(Milleniumon: Ok, NOW the Sector 5 reactor mission shall begin for real. Mewlon: we don't own Final Fantasy 7, OR Yugioh, so on with the story!)
CHAPTER 5
After the ID Security fiasco on the train, Yugi, Mai, and Joey were on the tracks in the tunnel of Sector 5. Despite the minor setback of the IDs, everything else went as planned. Mai looked around through the dark, murky place. A strong and strange smell covered the area and filled in her nostrils. Squinting, she scowled at the smell.
"Good so far everything's going as planned." Joey told Yugi and Mai. "Better not let your guard down till we get to the Sector 5 reactor. Rex, Weevil, and Miho got everything ready for us. So MOVE it. Well, the reactor's just down this tunnel!"
Yugi, Joey and Mai headed north up the tunnel in the direction of the reactor. The dank air was starting to get to Mai as she felt herself get a little woozy. Joey looked around the area and saw a rather huge rat. His eyes opened wide and tried to forget that it's there. Soon, all three members had reached a dead end full of red lasers.
"Those light beams are the Kaiba Corp. security sensors." Yugi explained to his teammates. "We can't go any further."
Damn! There has to be somewhere else we can enter through! Yugi thought as he hissed. Using his grape orbs, he looked around the area for an alternate route. Looking through the corner of his eye, he noticed a hole near the light beam. Walking over to it, he peered down the hole, and noticed how it seemed to lead down to a lower level.
Joey looked at the hole wearily. "That's one damn tiny hole. You're tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No, way!" He shook his head. "Yo, Yugi, what're we gonna do?"
"Well, what else? Go down." Yugi smirked at Joey.
"But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills." Joey protested as his face scrunched up.
Yugi shook his head at Joey's comments. What a wuss…thought the spiky haired youth as he went down into the hole. Joey was a bit uneasy about the entire situation, but Mai was as confident as ever. Slowly, she began to walk down the hole. Having no other choice, Joey followed by, wishing he wasn't in the situation. As they dropped down into the vent, Yugi noticed an ether bottle in front of them. He scooped it up as he went by.
"This'll come in handy." He said as he walked to the ladder at the other end of the vent.
Just when all seemed quiet, a strange noise had distracted the group of three mercenaries. Yugi turned around to meet with a strange creature before him. Its body like features were that of a puffer fish, only this one was colored azure. Placing a hand upon the hilt of his blade, the young swordsman glared at the creature and prepared for battle.
"Blugus!" Yugi shouted to his other two companions. "They just love to inhabit underground area, whether there's cold steel around or not. Watch out for their 'Hell Bubbles' attack, it'll really put you asleep, literally."
"I'll keep my eyes open, so you just watch your own back!" Mai called out as she took up her fighter's stance.
Yugi turned back to the enemies just in time to see a Blugu dive bomb at him. He ducked it and struck it with his sword, damaging the creature on to it's side. Yet the blow did not kill it. Blood had splattered on to the floor and dripped from Yugi's sword. Yugi rushed the fish beast again, as it began to spray a stream of bubbles at him. Yugi dodged the bubble and swung his sword at the Blugu's side, slashing it again, drawing more blood, before giving a final cut, cleaving it in two pieces.
"They just have 'iron hides.'" Yugi grumbled, commenting on the tough, thick hides that Blugu's usually had.
Meanwhile, Mai rushed to fight another Blugu. The blonde vixen swung her fists at it, beating the fish like flyer twice in its face, before delivering a roundhouse kick to it. Upon her kick, Mai managed to knock it into the wall, killing it instantly. Unfortunately, another Blugu had snuck up upon Mai from behind, and blew out a stream of bubbles at her, initiating the "Hell Bubbles" attack. Mai suddenly found herself falling into a deep sleep.
"D-damn…." let out Mai as she fell to the ground in a dead faint.
"Mai!" Joey called out in alarm.
The blonde gun man rushed towards the fallen martial artist and aimed his gun arm upon the monster. He opened fire upon the Blugu that put Mai sleep, pumping the creature full of hot lead bullets, before it fell to the ground. He ran over to his girlfriend, kneeling down and holding her.
"Mai, speak to me!" Joey shouted as he shook Mai, trying to wake her up.
He was cut short when he saw two more Blugus swooping down on him. Remembering what Yugi had taught him about Materia, he decided that now would be the best time to use the Materia he equipped. Looking at the small orb, the blond was rather uneasy about using the Materia, since he wasn't familiar with it. Concentrating all of his might, Joey unleashed a spell.
"FIRE!" Luckily he had also equipped the "All" Materia as well, as both Blugus were suddenly engulfed in blazing flames, burning them into black husks, and grumbling onto the ground.
Yugi cast Ice upon another Blugu, which was trying to put him to sleep with its bubble attack. Creating a large ice crystal, Yugi was able to control it to crush onto the monster. The ice smashed right into the beast's neck, killing it instantly. Once the battle was over, the tri-colored hair youth let out a sigh. A loud whimper had disrupted his solitude. Looking over his shoulder, Yugi saw Joey sobbing like a mad man.
"Oh, Mai!" Joey cried as he cradled Mai's limp body. "If only I came here sooner! Gah! I can't believe this!"
"Joey," Yugi responded as his eyes narrowed a bit, "Mai's ok. She's just fallen asleep. A simple strike will wake her!"
"Oh. A strike huh?" Joey got an idea, seeing a few more Blugus floating about. He raised a hand and swung down, slapping Mai right on her round derrière.
"OH!" Mai woke up with a start. Looking around her, the blonde vixen saw the up coming monsters. Her soft grape orbs grow into a dark crimson. "First you fishes put me to sleep, and now you try to cope a feel! I'll fix you!"
Joey smirked. "She's goin' into her limit break…"
Mai rushed at the nearest Blugu, with super human speed. A dark red light surrounded her body as she felt such strong surges flow into her body. I've felt this before. Mai thought as she continued to run. I once had this….urge, when I was much younger. How I release my anger….and my strength increased as if I was a blind animal, rushing towards another.
"BEAT RUSH!" She yelled, landing a series of punches upon the Blugu, crushing it with her fists of steel. "SOMERSAULT!" She turned to the next one, giving it a somersault kick, flipping it up, spinning in a wheel formation right up to the ceiling where it went 'splat!' Before the next Blugu could attack, its second downed companion fell from the ceiling landing on top of it, sending both onto the floor. "WATERKICK!" Mai went down in sweeping spin kick, channeling the power of water into a hard kick/splash, destroying both Blugus.
"That's my girl! No one's allowed to touch her rear, 'cept for me." He said cockily, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing her.
"That's right Joseph…" Mai said with a smile, blushing slightly, now figuring out it was Joey who slapped her rear, to wake her out of the sleeping spell and get into her limit break. She slapped his behind just to give him the hint that she knew.
"Come on." Yugi coaxed as he rolled his eyes at the couple. "Let's move on."
The trio went down out of the vent, climbing down the ladder onto a steel platform. Once the reached there, they ended up finding another ladder, which they climbed down, heading onto the lower level. There they found sets of ladders leading to other vents. But one particular vent near a set of vents seemed to be worth noticing at the far end, for Weevil was there, standing guard. Yugi's party ran over to the ladder as quickly as they could, were Weevil was waiting for them.
Weevil had long since jumped off the train with Miho and Rex, and had already set up is position at this vent. It wasn't too hard for those three to go through security, though they had to pull a couple of arms in order to proceed. The young Weevil had been worried for Yugi, Joey, and Mai's well being, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them coming.
"The reactor's just up the ladder." Spoke the teal haired youth as he pointed in the direction he wanted them to go.
"Awright, you heard da man." Joey told his teammates. "Let's get up there!"
Joey then nodded to Mai as he walked up towards the ladder and climbed it up. Mai, then, followed the leader up the ladder and waited for Yugi to come by. Yugi nodded to Weevil, before going up the ladder himself, into the vent. When Yugi's team entered the vent, they found a despondent Miho on guard outside a fork in the road, or rather, a fork in the vent. Noticing a troubled look on her face, Yugi approached her.
"Miho! Are you okay? What's wrong?" The young swordsman asked.
"I'm sorry guys…" spoke sadly Miho as she wiped away one tear on her face. "The ID checkpoint disaster was my fault. I made Yugi's card extra special, and that's why the ID checkpoint alarm was set off. I put my heart into making it, but I failed…"
Yugi looked at Miho, watching her cry, and couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. He placed a hand upon the back of his head and let out a soft grunt. I'm not good with all these feelings….thought the amethyst eyed boy. But I have to give it a shot. Letting out a soft smile, Yugi placed a hand on her shoulder, to console her.
"Miho, it's ok. You didn't know this would happen. The important thing is, we all made it out in one piece. Right, guys?" He turned to Joey and Mai, who nodded in agreement.
A small smile crept onto Miho's face. "Thanks you guys… I really appreciate it." She pointed over to the straightforward path of the vent. "Take that way to the reactor, and next time, Yugi, I'll give you something better!" She pumped a fist in the air.
Yugi and co. laughed slightly before heading off down the path. As they headed off, Yugi gave Miho one last grin before turning his back completely on her. Miho let out a slight blush. They climbed down another ladder into another platform area, with another ladder leading up, guarded by Rex. They made there way over to where Rex was standing as he greeted them.
"The reactor's just up this ladder." Rex informed the group. "Good luck and we'll meet back at the hideout."
"Thanks Rex, we'll take it from here." Spoke Yugi as he nodded at the young man. "Let's go!"
Yugi climbed up the ladder and into the hole, with his teammates following him behind. When they got out of the hole, they finally found themselves in the No. 5 Reactor. Yugi noticed a long slide leading down.
"If we take this we won't be able to get back up." He informed the other two.
"Who cares?" Joey asked. "We can take the usual way out of the Reactor after we complete the mission."
Mai nodded in agreement. "Joey's right. Let's go down the slide and carry out the mission."
All three of them slid down the long slide, landing right onto the lower part middle section of the reactor. Inside were large cooling pots. The trio walked around the spiraling stairway and headed into the doorway leading into the top part of the core. Using their strength, they climbed down the support beams and stairs leading down until they reached the central core.
Inside were the pools of Mako energy that glowed and bubbled below them, bringing memories of No. 1 Reactor to Yugi and Joey. Both men remembered when they fought the monstrous Guard Scorpion. Shaking their heads, the men continued to walk. Along down the pathway, the three mercenaries had reached the core's control.
Before they could go any further, Yugi's head started to buzz. The force of the migraine or whatever it was that cause his head pain had made him go into shock and collapse to his knees. He found himself in a dream/flashback state, where he found himself near the core entrance of another reactor. There, in the middle of the hallway was Mai who was weeping over her murdered father. Close to her was what appeared to be a bloody long sword.
"Papa... Marik? Marik did this to you didn't he?" Mai cried as she felt her sorrow turn into a mad rage. The grasp she had on her father's hand tightened. "Marik... SOLDIER... Mako Reactors... Kaiba Corp... Everything!" She screamed at the ceiling. "I hate them all!" She then took the long sword and stormed into the reactor.
It was then that everything had gone black. A soft voice was calling out for his name and yet Yugi did not answer. He felt his body somehow go numb. Suddenly a somewhat loud voice echoed in his ears. Opening slowly one eye, Yugi looked right into the faces of a concern Mai and a worried Joey. Yugi slowly sat up while grasping his head.
"Damn man, get a hold of yourself!" Joey chastised him.
"You all right?" Mai asked with concern.
Yugi looked up at Mai with worry. "...Mai."
"Mmm?"
Yugi shook his head. "No... forget... Come on, let's hurry!"
Yugi disregarded that dream and thought only about the mission. As he walked over to the reactor, he knelt down, taking out the bomb and attaching it. Punching in a few buttons, Yugi managed to set the timer for the explosion. The trio made there way out of the reactor core and back into the central area, and began to climb up the spiral stair case, where they passed by the cooler, and head into the elevator.
Yugi punched 'up' on the elevator and waited while the lift rose up to the top floor of the reactor. As they head out into the top floor they noticed a locked electric gate blocking their way, and a room off to their left, leading to three control panels. Mai then remembered something that Miho told her about No. 5 reactor concerning the top floor's gate.
"Miho said that we have to hit all three control pads at the same time for the gate to open." The blonde martial artist said to the other two men.
Mai stood in front of one pad, while Joey took the pad beside her, and Yugi took the one in front of them. They mentally counted to three and all slammed down on the pads, causing the gate to activate. All three ran over to the steel doors and watched as the electronic gate opened up, only to reveal three green pipe robots, three red hound dogs, and a red Kaiba corp. officer.
"Hey you!" The Kaiba Corp. officer shouted. "You have no business here!"
Yugi narrowed his eyes on the green robots.
"Watch out for those green bots." The tri-colored hair soldier yelled out. "Those are Smoggers. Their main ability is to release smog and poison gas at enemies….OH SHIT! HEADS UP!"
"Don't be telling any of the weaknesses of the monsters, you traitor!" The officer shouted.
Yugi grabbed Mai and Joey and dropped both of them and his self to the ground as three waves of gas came at them.
"We should take out those gas bags first, before anything else." Yugi advised as he took out his sword from his back.
Joey stood up pointing his gun-arm at the Smoggers. "Leave it to me!"
He opened fire releasing a spray of bullets upon the Smoggers, causing them to twitch violently and stager backwards. He would have continued if the 'Bloodtaste' guard dog hadn't lunged at him, knocking him over, biting and snapping at his face. Joey did his best to keep the rabid dog away from his face as well as his throat.
Another Bloodtaste ran at Yugi, growling and snapping its blood soaked jaws. The creature lunged at him with quick speed. Yugi however, was faster and swung his great sword at the hound, slicing its blood soaked body in two, splattering red liquid crimson all over. Yugi glared down at the corpse and towards his friends.
Mai dodged to the side as the third Bloodtaste lunged at her, and let it pass right by her, before it landed and made another lunge. Mai gave a quick roundhouse kick, knocking the hound into the one mauling Joey. The mutts then rolled off from the blonde gunman and landed upon the wall. Joey let out a sigh of relieve.
The gunman immediately jumped up and glared at the two snarling dogs. Glowing with green magic light, he focused his magic upon them. Intense flames erupted from the Bloodtastes' bodies, burning them to black charred husks. Joey couldn't celebrate his victory for long as he was suddenly met with a face full of poisonous smoke, which seeped right into his lungs, leaving him coughing and spluttering for air, uncontrollably as he collapsed to the ground.
"Joey!" Mai cried, as she saw a Smogger gas her beloved.
She kicked away the Kaiba Corp. officer she was fighting and ran towards the Smogger. Gathering energy from her Materia, Mai managed to cast a spell. She cast a fire spell right into the Smogger's line of fire, setting its gas stream ablaze engulfing the robot in flames. Mai grabbed her boyfriend, and carried him away before the Smogger blew up. She dove into her pocket and pulled out an antidote. Taking the bottle, she tipped it's clear liquid into Joey's lips.
"Drink this, love; it'll relieve you of the poison." Spoke softly Mai as she hoped that he would.
Joey opened up his lips slightly to let Mai poor the liquid into his mouth, and he let it slide down his throat. His face crinkled at the bitter taste, but he felt the poison in his system slowly dissipating, until he felt his body relax and his lungs clear.
"Ahhhh…" He sighed as he felt the last of the poison disappear.
Meanwhile Yugi used his sword as a shield as he guarded himself against the gas of another Smogger. The beast then leaned itself against Yugi's sword and blew gas onto the swordsman's face. Upon smelling the smog, Yugi's face crinkled with disgust. Dear Lord! What a putrid smell! The swordsman barked as he tried to get himself from fresh air.
"God… You need to see a dentist about that bad breath!" He shouted, holding out a hand that began to glow green. The Smogger's gas ignited, causing the top half of the robot to explode in flames, and it fell to the ground.
After a while, Joey stood up out of Mai's arms. Looking up, a dark shadow came towards the two love birds. A third and final Smogger came towards them with a fierce look. The Smogger was ready to shoot its poisonous gas through its ducts at the fighters.
"Oh no… Not this time!" Joey shouted as he began to glow red with anger as he pointed his gun-arm, charging up a ball of pure energy at the end. "BIG SHOT!" He fired his attack at point blank, shattering the Smogger into smoking fragments.
Yugi meanwhile, was busy dueling with the Kaiba Corp. officer. The officer had smirked at the youth as he mocked his moves. As he dodged the soldier's beam cannon attack, he rushed the soldier with his sword pointing at his chest, only to have the elite jump over Yugi and mule kick him face first into the ground. Yugi tasted cold steel as he hit the floor, and had to quickly roll away to avoid another beam cannon. Yugi jumped to his feet, narrowing his eyes at the soldier.
"Time to say good bye!" Yugi glowed with red energy as he charged his limit break. "CROSS SLASH!"
Yugi rushed the soldier and slashed three times at him, crossing, and slashing in the shape of the kanji symbol for bad luck, paralyzing the soldier, as Yugi delivered the killing blow, leaving the soldier to fall in a pool of his own blood. Panting a bit, Yugi stood on that stance until he was able to regain his composure of his body.
"That takes care of them, let's get outta here!" The swordsman shouted as he ran towards his friends.
Joey and Mai agreed with their smaller companion and followed him close by towards the exit of the reactor. Yugi and company ran through the open gate and ran to the outside of the reactor, where they ran across the railing, leading to the fork in the road. As they stood there, all three began to guess which way to take. It didn't take long for Joey to make up his mind.
"This way!" He called to his friends as he ran towards the left path.
Mai felt a strange and ominous feeling about it. It was rather quiet for a reactor. Her eyes soon caught the figure of what appeared to be a guard. Joey continued to run until his amber eyes met with not so friendly figures. A whole platoon of Kaiba Corp. soldiers had appeared right before the heroes, all grasping their guns.
"Kaiba Corp. soldiers?" He then looked to the right path to see another platoon blocking their way. "SHIT! What the hell's goin' on?"
Yugi had a grim look on his face. "...a trap..."
The trio suddenly heard foot steps coming from the reactor. All three of the mercenaries looked to see a rather large figure approach them. A, rather middle aged man, with gray hair, that was leaving his head, and a gray mustache walked by. His dark red suit seemed untouched by the soil or the dirt of the reactor. His face turned into a menacing smile as he approached the three heroes.
"Presi... President Gozobura Kaiba?" Joey stuttered out in shock.
"Why is the President here?" Mai asked with a quizzical tone.
"Hmm... So you all must be that... ...what was it?" Spoke Gozobura Kaiba as he looked at the group with disdain and unimportance.
"AVALANCHE! And don't ya forget it! And you're President Kaiba, huh?" Joey growled.
Yugi walked a little forward and looked the President in the eye. "Long time no see, President." He spoke with a rather monotone voice.
"...Long time no see?" Replied Gozobura as he raised an eyebrow. He studied Yugi for a moment before giving him a resolved, unimpressed, and disgusted look. "Oh... you. You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you'd been exposed to Mako, from the look in your eyes... Tell me, traitor, what was your name?"
"Yugi." Yugi asked with a growl. This jackass never bothered to remember my name. The youth thought as he glared at the president.
Gozobura shook his head. "Forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each person's name, unless you become another Marik." His eyes darted away for a second with a look of regret. "Yes, Marik... He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant..."
Yugi looked puzzled. "Marik...?"
Joey shook his head angrily. "Don't give a damn 'bout none of that! This place's goin' up with a big BANG soon! Serves ya creeps right!"
"And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you..." Gozobura sneered.
Joey's temper flared. "VERMIN? That's all you can say... VERMIN!" Joey shouted with all of his anger. "You Kaiba Corp. goons are the VERMIN, killing the planet! And that makes you King VERMIN! So shuddup jackass!" He pointed his gun-arm threateningly.
Gozobura just cast a bored look at Joey and mock yawned. "...You are beginning to bore me. I'm a very busy man, so if you'll excuse me... I have a dinner I must attend."
"Dinner? Don't gimme that! I ain't even start wit' you yet!" Shouted Joey as his eyes flashed angrily.
"But I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." Gozobura snapped his fingers, and a loud humming noise came from the left.
"What's that noise?" Mai wondered aloud.
Joey saw a large shape coming at them. "The hell is this?"
The large shape came down on them with a tremendous force of power. Upon the machine landing, the impact of it was great that it almost knocked over the three warriors off from the bridge. Yugi, Mai, and Joey held on to each other and they tried to stand on their feet. A rather loud and evil cackling emerged from the throat of Gozobura.
"Meet 'Airbuster', a techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him." Gozobura explained. "I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."
"Techno-soldier?" Yugi asked.
"Now then, if you'll excuse me." A large helicopter lowered itself beside Gozobura, who proceeded to climb inside.
"Wait, President!" Yugi called out, but Gozobura was already in the Kaiba Corp Helicopter as it flew up and away.
"Yo, Yugi!" Joey snapped Yugi out of his reverie. "We've gotta do somethin' 'bout him!" He pointed at Airbuster who was advancing on him and Mai.
"Help, Yugi!" Mai pleaded as she backed up with Joey from Airbuster. "THIS is from SOLDIER?"
Yugi jumped behind Airbuster. "No way! It's just a machine." He protested, as Airbuster turned around to face Yugi.
"I don't care what it is! I'm gonna bust him up!" Joey yelled pointing his gun-arm at the robot. "Take this!" He fired at Airbuster, pumping the robot's back full of lead. This set the robot off as it turned right around and charged at Joey, swinging a mechanical fist at him. The mechanical fist almost had hit Joey right across his jaw.
"Bolt!" Shouted Yugi.
Yugi glowed with green energy as he concentrated a magic spell. A bolt of lightning shot from the sky, right upon Airbuster, the electricity screwing around its controls, and causing it to lose its turn function. Upon seeing this, Yugi knew that the time to attack was now.
"NOW!" Yugi shouted out. "Attack while it can't turn around!" He quickly jumped to the side, as the robot's rear machine guns fired at him. "Keep using Bolt! It'll short him out!" He began to charge up another spell.
"All right!" Shouted the couple as they both stood there. "BOLT!"
Joey and Mai nodded to each other as they concentrated their magic energy. Three consecutive bolts of electricity shot from the sky and shot straight into Airbuster all at once. Airbuster suddenly began to shake violently and surge with electricity as its programming began to lock up. Yugi used this chance to finish the job.
"BRAVER!" Shouted Yugi as his blade glowed with energy as he dashed forward, leapt into the air, and cleaved his sword right through Airbuster.
Upon the impact of the final blow, the Airbuster began to float into the air. Crackling sounds of electricity began to scowl the ears of the three warriors. As the machine flew into the air, it crashed into the bridge with an explosion. Upon the explosion, the bridge was knocked out and Yugi fell down. Luckily, his hand grasped the edge of the bridge. Due to the weight of his sword, hanging on wasn't easy for a somewhat petite guy like him.
"It's gonna blow! Let's go, Mai!" Joey told Mai as he reminded her of the impending explosion of the reactor.
"Joey! Can't you do something?" Mai asked frantically, talking about Yugi's predicament.
"Not a damn thing." Joey said looking helpless.
Mai hung over calling to Yugi. "Yugi! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!"
"I know, Mai..." Yugi said, looking despondant.
"Hey, you gonna be awright?" Joey asked with concern.
Yugi put on a brave look, showing that he wasn't worried about his predicament. "I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself right now, and get out while you can."
Joey nodded. "Got it. I'm sorry about this whole mess…" He said with a sad look.
Yugi shook his head. "Stop talking like this is the end!"
Joey just nodded. "Alright, then, later."
Finally, the No. 5 Reactor blew up, causing Yugi to lose his grip and fall of the bridge. Mai reached out to Yugi, but Joey pulled her back. Tears began to sting the blonde vixen eyes as she thought she has lost her last childhood friend. Yugi just closed his eyes as he felt the wind on his face, as he fell to his impending death…
(Milleniumon: Cliffhanger time! Is this the end of Yugi? Will our story end in such a manner? Mewlon: Of course not. Don't be an asshole. j/k.)