Chapter 17:
Over in Junon, the elevator carrying Bowser and his party opened up before them and revealed that they were inside a tunnel. The tunnel was barren of any individuals so they simply walked over to the door on their left that would take them into the city, proper. Once the door opened, they found themselves in the middle of a street lined with buildings that contained shops and homes. People also crowded the streets as the Koopas saw families walking together and others entering and exiting the buildings. In addition, they noted various walkways above them that connected a variety of buildings to each other. It was as if this city had multiple levels and was the precursor to large, multi-layered and multi-leveled cities seen in various Earth and Mushroom Kingdom science fiction movies.
The Koopas casually walked by the shops, careful to keep their distance from anyone despite their disguises making them look like humans. Continuing to walk down the street, Kamek took out a map he had surreptitiously obtained before entering the elevator to reach the upper part of the city and opened it. Studying the map, he noted that there was a large building off in the distance that was their destination.
"The elevator we're looking for is in the large building dead ahead," he told the others.
Bowser and his children said nothing as they moved as one as they continued down the street until reaching the large building. Once they reached the large building they went over to the entrance, which was completely unguarded, and entered the building.
Inside, they found themselves inside another long corridor that led to the left, with one door directly in front of them that led to a different part of the city. The corridor was unoccupied, something that surprised the group. It must have been the workers' day off or everyone had called in sick. Either way, the Koopas did not complain.
"The elevator that will take us to the undersea reactor is at the end of this corridor to the left," Kamek informed the others.
Looking down the corridor, they could see a door that likely led to the elevator Kamek had mentioned. Walking down the corridor, they approached the elevator and upon reaching it, pressed its call button. Then, the party waited for several seconds until they heard a chime. Once the chime sounded, the elevator opened before them. Once the door was open, the party boarded the elevator, Kamek using his magic to make sure that they did not weigh the elevator down too much as they boarded it. Once the doors closed, the elevator took them down to the undersea reactor.
The ride down to the undersea reactor was uneventful save for Kamek continuing to use his magic to keep the Koopas suspended in the air so they would not weigh down the elevator and cause a malfunction or worse, cause one of its cables to break. After a long ride, though, the elevator eventually reached its destination and opened up before the Koopas. Using his magic, Kamek levitated the others out of the elevator and into the undersea tunnels that would lead to the reactor itself, as well as the underwater submarine base. After levitating them out, Kamek was the last to depart the elevator.
Once they were out of the elevator, they found themselves glass, or glass-like undersea tunnels. There were no lights on in the tunnel so Kamek took out his wand and its head soon glowed, transforming into a flashlight, illuminating the area enough so the group could see all around them, and even out into the darkness of the ocean. Looking out into the ocean, they could see all kinds of undersea flora and fauna. The flora and fauna slightly resembled the fish and plants found in the oceans of Hylia but there were also clear differences. They also saw a large green creature that was different from all the other creatures they saw in the sea. They instinctively knew would be a nightmare to face in battle, even Kamek, who had not undergone any enhancements knew that facing off against that creature would be a mistake.
Looking ahead, they could see no sign of human activity, or any monsters for that matter. Apparently, despite the elevator still being active, no one was down here, nor had been down here in a long time. Still, the Koopas waited until the large green sea creature was well away before they shed their disguises and resumed using their normal forms. Once they did, though, they walked down the corridor, following the tunnels until they reached the door leading to the reactor. Once they reached the door, they walked up to it, half expecting it to open. It did not.
"Apparently, this door has no power," Ludwig noted.
"I can see that smart aleck," Bowser roared in reply.
Kamek merely gave a sigh and pointed his wand at the door. The door immediately slid open as if it had still been powered. Kamek then stepped to the side and said, "After you," in a snide tone.
Bowser gave a grumble as he entered the reactor, followed by the rest of the Koopalings, Bowser Jr., and Kamek. Once inside, they saw that the room was dark, just as they had expected. Without having to be asked, Kamek stepped forward and held up his wand. Its head began to glow and soon, the entire room was illuminated. Looking around the room, they saw a corridor that led to the core. There were no controls in the room but there were various stations that seemed like they would give readouts should the reactor have been active and there also looked to be access hatches to interior parts of the reactor, as well as displays that indicated the purpose of various parts of the reactor. It looked to the Koopas as if this reactor had been retrofitted into a museum of a past era. They paid no heed to the displays, though, or at least Bowser did not, since for reasons he could not explain or understand, he felt as if he knew the basics on how to operate a Mako reactor and how use it to accomplish his desired goals. Spending no further time in this corridor, the group followed the arrows to another door. When they reached the door, the group let Kamek cast his magic and open it, hoping that it led to the reactor core.
Upon entering the next room, the group saw that this room was pitch dark as well. Using his wand once more, Kamek illuminated the area and they saw a large structure at the center of the room that they knew to be the reactor's core. A long ways below the walkway the Koopas were standing on was a large flowing pool of Mako just begging to be gathered up by the reactor. Looking around the room, the group saw that the reactor core and its room looked to be in pristine condition, almost as if it had recently been refurbished. There also looked to be signs and computer consoles that had information and history on the Mako reactor. Close to the core was a console that had clearly marked switches on it for activating the reactor as well as an emergency shutdown as well as gathering the Mako and refining it. Bowser was not interested in refining it, though. His only interest was in gathering it and hopefully using a spell from Kamek to give "life" to that section of the Lifestream and have it grow on Hylia. To that end, he did not want to risk "damaging" the Mako at all. Still, there was the issue of activating the reactor without anyone noticing it or thinking anything of it. Checking the console near the core, the instructions for turning on the reactor seemed to pop into his head. All he needed now was a power source.
"Incredible," the Koopa King mused. "The moment I looked at that console, the knowledge on how to activate the reactor came flooding into me. All I need now is a source of power to get things going." He then turned to Kamek and ordered, "Kamek, use your magic to generate a source of power we can use to turn on this reactor." Turning to his children, he commanded, "The rest of you, keep watch to make sure no one gets down here. At least two of you should also go to see if there's a submarine or other type of vessel we can procure in order to transport the Mako to the surface."
"Right," Bowser's kids said in unison in a tone that caused Kamek to look at them with concern. The way they had responded almost sounded robotic to him, as if an automaton had been trying to feign a normal response. He did not think any further on it at the moment, though. Bowser had given him an order and he had to carry it out.
Looking over at a series of pipes and wires that led into the walls around the reactor, he swished his wand and sent a beam of energy towards the wires and pipes. Unlike most magic spells, though, the energy in this spell was harmless to touch and would not damage anything. It would, however, give the reactor the spark it needed in order to activate, which is exactly what happened.
The lights in the room immediately activated, flooding the room with light, causing the Koopas to cover their eyes for a few seconds before they became acclimated to the light. In addition, the core lit up and the grinding of gears could be heard as the rest of the reactor activated.
As the reactor activated, Roy and Morton split up from the main group and headed towards the hallway that led into the reactor, itself. There they stood, watching to make sure that the reactor's reactivation did not draw any attention to them. In addition, Ludwig and Bowser Jr. also departed from the reactor core to search for the submarine dock and hoped to find a submarine that could store the Mako they took from the Lifestream. The rest of the Koopalings took their positions at some of the consoles that they intrinsically knew would control the reactor. They did not dwell on how they knew how to operate it, though, they had a mission to accomplish and they would do it.
As the core lit up, they watched as the reactor began drawing Mako from the Lifestream below. What looked like a siphon lowered towards a pit that looked to have Mako deep beneath it. After a few seconds, a flow of Mako began rising towards the siphon. As it rose into the siphon, though, the Koopalings manning the control consoles made certain that the reactor did not refine the Mako into any type of energy or Materia. They needed it to be raw Lifestream if they were going to be able to create their own Lifestream to take to Hylia. As the Koopas carefully monitored the reactor and made certain that it did nothing but draw it into the reactor. Once the process had started, all they had to do was wait for enough Lifestream to be drawn into the reactor and contained so that when the time came, either it would form its own consciousness infected by Sephiroth's will, or Kamek could bring it to life with said infection converting it into what they needed.
Over in the skies far south of Junon, the Dribble Taxi flew over the ocean that separated the Eastern and Western continents, making a beeline towards the Gongaga Area. As had become quite normal, the group drove in silence, being focused on their mission. Outside, the flanking Bow, Flurrie, and Watt scanned the area to make sure that no monsters were coming towards the vehicle. Despite the fact that so far, the group had not encountered any monsters to speak of, they all had a feeling that their luck would eventually run out and they would have to battle something. They just hoped that they would be able to engage any enemy they faced on their own terms.
Over in the driver's seat, Dribble checked the map and saw that they were coming up on the coordinates that Aerith had given them. Looking back at the passengers, he told them, "We're comin' up on the Gongaga Area and this Weapon Seller's house that you were talkin' about. So far, though, we've detected no activity."
"Then hopefully, it will be a quick in and out mission," Koops stated. While he was far from cowardly, he also wanted to find out how to cure the Lifestream as quickly as possible. He did not need anyone else to tell him that the longer they waited, the more control Sephiroth would have over it and the more powerful, and difficult to defeat, he would become. Looking around, he could see that the others echoed his own sentiments.
It only took a few more minutes for the cab to reach the coordinates Aerith had given them on the Western Continent. When they reached the coordinates, the cab banked down, preparing to land once they found the precise coordinates of the house. Spitz looked out the window to check for any sign of this house that Aerith had mentioned. Looking out the window, he saw a peninsula that had beaches surrounding a grassy land and a few jungles. A ways off to the west was the town of Gongaga, though it did not have anything of interest for the allies at the moment. Mario and Aerith also looked out the window to see if they were close to the house. Looking down, Aerith managed to spot a small structure on the easternmost part of the peninsula.
"There," Aerith called out, pointing out the window at the structure. "That's the house."
"I copy," Dribble answered as he banked the cab downward and flew a holding pattern over the structure, searching for a safe place to land that was close to the house. Fortunately, the area near the house was merely grassland and would not be any trouble for the taxi. As they got lower, they could clearly see the house. It looked to be unoccupied, for there were no vehicles near it and it seemed to have no lights on inside.
The taxi landed close to the house and eventually came to a stop merely a couple dozen feet away. Once it came to a stop, Mario and Aerith disembarked while the others remained inside the cab, with Flurrie and Watt joining Mario and Aerith while Bow stayed with the cab should any monsters suddenly appear and attack. Once Mario and Aerith disembarked, they made their way to the house. They approached the door and when they reached it, Mario stepped forward and gripped the doorknob, wanting to make sure that if for any reason there was a trap that he was the one that sprung it rather than Aerith or one of the other allies. Gripping the knob, he felt no trap and it turning it, he found that it did, indeed, move. He then pushed the door inward, meeting no resistance. With that, the group entered the house.
Inside the house, they saw numerous chests, tables, and a bed on the lower level with a staircase that led to an upper level that had a wall mounted with numerous weapons, along with a box. They also noticed a similar box on the lower level. On the tables, there were numerous sheets of paper. Much as they suspected, the house had been deserted, and it looked as if it had been that way for a while. Mario went over to check the papers on the tables while his allies checked the chests. Meanwhile, Aerith went to the upper floor to check the box where she had previously found the Great Gospel tome. Going to the box, she opened it but found that it was empty. She grimaced and then focused on the wall-mounted weapons. There was a staff that had numerous slots for Materia but it would be a small consolation prize if there were no Great Gospel tome or a lead on where another Great Gospel tome may have been located.
On the lower floor, Mario and the others checked the chests and the papers on the tables, looking for either the Great Gospel tome or any leads on where one may be. This was made more difficult due to the fact that Mario could not read the language on Gaia, despite the fact that he could talk with Aerith without a problem. Calling on the Star Spirits, particularly Skolar and Klevar, he showed them the texts, hoping that they would be able to translate them. The two Star Spirits, looked at each of the texts but could find no traces on where they could find anything on Great Gospel. The two Star Spirits did also scanned for any information on Jenova or where they could find information on Jenova but that turned up fruitless, too. Eventually, they looked back at Mario and shook themselves in the negative, indicating that they had found nothing that would help them.
After a few more moments, Aerith came down from the upper floor and looked downcast, shaking her head indicating that she had not found a Great Gospel tome or any leads on it. Mario also shook his head in the negative. Looking over at the allies, he could tell that they had found nothing, either. After a few more minutes, the allies went over to Mario and confirmed what Mario had already suspected.
"We found nothing here about the Great Gospel," Flurrie told them.
"I found nothing, either," Aerith added. Looking at Mario, she asked, "You?"
Mario confirmed her suspicion when he shook his head. He then looked at the staff slung over her back and asked, "What's with the staff?"
"It's a Princess Guard," she answered. "It has a lot of Materia slots which will help if we face off against Sephiroth. But that's all I found. There was nothing else here."
"Any idea what we should do now?" Mario asked.
Aerith shook her head. "No. The best thing we can do right now is regroup at Cosmo Canyon with Luigi and the others and hope that they may have stumbled onto something."
"Sounds like a plan," Mario answered.
With nothing further to do in the house, the group departed. When they went outside, they headed back to the taxi, the doors still open. Bow, seeing that Mario and the others were not looking all that happy, went over to them and asked, "Did you find anything?" Their expressions, though told her everything she needed to know.
Flurrie soon confirmed her suspicions. "No. There was nothing of use there, or in any of those papers. Aerith and Mario want us to regroup with Luigi at Cosmo Canyon."
Bow nodded and took her position around the cab. Mario and Aerith then boarded the cab while Flurrie and Watt joined Bow in flanking it. Once the doors closed, the cab took off into the sky and proceeded to head northwest towards Cosmo Canyon.
Meanwhile, over at the fallen Starship Mario, Luigi had landed near the ship, holding onto a Grand Star as he had returned from Cosmo Canyon to make another run. He landed just soon enough to see Goombario launch from the star with a load of supplies. Kooper, Lakilester, and Vivian were next to enter the star, respectively, each of them carrying supplies as well. The plumber was pleasantly surprised that so many supplies had survived the crash, for they knew that they were going to need everything they could get their hands on in order to defeat Sephiroth.
Once they had rocketed off to Cosmo Canyon, Nanaki motioned for Luigi to go over and talk with him about something. The plumber saw his subtle nod and stern expression and went over to the leonine creature. Once he arrived, he asked, "What's up? Is everything okay?"
"So far," Nanaki answered with a nod. "And that is partially what has me worried. There's no way that our activity has gone unnoticed by the World Regenesis Organization or any scientists and explorers. The fact that we have had no indication of any activity here or any investigation means that there may well be problems elsewhere."
"Didn't you say during our search for Bowser, though, that the world has been peaceful for centuries?" Luigi asked. "Maybe they haven't come because there hasn't been a reason to. So far, there have been no reports of monsters appearing so things may still be peaceful."
"But they won't stay that way for long," Nanaki answered. "Especially since Sephiroth is in control of the Lifestream. His main enemy from long ago, Cloud Strife, grew to love this world. The best way for Sephiroth to hurt him, even posthumously, is for him to destroy the planet, which would be his ultimate goal anyway since in his last fight, his goal was to turn the planet into a vessel that could carry himself to other worlds to infect."
"So why haven't we seen any monsters form just yet?" came Luigi's next question.
"I don't know," Nanaki answered. "And that's what worries me the most. If he has anywhere close to the amount of control over the Lifestream he had during the Geostigma Crisis, and by all rights, he should have far more since he joined with it directly, we should be seeing Shadow Creepers and possibly even some of his remnants or even clones of himself."
"Shadow Creepers? Remnants?"
"The Shadow Creepers were quadruped monsters that were created from tainted Lifestream during the Geostigma Crisis," Nanaki explained. "They didn't have any magic, though, which is fortunate since they were physically quite powerful. As for the remnants of Sephiroth, they were physical manifestations of his will from the Lifestream after Meteorfall. They had similar appearances to him but generally had certain individual traits of Sephiroth as their primary traits. They were created to aid in Sephiroth's resurrection but they were strong and skilled in battle so I don't doubt that Sephiroth would create more of them as either a backup should we manage to defeat him or just an elite force to weaken us before facing off against him. Also, we may have to be on the lookout for Summons as well. While Sephiroth did not use summons, himself, his remnants did and if he has control of the Lifestream, and thus can create Mako, he may be able to utilize more Summons."
"If Aerith's Great Gospel works, will it kill Sephiroth?" Luigi asked.
"I think that for it to work, we'll have to kill Sephiroth, or at least destroy his physical body, assuming it hasn't dissolved into the Lifestream, itself," Nanaki answered. "But for that to work, we'll need Great Gospel first."
"Then let's hope Mario and Aerith are successful," Luigi finished.
Nanaki nodded in agreement. After a few moments, Goombella, Sushie, Bombette, Parakarry, Sushie, and Ms. Mowz emerged from the wreckage with chests of supplies, themselves.
"This is the last load," Goombella declared. "We've gotten everything usable off of the ship. It's nothing but a large, crashed rock right now."
"Good," Luigi said. Finally, there had been some good news. "Let's head off to Cosmo Canyon and hope that Mario and Aerith were successful in their search."
The others agreed and proceeded to make their way to the Launch Star. Then, one by one, they used the Launch Star to launch themselves to Cosmo Canyon. Of the allies, Nanaki was the last to rocket away from the wreckage. Once the others were away, Luigi took out a series of time bombs and planted them near the Launch Star, hoping that when they went off, they would destroy the Launch Star, or at the very least render it unusable. Jumping into the center of the Launch Star, he spun around once and the star propelled him into the air. Ten seconds after he was launched into the air, the bombs detonated and blew the Launch Star into thousands of stellar fragments that faded and became stardust a few seconds after the star's destruction. Luigi took one look back and gave a grim look of satisfaction. At least any enemy who would want to use the Launch Star to follow them would not be able to use it.
It took Luigi less than a minute for him to reach Cosmo Canyon. When the town was within sight, he could see the tall observatory from the distance and knew that he was approaching someplace special. The flight path programmed by the Launch Star caused him to bank to the right a bit as he began his descent, his landing zone being in the center of town. Looking at the ground, he saw several people present. Given the fact that they were humans, he figured them to be denizens of the town.
As he was coming in, the people looked up in the sky. From a distance, it looked as if they were staring at him in wonder, but he suspected that the only wonder going through them was the question of whether or not he was the last being to seemingly self-propel himself into the town from far away. As he approached the landing zone, he gave a forward flip before touching down in the center of the town square.
Once he was on the ground, he looked around and saw that the town did not look to be all that technologically advanced, though he knew that looks could be deceiving. His own homeworld, Earth, also did not necessarily look like the strongest planet in an interplanetary Federation that could hold off a small empire if one looked in on it from the surface, though anyone looking from space would see a fortress world. In addition, the Mushroom Kingdom did not necessarily look like a technologically advanced kingdom at first sight. However, the kingdom had airships of its own, as well as airplanes and other technological achievements. Taking a closer look at the town, he could see some signs of technological advancement, though the town seemed to have a more of a feeling of being in tune with the planet and nature than an advanced city did.
After landing, he spotted Goombario and the others putting the supplies into a small building that looked like it could be either a storage building or a makeshift barracks. It was one of the few newer buildings in the town, having been built less than a year ago. When he made his way over to them, they stopped for a moment and waved at him, calling, "Hey."
He waved back and answered their call. When he arrived, he looked around and saw that everything was in order. Goombella then went up to him and told him, "This building is pretty new and it fits our needs perfectly. I was also surprised at how much of the stuff inside the ship was salvageable. Even if worse comes to worst and we have to beat Sephiroth the very hard way, we just might have a shot."
"Let's hope," Luigi agreed, nodding.
Not too far away, he spotted Nanaki being flanked by his two cubs as well as another red leonine creature, though this one seemed to have a feminine appearance. He walked up to the plumber and said, "Welcome to Cosmo Canyon. This town is my home and I have lived here for over five hundred years." He then motioned towards the other leonine creatures flanking him. "This is my mate, Deneh," he said, motioning towards the other leonine creature. He then motioned towards his two cubs and said, "And these are our two cubs Seto and Bugenhagen. Please make yourselves at home for as long as you need to."
"Thank you Nanaki," Luigi answered, bowing. He noticed Deneh giving Nanaki what he suspected was a smile. The family then went off to do something or other, leaving Luigi to help the rest of the group unpack their supplies and sort them so they would have a clear inventory of what they had for the upcoming battle. Luigi then promptly went to work with Goombario and Goombella as they were already cataloguing the supplies they had managed to take from the crashed ship.
As he went about sorting the supplies, he could see that the two Goombas had already started doing so, the plumber seeing neat piles of Fire Flowers, Thunder Rages, Shooting Stars, Jelly Ultras, and oftentimes more than one copy of various super-powers, including but not limited to Ice Flowers, Super Leafs, Cape Feathers, Tanooki Suits, Penguin Suits, and even a couple Hammer Suits. He soon went about unpacking the rest of the items and putting them in the appropriate piles, or making new ones for new items.
It was not long before he heard the familiar sound of a flying car off in the distance. Looking towards the sky, the plumber found the flying taxi making its final approach to Cosmo Canyon. Luigi waved at the taxi as it made its approach. The taxi waved banked a bit towards him in response, performing its own version of wave. Nanaki and Sushie were standing watch as they notice the flying taxi approach. They went over to join Luigi as he waited for its landing, hoping that Mario and Aerith were either outright successful or at least had an idea on where they could find one, or if worst came to worst, find another means to cure the Lifestream of Sephiroth's infection.
The cab came in relatively slowly as it descended into the canyon. It seemed to search for a road for a few moments before descending further, deciding to travel on the smooth ground. Once it landed, the cab tuned towards the plumber and his companions and approached them, slowing down until it eventually came to a stop a few yards away.
After the cab had come to a stop, the doors opened and the cab disgorged its passengers. Mario and Aerith were the first to step out. Once they did so, they immediately approached Luigi's party, their expressions and Mario's shaking of his head telling the younger Mario Brother answering all of his questions before they could be asked.
"The Weapon Seller's house didn't pan out," Mario told Luigi.
"Any ideas on what to do now?" the plumber in green asked.
Mario then looked over at Aerith, his expression asking her the same question. Aerith, however, shook her head in the negative.
"What about using Holy?" Koops suggested coming up from behind Mario along with the rest of the older Mario Brother's party. "Didn't Aerith once call it the ultimate White Magic during our ride?"
"But that's an offensive magic spell," Bow answered. "That's not going to help when it's healing magic we'll need."
"I had considered trying Holy once more to see if we could attack Sephiroth inside the Lifestream and possibly use it to destroy him like that," Aerith interjected. "However, that will do nothing to the Jenova cells and if even one Jenova cell remains inside the Lifestream, Sephiroth will regain his foothold inside the Lifestream, and if you guys will have already departed, then there will be no stopping Sephiroth since there hasn't been a conflict on our world for many generations, and while there are those who are training in combat or participate in combat sports, sports are much different than a war, something Sephiroth knows how to fight all too well."
"Well there has to be something," Admiral Bobbery declared. "If there were multiple Great Gospel tomes, then it's doubtful that each and every one of them was destroyed, right?"
Mario and Luigi both considered what Admiral Bobbery had said. "Is it possible that they may have been destroyed?" Luigi asked.
"It's possible but highly unlikely," Aerith answered. "There were likely multiple tomes so for them to be destroyed, someone would have had to have actively searched for them and destroyed them. And that would be unlikely since there would be no reason to destroy them since Cetra were the only ones who could use Great Gospel effectively."
The group considered their options. "Is there any other we could cure the Lifestream?" Mario asked.
"Not with absolute certainty," Aerith answered.
"What other uncertain options do we have?" Luigi asked. "What are their weaknesses and could there be ways for us to overcome them and increase their chances of taking out Sephiroth and curing the Lifestream of his infection?"
"No," Aerith answered succinctly, shaking her head and sighing.
"Then we're doomed," Luigi sighed. "Unless we get incredibly lucky, there's no way we can reliably save the Lifestream even if we do somehow manage to kill Sephiroth."
"Let's not give up just yet," Mario said, trying to encourage both his brother and Aerith. "Miracles happen and it's unlikely that all of the tomes were destroyed. It'll require a lot of luck, but there's still a chance that we might be able to cure the Lifestream. Besides, we may have to think about other ways to cure it since we still haven't tracked down Bowser and if he survives the curing of the Lifestream, then it could be reinfected by the Jenova cells in his own body.
The others had not considered that possibility and a shudder went down their spines. Mario noticed their reactions and grew concerned. He had hoped to encourage them and instead, he had only managed to cause them to grow even more concerned, and the situation seem even more hopeless than before.
As Mario, his party, Luigi, and Aerith were discussing the situation and where they would go from here, Goombella came rushing out of the building they had turned into their temporary base and went over to Luigi. Her eyes got even brighter as she saw Mario and Aerith present as well.
"Hey guys, you've gotta come see this," she called excitedly.
"What is it Goombella?" Mario asked.
"We just might have found a way to get a Great Gospel tome and possibly discovered another possibility for curing the Lifestream!" she answered.
Mario's interest was piqued and he followed Goombella into their new base. She led them to the main assembly room that had a single high-definition television that was currently showing either a program or advertisement. "You've gotta see this!" Goombella exclaimed. "Our problems may have just been solved!"
The group focused on the television and the, what looked to be, commercial showing.
"It's the entertainment event of the decade!" the announcer on the television declared excitedly. "The Gold Saucer is open for business once more and to celebrate, all squares will have tremendous prizes. Test your mettle against monsters of the past, present and other major competitors in the Battle Square! Try numerous minigames in Wonder Square. Race and/or bet on Chocobo Races in Chocobo Square! Prizes include numerous weapons, items, Limit Break tomes, tickets for rocket rides to space…"
The announcer continued to advertise the Gold Saucer and its attractions but the party stopped listening when they heard about Limit Break tomes being prizes in some of the competitions in the Gold Saucer. Mario immediately looked over to Aerith and Nanaki and asked, "What's the Gold Saucer and where is it?"
"It's in the Western Continent northeast from here," Nanaki answered.
"We flew over it on our trip here," Aerith added. "As for what it is, it is an amusement park where you can partake in numerous competitions, including a Battle Square where you fight a variety of monsters for prizes."
"The last time we were there, the prizes included Cloud's own Omnislash Limit Break tome," Nanaki added. "I'm surprised I didn't think of this earlier."
"Yeah, well we've got some good news and some bad news," Goombario interjected from a computer console.
"What is it?" Mario asked.
"First the bad news: the Gold Saucer isn't listing which Limit Break tomes they're offering. They did, however, say that a Great Gospel tome had been won by a ninja from a nation called Wutai a few weeks ago. In addition, a further search on Wutai indicates that there is a ninja tournament that begins tomorrow. Anyone that has a martial arts background can participate indications are that the Great Gospel tome is one of the prizes. If this is true then we've found a new Great Gospel tome. The only problem was that its deadline for entry has long since passed. However, given some of our unique abilities and super power items, we might be able to get this Great Gospel tome, especially since it doesn't look to be one of the grand prizes, but merely an add-on during one of the tests."
"Actually, we may have some hope," Goombella called over, looking up from her computer. "Checking out the website some more, they are allowing a limited number of extra entries for this ninja tournament, though you'll have to take an exam to do so, and they're only allowing a limited number of entries for the exam."
Mario and Luigi went over to the Goombas and looked over their shoulders as they worked on their computers. After reading the information on both the website for the Gold Saucer as well as the information on this tournament in Wutai, their eyes lit up.
"It's true," Luigi said distantly. "We're still in this and maybe even have chances of getting more than one Great Gospel tome."
"Then let's not waste any more time and get going," Mario declared. "We should also split up so we can go to both the Gold Saucer and Wutai. If anyone gets a tome, let the other team know so we can quickly break off any extraneous missions and rendezvous so we can prepare for Sephiroth."
"Hold on," Aerith cautioned. "I've been to both Wutai and the Gold Saucer before and if either place has a Great Gospel tome, we're going to need a plan to get it and get out without attracting any attention to ourselves, and in the Gold Saucer's case, hope to survive since the best prizes were in the Battle Square. Remember, Sephiroth's in control of the Lifestream and the last thing we need is for him to realize our plans."
"Chances are Sephiroth already knows what we're looking for," Luigi interjected.
"Probably," Aerith admitted. "But even if he knows about the tome and knows that we're going to make an attempt to get it, if we do this right, he won't know we actually have it until it's too late for him to do anything about it."
"But if he knows about it, wouldn't he already be in the process of making plans to ensure that we don't get it?" Goombella asked.
"That's why we need to do this quickly but we can't do this without a plan," Aerith answered.
"Anyone who can cloak would probably be great for the Wutai mission," Mario suggested. He then pulled out a Vanish Cap. "I also have a martial arts training so I shouldn't stand out too much."
"You'll also need someone who knows the lay of the land," Aerith told volunteering herself for the mission.
"I'll join you too," Bow volunteered.
"Me too," Vivian added. "Besides, you'll probably need someone who can use magic that can take out multiple opponents since there's no way that Sephiroth won't know about this and try to take advantage of this opportunity."
Mario nodded in agreement.
"And since I'm a thief, I'll also be a useful for the Wutai mission," Ms. Mowz added, stepping forward.
"I'll join, too," Goombella added. "If worse comes to worst and there's a limit on the numbers per team, I think having an even six would allow everyone to be useful."
"Alright then, it looks like we're in business."
"The rest of us will go to Gold Saucer," Luigi stated. "It'll also allow us train in the use of our Star Power for the upcoming fight against Sephiroth."
"The Gold Saucer is not too far away so Mario and Luigi should be able to fly, allowing us to be passengers in the taxi without overburdening it," Nanaki suggested.
Mario and Luigi nodded in agreement. They then spent a few minutes getting a group of power-ups and items that would make it easier for them to avoid detection. Once the parties were properly equipped and ready, they proceeded to make their way to the cab. Upon telling Dribble and Spitz their new destinations, they boarded the cab and departed Cosmo Canyon.
Meanwhile, inside the Lifestream, Sephiroth all but reveled in the fact that he had finally achieved his goal after so long. He had become one with the Lifestream. Knowledge, power, memories, and experience had flooded into him and for a moment, he had believed that he had been changing. However, he was still himself and he still had his goal to complete. Despite his newfound power and knowledge, though, he could not be complacent. The Mario Brothers and Aerith were still out there and even though his contingency plan that Bowser was executing was underway, he knew that it would take quite some time for the Koopa King to draw up enough infected Lifestream to be able to create a new Lifestream on Hylia. In the meantime, he knew that he would need forces to both protect him and to keep the Marios and their allies off balance.
Closing his eyes and extending his senses through the Lifestream, he could sense the overarching plans for Mario and his allies. Still, it was difficult to get the specifics from Aerith and Nanaki and not only because they were resisting any scanning attempts. He could feel that his control over the Lifestream was not yet complete. Since he was so focused on sending infected Lifestream to Bowser in Junon, he was distracted from other things on other parts of the planet. The good thing was that since there had not been a real war on Gaia for many generations that they were not accustomed to fighting. Even better was the fact that they were oblivious to Bowser's presence in Junon and to what he was doing. As such, he did not need to worry about that at the moment. His concern right now was Mario and what would happen if they somehow did get a new version of Great Gospel, or worse, some other medicine, magic, or power that could destroy Jenova and cure the Lifestream. What he needed was extra security.
To that end, Sephiroth closed his eyes once more and used the parts of the Lifestream that were under his complete control to manifest various "remnants" of himself. Almost immediately, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo emerged from the Lifestream in Northern Cave in North Crater. They emerged fully clothed, wearing clothes similar to Sephiroth, with each of them looking similar to their creator and the one that they represented. The moment they did so, they took up positions in the cave, this time, knowing their purpose and waiting for the time that Mario and his allies arrived to face down Sephiroth. After they were formed, Sephiroth knew that he would need to create more clones as protection and as a distraction to keep Mario occupied while he took over the Lifestream. And once he took over the Lifestream, he would use Chaos and Omega to cause everyone on Gaia to join the Lifestream, and him, and he would finally have the ultimate power. But even then, he knew not to underestimate Mario and his allies. He would not make the same mistake again. This time, he would make sure that Mario and his allies were beaten once and for all. And once all resistance was destroyed, he would have complete control of the Planet.