Previously on Av... um... I mean Advanced Release:
The SOLDIERS are nearing the end of the game! Fighting Diamond Weapon and seeing Rufus ShinRa killed. Also, for Zack's celebration dinner due to his promotion to Second, they ordered some rather spicy food from the Gongaga region. Sephiroth has met Cloud IRL and they're all very worried about what's coming up. I think that's everything! Enjoy!
xXx
Just before the Highwind reached the Northern Crater, the screen cut out and then back to the inside of the airship. Cloud pointed out the barrier was gone and asked Cid if they could get the airship inside said crater. Cid replied, offended, that of course they could. Cloud apologized but the screen panned down to Cait Sith, who seemed to be turning right and left in… agitation? It really was difficult to tell with these graphics. Sephiroth frowned, not liking that the song the game usually played for ShinRa had begun to play?
Barret asked Cait Sith what was up. The cat-doll told him to wait a moment. Then he asked Heidegger and Scarlett what was going on. And since Scarlett and Heidegger weren't there on the ship…
Sephiroth felt himself pale a little.
"Wait, wait, wait," Zack said sharply as the scene faded out and in to the ShinRa conference room, "Rufus died and… that left Scarlett and Heidegger in charge?" He looked suitably horrified. Sephiroth was glad he hadn't had to voice it.
"I think I may be sick," Genesis muttered while Angeal just stared ahead, fork full of food half-way to his mouth. "That goes beyond disturbing."
"They'll destroy the company," the larger brunet said.
"What's left of it," Sephiroth had to point out. The others nodded slowly in agreement.
Then Scarlett asked why Reeve was speaking strangely. What? That… made no sense. Sephiroth noticed frowns on the others SOLDIER's faces, but no one spoke up so he decided not to as well. They'd already had confirmation that Tuesti was controlling (or at least connected to?) Cait Sith, so it didn't need mentioning in his opinion.
Reeve said none of that (whatever 'that' was) mattered because the reactor's output was increasing by itself.
"'What's left of it' indeed," Genesis muttered. At least the two executives seemed to realize that was not good. Scarlett told Reeve to cut off the machine. He told her the remote controls were inoperable…
"Oh… this is gonna be bad," Zack said around a mouth full of food.
"Don't speak while you chew," Angeal said absently, eyes remaining fixed on the screen.
Then it looked like Reeve answered his PHS. Someone (due to the transparency of the box, likely not someone in the room) said that the control had been switched over to mainframe and they couldn't operate it from 'here', likely meaning the ShinRa tower. He told Heidegger to call the mainframe, and at first it looked like the man would, but then he asked why Reeve was giving orders.
"Perhaps because he is not an utter buffoon?!" Genesis hissed, aggressively ripping off a piece of bread with his teeth and chewing it thoroughly as he returned his hands to the controller. Sephiroth wondered if his exaggerated actions were due to his anger, or the spice he disliked eating so much.
Tuesti seemed to be having none of it, telling Heidegger he didn't care how he did it (although Sephiroth would have opted for simply reiterating the order or perhaps shoving his credentials down Heidegger's throat… perhaps literally, which Reeve couldn't exactly do) and then turned around, seeming to answer his PHS again.
The screen faded out and then back in to what looked like a large control board. Due to the whooshing sounds, it was likely outside; odd since they'd mentioned the reactor… unless… on top of the canon? Probably. Which meant the 'mainframe' was the cannon's main control station. Of course.
"Who's that?" Zack asked of the tiny figure tapping away at the console (rather clumsily, but that was likely the graphics again). It could honestly be anyone. Sephiroth hoped his own guess was wrong… how could he have gotten up there? Well, considering the size of the computer setup, there was probably maintenance access to it from somewhere, and he did maintain an iron grip over his subordinates… subordinates within the company who would still be loyal to him, even if he left, and who would still attempt to curry favor. He was, for a mad scientist, remarkably charismatic, as much as Sephiroth loathed to admit it. So it would make sense if it was Hojo… but he still hoped…
Those hopes were dashed when a dialogue box popped up with Hojo's name at the top. He laughed and seemed to be muttering to himself and Game Sephiroth to just wait, saying he'd give the game's villain all the mako he wanted.
"You'll destroy the city! Hundreds of thousands of people will die!" Zack said angrily just before Reeve himself said almost the exact same thing on the screen. Sephiroth wanted to sigh and shake his head. The Puppy (and Tuesti) didn't get it. Something like that wouldn't mean much to Hojo. He'd care if he lost his labs and research… maybe his 'specimens', but destroying cities wouldn't even register to him. Although destroying Midgar would destroy his labs, so why was he trying to give the energy to the Game Sephiroth?
"So he snaps after all?" Genesis drawled just as Hojo said that one or two Midgars was a small price to pay… to what, give Game Sephiroth the mako? But… why? Was this related to what they'd learned in the temple of the Ancients? About absorbing power from wounds in the planet? That made an unfortunate amount of sense…
Reeve continued to try to stop Hojo, who ignored him. Instead the scientist asked Game Sephiroth to show him and to go beyond the powers of science.
"Yes, he has snapped," Sephiroth confirmed, his hands curled into fists the only outward expression of his anger and disgust at the man – both current and future.
Hojo went on to say that before Game Sephiroth, science is useless. He didn't like it, but he'd comply.
"Utterly," the SOLDIER First continued. That was such an unhinged version of Hojo… and wasn't that a terrifying thought?
The screen faded out on Hojo laughing and then back in showing Barret on the bridge of the airship, yelling at 'ya' big cat' to do something. Cait Sith (and the moogle) hunched in on themselves, then turned around and crept forward in shame, or so Sephiroth assumed.
"He looks utterly ridiculous like that," Genesis commented off-handedly. Then he glared down at the food n his lap as if just glaring would melt it. "'Not spicy' my—"
"AHEM," Angeal said pointedly and nodding towards Zack. Zack who Angeal couldn't see smirking.
Huh. The puppy had claws.
"Hojo's doing this on his own?" Zack asked, repeating the words from Cait Sith on the screen. "Aw, come on, man! That doesn't mean you give up."
Cait Sith said he 'didn't like this', and then Barret told 'Reeve' he was busted. Cait Sith said it was too late to hide it now.
"Was that supposed to be a big reveal?" Genesis asked. "Pathetic."
"We did have other clues to work from, outside of the game," Angeal pointed out.
Genesis just rolled his eyes.
Cloud asked if Reeve could stop the mako reactor. Cait Sith responded with a negative. Barret asked why it was impossible for someone from ShinRa to do it.
"It doesn't work like that, you imbecile," Genesis replied, angrily clicking for the next part of the conversation.
Which was Cid warning Reeve to not double cross them now.
"Well, he has a point," Genesis said.
Zack's smirk disappeared, replaced with a frown, but he didn't say anything. Sephiroth wondered what he was thinking.
Cait Sith only replied that he couldn't make them trust him. Cid yelled at him (or so Sephiroth assumed) saying that if he was a man – no, a human being, then he'd try to save the planet. 'Don't you even care?'
"Of course he cares!" Zack said, exasperated. "I'd like to see you stop Hojo in his position. Just being from ShinRa doesn't make everything possible."
Fair point.
Reeve said he couldn't shut off the reactor itself without dire consequences, and when asked if he could just shut off the valve, he reminded them that there were nine, and while shutting them off would be easy, the reactors had made a path for the energy to escape from below, and that would cause a rush of said energy.
Was that new? Or a design flaw? Or just from mako eroding the rock under Midgar away… (It was possible that it was also Game Insanity, but Sephiroth would not want to risk something like that, should they need to deal with it. Which they might, the way things kept progressing.)
'An explosion!' Barret concluded. Cait Sith confirmed, saying that the explosion would be far larger than the explosion of Reactor 1. Zack whistled. Angeal winced. Genesis' mouth firmed into a grim line. Cait Sith said to forget the canon and get to Midgar (to presumably stop the blast – and Sephiroth assumed that meant they shouldn't focus on the canon itself, but the reactors instead – or the person controlling them).
"Maybe that was what Barret meant earlier, about Reeve being 'busted'?" he suggested.
Genesis shook his head. "Blowing his cover to The ShinRa Board makes no sense!"
"Unless it was already blown?" Zack said weakly.
"I didn't get that impression…" Angeal muttered.
Neither did Sephiroth. But, perhaps because Reeve was 'busted' with Cloud's group, whom he seemed to respect, he didn't care that ShinRa knew as well? Perhaps he thought it would show loyalty to AVALANCHE? It was still a poor decision, but a little more understandable. Although, Sephiroth was more inclined to attribute Reeve's outburst to snapping under pressure. He'd seen enough of that in Wutai, where perfectly competent teachers and leaders in training couldn't maintain standards in the field, especially during battle. Inadvisable, but Sephiroth commended Reeve's priorities being the city above his own security and position. Although… Had anyone else in ShinRa, other than the Turks, possibly known that Reeve had been a spy? Or that he'd turned double agent, more specifically. Hmm…
On screen, quite predictably, Heidegger didn't listen. Instead, he and Scarlett said they wouldn't listen to or follow Reeve, and that the 'Peace Preservation Force' would do their best to defeat the enemy. That because of AVALANCHE he…
"THIS IS NO TIME TO LET PRIDE GET IN YOUR WAY, YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER FOOL!" Genesis shrieked at the screen, pointing with the controller, which nearly startled Zack into spilling his plate, earning the redhead a put-out glare.
Reeve told Heidegger, 'That is a private matter'.
Heidegger didn't take that well either, saying that now that Rufus was dead, he would do things his way. Then he laughed, Scarlett laughed, and Heidegger said he'd use a 'new weapon'.
"What weapon?" Zack asked.
"No clue, Pup," Angeal muttered, taking a bite from his own bread.
Funny, Sephiroth hadn't needed any bread yet. He kind of liked the bite in the food.
"Whatever weapon they have cannot be as good as one of the Planet's weapons!" Genesis said, exasperated, shoving a fork full of food into his mouth and then biting off some more bread right afterwards.
Well, at least he was eating it.
On the screen, Heidegger and Scarlett left as two infantry came in to detain Reeve. Sephiroth assumed the infantry followed the larger man's orders because he was normally in charge of said infantry, because there was no other reason for them to listen to Heidegger and Scarlett over Reeve. They were all executives, after all.
Reeve apologized to Cloud and 'everyone'. Then he said 'but' and the screen faded out and back to Cait Sith, who said, 'But… but you'll come, won't you?' He faced Cloud.
"If they don't, they'll be leaving Midgar's fate to Heidegger and Scarlett," Genesis muttered. All of the SOLDIERS nodded in agreement. Zack even winced. Sephiroth agreed with the sentiment because while both of them could be competent when motivated correctly, they were more the kind of people to get caught up in their own desires than the lives of others. Come to think of it, the same could be said of the President and Rufus ShinRa.
Cloud walked forward and said, 'I know.'
"Did he mean, 'Yes'?" Genesis asked, annoyed.
"Probably," Zack said as he put another bite in his own mouth. He really must enjoy this food.
Cid told the Pilot he'd leave the ship in his hands and then they said they were heading to Midgar. It was, however, up to them to get there. No matter, Sephiroth supposed, as Genesis moved the airship towards the city they'd only just defended from Diamond Weapon.
Once they arrived at the city, the screen faded back to the bridge of the ship as the Pilot said they'd reached Midgar. At which point Barret pointed out that it was under Martial Law and they couldn't slip into the Slums.
"That would have been nice to know earlier," Angeal muttered.
"Indeed," Genesis said with a large grin indicating he truly did agree. To be fair, Sephiroth did too.
Then Cid reminded them that they had an airship.
"Thank you!" Genesis said as he clicked for the next screen. The following conversation ended with everyone agreeing to parachute into Midgar. Then everyone ran out in single file. Even Vincent jumped over the railing, swept his hand to one side, and then ran out the door. In a fairly random order – although Cloud led – they ran out across the bridge (while the crew saluted as they swept by) and up the stairs.
The scene faded out and back in to everyone standing on the deck of the ship and then the menu popped up, asking if the player wanted to change the party members.
"Who should I take in?" Genesis pondered. "I do rather like the idea of the original three."
"If you're going to confront Hojo, take Vincent," Zack said as he finally put his empty plate on the table. "He kind of deserves to confront the guy."
"That particular suggestion proves you may actually have a brain in that head of yours."
"Hey!"
Genesis ignored Zack's annoyed protest, and Angeal's disapproving look. "Okay, then Vincent and Tifa," the red-head said as he complied.
"You had Tifa in the party before the current one, didn't you?" Angeal asked. "Why not take Barret instead?"
Genesis rolled his eyes. "Oh, very well."
It took them about ten minutes to refit the proper gear and materia on everyone, but once they did, Sephiroth felt fairly secure in their finished product. Once they let the game know they were happy with their party, the blue box disappeared and then, one by one (well, more of a wave of three each) they all jumped off of the ship.
"Wait, do they even have parachutes on?" Zack asked, sounding surprised.
"It doesn't look like it…" Angeal said.
"I guess it could be the graphics…" the Second agreed, sounding worried.
The scene cut to the underside of the airship with the background of the enormous meteor behind it, and as the ship flew past, everyone spilled over the side. Then it switched to an above view of Midgar as the characters fell down.
"So, they do have parachutes on," Angeal said thoughtfully just as Sephiroth noted the small, brown squares on their backs.
"When did they put them on?" Genesis grumbled.
"I guess those were different character models. Weird, but definitely falls into game limitations." Zack shrugged.
The screen zoomed in on Cloud as his parachute opened. And by 'opened', Sephiroth meant it just appeared with a simple 'zap' sound.
Game logic, he supposed. Not quite crazy enough to be insanity and explained mainly by the computer graphics.
Cloud touched down on the ground and then stood up, standing in front of the dingy buildings (and a very strange distant contraption with… pipes and waving oars that Sephiroth knew didn't exist currently… was that a part of the modified canon?) in the background for several seconds as his parachute fell down beside him. After a moment, Cait Sith came hopping up to him. He warned Cloud that Heidegger was coming after them and that was why they had to get underground. Sephiroth nodded. Fair.
The two of them ran off, Cloud with his Parachute strapped on still… and no material dragging… Yes, that counted as game insanity. Especially when the screen cut to the next scene and showed Cloud without his parachute at all. Sephiroth rolled his eyes.
"And it miraculously vanishes," Genesis muttered.
"What?" Zack asked.
"The parachute you…" the red-head started, but then glanced over at a coolly staring Angeal, "Backwater… mouth burner."
It didn't have nearly the punch the thespian obviously wanted, but Angeal nodded and smiled, obviously satisfied.
Zack seemed to be holding back laughter, much to Genesis' frustration. He simply growled lowly and moved Cloud on with a new fervor.
In the alley they found themselves in, they also found a save point. Sephiroth wondered what the point of changing the party members before the dive was for. Insanity bordering on stupidity simply for the pointlessness of it.
At the end of the alley, they found all seven other people standing near a large rectangle on the ground. It looked like a metal covering, actually.
Genesis saved the game and walked up to Cait Sith, who opened the covering, showing a ladder leading down. Then he begged Cloud to get to the Mako Cannon and jumped in. Sephiroth supposed he was a robot or puppet and was likely built for that, but it still seemed like a bad idea to just jump into a hole like that. Genesis had Cloud climb down and more intense music started.
The underground area they came to looked… well, a mess of a cavernous space to be honest, with several pipes, support beams, and catwalks.
"Who would build that kind of maze under the plate?" Genesis asked.
"ShinRa," Zack said sardonically.
Sephiroth held in a snort, barely. He wasn't wrong.
The next twenty minutes had them running around, fighting battles and accidentally picking up treasure thanks to Genesis listening to Zack's instructions after Angeal had more or less glared him into it. He retaliated by pointing out that they were supposed to be in a hurry. Sephiroth agreed, despite having gotten some pretty good items out of their confusion.
The strangest thing they ran into there was actually a behemoth.
A behemoth. Under Midgar. Inside the plate.
Game stupidity because that part of the plate wouldn't be standing if a behemoth was running freely. Just, no.
Eventually they reached the end by walking into a tunnel (that changed into crawling forward through a vent, but climbing out at the end feet-first) and climbed down into some tracks tunnels.
"Oh, no… no. I am not doing this part," Genesis said as he thrust the controller at Sephiroth, who took it absently. "I'm going to finish my heathen-inspired meal while you play."
"Still a baby," Zack said with a snicker.
"No, I simply have taste, something you obviously lack, or lost due to food's version of firaga."
"Hey!"
"Stop it, you two," Angeal said, stepping in as the peacemaker. As he continued to scold both of them, Sephiroth looked down at the controller. His gut clenched but… he couldn't let the other two play it all night. They'd already been at this for over four hours now. He had to get over his own aversion to this. It was a game and he was Sephiroth.
So he pushed his discomfort to the back of his mind and had Cloud finish climbing down into the tunnel before pushing the controller that would have him run away from the screen. He didn't get far before a blue text box popped up saying: 'Oh no! They're here!'
Sephiroth wasn't sure who said that, but Cloud stopped, turned around, and the other two ran out of him as a familiar figure in a dark blue suit ran onto the scene.
"Oh joy, the Turks, again," Genesis muttered before taking an elegant bite. Sephiroth wondered why he bothered with the facade here.
Elena said she thought they could ignore their orders at this point.
"Rather nonchalant of her," Genesis said. "Their job is to protect the company and their heads. Something they obviously failed at."
"To be fair, they're not exactly equipped to stop a Weapon firing," Angeal pointed out. "And they're missing Tseng."
"And the world is still ending." Zack added.
Genesis shrugged but didn't dismiss their points.
The music changed to the one most commonly played when the Turks came in as Reno walked forward on the left-hand side of the screen, telling Elena not to be so weak.
"She's not being weak, she has a good point," Genesis said, indirectly confirming that he agreed with Angeal and Zack. "Unlike most people in this game."
Zack snorted and Angeal smiled. Sephiroth just shot the red-head an amused look before getting back to the game.
On the right-hand side of the screen, Rude walked on, reminding Elena that they were Turks. She conceded. Rude said they had work to do, Reno said he wasn't 'up for it', but… Then Elena finished by saying they had orders to seek AVALANCHE (presumably) out and… kill.
"Oh, please," Genesis said with an eye roll. "You couldn't kill us before, what makes you think you can now, especially when your heart isn't in it?"
Sephiroth noted, and wasn't quite sure what to think about the fact that Genesis seemed to count himself a part of this new Avalanche. Or maybe he meant everyone playing the game too? Hmm… he wasn't sure he wanted to ask either, so he clicked for the next dialogue box.
Reno, Rude and Elena continued on in that vein, saying they were Turks and would end it like Turks, and then a menu of responses came up. The top one said, 'Okay, let's end this!' and the bottom one said, 'No, let's not.'
Sephiroth chose the top one, of course. If they didn't confront them now, they'd likely continue to follow Cloud and his group around, and he was just as done with them as Genesis, at this point.
After a couple more lines, they finally got to the fight. Sephiroth calmly thought out what moves he should have each of the characters make based on how the three Turks attacked. He could either try to focus on one of them, in an attempt to reduce the number of opponents, or use attacks that would target all three to maybe speed the battle along. They'd recently enough saved and Sephiroth didn't want to waste time if he could avoid it, so he chose the latter. It got a little difficult to keep up a couple of times, but he was able to heal the party members before any of them reached the KO state.
Then, Sephiroth landed an attack that hit all three and Reno said to call it a day. Elena… did something with her hands as Reno ran off behind her. Rude followed him calmly, and finally she put whatever she'd been looking at away before rushing after them.
"Did they… run away?" Zack asked.
"They retreated in our other encounters." Angeal offered.
"Anticlimactic," Genesis said with a roll of his eyes.
Everyone leveled up, which was nice, and once Sephiroth had control again, he went to move Cloud forward, but Zack stopped him. "Shouldn't we follow the Turks?"
Sephiroth raised the eyebrow closest to the Second in question.
"Well, aren't they from ShinRa, so shouldn't we go after them? Follow them back and all?"
He had a fair point, so Sephiroth nodded once and moved the blond boy back towards the screen. To his mild surprise, it worked and they ended up in what looked like a switch track. Sephiroth kept going. The next scene was a tunnel much like the first they'd been to. Half way through that, they ran into a fight with some robots. The next screen after that was another switch track. Sephiroth frowned but kept going. Another almost identical tunnel and then… another switch track… and another monster battle.
"I don't think we're going in the right direction," Angeal said slowly.
"Nah, if that were true we'd have reached a dead end by now," Zack said dismissively. One more tunnel and switch track and they finally found a box of treasure. A power source. Sephiroth immediately used that on Vincent. The tunnels all had the number 'sixteen' posted above them, but Sephiroth noticed the switch-track numbers changed. The current one said 'three', and the one before that had said 'four'… so they had two more switch tracks to check then? It was a sound theory, so he continued on.
"Why are we going this far?" Genesis complained. "Shouldn't we be there already? Let's turn around."
"No!" Zack exclaimed. "The best treasure is always at the end of the longest, most annoying puzzles and mazes. Even if this isn't the way, I'm willing to bet my dessert that it'll be worth it."
Sephiroth took his word for it and kept going, even as Genesis grumbled under his breath.
The next tunnel had a leak of water spouting out in an otherwise very familiar tunnel… and Sephiroth ran into another fight.
The next screen after that was another switch track, although this one had another box of treasure, a guard source (that also went to Vincent) and Red XIII, who said he could smell that the route wasn't this way.
"I never would have guessed," Genesis muttered. Sephiroth ignored him and continued on through yet another tunnel and a switch track that had the number one at the top. It also had two boxes: A mind source and a magic source (both going to Vincent because he did need the help catching up when it came to his stats). Sephiroth wondered what such items (that he'd never heard of) would do in real life.
The final scene (Sephiroth was pretty sure) was another tunnel. At the far end, closest to the screen, sat a save point in the left corner and a materia in the right corner. Genesis immediately perked up.
"Oh, what is this?" he asked.
Then Sephiroth ran into a battle.
Genesis harrumphed in annoyance, folded his arms again and sat back on the couch, pouting. To be fair, even Sephiroth found it frustrating.
It didn't take them long to finish the fight and he walked Cloud up to the Materia. W-item. Sephiroth frowned and looked over in question at Genesis, who also looked puzzled.
"I believe I have heard of a materia that allows you to grab two predetermined things from your pack or pouch at once and use both of them at once but… it seemed like a rather useless materia to me."
"But it could be pretty useful here," Zack said thoughtfully. "With the game mechanics and all."
Genesis seemed to think through that and finally nodded. "True. Let us test it out!"
Sephiroth nodded and went into the materia slots before deciding to put it on Barret. Then he saved the game and hurried back up the tunnel. The first fight they ran into, he clicked on Barret's 'W-item' slot in place of the 'item' slot.
"What should I have him use?" he asked Zack. "Should I pick something in particular?"
The Second shrugged. "Nah. It'll probably work with anything. Just toss some grenades at it."
"No, a grenade and a potion," Genesis said. "We should see if it works differently with different categories of items."
Sephiroth, who had already clicked on the second grenade paused at the confirmation screen, then nodded and canceled that and went back to find a potion instead.
"Wait!" Zack said suddenly. Sephiroth froze.
"We're losing the fight," Angeal pointed out.
"But we have more grenades than we had before!"
Sephiroth blinked and looked at the number of grenades. Zack was right…
"Do it again!"
So Sephiroth did. It happened again.
"What is this?" Genesis asked.
"No way! That, my gaming noobs, is a glitch! And one massively in our favor!" the Second cackled. "This is great!"
"What on Gaia are 'noobs'!?" Genesis looked appalled at the word, which made Sephiroth wonder too, as many of Zack's terms Genesis had, so far, managed to understand and translate. But before Zack could answer, Angeal spoke up.
"A 'newbie' or new player."
Everyone stared at him. Then Zack cackled. "You're the best, Angeal."
The taller brunet preened. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? With Zack preening under Angeal's praise?
If anything, Genesis looked betrayed. "Angeal! How could you?! This is completely ridiculou—"
"And there goes Vincent…"Angeal interrupted, drawing everyone's attention back to the screen.
Sephiroth blinked and then hurriedly got a phoenix down for his second item. He managed to finish the fight and then healed the party before heading back the way they'd come again.
"What was that about a glitch, Zack?" Angeal asked.
"Exactly that! I mean, we see bugs all the time in the VR room upstairs, right?" Zack elaborated while Sephiroth backtracked in the game. "Well, games take a lot of programming, and sometimes that breaks the game, but sometimes it alters it in a way the player can use to their benefit. Normally that kind of bug is considered cheating, but I'm not gonna complain. Not for this game."
Genesis smirked, seeming to have moved on from his previous… indignation. "Do many games have glitches?"
"All games have them. Some people say if a game's not glitched, nobody's looked hard enough. I've never looked into game-changing exploits, but I know I've read that some cosmetic ones are left in because they're funny or because fixing them is expensive. Some game series keep glitches in sequels as a running joke. That game I was playing in the hall has some pretty infamous ones."
The next fight he ran into (in the first switch track they came to), Sephiroth decided to try and get up as many items as he could. He felt a little bad doing so. That certainly wouldn't happen in real life… but when game insanity worked in their favor, who was he to argue?
By the time they reached the tunnel screen they'd initially come in at, they had at least 30 of every item. The next scene was another switch track, although this one had Yuffie off to the right side. She just repeated, 'C'mon!' multiple times.
Sephiroth ran past her and into the right tunnel.
"We never tried the left tunnels, did we," Zack said with a frown. Sephiroth thought about all of the left tunnels they would have to go back to and decided that they'd simply have to miss out on whatever those tunnels held. If the others wanted to go back, they could play it. Fortunately, no one said anything further.
In the next tunnel scene, they saw Tifa kneeling down. Running up to her and clicking to talk to her caused her to slowly stand up, say she was alright and for them to hurry on to the cannon. They went on… and came to a switch track.
"I'm getting really tired of those," Zack said.
"Only now?" Genesis asked.
"At least this one says 'zero'" Angeal pointed out.
"Thank all that is holy," the red-head said.
They went right again and… found nothing. It looked like a dead end.
"Good call, Pup," Angeal said, ruffling Zack's hair, much to the boy's protestations.
They turned around and went down the first left tunnel and found another dead end, although this one had a ladder leading up to a crawl space. Sephiroth had Cloud climb up it and the screen faded out and then back in… to the front of the ShinRa building.
"Huh. And so we've returned to the beginning. A well-played narrative," Genesis said thoughtfully. "My soul, corrupted by vengeance, Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey."
Sephiroth pondered for a moment, but decided it was surprisingly fitting. "Loveless, act three." He nodded and moved Cloud forward towards the building that started it all.
xXx
AN: Genesis: You almost went an entire chapter without quoting Loveless, WHILE I WAS IN THE CHAPTER! THE HORROR!
Yes, this fic isn't abandoned. Just had some things in life come up and my muses decided they wanted to dive head-first into other fandoms for a while. *shrug* Whatcha gonna do? Thank you to my AMAZING beta, who has something to say:
Imagination's Beta note: I am also SUPER thankful for everyone's patience. I, too, REALLY needed the break, so that burnout didn't happen. I'm ready to continue with this Behemoth of a story, and I hope you all are too! (pun fully intended)
Obi: *Snickering* We're just as dramatic as Genesis. *swoons*
That being said, we'll try to get the next chapter out next month, but no promises. ^^;
Thank you for reading!
Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (No spaces)