Chapter 7

Tifa had been really stressed out at work all day. She had a lot on her mind, mainly Cloud, and it was one of those days that the customers were being real jerks. To top it all off the three most annoying customers that Tifa had ever had, LeBlanc, Ormi, and Logos were there.

"Love you're taking much too long with the food I'm simply starving over here" said Leblanc to Tifa as she handed Tifa the menu back.

"What?...You just finished ordering I haven't even given your order to the chef yet…" said Tifa.

"Really then what are you doing standing around? Get back to work" said LeBlanc.

Tifa walked away with the orders and the three jerks laughed.

"I hate when they come here" said Tifa under her breath as she walked back to the pickup window.

"I see those three are back kupo" said Mog

"Yeah, here are their orders. I really want to add extra spit in the ladies order…"

Mog laughed a moogleish laugh. Sort of like a squeak.

A few minutes later Mog finished with their order and Tifa grabbed the tray to take back to their table. Little did she know what the three jerks had planned for her. As she walked by the table Leblanc stuck her foot out and tripped Tifa on purpose. Tifa fell to the ground and wasted all the food on herself and on the floor. Ormi, Logos, and LeBlanc simply laughed.

"Oh my you're a clumsy one aren't you love?" laughed LeBlanc.

"You tripped me on purpose!" yelled Tifa as she stood up.

Tifa was furious and had her hands clenched.

"Don't be mad with me because you're an uncoordinated klutz. Now go and fetch us another order"

Tifa was so mad you could literally fry an egg on her forehead.

"I got your order right here!" yelled Tifa

Tifa picked up a plate of food off the ground and grabbed LeBlanc by her frizzy blonde hair.

"Oww let go of me!" yelled LeBlanc.

Tifa held onto LeBlanc and shoved the plate in her face.

"I hope you enjoy!"

"Tifa you're fired" said a short bald manager as he ran from the back.

"Great! Being fired from here is the best thing that ever happened to me! Now I don't have to come to this stinking place!" yelled Tifa.

Tifa pulled off her apron and threw it at the manager. As she began to storm out of the Junon Diner Mog followed her.

"Hey Tifa wait for me Kupo!" yelled Mog.

Mog had thrown off his chef's hat. The small purple ball that was attached to his antennae bounced around for a bit.

"I quit this place too! Tifa let's go off and start our own place like we've been wanting to for so long!" said Mog.

"Ok Mog" smiled Tifa.

She and Mog left the Junon Diner and they never set foot back in that place again

(Next Scene)

A young girl entered Auron's gym after hours when everyone had left. She was carrying some luggage and she had short dark hair and a headband. As she entered Auron approached her shouldering his large sword.

"You've grown up a lot since I saw you last. I trust the Airship ride was pleasant?" asked Auron.

"Uggh I hated it. I hate riding in things I always get sick" said the girl.

"Ha ha well Yuffie I think you'd better get used to it. Here in Square City you're probably going to have to ride a train or cab or something to get to where you want to go"

"I don't see why my dad had to ship me off here with you old man. I don't need your training!" said Yuffie arrogantly

"Old man? Hmpf. Those are bold words young lady" said Auron.

"I bet I could teach you a thing or two!" yelled Yuffie excitedly.

"Well then let's spar" said Auron.

"Watch out old man you're about to feel the wrath of the great ninja….Yuffie!"

Yuffie pulled off a large shuriken that was strapped to her back and hurled it with great force towards Auron.

"Hmpf" grunted Auron as he deflected the shuriken back at Yuffie with his sword.

The shuriken came back at Yuffie with great speed.

"Whoa!" yelled Yuffie as she dodged her own shuriken.

The shuriken was lodged into the wall.

"That's it old man! I'm gonna teach you a lesson!" said Yuffie as she tried to pull the shuriken out of the wall. It was stuck pretty deep and took a good bit of her strength to get it out.

"Time out it's stuck!" yelled Yuffie.

"Are you going to tell your opponents in a real fight that you need a time out?" asked Auron.

Yuffie finally pulled the shuriken out. When she turned around to face Auron again she saw him running forward to attack. Auron swung his sword horizontally at Yuffie's head. Yuffie ducked under the attack and rolled on the floor to evade. When she got up Auron followed up with a vertical slash that Yuffie sidestepped. Auron struck again with a quick diagonal slash. This time Yuffie tried to block with her large shuriken but the attack was too strong.

"Aaaahh" yelled Yuffie as she was knocked back several feet.

Yuffie skidded across the ground a few feet.

"So when do we get to the part where you teach me a few things?" mocked Auron as he held his large sword on his shoulder.

"Right now!" yelled Yuffie as she jumped up. A yellow materia attached to her weapon began to glow.

"Flamethrower!" yelled Yuffie as she cast the spell.

I long stream of fire shot towards Auron.

"Dragon Fang!" yelled Auron.

Auron stuck his sword into the ground and a large wave of orange energy rushed toward Yuffie. It extinguished the flames and knocked Yuffie back. Yuffie hit the floor really hard.

"Owwww…" said Yuffie as she rubbed her back.

Auron walked up and stood over Yuffie.

"How did you beat me old man? You didn't even use any materia" said Yuffie.

"Materia has its usefulness but raw skill will always overcome it. You should develop your skills and not rely so heavily on materia Yuffie Kisaragi. That is why your father Godo sent you here to train with me." said Auron.

Auron helped Yuffie up.

"Besides, someone has to take over the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods someday" said Auron.

"Yeah yeah" said Yuffie reluctantly.

"Your room is upstairs. You'll be helping me run the gym in the day and I'll train you at night" said Auron.

"(sigh) Ok ok" said Yuffie.

"Also your father told me about your little materia stealing tendencies. Don't even think about pulling that here" said Auron as he walked away.

"It's ok I'll just wait until he isn't looking then I'll nab all the materia nyuk nyuk nyuk" laughed Yuffie.

"You know Yuffie you should really learn to not think out loud. I heard that…." said Auron as he continued to walk away.

"Damn…"

(Next Scene)

"I finally got Vidina to sleep" said Lulu as she walked into the living room.

Wakka was seated on the sofa and Lulu came and sat beside him. Wakka put his arm around her.

"He can be a stubborn one sometimes ya?" said Wakka.

"Hmm…I wonder which one of us he gets that from?" laughed Lulu.

"What you trying to say eh?" laughed Wakka.

The room was nice and quiet. Wakka and Lulu sat there and relaxed for a moment.

"We don't get to do this that much" said Wakka.

"It's good just to do nothing sometimes" said Lulu as she laid her head on Wakka's shoulder.

Wakka pulled her closer to him.

"I know… Lu did you ever think we would get together while growing up on Besaid?" asked Wakka.

"I think deep down I always knew you were the one for me" said Lulu.

"You had a funny way of showing it ha ha. You always were a tough nut to crack ya know?" said Wakka.

Lulu simply smiled at Wakka.

"Yuna seems to be getting closer to Tidus" said Lulu.

"Ya?"

"Yes they went on a date and he went to eat lunch with her, Rikku, and Paine the other day" said Lulu.

"Tidus is a good guy. Good blitzer too. He's going to do well in the game against the Beasts in a few days" said Wakka.

"So since you like him you didn't try to give him a talk about Yuna did you? You didn't go on about how she is like a sister to you did you?" said Lulu.

"ummm…."

"Wakka!"

(Next Scene)

Yuna was finishing up a night class at the Summoner's Academy. Tidus was supposed to be picking her up. Next to her as she walked down the hallway were her classmates Garnet and Eiko. Eiko was the youngest summoner at the academy but she possessed great skill. She was a child still but she acted so mature for her age. A small horn was on her forehead and she ran her fingers through her short purple hair as she walked and talked with Garnet and Yuna.

"Yuna I hope you beat Donna. She is such a nasty person" said Garnet.

"Yeah she doesn't deserve the apprenticeship with high summoner Braska" said Eiko.

"I'm tired of talking and thinking about Donna. She brings such a negative energy to my life. Let's talk about something pleasant. So how have you two been lately? said Yuna

"I've been fine. I'm still working on the play. I hope that goes well and also there's this guy I met..." said Garnet

"Oh spill it!" said Yuna.

"He's really sweet. He is in the play too" said Garnet.

"Is he your leading man?" asked Yuna.

"No I wish he was…" said Garnet.

"Arrgh boys my age are so immature" said Eiko

"Eiko you're still a little bit too young to be dating anyway" said Yuna.

"Am not!" yelled Eiko.

Garnet and Yuna laughed.

As they were about to exit the building a very tall handsome young man with incredibly long arms and large hands entered the building. He wore blue robes and his hair was long and light blue in color.

"That's Seymour Guado!" said Eiko.

"He's the son of the Guado maester in Guadosalom. He's a lot taller and better looking in person than on television" said Garnet

Seymour gracefully walked into the Summoner's Academy. As he passed them he politely introduced himself.

"Hello I am Seymour Guado. It is a pleasure to be in the company of such beautiful young ladies" said Seymour as he bowed to them.

The three women began to blush.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Seymour. I'm Yuna this is Eiko and this is Garnet" Yuna introduced her friends because they both seemed temporarily unable to speak.

"The pleasure is mine Lady Yuna. It is certainly an honor to meet the High Summoners daughter." said Seymour as he slowly grabbed Yuna's hand and softly kissed it.

Yuna blushed as he kissed her hand. He was such a gentleman and so smooth.

"I do hope that fate allows me the chance to meet you again Lady Yuna but I must hurry and pay my respects to the fayth." said Seymour.

Seymour then left them and continued down the hall.

"Wow!" was all that Eiko could say.

"Yuna how did you keep yourself together so well like that?" said Garnet.

Yuna simply laughed and continued out the door.

As they exited Yuna saw Tidus in the distance.

"Hey Yuna!" yelled Tidus.

"Well you two I'll talk to you later" said Yuna.

"Bye" said Garnet.

"Good bye Yuna" said Eiko.

"Hey there!" said Tidus as he walked up and gave Yuna a hug.

"Hello!" smiled Yuna.

"How was class?"

"Not bad at all. Are you ready to blitz in a few days?" asked Yuna.

"Yuna….I'm always ready to blitz!"

(Next Scene)

"Cloud, are you eating right?" asked Cloud's mother.

Cloud was on the telephone with his mother who lived in a small village called Nibelheim.

"Yes mom for the last time I'm eating right. You don't have to worry about me" said Cloud.

"I know you're a big grown up now. I just wish you'd find a nice girl to settle down with and take care of you. You're not seeing Tifa anymore?" asked Cloud's mother.

"Well we were never really… sigh it's kind of complicated mom. We're just friends. I'm seeing a girl named Aeris now. You'd like her mom she is really sweet" said Cloud.

"Oh I like Tifa. She's such a nice girl. She always has been even when she was growing up here in Nibelheim. I remember you had such a crush on her and…"

"Mom! Please…Tifa and I are friends. I'm seeing Aeris now and she is a really nice girl. We're going to the Seed Ball tomorrow night" said Cloud.

"Ohh a ball! That sounds lovely Cloud. Take a picture of yourself and your date all dressed up and send it to me please" said Cloud's mom.

"OK Mom I'll do that" said Cloud.

"How's the training for SOLDIER going?" asked Cloud's mom.

"Very good. I learned some new Limit Breaks at Auron's gym and my materia skills are pretty top notch now" said Cloud.

"Oh all this fighting…I wish you'd take a nice easygoing job. One that's not so dangerous like… like an accountant or something"

"An accountant? Aww mom…" said Cloud.

"Ha Ha I'm only kidding. I'm proud of you no matter what you choose Cloud. I love you and I'll talk to you later" said Cloud's mom.

"I love you too mom. Bye" said Cloud.

"Oh and be sure to tell Tifa I said hello…she's such a nice girl I like her. Remember the time you met her out by the well and…" said Cloud's mom.

"Ok mom bye" interrupted Cloud.

Cloud ended the phone conversation with his mother.

"Tifa…" thought Cloud.

(Next Scene)

"I quit my job today" said Tifa.

Tifa was on the phone with Rude.

"Are you ok?" asked Rude.

"Actually I'm feeling great. I hated that place now I can do what I want to do. Anyway, that's enough about that place. I think you're going to love the dress I'm going to wear" said Tifa

"I think I'm going to love it too" said Rude on the other end.

"What are you going to wear?" asked Tifa.

"How's a black tux sound?" asked Rude.

"It sounds nice. It must be easy being a guy. You don't have to worry so much about what you are going to wear " said Tifa.

"So you have a lot of friends in SeeD? Is that how you got invited to this?" asked Rude.

"Yes, I know quite a few people in SeeD. They invited me and some other non SeeD friends of ours"

"I see" said Rude.

"I can't wait to get my own club. Mog and I are already looking into getting small business loans." said Tifa.

"Really?" asked Rude.

"Yeah, and I've been saving for so long. I'm going to make this dream a reality" said Tifa.

"What are you going to name your club?" asked Rude.

"….I think I'll call it…Tifa's 7th Heaven" said Tifa as she smiled.

"That sounds nice. Listen Tifa I have a few errands to finish up with work umm I'll have to call you back later tonight ok?"

"Ok Rude bye"

Rude hung up his cell phone. He was riding in the passenger side of a black sports car. Driving the car was his friend and fellow Turk, Reno. Reno had fairly long brown hair that he combed straight up, a headband, and a black suit just like Rude had. As Rude hung up his phone Reno began to laugh.

"I can't believe how many dumb broads you got fooled with this nice guy routine of yours Rude" laughed Reno.

"Sometimes I can't believe it myself" said Rude.

"You told her you have a few errands to run? Heh heh you fail to mention espionage and assassination as some of those errands? Hey, what's this Tifa chick look like? Is she a hotty? asked Reno.

"She has a smoking body. After I take her to this SeeD ball I'll be hitting that for sure"

"Ugh SeeDs? I hate those pansies. Anyway if you're seeing this Tifa chick do you mind if I put some moves on Elena? asked Reno.

"Nah I'm not done with Elena yet. She's still a good spare. Anyway you don't want my sloppy seconds" laughed Rude.

"You're greedy Rude. At the rate I been going lately I'd be happy to get some freaky fifths! Anyway let's go snuff out this snitching son of a bitch Corneo!" said Reno.

Reno stopped the car up the street from a motel in the Wall Market area. Well it was really a brothel disguised as a motel called "The Honey Bee Inn". The large bright sign above the entrance had a large Bee on it. Supposedly all the girls there dressed up like little honey bees….

"Let's get over in that alley" said Reno pointing to an alley way that was right next to the motel.

The two Turks got out of the car and made their way to the alleyway. Reno held a small rod in his hand. It was an interesting piece of technology that allowed Reno to execute all sorts of attacks.

"The little pudgy bastard should be out in a minute" said Reno checking his watch.

Sure enough a short, bald, pudgy man wearing a long fur coat left the Honey Bee Inn. He was being escorted to a car by his two bodyguards that wore green suits.

"Those are his bodyguards Scotch and Kotch. It should be easy to just knock them out cold. With names like Scotch and Kotch how tough can they be?" laughed Reno.

"You don't want to take them out too?" asked Rude.

"Not unless it's necessary. We gotta make this as clean as possible. With too many bodies on our hands it'll just get really messy really fast. Just knock em out they'll never know what happened"

"Ok" said Rude as he cracked his knuckles.

Reno and Rude snuck up on Scotch and Kotch as they were walking toward the car. With a thunderous punch Rude struck Scotch in the back of the head knocking him out cold. Reno used his rods ElectroMag attack to stun Kotch.

"What the? Who are you!" yelled Corneo as he turned around.

"Shut up!" said Reno as he used his ElectroMag attack again on Corneo.

Suddenly all Corneo could see was darkness as he was knocked unconscious. When Corneo finally regained consciousness he saw Reno and Rude standing in front of him.

"What the? Where am I? Let me go!" yelled Corneo.

Corneo, Reno and Rude were no longer in Square City. They were several miles outside of Square City in the woods. It was extremely dark outside by now. Corneo was in his underwear tied to the trunk of a large tree. On his wrist was a bangle filled to capacity with a pink colored materia. A strange sticky substance dripped from his body as well.

"Have a nice nap Don Corneo?" asked Reno.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Corneo.

"We're doing this because you're a snitch! We know you been blabbing your mouth about Shinra's latest plans. I take stuff like that personally. You see Shinra writes my paycheck and if some dumb schmuck like you starts messing up things for Shinra then it's like you're messing with my money!

"Yep" said Rude with a sinister grin.

"I didn't talk I swear!" yelled Corneo.

"Rude do it" said Reno.

Rude pulled out a knife.

"Tell us who you snitched to or I'll slice them off" said Rude

"Ahh! Anything but that! Ok I did mention a few things about the Gaia Summit plans to this girl I met! She was a blonde I can't resist a blonde!" said Corneo. He was completely terrified.

"Yeah we know. It was all a test. The person you snitched to was Elena and she works for Shinra. We needed to see if you were trustworthy enough to keep around as a Shinra contact and apparently you're not. You see a pretty face and you blab everything you know. If word got out about the plans for the Gaia Summit it would be the end of Shinra. We can't have snitches like you working for us. Rude I think our work here is done" said Reno.

"Alright then let's go" said Rude

"Wait are you going to just leave me out here?" asked Corneo.

"Nah…you'll have the company of some fiends in a bit. You see that sticky stuff you're covered in is honey and all that materia on your bangle is enemy lure materia. Within the next five minutes you'll be the late night snack for every fiend within a two mile radius" laughed Reno.

Reno and Rude walked away and disappeared into the darkness.

"No wait! Comeback! I'm trustworthy I swear it! Don't leave me!" yelled Corneo.

Soon Corneo could hear the howls of several fiends nearby.

"Oh no…."

(Next Scene)

"Yo Seifer I heard the SeeD's are having their little ball tomorrow ya know?" said

Raijin.

Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin sat on some chairs on the roof of a building. They were hanging out and looking at the city's skyline. It was night and the lights of the city looked like thousands of fireflies congregating in the horizon.

"Yeah I heard. How lame. I'm glad we left the Garden. Those SeeD's are nothing but a bunch of chicken wusses" said Seifer.

"AGREED" said Fujin.

"Yeah" said Raijin.

"Ya know something? I think we should pay our old friends a visit. Give them a nice greeting as they go to their little ball. I especially want to greet my good buddy Squall" said Seifer.

"Heh it can't be a party without us to liven it up ya know?" said Raijin.

"Exactly.." said Seifer.

(Next Scene)

"Wow it's good to have lights! Being able to pay the bill is great" said Vivi as he walked about the apartment.

"…and all we had to do was humiliate ourselves" said Zidane as he watched television on the couch.

"Aww Zidane you aren't still hung up about that are you? It's really not that bad and it beat's being homeless" said Vivi

"…I guess" said Zidane.

"…and anyway you got to meet Garnet" laughed Vivi.

"…yeah" said Zidane.

"Aww Zidane don't try to play it off I know you like her" laughed Vivi.

"She's a really cool girl" said Zidane.

"Yep" said Vivi as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh yeah! A refrigerator with food in it! I love having a job!" yelled Vivi.

(Next Scene)

Quistis sat in her bedroom. She waited patiently for Vincent to show up. Over the past few days Vincent had come nearly every night. They talked about all sorts of things and had become good friends. It seemed Vincent was becoming more and more normal each time he talked with Quistis and he was better able to express different emotions. After a few moments Quistis heard some movement on her fire escape. She ran and opened her window to see Vincent standing there. She let him inside her bedroom.

"Vincent!" said Quistis as she hugged him close.

Vincent hugged her back.

"How are you?" asked Vincent.

"I'm doing fine. I want to show you the dress I'm going to be wearing tomorrow for the ball I've been telling you about" said Quistis.

Quistis shut the window and closed the curtains but little did she know that they were being watched on a rooftop not far away.

"Interesting" said Shadow as he watched Vincent enter Quistis's window.

He stood on the rooftop next to his large black dog interceptor.

"Interceptor…it looks like we've found our bounties weakness…" said Shadow.

(End Chapter 7)

Well this chapter introduced Yuffie, Seymour,Eiko, Reno of the Turks and Don Corneo….although I don't think we will be hearing from the Don anymore. Also Rude's true colors were revealed. Sorry folks but Rude is a bad guy. Also this little job of the Turks is just the start of a big conspiracy that will affect all the characters. Tifa finally quit that lame job and Shadow is formulating a plan. Next chapter will be all about the SeeD ball. Yes it's finally time for it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please check out the next chapter with the SeeD ball. Oh some of you had some pretty good guesses on who Zell's date would be but maybe you should think of some other Square games outside of final fantasy? (hint hint)