Everyone was on the bridge. It was quiet with the exception of the Highwind's crew moving around and maintaining the ship. Gordon was at the center, and the party's focus was primarily on him.
"So," said Gordon,
"What do you all wanna know?"
"You can start by telling us the truth." said Cloud,
"How do you know us? And how did you know Aerith was going to die?"
"Not to mention what do you know about our world, and this 'world in your dreams.'" said Cid.
Gordon took a deep breath.
"I'll try to answer them all to the best of my ability."
"To the best of your ability?" asked Cid,
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Now Cid, this isn't an interrogation. We're just asking Dr. Freeman to clear up some things!" said Coomer.
"Are we even sure Gordon Freeman is his real name?" asked Cid,
"At first I thought Sephiroth was gaslighting us back at the Northern Crater, but now I'm thinking he may have been telling the truth."
Gordon didn't respond to this, and remained silent.
"Well? What do you have to say to that?"
"That was the name I was given." replied Gordon.
"The name you were given?" asked Yuffie,
"So Gordon Freeman isn't your real name."
"It is my real name." replied Gordon,
"In their world at least."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've……..been to other worlds besides theirs." Gordon said,
"I've gone by James Seth Lynch, Soap MacTavish, and Jimmy Hopkins."
"Okay, okay…." said Cid,
"So are you trying to tell us that you're some……inter dimensional traveler that has the ability to see into the future or something?"
"In the most nurtured way possible, yes." replied Gordon,
"That's how I know all about you."
"Even my fake memories?" asked Cloud.
"Yes," said Gordon,
"I've seen the events of this world play out more than three times."
"That includes Aerith's death?" asked Tifa.
"Correct," Gordon replied,
"I thought by having Tommy act as Aerith's bodyguard I could prevent it, but…..the way this world works, and I guess to some extent the other world's I've been in, I can't change the events of it like I thought." He said,
"I thought I could even stop Cloud from surrendering the Black Materia over to Sephiroth, but I couldn't even do that."
"And why couldn't you?" asked Cait Sith,
"What force was stopping you from doing so?"
"I wouldn't call it a force," said Gordon,
"Well……….actually it is, but……"
Coomer then stepped in.
"I think it's best we leave that unanswered!" He said.
"Why?" asked Cid.
"Because it leads to the awful truth about Gordon's world I tried to steer you away from."
An uncomfortable silence fell upon the bridge when Coomer finished.
"But it's best if the events of this world play out as they were intended, at least that's what I was told."
"By who?" asked Tifa,
"Tommy's father?"
"Something like that." Gordon replied.
"But how does Benrey fit into all of this?" asked Vincent,
"Is he like you? Someone who hops from world to world?"
Gordon took another breath.
"I really don't know," said Gordon,
"He's a rogue anomaly that somehow wound up in their world, and because of him we were sent here. And we're the only ones who can stop him."
"We've had a good idea on how to do that." said Cloud,
"We've been destroying passports but we recently found out we need to summon Holy in order to destroy Meteor, or Benrey in this case. But we don't know if Holy has been summoned or not. And we were told you might have the answer."
"You mean you're wondering if Aerith summoned it or not?" asked Gordon,
"She did, I even saw the White Materia."
'Or a 360 controller.'
"But there's an issue. Holy is being blocked."
"Blocked?" asked Cloud,
"Let me guess, Sephiroth."
Gordon nodded.
"As you already know he's at the Northern Crater. If we go there and defeat him and destroy his passport we'll be able to let Holy do its thing."
"Alright then," said Cloud,
"I won't lie, this battle….this final battle we are about to have with Sephiroth, there's a chance we might not make it back." He said,
"He'll probably have an army of those aliens between him and us, and we've all seen how powerful he is. That's why…"
He turned to face the whole group.
"I want everyone here to find their reason for fighting."
"Find our reason for fighting?" asked Bubby,
"We already have that! We're gonna go to the Northern Crater and kill Sephiroth!"
"I mean besides stopping Sephiroth." said Cloud,
"What I mean is that I want everyone to find their own personal reason for fighting. Fighting for the planet is a good reason but for something like this it's not enough, so I want everyone to take a full day to find their own reason." He said,
"If you don't come back I won't hold it against you."
After a few moments, everyone nodded and left the bridge (everyone but Tifa). Gordon was about to leave but Cloud called for him.
"You say you've seen the events of this world play out. So I need to ask, what happens?"
Gordon didn't answer, leaving a long silence before opening his mouth to speak:
"That's something you'll have to find out yourself."
It was almost dawn, Cloud had just woken up. Sitting beside him was Tifa who was resting her head on his shoulder.
They had spent the night together under the Highwind, and both shared an experience that neither of them would ever forget.
"Tifa…" Cloud said softly.
Tifa slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Cloud.
"Hm?" She said.
"It's almost dawn, I think we should head back." said Cloud.
"No, not yet," said Tifa, laying her head back on Cloud's shoulder,
"This day will probably never come again, so let me have this moment for as long as possible."
"Alright," replied Cloud, as he sat there with Tifa.
He had wished for more than anything that time would stand still in this instance and they could be together like this till the end of time.
Unfortunately, that's when they heard footsteps approaching from behind.
They both looked back and saw Coomer approaching them, causing both of them to get up.
"Ah, hello you two!" said Coomer in a friendly manner,
"Please sit back down, I didn't mean for either of you to get up!"
Both of them were wary of Coomer's presence as he approached.
"Coomer," said Cloud,
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was up on the Highwind and I just wanted to-"
"Wait," said Tifa, cutting Coomer off,
"Did you just say you were on the Highwind?"
"Correct!" Coomer replied.
When Coomer said that, Tifa's face began to turn bright red and Cloud had a rather uncomfortable look on his face.
"But don't worry! I tried not to watch!" said Coomer,
"In fact me and Gordon were making sure that Barret, Cid, and Bubby couldn't watch either! But I couldn't help but take a few peaks. And I must admit-"
"COOMER!" Cloud said, cutting him off and beginning to sound irritated,
"Just tell us why you're down here."
"Ah, oh yes alright!" Coomer said,
"But please, sit back down, and I'll explain."
He walked in front of where they were sitting as both Cloud and Tifa sat back down.
"Alright," said Cloud,
"What is it that you need?"
"Well, there was something I wanted to ask you Cloud, and since you're here as well Tifa I'll ask you as well!" said Coomer.
"Well what is it?" asked Tifa.
"Well….." Coomer said, trying to find the right words,
"Cloud you said earlier that we should all find our own reason for fighting, besides stopping Sephiroth."
"That's right." said Cloud.
'I swear if he came down here to tell me just that…'
"Well, I just wanted to say that I can't find a reason!"
"Huh?"
"I can't find a reason at all to fight besides stopping Sephiroth and Benrey!"
Cloud sighed.
"That's something you need to find on your own, Coomer, I can't help you with that."
"I know that Cloud, but I don't think you seem to understand." said Coomer.
"What do you mean?" asked Tifa.
"I mean I don't see any other reason to fight besides saving the Planet!" said Coomer.
"What are you talking about?" asked Cloud.
Coomer sighed and looked at them both.
"Well, I asked Gordon this question earlier and I figured I would ask the both of you as well," He said, while taking a deep breath,
"If you both woke up one day and found out the world around you was a lie, was fake, what would you do?"
Cloud and Tifa didn't respond, but sat there silently contemplating Coomer's question.
"I don't know…" said Cloud,
"This question is so sudden that I really don't know how to respond."
"That's alright, I know it's out of left field so I didn't expect you to have an answer off the bat."
"I don't know either." said Tifa,
"Why are you asking something like that anyway?"
"Well……..to be honest…….I've been doing a lot of contemplating, about what the future holds after the final battle." Coomer said,
"After all this is over, I don't really know what's going to happen to me. I really don't have anyone else."
"That's not true," asked Tifa,
"You have us."
"I know that, but I meant in my personal life."
"Why do you say that? You don't have any family members you're close with?" Tifa asked.
"I did have a wife once," said Coomer,
"But they took her in the divorce."
"They…….what?" said Cloud, as he and Tifa were taken aback at Coomer's statement.
"But enough about her, the point is, the only reason I'm fighting is for the Planet. And…"
"And?"
"Alright, I'll be honest, I don't think we're gonna see each other after all this is over!" said Coomer,
"Even if we all win I don't think we'll be able to be together again! And……win or lose I think this is the last time we'll ever see Gordon."
"Why do you say that?"
"After this is all over, he'll probably go back to his world. His actual world I mean, and I don't want him to go, he's helped me, helped us get through so much and I just don't see a world without him!" Coomer said,
"And…..if I'm actually being honest…"
Coomer looked down and away from them.
"I'm scared."
There was a long silence that followed as Cloud and Tifa sat there, while Coomer stood there slightly shaking. They had somewhat of a hard time believing someone as powerful as Coomer could be scared of anything, but seeing the look on his face, they knew he was being serious.
Tifa then got up and walked over to Coomer.
"Coomer," She said, causing Coomer to look up at her,
"I know how you're feeling, we're about to confront an evil that's stronger than all of us."
She put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm scared too."
Coomer slightly nodded at Tifa.
"I know……but I'm just……..I don't want to lose any of you, you all mean the world to me."
Cloud then got up and went over to Coomer and Tifa.
"You don't have to be afraid Coomer." said Cloud,
"I promise I'm gonna get everyone through this, we're gonna save this Planet together."
"And besides Coomer," said Tifa,
"We still haven't had our spar."
"Oh that's right!" Coomer said, the realization coming over him,
"Well, now wouldn't be the best time! It's best if we were at full strength for the battle ahead." He said,
"Well, it's best if we all get back, everyone is waiting for us!"
"Agreed," said Cloud,
"And uh, that's for making sure no one could watch us."
"Not a problem at all Cloud!" replied Coomer,
"But unfortunately there was nothing we could do about Benrey."
"What?" said Cloud.
"What are you-"
It was then a feeling of dread and horror swept over Cloud and Tifa, as they looked up at Benrey who was staring directly at them.
"YEAH BRAAAAAAAZZZZZZZEEEEEERS!!!!"
They now had extra motivation to destroy Benrey.
Gordon was sitting in the Highwind's meeting room by himself. He needed some alone time so he could clear his head and get ready for the upcoming battle.
'Fucking hell man, the final battle is on the horizon, with how everything has been going so far I have no fucking idea what to expect.' He thought,
As he sat there, he saw a Discord notification pop up on the right side of the screen of his VR headset.
It was from one of his Twitch moderators: Holly
'Huh, I thought I had Discord notifications turned off, I wonder what she wants.'
Before Gordon could check Holly's message, the door to the meeting room opened and Tifa walked in.
"Hey Gordon." Tifa said, greeting him.
"Oh, hey Tifa." Gordon said, getting up.
"You don't need to get up for me, you can sit back down if you want," said Tifa.
"No it's fine, how are you by the way?"
"I'm fine, I just wanted to come by and thank you for keeping prying eyes off of us."
"No problem, figured you guys could use the privacy."
'And almost get me freaking kicked off of Twitch.'
"Sorry there wasn't anything me and Coomer could do about Benrey, and sorry about Coomer going down to where you guys were. I tried to stop him but telling Coomer not to do something is a lot easier said than done."
"It's alright Gordon, you did the best you could." said Tifa,
"And how are you doing too?"
"I'm fine, just getting ready for the upcoming battle is all."
He then made his way for the exit.
"I'm gonna head up to the bridge, we'll probably be at the Northern Crater soon."
"Wait," said Tifa, causing Gordon to stop and turn to face her,
"There's something I wanted to ask you too."
"Sure, what is it?" said Gordon.
"Back at Nibelheim, or at least the Nibelheim Sephiroth brought us to, you said that our memories were real, the ones me and Cloud had during our childhood."
"That's right." said Gordon.
"I just wanted to know, how much of that do you know?"
Gordon remained silent for a few moments before he opened his mouth to speak.
"Well……you already know that there are things about this world I already know, one of those things include the childhood you shared with Cloud." said Gordon,
"I know that you and Cloud were close as children, I know at some point when you both grew older you began to drift apart, I know about the time you fell off Mt. Nibel and Cloud took the blame for it, and…….I know about the promise, the one Cloud made to you before he left for Midgar to try and join SOLDIER." He said,
"I know why Cloud wanted to join SOLDIER, it was all for you."
Tifa stayed silent when Gordon said that.
"Look, I don't even need to see your pasts in order to see how much you and Cloud care for each other. I know it, and everyone else knows it. And……I really do think you guys are perfect for each other."
The sound of the Highwind's intercom could be heard as Cid's voice spoke.
"We'll be arriving at the Northern Crater in a half hour, everyone get on up to the bridge."
"Well, guess we should get going." said Gordon, as he made his way for the door,
"And one more thing Tifa." He said,
"I meant what I said back at Cosmo Canyon. I'm gonna get Cloud through this, even if it costs me my life. And-"
The Discord notifications got louder in Gordon's ear.
"Uh, actually can you hang on for one second?" He said, as he pulled up Discord in his VR headset.
He clicked on Holly's DM's to see she had sent him several messages. Having no time to read them he began typing back his responses.
WRT: Holly what is it? We agreed previously not to send me messages while I'm streaming.
Holly is typing…
Holly: I'm sorry dude! But have you seen your viewer count recently?
WRT is typing…
WRT: No, I've been focused on playing the game and maintaining the role play. And what is it anyway?
Holly is typing…
Holly: Pull up Twitch and see for yourself.
WRT is typing…
WRT: Why? Can't you just tell me?
Holly is typing…
Holly: It's something you need to see to believe.
As Gordon was standing there messaging back and forth with Holly. Tifa stood there looking at him confused, while also having what he said run in her mind.
'He knows we care for each other, he's seen our past. I would question him more on what else he knows but being with him all this time I can see he's not a bad person, and he has no malicious intent. He's someone I can really consider a friend. And…..if he's really willing to go this far for Cloud, then I will for both of them too, I'll-'
Before Tifa could finish her thought, she noticed Gordon began to breathe frantically and was starting to shake.
"Gordon?" Tifa asked with concern in her voice.
Gordon didn't respond, but instead fell to his knees, still shaking. He would've fell to the floor if Tifa didn't run in and grab him to keep him upright.
"Gordon?! Gordon!?" She said frantically.
After a few moments Gordon began to calm down while taking long deep breaths.
"I'm okay….I'm okay." Gordon said through each breath,
"Just help me up."
Gordon slowly began to rise as Tifa held on to him as support. Gordon wiped his brow when he got back onto his feet.
"Sorry about that." He said.
"Don't apologize," said Tifa,
"Are you okay? What happened back there."
"Well, remember when Cloud said we should find our own reason for fighting?" said Gordon,
"Let's just say I now have 800 thousand reasons to."
"Huh?"
"I'll see you on the bridge." Gordon said as he left for the Bridge, leaving Tifa slightly confused as to what Gordon meant.
As Gordon made his way to the bridge, he encountered Barret who was also on his way up.
"Hey Gordon." said Barret.
"Oh hey Barret," Gordon greeted him back with a wave,
"How're you?"
"I'm good, you?"
"Just fine, I'm pretty much prepared for what's essentially been the last battle."
"Same here," Barret replied,
"Before we head up, there's something I want to tell you."
"What is it?" asked Gordon.
"Well…" Barret said,
"Ever since we first met we've been pretty tight, we kinda instantly bonded with our chain guns."
"Well I wouldn't say we've always been tight." said Gordon,
"I mean there was that one time we almost killed each other at the prison."
"Oh yeah, there was that" Barret said while laughing,
"But anyway, we've been pretty close since then, heck we're the freaking chain gun bros!"
"The we freakin are," said Gordon,
"But where are you going with this?"
"The point is Gordon," said Barret,
"I don't care who you are, who you really are I mean. I don't care if your real name is actually Gordon Freeman or not, or if you're an inter dimensional hopper or whatever. You made sure nothing happened to Marlene when Shinra had her in custody, and something like that I'll forever be grateful to you for, and that's why-"
Barret then held out his chain gun.
"-I'm gonna have your back from here on out, no matter what happens."
Gordon looked at the chain gun, and then after a few moments held up his.
"And I'm gonna have your back too bro."
They bumped guns.
"5 minutes till we get there!" Cid's voice said over the intercom,
"Everyone get your asses up here right now!"
"Alright then," said Gordon,
"Let's kick some ass."
The Highwind was hovering just above the Northern Crater. The whole party was on the outer bridge and a crew member had dropped a ladder down for them.
"Sorry captain, but this is as far as the Highwind can go!" The crew member said.
"That's fine," said Cid,
"We'll go on foot from here. If things get to hot I want you all to pull out of here as fast as you can."
"Sir?"
"You heard me, I don't want any you risking your lives unnecessarily." said Cid, as he moved over to the ladder,
"And for all intensive purposes, this is a one way trip."
After a few moments of silence the crew member replied with "Understood sir."
"Alright then," said Cid,
"Let's move our butts!"
The party was in the inner depths of the Northern Crater. Along the way they had encountered and fought numerous monsters, each more stronger than the last.
But fortunately for them, the experience and strength they had gained through their adventure had allowed them to push on.
They were currently coming up on what was the center of the planet.
"Damn man, I don't know how much more of this I can do!" Barret complained.
"Stop whining, you big dumb idiot!" said Bubby,
"We're almost at the center!"
When they got to the center, they (Gordon and the science team) saw a sight that was all to familiar from Black Mesa: a green teleportation orb.
"What the?" said Yuffie,
"This is the center of the Planet?"
"No," said Gordon,
"I know what this is, this is what we used to teleport in the Lambda Complex, and this was what was supposed to send us to the alien home world."
"This is what was supposed to send you there?" asked Red XIII
"Correct!" said Coomer,
"And this is just a hypothesis, but I believe if we go through there we'll finally reach Xen!"
"How sure are you about that Coomer?" asked Bubby.
"Well, we are near the end, so it would only make sense that we would get sent to the alien home world as a final obstacle!"
"That makes sense," said Cloud,
"Gordon, is there anything you can tell us about Xen before we go in?"
"It's not gonna be easy," replied Gordon,
"There's gonna be a shitload of aliens we're gonna have to fight through, we're gonna have to do a lot of platform jumping as well. And who knows what the fuck Benrey has done with it."
"Okay," said Cloud, as he turned to face ether group,
"Is everyone ready?"
The group unanimously nodded.
"Alright, let's do this."
They all hopped into the orb as a green energy engulfed their vision.
The green energy that had engulfed everyone's vision slowly began to dissipate as the party found themselves on a floating island.
"Woah, shit!" said Gordon,
"It's been a while since I've gone through that!"
"Is everyone here?" said Cloud, as he and the other were trying to gather themselves.
"Hello Cloud!" said Coomer, who was sitting on the platforms edge,
"And hello Gordon!"
"Hey Coomer," said Gordon, as he checked to see if the whole party was here,
"Alright Tommy is here along with the rest of the cast, but where's Bubby?"
"No idea Gordon!" said Coomer,
"But I'm happy to report that after a whole week and a half we finally made it to the alien home world."
"Yeah at least there's that." said Gordon.
"Holy crap look at this place." said Yuffie, as she looked around at the surroundings.
As they all looked around, they noticed they were in a massive void that had a purple and green sky surrounding it. Currently they were standing on a small platform that was surrounded by other small platforms, all of which lead to an island floating not too far from them.
"So this is Xen?" said Barret, as he looked around.
"That's right," said Tommy,
"Just like the scientists at the Lambda Complex said."
"Alright then," said Cloud,
"Now that we're here, we're gonna find Sephiroth and Benrey and put a stop to their plans. First order of business is getting to that small island over there."
"And keep an eye out for both of them too, who knows where they could be lurking."
"Uh I don't think we need to worry about where Benrey is." said Yuffie, as she horrifically pointed behind them.
They turned around and gasped at what they saw: it was Benrey, but he was giant and floating in place.
"Woah…" Gordon said, astonished.
"Yo," Benrey said casually,
"What's up?"
"What?" said Gordon,
"What do you mean 'what's up?'"
"I told you we should've gone back." said Benrey,
"But now you're all here."
"Yeah, we are."
"There's still time to go back, I still wanna go to bed." said Benrey.
"We're not going back Benrey!" replied Gordon,
"You're about to crash into the fucking Planet, we're stopping you and Sephiroth, right here and now."
"Oh well, good luck with that!" said Benrey.
"Should we……should we attack him at all?" asked Cid.
"No, doesn't seem like he wants to fight," said Cloud,
"We'll make out to that island like I said, but keep an eye on him."
With that, the party began jumping from each platform in groups of three as Benrey watched, occasionally floating around to get a better look at them.
"It would kinda freak me out less if he attacked us!" said Yuffie, as she jumped over to a nearby platform,
"And this low gravity is a pain to get used to!"
"Don't fuck up!" said Benrey,
"Wouldn't want any of you to fall! We still gotta play MAG together!"
"Oh yeah sure we will!" said Gordon, who was the last one behind them,
"Uh what's your uh, PS3 gamer tag….or username or whatever it's called."
"That's private information." Benrey replied bluntly,
"Wanna kiss though?"
"Hell no I don't!" Gordon shouted.
"Aw why not? We used to be great friends!"
"We were never fucking friends Benrey!" shouted Gordon, as he along with Red XIII and Vincent jumped to another platform.
"We still don't know where Bubby is," said Vincent.
"Forget about Bubby for right now!" said Gordon,
"We have way bigger fucking things to worry about!"
"What should we do if he attacks us?" asked Red XIII.
"I do not want to think about that!" said Gordon, as he and the other two got ready to jump.
Everyone but them was already on the main island and were waiting for them to arrive. Red XIII made his jump with Vincent following behind, Gordon was revving up preparing to make his.
"Alright, here goes," said Gordon, as he took a deep breath.
"Gordon, look out!" shouted Tifa.
"Stop right there Mr. Gordon Feetman!"
Gordon turned around and saw Benrey float just a few feet past him. Gordon let out a horrified gasp and clenched his chest. He nearly fell over but was able to barely keep his balance.
"Fuck me man why does my life have to be like this!?"
Gordon, deciding not to waste any time and not to give Benrey another chance to fly by, re-prepared himself for the jump.
"Gordon go!" He shouted, making the jump.
He was able to land on his feet just a few feet away from the group, as he rejoined them he noticed a few dead Houndeyes that laid right beside them.
"Huh, Pepper Puppy's." said Gordon,
"I assume you took care of them?"
"Yeah, we did." said Cloud,
"We also found Bubby."
"Where?" asked Gordon.
Cloud then pointed to Car Bubby as he sat there, near an entryway that led into the island.
"That's uh……..a car?"
The car then turned back into Bubby.
"What the!?" said Gordon,
"Since when can Bubby turn into a car?"
"Don't ask," said Cait Sith,
"But he found us a way into the island, along with what we think is another teleporter."
"Alright that's good," said Gordon, as he looked over to Benrey who was still watching them,
"Anywhere where we can take cover from him."
The group followed Bubby into the inner parts of the island where they found the teleporter that Bubby claimed to have found. The teleporter in question was surrounded by Xen's fauna.
"What the heck is all this stuff?" said Cid, as he looked around.
"Not important, we just need to keep moving." said Vincent.
"But we don't even know where this'll take us!" said Barret.
"Well it's progress! So what the hell is there to lose?" said Bubby.
"Well we could be sent to our deaths if we cross through!" said Coomer.
"That's not exactly a comforting thought." said Tifa.
"Fuck it!" said Gordon, deciding to step up to plate,
"I'm going first!"
"Gordon, wait!"
Gordon didn't respond or acknowledge what Tifa said, as he charged into the teleporter. The last he saw before being teleported was Benrey's face peering into the room.
As Gordon exited teleportation, he found he was out in an open area again. Benrey was nowhere in sight.
"Well at least that wasn't instant death." Gordon said to himself,
"No I just gotta wait-"
A large pointy alien arm that was sticking out of the ground tried to stab Gordon but missed him by inches.
"Oh shit!" Gordon shouted, as he jumped out of the way and shot at the arm.
"Gah fuck this place! Where the fuck is everyone!……And what the fuck is THAT!?"
Coming out of a nearby cave was what looked like a giant headcrab that had a giant sack underneath its main body. As soon as it noticed Gordon it made a loud noise that sounded like a combination of a cat and an elephant and charged at him.
"Oh no you fucking don't!" Gordon shouted l, as he began opening fire on it.
He was able to slightly dodge out of the way as the Gonarch charged in at him. He continued to fire on it as the Gonarch recoiled in pain.
It swiped at Gordon with on its legs and managed to hit him, causing Gordon to stumble backwards and fall back first.
"Ow fuck!" shouted Gordon.
The Gonarch was towering over Gordon and was about to pierce through his HEV suit with one it's legs.
Only a spear penetrated through its sack, causing the Gonarch to scream in pain.
Gordon looked over to see Cid holding his spear as it penetrated through the Gonarch. When it began to move around Cid quickly retracted his spear.
"Move out of the way Gordon!" Cid shouted.
Gordon, taking heed to CID's instructions, quickly rolled out of the way as the Gonarch slammed its legs down.
While the Gonarch was staggered, Gordon charged up his chaingun and aimed it at the giant headcrab.
"Devil Gun mode baby!" He shouted.
He unloaded onto the Gonarch's sack which began to shoot out fluids. The Gonarch screamed and back into the cave it came from, clearly in pain.
"Holy shit, thanks for the save Cid!" said Gordon as he got up, while also shaking his heated chaingun,
"But where are the others?"
Right in cue, Cloud teleported in, followed by Tifa, the Coomer, and one by one the rest of the party teleported in.
"I decided I was gonna follow your headstrong approach and go in next." said Cid,
"What was that thing?"
"What thing?" asked Cloud, as he approached.
"Giant fucking headcrab monster with a large sack." Gordon replied,
"It retreated into that cave over there, let's follow!"
"Got it." replied Cloud, as he motioned for the others to follow suit.
A large flash absorbed everyone's vision, as they all looked up in the sky and saw Benrey had a DSLR camera in his hands, and was taking pictures every second.
"What the hell is he doing now?" asked Barret.
"He's taking fucking pictures of us!" said Gordon,
"Just ignore him, or try to anyway."
"Gordon, did you say the giant headcrab went into that cave?" asked Coomer.
"Yeah that's right," replied Gordon,
"Why, are you gonna take care of the issue yourself like always?"
"Precisely!"
Coomer then reached into his lab coat and pulled out a satchel charge.
"I'm gonna blow it to smitheroons!"
He then ran into the cave, satchel charge in hand.
"Isn't it smithereens?" asked Yuffie.
After a minute Coomer came running out of the cave, a detonator in his hands.
"All good Coomer? No issues?" asked Gordon.
"Well there was one," said Coomer,
"I tried to talk to it about the G1 Climax from 1997 but it didn't seem to want to discuss it! So I just laid my satchel charges around it and left." said Coomer,
"I think you might have burst the sack too!"
"Wait, satchel charges?" asked Cloud,
"I thought you only had one."
"I never said I had one!" said Coomer, pushing the detonators button.
A large explosion emanated from the cave as Coomer stood there, his back facing it
"Holy shit!" Barret shouted,
"Coomer, how many charges did you use?!"
"More than enough!" Coomer replied, as the explosion began to dissipate.
"Alright, that's should've been enough to kill it," said Cloud,
"Let's head inside."
They cautiously entered the cave and found numerous scorch marks across the caves interior. There was also pieces of the Gonarch scattered around.
"Well that takes care of that." said Cait Sith,
"But what's that hole in the ground?"
They peaked down and saw another green teleportation orb at the bottom.
"Huh, another orb," said Cid,
"Should we hop in?"
"Hell I don't know!" said Bubby,
"Who knows where the fuck it's gonna take us?"
"I think we need to make a choice pretty quick!" said Yuffie while pointing,
"Look!"
They looked to where Yuffie was pointing and saw Benrey's head (with part of his body clipping through the ground) slowly approaching them with a blank look on his face.
"Screw it we're going in!" shouted Gordon.
They all jumped into the teleporter before Benrey could get any closer.
"Oh fuck!" Gordon yelled, as he and the others exited teleportation once again,
"I'm so fucking tired of teleporting!"
"You and me both!" said Barret as he clenched his stomach,
"I think I'm gonna be sick!"
"Teleportation sickness is a common side effect!" said Coomer, M249 in hand,
"You should barf! It helps quite a lot!"
"No one is barfing Coomer." said Cloud, although he himself was looking queasy as well.
"Oh my god he's gonna-" said Bubby,
"HE'S GONNA PUKE! HE'S GONNA PUKE! HE'S GONNA-"
Before Bubby could finish his sentence, he vanished out of thin air.
"What the?" said Cid,
"Where did Bubbs-"
Bubby then appeared back from where he vanished.
"-PUKE!…..wait what the?" Bubby said, as he looked around confused,
"Where did I go?"
"You tell us." said Gordon.
"I don't know, shits fucked man." replied Bubby.
"Where are we anyway?" said Vincent.
Looking around the room, they found numerous alien-like construction equipment lying around. The walls to the room they were in looked almost metallic too.
"This looks like one of their factories," said Tommy.
"Their factories?" asked Tifa.
"Yeah, this-" Tommy said, gesturing towards a stack of metal pillars that were laying in the corner of the room,
"-is what they use to build their factories to create their armies, the aliens I mean."
"Well they won't get the chance after we're done," said Cloud.
"Finely put Mr. Strife!" said Coomer,
"But we should all be careful! The rules of this world are much different than-"
Coomer stopped mid sentence, dropping his machine gun in the process.
"No!" He shouted, only his voice sounded different.
Like a Half-Life 1 scientist.
"Dr. Coomer?" Gordon asked with concern in his voice.
Coomer then screamed and ran out with his arms flailing.
"Wait Coomer!" said Tifa, as she gave chase.
Only she didn't have to travel far, as Coomer came running back into the room and towards his dropped machine gun. He stopped flailing his arms and picked up his M249 SAW.
"-so we need to be careful!" He said, as if nothing happened.
"W-What?" said Cloud, as he and the others were trying to make sense as to what happened,
"Coomer, are you okay?"
It was then Bubby started doing the same thing,
"Stop!" He shouted, using the same voice Coomer had when he freaked out.
"Now Bubby's doing it too!" said Yuffie.
"Doing what?" Bubby asked, seemingly going back to normal.
"You- you were just-"
"Let's not worry about that right now!" said Coomer,
"We need to stop Benrey and Sephiroth-"
He then screamed again while shouting "No!"
"It can't get any worse than this can it?" Coomer said,
"-before it's too late!"
"U-Uh okay…" said Cloud,
"Come on guys, let's move."
As they followed Cloud out of the room, Gordon could help but worry about what happened with Bubby and Coomer.
'Fuck, is their AI starting to malfunction?'
"What the heck is this place?" asked Barret, as he looked around at the conveyor belts carrying large barrels, which in turn went beyond an inaccessible force field.
"If I had to guess, this is where there creating their army." said Tommy,
"I doubt those barrels are carrying meat or anything else in them."
"But why create an army?" asked Tifa,
"I mean isn't Benrey already crashing down to destroy the Planet?"
"Well Sephiroth is going to use the Lifestream the Planet's planning to use to heal itself to become a god, or play MAG as he claims." said Gordon,
"Maybe they're planning to terraform the Planet afterwards? Hell I don't know, who knows what Benrey's actual motivations are."
"Doesn't matter at this point," said Cloud,
"We're here, and we're going to-"
"Cloud look out!" said Coomer, aiming his machine gun at the ceiling.
A group of floating aliens with long arms and king torsos and large heads came floating in from the adjacent room. As soon as they saw the group, they unleashed a swarm of orange electric balls at them.
"Fuck these things again!?" Gordon shouted, as he opened fire on them.
Coomer, Barret, Bubby, Tommy, and Vincent joined Gordon as they too also opened fire upon the Controllers.
"Everyone who isn't a gun user take cover!" Cloud shouted, as he and everyone else ran behind whatever cover they could find.
"I can help!" said Yuffie, as she took out her kunai and began throwing it at the Controllers.
"Ha ha! take th-" Yuffie said mid sentence, before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
"What the? What the hell was that?" She said.
"What was what?" asked Barret.
But he too soon saw what Yuffie was talking about.
"Uuuuughh!"
A floating blue figure was floating among the controllers, its limbs were all outstretched, including its neck. It was spinning rapidly and emitting red particles.
"What the hell is that!?" Barret shouted,
"Is that Benrey?!"
"Fuck I think so!" Gordon shouted,
"Just keep him away!"
As the Controllers fell, Benrey was the only one left.
"Fuck it open fire on Benrey!" shouted Gordon.
They all shift their focus on Benrey, who was beginning to get closer to them.
"I can go where you can go friend!" Benrey said,
"I have scans of your feet as well!"
"I do not want you to have those!" Gordon shouted.
Benrey then no clipped through a wall and was now out of sight, but they could still hear his voice.
"Bad little boy!" They heard him say.
"Fuck man I'm so tired of this shit!" Gordon shouted.
"You and me both." said Cloud, as he went over to Gordon,
"Now it's just a matter of where to go now."
"Hell if I know," replied Gordon,
"This place is freaking huge."
"Now Gordon, it's best if you and Cloud check your mini maps for the current quest objectives!" said Coomer.
"What?" said Gordon,
"Do I have a mini map?" He asked himself as he examined his HEV,
"I don't have a mini map, Cloud do you have one?"
Cloud patted himself around, and then shook his head.
"Yeah we don't have mini maps bro." Gordon said to Coomer.
"Wh- why not?" asked Coomer, sounding upset.
"Cause Black Mesa didn't install one in my HEV suit!" said Gordon,
"And I doubt Cloud was given one at any point."
"Hey guys I think I found a way!" said Yuffie.
She was gesturing towards a series of vents that were close to the ground and looked like they could fit a person in them.
"Good catch," said Cloud,
"We found our way through, let's go."
As the group emerged from the vents, they entered a room that contained a large machine, similar to the ones the science team used to teleport (or at least originally) to Xen. Several Vortigaunts were in the room, making sure the teleporter was properly maintained and charged.
"Gordon, it's another teleporter!" said Bubby.
"Yeah I see that Bubby," replied Gordon,
"Maybe we can use that to get to where Sephiroth is."
"Good thinking Dr. Freeman!" Coomer said, machine gun in hand.
"What are we gonna do about them?" Vincent asked, gesturing towards the Vortigaunts with his SPAS-12,
"Should we dispose of them?"
"Don't think that necessary in this instance Vincent!" said Coomer,
"We can use them!"
"Use them how?" asked Cid.
"We'll have them teleport us to Sephiroth under the threat we'll kill them!"
"Uh well, that could work!" said Gordon,
"Does that work with you Cloud?"
"Yeah I guess," replied Cloud,
"They don't even seem hostile right now."
"Wait a minute," said Tifa, as she got a closer look at one of the Vortigaunts,
"Were they in….chains?"
Looking at the Vortigaunt, Tifa noticed a green collar around its neck along with green bindings on its wrists.
"If I had to guess, Benrey must've enslaved them!" said Coomer, as he went over to the one Vortigaunt manning the teleporter controls.
"Oh my god…" said Tifa.
"Tifa," said Gordon,
"There's nothing we can do for them now. The only thing we can do is put an end to Benrey."
After a few moments, Tifa nodded and followed Gordon and the others.
"Alright listen up!" Coomer shouted, firing a shot in the air, which in turn got the Vort's attention,
"I'm only gonna say this once! You're gonna take us to where Sephiroth is or we'll drop all of you in this room! Is that clear?"
The Vorigaunts, without replying, quickly booted up the teleporter for the group.
"Well that got'em to listen," said Gordon,
"Let's get going."
They all headed into the teleporter, with Coomer being last. He pulled out several satchel charges and begin to throw them across the room. He then ran through the teleporter.
Everyone (minus Coomer) all exited teleportation. They found themselves in an area similar to when they first arrived only now the sky was completely dark, with only a series of small platforms that led to a much larger one in the short distance.
"Is everyone here?" asked Cloud.
"Yeah I think we're all here." replied Gordon.
"No we're not," said Tommy,
"We're missing Coomer."
But right on cue, Coomer teleported in, detonator in hand.
"Ah, hello everyone!" Coomer said,
"Sorry for the delay but-"
He pushed the detonators button.
"-I had to take care of something first."
"Uh alright," said Gordon,
"Well now that we're all here let's get moving, there's probably another-"
FLASH
Multiple flashes rained down upon the group as they looked up and saw Benrey, who was again giant when they first arrived, had his camera in one hand and his passport in another.
His hands looked deformed and his arms were disjointed.
"Fuck he's doing it again." said Gordon.
"Just try to ignore him," said Cloud,
"And let's make our way to that structure at the far end."
They all then began to hop from platform to platform as Benrey continued to take pictures of them while simultaneously showing his passport.
After what felt like forever they made their way to the other end where a demonic looking structure sat. It had pointed edges protruding from the ground and a red portal sitting at its center.
"What is this?" asked Tifa.
"It looks almost like a castle," said Tommy.
"It looks like it's straight out of Doom!" chimed in Coomer.
"It looks like it has another portal." said Cid,
"But this one looks different from the others."
"Hang on one second," said Gordon, as he inched closer to the structure,
"Do you all hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Just stay quiet for a minute."
They all remained silent as they heard what Gordon was talking about. From the structure, voices could be heard from scientists and security guards that worked at Black Mesa to the HECU Marines that were sent to silence the facility.
"What the heck…" Cloud said to himself.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Benrey shouted as he floated by.
Gordon sighed at Benrey's comment.
"Cloud I believe this is the point of no return." said Coomer,
"We go through there and there's no chance we could make it out."
"Alright then," said Cloud,
"let's mo-"
"Wait," said Gordon,
"Before we go in there's some things I want to get off my chest."
"That's fine." said Cloud, as Gordon stood up on the ledge that led to the portal and was in front of all of them.
"Alright…….where do I begin," said Gordon,
"Being honest, when I punched in at Black Mesa last………fuck man I don't even know how long it's been since the reasonase cascade happened, but since then I went through complete hell." He said,
"But along the way, I made some friends who, without them, I probably wouldn't have survived up until now."
He turned to face Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy.
"Tommy, when I first met you I thought you were a weirdo, but as time went on I came to see what a true friend you really are. You were the first one there after I lost my arm, and you've really matured and grown and couldn't be anymore proud of you."
Tommy nodded in approval.
"Coomer, you admitty put me through two of the most horrifying experiences in my life,"
"You're welcome Gordon!" said Coomer.
"That wasn't a compliment," replied Gordon,
"But you've more or less had my back since then, hell we probably would have been dead multiple times if it wasn't for you, and I'm real glad to have you man."
"Glad to be here Dr. Freeman!" Coomer replied, clearly elated.
"Bubby, uhhhh…" Gordon said, trying to find a way to compliment him,
"You did betray me at one point, but we're past that and you've been a big help, I guess."
"Whatever." Bubby said, clearly disinterested.
"Now you guys helped me get through Black Mesa, and honestly after the Lambda Complex I thought we would've been sent here. But low and behold Benrey decided to steer us in a completely different direction and we wound up in a different world."
Gordon turned his attention to the FF7 party.
"But along that way we made some pretty strong friends." He said,
"Yuffie, when we first met you tried to rob us, heck I practically launched you into a tree during our first encounter."
"I couldn't eat solid food for days after you did that!" She complained.
"Yeah sorry about that," Gordon said half apologetically,
"And then there was that one time you actually stole our Materia and soda and Coomer had to put the fear of god in you, but other than that you've definitely grown up and have been a solid addition to the team."
"You better let me drink as much soda as I want when all this is over!" Yuffie shouted.
"I'll get you 8 twelve packs of diet Dr. Pepper." replied Gordon,
"Vincent, I know we've barely spoken but I understand you and Coomer had a lot of shit happen to you because of Hojo……or I guess Forzen?"
"Does it matter?" asked Vincent.
"Not really but…..we took care of him and hopefully after this is all over you can finally settle down." said Gordon,
"Cait Sith, or…can I call you by your real name?"
"At this point does that even matter?" said Cait Sith.
"I guess not," replied Gordon,
"Sooooo….Reeve, obviously you were the black sheep of the group when it was found out you were a Shinra spy, but…..you were able to turn it around in the end, heck you even got me out of Shinra HQ! So hopefully your road to redemption can continue once this is all over."
"I hope so," replied Cait Sith.
"Cid, I know we kind of fucked up your plane when we first met,"
"Water under the bridge Gordon." replied Cid.
"Thanks, but as I was saying: When the group basically fell apart after Shinra held me hostage in Midgar and Cloud was in his vegetative state, you stepped up big time and led the group while we were gone."
"Wouldn't say I stepped up, was friggin forced into being the leader."
"Either way you held the fort while we were gone. And-" He gestured towards Bubby,
"-you were a good friend of Bubby's for a while, someone who really isn't known for his people skills, and for that I'm grateful for. I'm real glad to have you apart of the group" said Gordon,
"Red XIII, or would you rather go by Nanaki?"
"Call me whatever you like, Dr. Freeman." Red XIII replied.
"Alright then uh, Red," said Gordon,
"You obviously had a lot of soul searching during our journey, between finding out the truth about your father and trying to save the Planet your kind are connected to. But, and I hate sound like a broken record, you've matured a lot too, and……….quick question how long does your kind live to anyway?"
"The oldest one of my kind had lived to be 2000 years old." replied Red XIII.
"Oh wow," said Gordon,
"Well, hopefully 500 years from now if we can all get through this, you'll still remember us." Gordon said,
"Barret," He said, as he got down and approached him,
"First, bring it the fuck here,"
He then held out his chaingun towards Barret.
"Hell yeah!" Barret said, bumping his gun against Gordon.
"Since we first met, with the exception of the prison, we've been pretty tight, but I do feel kind of guilty."
"Guilty?" Barret asked,
"About what?"
"It just feels like since I too have a chaingun for an arm I kind of stole your spotlight as the groups chaingun wielder."
"Gordon!" Barret said, patting Gordon on the back,
"I don't give a damn about that! Heck I'm glad to have another who had a gun for an arm like me!"
"Heh well I guess that's true, I could say the same thing." said Gordon,
"All I'm gonna say is that after this is all over we need to fuckin hit the town or something."
"And that we'll do!" Barret said,
"And after Tifa opens up Seventh Heaven again, drinks'll be on me!"
"Well I'm glad you brought her up," said Gordon, as he turned his attention towards Tifa,
"Tifa, I know the first time we met you obviously had every reason to distrust me and be suspicious of me as well, knowing what I knew." He said,
"But at the same time, you still made an effort to reach out to me when I was suffering from the trauma of what I went through at Black Mesa, and……….I was really touched, and I'm thankful for that."
"Don't be Gordon, I just did what I thought was natural," replied Tifa,
"And I'm glad talking to you about it helped."
Gordon nodded at her, before turning his attention to Cloud.
"Cloud, when we first met I……I was kind of in awe."
"In awe?" Cloud asked.
"It's just……..someone like you who managed to be at the wrong place at the right time was able to form a group like this to save the world." said Gordon,
"You had an identity crisis that you were able to overcome, and you freed yourself from Sephiroth's control, a real admirable feat." He said,
"And you've shown all the characteristics of being a great leader, hell you're a better leader than me!"
"Uh, thanks." replied Cloud.
"And I'm glad you're on the science team too, and……..I promise I'm gonna get you through this, no matter what happens."
"Huh?"
"But that's enough speeches. Sephiroth is beyond that teleporter, and he isn't gonna defeat himself." Gordon said, as he turned to face the teleporter,
"It's time to end this once and for all."
He then walked forward to the teleporter, as Cloud turned to face the others.
"Well you heard him guys," He said,
"Let's mosey."
The group followed Gordon into the teleporter. The same green energy encased there vision as they disappeared from the structure.
"Airplane."