A Note from the Authoress

Just a quick note to say that I revised the ending to the previous chapter, after deciding it was abrupt and sloppy. So it has been revised so that it flows better into this chapter.

Final Fantasy VII [3rd Instalment]

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Chapter Twenty-Nine

They found the sunken airplane in an alcove a few miles away. It must have been in a fight, for its hull was burned almost beyond recognition. There was a long, gaping lesion in the airplane's rear, made when something long and powerful had reached up and tried to snatch it out of the air. Instead it cut through the engines, making it unable to remain in the air. It was a miracle that the airplane had made it this far before it crashed into the sea.

Cloud and his friends watched as the sub moved its way slowly around the airplane, trying to find a point of entry. There was a hatch on top of the airship that was probably used for attaching to other planes to refuel during flight. It seemed to be just the right size for the sub's docking hatch, and so Cloud manoeuvred the submarine over airplane and carefully connected them. The two slotted together perfectly, and so the group headed down to the airplane.

They were thankful to find that the lights inside the plane still worked, so they wouldn't be searching around in the dark at least. Cloud entered first, climbing down a ladder that connected to the hatch. The others came down after him and they gathered in the corridor, looking around at the wreckage.

"This is the Shinra's Gelnika type airplane," said Cloud, recognising a nameplate on the wall. Looking down, he realised that the floor was wet. He looked up. Water was leaking in slowly from a cracked pipe overhead. "I wonder why it went down here?" he wondered to himself, and headed down the corridor.

The others followed close behind. They kept quite close together, for the inside of the airplane had a very cold and ghostly atmosphere. This was not helped by their footsteps echoing as they walked, or that every so often the overhead lights would flicker and die out, leaving them in darkness.

There were two doors at the end of the corridor. One of these stood open, and they moved towards it. When they reached the door they stopped. They listened. Voices could be heard in the corridor beyond, talking loudly. Cloud signalled to the others to stay where they were. Then, with one hand around the hilt of his sword, he walked through the open door.

There were two men in the hallway. They were in front of a locked door at the far end of the corridor. One man was standing and supervising the other, who was kneeling in front of the door trying to unlock it. Cloud stared in surprise, recognising the uniforms, the spiky red hair, and the shining bald head.

"Turks!" he exclaimed.

The two men fell silent. Rude stood and turned. Seeing Cloud, he raised an eyebrow.

"…again?" he asked, and there was more surprise in his voice than there was in his face. After all, they were at the bottom of the ocean, the last place they expected to see each other.

"We just seem to keep running into each other lately!" said Reno, almost cheerfully.

He walked forward. At this point the others, who had until then remained hidden in the other corridor, ran in. They gathered behind Cloud, their weapons already drawn and ready. Reno stopped, eyeing their weapons. He then looked over his shoulder at Rude, whose only response was to adjust his shades slightly.

Reno sighed and shook his head. He then gestured to the door behind him and Rude. "There were weapons and Materia developed solely to destroy Sephiroth," he explained to them.

"…But, it was attacked by Weapon and sunk to the bottom of the sea," said Rude.

"I can't give you what's here," Reno said. "We'll take out Sephiroth." The Turk reached behind him and unhooked his electric rod from his belt. With a snap of his wrist the rod extended to its full length, and the tip crackled with electricity. He held it out, pointing its tip at Cloud. "I guess this is our last meeting."

Rude stepped forward to stand beside his partner. He clenched his fists, raised them ready. "I won't let you get in our way," he said.

Without any warning, Reno charged forward and headed for Cloud. The swordsman barely drew the Buster Sword in time before Reno swung his electric rod at Cloud's head. The rod clashed against the blade, but a game of struggle was not Reno's intent. He pressed a button on the handle with his thumb. Electricity shot across the rod, quick and powerful, spreading to the Buster Sword and to the one holding it. Cloud cried out as he was thrown backward by the electric shock. He slammed into Barret, and the two fell back into a pile of crates near the rear wall.

Rude bolted past the others, intent on striking Cloud while he was down. Tifa quickly ran in front of him and blocked his path. She swung her fist and struck Rude on the chin. The blow sent Rude's head reeling backward, but he recovered quickly. He countered with a winding blow to the chest, before grabbing her outstretched arm and throwing her bodily over his shoulder.

She hit the ground hard, and clutched at her head. Rude stood over her, his fist raised. He caught sight of movement to his right and quickly ducked as a bullet fired overhead. The Turk jumped over Tifa and darted forward. He grabbed hold of Vincent's arm and pushed it upward just as Vincent fired another shot, and the bullet fired harmlessly into the ceiling. Rude then tried to grab Vincent's neck, but the gunman quickly caught his other hand and struggled to keep it away from his neck.

Unwilling to let Vincent struggle alone, Cait Sith hopped forward on his Mog. The Mog swung its giant fists and hit Rude in the square of his back. The Turk staggered forward, lost his balance and fell to the floor. He'd barely had chance to move before Vincent's gun was at his head. The Turk stayed still, silent.

Cid, meanwhile, thrust out his spear at Reno. The red-haired Turk dodged it easily, then grabbed the spear and yanked it towards him, almost pulling Cid off his feet. With the pilot off-balance Reno jabbed his rod into Cid's side, turned on the electricity, and gave the pilot a mild shock that sent him flying across the corridor.

Red XIII leaped forward, hoping to latch onto Reno while his back was turned and disable his striking arm. Yet Reno had not forgotten the hound and his sharp teeth, and so quickly turned and thrust out his rod warningly. The hound stopped just inches before the crackling tip of the rod—he could feel its pulsing electricity make the fur on his face stand on end. The hound stepped back, growling fiercely.

Suddenly the airplane groaned loudly, and the floor beneath their feet shuddered. The overhead lights flickered and went out, leaving them all in darkness. Yuffie cried out. The Gelnika gave another strained groan, and the lights came back on. The ground stopped shaking and became still.

Reno looked over at Rude, who was still on the floor with Vincent's gun aimed squarely at his head. Rude nodded. Reno sighed and lowered his rod. The electricity on it died out, and the Turk hooked it back onto his belt.

"These guys are pretty tough," he said, with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Rude stood; keeping his arms up and palms open in a show of submission. Reno looked at Cloud, who had just risen to his feet. Cloud stared back at him. The Turk flashed him a grin and then bolted forward, running straight past the rebels and disappearing through the open door behind them.

Rude stayed behind for a moment, pausing to wipe off some dirt that had gotten onto his sleeve. When he was done he looked around at the rebels. "…" he muttered, before following Reno out the door.

Nobody tried to stop them. They simply watched as the two Turks ran down the corridor and threw themselves up the ladder, disappearing through the hatch. Cloud wondered where their sub was parked. It was probably hidden somewhere nearby, ready for moments such as this. The Turks never let down their guard, it seemed.

Cloud sheathed his sword and turned to the door that Rude had been working to unlock. Time was running out for the Gelnika; if there was something that they could salvage from the steadily filling wreckage, then they should look for it now.

"So Shinra's new, secret weapon was on this Airship…" said Cloud. He approached the door and pushed a button on the console beside it. The door slid open; Rude must have just unlocked it when he and his friends interrupted them.

They went on through the door. It led to a walkway overlooking a very large room that took up most of the interior of the airplane. "This must be the Cargo Room…" Cloud surmised. He leaned on the rails and looked out at the room below.

Here the damage sustained by the Gelnika was at its worst. There was debree and wreckage scattered everywhere throughout the room—it looked as though nothing had escaped the crash. Wooden crates previously stocked in neat piles lay in broken heaps in all corners of the room. Barrels had fallen and burst open, spilling a strange green liquid—probably raw Mako—onto the floor. The room was also very hot, as steam from burst pipes around the room seeped into the air from the engines below.

As well as the crates and barrels, the Gelnika had also been issuing a Shinra standard-issue helicopter. This, too, lay in ruins, smashed up in one corner of the cargo room. Its blades were dented, and one had snapped off completely. The glass in the front and sides windows had smashed and now lay hazardously all over the room. It also appeared to have been on fire at some point, for there were thin tendrils of smoke still rising from the engine.

Cloud and his friends walked down the steps leading to the main bay. When he reached the bottom he stopped and looked around at the wreckage. "This is terrible…" he said. He stepped off the stairs, and glass crunched under his boots. "It's all messed up…"

The bay was a terrible mess—but it was to be expected after being attacked by Weapon and then crashing into the ocean. It was also unlikely that anything the airplane had been carrying would have survived intact, unless it was very well protected. Still, while they were here, they decided that they might as well split up and search for anything that could be salvaged.

Yuffie made the first find. There was a ball of Hades summon materia lying on the ground near the helicopter. Hades was a powerful summon, almost as powerful as the Bahamut dragons. The ninja refused to relinquish it when Cloud asked her for it; after all, he already had the three Bahamuts at his disposal, she argued. Cloud decided not to argue with her, and so she pocketed her prize with a smug smile.

There was little else worth taking. One crate they found was filled with cases of Potions, Hi-Potions and even Elixirs for increasing the healing rate of wounds, but all of these were broken, their contents useless.

After leaving the cargo room they returned to the corridor where they first arrived, and this time went through the other door. The room that lay beyond was dark; most of the lights had broken in the crash. As they hoped, there were a few unbroken crates lying about, but the most interesting thing about the room was a large generator at the far end. It was smashed up but still operational, though it was only just clinging to life.

"What is this place…?" asked Cloud, and his voice echoed back at him. "Must be some kind of Research Establishment because there's a Mako generator?"

Whatever it was, it was losing power rapidly. Mako was leaking steadily from a number of broken pipes at the side, covering the floor.

At a nod from Cloud, the companions split up and began to search the contents of the crates. There were a few unbroken capsules of restorative items that were most welcome, and in one crate there was new shuriken for Yuffie, a new brand developed by Shinra known as The Conformer. The ninja's eyes lit up when she saw it and immediately snatched the weapon out of Cid's hands (it should be noted that the pilot was not particularly pleased at having his hands almost sliced off).

In the end, there was little to be gained from searching the Gelnika. Most of the items that they had found ended up in Yuffie's pocket, and everyone believed that somehow she had been the one to benefit most from this little side trip. They returned to the submarine quiet and feeling irritated, and still without any clues as to the location of the key. If only the Turks hadn't run off: they could have pressed the two for information.

Cloud took his seat in the captain's chair, yet again at a loss for what to do next. The Gelnika had turned up nothing particularly useful, nor had it provided them with any leads as to the Key. It seemed that their only option was to return to the Forgotten City and speak to Bugenhagen. The old man was more reliable than Cait when it came to information, even if at times he was a bit vague about it.

The swordsman turned his attention back to the console and began to detach the sub from the sunken airship. As the sub disconnected and pulled away, the airship rolled onto its side. A barrage of bubbles streamed out from the giant gash in its belly, heading towards the surface. In a matter of minutes the airship would be completely filled with water, and therefore completely inaccessible. Not that it mattered; there was nothing left anyway.

Cloud turned the submarine away from the airship, preparing to head back into the ocean. The moment the sub finished turning, Cloud brought it to an immediate halt. The sudden cease of movement caused the rest of those in the sub to lose their balance, and they had to hold onto chairs and consoles to keep from falling over.

Cloud heard Tifa say his name questioningly, but he did not answer her. The swordsman just stared up at the overhead screen, unable to speak.

The others then saw what he had seen, and they too froze in place. They all stood, stock still, mouths slightly open in awe and fright. Only Red XIII found the courage to speak, voicing the one word they had all been dreading to hear since Cait made that subtle reference back in the Underwater Reactor at Junon.

"Weapon!"