OK, once more, we're turning away from the main story for now. We are going to the day that Cloud took his team and went to the burned down mansion to find Nogias. Enjoy!
Side-Story 2 – Aerodynamics: Search is Over!
Cloud had left the fallen Turks in hospital for the day to go on one of two special missions: re-invade the Shin-Ra building to search for people willing to defect to his team, and search the Shin-Ra Mansion for Nogias. The mansion mission seemed substantially easier, so he opted for that mission first. Collecting Vince, Red XIII, and Cait Sith, he got into the buggy and drove in the direction of the mansion. Upon Arrival, Cloud warned them, "Ok, guys, make sure to keep your guard up. We don't know if guarded is guarded as well as Vince's basement key was, so we need to exercise extreme caution." As he signalled them into the building, they were instantly thrust into battle. The Goofy Faces had a hard time of trying to curse and confuse any one of them, because Cloud's entire group was equipped with special Ribbons. As they proceeded through the creatures and made their way to the west wing of the building, he motioned them into the far-most bedroom, and through the hidden door to the spiral staircase that led to the basement. They proceeded to the basement room, where Cloud said, "Ok, Vince, you go right, ill go left. You two retards stay here and guard the entrance." Red XIII remained as stoic as he had been in the many years he'd been with the group, while Cait Sith erupted into a raging fury. "WHAT THE HEYELL DO YA MEAN, RETARD? I WORK THE HAHDEST O THE LOT O YUZ!" he screamed, getting the following response, not of Cloud, but of Vince, "No, you sit around on your stuffed mog body and shout orders at the rest of us, you ungrateful cat." Cait Sith just turned and began muttering to himself, as Cloud and Vince resumed searching the room. As Vince continued searching through the walls, where he did find a small stash of materia and weapons, Cloud searched the coffins. As he opened one after the other, he came across one that was… different from the others. Different in that it carried the Shin-Ra Corp crest and had a label: "WARNING: DO NOT OPEN!" Cloud, thinking it was a Shin-Ra Mega Weapon, said, "HEY! VINCE! COME HERE!" Vince flew over, landing next to Cloud, who pointed to the crest and label. "Well, it's either something of extreme value, a weapon of some sort, or someone like me." Cloud, not waiting to find out, took his sword from its sheath, and pried open the top of the coffin, revealing a young man, not riches or weapons. "Hey… Are you-" Cloud began, before the lid flew into the air and landed square in it's place. Cloud, now annoyed, pried the lid open again, and attempted to awaken the youth within. "HEY! WAKE UP!" he screamed, causing the young man inside to jump ten feet into the air. "Jeebus! Can you possibly not do that? I'm trying to get some rest!" He pulled the lid back on, and resumed his sleep. Cloud, now vastly irritated, stood back and swung down, releasing one of his trademark Blade Beam Limit attacks, decimating the defenseless coffin in one blow. The young man stood, quickly zoomed around the area, and in seconds, he had repaired the coffin. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed, as he slammed the lid of the coffin down so hard that the whole thing collapsed around him. "Whoops. Guess I really don't know my own strength!" he said, chuckling nervously. Cloud stood, towering above him, and said, "Are you interested in telling us WHY IN THE HELL you are trying to sleep in a coffin?" The young man stood up, and, dashing across the room in a mere two seconds, had gone from "white T-shirt and shorts" attire to a full outfit. The first thing Cloud noticed was the person's hair. His hair was wild and shooting everywhere, pulled back into multiple samurai-styled ponytails. The rest of his hair was styled upward into a multi-layered array of rows and columns of spiked hair, each spike a different shade of gold or yellow. "I'm sleeping in a coffin because the Shin-Ra decided I wasn't worth my post, and shipped me out here. They packaged me like sardines, with packing corn for company, brought me here, and left me here." The guy's clothing surprised Cloud as much as his story did. He had a long black nose-high cloak on, that very closely resembled Vince's. His shirt was unbuttoned on the top three buttons, and his jacket was left open and flowing in the slight under-ground breeze. his pants were torn in places, and reached all the way into his long, knee-length boots, each of which looked like a hooked flame. The cloak barely hid the silhouette of a small blade handle. 'Oh, well now,' Cloud thought, 'Another swordsman like myself. this should prove some rather interesting competition.' Cloud simply stood still, and said, "Would you be interested in helping us beat the Shin-Ra? It's good to have all the help we can get. What's your name, by the way?" The young man stared at Cloud for a second, then replied, "In order of asking: 1) Why not? It'll give me a chance to find out why they roped me up and dumped me here in this coffin. 2) I agree. After all, there is strength in numbers. And 3) My name is Nogias Frazar. I am Shadow Blaze's brother. now, what are your names? it's only fair, right?" Cloud marvelled at the young man's orderliness and sense of honor. Especially his Orderliness, considering the fact of Nogias' hair standing and jutting out to multiple directions. "I am Cloud Strife, and this here is Vincent Valentine-" "Though I prefer to be called Vince," Vince interrupted. Cloud, now rather angry, quickly regained his composure as he said, "And those two rejects in the back of us are Red XIII and Cait Sith, the last part pronounced like the letter "c". He has a thing about that. He'll smash you if you get it wrong." "DAMN RIGHT AND I'LL CLOBBER YA IF YA MAKE FUN OF MEH! Hey, wait A MINUTE!" Cait Sith shouted, hearing the exchange. Red XIII had to grab Cait Sith from the mog and carry him away to keep him from doing some rather evil things to Cloud. As Cloud shook Nogias' hand and turned to leave, he felt a large gust of wind rush past him, followed by many construction sounds. Cloud motioned to Vince and said, "Vince, go check it out. find out what that racket is!" Mere seconds after Vince flew off, he shouted, "CLOUD! YOU MAY WANT TO COME AND SEE THE BUGGY!" As Cloud ran up the stairs and towards the door, he called back, "WHY? IS IT DESTROYED?" "NO!" Vince called back, to which came Cloud's next question: "WAS IT VANDALIZED?" "YOU COULD SAY THAT!" Vince replied, and when Cloud arrived at the main entrance, he saw why. "WHAT THE? THE BUGGY HAS NOGIAS' HAIRSTYLE ON IT?!" Cloud was right! the buggy had been reconstructed to carry a giant replica of Nogias' hair. "Yep! Say 'hello' to the 'Let's-Get-Us-Some-Ass-Mobile'!" Nogias said, admiring his handiwork, while Vince and Cloud looked in with expressions of shock and confusion. Nogias cheered from behind the buggy, "This baby is now capable of super-hyper-turbo-NOS speed!" "How?" Cloud asked, staring dumbly at the Buggy. "Well, I reconstructed your car to carry a NOS engine under the hood. that, plus the aerodynamic modifications I made to the rear will make this baby jet at four times it's original speed capability, and just by tapping the little button I have in my-" Nogias said, trailing as he accidentally pushed the small button in his pocket. The buggy roared to life, and instantly shot off into the distance. "-pocket? Whoopsie! I didn't mean that!" Nogias said nervously, scratching his head. "BRING THAT BUGGY BACK NOW!" Cloud roared, easily scaring the pants off of Vince, who had never seen Cloud this mad. "Ummm… that's… actually… not very possible. Until the NOS engine runs out of fuel, that thing's just gonna keep on going! Your best bet would be to chase it." And so they did, bolting after the buggy as best as they could. Just as it reached the edge of the ocean, it stopped and turned, then revved and shot forward. Cloud and Vince barely had time to jump to safety before the NOS-hungry buggy ran them down. Slowly getting to his feet, Cloud shouted, "HOW IN THE HELL DO WE STOP THIS THING?!" Nogias, thinking quickly, charged and cast earth magic, creating a wall that encapsulated the buggy, allowing it to harmlessly burn off the remaining NOS fuel before dying to a gentle purr and turning off. Cloud inspected the machine thoroughly, and, finding nothing wrong, nodded his head and chopped the massive hairstyle off the buggy. He then proceeded to hack and smash the disembodied hairpiece into atoms. "NO!!" Nogias screamed, picking up the pieces of the vehicle's fallen mark of Nogias power, and said, "Why did you do that? It was better with hair!" Walking off, Cloud halted in place and said, with exasperation and anger in his voice, "WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?! IT MAKES THE DRIVER AND IT'S PASSENGERS LOOK LIKE FREAKS!" "Actually," Nogias said, getting up and walking to Cloud, "The people around here know me quite well. they know me as "The Shifty One". If Rufus comes around and confiscates something, I sneak it away from him, and bring it back. If it's food and water or a sick family member or what not, they can count on me to get it back to them, no matter what." He thrust his thumb and two front fingers, sideways, to the center of his forehead, and said, "I am Nogias Frazar, The Shift Thief! Protector of the weak and defenseless, and Back-Stealer of precious objects and people. Shin-Ra won't know what hit him!" Suddenly, he felt a crisp smack against the back of his head, and with a yelp of "OUCH!", turned to see Cloud walking to the buggy. "Come on, get in, both of you! The hideout isn't gonna wait forever, ya know." As Nogias and Vince climbed in, Cloud closed the doors and started the buggy. Only thing was, it didn't start. "Hmmm… Must have exhausted ALL of the fuel." Nogias once again laughed nervously, as Cloud looked at Vince and nodded, motioning towards Nogias. "Hey, wait a second, what are you-ARGH!" Nogias was booted harshly from the buggy, which immediately started up, roared like a lion, and sped off into the distance. "HEY! COME BACK!" Nogias shouted, chasing the car, "IS THIS ANY WAY TO TREAT A NEW MEMBER?" He continued to shout and scream as the buggy rode off into the sunrise.
---MEANWHILE…---
Cait Sith looked over at Red XIII, who was standing guard diligently. "Hey, Red," Cait Sith said, looking at the fire-tailed cat in interest, "Where do you think we're gonna find the treasure?"
---Meanwhile…---
Cloud looked at Vince, then back through the rear window at the tiring Nogias, and stopped the buggy. As Nogias got in, he said, "Hey, don't you guys feel like we're forgetting something?" the three looked at each other with a frightened expression, then emphatically said, "NAH!" and continued to ride home.
well there you have it. the catastrophic events leading up to and though the Nogias rescue…
I hope that you thoroughly enjoyed yourselves as you read this chapter. R&R, flames are always welcome and accepted.