Cloud, Gordon, and the rest were entering the town of North Corel once again. They had learned from a weapons dealer when they made it back to land that Dio had purchased something from him called the Keystone, which according to him was the key to get into the Temple of the Ancients.
'Hopefully we can just get this fucking thing from Dio and be done with it.' Gordon said to himself in his head, as they approached the ropeway to the Gold Saucer.
'But I know what Cait Sith is gonna do as soon as we get it. I could try to stop him but…'
"You guys going up to the Gold Saucer?" The ropeway operator asked.
"Yeah, take us up." replied Cloud, as he and everyone else boarded the ropeway.
"This will be like riding the tram at Black Mesa!" Coomer said excitedly.
The ropeway kicked into gear and ascended up to the Gold Saucer.
"What's the game plan Cloud?" asked Gordon.
"We'll head to Dio's office and see if he has the Keystone. From there we'll try to convince him to give it to us."
"I know one way of convincing him!" said Bubby, as he pulled out a revolver.
"Bubby, no!" said Gordon, as he gestured for Bubby to put his gun away.
"I've had this talk with Tommy and almost with Coomer. We're not gonna do things the way we did them at Black Mesa."
Bubby groaned as he stashed his gun back into his coat.
"That reminds me Bubby!" said Coomer, as he reached into his lab coat.
"I have all your weapons!"
"Coomer, wait." said Tifa, as she went over to stop Coomer from pulling out anything.
"Let's not pull out any guns until we get off the ropeway, is that alright?"
"Oh okay Tifa!" replied Coomer, as he took his hand out of his lab coat.
"But I want my weapons now!" Bubby pouted.
"We're almost at the Gold Saucer, just be patient." said Gordon.
Bubby crossed his arms and sat their with a scowl on his face as the ropeway touched down at the Gold Saucer's entrance. Everyone began filling out.
"Here you go Dr. Bubby!" said Coomer, as he handed Bubby a Tau Cannon, a Gluon Gun, and his teleporter gun, along with a rocket launcher.
"Right, let's pay and head inside." said Red XIII, as they headed towards the entrance.
"Welcome to the Gold Saucer-" The man in the Chocobo outfit said, as he noticed Tommy.
"Tommy! It's good to see you again!" He said, as he held out his fist.
"Yeah you too." Tommy replied, fistbumping the man in the Chocobo suit.
"So what brings you here champ?" He asked.
"We're here to see Dio." replied Tommy.
"Alright, he should be up in his office. He hasn't left it since he got that treasure."
He then noticed everyone behind Tommy.
"Are these people with you?"
"Yeah they're with me."
"Then they can come in free of charge!" He said, as he moved to the side to allow Tommy and the rest to enter.
"Damn, perks of being the racing champion." Gordon said, as they got to the holes that led to different parts of the Gold Saucer.
"But say, how come that guy didn't let us in like that when we first came here?"
"Oh that was Hank. He and I are friends and he works every other day." said Tommy.
"Alright then." said Cloud,
"Let's head up to Dio's office and get the Keystone."
The group entered the reception area to Dio's office and Cloud went over to the front desk.
"Is Dio here?" Cloud asked the receptionist.
"If you're looking for him he should be in the Show Room." The receptionist said, pointing down the hall to an area labeled "Dio's Show Room."
"Thanks." said Cloud, as he and the rest entered the room.
They entered the room and found Dio admiring a shiny gray stone that he had on display, and he was looking at it like it was his most prized possession.
"Dio." said Cloud, getting the muscular man's attention.
"Ah Cloud! Nice to see you again!" said Dio,
"What can I do for you?"
"Can you give us that?" Cloud asked, pointing at the gray stone.
Dio looked at the Keystone then back at Cloud.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that Cloud." said Dio, almost upset at Cloud's request.
Gordon looked over and saw Coomer and Bubby reaching into their lab coats.
"Psst! No!" Gordon whispered angrily at the two.
They both looked at Gordon and took their hands out of their coats, with Bubby cursing under his breath.
"However, I am in a good mood. And seeing as I still feel bad for how I treated all of you when you first got here. I'll give it to you on one condition."
"And what's that?" Cloud asked, crossing his arms.
"I want you to compete in the Battle Arena. It'll just be you though."
"I can do it!" interjected Coomer.
Dio turned to look at Coomer.
"Huh, and might I ask why?"
"Practice." Coomer said in his "kill" tone.
"A-Alright." said Dio nervously.
"Then your friend will be the one doing it."
"Well Coomer, we'll be counting on you!" said Gordon.
"Don't worry Gordon! I promise not to let you all down!"
"Before you go Coomer," Gordon said, pulling out the Materia Sephiroth threw at him.
"Use this, it might come in handy." He said, as he handed it to Coomer.
"Oh boy, Materia!" Coomer said, as he, to everyone's surprise, put the Materia in his mouth and swallowed it whole.
"Uh Coomer? You weren't supposed to eat that."
"I was hungry Gordon!"
Gordon slightly chuckled.
"Well in any case, go get'em Coomer!"
Coomer entered the battle arena as the rest of the party watched from the stands (although Cait Sith said he had to go "do something" before joining the group). The stands themselves were also filled with people who regularly attended Battle Arena events, all of whom were hoping for a good show tonight. Coomer made sure to give Tommy all of his weapons before he entered, saying he wanted a "good warm up."
"You sure it was a good idea for him to go in without any weapons?" Cloud asked Gordon.
"It'll be fine." said Gordon,
"Just wait till you see what he can do with his fists."
"You can do it Dr. Coomer!" cheered Aerith from the stands.
Next to him, Gordon could hear two others talking amongst themselves.
"They're really sending someone's grandpa out to fight?" He heard one say in a joking manner.
"Well, this should be quick!" The other laughed.
Gordon looked over and rolled his eyes as Cait Sith came in and sat with the others.
"Where have you been?" asked Vincent.
"Oh uh, I was just checking in on things. It's been a while since I was last here." He replied.
Dio walked in and stood on a podium that overlooked the arena.
"Welcome, welcome!" He boasted, as the crowd cheered.
"Tonight! We have a mysterious stranger stepping in to try his hand in fame and glory! Will he be up to the task? Only one way to find out!"
He then pointed at the other side of the arena.
"Open the gate!"
A gate opened and a giant green triceratops on tank trends with muscular arms rolled out and stood before Dr. Coomer. Coomer however seemed unimpressed.
"More," said Coomer.
"Huh?" said Dio, as he stared at Coomer confused.
"Send out more."
"Alright then." Dio said, as more gates opened.
Three more Heavy Tank's came out.
"That's a lot of dinosaurs Mr. Freeman!" said Tommy.
"Yeah it is," replied Gordon,
"But I think Coomer's got this."
"Uh Coomer?" Cid shouted from the stands,
"You think that's a good idea?"
Coomer shot Cid a glare, which caused him to sit right back down in his seat.
"A-Alright then." said Cid, spooked from the death stare Coomer gave him.
Dio raised his arm in the air, and then brought it down.
"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" Dio bellowed.
The HT's immediately charged at Coomer who stood there with his head down, not even looking up at the charging foes.
"Coomer what are you doing!?" shouted Barret,
"They're coming right at you! You gotta focus!"
But as Barret said that, Coomer's head shot up and he ran at the closest Heavy Tank.
He jumped onto its torso and climbed up on top of its head. He began punching it the side of its right eye as it tried grabbing Coomer off of him, but Coomer was able to parry its hand off and drove his fist into its right eye. Blood shot out as Coomer reached and grabbed the eye and ripped it out.
Coomer jumped off the HT's head as it screeched in pain and pressed onto the hole that was once its eye.
He dropped the eye as another Heavy Tank charged at him but he was ready for it as he grabbed onto its trends, stopping it in its tracks. Coomer began splitting the trends apart as the HT swiped at Coomer, but Coomer, anticipating the attack, grabbed the dinosaur's arm and with almost no force, ripped it right off.
The Heavy Tank howled in pain as Coomer grabbed its trends and split them from its lower half, causing the upper half to fall to the ground, a bloody stump at the bottom.
Coomer then grabbed its head and spun it in the other direction, a loud cracking noise followed as it fell to the ground.
Coomer shot his head to the third HT and dashed over to it. The Heavy Tank charged at Coomer, hoping to run him over, but Coomer jumped in the air and onto its right arm. He ripped it off. The HT screamed as Coomer climbed over to its left arm and ripped that off. He then climbed onto its front and was face to face with it.
Coomer grabbed its right horn and broke it off. He spun the pointy side towards the HT and impaled it through its right eye socket.
The final Heavy Tank charged at Coomer from behind, hoping to catch him off guard. But Coomer grabbed the horn out of third HT and threw it like a javelin at the last one's left trend, causing it to stutter in movement.
Coomer jumped from the third Heavy Tank onto the fourth one's chest. He shot his arm into its chest and began digging for its heart. The HT screamed in pain as it swiped at the left side of Coomer's face, leaving a deep cut as well as mangling his left eye.
Coomer, unfazed, continued digging, eventually grabbing its heart, he ripped it out as blood shot out of the HT's chest. In its last gasps, it clenched its chest as it slowly passed. The heart itself was large to accommodate the large creature.
Coomer held the heart in his hand, he then threw it down onto the ground hard beside him, causing the heart to explode. Blood shot out like a water balloon, causing him to be completely soaked.
Coomer looked over and saw the first Heavy Tank was still screaming in pain and holding onto its right eye.
He menacingly walked over to it and climbed onto its back. Grabbing both of its horns he began to pull backwards. The neck started to come apart at the seams as Coomer swiftly ripped the HT's head off, leaving it headless with blood shooting out like a fountain.
Coomer stood there, covered head to toe in blood and gore, he held the Heavy Tank's head in his hand by the horn. His head was down and he was breathing as if he hadn't even broken a sweat.
The crowd sat there, stunned and speechless at what they just witnessed. Cloud and the others (minus Bubby and Tommy) also sat there, speechless like everyone else. Gordon himself, although surprised like the rest, was admittedly more impressed.
'Damn, didn't think you had it in you, Coomer.' He thought.
'Although maybe tone down the brutality next time.'
But slowly, a loud roar from the crowd could be heard as they cheered and clapped for the carnage they had just witnessed. Dio meanwhile was trying to collect himself from the spectacle he just saw.
"U-Uh w-we have a winner!" He said, struggling to get words out.
"I-If he'll head to the exit, he'll be able to collect his winnings!"
Another gate labeled "Exit" opened. Coomer slowly turned towards it and walked to it, with the Heavy Tank's head still in his hand.
Gordon meanwhile looked over at the two guys who were badmouthing Coomer and saw they were astounded just like the rest.
'Heh, shows you fuckers.' He thought.
"Come!" said Gordon, getting the group's attention.
"Let's go see Dio, no doubt he'll give us the Keystone now."
"A-Alright." said Cloud, still recovering from what he just witnessed.
Everyone (minus Coomer) was in Dio's show room waiting for Dio to arrive. Cloud and the others were still getting over the onslaught Coomer unleashed in the Battle Arena.
"So uh." Yuffie said, finally breaking the silence.
"Are we gonna uh, are we gonna talk about-"
"I could've done better!" said Bubby suddenly.
Gordon chuckled under his breath.
"Yeah I'm sure you could have Bubby." said Gordon sarcastically.
Dio walked in, and he looked like he was still in disbelief at what he just saw.
"Well um-" He said,
"I won't lie, in all my years managing this place, I've never seen such brutality from one man like that. He really put on a show for the ages!"
Dio sounded almost excited when he said that.
"Yeah." said Gordon,
"I'm half surprised Coomer didn't shout 'Are you not entertained!?' at us!" He said jokingly.
"Alright." said Cloud, trying to get Dio's attention.
"Now that we entertained you, will you give us the Keystone?"
Dio looked at Cloud.
"Why of course! But might I ask if it's possible that he can come back anytime soon? People would pay good money to see that again!"
"I'm not sure we can-"
"Sir! Sir! You can't bring that-" Someone from outside could be heard.
Everyone turned around and saw Coomer walking into the room. He was still a bloody mess and the left side of his face was bleeding from the deep cut the Heavy Tank gave him.
He also had the dinosaur's head in his hand.
"Uh, D-Dr. Coomer?" said Gordon nervously, trying to get Coomer's attention.
Coomer himself however had a distant look in his eyes (or eye in this case).
"D-Dr. Coomer, I-I don't think you can-"
"More." He said coldly,
"What?"
"I want more." Coomer then looked at Gordon.
Looking at Coomer, he saw bloodlust in his single eye, and to say it unnerved Gordon would be an understatement.
He turned around and saw everyone else but Bubby and Tommy looked uneasy as well. Gordon took a deep breath and turned to look at Coomer.
"Dr. Coomer, it's over. You did good, now you have to-"
"You look like shit Coomer!" shouted Bubby.
"Here, let me help with that."
He pulled out a medpack (the same ones from Black Mesa) and shoved it in the left side of Coomer's face.
The medpack seemingly absorbed into Coomer and the cut on his face was gone, and his left eye was repaired.
"What the hell?" Barret said, as he and the others looked on in disbelief.
The cold and distant look Coomer was gone, and he had his usual cheery expression back.
"Ah, thanks for that Dr. Bubby!" said Coomer.
"Gordon, I think we've now fulfilled the requirements to get the Keystone!"
"Y-Yeah, we have Coomer." replied Gordon.
"And Bubby, I didn't know you had a medpack on you."
"I kept it on me in case of emergencies." Bubby replied.
"Oh, in case any of us got injured?" asked Gordon.
"I didn't say it was for anyone else."
He looked at Coomer.
"But I didn't want to have to look at Coomer's ugly face like that."
"Fuck you too Bubby!" Coomer said cheerfully.
Gordon then turned to Dio.
"So uh, think we can have the Keystone now?"
"S-Sure!" said Dio, as he reached for the Keystone and handed it to Cloud.
"Say Gordon," said Coomer, as he looked at the decapitated dinosaur's head.
"Do you think they'll let me keep this as a trophy?"
"Uh, I don't think so, Coomer." replied Gordon.
"Besides I doubt we have any room to take it with us."
"Oh, okay." replied Coomer, as he disappointingly let go of its horn.
"Well now we have the Keystone." said Tifa,
"Now we just have to find the Temple of the Ancients."
"Right, let's get going then," said Cloud.
Dio's cell phone rang and he picked it up.
"It's me, what is it?" He replied.
They couldn't hear what was being said on the other line, but judging from Dio's unhappy expression it wasn't good.
"What? What?" He said angrily.
"How long will it take?…..By tomorrow!? Oh hell. Let me know as soon as it's done."
He then hung up and turned to the group.
"Well if you were all looking to leave here I'm afraid that's not possible right now. The ropeway isn't working."
"What?" Cloud said,
"What do you mean it isn't working?"
"From what the technician told me, someone sabotaged its engines. And he also said it might take until tomorrow till it's fixed."
"Crap." said Aerith,
"What are we gonna do until then?"
"Well, here's what I'll do." said Dio,
"Since your friend over here-" he gestured to the blood soaked Coomer.
"Put on a good show, I'll let you all stay at Ghost Hotel for the night free of charge! And as soon as the ropeway is fixed I'll let you know as soon as possible. Does that work?"
"Huh." said Cloud,
"I guess."
"Very well." said Dio,
"Then I'll have my assistant escort you to your rooms right away!"
"Oh boy! I've never stayed in a hotel before!" Coomer said excitedly.
"It'll only be for one night Coomer." said Gordon,
"And you really need to clean yourself up."
"Why of course Gordon! I didn't expect to stay like this forever!"
Coomer then turned to face Cloud and rest, who looked very uneasy being around Coomer. Yuffie herself looked like she wanted to run out the room.
"My apologies for my bloody look and if it frightens any of you, it's been a while since I was able to let loose!"
Coomer then stretched his fingers.
"But I have to admit, that was rather disappointing."
"S-Sure." Cloud said nervously.
'No way am I letting him spar with Tifa.'
Tommy was in his hotel room, sitting by a desk. He had all his guns lined up on it and had his Glock dismantled. He was cleaning each piece thoroughly as well as making sure all the bullets were accounted for.
He read on Wikipedia how to properly take care of and maintain guns, and since there wasn't a TV in his room he couldn't watch "Invitation To Love'' or any of his favorite shows, so to him this was the best way to kill time.
A knock was heard outside his door.
"Come in." He said, as he put down the dismantled pistol and went over to the door.
The door opened and Aerith walked in.
"Hey Tommy." She said with a smile.
"Hi Ms. Gainsborough." He replied,
"Is there something you want?"
"Well Tommy." She said,
"I was figuring we could continue our date from the last time we were here!"
"Huh!?" He said, his cheeks beginning to feel hot.
"B-But Mr. Strife said we have to rest for tonight a-and we have to get our s-strength and stuff!"
"He went out with Tifa a little while ago." She replied.
"Oh"
Tommy's mind was racing, he had never been with a girl before in all his life, and Black Mesa didn't have any female employees when he worked there. He was trying to think of what to do in this situation.
'Stay with her as much as you can.'
He heard Gordon's words in his mind, and decided that he was going to do what Mr. Freeman had instructed him to do.
"Uh o-okay, I can come with you." said Tommy, still nervous at the prospect of going on a date.
"W-What should we do first?"
"Let's go on that ride we tried to go on first!" She said,
"And I have a whole bunch of other stuff planned as well!"
"A-Alright."
Tommy and Aerith were currently on a ride that acted as a sightseer for the entire Gold Saucer.
During the night, they did various things such as go on the roller coaster they wanted to go on before they were thrown in prison the first time they were here. They had played several carnival games in which Tommy was able to win a stuffed Cactaur for Aerith, and he himself was able to win 50 cans of soda, and had them all in a big bag in his seat next to him.
Aerith herself was looking out at the scenery.
"Isn't it nice, Tommy?" She asked.
"Yeah." He replied, nerves getting to him.
After a few moments Aerith turned to look at Tommy.
"So, tell me about yourself."
Tommy was completely taken off guard by this question and looked at Aerith with a shocked expression.
"Huh? Oh uhhh-" He stumbled, trying to find the right words.
"What do you want to know?"
"Where do you come from? What was your life beside Black Mesa? And I wanna know a little bit more about Sunkist."
Tommy was looking uncomfortable at all the questions Aerith was throwing his way, and she quickly picked up on that.
"If you don't want to answer, that's completely fine. I just want to know more about you."
"No, it's fine," said Tommy, looking up at Aerith.
"I don't know where I'm from."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I'm an orphan, they never told me where I grew up."
"You're an orphan?" She said surprised.
"Yeah, but I know my dad kind of." He replied,
"I haven't seen him since being dropped at the orphanage."
"He dropped you off at an orphanage?"
"Yeah. He never really told me why though."
"What?" She said.
"Where is he now?" She asked, trying to hide the anger she was now starting to feel.
To Aerith, who had grown close to her mothers (both her real one and adopted one), the thought of abandoning your child pissed her off. While she had grown up with the orphans from the Sector 5 slums, they had never told her about any of their parents abandoning them without even knowing why.
Whoever Tommy's father is will have a lot to answer for if she ever met him.
"I don't know, but he said he has a birthday party for me planned."
"Huh, really?"
"Yeah, it's gonna be at Chuck E. Cheese."
"Oh, that's uh, cool." She replied, somewhat surprised at the announcement.
'Did his dad recently return to his life?'
"When is your birthday?" She asked curiously.
"I don't know. But my dad said that once a problem he's dealing with has been solved we can have the party."
"What type of problem?"
"He didn't tell me." Tommy replied.
"But Ms. Gainsborough, I think I should let you know that you're all invited."
"Oh really?" She said,
"Me along with everyone else are invited?"
"Yeah, I'll talk to my dad about it."
"Well that sounds exciting!" Aerith said happily.
"I'd love to come to your birthday party! And Tommy,"
"Yeah?"
"Call me Aerith. You don't need to be so formal with me."
"Oh okay." replied Tommy.
"What type of place is Chuck E. Cheese?" She asked.
"It's an entertainment center, at least according to my dad. I went there all the time before I started working at Black Mesa."
"What did you do before Black Mesa?"
"Uh not much, I watched TV most of the time and fed Sunkist."
"If you don't mind me asking, what did you do at Black Mesa?"
"I worked in Human Resources." Tommy replied,
"But the day of Mr. Freeman's test they had me working in Anomalous Materials."
"That sounds interesting, what did they have you do that day?"
"Monitoring the test Mr. Freeman was doing, but that's when everything happened." Tommy said, looking down at the ground.
"Uh what type of dog is Sunkist?" said Aerith, quickly trying to change the subject.
"An immortal dog!" Tommy proclaimed.
"An immortal dog?"
"Yeah I made him immortal!" Tommy proclaimed again, getting up from his seat.
"Sunkist will live longer than me!"
'Oh Tommy.' Aerith thought,
'You're far too innocent for all this, but I promise I'll get you through it all.'
"Well that's enough about me." said Tommy, sitting back down.
"Now it's your turn."
"Huh?" said Aerith,
"You wanna know about me?"
"Yeah, I think it's only fair."
"Oh alright then. Where do I begin?…."
In the car in front of them was Cloud and Tifa. They had a night of their own by being in a stage play and decided to end the night by sightseeing the Gold Saucer.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" said Tifa, looking out the window.
"Yeah." replied Cloud, also taking in the sights.
Tifa looked at Cloud. Truth be told she wanted to spend time with him like this for as long as she could remember,
And there was a certain feeling she had every time she was around him.
"Cloud…"
Cloud turned his head to face.
"I-I…."
She clenched her left fist. She wanted more than anything to tell him how she really felt, and the nerve's in her stomach were starting to eat at her.
"What is it Tifa?"
"…."
Her heart was racing as she took a deep breath and looked up at him.
"I think it's time we compared our stories." She said, suddenly changing from what she really wanted to say.
"Huh?"
"The ones Tommy and Gordon told us separately when we had them alone."
"Oh, that." Cloud said disappointingly.
Truth be told he was tired of always talking about Gordon with Tifa. It felt like every time they were alone together, Gordon was always the subject of the conversation and it was beginning to irk Cloud. But truth be told, they needed to compare the versions they heard and this was a good time to do so.
"I'll let you go first, Tifa. What did Gordon tell you?"
Tifa took a breath.
"He said that he arrived late to work on the day of an important test, said something about inserting an alien crystal into a testing chamber."
"An alien crystal?"
"Uh huh," She continued.
"He also said Benrey followed him into the chamber."
"Benrey followed him in?"
"Yup, kept saying he needed to see Gordon's passport." She said,
"But he said when he did the test all hell broke loose. Aliens started descending onto Black Mesa, attacking and killing everyone who was there." continued Tifa.
"Then soldiers arrived at the facility. He said at first he and the others thought they were there to rescue them but quickly found out they were sent to silence everyone."
"Did he say who the soldiers were with?"
"He didn't." She replied.
"He then told me how he lost his arm again and how they made their way to a place called the Lambda Complex."
"Lambda Complex?"
"Yeah, he told me that if they wanted to stop the alien invasion they had to go there. He said they had a teleporter waiting to send them to the alien home world."
A few moments of silence passed.
"And I suppose he didn't tell you if he made it to this 'alien home world.'"
"He did not." She replied.
Cloud sighed.
"Well Tommy pretty much told me the same thing you did."
"Oh." She said, somewhat disappointed.
"But there's something he said that stuck out to me." Cloud said,
"He said the soldiers who were sent to silence Black Mesa were with the United States military."
"Huh?" said Tifa,
"That doesn't sound anything like Shinra."
"I thought the same thing." replied Cloud,
"And Gordon said Black Mesa got shut down by Shinra a while ago. So…."
"He was lying about that." said Tifa, finishing Cloud's sentence.
"So do you think they're on the run from the… United States as Tommy called it?"
"Maybe." replied Cloud,
"If they are on the run I can kind of understand why Gordon would lie about that. But there are a lot of things about what they told us that aren't adding up."
"Like what?" She asked.
"The United States for one. It sounds like a country but I've never heard of it, have you?"
Tifa shook her head.
"And then there's New Mexico, we've never heard of that either. And we don't even know where Tommy, Coomer, and Bubby are from." Cloud said,
"And when I spoke with Tommy to get his version of events. He told me that this is the first time he's seen Gordon in five years."
"Really?" Tifa asked surprised.
"Yeah." said Cloud,
"But that's not the only thing. When I had that 'science team meeting' with them, Coomer said something that's really stuck out to me."
"What did he say?"
"He said Shinra started experimenting on him 25 years ago."
"25 years!?" She said shocked.
"That's way longer than what Tommy said, and how old is Gordon?"
"27" said Cloud.
Tifa sat there, she had no idea what to make of any of this, and judging from Cloud's expression neither did he.
"Should we- should we ask Bubby and Coomer for their versions of events?" Tifa said.
"Don't think that would help. They would probably tell us the same thing." Cloud said.
"Another thing that's really bugging me is the matter of this alien home world they both mentioned."
"I was thinking the same thing." said Tifa,
"They never said if they made it there or not."
"Tommy did say they went through the teleporter but said they didn't make it there," said Cloud.
"If that's the case do you think…."
"I know." Cloud answered her.
"For all we know this home world they were supposed to go to is still out there. And I can't help but think Benrey might have something to do with that." said Cloud,
"And for all we know, he could've originated from there."
Tifa let out a big sigh.
"In the end, we're left with more questions than answers." said Tifa, deflated from the lack of information.
"We don't even know if the aliens Gordon and Tommy told us about are a present threat. Or if the 'United States' as Tommy put it could come after us in the future."
"I know, and at some point we'll have to press Gordon for what he really knows," said Cloud.
'And that isn't the only thing,' said Tifa in her head.
"Do you think we should tell the rest of the group what we learned?"
"I thought about it, but I don't think now's the time." Cloud replied,
"We still don't have the full picture, and in my opinion it would be best to wait until we know everything."
Tifa nodded as the car they were riding was beginning to dock and they both filled out. They were about to walk away when they heard a familiar voice call out to them. They turned around and saw Aerith waving at them, they also saw Tommy sitting in the car with her as well, and they could see he had a large bag with him too.
"Hey!" said Aerith, as she and Tommy got out of the car to greet the duo.
"Hey Aerith." said Tifa, greeting her friend.
"What have you got there?" She asked, noticing Aerith's stuffed Cactaur.
"Oh this?" replied Aerith,
"Tommy won this for me! He got the highest score at a game of Shoot Out!"
"Really?" said Tifa, looking at Tommy.
"Way to go Tommy!" She said, giving Tommy a smile and a thumbs up.
"Uh t-thanks." Tommy replied awkwardly.
He looked at Cloud.
"I got us a bunch of soda Mr. Strife." He said, holding out the large bag he was carrying.
Cloud looked inside and saw an assortment of soda cans in the bag.
He found himself slightly drooling and had to wipe his mouth.
"Uh g-good work Tommy." said Cloud, collecting himself.
"If only we knew where you guys were, we could've made it a double date!" Aerith exclaimed.
"Heh, yeah." agreed Tifa.
'I'm glad it wasn't.' thought Cloud.
"Well, we should head back, it's getting late." said Aerith, slightly yawning.
"Yeah, let's head back, we'll head out tomorrow morning." said Tifa.
"Hey Mr. Strife." said Tommy, looking in the other direction.
"What is it?"
"What's Mr. Sith doing out this late too?"
Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa looked over to where Tommy was looking and saw Cait Sith was out and about too, and they noticed something was in his hand.
"What's he holding?" asked Aerith, trying to get a look at whatever Cait Sith had in his hand.
"Wait-" said Cloud, having a somewhat better view than the rest.
"Is that the… Keystone?"
"Hello Mr. Sith!" Tommy called out.
When Cait Sith noticed them, he immediately took off in the other direction.
"Where's he going?" questioned Tifa.
"Wherever it is he has the Keystone with him, let's go!" said Cloud, as they all began chasing the cat-like creature.
Cait Sith had reached the ledge of the Chocobo section of the Gold Saucer. He was anxiously waiting for Tseng to show up so he could hand off the Keystone to him.
'Come on, come on!' He thought.
The sounds of a helicopter could be heard as Cait Sith looked and saw Tseng pull up in the distance.
"Finally!" The cat shouted.
"Sith!" A voice from behind shouted.
He turned around and saw Cloud, Tifa, Tommy, and Aerith running towards him.
Without thinking he tossed the Keystone at Tseng, who was able to catch it and fly away.
"Crap!" Cloud shouted, as they made their way to Cait Sith.
"What the hell was that!?" Tifa shouted at him.
"Oh, uh how do I put this." said Cait Sith,
"I'm with Shinra, sorry I had to deceive you all like that."
"Why you little-"
"Wait!" Cait Sith shouted, as Tommy reached inside his coat and pulled out…nothing.
"Oh." He said disappointed.
"I forgot I left my gun at the hotel."
"Not that it would help," said Caith Sith.
"This is just a vessel, my main body is back at Midgar. Just let me explain myself first before you decide what to do with me, alright?"
"Well, you can do it with the others," said Cloud.
"You're coming with us."