Chapter 28: The Next Step
As soon as Pandora's head hit the pillow she could hear the Chocobo theme tune in her head over and over again as if the tune had been set to constant replay. "Strange…" Pandora muttered to herself, "that tune must've been practically drilled in my head." She woke up to find herself in a large filed with a fence in the centre of it.
"This is definitely weird," Pandora uttered as she walked towards the fence, "normally I'm dreaming about Max," Pandora jumped with a start as she saw a yellow coloured bird jump over the fence. Pandora soon got over the shock though as she realised that it was a Chocobo, "1…" she found herself instinctively counting as more Chocobos jumped over the fence. "50…51…52…what is this?" Pandora suddenly stopped as she realised how stupid counting Chocobos was. "I've heard of counting sheep, but this is ridiculous...why am I even having this dream?"
The Chocobo theme tune suddenly stopped and was replaced with the chirruping of birds. Pandora groaned as she began to stir, she woke up with a start to find herself back in her room in Cosmo Canyon, the morning sun poured into the window and Pandora had to shield her eyes. "Uhhhh…" She moaned again as she stretched, "that had to be the most bizarre dream I've ever had." She looked over at Max to see that he was still asleep, "poor guy," she whispered softly as she stroked Max's forehead and brushed his forelocks to the side. "What did they do to you?" She asked half to herself as she didn't expect Max to answer her.
"You mean apart from experimenting on me?" A voice suddenly asked in her head.
"Max?" Pandora's voice projected in Max's head, "I thought you were…"
"I'm asleep," Max told her, "it doesn't mean that I'm not aware of what's happening around me, and why did I have that annoying tune in my head?"
"Eh he…" Pandora smiled ruefully as Max told her that, "I kind of had Chocobos on the brain last night," Pandora told him.
Max smiled in his sleep, "I know," he replied, "we share dreams sometimes remember?" He reminded her.
"Yeah I remember," Pandora answered, "it's just that I had a problem with the WRO helpdesk service," Pandora explained to him and she could hear Max's laughter in her head. "What's so funny?" Pandora demanded to know.
"You've always had problems with helpdesk services," Max reminded her as he grinned at the memory. "I remember back at the palace you wanted to order a priceless Ming vase and they kept putting you on hold, the look on your face…"
"I get the idea!" Pandora yelled in Max's head, "I just don't see the point in them putting you on hold all the time, helpdesk services…ha! They're not exactly helpful!"
"Did you get in touch with Rufus?" Max asked after sensing that Pandora was getting frustrated decided to change the subject.
"Yeah," Pandora replied calming down, "he said that it'll take a while because the Sierra took some damage," she explained to him, "apparently it got shot down while trying to follow the ship we were on."
"Is everyone ok?" Max asked, concerned for his friends.
"Their fine," Pandora reassured him, "but the Sierra is out of commission until it's repaired."
"For how long?" Max questioned.
"I don't know," Pandora replied shrugging her shoulders, "it could be tomorrow, a few days from now, anyway," she changed the subject, "you should get some rest, you still look exhausted."
"I feel exhausted," Max admitted, after this his voice faded from Pandora's mind as he continued to sleep. Pandora sat there for another few minutes stroking his hair, after a while she got up and began to explore the canyon.
"Come on Aerith!" Zack encouraged Aerith as she stood in the yard of WRO panting, she was holding a training sword in her hand. Zack was stood opposite her also holding a training sword.
"I don't know about this Zack," Aerith said in a worried tone as gave Zack a hesitant stare.
"You said you wanted to be more useful out in the field," Zack reminded her of what she said a little while ago. "And what better way to become more useful than learning how to use a sword."
"But what's wrong with my staff?" Aerith asked him.
"A staff's ok if you want to channel magic from it," Zack answered, "but say an enemy is attacking you at close range, you need to be able to defend yourself when you can't use magic, that's where the sword comes in."
"I understand where you're coming from," Aerith stated still unsure about what she was doing, "but a sword seems like such a violent weapon."
Zack sighed, "Aerith, any weapon can be violent if the wielder has violent intentions," he informed her, "but a sword can be used for defensive as well as offensive purposes," Zack got into a fighting stance and he held his sword out in front of him. "Ok, we'll start with the basics, there are three different kinds of strikes," Zack explained to her, "there's the vertical strike," Zack sliced down with his sword to show Aerith, "the horizontal strike," he sliced across, "and the diagonal strike," he sliced from corner to corner, "you understand so far?" He asked.
Aerith nodded, "I think I understand," she answered.
Zack smiled at her, "good, follow me," Zack walked to the other side of the yard until they reached the training area. Aerith saw a training dummy in the centre of the training grounds. "Try performing the three strikes on this dummy," he instructed her.
"Ok…" She replied nervously as she got into a fighting stance, she stood there for a few seconds staring at the dummy, then with a cry she charged at the dummy. She quickly performed a horizontal strike on the dummy with a quick vertical slice as a follow up, she repeated the process performing a strike at random, Zack was stood at the side grinning as he watched her. After half an hour he stopped her.
"Impressive," Zack stated as Aerith stood next to the dummy holding the sword in both her hands panting. "You've mastered all three strikes in half an hour."
Aerith gave Zack an exhausted smile, "thanks," she replied gratefully, "I never knew I had it in me…"
"Ok," Zack told her after seeing how tired she was, "I'll let you rest for a bit and then we'll continue." After a ten minute break Aerith was ready to resume her training. "Alright, I think we'll start on something a little more advanced, combinations." Aerith gave Zack a confused stare but she allowed him to continue, "ok, we'll start off with a simple one," Zack sliced downwards with his sword followed by a quick horizontal slash, this was followed by a swift upwards slash, "now you try it."
Aerith attempted the combination that Zack had shown her, and after three or four attempts she managed it. "I did it…" Aerith stated in a state of shock.
Zack grinned, "you're a quick learner," Zack complimented Aerith, this caused her to smile as her confidence slowly grew. "Ok, I think you're ready to try something a little harder." Zack did a quick downward slice before slicing quickly to the right, he then followed up with an upwards diagonal slash to the left hand corner before following up with another downwards vertical slash and a quick stab.
Aerith stared in shock at the combo that Zack did, "I can't do that…" Aerith replied still in shock.
"It's easy," Zack encouraged her, "come on, you did great with the other combo you can do this one."
"Alright," Aerith responded, she took a deep breath and began the combo, as she tried several attempts, some of her friends including Cloud, Tifa and Drogo came to watch.
"How do you think she's doing?" Cloud whispered to Drogo.
"She seems to be doing ok," Drogo whispered back to Cloud, as the two men and Tifa watched Aerith and Zack. After numerous attempts Aerith managed to pull off the combo.
"You're doing well," Zack stated happily to Aerith as she stood there panting, "now we go for something even more complex." Zack slashed horizontally through the air from right to left quickly following up with a quick upwards diagonal slash and another diagonal slash in the opposite direction making a cross shape. He then slashed horizontally to the left before performing a fast upwards slash, followed by another right horizontal slash, a quick stab and a powerful downwards vertical strike. Aerith took one look at Zack before she performed the same combo on the last remaining dummy, after her fifth attempt she managed to do the combo perfectly.
"That was great Aerith," Tifa replied encouragingly, Cloud and Drogo nodded in agreement.
Aerith turned round and stared at the group, "you guys were watching me?" She asked half angry and half shocked. "How long were you there for?"
"We just got here," Cloud answered truthfully, "it's nice to see that you're learning how to use a sword."
Aerith cheered up when she heard this," Thanks Cloud, that means a lot to me." A few hours later and Aerith had mastered all the sword combinations, sword/magic fusions, and the numerous defensive stances.
"Alright," Zack stated happily, "you mastered everything there is to know in the space of a day, that's a lot quicker than when I learned it."
"I guess my Cetra blood allows me to learn things quicker," Aerith stated.
"I think you're ready to use a real sword," Zack told Aerith, a sword suddenly appeared in Aerith's hand. "And you know how to summon one."
"Yeah," Tifa agreed, "you've changed so much from the woman I used to know."
Aerith blushed, she couldn't help but grin, "I guess I have," she replied timidly, "I'm not sure if I can use a sword in battle though."
"Of course you can," Zack said encouragingly, "you've pretty much mastered all the moves."
"But my opponents won't go easy on me," Aerith stated truthfully, "I could be killed straight away."
"Then they'll have to go through me first," Zack stated boldly as he wrapped his arms round Aerith's waist.
"You don't have to fight alone Aerith," Cloud replied, agreeing whole heartedly with Zack.
"Yeah," Drogo added, "you just need to have confidence in yourself, show your opponents what you're made of."
Aerith smiled, "yeah, you're right," she replied happily, "but…what if I lose my sword?"
"Don't worry about that," Tifa answered reassuringly as she walked over and placed her hand on her friend's shoulder, "I'll teach you martial arts so that if you do lose your sword you won't be completely defenceless."
"Thanks Tifa," Aerith replied gratefully, "I might take you up on that offer, but not right now, I'm feeling a little tired, I think I'm gonna go and lie down for a while," she then looks over at Zack, "you coming Zack?" She asked her boyfriend.
Zack grinned at Aerith, "now that's an offer I can't refuse," he stated in a half joking manner as he and Aerith left the training grounds.
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other, "is it me or are Aerith and Zack making up for lost time?" Tifa asked Cloud.
Cloud shrugged, "maybe," Cloud answered, "I guess they couldn't really do much in the Life Stream what with them being…well…dead and all."
Tifa thought about this then nodded, "I guess you're right," she agreed with Cloud, "I wonder how Max and Pandora are doing."
"They'll be fine," Drogo reassured Tifa, "they're both strong and if they had any sense they'd have gone to a safe place until we can rescue them."
"Until then there's not really much we can do," Cloud stated, "of course," he whispered to Tifa, "we have a lot of spare time on our hands and Cid said he'd let us know when the Sierra's ready."
Tifa nodded, she knew that Cloud was right, "come on Cloud," she stated flirtatiously as she grabbed hold of Cloud's arm, "I know where we could go." Without another word Cloud and Tifa left the training grounds, Drogo watched them leave.
"Fine!" He yelled after them, "leave me here all by myself!" Drogo sighed when he realised that were gone, "I wonder what Sunny's up to…" Drogo muttered to himself as he too left the training grounds to find Sunny.
Meanwhile in a pub in Kalm Reno and Rude were sat at the bar enjoying a drink. "Aaaaahhhh…" Reno sighed as he drunk some of his pint, "it feels good to be able to relax."
"Hmmm…" Rude agreed, "I can't remember the last time we had a day off."
"Well enjoy it while you can my friend," Reno stated, "cos the way things are going Rufus is gonna be having us working overtime for weeks," Reno then raised his glass, "to our night off."
Rude grinned, "To our night off," he said back as the two Turks gently knocked their pint glasses together. Reno and Rude quickly downed their pints just as a group of young women entered.
Reno grinned, "looks like Lady Luck is smiling down on us tonight Rude," Reno stated as he nodded his head towards the women who had entered the bar.
Rude looked over at the girls and then he looked back at Reno, "but what about Emma?" He asked his best friend.
"What about her?" Reno answered with a snort.
"Didn't you say you'd take her out to dinner as soon as you got a night off?" Rude questioned, Reno looked worried for a second but he brushed it off, he and Rude had already had quite a few pints.
"Nah…" Reno stated dismissively as he asked for two more pints, "I only said that to keep her sweet."
"Sweet?" Rude repeated the last word Reno said and he gave his friend a confused look.
"You don't know much about women do you Rude?" Reno questioned half jokingly as he slapped Rude playfully on the back. "I guess I'm gonna have to teach you a few things."
"Why can't I just make small talk with them?" Rude asked Reno, after losing count of the number of times Reno was slapped by women he didn't want to go through the same thing.
Reno sighed exasperatedly, "girls don't want small talk," he informed Rude, "they like smooth talkers, charmers, you've gotta act all cool, let 'em know that they're the most gorgeous thing in the world."
"And you think that'll work?" Rude asked Reno, his friend laughed.
"Of course," Reno answered as he gave Rude another playful slap on the back, "hey look, it's those chicks we saw enter the bar earlier," Reno stated as the three women the two Turks saw earlier walked up to the bar. "Ok Rude, just sit back and watch a master at work." Rude shook his head as Reno got off his stool and walked towards the women.
"Good evening ladies," Reno said as he flirted with the women, "can I just say that you three look so damn hot tonight!" The women blushed when Reno said this but they liked what they heard. "Someone should call Heaven cos there are three beautiful and incredibly sexy angels missing."
My," the woman closest to Reno stated, she was tall and slender with long blonde hair running the length of her back, she wore a red tube top, a red miniskirt and red knee length boots. "You're quite the charmer aren't you?" She asked as she flirted back with Reno.
"What can I say," Reno replied boastfully as he blew on his fingers, "I guess I have a natural gift when it comes to women, the name's Reno by the way."
Erin," The blonde haired woman introduced herself, "and these are my friends Susan," she points to a woman with curly ginger hair wearing a purple low cut dress and purple high heeled shoes. "And Lara," she points to a woman with shoulder length brown hair, she was wearing a black one piece cat suit, black elbow length leather gloves and black knee length boots.
"Those are beautiful names," Reno continued to work his charm, "what do you say I buy you three heavenly ladies a drink?"
"I don't see why not," Lara replied, "we'll have three white wine spritzers."
"Coming right up," Reno told the women, "hey bar keep!" Reno called the bar tender, a middle aged man with thinning hair appeared, "I'll have two pints and three white wine spritzers." The bar tender got the drinks and Reno paid for them. "Hey Rude!" Reno called over to Rude again, "you coming?"
Rude shook his head, but he was grinning, "nah," he answered happily, "I'd rather stay here and watch you make a complete ass of yourself."
Reno shrugged and he, Erin, Susan and Lara sat down at a table near the door. "So…" Reno asked the three women, still flirting with them, "what are three pretty young ladies such as yourselves doing in a quiet little town like this?"
"We thought we'd check out the nightlife here," Erin answered as she rubbed up against Reno openly flirting with him. "It's ok I guess."
"Well how about I give you a taster of the nightlife, Reno style," Reno boasted.
"Hmmm…" Erin thought for a while, "well that depends on what you're gonna give me a taster of." Erin wrapped her arms round Reno's neck and she kissed him passionately on the lips just as Emma entered the door in a very revealing low cut black dress. Her eyes grew wide with shock as she saw Reno kissing Erin, she stormed up to them.
"Having fun!?" She demanded as Reno and Erin quickly broke apart, Reno sorted out his even untidier clothes as he spotted Emma.
"Emma…" Reno stated in shock as he saw his girlfriend standing there with her hands on her hips glaring at him. "This isn't what it looks like…" he stated quickly defending himself.
Emma slapped Reno hard across the face, "YOU TWO TIMING, CHEATING BASTARD!" She screamed at Reno.
"Emma please…" Reno tried to calm her down, "it was just a bit of harmless fun…"
HARMLESS FUN!" Emma continued to yell at Reno causing him to cower under her wrath. "IT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE HARMLESS FUN TO ME! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KISSED THAT TROLLOP BEHIND MY BACK!"
"EXCUSE ME!" Erin shouted as she stood up to glare at Emma.
Reno buried his head in his hands, "please not now…"
"YOU HEARD ME!" Emma retorted, she picked up Erin's drink and she poured it down Erin's head causing her hair and her top and skirt to be soaked. "YOU KEEP YOUR DIRTY CLAWS OUT OF MY BOYFRIEND!" Emma continued to yell at Erin as the latter woman continued to stare at her outfit.
"YOU RUINED MY FAVOURITE OUTFIT!" Erin screamed at Emma.
"IT DIDN'T SUIT YOU ANYWAY!" Emma shot back as she stormed out of the bar, Reno got up and he ran after her.
"Emma wait!" Reno called out to his girlfriend as he caught up with her, Emma turned round and glared at Reno.
"YOU PROMISED ME THAT WHEN IT WAS YOUR NIGHT OFF YOU'D TAKE ME OUT TO DINNER!" Emma laid into Reno jabbing her finger into his chest.
"I'm sorry," Reno apologised to Emma, "it's just that Rude asked me if I wanted to go for a drink and I couldn't let him down."
"BUT YOU COULD LET ME DOWN!" Emma continued to interrogate Reno, Reno stammered but he couldn't come up with a response. "YOU CAN SLEEP ON THE COUCH TONIGHT!" Emma screamed as she stormed off down the street, Reno stood there too stunned to speak just as Rude came out of the bar.
"Looks like you're busted," Rude stated as Reno turned round to face him.
"Damn it!" Reno cursed loudly, "nothing happened between me and Erin, I was just flirting with her, I didn't think that she'd kiss me."
Rude shook his head, "that's your problem," he stated truthfully as Reno glared at him.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Reno demanded.
"You openly flirt with women even though you have a girlfriend," Rude answered, "girls find it hard to resist you, still it was funny to watch."
"Yeah, yeah," Reno brushed it off, "laugh it up."
"Come on it's getting late, we should head back," Rude changed the subject as the two Turks made their way back to WRO Headquarters.
Pandora woke up the next morning to find that Max was still fast asleep, she was wondering how long it would be before Max woke up. She sat up and slowly stroked Max's face. "He's so handsome when he's asleep," Pandora thought to herself.
"Thanks," Max said in Pandora's head, "oh and that shared dream we had was amazing."
"Yeah," Pandora agreed, she couldn't help but grin, "it was." Pandora's ears pricked up as she heard the sound of an engine in the distance becoming louder as it got nearer. "Is that Sierra?" She asked out loud as she threw covers off herself and quickly got dressed, she ran out of the room and stood next to the eternally lit Cosmo Candle. After ten minutes of waiting the Sierra had landed near the town and she saw her friends walking up the stone steps.
"Guys!" Pandora yelled as she ran up to greet her friends, "you finally came!"
"You didn't think we'd leave you and Max out here did you?" Nightshade asked Pandora as he was hugged by his daughter in law.
"Tempting though it was…" Drogo muttered under his breath but he soon regretted it when he felt searing pain in his ass. "Ow, ow, ow!" Drogo cried out in pain as he ran round in circles with his ass on fire. "It burns, it burns, it burns!" Pandora grinned at this.
"So where's the pain in the ass that I call my son?" Nightshade asked Pandora as he fired a water spell at Drogo's ass causing the flames to die out.
"Aaaaahhhhh…" Drogo heaved a huge sigh of relief as his ass was no longer burning. "Thanks Nightshade," Nightshade merely brushed it off as he waited for Pandora to tell him where Max was.
"He's in the inn," Pandora answered, "but he's unconscious."
"Unconscious…" Nightshade repeated, "just what were they doing to him?"
"That's something we can ask him when he wakes up," Vincent replied, "which room is he in and I'll go get him?"
"There's no rush is there?" Cid questioned Vincent as he stood there leaning against the canyon's wall. "I mean it'll take a while to get rid of the smell."
Pandora stared at Cid, "Smell…" She asked.
"Yuffie threw up on the ship…again!" Cid answered irritably as he glared at Yuffie.
"Hey!" Yuffie retorted as she glared at Cid, "you kept doing every flight manoeuvre in the book!"
"Just keeping everyone on their toes!" Cid argued back, "And I had the damn Sierra detailed as well and you went and threw up all over my damn floor!"
"I cleaned up the mess didn't I?!" Yuffie continued to argue.
"Ay!" Cid answered, "and you did a crap job an' all! Obviously they haven't heard of disinfectant in Wutai…Aaaaahhhhh!" Cid yelled and he ducked just in time as Yuffie's giant shuriken was stuck in the wall where Cid's head was a few seconds before. "What the hell?!" Cid yelled as he pointed his spear at Yuffie. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Barret shook his head, "looks like we're gonna be here all day at this rate."
"I estimate that there is a 90 chance that Cid will win this fight," Isis stated calmly seemingly unaffected by the argument.
"Really?" Drogo asked with a wide grin on his face, "Ok I got double or nothing on Cid winning the fight, any takers?" Zack was about to make a bet when Aerith stopped him.
"Don't encourage him Zack," Aerith warned Zack.
"Drogo…not now!" Sunny shouted as she glared at Drogo.
"Ok, ok…" Drogo stated sounding disappointed.
Pandora shook her head, but she was still grinning, she hadn't heard Cid and Yuffie argue in a long while, "he's in room number 20," Pandora told Vincent and she gave him the key to the room. Vincent entered the inn and five minutes later he came out with an unconscious Max slung over his shoulder, he saw that Yuffie and Cid had put their weapons away with Cid claiming that he didn't fight annoying, spoilt brats who threw up every time they flew in an airship.
"Alright you jackasses!" Cid yelled at the top of his lungs, "let's get Max's heavy ass back to WRO!"
"But what about the smell?" Zack asked jokingly causing the pilot to glare at him.
"Forget the smell!" Cid yelled, "let's just get the hell out of here, this place bores the shit out of me!" Without another word everyone boarded the Sierra and the airship took off, the faint sound of Yuffie throwing up and Cid yelling could be heard.
"Uhhhh…" Max moaned as he began to stir, he woke up to find himself in a bed, he had countless wires connected to him and there was an overall clinical feel to the room.
"Max!" An all too familiar voice rang in Max's ears, Max looked up to see Sunny standing over him. "You're awake!"
"Sunny…" Max muttered as his vision became clearer, "where am I?" He asked the female hedgehog.
"You're in WRO Headquarters," Sunny answered, "Aerith and Angel are in here too," just as she said this Aerith and Angel walked up to Max.
"Thank goodness you're awake," Angel stated in relief, "you really gave us all a scare."
"Sorry…" Max apologised, he tried to sit up, but he felt dizzy and sick so he decided to lie back down again, at least until the nausea had passed. "How long was I out for?" He questioned.
Aerith folded her arms as she thought about the answer, "let's see, you've been out for about three days now, including the two days you spent in Cosmo Canyon," she answered Max.
"Pandora hardly left your side," Sunny added, she couldn't help but admire Pandora's dedication to Max, "we sent her to get some rest over an hour go."
"Any news on my captors?" Max asked them, all three women shook their heads.
"No," Angel answered truthfully, "Cid and the others chased after the airship you and Pandora were on, but the Sierra got shot down, fortunately it was able to be repaired."
Max chuckled at this, "of course it wouldn't have happened if Cid had have let me upgrade the Sierra, what about the Life Stream Situation?" Max asked his next question.
"More and more of the Life Stream is being corrupted," Aerith answered with a hint of urgency in her voice, "Rufus said he was going to be holding a meeting about it when you were well enough. He said that we can't put it off any longer."
"But for now, you should get some rest," Sunny advised Max, "we'll come back to check up on you." Aerith, Sunny and Angel left the room, Max closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep.
Four hours later, Aerith deemed Max well enough to leave the med bay and the whole group was in the meeting room once more. There was none of the usual chatter that came before each meeting, everyone in the room was silent as the seriousness of the situation was apparent to them.
"As you all know," Rufus started the meeting in his usual sombre manner, "the Life Stream was slowly and surely being corrupted, if we allow this to continue then who knows what would happen to this world."
"But we don't even know who's doing this," Barret stated as he banged his cybernetic fist on the table leaving a dent.
"I do," Max replied, everyone in the turned their heads round to stare at Max, he slowly got to his feet, he was still a little unsteady but he was starting to feel better after he had a good meal inside him. "Our enemy is a Dark Kitsune known as Illusion," Max began to explain.
"Illusion!" Cid laughed out loud, "what kind of dumb ass name is that?!"
"She's called Illusion because one of her powers is to manipulate people's dreams and memories and create illusions from them," Max answered glaring at Cid, "she's also a skilled necromancer, that's how Sephiroth, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Balthazar, Scarlet and all our other enemies keep on coming back."
"So what you're saying is, if we kill Illusion, we'll get rid of the others too?" Lance asked Max.
"It's more than likely," Max answered, "they need the necromancer to live, without the necromancer…they die."
"So what does she want with this planet?" Tifa asked, dreading the answer.
"She doesn't want to destroy it," Max answered as he revealed his knowledge on Dark Kitsunes, "Dark Kitsunes are conquerors, they prefer to take over worlds and corrupt them with darkness."
"And if the Life Stream gets completely corrupted…" Cloud started to say, but he didn't finish the rest of his sentence, he didn't need to as everyone in the room knew what would happen.
"Illusion can use it to fill the planet with darkness," Max continued his explanation, "which is why we have to act now before it's too late."
"But how?" Angel asked looking round at everyone hoping to get an answer, "how can we stop the Life Stream from getting further corrupted?"
"Don't you remember Angel?" Lance questioned his wife, "we already had a plan, but then Max got captured and we had to put it on hold so we could rescue him."
"Illusion has left the old Deepground base," Vincent stated calmly, "but I'm guessing she could easily warp herself or her minions back there whenever she pleases."
"But if we can destroy the reactors and purify the Life Stream it would make it easier for us to stop her right?" Yuffie asked giving everyone a hopeful stare.
"Illusion is over 9000 years old," Max told Yuffie and she hung her head, "she knows every single dark spell in the book and she's so skilled at necromancy that if she wanted to she could bring herself back to life."
"So how do we kill her?" Zack questioned.
"Holy water," Max answered, "but we're gonna need a lot of it."
"Let's just focus on shutting the reactors down," Rufus stated, "as mentioned in an earlier meeting the main security protocols were set up in the number one reactor between sectors eight and one," Rufus reminded everyone, "Zack, we need you to sneak into the reactor and switch off all the security protocols so we can storm the reactors and switch off the eight generators."
Zack cracked his knuckles, "not a problem," he boasted.
"It won't be easy," Reeve warned him, "my sensors in that area indicate that there are motion sensing turrets, armed guards, flamethrowers in the walls, spears that come out of the floor, swing pendulums of death and laser grids."
"You're forgetting," Zack stated, "thanks to my Life Stream powers, I can regenerate."
"You need at least 20 of your body to be able to regenerate," Reeve corrected Zack, "and the laser grids can cut you into confetti if you're not careful."
Zack gulped nervously when he heard that, "thanks Reeve…" he muttered half nervously and half sarcastically, "I so wanted to hear that…"
Reeve ignored Zack's comment, "once you've switched off the security in the reactors, everyone else can switch off the generators that are drawing the Life Stream into the reactors, once the Life Stream is liberated Aerith can purify it again."
"Errr…there's one problem," Max cut in, "I don't have a weapon."
"Don't worry Max," A familiar voice suddenly spoke up as Emily walked into the room, "your sword was broken but I fixed it."
Max stared at Emily, "you mended my sword…my ancestor's sword…" he stuttered hardly daring to believe it.
Emily nodded, "yep," she answered as she held out a thin case and gave it to Max, "I mended it and improved it."
Max opened the box to see his sword, it looked as good as new and the blade shone even brighter than usual, it also seemed to have a Holy aura about it. Max picked up the sword, "it feels lighter than usual," he remarked as he swung it round with ease.
"I used Mythril to reforge the blade," Emily explained to Max, "the sword is lighter, but it's as hard as dragon scales, the sword is virtually unbreakable."
"But where did you get the Mythril from?" Nightshade asked Emily his voice was filled with curiosity.
"When me Drogo and Sunny entered the Mythril mines, I brought some Mythril back with me, just in case we needed it, looks like it came in handy."
"And why is the sword glowing?" Max questioned, he wasn't angry, rather he was impressed.
"Oh, I saw a vat of Holy power in your workshop in the palace before I came here," Emily admitted, "I'm sorry I took it, I should've asked first."
"No, no," Max brushed Emily's apology aside, "if you hadn't have took it would still have been sitting on my shelf gathering dust, I'm glad you found a use for it."
Emily smiled and nodded, "just promise me that you'll use that sword to fight evil," she replied half jokingly.
Max grinned, "don't I always use my sword to fight evil?" he asked her just as jokingly.
"It's good to have you back Max," Emily stated happily.
Max grinned, "thanks," he replied gratefully, "it's great to be back."
"I'll send an intercept team with you to help," Rufus offered, "if we're to save the planet then we have to do it right."
"Thanks Rufus," Cloud replied gratefully, "it's light now, we should wait for the cover of darkness, that way, we're less likely to get caught."
Everyone nodded in agreement, they knew that it was better to act at night when there was less light around. But they also knew that one slip up could cost them the chance to save the planet from darkness.
Meanwhile, Illusion's ship had landed at its destination, the Northern Cave and it was in the process of being docked. "Imbeciles!" Illusion screamed at Sephiroth and Weis, "you let them escape!"
"We're sorry Illusion," The two men apologised.
"That's not good enough!" Illusion continued to yell as she stood up from her seat and paced up and down, not taking her eyes off Weis and Sephiroth, "I expected better from you both, but especially you Sephiroth!" Her yellow eyes stopped on Sephiroth for a second, the swordsman was about to open his mouth to speak but Illusion held up a hand to silence him. "I don't want to hear anymore excuses, I want results and if you fail me again I'll return you to the dust from whence you came!"
The two men bowed their heads and they walked out of the room just as two Deepground soldiers entered the room. "We've docked mam," they informed her as they bowed to her.
Illusion smiled, "good, my old fortress should still be here," she stated as she left the room. Illusion left the airship flanked by numerous bodyguards, she walked deep into the Northern Cave, the monsters dwelling within it hid as soon as they saw her, too afraid to leave their hiding places.
Illusion entered the deepest part of the part of the cave, she walked passed the Life Stream pool and she came to a stop at a solid wall. Hojo walked up to her, "but this is just a blank wall," he stated as he stared at the wall, Illusion merely smiled at Hojo.
"You're a brilliant scientist," she remarked, "but you really need to do more work on your research," Illusion placed her hand on the wall in front of her and as if by magic a hand shaped pattern suddenly appeared round Illusion's hand and glowed, the necromancer grinned as the glow faded, she removed her hand, and a low rumbling sound could be heard as a crack appeared in the wall and the two halves pulled away from each other revealing a passageway.
"My goodness…" Hojo stated in awe as he stared at the passage but he wasn't the only one who was shocked, just about everyone who had accompanied Illusion had no idea that this passageway existed.
Illusion's grin grew wider but she didn't say anything as she walked down the passageway, Hojo and the others followed just as the entrance slammed shut behind them. The group continued to walk down the dark tunnel, fortunately the tunnel wasn't very long and they soon ended up in a large rectangular room with countless tunnels leading away from it. There was futuristic looking equipment in the room only it looked like it had been there for centuries.
"Is this some kind of lab?" Hojo asked, curiosity got the better of him.
Illusion nodded, "you catch on quick Hojo, yes this is a lab, it was created two thousand years ago."
Hojo took his glasses off and cleaned them on his lab coat trying to think of anything he could say in response to this revelation. "But this equipment looks…"
"Futuristic," Illusion finished his sentence off for him, "Kitsunes and Dark Kitsunes are highly advanced, why we were already in the technological age when this world was in the Dark Ages, now, they should still be here."
"What should still be here?" Rosso found herself asking, she wasn't sure what to make of the place. She was used to secrets, but she could never imagine a 2000 year old lab.
Illusion walked over to a control panel and she pressed a button, the equipment in the room hummed to life, doors in the floor opened and countless glass cylinders rose out of the floor. Hojo walked up to one of the cylinders and he was surprised to see a mutated humanoid female with blue skin and dark blue markings all over her body, she had wild, purple hair which went down to her waist and she had an overall feral appearance. There were countless wires were connected to her. "Are they…" Hojo began to question even though he half knew the answer.
"Cetra," Illusion answered grinning evilly, "that's right."
"That's impossible!" Sephiroth spoke up as he walked round the cylinders to see more Cetra within them. "All the Cetra are dead!"
"Most of the Cetra were killed by Jenova," Illusion answered, "but the ones that were mutated by Jenova's curse were captured and brought here for some future purpose."
"But…they've been in here for over 2000 years," Yazoo stated, "they should be dead by now."
"They're in suspended animation," Illusion stated, "although they are over 2000 years old their bodies haven't progressed over the age of 20, Hojo, do you have the blood samples?"
"Yes Illusion," the scientist replied as he gave Illusion 20 or so vials containing Max's blood, "but are you sure that's enough?"
"I'm sure it'll be enough!" Illusion snapped at Hojo as she placed the vials into slots in the control panel, "with Max's DNA, the mutated Cetra will have Kitsune and Dark Kitsune powers, the powers of our enemy. The Cetra were the chosen people of this planet, chosen to protect and tend to the planet. Now they are slaves to my will and they will corrupt the planet and cover it in darkness, then I'll rule it with an iron fist, and no one will get in my way, ha, ha, ha!" Illusion laughed evilly as she pushed a button, the blood was drained from the vials and gushed through long tubes leading to the cylinders, the blood entered the cylinders and into the wires connected to the mutated Cetra inside them, the blood was pumped into them and after a few minutes the blood was completely absorbed.
Illusion grinned when she saw this, "finally, after two thousand years of waiting, I secured the blood of the chosen one, the prince of the Kitsunes. With my new army, this world will soon fall." She pushed another button on the control panel and the liquid within the cylinders was drained and the wires disconnected themselves from the mutated Cetra. Their eyes slowly flickered, the female in the cylinder closest to Illusion slowly lifted her hands up and banged her fists on the glass making Loz jump.
"Whoa!" Loz cried out as he jumped into Yazoo's arms, much to Yazoo's annoyance.
"Are you gonna cry Loz?" He asked half mockingly and half annoyed.
"I'm not gonna cry!" Loz snapped at Yazoo as his brother dropped him on the floor.
The female banged her fists on the glass a second time causing the glass to shatter. She slowly stepped out of the broken cylinder and lifted her head up, her eyelids fluttered open to reveal blood red eyes which glowed vividly, her pupils were thin black slits, she stared at Illusion, her fanged mouth curled into a sinister grin before she knelt down to her master. It wasn't long before the other mutated Cetra burst out of their glass prisons and bowed to Illusion, Illusion's grin grew wider as she saw this and she laughed evilly, her laughter echoed through the vast caverns of the secret lab and the entire Northern Cave causing the monsters to cower in fear again.
Phew, chapter 28 is finally complete it took me a while to type up, sorry to keep you all waiting. I am going to be taking a break from this story for a little while as I am going to start working on other stories. Don't worry though I will still be working on this one as well, just a reminder that I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters, they belong to Square Enix. I do however own characters I created myself.