Start Date: November 7, 2022
Windwillow
Final Fantasy VII
AVALANCHE's stop in Cosmo Canyon turned out to be more important than any of them had expected. Despite a few kinks, they learned the truth about the Planet's peril - what the threat was, and what needed to be done. But could anything be done? For a small insurgent organization to topple the world's most powerful corporation was one thing, but there were global implications that went beyond destroying Shinra. Even if they obliterated the company, the reactors had still sucked irretrievable treasures from the world that could never be recovered. As Bugenhagen said, the time for hope may have long since passed. As they sat around a bonfire in the center of Cosmo Canyon, every member of the party had their own thoughts to combat and their own demons to address. Red XIII's father was his demon, and he accused him of abandoning his mother and all of the village years ago. Bugenhagen has seen that the time he'd foreseen had come, and so recruited Cloud and Aerith to guide Red XIII deep into the Canyon to find the truth about his father, truths that he'd waited decades to unveil to his grandson.
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Truths Sealed Beneath Cosmo Canyon
Scene One
That night around Cosmo Canyon's bonfire, everyone took a long, hard look at their journeys and what culminated in Bugenhagen's revelations. Barret sought to discard his blind hate, Tifa fought her doubts, and Aerith pondered her very destiny. Cait Sith and Yuffie, too, reconsidered their view points and tried to make sense of what they'd discovered through their adventures. Cait Sith's true identity, dedicated to ferreting out AVALANCHE, now began to doubt his values; and Yuffie's single minded devotion to gathering materia began to come into question. Not that she didn't intend to pilfer as much as she could, of course. But for once, the idea of fighting for something other than her own goals began to shake her resolve for power. Red XIII, however, had a very personal stake in his relationship with his father Seto. He believed him to be a gutless coward that abandoned himself and his mother to flee the invading Gi Tribe that attacked Cosmo Canyon. Now realizing that the time had come for him to fulfill his promise had arrived, Bugenhagen guided Red XIII, Cloud, and Aerith to the sealed door located deep within Cosmo Canyon.
"In some ways I expected this to happen earlier, in others not for quite some time..." sighed Bugenhagen, floating up to the sealed door. Staring at it with clear discomfort, he seemed to be searching the door for the answers to his own doubts. "But it's time to keep my promise to both of them, so... It is what it is..." he said quietly, pulling a lever and pressing several buttons on a control panel. With a whirr and a clank the door slid open, revealing a long, dark path deep inside. "Cloud, Ms. Aerith... Nanaki... Please follow me..."
The path forward into the dark chamber was long, consisting of several winding corridors with twists and turns. There were several ladders and various platforms that led deeper inside the cave, but after a few ladders Red XIII complained that he wasn't suited to climbing ladders. So, with a cheerful look on his face, Bugenhagen pulled a lever and the entire platform they were on began to plummet down into the abyss. At the very bottom, the platform ground to a halt in a green, moss filled chamber.
"Grandpa! What the devil are you doing?!" Red XIII hissed as he bared his fangs at his grandfather. The journey down had taken nearly twenty seconds, much shorter than the years he'd had ripped off of his lifespan from the perilous journey downwards. As he fought to catch his breath, Red XIII finally surrendered and crumpled down into a limp heap on the floor. "Oh, God! My heart's going to explode..." he moaned feebly, his head drooping.
"That makes two of us... God almighty!" moaned Cloud as he finally touched down on solid ground after a perilous voyage. He nearly fell face first into the soil, only barely managing to stay on his knees as the platform suddenly stopped. "If I'm not mistaken, you are trying to kill us!" he hissed. "I'm sorry to yell, but God damn it, you scared the crap out of us!"
"That was as close to death as I ever want to get..." Aerith groaned as she fell to her knees, sweating profusely. Clutching her heart in an attempt to restart it, she took in several breaths in an attempt to make sure she still could breathe.
"Ho ho hooo! Wasn't it invigorating?" asked Bugenhagen with a laugh. Though he received three glares that could kill a man half his age, he shrugged it off and floated on his orb down into a moss covered chamber with a road leading deeper into the abyss. "Well, regardless, we have a long way to go yet..." he sighed as he folded his arms over his chest and pouted. "Cloud, Ms. Aerith, Nanaki... Allow me to guide you through the Cave of the Gi."
"You are out of your mind, old man..." heaved Cloud, holding his chest in an attempt to restart his heart. He could feel his pulse quicken, his gasps deepen, and his stomach felt like it was going to revolt against the rest of his body. "Next time you feel like doing that," he groaned with a sigh as he staggered to his feet and fiercely glared at Bugenhagen, "don't."
What awaited beyond the chamber they'd been dropped into was a huge, cavernous structure that was covered in green amber. Multiple stalactites and stalagmites jutted from the floor and the ceiling, often at wild angles that made little common sense. As Cloud inspected the strange amber, he saw that it was actually partially organic - like it was alive somehow. He was severely unsettled by the place, something he might compare to a geologist's nightmare made manifest.
"Yeah, this place is freaking me the hell out... What in the world kind of cave are we in?!" Cloud muttered to himself, eyeing the seemingly living amber and the moss coated stalagmites that surrounded the area. As he turned to Bugenhagen, who continued to float along on his orb, Cloud slowly became more and more angry that he'd been told nothing of anything that was happening here. "Alright, old man, enough is enough!" he snapped at Bugenhagen. "How far underground are we? What kind of place is this?! I want answers!"
"Answers, answers... You young folk are quite impatient, eh?" chuckled Bugenhagen, finally floating to a stop in front of a large, dark cavern. Even Aerith was quickly losing patience with the old man, and Red XIII seemed ready to pop as well. With a shrug, Bugenhagen thrust his thumb behind his shoulder at the darkened abyss behind him. "Worry about answers after you deal with them!" he said cheerfully.
"You, what... wait... what?!" Cloud snarled, his fists balling in anger. Trying to unravel the old man's riddles had finally pushed him over the edge. "What do you mean, them?! Who's them?! Who are you babbling about?!" he growled testily. "You crazy old son of a... Holy crap!" snapped Cloud, drawing his sword as a group of armed ghouls flooded into the cavern, aiming their spears at Bugenhagen.
Okay, there will be repercussions from this, old man! I swear you will pay...
Scene Two
Bugenhagen's field trip deep below Cosmo Canyon had started bad, continued poorly, and as the party's frustration finally boiled over a group of armed ghouls entered the chamber they were in, aiming to attack Bugenhagen. They were a bizarre mix of a tribal warriors and hideous mutants at the same time, covered with the feathers and skins of unholy creatures that wielded long spears. Strangely enough, they almost looked like you could see through them. As Aerith snapped her staff open and Cloud lifted the Buster Sword, the both of them charged past Bugenhagen and clashed with the strange spirits. The enemies proved to be capable spear-wielders, their lances matching Cloud and Aerith's weapons easily. In fact, too easily, as within moments they'd disarmed the pair and now held them at the tips of their spears. With his friends held captive, Red XIII's eyes furiously began to shimmer and his body quaked as he gathered his energy to retaliate.
"I'd advise against that, Nanaki..." said Bugenhagen, folding his arms over his chest with a sigh. Seeing his grandson's bewilderment, the Elder lifted his hand and held up two fingers. "First off, they're immune to Fire elemental materia. They'll just absorb it, and it'll make them grow bigger and stronger." He folded one of his fingers and held the second up as if to lecture. "Second, don't use Earth elemental magic down here, either. Starting a cave-in only means we'll die from that instead of them."
"Oh, so you knew all that and still dropped us down here?!" Aerith snapped angrily. Held at the point of one of the ghoul's spear, she contemplated her options. If fire was out, that left ice and lightning. Problem being, she couldn't muster her magic in time to avoid the spears. "Well, what do we do?!" she growled. "I'd kind of like to know before I get a spear in my gut!"
"The solution is simple, actually. Use the materia around your neck and you'll be able to defeat the Gi Specters..." Bugenhagen explained, again lifting a finger and once again angering the three party members, but also bewildering Red XIII. As his grandson stared at him in amazement, Bugenhagen gripped his palms together and seemed to pray. "Form materia alters the material form of another elemental materia into an entirely new state!" he said cheerfully. "Imagine you're using your Fire materia, but mix it with your Earth magic and think about it like you're firing explosive stars! I advise breathing on the ones closest to your friends..."
It's in your blood, Nanaki. I know you can do it!
Though quaking with fury, Red XIII closed his eyes and pictured his fireballs as tiny comets, chunks of space rock burning with cosmic energy. As he opened his mouth a brilliant blue light shined and as Red XIII breathed a series of blue sparks shot from his mouth. The sparks brightened into larger, deep blue spheres that struck the ghouls and incinerated them, much to Red XIII's amazement. With the realization that they were in danger now apparent, the ghouls left Cloud and Aerith unguarded and lunged at Red XIII. This was their fatal mistake; within seconds the pair had snatched up their weapons and swung them, killing the ghouls instantly. In the aftermath, the two humans dusted themselves off and shot another mean look at Bugenhagen. Cloud's patience had seemed to be tested a bit too far, and he simmered as Bugenhagen tended to Red XIII.
I don't know how, but I swear, you... Oh, screw it. I guess I can't bring myself to hurt an old man...
"I... you... what... what?! What the devil did I just do?!" screeched Red XIII, spitting up tiny sparks that danced at Cloud's boots. After his friend indignantly stomped the fire out and glared at him, Red XIII again turned his attention to Bugenhagen. "Grandpa... You knew I could do that?! You knew about the Limited Moon?!" he gasped. With his shock turning to a dim anger, Red XIII bared his fangs at his grandfather. "I don't want to be cross with you, but... I want answers, Grandpa..."
"Ah, so you call yours a Limited Moon? Quite catchy. Put simply, using Materia Fusion you mixed your Fire and Gaea materia into a new state using your Form materia..." explained Bugenhagen as he lifted his finger. "Then you transmuted your magic with Materia Evolution and created that effect. Also possible are pillars, beams, bursts of energy, and other things much more complex than simple balls of fire!" he chuckled. "Quite elementary, really... Form materia by definition evolves one kind of magic into another!"
"I... I did what now?! Materia Fusion?! That nearly blew Cloud's arm off!" Red XIII yelled in shock. "And Evolution on top of it?! This is too much for me to understand, Grandpa!" he protested. "So, if I... gather correctly... This is some sort of transformation mixed with magic?! What the... But, wait! The... The..." Pausing, he tilted his head and finally dropped it in resignation. "Okay, I have no idea now... You lost me, Grandpa..." he moaned.
"Materia Evolution, you mean? Consider it a form of alchemy, made possible by splicing materia with spiritual energy to create a new, unique energy!" explained Bugenhagen. "And it's actually something I've managed to reverse engineer. This orb, you see, transmutes oxygen into energy that allows me to float!" he said cheerfully as he patted the vehicle he rode on. "It operates under the same principle as the Spiral Spheres - by taking memories and making them physical, the Spheres transmute energy into another form! Except in my case, I exchange the molecules that don't float into those that do!"
"Uh... Step back a couple dozen paces, Bugenhagen!" Cloud groaned. "So that's Materia Evolution, and you figured out how to do it? Well, good for you!" he snapped. "I want to know more about Materia Fusion and how he did it so easily when it nearly took my arm off!"
"No, I think I understand... Materia Fusion, I mean. It's not only mixing elements, but also exchanging them into something other than the sum of their parts?" wondered Aerith. She put a hand to her chin and pondered for a bit. "So, you take the actual state of the element and mix it together, then transform it into a third element? It's kind of like a chemical process or something... If it's like alchemy, then is it possible for me to mix it too?" she asked calmly, irking Cloud.
"I doubt that, Aerith... It nearly killed me when I did it!" moaned Cloud. "We're both human, right? So that means you should get the same effect that I did!" he growled. "And I don't want you to ever go through that!"
"Oh, right... She's Cetra, actually, not human!" tittered Bugenhagen. "Cetra have an innate connection to the Planet, and given that magic is created by the Planet," he explained cheerfully, "She should be able not only to achieve Materia Fusion, but do it much better than either of us could! In fact, I'd wager she can use two elements..." sighed the Elder. "I'm quite jealous, really."
Scene Three
In the battle against the specters of the Gi tribe, Red XIII's Form materia was revealed to use both Materia Fusion and another ability Bugenhagen called "Materia Evolution." Red XIII's Limited Moon seemingly was based on Bugenhagen's own technology, and was supposedly a medium to create alchemical effects. On top of all that...
"Wait, wait. Wait! Wait..." Cloud stammered, a deep fury filling him as he listened to Bugenhagen. "What do you mean she can use Materia Fusion? So, she's an Ancient, and that means she can perform it better than I could... uh..." After thinking for a moment, he sighed and hung his head. "Ugh... Guess she couldn't do any worse than me... And what do you mean by two elements?" wondered Cloud.
"Simple logic will reveal the answer! See, if she takes Cold materia's ice and melts it with Fire's heat, she can manifest and control water!" concluded Bugenhagen with satisfaction. "Next, by mixing Cold and Bolt materia, she can create a... well... hmm..." He paused, putting a hand to his chin. "God only knows what it would actually be called. My theory is a nuclear reaction that mixes electromagnetism with cold air, creating a powerful... Hmm... Maybe call it a Bolt Beam?" wondered Bugenhagen. "Well, whatever it is, I wouldn't want to be on the other end of it..."
"O-Okay, then..." Cloud started distantly, his eyes weighted with his confusion. "Well, this kind of sucks!" snapped Cloud as he folded his arms with a huff. The thought that his friend could be that much better with magic, logical as it was, still stung a bit. He'd managed it before, right? "So... If she can do it, if I use Materia Evolution, I can-" Pausing, Cloud sighed and hung his head. "What the bloody hell is Materia Evolution, then?!" he moaned. "You lost me a while back..."
"The Gi Tribe were a species of humanoid mutants that had evolved into an unholy state of being, an abomination of nature... Those are what you fought!" explained Bugenhagen. As Cloud fumed that he hadn't been answered, Bugenhagen continued by lifting his finger in front of him. "Except what those were had to be ghosts!" he concluded. Finally turning to Cloud, Bugenhagen tilted his head in confusion, further irking the warrior. "Try and use Materia Fusion untrained and you'll be reduced to the most miniscule of molecules, son... And Materia Evolution requires more than just determination! It takes practice... and a lot of it! Well, there is a way you could practice, but..."
"All that's well and good, Grandpa, but I have to ask... You're talking about the Gi Tribe, right? The ones who attacked us decades ago?" asked Red XIII pensively. "Those are the demons that attacked when my father ran away... right?" he pondered. "Why are we here, if we're just going to stir up a nest of ghouls?!" When Bugenhagen turned and exited the chamber, Red XIII's confusion only worsened. "Wait, Grandpa!" called Red XIII as he followed after him. "There's more to the story?" he wondered frantically. "I need you to tell me, Grandpa!"
After receiving no reply from Bugenhagen, the rest of the party also followed after him. What awaited them stunned them cold: a massive underground labyrinth, rimmed with pools of magma and high cliffs that would be nearly impossible to scale. At the very least, Red XIII could never climb them even if he had hands. But as everyone stared in wonder at the area they'd entered, Bugenhagen cheerfully floated onward.
"This place is deep below Cosmo Canyon, far underground, and the only place where the Gi could try and attack us from without us knowing!" said Bugenhagen as he held a finger to his face. "Like I said, the enemies you fought earlier were ghosts... Vengeful spirits so full of hate and pain that they refused to rejoin the Lifestream, and now exist in a sort of quasi reality that is a realm far worse than mere death... There are things in this world much more terrifying than being caught in the grip of the reaper..."
"This place is just as evil looking as Hell, yeah..." Cloud muttered absently. No matter where he looked, however, he couldn't see a way forward. Everything he saw was magma and solid rock. "What a hell hole, and I mean that literally... But that's one thing..." he sighed, folding his arms over his chest. "There's no way we can advance! Unless Red XIII uses his Gaea materia to lift us up..."
"Ah, but therein lies the rub, if you recall!" Bugenhagen sighed. Gesturing to the massive cliffs that stood before them, he pointed up to the top with a grim expression. "If Nanaki tries to create a platform using earth magic, he'll just cause the whole place to fall in on us!" he chuckled. "And given that progressing when we're flat as pancakes is impossible, there's only one way... And that involves you, Ms. Aerith. It's time for you to practice Materia Fusion!"
"Who, me?! You think I can get us up there?!" yelped Aerith. Putting her hands up in self defense, she slowly stepped back from Bugenhagen. "I don't see how using Materia Fusion would get us up to the top of the cliff!" she gasped, putting her hands on her hips with a huff. "Are you kidding with us, again?" she wondered. "Or... hmm..."
"Take a little ice and mix it with hot air until it melts..." began Bugenhagen, gesturing with his hands to create a spherical shape. "Press your hands to the ground, expel the water, and create a lifting platform that will carry us to the top of the cliff!" he said cheerfully. Though Aerith seemed reluctant, Bugenhagen sighed and glumly pointed at the cliff. "Using Materia Fusion to melt ice will take less of a toll than trying to mix hot and cold air. Just use your imagination, Ms. Aerith! You've got magic in your blood. I trust you can deduce the formula?"
As she thought more, a wide smile crossed Aerith's face and she nodded, beckoning the others to the bottom of the cliff. When everyone had gathered at the cliff's lowest point, she steadily built up her mana inside her entire body, focusing on taking the ice from her Cold materia and steadily melting it inside her mind with her Fire materia's heat. Once she thought she was ready, Aerith clapped her hands in front of her and they began to glow bright blue. Then she separated her hands and slammed them into the ground, releasing a shock wave of frigid light that covered the entire ground beneath them with a series of blue runes. Much to the shock of her friends a small cushion of pressure began to form beneath their feet, and as she clapped her hands together again a torrent of water launched them up the cliff and up to the top, where they landed - miraculously - wholly intact and uninjured.
"Phew! That really did take a toll on my mana... But it's actually not that hard!" Aerith tittered, examining her still glowing hands and the cool sensation that coated them. True to what Bugenhagen had said she was tired, but still had a good amount of energy left. "You see, if I tried to make a pillar of ice, it'd melt because of the magma's heat!" she explained cheerfully, lifting a finger to her face. "But if I mixed it with Fire magic and melted it, then pushed us up with water... It worked!"
"Oh, the hell it worked! Ouch!" shrieked Red XIII, who frantically danced around the top of the cliff and nearly toppled over it. As Red XIII scrambled to his feet, he bared his fangs at Aerith and snarled at her. "Yeah, the water lifted us! Good for you two! But it's bloody hot! I don't have shoes like you guys! So just tell me, why did I have to go through that?!" he growled testily. Turning his eyes to his grandfather, who floated effortlessly above the ground, Red XIII again bared his fangs, but quickly relented, bowed his head, and began to whimper.
Please tell me you didn't know that would happen, Grandpa... Please?
Scene Four
Luckily for Cloud and Aerith they made it out of the water spout unscathed, but received vicious glares from their friend as the party continued on through the caves. Bugenhagen's happy go lucky attitude had started to grate on all of them, though. They seemed to be in a fight for their lives, and the Elder seemed to be having the time of his. Regardless, the next area they entered was a chamber with multiple paths that were all coated in the same green amber as they'd found all throughout the cavern. No matter which of the three paths they saw, however, none of them had anything more than a single, narrow corridor to pass through.
"Okay, so we have three roads and all of them have this weird... green crap on them..." Cloud sighed, tilting his head as he tried wracking his brains for the answer. The same green amber lined the paths to all three roads, so it seemed any of the three were good guesses. "Should we pick one at random, you think?" he wondered. "They all look like they're the same, so..."
"Oh, heavens no! I can one hundred percent say that every one of them leads to certain death!" chirped Bugenhagen, to the confusion of the three youths. With a sigh, he lifted his finger and three tiny pebbles popped into his hand. "It's a defense mechanism we installed about a century and a half ago to deter invaders!" he said cheerfully. "Allow me to demonstrate!"
Bugenhagen took all three pebbles and flicked them into the passages that all three paths led to, and suddenly a huge column of poisoned spikes impaled the pebbles and left a huge garden of spears that slowly receded back into the ground. What remained of the pebbles dropped harmlessly to the ground, crumbled, and vanished from sight.
"Y-You're out of your mind, old man!" growled Cloud as he frantically stomped his foot on the floor in outrage. "How the heck are we supposed to get through there?!" he snapped angrily, folding his arms over his chest. "Unless there's a secret passage you haven't told us about? And it seems to me like you keep a lot of stuff to yourself..."
"Secret passage? Nope, no such thing. Stepping on that green amber will slide you straight to your deaths!" Bugenhagen explained cheerfully, holding up his finger to his face in a way that continued to stoke Cloud's migraine. Seeing Cloud's frustration, Bugenhagen sighed and turned to Aerith once more. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Since we have to pass," he said flatly, "let's have Ms. Aerith deal with the spikes with her other Materia Fusion element. I'll throw some more pebbles and then she'll take care of things... Take cold air and charge it with electromagnetism, then... well... I trust you can deduce what I'm saying, yes?"
"Uh... um... Uh... You do realize that I know what that'll do, right? And if I'm right..." stammered Aerith. As Cloud and Red XIII continued to puzzle over what she meant, when Bugenhagen picked up another three pebbles, Aerith sighed and lifted her hands with her fingers pointing towards the spiked path, two index fingers straight and the pinky finger of her right hand pointed at the traps. "Alright, whatever!" she muttered. "Cloud, Red XIII, I would advise that you keep behind me. This is... uh... this is probably going to be pretty loud..."
Though suspicious, Cloud and Red XIII took her advice and moved behind Aerith. When Bugenhagen tossed the three new pebbles, they flew towards the passages and, as expected, the three beds of thorns popped straight up from the ground. What wasn't expected was the light that formed on Aerith's fingers, blue orbs surrounded by gold rings that began to shimmer on her fingertips. After a brief period of a very unnerving calm, three rays of blue light surrounded by swirls of golden energy shot forward from her fingertips. They quickly multiplied in size to man-sized proportions that struck the spikes, blasted them from existence, and also demolished the walls that the passages were on, causing a concentrated explosion that left only the three paths and their amber floors remaining.
"Boy, oh, boy... Whoo!" Aerith gasped, clutching her chest with both hands. As she continued trying to catch her breath, she slowly managed to stagger back into a standing position. "That took most of my mana..." she groaned as she dusted off her dress. "I hope you guys don't need any more backup..."
"H-Holy crap... What the hell?! What the bloody hell was that?!" exclaimed Cloud, still off balance from the blast. As he gathered himself again, he stared at the empty ground before him and observed the aftermath. There was little but chaos remaining, just three empty paths devoid of any other devastation, minus the green amber. "Um... Can't argue with results..." he groaned, shrugging his shoulders. "Guess we ought to keep going, then?"
"Stop! Don't step on the amber!" Bugenhagen exclaimed as Cloud approached the green amber, and quickly enough that he didn't stop until his foot scraped it. Cloud promptly slipped and fell hard on his back, but he quickly skittered back into a sitting position. "Oh, poo... Too late..." sighed Bugenhagen. "What I was about to say is that you have to destroy that with fire before moving over it..." A heavily annoyed Cloud slammed his hand on the amber and shattered it in a fiery explosion, leaving Bugenhagen to float over it towards the new exit (Cloud was less than pleased that he was able to do so). "Anyway! As you can see," Bugenhagen said cheerfully, "the path here is difficult. We're almost to the back of Cosmo Canyon, and while we faced a horde of enemies, this was the only way to reach us. So long as the bottleneck was sufficiently protected, we were in no danger from the Gi..."
While Cloud and Aerith continued to follow Bugenhagen, Red XIII loitered behind for a short period before following. While he still had no clue why his grandfather had brought him here, the continued dialogue of the war with the Gi had forced him to consider possibilities that he'd never had before.
No... I have to be wrong, right? My father was a coward... Right...?
Scene Five
As Red XIII's doubts continued to build, the party passed through a number of other magma chambers, where they fought off sporadic attacks from the Gi ghouls and other mutants that had spawned in the abyss of the cavern. Some of them actually resembled the beasts back at Shinra HQ, possibly indicating that Hojo had somehow found samples elsewhere that the Gi also used to create additional fighting forces. None of them lasted long against Red XIII's newly discovered Form materia and a few attacks from Cloud and Aerith, but both of their mana reserves continued to deplete through the stream of battles that followed. The next chamber was a titanic magma chamber, with large, steep cliffs and numerous Gi skeletons that had seemingly been left to rot. What was much more interesting were the countless, gigantic spider webs that seemed to cover the avenues of travel to their left and right, leaving only a single route available through the center. But there was a big problem: there was no way to progress without cutting through the giant spider's web.
"My, oh, my... Well, this is just perfect!" huffed Bugenhagen, folding his arms over his chest. Unknown to the others, he'd seen the guardians of these nets and had no desire to mess around with the creators of the webs. Turning to Cloud with a cheerful grin, he clapped his hands together and bowed politely. "There is a way for you to use Materia Fusion more safely... Materia Infusion!" he said proudly. "Another method to use Materia Fusion is to infuse it into another medium, such as your sword. Consider it a style of the Materia Evolution you've been asking about. While it takes a toll, it likely won't make you go boom..."
"Oh, so it's only likely to end badly instead of a certain catastrophe? Great. Thanks for the encouragement..." Cloud groaned glumly. On one hand he wanted to improve another step and become more powerful, strong enough to protect his friends. On the other hand, trying to use Materia Fusion again was something he didn't want to toy with, and the web didn't look very strong otherwise. It was almost like he was being insulted, that he couldn't cut webbing. "I can cut through that web just fine on my own..." he growled, drawing the Buster Sword and walking steadily towards the web. "One slash and it's gone, right?"
"I once again strongly advise you to listen to me, Cloud! If you don't completely eradicate the web and what made it, you'll bring hell down on yourself!" Bugenhagen said forcefully as Cloud continued walking towards the web. Seeing no response from the swordsman, he started to shake and balled his fist. "If you take it slow, I can teach you how to use Materia Infusion! If you cut through that web and try to use it untrained, and don't finish the job, you're going to catch hell!" he shouted.
"I don't need anything special to cut through a spider's web!" snarled Cloud as he hoisted his sword to his shoulder and sent a nasty look back at Bugenhagen. Despite seeing the old man's increasing tension, Cloud regardless turned to the web and lifted the Buster Sword. "What kind of spider can't I handle?" he growled, irking Bugenhagen further. "I mean, how big can a spider be, huh?" Cloud lifted his sword high in both hands and stood in front of the spider's web. Much to Bugenhagen's anger he gripped it hard and slashed down with a mighty swing that cut the web in half. As the web's strands began to dangle uselessly, Cloud turned back to Bugenhagen with a cocky grin on his face. "See?" laughed Cloud. "I don't see any big ass spider monster coming to get-"
From the other side of the rock, a shrill cry pierced the party's ears and Cloud released an undignified shriek. The source of it quickly became clear, an ungodly large spider that skittered down from the ceiling. It was a green, long legged monstrosity, one that dwarfed the four of them combined. Though he was intimidated, Cloud still thought he could take it on, and so he lunged forward to strike. The Stinger lifted one of its large, gangly legs and swung it down at Cloud, but Bugenhagen forcefully yanked him by the back of the neck from the impact site. And it was a good thing he had, because a monstrous crater cracked the earth so strongly that the entire chamber quaked and kicked dirt into Cloud's eyes. Though he brushed it aside, he could tell he'd made a very big mistake.
"S-Son of a bitch! It's freaking huge!" Cloud shrieked, stepping back as the Stinger continued to advance. The sheer size of its legs unnerved him just as much as the fangs it had on its main body, which were surely venomous. As it began to skitter closer, he made a quick value judgment: he'd rather ache than get devoured. "So, I charge it into the Buster Sword and then swing, r-right?!" he yelled at Bugenhagen desperately. Receiving no reply, he gulped and held the Buster Sword flat in front of him. "Damn it!" he screamed frantically. "You know, you really piss me off!" As he took in a deep breath, he narrowed his eyes back at Bugenhagen before returning his attention to the Stinger.
Note to self... Next time, listen to the old wise dude when he tells you not to pick a fight...
Cloud closed his eyes briefly and remembered back at the Gongaga reactor when he'd unknowingly used Materia Fusion. Back then he'd focused Fire magic and Bolt magic into different hands, put them together, and slung it at the Heavy Tank, so he tried to pulse both elements into the blade at the same time. As he ran his left hand over the Buster Sword, it became coated in a brilliant, multicolored light that he was desperately hoping was what he needed. He turned back to the oncoming Stinger, took his sword in both hands, and slashed down with all the power in his body. From the tip of the blade throughout its cutting edge a thin streak of light shimmered on the Buster Sword, causing its weight to increase slightly, presumably from the potent energy being invoked. The edge of the Buster Sword cut a paper thin line through the Stinger, a slight break in its body emerging from top to bottom. When the blade struck the ground itself, the sword's edge exploded into a maelstrom of electrified flame that cracked the ground, exploded upwards, and incinerated the Stinger until there was nothing left of it. The remainder of the web also vanished in the fire, and Cloud dropped his weapon and fell roughly and unceremoniously to his seat.
"Oh, my God! Cloud! Are you okay?!" shrieked Aerith, running towards her friend as he began to slowly convulse on the ground. Before she could reach him, however, his body emitted a large amount of smoke, like an exploding steam valve. When the thick steam cleared and a heavy blast echoed, Aerith found Cloud sitting squarely on his seat, examining the Buster Sword with a very tired expression. As Aerith's advance tapered off, she stared down at him and tilted her head. "Uh... Well, you didn't explode this time, so that's a plus, right?" she muttered.
"Reckless! Absolutely reckless! You would have blown yourself to pieces if you hadn't had your last experience and learned how to focus the energy!" Bugenhagen scolded. As he floated towards Cloud, he hopped off his orb and patted him on the shoulder. "Materia Infusion needs to be done carefully. When we're out of danger, I'll show you how to do it... But for now, you're out of action for the time being!" he muttered as he crawled back onto his orb. "Next time, wait for me to show you how to do something that could cause your body to blow up..."
"To answer your first question, Aerith, I'm still more or less intact..." Cloud groaned, laying his sword on the ground and gripping his shoulders. As he shivered, he attempted to shake off the heat pulsing throughout his whole body. While it hadn't burned as much as it had last time, using Materia Infusion had drained him of almost all of his mana. "To answer your second question, I... really am out of the fight... Dammit!" he sighed as he punched the ground. "I can still use my sword well enough to fight, and if I take a break I'll be able to do it pretty well, but I ain't got enough mana left to light a cigarette..."
"Well, son of a bitch... We are in trouble..." moaned Aerith as she set about to mending Cloud's wounds. Once she was finished, she staggered to her feet and lifted her palms together. As Aerith expected, she was barely able to form another of the lightning orbs she'd made before, and it quickly fizzled. Scowling, she clapped her hands together and folded her arms with a huff. "You can count on me using Materia Fusion out again, too... Not only that, but normal magic, too..." she sighed as she hung her head. "I hope we're almost there, 'cause Red XIII's the only one of us left that can really put up a fight..."
Scene Six
True to their words, Cloud and Aerith were essentially drained. Neither of them had enough mana left to cast anything else; their usage of Materia Fusion had sapped their mana into the red zone. So, while they could still use their weapons, if anything big like the Stinger attacked again, Red XIII was literally their only hope. Thankfully, as they continued through the cave the party didn't encounter anything major. Even a single ghoul could have spelled the end for them. The next chamber they reached was a large, magma-rimmed cavern with a series of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. There were no enemies in sight, no traps nor tricks, only a large, gnarled wall in the back that seemed to block their progress. No doors, no windows, nothing. Even so Bugenhagen seemed unusually calm, as seemed to be his trademark, and he floated slightly ahead of the others and turned to greet them with his arms outstretched.
"We're almost at the end of our journey into the depths of Cosmo Canyon..." sighed Bugenhagen, seemingly as drained as the others. "This is the final gate that the Gi Tribe reached. They never touched Cosmo Canyon or anyone inside!" he said proudly. "And all of this was made possible by a single, brave warrior! Were it not for this warrior, our village would have been overrun in the span of a single night!"
"You've been telling that story the whole time, Grandpa..." Red XIII said quietly, pensively. "But there's no way it's anything but a fairy tale!" he hissed. Gathering himself, he managed to narrow his eyes at Bugenhagen with some degree of determination. "Mother told me, as did you! He left mother and I! He left us all to die!"
"Um... Guys? I don't know what Bugenhagen and Red XIII are arguing about..." Aerith said quietly, eyeing the back of the cave. There was something that was wrong with the wall. "But I kind of... don't like the evil face on that tree..." she moaned, causing Bugenhagen's eyes to snap open suddenly in shock.
"Oh, God... That one didn't pass on, either..." Bugenhagen whispered as he stopped still, as if he'd been shocked by lightning. He slowly turned to the back of the chamber, where a strange liquid began to form around the wall. It rippled, made the ground tremble, and coated the wall with a horrifically sinister face that was twisted into a sneer. "Draw your weapons!" he gasped, floating back behind Cloud and cowering. "That's no tree! It's a demon!"
The wall quaked briefly, an amorphous mass slowly rippling across it until finally a titanic ghoul broke it open and shattered the ground and wall into a crater. It was a much larger ghoul than the Gi specters they'd fought before, dressed and armed in the same way but wearing a skull lined crown and a leering mouth from which a blackened tongue hung from like a huge sheet. Lifting its bony, unarmed hand it created two tiny embers between its fingers that flickered between black and red. Soon, the embers grew into two Gi specters that charged towards Bugenhagen, flaming ghouls without spears but wreathed in flame. They made it as far as Red XIII before Cloud and Aerith clashed with them using their weapons and pushed them back, but they were unable to halt their advance and started to lose ground.
"God, almighty! These things are like I'm fighting a damn forest fire!" growled Cloud, pushing back into the specter with both hands and bracing himself with both legs. The ghoul disengaged, and upon becoming a large mass of fire it lunged back at Cloud. The Buster Sword was able to match the flaming mass but was unable to cut it, and Aerith was achieving much the same thing with her enemy. Neither of them could push through. "Aerith and I have our hands busy!" he snarled, slashing at the flaming lantern and pushing it back. "You're gonna have to deal with the big ugly one alone, Red!"
While Cloud and Aerith engaged the smaller ghouls, the greatest one remained floating in the air, indeed ugly and certainly malicious. The Gi Nattak's eyes began to shine and ignited into black flame, and it stabbed its spear at Bugenhagen. Before the weapon could connect, Red XIII charged forward and clashed with it using his fangs and claws. Using all his strength, the crimson beast was able to hurl the spear backward, staggering the large ghoul. Turning to Bugenhagen for help, Red XIII found an uncomfortable calm on the old man's face.
"Nanaki... You've reached the end of this journey, my dear boy!" Bugenhagen said cryptically, filling Red XIII with dread. While his grandchild was still uncertain of what was happening, Bugenhagen put his hands together and bowed to him as if he were praying. "Your Limited Moon's Form materia will put down the beast..." he sighed, turning to face the Gi Nattak with his arms outstretched. "Focus all your energy together in one single point and try to remember the first time your mother said that your father ran away... Then take all that rage and release it at that thing! Allow that memory to burn..."
"Grandpa, what the devil is going on?! What do you mean?!" snarled Red XIII, dashing towards Bugenhagen with all the strength in his limbs. Whatever he meant, Red XIII closed his eyes and turned his memories to that moment, the instant the hatred for his father had been lit. He could feel his entire body pulse with heat, a ripple forming around his eyes as if he were crying, but with no tears. "Whatever you mean, get out of the way!" he yelled, opening his mouth wide and baring his fangs. "It's going to kill you!" shouted Red XIII as he desperately charged towards Bugenhagen, who continued to quietly meditate.
To Red XIII's horror, the Gi Nattak continued to approach Bugenhagen with its spear outstretched, and the only action the old man took was to calmly close his eyes. For a moment every emotion in his body seemed to halt, and Red XIII suddenly skidded to a halt, his body and eyes bursting into an explosion of orange flame. While Bugenhagen continued to take no defensive action, Red XIII's memories and emotions shattered, his body quivered, and he vaulted over his grandfather with his mouth wide open. From between his fangs an orb of white-hot flames began to form, and as he breathed out a huge column of reddish-orange fire burst from the still growing orb that soared towards the Gi Nattak. The column collided with the ghoul and utterly incinerated it, the light that struck shattering the demon into pixels that ignited with blue flame and fell to the ground in tiny embers. An eerie silence filled the chamber, as the tiny charred bits of demon fell harmlessly to the floor, soon joined by Red XIII. From behind him his two friends, who had managed to dispatch the flaming ghouls with what strength they had left, walked wordlessly towards Bugenhagen and his grandchild, who now slid to a stop and turned to Bugenhagen, desperate for an answer. Receiving a thin smile, he tilted his head, confused.
"Your memories have awakened... Call it a Cosmo Memory..." murmured Bugenhagen as he put his hands together and bowed to Red XIII. Raising his head, he revealed that his eyes were filled to the brim with tears. While Red XIII could only stand voiceless, Bugenhagen lifted his finger to his face and sighed deeply. "Now, he's ready for you, Nanaki..." he whispered as he turned towards the torn open cavern wall and pointed towards its exit. "It's disclosure time... When I at last fulfill my promise..."
Scene Seven
Bugenhagen slowly floated forward, leading the others through one final chamber until they reached a wide open span of canyon that was covered in the Gi's long-rotten corpses strewn all around the area. It was clear that they'd been ripped apart, some by fangs and others missing large portions of their bodies as if they'd been blasted open by some unknown force. The party continued through the forest of bodies until they finally reached the moonlit figure that stood high above them: a petrified beast, skewered with spears, one that very much resembled Red XIII and whose scars told the tale of a vicious battle. Red XIII's entire body froze, then quickly began to tremble as he stared up at the creature. Bugenhagen quietly dismissed Aerith and Cloud, who quickly left the area, and approached Red XIII with a strange sort of satisfaction on his face. Unsatisfied with his grandfather's company Red XIII vaulted from platform to platform, desperate for a closer look, and as he reached his final destination, he felt his heart begin to quake.
"Behold, Nanaki, the person whom you've hated your entire life, the great warrior Seto!" exclaimed Bugenhagen proudly as he floated forward and turned to face Red XIII with a grim smile on his face. "There was once a warrior who left to fight the Gi Tribe alone, leaving behind his family and sacrificing his honor to protect those he held dear!" he said softly, floating up to Red XIII and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Your father, Seto, was the hero who saved Cosmo Canyon all those years ago... Even pierced by their poisonous lances, he continued to fight the enemy until they all had been felled. And even in death, petrified by vile poison, he exudes an aura that wards off any who would harm us!"
"Y-You... are you lying?! No..." Red XIII gasped desperately, finally calming down and sitting down beside his grandfather. "I see the truth with my own eyes... Somehow, for some reason, all the hatred that I've fostered has been revealed as a giant lie..." he breathed quietly. When a strange decoration came into view, his eyes widened even further. It was a strange, golden necklace that looked quite familiar. "That... on his neck! That's-"
"What you call a Limited Moon, he called the Undying Sun, yes... A similar tool that also utilizes a Form materia!" Bugenhagen said quietly. He pointed to the still shimmering golden necklace and watched as the moonlight reflected off of it and into Red XIII's eye. "What you did before?" he asked Red XIII, who whirled back around to greet his smile. "That same power was called upon by Seto, used to obliterate the Gi Tribe and keep them from entering Cosmo Canyon! Still, even in victory, the Gi's poison turned him to stone, and here he stands, proudly, at the site of his final fight!"
"You... You can't be serious!" breathed Red XIII, staring at his father's petrified body with eyes that were unable to turn away. "My mother told me he ran away... You told me he ran away! And all this time, he's been here, protecting us all?!" he snarled, turning to Bugenhagen as his rage faded away, the gentleness in his grandfather's eyes turning his anger to sheer amazement. "But mother said... that he... And you said that he..."
"Your father, Seto, and your mother, Kisara, swore me to secrecy, and ordered that I seal the cave behind Seto..." sighed Bugenhagen. "They didn't want you to know the truth, because your father asked me to shame him so that you could forgive his departure as cowardice... So you had a reason to explain his absence..." he spoke. With a deep sigh, Bugenhagen stared at the ground, as if seeking a respite from his pain from the earth beneath him. "But your anger transcended what he and Kisara had expected, and you became a gnarled husk of hatred that shamed your father and his memory. Before Kisara died, she told me to show him to you when you could understand that sacrifice... And no sooner. She wanted you to see the truth when you'd matured enough to learn from it."
Red XIII had no words to speak. From his days as a pup, his mother had told him that lie, and his grandfather had nurtured it as if he were tossing kindling on a growing fire. For decades, Nanaki had believed that his father deserted him and his mother had perpetuated the lie until her dying breath. Now, seeing the petrified corpse of the one who'd sired him, defending his home even though he was long dead, Red XIII began to tremble with an intensity so great that it would have shattered him had he been made of glass.
Father... All this time... You...
"Nanaki... I have a request for you. Please, continue with Cloud and his friends, will you?" asked Bugenhagen, startling Red XIII. Bugenhagen shook his head and bowed his hands in prayer, as if begging Red XIII to heed his request. "They say they want to save the Planet. It's my unshakeable belief that that's an impossibility..." he said quietly. Placing his hand to his chin, the old man shut his eyes in contemplation. "Even if they stopped every reactor in the world and kept Sephiroth from doing whatever he plans to do, the Planet has lost enough of its blood that its survival is unlikely... Its exsanguination cannot be fixed as there is no blood that can swell its veins. It's gone forever..."
"You speak in nonsense and riddles, Grandpa..." started Red XIII softly. "If you truly believe there's no hope, then why do you continue your research?" he asked. "If there isn't any chance of saving the Planet, why should I continue a fight that can't be won?" wondered Red XIII. "I don't want to fight a battle that can't be won... Isn't it hopeless?"
"That's precisely my point, Nanaki: I've given up hope, but they haven't!" said Bugenhagen. "I've not delved into the mathematic formula for the time table of the Planet's collapse - I haven't the heart to learn of when and how the world ends - but however miniscule a chance to save it is, the fact is that the chance is still there!" he declared. "I started wondering what we could do for the Planet, we humans... I'll turn a hundred and thirty this year, and my body is withered by age, so I can do nothing... But you can, Nanaki. Consider this my dying wish: If there's even a sliver of hope, I want you to take hold of it and make it shine as bright as the stars in the heavens!" he said as he threw his arms into the air.
"Don't speak like that, Grandpa! I won't allow you to speak as if you're already dead!" snarled Red XIII. As he bowed his head, he shook away the tears in his eyes and turned to Bugenhagen. "It isn't just for your sake, either. I've seen the resolve in these people that shines as bright as the stars you speak of!" he said proudly. "By the honor of the Warrior Seto, I, Nanaki, shall become a Warrior as well! If there's any chance of saving the Planet, I will find it!" roared Red XIII resolutely, his doubts dispelled.
While Bugenhagen replied to Red XIII's proud vow with a grandfather's joy, Red XIII felt a strange sensation hit his head. Again and again it struck, and when he lifted his head he found its source: Seto's petrified body shed tears of joy at seeing its son's resolve. As the tears of stone were soon joined by tears of salt, Red XIII began to mournfully howl at the brilliant moon above, and Bugenhagen dimly lowered his head in prayer.
Yes, Seto... I thank you.
Scene Eight
Bugenhagen and Red XIII rejoined Cloud and Aerith shortly thereafter, but said nothing of what they'd discussed. The four of them exited the Cave of the Gi and returned to Cosmo Canyon, where the party's wounds were mended by the village's doctors. Though it took several days, Cloud made a full recovery, and he was trained by Bugenhagen until he was able to perform Materia Infusion, if only sporadically, and in only the most desperate of situations. It still consumed enough mana that he could manage it twice in a day at most. Tifa also restored her strength to its maximum. Her knuckles had finally stopped aching and bleeding, and she also received a new glove for her right hand from Bugenhagen that was reinforced with steel plates strong enough to lessen the damage she would take from using Materia Fusion. Like Cloud, however, she could only manage two strikes a day at most before draining her strength to the breaking point, and even then she'd have to rein in the power to avoid damaging her hand again. Over the next several days, Cloud and Aerith related what they'd learned to the rest of the party. They weren't present for Red XIII's revelation of his father's glorious demise, and so were limited to informing the group about what they'd managed to deduce from what they'd personally observed: Red XIII's father hadn't abandoned the Canyon, and it was perhaps for that reason that no one saw Nanaki for the entirety of their final hours.
"Well, that was quite the experience... And I wasn't there to see it, either!" moaned Tifa, sullen at the thought of Red XIII staying behind. Even so, she felt rejuvenated. "I've taken five showers and a couple of baths, finally washed these sweat soaked clothes... and now, I'm rip roaring ready to go kick some ass!" she said, punctuating her words with a punch. "But... you know... I'm really hoping Red keeps traveling with us..." Tifa sighed sadly.
"Yeah, I want him to keep kicking ass with us, too, dang it!" Yuffie shouted as she balled her fists and stuck out her chest. Bowing her head glumly, she plopped down on her seat and began to pout. "Probably won't, though... Gonna miss that big red lump of love..." she sighed. "Won't be the same without Aerith tormenting him... Took the heat off me..."
"Indeed, I also wish he'd keep traveling with us!" trilled Cait Sith, bouncing side to side on his moogle. As he came to rest flat on his seat, however, a gloomy expression painted his face wide. "But until the buggy's fixed, we can't leave anyway..." he sighed. "So, for now-"
"You're full of it, cat!" shouted Yuffie, taking Cait Sith by the collar and repeatedly shaking him back and forth. While cuckoos danced around the cat's head, she furiously shook him over and over again. "After all that, you're worried about that tiny little piece of scrap?! It's nearly killed me, and I sure as hell don't want to get back in it, but he's our friend!" she snarled. "Get your priorities straight, jerk!"
"Oh, the buggy? The technicians repaired it earlier this morning!" piped up Red XIII cheerfully. While he strode towards his friends, he smiled more warmly than he had in decades. "It's up and running, ready to go any time we want to go!" he said cheerfully.
"Yeah, jerk! What he said! Now get your head out of your butt and..." Yuffie started aimlessly, pausing quickly before hurling Cait Sith back onto his moogle and dashing up to Red XIII with shock on her face. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?! Have you been here the whole time?!" she shrieked. Receiving a nod from Red XIII, she breathed a sigh of relief and plopped back down. "Gawd! You scared the living daylights out of me, man..."
"Yes, the buggy's been repaired. We actually widened the seats a bit and touched up the little sucker, so it should be a bit more comfortable from now on!" said Bugenhagen cheerfully. Having appeared behind Red XIII much to the surprise of the others, he patted his grandson on the head and received a happy purr in response. "Cloud, I just came to wish you luck! And please, take good care of Nanaki for me!"
"It's fixed? And it'll actually be comfortable?! Holy hell, that's awesome!" cheered Yuffie, popping up from where she sat and jumping for joy. Then she paused, turned to Red XIII, and her face went pale. When her eyes turned to Bugenhagen, she nearly jumped out of her skin. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?! Have you been here the whole time, too?!" she screamed. When Bugenhagen nodded, Yuffie dropped flat on her back and screeched. "Gawd! It runs in the family! You jerks are bad for my heart!" she moaned.
"Nanaki told me you're headed to Nibelheim next... Are you sure you'll be alright?" wondered Bugenhagen as he turned to Cloud. "I heard that you have some bad history there, and if I recall correctly the place has been a hot bed of activity for Shinra for decades!" he warned. "There must be other places to search, yes? Do you really want to dive back into the epicenter of your torture five years ago?"
"Oh, that? I'm ninety nine percent certain it's going to be hell..." sighed Cloud, folded his arms over his chest. Still, everything seemed to point towards Nibelheim as the next place in their quest for Sephiroth. "But I'm in charge, and as leader I have to be able to put my own feelings aside for the rest of my friends..." he said softly. With a shrug, he put on a grim smile. "I'm hoping he doesn't come back again, but we'll have to see, right? Not sure if I can put the sucker in the ground a second time, so hopefully we'll just find some clues..."
After a few brief words of parting, Cloud and his party departed from Cosmo Canyon and left Bugenhagen and his doubts behind. Even if there wasn't any hope, like Bugenhagen said, they still had to try. Giving up before even starting the fight would make them more cowardly than Red XIII had wrongly thought that his father was. Still, as he turned to leave Cosmo Canyon, Red XIII was hesitant to continue on. But he still would.
Nanaki the Warrior... I like the sound of that, Father...
Author's Notes
Again, I'm pushing the word "liberties" hard enough that it probably doesn't apply any more... The entire bit with Materia Fusion/Evolution/Infusion is so absurdly far outside FFVII canon that I'm fully prepared to be bitched at about it, but like I've said before, this isn't a straight out transcript, but something I want to put my own stamp on. I want to make something cool and unique. Honestly? I'm hoping that I'm giving you guys enough unique content to make you want to keep coming back. My opinion is, is that if I just retold the dialogue and described the game it'd be hopelessly boring and unoriginal, not to mention against the rules. So, uh... Consider this "novelization" more of a "reimagining" of the source material. At this point even using the word liberties might be insulting to some of you. So let's go with "reimagining" if it keeps you from hating me. I'll go with that from now on instead of liberties, 'kay?
My interpretation of Materia Fusion/Evolution/Infusion takes parts from various bits here and there that I've seen in anime/manga/games across my experiences. Some of it might resemble the whole alchemy thing from Fullmetal Alchemist, others drawn from sources like Bleach, Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, and a number of various games that I've played. As I've said before, a lot of my material is based off of my favorite series of all time, One Piece. Think Haki there, hell, I've even copied it for Tifa...
My previous work on Chrono Trigger also pops up a lot. The idea of using water magic to lift the party up over a cliff comes directly from Marle's ice magic, which she uses in that story to travel using ice as platforms. Having it be hot water was spur of the moment, but I hope it was funny for someone... Red XIII seems to be tormented a lot in this story. At least this time Aerith didn't... well... Okay, so maybe she kind of did it? This time she didn't do it to be mean at least! As for her other Materia Fusion, I called it Bolt Beam to reference the Magitek ability of the same name from FFVI. The whole idea of electromagnetism and cold air mixing was just me BSing. I have no idea if it's even plausible, actually... I never liked Science class, because I'm too dumb for complex theories.
Way back in chapter 30 I mentioned that Red XIII's Form materia was designed to make the Cave of the Gi segment a bit more reasonable. If he started using earthquakes and stuff underground it'd just cause a cave-in, and since the Gi Specters are so strongly tied to fire magic that they shouldn't be too effective, so I decided to make use of his Limit Breaks instead - Stardust Ray, Earth Rave, and Cosmo Memory. From here on out, that's all I've figured out for his new Form materia's effects on his combat abilities. We're in uncharted territory after this. I have zero idea what I'm going to do with it from here on out. But since I never intended for Barret's Gun-arm to change, create Materia Fusion, or create the Form materia in the first place... I'll figure something out that I hope satisfies everyone. Maybe, maybe not. Ugh...
The name of Red XIII's mother, Kisara, is derived from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, where the character Seto - you see the connection - falls in love with a young girl called Kisara, the origin of his obsession with the Blue Eyes White Dragon. I figured it's a pretty name, had an idle thought, and there we go. As for the reason they lied to Red XIII, I made up one: because Seto would be absent from his son's life, he wanted to give him an excuse for why he was gone. The actual game never elaborates as such, so I went with my gut. It's kind of odd that they never explained that part...
Nibelheim... Vincent. And here we come to the tricky parts of the story. I've put a lot of thought into what his combat style ought to be, and after a few days of thinking I came up with something... unique. It references both his actual fighting style and mixes in another staple of the series. You'll see it in action in Chapter 35, and I hope I don't piss you guys off too much when it debuts.
Yuffie's bit at the end was actually my favorite part. I never watched the movie, but didn't Marty McFly use the phrase "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" or something similar? Same thing happened in CT with Dalton, so I sort of went for it. She might be the most entertaining character for me to write... Maybe even more than Tifa and Aerith. Then again, none of them are acting canon at this point so... uh... Yeah. At this point it's a full-on reimagining, so I don't want to insult you with the liberties thing any longer. The wheels have come off the wagon, and everything from here on out is probably going to end up as BS. Possibly. I dunno. Anything could happen at this point...