Interlude 1

The Materia Mishap

A/N: Not an official chapter, but I was requested over Deviantart to create this little scenario so here we are. Just know that this is just a small side event from earlier in the story's timeline and will only have some of the main cast of Fandom World present.

7th Heaven Bar, Summer..

Cloud looked miffed as he heard what his girlfriend was telling him. It seemed Tifa had gotten her hands on some Intel about Don Corneo, the local equivalent to a whiny puppy in human form (and self-proclaimed mob boss). "So he's abducting women? Not just forcefully but with a trail of bodies to ensure these women aren't recovered?"

Tifa nodded from behind the bar. "That's right. Aerith already has Zack looking into it, but Corneo is supposed to have some recruitment drive to find his next bride, if they even live that long after they're taken."

"Alright, but what about the girls? Why is it always Zack and I doing these missions when we aren't even women?"

"Valid point, but you look absolutely adorable as a girl, Claudette." Tifa giggled.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. But this is the last time. It all started as a prank and now you girls always want me dressing up. By the way, did Yuffie find any new Materia while she was visiting her grandmother?"

Tifa nodded again. "She did, actually. She said she couldn't identify it and when used she said it did nothing, so I'm not sure what it even does. Still want it?"

Cloud shrugged. "Might as well. An unknown ability is better than nothing. I'll figure it out, I'm sure."

"Alright, babe, if you're sure. Here." Tifa handed him the small orb of concentrated Lifestream energy. It glowed a neon pink, a color Cloud knew wasn't regular for any Materia. He slipped the orb into the empty slot on his right hand gauntlet, the Materia glowing brightly as the light engulfed the entire room.

When both teens could see again, Tifa gasped at the sight of her boyfriend. "Oh, my.."

Cloud frowned at her. "What is.. it?" He grabbed his throat, realizing his voice was much higher than it had been moments before. "What happened to my voice?"

Tifa hid her giggle behind a smirk. "I think you might want to go look in the mirror, babe."

Confused, Cloud complied and walked over to the mirror that stood by the pinball machine/secret entrance for AVALANCHE. When his eyes met those of his reflection, Cloud almost screamed. "What the fuck happened to me?"

Instead of the self Cloud had always known, a woman that could have been his female twin looked back at him. His hair was somewhat longer as well as a bit more shiny and blonde than before, but everything else had changed. Case in point, the two chest-bound mounds of flesh that could rival Tifa's own stretching his SOLDIER uniform into more of a sleeved halter top. His pants were now equally as tight as he could see that his butt had also increased in size enough where the pants he wore would have to be loosened for any lengthy time in this form. "Tifa.." Cloud said frustratingly as he looked at his girlfriend. "Did you know this would happen?"

Tifa nodded, unable to hold in her giggling any longer. "Yeah, Aerith already had Zack test it out, but we all agreed he looked better without the body change. You, on the other hand.."

Cloud could only grimace as he'd already agreed to the job, and he hated going back on such things. "Fuck, fine. But if that slimeball tries anything, I will rip this Materia out and bash Corneo in the face with it until it shatters."

Tifa nodded, still giggling. "Alright, babe, keep your cool. Just go do the job tonight so you can go back to being the brooding man I fell for."

"I hate you, Tif." Cloud said as he went to leave. "And bring something for me to wear. With these," He grabbed his new set of breasts, taking his hands away just as fast from the sudden sensitivity he felt there. "The dress you all love seeing me in won't fit right at all. I'm trying to seduce the guy, right? Not outright rape his eyes." Why is it always me?

"Sure, babe. I'll bring something over in a while, once the others get in for their shift." Come to think of it, Genesis and Sephiroth were both late, and at least one of them would be all for going along with Zack and Cloud.

Cloud just left without another word, regretting saying yes to the mission at hand.

Moments after Cloud left, Sephiroth and Genesis ran into the bar. "Oh my Bahamut, Tifa! Wasn't that Cloud?!" Sephiroth asked in shock.

Tifa nodded, laughing. "It was! He took that Materia Yuffie brought back from Ruby Hills last week. Makes sense now why it didn't do anything to her."

Genesis hummed. "Cloud makes a better-looking woman than a lot of the guys our age. I don't know whether that's scary or terrifying."

"Both, Genie, the answer you're looking for is both." Sephiroth retorted as she looked at Tifa. "I'm in, whatever the hell he's up to as a woman."

Tifa nodded. "Good, I figured one of you would go with him and Zack. So, the mission is.." Tifa leaned onto the bar counter as she began telling the other two girls about the job.

Later That Night, Don Corneo's Mansion..

"So what's the plan, here? He's only going to pick one girl out of the ones here." Sephiroth asked as the trio walked up to the large residence.

"Pretty simple, really. Corneo only picks one girl in the end, but it's usually several that go missing each time he carries out these recruitment drives. So, we go in there, assess the situation until girls are called out of the gathering. When he's picked the finalists, let's say, then Zack is going to go all Stealth Mode and figure out where the runner-ups are held and possibly find girls from older instances." Cloud explained, pulling at the hem of the overly-revealing purple dress she wore.

Zack snickered. "You alright there, Claudette?"

Cloud frowned. "Fuck you, Zack."

"Aww, come on, Cloud. You look better than most of our friends, and this coming from the only actual woman here."

"Yeah, well, how's bagging Nick going? I haven't heard you being found with his cock in your mouth."

"Whoa, Cloud! Where did that come from?" Zack asked, eyes wide at his friend's sudden outburst, at least the severity of it.

Cloud looked down, making the other two realize something had to be wrong with the blonde. "I don't know! I think this fucking Materia is messing with me more than just changing my body. These are hella sensitive now and they were nowhere near as bad when I first put the Materia into my glove." He said, pushing his well-endowed chest up with his arms so as not to overreact to the touch.

Sephiroth giggled. "And now you see why us women sometimes hate our lives. Suck it up, buttercup, we gotta get this done."

Nodding, Cloud led the trio into the lavish mansion, hoping things wouldn't go away like so many plans he'd been a part of before had done.

An Hour Later..

The three were hating how the party went inside the mansion. It just seemed like an opportunity for Corneo to go around and geope the various women present. Cloud had even been victim to this and it had almost made him scream from the overly sensitive nature of the breasts now on his chest. It didn't help that Corneo had liked his fight and had chosen Cloud- Claudette- first out of the gathering.

Now, however, Cloud found himself in Corneo's private suite, dreading what would happen next. Cloud had tried to remove the strange Materia from his glove but found it stuck to the tenth degree in the Materia slot. It seemed that whatever happened from now until the job was finished was all up to him and his own strength of will. And as Corneo walked into the room, spouting off a list of things he would do to the genderbent high schooler, Cloud found he'd lost his voice all of a sudden to protest how much of a pig this man was. And that added in with the blush creeping up his cheeks and the uncomfortable sensation that made him continuously rub his legs together had Cloud sure that this whole ordeal was just a horrible idea to go through with..

It didn't help that Zack and Sephiroth hadn't checked in with him, the almost invisible earpiece staying silent since before Cloud had been moved to the suite. Come on, guys.. I don't know what's really going on, but something is screaming at me that this is wrong..

Meanwhile..

Zack had taken out the Don's men around the mansion, just now finishing off the half a platoon stationed near a door in the basement level. He quickly figured out why there were so many men down here as cries of help could be heard from the other side of the door. Slashing the door apart with his sword, he grinned as he saw a large number of women on the other side of the doorway, some in dresses that were now torn up from the most likely highly elegant state they had first come to the mansion with. "Hello there, ladies! The rescue party has arrived!" Zack was almost bowled over as the women as they stampeded out of the doorway and up the stairs to freedom.

Sephiroth, on the other hand, was just outside of Corneo's suite with her hand over her mouth as she heard sounds that definitely weren't what she expected to hear. Is Cloud.. What the hell is going on with him? Is that Materia really doing something to him? She felt like she was about to throw up as Zack approached her with a confused look. Sephiroth motioned for him to just listen and, when he heard what was going on, he looked at Sephiroth with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "Is Cloud..?" He whispered as Sephiroth shrugged. "Should we stop it?"

"I don't know if I even want to see what's going on in there. I say we just wait it out."

"Honestly? I can deal with that." The duo moved away from the door, not wanting to hear the commotion from inside anymore.

The Next Day, 7th Heaven..

"So what exactly happened to you, Cloud? What happened with Corneo?"

Cloud looked at Zack, thankful his body was back to normal. "Fuck off, Zack. I'm not retelling any of that. As for Corneo, I did just what I told Tifa I would do: I finally got that damn Materia out of my glove and bashed him to unconsciousness with it. It didn't shatter, unfortunately, but the Don won't be causing trouble around Crystal Springs anymore." He looked over at the pink orb sitting on the countertop, his eye twitching.

Tifa giggled. "It couldn't have been that bad. It's not like you went and fucke-" The look on Cloud's face screamed both terror and disgust as she gasped. "Cloud! What the fuck did you do?!"

Cloud groaned. "I'll tell you later, alright? Right now I need some time to sort my mind through that bullshit. School can't come any faster."

"Not as fast as you seemed to." Sephiroth remarked, sipping the cup of coffee in her hand innocently.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted and lunged for the girl, who quickly began a game of chase around the bar, giggling madly all the while.

Present Day, Crystal Springs High..

"Whatever happened to that Materia, anyway?" Nick asked after his fifteen minutes straight of laughter had ended. He had just been told the story by Tifa while Sephiroth leaned her head on Nick's shoulder.

Cloud shrugged. "No idea. Tifa said it just went missing from the bar one day. No one's seen it since." The others all laughed while Cloud glanced down at his backpack, knowing the Materia sat at the bottom of it as it had since the Materia Mishap, or at least that was what he called it.

No one would ever know of the rare appearance of Claudette around town was Cloud being a bit of a degenerate. Maybe, one day, he would even use it to surprise Tifa. But that was neither here nor there..

End Interlude..

A/N: So there you have it. I don't go into full detail because that's how I write. The context should tell you everything that isn't said, really. This tiny plot probably won't come up again unless I think some wtf comedy is needed, but know that this doesn't have to be the only Interlude chapter. I'm open to some ideas lol. I had a lot of fun writing this up, though. The dynamic of Sephiroth being terrified hearing sensual screaming and Cloud's hiding of the Materia in question felt like absolute gold. Until next time, hopefully with the full next chapter of Fandom World instead of another short Interlude.