Nanaki and the Fallen Angel Chapter 2
Testing Grounds
By Brady Bryner, Bill Shofstall, & Anthony McKinley
Ocean, Coast of Bone Village 10:43 PM Feb. 12
"I don't think that we can finish it in time." Reeve looked around. "The damn thing uses to much adamant. It takes to long to meld it!"
"Don't worry, sir. We're using the reactor from the Sister Ray to melt down the adamant."
"But... I didn't want to use mako energy..." Reeve looked around again, only gloomily.
"We're using the stored energy. The Mustirio will be done within two weeks. When it's finished... What are you going to do?"
"I have to find out something in the ocean." Reeve looked through the triple pane glass. The Emerald Weapon was still out there. He put a hand over his goatee. "I sure as hell hope it works."
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Ocean, Unknown 10:59 PM Feb. 12
A creature stood in darkness, awaiting to be awakened. Around it sat war mechs and hundreds of other creatures. He had sent his undead minions to rebuild the tower. It had been damaged during its plummet back to the planet. His body, now tangled and mutilated, sat on a throne of his false glory. He turned to the new king of the undead, Astos.
"Soon... We will rain or righteous power upon the world, and we will come to power again!" Chaos's voice was like the sound of twisting metal. "Damn him. Bahamut... King of dragons... Bahamut... King of fools... He dare betray me and send those warriors forth. But now they will all fall to my power."
"Yes, my lord." Astos's red eyes gleamed, producing enough light to see his terrifying figure. He stood only five feet tall, but his body had decayed save some ragged flesh that clung to his bones. "Tiamat will mobilize his army of dragons against Bahamut, and when he falls, so shall the legions of light." Astos's face was placed in an eternal smile. He picked up a fine elven blade.
"Yes... Soon the puppet shall come hiter and loose the tower from these chains of stone and we shall be free." Chaos bared horrid red, blood stained teeth, the only thing possible to see save his eyes on the dark figure. He smiled coldy. "Release three fiends of the Planet! Release Lich, Kary, Kraken, and Tiamat is loose as it is." He lit a giant torch, bathing the room in a hellish light. "I am GOD!!!"
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Wutai Airspace, Hellbender Deck 7:43 AM Feb. 13
Rufus Shinra finally removed the last of his bandages. "So... This airship can fire fifteen missile silos at once. How many do we have?" Scarlet walked to him.
"Sixty-three. We also have several robotic laser turrets."
"I want Wutai to be an example of the arch laser."
"Yes..." Scarlet turned to a series of buttons and pressed several, then pulled down a switch. "Kya hah hah... Watch the fireworks... President..."
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Wutai, Pagoda 7:48 AM Feb. 13
Gorky looked up. "What the hell is that!?!" A large red beam hit the center of Wutai, slowly creating an energy ball. Within a matter of seconds, it exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Gorky covered his eyes. "Shit!"
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Wutai Airspace, Hellbender Deck 7:53 AM Feb. 13
Rufus smiled. "I like it." He saw nothing but a large, scorched area where Wutai had stood. No bodies or rubble. Nothing. It had put a dent deep into the Planet. Rufus looked back behind him at Dark Nation. Dark Nation now had a mechanical leg from because he had to have his leg cut off from being wounded in the same explosion that caused the supposed death of his master Rufus. Dark Nation padded away from his master.
"Kya hah hah! It can do that whenever you need, sir." Scarlet laughed again and stepped away. The Hellbender's massive red frame hulked through the air. It was much like the Highwind, and looked identical to it save its red hull, the weaponry, and it's deck was covered with a window wrapping vertically around it to view the land. The Hellbender rose up higher and flew towards Midgar.
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Midgar, Sector 2 Reactor 3:04 PM Feb. 14
Joe stepped through the old reactor. Timothy followed him, slowly. "Dude, I really don't think we should be in here..." Joe looked at him.
"Quiet, Tim... If any of those conseration gaurds find us, we'll be locked up for sure..." Joe used the red laser light on his shotgun to find his way. Tim picked his staff off of his back. "I think...this is it..." Joe pushed on a door until it popped open. "Told you those Shinra guys were a bunch of jack asses. Look at this!" Joe forgot silence and looked around the room. "Get the Serifor." Tim unpacked a round ball that rested on a heavy metal base. He hit several buttons that turned on a yellow light on the ball.
"It should start scanning for Jenova starnds and mako...now..." The light grew larger and covered the wall. Blue and green splotches covered the wall. "What the hell is that?" A black splotch marked the wall. A soldier ran in.
"Who are you?" The black splotch began sliding off of the wall. "Damn kids. Always sticking your noses where you don... What the fuck?" The sludge began bubbling. A large cord like structure flew from the sludge and wrapped around his body. "Holy shit! Help me!" He stretched his hands out to Tim and Joe, but soon, they where engulfed as well. The black poured into his mouth and seemed to be gone. The pigment to his eyes was gone. He stood up. "You are in an unauthorized area." He cocked his gun and pointed it at them. Tim rushed him and jammed the bladed end of his staff into the man's leg. Joe turned and blew off the man's right arm. But he didn't stop. The black liquid replaced his arm with a new, pulsing arm. Tim pulled a Murasame replica he had gotten in Wutai and leapt forward. He jammed it into the man, who just shot him four times. Tim fell back bleeding. Joe pumped another shot into the man, leaving a gaping hole in his stomach. He kept moving as he unholstered an uzi and fired at Tim again. Tim, being to weak to dodge, took the hits. He dragged himself up as the man made his way toward Joe, who continued to fire to no avail.
"Hell Blazer..." Tim leapt forward, sliced off the man's arms, and proceeded to decapitate him. The body finally stopped.
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Cosmo Canyon, Observatory 9:34 PM Feb. 14
Nanaki entered the observatory to find Anthony and Kianki all over eachother. They were oblivious to his existence in the room. "Well, I see you two have been keeping eachother busy." Anthony's head jerked up to see Nanaki.
"Yes... Yes we have... Maybe you should get a drink." Nanaki thought it over.
"Sounds good." He left the observatory. Anthony turned back to Kianki.
"See. Alcohol does solve all problems." Kianki slapped him softly. "Hey!"
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Cosmo Canyon, Seto 9:39 PM Feb. 14
Tifa pulled herself up the steep ledge, followed by Cid, Rude, Reno, Tseng, and Elena. They stepped past Seto and went to the observatory through the Gi Cave. "Hey! Nanaki!" Tifa stepped in while the others waited outside. Tifa found Anthony and Kianki lying near asleep, with Kianki's head propped on Anthony's neck. "Nanaki?"
"Huh!?!" Anthony looked up, waking up Kianki. "Oh... I'm not Nanaki." Tifa pushed herself to a wall. "I'm his little brother." Tifa pulled herself to the door. "He's at the bar." Tifa stumbled out, half embarrased, half confused. She had thought that Nanaki was the last.
"Umm..." Tifa blushed horribly. "Nanaki's at the bar..."
"How do you know?" Cid puffed his cigarette again.
"His... His brother told me..."
"Really!?! This I gotta see!"
"No... Uh... He's a leeetle tired right now..." She had to drag Cid away from the entry to the observatory. Anthony sat with Kianki, now both wide awake.
"I think that was a good first impression." Anthony sat still. Kianki looked at him.
"Yeah..." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure of it..." Kianki started to laugh.
"Well I thought it was!" He began to ask his brain.
"Aww, you don't wanna know what I think."
"Uh oh..." Anthony started laughing, too.
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Cosmo Canyon, Bar 9:41 PM Feb. 14
"Hi, Nanaki." Nanaki was trying to suck down the last of his vodka before they noticed the six glasses sitting on the bar. He shoved the glasses off; they fell to the ground and shattered with glass flying all over the back of the bar. "What was that?"
"Nothing!"
"Sure... One glass... Hmmmm... Trying to cut down?"
"Yeah! Thats it... Heh... Oh God, I'm pathetic..." Nanaki looked at the ground.
"It's okay. You're not as bad as Cid!"
"Hey!"
"That isn't saying much."
"HEY! Shut up, mutt!" Cid drew back his spear. Tifa grabbed the spear and yanked it away from him.
"Knock it off, Cid!" Tifa punched him in the stomach.
"Geow God!" Cid grabbed his stomach. "Damn... You still got it..." Cid pushed himself to a stool.
"Your brother was interesting." Tifa smiled, giving Nanaki the negative look.
"You talked to him!?!"
"Well... He was kinda tired... Some one else was with him..."
"Thats Kianki." Nanaki slapped his paw to his forehead.
"Whats wrong?"
"Nothing. He has a few problems in his past and I thought it best...he ease into living here..."
"He's easing into something..." Elena snickered.
"Shut up... What are YOU doing here anyway?" He waved a paw at them.
"We're helping."
"Okay... That seems unlikely and unfeesable... But sure! Why the hell not?" The alcohol had kicked in. All rational thought was gone. He stumbled down and fell off of the ladder. He fell on his back, four feet from the ground, and began laughing. "That'll...cost me..." He laughed more and stumbled back to the observatory.
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Costa Del Sol, Cloud's Villa 11:24 AM Feb. 23
"Cloud... This better be important..." Reeve sat drinking coffee in Cloud's living room.
"I have some news for you. First of all, the Turks are actually helping Tifa, Cid, and Nanaki find out about this Arkon guy. Nanaki has a living brother and there are a lot more of his species." Reeve smirked. "And... Heres what I've tried to avoid. Wutai is gone."
"What do you mean...gone?"
"I mean gone! Split! Ciao! See ya! That kinda gone! It's not there!"
"Why didn't I here of this?" Reeve started getting distressed.
"I don't know! I thought you would've told me!"
"Tell ya' what. Cloud, how would you feel in control of a whole unit of your own soldiers." Cloud's eyes opened wider.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I want you to investigate its disappearance. I'll send Cait to help you."
"Reeve... Cait's body is way too big!"
"Nope. I used some last minute proceedures. He is now sixty-percent purely biological. He doesn't need the moogle. But...he'll be too small for much else then spying. Pretty helpful in a covert operation." Cait Sith had been sitting in a corner for two hours, unnoticed.
"Hi, Cloud!" Cait waved and bowed. Then he sat back down.
"Enough of Cait is still mechanical enough to recieve orders from me, but he must perform them upon his own will." Cait jumped up, slammed his little hands together and shook them wildly about.
"No more takin' orders from you!" He pointed at Reeve, who decided to a last minute biological test and threw a small piece of metal into Cait's arm. "OW!" Cait yanked it out with a yelp and felt the blood that poured out. "Wow..." He put some on his tongue. "Wierd man!" The cat hopped over to Cloud. "So! Where was Yuffie when Wutai went up?"
"Yuffie's dead, Cait!" Cloud looked at Cait sternly.
"Wha'!?! Like..." He gulped for the first time ever. "Like Aeris?"
"Yeah, Cait..."
"Oh... Sorry, man." Cait got a genuinly sad look. "Scuse' me..." Cait walked away and ran down into the basement.
"Reeve... I don't want those soldiers. I need you to come with me. Get everyone... And I mean everyone back together. It's probably a long shot, but I think I may have some answers, but I need something solid to base them on.
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Midgar, Shinra Building 3:53 PM Feb. 28
Reeve sat at a computer. "Kay'... You want the files on deceased employees." Reeve typed several things into the computer. Everyone sat by as he typed away "Alright! Here it is! Lets see... Here we are Shinra!"
"Check his first name."
"Alexander. Damn! Thats the only Shinra record here. Except for this one..." Rufus typed in more. "Who the hell is this? Mora Shinra? What the fuck?"
"Who the hell cares? He isn't there cause he isn't dead!" Cait jumped up. "If he isn't dead... Thats... Umm... Check for Scarlett and Hiedegger!"
"Umm... Hiedegger is here... Scarlet isn't..." Reeve sat, angry now.
"If he isn't dead..." Cait looked back up. "If he isn't dead...then what happens to you? And us?"
"Nothing." Reeve changed the deceased files.
"What da' hell did ya' do!?! Dumb ass Shinra..."
"Shut up, Barret! If you need to know, I just put Rufus and Scarlet's names on there. If they show up, I'll give the soldiers the disk. They'll figure they're imposters and have them executed."
"Why!?!"
"I haven't changed that law yet... Impersanation of any Shinra personal to gain power is prohibited and punishable by death." Anthony walked over.
"But... What if they find out what you did before they're caught? Than ya'll are fucked." Anthony sounded much like a backwoods hick.
"Too much security. The cameras would catch them."
"The cameras just caught you making those changes though." Reeve looked around to see if there was any personel.
"Yeah." Without looking, Reeve shot the three cameras in the room. "I'll replace em' later. Any who... What else you want?"
"Umm..." Vincent walked to the computer. "I want the final files of Hojo and Gast before they died." Reeve typed more into the computer.
"Access denied." The computer's robotic voice repeated the phrase again and again.
"Umm... I can't think..."
"Access denied."
"Shut up!"
"Access denied."
"Fuck you!"
"Access..." The computer's screen blipped off.
"Woohoo!"
"Denied!" Reeve stood up and drew back at the computer. The screen popped back on. Barret pulled Reeve back.
"We need that..."
"Denied!" Barret rose his gun-arm.
"Shut yur' hole ya' Shinra shit!" Barret fired a shot that fell short and collided with the main unit.
"Access... Computer error... Protection systems down... Please log out to permit hacking... Will reprogram encryption coding..."
"I don't think so..." Reeve sat down and entered Hojo's files.
"Voice conformation required."
"Fuck you." Reeve smiled.
"Access granted." The computer beeped. "Good evening Dr. Hojo."
"Evenin' to you, too."
"Please state your file selection."
"Valentine, Vincent." Reeve cracked his knuckles.
"Opening file for Valentine, Vincent. Requires division of experimentation number."
"Go ta' hell."
"Access granted. State date of experimantation."
"Run a check of everything within the past..."
"Ten years..." Vincent whispered just loudly enough to be heard.
"Ten years." The computer showed a list of files. "Holy shit. They were busy with you... Whats this? Overmind?"
"Bring that up."
"Computer, select Overmind, read the selection, using all recordings."
"All files are recordings. Shall I proceed, Dr. Hojo?"
"Yes." Hojo's voice came up.
"In a final test of the man's strength, Professor Gast has ordered me to inject more Jenova cells with that of Chaos's. When the cells where merged, they caused the organism in question to gain high amounts of manipulative power, while keeping the organism from using any true intelligence. At the end of the cycle, the organism's body changes to that of being Chaos, much like the Chaos form, but allows the creature to alter his or her own DNA and RNA. The body will transform into anything the organism desires. This is to be the final test, as we expect Mr. Valentine not to survive. To complete the circuit, however, should he survive, he must inject himself with a form of mako called seriam. When the seriam is injected, it causes the DNA to complete its circuit and alter..." The recording skipped. "...thus causing anything manipulated to die of heart failure..."
"Check that one... Heretic. Its dated after that one."
"Computer, select Heretic, open the selections recording.
"We have succesfully maintained a stable blood flow. Mr. Valentine will survive, but I'm keeping Gast in the dark about this. If Valentine so much as gets angered, he could go insane, and kill anyone. The most dangerous of any of these forms whould be this. His body would turn into that of Fellim himself. I will highly sedate him, and hopefully kill him, to keep him quiet."
"That bastard." Vincent turned away. "Excuse me." He ran to the window and leapt out onto a rail and proceeded to leave.
"That it." Cloud looked at him.
"Yeah..."
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Cosmo Canyon, Observatory Roof, 12:07 AM Mar. 2
"See that there? That is Orion." Anthony pointed at the stars to Kianki.
"I know that."
"Do not. Name that one then!"
"Leo."
"And that one?"
"The dog star."
"Thats unfair. Okay... What is a super nova?"
"The explosion of a star."
"You cheat."
"I do not!" Kianki laughed. "I never cheat."
"You have to cheat! You know everything else, let me have this!"
"No! I have it!"
"I need to no more than you about one thing."
"You do..." Kianki smiled.
"Hot biggity diggity damn! Thats good enough for me!" Nanaki sat hidden, eaves dropping.
"I know it may not seem to be the kindest of things to do... But I have too invade his privacy..." Nanaki smiled and laid down listening. After hearing a little he moved back inside. "A little too graphic for me to picture in my head, about my brother for that matter." He found Reeve waiting for him.
"Hey. We need to get out of here. Where are those two?"
"Keeping eachother busy. Lets go..." Nanaki began walking out the door. Reeve began laughing. "Whats so funny?"
"Your brother... He... And you can't... You're so very, very lame... Your younger brother... He can have sex, and you can't even find anyone else in your whole fuckin' species..." Reeve collapsed and hit his head off of a table while laughing.
"Shut up... Come on..." Reeve wiped the tears out of his eyes and followed Nanaki out of the observartory.
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