Disclaimer: SquareEnix owns the entire Final Fantasy franchise, including the characters portrayed in this story from Final Fantasy VII. Third Fang owns his characters, the Oogakari family/clan. I am just trying to enjoy playing in their respective sandboxes.

Chapter 3: Don't hurt Mr. Cuddles!

Cloud and Tifa were out doing their morning routine a couple of weeks later. Cloud had asked Ghost if they were planning on Tifa getting her memories restored but had been told to wait on that for a while. Cloud was fine either way. As children, they were never this close, and being able to have the friendship building without the baggage or heartache was nice. Even if it meant they didn't have the shared history of saving the world and raising Marlene and Denzel together yet.

Tifa had been growing so quickly that Cloud had to put in extra time just to keep up. The mental exercises and meditation that she'd been doing with channeling mana throughout her body had worked wonders. Her mana reserves had been growing steadily, and she could utilize her materia much faster and cleaner. She'd really surprised Cloud when she started punching monsters with fire the day before. Without an Elemental materia equipped. Ghost just giggled and started mumbling something about tiny black mages and knight captains(1) that he didn't understand. He did manage to pummel Ghost into the ground until he was given the same books Tifa was learning from.

Another change from the past few weeks was that Cloud had finally found a weapon that fit his needs and that he could both utilize now and grow into for the future. He'd taken what Ghost had said to heart and tried not to limit himself. He worked with knives, short swords, longswords, and katanas. He tried using clubs, guns, throwing weapons, and spears before he finally found something that felt somewhat comfortable in a quarterstaff. It had reach, without being too heavy. The only problem with it was he was used to using weapons that cut. So Ghost reached out to his brother Scabbard and they came up with a solution.

They called it a Swallow(2).

It was, at its core, a quarterstaff where one-third of the top, and one-fourth of the bottom were blades. In his case, they were simple machete blades attached to an extra-long grip in the middle. When held, the front blade was edge down and the back blade was edge up. Ghost said that they'd get him a custom one later on where the blades wouldn't be single-edged, but he needed to get used to fighting with a whole new style first.

As they ran through the obstacle course that Ghost had set up in the forest, dodging stones and avoiding pitfalls as they climbed short walls and sprinted along tightropes, they had gotten around halfway through when Ghost was suddenly in front of them. Cloud quickly pulled his weapon out of the harness on his back and lunged forward as Tifa charged in from the side. Ghost just dodged the blade before catching the fist that was coming from behind. Quickly throwing Tifa after Cloud he just stood there with a smile as they quickly bounced back to attack again.

"Good reactions!" he said as he pulled out a small knife to deflect Cloud's blade as he swung his back leg around to catch Tifa's feet in a sweep. She jumped back to avoid it, allowing him to swing that leg up and into Cloud's back as his momentum carried him past. "Still have some work to do on your coordination. Not to mention Cloud's new toy." Ghost continued, ignoring the twitching eyebrow from Cloud at the 'toy' comment. "But I didn't come here to just give you a short critique. I wanted you to know that I'll be gone for a few days." That comment had the full attention of both kids immediately. "Scabbard and I have a trip to make. It shouldn't take us more than a couple of weeks."

"Where are you heading off to?" Tifa voiced her curiosity. She'd never left Nibelheim other than when she went into the forests or mountains around the town. "Any chance we could come with you?" Cloud was just mentally thanking all that was holy that he'd get a reprieve from the sadist that was his current teacher.

Ghost shook his head. "Not this time, minion number T. Scabbard just wants to make a stop in a couple placed to check on a 'Fair' weather friend of ours and his 'Flowery' girlfriend. We have some business with both of them that needs to happen before we lose track of them for a while." Cloud's eyes widened, then he nodded in understanding. He sent a quick questioning look at Ghost while tapping his left forearm, to which Ghost nodded his head.

Cloud put his Swallow back in its harness on his back and slid his left sleeve up quickly, before pinching his arm and drawing out a black chain link, making sure to not let Tifa see him. Tossing it over to Ghost, he brought his sleeve back down, only to have something smash into the back of his neck, making him face-plant into the packed earth. A second thud let him know that Tifa was down too.

"Don't worry though, even with me being gone I made sure your training wouldn't suffer for it. Crypt just finished a new type of seal that we found could work well for you. We've been worried about what putting additional weight on your still growing bodies could do, what with Cloud being short as it is." He leaned to the side as a rock was thrown at his face. "So instead of adding weight to increase your training's difficulty, we modified a trick we learned from somewhere else."

Suddenly, Cloud's arms slammed into his sides, and his legs locked together, causing him to fall to the ground again, as we had been trying to stand. Tifa was in a similar position, although she was laying on her side instead of her face.

"That seal serves two purposes," Ghost continued, "the first is it creates resistance throughout your whole body. Any movement you make will feel like you're doing it underwater. Everything you do now will require more effort, from standing, walking, fighting, and running away from Cloud's admirers. You can thank me later." he said with a giggle as Cloud started to whimper.

"The second purpose is that in order to move at all, you'll have to constantly use a small amount of mana. No mana, no movement. Just like exercising your body will grow muscles, utilizing your mana constantly will allow it to grow the same way. The seal is designed to monitor your current mana levels, so it will begin to require more mana as you grow stronger to do the same amount of movement, while turning off if you suddenly have critically low amounts." Ghost turned around to leave, only throwing out one last comment before he faded away. "You're parents know I'll be gone on personal business, but will be expecting you two to continue with your personal training while I'm gone. I've also left a supply of potions with your mother, Cloud, so she can have more one-on-one time with her daughter." Giggling madly, he was gone, only leaving the echoes of his sadism behind.

"Why did I agree with this…?" Cloud asked mournfully, as he lay in the dirt.

-=Break=-

Zack was finally ready. His duffel bag was packed with everything he'd need for the trip, after finally telling his parents a couple of days prior that he was leaving to chase his dreams. He was going to join SOLDIER and be a hero! He couldn't wait.

Once outside his room, he hugged both his parents, promising he'd write as often as possible. He was surprised when his father handed him a large sword. One of the newer designs from the town's blacksmith that he called the Hardedge. With a wide, blunt tip instead of a sharp point, the sword narrowed somewhat as it reached the guard and handle. It had writing along the side of the blade that said 'Breaker'(3), along with four slots available for materia, two of them linked.

"You'll need something stronger than that dull weapon you've been practicing with to protect yourself as you travel", his dad said by way of explanation. Neither of them was excited to see their son head off towards a life of danger, but still supported him in his dreams.

His mom then handed him a bag of items, potions mostly, along with two green orbs. A Time and Mystify materia. Considering the cost of everything, they must have dipped into their retirement savings to give him these. He just grabbed them again into a giant hug, happy for their love and support, before shouldering his duffel, tying the bag to a clasp on his belt, and grabbing the large, heavy sword. It took him a minute to get used to the weight, before with a giant smile on his face, he waved his final goodbye and started walking from his home toward the reactor a couple miles away.

There was a group of ShinRa employees that worked at the reactor that were all being moved around to other locations, and there was a standing offer for anyone in town to get cheap fare to any destination along the way. Sometimes it was a large convoy, like this one, that made several stops along the way to Costa del Sol due to its size. Other times it was a more expensive one-stop flight via helicopter, but those were pretty rare.

As he approached the rally point for anyone in town wanting to hitch a ride, he found he was the only one there. At first, he thought he was early, but after not seeing anyone arrive after almost 30 minutes he began to worry he'd actually missed his chance.

Finally, he heard footsteps coming from around the bend in the path leading toward the outer wall of the Mako reactor. A man came into view and walked up to him at a steady pace. He looked a little strange to Zack, with Dark brown hair that bled into green tips, but he was wearing a regular dark grey suit and had a ShinRa ID clipped to his pant pocket. Once he was within easy talking distance, the bored-looking ShinRa employee just asked, "You the one wanting to catch a lift as close to Midgar as you can?"

Zack nodded with a bright and energetic smile. "Yup! I'm heading off to join SOLDIER and make my dreams come true!" He was sweating a little from doing some exercises while he was waiting, mostly squats and pushups.

The man from ShinRa just nodded and gestured for him to follow. Zack picked up all his gear again and caught up quickly. Once around the bend in the path, and through the main entrance of the reactor, the only other people he saw were a man wearing a pilot's uniform and some guards lounging around. There was no convoy vehicle in sight, just a helicopter sitting idle on the landing pad. Zack was confused as they made their way over to it.

"Umm…I wasn't expecting it to be a flight over there. I was told there was a convoy leaving today, and I'm not sure I have enough to cover the cost for this…" Zack began to say before he was interrupted.

"No worries. There was a last-minute shift on the schedule. Everyone that was taking the convoy left last night. They didn't have enough time to make any announcements to the town, so everyone leaving just left a small donation to anyone coming from Gongaga to get a lift this way", his guide explained in a slightly monotone voice. They just continued on to the helicopter and quickly tossed his gear inside while he climbed in behind the pilot, who had long brown hair and really cool-looking shades on his face. Within a couple of minutes, the helicopter was lifting off, completely ignored by everyone down on the ground going about their normal day.

"Before we get too far into the ride, there's something we need you to do, Mr. Fair." The ShinRa employee said while turning around to face him. Zack was about to ask him what that was when two things happened. First, he realized that he'd never given the man his name, so how did he know who he was? And second…

"BAZINGA!" a scream came out of nowhere next to his ear, as someone slammed their hand across his forehead. Aside from the pain and shock of being struck, he immediately began to seize up in pain as flashes of memories and visions struck his brain like a train going full speed. He barely made out a woman now sitting next to him, wearing a black trench coat, with really long sleeves, opened to show a pink top and tan-colored shorts. He passed out shortly after that.

Almost two hours later, he woke up with a groan as the helicopter landed. He looked up and recognized the view of sun and sand along the ocean that was Costa del Sol. Someone handed him a glass of water, along with some pain meds for his headache that he took reflexively. Once that was down, he focused on everyone around him. He felt weak…really weak. Like before he'd had his Mako inje…

"What the hell is going on?" he growled out at the people around him. Now recognizing that none of them were who they seemed to be. Most pilot's for this model of helicopter were Turks, and none of these people fit that bill.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Zachary Fair. It'll only take a few minutes for most of the memories to settle, so if you'll follow us to the inn, we've reserved a room for us to talk in, as well as for your stay for the night. The ship to Junon leaves early tomorrow, and you'll want to be on it." The monotone man was speaking for the group, and quickly led the way.

A short 10-minute walk in the sun later, they were sitting down at a small table. Zack hadn't let go of his Hardedge since he picked it up while leaving the aircraft. It was heavier than it should be, but considering he had memories of today being the day he left to join SOLDIER, in spite of knowing he was already SOLDIER First Class, he was trying to focus on the here and now. He needed to figure out what was going on.

"Alright, as you no doubt are confused at the moment, let us fill you in on certain facts. One, it is currently March of 1997. Today is in fact the day you remember leaving your hometown to go and join SOLDIER to fulfill your dreams. Two, you have memories of living until September of 2007, where you were gunned down by ShinRa troops just outside of Midgar in the Midgar Wasteland, trying to protect your friend Cloud Strife and get to Midgar to reunite with your girlfriend Aerith Gainsborough." The man with green-tipped hair was ticking off his fingers with every point he was saying.

"For your information, Cloud did survive and make it to Midgar. Unfortunately, with the fractured mental condition he was in, the JENOVA cells he was carrying, and the stories you told him about your life and missions while in SOLDIER, he imprinted your life experiences into his own life story. He was convinced he was an Ex-SOLDIER First Class, that served along with Sephiroth on several missions." the man continued saying. Zack was startled to hear that. He'd never heard of someone imprinting memories like that before. "Over the course of the next two years, Cloud and some friends, members of a second iteration of AVALANCHE, go about trying to take ShinRa down. Lots of things happen, which at this point don't matter, but what's important to know is that Sephiroth makes a return, through cloned individuals carrying both his cells and JENOVA's, and begins his plan to become a god. In the course of trying to stop him, Aerith dies." Zack's heart froze. Eyes wide, his hand became numb and he dropped his sword, allowing it to crash on the floor.

The pilot takes over the story. "After her death, Cloud and his friends do eventually stop Sephiroth's plans. Cloud personally defeats several iterations of Sephiroth that have tried to continue his plans over the years, but his last victory was short-lived. After banishing Sephiroth once again, he was shot down and caught in a giant explosion of dozens of materia being overloaded." The pilot waited for a moment to get an acknowledgment from Zack. It eventually came and he continued on. "What happened then is us." He pointed to himself and his two companions. "We showed up several weeks ago along with Cloud. Due to how this is all happening, which is our business and not yours for now, he came back with his memories intact and has been training along with his future girlfriend, she of the bountiful and bouncy chest, Tifa.

Zack snorted at that. He remembered Tifa from Nibelheim. Even at that age, he had to admit she did have a large pair. He could only imagine how big they got later on…not that he would, mind you. He was all about Aerith…

"What about Aerith? Is she alright now? Does she know?" Zack's rapid questions came out as no surprise to the group.

The girl was the one to answer. "She's fine. One of the…members…of our group has taken a liking to her." The pilot looked at her strangely before beginning to laugh. She ignored him. "While our partner is watching her she's perfectly safe. Even if Sephiroth was to attack her at full strength, she wouldn't have a scratch on her. As for her memories, not yet. We need your help with that."

Without hesitating, he replied. "Anything. What can I do?"

The monotone one was about to say something when the pilot put his hand up for a moment. "No, he's not volunteering to be your lab rat, Scab. You know that."

Somewhat grumpily, 'Scab' opened his mouth again. "First of all, there should be a black chain link tattoo on one of your arms." Zack raised an eyebrow but quickly investigated and found it was true. Sitting on the shoulder of his right arm was a tattoo. The pilot stood up, walked over, and reached out to the tattoo. Before Zack could question what he was doing, his hand went into his skin and removed the tattoo, which became an actual chain link. "We'll be using this to return Aerith's memories later this week. What you'll need to do is…not change anything." Scab said.

"Huh?!" was the brilliant response.

With a sigh, he explained. "We need you to not change the things you did before as much as possible. The more you change, the less things play out in a predictable manner. We will be making changes, have already in fact, but they were made knowing what the likely outcomes would be as well as knowing that said outcomes won't change much long term." He gave a pointed stare. "While I know you'd like nothing more than to go and be with your girlfriend, just as she'll likely feel the same, it can't happen yet. We'll keep in contact with you to let you know when that changes."

Zack was torn. What they were saying made complete sense. But he was alive…and Aerith was too.

The girl sitting across from him gave him a smile as she munched on some brownies…he had no clue where those came from. Swallowing them down the smile became a slightly unnerving grin. "Don't worry Zack! Aerith will be just fine. All you have to do is join SOLDIER like you always wanted to do, become a hero, and we'll let you know when your girlfriend is ready to be made into your woman!"

Zack's face went bright red as soon as he processed what she just said. Trying to stammer out a response failed as thoughts of him and Aerith together like that flooded his brain. Then a goofy grin split his face as he got even redder, before falling backward onto the floor and passing out.

Ghost sighed as he pulled another three trays of homemade brownies from inside his coat and handed them over. "Should have put restrictions on what you could have said for that bet…" he mumbled as she swiped the trays and immediately devoured the first one. Scabbard just shook his head and left the room. Knowing that they wouldn't have enough time to talk to Zack about everything, he'd already compiled and printed a list of what the future SOLDIER should focus on when he once again regained consciousness. He pulled out a laptop from one of his pockets and began searching through all the data he was siphoning off of ShinRa's servers, just to see if there was anything he had to act on while they waited.

He grinned when he saw a record had been tripped by one of his search algorithms. He'd found her. One of the few big changes everyone agreed was worth making. Not just to have access to her particular skill set, but also to keep her from being subjected to the horrors of ShinRa and their practices. He'd most likely send Shadow to pick her up. He couldn't wait to meet someone from this world who one day might surpass himself in pure data analysis capabilities.

"Shelke Rui, it will be so nice to finally meet you."

-=Break=-

Aerith had decided to spend the day at home. She had felt something was watching her at the church out further into the slums of Sector 5. Not wanting to deal with it for another day, she planned on working around the house with her mother, as well as tending to the little garden by the house. It wasn't as large as the flower field inside the church, but it was a nice change in scenery. Elmyra seemed to appreciate the company as they spent time cleaning and redecorating a little bit.

She became annoyed when she felt her watcher again just outside her home. While it didn't feel antagonistic, she wasn't comfortable being watched everywhere. It reminded her of being watched through the glass by Hojo after her father died.

The feeling seemed to leave after that thought, and she relaxed a bit as she tended to the garden and tried to speak to the planet, specifically seeking out the voice of her mother, Ifalna.

The next day, early in the morning, there was a knock on the door.

Elmyra answered since she was downstairs fixing breakfast at the time. At the door were two people. A man and a woman, both with long dark brown hair. The man's pulled back into a low ponytail, and the woman's hanging straight down to her waist. The man was wearing a white t-shirt with a strange runic design on the front, with tan colored cargo pants and matching colored boots. The woman wore a fairly revealing pink spaghetti top with tan-colored shorts. She wore simple brown boots, with stockings that went up to her mid-thigh. She also wore black gloves on her hands.

"Good morning," the man said in greeting. "We'd like to share a message with you about our lord and savior, the log(4). May we come in?"

WHAM!

Elmyra stared at the now crying man as he struggled to crawl out of the small crater his companion had smashed him into.

"My brother is an idiot, please ignore him. My name is Shadow, this is Ghost, and we're here to talk to Aerith about some…stuff, in an effort to help her with some…stuff, and keep her out of ShinRa's, especially Hojo's, hands. We'd like to sit down with both of you to talk about how exactly we'll be able to help." The woman seemed professional, in spite of her appearance.

Elmyra glanced once more at the man as he grumbled under his breath about fists of death and pain…Mark IV? She wasn't inclined to invite them in, but just as she was about to decline and close the door Aerith came bounding down the stairs and ran right up to them.

"Are you the ones that will help undo the Calamity's infection of the planet?", she asked in a rush. She'd finally gotten a message from the planet the day before, telling her that strangers had come to heal the Calamity that would come. She was also warned that they would be…strange.

Ghost perked up when he saw her and smiled. "That's us! Undoers of planetary infections extraordinaire!"

WHAM!

"Please ignore him, he's still an idiot." Shadow pleasantly smiled at the two women.

"You're just still angry I called you a fat midget! It's not my fault you can't control yourself around the candy aisle at every store we go to. It's a miracle you don't have diabetes yet, you card-carrying member of the lollipop guild!" He growled as he crawled out of the same crater from earlier. He ignored the twitching of her right eye as he focused on Aerith and her mother. "Can we come in and talk?"

-=Break=-

It took Cloud and Tifa each a day to get used to the new seals, and how difficult their daily routines had become with them. After another three days, they were almost moving at normal speeds. By the time Ghost got back, two weeks after he'd left as he promised, they were moving faster with the seals than they had been without them.

Ghost just smiled and congratulated them. Then he smacked them on their backs and they felt like they were moving through mud. His smile remained as he told them they'd graduated to level 2.

Sadistic bastard.

"Don't worry though, even when you finish level 2, you'll still be able to grow even stronger and faster! The old design only went up to level 5, but this one's able to work up to level 10!" Ghost was beaming as he watched the children struggle to move faster than a turtle. 'Oh, the little joys in life', he thought. Then he turned the seals off completely and grinned as they lurched forward after all resistance was removed. "From now on we'll keep the seals on at all times, except for one hour a day. There's no point in using this method of training if you can't adjust to working at your full speed and strength when you need to." It was actually a logical reason. Cloud and Tifa just wished he'd said it before turning the damn thing off.

They were stretching out a bit before heading out to the forest obstacle course when Cloud turned to Ghost. "How are they?", he asked softly.

"Oh, they're adjusting. SOLDIER Boy had the harder adjustment, but that may have been the method we used. I don't think he really appreciated being kidnapped, even if it did save him time and money getting to Costa del Sol." Ghost grinned to himself as he remembered the argument between him and Scabbard on who would fly the helicopter. Scabbard's comments about him being blind were ignored as he causally mentioned he'd been in contact with the leaders of 'Silver Elite' and 'Red Leather'. "Flowers is great though. She still wants to knock you on your head for blaming yourself, by the way."

Cloud smiled and started to walk away. He stopped after a second before turning around again. "Who else has been brought into the loop?"

"Just those two so far, though the old man and Crypt are going to be taking one of the links down to the basement today." Cloud's eyes widened as he realized he'd forgotten Vincent was still stuck down there. "Crypt expressed an interest to meet Chaos, and Waltz is going to be checking him over before his training begins. We'll be staying out of the mountains by the reactor for a while. They want the day-walking vampire to learn to utilize his inner demons a bit, rather than letting them use him." Ghost giggled as he remembered how they planned to do that. "Anyway, back to training for you! If you start to lag behind, I'll be forced to introduce one of my favorite training tools. I may introduce it anyway. Oh, how I love my exploding cows. Why are you not running yet?"

-=Break=-

Vincent was waking up from a mad rush of memories and emotions. He looked over at the old giant of a man who was holding the crazy one on a leash. The demons inside him were quiet for some reason. Chaos himself was wary. He wasn't sure if he should be grateful or terrified.

"Did he have to accomplish…whatever it is you did…by attempting to eat my head?", he asked the calmer of his two guests. With all the memories settling into place and seeing he was sitting in his old coffin in the basement of Nibelheim's ShinRa Mansion, he assumed something rather strange had occurred.

"Dark chocolate is not tasty!", the man in the straight jacket cried out. "It is an abomi…the walls! Have you come to avenge your cousin floor? Toasters and lollipops beware, the trixy wabbit is after me lucky charms again! Have at you!" WHAM! The old man negligently crushed his giant fist into his companion's head, sending him face-first into the ground. By the twitching leg, it appeared his friend might have some brain and nerve damage.

"You can mostly ignore Crypt. And in answer to your question, yes. It's a habit of his. Now, introductions. I am Waltz Oogakari, and this is Crypt. We are friends of the one you know as Cloud, and responsible for your memories being…restored in the manner they have been." The old man watched Vincent nod acceptance. "For further information, it is almost April of 1997, several years before the destruction of this town, as well as your initial release from your self-imposed prison."

Vincent processed that quickly. That was plenty of time to work with. "I thank you for the restored memories and the information. There is much I must do…"

"I'm afraid that you'll have to wait on most of that. We already have some plans in place for certain events, and will likely use your skills when necessary, but first, there is much to be done here." Waltz interrupted him while he could. "One of the first things we'll be doing is a form of training for you. While I personally don't prefer the method used, Crypt was adamant that it would be in your best interest. We'll also be taking some measurements of your right arm and shoulder so another member of our little family can go about getting you a better prosthetic than the…current one you have."

Vincent looked at them wearily, as he could start to hear Chaos chuckling in the back of his mind. That never boded well. "What training?" he asked in an uncertain voice.

The man he thought had died from being crushed into the ground shot up with a bloodthirsty grin on his face. "Mr. Cuddles needs to be saved from the big bad monsters! For Cuddles!" He promptly ran out of the room, only to be caught on the neck by the leash Waltz held tightly in his hand.

Before Vincent could even think to ask what he meant by that, he could feel the demons inside of him stirring, one of them pushing to come out. And for some reason, he couldn't hold it back.

"We'll be taking you out into the mountains until you learn to truly use your inner demons. The seal Crypt placed on you will ensure that until you learn control of them, they'll remain active on the outside." the old man looked grim but had a gentle smile on his face. "Come now, let's get you out to the mountains before the first demon comes out to play."

His only response was the roar of a beast, as Vincent started to shift.

-=Break=-

AN: Another chapter is done as we begin to introduce the craziness that is the rest of the Ookari Clan, as well as Zack, Aerith, and Vincent. I don't think we'll be bringing many of the others in for a while, at least in regard to getting their memories back, although I already have plans to introduce one of my favorite characters.

-(1)Yes, this is a reference to FFIX and Vivi and Steiner's combo Sword Magic. I kinda thought it was cool but, like so many things with FFIX's combat design, extremely limited. Everyone in that game had a weapon, so why not have Weapon Magic combos become a thing?

-(2)A tribute to the Chrono Cross fans, Serge's weapon was always a favorite of mine. I'll be making a modification on Cloud's design that gives it additional utility, so it's not a straight-up copy of Serge's Mastermune. I know that Zidane had several weapons that fit this concept in FFIX as well, but I prefer Chrono Cross's version, as it had a better way to show how the weapon could be utilized in combat.

-(3)The actual Hardedge kanji says (刀両断, Ittō ryōdan, literally "one-bladed bisection"), according to the Final Fantasy Wiki page, and is a Japanese term for "cutting into two with a single stroke". I'm just modifying it because the Japanese name for the weapon translates to "Hard Breaker".

-(4)In reference to a recurring joke in Third Fang's Yet again, with a little extra help.

As always, comments and reviews are welcome!

-Phail