Start Date: October 9, 2022

Windwillow

Final Fantasy VII

The tragedy of Corel culminated in the battle between two friends, a sorrowful tale that left only one man standing but both of them redeemed. Dyne and Barret, for all their differences, truly were redeemed by their daughter Marlene. One by blood and one by soul, the pristine spirit of a four-year-old girl brought two men back to the light. Unfortunately, only one of them walked out of that scrap heap graveyard alive...

High above the ruins of the doomed Corel, in the lofty heights of the Gold Saucer, Cloud won freedom for himself and his friends thanks to his own skills and in no small part to a very understanding ace jockey. Dio, the owner of the Saucer, has now released them from their captivity and they've returned to the glum streets of North Corel to again resume their journey, along with a clue as to where to go next. As a gift from Dio, they received a new vehicle capable of crossing the merciless desert they'd fought so hard to escape from. It's a pity it wasn't a bit more... well... desirable.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ifrit and Shiva

Scene One

Being released from the desert prison required the party to relocate to an area just outside of North Corel. There, they were deposited in town by way of the Gold Saucer gondola with first class seatings. Well, to be precise they sprayed air freshener inside the gondola so it didn't reek as much as when the group had entered the Gold Saucer. Tifa happily released a nearly catatonic Mr. Coates into Dio's custody and everyone exited the gondola into North Corel to regroup. The ride itself went off without a hitch, but there wasn't much discussion during the trip. Every member of the party had their own feelings to tangle with...

"Sweet freedom!" Yuffie cheered as she hopped from the gondola onto solid ground. As the balls of her feet touched the concrete below she seemed to sizzle with excitement and quickly flashed a peace sign to the perplexed gondola operator. "I am never going back there again!" she yelled proudly. The rest of the party departed the gondola with Tifa being the first, and Yuffie stood stock still as she passed her. "And I swear that I am never going to piss her off again!" she stated flatly. "What she did to that Coates dude has to be a felony somewhere in the world!"

Cloud left the gondola last and passed by a still mortified Yuffie. As he did he considered asking what had happened between Tifa and Coates, but thought better of it and regrouped in the center of North Corel. Whatever had happened, however horrific it must have been, Yuffie would always find a way to anger Tifa whether she declared never to again or not. Aerith led the team out from North Corel to the outskirts of the town, where their new ride had been deposited.

If there had ever been a disco era that swept over the planet, this had to be the end result. It was a large, clunky, red buggy that measured wide and tall enough to carry six people. The outside was decorated with garish stars and planets, and it was a mystery why this machine had ever been approved to drive. When Cloud first laid eyes on it he couldn't help but wonder if it was one of the ugliest things he'd ever seen or just plain ugly.

"O... okay..." Cloud muttered absently as the party gathered around the buggy, surrounding the car and quietly assessing their new form of transportation. He approached the cab and tapped on the window, almost expecting confetti to pop out. When nothing emerged, he replaced his jaw where it was meant to be and turned to Aerith with a look of silent horror. "Why do I get the feeling this belongs to-"

"Yup, Coates..." Aerith chirped, tapping the hood of the buggy. As she did there was a loud clunk that reverberated through the whole vehicle, causing it to shake and rumble. She paused and kicked the bumper, causing it to stop moving. "It was either this or they'd give us an old train car that we could push around. When it comes to motor vehicles, this was pretty much all they had. At first Coates was livid when Dio said we could have it, but then Tifa took him into another room and he... um... gave his us the keys and ran away..." she laughed. "The title and everything like that is in the trunk. We got rid of a few... items... but now it's all ready for us!"

The inside of the buggy was musty and damp, dirty red carpets on the floor and the scent of cheap cologne wafting through the entire vehicle. There were six seats, enough for everyone but Cait Sith and Red XIII to sit in, and though it was a tight fit, if they really put in the effort they could squeeze the cat and Red XIII inside as well. The moogle, on the other hand? Not a chance in hell it would fit inside.

As Cloud stared blankly at the buggy, his eyes slowly turned to Cait Sith. The Cheshire cat atop the massive moogle waved back happily and tipped his crown. "How in the hell," Cloud yelled, "are we supposed to get that gigantic thing inside this car?! The frickin' moogle wouldn't fit if we ripped out the seats and shoved it inside! And you aren't concerned about this?!" he shouted to Aerith as he pointed at the buggy. "In what world is this thing supposed to help us chase Sephiroth?! Does it even move, or does it just go honk-honk?!"

"Oh, right!" Aerith tittered, clapping her hands in front of her face with a bizarre smile that unsettled Cloud. More or less any time she made that smile, mischief occurred. "Do you remember when we talked on the phone back at the Saucer, and I said that Cait Sith had a surprise for us?" She turned to Cait Sith and inched closer to the moogle, almost excitedly. "Show him!" she trilled to Cait Sith. "This is going to be so cool!"

Cait Sith nodded and hopped off his steed, which became inert almost immediately and bowed its head. Though he turned back excitedly to Cloud, perhaps expecting a more enthusiastic reaction, the cat shrugged and pressed a button on the moogle's shoulder. The mutant moogle immediately seized up and began to shake. After a series of contortions and exaggerated movements, the moogle popped out of existence and reformed as a tiny miniature of itself in Cait Sith's gloved hand. Cloud stared blankly at the tiny moogle being held in Cait Sith's paws, blinked his eyes, and bowed his head in frustration.

I honestly don't know how much more I can take on this damn trip...

Scene Two

The buggy Cloud and his friends had received seated six people, three in front and three in the back. There were a few logistical issues, of course. Barret would take up almost two seats, Red XIII would have to curl up on the floor, and Cait Sith would sit on top of Barret. That left enough seats for Tifa and Aerith to sit in reasonable comfort while Cloud drove the vehicle and Yuffie buddied up to Barret. At least, that was the game plan Aerith had devised. Key words: "Aerith" and "plan."

"Oh, hell no! Not in that! I am not getting in that clunker!" Yuffie huffed as she lifted her finger and dramatically pointed at the buggy. She balled her fists and indignantly stuck out her chest with a huff, but as Aerith continued to smile and Cait Sith played with his new toy, Yuffie furiously stomped her foot and continued to fume. "I am far too proud to pile into that piece of junk! And what about the leg room?! It's going to be hell on my knees!" she shrieked. She paused for a moment, turning to Cait Sith with a bizarre grin on her face. "Love the moogle, though. It's pretty cool!" Yuffie swooned, patting Cait Sith on the head with a strange smile on her face, prompting him to blush.

Barret was less than impressed as well. "I'm with Yuffie on this one! This hunk of scrap ain't worth our time, and even if it's free it ain't worth any damn money!" he shouted as he stomped his foot. "And what 'bout me?! The way you guys are talking I'm gonna be a freakin' cargo crate or something! Why does Red have to mess with my feet and why does the cat have to ride me?! And the toy's a piece of crap, too!" yelled Barret.

Though he was no less outraged, Red XIII took a calmer approach to the situation. "Once again I must question why Aerith was allowed to determine the seating arrangements. While I understand the lack of space, why do I have to huddle up on the carpet? It's bloody hideous. I might catch something from it!" Red XIII snarled, indignantly flashing his fangs. "There's no end to what this woman puts me through!"

"Well, first off: we don't have a choice..." Tifa sighed, hands on her hips, inviting a scowl from Yuffie. A follow up glare quickly silenced her. "Second point: I'm not any happier than you guys are that I'm going to cross the desert in this ugly thing. But it is what it is... And so that's the end of the discussion," she said flatly. Inwardly, though, she was also dismayed that Aerith came up with the plan in the first place. The idea of traveling the world in the buggy was almost too much for her to bear, as well, and she quietly sauntered towards a nearby mountainside, having found a prominent chunk of rock jutting from it that would do just perfectly. "That being said..." she growled darkly as she stared menacingly at the rock and an angry glare crossed her face, "I'm going to pretend that this is Coates' face."

Tifa's fingers folded in a fraction of a second this time. Her lithe digits flashed into a fist, covered themselves in an obsidian sheen, and near instantly Tifa's knuckles connected to the large rock next to her. The effect was immediate: what used to be stone exploded into minute shards of shattered rock that created a titanic shock wave that knocked the party off balance, dropped them to the ground, and cracked open the mountainside. While the after shock spewed shrapnel into the mountainside and created a massive crater, somehow Tifa had concentrated it enough that the buggy was unharmed. Her friends narrowly evaded the worst case scenario. Cloud and Barret managed to remain on their feet, Red XIII and Aerith dropped to the ground, and Yuffie was blown clear backwards into North Corel's streets.

In the aftermath the nearby area echoed with a reverberating shock wave that shattered the windows of several buildings back in town and left a dull weight in the air. As her friends recovered from the massive attack, Tifa's fingers loosened into five thin digits and she quietly adjusted her glove back into place. "Okay, now I'm satisfied..." she sighed with relief. Turning back to a still recovering Cloud, she flashed a smile. "You never told us where we were headed, Cloud. Time to discuss our itinerary!" Tifa said cheerfully.

"Y-You... I-I-I... um..." Cloud stammered, trying hard to form words in the aftermath of Tifa's display of rage. As the area recovered from the damage dealt to it, for a brief time he forgot where he was taking them in the first place. He gradually recovered, withdrew Dio's letter and tried to compose himself enough to read it. "He says that Sephiroth is headed to a place called Gongaga, which is apparently south of the desert. When I talked more with Ester she explained that there's also a Weapons Seller to the east of the town that might have clues as well... So..."

"What in the high holy blessed hell was that supposed to be?!" shrieked Yuffie. As she trudged her way back outside of North Corel, dust and rubble covering her entire body, she moved most bizarrely. Her arms were at two perfect right angles out from her torso and she staggered one foot in front almost bowlegged of the other towards the rest of the party out from a shaken North Corel. "Dammit, it's bad enough I'm going to have to explore every freaking corner of Gaia in this stupid thing, but now you just turned all of us into collateral damage because you threw a tantrum! Which you always yell at me for!" Yuffie stomped her feet flat on the ground as her entire body shook from her continued imbalance, and flashed a fierce glare at Tifa. "Why didn't you warn us before you initiated the apocalypse?!" she screamed. "Why can't you at least have the courtesy to drop the bomb after we start running for cover?!"

With a shrug of her shoulders, Tifa stretched her neck and sighed with relief, totally ignoring a simmering Yuffie. "Okay, got it. Gongaga and a Weapons Seller. But is that all there is? I get the feeling you're not telling us something else. The look on your face tells me the situation's got a few kinks in it. Is Shinra going to be in the area or something?" she pondered.

"That look on his face," Barret spat as he staggered to his feet, "is because you just tried to kill us all! I think you just ripped a couple years off my life when you did that!" he snarled. As he patted his vest free of dust, he shot a foul look at Tifa. "How hard is it to guess that he's in fear for his life?! You know, like the rest of us are?!" growled Barret,

By this time Cloud had managed to wipe the sweat from his brow and gather himself, though his body was still vibrating from the aftershocks. "Actually, there is a problem..." he groaned, holding his head to stifle his aching migraine. It wasn't working. "Shinra's apparently got a reactor there that'll be under inspection, and the Turks are there to head the operation. Chances are good we'll run into those jerks, so we've got to consider our options carefully. Let's get out of the desert first and then we can make some decisions on where to go..."

The three remaining party members, Aerith, Cait Sith, and Red XIII, had mostly recovered by this time. None of them knew what to say, think, or do given that their ears were still ringing loud enough that they couldn't hear Cloud talk. Red XIII stood nearly catatonic as he recovered, Cait Sith carefully retrieved his miniature moogle from where it had landed, and Aerith simply dusted herself off and readjusted her hair ribbon. None of the three had a particular opinion on the matter. They were still just recovering from the trauma.

Scene Three

Once everything had calmed down and they'd apologized to the people of North Corel for the damage, the party returned their attention to the matter at hand. While both Gongaga and the Weapons Seller would be their targets, until they crossed the desert the party was going to reserve judgment on what to do in the long term. The next course of action was to settle in to the buggy and head out.

The seating arrangements were just as uncomfortable as everyone had expected them to be. While Cloud drove, Tifa and Aerith took the other two front seats in relative comfort. The back row, however, was pure chaos. Barret's body took up two full seats, with Red XIII shoved under his legs and Cait Sith on his belly playing with his moogle. Yuffie sat to his side, squeezed into a corner with her legs more or less flat against her chest because Red XIII took up nearly the entire floor.

"Ooh, you're gonna pay for this, Aerith, I swear to God!" Yuffie hissed at Aerith, folding her arms around her legs. "One day I'm going to make you sit here! I feel like a damn sardine! And Barret reeks!" she shrieked as she held her nose, dodging a glare from Barret as she did. "Next town we're in he takes a shower! Promise me! This is cruel and unusual! I'm gonna sue you after I deal with Dio! Gawd!"

Yuffie's opinion was shared by the rest of the back seat's passengers. While Red XIII was crammed beneath Barret's meaty legs, he was forced to inhale the fibers of the tacky red carpet and was far from satisfied. He almost pined to be hogtied on Barret's back again; compared to that, he almost couldn't feel his legs. Barret, trapped between the door on one end and a very angry Yuffie on the other, felt even more cramped. In the position he was in, he really was just a cargo crate in the middle of the car - big, bulky, and full. The only one even remotely satisfied was Cait Sith, who had enough room on Barret's lap to play with his toy moogle. Yuffie entertained herself every now and then by playing with Cait Sith before devolving into another rant.

When the buggy roared to life and began to move, curses and death threats came from the back row that filled the ears of the front row, all of whom tried their best to ignore it. Surprisingly enough the buggy drove well. It carried everyone's weight, kept a steady pace, and overall it didn't shake as much as everyone expected it to. Soon enough it had passed North Corel and headed south through the desert, with the Gold Saucer suspended in the distance. The inside of the desert was just as bleak as to be expected. Dead, barren soil and rolling sands were all there was to see during the trip. Even the desert prison had least had architecture, something that everyone fondly remembered in the bottomless abyss of sand. Eventually, after several hours of travel, Yuffie abruptly popped out of the buggy and rolled into the sands like a moving marble. By the time she'd stopped, Yuffie popped from the sands and shook off all the dirt caking her body.

"Okay, I've had enough! This is total bull!" screamed Yuffie, her fists balled and her chest puffed. While the buggy screeched to a halt, she furiously drew her shuriken and approached the vehicle. "I'm taking the front seat come hell or high water!" she shrieked, brandishing her weapon. "One of you two, and I don't care who, get the hell out of there and switch with me!"

As everyone exited the buggy, Tifa approached Yuffie with a smirk on her face that only stoked her rage. "If you remember," she said smilingly, "you lost at Rock-Paper-Scissors fair and square. Scissors always cuts paper!"

"Well, what if paper's got a friend with a freakin' bazooka?!" Yuffie shrieked, twirling her shuriken nimbly. As she caught it, a deranged look formed in her eyes, indicating that she'd started to detach from reality. "I swear to God, if I have to sit in there one more minute I am leaving you crazy people!" she screamed, stomping her foot indignantly into the desert sands. "I never signed up for this garbage! You guys have done nothing but make my life miserable from one continent to the other!" Yuffie screeched angrily.

Cloud folded his arms over his chest with a smile that further infuriated Yuffie. "Sure, fine, you can do whatever you want! It's up to you!" Cloud said, a twinkle forming in his eye that infuriated her even more. "But where are you going to go? You'd be in the middle of the desert. It's a little late to complain now."

"You... You lousy, rotten sons of... you son of a bitch!" Yuffie sputtered indignantly, trying wildly to catch her breath through all her agitation. Fists balled, she began to flail her arms wildly. "You are all so messed up it's not even funny anymore! But I don't care anymore, just switch with me!" she shrieked. "Please, please, please! If you don't, I swear I'm gonna-" As the ground trembled, Yuffie furiously stomped her foot into the sand. "Geez, it's bad enough I have you jerks to deal with, but now the damn desert is bitching at-"

The desert sands began to part, a wide chasm forming in the center of it. Yuffie shrieked in terror and desperately scrambled out of harm's way as she clawed her way towards the buggy while a titanic beast burst out from the quicksand fangs first. At first it looked like the quicksand had teeth of its own, but soon a long trunk tore its way out from the desert and slithered into the sky. By the time the whole creature had emerged, the Sand Worm measured a hundred feet tall, several times the size of one of North Corel's tallest shanty houses, and when its torso slammed to the ground and split the sands, its fangs rotated like a buzz saw and finally came to rest spewing acidic saliva from its maw. While Yuffie foamed at the mouth and skittered backwards towards the buggy, the Sand Worm took in a deep breath and exhaled a monstrous roar that nearly toppled the party. Barret scrambled out from the buggy and opened his Gun-arm's hatches and Cloud deftly lifted his massive sword in front of himself.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" howled Yuffie as she fell to her seat in pure panic and skittered away. "Do you or do you not see the size of that mother-" as Yuffie began to open her potty mouth Tifa bent down and clapped a hand over it, muffling Yuffie's foul language. When Yuffie managed to shove her away, Tifa stood to face the Sand Worm alongside Cloud and Barret. "You guys are bloody mental! That thing's gonna eat us!" she screamed madly, flailing her arms.

Red XIII cautiously approached Tifa, his body trembling. "I'm afraid Yuffie is right... Nothing we have can scratch that thing. If I tried to push my Gaea materia too far, I might create a sinkhole that'll kill us and that thing!" he shouted. Pausing, the fright on his face doubled as he reconsidered. "No, wait... There's no way a normal materia could create any kind of effect sufficient to damage that..."

"No normal materia could do it, no..." Tifa said, her entire body trembling both from fear and the monstrous wind pressure. "But..." She lifted her arm and gripped her materia bracelet, fingers brushing the shimmering central red gem, Shiva's summoning materia. "Summon materia might do it! Shiva's our best chance!"

"You really are out of your damn mind!" Yuffie screamed, brushing past Cloud to storm towards Tifa. "You really think that thing's gonna help us?! It's a tiny little colored ball, not a miraculous, secret, all-powerful holy legendary artifact!" she hissed. As she gripped her head with both hands, her eyes went wild again. "Again, a magic ball is all we have between us and oblivion?! We are so screwed it's making my head spin!"

When Yuffie shoved her way past Cloud she inadvertently knocked a small, red object out of his pocket. As it fell to the ground it rolled into Cloud's boot and clicked against it. He looked at it quietly, then reached down and took it in his fingers. There really wasn't any better option. With a deft flick of his fingers he equipped it onto his materia gauntlet and held it high into the air.

All or nothing... These two materia are the only chance we've got!

Scene Four

The Sand Worm was a monstrous creature, and now, with all their other options exhausted, the party resorted to two summon materia as their only chance of killing it. Both Tifa's Shiva and Cloud's mysterious summon were all they had left. Cloud and Tifa stood side by side next to the buggy, their left arms gleaming with light from their shining red materia. Together they lifted their arms and a series of glowing green orbs began to circle their wrists, a set of flames encased in the spheres.

Tifa slammed her fist into her left palm, releasing a shock wave that created a sheet of ice all around her. The ice flashed from white to blue and back again and slowly began to quake. With a loud snap the ice shattered and condensed into the form of Shiva, the Eidolon of Ice. She was a blue-robed woman with snow white skin, emerging from a glacier into a beautiful humanoid that floated right in front of Tifa. With a smile on both their lips, they deftly gave each other a high five and Shiva whirled about to meet the Sand Worm.

"So now we've got a pretty blue pixie against that big ass worm?!" shrieked Yuffie, gripping her head in both hands. "Oh, God, we are so screwed!" Shiva apparently took offense to that and snapped her fingers, a soft breeze engulfing Yuffie that turned her skin a snowy white with icicles dripping from her nose. As Yuffie gripped her body in a desperate attempt to warm it, she shot an angry glare at Tifa. "And the pixie's just as mean as you are! Gawd!" she yowled.

Clapping his hands together Cloud's fingers became engulfed in fire, flames licking his entire arms as if they were becoming sleeves. He drew his hands apart and revealed a tiny red orb floating inside a green sphere, then grasped it in one hand and hurled it to the sandy ground. A large column of red fire ignited from the point of connection, slowly condensing into the form of a humanoid ogre with green skin and red horns engulfed in blue flames, that lifted up from the sands, and began to float in front of Cloud. The new Eidolon flashed a look of surprise towards Shiva, who replied with a sheepish grin and a shrug of her shoulders. Clearly they knew each other.

"So, how many years has it been?" said the new Eidolon in a voice crackling with fire, as if an ember accompanied each syllable. The irritation on its face was evident. "We haven't teamed up in decades, I'd wager. How did we end up together this time, Shiva?" it asked coldly, folding its arms over its chest. Narrowing its eyes, it stared Shiva down with enough intensity to make Yuffie foam at the mouth. "I thought our masters died a long time ago..." it growled.

"You're just as bitter as I remember, Ifrit..." Shiva laughed, folding her arms over her chest. Ifrit continued to fume, but she ignored him. "And I lost track about fifty years ago, just to let you know!" she chuckled, leaning in to the other Eidolon. As Ifrit glared back at her, Shiva simply shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, come on!" she chided. "We've got a job to do, and I expect you to fulfill your end of the bargain. We Eidolons are bound to these materia, remember. We serve whomever earns our respect."

Seemingly not impressed, Ifrit flashed a scowl at Cloud who, equally not amused, flipped him off and hoisted his Buster Sword at the Eidolon. "If you want to take me on, do it later!" Cloud snarled, tightening his grip. "I can show you how tough I am after we take this sucker down!" He narrowed his eyes, glaring at Ifrit coldly, who angrily pulsed with a burst of fire. "Either pull your weight or let Shiva and me do all the work..." Cloud growled harshly. "Or do you intend to chicken out and leave Shiva all alone?" he smirked proudly.

"You cheeky little punk... You know, you're quite an Impudent son of a bitch..." growled Ifrit. Folding his arms over his chest, he flashed a toothy grin. "I kind of like that in a master! Finding someone grumpier than I am is generally what I look for. Besides..." Ifrit flashed a grin to Shiva. "If Shiva's attached herself to the other one, I'm willing to do the same to someone like you. We can work out a contract, I'd say... But first," he said with a burst of fiery aura, "I'll show you how this kind of thing is really done! My name is Ifrit, Lord of Flame and Eidolon of Fire. Allow me to demonstrate that Shiva isn't the only-"

Cloud's expression remained the same, not convinced of Ifrit's reliability. "Oh, come on, just do it! Don't waste time talking or the worm will eat us!" Cloud barked, tapping his sword to his shoulder and forcing a nasty scowl to form on Ifrit's face. As Ifrit continued to stew, Cloud tapped his sword to his shoulder again. "'Cause I know I can't cut the sucker up... We're counting on you two. I'm putting my trust in you if Shiva can vouch for you."

Unwilling to wait any longer the Sand Worm roared and began to slither its massive body towards the two Eidolons. With each undulation it approached closer and closer, being just as large and just as mean as the Midgardsormr was back in the eastern swamps. As its toothy maw began to rotate like buzz saws, Ifrit lifted his hand high into the air. A huge sphere of flame that seemed to be mixed with magma lifted from his palm, eventually the size of Ifrit himself, before the Eidolon launched it at the Sand Worm. The blazing sphere struck the Sand Worm and caused it to burst into flames, its piercing shriek breaking the silence of the desert. But as the flames waned, the Sand Worm emerged - burned and angry, but still capable of moving.

Ifrit turned a nervous eye to the other Eidolon, who replied with a frightened nod. Shiva clapped her hands together and created a condensed sphere of bluish-white energy, satellites of ice encircling the orb, and then she threw it at the Sand Worm. The sphere struck the monster with a loud crack, quickly encasing it in a pillar of solid ice. As it continued to freeze the pillar erupted into a huge glacier of ice, before shattering to reveal a still very much alive Sand Worm, though with thick lacerations alongside its burn wounds. Even if it was alive, and wouldn't last much longer, it would last long enough to finish the job.

"Well, aren't you two useless!" snapped a shivering Yuffie as she stuck her tongue out at the Eidolons. Shiva angrily snapped her fingers again and Yuffie's tongue frosted over completely. Yuffie, thoroughly quaking with rage, bit her tongue and freed it of the ice (though it made it bleed and she cried out in pain). "You two gonna do something that works or what?!" she shrieked with a bloody lisp. "Come on, you guys are supposed to be super powerful, right?! Do something super powerful, why don't you!"

Ifrit and Shiva exchanged glances briefly, showing clear agitation at Yuffie. The ogre flipped her off with a flaming finger (further enraging her) before holding his palm flat against Shiva's. Their hands glowed bright blue for a moment, a ripple of cold energy emerging from their palms that chilled the party's bodies. Then they glowed a deep red, a shock wave of heat similarly scalding the rest of those present. A swirling vortex formed from their wrists and encased them. Opening their hands flat, both Ifrit and Shiva gripped the sphere that formed and swung their linked hands at the Sand Worm. The vortex sped up and became a wild tornado of energy that hurtled towards the monster. When it connected, the energy burst open and literally shredded the Sand Worm to ribbons, leaving the party shocked and awed.

"Take cold air and add hot air..." began Ifrit. Shiva continued, "and you create a vortex of wind that can create a small hurricane. I'm sure you're impressed, but even normal materia can create a similar effect. Though it pales in comparison to what you've just seen." With a toothy grin, Ifrit began to glow alongside Shiva and together they chanted: "The contract is complete, our bonds established. We are the joint Eidolons of Fire and Ice. Remember to call on us when you're in need of rescue!"

Both Eidolons became encased in a brilliant, blinding light before the energy shattered to pieces. Some of the light surged towards Tifa's bracelet, the rest to Cloud's gauntlet, and a sharp crack resounded as their materia ignited a bright violet before shattering to reveal their normal color. On Cloud's gauntlet the slot Ifrit's materia was in crackled with energy and shattered, leaving what looked like a fiery crest around its glowing red materia. Tifa's bracelet similarly formed a snow white crest that surrounded its own red orb. Together they resonated, made a high pitched noise, and suddenly fell silent.

Yuffie swept the icicles from her nose, shuddered to shake away the cold, and angrily crossed her arms with a huff (which only barely warmed her body). Thoroughly shaken (and shaking), Yuffie gruffly swept the blood from her mouth with a scowl. "Okay, so maybe you got the chops. Only 'cause I made you do it, of course!" she snapped. "Meanies..."

Scene Five

What followed was a brief victory celebration - with Yuffie leading the cheering, mostly praising herself for insulting the Eidolons into action, prompting Tifa to whack her for insulting her Eidolon. Everyone entered the buggy again and continued on. Soon enough they finally passed the desert and moved on towards a large river, which they also crossed. After a brief period where the party nearly got bogged down in the river (Aerith suggested the boys get out and push, which they indignantly did) the buggy entered a new plain with two distinct structures in sight. One was a large, multi-storied house far to the east, marked with swords and spears jutting out of the area leading up to it. The more interesting one was a huge structure surrounded by a large forest, certainly large enough to be a village and, thus, likely Gongaga. There was no road leading there, though, and they'd need to move through the thick forest to get to whatever was in the center.

"Well, that's certainly quite the landmark!" chirped Aerith as she exited the buggy and clapped the door shut. "But then we have what I assume is the Weapons Seller over there... Which do we go to first, Cloud?" she wondered. "The buggy can't get us to the big thing, though, so we'd have to hoof it."

Cloud put his hand to his chin, carefully assessing the situation. Visiting one after the other would take a lot more time, given the distance between the two areas of interest. After braving the forest and checking out Gongaga they would have to go all the way back and go to the Weapons Seller's place. So, there was a simple solution: Break up and visit both at once.

"I'd say we should split into two groups..." Cloud muttered. As he surveyed the team, he assessed who should go where. The more martial members of the party - Yuffie, Barret, and Red XIII - would go one way, while he, Tifa, and Aerith would go the other. The matter of who went where was decided by a bout of Rock-Paper-Scissors, which led Cloud's group through the forest and Yuffie and the others heading to check out the Weapons Seller. Yuffie, the winner of the match, wanted to check out the weapons that might be at the Seller's house personally.

"Well, what about me?!" protested Cait Sith. "Why don't I get to go adventuring with you folks?! Share the wealth, people! I'd like to see whatever is past that forest! Maybe that's where the Mako reactor Dio was talking about is, and I wanna go there and check it out! And why can't I go the other direction either?!"

Cloud shook his head, angering Cait Sith, but a quick glare scared the cat's confidence away. "Someone's going to need to protect the buggy," he reasoned. "And since you're the odd man out, and the oddest, you can guard it. Trying to infiltrate either area in a huge pink moogle sort of destroys any idea of staying under the radar. Besides, it's an important task..." Cloud sighed, folding his arms. "That, and I don't trust you going in either direction. You're too much of a wild card."

"Oh, Cloud, you wound me!" swooned Cait Sith, wiping a fake tear from his eye. Still he clicked a button on his toy moogle and it swelled up to full size again. He hopped on top of it and gave a quick salute. "I shall hold down the fort! Come back safe, y'all!" With that the party separated, one group ferried to the Seller's house and the other dropped off at Gongaga, leaving Cait Sith to solemnly keep watch over the buggy. Secretly, however, he regretted not being able to visit Gongaga and he dropped to his seat with a huff.

Maybe the Turks will finish them off? At least if I was there I could provide an on-the-scene report for the boss. Well, whatever. Those two probably have orders not to kill 'em...

Author's Notes

I had high hopes for this chapter, but it sort of fell flat. The whole purpose of it was to introduce the buggy and Ifrit, in addition to setting up a power-up for one of the team members, but by the end it just sort of tapered off. The original version of the battle was a huge, epic fight with all sorts of dramatic elements like the Eidolons wreaking all sorts of holy elemental havoc and Cloud and Tifa being drained of all their energy because they were in such a desolate environment, and the Sand Worm getting atomized. But the Sand Worm was too small of an enemy to spend all that drama and energy on, so it sort of popped out a lot more... low key than I was expecting. It went from a force three hurricane to one of those big fans they use to do wind tests on houses.

Ifrit and Shiva's combo attack is based, once again and as you may expect, off a technique in One Piece from the navigator character Nami. Her special weapon controls heat, cold, and electricity, and by combining cold air with hot air a reaction begins that creates a storm. I think that's the actual science, too, but I'm too stupid to understand weather patterns and so it's based off a quick Google search and the One Piece material itself. It'll also come into play very shortly again, in the next chapter.

Tifa going wild, again, made the chapter for me. Even if she isn't canonically this brutal, having her wreak havoc for some reason just makes me happy. I hope the chaos she creates doesn't offend any Tifa fans... if so, I apologize. If not, or rather regardless, I make no promises that I won't continue. But to be honest, after this I don't think she ever really gets this angry, so we might be good... until Sephiroth, but whatever. I promise she won't pulverize him once they reach the Whirlwind Maze, and when they end up in Junon she won't rearrange Scarlet's face. Well, not too bad... But in the next chapter... um... You'll see...

But, you know, the way I originally wrote it, it'd be like they were fighting something uber powerful, and this just isn't the time for that. If the fight with the Sand Worm would be more epic than taking on Jenova, well... It made no sense, so I changed it. I put in so much effort to make it a massive, titanic fight with Ifrit and Shiva blowing the Sand Worm up into its constituent molecules... but if it doesn't make sense, that's the end of it. Kind of a shame, though - I've never made a fight like that and I sort of regret not being able to put it in the fic. And I doubt I'll ever be able to make a Jenova fight like that. I really overdid it, but it was fun. Maybe if I ever write something of my own I can incorporate it...