(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7 or the songs that are in this story, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Song of the Sea
Silver: Okay, so the grammar checker is working but not that great… I can live with that. The title fits with the party's situation right now. Sorry if this one is quite late, I somehow bounce back into every single fan wagons I have ever been to. Right now, I'm currently in Danny Phantom and currently slowly progressing to Batman thanks to the Under the Red Hood… (OMG… why Jason has to die and return back as an anti-hero.)
Song of the Sea
Back in the locker room…
"This is the military!" the commander shouts right in front of the mime's helmet-covered face, and she instantly regrets the lack of face masks. "Your orders for today are to send off President Rufus at the dock! I'll keep drilling you until it's time!"
And again, two troopers enter the room. "I'll help, sir!" the first one said.
"Me too, sir!" the second one pipe in.
"All right!" the man yells and looks at them. "Line up in order and show me your final pose! Today's command is Formation. Remember it! Ready!? Junon Military Send Off, BEGIN!"
The soldiers perform the send-off, which reminds the mime of the basic drills she used to perform and then taught for some 3rd years way back. All, except for one gun drill, which they twirl the tip of the gun in a small circle and then reverse. Pretty much, performing this is going to a piece of cake. Also, since she is handling a real rifle, she sneakily removes the magazine and pockets it. Right now, she does not trust any guns in this world, especially the ones that are made by Scarlet.
'I doubt she even put a safety on every weapon that bimbo makes.' She thought as they face to the left. She then looks back at her companion, it seems that he hadn't spoken and quite tense on the shoulders.
It's either he has forgotten some of the moves, or he mixed up the commands.
'Looks like I'll be helping him again…' she thought, as she elbows him on his side. He turns to look at her, she slightly lean to him and whispers. "Just do what they do, kay?"
"All right!" the commander state proudly as his men has executed the performance almost perfectly, and then turns to the two. "Now you try it!"
The two join the other two troopers in their practice. Riley manages to execute the new gun drill, while Cloud tries to copy the moves. But he ended up making some mistakes because he is mirroring the other troop, like pointing the rifle at the wrong direction which he ends up getting quite a snap from the commander. Seeing his performance, she quickly helps him out by pointing out the right way and correcting the stance.
'I'm starting to miss teaching third years…' she thought.
Once he gets it right and is not pointing at the wrong way. "Commander! What's today's special pose?" one of the trooper asked.
"Huh?" the commander said with forgetfulness in his tone. "… I haven't decided yet." As he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, out of embarrassment. "All right, rookie!" he immediately snaps at the disguised mime, causing her to tense out of surprise. "I'll let you decide! Show me your best move!"
'Wait… ME?!' she thought as she is still surprise that the commander demanded her a good move to impress the president. Looking at her companion for a while before sighing and moves forward, with one drill move in her mind.
"Alright… how about this one." She said and spins her rifle in her right hand, three times. She does a backhand pass to her other hand and then tosses it into the air. The rifle spins three times in the air, as its rise and falls back on her waiting left hand. She then points the rifle down, spins it again and then does the Order Arms with her feet and left hand on Parade Rest.
"Woooooooow!" one of the troopers said in awe.
"That's awesome!" the other states with glee and excitement.
"All right! We'll go with that as today's special!" the commander stated and then looks at the other two troopers. "Practice it!"
"Yes sir!" the troopers' salutes and left the locker room to practice the move Riley performed.
"Well then!" he then turns to the two. "Meet at the dock! Don't be late! Attention! Dismissed!" and then he left.
"Well that's something." The mime stated flatly, she then looks at Cloud who briefly removed his helmet. "The helmet suck, does it?"
"Yeah. By the way, that last move…" he points out. "It looks like you've done that before."
"I used to practice with guns when I was in Banora." She half-lies to him and twirls her rifle. "I learned these moves from Mira's older brother, who tends to spin and toss them around." And certainly that is no lie, she did ask Mira's older brother to help her with the C.A.T. when she was in third year.
"Is he a trooper?"
"Nope, a village protector. He makes sure that our old home is well protected from monsters." She then stops twirling the rifle and looks down. "… But… I guess he did not expect Shinra to be monster itself."
There is silence as she takes a brief look at the blonde before looking away. She can tell that he is starting to feel sorry for her, which she mentally congratulate her acting skills on making her story believable. A moment later, after feeling the silence long enough, Riley looks back at the blonde and begins teaching him the move she did.
:::^*^:::
As he practices the drill, the two heads out and explore the city.
The city looks like a metal version of the Rice Terraces back in her world, only it got buildings and houses instead of a rice field. Along with the fact that there is a huge cannon built in the middle of it. For the mime, she finds the cannon to be a waste of money and totally illogical. 'This cannon can only fire in one direction! Most enemies are not dumb enough to stay within firing range!' she thought, as she imagines enemies attacking the city by the side instead of head on. Despite the fact that she is not an expert on strategy, she is definitely not stupid to charge head on with the cannon at the front.
Shaking her head as her mind thinks of some mechanics, involving rotating the huge cannon, she continues exploring. As they walk to the docks, she spots the said item seller outside of the shop. Thinking that they have to get some items for their first and incoming Jenova fight, she talks to the man.
Once she bought enough potions, antidotes and other status-effect cures, she and Cloud continues making their way to the docks as he practices. But at some point, Riley would go into a shop or a building, looting items that are left behind. As she does that, she also removes the ammo from the magazine. 'If Rufus is a sucker for detail in this drill performance, it's better to be safe than sorry.' She thought as she removes the last ammo and then returns the magazine to its rifle.
"Riley…" The blonde ends up trying to find her when he notices she is missing every time. And once he finds her he would scold her not to leave his side or sighs of exasperation.
"Oh come on! It's been long since me and Mira visited this place!" she protests as she pockets a figure of a trooper.
She continues with this habit, entering a building and taking items that were not wanted anymore. 'If they put a case on me for breaking and entering, I'll point right back that they don't lock their stuffs safely.' She thought, as she enters another building... and then she stops going further.
Cloud, who is just behind her, finds it a little strange and stops behind her. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Turks." She stated and points at the bar inside. Peeking in, he sees the Turks having some drinks before looking back at the mime.
"Come on, we should head to the docks" he said and quietly sneaks out. "The others are probably waiting for us."
Nodding at this, the mime decided that it is time for them to head for the docks. "By the way, you got the move down?" she asked, in response he executed the move almost perfectly similar and she couldn't help but to grin at that.
:::^*^:::
Arriving at the docks, there they saw two troopers practicing the drills with their commander whistling at them. The mime thinks about sneaking into the ship without performing the drill, but the commander notices them and snaps at them to get into position. The two looks at one another and then she shrugs at this, they head to their position in line.
Once they are in line. "All right, it's time! Ten… HUT!" the commander snaps at them, which they all stand stiff in line.
A trooper near the door announces the president's arrival. "President Rufus… has now arrived!" the doors open, the same a young blonde man and his burly head of the public safety arrives.
"This is it! Junon Military Reception! Do it right, do it with enthusiasm…!" the commander hisses at them as the mime imagines him mentally praying that the send-off is a success. "Ready…!" and then he blows his whistle.
Cloud, Riley and the two soldiers perform the send-off, it's not perfectly synchronized but the movements and drills are the same. The mime can help to be giddy as the performance once more reminds her of the basic rifle drill training. She also makes note that the drill is in need of improvements, since most of the moves are repeated.
'Also put more troopers in this group!' she thought as she remembers a certain drill which she and other C.A.T. members trade rifles, as the drill master marches thru the middle of it. 'That sequence is made of awesomeness! It will make the drill team even cooler!'
Also while performing, she takes notice of a red feline (in disguise) observing them just behind the hinge of the cargo gate in the ship. His tail would flick as they successfully executed the drill like he would do in the game… which reminds her, how did he know she and Cloud are performing the send-off? Did he smell them or animal instinct, something?
Once they are now facing back, where Rufus and Heidegger are standing. "All right! Now finish it strong!" and then he whistles at them. "SPECIAL!"
They spin their rifle on their right hand, three times. Does a backhand pass to other hand and then tosses it into the air. As the rifle spins three times in the air, it falls back to their waiting left hand. They point their rifle down, spin it again and then for the final touch, they do the Order Arms with their stance on Parade Rest.
Once it is over, the commander faces back to where Rufus is and the mime sees… him looking amuse as the burly man laughs beside him. The president claps as he walks towards them.
"Well done, the last drill is new, is it?" he asked, now the mime looks at the president and is stunned…
'Holy… he said something that's not in the script!' she thought as the commander confirms it's a new move.
"Not bad. Keep up the good work for Shinra, Inc." he said.
Heidegger then approaches Cloud and gives him a gift, it's a sword. "Gya haa ha…! Here's a special bonus for you! A token of the President's kindness! Don't forget it!" as he takes the blade from him and then the burly man moves to the mime… and she unexpectedly got a pair of odd looking tonfas from him, stating that they are prototypes. As the two heads to the ship, she takes a good look on the tonfas and she nearly gasp out loud.
'What the heck?! These look like the Jungle Tonfas from the Power Ranger: Jungle Fury!' she thought, seeing the tonfas which looks similar to the said show. The tonfas are in black color with a silver curve at the end of the long side, the company logo on the hilt and the handles are wrapped in red leather. There are also materia slots good for four materias: one of the tonfas has link slots and the other one is a pair of solos. But if the tonfas can function like the ones from Jungle Fury, then she got two weapons instead of one.
"Once the world gets out that Sephiroth's here, Cloud and his friends will show up, too." The president said as Riley turns her attention back to the two.
"We'll crush them as soon as we find them!" the burly man said gleefully.
"We can't have them get in our way."
"Leave it up to me, sir! Gya haa haa!"
Rufus looks back at him, displeased and his good mood almost turn sour. "I thought I told you to stop that stupid laugh…" and once more, the burly man deflates as his superior heads inside the ship. When he is inside, Heidegger turns around and yells with frustration at the sky. The troopers, even the commanders, jump out of fright that he is going to hit them. Riley merely takes a step back on his reaction while Cloud stands completely still. Just as the burly man is going to attack them, the ship sounded off that it is ready for departure. Thanks to that, he turns back and boards the ship which the troopers and their commander sighs out in relief.
"All right! Dismissed!" the commander snaps at the troopers, who then respond back is a salute aside from the two 'fakes'.
"That was close." As the trooper relaxes.
"Heidegger's been really edgy lately. Because Hojo disappeared leaving a letter of resignation." The other trooper explains.
'The… oh yeah, that fruit-loop did leave the company in the game.' The mime remembers as she scratches her cheek.
"Heidegger's been forced to take care of that investigation, too."
"Hey! I thought you were dismissed!" the commander shouts at them. "We got something to do! Hurry up!" as the other troopers quickly scramble back into the Junon base… Both Cloud and Riley makes a beeline to the ship, when no one is around.
However, the mime somehow gets a feeling that something will nag at her once she enters.
:::^*^:::
Once the gate of the cargo hull is tightly closed, the ship then set sail for the Western Continent.
As she removes her gloves to give her hands some air and pockets it, Riley wanders around while Cloud already went off to find the others. The first thing the mime thought as the ship sails the seas, is to see if Yuffie's okay. She knows her notorious reputation in her motion sicken back at Earth, and she knows one way to calm it.
But before she even find the ninja in sailor-disguise, she is nearly barreled over by a trooper who seems in a rush. "Sorry!" the trooper quickly apologizes, but the mime recognizes the voice and makes a quick grab for the arm.
"Mira?" the disguised mime asked and the disguise songstress looks back at her. "Great! I found you! Now we- Wah!" she is cut off when her best friend suddenly drags her away. The songstress drags her best friend to the next floor of the ship, and the mime doesn't have a chance to explore it. The next thing the mime knows is that she is roughly pushed into a room and hears the door click close. Now she's starting to sense something is wrong here…
"Riley." The songstress calls out as she removes her helmet. "We need to talk."
Seeing that it is her best friend, she also gets rid of her helmet and rubs her eyes a bit. "What's wrong?" slightly grumbling on the fact that the visor is not that effective in the battle field.
"What's wrong?" the ravenette deadpan as she crosses her arms, seeing this means one thing… she did something wrong. "I'm hiding away from an Ex-SOLDIER Second!"
"Why?"
"Have you checked your pouch?"
"Eh? Did I lose something?"
Mira gives her a glare. "You did."
The mime stares at her as she wonders what she lost, and her best friend who is pissed is her first clue. "… It's bad, is it?"
"I kept telling you…"
"Oh flarg it, is it one of our Earth devices…?" Realizing how bad it is.
"Riley, before we confront him, tell me why I shouldn't turn you deaf with my keytar?"
Suddenly, the door opens and a new voice spoke. "Because you both need to explain this. Now." Both girls turn to see Kunsel, as he enters and shuts the door behind him. Riley's mind stops on her track on seeing Kunsel with her PS Vita in his hand. In the brunette's mind, she is spazzing a lot with the question how the heck he got her handheld game console.
"Gah! Where the heck you got that!" the mime shouts out in impulse.
"I got this near the doorway, in the house, back in Junon." The Ex-Second calmly points out. She gapes at him before remembering that the ninja girl tackled her before… now she mentally swearing at their younger member of the party, as her mind plans some pranks on her.
Somewhere in the cargo hold, a sailor sneezes quite loudly…
With the three, the mime turns to the songstress and says one thing. "I blame the ninja."
"What's Yuffie have to do with this?" her best friend asked.
"She tackled me to the floor yesterday, that's probably when my PS Vita fell out of my pouch."
"And you didn't notice?"
"Hey, I was tired from fighting a mutated fish that can swim in the air." She deadpan, she then looks at Ex-Second. "Did you tell the others about this?"
"No." he firmly stated as he pockets the device and the mime mental notes herself a plan to steal her handheld console back. "I haven't told the others about this, until I heard the truth from both of you."
'Wise to confront us now, stupid to not tell the others… Hallelujah.' Riley thought as she thanked the Goddess in her mind.
"I want to know about how you recorded my friend's life, and why you did not stop the troopers from killing him? Also, why is there a record about Cloud and the others, only older?" Kunsel demands with an edge in his voice, as he removes his helmet and is glaring at them with his glowing Mako eyes.
Both girls stared at him with slight fear and looks at one another. "… Well… now I know what Vlad meant about the scary eyes." Riley comments.
"Vlad?" Mira asked, even Kunsel is wondering who that is yet he remained focus on his task.
"Vlad Plamius? Master? From DP? Nickelodeon?" the mime points out and her best friend looks at her strangely before it clicks to her. As the songstress remembers that show, the mime stands up and faces the Ex-Second. "Okay, first, we'll explain about that but you can't tell the rest."
"And why?" he asked, his arms crossing.
"Because… well, we're in a Shinra ship." He looks at her for a moment but he understands the fact that they are in enemy territory. "With the president here, there is more security than any normal cargo ships and there are probably bugs around. But we promise to tell you the rest once we land in Costa del Sol."
"No, tell me right now, you two might bolt off when we land."
"And let unwanted eavesdroppers hear this conversation?" as she crosses her arms and looks at him skeptically. 'Is he not aware that we're in enemy territory?' She thought, as her brow rises a bit. She knows Kunsel is a military man, heck he's been labeled as a Turk in SOLDIER's clothing, but sometimes his approach on situations are not that subtle. 'Probably because he saw the video of Zack's death… Cripes, that's explains his approach.' The mime thought, when she suddenly wince when the Ex-SOLDIER grabs her arm, thinking that she's using this distraction to get away from him.
"Just tell me why you know about these?" Kunsel demands as he keeps a firm grip on the mime. "Why do you have a record of my friend's life? The video of the group? And why you did not save him?!"
Unfortunately, being enhanced and fully buff up does not bode well to the normal ones… or as normal as she can be, in Riley's case. The mime winces when the grip tightens on her arms and feels like her blood have stop moving its flow. "Kunsel, please, we're in a bad situation." She tries to calm him down as she tries to ease the pressure by prying his hands, but she couldn't get it loose.
"Tell me!"
And that is enough for Mira to interfere and grabs his arm that is holding on her best friend. "Okay, this is so not you!" the songstress snapped at him, as she fully knows his profile… when she just remembers the last one: he is more loyal to his friend than his career. 'Oh flarg it.' She thought, as she remembers that he did text to Zack before his actual death.
"You both know something and you're hiding it from me and Aerith!" he raises his volume and grabs the songstress, who yelps at the tight grip on her arm. "Why did you not save Zack?"
"COOL DOWN!" The mime yelled and is about to smack the Ex-Second's forehead with her free hand. However, when her hand contacts with Kunsel's forehead… pain erupts and the mime ends up gripping the head instead. He screams in pain as Riley grits her teeth to endure it, as they feel something odd.
For Kunsel, he felt something rip inside him.
And Riley felt something is worming inside her.
The pain only ends when Mira quickly yanks the two apart by pulling on one of the straps on their uniform/disguise. Once apart, the Ex-SOLDIER fell flat on his face and knock out, while the brunette fell on her rear still in pain.
"What the heck was that?" the songstress asked with a bit of panic in her tone, as she flips him on his back and checks if he have any fever or a pulse.
"Ow…" the mime winces, as she rubs her head and let her best friend check on her. "I feel like something got stuff in my head."
"Riley, you attempted to smack Kunsel on the head. He should be the one to feel stuff in the head."
"Then explained why I have a friggin' headache?" her best friend groan and so did Kunsel as he slowly comes to. Both girls look at one another and wincing a bit on the situation.
They are in so much trouble.
"Ugh, what happened?" Kunsel asked, as he holds his head and sits up. "Where are we?" he asked and then looks at the two girls… with a confuse look. "And why are you in Shinra Infantry uniform?"
That question puzzles them a bit but Mira decides to check if he's okay. "Kunsel, are you okay?"
"Ugh… not really, this migraine is killing me." He stated, as he rubs his temples and looks around a bit… when he suddenly gasped in surprise and stands up. "Are we in a Shinra cargo ship?"
Both girls look at one another, both confuse and on high alert before looking back at the man. "Yeah, we're in a ship, don't you remember?" the songstress points out with a brow raised.
"Why? Are we caught?" he asked frantically and is immediately on his feet, despite the fact that his head is still throbbing. Once more, the two looks at one another before they calm the slightly panic SOLDIER, who noitces what he's wearing. "Why am I wearing one too?!"
"Whoa, cool down." The mime stated coolly, as she places her hands on his shoulder to ease him up. At the same time, she carefully slips her hand into his pocket. "Kunsel, do you remember anything before this?"
"I… I only remember arriving in Junon with Yuffie and Aerith." He states as he looks around the area, still a bit confused and on guard in case of an unwanted eavesdropper. When they ask for anything else, he replied that he couldn't remember anything aside from arriving in Junon with his party and then waking up in a Shinra cargo ship. He asked if something happened and immediately Riley made up a story of him being hit by some boxes on the head. He asked about what the contents of the boxes have to knock him out, they told him it was equipment and some of it is parts of heavy machinery of sorts. Thankfully, he accepted the reason as SOLDIERs are enhanced, does not mean they don't feel pain. Then he asked the two why they didn't send him to the infirmary, and they point out that they actually stowed away in the ship which explains why they are in Shinra uniforms.
Once they told him what happened earlier, omitting the part on he found out who they are, Mira takes out a potion and gives it to him. Once he feels better, he once more asked what he was doing before the heavy blow on the head.
"You were pretending to be patrolling the hull and avoiding higher ups." The ravenette lied and she is able to breathe easy when he accepted her reason. He then dons the infantry helmet and left the girls to continue pretending he's on patrol, once he is a good distance away… "Okay, I'm going to file that as the-weird-scale-just-burst-over." She immediately stated as she quickly close the door, and looks back at her best friend who just takes out her potion and takes a swig of it. "… You got your PS Vita back?"
"Yep." As the mime waves out her handheld console and throw the empty potion bottle away. "Oh my gosh… I finally got this back."
"Which reminds me… you have clips of Crisis Core in your PS Vita?!" the songstress couldn't help but to yell at the mime, as the brunette mentally utters an 'oops' in her mind and tries to remember about the Crisis Core clips.
"… Yikes… I knew I had a funky feeling that I forgot something." Riley mutters to herself as she rubs the back of her head. She then turns her gadget on and proceeds with deleting the videos of the FFVII universe. "I'm going to miss these clips." She mourns for the videos as she deletes all of them.
Mira sighs and kneels "Come on, better safe than, happen earlier."
"True." She slumps a bit as she waits the deleting progress to finish.
"Don't be too down, we got something better than those videos anyway."
"Like what?"
"Like we got an adventure we don't expect to exist and friendship to the people we never thought to actually meet in real life."
The mime looks at her for a moment and then smiles. After the files and clips are completely deleted, both girls put their helmets back on and peek outside as Riley puts on her gloves. Seeing it clear, they quickly dart away from the room and splits to pretend that they are patrolling the ship, along with looking for Kunsel to see if he's actually okay.
And though out the day, nothing weird happens as they continue with their charades.
:::^*^:::
Both girls find out that there's a difference between the travelling time in the game and in actual time. It turns out that it takes about four to five days to reach the other continent by ship. A week is the maximum if there is a storm. The Earth girls are clueless on how long is a ship ride compared to a plane, but all they can say is that planes are faster.
Shinra should really reconsider about their transportations instead of looking for the Promised Land.
The ship as it turns out to be quite bigger than the one they saw in the game. It has five cargo holds, each is separated with metal walls and a door is the only way to enter each. The crew quarters are situated just below the private yet extravagant rooms of the president and highly ranked executives. Also the bridge is situated above it, the Mess Area and the armory is placed below the quarters with the latter placed near the cargo hold's entrance.
Both girls had to help the others with hiding their identities, as in making sure they don't get in trouble. Also, since most of the crew members of the ship are males, the female members can't make any noise or speak out because they sound too girlish. But Riley can speak out since she can mimic voices, which surprises the party aside from Cloud and Mira. She can throw off a clueless sailor and snap at a trooper back to their duty with her manliest snap.
At some point of time, both Riley and Yuffie head to the infirmary to steal some bandages. It turns out that the bandages they got are the ones that can be stretched, and they have to replace it to make their chest flat.
Speaking of the infirmary, they even stole some tranquillizers for Yuffie's motion sickness. Due to the fact that her motion sickness can blow their cover since sailors don't get seasick. At one point, she drank too much of it causes her to black-out in the cargo hold. Because of that, Mira appoints herself to give the ninja girl a few sessions on how to ease her motion-sickness without the use of the said drug. However, because the mime is still holding a bit of a grudge on her, she made a mash potato joke and made the young ninja even greener. Because of that joke, Yuffie turns back to her dependency on tranquillizers, much to Mira's displeasure and annoyance that she has to restart the sessions again. When they are seen by other sailors or troopers, they would pass Yuffie's sickness as a bad case of cafeteria food. And then, to their amusement, either they go green or fish for their meals instead of eating the junk from the cafeteria.
The group mostly avoids getting guard duties on the president's quarters, and they made some excuses when they get the command. Sometimes they thanked Riley for her miming skills, along with the red scarf and a captain-rank badge she stole along during the parade.
Both Earth girls are also observing the Ex-SOLDIER Second Class. As they watch him go on his way, they are more worried on the fact that he is just pretending and is waiting for them to slip once more. They remain on guard whenever he's around and subtly ask the party members if there is something off on the two SOLDIERs… Well, they are on high alert but their mission is also their top priority. But as the days passed and Kunsel still remained clueless on their identity, the girls are able to relax a little and point their priority back to the incoming battle in the ship.
But it didn't take long for Riley to find out what exactly happened a few days ago.
:::^*^:::
Bending down… picks up an odd-looking item which looks sleek and dark.
But she recognizes it.
It is one of her gadgets.
That night, she figures how to open her PS Vita which weird her out.
How come she is that clueless on her own gadget?
Once she turns her PS Vita on, she feels something off and spots the reason why...
These are not her hands, they are a bit bigger and have a bit of dirt in the nails and the arms are muscular. When she looks down, her chest is flat… well, she knows she does not have much of a bust size but it is ridiculously flat. Her surrounding is familiar before it clicks to her.
This is the house they stayed in after battling the flying, mutated fish.
Reading the information about FFVII and watching the clips, she felt shock, confusion, anger and somewhat curiosity… but what she mostly feels right now is calm fury.
"What is this?" Now that is definitely not her voice, but oddly sounds familiar. "Why do they know Zack's death…?"
She gets her answer when she shuts the device and saw… Kunsel's face in its reflection.
:::^*^:::
That night, Riley is flipping over her cot and snaps awake in sweats. 'Oh this is shit!' she thought and immediately sits up. Looking around their room for a bit, Tifa and Aerith are sleeping soundly in the bunk bed on one side. While Yuffie snored at the top of the other bunk bed, as her best friend slept below and she takes the position in the middle by putting a sleeping bag and extra comforters on the floor between the bunks.
The party has no problems with the room arrangements, it turns out that the crew picks the room of their likings. The party picks the two rooms at the very end of the deck, and in those rooms is a pair of bunk beds and a restroom each. While the males and Red take the other room, the female members of the party had a short debate on who gets the beds in the room but is soon resolved.
Still shaken, the mime quietly shake her best friend awake and is rewarded with a groan and a slightly smack on the head from the songstress. "Ow." She winces.
"Sleep…" the songstress mumbles and turns away from the mime, who looks annoyed at her best friend.
But the mime is determined to have their pep talk, so she covers her best friend's mouth and yanks her off the bunk. With the yelp muffled, all Mira can do is to cling on her blanket as she landed on the mime's cot on her rear. Once she sees who yanks her out of sleep, she gives her a glare as the mime dismisses it. "Look, I have a problem and I can't talk this in broad daylight!" the brunette hissed as she looks up to see the others are still sleeping.
"Fine." As the songstress gets rid if the blanket on her and tosses it back on the bed. Both girls grab their hoodie, puts on their boots and takes a flashlight from the quarter's emergency box. Making sure the hood covers their faces, they carefully open the door and scan the area for any guards on the night shift. Seeing the hallway is cleared, they briskly and quietly make their way to the cargo area.
The cargo area has only one guard and he's right at the entrance of the engine. To the girls' luck, he seems to be slacking off his job as his head nods up and down. Quietly they passed by him and heads for the third or fourth hold of the cargo. However, on the entering the area, theirs is not much light which made Riley back track for a moment. She makes a quick swipe on a lamp, just near the sleeping guard and briskly heads back to their 'private meeting' room.
"Riley, what's going on." As the mime sets up the lamp and she looks at her watch. "And at 2:53 in the morning!"
As the mime sits on one of the crates, she released a sigh and looks at her best friend. "Oh flarg it… I think I know what happened to Kunsel a few days ago." Her best friend looks at her with a brow raised, but shifts to a worried look when she sees her tired and serious on the topic. She asked about it and her best friend looks at her with dread. "I think I stole his memories from the time he found my PS Vita till our confrontation."
Mira stares at her for a moment before she shakes her head a bit. "… Riley, I think you just have a nightmare, and probably the fact that you're related to Jenova…" she said as she tries to ease the tension in the room that is building.
"Didn't you read the wiki about Jenova back in Earth?" she snapped at her, which made the ravenette step back. "She can absorb memories, which mean I can actually steal someone's memories! I have one of the alien's freaking skills! I can STEAL memories!" Riley stated with dread and her best friend just stared at her with shock.
While the mime has her freak-out session, her best friend took some time to get the facts in her head… the sudden change of Kunsel's behavior, a selective amnesia and a splitting headache they both got. 'Holy skrits, does Jenova want her back so badly?' she thought as the mime says things so fast that she can only get the words: 'I like weirdness', 'This sucks' and 'I'm going to have tentacles!'. The songstress immediately snaps her out by slapping her face twice.
"Ow!" the mime yelps as she holds her face, before looking back at her best friend. "You know, slapping me once can snap me back… Ow…"
"Well the first slap is to wake you up from your panic attack and the second is to remind you that you're different from her." Mira stated and place her hands on her hips. "I mean, you declared to me, yourself and to Zack's grave that you'll find a way to save Sephiroth."
Riley stares at her for a moment, like a deer caught in the headlights, before she lightly smack her face. "Flarg it! I nearly forgot!" she swore as she takes a big breath and exhales it. "Thanks. I nearly forgot about it, thank to my new acquired memory stealing power."
"It's okay. Besides your reaction is a good thing."
"And why?"
"When Genesis and Angeal found out about their 'experimental' pasts, they couldn't accept that they are different and… well hideous. You, on the other hand, accepted your 'weirdness' and never let it over your head. Also you did think of using this connection as a way to save Sephiroth." Her best friend just stares at her. She didn't move or react on being chastised by the ravenette. "What I'm saying is Riley… even though you're different or a freak, you're still you. Remember the song from Kerrie Roberts?"
The mime thought for a moment and smiles at her. "So… what if I'm an outcast." She sings the line.
The songstress smiles at her and also playfully, sings the same line. "So… what if I'm an outcast."
And then both girls just giggle before bursting out laughing. Once they laugh their troubles away for now. "Well, I got myself something odd again, but I'm putting this one in lock down. I don't know how memory stealing can be effective in this situation, when we already know what's going to happen. Looks like I'm going to keep those military gloves." As she really does not want any more accidental memory theft. What happen to Kunsel were a sudden necessary need and one experience enough for her to know about her unwanted developing abilities.
After that, they sneakily placed back the lamp near the guard before heading back to their quarter. As they carefully head back, Riley remembers something from their home world.
"You know, with our current situation, we couldn't help but to sound and feel Mary Sue-ish." The mime states with a small smile.
"Ugh, Riley, don't even go there."
"Aw, but with all these stuffs we have, it's very possible that you might get your dream guy!" which she earns a deadpan stare from her best friend.
"Well, what about you? You have a crush on Sephiroth."
"Yeah, well, it's a turn off." The brunette snorts and looks back at her best friend who is looking back at her. "You know it's weird to have a crush on someone you're blood related to… in Sephiroth's case, we're probably cell or DNA-related… or something." She shrugs.
"… Whoa and gross… Incest to the max." and that made the mime flinch before she grabs her best friend in a headlock. Once they are done with their short tomfoolery, they quietly arrive and enter their room.
And with that, the mime is able to get some rest.
Little did they know… more gears are added into the change.
:::^*^:::
Glaring at this sudden effect…
She continues to defy…
She continues to turn away from all…
But she will eventually see the truth…
For now, her plans remain the same…
"The time is now, other me."
"Come on, dear, it's time to meet Mama again."
:::^*^:::
The boat is about to reach the dock of Costa del Sol and both girls know that Jenova's left over is going to strike soon. As Cloud pretends to scout, he is actually looking for the others and making sure they are not caught. He even stuffed his blade in his satchel as an infantryman carrying a SOLDIER issued sword is a stand out. So far both Mira and Aerith are also pretending to guard the cargo area and the ninja girl… is not that hyper than she used to be.
"Urrrgh… This is why…I hate ships. Hey, do you have any tranquillizers?" Yuffie asked, as she's a little greener than yesterday and leans on the boxes for support.
"Nope." He replied back and this earns him a groan from the ninja girl.
"Get away from me then." She whines as the songstress overheard them and walks toward the sick girl.
"Okay, Yuffie, let's go up." Mira states, as she gently grabs one of the sick girl's arms. Their younger member of the party protested and the songstress continues to coax her to go up the hull. As she tries to get Yuffie up the hull, Cloud talks to Aerith who also saw Yuffie is having motion-sickness again. The songstress secretly eavesdrops on their familiar conversation about the airship, and the promise Cloud made to bring her to an airship once the whole fiasco is over. "Come on." She once again coax the young girl, but she somewhat glued herself on the very spot. Plus she's also blocking the way to the All Materia, just right there at the corner. 'I wonder if pointing out about that materia can get her to move?' she thought.
"Need help?" the songstress turns around and sees the disguise Ex-SOLDIER looking at the two. Aerith returns on pretending of patrolling the cargo, although both the songstress and the Ex-SOLDIER caught a slight skip as she walks.
"Yeah, I know this one method of getting over motion sickness but Yuffie refuses to go up." She explains to him.
"I'm not moving from this spot!" Yuffie yelled at them as the two looks at her ill form.
"Can't you give her a tranquillizer?" he asked.
"The last time we gave her that, she had too much of it and black out." The songstress pointed out.
"That bad, huh."
"I can still hear you! And I'm not moving!" the ninja girl screeches at them.
"This might take a long time… why don't you look for the others." The songstress suggested to the blonde. "Last time I saw them is that they are heading up the hull."
"Okay, are you sure you can handle this?" he asked.
"If I can handle Riley, I can work with her." She joked a bit, before looking back at the sick ninja girl. "You know, enclosed space is going to make things worse."
"Don't remind me!" as the songstress shakes her head and the blonde walks away from them.
Taking the songstress suggestion, Cloud went up to the hull and there he spots two infantrymen watching over the sea on the mast's platform. He climbs up the ladder and the two looks at him as he gets himself up.
"Sir! Everything quiet, sir!" the two infantrymen salutes and he salutes back.
"Tifa? Riley?" he asked in a low tone.
"Hey Cloud." Riley greeted him back with a grin, as the barmaid waves him back. "I have to say that uniform actually fits you, just without the helmet… better yet, they have to redesign it." She miffs as she slightly lifts the front of the helmet and rubs her eyes. "This thing is seriously going to mess up my eyes and get glasses before I hit my forties."
"But, you know what? I really hate this uniform." Tifa states with honesty and hate lacing each other, which cause Riley to look at her weirdly.
'Wow, honesty and hate… I never thought they would go together.' The mime thought as she places the helmet back.
"Uniforms, soldiers, war, I really hate 'em all. They take away all the things and people you love… I wish they'd all disappear. Right?" she asked.
Before the blonde could answer, the brunette immediately beats him to it. "War, I would agree with you." Riley stated out. "But seriously, all of them? Why not knock down the idiots who abuse the power instead?"
"What do you mean? Are you saying that we should let those murderer and thieves go?" the bar maid asked incredulously at the mime, yet the brunette could sense a hint of anger in it.
"What I'm saying is, kick out those who abuses the power, put them in jail along with those who believe in their ideals and change practically all the wrong in the company." Then the mime pauses a bit and adds. "Actually, the company has to fall out and build a newer and better organization with sense."
"Well… that sounds idealistic but most who opposes Shinra gets stomp immediately." Cloud stated.
'Pffft, that's not going to a problem. Earth's politics and economy versus Shinra's? Earth wins hands down except for the fact that we lived in a crowded world.' the mime thought.
"I have to agree with Cloud, Shinra gets away with everything. They have to disappear." She stated firmly but then she added. "But I agree with the company has to fall out though."
'Flarg it, is everyone here that apathetic?' The mime thought and sighs, before thinking about how the economy of this world runs. 'Then again, I don't think the workers on that company blamed Cloud and the others for the fall of Shinra in Advent Children. If only Shinra has some rival companies to compete with… probably they'll be more focused on being the number one than looking for the Promised Land. Wait, why the heck am I thinking about economy?!' as a bewildered look is etched on her face. Right now, she is thankful for the helmet.
"Anyway, have you seen Red, Kunsel and Barret?" the disguise blonde asked as the mime snaps herself back on the situation.
"I think that's Red and Kunsel are over there…" Tifa stated as she points at the two infantrymen, and one of them is standing and walking awkwardly.
"I have to say, Red is the most wobbly infantryman I have ever seen." The mime noted as the poor, disguised feline walk on two feet on one corner to another. He gets some help from Kunsel, whom he crosses with. "Good thing most of the employees are too focused on promotions, sea sick on the joke I made or they're a bunch of morons."
Tifa can't help but to giggle at her comment as Cloud smirks at that. Once they bid him good luck and salutes, the blonde left to meet up with the other two and find their last member.
As they continue with their charade… "Riley." The said brunette turns to look at the bar maid. "You don't really agree with me about making Shinra disappear?"
"Tifa, let's just say, I'm not that heartless." Riley replied as she watches Cloud talk with the two before he goes off looking for Barret.
As the group continues with their charade, both Earth girls wait for the alarm to go off. And as they wait, they make a recheck on their materias and equipment… While the party has their new Mythril Armlets, the girls remain with their current ones. But Riley gave her Mythril Armlet to Mira, allowing the songstress to equip the Restore and All materia. Also, each of them equipped their summon materias on their bangles, except for the Bahamut FURY which the girls still consider an over-kill.
As Mira continues to calm the ninja girl and Riley watches the sea on the platform…
"Emergency alert! Reports of a stowaway found! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found! I repeat. Stowaway found on board! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found!" the alarm went off, snapping Yuffie out of her trance and is turning green again.
"And somebody is stupid enough to press the big, red button." The mime miffs and turns around, only to find Tifa has gone ahead to the middle of the hull. "Whelp… Gonna jet." She stated and quickly makes her way to the middle, as the rest of the group comes running to the middle of the hull.
"Everyone all right!?" Tifa asked, as Mira and Aeris drag Yuffie out of the cargo hold and right to where the party is.
"You all right!?" the muscular, gun-arm man comes charging in with an infantryman just behind him.
"Everyone's here." Aerith said with relief, and both girls did notice the change of lines.
"Hey, wait. You don't think that suspicious character is…" Kunsel stated.
"Sephiroth!?" Barret said quickly, causing the others to look at him.
"Really!?" the bar maid asked with shock in her tone.
"How the hell am I supposed to know!?" he replied.
"… Let's find out." Cloud said, as he takes out his weapon from the satchel.
"It's the most logical thing to do." Red stated as they party takes out their weapons. Even Yuffie, who seems to forget about being on the boat and is looking forward to kicking the silver general's ass.
'Okay… she supposed to complain and all.' Both girls thought as they remember that the ninja girl is way too sick to even join the fight. 'Looks like this might calm her nerves someday.'
"All right." The blonde stated, as his helmet is off along with the others who are also disguised as infantrymen, but Red has his boots and gloves off. He is going to need his claws for this fight, and Barret makes a quick check on his arm-gun. "Let's go!"
Originally, Cloud is supposed to choose two of the party members and change outfit, while the others continue with their charade. But now, the entire party rushes down the cargo hold with their disguises still on. It made the two wonder why Square made Cloud and the gang change back into their main outfit, while they can fight in their disguises? Is it the restraint of the cloth? To point out where is the protagonist? Or an early concept of the dressphere in FFX?
'Whatever it is, Square should've left the disguise on. It's more realistic that way!' the songstress thought as she carefully runs down the stairs with Aerith just behind her.
They then witness the corpses and dying people scattered in the cargo hold, all of them are slashed or cut in halves. With the smell of blood, the ninja girl couldn't help but to get sick again as the songstress immediately covers her nose. Both the flower girl and the bar maid gasps in shock at this sight, as both Cloud and Kunsel checks if any of them are alive.
'Dang, this looks like it came out of a horror movie.' Riley thought, she tries to calm their youngest party member as the two returns from their investigation. "How is it?" she asked.
"Everyone is dead." Cloud stated, as he push back some of his blonde bangs and sighs. "The only clue I got is they uttered that the one who killed them is not human before dying."
"Same here, but the guard who was guarding the engine room said the suspicious character went in there." Kunsel points out.
"Then let's head there." The blonde walks to the door leading to the engine room. The group takes out their weapons and both Mira and Yuffie notice that the mime has a new pair of tonfas.
"Where did you get that?" the songstress asked, as she feels that she have seen the tonfas before.
"From Heidegger after the farewell drill performance." She replies, as their leader pushes the door open and then quietly enters the room. As they follow him, he spots a someone standing by the engine in the room. Quietly, he approaches this person.
"Is it… Sephiroth?" he quietly asked, as he places a hand on the person's shoulder. Only to find it is not the one he is looking for, but a high ranking officer. The said officer has the signs of nightmare etched on his face, eyes bloody red but he has no slash marks. However, the man falls forward and Cloud quickly step back out of reflex and the shock of realizing that the man is dead. The body made a loud thud as it fell on the metal floor, making the rest of the group steps back in fright of this sight. "No… not Sephiroth." He stated with calm fury.
Riley does a double check back at the body, as she caught a glimpse of something black dissipating from the head. 'Creepy, odd but mostly creepy.' She thought, as she tightly grips her tonfas, ready to fight.
"… After a long sleep…" a calm, deep voice suddenly came out of nowhere and echoes across the room. However, Riley hears some disfigured voices in low volumes with it, along with that near-faint cry. "… The time… … time has… come…"
Then something transparent came out of the metal floor, it then turns tangible in front of the group. And it is no mistaking it… it is the fallen general, Sephiroth, himself.
While everyone is shocked or afraid of the general's reappearance, both Earth girls couldn't help comparing him with a cartoon character back in their world. Considering they both has pale-colored hairs, black outfits, the phasing and the fact that he's floating, she would've screamed ghost… especially since the edges of his body seem a bit misty.
'Wait, something's off here.' The mime thought, as the image of the general seems to wavers solid to transparent, before solidifying back. She then spots something dark in the middle of his body when he fades a bit and tries to focus more on the black spot. She can barely make out the shape, before he solidifies again. 'Darn it, he bounces back too well.' But she feels that there is something off about the silver general, as she ignores the voices in her mind.
"Sephiroth! You're alive!" the blonde shouts with anger as he reaches back of his blade.
The former general looks at Cloud, but it seems nothing clicks. As if he got an amnesia himself. "… Who are you?"
"You don't remember me?" he snaps as he readies himself to battle the general. "I'm Cloud!"
"Cloud?" He seems to be trying to remember but nothing came out.
"Sephiroth , what are you thinking? What are you doing?"
Then the general's eyes gain some focus and looks up. "… The time … is now… Mama…" he merely stated and the mime froze when his gaze lands on her.
"What are you saying? Be more-" but the blonde's demand is cut off when Sephiroth suddenly floats up in the air with arms spread out. The group gasped at this sight but Mira and Riley notices something else. As the general raise himself up in the air, something grey and pink fell out of his coat. The mime notices that Sephiroth's image is starting to fade, but no one seems to notice the slight change as they are too shocked at the fact that the general is floating. Looking at the songstress, she too notices the slight change like her but is a bit spooked about it. Then the general shot past the group, bowling them to the floor. Even the songstress ended up landing on Aerith as they were knocked down by a sudden force. But the mime remains standing as if she endured a strong wind that messed up her hair.
And on that point, the mime realizes that this Sephiroth is merely an illusion to disguise the arm. Which made her wonder if the Sephiroth she met last night is the real one, or an illusion from her alien counterpart. 'Note to self: Have a talk with Mira with this.' As she readies to fight against to monster.
"*&^%$#! How the heck he can do that?!" the black man shouts as he gets up.
"Or how about we get up and fight!" Riley shouts at them, as she kept her sights on the forming Jenova-BIRTH he left behind and still ignoring the voices from it. "And that is the most disgusting thing. Ever." Like the dead corpse of the alien, its grey with some purple and pink muscles exposed. It is about 8 feet in height but is still growing, her face still remains at human size but the mouth is similar to a bug. Purple tentacles wave around as the muscle-like wings expands, larger than its usual size in the game. 'And we'll encounter two more of these much later in this journey.' She thought as her nose wrinkles on the rotting smell.
Not wanting that thing to even hit the height of the ship's ceiling or even strike first, the mime takes action and strikes it at the monster's skirt-like bottom. The monster shrieks at the hit and lash out at the mime, who quickly drop down to the floor to avoid it. Quickly getting up, both Cloud and Kunsel charges and slashes at the monster, then jumps away to avoid the laser. Mira and Red cast Thundara and Fira at the slashed wounds, causing the thing to wail in pain. Yuffie regains some color and jumps high to attack above, as Tifa slams on it from the bottom. Barret goes a bit trigger happy as he shoots the bigger wing of the monster as Aerith remains behind them, ready to cast Cura when needed.
But the monster manages to strike back by shooting out Tail Laser at everyone. Cloud, Kunsel, Tifa, Riley and Red got hit and feels the burning pain of the attack. Yuffie manages to avoid the laser by jumping up to the bridge, then she strikes back. The songstress takes cover on the metal beam of the bridge, out of fear of getting burned. The AVALANCHE leader fell on his rear as he the laser nearly hits his foot and Aerith is out of the laser's range.
After that, Mira runs back into the fray and begins healing the other with Aerith… When an idea forms in her mind. "I have an idea, everyone back away now!" as she looks at her red materia on her bangle. "Barret, Yuffie, can you keep that away for a few second?" the songstress asked.
"Sure thing!" the AVALANCHE leader stated.
"Do I get a materia after this?" the ravenette just ignored her as she looks at her recovering best friend.
"Do you remember the Beta?" she asked, and the mime nodded. "Okay, can you cast that on it?" As she begins focusing on her magic for the summon.
"You got it, Meer." Riley stated, as she remembers and prepares to cast the enemy skill she got from the giant snake. She then feels the temperature of the room had dropped and she takes this cue to cast… "Beta!"
She glows red, like what the Zolom did back in the swamp, and then releases a burst of scorching heat at the thing. Because of the lack of skin, some of the expose muscles are roasted or its blood is boiling. The Jenova-BIRTH cry and shriek at the extreme heat and attempts to counter… only to face…
"Shiva!" the songstress calls, as a red beam shot out of her hand and flew up. It forms a portal and snow falls out of it, soon a light blue-skin nymph floats down and hovers in front of the monster. But the songstress notices something different about this summon… Shiva's hair is down, and has more blue and strange markings on her skin. Then the summon raises both of her hands and bends back as she gathers her ice spells. She then casts Diamond Dust at the monster, freezing it in place as the mass of muscles shrieks and quivers at the sudden temperature change. Then the summon fades back into the materia, and the only hint to it's summoner is a slight glint from the red orb.
Now the girls have another thing to discuss… like the way Shiva attack is different from the game. Will other summons be that different too?
Taking this chance, the party quickly charges at the monster, both Yuffie and Kunsel are successful to cut off the wing Barret is shooting at. Cloud strikes the thing from the back as Tifa unleash her limit break: Beat Rush, Somersault and Waterkick. The bar maid then backs away as the tentacles move to slap her away, but the movement is sluggish thanks to the ice. The songstress plays a fast-paced music and unleashes her first limit break, Sonic Presto, at the monster's head.
The battle is rather short as the monster is outnumbered by 9 attackers. And so, with the last shriek, Jenova-BIRTH slumps to the ground and begins shrinking with blood trail left behind in a splattered, circular fashion.
"What the heck was that?!" the ninja girl demands and shrieks, as Aerith and Mira distribute potions to the group.
When the body of the thing stops shrinking, the bar maid saw what is left behind. "Hey, I've seen that somewhere… before." As she tries to remember where she have seen it.
"Wait, isn't that the arm of that freaky monster lady back in Shinra? And is that an eye on the shoulder?" the mime points out, as she holster her tonfas and disgust on seeing it in real life. Then the voices stops... 'Is it over?' she thought, when she caught it twitching one of it's fingers.
"…Jenova." The blonde stated as he recognizes it. "You mean he's been walkin' around with that thing?"
"Okay… now that is gross." The songstress stated, as she earns a light elbow from her best friend. But, unlike in the game, the arm did not disappear and Riley did see the arm twitch once. Not wanting that thing to follow them or suddenly attack them while they're off guard, she quickly set the body part on fire.
"Why did you-" But the Ex-Second is cut off, when the arm suddenly bounces on its spot and waving around to get rid of the fire. The mime hears the disfigured, alien voice shrieking on why she continues to defy and they hurt them. But it is in vain and the body part falls completely still, slowly turning into ashes. The party stares at the arm-turned-dust and then at Riley, who shrugs then points out that it got an eye on it and it is very disturbing.
The mime rubs her temple, ignoring the shrieks at echoes in her mind and wonders where the Ifrit summon materia went. The songstress spots the said red materia stuck between the valves and pipes on the ship. Once the mime has collected the third summon…
"So it WAS Sephiroth." Cloud stated, with his arms crossed.
"He said something about it being time for something." Tifa points out, remembering what the general said before he left them with that nasty thing.
"… Time… is now?" As the blonde wonders what the former general meant.
Unfortunately, the AVALANCHE leader seems to have forgotten the story back in Kalm, and is confused with the situation. "I don't know WHAT the hell's goin' on! Cloud, why don't you explain to me what's happened so far?" he demands the blonde.
The Ex-SOLDIER looks at him for a moment, then decided to give Barret a recap of the situation. "…I'll try, but don't interrupt me while I'm explaining." He stated and the black man nodded in agreement. "Sephiroth went off searching for the Promised Land, so he could become the ruler of the planet… That was 5 years ago. Then Sephiroth came back and killed President Shinra. And then just now all of us saw Sephiroth. He got Jenova with him. …This much I do know. He told me he wants to go to the Promised Land with his mother, Jenova." He pauses and thinks if he misses any detail in his explanation. "…I guess that's about it."
"Dock workers… We will be docking in Costa del Sol in 5 minutes. Prepare for docking." The monotone intercom announces, as the party is still recovering. Being thankful that they are still in their disguise, they fix their uniform and quickly stash their equipment in their pouches and satchels. Except for Barret and Yuffie, they put back their helmet on. The girls is not that thrill on having it back on again though.
As they left to continue with their charade, the blonde stops for a moment. "Sephiroth…is alive…" Cloud mutters to himself, as he looks back at the battleground and to where he witnessed the general's return. "The Promised Land… Does it really exist?"
Then he exits the engine room and follows the others.
Silver: Supposed to be, Kunsel joins in the 'Repair Cloud's Memory and save Sephiroth' wagon with the two girls. But I found it more… unfitting, so instead I have Riley 'shock' away Kunsel's memory about what he found out. There are already fics with the main character gains the assistance from one FFVII characters. Anyway, I'm going to revise a few chapters and give Mira a slight change… nothing major aside from giving her a bit of stamina boost, I mean she's a songstress for Pete's sake! (Re-reads her chapters) Yeah, give her a bit of boost, considering artist sings on stage or an hour or two. Also, Riley's memory-stealing ability is supposed to come much later in this story, but since I decided to have Kunsel out of the loop, this happens… Also, I put in some different summoning scenes, thanks to Crisis Core. Anyway, mentions of Danny Phantom, Outcast by Kerrie Roberts and Power Ranger: Jungle Fury(Iliketheirequipment.), and give them anf their owner the credit… (Looks at this chapter.) Please do tell if this chapter is a mess, I just kept jumping on so many wagons…