Traverse Town.

One of the many worlds that were under the Galactic Federation Coalition Treaty. This pretty much meant it was under the control of a different group, but they hide with the GF instead of being alone. As such, this planet was under the control of King Mickey.

It was simply, one massive town. The Planet wasn't as large as many others, but it was stable enough to form a colony of a sort. It's perfect for those who just want a relaxing time away from all kinds of trouble in the Universe.

The entrance to the actual town led to a spaceport on the planet, and near that entrance, was a bar called 7th Heaven. Created after the previous 7th Heaven bar back on Gaia VII, which was crushed 5 years ago during an incident on the planet. Long since that, the spot where the bar was has been restored, but the people that lived there once had no desire to return.

It was owned by one Tifa Lockhart. Once, her, Cloud and her friend Barret visited the Hero base on Earth X quite often to see some of the friends they made there, but ever since the Incident of Darkmega, for the two years, they haven't kept in contact with them, believing them all to have either been killed or taken to places unknown.

Now they would find out they're pretty much alive and well, as Chad, Anna, Zhang He and, much to Chad's anger, Darkmega, appeared just inside the entrance to Traverse Town via teleport.

The town looked unique. It had old looking buildings, but some of them had neon light signs, likes 'Cid's Accessory store." in light green lighting. It was always a starry sky, never any sun, but to these people who lived here, it didn't matter. Night and Day was only based by the clocks to them.

Chad slowly looked around, noticing the calm, relaxed atmosphere here. It was nice to have. The lack of quarries and trouble is something that always attracted him to worlds like this, especially for his later life plans of retiring to somewhere well out of the way.

He soon led them to the entrance to the 7th heaven bar and opened the door. Inside, there was several wooden round tables with chairs, all with candles on them, at the back of the place, was the bar itself, complete with all kinds of drinks on the shelves behind it. There, serving the customers, or would be if she wasn't talking to a couple of people, was Tifa Lockhart.

The person she was speaking to, was none other than the spiky blonde haired swordsman Cloud, and the big coloured man with a gun arm, Barret. The place was pretty empty bar a few customers right now. Chad ignored them and went up to Cloud and the others, along with Anna and Zhang He.

Darkmega had noticed one looking at him, as he begun to walk up with the others. The man looking at them was at a table by himself. He was wearing a large army patterned jacket, yellow and brown, a grey top, had golden dog tags, and had medium black hair which was spiky at the tips. His eyes were a dark brown colour, and he has a slightly unshaven face. He appeared to be in his 30's, just staring at Darkmega, holding onto a small glass of whisky or something. Darkmega quickly looked away from him and focused on where Chad and the others were.

As Chad got up to the bar, he sat down, while Zhang He, Anna and Darkmega stood. Barret, Cloud and Tifa were still busy talking, not noticing at first, Until after a little while, as Tifa notices Zhang He and Anna, and looks surprised. "Zhang He? Anna Hael?"

Barret and Cloud look over to them, and seem just as surprised. "Well shit! After all this time we thought all you punks at that base were dead! How ya both been? And who've you got with you?" Barret said.

Anna smiled and motioned at Chad, who seemed a little down now, noticing Cloud and Tifa didn't seem to recognise him, yet he remembered clearly fighting them in the base training rooms before. "Oh this is Chad Oswald, you guys remember him right?"

Cloud looked at Chad carefully, then nods. "Just about. The kid who managed to take out the likes of Xiahou Dun right?"

Anna nodded. "Yup. And this is…" She motioned to Darkmega. "…Darkmega."

Barret looked at him carefully, then turned to Anna. "Darkmega, as in, Dark Megaman?…Get the fuck outta here. I thought he was the enemy?"

"Well he WAS, but I kicked his ass and the docs, being their crazy selves, fixed him up from near death and made me be his baby sitter." Chad said, as he give a little glare to Darkmega.

Tifa was genuinely surprised. "Oh. Well, is he okay now then?"

Chad thought about it for a moment, then replied. "His okay and safe enough to not shoot us in the back if that's what you mean. Otherwise I still don't trust him whatsoever."

"So what brings you here to our bar then? A drink?"

Chad shook his head. "Nah Tifa, it's actually about Gaia VII. Listen, you've heard about the Planet Eater right? Unicron? Had to have been on the news."

Cloud nodded. "Yes, we've heard about it."

"Well what it is, is that I need to find certain items that your world, that is, your homeworld Gaia VII has. Two things. One is called Holy Materia, the other is called Black Materia. We need them. I think they might help."

Cloud, Tifa and Barret went silent, looking at each other. This didn't look too good. Then Tifa looked at Chad. "I'm not sure how they'll help you Chad. Are you sure they're the items you're looking for?"

"Certain."

Again, Silence…

Then, Cloud spoke up, not looking at Chad and co, but looking at his green colored drink before him. "One of them is deep in an ancient place on that Planet, and the other…might be where, he, last was…"

"He?" Anna said.

"…Sephiroth."

Chad gulped a little at the mention of that name. it was a much known name in the universe. The ultimate swordsman, the greatest that existed. Feared for his power and strength. Before his actions against his world, he was asked by the military, the GF, to work for them, even by the infamous unit of 666, but he turned them all down for his own divine madness…

Zhang He thought about that name in wonder. "Ah yes, the man who's hair was like that of a wondrous silver rose, his clothes the black as the darkest night."

"And a mother fucking royal asshole to boot, lemme tell ya." Barret added.

"Of course, his dead now." Cloud said. "We took him out ages ago. He tried to destroy our planet as you might have already heard about. His was last at the Northern Crater. that's where the Black Materia might be at. The Holy Materia, is at the Forgotten Capital of the race known as Cetra, who lived on that planet long, long ago before us."

This really had put Chad off the Black Materia. He just couldn't shake the bad feeling he got from the very mention of Sephiroth, dead or not. He decided in his head that the Holy Materia is the better starting point right now. "Well that's the one we'll go for first. Any idea where this Forgotten Capital is?"

Cloud finally looked at Chad for a moment, then got out of his seat. "Sure. I'll escort you there."

Barret was shocked by Cloud's response. "You sure about this? I mean, ya know, it ain't a place filled with happy memories."

"I know…I just need to visit someone, that's all. I haven't done it for a long while."

Tifa looked at him carefully, and nodded. She knew who he was talking about. "Alright, but promise me you'll be safe. All of you."

As the others continued talking a little more, Darkmega looked over to the man who had been looking at him, and noticed he still was…he had to admit, it was getting more and more unnerving.

The Forgotten Capital, a place that would easily be seen as alien to the rest of Gaia VII. It was strange, special. It has an energy around it that was unique. It existed as the place where the people known as Cetra lived, long ago. Now it is empty, dead, lost of all life.

The Cetra were a race of humans, who had came to live upon the planet with the aid of the Chozo. The legends stated that their old world was not inhabitable, and thus with the Chozo, they were brought here. They have, as in their culture, has long since become extinct. Their descendents still exist to this day on this planet, although they are classed as unique Cetra, as the original ones, as history on this world is known, were deeply spiritual.

It was at this place that one key element that saved this planet from Sephiroth's wrath occurred. The sacrifice, and prayer of one special girl, known as Aerith Gainsborough. After that, the place has become still again. No one enters it anymore. It had been left alone to fade along with time. Until five people arrived.

Once Chad had called Dr Light, within ten or so minutes, they had first arrived at Bone Village, that was nearby, and walked through the sleeping forest to get here. There was hardly any monsters blocking their path, and if any did, Cloud disposed of them before Chad and such could do anything.

Anna was certainly impressed with it once they arrived. "Wow…this is…just so unique…"

Chad turned to Cloud. "So the Holy Materia is here somewhere?"

Cloud nodded silently, and begun to lead the way. The others followed him. Chad noticed Cloud was being a little more serious than earlier, which he guessed was understandable, Cloud was here to see someone as he said, and by the sounds of it, that person is rather dead.

They got to a sea shell like building in almost the centre of the forgotten capital, with a wonderful blue lake outside it, with light just shimming through the branches of the trees around the place, shining down to the water. Cloud stopped dead in his tracks, then looked at the others. "Inside the building. There should be a stairway leading downwards in the centre of it. Down there is the Holy Materia. It's in the water."

"You're, you're not coming down with us?" Anna said.

Cloud looked at the lake. "I'll catch up."

Chad, Anna, Zhang He and Darkmega left him, and entered the building. It had a spiral pathway leading upwards, and in the centre, it had a hologram of, seaweed and an orange fish. Chad looked a little baffled. "…he meant THIS building, right?"

Anna nodded. "I think so…"

"…but I don't see any stairway down. There's a pathway up, but not down."

Darkmega sighed in annoyance. "Great, we have an idiot telling us where to go. Wonderful."

Chad glared at him for a moment, as Zhang He spoke up. "Perhaps Cloud knows of a secret button or device that will lead us to where he said? Or perhaps it is hidden by the fish?"

Anna thought about this possibility. She looked at the fish and seaweed and did notice a gap in the rails around it, big enough for a person to walk through to the centre of the hologram. She decided to take the chance, and walked on through…and found herself nearly falling down a few steps, as she didn't expect the sudden drop. Chad had quickly reacted and shot towards her, almost tripping up himself, but was able to stop himself from falling forwards and caught Anna by her left arm. "Whoa Anna! You alright?"

She nodded at him, and regained her footing. "Yeah, I'm good, just tried what Zhang He thought up. Seemed he was right. There is a hidden stairway."

Chad smiled in relief, and for a moment, didn't let go of her. It was only when she looked at where he was holding her arm he quickly did so, looking a little sheepish and going red a tad. "Right then, let's go downwards then and get this Materia. Come on Zhang He, Darkmega."

Soon, they had begun taking the shining, crystal white steps down into the depths of the building…around them, it seemed like they were in the depths of the sea, with shining light beaming through the water. The stairway led them to a massive platform, with several medieval like towers, an altar with several smaller platforms leading to it, and all surrounded by clear through water and crystal pillars…it was beautiful, to say the least. Zhang He and Anna seemed to enjoy it anyway. Darkmega looked like he was frowning about all this still, and Chad was busy looking at the water around the platform and the smaller ones, in hopes of seeing the Holy Materia shining brightly or something, to give it away….hell, he didn't even KNOW what it looked like. He was guessing it looked the same shape as the normal Materia that exists on this world.

As they got to the medieval like towers, and ventured close to the smaller platforms leading to the Altar, Chad felt something. Like a calling to him. He stopped at the edge of the main platform, and slowly looked over to the Altar. "…what the…."

"Chad? Is something wrong?" Anna asked.

"It's just…I got this feeling it might be, over there…"

Zhang He shook his head. "Cloud said it was in the water. I doubt it would've been moved."

Chad shrugged. "Well I just got this feeling okay? Look, you guys stay here, I'll check it out. Keep an eye on darkie for me."

Chad soon started to jump from platform to platform leading to the Altar, as Zhang He was keeping an eye on Darkmega, to his annoyance. Soon Chad got to the Altar, and walked to the middle of it, looking around. This was where the feeling came from, no doubt about it…then, he heard a voice in his mind. A female voice…

"I know what you want, but I cannot give it. Not while this place is being watched by those who wish to bring harm."

Chad looked confused. "Who? You mean Darkmega? Relax, he ain't going to do anything. I'll keep him on a tight leash I swear…umm, who are you, anyway?"

"….It is coming."

"What is?"

" The being that wishes to bring harm. It is coming for the Holy Materia."

Chad quickly pulled his Blade of Darkness out, becoming very alert of his surroundings. But there wasn't anything. He looked to his friends, and they seemed alright.

He was baffled. What the hell was this woman talking about? There was nothing around, nothing but the shadow that was looming above Chad getting bigger and bigger and…Chad swore in annoyance, remembering Master Hand with this, and quickly jumped back to the edge of the altar.

But it wasn't Master hand who landed on the ground before him…it was Phantom, and boy did he look like he was ready to beat the shit out of Chad today, who had already paled slightly, remembering this foe.

"Oh…oh hell no!" was all that Chad could say, as Phantom's glowing blue eyes focused on him, that creatures laugh echoing into his ears.

"Well well, Chad Oswald. We meet yet again. You really must keep your nose out of our business, it's not good for your health. Now, I will only ask once. Hand it over."

Chad knew what he meant, at least, he was hoping the creature was thinking of what he was thinking. "If you're talking about the Holy Materia, I don't have it!"

Phantom laughed loudly once more. "So, you want to play it the hard way? I suppose I need to crush something today. Haven't had much fun since our last encounter!" and with that, he opened his mouth wide, and a fireball was quickly forming. Chad had turned around and jumped off the Altar, leaping onto each of the platforms leading back to Anna and co, just missing the fireballs that Phantom fired, as they flew past him and struck at the platforms that he was previously on. Anna and Zhang He looked rather horrified at the fact that was a lava spider thing suddenly here, and seemed to not like them.

"Chad! Are you alright?!" Anna said to him, the second he landing back on the main platform area, panting a little. Darkmega was still looking smug, looking at Chad. "A good friend of yours Chaddy boy?"

"Fuck you! We're getting out of here! Right now!" He motioned them to quickly follow him. Fuck the Holy Materia. They'll get it once Phantom leaves them alone or something.

Shame that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, as they had failed to notice Phantom had jumped from the Altar, and within moments, landed in front of them, blocking off their escape route. "Going somewhere boy? Heheheh…"

Chad knew this wasn't good. He held his sword ready, but he knew it was useless against the likes of this monster. Darkmega stopped being smug, and noticed he too, was caught up in their little situation. He formed his dark buster and fired a few shots at the being, to make it get out of his way…this only made Phantom glare towards him. Zhang He had his claws ready.

Phantom opened his mouth, and was charging up a fireball, when he suddenly yelled out in agony, and rose his frontal part of his body upwards, standing on his hind legs almost, as a massive sword had just impaled into his back. The Buster sword, and it's owner holding onto the hilt, standing on Phantoms back, pulling out the sword, and jumping off the lava being, landing behind it, bright orange like blood gushing out of the wound, before Phantom landed on all of his legs again, and quickly turned himself around eyeing up Cloud.

Cloud spun the buster sword around once, then got into his battle stance. "Sorry, but I won't let you harm them without going through me first." he charged at Phantom, who rose one of his claws to swipe Cloud away. Cloud quickly swung his Buster sword, and deflected the claw with all his might, then quickly jumped backwards to avoid the other claw just trying to hit him. Then he took the chance and ran at Phantom again, swinging the sword sideward's, and slicing the creatures mouth, making the orange blood flow out, and making Phantom swing his claws wildly, nearly hitting Cloud again, as he uses the Buster Sword to keep knocking away the stone claws.

Phantom, despite the wound, fires a fireball right at Cloud, who gets hit and knock flying back by the explosion of the attack, hitting the ground, but soon jumping back on his feet, to see Phantom rushing at him, in mad fury, and smacking him further back with one of his claws. As Cloud hit the floor, Phantoms scorpion like tail appeared from his back, as he quickly begun to move towards Cloud again, this time with the intention of making a kill.

Then, something jumped over him, and before he knew it, several of his eyes had been slashed, and he once again screamed in agony, backing away a little, as Zhang He stood there, right where Phantom was about to go, with one of his claws dripping of the monsters blood. Phantom had stupidly let his guard down to let that happen, but wasn't going to let Zhang He off easy, as his tail shot forward, in attempts to stab Zhang He, but the warrior was skilled in dodging shape objects, easily ducking and pretty much dancing around the tail.

Cloud had recovered, and then, a burst of energy came from him, as he ran towards Phantom, and leaped into the air, his sword held behind him, as a white energy aura flowed around it, and he shot downwards, and swung the blade down…slicing a good chunk of the scorpion like tail off. Phantom shouted out in anger, as the remaining part of his tail returned to his body. What Cloud and Zhang He noticed in worry though, is that as the tail returned to Phantom, his damaged eyes were already healed, as was the gash Cloud made to its mouth. The tail segment that Cloud had removed turned to ash and vanished.

Phantom noticed their faces, and chuckled once he had regain his composure. "Heh heh, what? Do you think I could be defeated easily? I am more then what you idiots think! Now prepare to die!"

Anna was seriously worried about them and looked at Chad and Darkmega. "Can't you guys help them?!"

Darkmega thought about this for a moment. "Well I'm not really inclined to give out a helping hand you see…"

Chad sighed at him, and ran towards the fight, cursing himself for doing this…he knows Phantom is gonna smack him senseless, he just knows it. Cloud and Zhang He had quickly slashed Phantom a few times in the face, but this time, he was healing a lot faster, knocking them both away and laughing. As Chad got close, Phantom felt his presence, and used one of his hind legs to kick Chad away, before turning towards his direction, as Chad hit the ground, and started to get up. "I see you can't wait for me to crush you underneath my feet. Very well!"

Phantom charged towards Chad, as Chad quickly used the Blade of Darkness to protect himself. That wasn't useful, as Phantom used one of his claws to knock it aside, thankfully Chad held onto it still, as Phantom's other claw knocked Chad down to the ground, and rose up, it's sharp, black tip ready to impale him, but Cloud and Zhang He had come back for more, as Zhang He dived down at the back of Phantom, embedded his claws into it, and Cloud had used his special powered up ability, Braver, once again, flying down at Phantom, and successfully stabbing the sword into the head of Phantom, literally right down the middle, through a few eyes as well, before the blade stopped, and Cloud had his feet on the ground, noticing the sword didn't go all the way through as planned.

Phantom was pissed. The wounds, though painful no doubt, didn't concern him, as he quickly charged up a massive fireball, and blasted Cloud away, removing the sword in the process, sending Cloud to the ground, near Darkmega and Anna. With Zhang He, as he begun to rapidly stab his claws in and out of Phantom back, he failed to notice the build up of energy beneath his feet, and before he knew it, an explosion of fire energy erupted on him, sending him off Phantom's back, and hitting the ground near one of the towers.

Chad, as he watched them both try to stop Phantom, felt something inside of him, as his heart raced, mostly from the claw still near him. That energy burst from before, when he fought Darkmega. That energy had returned with bloody vengeance. He quickly pointed his hand forward, and the chaos energy ball begun to build up. Phantom noticed too late, as his head had healed itself. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The red energy beam of Chaos energy smacked into Phantom's face, making him stumble back and screech in pain. Chad got himself up, and got into his battle stance. His confidence, with this energy feeling behind him, returned. This is what he needed during their previous encounter.

Phantom recovered, and looked at Chad, noticing a sudden increase in power…the power he noticed before. He didn't worry about it though, he was angry still, and needed to teach Chad a lesson. He lunged towards Chad, and raised a claw…only for Chad to fire another Chaos Control beam again, smacking Phantom yet again in the face, and a third time, as Phantom got close, before Chad shouted Chaos Control, and vanished in a green light, appearing further back, towards Anna, Darkmega and Cloud. Phantom roared out, and charged again, refusing to slow down. Again he raised a claw, and this time, Chad quickly swung the Blade of Darkness up towards the claw…and managed to slice a decent chunk of, making Phantom scream in terror, and quickly back away, with orange blood, like a river, flowing out of the wound. The decapitated part of the claw stayed on the ground, unlike when the tail piece was chopped off.

Chad was surprised that he was able to pull that off, let alone see Phantom back away so quickly when the others had mauled his face. Then he realized. Phantom had healed his face in mere seconds from Cloud's attack, and no doubt from all the other wounds, but as Phantom was standing there, panting, looking at its damaged claw in bewilderment, he hadn't healed what Chad had done…he couldn't, for some reason.

Phantom looked to Chad, and backed away a little more. "You…that sword…just like him! H-how did you?!"

Chad raised an eyebrow, it was amusing to see the big lug suddenly seem intimidated. "What's the matter? Did I hurt you? Aww shame, now aren't you going to try and 'crush me beneath your feet'? or do you suddenly feel a little under the weather?"

Phantom didn't respond. Instead, he seemed to suddenly open a blue spiral vortex next to him, and quickly went through it, and the second his rear went through, it vanished. Chad was impressed with himself. Finally, to make that thing go away. He looked to the remains of Phantom's claw, and kicked it into the water. It made a hissing sound, and steam came from the water the moment it made contact, and soon, Chad felt that burst of energy fade away again.

He put away the Blade of Darkness, and he was sure he felt something land in one of his pockets. He chose to ignore it for the moment, and turned to the others. "You lot okay?"

Cloud nodded to show he was fine, and Anna ran past Chad to go and see Zhang He. Chad didn't notice Darkmega nodding too to show he was fine, as he followed Anna to where Zhang He was. Thankfully the Wei warrior was fine, standing up, holding his back a little, no doubt from the fact he smacked into the floor, but isn't much worse for wear.

Cloud and Darkmega joined them. "Alright, you seemed to have scared him off. Let's try and find the Holy Materia." Cloud said.

Chad put his hand in his pocket, and felt something…and smiled. "I don't think we even need to look." and he pulled out, from his pocket, a small, light green orb, emitting a faint glow. Cloud knew what it was right away. The Holy Materia.

Cloud smiled a little, while looking at it. "Seems like it came to you. Well, that's good then. Now we need to find the Black Materia."

"Well I'll call Dr Light and get him to teleport us to the location then." Anna said.

"No. that won't happen. Teleporting to the Northern Crater is impossible. Probably by some energy effect. I recall hearing the fact it's been tried before several times. We need to travel our way there."

Chad's smiling face soon turned sour. "Travel?…how far do we have to go?"

Cloud thought about this for a second, crossing his arms. "Well, we'll have to get to the Icicle Inn, then through the Great Glacier, then finally up Gaea's Cliff…then we'll reach Northern Crater."

"And how long will this take?"

"Things go smoothly? A day if we keep moving."

Icicle Inn, the Town's name was. It was fucking cold, freezing, to be precise, and Zhang He REALLY hated it. They had quickly made a stop as Cloud wanted to check around to find out information if the route he and his companions previously took was still okay. The others were waiting in the actual Inn of the place, near a warm fireplace, which to Zhang He, was not making him warm as he sat next to Anna.

"…..I mean how long is he going to be? The quicker we leave this popsicle stand the better for my poor skin!" Zhang He moaned once again. It had only been 10 minutes since they got here.

Anna looked at him. "Zhang He, you just need to wait like all of us. He'll be back soon. He just needs to see if everything is still the same as he last was here. And anyway, by the sounds of the places we need to go, it's not going to get any warmer."

Darkmega was resting in a chair, with one leg on top of the other, leaning back. "Well it's been fun so far right? I mean personally I would rather have seen that Spider-Scorpion like thing kill Chad before we got this far but hey."

Chad instantly glared. Just as he was about to say something, they saw the Inn entrance door open, letting a cold wind flow then, then close, as Cloud entered, his shoulders and hair sprinkled with snow. He walked in, and went over to them. "Alright, got some good news and a little bad."

"Good news is alot of the way we need to go, especially the route down to the Great Glacier, is easier now. They even have a walkway now, granted very slippery from what they said, but unlike the last time I came here, I haven't got a snowboard, so it'll have to do."

Chad looked a little concerned. "So what's the bad news? It's gotten colder than before? Something new is blocking the way thanks to the GF?"

Cloud looked at him quietly for a moment, before folding his arms and looking downwards a little.

"…..I'm right aren't I?"

Cloud nodded. "A GF warship crashed close by the home of where someone lived near Gaea's Cliff. His name is Mr Holzoff, helped me and the others last time. From what people have said, since the crash they haven't heard a thing from him, and by the looks of it, that ship seems to have landed right in the pathway to his cabin. He used to come here for supplies. They also said that it has indeed got colder in the Great Glacier wastes. I've got some Gil with me to buy coats for us to use. Should help till we reach the Northern Crater."

Zhang He sighed in despair and put his face in his hands. "Oh, my beautiful skin will be ruined!"

Soon, they had set off once again, once Cloud had got them the coats he said about. They were meant to keep them all warm, sadly, that wasn't the case as they begun to head down the new created pathway to the Great Glacier, of all of them, Anna was having a hard time keeping warm the most it seemed, as Zhang He had to hold her arm and make sure she was keeping up with them.

Chad was in his Mobian form as well, and slowed down a little, waiting for both of them to catch up. Darkmega and Cloud walked on down the slope…well, slightly slipping on as the ground was just ice, making things worse.

"Hey Anna, you holding up alright?"

She gave him a weak smile, while shaking, and nodded. "J-just about. This is more colder then the Ice Cap area back on our planet…wish we were there instead of here."

Chad nodded in agreement. "So do I, but we need to get through here Anna, just, hold on alright? Once this little part of the trip is over, it'll most likely get warmer."

It didn't get warmer as they finally begun to get through the Glacial Wasteland. It was getting worse, much worse. To the point Zhang He was getting bad chills and having a bad time walking. Chad had to take over from him with Anna, who was cold to the bone right now, with Chad having to force her to keep walking, but even in all this, he liked holding her close. It felt, nice…

Then they saw it, far ahead. The Crashed Galactic Federation warship. The frontal part of it had vanished underneath the ice. No doubt the ship had crashed in a diagonal way, and that segment snapped and ripped off once the planet's gravity forced the rest to smash down to the ground in time. Most of the seen part of the vessel was covered in a sheet of ice and snow, and the worst part of it all, especially to Clouds point of view, it was blocking their only route to Gaea Cliffs.

Chad knew what Cloud was going to suggest to them all, and just braced himself for it, as they eventually got close, looking at the wreckage.

"….We gotta go through it. We need to get to the cliffs beyond and get to the Northern Crater. No other way about it." Cloud said, after having looked at the wreckage with a keen eye, and saw several openings in the hull, meaning they could get inside.

Chad sighed. "KNEW you was gonna say that…"

Darkmega shrugged. He was cold right now, but he somehow put up with it, much like Cloud. "Could be a lot worse Chaddy boy. Anyway, it's bound to be slightly warmer inside. Better then out here, unless you prefer it to let poor Anna become a popsicle."

Chad once again glared at Darkmega, then looked at Anna. She was shaking like leaf, like she was terrified almost, but he knew it was over the fact it was freezing. "Well …suppose you have a good point for once, as much as I hate to agree with you…gotta be a little warmer at least, and looks deserted. Not like we'll get into any trouble inside."

What a way to tempt fate.

Back at Junon Harbor, there was a new meeting going on between the High Ministers, more precise, Nine of them. It was night time, and they were together in a small meeting room, with the huge windows showing the night sky and the stars, all reflecting on the sea beyond. They had all sat around a small metal table, with the lights on. They were all human members of the Ministry. Yuan Shao was once again suppose to come, but they knew he would fail them again.

None of the outside group were informed of this meeting. This isn't the first time they've been excluded. The humans, those who come of the GF, see themselves and higher people then others in all this. And with this important meeting, they didn't want those 'people' to get in on it.

Dante Yuki sat there quietly, with his hands together, leaning back on his chair, as all the others had settled down, waiting for him to speak. "…Keaton is dead. There is no doubt about it. We've already begun to notice quite a bit of unrest within the GF borders, haven't we?"

One of the female humans, with short Black hair and brown eyes, nodded, as did the rest. "Keaton's disposed of now Dante, and now panic is spreading as the people have no one to look up to in this time of crisis with Unicron. Even with the news of a truce between us and our neighboring two empires isn't helping quell the worry that's going around. We need to do something now."

Dante Yuki smiled. "Indeed we do. I suggest we get a new puppet into the system, someone younger then Keaton this time…"

An old man, grey haired, with a beard and green eyes from their group spoke up. "You have someone already in mind? Hopefully someone more easier to control then Keaton. We don't need to go full circle again."

Dante nodded at him. "Relax Sijo. I do have someone in mind. Keaton's little annoyed follower in Midgar. Rufus Shinra." There was deadly silence in the room. "His already been granted a temporary post. To say his been called the Grand Commander fully, to grant him a substantial reward and increased income, and to say his now the image in the public's eye, a stand in for Emperor? He'll be our wonderful little lap dog, unlike the old gruff hound Keaton."

One of the other old ones, bald with Blue eyes, shook his head. " You really think money and fame will make him any different from Keaton? Have you seen the reports on him? Keaton never trusted that man! If Keaton couldn't, how can we?"

"Because Keaton was a fool who hardly trusted anyone. You shouldn't believe what he puts down in those. I see this as our window of opportunity. We have the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire at our doorstep, guarding this very planet and calling others of their forces to aid them against Unicron. Without an Emperor, even our efforts in the upcoming battle would hardly be noticed, and the people will see our fellow neighbors as the heroes."

"With a Puppet…just think, we can make it seem like we did all the work. We have a name to use. All the fame will go to him, he'll follow us, and we'll have our firm grasp on everything. So much so, everyone, we can finally control the army once again, and perhaps…forcefully 'ask' our outside companions in our group, that idiot King Mickey for one, to give us their full support, and surrender their planets to us, and eventually, we can, not expand into our now peaceful allies territory…but into the Farside."

There was silence again. Dante took this as a sign they weren't going to argue with him. He took this chance to make it sound a little less forceful and more like a good intention. "With our friends under our control, we can gain far more profit from trades, and with our new allies, just think of all of the possible trade routes we can make, and of course the wonders of the Farside….no one knows what's there, but just think of all those fertile planets, those minerals and gems yet to be harvested…we can make the Galactic Federation into something more than a new order from SCI…we can make it the greatest empire in existence."

That worked. There was a nod and a positive feeling going around. Dante smiled at this. "Good, Good…now…all in favor?"

The eight didn't even hesitate. Their hands rose up in mere moments.

The ship wasn't a place they wanted to stay in for long. It was filled with the sounds of howling winds, the bodies of dead troopers, frozen over, the roof of the ship caved in in certain areas, blocking their pathway, the place was just…miserable. It WAS a little warmer mind, just a little.

They had to get from the side of the ship they got in, to the other side, either to a door or a gap in the hull or even make their own way out, to get to Gaea's cliff, Cloud said…problem was, the inside of each Galactic Federation ship was ALWAYS bloody different. They seemed to have avoided the normal copy and paste for each vessel they designed like their two neighboring empires, and gone for whatever the maker wanted the insides to be formed up as. Good for battles, as invaders wouldn't be able to rely on what they knew on a previous vessel, downfall, people that get transferred around get lost, ALOT.

Cloud had only realized this today, after yet another dead end, walking into the main generator room of the ship, with no other doors leading out of it. The generator was a dome shape, inside of it, plasma by the truckload was stored. When it's turned on, small lines of green neon lights are normally seen covering the metal dome. Right now, it was dull and lifeless, thankfully not having any sort of leak.

Chad sighed in annoyance, changing back to his human form. "Cloud, I got to hand it to you, your knowledge on the Galactic Federation ships is AWESOME." the last word obviously filled with sarcasm.

Cloud frowned at him for a moment, then stood there, arms crossed, tapping his foot, in deep thought. "..hmm…maybe…" he looked at the generator. "Maybe we can turn this on, and with hopefully enough power, use one of the computers to access the layout of the ship. That way we can figure out the best route from here. It should update on what's damaged as well, so we don't end up hitting anymore dead ends or cave ins."

Soon he was seen looking around the Generator, for the switches to get it activated, as Chad looked at the others, waiting with them as Cloud tried to make things a little easier.

It was then the four had heard…metal tapping sounds, from nearby the door they came in. as if someone was using a metal pole to tap on the pipelines or something. Then, a creaking sound, then silence…before a little faint, cracking of metal sound was heard. Then again, silence.

Anna was still shaking. If this had freaked her out a little or not, none of them could tell. "W…what do you think, that was?"

Chad pulled out his Blade of Darkness. "Cloud said there might be a few monsters left on this planet remember, after we left the Forgotten Capital…Darkmega, I want you to follow me. We'll check it out."

Darkmega raised an eyebrow at him. "….And you expect me to follow you without question?"

Chad frowned darkly at him. "NOW, Darkmega." he started to head towards the door, as Darkmega sighed, shrugging at Anna and Zhang He, then following suit, forming his dark buster, getting it ready.

They both left the Generator room, and looked into the corridor checking both directions…nothing. Nothing was moved, everything was as they last saw well. Then they heard more sounds of tapping metal down one direction of the corridor, then the other. Then silence again. Chad was quickly becoming annoyed, guessing it was small monsters or even just critters. "Okay…Hey Darkmega, you go left, I go right? See anything? Blast it to shit."

Darkmega nodded, and they both went their separate ways. Chad headed down the corridor listening out for more tapping sounds, yet nothing happened. He had to admit he was getting strange chills down his spine now, especially when he reached the end of the corridor. One direction, was a frozen door, sealed up once, now open, and the other is where him and the others came…

He stopped. And looked at the door again. It was open, showing a corridor they didn't see before. It was heavily damaged, and had five trooper bodies in it, all frozen over…that didn't worry him. It was the fact three were frozen over with their torso armour destroyed, and their chests burst open, their bare flesh and bone frozen solid.

He had to go and see where this led. He begun to journey down the corridor, avoiding the bodies as he went, being cautious. The tapping sound returned as he turned at the end of that corridor into another, all of the doors he passed sealed shut…some of them smeared with blood. He followed the tapping sound down that corridor, and noticed the end of it, was where the ceiling had given way. Meaning this was as far as he could go.

Except the tapping didn't lead him to that. It led to a unsealed door. The only one. The air was oddly getting musky, and Chad felt a bit more worried now. He saw a sign outside the door. Covered in icy blood, but readable. 'LAB 1. DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE CAPTAIN.'

He looked inside the room.

It was a circler shaped room, filled with computers around the edges, all with wires, leading to a tube, humanoid sized, so more of a chamber, in the middle of the room. There was seven bodies laying around…well, heads, torn clothing, bones, blood and bits of flesh and organs. He guessed seven by the heads. The tapping suddenly stopped, coming from this room somewhere. The chamber in the middle of it was mostly made of glass, with metal coverings at the top and bottom, the bottom segment filled with wires.

He couldn't see into the glass into the chamber. He KNEW he was going to regret this. He walked over, and very carefully, rubbed his hand over the glass, to see inside. He prayed to god nothing would jump at him and make him shit himself, the place was freaky enough and worrying as it was.

Nothing jumped at the glass. He saw inside, and there, was a small remains of a child humanoid. A few strands of hair, mostly skeleton, with fragments of molding flesh left on it here and where, and a grey, ragged overall left on the remains. Chad felt relieved, but also disgusted. 'What the hell is a child doing in that chamber?' was the question in his head, as he looked around at the room, then back at the chamber.

Then he heard a whirring of a generator coming online, followed by the sound of humming coming from a few of the computers, as the white lights of the lab room come on followed by a few of the computers. He smiled a little, thankful Cloud was able to make things seem more promising. He stepped over to one of the computers, curious to what the hell was going on in here, when he noticed something as he went over to it…near him was his shadow and yet there was another, on the wall nearby…he quickly looked, and saw it was in the shape of a small girl, possibly human, yet, there was nothing that was creating the shadow, it was…just there.

He heard crying from IT. It was crying, and it was female. Those chills were flooding down his back now. He gathered enough in his head in these moments that this little girl is the dead one in the chamber, no doubt a ghost of some sort…him and ghosts weren't the greatest of mixes, so he knew what to do. "Okay, that's great. Yeah, umm, I'll just go and…find your mom or something, m'kay?" he edged towards the door. "Just…stay here and…be a good little ghost and I'll, come back…half past never." and bolted out the door, running down the corridor.

He didn't get far before he suddenly came to a stop. The shadow of the girl was now BEFORE him. On the corridor wall leading to the next one, Still crying. He stood there, quickly trying to figure out a way pass it, when he heard metal scraping against metal…and coming round the corner, were the once five frozen troopers. All of them, including those that had their to chests burst apart, were reanimated, dragging their feet along, covered in a dark grey, eerie like aura, holding their energy rifles, which Chad could see were activated.

Chad quickly got ready with his sword, as two of the Federation troopers weakly raised their energy rifles with just one hand at him. "Alright…Miss Shadow-on-the-wall knows how to raise the dead…great." He quickly dodged the several energy shots coming from them, and fired a Chaos energy beam at one of them, the energy beam ripping right through the remains of his chest, through his back…that didn't stop him, as he continued to move forward, firing his rifle lazily at Chad, who was having trouble dodging in a tight space like the corridor.

"Alright, maybe Zombie rule 101 will do the trick!" he dodged another round of bullets, ran up to the other trooper who was firing at him, and sliced his head clean off. The head rolled onto the floor…as the body tried to reach out and grab Chad, making him jump back in horror. "You're shitting me! That doesn't WORK!?"

He noticed the other three behind the two were aiming their rifles now, and even heard a couple of him groan out weakly, sounding like they were in serious pain. "Help…help…oh god….please…".

He pulled out a Mini Bomb battle chip from his jacket pocket, which he when noticed how cold these things were, in his jacket and connecting to his skin, forming the small blue explosive in his hand and tossing it at them. The explosion knocked down three of them, and stumbled the other two, even made the headless one have his legs blown off…that didn't stop him from dropping his rifle, and CRAWLING on the floor, slowly, towards Chad with his hands, as the others recovered from the blast.

Chad took the chance of them recovering to move in on the one that was crawling and sliced off his arms. That put a stop to him, as the eerie dark grey aura faded from the remains. "Alright, the puppeteer gives up only once the puppet is sliced into pieces…or perhaps disintegrated." he said to himself, thinking of an idea, as he had to dodge more bullets flying at him, and sliced off another pair of legs from one of the other troopers, before taking a few steps back.

He quickly put his hand into his jacket, and got him a handful of battle chips, quickly looking, and found the three he wanted, just avoiding one of the undead trooper who suddenly lunged at him, making him jump back. He put the rest away, holding the three. "Alright, say goodnight! Program Advance! Triple Hi-Cannon!" he put all three onto his skin at once, and his hands were covered in that glowing blue light, before the blue cannon appeared on his hands, keeping them together. "Zeta Cannon!" He quickly aimed it. The cannon was quickly charging up with energy, and before the undead could make any more moves, the weapon fired engulfing the four remaining with a beam of yellow energy, burning them up into nothing, and the beam exploding on contact with the wall behind them, where the shadow of the girl was.

Chad made the Cannon disappear, the chips appearing back in his hand. He put them away, after seeing the wall destroyed, showing wiring and such, and the dead gone. He felt relaxed…then he felt it. Behind him. He turned. And there she was…no longer just a shadow, but there, standing there, looking at him. Light blue pale skin, the rag over her, bare foot, green long hair, and grey eyes…she just looked at him. No longer crying but he felt that she wasn't welcoming him either.

Chad quickly fired a Chaos beam, and all it did was go right through her…she was a spirit then at least…that didn't help. He saw a chance to run through, and did. He fled once again, heading down the corridor, into the other, where the dead were, and finally, down the corridor to the Generator room, and saw Cloud and the others together, just leaving it. "Oh thank god!" he said as he came up to them. The panic in his eyes getting Anna and Zhang He worried. "We need to get the fuck out of this ship! Right now!"

Cloud looked surprised. "Is there a problem? Did you find whatever made the tapping sound Anna said about?"

"A PROBLEM!? We got ghosts! Little girl ghosts! We have to leave!"

They all went silent for a moment…well, except Darkmega, who was chuckling, then laughing. Chad eyes darted at him. "Oh fuck you Darkmega! I'm serious! You may have not found anything, but I did!"

Cloud walked past Chad, down the way he came from. "A ghost you said…alright, I'll handle it. Which way?"

"Left side! The corridor that was sealed off before! Cloud don't!"

Cloud stopped at the end of the corridor, looking to the left. "…The left side you said, correct?"

"Yeah!"

"…Come and look."

They all walked down to where Cloud was, with Chad dreading what they were going to see…and the left side, the door, was re-sealed. It appeared fully frozen over, only the glass parts of the door left unfrozen this time, that was it…Chad's mouth was wide open, looking at Cloud, who had his eyebrow raised, then at the door, then Cloud…then Darkmega was heard laughing even more, as he headed back up the corridor. "But…but…it was…I mean…"

Anna put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him a little, in reassurance. "Maybe it was just your imagination Chad? This ship is empty except for a few critters perhaps. The noise might've made you think there was ghosts around."

Chad was ready to argue his case, but he just couldn't see a point. And sighed in despair at being seen as having a wild imagination. Cloud smiled at him. "Relax. At least nothing bad happened. Come on, I know a way out. Let's go."

Soon, Cloud, Anna and Zhang He joined up with Darkmega, and headed off. Chad was about to follow, and felt that cold shiver...he looked at the glass of the door, and saw the ghost girl peeping through, staring blankly at him…that made him go faster to keep up with the others. As they left, the girl slowly vanished, and soon, once again, her shadow was seen in the lab, on the wall. Her once body, inside the glass chamber, laying still…