A Troublesome Brat
Cloud stretched as he got up. His back was a little sore from sleeping on the cold rock floor of his villa's
basement. While he checked what materia was left, you always had to do that when Yuffie was in the house,
he fumed. Why had Aeris made him give up HIS bed in HIS villa fro some lab rat of a stupid kid?! Whether
or not, and Cloud assumed not, this had anything to do with the crisis for the Planet, that kid definitely had
to go, before someone, and Cloud decided not to mention to himself who, killed the brat.
"Cloud," a voice called from the top of the stairs. It was Tifa. "You're daydreaming again, get up here and
eat while you still can."
"I'm coming," Cloud yawned, getting up. Yuffie must have preoccupied herself with their guest, all of his
materia was still in order and undisturbed.
"I'm warning you! It's going fast," Tifa shouted over her shoulder, as she disappeared through the
doorway.
"I said I was coming," Cloud repeated following Tifa upstairs.
He stopped dead in his tracks as he came to the end of the hall upstairs. A curious sight hit him like a brick
wall.
Used dishes were stacked in piles around the boy, but that wasn't what had Cloud standing drop jawed.
He'd never seen anyone eat so fast, and yet politely neat at the same time, ever before in his life. How DID
the kid do it?
Unfortunately for Cloud, he didn't snap out of his staring fit until Gohan stopped gorging himself. "Uh," the
boy inquired shyly, "I don't mean to sound greedy, but... do you have any more?"
Cloud suddenly understood what Tifa had meant when she'd said it was going fast.
"Actually," Aeris slowly replied, "we're fresh out."
"WHAT!?!" Cloud stormed into the room. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!!!"
"Eh," Aeris debated how to keep Cloud calmed down.
"Ain't it obvious?" the oldest person in the group, Cid, asked. "This kid can eat! He's a real healthy boy!"
Cloud glared at Gohan who seemed rather uncomfortable with Cid's backslapping camaraderie. "I'm sorry,"
he whispered under his breath.
"Cloud!" Aeris jumped up from her chair in outrage. "How can you treat him like that? You," she glared at
him seeming eye to eye with her air of royalty. "You leave him alone! He's only a boy!"
Gohan sunk lower into his chair like he was trying to become a chameleon and disappear.
Cloud turned his glare at Aeris knowing full and well that she'd never back down. "This IS my villa you
know. First that damn kid gets my bed, now he eats all my food, what's next!?!"
"CLOUD!" Aeris put her hands on her hips and suddenly reminded Cloud more of the way she used to be.
"How dare you talk like that in front of a child!"
Cloud turned his eyes away from Aeris, "He's just some lab rat of a kid we need info out of."
"Look who's talking," Vincent murmured in a deadly whisper while glaring at Cloud for the comment.
"HE IS NOT!" Aeris was shaking by now. It didn't help either that every time Cloud said something Tifa
had to stifle giggles in the background.
"I'm sorry," Gohan whispered. He wished he'd never ended up here. He just hated it when people fought. "I
can go if you want me to."
"You're not going anywhere until you tell us everything you know," Cloud stated in a flat tone with his
arms crossed over his chest.
"Aw Cloud," Yuffie piped up, jumping by Gohan. "Why doncha go easy on him, he is kinda cute." Yuffie
exchanged looks with Tifa and both broke into a fit of giggles.
Gohan, somehow, didn't find it that funny. His face found beautifully new shades of red that almost
matched Nanaki's coat. He really had to wonder if Cloud would mind him jumping through the window.
Everyone sat in silence for a couple of moments looking suspiciously around the group.
"This seems to be getting us nowhere," Nanaki inquired. "May I offer a suggestion?"
A couple of relieved sighs gave him his answer.
"Why don't we ask civilized questions first, then pursue pointless arguments," he commented with his
inhuman voice. Gohan wasn't surprised at all that the creature could talk, but Nanaki still fascinated him.
"Fair enough," Aeris answered. "Please Cloud, just wait a little longer before losing it again."
"Fine," Cloud still glared at Gohan. "Then let's get to the point. Do you know what Hojo was doing to
you?"
Gohan nodded, feeling a little better that he wasn't being argued over any longer. "But I don't know how he
did it... He was making me go in and out of Super Saijin against my will," Gohan sat up straight, suddenly
thinking of what Chichi might say if she saw him slouching.
"Super Saijin?" Aeris inquired with a look of fascination. "What is Super Saijin?"
Gohan hesitated, apparently these people had never heard of Saijins before. Should he tell them more? Well,
he'd already kind of spilled too much to keep them ignorant so what use was there in holding back?
"Well," Gohan tried to think of the quickest way to explain it all, the one man, Cloud, he knew had no
patience. How would they react to finding out he was from another world? ...There was no way to tell, but
Gohan had a good feeling about these people... most of them. "The Saijins were a race from a planet called
Vegeta," Gohan decided to leave out the part about the Saijins being a violent, bloodthirsty race and
continued without faltering. "The planet was destroyed by a tyrant called Freeza, and only four Saijins
survived. As of now only two of them are still alive, Vegeta and my dad. I'm a half Saijin." Gohan paused to
let everything sink in. He hoped they wouldn't freak out.
"My race was from another planet as well," Aeris piped up almost immediately. "My mother was a Cetra. I
suppose you could call me a half Cetra, but that would sound funny..."
"The point," Cloud reminded rudely.
"Uh," Aeris fell silent glaring at Cloud. She would have argued, but she knew Cloud was right, time wasn't
what they had plenty of.
"..." Gohan thought a moment. This girl was a Cetra? Obviously they were some peace loving alien species
that appeared human... but then again if Gohan could be a Saijin and hate fighting, maybe he couldn't tell
too much about her species... How many off these people were actually human? Appearances could be
deceiving. "If you don't mind me asking, you said 'was.' What did you mean?"
Cloud started to say something, but Aeris cut him off, "My mother was the last full-blooded Cetra. She...
She died of the Jenova virus that destroyed my race; I'm the last Cetra now."
Gohan nodded, "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Aeris replied, then giggled. She was looking more and more like herself every
minute. "Look Cloud! I'm stealing your lines!"
"Just get on with it," Cloud fumed. Aeris was surprised a storm cloud didn't start to form above his head.
"...Saijins," Gohan continued, not wanting to push Cloud any further than he had to, "become more
powerful the more they are defeated. Sometimes, a need arises so great that a Saijin warrior can be pushed
to the next level, Super Saijin."
Yuffie giggled.
"...?" Gohan wondered what she thought was so funny. "What?"
"Funny story," she commented. "Doesn't make any sense, but it's funny."
"But it's the truth!" Gohan wasn't sure what to say. "My hair's really black, but now I'm stuck in Super
Saijin and can't fall out of it!"
Cloud seemed as convinced as Yuffie. "No one gains levels by being defeated!"
"So the kid's got an imagination," Cid argued. "That's no reason to yell at him."
Gohan was bewildered, and he stared blankly at the people around him. Why wouldn't they believe him?
"He has a name," Aeris murmured. Although she only whispered it, everyone was silenced by the tone in
her voice they knew all too well. "Didn't any of you hear before, his name's Gohan. I believe him, every
word of it. My ancestors came from many, many planets and saw many things. Why shouldn't we believe
him?"
Cloud, even though he remained silent and didn't argue, gave Gohan a look that said he wasn't convinced
and wasn't likely to be anytime soon.
"That still doesn't help," Cloud finally decided on what was safe to say. "We don't have the info we went
for. Hojo and Sephiroth are alive, possibly planning to destroy the Planet for their own ends and we have
nothing to work off of..."
Mid-sentence, Cloud was interrupted by an ungodly sound.
All eyes turned to the source, Gohan.
"... Uh..." Gohan's face was the perfect picture of embarrassment, "... I'm kind of hungry." He tried even
harder to disappear, and when that didn't work, he started reconsidering how important to Cloud that
window was.
Everyone just stared until Cloud broke the silence, "What is wrong with you kid! First you steal my bed,
then you eat ALL my food... ...! ... ... then you break my window." Cloud trailed off rather hopeless
sounding.
Everyone still stared with the same startled looks, only now they were looking at shattered glass and a
missing body.
"So he wasn't kidding... " Cloud murmured, repulsed by the thought of Seph that accompanied flying, "he
CAN fly."
"I hat to interrupt one of the few thoughts you actually have," Cid started, tension rising in his voice, "but
we've got a problem!"
Everyone but Cloud started scrambling around for weapons and materia as they saw what Cid was talking
about. The distinct silhouette against the steady ocean waves was unmistakable.
"How..." Cloud's head started to hurt again. "How did Emerald get over here?" He'd thought Costa del Sol
was safe. It should have been protected by the narrow ocean pass that separated this part of the ocean from
the rest. There should have been no way for Emerald to get through! But apparently now, this shoreline
would be plagued by weapon attacks like so many others in the past.
Cloud only wished he had enough time to save the children that no doubt would be playing on the shore.
Maybe, by some twist of fate, they wouldn't be there now, but Cloud didn't think they were that lucky.
"Who're you gonna bring Cloud?" another nonhuman party member inquired. By the quivering of his cat
whiskers and the nervous edge in his stuffed mog-body's consistent hopping, Cloud figured he didn't want
to be one of the ones to go, and possibly die, this time.
"Don't worry Cait Sith, your megaphone doesn't have to get used this time, and Yuffie, you're not going
either," Cloud said, satisfied by the relieved sighs that said he was right in his assumptions. He didn't need
halfhearted fighters. What he needed was someone with good healing abilities. "Aeris, you're with me."
And he also needed someone with a consistent and strong limit break. "Barre....."
Tifa's cold shoulder approach reminded Cloud of the rivalry between her and Aeris. Well, that decided
things for him. "Barret, ... you and Cid stay here and create two more parties in case we don't stop it. Tifa,
you're with me!"
Cloud paused a moment to debate whether the empty space where the window used to be would be faster
than the door, but before he had time to realize that he couldn't fly something else caught his attention and
stopped him once more dead in his tracks.
"...!"
Cloud had to grab Aeris before she threw herself out the window.
"Cloud! It's Gohan!"
"I know," he grumbled. If the stupid kid wanted to go get himself killed by fighting Emerald, then Cloud was
going to let him. The brat deserved it in his opinion. HE just didn't want Aeris to follow after the kid like a
mother hen and get herself slaughtered too.
"Cloud!" this time it was Tifa who pleaded. "We have to to help him! If we go now, we might get there in
time!"
"If he kills it," Cloud said with cold humor in his voice, "he'll finally get something to eat."
"..."
No one pushed the subject further. They all knew how Cloud could be towards strangers, and right now he
had to be near his Limit Break, not to mention that he kept the Knights of the Round materia. No one wanted
to cross him; so they all were forced to watch through the broken window with silent horror.
Author's note: I really do like Gohan, so don't let this fic fool you. I was writing mostly from Cloud's
perspective, so I don't mean any of the mean things said.