Cloud and Tifa were up, the rest of the party (including Gordon) had left the old man's house, having been woken up by the commotion in the city above. Cloud and Tifa were set and ready to leave.

"Hey Tifa" Cloud said, "When me and Sephiroth were at Nibelheim, was there anybody else that was there?"

"No, not really." Tifa replied, "It was 5 years ago so my memory is hazy."

"Alright, just figured I'd ask." said Cloud, heading for the exit.

"Wait Cloud-" Tifa said, "Before we go, there's something I want to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Cloud said, turning to face Tifa.

"It's about Gordon." She said

"What about him?" asked Cloud

"I think there's something up with him." Tifa said, "A lot of things about him aren't adding up."

"What do you mean?" He asked

"When me and him were shopping for Materia he could use, I asked him where he was from among other things and he said he was from a country called New Mexico."

"Never heard of it." said Cloud

"Me neither, when I asked him where it was he said it was a faraway country." She said, "And earlier he said that he wasn't an immigrant."

"That is an interesting observation." Cloud said, "What else about him did you find out?"

"He said the place he worked at where he got the armor he has is called Black Mesa." She said,

"He told me the place was shut down by Shinra years ago, but I'm not buying it."

"You think he might be a Shinra spy?" Cloud asked.

"Maybe, I don't know." Tifa said,

"Him joining us as soon as this Benrey starts working with Sephiroth doesn't seem like a coincidence, but judging from the way he spoke to the Turks I don't think he might be with Shinra."

Tifa paused.

"And he did walk you through CPR yesterday so he may not be that bad. But we should keep a close eye on him."

"Noted." Cloud said, "Let's get moving."

Tifa nodded and both her and Cloud exited the house.

'Crap, should I have told him about the other person that was at Nibelheim that day?' She thought, 'No, who knows what it might trigger. Best to keep it a secret for now.'

Outside they saw Gordon and the rest of the group standing outside the hospital where they took Pricilla.

"What's all the noise about?" Cloud asked

"Sounds like they're having a parade up there!" Said Yuffie, pointing up at the city above.

As they were chatting, Pricilla walked out of the hospital and walked towards the group.

"Pricilla! Are you feeling better?" Asked Aerith.

"A little bit." She replied,

"I'm sorry I accused you of being with Shinra earlier. After what my grandpa and grandma said Shinra did to this town I've hated them ever since. And I shouldn't have accused you of being with them earlier."

"No need to worry about it." Said Barret, "Now, do you know what all that noise up above is?"

"Shinra's President is gonna be here, and they're rehearsing for his arrival." said Pricilla.

"Rufus is gonna be here!?" Barret said, "This'll be our chance to nail that bastard!"

"Slow down Barret, we probably won't be able to get to him with the amount of security he'll probably have." Said Cloud, "Let's just focus on getting Sephiroth and Benrey for now."

"Hmph, alright." Barret replied, clearly annoyed by Cloud's comment.

"We gotta find a way up there." said Gordon, "Don't suppose anyone here knows how to fly."

"Mr. Dolphin can help you!" said Pricilla, "Follow me!"

Pricilla then ran her way down to the beach.

"Guess we should see what she means." Red XII said.

The party then went down the staircase to the beach.

A dolphin was swimming along the coastline of the beach, Cloud and the rest were standing by it with Pricilla. Pricilla then pulled out a whistle.

"Use this whistle and Mr. Dolphin will take you right up!" She said, handing the whistle to Cloud.

"Right." Cloud said, "I'll go up first, the rest of you follow me afterwards."

The rest of the party nodded as Cloud went into the water, he swam closer to the tower and put the whistle to his lips. He blew into it and the Dolphin came up from under his feet and launched him on the tower's platform.

"Alright, I'm up!" Cloud shouted down, "Who's coming up next?"

"I can do it!" Gordon shouted from below, "Just throw it to me."

Cloud then threw the whistle down to Gordon, who barely caught it.

'Crap, catching stuff in VR is hard.' Gordon thought.

Gordon then submerged himself into the water under the tower's platform, he then put the whistle to his lips.

"Ffffffppppheewwww" Gordon tried blowing into it, but unfortunately the no noise came out.

'Oh no, not what I want.'

He tried doing it again but only blew raspberries in the process.

'Oh fuck, I can't blow this in VR, what am I supposed to do now?'

"Everything alright Gordon?" Tifa asked

"The whistle isn't working." He replied

"Let me give it a try." She said, going into the water towards Gordon. Gordon handed her the whistle.

"Wanna just go up together?" Gordon asked

"Sure." She replied, putting her arm around Gordon's side (much to Cloud's annoyance).

She blew into the whistle which produced a noise this time, the dolphin launched them both into the air and onto the tower's platform next to Cloud.

"You guys ready to go up?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, sure." Tifa said, she threw the whistle down to Barret.

"We'll see you guys up top!" Tifa shouted from above.

Cloud, Tifa, and Gordon then began climbing up the ladder that took them further up to the city. What greeted them at the top was an enormous airship.

"Wouldn't that be nice to have." Gordon said, as he, Cloud and Tifa got into a big lift. They descended down from the lift and went inside.

Inside, a group of Shinra troopers ran past them, not even giving the pair a second glance, a Shinra officer came out of the room and faced the pair.

"Why aren't any of you in uniform!?" He asked, "Go change immediately!"

"Ah crap." said Cloud, "Looks like we'll have to go along for now."

"I'll head to the lady's locker room and get changed, I'll leave the rest to you two." said Tifa, heading in the other direction.

"Follow me." The officer said, heading into the men's locker room, Cloud and Gordon followed him.

A pair of lockers greeted the duo as they entered the room.

"Get changed and make it quick!"

Cloud opened one locker and pulled out a Shinra trooper outfit, Gordon opened another.

"Wait where's the-" Gordon said looking for the uniform, he then noticed it was on the lockers ground, strangely floating in mid air and spinning.

"What the hell?" Gordon said to himself.

"Something wrong trooper?" The officer asked.

"N-No. I'll change now."

Gordon then crouched down and motioned his hand on the uniform, what the heck was about to happen as soon he touched it, he thought. His question was answered immediately.

As soon as he touched the uniform, his arms turned a blue and tan color, when he got up he noticed his legs and torso were a different color, and he noticed he wasn't wearing the HEV suit anymore.

"Well that was convenient." Gordon said.

"You done Gordon?" Cloud said, already dressed.

"Yeah, should be good to go." He replied.

"Good, now follow me, you two are gonna be in the parade." The officer said,

"Don't mess up!"

"Well, guess we gotta do this." Gordon said, "You ready for this Cloud?"

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess." Cloud replied.