Square Wars: Leaving a New Hope Chapter 3

The Journey into the Center of Meteor

By WarChild

The buggy made its way as Cecil, Bugenhagen, Robo, and Cait Sith journeyed on. The buggy finally stopped on a bluff overlooking a large town. Bugenhagen pointed at the town.
"The spaceport Kapio, with its infamous Wall Market. Infamous because of the villainy, scum, and the most sickening perverts one could ever meet. Once we go in there, we must be cautious. But we must find passage to Nibelheim." the old man spoke. The buggy left the bluff and journeyed to the town.

The buggy maneuvered its way through the streets of the Wall Market. It was then stopped by a group of SOLDIERs patrolling the area. The troopers approached the occupants.
"How long have these droids been in your possession?" one interrogated.
"I got them last year. You can buy them if you want." Cecil lied.
Another trooper wasn't so convinced. "Where's your ID? Driver's license, passport, that stuff."
Bugenhagen looked at the trooper straight in the eye. "Don't bother. You don't need his ID."
The trooper, controlled by the gaze, told the others, "We don't need his ID."
Bugenhagen continued. "These are the wrong droids anyway."
The trooper, still controlled, told the others, "We have the wrong droids."
Bugenhagen kept on going. "We are free to go."
The trooper then motioned the buggy to move along. Cecil was amazed. Bugenhagen didn't need to chant a spell beforehand. He could just tap the mind of the trooper so easily. The buggy continued its way till it reached a bar.

The Seventh Heaven.
"Do you think there would any pilots that could help us?" inquired Cecil.
"The best pilots are in this area drink at this bar. But be careful, they might be a little rowdy." answered Bugenhagen, as they entered the bar.
As predicted, the bar was full of rowdy people. A bunch of drunken mystics were playing the pinball machine. Some humans were shouting obscenities at each other. Other humans were fighting over the TV. There was even a yeti, and a strange lion creature. But those two just did nothing. The bartender, a 20-year of woman, wearing a tank top and short skirt, was managing the place. Robo didn't like the sight of it.

"It's unnecessary to promote violence people!" he declared. Everybody then stared at him.
"Hey your kind aren't allowed in here. Robots are a fire hazard you know. Get out of here!" ordered the bartender.
Before sending them off, Cecil handed a materia to Robo and Cait Sith. "Better use this to keep out of sight." Cecil told the two.
"Understood." Cait Sith replied. The two droids left the building without a second thought.

Bugenhagen and Cecil went to the counter and sat by the yeti and strange lion creature. Bugenhagen just asked around for good pilots. Cecil just ordered water. Suddenly someone tapped Cecil on the back. When he turned, two funny green creatures and a blond man wearing a blue-red robe.
"Hey, our boss doesn't like you." one of the green creatures spoke.
"Eh." acknowledged Cecil, as he turned back to the counter. The man tapped on Cecil's shoulder. Cecil turned to face him.
"My men don't like you either." the blond man stated.
"What's it to you?" Cecil asked.
"We are the Scorpion Army. We are gonna take over the universe, and you can't do anything about it!" the man announced. Cecil was getting pretty annoyed by these three.
"Why me? And what about the Shinra? There is a war already. Don't think you can make an impact." he replied nonchalantly.
"An impact?! They'll feel an impact literally, you fool! Just meet our hammer robot Kilroy." the leader said. Bugenhagen stepped in.
"Don't bother the boy. May I help you with something?" he mocked. As he asked, the green goons threw Cecil of his stool. Bugenhagen ignited his Mana Saber and proceeded to attack the leader. The pressed a button to summon his robot before Bugenhagen nearly cut him. "Don't think that because I'm older that I'm not agile." As Cecil was held down by the goons and the leader tried to hold off the elderly knight, the Kilroy robot rolled in the bar, smashing anything in its way like it was Mario chasing Donkey Kong. The bartender was now really ticked off.

"HEY! Take that robot outside and turn it off!" she ordered the leader of the so-called Scorpion army.
"Our boss takes no orders from nobody." replied the two goons, still struggling with Cecil.
"Fine. I'll take care of the robot myself." The bartender did a flip and leaped over the counter, landing before the robot. "Final Heaven!" was her war cry, as she lifted her right fist in the air, and landed it in the robot's midsection. That punch was so powerful that the robot ended up flying out the bar and across the road. Soon the Scorpion Army left with haste, vowing to build a better robot. Everybody instantly cheered the bartender.

"Way to go Tifa. You beat the @#$#$^ out of those @#%@" one pilot yelled.
"Uh, Cid, aren't you supposed to be watching the Dukes of Hazard?" Tifa asked.
"OH $#$%*! Change the channel back to dem' Dukes. DUKES RULE!" was Cid's reply, realizing the TV has been switched on him. As this occurred, Bugenhagen helped Cecil up from the floor. The yeti and the lion creature were standing nearby. Bugenhagen introduced the two creatures to Cecil.
"These are Red XIII and Umaro. They are with a pilot who might take us to Nibelheim."

Outside, the SOLDIERs noticed the Kilroy robot flying out of the bar. A few of them rushed to investigate. Fearing getting caught, Cait Sith and Robo rushed to the public stalls and entered an empty one.

Back in the bar, Umaro and Red XIII show Cecil and Bugenhagen to Cid Highwind. Cid began to speak.
"So, you boys lookin' for a ship? Come to the right place you did. The Highwind's a fast ship. How fast? She can outdo those Imperial space fortresses." Cid bragged.
Bugenhagen seemed unfazed by Cid's bragging. "Ho ho ho. Fast you say? As long it can go to Nibelheim it'll do just fine."
"Nibelheim, eh? Wha' ya need from me? Cargo deliveries? Message deliveries?" Cid questioned the old man.
"Just deliver me, the boy here, and two droids to Nibelheim, without confrontations from the Shinra." Bugenhagen replied.
Cid was surprised. "WHAT? Avoid the Shinra? What is it with you people? I don't deliverer refugees from the Shinra, especially since those $^%#$^ threaten to take my starfighter, the Tiny Bronco, away, those ^$#%#$%@#. If you want me to get past the Shinra it'll cost 25,000 gil."
Cecil was about to complain but Bugenhagen stopped him. He gave his answer to Cid. "Look, 5000 gil now, and we'll pay 25,000 later, when you get us to Nibelheim."
That deal seemed fair, thought Cid. "Ok. The ship's in hanger N64. Red XIII, escort our friends out of here."
"Why?" pondered Red XIII. Cid pointed to the arriving SOLDIERs. Red XIII then quickly led Cecil and Bugenhagen to the back exit. The SOLDIERs approached the counter. Tifa was back at work as usual.

"What happened here?" one SOLDIER interrogated. Tifa broke down crying.
"It was horrible. Three bad men tried to blow up this store. They even brought in a robot. 'sniff' They just left the building out the front door. 'sniff'" she answered.
"Okay men. Move out." the head SOLDIER ordered. When the SOLDIERs left, Tifa returned to her normal state.

As the SOLDIERS went pass the public stalls, one stopped.
"I need to use the bathroom you guys." he called to the others. Robo and Cait Sith heard this. As usual Cait Sith became frantic.
"Oh no. He's gonna find us. He's gonna find us." he chattered.
"Don't worry. I have Cecil's materia. Phantom! Come to our aid." Robo replied. A ghostly spirit appeared, surrounding Cait Sith and Robo. When the image left, the two robots became invisible. The SOLDIER then came in, opened the stall where Robo and Cait Sith was hiding, turned around, and prepared to undo his pants.
"Yeesh! It smells here already, and I don't want him adding to the stench." Cait Sith retched. So Cait Sith punched the SOLDIER in the rear. The SOLDIER jumped, clutching its rear, and rushed out the stall.
"Even though it's violent, it's effective. Come on, let's find Cecil and Bugenhagen." remarked Robo, as both made a break out of the stall.

Back in the bar, Cid thanked Tifa for lying to the SOLDIERs and ordered Umaro to head to the ship. As he got up to leave, a green fat figure wearing a white robe appeared on the pinball machine.
"Thinking of going anywhere, Cid?" the figure asked. Cid walked up to the figure.
"Well, Ozzie, yes. I was heading to Jenova to tell her I have the money. So go away you freaking piece of @#$@#%!" was the pilot's reply.
Ozzie wasn't amused. "Sorry pal. Jenova's gonna pay much to us bounty hunters for your head. She didn't like it when you dropped your shipments to the Shinra."
Cid was getting angry. "Look, those freakin' Shinra threatened to take away my ship!!! How can I transport stuff without a ship?"
"Why don't you ask her? She might just take your ship." Ozzie threatenly replied.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY YOU GREEN IDIOT!" Cid screamed, as he jumped and aimed for Ozzie's head, but hit the rope that kept the pinball machine on the top floor. With that Ozzie and the Pinball machine fell through the floor to the hidden room down downstairs. "OZZIE... Ozzie's been tricked!" he shouted as he fell. Tifa got Cid down.
"Sorry, about the damage. I'll pay for it." Cid said to Tifa.
"That's okay. I'm gonna sell this place and move in with my boyfriend." she replied. Cid waved goodbye and headed out.

In the space station the Dark Knight furiously questioned Hojo about his failure.
"I swear you made a faulty batch of truth serum!" accused the Dark Knight.
"It ain't faulty. I tested on a bunch of other prisoners and they cracked open in seconds. But she's different. It seems she has immunity against it. Even more powerful doses and fatal ones doesn't seem to faze her." Hojo defended himself.
Kefka then walked into the room. "Don't worry. I just heard the Sister Ray's operational. I told the navigators to direct this station to Nibelheim. Only by threatening millions of lives can we gain information from her."

At a weapon store Cecil was haggling with a merchant. The merchant could only pay 10,000 gil for Cecil's buggy. Bugenhagen told Cecil to accept the offer, for he was planning on having the leaders of Nibelheim to pay the rest. Red XIII kept an eye on the crowd while the transaction was being completed. Nearby Johnny kept an eye on the three, hoping to find out where the robots are. He got his PHS and dialed the local SOLDIERs.

At the docking bay N64 Jenova-Life and her various bounty hunters, including Slash, Flea, and the Turks, waited for Cid.
"Cid! Cid! Come out of there." she called.
Cid then walked in. "Okay, okay, don't wrap your @#@# tentacles."
Jenova glared at Cid. "Why did you knock out poor old Ozzie? All I wanted him is to talk to you?"
Cid just took a puff. "That's stupid piece of @#$@#%$ tried to kill me! And I was about to tell you I'm gonna get more money!"
Jenova was unimpressed. "Why, Cid, did you gave up my cargo to the Shinra? It's bad business if everyone does this."
"You stupid $#%#$-hole! How can I continue delivering cargo if my ship gets taken away from me? #$%@%&^@#$^@#$^@! Look, I'll get your money as soon I deliver something else! And you might get a little extra."
Jenova stopped glaring. "You dare talk back to me. I like that. Alright, one last chance. Drop it, and you're chocobo dung." She motioned the other to leave, then departed herself.

Soon Red XIII, Bugenhagen, Cecil, and the droids arrived. Cecil stopped and looked at the ship, the Highwind. It was a pretty big cargo ship, more suited for carrying people than cargo. Cecil then noticed the scantly dressed girl on the ship's side.
"What the heck is that?" he inquired.
"It's the Highwind! Never seen a ship that goes to lightspeed in a few seconds kid? Look, Umaro is already in there so why don't we join him?" With that everybody boarded the ship. Outside Johnny caught the scene and motioned the SOLDIERs to the area. As soon everybody got comfortable in the ship the SOLDIERs arrived and started shooting at the ship.
"@#%@#$ crap. They are after me again! Let's get outta here!" Cid ordered. The Highwind's engines roared, and soon the craft blasted into space. It wasn't long when it approach a blockade formed by a couple of Mana Fortress.
"Ugh! Umaro, try to out maneuver them while I'll set the course. They won't get my ship!" Cid told Umaro. Umaro mumbled and took the controls. Cecil joined them.
"Hey, you said this craft is fast! And they are still shooting at us!" he declared.
"$^#$ watch your mouth! It takes awhile for the Flight Crystal to receive orders you know. Don't you know it defaults to the planet's moon as the destination? So shut up!" was Cid's reply. With that the ship went into hyperspace without a trace.

Meanwhile the big Meteor of Doom has finally orbited the planet of Nibelheim. Kefka looked at the main screen and smiled. Soon the base's location will be known, and a planet will finally be destroyed.
Heiddeger came in and saluted Kefka. "Gwa ha ha. The planet Nibelheim is in range." he laughed.
Kefka did his usual laugh. "Hmm. The princess' home planet, at my mercy. This is so delicious. Speaking of the princess, where is she?"
On cue, Aeris walked in cuffs, the Dark Knight escorting her. "Pitiful, Kefka. Will you stop laughing like that?" she screamed.
"Oh, you don't like how I laugh? Don't worry, you won't be hearing it anymore. I told Scarlet to work with Hojo. They are cooking up something good for your execution." Kefka laughed. This angered Aeris, as she tried to grab a hold of Kefka, only to be restrained by the Dark Knight. "A tough one I see. Tough enough to conceal your base's location. Very well then. We'll see how tough you are."
"I'll never betray the alliance, no matter what you do to me!" she firmly stated.
"Oh, who said anything about doing anything with you. We know you have resistance to the truth serum. Gwa ha ha. But will your home planet have resistance to this mighty space station." Heiddeger mocked. Now Aeris was really furious. Would they stoop so low?
"How dare you? My family, my friends. They are on that planet! You wouldn't dare." Aeris shouted.
"We would. But we might reconsider, if you will tell us where your rebellious friends are." replied Kefka. Now Aeris knew. She must find a way to keep both planets safe. Millions of lives depended on it.

"Damcyan. They are on Damcyan." she answered.
"Well, what a pity. She did betray them. Heiddeger, fire the weapon." Kefka ordered.
"WHAT?" Aeris exclaimed.
"Damcyan's too far. Besides, the emperor himself gave me permission to destroy this planet anyway. For I deemed it already traitorous. And all traitors must be destroyed."
"NOOOOO!" Aeris tried again to reach Kefka, but again the Dark Knight restrained her.
"Let's this planet feel my Light of Judgement!" Kefka laughed.
With a flip of the switch, the Sister Ray started storing immense energy. When it reached its peak the weapon fired. In seconds the planet was reduced to nothing. Aeris suddenly groaned, her head throbbing with the voices of the dead.
"Unnnnnn... Ughhhhhhh... too loud... the voices... crying too loud." she groaned, then fell to the floor.
"What's the matter, you little woozy, the destruction of your home make you miserable? Don't worry we're gonna put you out of your misery. Mwaa ha ha ha ha." Kefka mockingly laughed. "Dark Knight, take her back to her cell, until the gas chamber's complete." Kefka ordered. The evil warrior complied, picking Aeris up and taking her away.

In the Highwind's passenger room Bugenhagen also felt the voices screaming. A planet was in pain. Then the voices stopped abruptly. Did the suffering stop, or was something worse occurring? Cecil was beginning his training as a Mana Knight. Umaro, Red XIII, Robo, and Cait Sith were playing a game of poker at a nearby table. Cecil noticed the knight's pain.
"What's wrong?" he asked the sullen knight. The old man sighed.
"Something just happened, something that was disturbed the lifestream. As if millions were screaming in pain then they were silenced without a thought. Best if you continue with your training now." Cecil returned to his training. He ignited his own Mana Saber and practiced with an Alert-type bot(found in FF4). The bot would fire a laser and Cecil would try to deflected it. Cid walked in the room, smoking as usual.

"Well, I told we get pass those SOBs. What ya doin' here?" he asked. Cait Sith looked up. "I just increased by bet and everybody decides to call." He then placed his cards.
"Two sevens."
Robo placed his cards. "3 fives. I believe my cards are better than yours occurring to the rules."
Umaro placed his cards. "Ugh ugh. Me have four fours."
Red XIII placed his cards. "I believe I won. A royal flush." The other player groaned.
"I can't believe it. Any game we play he always wins. Chess, checkers, Square Wars Monopoly, even card games. He's the best board game player in the universe. I bet he can easily win at Solitaire." moaned Cait Sith.
Umaro, on the other hand, pushed the stuff of the table in disgust, distracting Cecil. This allowed the Alert bot to get a good shot at Cecil. Cid just laughed.

"You boys are a bunch of screwballs, you know that? Just don't scuff the ship alright?" he chuckled.
Cecil turned to Cid. "You really don't care what I'm doing here aren't you?"
Cid kept on chuckling. "I really don't care. I really don't believe in that spiritual mumbo jumbo. It's just something to scare children like the Boogeyman or Michael Jackson."
"Simpsons addict..." Cait Sith mumbled to himself.
Bugenhagen want up to the knight in training, and placed his hands over Cecil's eyes.
"What the? I got the blindness status!" Cecil exclaimed.
"Don't use your eyes. Use your mind!" Bugenhagen responded.
Amazingly Cecil fare better against the Alert bot, even deflecting the rays back at the bot. Cid again chuckled. "You think you're so lucky. I could do that blindfolded." he declared.
"But he did have the blindness status, you know." Bugenhagen reminded. A beep was now audible.
"Hoooky. We're at Nibelheim. And another 25,000 gil for me." Everybody headed to the main control room. Cid shifted the controls out of lightspeed. Instead of approaching a planet, they entered an asteroid field.

"What the? Did somebody cast Comet?" Cid exclaimed. As they passed the asteroid field, an spherical object was viewable. "Now there's a funny looking planet. Look's kinda metallic though."
Bugenhagen realized what just happened. "That's no planet. It's the Shinra's Meteor of Doom, and I bet it destroyed Nibelheim!"
"#$@#%^#$! You tellin' me that them Shinra bastards have something that blows up planets?!!! Now what do we do?" Cid swore.
"The first course of action would be to get out of here." Cecil replied.
"Now you're talking my language. Umaro, move us out of here!" Cid declared. Umaro and Cid worked frantically at the controls. But the spacecraft kept nearing the space station. "#@$@# They got a tractor beam. That's it! I'm gonna fry every SOLDIER I see!"
"But they got a planet's worth of personnel. I have a better idea." Bugenhagen said, just as the craft was pulled into a hanger.

At the hanger many SOLDIERs swarmed the ship, securing it before its was inspected. Meanwhile in the conference room Kefka received reports from his scouts.
"What ya mean there's no base on Damcyan. She said so herself?" Kefka frantically asked the person on the other side of the PHS.
"She lied to us. Don't you see? She lied to us." the Dark Knight mentioned.
"Oooooooooh that girl's gonna get it! She's gonna..." Kefka tried to shout, but was interrupt by a bleep on the intercom. Kefka pressed the button. "What do you want?" he snapped.
"Well, we have got a ship entering the former Nibelheim system. Its description matches the one which left Kapio." the voice on the intercom buzzed. Kefka's frown turned to a smirk.
"So, they were planning to get the plans to Nibelheim. Looks like they are too late. Dark Knight, search the ship."

What they didn't know that Cecil used the Phantom materia to turn themselves invisible. As soon as the planks went down, they rushed out. Bugenhagen knew their might be a locker room with a save point just in case. Not only did the group found such a room, they also found three SOLDIER outfits. Cid and Cecil put those on and gave one to Red XIII. Further searching of the lockers revealed a HP Shout for Cait Sith. With new equipment and disguises, they charged to the nearest control room. Cid as usual went crazy as he attacked the SOLDIERs and the personnel in the room.
"Go to hell you SOBs." he shouted.
When the fighting died down Cecil took off his mask and started to reprimand Cid.
"If you keep this up the whole station would be on us!"
"I just feel like killin' okay?" Cid retorted. Robo started working on the computer terminal.
"If I get in their systems we might be able to find where the source of the tractor beam is."
The screen popped up to show a GUI that looked oddly like Windows 95/98 except it was called "MakoSoft Windon't 2000". Robo clicked on the Start button, and moved the cursor to Programs, then saw something interesting.

"The Meteor of Doom's information center." Robo remarked, as he clicked on the icon. A menu screen appeared. It read:
1. Meteor of Doom's Technical Specs
2. News and events within the Meteor
3. Known personnel

Robo hit one. Another menu appeared. It read:
1. Weapons systems
2. Defense systems
3. Basic info
4. Return to main menu.

"Let's see, would tractor beams be under Weapons or basic info." Robo asked himself. Cid pressed one before Robo could decide.
"Tractor Beams are weapons dimbulb!" Cid declared.
"I'm not a dimbulb. I'm a R-series droid." Robo retorted. Another menu came on the screen. It read:
1. Turbolasers
2. Tractor Beams
3. Sister Ray

"What kind of screwball name is the Sister Ray?" Cid laughed.
"Only Scarlet would name such a super cannon." Bugenhagen remarked, as he pressed two. Soon all the details of the tractor beam appeared on it screen, including location of its main power sources. Bugenhagen read everything, then started to leave.
"Where are you going?" Cecil asked the knight.
"I have to shut it down before we try to escape." the warrior replied.
"You? What about us?"
"Only I can get pass those guards. You will stay here. Your future is different than mine you know." As Bugenhagen left, Cid moaned.

"Now how am I gonna get the money?"
"Steal it from all the guests here." Cait Sith replied.
"Huh? What guests?" Cecil questioned. Cait Sith motioned everybody to the screen.
"I decided to find what kind of news we have here. Seems to be an execution of a traitor occurring here. And it's gonna be public."
"Who's getting executed?" Cait Sith scrolled the window on the computer screen. An image appeared showing a brown haired girl in a pink dress. It was Princess Aeris.
"Hey, that's princess Aeris, formerly of Nibelheim. And they are about to EXECUTE HER!" Cecil exclaimed. Cid was notably indifferent.
"So what? Why does it matter if she dies or not?" Cid mused.
"If she dies, there would be millions of people demanding her revival! No one wants her dead. Besides, she parts of the rebellion, and these droids are really hers. We must save her." responded Cecil.
"Why should we save her? I'm not in the mood to go to the execution chambers." retorted Cid.
Cecil pondered in deep thought before he answered. "Well, the rebellion has money. Lots of money. They would pay for her safe return." Cecil knew Cid would do anything for money.
"Well, if I can get the 30,000 gil I want, I'll do it."

.

Chapter 4

Crossover Fanfics