Final Fantasy VII: The Story 2nd Instalment
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter TenTravelling through the rough and jagged peaks of Mt. Nibel was thought to be no problem for Cloud and his team. The paths were too bumpy for the buggy so they'd had no choice but to abandon it outside Nibelheim. The acting shopkeeper didn't have many items to sell, but they had managed to stock up on food and healing items for the next part of their journey.
The mountains themselves had seemed quiet enough. They were just as Cloud had remembered them, too. The rocky cliffs were still grey and lifeless. The air was still cold and dry, and the winding mist that still lay heavy across the mountain floor made him feel uneasy and apprehensive. He had had no doubt the others felt the same – Mt. Nibel wasn't a very hospitable place at any time.
They had soon discovered how inhospitable as they finished crossing the old wooden bridge that joined the two main mountains. They had barely even taken a few steps away from the bridge when a piercing screech came screaming down at them from the rising grey walls, making them stop and look up, their hands rushing towards their weapons.
Glaring back down at them had been a giant scorpion-like beast that lived inside the deepest crevices of Mt. Nibel. The Materia Keeper was perfectly adapted to its terrain – it had a body of thick, dark blue skin that was so tough it was almost impossible to penetrate with ordinary weapons. It had four strong legs tipped with gigantic claws for digging into rock, and two more back legs raised up to grip into the crevices of the mountain wall. Behind it were a long spiked tail and a flexible rod of firm flesh, making it a walking arsenal of spikes and claws. And with all that thick flesh and claws, defeating it would certainly be no easy task.
They couldn't believe how right they had been. With the Materia Keeper's tough flesh their weapons were proving next to useless. Not a single one had made a dent in the monster's flesh – not even Barret's bullets, firing at three-to-five bullets a second. Nor could they afford to get too close to the creature – that spiked tail and many claws were just waiting to grab onto them and slice them in half.
So, with all these handicaps in place, they had resorted to falling back on their last remaining weapons. Weapons that would prove to be the backbone and motivation for all of their battles to come: the Materia.
A single red ball was thrown up into the air and it shimmered brilliantly with an intense blue-white colour. Within seconds the shimmer had grown and solidified, bringing forth the form of a beautiful ice maiden contained within the ball. Her skin was iridescent, shimmering with many shades of blue like images reflecting off the surface of lightly rippling water. Her eyes were a deep, enchanting blue but held tremendous power, which only intensified as she floated down from the air to the spot in front of the Materia Keeper.
Shiva, the Maiden of Eternal Cold, slowly raised her right arm up above her head. A shower of icy sparkles began to glisten in the air as a blue ball of light formed at the tip of her fingers. When she was ready Shiva lowered her arm and cast the ball away from her.
The Materia Keeper never had the chance to react. It was still reeling from the fierce storm of flames that were burning around its tough skin, cast by Ifrit in the previous attack. Yet, although the flames were strong they were nowhere near powerful enough to damage the beast - its strength against heat was incredible. As Shiva's attack hit those flames were vanquished instantly, replaced by a structure of strong, slanted icicles. The Materia Keeper shuddered and then stilled within the icy frame, until the icicles shattered and Shiva disappeared in a shower of sparkles.
With the icy cage now gone, the Materia Keeper screeched and charged forward, its legs slicing up huge chunks of rock as it stomped forward like a charging cannon. It headed towards Yuffie and Aeris, who were standing cornered at the edge of the cliff overlooking the chasm.
Yuffie, furious at the thought of being cornered, leapt up from the sidelines and prepared to throw her shuriken. The Materia Keeper stopped and raised one of its powerful, claw-tipped feet and struck the girl in mid-leap, swiping her aside. The young ninja hit the ground hard and rolled across the floor, hitting one of the exhaust pipes that were sticking up out of the ground.
Ignoring the pelting parade of bullets that were attacking it from behind, the Materia Keeper then turned towards Aeris. She was already preparing her defence, her staff hovering in front of her as she began to cast the magic from her own materia. A swirling pool of black emptiness was forming in front of her, rippling like water.
The Materia Keeper raised its sharp-clawed, pincer-like leg and thrust it forward. The pincers touched the edge of the pool and quivered, a sharp swell spreading across the hard claws and spreading to the monster's skin. Pulled deeper into the pool by the gravitational the claw began to shrink and twist, its form being completely distorted by the field.
Alas, keeping the gravitational field going was extremely difficult, and Aeris was already struggling. Her hands trembled as she held them out in front of her, and the black pool was steadily beginning to draw back towards her as the Materia Keeper began to push it back. She closed her eyes and focused all of her energy on keeping the magic working… to save her from falling from the ledge. Still, as the Materia Keeper pushed the wall kept falling back and rippling harder, close to breaking despite Aeris's attempts.
A few seconds later the wall shuddered, before dissolving into a dozens droplets of black that slowly melted away into the air, leaving Aeris defenceless. As the Materia Keeper thrust its leg forward it stopped as another pool of black suddenly appeared ahead of it, blocking its attack again. Aeris looked over to her right and saw Cait Sith standing nearby, the materia in his megaphone twinkling vibrantly.
"Cait!" she called.
The cat didn't answer her, as his attention was entirely focused on keeping up the gravitational pool that was stopping the Materia Keeper from getting near to her. So far it was working, and the Materia Keeper was temporarily held still against its strong pull.
Using this moment of immobility to their advantage, the others chose this moment to attack. Barret, Cloud and Tifa cast a series of fire, ice and lightning attacks into the air, and a blur of fiery fur dashed alongside the monster. In his wake Red XIII created a series of cuts and scratches across the monster's skin, although they were not very damaging wounds and did not slow the monster in any way.
As if to prove this point, the Materia Keeper stepped back and broke away from the gravity field cast by Cait Sith. It stomped its legs into the rock as it turned around sharply so that it was facing Red XIII as he ran past. In a rage of fury the Materia Keeper lowered it head and charged forward. Red XIII jumped up as the Materia Keeper thrust the deadly horn on the front of its face forward, and yelped as he felt the hot sting scrape the side of his hind legs.
As the hound landed and staggered out of the way, Cloud suddenly zipped past and darted along the edge of the ledge, just as the Materia Keeper began to turn once again. He grabbed Aeris as he ran past, pulling her away from the edge just as the long, spiked tail of the Materia Keeper swung past them, missing them by a few inches.
As the Materia Keeper finished turning it spotted the two running away from it, and once again began to charge towards them. With its deadly claws raised it struck, but was stopped, as a flash of red appeared in front of it, and something golden-brown came up and caught the claws in mid-descent. Hearing the frustrated cry of the monster, Cloud and Aeris stopped and looked back.
The Materia Keeper had been stopped by Vincent, his left arm stopping the claws in their tracks. Vincent stood his ground as the monster pushed against him, not showing a single ounce of pain on his face as the claw dug into the golden plating surrounding his arm.
With the monster directly in front of him, Vincent flung open his cape with his free hand and pulled out the long and slender shotgun from his belt, and aimed over his left arm to the hideous face of the Materia Keeper.
He fired a single shot – straight into one of the Materia Keeper's eyes. It responded with a terrible shriek that echoed throughout the mountains, and as it stepped back away from Vincent it stamped its feet against the rock and making it shake. Dark green blood poured from its tiny, wounded eye.
Looking up at the wounded creature, Vincent placed his shotgun back into its holster and raised his gaze to it. He stared for a few seconds before his dark red eyes suddenly flashed and came to life in a sea of fiery red. It was a fierceness that was sweeping through the darker colours in a wash of life and anger, and with that sudden surge of energy came another power that the man had kept hidden until then, and he began to change.
It started off slowly at first, but increased in pace rapidly. From his eyes leaked a shade of dark purple that sank into his skin and began to spread across his face and neck, sinking underneath his clothes to the rest of his body. The skin of his face then began to thicken and bulge outwards, as though there was something living underneath his flesh that was trying to force its way out of him.
From there things began to happen very quickly. Vincent keeled over so that he was on his knees as a deep orange glow suddenly swept up from his feet and surrounded his body. Within that deep, opaque glow his clothes were gradually burned away, and his dark hair was swept up into the air as shades of red and purple were forced through, pushing away the dark. The bulging and thickening of his skin continued all over the rest of his body, merging with the purple shade that had taken over him.
By the time the transformation was complete, there was nothing left that could identify the new creature as Vincent. The glow faded to reveal a magnificent yet destructive beast. Many strong muscles and a sturdy structure had replaced Vincent's apparent frail form. His face was that of an angry beast, with the mane of purple-red hair falling loosely across his head and back, and even a tiny beard underneath his pointed muzzle.
Cloud and the others all stared in awe and fear at the beast Vincent had become. The man had said very little about himself since they left Nibelheim, and they had thought him to be nothing more than a skilled gunman. Yet before their eyes they had seen a terrific transformation – from which the delicate-looking man had become a strong, fierce beast.
"He… he turned into a monster!" cried Tifa.
"So this is what the letter meant when it said 'scientifically altered'," Red XIII said calmly, limping across the rock. His own wound was still bleeding, but he was more entranced and intrigued by the new creature. He could still smell Vincent in the air, but that scent was now merged with the scent of the new beast. "Very interesting."
With the change complete, the new beast, known as Galian, stormed forward and jumped up into the air. In mid-leap he roared loudly, so loud that the ground quaked beneath him. Sparks of light began to dot the air around the Materia Keeper, small at first but gradually growing larger. Then, in a sudden flash, they exploded.
A shower of powerful flames erupted around the Materia Keeper, surrounding it on all sides so that it couldn't escape. Even though it had a natural resistance to flames, it did not expect the flames of Galian to be so precise in finding the weak spots at the joints of its legs. Within seconds the flames filled those spots and burned the softer flesh, and the Materia Keeper crumpled onto the floor.
This was their chance. With the Materia Keeper down Cloud and the others all gathered round, ready to strike. Their materia at the ready they now planned to destroy the monster, using its own favoured item against it.
Just as they had done to the beast in the safe in Shinra Mansion, the group together let off an onslaught of magic into the air. Bolts of lightning flashed, showers of ice fell, and storms of flames rose up from the earth and surrounded the Materia Keeper and making it shriek even louder. To one side Yuffie used her Earth magic to make the ground beneath the monster shake and tremble, breaking up to create a pit. The Materia Keeper shuddered and collapsed into the hole, now completely vulnerable.
Together, Aeris and Cait cast a powerful wave of gravitational energy. It descended on the Materia Keeper and enveloped it, pushing it down. Its body was pulled completely out of proportion as it was pressed into the pit, its cry wavering and distorted, sounding as though it was crying from beneath the oceans.
Galian gave the final blow. With a final tremendous roar he once again cast another wave of fiery balls that flew down to the Materia Keeper, as it lay pressed in the pit. Upon contact they exploded in another fierce shower of flames, blowing the gravitational field apart. The Materia Keeper went with it, and as both energy fields faded there was nothing left of the creature except for the pit.
There was a moment of silence amongst the group as the last traces of energy faded away. They were all staring at the centre of the pit where the Materia Keeper had been just seconds before. There wasn't a single trace of flesh left, nor could they feel its spirit seep away into the mountains. It had been completely obliterated.
Galian slowly floated down onto the ground, his clawed feet landing at the edge of the pit. The others turned their gazes upon him as a calmer blue glow silently rose up around him, blocking him from their sight again. By the time the glow died away there was nothing left of Galian, and Vincent was standing in his place once again.
"Vincent…?" said Tifa, braving to be the first one to break the silence. "Umm… how did you…?"
Vincent refused to answer, and he also refused to look at them. He just pulled out his shotgun, opened up the barrel, and looked inside. Then he pulled out a small case containing more bullets, and placed one into the barrel to replace the one he had used against the Materia Keeper. With that done he placed both the case and the gun away, and began to walk away from them, towards the mountain exit.
"Well, ain't that jus' damn rude?" commented Barret, looking over at Vincent as he walked away from them. "Ya think he could've at least given an explanation." He looked down at Red XIII. "Ya reckon he's got somethin' to hide?"
Red XIII didn't look up. He was too busy licking away the blood from his hind leg. Thankfully the wound wasn't too deep or troublesome, and would heal quite quickly if it was given the time to heal. It was still quite painful, though.
"He is quite mysterious," the hound muttered between licks. "His scent is mostly human, but I also smell many unknown scents about him. I think… what we just saw, is just one of many forms or abilities." He gave one final lick, seemed satisfied, and stood up. "Scientifically altered… I wonder…"
"Whatever it is, it isn't any of our business," Cloud said coldly. "Let's just move on, shall we?"
Barret and Red XIII watched as Cloud walked briskly past them, following Vincent across the pit towards the exit of the mountains. Barret watched them closely as they walked away in total silence, before he scowled angrily and shook his fist.
"Damn! Feels like our team is CRAWLIN' with Ex-Shinra!" he snapped. "I swear if we get any more, I'm gonna scream!"
Following their brisk and somewhat unusual battle against the Materia Keeper, the group of eight continued to head through the mountains towards the exit. They were now heading back pretty much the way they had come, but on a different path that would lead them around the other side of the mountain and towards its exit, leaving them on the next part of the continent. Going deeper into the mountains would only lead them towards the Nibelheim reactor, but Cloud knew that Sephiroth wasn't heading there.
Neither Cloud nor Vincent said anything as they walked on through the short stretch of winding path leading to the exit. They were both equally silent, both of them lost in their thoughts. The others, feeling uncomfortable by the almost hostile silence, made small talk amongst themselves. Mostly about the Shinra, where they could be heading… and even about the Gold Saucer, which felt like a world away from where they were right then.
Vincent was thinking about Professor Hojo and Lucrecia. He wondered how long it would be before he would run into the mad scientist again. All that time in his coffin inside Shinra Mansion had not subdued his anger for the scientist… and if travelling with Cloud and the others was the only way to find him… then so be it. And if they did indeed run into Sephiroth as well… then he would settle both problems at once.
Cloud, of course, was once again thinking about Sephiroth. He had managed to still the rising anxiety that had hit him so harshly inside the Shinra Mansion, but he couldn't remove the memory. The cold fingers, so icy and hard, still gripped the deepest reaches of his mind, ensuring that Sephiroth didn't slip his mind for even a second. Finding Sephiroth… stopping him from finding the Promised Land… and ending everything… That was what mattered the most.
"Jenova will join the Reunion, becoming a calamity from the skies."
Sephiroth's worse continued to run through his mind, like a record that was stuck and repeating the same lines over and over. They were repeated so much that even after the record stopped the words could still be heard.
Reunion? A calamity from the skies? It sounded like some sort of title. So did that mean that Jenova wasn't an Ancient after all? If she wasn't then Sephiroth wasn't an Ancient, either. They had already seen Jenova on board the Shinra ship from Junon to Costa del Sol, reborn from an arm thrown down by Sephiroth. She had seemed to be intact then, so what was this 'Reunion?'
"Are you going to participate in the Reunion?"
The words seemed to scream through Cloud's mind, like a nail scratching on the surface of a blackboard. It made his head throb and made a lump in Cloud's throat that he couldn't swallow or push away, and he felt a little dizzy and light-headed. To pull himself back before he fainted he gave his hair a sudden, sharp tug, making the back of his eyes sting.
"Are you going to participate in the Reunion?"
"I wish I knew that the 'Reunion' was…" Cloud muttered under his breath.
They eventually emerged from the mountains and back into the wide, grassy area of the Kutai Plains. The change between the land of the mountains and the plains was instantaneous. The dark and lifeless stony floor suddenly stopped and was replaced by a land of lush and verdant grass. The cold, harsh air of the mountains was filled with life again, carrying with it the fresh scent of grass and the faint, salty smell of the ocean no more than a few hundred metres ahead of them.
Free of the cold, bleak restraints of the mountains, Aeris threw her staff down onto the ground. Forgetting about the others for a minute she kicked off her boots and ran forward onto the grass, feeling its soft, tickly feeling on the soles of her feet. There was a gentle breeze blowing from the west, and she could smell the scent of flowers that were blossoming in the sunlight. They reminded her of her own flower garden, all that way back in Midgar.
Looking up Aeris caught a flash of the sun shining high at the midday point. Warm rays were shining down on her, and right then all she wanted to do was lie back on the grass and watch the clouds go by. It was a truly picture perfect moment.
The others had also settled down on the grass, taking this moment to recuperate from their battle inside the mountain. Although there were no more monster attacks inside the mountain they was aware of those outside the mountain. There was a small pack of Nibel Wolves watching nearby, eyeing them over as potential prey.
Tifa walked over to the nearby river and took off her gloves. Already the thick red leather was beginning to wear from all their fighting – she would have to replace them soon. Kneeling down she dipped her fingers into the water and sighed, feeling the coolness against her skin. A shadow fell over her and she realised that Cloud had walked up beside her. He was looking out across the river towards Nibelheim, with their buggy still parked outside.
"We'll be setting off soon," Cloud said without looking at her. "Cait says the only other town around here is a place called Rocket Town about an hour's walk from here. We should be able to find it if we stick close to the mountain."
Tifa slowly nodded her head and looked back down at the water. She watched the water flow between her fingers, creating small bubbles of air as she swished her hand gently beneath the surface. Like the fire in Cosmo Canyon, she could see all sorts of things in the water. She found herself particularly looking at hers and Cloud's reflection, disjointed and wavering in the river's current.
"Cloud…" she said softly, pulling her hand from the water. "Do you ever get the feeling that we're just being led somewhere? That we're not really choosing where we want to go?"
Cloud looked down at her in surprise. "You mean like puppets on strings?" he asked.
"Almost like that…" Tifa said. She gazed back down at the water. "It's like this river. We see ourselves in its reflection, but each drop is swept away of its own will." She reached out and touched the surface of the water, watching it ripple. "We can't do anything about it, but we know where it's heading. I just wonder where we're heading. I guess I do feel like a puppet. Do you feel like that?"
Cloud closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I don't really know," he admitted finally. "All I know is that if we keep following Sephiroth and the Shinra, then eventually we'll get somewhere." He scratched his head. "I guess that's really not much help."
"No, it is," said Tifa. "I just felt like I needed some assurance."
Cloud nodded. "Don't worry, Tifa," he said. "It'll be fine."
His words seemed to reassure her, and she smiled faintly. Cloud wasn't surprised she was feeling a little down. They had made their way across the ocean and across two continents, but still they had no idea where Sephiroth was heading or what he was up to. It was beginning to affect everyone. Except Vincent, that is, since no one could ever really tell what he was thinking.
"Cloud! Tifa!" The two looked up as they saw Aeris standing with the others at the corner of Mt. Nibel. "Hurry up, or we'll leave you behind!"
"Coming!" Tifa called back. She shook her hand dry and slipped her gloves back on. Pushing her hair away from her face as she stood up, she turned and headed back towards the others. After a few steps she stopped, and turned back to Cloud with a happy smile on her face. "Thanks, Cloud," she added, before turning back and ran across the grass.
Emerald: Sorry for the wait for this chapter, but I've had a lot on my mind this summer. Plus I tend to slow down at battle chapters. And yes, I know the Materia Keeper absorbs fire attacks, but I didn't want to give that kind of handicap, so I made the Materia Keeper strong against fire, but it had a little weakness. It was just so I could include Vincent's transformation and use its ability, since I couldn't think of a better place to add it.