(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Time to Rock it!
Silver: Time to bomb the first reactor!
Time to Rock it!
"What do you mean…?"
"Then is it time?"
"I see… Then I shall wait."
And then he sleeps…
:::^*^:::
Waking up, Mira cracks her neck and muttering about her uncomfortable sleeping position as she tries to get up… only to find her best friend is leaning on her.
"Ugh… Riley…" she groan and tries to get her friend off, only the brunette turns and hugs her friend with drool coming out of her mouth.
"Siopao…" her brunet friend stated dreamily as she dreams of food, and this made the ravenette annoyed. She tries getting her up and away, but the mime clings on her tightly and begging not to let her meat bun get taken away… until…
SMACK!
"OW!"
Cloud, who's resting on one corner of the room, jolts awake by the sound and looks to see the two girls are awake… And the mime sports a red mark on her cheeks while the songstress shakes her hand.
"Mira, why did you do that?" Riley whines and right now, she looks like a kicked puppy.
"You're drooling over me in your sleep!" her friend retorted back, as she check if there are any drool on her and finds one on her vest. As she wipes the drool off it, Tifa came down to see all of them are up and notices the red mark on Riley's face.
"What happen to you?" the bar maid asked.
"Her hug is like a Midgar Zolom on a poor chocobo and she drools in her sleep." the songstress said quickly before Riley would say anything.
"You could've shaken me awake instead of slapping me on the face!" the mime snaps.
"Did I mentions she's a bit of a heavy sleeper?" her best friend added, pointing at the brunette who slumps at that info.
"My best pal is so mean to me right now." Riley said in a sad childish tone and looks at Cloud then she clings on him. "Cloudy! Help me, my best friend is mean!"
"Oi! Stop clinging on people we just met! Riley!" the ravenette said exasperatedly, as the blonde swordsman tries to get the wailing brunette off and she have to help him.
Once she got her off him, they went to the pinball machine one by one and goes up to the bar where the rest of AVALANCHE are waiting. Tifa returns behind the counter, since she have to take care of the bar and Barret's daughter, Marlene. The AVALANCHE leader briefs them once more of their mission and head out to the train station, while Cloud takes a bit of time to get some materia and a few items.
"Do you guys need anything?" he asked the two girls.
"Well… we got one materias each… we probably need some antidotes, eh, Mira?" the brunette asked and the songstress thinks it over and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, why don't we go to the General Store, I heard they sell those there." her friend replied, then looks at Cloud. "See you at the train then."
As the mime heads out… "Sorry about Riley, Cloud. She sometimes have… a unpredictable mood-swings moment from time to time." Mira stated.
"… Just make sure she does not cling on me like at again." he stated as he too is about to exit the bar, then she chuckles and he stops.
"Sorry… but I cannot make promises like that, I told you she's unpredictable from times to times." as she is about to follow the mime then stops for a moment. "But I could teach you to avoid it, if you like?"
"I'll think about it…" he replied as he steps out to buy materias.
With a smile, she heads out to pick more stuffs with her friend, who is just waiting outside for her.
:::^*^:::
"Okay, let do a re-check once more…" the songstress stated. "Rule one, delete every single files about Final Fantasy 7... In other words, will you delete the Advent Children Complete now!"
"Awww come on! I place a password in my PS Vita!" the mime protested, protecting her little black gadget.
"Does that password happens to be your birthday?"
"… Dang, you stink."
"Just get rid of it!"
Apparently, before they head to the shop, the two have to do some minor readjustments on their gadgets. When they got a decent place to hide for a moment, they decided to make a quick check including some items. And right now, Mira is persuading Riley to delete the movie and some cutscenes from Dirge of Cerberus which the brunette downloaded in Youtube. After deleting the cutscenes, she still debated on deleting the movie since the earthquake back at their world probably destroyed their computer.
"Pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssssseeeee!" the brunette whined, batting her brown eyes at her.
"… Fine." the ravenette stated sourly as she exasperatedly slumps and her best friend whoops for joy. "But you will never use the PS Vita ever until we are practically out of sight and away from them."
"OKAY! So what's the next rule?"
"We should never mention anything of their past or what will happen soon, like Barret's friend in Gold Saucer."
"Got it… speaking about him, should we save that guy? I mean, he is Marlene's real father."
"Hmmm…" the songstress thought about it, then looks at her friend. "Yeah, let's try saving him too."
"Cool and the next?"
"Last rule, never show our gadgets. As much as possible let's try using the PHS of this world instead, and use our phones in private messaging… if there are any signals that matches ours in this world."
"Man… the buttons again…" the brunette whined as she pockets her PS Vita… then… "Uh… Mira, you know there are times this world can defy physics, right?"
"Yeah… because it is mako-enhance, why did you asked?" as she finishes checking her files and making sure her phone is lock, her eyes bugs out when her friend suddenly pulls out a pair of huge hardbound books from her pouch… FROM RILEY'S POUCH! "What. The. Heck?" she stated.
"Well… it explains why the crew can carry stuffs without backpacks, we got Pocket Space! Cool!"
"I suddenly feel like I'm in Loony Tunes…"
"Only without the chaotic, anthropomorphic animals… I don't think Sephiroth will tolerate a smart-aleck bunny or a greedy black duck."
"Right… pack up and let get those antidotes before Barret goes into another fit again." Mira stated out and her friend nodded, but before she even packs the books…
"HOLY WHISKERS! Mira, take a look on these titles!" Riley yelps and yanks her friend to her side as she too yelps at being pulled. The songstress gives her friend a glare for a moment and then looks at the books which made her wonder why her friend have them.
"The Big Book of Human Rights? International Humanitarian Law Book?" she looks at them and her brow raise in question, then she looks at her best friend. "Riley, what are these?" pointing at them.
"Okay, remember my dad wants me to become a lawyer and bought me a bunch of law books and stuff, right? These books are mine, they practically came from our world and I'm so happy to have them with me." the mime explains.
"And why?"
"Because I always wanted to smack these on Shinra and Hojo's faces! HA!" she whoops for joy.
Mira thinks about it… Gaia does not have any law concerning about humanity and Shinra just completely ignores the welfare of the people. Which, in turn, becomes a disastrous event when Genesis deserted the company with a platoon of 2nd and 3rd Class and Zack's Death in Crisis Core, and the Battle in Midgar in Dirge of Cerberus. 'I guess it's okay to let her do that on them.' she thought.
After Riley rejoices on having her books, they immediately packs them up, bought some antidotes in the General Shop and then quickly dash to the station where the AVALANCHE are waiting along with Cloud.
They are thankful on the fact that the train arrives at the same time they did.
:::^*^:::
Because the keytar is harmless and the dagger can be consider for self-defense, both girls gets into the cabs with Jessie, Biggs and Wedge while both Barret and Cloud rides on the top of the train because of their weapons. After some stations stops, they arrive at their destination and both Jessie and Biggs knocks out a pair of guards. Then the three when ahead as Barret jumps out of the train and the girls came out to see Cloud jump off with style. Mira felt Riley nudging at her before she elbows her back in reply.
"C'mon, newbies." the AVALANCHE leader stated and waves at them. "Follow me."
He went ahead as the two looks at each other, before they decided to take some potions from fallen guards. Cloud, on the other hand, went ahead of them and as he nears the door… a pair of troopers burst in and is about to shoot him, when in one quick motion he bought them down in one slash.
He grin at this as the two catches up and they quickly head to where the others are. On finding them, Jessie is busy unlocking the door while Wedge and Biggs serves as a look out. Upon nearing them, Biggs saw them and grew a bit excited.
"WOW! You used to be in SOLDIER all right! ... Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE." he stated
"SOLDIER?" Jessie stiffen on that one, she thought Tifa was joking about the man's former occupation. "Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing us in AVALANCHE?"
"Hold it Jessie." he jumps into the blonde's defense. "He WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and now he is one of us." then he looks at the Ex-SOLDIER. "By the way, I didn't catch your name…"
"…Cloud." the blonde stated in a monotone voice.
"Cloud, eh? I'm-"
"I don't care what your names are. Once this job's over... I'm outta here." the blonde cuts him off and the rebel seems to deflate.
"That is a bit mean, Cloudy." Mira stated and he turns to look at her with a glare.
"Don't care." he replied, as the songstress blew her bangs and Riley shakes her head.
"The hell you're doin'!" The group turns to see Barret running towards them. "I thought I told you never to move in a group!"
'We know… we already played this part for like a couple of times?' the girls thought as they shrug and does not bother listening. Apparently, they are fixing a plan of their own during the brief.
"Our target's the North Mako Reactor." the black man stated. "We'll meet on the bridge in front of it."
Then Jessie opened the gate and they all move in, but before the black man enters… he looks back at Cloud.
"EX-SOLDIER, huh? Don't trust ya!" he said with displease on the blonde and then looks at the girls. "Watch over tis idiot, would ya?" he orders them and heads into the reactor.
Both girls looks at one another, a little bit baffled on that and looks at Cloud who stares at the reactor before heading in with them tailing behind. The girls runs all of the way thru the short maze and the bridge, with Wedge heading towards the other door on the other side of the bridge. They reach the first hall where Biggs is unlocking the door and the girls look in awe of the place…
'If Square Enix is going to make a remake, they'll be needing all of the old FF7 crew and the manpower similar to Capcom since they plan releasing 3 RE games and a movie about it!' the brunette thought, as the details of the place is copied and paste in her mind.
Inevitably, Ex-SOLIER got the huge black man pissed again and orders him that he'll go with him and Riley.
"Cloud… is that even necessary?" Riley asked, she knew this is going to happen but to happen it in front of her and in real life… she and Mira have to endure his made-up and self-defense attitude till they find a way to help him recover from the trauma.
The blonde just shrugs her off as Biggs deciphered the lock and they all run into the next room. Then Jessie deciphers the next door, they all dart in and left Biggs guarding the hall. And before the elevator arrives, Riley slips into the next room and grab the Phoenix Down then scurries back before the group notices she's missing.
Walking towards her best friend. "Thanks for the cover." she whispered.
"No big." the songstress replied in a low volume.
When their ride arrives, the rebel lady asked either one of them to push the button and Mira presses it. "Down we go." she chirps.
And as the elevator goes down… "Little by little the reactor'll drain out all the life. And that'll be that." The AVALANCHE leader said, trying to convince the blonde that the world is in need of help.
"It's not my problem." the blonde stated flatly with a shrug.
"The planet's dyin', Cloud!" the black man blows a fuse.
"The only thing I care about is finishin' this job before security and the Roboguards come." and once more, the blonde just have to push the berserk button on his client.
"Geez, Cloud, continue with that act, I'll doubt anyone will hire you next time, bud." the mime stated, as she and her best friend stares at him.
'Okay, I take back a part about Cloud having Zack's personality… he is brave and confident like him, yes, probably some smugness from him like in the beginning of Crisis Core… but he got a damn ego and arrogant attitude there!' Mira thought as the elevator continues to head down. 'I think the other half of his personality came from himself or the fact that he thought that the First are like that.'
Mira remembers in one wiki, that Cloud thought that SOLDIER First are cool and cocky… and that is frankly an understatement since Crisis Core shows only four First and they are hardly cocky. '… Okay… maybe Genesis is one, somehow, but he changes for the better in the end and in DoC.' she thought.
Once the elevator stops, all of them files out and heads down the stairs, they enter the facility, jumps other a ledge and climbs down the ladder. Once they step down, Jessie takes her post as Mira picks up a potion on the beam. They then goes down and the girls looks wary at the mako below them, carefully crossed the pipes and there Mira takes her position near the ladder as they head down.
"Watch yourself." Mira said with concern.
"I'll be fine." the brunette cheekily replied and slides down the ladder.
:::^*^:::
Reaching down, Riley jogs after the two and there she saw Cloud inserting the restore materia he found. She knew the mako can be condense into a materia, but she wonders how they form on some convenient places where the party can reach while some NPCs can't.
"When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk." Barret stated and pulls out a bomb. And the brunette notices it to be one of those C4 explosives with a timer.
'The plastic explosives… not bad yet where the heck did they get a hand on it?' she thought.
"Cloud, you set the bomb." the black man ordered.
"Shouldn't you do it?" the blonde looks at him.
"Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'." clearly the AVALANCHE leader is irritated, then looks at Riley. "And you, keep a close eye on him."
With a shrug. "Fine, be my guest." the blonde stated and takes the bomb. Riley knows what is going to happen, immediately takes out her dagger and makes sure her lightning materia is on her Titan Bangle. She watches as Cloud is about to set the bomb, when he freezes for a moment there and then snaps back to reality.
"What's wrong?" Barret asked and the blonde look at him with confusion.
"Huh?" he replied.
"What's wrong, Cloud? Hurry it up!"
"…Yeah, sorry."
Cloud bent down and sets the timer on the bomb for ten minutes, then the alarms goes off. As he looks around and saw a hatch opens…
"Heads up, here they come!" the black man yelled and pumps his gun arm, the first boss: the Guard Scorpion came out of the hatch and drop itself on them. The three responded in jumping back and all weapons out. It looks like the one in Crisis Core… only a little bigger in real-life, as it scans them.
"Whoa!" Riley yelps and avoids the bullets from the Rifle, she then concentrates on her materia and then feels a tingling sensation dancing on her hand. "Bolt!" she shouts and cast a stream of electricity from her hand to their huge foe. The machine stumbles for a moment before it resumes striking back at them once more. Barret then raise his arms and fired at the machine, only it only does little effect and the machine ignore him as it goes after Cloud and Riley who are the closest. Once more, she cast Bolt on it making it stagger and dodge roll away.
"Take note, should've earn enough gil to buy more materias." the brunette grumbles as she gets up.
"Don't ya got any weapon aside from that!" Barret asked as he continues to shoot.
"Nope, but I got something else!" the brunette quips and looks at Cloud, as he cast his own Bolt magic at it, making it stagger. "Got Bolt?"
"Yeah." he replied.
"Mind aiming for the tail?" she asked.
"Why?"
"The rifle can be avoided but the tail is going to be a pain in the ass, if it decided to attack us with that."
The blonde looks at the machine as they avoid another attack by it's tail. "… I see." seeing the sharp tail and nodded at her. He castes bolt on the very tip of the tail, only to miss when it moves a lot. "Damn it!"
"Hey! Hit the base! Not the tip! And Barret, shoot the sensors! Not it's legs!" she shouts that the two as she once more avoids the rifle. It made her wonder if she could've get a Fire Materia instead since the Ex-SOLDIER got a Lightning. But before Cloud could even cast at the tail…
"STOP!" she shouts and tackles Cloud down, preventing him from casting.
"GAH!" he yelped as they stumble to the floor. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded.
"Don't attack when it's tail is up!" she retorts back as she crouch up and is on defense position.
Looking up he saw she is right, the tail is up and he remembers what it does. "Be careful!"
'Ack! Don't-!' Riley thought frantically.
"Attack while it's tail is up!" the blonde stated, Barret nodded and shoots at the machine causing the mime to pale and scoots far from range. The robot scorpion sense the attack and it counters with a laser from it's tail, hitting Barret and Cloud while Riley manages to get out of range. The black man is the one who got mostly hit while Cloud is able to defend himself and only getting little damage by using his Buster Sword as a shield.
"It will counter back with a laser!" the blonde finishes and he stays out waiting for the tail to go down.
"Barret! Are you okay?" the mime darts back and helps him up.
"That hurts! Damn it, Cloud! Couldn't you say more earlier or something like 'Don't attack'!" the black man protest in pain as Riley takes a potion out of her pouch and gives it to him.
"It's not my fault you're that impatient." Cloud stated as he remains on guard and waits for the tail to go down.
Barret is about to cuss him again, when… "Again, Cloud, if you are going to be a mercenary, put a little care on your clients." Riley stated with her hands on her hips. "Otherwise, I doubt you can survive without any job or gil."
He looks at her before concentrating back to the machine, which has now lowered it's tail. He didn't waste time on charging in and slicing one of it's legs, before he is knock back by it's tail. Riley quickly cast Bolt on it's tail and Barret continues to shoot at it's head. They keep doing that, till Riley is starting to feel off…
'Ugh… I'm feeling really spinny…' she thought as she snaps her focus back. 'Must be the effect from using magic too much.'
Then she notices the tail coming back up again. "Oh no you don't!" the blonde shouts, seeing the tail and he gives off a blue glow somehow. He then charges in, jumps extremely high and brought his sword down with force on the said machine. It loses it sensor and a rifle on that attack.
'Damn that's a Limit Break! And the glow is just like in the movie!' she thought and looks at Cloud as he jumps away from the sparking machine… Yet the head is sparking, the tail is still up and is ready to fire on them. "Oh shoot." he swore.
Then something plays in Riley's mind, a scene of her and Mira's first encounter with a Custom Sweeper when they are heading for Midgar. That scene continues to play in her mind, it the scene suddenly changes and shows a different type yet same technique of that… and it dawns to her.
"Matra…" she stated, drawing her hands back as she concentrates on the magic she saw. A light bluish-purple glow from her hand and she feels the energy building up in it. "Magic!" she shouts and casts about seven of missile-like light projectiles and hit's the machine right on. Both men's jaws drop on seeing that kind of magic and looks at the machine, which sparks and exploded on some parts before it slumps on the floor, deactivated.
"Wow it didn't explode… I guess I didn't hit the tanks or something." Riley quips, scratching her head as she wonders about Shinra's machinery and it's parts.
"That is quite a magic you got there, girl." Barret stated, still looking at the broken-down machine.
"Yeah, do you- Hey!" Cloud yelped, when he saw Riley immediately climbing up the ladder. "What-"
"Bomb ticking, praise later!" she cuts him off as Mira helps her up. Like being hit by a fat chocobo, the two men remembers about the bomb and they also made a mad dash after Riley and her friend.
:::^*^:::
"My child…"
"Mother…?"
"Come here…"
"Is… it really you?"
"Yes, my little one, I'm here."
"Mother!"
"My dear one, forgive me for leaving you alone but those… who have risen up against me, took you away from my side."
"Don't worry, Mother, we'll take back what is ours."
"Yes… we shall but…"
"But…?"
"There is also something else taken away from me… And no matter what, I want to have what is mine back."
Silver: Uh oh… looks like the creepy lady has awaken… and apparently is not happy with her current situation. Moving on, the meeting of Aerith nears and the next mission! I sorry if this is late, apparently my brother does not know the term of personal space… just read and review to make me happy.