Chapter 17: Into the Abyss
(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)
The Highwind made its descent as the remaining eight of nine members of Avalanche stood on the deck. The ship jolted as it sat down on a semi-flat area of rock at the top of the crater. It was time.
"Hey Cid, remind me to kiss Shera when we get outta here. Those pills work great!" Yuffie said to the blonde pilot.
Cid looked over and mumbled around his cigarette. "I'll kiss her my goddamn self, that's one less of your 'messes' that I had to smell."
Tifa held two materia pouches and handed one to the pilot. "Go a head and split these among your team. There should be cure materias for each person to have a one that has been mastered. There are also two master final attacks, a four-growth phoenix and one master phoenix. One for each group. Each person should have already received a pack with items that we might need."
Cloud and Cid began handing out the materia. Yuffie looked at the niches in her Conformer and Minerva band when she noticed that Vincent's luck materia was still locked in the same slot of her band as it was at the pagoda. She ran her finger over the materia with a smile and looked up to see Vincent watching her with a warm smile that was partially hidden under his collar.
He walked over to her and began placing his materia in his own slots as she placed hers. She covered the materia with her thumb and with a sheepish look, gray met red. "It brought me luck before and it will again."
He nodded. He felt pride in knowing that Yuffie believed in his small gift to her. He placed the final attack and phoenix in a connected slot as a crewman approached them.
"May I have your attention for a moment. These are the radios that the Captain developed for you." He handed two to Cloud, the two to Cid, and placed the earpiece of the fifth in his ear. "Make sure to have them locked on channel one and check in every half hour. I will be listening in the event you should lose contact with the other group and act as a relay if there is any odd interference. We wish you a safe journey."
Cloud nodded to the man as he gave one of the radios to Vincent. "Thanks Michaels. Yuffs, Vincent, you can decide between the two of you which one of you will hold the radio."
Vincent handed the radio to Yuffie as he watched Barret place his earpiece.
"Thanks Vince!" She said as she snapped the radio to the back of her pants. "Are we ready?"
"Let's Mos-" Cloud received death glares from Cid an Barret at him almost using the word 'mosey.' "I mean, move out!"
.::-o-::.
After spending three hours fighting and following the spiraling, Mako drenched path, jumping form multiple crumbling rock ledges and mazes of cave systems. They could no longer see the light that shone from the sky above.
Cid was standing with his team and scratching his head as looked around then pulled out his radio. "Hey Spike! There's a fork in the path down here, when you gonna get yer asses down here?"
Cloud voice came through his earpiece. "Where are you?"
Barret looked around the area. "We jus' left that second set of ledges."
Tifa's faint voice was heard through their earpiece. "Cloud, behind you!"
"Cloud! Can you hear me! What the hell is-"
Yuffie's voice broke through with the sound of Vincent's gun blasting in the background. "We're right above ya, keep your pants on!"
The sounds of the battle continued to pour into the ears of Cid and Barret.
"Hey Michaels, you still got yer ass up there?"
"Yes Captain, we're reading you both loud and clear."
"Good. Let me know if you lose contact with the other team."
.::-o-::.
Five minutes later, a set of black boots with gold spikes dropped from the ledge above. Vincent landed on the upper ledge above the forked path and waited for the rest of his team. Cloud was the last to make it down.
"Wouldya hurry the hell up already?" Cid yelled from below.
Vincent walked to the edge and peered over. 'Its not that high.' He thought as he jumped to the ledge below and made the final jump to the floor.
The young ninja followed his lead and jumped from the ledges, rolling to her feet near Vincent. Cloud and Tifa climbed their way down and walked over to the waiting group.
"What in the fuck attacked ya up there?" Barret asked, seeing some sort of red powder covering Cloud.
Yuffie bounced on her feet with her newly acquired ribbon. "It was some sort of lizard monster. It looked really stupid carrying that lantern and itty-bitty knife. We taught it a lesson though and I found this on'em after we killed it." She waved her ribbon around before tying it in her hair.
They nodded at the energetic ninja and turned back to Cloud. Nanaki walked over and sat next to Cloud. "The path branches here, we'll have to split up."
Cloud looked around the group, everyone looked a bit tired, with the exception of Yuffie and Vincent. "We'll take a short break here. Cid, your team will take the left path, we'll take the right. If you need to split up, Red, you go with Barret. Cid, you go with Cait Sith. Be ready to head out in five minutes."
Yuffie wandered over to a wall and sat down in front of it, being careful not to lean against it since it was covered in Mako. 'Yeah, now would be the perfect time to get a nice case of Mako poisoning.' She thought to her self. She clasped her hand and bowed her head slightly in prayer to Leviathan. She prayed for the souls of the beasts that she had to kill on their way down as she hand learned to from her mother.
"Yuffs, Lets go!" Tifa called from the top of the right path. Yuffie darted over to her and they made and they made their way deeper into the heart of the planet.
.::-o-::.
Tifa leapt from the tall stone spiral and landed next to an irritated ninja who had, for the second time that day, landed on her rear. Vincent pushed down his smile as the ninja got to her feet and rubbed the sore spot on her posterior.
She glared over at Vincent, knowing that he found it amusing though his face didn't show it. "Don't think I forgot what happened earlier…I am still planning my revenge." She marched towards Cloud, who was searching what looked like a large cracked eggshell.
As Tifa walked past him, she looked back at him with a wide smile. "I don't know what you did to her, but I'd be afraid…very afraid."
"Hey Teef, get over here for a sec!" Yuffie called over to the martial artist.
Vincent approached the three standing inside the shell. They were trying to pry open a rusted chest when he saw what can only be described as a bubble of magic heading in their direction. His gun rose as he shouted over to the three.
"MOVE!"
Tifa and Yuffie dove out of range of the attack. Cloud, however, was not so lucky. The force of the magic attack had thrown him to the ground. Vincent fired his gun at the small purple beast wounding it.
A light appeared above the injured beast completely healing it.
Yuffie's eyes went wide. "What the hell?! Where did that come from?"
Tifa, who was equally confused, launched another attack at it. "I don't know, the other ones couldn't do that!"
Cloud had picked himself off the ground and charged at the small beast slicing it with his sword.
From out of nowhere another of the small purple beast appeared with a woman. She was stunning with long flowing hair that reached her waist and piercing blue Mako eyes. "These lowly creatures do not have the ability to heal themselves. However, I do." Her mouth did not move when the words were spoken, but her voice echoed in the cavern.
Yuffie launched her Conformer at the second purple beast, as Vincent attacked the other with Cloud. Cloud was still suffering the effects of his injuries. Tifa backed away from the beast and stared into the eyes of the woman.
The two women stood with eyes locked and unmoving as the others eliminated the two purple beast. A mental battle was being waged in both Tifa's burgundy eyes and the ice blue ones of the woman.
Yuffie watched as Tifa gained control over the mind of the woman whose eyes rolled back in their sockets. Tifa's eyes closed as she began mumbling under her breath. Cloud was leaning on his sword, also watching the display.
Tifa's arms rose above her head as she spoke. "Angel whisper." They all watched as the woman began to chant the spell and cast it on Cloud.
The same light that had fallen on the purple beast poured down on Cloud. He felt the pure healing energy flow through his body healing his wounds. Cloud ran forward and brought his sword down on the woman, knocking her out of the trance.
Tifa ran forward as Cloud brought his blade down a second time. She brought her foot up and slammed it against the woman's head, knocking her to the ground. They all took defensive positions around the woman, but she didn't move.
They all relax their stances as Cloud fumbled with one of the materia slots on his sword and pulled out a yellow orb and tossed it to Tifa. Tifa focused on the orb for a moment, feeling a mental pull similar to what she experienced with the angel whisper. She nodded to Cloud and handed the materia back to him.
"Hey Teef, how'd ya know that you could draw that spell from her?" The ninja asked as she and Vincent finally pried the chest open. Vincent handed a mystile to Cloud.
Tifa's lips turned upwards. "I'm not sure, lucky I guess, but it will come in handy. Lets go."
.::-o-::.
They slowly made their way down the fossils that littered the room. Once they reached the bottom, both Cloud and Yuffie stopped in their tracks and pressed a finger to their ears. Vincent's sensitive hearing picked up Cid's voice coming through the earpiece.
"Hey, we just reached the bottom. There's some stones that lead down a bit further, so we'll wait for you on the other side. Hurry the hell up."
Yuffie looked at the entrance to the next cave. "I think we're close. Is everyone with ya?"
Barret's deep voice came through. "Yeah brat, we're here."
"Okay Marsha, we'll be there in a few minutes."
Barret growled and Cid laughed at the big man. "Hurry."
"So what did they say?" Tifa said as she walked over to them.
Cloud looked up over to her from the bones he was looking at. "They're waiting at the bottom."
Vincent walked towards the new cave. "Let us proceed."
.::-o-::.
Yuffie was right. There was the path the Cid spoke of and the bright green glow of Mako lighting the way. The four hopped down the rocks and were greeted by a bouncing Cait Sith.
"Hey Cloud, bout time ya'll made it. Lookie at what I found." The mog held out its hand revealing a pink mega all orb then became as serious as a stuffed mog and a mechanical cat can be. "Reeve says good luck and hopes that he gets a chance to meet all of you real soon."
"Thank you Reeve, we'll let Cait know where we'll be going so if you want, you can meet us there." The small cat nodded its head.
All of the items that were found were distributed and weapons were changed for more powerful ones. Yuffie was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her finger idly stroking the luck materia.
Tifa re-tied the ribbon in her hair as she stood. "Ready?"
At everyone's nod, Cloud gave the order. "Lets move out!"
o-o-Author's Notes-o-o
This and the next five chapters were a LOT of fun to write! I almost wish the chapters that I'm writing right now were so easy. Plus, there have been so many of my favorite stories that have been updated that I just can't resist not reading them.
Did I leave ya wonderin' what's gonna happen next??? I hope I did -grins evilly-.
Okay, so now that Sephy has all the Pepsi cleaned from his hot body, I think I will let him finish the rest of the AN's while I start my own little mini rampage on GTA: Vice City.
Seph: -Clears throat and grimaces- Ezri, must I wear this? -points to g-string- This one probably two sizes smaller than the one I was wearing in your strange dream.
Ezri: -Grins- Well Sephy-baby that's the point! The ladies out there -points to her female readers- know what I'm talkin' bout. If you have no idea what dream Sephy is talking about, check out my newest story, Emerge, and read the AN's. He'll tell you about the story later. -Goes back to killing random people in her game-
Seph: -reaches down and adjusts his string- Ezri would like to thank everyone who has reviewed her stories thus far and would especially like to thank those who have reviewed the last two chapters
Shadow Reaver
Empress-Eerian-Sadow
TheEvilOne69
Sephiroth2021
Shadow Keepre
PhoenixStar4
-Ezri runs out and tosses cookies to all-
Seph: And also:
Angel280: She says that Tseng and Rude are staying with you for another week but Reno has another assignment so Reeve will be joining you.
Eternal Star: Reno should arrive at your doorstep momentarily…She is getting very good with her whip -Seph rubs his butt- she's been using me for target practice…I get a nice reward afterwards though….Mmm chocolate…Ahem…sorry bout that.
SS/Destiny Daae: Vincent is also on his way complete with strawberries and chocolate sauce…
Sephiroth2021: She says thanks for sending Tifa back…she had to use hyper on her to wake her up, but she's doing fine now…maybe she will be able to visit again soon.
Lone Gunmen: Thanks for all your support! When she reads your reviews it puts her in a good mood and I don't have to listen to her bitch and moan about what's bothering her at the moment. She likes putting Yuffie and Vincent together with different character cause it she gets a chance to explore territories that are hardly visited…
Ezri: -Looks up from GTA and borrows keyboard from Seph- Hey! I don't bitch that much…okay I do but I'm not that bad…Sorry to interrupt Sephy but I am having some plot bunny issues…lately, it hasn't visited me and I want to write more, but I need more story ideas and pairings, if you want to send a few suggestions my way, I will gladly accept. I still have another Yuffie story that in progress but I want more to write!! -waves and goes back to her game.-
Seph: Ezri has yet another new story out for your reading enjoyment. Please take time to Read and Review if you haven't already and for those of you who have, she says thank you.
Its called "Emerge"
Pairings are: Cloud/Aerith, Yuffie/Reeve, Tifa/??? And Tifa/???
Summary: Tifa comes to terms with the fact that she and Cloud will never be more than friends and begins spending time with Vincent. She starts a new relationship with a man she meets in Nibelheim and the relationship soon takes a turn for the worse. Contains Citrus
o-o
Seph -Clears Throat- Ezri doesn't own final fantasy or any of its characters, she just brings us out to play…I hope she uses me in another story…-Grins- the last one was most enjoyable…
If you want to read the rest of her stories or contact her, check out her profile.
Ez: Til next time everyone and please don't kill me about where I stopped in this chapter… Bubbye!!! Hey Seph, come sit next to me, I'll show you how to play -Pats the itty bity spot next to her and wags eyebrows as Sephy walks over-
Edited 1/14/07
7/25/07
Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.