small flame on the tip of the beast's tail remains alive and burns strongly. His paws sink into the muddy ground with each step he takes. His fiery coat of fur flattens out into the curves of his muscles. Soggy fur hangs down from his stomach, having small river-like streams of water run off the tips of his fur. Red XIII shakes his head in misery, he dislikes being caught in a storm.
Vincent continues to push forth despite the storm they are now caught in. Strands of ebony hair fall in front of his eyes, each having water droplets fall from the ends of them. His boots make a 'squish' sound with each step. His cloak, now weighing four times as much do to how much water it has soaked up, sticks to his back, sticking to the black shirt underneath. Vincent looks up to the sky letting the raindrops hit his face, run down his cheeks and neck.
Vincent always welcomes storms to hit. To him each drop of rain represents every sin that he's committed in his life. Whenever it rains he felt as though the raindrops that hit him are trying to wash away his sins, to try and make him innocent once more, if he ever was innocent that is. It's been so long that Vincent can't remember ever being an innocent little boy. He feels like he's been an adult all his life.
Vincent notices that Red XIII stopped walking out of the corner of his eyes and stops himself to turn around to see what's wrong. Red XIII sticks his snout in the air and sniffs. His beastly brows lower in confusion as he tries to catch a scent before the rain is able to wash it away. "Is something wrong?" Zack asks as Tifa, Yuffie. and himself catch up to them.
Vincent slowly shakes his head and tells them to move on. each gave him a bewildered look before moving on. Vincent glances back down at Red XIII, "What is it?" He questions.
Red XIII lowers his head in thought, "I don't know. I thought I smelled something but when I tried to catch it again it disappeared." Red XIII shakes his head, "It must of been my imagination." Vincent nods as Rima reaches them, her gaze still towards the ground.
Vincent watches Rima as she begins to walk passed him. Rima's head snaps up as she suddenly pulls her sniper rifle out aiming ahead of them. With instincts that made him a Turk all those years ago, Vincent pulls out his Death Penalty and follows suite. Red XIII growls as he catches the familiar scent from before.
Zack, Tifa, and Yuffie hear Red XIII's threatening growl and turn around. Zack draws his head back in confusion and scratches the back of his neck, "Who's that?" His voice calls over the pounding rain.
Vincent's brow raise in disbelief, wondering where the person came from. The person just stands in between the two groups, hands at his side. He has slightly long black hair that falls onto his shoulders. He's wearing a dark green trench coat with a black shirt underneath it. He has black pants, black boots and black leather gloves. The collar of the trench coat is hitched up to hide his neck. His face is cast in a shadow making it so his face isn't visible. He doesn't move, doesn't make a sound as he continues to stand between the two groups.
"Who are you?" Red XIII calls out. The man doesn't reply, he just continues to stands still in the pouring rain.
"I'm getting bad vides from this guy." Tifa whispers to Zack as she stairs at the tall man's back. Yuffie cautiously takes her Conformer out, getting ready if a battle takes place.
Zack unsheathes his Buster Sword feeling exactly the same way as Tifa. "What do you want?" Zack calls out. They stand there waiting for an answer but the man doesn't speak. Just continues to stare towards Red XIII, Vincent, and Rima.
Red XIII sniffs the air, trying to identify the odd scent in the air. He can't identify it, the scent is... odd to say the least. The man has a variety of scents on him but Red XIII can't distinguish a single one of them. "Something doesn't feel right." Red XIII comments to Vincent. He gives a quick glance up to Vincent then narrows his golden eyes at the man in front of them, "He... doesn't smell human."
A small smirk plays across Rima's face, "You noticed that too huh? Well then you won't care when I do this!" Rima squeezes the trigger to her sniper rifle.
Vincent's eye catch sight of the faintest of movement come from the intruder, "NO WAIT DON'T!" Vincent calls out. Too late. Rima fires the rifle, the shots rings throughout the air towards the silent figure. With speed that no human can possibly possess, the man dodges to the right letting the bullet soar pass him towards Zack.
Zack's eyes widen as he quickly holds his blade out in front of him. The bullet is deflected off the blade. Zack lowers his blade a bit and let's out a sigh of relief. "DAMMIT! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FIRING!" Zack calls out in anger.
"He dodged that!?" Red XIII says in disbelief. Vincent and Rima share a glance before aiming their guns towards the silent figure.
"You three get down!" Vincent calls out before Rima and himself begin firing shots at the man. Each shot is dodged by the dark figure, he jumps from side to side, moving around with godlike speed. Vincent begins to reload while Rima continues to fire. Soon Rima's out and begins to load. Vincent reloads and brings his gun back up to the intruder. Vincent takes a moment to aim, he places the man's head in his sights. Before Vincent fires however the intruder makes his move.
Vincent is rammed by what feels like a train. The force of the blow causes him to slide on the slick grass on his back a couple of meters. Vincent lifts his head up to see what just happened. His eyes fall upon the dark man, standing between Red XIII and Rima as they stare at the man in disbelief. That's when he realized the intruder had crossed the distance between each other in less then a second, it was a space of about twenty-five feet!
Rima is the first to snap out of her surprise as she raises her rifle up to the man's head, at point blank range. She pulls the trigger only to have the shot ward off and the rifle knocked out of her hands. A second later and elbow crashes into her stomach throwing her back a bit. Red XIII roars and lunges at the man. The man dodges to the side and kicks the fire beast in the side while he's still in the air.
Meanwhile, Zack, Tifa, and Yuffie try to hurry over to their comrades. Yuffie can't believe what she's seeing. The man's movements are unbelievable, they all seem like a blur with the speed he moves. How can someone be that fast? It isn't human! It isn't even like a demon's or any monster she's encountered before. He possesses the speed in only which a god can possess. They're getting closer, they're close enough for Yuffie to use her Conformer. While running she lunches the Conformer towards the man, the Conformer screams through the air as it nears the man.
At the last instinct however the man ducks. While the Conformer turns itself around to return to Yuffie the man charges at them in the same inhuman speed he charged Vincent. Before any of them can react the man is standing before them, extending out his hand. The three try to stop but slide across the grass some in the process. Fire dances in a spiral around the man's extended arm. It all gathers up in front of the palm of his hand, creating a large fireball.
He looks ready to release his fireball when he glances over his shoulder to see the Conformer whizzing right by him. He releases the blast at the three while he back-flips in the air to dodge the deadly weapon. The huge fireball explodes at their feet making them scatter across the ground. The back-flip the man performed is an instinct too late, the Conformer strikes his arm he had extended, cutting it off above his elbow. The arm falls to the ground as blood oozes out of chopped limb.
Yuffie jumps to her feet, catching the Conformer right before it passes her. She places her hands on her hips as the other two stand up. Yuffie looks at the man and smirks triumphantly, "Didn't expect that now did ya!?" The man walks over to the other half of his arm and picks it up. Everyone looks at him strangely before he puts connects the arm back together, a white glow appears when the Conformer sliced through the arm and heals the arm and fixes the sleeves of his clothes making it look as though nothing happened to him in the first place. Yuffie's arms fall to her sides with her mouth agape, "What the hell are you!?"
The man lifts his head up at the question making his lips and chin peek out of the shadows. The mans lips curve up in an insane smirk. An instinct later Yuffie is knocked to the ground by the blow she didn't even see coming. Tifa lunges at the man and throws a series of punches and kicks. The man stands in his spot moving his body to the left, right, or ducking Tifa's kicks. Tifa growls in anger seeing how all her attacks are being dodged. In her fury she jumps up and performs a roundhouse kick at the man's head. Instead of dodging like usual, the man instead catches Tifa's foot with both of her hands. He spins around and throws her across the grass.
"HIYA!" Zack swipes his Buster Sword at the man. The man jumps back to dodge, Zack quickly charges at the man and continues to swing his massive sword at the seeming invincible opponent. Zack pulls his sword back and drives it straight forward to try an impale the man. The man sidesteps and kicks Zack's hands. Zack looses his grip on the Buster Sword as it's tossed through the air. Zack stumbles a bit, being off balanced. The man grabs the collar of Zack's shirt and lifts off the ground. Zack brings up his hands to try and break the man's grasp on his shirt as he swing his feet underneath him in a desperate attempt to kick his opponent.
"Release him!" Vincent calls out as Red XIII, Rima, and himself charge at the man from behind. The man looks over his shoulder and sees them charging towards him. He looks back to the man in his grasp and quickly turns towards the three, throwing Zack at them in the process. Red XIII and Rima jump off to the side but Vincent isn't that lucky as Zack crashes into him, making both of them fall to the ground.
"TAKE THIS!" Tifa yells out as she leaps at the man trying to kick him in mid air. The man doesn't even turn around to face her, he through his body on the ground making her pass over him. He quickly stands back up, grabbing something from inside of his trench coat in the process, he throws the object in his hand at Tifa's back as she lands on the ground. The object latches onto her back with short sharp spikes. A light blinks as it strikes her back and then it releases volts of electricity through her body. Tifa's body shakes as she screams in pain from the electricity coursing through her body. A few seconds later the little mechanism on her back falls off and Tifa falls to the ground unconscious.
"BASTARD!" Yuffie yells in fury as she throws her Conformer. The man leaps over it, and amazingly over everyone's heads in the process. He must of jumped at least fifteen feet high.
Rima smirks as she sees the man leap into the air. He can't dodge anything if he's in the air. She quickly raises her rifle and takes aim, "Dodge this!" She calls out before firing her gun over and over. Each bullet hitting their marks. Rima continues to pulls the trigger long after the gun is emptied, she only stops when the man falls to the ground in a heap.
Rima blinks before realizing the man isn't getting up, there was no scream of pain when the bullet struck their targets, no surprising shouts. There wasn't a sound. Rima quickly begins to reload just in case it isn't over. Vincent pushes Zack of himself and stands up. Zack scratches the back of his head and grins, "Nice catch" He says earning himself a quick glare. Zack quickly runs over to his Buster Sword and sheathes it. Then he runs over to Tifa side and shakes her, "Hey Tifa you alright?" He asks.
Tifa lets out a painful groan as she stumbles to her feet. She grabs her head and shakes it frantically, "Now I know what a fly feels like when the run into a bug zapper." She mutters to herself. Zack chuckles a little before turning his gaze back to the fallen opponent.
Yuffie jogs over to the rest, thinking its best to stick close to everyone else at the moment. She runs to hide behind Vincent, wrapping her arms around his deadly claw and peeking out from behind him she glances over to the weird freakish man they just fought, "Is he dead?" She asks hesitantly.
Red XIII staggers to his feet and shakes his body to rid himself some of the water even though it's still raining. He walks a bit closer to the strange man then the rest and sniffs the air for any smells of death. The man suddenly leaps to his feet and faces them. Red XIII jumps back, keeping safety in numbers. Everyone immediately prepared for the next battle to begin. Rima and Vincent both fire their gun causing the man to jump to the side to dodge the bullets. When the man's feet hit the ground he immediately charges towards the group. Rima and Vincent continue to shoot their guns, the man leaps over their heads and passes above them.
When the small ground turn around to face their opponent, the man is gone. As silently and mysteriously as he appeared, he vanishes. They all remain on guard to make sure he's really gone before they put their weapons away. "What the heck was that!? It definitely wasn't human!" Yuffie exclaims as her eyes continue to dart across the plains for signs of the man.
"A silent predator." Red XIII says nodding his head in thought.
Yuffie's body shivers, not just from the cold night air, "Freaky."
"We should probably hurry to Nibelheim." Tifa suggests, wanting desperately to get out of the rain and into a warm dry bed. The group quickly agrees and they press forward, each deciding no to worry about their attacker for the time being. Each are just hungry, tired, and dieing to get dry.
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"I just hope the inn has some opened rooms." Tifa comments as they walk into town. The dirt road of Nibelheim is now all soft mud. Small stream are running across the room from the storm that's outside.
"We can use the Shin-Ra mansion." Red XIII advises, hoping to stay there instead of an inn where the people would stare at him and comment that pets aren't allowed in inns.
"Yea remember? Vinnie lives there now!" Yuffie says happily.
"We won't have to pay for an inn." Zack comments liking the idea of saving some gil. So the group walks over to the old Shin-Ra mansion. Vincent remains quiet as he leads them towards the mansion. His icy heart sending a shock of anticipation as he nears the mansion. Vincent opens the old, rotting, wood doors and holds them open for everyone to enter. Everyone rushes out of the rain.
"So where are the beds?" Zack asks as everyone scans the interior of the Shin-Ra mansion. It's dusty, but it has always been dusty. Vincent doesn't answer the question, instead he begins walking, rather quickly, up the stairs. Everyone watches him in bewilderment before following him.
The group follows Vincent down the spiral staircase to the hidden basement. They walk down the dark tunnel to the end where the laboratory is. Everyone gathers inside the laboratory and watches Vincent as he analyzes the book cave at the entrance of the hallways. "What are you looking for?" Tifa suddenly asks the question on everyone's mind.
Without answering Tifa's question, Vincent slams his claw on the side on the bookcase, startling everyone in the process. Vincent picks the large bookcase up a few centimeters on the one side and begins to pull it out of the way. Everyone watches in bewilderment before they see what's hidden behind the bookcase. It's another door, a rusty metal door. It's a hidden door that's hidden inside the hidden laboratory.
Vincent walks over to it and opens the door, it screeches on the old hinges. Vincent looks over towards his comrades who stare at him in confusion, "Where does that lead?" Yuffie asks confused. Apparently she's not the only who is since no one knew this door even existed.
Vincent's gaze lowers to the ground as if he suddenly feels ashamed of himself, "I may not be out for awhile." He says quietly before walking through the doorway, closing the door in the process.
"Hey wait! What're you doing!?" Yuffie shouts as she raises towards the door. As she places her hand on the handle of the door she hears something lock on the other side. She attempts to pull it open, only to find out that the door is indeed, now locked. Yuffie kicks the door in aggravation.
Tifa scratches her head, not understanding what just happened, "He'll eventually come out. Why don't we just get something to eat and go to bed?" Tifa suggests. Yuffie huffs before walking out of the laboratory. Tifa shakes her head before following the angry ninja. Zack lets out a loud yawn before walking out also.
Red XIII keeps his eyes locked on Rima as she walks over to one of the large capsules. The glass of the capsule seemed to have been broken through by something that was stored inside of it escaping. Red XIII watches silently in interest as Rima reaches out a shaking hand and touches the capsule. He brows lower a bit in hatred. "Rima?" Rima pulls her hand back quickly when she hears Red XIII call out her name. She turns around to face the beast.
She can tell the beast is curious as to what she doing. Rima quickly crosses her arms and turns her head to the side, acting like nothing is wrong, "What?" She asks glancing at him every now and then.
Red XIII lifts his snout in the air and sniffs. He follows his nose across the laboratory as Rima watches him in wonderment. Red XIII's nose directs him to a small refrigerator on the side of the wall. He turns back to Rima, "Could you open this for me?" He asks lifting his paw up to point at what he's talking about.
Rima slowly nods and walks over to the small refrigerator. She bends down and opens up. The pupils of her eyes shrink as the bright light shines out of the refrigerator, "What's this?" Rima questions before pulling out one of the red bags.
Red XIII gives her a quick glance before turning around and walking away, "It's blood. Use it." Red XIII says as he exits the laboratory. Rima gives the retreating beast a bewildered look before starring down at the package of blood in her hand.
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Vincent slowly walks down the long cold hall passing several rooms that are used for storing supplies. His gaze remains directed to the ground as he walks through the darkness. His human hand twitches from how nervous he feels. There's no turning back now, he already began walking towards the room and he isn't going to turn back. Vincent's feet carry him to the last door in the dark hall. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he slowly opens the door.
"...Vincent?" A voice calls out in the room.
A small smile passes across Vincent's lips as he glances up, "....Lucrecia."
That's all folks! Well I hope you're excited about the next chapter because I sure as hell am! Surprises are coming, more then you'll ever guess heeheehee. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, you probably already knew what was going to happen at the end huh? I knew someone already guessed it, bravo. But who is this mysterious person that they fought? Will they meet him in the future? How does he have these unearthly powers? The next chapter ought to have some good ol action, the gang meet a new something and run into an old someone. And what's this!? Cloud and Sephiroth come out a week early? Why's this? And more importantly... what are the results? Heeheehee I had to go and tell ya all that just to leave ya in more suspense then you need heeheehee Ain't I great!? Well Review y'all! TTNC!