Ch 2
What the hell happened, how is it I'm stuck in here? This was supposed to be a dream or something. Yeah its a dream I just need to shock myself awake. I promptly pinched myself and flinched when I felt the slight pain. Okay..so I'm not dreaming..I think.
"So...what do I do?" I am not prepared for this. I've read about this stuff but experience is a completely different...I can't even describe it. I need to get home though...questions how?...another TV? No that wouldn't help. How am I supposed to get out of this?...Go through the story? That would be stupid I would never survive here. But naturally if the game ends then I have to end up somewhere else...wait maybe I could help out...change a few things here and there...make things better. Yeah that sounds like a good idea...prevent Bigg's...wedge's..and Jessie's deaths...help Cloud become sane again...
Aeris! I could save Aeris! I had the knowledge! I could totally prevent her death. But that's pretty far away if I'm at the beginning of the game. Maybe I should just calm down and get my bearings...yeah good idea. I should go into this stuff just yet...maybe I'm hallucinating and just walking around town like a crazy person.
And if I was it was a REALLY good hallucination. The town resembled Crisis Core maps so I knew I knew I had to go up some stairs to get to the train station, it was still noon on my phones clock so I could stay on and keep thinking on what to do. I eventually found the station and boarded without anyone trying to stop me for a ticket or anything, call Shinra what you will but at least they have decent public transportation. After getting on I decided to listen to some music and put on something to keep me up beat...Move Along sounds nice right about now. Now I need to get to 7th heaven, then think up a cover story...well I am new to Midgar needing employment. Yeah nothing could mess that up.
"Attention passengers, our next stop will be sector five, all other stops will be for Shinra employees only to the reactors, so all civilian passengers must get off at sector five. Have a nice day."
I stand corrected. At least I knew my way around a little. But what would I do for money? I don't have any gil so an inn would be out of the question, and I can't exactly call my friends and see if I can come over. Man I'm screwed. After a few more minutes the train came to a complete stop and I got off, Sector five was worse than the Shinra building, the people around were mixed with con artists and pickpockets and there was a VERY pungent smell of filth. I went right past everyone and just kept walking until I found the only decent place left. Lucky for me I only had to ask directions once to find what I was looking for.
The church.
I opened the large doors and found no one was inside. I walked a few more steps and found one of the most beautiful sights ever. The flowers were swaying perfectly, the light coming from the windows had shown perfectly down the corridor. The roof hadn't been crashed through yet so the the place was whole and solid. I knelt down and smelt the flowers. I had a really good vibe from the place, but then again it was something you had to have been there for. I did spot some weeds coming up from in between a lot of the flowers though, well I had nothing to do so I started to pluck them out. I've done yard work before so I knew how to not mess up the flowers while getting rid of the weeds.
It was dark by the time I finished, I sat down and decided to sleep here for the night. better than the dump anyway. I picked the bench closest to the flowers before my eyelids started to get heavy. I had one last look at them before I dozed off.
(the next day)
Again I woke up to a sound, but this time it was like low grinding metal, but it felt like someone was crying but it wasn't...human. It gave of such an over powering feel too, as if what ever was screaming or something really was in pain. But as soon as I opened my eyes the sound dispersed much like the first time. I wouldn't be bothered by it so much If it only happened once. But the thing was I had never experienced a dream twice in a row.
No, no, stop I shouldn't be thinking like that. We have more pressing matters to attend to. I looked around and found I was still inside the church, I got up and did a few morning stretches, even throwing in some squats. Afterward I checked the flowers one more time to make sure their weren't any weeds left. Sure Aeris picks them when Cloud falls threw the roof but I might as well be a nice guy and lessen the work load. I didn't want to get spotted yet, sure if I met Aeris now I could get on her good side and try to be around when Cloud appears but it would take to long and I have to make sure I'm at least a good part of the team before I can try to influence anything.
I sneaked out the front door and checked if anybody was around, good the coast was clear. I shut the door and tried to get back to the train station, once I get to sector seven I could try to get a better handle on everything, what I didn't count on though was that on my why to the gate, eight men seemed to come out the shadows and surround me.
"Well boys what do we have here?" one of them said "Seems like someones a little lost." another said behind me. I tried to keep my cool, they all seemed unarmed and I at least had some skills using swords but looking at the men kept me from either fighting or running away. In FF7 you fought creatures called vice, but from my perspective they apparently they weren't monsters. They were thieves, bandits, and just disgusting low lives. They all weren't fat like in the game, or wore the same clothing. Some were portly but a few guys I could see had either a decent amount of muscle or a lean quality. They all had basically rags and cheap masks on.
"Hey I'm not looking for trouble, I just need to get to sector seven and I'll be on my way." One of them, probably the leader spoke first.
"Well lucky for you, we were just passing by, since I'm in such a good mood I'll let you off if you give us the rest of your gil." his smile afterwords was just oozing with smug. Crap.
"Listen I don't have any gil."
"Then I guess we should take your sword then!" one of the cohorts yelled behind me.
"I can't do that either!" This is getting worse by the second.
"Okay then." the leader stepped forward
"I guess it isn't your lucky day, try not to struggle to much I want to have the sword in good condition when I sell it." all of them got in position to strike. The first man was from behind, I drew my sword and spun 360, having played with swords I knew it still took force to cut somebody so I put all my strength into it. It was a blur, but when I focused I saw I gave the guy a good gash across his face, he doubled back in pain while the others stood dumbfounded.
"What are you waiting for? Get him!" the rest tried to use their numbers against me, however I pulled the same spin and they stopped, afraid to end up like their friend. Here's my chance. The rest was a fuzz, every slash and stab I made flowed perfectly, the gang was full of the weakest I was done the entire gang sans their leader was trying to cover up some kind of wound. When I looked though the leader was now sweating buckets.
"You know forget the gil, have a good day." He ran of and I decided it be best I left too, lest I attract unwanted attention. I needed gil so while the men were either now unconscious or worse from the bleeding...man I hope I didn't kill any of them, I'm not ready for that yet. I checked their pockets, in the end I pocketed 250 gil. Thank god I didn't get spotted, that would have sucked to get hassled by Shinra.
ATE
Tseng was going through his usual routine in the slums, wake up early and keep watch of the church where Aeris lived. Although it was a little mundane since he could simply watch and capture her to get it over with it allowed him to relax, even if just a little, from the other duties. Granted Tseng was indifferent with his job, it paid well enough and the hours were flexible on occasion, but having to Shinra's dirty work on a daily bases. His PHS ringed and he checked his schedule, he needed to report back to the president... He hadn't even started his mission yet. Oh well, he could send someone else to keep an eye on the place...perhaps Reno, he had been wandering the slums lately since Tseng had been doing most the work for the group. Reno was a good Turk but he seemed to...what was the word? Aloof.
If he only stopped messing around. Tseng was traversing back to the sector seven station when he happened upon a peculiar sight. He saw someone surrounded. Many people had been mugged in the slums before but not normally this early. He stood to watch and found that the victim looked a little odd. The man was tall, around 6'2 or 6'3, he was lean and had brown messy hair. He wore a simple T-shirt and an odd style of pants and carried an odd katana.
Nothing to do here, his job don't include helping civilians. Just when he was about to leave though he saw the man pull out his blade and cut the face of one of the bandits.
Tseng then saw the stranger flow from enemy to enemy with powerful grace. The stranger took money from the fallen foes and ran towards the gate as well. HE hoped this won't cause to much trouble in the started for the tower, he didn't need to report this, after all muggings ,fights, and even deaths were an every day part of the slums. What Tseng was interested most though, was that the mans sword pulsed purple during the struggle, as well as his fighting style was odd...as if improvised.
It took only a couple minutes to get to the playground and the entrance to sector seven, it was still early so there weren't any kids running around yet, when I got close to the door though I felt my stomach grumble. Well I should probably eat before I try anything. I skipped the gate and went to Wall Market, up close it was a sight to see. It was basically New York, it was covered by the plate more than the rest of Midgar so it was always lit by the many signs. I could see the signs of restaurants, clubs, and hotels alike, I could even hear the subtle thumping of bass from what I believe was a rave not to far away. I was pulled out of my daze by another grumble from my stomach. Disappointed that I couldn't enjoy the view, I started to look for a decent restaurant.
It only took a couple of minutes though to stumble upon one. It was the one where cloud got the pharmacy coupon. It had the same straw front and everything, however when I entered it was much bigger than the game originally made it to look. The kitchen had seemed to grow in scale and had a few more chefs working in it along with a waiter or two and had a few tables to the now larger left wall as well. Guess everything can't be caught in detail. But I'm not about to complain on an empty stomach. I entered and was hit by the sounds of chatter amongst the patrons and the smell of meat and eggs.
"Welcome! Sit wherever you like." was my greeting from one of the chefs or owner, I couldn't tell. I nodded my head and gave a small wave when I decided I would take one of the tables, a minute later one of the waiters came up and gave me a small menu along with asking me for a drink.
"I'll take some water and whatever today's special is." He jotted down my order and said he would be right out. I began to relax in my seat, I liked these kinds of places, you could be loud and happy with your friends or just chill-ax and enjoy the sounds. It was another five minutes before the waiter brought me my food, today's special was apparently a deluxe style breakfast, complete with a large helping of pancakes, eggs, hash-browns, ham and bacon. Needles to say I was about to tear off the waiters arm to get my food.
"That will be 130 gil sir." he held out his hand and I gladly paid. He put the plate down and I started to chow down immediately. Nothing could possibly ruin this for me.
"Oh come on! So I'm 50 gil short, cut me some slack, I can pay tomorrow I just want my food YO!" Well there went that happy thought. Everything is great until some guy starts being a baby. Maybe I should stop saying that stuff though, Murphys Law was a very powerful force to tempt.
"You pay before you get your food, you know the rules."
"Come on I'm hungry, how could you do this to a paying customer?"
"Because you aren't paying in full!" I looked over and saw a hunched figure in a suit yelling at the chef from earlier. I felt a little sympathy for the guy.. ah what the hell.
"Hey here. He's fully paid for." The chef looked a little off put by the fact I paid for the guy.
"Fine." He took my gil and yelled at the others to make another special.
"Thanks yo, your cool in my book." my new friend told me.
"Hey its only a little gi..." my breath got caught in my throat. Standing next to me was none other than Reno. Now I had seen him in Advent Children and he seemed like an okay guy, even if he did kill thousands of people in the game. But up close I could really see the detail of him, like the youthfulness in his face, but he had the eyes of a hardened killer. He had his goggles on and his crimson hair in its usual pony tail. What threw me off though was that he was around my height. Really weird but hey, I'm 6'2 so its a little odd to see one of your favorite characters just a little shorter than yourself.
But...damn if I didn't keep my guard up I might screw everything. Sure Reno was a very chill dude and he did very little in the Turks..actually he probably did a lot for the Turks, that didn't stop the fact that when he wants something he can be very brutal. In the game he was smarter than he portrayed himself to be and he only half ass-ed what jobs he didn't take seriously. I had to be careful, if I said one wrong thing I could be coughing up blood and info.
"Not many people are generous in the slums."
"It was nothing, I had extra gil and felt like doing something good, have a nice day." I walked back to try to finish my breakfast and get out, however Reno came to my table the minute I sat down.
"I didn't catch your name yo." he leaned into the seat opposite of me. Fuck
"...Nathan." Well there went laying low. But then again he would probably learn about me soon enough when he blows up the plate. Speaking about that maybe I could stop it. Its a big event but we could prevent it and still have to get Aeris from Shinra. I pushed that back, thinking time comes after food.
"Well thanks, Nathan, now I can enjoy some decent food." he smiled as my waiter brought his food to the table.
"Well with a suit like that I'm surprised you would come to the slums for food." If I'm stuck with him I might as well enjoy it, how many people get to say they had breakfast with Reno...well maybe the other Turks but I mean fans of Reno.
"Yeah well you can actually get sick of that gourmet food every now and again." he started with a piece of bacon in his mouth.
"I can see that."
"I haven't seen your face around here before...you new?"
"I just got into Midgar actually, looking for employment." I explained with a mouth full of pancake.
"Really...where you from." Okay think, what is a small useless place I could totally lie about..." Medeel."
"WOW, far off for employment, you could have probably stopped at Kalm and got something small." I shook my head.
"I need something that can pay well enough to get me home soon as well as have enough to keep me alive for a while."
"Its not that easy yo." I stiffed a laugh, I remember something about Reno having said that constantly in the Japanese version of the game and movie. It really seemed to fit his personality though.
"Whats so funny?" I waved my hand.
"Nothing, but hey I just need to get money fast, that's my goal and I'm stickin to it." He had grin on his face.
"I can respect that." I finished and got up.
"Maybe I'll see you around dude." I started to walk away.
"Hold up yo." He got up even though he only half finished his.
"Here take this, I might be able to hook ya up with a simple job, unlike you I have connections." he held out a card. I was surprised, but then again Shinra is a business as well as an oppressive government figure so I guess it makes sense that they have cards, but what would a Turk have cards for? Meh forget it, not important.
"Thanks man, but I have a feeling that I won't need it." I took the card anyway, how could I be rude to a guy like Reno before he did anything wrong?
"Well I guess I can't do much more than that, I still owe you for the breakfast though, maybe a drink some other time yo?" He said with his signature smile. Dude I'm eighteen and I'm pretty sure the drinking age in here is the same as the US.
"No thanks dude, It was nice meeting you." Honestly why buy and underage guy a drink? I was about to walk off when he called out again.
"You don't even know my name though, how bout we go for a few and we can get better acquainted."
"But I do know who you are. Your Reno, second in command of the Turks, the recruiters for SOLDIER as well as personal trained guards for the president of Shinra." His reaction was hilarious. He immediately froze and had his mouth wide open, his eyes bugged out for a split second before he tried catch himself. I didn't wait for him to recover, I ran out and made a few laps through some of the buildings and alleys before I went out the exit and got through the slums to the sector seven entrance again. It was open this time and I found the guards from the game that never let you pass standing around, when I walked by they were content with just nodding their heads in my direction. I nodded back and turned to see the massive pillar. It was almost frighting to think that was the only thing between these people and certain doom, it didn't help either to know in about a day or two it was defiantly going to tumble. I shook my head. I can prevent it, I just need to get there in time. All I needed to to was prevent Reno from pressing that button, simple right? I was cut from my train of thought when two people walked by taking louder than they should be.
"Did you see the young man at the train?" One woman asked.
"Yeah, he was just laying next to the train, I didn't even see him in the cab." the other responded.
"That wasn't even the weird part, he had those eyes." Both walked off. Mine almost doubled in size. If they were talking about who I think they were talking about then it was time for the games plot to get rolling. I sprinted to the train station even though it was a short walk from the pillar. When I got to the ledge I found that the train was speeding off already. I looked around and finally something caught my eye. A large buster sword and a very exasperated Cloud leaning onto the light post. Man his hair was more ridiculous in person. I almost smiled. It was time to begin the story. I went over and acted casual.
"Wo dude you seem beat." I went up and offered a hand. He looked at me with tired and confused eyes until he took my hand and used the pole to get himself and the one ton sword up of the post.
"I've been traveling a while, it caught up with me." He said with a meek smile.
"No kidding, I just got to Midgar myself." I let him use me as a crutch for two seconds before he finally straightened up enough to stand on his own. Which felt odd because when he stood straight he was a few inches shorter than me. He was basically as tall as Reno.
"Heh, thanks but I didn't need help." He had a slightly bigger grin on than last time.
"Hey you should be more careful, someone would take advantage of someone on the street." He had a small laugh which knocked me back a bit. Cloud was acting to...not cloud, in the game he was very cold and quiet and yet here he is laughing and brushing of fatigue. It was like Zack from Crisis Core, but a little more smug.
"I'll be more careful next time, thank you." he shook my hand and was about to walk off when a third voice came out of nowhere.
"Cloud?" We both turned to see woman win a skirt and tank top with what I saw was MMA gloves. Tifa looked like a deer in the headlights though looking at Cloud. I didn't care to much since I realized two things. One, she was the same height as Cloud! What the hell seriously I'm taller than the protagonists. That doesn't seem right. And two is that she had the same...bust size as FF 7. I found it odd since almost everyone else has had resemblance to their Advent Children forms. Meh not complaining.
"Tifa?" Cloud finally spoke and stumbled before he fell again, it took all my strength when I caught him to keep both of him and his sword from tumbling.
"Oh Cloud, are you OK?" Tifa was kneeling holding on to his face.
"Jeez, how long has it been?" Cloud seemed to freeze when she asked his eyes were flashing back and forth like he was searching for something.
"Its been five years." I noticed her eyes flashed with more concern than before. She knew cloud was wrong and that he hadn't seen her longer than that.
"Cloud...what happened after you left Nibelheim?"
"I'll tell you later, we should get somewhere where I can sit."
"Oh! of course, here lets got to Seventh Heaven, excuse me could you help him?" She looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Sure, I don't have anything else to do, I'd be glad to help." Tifa led us out of the station and past the pillar, it was a bitch to help Cloud the entire time though. Seriously the guy and his sword bared down on me.
"Here have a seat, I'll get you both something to drink." She said when we FINALLY got to the bar. Cloud took the seat close to the pinball machine while I chose the seat opposite of the thing.
"I would kill for a lemonade if you have any." They both seem to look at me oddly before they went back to their business. When she was done she gave cloud some random drink and me my lemonade. She looked at Cloud with an odd expression before she focused on me.
"I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name before." Cloud looked over and nodded his head as he agreed.
"Where are my manors, I'm Nathan, Nathan River. I came to Midgar for employment when I ran into your friend here miss." the lie sat easily with the two.
"Well I guess were in the same boat then." Cloud spoke up.
"Oh really? What kind of work were you looking for?" I took the chance to change the subject on myself.
"I'm a mercenary, I quit SOLDIER and decided to come to Midgar to offer my services." I caught Tifa's glance at him until I spoke up.
"Really how good were you?"
"Former SOLDIER First Class." Now the brunettes eyes widened, when she was about to ask something but someone busted through the front door.
"TIFA, what are these guys doing here?" I smiled, I didn't need to look behind me to attach a burly voice like that to Barret.
"I'm sorry, one of my old friends popped up and I was just helping him out." Barret walked up to the counter and I saw how he looked in real life, he defiantly had the physique of a body builder, but the fact he had a gun on his right arm threw me for a loop, it was bulky and out of place. Not something someone would miss.
"Well they need to leave, we need to talk about day after tomorrow's business."He tried to whisper.
"Then I guess I should go look for some work." Cloud finished his drink and started off to the door. "Cloud wait!" Tifa jumped over the counter to catch him.
"Just stay a little longer."
"Tifa I'd like to but you know I can't stay, I need to earn a living." He didn't even look back before he started again.
"We could pay you!" She shouted.
"WHAT?" yelled Barret. He looked this time.
"What do you mean 'we'?"
"You could help us I mean we're-" she covered her mouth when she took a look at me. damn, well I can try to join later.
"I know when I'm not needed, later." I got up. When I was about to leave the pinball machine pulled down and and came back up with a little girl and a rebel looking guy.
"PAPA!" Marlene screamed and jumped into his good arm. Biggs looked over
"Aw Barret good, I wanted the say the bomb is in perfect working condition, Jessie just needs to set the timer, so we can strike the reactor tomorrow instead."
"Bomb?" Cloud murmured. Biggs jumped at the new voice and froze when he saw the two new faces in the bar. The whole room was on a knifes edge, I could hear a pin drop outside, along with a bunch of other random sounds, until the one idiot in the room broke the silence.
"Well" I started "Sounds pretty important so I probably shouldn'!" Barret dropped Marlene and pointed his gun.
"Hold it!" I was posed like a cactuar when I froze. Lucky for me Tifa help up her hand.
"Hold on Barret lets not be rash." He didn't lower his gun though.
"Well if Biggs hadn't blown it but now we don't know if we can trust these two." The man in question rubbed the back of his head.
"What is this all about?" Cloud asked. Tifa sighed before she explained how she owned the bar and that AVALANCHE, the anti-Shinra group used it as their base of operations. The entire time Cloud just nodded while I kept still from fear of becoming Swiss cheese.
"I can see how you would need to higher me...I'll do it for 2000 gil." Cloud said off highhandedly.
"WHAT? You think I should pay you!" Man, Barret can get red in the face.
"BARRET!" He was cut off by Tifa.
"He was SOLDIER, he could help."
"I don't care, that should make him even more suspicious!" He kept his gun aimed at Cloud. Tifa then pulled Barret close and started whispering to him, his eyes widened a fraction before they went back to normal. Must be explaining the he isn't right in the head situation,I thought. The large man grumbled before he spoke up.
"Fine, we'll pay you to help make sure it goes well."
"I'll take the job." Cloud sat back down.
"Now we got you." Barret's eyes, as well as arm focused on me now.
"Hey man I can see how this will end so how bout we calm down." He cross his arms much to my pleasure "Let me think." We waited about a minute of Barret walking around before he looked at me.
"Tell me what do you think of Shinra?"
"Well... they do provide energy to everyone who needs it" I stated. I couldn't show to much just yet.
"...That's it? That's all you think of Shinra."
"Well what do you want me to say? I know how the lifestream works, and Mako extraction disrupts that process, causing our planet to die. But what can I do about it, I just keep my head down and out of that business." Barret stared at me from across the room with a thoughtful expression. There was about a minute of solid silence.
"We can make a difference." I looked up and he started to walk over to me. He seemed surprised when he only had to tilt his eyes down a little. Barret looked 6'3 from where I stood.
"How well can you fight?"
"I've had this sword since I got here, you figure it out." Those thugs were the only real fight I ever experienced in my life, sans LARPing. But hitting a dude with a Styrofoam sword was way different from what I experienced earlier.
"How old are you man?" I raised an eyebrow
"I'm eighteen." Everyone's eyes in the room seem to bug out for a second
"What?" "Your that tall and only eighteen years old?" Cloud seemed to sound a little offended.
"It would explain why he wanted lemonade rather than some alcohol earlier."
"Coulda sworn you were at most twenty three." Seriously? Is it that surprising that I'm tall and not twenty or thirty something years old? Hell I'm surprised everyone in the groups isn't at LEAST as tall as me...then again I always played the game as a kid. Man you get a warped mindset on this kinda stuff depending on how ya play it.
"Couldn't you tell by how young I looked?"
"I just thought you aged well." Tifa remarked. I face palmed.
"Well since you just barley pass the age requirements, I guess you can help with the reactor too." Better than getting shot in my opinion
"Fine, but I want payment too!"
"Nu uh not you too!" Barret was back to being angry.
"I need a little incentive here." I said while rubbing my thumb and index finger together. The large man slammed his fist on the nearest table.
"FINE! How much do you want." I smiled.
"A place to sleep for two nights." Everyone in the room looked at me like I was crazy. I really wish I had a camera for all the times they would bug out.
"That's it? No gil or free drinks or anything." Tifa asked.
"Listen I don't care what it is either, I'll sleep under a table if I have to but I'm low on gil and I just want to lay down on something other that the cold ground, hardwood is better in my opinion." Barret didn't even have to think.
"Deal."
"I guess we should get some rest then before the mission ." Cloud finally spoke up.
"You two can go down with the machine, I'll tell Jessie and Wedge about you." Biggs said before he pressed a button and descended.
"Get some sleep you two, you'll need it." Tifa pitched before me and cloud jumped down into the basement. I noted Jessie working on the timer mechanics while Wedge was about to doze off.
"That over there is Jessie, she is our resident genius." Biggs introduced. "I just do the a little of the tech stuff." She turned and waved with a smile.
"That guy lazing about is Wedge." Biggs pointed. Immediately Wedge wined.
"Come on Biggs, you know its almost time to sleep."
"And that;s everyone in AVALANCHE, now we don't have be-" I cut him off. I just wanted some sleep and I could sleep anywhere, I've been on simple carpet,hardwood, tile you name it, and I was cool with it. I sat in the pile like they were a bean bag and just sank in.
"You don't even need a sheet or something?" Biggs mused.
"Nope, g'night." Afterwords I heard some of them talking before I heard the distinct clank of a slab of metal on the wall to my right. In the end I was able to join AVALANCHE before anything major happened. I should consider myself so lucky. Now I just have to keep a cool head and think things through before anything happens. I just hope I don't change everything for the worse.
ATE
Steps were echoing through the semi busy halls of the Shinra building. One man was walking with a little more intent than he normally did. He had been studying the data since the research team came back with the results while he made his routine examinations. It wasn't his specialty but being the head of the science department meant Hojo had to approve of all specimen and scientific happenings that were to be used and he had to carefully monitor every test so as not to let errors occur among the captives.
However Hojo specifically requested to examine the data he held. It was simply an energy reading, only the lower scientists said that there was a miss calculation in the machine along the line. He couldn't by that. After all, it said that there was an energy output larger than if everyone of Shinra's mako reactors had cataclysmic melt downs, and yet it was in such a compressed state it went unnoticed to the public eye even though it only appeared a mere 200 feet from the tower itself.
"It should be impossible to put that much energy out in that state, there wasn't even any equipment to contain it, just that space the leftover energy signature was in. And the others said people hadn't seen any large machinery nearby." He mumbled out loud.
Hojo grumbled. He was a genius and yet he couldn't figure out how the anomaly occurred. He checked the private lower levels of the tower and found his greatest works clone still in his comatose sleep. If it wasn't Sephiroth than who? He would have to send the readings back through the department to get a better handle on the data. Hojo finally stopped on the 67th floor, He was in the specimen containment area and looked to his left. Inside was an animal that seemed a hybrid of a canine and feline, it had a scar over one of its eyes and a tail that had a flame tip. Hojo smiled and rubbed the glass the creature was in.
"I could do with a few more tests from you...but I want the other one, the Ancient. If she hadn't run with her child I could be doing more than taking your samples." He was depressed at the thought. The man frowned at the thought. He always regretted not taking more precautions in the event of the Ancients escape. Gasts wife and child were smarter than he gave them credit for. He brightened up though when he went and looked to his right. He looked inside and a smile crept on his face. His greatest work, Jenova. He rubbed the glass pane with more intent than the last. But he noticed something out the corner of his eye though, he looked closer in the pane to find that a small part of Jenovas wing pulsated. Hojo's eyes widened. Jenova had been in the same state for years now since Sephiroth's death.
"You there!" Hojo yelled to the assistant that had been placed to keep tabs on the specimens. "Professor Hojo, what do you need?" "Why was I not informed of the change in one of my specimens?" Hojo all but hissed.
"Don't worry professor, the change was minimal, something not worth noting. I do have a copy of the data chart though if you want it sir." The madman snatched the chart away and overlooked the data, anything that came to Jenova couldn't be over looked. The smallest change, the most minute shift, and he had to know. He analyzed it only to find that there was a 2% increase in neural activity inside the body. More than she had in the last few years. That didn't make sense! Jenova had been in this state since I started my Reunion experiment. Why she would act now doesn't correlate with my data...unless. Realization dawned on him and Hojo's smile almost grew feral, Jenova was reacting to the anomaly from 32 hours ago.
"Assistant." the man looked up "I want a full report on the data I received before as well as an examination of one of my specimens increased activity immediately!" The assistant stumbled before he ran off to the laboratory's, while Hojo stayed next to Jenovas container. Snickering to himself before he took another look inside. Gazing at the seemingly still body.
"I'll find out what has you so excited."