Another chapter is here.
Kazeshuriken: More it will be.
Enjoy!
"Someone make sure it's dead," was the first thing Crimson said as the marsh seemed to settle down. Sure, the giant snake lying like a fallen tree was liable to really be dead. But she was wet, filthy, and still riled up from the adrenaline. The last thing she wanted was anymore surprises.
Cloud obliged wordlessly, jabbing his Mythril Saber into the skull and twisting it until the hard sound of the bones breaking apart and sickening squelch of brains being mashed reached their ears. It wasn't getting up after that.
"Thank you." Crimson exhaled and ran her fingers through her wet hair, letting it cling to itself rather than obscure her face. "Okay. That's… that could have gone better, but at least we're all alive."
"We still lost all our supplies," Cloud pointed out.
Crimson could only shake her head at the loss. "We'll never find them in this marsh and the mines are just ahead. We'll just have to get through quickly and resupply on the other side, around Junon."
"Don't be so sure about that, kupo~!" They all turned their heads to see Mog had returned after having been blown into the distance. He was joined by the chocobos that had run off before, including Cloud's. The moogle floated towards Aerith and waved proudly. "Thanks for not cancelling the summoning, kupo. I landed near them and gathered them up again, kupo!"
Aerith held her hand out so that Mog could land on it. The moogle must've been surprisingly light, given her arm didn't seem to buckle. "Is the one you rode on okay?"
"It's fine, kupo!" Mog assured her. "Our bodies are forged from your magic while our consciousness dwells in the materia, so even if our bodies get destroyed we can come back, kupo. Though, it will take time, kupo."
Crimson couldn't pay any more attention to the moogle and its summoner when the rotund chocobo she had been riding on approached and lightly jabbed her with its beak. It let out an inquiring chirp and then ruffled its wings. She assumed that meant it wanted more Gysahl Greens.
"Fine," she huffed, less bitter than before. They were almost out of the marshes anyway. She fished out the pouch and pulled some greens out for it.
"Kweh~!" It nipped at the greens in her hand until they gone. Then it cooed, brushing its head against her arm for a stroke. She obliged it before mounting it with Red XIII following suit.
"Let's get to the mines, everyone."
[-oOo-]
In Shinra HQ, Tseng cast his stern gaze down at the file that Elena handed him and asked, "You're certain this was here an hour ago?"
She stood at attention, tense. It was an excited tension. "Positive, Sir."
He couldn't help but notice how proud she sounded. Part of him wanted to tell her that it should have been brought to his attention thirty-minutes ago at best. Reno would have had it in his hands not even five minutes.
He quashed it down. Elena was still new at this and they had gone through a very trying time. This was not the ideal time and place for a rookie to be broken in, but he was stuck with those that remained and she was at least eager. That she could take pride in.
Approve, but remind her to be more prompt, he concluded in his head before he spoke. "Good work, but next time be faster. The longer it takes for the information to reach us, the shorter the window of opportunity."
"I'll do so, Sir."
He dismissed her and then made his way to the elevator. It wasn't as sleek as before, with the windows covered by boards after they'd been shattered. Barebones steel and wires connected and made it work, even if ugly. That had to be good enough.
He rapped on the metal door that had been installed on Rufus' office out of courtesy and then entered at the new President's beckoning. Rufus was on the phone, his face fixed in a frown as he listened to the other end. He held a hand up to inform Tseng to remain silent and then gestured for him to close the distance and hand him the paperwork. The Turk did so without a word, and Rufus looked it over with a glance before speaking into the phone.
"No. We don't have the resources to spare for that, Scarlet. Make do with what you have on-hand." He hung up the phone without another word, cutting off whatever was being said on the other end, and turned to face Tseng. "Hojo is at Costa del Sol right now?"
Tseng nodded. "How do you want us to approach this?"
Rufus drummed his fingers on the desk, thinking. "We go soft to start with since we don't want him aware. He's lounging around? Station guards at every exit to that city so that he doesn't slip away, and then have plain-clothes soldiers stay close to him. What of the other targets?"
"Sephiroth has not been spotted," Tseng informed him. "As for the others, we've tracked down the vehicle they've taken but have found a conflicting set of tracks. We're looking into it now, but it's possible they've split up. The Ancient was spotted in Kalm for a time and I suspect that they may be planning to use the Mythril Mines to get to Junon. I've sent Reno and Rude for reconnaissance to be certain."
Rufus nodded and picked up the phone again, dialing a number and waiting for a response. "Heidegger. We're speeding up the trip to Junon. Send word, and have them be on the lookout for the priority targets."
[-oOo-]
Cloud dismounted his chocobo once they arrived at the entrance to the mines, setting foot on the solid ground beneath them for the first time in hours. It wasn't as much a comfort as he had hoped. It couldn't be with the stench of death in the air, wafting from the corpse of a Midgar Zolom, equal to that they had just slain, that was left impaled upon a dead tree.
"What could have done this?" Aerith asked as she looked up towards it.
"Give me a moment," he said. His—no, Zack's memories showed they had been taught how to investigate wounds and injures to piece together what happened in a battle or to hunt down monsters. If whatever did this was still around, they might be in for another fight. "Tifa, can you get the bags while I do. I don't think the chocobos want to be here any longer than they need to."
"Sure." She hopped down from her own mount and headed towards his, untying the ropes and straps.
Cloud approached, holding his breath and swatting at the flies that loitered around the corpse. Their clearing revealed a neat groove in the scales, done by a sharp blade. Judging by the way the wound flowed it was a clean, single stroke. Morbidly, he pushed a finger into the wound with a wet sound.
"Ew," he heard from behind him. One of the girls.
The cut was deep, with the opening being wider and it closing in deeper inside where the blade cut through the muscles. It was a thin blade, thinner than most that he—Zack knew of. To make a wound of this size it had to be long as well. At least as long as….
He pulled his finger out in disbelief and ran over to the water to clean it, shaking his head. He didn't want to believe it, but it made sense. He knew what that blade was like firsthand, a single stroke would be more than enough, and there were no more wounds barring where the tree impaled it.
"You look pale," Aerith said. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head as he finished cleaning his hands and brushing them dry on his pants. When he turned back he saw them all staring at him. More questions from his actions. He took a deep breath.
"The wound here were caused by Sephiroth's sword," he finally said. "If I had to guess, he came through here for some reason and it attacked him. He didn't take it seriously or it would have been in pieces. Maybe a single, off-hand slash cut into it and displaced the air at the same time, sending it flying until it was impaled."
The others looked horrified at that. He didn't blame them. They fought tooth and nail just to survive the one that had ambushed them, using every advantage they could, and a spur of luck with Red XIII learning his Limit Break, and they had barely made it. On a positive note, they didn't have to deal with a second one—or likely any given they had probably put the species on the endangered list.
"That would explain the hostility," Red XIII said as he walked forward. "During the gunfire when that man appeared, I caught the scent of mako wafting from him. It is similar to yours and, to a lesser extent, the driver who brought us to Kalm."
It clicked easy enough. Whatever they did to him was similar to the SOLDIER treatment, leaving them infused with mako. All of the Midgar Zoloms picked up the scent and acted on their rage at their loss by trying to kill him in a blind rush.
"Does that mean he might be waiting in the mines?" Tifa asked, with a barely noticeable hitch in her voice. Was it fear, anger, or both?
Cloud shook his head. "It's rotting already, and a good portion of its insides have either been picked at by scavenger birds or putrefied. It's been dead for some time now, and I can't think of a reason for Sephiroth to stick around. This was likely done on his way to Midgar."
"The scent I mentioned is not here either," Red XIII added. "Regardless, perhaps we should move on. I fear this smell will make me ill if I remain too long."
"Right." He went over to where the bags were and gave the chocobo he rode a pat on its beak. "Thanks for everything."
It nodded its head and turned to go back in the direction they came. Aerith's own was enjoying the attention she and Tifa showered it with, telling it how it did well, while Crimson's own was enjoying the last of the greens she had brought while forcing its head against her stomach in expectation. She rolled her eyes and placated it until Cloud's chocobo made a call and they both went after it.
Boldly, the party stepped into the Mythril Mines.
[-oOo-]
Reno sat down in the shadow of a tunnel nestled high above the exit of the mines, holding headphones connected to a listening device fixed with a small dish to pick up sounds easier. Rude was next to him, leaning against the wall. The pair had been sent to track down the Ancient, and this was the most feasible way for the group that they were in to do so.
He imagined that they'd taken chocobos to get across the marsh, given how the kid in the barn had mentioned it. The Turks had set out for the mines that moment, but there was still no sign of them. So they waited.
In a worst case scenario, the giant snake that they saw lurking under the water had gotten them. That would be… troubling, but it was out of their hands if that happened. When there were aspects of the job that they had perfect control over, they ensured that it was flawless. Outside factors were another story.
They stirred when a stream of flames billowed out of the entrance to the tunnels, knocking the charred remains of Castanets into the exit chamber. Right on cue the party of five emerged. They looked worn out and wet, but the Ancient was there, carrying what looked to be some kind of materia.
The creature put its nose into the air and sniffed, alerting the others to their presence on the platform. Crimson turned towards them, no doubt activating that Mastered Sense Materia that she loved so much, with her Rekka in hand. Reno immediately pushed Rude to the side as the blade landed to the side of his head, buried in the wall.
"Reno!" she yelled. The anger in her voice was palpable. He guessed she was still mad about the whole 'trapping her in a Pyramid and leaving her to die' thing.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, now!" He raised his hands up in a placating gesture. "There's no need for violence here."
They begged to differ as she jerked back the Rekka with a wire, doing so in a way that a small bit of the stone smacked him in the face. The terrorist that Rude had a crush then on extended her hand towards the Ancient, who gave her the materia. Then her fist lashed out and he doubled over as if he was punched straight in the gut.
He realized it was a Long Range Materia, warping space so that the attack connected even at a distance. It was a contrast to Crimson's own use, rendering the distance negligible so that any throw would likely reach as long as she had the wire to retrieve it. Both would be pains in the ass to deal with.
"There's no need to be rude." That was the signal. Rude pulled out a canister and tugged the pin off. "After all, both of us are after Sephiroth for the moment—enemy of my enemy and all. We just thought we'd enlighten you to that fact and tell you to keep the Ancient out of trouble."
"Flashbang!" Crimson warned as Rude then tossed it into the air so that it was over their heads. The canister exploded in a flash of blinding light, eliciting screams from the party. It must've stung something unholy considering their eyes had been adapted to the darkness of the cave and it was night by now.
"See ya around, Cissnei!" Reno told them as he and Rude made their escape to the perch where their personal escape craft was. They'd found them and confirmed the Ancient's position. Their job was done for now.
[-oOo-]
A kunoichi dressed lightly frowned to herself as she rolled around a materia in her hand, one of many that she kept in a pouch. Her collection had been growing. Yet, there was one missing—her Long Range Materia.
She clicked her tongue when she realized she must've dropped it in the mines while hiding there from a Junon patrol. That meant she'd have to go back in there and find it herself. She rose to her feet and prepared to jump down when she heard voices coming from the mine's exit.
A group appeared. They were too different to be with Shinra, no uniform and a variety of weapons. The one with glowing eyes was a SOLDIER though, like the one she'd met years ago and the ones who turned her home into the tourist trap it was. That bothered her a bit, but she'd stolen from their kind easy enough when she used the Seal Materia to knock them out.
"Damn them," one of them said, a long-haired woman holding her hand to her eyes as the rest filed out of the cavern and into the fresh night air in a less than pleasant mood. "What were they even doing there?"
The young kunoichi frowned. That outfit left little to the imagination, with the shirt practically hugging her well-endowed chest. She couldn't help but look down at herself and feel a pang of envy.
It doesn't matter, she told herself. They'd only slow me down, and make it harder to disguise myself when sneaking around. She nodded to reaffirm that thought and instead focused on the materia she had—namely the one that she had lost. Good, it saved her the trouble of backtracking.
"Reconnaissance," the red-head said, blinking away something in her eyes. "Their equipment was meant for that. They probably were here on orders to keep an eye out for Aerith, otherwise they would have brought backup to attack us."
The kunoichi noticed she carried a weapon similar to her own, a Shuriken. But, in her mind, the better one was the one who was raised in the country that they were originally made in and trained in their ways. She'd had one in her hands since she could walk, so she doubted she would lose if it came down to a fight.
"So what he said about Sephiroth was right then?" the guy with hair like a chocobo asked.
"I don't think he was lying." She looked between chocobo-hair and the big-booby girl. "They know your past and what happened in Nibelheim. Revenge is a very big motivator, and if we kill him or he kills us, that's one less problem with no resources lost as long as Aerith is alive."
"Worrying about it solves nothing at present," said the girl with a staff.
"Indeed." She blinked at the new voice. There wasn't anyone else around. Just those four and that weird animal. "For now, we need to recuperate. We've been fighting non-stop and haven't recovered from it all."
No way, she thought. It was a talking lion with a flaming tail? And it had materia too? Who were these people?
"You're right," the red-haired girl said, pointing towards her. Or rather the woods themselves. "We'll hide there and set up camp. Our supply bags were water-proof, so everything should be dry. We start a fire that doesn't make too much smoke, dry ourselves off, and set up a rotation so we can get some shut-eye."
They all agreed and started towards her section of the woods, giving the kunoichi reason to move. She had masked her scent and covered her tracks well to escape her pursuers from Junon, because apparently the military there didn't take having their materia stashes raided well—not her fault those locks were flimsy—but she needed to get into a good position to avoid being spotted before she could move.
She would wait for them to settle in and relax before she would make her move. Ideally, she would catch them off-guard and no one would be the wiser she was even there. The pouch carrying her materia would be heavier by the time the night ended, and her homeland would be a step closer to regaining their lost glory.
That thought in mind, Yuffie Kisaragi disappeared into the shadows of the trees with a smile on her face.