Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII.

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Chapter Six

All Coming To a Pretty Peak

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"Thassa good boy, Cocoa," Cid was rubbing the side of the bird's face as he pulled him into the stable in the back. "We won 'cuz of you." And no one said a word about anything that happened. Well…they probably didn't see all the other crap I pulled along the way because of the caves and bright lights and stuff, but they should've at least said something 'bout Joe…

"Hey!"

Cid spun around to see the five angry jockeys he had just raced with minutes before. Several were bandaged and others were bruised black and blue.

"'Sup fellas?" the Captain whistled as he held the same cigarette he had used to cheat with in the race between his fingers. He put it to his mouth, took a drag off of it, and held it pursed in between his lips.

"How the hell could you win!? You cheated!" one of them shouted. Cid recognized him as the one who owned the Chocobo he had jabbed his cigarette with.

The pilot shrugged. "Ya can't prove nuthin'. Guess the judges were just too impressed that a C Class Chocobo kicked all the asses of yer S Classes."

"You son of a—"

"He's mine."

Everyone, including Cid, turned to see Dragonmaster Joe, looking very much annihilated with cuts and dried blood on his face. A pant leg was blown off entirely, probably from the explosion the foulmouthed blonde figured, while holes decorated his jacket and shirt like Swiss cheese. One side of his hat was completely missing.

"Can I help you?" Cid joked, hanging his head back.

Joe was silent for a minute, and the other racers stepped out of his way, nervous. The Captain wasn't scared. He won and that was all that mattered. Maybe it hadn't been the most honorable way, but he had won, nonetheless, and it wasn't like anyone could prove anything. The pilot stared at Joe, who was just slightly taller than he, without any care for what the other man was thinking. Then he saw a slow fist clench and Joe's face darkened.

"Teioh's DEAD!"

"Ain't that a shame…?" Cid took another puff from his cigarette. "My sympathies."

There was a sudden intake of breath and everyone watched as Joe stormed up to the pilot, grabbed him by the jacket, and pulled Cid up from off the ground. He plucked the cigarette from Cid's mouth and tossed it away. Another jockey jogged over to it and stomped it out before it could start a fire.

"You little shit! I should rip your face off!"

"Then do it!" the blonde pilot urged. "What's stoppin' ya!?"

"Why I outta…!" Joe reeled back his arm, eyes ablaze, and aimed to strike Cid.

"Wark!" Cocoa struck from behind, leaping out of its pen and began to peck at the Chocobo master with utmost hatred.

Joe screamed as he dropped Cid to the ground and shielded his face, stepping backwards. The room was filled with feathers as Cocoa quickly ruffled its wings in rage. Cid watched, awestricken, as were all of the other jockeys, when Cocoa lifted Joe up with his shirt in its beak and tossed him across the room.

There was silence after the Chocobo master hit the wall and slumped. No one knew if he was alive or dead. And people were too scared to ask.

Cid pushed himself to his feet, swallowing his anxiety. What had just happened? Had Cocoa really… …saved me? Damn, what an awesome bird.

"K-Kill it…" came a hoarse voice from a crippled Dragonmaster Joe across the room. He struggled to point a ghastly finger at it. "Kill that bird!"

Everyone looked at each other, swinging on the decision of following Joe's orders or staying out of it. When the jockeys took too long to decide, he used the wall behind him to stand up, knees knocking.

"Why aren't you listening to me!?" he spat, regaining his composure. "Are you all deaf!? It almost murdered me!" When no one made a move towards Cid and Cocoa, Joe marched over to it, picking up a whip from the corner of the room that was used for professional jockey tournaments along the way.

He stretched the whip with his other hand, and cracked it against the floor. Cocoa raised its head, nervous, and shuffled backwards. Joe growled and shared his white teeth as he advanced towards the Chocobo.

Cid came up from behind, quicker and madder than any one person had ever seen him. His arm was already in the air and he sent a solid punch squarely into Joe's face. The jockey champion was sent back again, but he didn't bother to get up this time. The pilot, whose face was red with a pulsating vein running down his neck, towered over him, rubbing the fist he had slugged Joe with.

"You are a sorry excuse for a man, ya know that? Someone who cheats in the races shouldn't even have the title of a 'Chocobo Jockey!' And beating Chocobos with whips? That's inexcusable, even for a lowlife like you! How the hell did you ever make it into this sort of profession!?"

Joe's nose was bleeding and probably broken. He was breathing heavily and struggled to look up at Cid. "Y…You're one to talk. What do you call what you did out on the racetrack!?"

"Don't be trying to turn the tables on me!" Cid shouted. "You cheated first and that's all there is to it!"

Everyone was whispering amongst themselves, but the pilot ignored it. He was still fuming and the thought of this man laying a whip against a poor, defenseless Chocobo was enough to make him even angrier.

"You're a man with no logic," Joe argued. "Is that how you get out of all of your problems? By turning them on people? You probably use the same excuses on your girlfriends. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason that you're such a loser."

It would not have been a surprise if Sephiroth himself had cowered in a corner after the long string of curses had escaped the Captain's mouth. By the time everyone had realized what Joe said, Cid was already down on top of him, laying blows in the man's face. His remark had obviously hit the pilot hard else Cid would not have cared. To what the foulmouthed man had been thinking at that moment, only his subconscious knew.

All of the other men, four of them to be precise and even Cocoa helped a little, had to restrain Cid from causing further harm. They shouted "stop" and other synonyms to the word "halt," and it took a moment for the Captain to regain himself. Joe was clutching his face, lips bleeding and his nose an absolute mess.

The other jockeys had seemingly forgotten their anger towards the foulmouthed blonde, patting him on the back in both praise and to calm him. The pilot was still seething, his teeth grinding together, and when he found that he could speak more words than just the notorious F-word, he pointed a stern finger to Joe and spat, "All right, so maybe what I did out there was no better than you, but I've seen you cheat before, Joe! I've seen you run men—good men!—off the tracks in your stupid want for winnin'! I've seen those men come outta the race with broken arms and spirits! They say yer the best they've ever seen, but I'd say yer just a damn liar!"

Joe was staring at him with one open eye, his hands still covering the rest of his face.

"A man who don't care 'bout nuthin' but winnin' ain't really a man at all!" There was a sudden release of tension from the Captain's chest. He realized it.

Realized why what Joe had said made him so angry.

Here I've been trying to get one over on that Bradshaw guy, trying to prove that I was better than him by hurting other people in the process. I had tried to lie in Costa Del Sol, injure innocent people in the Gold Saucer, and I hadn't thought of the reason why I was doing it until now. He exhaled. I don't wanna lose Shera…

Cheating and lying had done nothing but hurt everyone else, and Shera was still with Bradley. He had treated Shera like garbage for years and now that she was with someone else, it made him even angrier. Joe cheating to win was just like Cid cheating to win. There was no difference.

The pilot straightened his back, the rage leaving his face.

"I hope yer prepared for everyone else who ain't gonna put up with yer crap, Joe. 'Cuz I ain't the only one who'd be willing to kick yer ass. I don't doubt that those judges saw me cheat to high heaven in that race, but why do you think that they didn't disqualify me?" Cid didn't even pause long enough for him to speak before he continued, "It's because no one likes you. They wanted ta see ya lose. An' ya know why? It's because you are a loser."

When he turned to walk off, Cocoa behind him, Cid Highwind received the most voluminous and hearty round of applause that he had ever gotten since he was a child.

\/\/\/

"C'mere little boy," the Don leaned down in front of Cloud, waving something in the former mercenary's face. "I've got candy…"

Cloud was dressed in the same pair of purple Speedos he had been wearing back in Costa Del Sol. And he looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Where did you get these!?" he cried.

"I found 'em in your back pocket," Don Corneo laughed.

"Mr. Don…Sir…" Barret held out his hands. "My wrists hurt."

"That won't be the only thing hurtin' in a minute!" the sex fiend walked around the room, eyeing all of his bride captures. Reno was trying hard not to pass out in order to protect his manly pride and Rude was in the same state. Rufus…well…no one had seen Rufus since the blonde had carried him away, and Reeve was sitting on the couch next to Tifa with a very unhappy look pasted on his face. Tifa, on the other hand, was more angry at Cloud for screwing things up than anything, and Barret was whimpering—a very uncharacteristic trait for the burly man to do.

"Cloud," Tifa hissed, nudging the near nude man, "Do something!"

"All right, all right," he agreed. When he thought of something, he cleared his throat, "Don! This is a disgrace! I demand that you untie us this instant!"

When the Don wandered over to him again with a scary smile on his face, Cloud immediately regretted his course of action.

"…You gonna get raped m'boy…" he said in a deep, low voice. Cloud screamed and kicked his feet.

"Get away! Get away!"

"Mmm…yer a cheery one. I think I'll have to make a choice now before the goods get spoiled. Who wants to be the first to take a whack at the Don?"

There was a pregnant pause and everyone looked at one another, pale and uncomfortable.

"That'll be me, Don. I'm gonna take a big whack out of you."

The voice was unfamiliar in the kidnapped group, but very familiar to the whole.

"I see we have a taker!" the Don spun around. Everyone else gaped, their jaws going slack.

Vincent Valentine was standing in the middle of the room, arms at his side and looking as nonchalant as ever. Still, Cloud could not mistake the red glare in the man's eyes.

The Don's face had apparently changed as well, and he did not look excited anymore. "What? Who are you!?"

"I've been watching you since you brought Tifa back here," Vincent explained. "Now I think the time has come for me to release my comrades."

"I'd like to see you try!" the Don snorted. "Spoony Vampire!"

Vincent winced at the name, but did not comment on it. "Well, here I am, Don. Come and get me."

"Don't mind if I do!" the man giggled (Wait, giggled!?) and moved towards Vincent, grabbing a spear from off of the wall next to him. "I love hunting for my prey, Mmmhmm!" Swinging the spear at Vincent, the Don lunged forward as best as his short, fat body would, but the other man easily dodged.

Withdrawing his Death Penalty from its holster, Vincent shot at the outstretched spear, breaking it into two pieces.

"Hey!"

"The spear is dead, Don. There won't be anymore stars for you."

"No more stars!?"

"I don't have time to mess with you, so let's make this short," the red cloaked man said in an even voice.

"Whaaaat!? But I don't like it short!"

Twisting his metal arm, Vincent brought it crashing down upon the Don's head.

The former mayor of Sector 6 and perverted perpetrator crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap and Vincent held his head up.

"A man who likes to talk but has no battle mentality. What a waste of my time." The former Turk member stooped down to pick up the broken spear and walked over to Cloud. Using the sharp, metal head of the spear, he cut loose the bonds on his legs and chest. Then he moved to the ankles and, finally, the wrists.

"Get some clothes on, Cloud," Vincent ordered and then began to work on Tifa's binds.

Cloud flushed. "Uh…right. Thanks Vincent." He quirked an eyebrow, "What made you decide to come to the Gold Saucer? Surely you hadn't known that the Don was alive…?"

"I didn't," the other man confessed, watching a now free Tifa rise to her feet. "I came here on a different agenda." Barret volunteered to be released next.

"Well, you really came at a good time," the martial artist said. "No thanks to Cloud."

"Well ex-CUSE me!" the blonde man shouted, placing his hands on his bare hips.

"Gah, Cloud! Put on some clothes whydoncha!?" Barret closed his eyes and turned away, disgusted.

Tifa found the pocket knife the Don had taken from her when he had first brought her to his chambers underneath the bed. She used it to untie Reeve while Vincent stood up, looking at Reno and Rude, who stared back at them with a face that read "well? Aren't you going to untie us?"

"I don't know…" Cloud rubbed his chin. "I'm not sure if we should untie them. They have caused us nothing but trouble."

"Damn you to hell!" Reno spat, leaning forward in his chair. "You!" he gestured to Vincent. "Untie us would ya? We're just as much scarred as you guys are!"

"I dun think so…" Barret agreed with Cloud, enjoying the fact that his archenemies were in a position of desperation and a great need of help. Not to mention, for once, they were on the bitter, cold end of the rope.

Reno gaped and looked frantically to Reeve. "R-Reeve!" he beseeched. "Don't be a chump! Untie us!"

"Reno," Reeve cocked his head to one side. "What happened to the cool and collected Turk I used to know?"

"I'm drunk and can't recognize my hand from my Grandmother! I can barely stand on my feet and when that fat sack of turd wakes up, he won't think twice 'bout having his way with us!"

It was enough to make everyone, save Vincent, Reno, and Rude, chuckle. Tifa knelt down in front of Rude whilst Vincent tended to Reno's binds.

"You know we were just kidding with you," Reeve shrugged.

Reno did not look amused.

Rude was flustered.

"You look like a pretty princess, too," the redhead's eyes narrowed. "…Asshole."

As soon as the ropes on everyone had been cut loose, a now sober Reno and Rude went to search for the "magicked away" President Rufus Allen Shinra. Vincent, himself, was in a hurry to leave.

"W-Wait," Cloud called out. "What's going on, Vincent? What are you doing here anyway? I mean…I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but…"

"I can't explain right now," the red cloaked man said, rushing from the room. "If you want to know, change into something more appropriate and meet me upstairs."

"V-Vincent!" Tifa tried to stop him, but the mysterious man was already gone.

\/\/\/

Yuffie and Red were at a standstill. They had searched everywhere for Shera and her boyfriend, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Maybe they left," Yuffie suggested.

"I doubt that," Red said. "And Cloud hasn't called us either. I wonder if he's found them…"

"And left us hanging? I don't think so." Yuffie leaned back and sighed. She was caught off guard from behind when someone bumped into her and knocked her to the ground. "HEY!" she shouted.

"Sorry!" the man called back. Yuffie recognized him as a Gold Saucer employee—a security guard at that. "There's been a breakout at the Chocobo Races!"

"What!?" Yuffie and Red cried in unison. They turned to look at each other and Red groaned.

"I'll bet it's Cid. Let's just hope he hasn't done something illegal."

Yuffie's eyes widened and she followed after the man to the races.