(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
Plate ALERT
Silver: Here we go! Making a change in 3... 2... 1... Now!
Plate ALERT
Meeting up with the AVALANCHE outside for a moment…
"Okay, Wedge I want you to evacuate the people around the Seventh Heaven Area, also get Marlene to the playground in Sector 6." she stated firmly.
"Eh? In the playground?" he asked.
"Mira managed to contract me and she got a friend who can bring her to Sector 5 where it is most safe." she explains.
"Is this friend of yours trustworthy?" Barret asked, looking a bit skeptical on entrusting his daughter to someone unknown.
"Yeah, she's very nice if you meet her." the mime quips. "Next, Jessie, you evacuate the people who are in the middle of the slums. And Biggs, try getting the people from the far side."
"But… will they believe that Shinra is dropping the plate and we're trying to save them?" Wedge asked and on cue a group of Aero Combatant came flying in and heading for the pillar.
"Does that answer your question?" she deadpan at him, then quickly snaps back that them. "Alright! Stick to the plan! And if I see any of you fighting on the tower instead of helping people, I will personally kick your butts off it!"
"Hey! I'm leader!" the black man protested.
"Sorry bout that, but you're not much of a strategist." she quips, then she turns and runs to the tower with the black man tailing as the rest follows their orders. But as she and Barret goes there… 'This is suicide… I'm crazy on actually going with Barret and fighting against Shinra… Then again, to make a change, make the loudest noise ever.' she thought as she press down her feelings.
And arriving at the tower… 'Oh… I may have no complaints on this… but I think Mira is going to go nuts on how tall this thing is.' taking a deep breath and looks at Barret. "Make sure your team stays at the bottom and helping others."
"What about the Turk?" he asked, as he cock his gun-arm.
"Mira said that they are on their way here, just a bit delayed from the mob boss' lackeys." she quips and takes out her dagger. And tries to unlock the gate by the side… but she yelps when it is blasted away by Barret. "Hey! Have you heard 'being subtle'?" she shrieks at him.
"Yer taking too long." he stated and runs up the tower with gun-arm blazing.
She blows her bangs a bit and sighs… 'Really…' she thought and checks her phone. "Everything is set… all we need are the rest of the acts." she whispered before pocketing it and chases after the AVALANCHE leader.
:::^*^:::
"Ugh… don't you ever get that we're not that interested!" Mira yells at the Don's lackeys as she cast lightning at them. Then she is suddenly yank back by Cloud as he thrust his blade at one of them going for her side. The enemy squeaks at the blade being pointed in between his eyes and fell on the ground, scrambling to retreat. "Um… thanks Cloud." she said.
"Try to be careful." he stated as she let her go and turns to see Tifa just knockout one on her side while Aeris smartly hit one of them with her staff. After beating down most of them, they reach the gate where they saw Wedge and Marlene, the latter is hiding in the slide while the other helps a few people out.
"What's going on here?" Tifa asked.
"Teef! Cloud! Mira! You're okay!" Wedge shouts happily as he runs and stops in front of them. "Am I glad to see you in one piece."
"Thanks but what's happening?" the bar maid asked, as the little girl came out and hugs her in relief.
"Barret manage to squeeze more information out of the spy and we learned that Shinra is planning to drop the plate." he explains, as Jessie came by and helps an elderly couple with some kids out to, then directs them to Wall Market where it is safe. "We're helping the people to evacuate the people out of the sector, as Riley and Barret goes to distract the troops and the Turks to give us some time to get the people out."
"Wait… we're not fighting for our home?" the bar maid asked, looking incredulously at him.
"Ummm… the plan is to get the people out to safety and get out of Sector 7 as soon as possible…" Wedge stated, fiddling his fingers together.
"This is our home! We can't just abandon it!" she scolded him. "Did Barret told you to do this?"
"No, Riley did with good reasons." he replied meekly, as the bar maid stares with shock at him.
'Ooh boy… are people in this world in this timeline are that materialistic? Seriously!' Mira thinks and have to step in for the poor guy. "Tifa, I think that this is a good plan." she stated.
"What…?" The bar maid looks at her with disbelief. "Mira! Sector 7 is our home!"
"I know, but it would make sense to get out of this place as much as possible." the songstress stated in a obvious tone. "I mean, what if we lose and the whole thing drop on them?"
"It will not happen!" she shouts back with a fierce stare on the songstress, cause the other to be taken aback for a moment there and Marlene to take shelter in Aerith's arms. "I will not allow anyone to lose a home or a family anymore! That's why we have to fight back!"
Snapping back from being stun, the songstress glares back with an equal fiery glare and is ready to talk back some sense. She knew Tifa have experienced losing everything in the Nibelheim Incident, but that is clouding her judgment right now. "Oh? And have you not considered the situation here?" she then heard incoming rotors and then points up at incoming group of Aero Combatants heading for the pillar. "Do you think we can take out that many? There are only eight of us in this group and I doubt we can get rid of them!"
"We have Cloud! He's a SOLDIER before!"
"Sure, he's enhance! But what about the rest of us?" she waves at all of them. "Do you think fighting to the death is a sensible plan to save Sector 7?"
"ENOUGH!" Cloud snaps at them and stands between the two. "You two better stop or-"
"I'M NOT YET DONE, CLOUD!" Mira snaps back louder at him and he stares back at her with shock… he never seen her pissed-off before. And Marlene clings tightly on the flower girl, afraid and shock to see Mira like this.
Taking in a sharp breath and looks back at Tifa, if she's going to make a change and help both Cloud and Aerith, she'll start with her. "Tifa." she said sharply. "One question: What would you like? To fight for the plate and if lose kills thousands of innocent lives? Or to help get the people out and if lose, we still manages to save the people?"
"What…?" the bar maid utters.
"Tifa, you can rebuilt any lost home or property…" the songstress states, then walks towards the gate but stops a bit. "But you cannot bring back lives that are lost." she then runs ahead of the group, leaving them stun on her speech.
"She's right…" a voice speaks up, snapping out to their stupor and they look at Aerith, who is smiling a bit as she holds and calms the frighten little girl. "She's right." she states again with a gentle tone and a small smile.
:::^*^:::
Sighing… "Well… I should have taken account on this." the songstress states and looks up at the pillar's stairs. She inflates her cheeks out of annoyance and before blowing her bangs. "Might as well consider this a crash course for the incoming climb to floor 59."
"Mira!" a familiar voice called and she turns to see Tifa and Cloud running to her. She also noted that Aerith is gone, which means she have taken Marlene back to her home… and then Tseng will…
"I… I'm sorry." Tifa apologizes and looks down. "I should've thought of other possibilities."
The ravenette blinks before smiling a bit at her. "It's okay, it's not that serious, but we better get up there and try to see if we could help Barret and Riley on holding up the fort." she said with a little cheer in her voice and they look at her strangely. "What?"
"Nothing… let's hurry." the blonde stated and begins to climb the stairs with Tifa following behind. Scratching her head, she shrugs it off before she too follows them.
"By the way, where's Aerith?" Mira asked, acting like she wonder why the flower girl is missing.
"I asked her to take Marlene to safe place!" the bar maid replies and the songstress seems to nod at it.
As they climb, they fights against the incoming Aero Combatants, Cloud manages to slash one down and Mira pushes one away from them. Tifa is forced to jump or cast magic to strike back at them, since they are practically out of her reach. After they climbed about four or five flight of stairs…
"Cloud! Wait!" Tifa calls out and the blonde turns to see… Mira panting and supporting herself by her knees, as Tifa is by her side and helping her up.
"Ugh… Crud this thing is tall." the songstress swears.
"Mira, are you okay?" Tifa asked, concern on her as she supports her up.
"Don't ever ask such a standard question." she stated annoyingly and trudge on, only to have Cloud stop her by holding her shoulders.
"Mira, you're tired." he stated and helps her up. "I know you want to help Riley, but I can't have you collapsing in battle. Go down and help the others instead."
"No…" Mira stated firmly and manages to shake away from him. 'Considering I'll be forced to climb a flight of stairs to rescue Aerith after this… if the whole barging in like Barret suggested is not a sensible plan.' she thought as she once more climbs up, the two look at one another as they too climb the stairs.
However, after a couple of stairs later… Mira is down for the count. The songstress heaves and pants as she lies down in the steps, still struggling to get back up. 'Ugh… I HATE this!' she thought.
"Mira… you shouldn't push yourself!" Tifa said with concern as she tries to help her and Cloud is slicing out another Aero Combatant off the air. "You might faint before reaching the top, or you'll be targeted by Shinra."
"This… is… NOT a problem." Mira wheezes out as she once more force herself on climbing. "Why does this thing have to be FREAKING TALL!" then after a few steps, she once more leans on the railings trying to catch her breath and soothes her aching leg muscles. 'Ugh… I REALLY should've have taken gym seriously!' she thought, as she tries climbing again.
Only she yelps when suddenly she is pulled up and is hoisted on someone's back, she looks down to see… the blonde have placed her on his back as Tifa takes the keytar from her. "ACK! Hey!" she yelps, blushing at this.
"It's better this way!" the bar maid stated as she and Cloud runs all the way up to the top. "Besides, how can you help your friend if you're too tired?"
'Ugh… Riley will never leave me alone on seeing this…' she thought, as they climb to the top, beating down any Aero Combatant going neat them, or in Mira's case, cast spells.
:::^*^:::
At the top, Riley is casting Matra Magic at a group of incoming enemies, as Barret shoot them down on his side. "We should have the others fighting with us! There's too many!" the black man shouts thru the noise of the fight.
"Just hold the fort, Barret! Mira said that she and the other will be here soon!" she stated and then yelps as she is kick by a Aero Combatant. "Why you!" she snaps at it and cast Dark Fire on her attacker. As the said assailant falls out of the air, Riley guessed that she poison him, she then hears something… similar but much more louder then what their enemies are using.
"Hey… they stopped." Barret asked, noticing that all the Aero Combatants are gone. "Did we win?" he asked with a hint of joy.
"Shhh!" she hiss at him and listens. "Do you hear that?"
"… Sounds like…" he said as he listen to the said noise.
And on cue, a helicopter came flying straight for the pillar. Barret swears at it and Shinra, as he takes aim and attempts to shoot it down. While he is busy with it, Riley sets her phone on her jacket, ready to set the alarm off as soon as Mira arrives here. And to delay the destruction a bit, she cast Lightning and then Matra Magic to keep it at bay.
"Damn it, just get hit and drop like a fly!" the AVALANCHE leader fumes and is getting madder that he couldn't hit the flying machine.
"Barret! Don't think of shooting it down!" she said as she once more cast Matra Magic at it, only it manages to avoid it. "Nice piloting… anyway, just keep the helicopter at bay till the other arrive!"
"What?" he asked incredulously and looks at her.
"I hate to say this but spraying wildly on that, will not knock the helicopter off the air." she quips.
Then they heard foot steps and they see Cloud, Mira and Tifa arrives, and the brunette eyes on her best friend as the blonde puts her down. Taking her keytar, the songstress calmly walks to the mime and as the latter opens her mouth.
"Don't you dare say anything about this." the songstress hissed at her.
"As I fear for my life, I will not till this is over." the mime quips as her best friend glares at her.
"Tifa! Cloud! Mira! You came! Be careful! They're attacking from the helicopter." Barret warns them.
"Better equip ourselves before they attack in full force!" Tifa noted and the two men nodded at this. As they checks their equipment, Riley takes Mira away for a moment and she secretly takes out her touch phone. She then opens and flips to the menu, then press something before setting it to another feature.
"I don't hear anything…" Mira whispered.
"Don't worry, it's the 15 seconds lag time before the system goes off." Riley points out, then sets the phone to record the audio.
"But what about the people above the plate?" as the songstress equips the newly acquired Blizzard materia she just got from Tifa, who bought it before heading out for the Don.
"I can't pump up the volume… that friggin plate is probably a hundred feet above us." the mime then tucks in the phone in her jacket pocket, but she makes sure one end is open to record the voice. "So… as a back-up, I decided to record everything they say, right here." Then her best friend gives her an ether to replenish her magic, as she checks on her Dark Fire and Lightning materia.
"But… the people above the plate and Denzel…"
"Sorry Meer… but that is the best I can do, for now, we record this and show it to the people how nasty the company is."
Mira looks at her best friend and sighs… she knew her feeling, she too is guilty that they won't be able to warn the plat above. But to Riley's other plan is a bit sensible and it will bring justice since they got proof. Once they, check their potions and other items…
"Here they come!" Tifa announces and both girls zip up their pouches and looks up. There they saw Reno, jumps out of the plane and land on the platform with ease. He casually jogs to the console and with a hand near the trigger.
"You're too late. Once I push this button…" the redhead Turk points out, Cloud is about to shout at him… only he presses the button. "That's all folk, mission accompli-GAH!"
The redhead Turk is tackled down by two girls, they skid to the floor and struggles to get up. The brunette have to yank her best friend away before she gets hit by his EM rod and backs away. Getting up and on guard, the mime takes out her dagger and the ravenette arms her keytar as the redhead gets up and glares at them.
"Okay! You'll definitely pay for tha-" he stops when he sees the brunette, who glares back at him before casually greeting him.
"Hey, how's the drink I recommended to ya." she stated, yet she did not lower her guard.
"… Awww… and I thought I find a good drinking buddy." Reno stated coolly, although they hear a bit of tone of disappointment in it, as he pockets his hands and the others looks at the mime wondering what's going on. "Long time no see, mind if I have your name there girl?"
"It's Riley and it's just only been a day since you last came to the bar for a drink." she states with a smug smile. "By the way, how the knock out drink I made for ya, feel like getting bash on the brain with a slice of lemon wrap around a gold bar?"
"Ugh… that's probably one drink I would avoid." he mutters.
"But back on track, disarm the bomb right now!" the mime points at the console with the screen showing a countdown till the supports fall.
"I can't have you do that. No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks…" the red head stated and arms his EM rod.
"You asked for it." Mira state and strikes at the Turk, who jumps away to avoid getting hit.
"You know him?" Tifa asked, when she comes to the mime's side as the other two begins helping Mira out.
"Yeah, I met him once when he came to the bar for a drink." the mime stated with a shrugs and looks at the redhead. "Hard to believe that someone who's that friendly is going to murder innocent lives just to…" she then felt the bar maid's hand on her shoulder and looks at Tifa who gives her a concern look. She blinks at this before she sighs… "I'm fine, Teef. You better help them, I'll try to see if I can disarm this thing- HEY!"
She yelled when she and Tifa gets trap into a pyramid spell and glares at the redhead who just gives her a smug grin before he avoids getting hit by Cloud's huge sword. "Riley! Tifa!" Mira calls and she attacks the pyramid which breaks down. Her best friend gives her a thumbs up and the bar maid smiles before she goes after the redhead.
"You're not joining them?" Riley asked.
"Hold on, I need to re-check my stuffs… Reno is immune to Lightning and some status-effect spells, so the option I can do is healing, cast Blizzard and use positive status-effect on you guys." the songstress stated. "How about you?"
"Mimicry, Dark Fire, Matra Magic… and the new Limit Break I just learned today."
"Really? You know your Limit Break?"
"Yuppers… Uh I think we should help them and not stand here like a foot stool." pointing out that Reno have trapped Barret and Tifa in the Pyramid and is planning to trap the blonde. Nodding at this, the two charge into the fight, Riley is quickly to get to Cloud's side and assist him while Mira breaks the Pyramid to free the two. Charging in, she quickly mimic's the Drift Turn and hits Reno squarely and the Turk stumbles back.
"What the heck?" he yelps as he sees the faded image of the motorcycle from those nasty monster just outside Midgar, before it fades away. "How-"
"I'm a mime! It's my job to copy and execute the moves." She quips and then cast her Matra Magic at him.
Despite the numbers are overwhelming for one guy, a Turk can still stand a chance against them… even against a SOLDIER First. Both girls notice a certain spark in his eyes, as if he does know something yet he cannot tell. And it clicks to them…
'Dang… he knows Cloud is not exactly a SOLDIER, we should've seen this coming.' they thought as Riley attempts to land a strike on him and Mira heals Barret. Casting Dark Fire and using potion on Cloud, the brunette runs right toward the redhead with her dagger armed and strikes on him. But he blocks it and elbows her to the face, causing her to stagger back and then is electrocuted by his EM rod.
"Riley!" Tifa shouts as she charges at the redhead, only he steps aside and made her trip right on the mime.
"This is interesting… I might recruit you for the Turks you know." the redhead quips as he avoids the gun fire from the black man and Tifa helps the brunette up after apologizing and getting off her.
"I would rather have freedom than to follow that moron you so called president." Riley snaps back.
'… Freedom…' Cloud thought, as he pause for a moment and the songstress notices this..
'Is… he trying to remember what Riley said?' she thought and remembers the OVA of the game, there Zack did quotes that he would rather have freedom than to be prisoners and tools for the company. 'Cloud… try to remember…'
"Yeah! Your no-good company destroyed their home!" Barret points out and this sets the alarm in the girls mind off and snaps the blonde back to reality.
'Don't say Banora! Don't say Banora!' they mentally shouts at the AVALANCHE leader.
"Really? And what village is it?" the Turk asked.
"As if we're going to tell you!" Mira quickly shouts at the redhead, ending the conservation as she sent a wave of sound waves at him. He jumps away as Tifa charges at him and throws a punch, only he grabs her hand and flips her over. He is about to electrocute her when he feels a sharp pain on his back, and turns to see Riley with a bloody dagger indicating she have slash his back.
"Heh… not bad." he winces a bit and looks back at the mime.
"Getting soft since I was the friendly bar tender?" the brunette quips.
"Hardly." then he kicks and she quickly blocks the attack, only to find herself trap in the Pyramid. "Stay there."
"Not long!" and the songstress breaks the Pyramid with the sound waves and the mime gives her best friend a thumbs up as a thanks. Then she cast Blizzard, only he smashed the ice before it made impact on him. 'And the FAQs says Blizzard is one of his weakness?' she thought, as she gets yank away by Barret to avoid her from getting shock by the EM rod. "Um, thanks."
"Mind on the fight, girl." Barret stated, as he sprays bullets on the redhead and Tifa attacks with her Limit Break: Beat Rush. "Yer goin down!" and he launches his Limit Break: Big Shot on the Turk. Although Reno manages to avoid the Beat Rush, he wasn't prepare on the Big Shot. So he braces on the impact of the huge fireball and felt the burn on his skin, the black man whoops on the direct hit despite the Turks manages to maintain his stance.
Then he cast Pyramid on Cloud and electrocuted Riley, before either of them could even land a strike on him. But it is a mistake on hitting Riley… it activates her Limit Break again. As he traps Barret again in the Pyramid and Mira heals Tifa.
"Hey drink bud!" the mime called out and the redhead turns to see Riley glowing soft purple. "Get ready for a beating!" and she leaps high into the air, the negative image of the Buster Sword forms in her hands. She performs a Braver on the Turk only he sidesteps away from being hit, but when he is about to retaliate… he meets face to face with a gun-arm. "Blasting off?" she cheekily asked and then pulls the trigger.
Reno felt the heat on the face as he closes his eyes to protect them and braces himself. He feels the flame nearly peeling is skin off as he fell on his back and hold his face. Both Cloud and Barret are jaw-drop on what Riley did… she just mimic their moves in one combine Limit Break. Mira seems to be happy at this as the bar maid moves in and intent to beat the redhead out, only he manages to roll out of the way and staggers up as he notices something.
"It's time." Reno quips as he mocks salutes them goodbye, he runs, passing right thru Tifa and Mira and then jumps off the platform. Then Tifa attempts to disarm the controls, but she grows frustrated and panic-stricken when she couldn't disarm it.
"Cloud!" she calls the blonde and he walks to her side. "I don't know how to stop this. Try it!"
The blonde then looks at the computer and notices something. "…It's not a normal time bomb." he stated, after seeing the bomb is not simple as he thought.
Suddenly, the helicopter came up to the level of where they are and there they saw Tseng, and Reno in the pilot seat, holding his bloody nose. Both girls did manage to get a glimpse of pink somewhere inside, indicating they got Aerith.
"That's right. You'll have the hard time disarming that one. It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it." the head of the Turks stated with such authority.
"Please, stop it!" Tifa shouts at him and Tseng only laughs at this.
"…Only a Shinra Executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System."
"Shut yer hole!" The AVALANCHE leader shouts and opens fire at the helicopter, but Tseng merely stares back at him blankly.
"I wouldn't try that…" he stated. "You just might make me injure our special guest." as he pulls out Aerith.
"Aerith!" the bar maid shouts out of shock, seeing their friend is captured by the Turks and Cloud is angry now.
"Oh, you know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me." he replied and scans the five on their emotion: Tifa is shock, Cloud is angry and Barret is confuse on what's going on since they didn't meet… but on seeing both Riley and Mira, he sees something different.
… He sees a glint of discreet slyness in their glare…
"What are you gonna do with Aerith?" Cloud demands and he snaps his attention to the blonde.
"I haven't decided." he stated blankly. "Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It's taken us a long time, but now I can finally report this to the President."
"Tifa, Mira, don't worry! Everyone are all right!" Aerith takes her chance to shout at Tifa, noting the safety of certain people.
'Then, my warning system works!' Riley cheers in her mind and then she became calm yet furious and mad when Tseng slapped Aerith. Mira have to move to her side, hold and calm her down.
"Hurry and get out!" the flower girls yells despite the sting on her face.
"Ha, ha, ha…well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?" the head Turk mockingly stated before the helicopter moves away and the stand support partially blew up. Both Mira and Riley nearly lost their balance when the platform shakes by the explosion.
"Yo!" Barret calls out and they look to see him pointing at the wire. "We can use this wire to get out!
Nodding at this, Barret quickly unhooks the wire and they move to his side. Barret holds on the bottom where the hook is, placing a foot to secure himself not to slip. Then Tifa and Cloud sits on his shoulders as Mira and Riley are on his arms. They then holds on tight on the wire and escapes by swinging away with the cable, as the Sector 7's stand support explodes and the plate falls crushing everything in Sector 7.
:::^*^:::
Landing beyond the playground is a rough one. Once Barret let go of the cable, they fall to the ground, landing and skidding on their feet except for Riley and Mira. The mime manages to land on the ground properly when the songstress just fell on her, causing them to roll right on the bar maid who they also knock off.
"Ow… sorry, Tifa." they both wince and apologizes to the bar maid like school children. They get up and then helps her up, when the black man screams at the debris of the fallen plate that crushed their home.
"Hey Barret!" Cloud called but the AVALANCHE leader ignores him.
"Barret!" Tifa called and then he just screams again, as Mira and Riley looks at one another.
"Hey!" the blonde calls again.
"Barret, stop… Please stop, Barret." the bar maid pleads.
The black man is about to scream again, when he receives another whack to the head courtesy to Mira's keytar. "Ugh? What was that for?" the black man demanded and shaking his fist at her.
"Didn't you hear what Aerith said in the copter moments ago?" she points. "Everyone are all right… which means…"
"Barret!" a familiar voice calls out and they turn to see Wedge running to them from the Wall Market. "You're all okay!"
"And you're alive!" Barret shouts with joy and then… "Where's Biggs and Jessie?"
"Jessie bought most of the people to Sector 5 since we couldn't fit anymore people in the Wall market." the young rebel explains and them looks down. "I… don't know what happen to Biggs though…"
'Ah shit… looks like we have some small casualties going on.' Riley thought, as she hopes that Biggs is okay and alive.
"Biggs…" Barret mutters.
"You said the people are in Wall Market and Sector 5... Is all of them safe?" Tifa asked.
"Well… most of them." Wedge said and seems to be down once more. "Few people didn't believed us and few would rather stay there because it is their home. I'm surprise that an alarm went off to warn the people about the plate falling, that definitely made evacuating the people out more easy."
And Riley sighs. "Well… no point crying on a spilled milk, Wedge, they made their choice." she quips as she crosses her arms and then smiles. 'It works! I'm happy!' her mind cheers and then she notices something...
"So what now?" Wedge asked.
"Simple, you help the people rebuild their homes and lives, the rest of us have to check on Jessie and Marlene in Sector 5." Mira said.
"Marlene… Marlene is still okay?" the black man asked.
"Yeah, Tifa asked the pink lady to take Marlene to her place for safety." Wedge explains.
"Oh yeah, that girl." Barret wonders about it before snapping back to his most important topic. "Marlene! There ain't no turnin' back now."
"Hey!" Riley calls out and they look at her. "Cloud is missing!"
And true to her point, there is no sign of the blonde anywhere.
:::^*^:::
Cloud is heading for Sector 5 alone… there is something…
"Cloud!" the blonde then turns to see the others running after him and stopping by his side. "Take me to Marlene!" Barret demanded, as the three ladies skids to a stop.
"You're going to help Aerith?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah… But before that, there's something I want to know." the blonde stated.
"What's that?" Riley asked.
"…it's about the Ancients." he said, as he remembers something and suddenly kneels to the ground, holding his head in pain.
"Are you all right?" Tifa asked out of concern and alert, as Riley and Mira looks at one another.
"Pull it together!" Mira shouts at him and he manages to snap back to reality. Shaking his head, he looks at them and nods that he's okay, they then proceed to Aerith's place.
"We better speed up with Cloud's recovery… I need an opening here." Mira hissed at her best friend as they lag a bit from the three.
"I know… let's try the journey to Kalm or in the town itself." the mime whispered back. "For now, let's focus on getting rid of the info relating to Banora." and the songstress nodded at that as they reach Sector 5 and tails after the three.
:::^*^:::
Hojo is in total euphoria.
First, are the reports about the specimen's activity, which stated that it is slowly increasing and it won't be long till it gains consciousness. Next is the report about the energy spikes in the wasteland, it is stated that there are still faint traces of it and the cause of the spikes have arrived here in Midgar. He can't wait to find and experiment the new specimens once they find it, he really wants to know why they made JENOVA that way.
And to top it off… he have finally acquired the every last of the Ancient.
For him, it's a happy day indeed.
But…
Unknown to him, the specimen's eyes blink and moves.
"It won't be long now… you and I will be united once more."
Silver: I don't think this is my best chapter, seeing I kinda rushed the whole thing. But I got reasons… there are two graduations going on in the family. One of them is my nephew, finally going to kindergarten… and the other… is ME! I'm finally out of college! YAY! So yeah, I got a week for the grad pics, practice and I want to cut my hair short! There will be no chapters, aside from this one, for this incoming week… trying looking out, next, next week. Till then, Read and Review!