(Next chapter is here! It's time to pick up where we left off for Yugi and co. Mewlon and I don't own Yugioh or Final Fantasy 7.)
CHAPTER 2
Everyone in Sector 1 certainly had their attention grab when their Mako reactor blew sky high, as a cloud of smoke and fire erupted from the top as if the reactor was a volcano.
Meanwhile, down below the reactor, the members of Avalanche were right in front of yet another electronic gate that was in their way. Miho was busy setting a bomb to blow the gate up, while the others were conversing amongst themselves.
Rex sighed with relief at their escape and deed. "That should keep the planet going…at least a little longer."
"Yeah..." That was all Weevil had to say.
"…" Joey was silent, but in his mind, he spoke. 'We did it… But how many innocent people suffered? How many people that weren't part of Kaiba Corporation?'
Miho finished setting the bomb, and she stood up. "OK! The bomb's about to go! Stand back!"
On the outside of the gate, there was a small explosion as fire belched out from the ruined gate. Yugi jumped out first, followed by Joey. Rex and Miho ran out of the gate themselves, and lastly was Weevil, whose pants had caught on fire, and he was running around the area trying to put them out. When Weevil finally had his flaming slacks problem under control, he joined with the others as Joey spoke.
"Alright now, let's scram from dis place. Split up guys! We rendez-vous at Sector 8!" Joey said to his teammate, before they all scattered. But just as Joey himself was about to leave, Yugi stopped him.
"Joey, wait a second!"
Joey sighed. "If it's about your money, save it until we're back at the hideout, then we'll talk." He then ran up the stairs, and disappeared.
Yugi sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to believe him." He proceeded to run up those same stairs and into the alleyways.
Outside of the alleyway in Sector 8, near the movie theatre, the flower girl was standing around, watching all of the people run in a frantic frenzy. She was knocked down by one and she fell to the ground. "Ow!" She landed smack down on her rear. She sat up rubbing her bruised derriere, when she saw a spiky haired swordsman walk run out. Her cheeks turned a soft pink as she gazed at him. 'Wow… He's so handsome… He looks, so much like… Him…'
Yugi stepped out of the alleyway and into Sector 8. He noticed the local movie theatre, showing the movie "Loveless," or had been showing, since it had been destroyed thanks to Avalanche's handiwork.
"Excuse me…" A sweet heavenly voice spoke out
Yugi turned to the voice, only to see a pretty, shoulder length brunette haired girl, with sapphire eyes, wearing a flowing button up pink dress, which was unbuttoned up to mid thigh, showing her long slender legs. He blushed slightly. 'Wow, she's pretty…'
"Did something happen?" The girl asked looking at him curiously.
Yugi didn't want to draw too much attention to Avalanche's "handiwork." "Nothing… Hey listen…" He noticed her basket of freshly cut, beautiful flowers. "Don't see many flowers around here…" He said as he admired them.
"Oh, you like them?" The girl asked with a beautiful smile. "They're only 1 gil each."
Yugi blushed again, at her sweet smile. "I'll buy one."
"Oh thank you!" The flower girl gushed. She reached into her basket and pulled out a single red rose. "Here you go." She said smiling like an angel.
Yugi took the flower graciously. "It's beautiful… But not as beautiful as you." He said with a sly smile.
The girl blushed heavily and giggled. "Oh aren't you the charmer…"
"Do you buy any chance live around here?" Yugi asked.
The girl shook her head. "Oh no. I live in the Sector 5 slums. My house is…let's just say it stands out in the slums…"
"I'll remember that…" Yugi said.
"OH!" The flower girl checked her watch. "It's getting late. I'd better go. It was nice talking to you!" She turned around and ran off.
Yugi watched her retreating from for a while, just gazing at the "flower angel." Then he realized. "Damnit… I should've asked for her name… Oh well… At least I know where she lives…" He turned and began to walk in the direction of the Sector 8 station. As he passed through the plaza, he could see a few more people running around, along with some exclamations of, "What the hell's going on?" He even noticed a man looking at some graffiti on the wall. Yugi looked up at the graffiti and noticed Avalanche's name. "Boy, they're really trying to get their message across…" He said to himself as he approached another alleyway. As he crossed through, and was nearing a bridge, he was interrupted by some unwanted guests…
"Hey you!" Two Kaiba Corp. soldiers suddenly stepped out.
"Kaiba Corp. soldiers… There are only two of them… I'll fight them!" Turning around, he drew his sword.
Onesoldier came at him with a combat knife, narrowly missing Yugi, but managing to graze his shoulder.
"Agh!" Yugi cursed, before slashing at the soldier's chest, killing him. He held his sword out in front to block the gunfire of the other soldier, before charging at him, and running him through. Blood was splattered against the wall and the soldier fell, dead.
"There he is! Over there!" More voices began to shout.
"Hmmf." Yugi said, and decided to run for it. He turned a corner, only to see two more soldiers coming his way. "Great… They got reinforcements." He darted off in the opposite direction only to have 3 more soldiers block his path. Now he was surrounded and back up to the bridge.
"That's as far as you go!" The lead soldier said.
Yugi could hear a train coming from below to the bridge, hearing the grinding of the wheels on the steel rails and saw his chance of escape. "Unfortunately… I don't have the time to deal with you guys." He said with a smirk.
"Enough talking! Grab him!" The soldier shouted, but before the other soldiers could act, Yugi jumped on the edge of the bridge, and before the soldiers could reach him in time, Yugi jumped off, landing on top of a moving train, the same one that Joey and the others were taking. He just kneeled down on the roof of one car, and let the train roll on, through the tunnels.
Meanwhile, inside that same car, Avalanche was resting inside, pondering.
Rex looked a bit concerned. "Yugi never came…"
"Yugi… Wonder if he was killed?" Weevil asked going pale.
"No way!" Joey protested angrily. 'I don't think he'd die that easily.'
"Yugi…" Miho sighed. 'Why didn't you come? I didn't get the chance to thank you properly…'
PATAPATAPATAPATA!
Everyone heard a banging on the roof for a moment, but ignored it.
Rex was still thinking when he had a thought. "Say… Do you think Yugi will…fight to the end for Avalanche!"
Joey turned on him with a furious look. "How da hell would I know! Damn it, if ya'll weren't such screw ups…" And he turned away in an angry huff.
Weevil spoke up. "Hey Joey! What about our money?" He asked
Joey slammed his fist against the crate he was next to and glared murderously at Weevil. "What did you just say?"
Weevil went pale again and looked down. "Nothing, sorry…" He said timidly.
"Ahhhh…" A voice sighed, followed by a knocking sound on the door. The knock followed 4 more times, before the door swung open, and Yugi flew in.
"Yugi!"
"Yugi!"
"Yugi…"
Rex, Weevil, and Miho all exclaimed at the sudden appearance of their friend, while Joey nearly jumped out of his skin.
Yugi had a face of sheepish look. "Looks like I'm a little late."
"You're damn right yer late! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene…" Joey grumbled.
Yugi shrugged. "No big deal, it's just what I always do."
Joey's eye twitched angrily. "Shit! Havin' everyone worried like that you don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!" He scolded Yugi.
Yugi's eyebrow rose up mock quizzically. "Hmm? You were worried about me!" He gave goofy smile.
"WHAT!" Joey froze realizing what he just said. His eye began to twitch again. "I'm takin' it outta your money hot stuff!" He screamed at Yugi
Yugi winced. 'Damn… Pay cut…' He thought miserably.
Joey turned to everyone. "Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!" He walked out of the box car into the passenger car ahead.
One by one, everyone else congratulated Yugi
"Hey, Yugi! You were great back there!" Weevil said slapping Yugi on the back, before following Joey.
"Heh heh... Yugi! We'll do even better next time." Rex said giving Yugi a light noogie before following Weevil.
Miho walked over and shut the card door that Yugi left open. "Be careful I'll shut this." She said as she shut the door, and then turned to Yugi, noticing his face. "Oh, Yugi! Your face is pitch-black..." She took out a handkerchief and washed the dirt and ash from Yugi's face. "There you go! Say, thanks for helping me back there at the Reactor!" She said winking at him before heading into the passenger car ahead.
"You're…welcome…" Cloud trailed off. He walked towards the passenger car too.
In the next car, the conductor was just making an announcement to the passengers over the speaker. "Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23AM, Midgar Standard Time..."
Joey burst into the car, scaring everyone away into the next car, to get away from the blonde gunner.
A man in a fancy red suit cursed to himself as he left. "This is why I hate the last train…hoo boy."
Joey sat himself down on one of the seats and kicked his feet up, while Rex, Weevil, and Miho ran to the front of the car, keeping a watch and checking things out.
Yugi came in last. He noticed that Joey was relaxing and didn't look like he wanted to be bothered. 'I better let him have his way.' He thought as he walked to the front. He noticed Miho looking at a control panel on the wall, and grew curious. He walked up to her to see what she was looking at.
"Hey, Yugi." Miho said cheerily. "You want to look at this with me? It's a map of the Midgar Railing System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you. I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and monitors... you know the flashy stuff? Okay, it's about to start." The computer turned on showing a green polygon model of Midgar. "This is a complete model of city of Midgar. It's about 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section..." Miho leaned over and whispered to Yugi. "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." She then pulled away, speaking in a normal voice. "Then there's No. 2, No. 3 all the way up to the No. 8 Reactor. The 8 Reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is. Phew..., this is next! Look." The Polygon model of Midgar zoomed in on their train's current location, and the route of the train they were on suddenly lit up on the screen. "This is the route this train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central data bank at Kaiba Corporation Headquarters." She leaned over and whispered to Yugi again. "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious so we're using fake ID's."
Suddenly the entire area was filled with infrared light followed by a high pitched scanning sound.
"Speak of the devil... That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area." Miho told Yugi, before whispering to him again. "When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out." She once again resumed her normal voice. "...Anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief." She turned off the computer.
Yugi nodded. "Thanks for the lesson, teacher." He said jokingly, making Miho giggle. He then turned around and sat down on the seat next to Joey, who tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed to the top outside, showing the upper surface plate of Midgar.
"Look... you can see the surface now. This city doesn't have a day or night. If that plate wasn't there, then we could see the sky." Joey explained
Yugi looked up at the plate above with wonder. "A floating city... That's pretty unsettling scenery."
Joey cast a surprised look at Yugi. "Huh? Never expect ta hear that outta someone like you. ...your jus' full of surprise. The upper world... a city on a plate... It's 'cuz of that goddamn pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the Reactor keeps drainin' up all the energy."
Yugi had a quizzical look on his face. "So why don't they move onto the plate?"
Joey shook his head sadly. "I dunno. Maybe it's because they're too poor… Or maybe…" He looked out the window. "The love their land no matter HOW polluted it gets…"
Yugi sighed sadly, understanding what Joey was saying, as he too looked out the window. "I know... no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."
The train continued to roll on the tracks, as it completely left Sector 8, and was heading towards Sector 7…
TO BE CONTINUED
(Milleniumon: Well, thus ends another chapter of our story. We'd like to thank the reviewers for their kind words so far.Mewlon: Stay tuned for the next installment! Both: wave Ja-nee!)