Chapter 20: Gold Saucer
Gold Saucer was big. Scratch that, Gold Saucer was not big, it was huge.
The moment we hit the halfway mark in our tram ride, we could see the Gold Saucer in the distance. It was a massive structure, all dedicated to fun, fun, and more fun. Chocobo racing, arcades, battle arena, this place had it all,
In short, I wanted to be there.
It was evening by the time we arrived, and fireworks were going off left right and center. Balloons littered the place, and lots of people were walking around in chocobo and Moogle outfits. Upon exiting the tram, Barret seemed to go all moody. Probably because this place's atmosphere was a direct contradiction of how he was feeling in light of seeing the state of North Coral.
Don't blame him.
But I wasn't going to let his attitude get in the way of me enjoying myself while I'm here.
So, with this mentality firmly in mind, I walked up to the ticket vendor and bought myself (using every gil to my name right now) a golden ticket. Hah, now I can come and go as I so desire. And as an added bonus, it seems I get to allow two persons of my choosing to accompany me. Well, seeing as there are only two other who are my age, or close enough, that choice is easy.
So long as long of them doesn't rob me of my golden ticket.
And if anyone makes a Willy Wonka joke about the golden ticket... just don't.
Either way, Red and Yuffie get to accompany me, free of charge. Hey, us teenagers have to stick together, it's a hard world out there for us non-adults. Though in human years Red is about 46 now if I recall correctly. But in his years, he's 16. That makes him a teen, like me. As I entered the Gold Saucer proper, I looked back to see Cloud, looking very annoyed, buying everyone else tickets.
He should just get himself a golden ticket and let the others worry about what they want. Cheaper that way.
You know what the nifty thing about Gold Saucer is? I can regain my lost funds by betting on the chocobo races. Win a few high end items, sell them for gil, or maybe GP for the battle square, and hey presto, a good amount of cash coming to my pockets. Yes, I like having money. And I hate spending it on small things when there are better versions to be had, as was the case with the ticket. Why settle for buying the lame-ass standard ticket, when I can get the deluxe golden ticket that allows me free access whenever I so desire?
In other words, I like money, but can have a difficult time holding onto said money.
Thankfully, even though I said I used every gil to my name, I meant every gil that wasn't set aside for necessities. Because, I am going to need to get some more rations for the next time we're travelling the countryside. It's not always a certainty that we'll always be able to catch something edible, though dear god that rabbit was a welcome change from the taste of urine soaked leather. That brings me onto point number two, namely, that nearly all the monsters taste like urine soaked leather. Yuffie admitted that she'd spent the majority of the last year of her life living of edible monsters, and in that entire year, nearly every monster tasted exactly the same.
So that rabbit was actually the best thing she'd eaten in a year. That's actually kind of sad.
So rations and other supplies are a must. I don't want to end up getting to the point where the taste of urine soaked leather is normal.
The main lobby area of the Gold Saucer was different from what was shown in the game. Where the game just showed a small room with the portals to the various sections of the place, here, that one room was actually a small corner, of a very big lobby. Picture a busy shopping mall, then you have the lobby section of Gold Saucer. There are the various portals to the different sections, and more than just one of each portal, the place was so busy, that there would likely be a massive pile-up if there were. Plus actual stairs, no doubt, in case of a fire or the like.
And also like a mall, there were various shops all over the place.
What I didn't like, was the blindingly bright colours that the decorator had chosen. Seriously, blue is a fine colour, when not clashing bright scarlet.
The chocobo and Moogle pictures on the floor were a nice effect though.
I moved over to the corner that was represented in the game, noticing that Barret was storming over there. The rest of AVALANCHE joined us, Aeris looking around giddy with excitement.
"Wow! Let's have fun!" She declared. "I know this isn't the right time to do this. Hey, Barret, cheer up!"
"……I ain't in no cheery mood. So jes' leave me alone." Barret snapped.
"Really?" The Cetra sighed. "That's too bad. Let's go!"
Tifa leant in close to Aeris' ear and the pair began whispering to each other. Eventually Aeris faced Barret with a smile.
"We're gonna play…"
"So PLAY! …messin' round fuckit!" The large man snapped. "Don't forget we're after Sephiroth!"
"Like we could forget." I commented, dryly.
And with those parting words, the black man stormed to a portal and leapt down it.
"…I think he's mad." Aeris sighed.
"He'll be fine." Tifa reassured her. "He seems to be doing a little better now."
Cloud paced a bit, thinking before stopping in front of Tifa.
"We'd better be careful, Sephiroth might be around." Tifa said.
"Let's go together." Cloud nodded in response.
Once Cloud had leapt down another portal, along with Tifa, Aeris went her own way, leaving Red, myself and Yuffie alone.
"Well, I say we stick together, and go to the chocobo races." I grinned. "See if we can't make us some cash."
"Don't suppose there's any way to cheat on the races is there?" Yuffie smirked.
"'Fraid not." I mock sighed. "Shame, easy money is so hard to come by these days."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" The brat asked.
"Need to restock first." I groaned "Or have you forgotten our lack of supplies?"
The ninja flinched, remembering the constant need for our potions.
"Restock it is." She sighed. "Worst part of the job."
"I thought that was skinning and gutting our food?" I groaned.
"That's a close second." She countered. "But buying supplies is a pain. It costs money, and there's no guarantee that you'll be able to replace the spent money before you next need to buy supplies."
"Good point." I sighed. "My budget is going to be tight until I can replace every last gil."
Red laughed softly at me.
"Next time, don't spend so much, when you have so little to begin with."
"Yeah, yeah." I shook my head.
Leading the way, I approached a reasonable looking store. Plenty of food for rations, and potions and high potions en mass. An adventurer's heaven. Assuming said adventurer had the funding.
Thankfully, Yuffie hadn't spent a cent to get into Gold Saucer, leaving her with money. And since I bought her way in, it was time for her to return the favour. She did so, grumbling.
"Ey. You look like you could use more storage space." The vendor spoke up, as we were paying for the supplies. "Really, that amount of potions won't last you long."
"Excuse us mere mortals for not having the strength to carry hiking bags stuffed to the brims with potions and still be able to fight monsters." I shot at him.
The vendor held his hands up in a gesture of peace.
"Relax, I'm not criticising you. I'm offering a solution." He informed us.
"What kind of solution?" I asked.
"A special Materia." The vendor announced, gleefully.
Immediately, my hand caught Yuffie by the scruff of the neck as she began to lurch forwards at the term 'Materia'.
"Down girl." I smirked, causing Red to snigger.
Yuffie freed herself from my grasp and calmed down, and I turned back to the confused vendor.
"She likes shiny things." I told him. "What kind of Materia?"
"It doesn't do much, unlike most Materia." The Vendor began. "But what it does do it store items, as much as you may need. It can keep food fresh for an infinite amount of time, and it has no limits. Just one of these Materia orbs allows you to carry your camping equipment, as many potions and phoenix downs as you can afford, your rations, and even any spare weapons you may have."
This, sounds like a godsend. Scratch that, it is a godsend.
"Why hasn't such a Materia been used before now?" Red asked.
The vendor jumped slightly; surprised that Red could talk, but got over the shock quickly.
"Before now, it was only in use by Shinra personnel." The vendor explained. "I can only sell these because I have a friend inside Shinra who supplies them to me."
Huh. Still, these so-called storage Materia could really help out.
"I'd still keep some potions and phoenix downs in easy access." The vendor spoke up. "It takes several moments to withdraw an item from the Materia, where it only takes a second to grab a potion from your pocket."
The man speaks sense.
"How much?" I asked.
"5 grand per Materia."
Definitely outside of my current price range.
"Yuffie, buy seven." I commanded.
Yuffie opened her mouth to object, but I beat her to it.
"Cloud will repay you. But these things will really help us out."
Grudgingly, the brat forked over 35000 gil. Rich brat.
I took my Materia orb and tested it out on my share of the rations. The immediately vanished, leaving no sign that they were ever there.
This, is so very helpful. I can already picture putting my tent into storage, while it's set up, and then when I withdraw it, it'll already be set up. This is taking some of the hard work out of this. And really, who can complain about that?
And this means that we can go a little more wild on the supplies, since there is no way we can exceed a maximum storage capacity.
Still limited by funding though. As we learnt when we tried to buy twice as many supplies than our budget could afford.
I can see that money is going to be our biggest issue now, not how much we can carry.
We entered the chocobo racing arena, flinching at the noise that the cheering produced. It was very loud, as I'm sure you gathered. Loud and irritating. I lead the way towards the building where all the gambling went on and entered, coughing on the thick air. Seems smoking was allowed in here.
That strongly disagreed with my nose. I hate smoking.
Grumbling, I grabbed the specs and odds of each of the next races chocobos, and brought them to the bench that Yuffie and Red were at.
"So, who do we bet on?" I asked, showing them the chocobos that were in the line up.
"I think Snowbell." Yuffie pointed at a white chocobo immediately. Two to one that she wins. We bet on her and she wins, we get double the money, and the item, which we either keep or trade for GP."
"No, we should wager on Slipstream." Red shook his head.
I glanced at the profile of the chocobo in question and raised an eyebrow ridge. Yuffie seemed confused as well.
"He's got the worst odds." Yuffie pointed out. "Almost certainly a loser."
"Whoever evaluated that chocobo did a very poor job." Red growled. "That chocobo has the most endurance out of all of them."
"How do you know?" Yuffie answered back.
"Because he used to play tag with wild chocobos." I told her.
Yuffie looked at us, confused.
"Why would you play tag with..."
"Because it is good practice at hunting. It's not like the chocobos know that I'm not about to eat them, so it's the closest thing to hunting, without actually hunting."
"And therefore, he'd know his chocobos." I pointed out. "I'm going to go with Red's judgement on this one."
"If you say so." Yuffie still sounded uncertain.
"Look at it this way." I began. "With ten to one chances against, we win, and we get ten times the reward. Plus the item."
"I suppose." Yuffie nodded.
Smiling, I moved back to the desk and placed my wager of 5000 gil (the very last coin to my name), and sat back down, waiting for the races to start.
While waiting, let me tell you how the betting system works here. Races occur every half hour, though not every race features the same chocobos. Plus there are different ranking races. But you have the half hour before each race to decide on which chocobo you want to place your bets on.
The clerk at the desk hands you images of each chocobo you may bet on, and each picture is taken just as the chocobo is placed at the starting line, so the pictures are of the chocobo here and now, not from last week. Along with the images, you're given the chocobo's evaluation, and the odds of that chocobo winning.
As Red discovered, when he was looking at the stats and the picture, the stats are not updated at the beginning of each race. When I asked the man at the desk about this, he told me that it made sure it wasn't too easy to make a winning bet. So the stats of each chocobo are of what the chocobo was like the last time it was in a race, so if a rider took his chocobo took away from the races for a week in order to train it, the stats would only show how good the chocobo was before that week of training, until it participated in a race.
Again, it makes certain that it wasn't easy as hell to just pick the winning bird. This is also the reason for the pictures, so those who can actually tell anything about a chocobo from looking at it, can make wagers based on that, in conjunction with the stats. If they felt the need, they can even request the stats of the chocobo the last ten times it took place in a race, to see if there was a pattern of growth in how well the chocobo raced.
And that meant that the chocobo that we were placing our five grand on, had recently been training, rather than racing, or the rider had been hiding how good his chocobo really was, so that the official odds were stacked against him, so prize money would be five times as much as if it was the bird with the best chances of winning. Again, the desk jockey told me that was a strategy that was often used. And since 5 to 1 was the lowest odds given, that meant that it gave the highest amount of prize money as a result. The problem with such a strategy was that it could be only used once per bird, since that bird would be marked as a winner.
The only people who could use that strategy repeatedly were those who had multiple birds, or caught lots of birds on a regular basis.
If this rider had been hiding his bird's full potential, then this would be the race he uses everything he has to win. And according to Red, this bird had (unofficially, of course) the best chances of winning.
The race started, and the large monitors dotted all over the place lit up, allowing those in the betting area to watch and cheer on their bird of choice.
True to Red's prediction, Slipstream did indeed have the best endurance, allowing it to sprint, non-stop, from the halfway mark to the finishing line, beating the favourite to win for a full minute. The vast majority of the room groaned with disappointment as Marche lost, obviously losing a fair sum of cash.
Grinning, I stepped up tot he counter, and handed in my ticket, accepting the reward. 25,000 gil, plus my original investment. That pays of the fee it cost us for the storage Materia. And the item was a very ornate looking bangle. About the same size as my watch, so not very large, more like a nicely decorated bracelet really. But it had eight Materia slots, and all eight were linked into pairs. So now I can link my blizzard with an all Materia, for attacking multiple foes at the same time (something that is possible without, but it required much more mental power then most people have). Or I could combine my fire with added effect (assuming we have that anywhere) so that my blade does fire damage.
Or I can give the bangle to Red, who needs to replace his crappy old one (with a whole three, unlinked slots). He was always better at the magic thing then me. I prefer kicking ass the old school way.
So, grabbing the profiles of the next races contenders, I moved back to Red and Yuffie.
"Got a new bangle for ya, Red." I commented, casually. "Dragon bangle, unless I'm mistaken."
The canine-like creature eyed the bangle, nodding in approval. Setting the profiles on Yuffie's lap for her to look through, I set about replacing Red's old bangle with this new one. Not like he could do it himself, lacking opposable thumbs. He can manage his own Materia perfectly fine, but replacing his own bangle was beyond him. So, it fell upon be to do this task for him. Me or Yuffie, but seeing as I had decided to give the thing to him, it fell upon me to help him equip it.
"I think we should bet on this black chocobo." Yuffie announced.
I finished clipping the bangle in place, watching in vague amusement as the piece of equipment shrunk in order to fit its new owner. That done I glanced at the profiles and sat up straight.
"Hell yes we vote on that chocobo." I declared.
The picture was of a very familiar black chocobo, and its rider patting it on the side of its head. How many times had that bugger beaten me in the races whenever I played Final Fantasy VII? I've honestly lost count. Either way, Joe's chocobo was a winner, and that was a guarantee. Nearly everyone else in the room seemed to agree with me, as they were all placing their money on the black chocobo. The only people who weren't were the ones who didn't seem to know who Joe was, or why he was so special.
Now since the winnings for Joe winning will only be double what we initially pay, we're going to have to raise the amount we decide to wager.
So that was why I wagered 15,000 gil. We should be getting 30,000 gil for our investment. There is always the possibility that Teioh will lose, but that chance is so unlikely, I'm surprised I've not betted 30,000 gil on him. Oh wait, that would be because I'm not stupid, and I'm not planning on crippling us if we lose our wager.
Not likely, but possible.
Half an hour later, and I was collecting the winnings, and exchanging the precious watch item prize for a large sum of GP. I already have a watch, I don't need another.
It continued this way for another five races, one of which we lost, because the chocobo we wagered on was injured during the race. The rider responsible, a short tempered young man who rode a white chocobo, had kicked the green chocobo in the leg, injuring it enough to win, only be disqualified and banned from participating in future races.
But after all the betting we'd made, we decided that 300,000 gil was more than enough. Shame we were going to have to share a majority of the money with the rest of AVALANCHE. At least I got my money back from the golden ticket, with interest.
I should come here with Red and Yuffie more often. Red's wisdom and her guts made us a lot of money this day. And we got a fair bit of GP, and both Yuffie and Red had dragon bangles, for their Materia casting goodness.
We even had an X-Potion as a prize for the third race. Now, if ever one of us seriously injured, we can pour this stuff down their throat and it'll be like nothing had ever happened to them.
On leaving the chocobo racing arena, we decided on going to Wonder Square, to check out the arcades. Fun and games were the order of business now, not filling our pockets with money. And I wanted to enjoy myself while I could.
Upon entering the arcade, I moved towards the snowboarding game. I've never actually been snowboarding, so I have no idea how accurately this machine will simulate the real deal, but hey, I wanted to give it a try, since it always looked fun on the game. Well, that was the plan.
As I neared the machine, a small group, dressed in a uniform that screamed 'security' made towards me. Well, half of them made towards me, the other half made towards my two companions.
Instincts screaming that this could be trouble, I turned 180 degrees, and started to move towards the exit. Seems that fun and games were a no-go. The other two, noticing that I was making a retreat, followed suit, and joined up with me.
The security guys were obviously trying not to cause a scene, and that was the only reason they hadn't caught up to us. We were lucky to have seen them before they had a chance to catch up, but now that they realized that we were aware of their intentions, they were speeding up their walk. Still not running, as they still didn't want to cause a scene.
Why are they after us?
The moment we exited the arcade room, we ran. Less people to get in our, or their, way, so running was a good option. The security team obviously agreed, since they broke into a sprint the second we did. Well tough luck on them, they're chasing a ninja, a lion-like creature, and a lizard-man, all of whom have been getting a fair amount of exercise over the past month, giving us the decided edge.
Well, they did get advantage in numbers, as we learnt when another security team blocked off the portals to the rest of Gold Saucer.
Change of plans. Through the fire escape doors we go, my shoulder aching from being used as a battering ram to force it open. Seems they were set to automatically open when a fire alarm went off, and stayed locked at all other times.
Well, no door can withstand the might of my shoulder. Even if they do give me an ache in retaliation.
The fire escape stairway brought back painful memories of the stairwell back in Shinra Tower. This was amplified when I walked straight into the barrel of another security guard's pistol. He fired the pistol, with a soft 'thump' sound, the usual bang being suppressed by the silencer. Guess they really don't want to cause a scene.
Strange how he missed me at point blank range though.
"Ha, you missed me!" I gloated, hand reaching for my gunblade.
I hesitated at Yuffie's gasp. Red growling made me realize that something was wrong, and I wasn't aware of what it was.
"That wasn't necessary." Red told the security man.
Must be serious, if Red just spoke out loud to a perfect stranger. Turning, I planned on asking just what was wrong, but I caught sight of what was wrong. It was lying at my feet.
My body, that is.
Bullet hole through the head. The bastard hadn't missed. He'd gone and killed me, and I hadn't even realized it.
"It stopped you from running." The security guard sneered. "You're the brats who came in with the blond with the oversized sword, aren't you?"
Yuffie nodded, staring at my body. I didn't blame her, though I had more of an excuse. I'm a ghost here. The miserable git killed me.
"Let us revive him." Red growled. "We won't run."
The man paused for a second, before nodding. Yuffie crouched at my body, pouring a bottle of phoenix down down my throat. I watched, in morbid fascination as the bullet wound in my head sealed itself up, spitting out the bullet that had lodged itself in my head while it was at it.
Damnit, that better not leave me any brain damage. I'm still recovering from Cel and his electro therapy session.
Once the wound had completely sealed itself, I felt a jolt of pain at my stomach, before being pulled, and not gently, into my own body. I felt my heart begin pumping my blood again. I also felt the phantom pains from where a bullet hit torn through flesh and bone.
I sat up quickly, gasping, as my body automatically get all its natural functions to kick start themselves, having stopped during the minute I was dead.
"That was unnecessary." I gasped, fishing a potion out of my pack and downing it in one gulp. "I'd have stopped at being cornered."
"Wasn't about to take any chances." The security officer sneered. "You're part of a group that includes the man with the gun-arm that murdered a lot of people in the Battle Square. Guilt by association, you go to Coral Prison with them."
I snarled, angrily.
"That isn't a fair punishment for guilt by association." I spat. "That's like saying the brother of a murderer deserves the same punishment as the murderer for being his brother."
"Six people dead by companions of yours. Companions, you are on friendly terms with. Your association with the blond is willing, not by blood."
"Right, and I'm assuming that you know we're associated with Barret from security footage. So why are you not checking the security footage of the Battle Square?"
"The Battle Square was under renovation at the time, including rewiring the security systems. Your friends were caught on the scene."
"Wrong place at the wrong time." Red sighed.
"Even so, it has been decided that you go to Coral Desert to live out the rest of your days. You can come willingly, I we can dump your corpses down there."
"We'll come willingly." I groaned, picking myself up. "Dying hurts too much."
And thus, we were left to rot in the middle of a desert. Well, admittedly, they did leave us at the outskirts of a small town, but we're still stuck in the middle of a natural prison. I can last quite a while, seeing as I thrive in the heat, but being a water dragon, I need water as well. Water that I can't see.
"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten me in." Yuffie moaned. "I'm starting to regret ever joining up with you guys."
"What did we do?" I snapped. "Nothing. The Gold Saucer staff seems to believe that just because we know someone who was at the scene of a crime, we are just as accountable for the crime as them."
Yuffie sighed, eying some of the locals that had been staring at us, wearily.
"Let's find Cloud, try and figure out what's going on." I grunted. "And try to think of a way out of here."
"Scratch that, we should just get inside one of those derelict buildings." Red growled. "I don't like the look of the locals."
I can see why. Knives and chains were being held, out in the open. And seeing as all eyes were on us, I can guess, quite easily, who the intended victims are.
"I agree." I grimaced, pointing. "Let's head to that building over there."
At the nods of my two companions, we moved, trying not to make any sudden motions, in case it triggered a rush of criminals. Just to help deter them, I unsheathed Talon, holding it in the open. It did seem to make them hesitate, as where before they were moving slowly towards us, now they were standing still, staring at us.
"Gotta thank the guys at Gold Saucer for letting us keep our stuff." I sighed.
"They want to imprison us, not feed us to the wolves." Yuffie pointed out. "Some monsters thrive in this sort of climate."
"Figures."
We entered the building, and stopped in surprise at the sight of Barret firing his gun arm at a nearby couch. Cloud, Tifa and a cat on an oversized stuffed moogle were standing in equal surprise at the act. Until a body fell to the floor from where he'd been crouching behind the sofa, out of sight.
"Didn't want none of ya to get involved…" Barret cursed, turning away from us.
"Hey that's Cloud's line!" Aeris' voice laughed, as the owner of the voice walked in from behind me. "…It's too dangerous, I can't let you get involved…blah, blah blah…"
"Yeah." Tifa agreed. "We're already involved in this."
"Or haven't you noticed that we're all stuck in this prison with you?" I asked, sarcastically.
"I saw you and hurried here. Barret, just tell us what's going on." The Ancient pleaded.
"You guys…" Barret sighed.
"I heard that the murders at the Battle Arena were done by a man with a gun-arm. …Was that you?" Red asked.
"There's another…another man that got a gun grafted inta one of his arms." Barret grunted. "It was four years ago…"
Barret hopped over a gap in the ground. Dyne followed behind, head bowed, as the pair moved away from the ruins of the Mako Reactor, which they had been examining to figure out the cause of the explosion. Their investigation had wielded no results other than what was already known.
Both men looked up at the sound of panting, and Barret's eyes widened in surprise when he saw one of the older residents of Corel running towards them as fast as he could.
"Barret! Dyne! Come quick! The village's being attacked! It's Shinra soldiers!" The old man yelled out to them.
"What!? What the hell happened?" Barret cursed, moving to get to the older man.
"Hey, Barret! It's not over yet! Everyone's waiting! Let's go back to the village!" Dyne urged his childhood friend.
Before the black man could reply, a gunshot echoed through the mountains, and the old man fell to the ground, eyes lifeless. A pool of blood began to spread across the ground upon which he lay.
"Old man!" Barret cursed, angrily.
"C'mon, Barret! We gotta hurry!" Dyne called out, noticing the approaching Shinra troopers.
Barret made a sound of agreement, and began to chase after Dyne, who had moved to go a different way back to Corel. The Shinra troops, noticing the two men, began to fire at them.
Barret made a sound of distress as a couple of the shots only barely missed him. Cursing, he wished he had a weapon of some kind on his person, so that he could at least defend himself from the attacking troops. As it was, he was just barely surviving by luck.
A blond woman in a red dress approached the soldiers, noting their poor aim with distaste.
"You can shoot all day and never hit them with aim like that." She scolded the soldiers.
"Shu'up!" Barret yelled out in anger.
Scarlet shook her head in annoyance and pushed one of the troopers to the side, grabbing his rifle. Quickly checking that the thing was loaded, she rested the end of it against her shoulder and lined up the iron sights.
"Haa, ha, ha!! Stop playing around and cover me!" She laughed.
"Watch out!" Dyne shouted, suddenly changing direction to move towards Barret.
This action caused Scarlet's shot to miss him, but it was enough to make him lose his footing. After a second of trying to regain his balance, he fell over the edge. Barret, noticing his friend's plight, leapt forwards, grabbing Dyne's left hand, stopping him from falling.
"Dyne!! Hang on!! Listen to me!! You're comin' back to the village, hear!!?" Barret called down to his friend.
Dyne chuckled weakly.
"Yeah… I ain't lettin' go… You're comin' back… Everyone's waitin' for ya… Eleanor…and Marlene… They all waitin' on us…" He smirked.
Before any more could be said, Scarlet, having lined up another shot, fired. The bullet hit Barret's hand, and went right through, until it did the same to Dyne's hand. Both men gave a cry of pain, letting go. Barret, realizing his folly, peered over the edge, in time to see Dyne fall out of sight.
"From then on, I couldn't use my right arm no more." Barret continued. "…I was depressed for a while. But then I threw away my artificial arm and got this gun grafted in. Got a new right arm to get revenge on the Shinra, who took everything away… Back then, I heard the doc say there was another man who got the same operation as me. But, his was the left arm."
The older man sighed, looking at each of us in turn. Cloud was silent, obviously deep in thought.
"But…" Aeris began, sounding confused. "Dyne's injury was the same as yours, right?"
"Yeah, that's right." Tifa nodded. "He was deceived by the Shinra, too. He'll probably join us to fight against the Shinra."
"…wouldn't bet on it." Barret countered the martial artist. "I gotta 'pologize to Dyne before I can rest in peace. An' that's why, I gotta go alone."
At the girls continued confused expression, I decided to enlighten them to what I thought the reason was.
"Not everyone reacts to pain or grief on that scale in the same way." I pointed out. "Barret decided to use his anger against the Shinra to help prevent more people from feeling such pain. But Dyne might not use his grief as constructively. After all, what does killing a room full of innocents have to do with getting back at Shinra."
Barret nodded, sadly.
"Do whatever you want… Is that what you want to hear?" Cloud asked. "Well, I can't let you do it. Because, if you die on me, I'm gonna have nightmares."
"Heaven forbid." I grunted.
"Barret, this isn't the end." Aeris spoke up.
"Weren't you going to save the Planet?" Tifa asked.
"Shit! Tifa, you oughtta know by now." Barret shook his head.
"…That's all right. I'm not so different from you." The martial arts expert said.
"That's easier to understand. It's you, Barret." Aeris smiled.
"So there it is, Barret." Cloud assumed his authority voice. "So I guess it'll be Barret, me, and… Spike."
I feel so honoured. No, really, I do. Seeing as since we've left Midgar, this is the first time I've actually been in Cloud's party. Could have sworn that he was trying to avoid me.
"Do we know where Dyne might be?" I asked.
"I asked around, looking for a possible way out..." Aeris spoke up. "Apparently, the person to talk to is a Mr Coates. Maybe he knows something?"
Aeris asked around? In this place? Well, that might make sense, seeing as she grew up in the slums. She'd have to have some way of knowing how to survive in such a place. And really, this place is just a very, very, very hot version of that.
"Then let's go talk to Mr Coates." Cloud grunted.
Mr Coates was a very out of place character in this place. Everyone was wearing rags and whatever they could find or salvage. Mr Coates was wearing... a tailor made suit... Why hasn't he been killed yet?
"Can I help you?" The snivelling little man asked, nose turned up at us.
Oh, he and I are going to get along swell.
"Where's Dyne?" Barret demanded.
Mr Coates gave a snort of barely concealed laughter at the demand.
"If you honestly think I'm going to tell you, then think again." He sneered.
"Are you really in any position to talk like that?" I asked, pulling my coat open, so that he could see my sheathed weapon, along with Cloud's Buster Sword and Barret's gun arm.
"If you kill me, you'll never get to leave this wretched hell hole." He smirked.
That explains his apparent immunity to the rest of the prisoners. He goes, so does their chance of ever leaving. But that left holes in his logic here.
"What if we don't actually care about leaving?" I asked, glaring.
That got the bastard's attention. It also got Cloud and Barret's attention, but they wisely kept their mouths shut.
"What do you mean, 'what if you don't care about leaving'? Everyone cares about leaving."
"I don't. Or haven't you noticed that I'm a giant lizard? I thrive in this type of place. I could easily spend the rest of my days here."
Ok, I'm bending the truth a little there.
The suit wearing man swallowed, nervously.
"Then what do you want?" He asked.
"To see Dyne." I told him.
"I can't." He gasped.
He was immediately pinned against the wall, via my hand against his neck.
"I can make your life a misery." I snarled. "Do you see these teeth of mine? They're a sign that I'm a carnivore. You, are prey."
"You can't!" Coates shrieked. "That's cannibalism!"
"Do I look human?" I brought my face closer to his. "I already said I'm a lizard, and therefore, not human."
"Please, I can't."
Wrong answer. I grabbed his arm and twisted it around, almost to breaking point.
"Tell me."
"He'll kill me!" He sobbed.
I twisted slightly harder and heard the crack of the humans bone beginning to break.
"And what do you think being eaten does?" I asked. "Grant you immortality?"
"He's at the garbage heap on the outskirts of the town!" Coates wailed.
I released my grip on him, allowing him to slump to the floor, cradling his arm. I turned to Cloud and Barret, smiling as if I hadn't just broken a man's arm for information.
"Got what you need?" I asked, I asked cheerfully.
"You don't really...?" Cloud began, and I frowned at him in disgust.
"No, I do not eat humans." I snapped. "I eat the same as a human would. I have a preference for fries, steak, and spices. Human, or even raw meat is not on my menu."
I could just hear Coates looking up at me, eyes wide as he realized that I would not have eaten him. I'd bluffed. And he fell for it.
"Garbage heap on the outskirts." Cloud nodded. "I was left just outside the place when I was dumped here. I know the way."
Cloud turned and left, taking the lead. Shrugging, I followed the blond swordsman, who moved with a purpose. Why is he moving with a purpose exactly? It's not like he's the one who has a bone to pick with Dyne. If anything, Barret should be the one moving with a purpose. However, the Mr T wannabe was slugging behind, like he wasn't certain of this course of action.
Well, he was going to have to suck it up. Dyne is the only real obstacle to us leaving this wasteland.
The garbage heap was exactly that, a garbage dump, on the outskirts of town, near the edge of a cliff. I glanced at some of the junk that had been stacked so that it was several stories high. It didn't exactly look very safe. Scratch that, it looked like it could topple at any moment. Figures that this is where a psychopath would hang around.
We found Dyne easily enough; he was standing at the edge of the cliff, gazing out at the desert wasteland. He was similar to Barret in build, large, muscular. The key difference was that he was white, where Barret was black, and that he had wilder hair, compared to Barret's crew cut. They were even dressed similarly. But what did catch my eye was the pendant Dyne wore. A golden pendant that hung from his neck. Well that, and the man's left arm, which had a gun-arm. The difference between his gun-arm and Barret's though, was that where Barret's was a Gatling Gun, Dyne's was essentially a cannon attached to his arm.
"Dyne… Is that you?" Barret asked, somewhat hesitantly.
"Now that's a voice I haven't heard in years…" Dyne murmured. "A voice I'll never forget…"
"I always hoped I'd be able to see you again someday…" Barret confessed. "I knew you were alive somewhere…we had the same operation."
Dyne pivoted around and fired at Barret, who barely avoided getting shot.
"What's that? ……I hear her voice." The smaller man mumbled, looking around, in a crazy manner.
Barret remained silent, though his face betrayed his confusion.
"I hear her voice, Eleanor's voice. Begging me…not to hate your rotten guts. That's why I didn't hunt you down…" Dyne rambled.
"…I know I was stupid." Barret told the white man. "I'm not asking you to forgive me. But… What're you doin' in a place like this? Why ya wanna kill those that ain't even involved? Why?"
"Why!?" Dyne snapped. "The hell do you care for!? Are the people killed going to understand 'why'? Are the people of Corel going to understand just hearing Shinra's excuses? I don't CARE what the reason is! All they give us are artillery and stupid excuses… What's left is a world of despair and emptiness…"
Again, Barret was silent.
"You still want to hear 'why'?" Dyne asked. "…All right, I'll tell you. 'Cause I want to destroy everything. The people of this city. This city itself. The whole world! I got nothing left in this world. Corel, Eleanor…… Marlene……"
"Dyne, Marlene…… Marlene's still alive." Barret told him.
This time Dyne was silent, though interested in hearing what Barret had to say.
"I went back into town. I thought she was gone for sure. That is why I wanted to be by her side till the end. That's when I found her…found Marlene."
Still, Dyne was silent.
"She's in Midgar. Let's go see her together, all right?"
Dyne hesitated for several seconds, seeming to be in some form of internal conflict, before he looked at Barret with a sigh.
"So……she's still alive…" Dyne shook his head. "All right, Barret. I guess that means you and I gotta fight."
"What!?" Barret shouted in shock.
"How the fuck did he come to that conclusion?" I asked, eyebrow ridges raised.
"Eleanor's alone all by herself. I've got to take Marlene to her." Dyne explained.
"Dyne…are you insane!?" Barret snapped.
"Evidently." I answered.
"Marlene wants to see her Mom, don't she?" Dyne asked, rhetorically.
Before Barret could open his mouth, Dyne fired at him. The black man hit the dirt, avoiding the blast.
"Stop, Dyne! I can't die yet!" Barret cursed.
"Oh yeah?" The white man sneered. "Well my life's been over ever since then."
Again Dyne fired at Barret, this time managing to graze the larger man's shoulder.
"Stop it! I don't wanna fight you!" Barret yelled.
"Barret!" Cloud called out.
"Cloud, you stay the hell out of it! This is MY problem!" Barret yelled.
Cloud paused, uncertain of whether to do as the former leader of AVALANCHE had told him to, or to get involved anyway. Eventually, seeing that I wasn't planning on hopping into the fight any time soon, he hung back himself.
Barret opened fire on Dyne, who sprinted behind a stack of destroyed cars for cover. With the smaller man out of sight, the former leader of AVALANCHE moved to get behind cover himself, but was forced to dive to the ground as Dyne stepped out from his hiding place and threw a Molotov cocktail at him. The eruption barely missed Barret, who tossed a grenade of his own at Dyne. Dyne cursed, running away from where the explosive had landed. The explosion toppled the stack of cars, and for a moment, it looked as if Dyne was going to be crushed under them, but at the last second he managed to roll out of the way.
Barret crouched down, arm outstretched, hand helping hold the other arm in place. One eye was closed, showing that he was trying to aim. Dyne stood up from behind one of the toppled cars, and immediately regretted it, as Barret opened fire, several bullets managing to hit Dyne's right arm. Giving a cry of pain, Dyne ducked back under cover, but threw another Molotov cocktail as a parting gift. Barret shifted his aim and shot the incinerary grenade while it was still flying through the air, creating a cloud of fire that dissipated quickly, not having any fuel in the air.
Dyne used the distraction to sprint to a different hiding place, and took the opportunity to take several shots at Barret, who cursed as his leg was shot. The Mr T wannabe started limping to a different stack of garbage and threw a Thunder spell at Dyne's new hiding place. Judging from the yelp, the metal of the junk had conducted the electricity, while Dyne had been leaning on it.
Both men chose that moment to come out of their hiding positions and fired. Time seemed to still as everyone looked on to see who had been hit.
"Shit!" I cursed, as I felt Dyne's bullet miss Barret and just barely miss myself.
Blood began to stain Dyne's tank top, and he stumbled back, cursing. Barret began to move towards Dyne, but the white man lifted his gun-arm, enough to aim it at his childhood friend.
"Back!" He commanded. "…it wasn't just my arm……back then……I lost something irreplaceable. I don't know where I went wrong…"
"Dyne…" Barret shook his head. "I don't know either, man. Is this the only way…we can resolve this?"
"I told you…" The smaller man grunted, shifting his aim and firing into the sky. "I… I want to destroy everything…" Again he fired into the air. "Everything… This crazy world… Even me…"
"An' what 'bout Marlene? What's gonna happen to her!?" Barret demanded.
"Think about it… Barret…" Dyne smiled sadly. "How old was Marlene back then…? Even if I did go to her now…she wouldn't even know me… And what's more…Barret… These hands are a little too stained to carry Marlene anymore…"
Barret remained silent, watching as Dyne tore the pendant from his neck. After staring at it for several seconds, he hurled it at Barret, who caught it in surprise. Looking up at Dyne, blood was beginning to seep down from Dyne's mouth. Evidently, one of Barret's bullets had punctured his lung.
"Barret… Give that pendant to Marlene… It was… Eleanor's…my wife's memento…"
Barret nodded.
"All right…"
"Wow… Marlene's…already…… 4.…… Barret… Don't……make…… Don't ever make Marlene…… cry…"
As he spoke, Dyne backed up to the edge of the cliff. He paused once there was no more ground left, gazing down, as if trying to see the bottom.
"Dyne? Dyne!"
With a last, sad smile at Barret, Dyne stretched his arms out and allowed himself to fall backwards off the cliff. Swearing, Barret ran to the edge, looking down where Dyne had fallen.
"Dyne!" he yelled down, as if his old friend would still be able to hear him. "…Dyne. Me an' you were the same… My hands ain't any cleaner…… I shouldn't be able to carry… Marlene either…"
Obviously, there was no answer, and Barret screamed out in both fury and anguish, slamming his fist into the ground several times. Eventually, he was just crouching there, head bowed. Cloud moved to the larger man and rested his hand on his shoulder. I took one last look at the garbage heap before walking away.
The mugger flew to the ground, nose broken. He'd had the guts to try and mug me while I was walking about, alone. I was teaching him the folly of such a decision.
When Cloud and Barret had decided to go to Mr Coates to try and get entered for the chocobo races, it had been decided that I should sit this one out, seeing as my presence would likely invoke some negative emotions from the snobbish weasel. Negative emotions that would make him deny our request to have a chance of leaving this hell hole.
For the sake of it, I was just walking around the town. I really don't feel like sitting in one spot right about now. Especially since I have no idea how long it'll take for Cloud to win the races.
Unfortunately, being by my lonesome means that the crooks in the neighbourhood got the impression that I was easy pickings. Shame most of them were absolute weaklings. I hadn't even needed to use my gunblade. I was teaching them the folly of their ways old school style, with my fists, feet and tail.
The mugger swore, obviously upset that his already crooked nose was now broken, probably making it even worse. He tried to pick himself up, but found himself trapped, as I pressed my foot down against his throat. The more the idiot tried to struggle, the harder I pressed down, choking him. Eventually, I removed my foot, and he gasped for breath, filling his lungs with the much needed air.
My tail connected with his temple, knocking him out.
Can't you just tell I'm trying to get over my bitterness of being shot in the head? I can still feel the phantom pains from it. And I ran out of vicodin during the three day hike to get to Corel, and I won't be getting any more any time soon, since, as Tifa so wonderfully pointed out, we don't want to risk me becoming addicted to the stuff.
I will not be turning into Doctor Gregory House, MD. Not anytime soon, at least.
Still, I find it irritating how it's always my face that gets the raw end of the deal. I mean, come on. I was thrown off a mountain and had the flesh from my forehead torn to the point where my skull was visible, if Red and Tifa are to be believed. Shouldn't that have filled out the quota of head injuries for the next year? No, instead I get Sephiroth permanently scaring me. And now I've been shot in the head.
Bad guys of the world, I'm telling you now: leave my head alone!
'I really doubt the bad guys of the world will care for your demands.'
Shut up.
'Make me.
Again I wish I had some way of gagging that irritating little lizard...
'Oi, watch who you're calling 'little'.'
I sigh, shaking my head and return to the house that everyone else was waiting in. As I enter, I catch sight of Tifa and Aeris sitting on the couch and ask a question that had been on my mind since my untimely demise and prompt resurrection.
"What the hell is Phoenix Down made of?"
Both Tifa and Aeris give me an odd look.
"Why would you want to know that?" Tifa asked.
"Well seeing as I got my brains blown out, and then got up and shrugged it off a minute later, I'm kinda curious just what Phoenix Down is."
"You got killed?"
"Yes, by a trigger-happy security guard back at Gold Saucer."
Both girls gave me a look of sympathy.
"General Phoenix Down is synthesized Phoenix blood." Aeris told me. "Bottled Phoenix blood heals the damage more than just beyond the amount required to bring someone back from the dead. The only thing more effective is being resurrected by an actual Phoenix."
"Uh." I grunted, in understanding. "And how can you tell the difference between synthesized Phoenix blood and the real deal?"
"The synthesized Phoenix blood is a more orange colour, where true Phoenix blood is more of a royal red colour."
"I see." I nodded.
I'm not even going to ask how one goes about synthesizing Phoenix blood. It's probably going to go over my head, anyway. In one ear and out the other, as they say.
At that moment, a man, wearing a tailed suit, not unlike Mr Coates, entered the building. He had black hair tied into a ponytail, and glasses.
"Are you the friends of Cloud Strife?" He asked.
"We are." Tifa nodded, after evaluating the man, checking for any sign that he was a threat.
"I'm Mr Hyse, the assistant manager of Gold Saucer." The suit monkey introduced himself. "Mr Strife has just won a chocobo race, earning himself, and you, your freedom. Dio also apologises for the misunderstanding, and his decided to give you a buggy in order to help you in your travels."
That said, he handed me the keys for the vehicle and nodded.
"Again, we apologise for any inconvenience." He said, before turning and walking out.
I stared dumbly at the keys, before looking up and grinning.
"I'm driving!" I announced, clenching my fist around the keys so that they couldn't be taken from me.
Tifa groaned, realizing that now that I had the keys, there was nothing that could be done. Humming a catchy tune in victory, I marched out the door and gaped at the buggy.
"Dude, dude, dude!" I cried out. "Look at the size of this thing! This thing is like a freaking tank. Scratch that, a freaking amphibious tank. Rivers of the world beware; we need no bridges to cross you now!"
Now even more cheerful, I wrenched open the door to the driver's seat and sat myself down, planting the keys in the ignition and turning. The powerful engine roared to life, and I sighed happily, revving the engine a few times for good measure.
"We. Are. Doomed." Tifa moped.
"Monsters of the world beware, you are but squishies to this beast." I roared, revving the engine again.
"We aren't the doomed ones." Red noted. "But the world in general will be destroyed long before Sephiroth or the Shinra manage it."
"Stop interrupting my joy!" I shouted, revving the engine some more. "And get in. Where's Cloud? We need to pick him up."
Aeris put away the phone I hadn't even realized she'd been using and looked up at me.
"Cloud'll be here in a couple of minutes. He says he knows where we need to go next."
Grinning, I revved the engine even more.
"Well hop in the back, and we'll test drive this thing until Cloud gets here."
"You'll understand if we say no thanks." Red called out. "We'd prefer to be in one piece by the time Cloud gets here."
"Spoil sports." I snorted.
Going with the logic of 'ah, who needs 'em anyway', I put the pedal to the metal and roared off, cheering loudly. If I ever meet Dio, I am definitely thanking him for this beast of a machine.