Tifa vs. Aeris Chapter 5
Ancient Fear
By Chris Homer
STORY SO FAR:
Jenova and Sephiroth (or rather Lucresia and Tifa) have done a vanishing act, and the remaining members of Avalanche and The Turks don't have a clue what to do. So, they have split up into four groups;
Group 1: Cloud, Vincent, Cid and Red
Group 2: Zack, Tseng, Rude, Reno and Elena
Group 3: Yuffie, Heici, Cait and Chromer
Group 4: Barret, Jessie, Aeris and Reeve
This part will focus on Group 4, who are heading to Junon via Gold Chocobo, as well as visiting the Temple Of The Ancients.
_____________________________________________________________________
"Whoa, someone stop this thing!" screamed Reeve, for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
"Reeve, it's just a chocobo, it won't destroy you!" screamed Barret, for the umpteenth time.
Two golden chocobos were trekking away across the eastern continent, where Reeve almost had a heart attack when they approached water, but when the chocobo pasted it with ease, his heart went back into his chest. Even though he was riding with Aeris, his nerves didn't seem to be at its calmest.
"Remind me to stay on the ground whenever I travel from now on, guys!" he retaliated. Aeris and Jessie both giggled as they took another look at Reeve's pale white face.
They were nearing the port though, and wondered whether to enter Junon and speak with Mayor Domino for help, or just leave. They were wondering that when.....
BUMP!
Another person on a chocobo crashed into Barret's. The two people on board fell whilst Barret kept his composure.
"Hey, what the hell are you....." he started, but then looked down at the two.
The young man, no more than 17, he couldn't recognise, but his hair was spikey and red, similar to Cloud's except for the colour. His body was not fat but not thin, and he carried a dagger on his belt. The girl, about 15, he did recognise however.
"Priscilla?" he said.
"I can't believe I fell again! Sheesh, my dad's gonna kill me.......did you just call me? How the he..." Priscilla looked at him and recognised him and the girl on the second chocobo.
"Barret? Aeris? NO WAY!" she squealed and smiled. Aeris slipped off and gave the young girl a hug. Barret smiled and also got off, helping the young man up.
Barret and Aeris explained to Jessie how they met Priscilla. Reeve of course knew, but via Cait so Priscilla didn't recognize him.
"So, who's the young man with you?" said Aeris, mischieviously.
"Oh.......this is Lucas. " Priscilla started to blush. "I'm sorry, but you can tell Cloud that the marriage is off, I've found someone else!" she said and joined hands with Lucas.
Barret and Aeris started to laugh at loud. Reeve smirked whilst Jessie looked confused. Barret just managed to guffaw out "It's a long story!"
After everyone settled down, Lucas began to introduce himself. He met Priscilla about a year ago just after the Meteor tradegy. Apparently, they knew each other during school but didn't know each other brilliantly. However, Priscilla's popularity since everyone found out that she knew Cloud Strife rose fourfold, and some females were getting jealous. They started to attack her. From that, Lucas started to feel sorry for her and offered to train her in amateur greco (Roman wrestling). They got close after that and offically became an item after Priscilla trashed four of those bullying girls and Lucas congratulated her. Lucas is now at Junon Olympia, a sports college, where he hopes to become an Olympiad in cycling, greco and windsurfing.
"Not much to talk about." Lucas concluded with a snigger.
Barret explained everything that has happened since Meteor and also why they were here. They wondered if Mayor Domino could help them out.
Priscilla stammered.
"Well........Mayor Domino and Hart were thrown out of office after an apparent scandal over something at the Honeybee Inn. They've got someone else in charge, and he is doing quite a good job now. Much better than the butt-kissers of old." she ended bitterly.
"Who is it?" asked Reeve, curious, as he never knew this.
She smiled.
"Lucas' father, Loki!" she smiled. Lucas looked proud.
"He's always been a loyal worker, but one day voiced his opinions upon Shinra's influence. He was thrown out, but continued to try and control office. His views made him very popular with the majority of the people in Junon, and when Domino and Hart were thrown out, an election was held between him and some person named.....I think it was Dyne."
Barret froze. "Dyne?" he asked.
"Yep, Dyne Briers." Lucas said.
Barret gave a small sigh of relief and pain at the same time. It wasn't Dyne. However, a part of him wished it was Dyne.
"Come on, as a friend of Priscilla's I'm sure my dad will let you ask him a few questions, but if you've come here for cash, uh, uh, too stingy for that!"
A few more chuckles erupted, although Barret decided not to mention that they were stock full of gil.......
_____________________________________________________________________
"O.K, who dares intrud...." The Mayor smiled as his son and his girlfriend headed towards him. "Lucas, Priscilla, always a pleasure!" He was about to say something else, but then caught a glimpse of the characters heading towards them, one in particular.
"B..Ba..Barret Wallace? Of Avalanche?" he managed to stumble out.
"The one and only." Barret replied with a smirk.
"Well, this is indeed an honour. And Reeve, what are you doing here?" he said.
"You know me?" Reeve inquired.
"Well yes, well, no. I know you from your work in Midgar. I know now you are the main 'sorta-outer' from the old Midgar ruins, and a jolly good job you have done as well!" he finished.
"Well....I....um..." Reeve pondered.
"And who are these two lovely young ladies?" he replied, curtly of course, being the mayor.
"This is Jessie Halberd...." indicating Jessie on his left. "And this is Aeris Gainsborough...." he was about to indicate when Dyne almost swallowed his pen top.
"Aeris.......not the Aeris that...." he started.
Barret could sense a recurring feeling. "Please, we'll explain later. It is much too difficult to go into now."
Most people would have bombarded Barret with questions or at least made a fuss. But Dyne was much more cooler than that, and decided to lay off the subject for the time being.
"So, what bring you good people to Junon?" he said.
"We wonder if you have the technology to try an find a being of pure energy inside of her, along with any disturbances, alien or otherwise, you can find which may have been located within the past 48 hours." Jessie stated.
Dyne laughed. "Come on, I thought you had a challenge for me!" he said. Jessie smirked.
"Come on in to my secret hole!" he said, and pressed a button on his desk.
Soon an elevator, not too similar to the one at Mideel where they battled Lelin, appeared from a secret passageway from underneath.
"Enter." Priscilla said, in a voice mocking her boyfriend's dad. Dyne made a mental note to ask Lucas how school relationships work nowadays.
_____________________________________________________________________
Despite it being fairly narrow, the 7 people managed to squeeze in, including Barrets near 300 pound frame. They entered into some kind of lab, with electronic devices, chemical frames, and some of the most hi-tech technology involved. Even Reeve and Jessie, the two experts had to admire some of the stuff involved.
Dyne went over to a main control panel. From there, he placed on a weird looking mask, with lights coming through it's eyes and bleeping coming from it. It was hooking to what was presumingly, the master computer.
"Computer, enter code for DNA structure, AE1051415211, or HE20961, trace of it in atmosphere in last 48 hours. Please visualise."
A buzzing sound from the computer gave Dyne the conformation he needed.
A few moments of waiting appeared next as the results would be comfirmed.
What Dyne saw next was what he had not been expecting.
A huge DNA trail, one of green and one of black appeared from his eyes. He raised his observo-camera to look for the trail, it had gone past here, and was heading somewhere else.
"We've found possible matches....well, it must be them. A trail of excelerated DNA had past here matching both human and alien entities. However, I don't know where the trail leads......"
"Amateurs." mumbled Jessie and Reeve at the same time and both ran to the computer.
"Hey wait...." he started, but Aeris shrugged. "Leave them be. They know what they are doing." She just prayed that Red wasn't here as well, or they would have had a huge intellectual debate.
"I think I can connect the circuit wire towards the main computer, and then hook my bleeper through to my fax, giving us the trail, but I can't do it from this position!" he shouted as Jessie was typing.
"Men. Always doing things the hard.....and wrong way." A key-like object appeared in her hand as she inserted it into the main password system. Within seconds, a lot of choices appeared in some sort of alien language, but Jessie seemed to understand it because she was typing and humming away.
Within a few minutes, a smile came upon her face.
"All done. Now watch the printer." she said, indicating a printer to the side of Reeve.
Within seconds, a sheet of paper with some computer ink appeared in front of them.
"How the hell did you do that?" Reeve asked.
"Been there, done that. Don't ask." she said. Reeve still look confused, but he shrugged as he ripped the paper and handed it to Dyne.
Dyne read. "The trail leads up in the north, or more specific the northern continent."
Barret groaned. "Oh shit, time to phone old spikey." And dug up the PHS.
"Hold it, there's more!" he said.
"Apparently, the DNA had left some hardened atmosphere droplets from the alien figure, or spores. These could be dangerous, apparently some have been located here and in areas and areas of Midgar."
"Oh shit!"
_____________________________________________________________________
O.K, a bit short, but I'm exhausted. I've just finished my A Level exams, plus coursework, plus a Suikoden fanfic is in work, plus fitting in social life!
Don't worry, each group will have 2 parts, so this will be quite a big fanfic.
Thanks for your support. It does mean a lot.
.