Into the City of Demons

Cloud looked up as someone entered the Conference Room of the Highwind. He'd been sitting there ever since his battle with the Saijin Prince had ended. If only he hadn't fought that stupid man!! If only he'd paid more attention, then Aeris and Tifa wouldn't have gotten away. There was no telling where they'd gone or what kind of trouble they might be getting into. Cloud forced himself to think positively as he stood up to meet the guest that strode into the room.

"If you don't mind me asking, " the tall Namek began. If it hadn't been for his interference, that last battle probably would have ended in someone's death. As it was, neither of the two participants was suffering long term effects. "Why did you think Gohan needed to learn to use materia?"

Cloud shook his head, not this again! Oh well, this Piccolo seemed to be more tolerable than that Vegeta guy, so there was no harm in answering the question. At least the Namek wouldn't blow into a fit of blind rage. "It was a part of the strategy," Cloud started. "Not only could we have maximized the amount of materia we were carrying, but also, it would have been a pretty good scenario. See, if we had given all of our curative stuff to the kid, then we wouldn't have had to waste our own slots on it and so everyone could have been geared towards kicking ass. The boy didn't need any materia to be a good fighter; that's why he'd have all the curative stuff. And besides, we could also give him some Independent materia that probably would have done some real good. I have a feeling that boy would work well with some Counter Attack materia, I always have."

Piccolo nodded. Unlike Vegeta, he wanted to see how things were done on this world. After all, if that human, who couldn't possibly have stood a chance against Vegeta back home, could beat him here, obviously something was working for the guy. Different worlds called for different measures, and Piccolo was willing to learn what it would take to be as strong here as he was back home. "So," he continued, "what exactly is materia?"

"It's crystallized Mako, crystallized spirit energy," Cloud corrected himself. It seemed these people understood "spirit" more than "Mako," so he would have to get in the habit of wording it that way. "It translates the will of humans into something the Planet can understand and then calls up the powers of the Planet, magic."

"Interesting." That was all Piccolo could really say on the subject. The powers of the Planet? The closest thing to that back home was the power of the Dragons. In a sense, that was the power of the planet, after all, it was the planet's dragon.

"Each materia is different," Cloud went on. "Each can do different tasks. Like this," Cloud pulled a small green stone out of a pouch, "is called a Revive materia. You can cast 'Life' and 'Life2' with it. Even though every materia is different, they all have similarities too. They can generally be grouped into five categories that are distinguishable by color. Green is Magic materia. Red is Summon, blue is Support, purple is Independent, and yellow is Command."

"So you're saying," Piccolo inquired, "that these materia can bring people back to life?"

Cloud nodded, "I didn't say that, but it was a good guess. Either of the Life spells can do that."

Piccolo found himself absorbed in the lecture. The materia almost seemed like a highly evolved form of the Dragon Balls back home. It was a terribly interesting idea, so he let Cloud ramble on.

"To use materia, you need to have it equipped in the slots in your weapons or armor when you go into battle. Some materia, like the Support materia, can only be used if they're in slots linked to other materia. They do just like their names says, they add to the abilities of the other materia but are useless on their own."

"Excuse me for interrupting," Piccolo intruded, "but how did this materia allow you to beat Vegeta?"

"I usually don't let anyone in on my strategies," Cloud replied somewhat hesitantly, "but since you're new here and don't have any materia of your own, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you." He pulled out Ultima Weapon with its materia slots glimmering. He began pointing to the small stones, one by one. "These first two slots have one mastered Mime linked to one mastered Counter; it's the same with these next two. Then, I have this mastered Final Attack linked to this mastered Revive. Then, I have a mastered Counter Attack and an unmastered Speed Plus." He placed the sword back in its place on his back, and held out his arm, flashing the materia lining his metal wristband so that they caught the light beautifully. "Here, I have a Master Magic and a mastered HP Plus. Then, I have this Master Summon linked to this mastered MP Absorb, and this mastered Knights of the Round linked to this mastered HP Absorb. And lastly, I have this unmastered Final Attack linked to this unmastered Knights of the Round."

"Mastered? You keep saying mastered, unmastered, or master. What's the significance?" Piccolo interrupted.

"Well, a mastered materia is one that has grown to its full power. They tend to be slightly larger in size like these," Cloud pointed to a few examples. "An unmastered materia is one that still has growing to do, and a Master materia is a melded version of all the mastered materia in one classification."

"That doesn't help much," Piccolo commented dryly as Cloud trailed off. "I still don't know what impact it all had on that last battle."

"Well, in those combinations, whenever I'm attacked, I instantly counter attack and also use my last move twice, as well as healing myself and restoring all of my MP."

"MP?" Piccolo remained focused. He was determined to learn the secrets of this warrior's power.

"What allows me to use magic. Even if you have materia, you can't use magic with out this power we call magic points, or MP," Cloud explained. "See, when Vegeta allowed me to slip in that one Knights of the Round, I had basically sealed the battle."

"Knights of the Round?" Piccolo contemplated the name for only a moment. "You mean that spell that you used."

Cloud nodded, "Yeah, by getting that in once, I could counter with it twice to every attack I took. Also, because I had the Knights of the Round and Master Summon linked to MP and HP Absorb materia, I would also heal myself in the process."

Piccolo was starting to get the picture. "So, how do you come by materia?"

"Well, you can buy it, but that's usually a waste of Gil. You're best of to find it in remote places where there aren't many people. That's were the most powerful ones usually are," Cloud concluded.

Piccolo took a moment to commit every last word he'd just heard to memory. It might prove useful sometime. "I also came here to say something else."

"Yeah?"

"I know where they went. They're on the surface," Piccolo stated, satisfied he'd absorbed enough information for the time being.

"Have you told any of the others?" Cloud asked, making his way for the door.

"Yeah, they're ready to follow you down into that jungle at any time," Piccolo returned, letting Cloud lead the way back to the Control Room. Hopefully, Vegeta and he wouldn't create any more problems too soon. Maybe, it would be better to separate them for a while, until things cooled down between them, provided it was possible with Vegeta's pride.

Walking into the Control Room, Cloud saw everyone waiting for him. What a surprise. "Who wants to go?" He asked, knowing full and well, that he'd probably end up picking the party in the end anyway.

"I do," Nanaki said, stepping forward. "I need to stretch my legs, and besides, I could use some brushing up on my materia skills."

Cloud nodded. "Anyone else?"

No one answered. It figured. Well, whom would he bring? He sighed looking around the room, right now, he almost wished he wasn't the leader. If he hadn't been the leader, he wouldn't have been so adamant about Gohan using materia, and then the whole fight wouldn't have happened, and Tifa would still be safe here on the Highwind. Why wouldn't that nagging feeling go away? Tifa was safe! With Aeris's healing and Gohan's fighting Tifa couldn't be in a better place!! The idea still didn't comfort him any. Then another thought entered his mind too. If Aeris could remain separate from the Lifestream because she was a Cetra and therefore come back from it anytime she pleased, then, was it possible for her to do the same thing for others? Cloud dispelled the hope as soon as it formed. If Aeris had had that capability, she would have used it by now to save the innocent people of, say, Midgar. No, he was being foolish by harboring such ideas. He should just get on his way and quit wasting time. "Vincent, you're with us."

The ex-Turk's cold, red eyes barely changed. He seemed so cold, but Cloud knew that deep inside that cool exterior there really was a heart, one that was full of pain and suffering. The pain of losing that which was most precious to him, Lucrecia. After all, Cloud had been the same himself for a time.

"What about the rest of us?" Cid piped up. He had the ability to be a leader himself, whether he'd appreciated it or not, and it was no surprise that he was interested in the plan.

"You stay here with Yuffie and Barret," Cloud stated. "Be ready, we don't know what's down there. We might need to fly out of here like a bat out of hell, or we might need back up. Either way, make sure you're equipped. As for the other two..." Cloud knew that telling Vegeta what to do was the wrong move right then. Another of the contributing factors to his victory was that he had had his Limit Break. Well, that was used up now and it would take a while to rebuild it. "Let them do what they want."

The look Cloud gave Piccolo clearly transmitted an unspoken message, 'I'm counting on you to see that Vegeta stays out of trouble.'

"So how are we getting down there?" Nanaki asked. "The parachutes might not be a great idea, not with all those trees to get caught in."

"Simple," Vincent stated flatly, walking towards the door. "Or have you already forgotten my curse?"

That was right. They could use Vincent's Chaos form to fly down to the surface. "Are you offering?" Nanaki questioned as he followed Vincent out the door and to the deck of the Highwind.

Vincent didn't reply, but simply let himself transform once outside. It felt good. That was a sad statement considering the unnatural circumstances upon which the curse had been inflicted, but holding back his Limit Break for so many years had begun to wear on the man. The black claws and great webbed wings that sprouted from his back were comforting, and the powerful feel of his form was, for a short while, a blessing. "Are we going?" He asked, his inhuman voice sounding vile in his ears and bringing his momentary pleasure to an end.

Not waiting any longer, Nanaki and Cloud rushed to the edge of the deck and let Vincent pick them up in his reptilian embrace. Surprisingly enough, those wicked claws could be harmless when meant to be. Although brutal in battle, they left not a scratch on his passengers.

Cloud debated whether or not to close his eyes as they started to descend. He was suddenly reminded by his stomach of his motion sickness at the sight of the broad forest racing toward him. Thankfully, the wind rushed in his face with such a force that he could barely breath, much less anything more violent, like toss his cookies. In moments, it was over, and his feet met the spongy ground.

No time was wasted. Red XIII immediately began to sniff the air with his keen nose and Vincent, likewise, flew among the higher branches of the trees, searching with his eyes.

Cloud couldn't help but pause for a moment to admire his friends. Nanaki's powerful muscles twitched beneath his thick fur as he carefully tested the air for scents, his flowing mane rippling in the light breeze that survived among the trees. Those great paws and slender legs as well as the bright flame that lit the end of his tail made the canine a sight to behold. Vincent was no less. Even among the thick foliage above, Vincent's black form managed to find enough room to use its graceful wings. The beauty of that deadly, almost dragon-like form held Cloud's attention. Thick muscles stretched over his shoulders, chest, and back pumped mechanically to flap those crimson wings. Usually, Vincent could only use his Limit Break in a battle, and then it was gone immediately afterwards, but, this was nice. Cloud decided not to waste time thinking about the 'whys' involved. He'd just settle for the fact that these two were literally one of a kind and that that was definitely a sad thing. Cloud couldn't help but stand and watch his friends in amazement. It had been so long since he'd seen them. Sure, he'd seen them when they met to start their journey, and had been together ever since, but he hadn't been on the field with them, hadn't been able to appreciate the power and beauty they both possessed.

"I've got something!" Nanaki shouted, as he bounded over a giant root in one effortless leap and disappeared deeper into the forest after an unseen trail.

Thankful for his SOLDIER fitness as he ran through the thick forest to join Vincent, who had already converged on Nanaki's position, Cloud looked at what lay ahead. There was a path leading down into the darkness. It looked recently opened too, as there was little vegetation deeper, only the wicked looking torn metal that had once been a part of the great city of Midgar. "Did they go down, Red?"

Nanaki inclined his thick muzzle. "Most definitely. But, Cloud," he paused, "I can smell something else coming from down there too."

"Like what?" Vincent asked. He was much more vocal now that he was involved in something serious. He couldn't afford his normal indifference at the moment.

"Like Jenova."

"Then we better hurry," Cloud decided. "You're all equipped well right?"

After two confident nods, the party of three began making their way down into the blackness of the ominous tunnel.

Note: Jenova? If she's down there, then what's happening with Gohan?? OOOOOOHH! I wanna find out!!!!! ......wait a minute, I'M the one who's writing this.... Well, then that means I've got another part to whip up doesn't it! We'll see how fast I can go! (hope my quality isn't going to crap with this speed increase.....)