The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest (Megaman Legends Arc)

[DededeCloneChris]

"Know her?" Marth asked. "She stole my sword and my sister's tiara!" he complained.

"She stole my boots and my weapons," Fox said in annoyance.

"S-she stole my game console..." Chris muttered.

"She stole my suit," Samus said.

"She stole all my weaponry," Snake muttered.

"She stole a control that isn't even mine," Knuckles said.

"And she stole my hat," Mario added.

Cloud and Aerith exchanged glances. "...Wow," Cloud muttered. "You...happened to stumble upon her on your way here or what?"

Aerith gasped. "Did you see if she was carrying some Materia with her?"

"Materia?" Samus asked. "Hmm, I didn't see any of that."

Cloud thought for a moment. "Where did you meet her?"

"We met her close to this village," Mario said. "Once we met her, she made us all fall asleep to steal all our belongings to sell them to get money to get more Materia...or something like that. After that, we came here to see if she was around these parts. It wasn't long ago since we arrived."

The blond mercenary thought more about the matter. "Then...she probably had the Materia with her around the time where she decided to pilfer you."

Aerith looked a bit upset. "Yuffie has to be here. She told us she knew the area very well, so she surely meant that she lived here..."

Cloud nodded. "If that's the case, she must be somewhere in the village. Okay, Aerith, Cid, let's go out and find her," he said as he turned to the entrance.

"W-wait!" Chris interrupted.

The blond mercenary turned to Chris. "What do you want now?"

Knuckles crossed his arms. "Hey, if you forgot, we got our stuff stolen by that girl. Do you think we're just going to sit here and do nothing?"

"It's the s&^%..." muttered the bald man Turk from the table.

"..." Cloud shook his head. "Sorry, but this only involves us. Yuffie, the girl you met, was part of our group until recently. It's better if any of you doesn't get involved in our affairs."

"Wait a minute," Fox began, "we can't just let her get away with it."

Aerith looked up. "I don't see why they shouldn't come with us, Cloud..."

"Aerith, don't support them," Cloud said. "If we let more people come with us, they're going to slow us down. Yuffie is very nimble, you know."

"But the more, the merrier, right?" Aerith asked before looking at Cloud. "I'm sure that it'll be easier to find Yuffie if we use some help."

"We don't even know these guys," Cloud said. "Besides, most of them...aren't even human like one person we know."

Aerith chuckled. "So? I got pretty used to meet non-humans."

Cloud sighed. "Aerith, he's the only person we met that isn't human..."

"Even so, I think it's just fine," Aerith said. "Also, I haven't seen any of them destroying anything in here. That's a plus."

"But my decision stands," Cloud said. "They're not coming with us."

"Hey, you," Snake called from the counter.

Cloud looked at Snake. "Yeah?"

Snake got off from his chair and looked at Cloud. "Normally, I'd say I don't want to meddle with any of you."

"S-Snake!" Chris muttered.

"...But," Snake continued, "since I got my weapons stolen, it was natural that I was going to follow after her."

"So?" Cloud asked. "I'll get your stuff if I find Yuffie."

Snake shook his head. "That won't do, sadly," he said. "Like I said before, I'm following that girl to get what it's rightfully mine. I'm not going to let a kid like you tell me what I should do."

Cloud shook his head. "Forget it, old man. I'll find Yuffie an-"

"We'll find them together and that's that," Snake said as he took a slow step forward. "She even stole more valuables that she doesn't need to play with. If you don't like the idea of us tagging along with you 3, then you'll have to tolerate us as much as you can, but we'll stick together until we find her."

The ex-SOLDIER glared at Snake. "What is it that you don't understand about this? She was with us before, and she needs to understand the consequences about stealing what she had been "loaning" from us. You don't know what you're getting into."

Cid turned to them. "That b&^*$ isn't gettin' away from me," he said.

"Well, we could say the same thing," Snake stated. "She'll get a consequence from us for stealing our things. And since you know a lot about her...maybe we should partner up for the time being."

Lucario gasped mentally. "(Please, let us join you. Please, let us join you.)"

The World Traveler, unaware that his Aura Pokémon was thinking (or maybe begging) about letting join them, looked away. "(I'm pretty sure there are some crazy thoughts running inside Lucario's mind by now...)" he thought.

Aerith smiled a bit at the offering. "I think it's OK," she said. "As long as you listen to what we have to say, things could go pretty well." She looked at Cloud. "What do you say, Cloud?"

Cloud looked away and frowned in disappointment. "Aerith..."

Aerith chuckled. "C'mon, it's not going to be so bad. I started to cope well with some of them already."

"..." Cloud looked back at the group of Smashers. "...Fine, you can come with us."

"Really?" Sonic asked.

Cloud looked away again and nodded. "However, take in mind that we'll separate once we recover your stuff from Yuffie," he said. "We don't want to grow more in numbers since we were 9 people in total. Having 10 more is just...crazy."

Snake nodded. "Don't worry, I have the same thoughts as you."

"Whatever," Cloud said with a frown. "If any of you are ready for this, don't try to make any kind of oddities around or else Yuffie will know we're close."

Aerith put a finger on her chin (stopping rubbing Chip's forehead, much for his disappointment). "Um, Cloud, Yuffie is in the village. We caught her walking around the gate, don't you remember?"

"Oh...right," Cloud said.

Marth glared forward. "Then she IS here!" he said.

"Yeah, she is, alright," Cloud said. "There's one more thing I wanted to tell you if you're all going to join us."

"What is that?"

"You're going to have to listen to us," Cloud explained. "That's the simple rule you have to follow if you want our help to find Yuffie."

Final Fantasy VII - Wutai

Snake nodded. "Sounds about right to me," he said before turning to the others. "Are you okay with this?"

All the other Smashers looked at each other before looking back at the mercenary. They all nodded in agreement.

"Good," Snake said.

The Smashers have joined Cloud's party!

Aerith chuckled heartily at this. "It's going to be an enjoyable experience," she said. "We have a lot of people here to look for Yuffie while the others are doing some recogniztion outside the village."

"The others?" Samus asked.

Cloud nodded. "We're a total of 9 people before Yuffie left our team. There are 5 others investigating the surroudings of this continent to see if Yuffie went anywhere else. I know she is in the village, but maybe she could have escaped from here..."

"I think she's still in here," Aerith said. "Cloud, what do you think?"

"I think we better get a move on," Cloud said. "You guys will have to reduce your numbers a bit. We don't want to attract much attention outside with all those tourists walking around."

"That...is actually a good idea," Fox said. "We shouldn't just stay all together in a big group."

"What the fox guy said is true," Cloud said (Fox getting a bit annoyed at the "remark"). "Alright..." he took a quick glance at the Turks on the nearby table where Elena kept an eye on them, "...let's all first go back to the main gate of the village. That should be a place where we can plan out our movements."

"Heh," Cid chuckled a bit. "I know what you mean. You don't wanna have Shinra scum eavesdroppin'."

"S-Shinra scum?!" Elena repeated enraged. "W-why you..."

Cid turned to her, giving Elena a fierce glare that forced her to gasp and drink her tea in peace. "Better..." he muttered with an amused chuckle.

Cloud sighed. "Please, let's just leave this place already..."

The Smashers and Cloud's party started to leave the pub. While they did so, Chris walked to Snake. "Snake, thank you for convincing Cloud to let us join them."

"Kid, I'm just doing this because this problem has to do with us," he said. "Hopefully we'll find that girl before the day ends. I don't want to stay a lot in here with Cloud because he's giving us the bad eye, if you know what I mean."

Chris looked worried. "And what if we don't find Yuffie?"

"We'll chase her as much as we need to do so."

"I just hope we don't give Cloud or the others a bad impression while doing this..."

Snake looked forward. "That's a little bit far from impossible as of now."

"Why?"

Snake pointed forward where an amused Aerith rubbed Lucario's left ear with care. The Aura Pokémon growled happily at the treatment, making the flower girl laugh a bit while she still carried the "seemingly" dazzled Chip on one arm.

"(She's so gonna be my girlfriend now,)" Chip thought with pleasure.

Chris stared at this for a while before he smiled. "Yes...I think everything will be just fine..."

Once the Smashers had left the pub, back on the table where the Turks were sitting, Elena quickly looked back at the exit with a glare. The blond Turk, clenching her eyelids a bit, then stood up from her seat.

Reno saw her action and looked up at her. "What do you think you're doing now, Elena?"

Elena shook her head. "I-I'm sorry, Reno, but I just can't allow this to continue!" she said. "I must follow those guys to see what they're planning to do. I'm going to see

"Tsk," Reno muttered as he shook his head. "It's gonna be a heck of a trouble if you end up gettin' in trouble, Elena. If you don't want to relax, fine by me."

"W-what?"

"You're on your own for this time," Reno said. "You're gonna be working by yourself, and we won't have anything to do regarding your issues with those guys. Whatever happens to you will be your full responsibility."

"..." Elena looked down worried before she made a serious look. "...I'll be just fine!" she yelled. "You will see that I'm doing the right thing for Shinra, Reno! Just you wait until our boss gets a word of my actions!"

"I wish you some good luck, then."

"Ugh!" Elena grunted annoyed before she sprinted outside to follow the group.

After the Turk ran away from sight, Reno sighed at this and looked at the bald man across the table. "There goes one stubborn and stupid girl of the Turks..." he trailed off.

"I can see dah futurh," the bald man said. "I seeh our bossh daing by being crushed by a big@^$ cannun," he said drunkenly before chuckling loudly.

Reno sighed. "Seriously, the booze of this place is really sapping your brain now, Rude..."

Rude is the silent member of the Turks. He is rarely seen without his long-time partner Reno, and he is rather quiet and taciturn, tending to relegate the talking to Reno. Rude is a superb physical fighter and prefers to use his fists in battle. There are some rumors about Rude having a crush with another woman; one who is travelling with Cloud.

Rude laughed oddly. "I want my intro description sooner!" he yelled at no one in particular. "I wanna be...so much more important...darn you..." he muttered before he slammed his face on the table, fainting out of drunkness.

Reno looked at no one in particular and frowned at this, drinking his wine one more time.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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"Elena of The Turks. Why am I thinking that we're gonna have one more problem for us?" Cloud asked. "I'm serious that I'm not liking any of this..."

"Cheer up, okay?" Aerith asked.

"I'll try...just maybe, though."

"Heheheh."

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Wutai Village
Chris, Lucario, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Red, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Samus, Kirby, Meta Knight, Link, Zelda, Toon Link, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Marth, Roy, Ike, Ness, Lucas, Pit, Ice Climbers, Snake, Sonic, Chip, Knuckles, Cloud, Aerith, Cid

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 167: Elena of the Turks

-Wutai Village-
Entrance

Final Fantasy VII - Wutai

After having to go walking through the public, the group of thirteen gathered at the main gate to discuss about their next movement. "This is very unlikely," Cloud said. "I've never thought I'd have to direct a lot of people before."

"We're sorry for causing any inconveniences," Marth said. "This has to be done, though."

"I guess I could comply," Cloud said. "You seem to be very worried over your lost sword and your sister's tiara... Why'd Yuffie steal a tiara, though? Was it golden?"

Marth shook his head. "No, it's not. She probably stole it because she wanted to have more stuff with her to sell."

Aerith looked at Samus. "Don't worry, we'll find your tiara so your brother doesn't look this worried."

The bounty hunter blinked a bit. "...What?" she asked. "Oh, wait, no. That's not my tiara, and I'm not even a relative of Marth..."

"What?" Aerith asked. "I thought it was yours since you're the only girl of your group..."

"You're misunderstanding," Samus said. "That tiara is actually Marth's."

Cloud looked back at Marth. He imagined the Altean wearing a tiara over his pale blue hair. "..." He shook his head. "I see..."

Marth grumbled a bit. "Yes, that's my sister's tiara, but she gave it to me to remember her while I'm away."

"...Oh, that makes much more sense," Cloud said. "(Judging by his looks, this guy is definitely metrosexual... I'm gonna keep my distance from him.)"

The hedgehog stretched his arms to sides before letting out a long yawn. "So, anyway, what do we do now?" Sonic asked. "We're gonna wait for her to show up here?"

Cid shook his head. "We're gonna go 'round the darn village until we find her. That brat's bound to show her b&^%$@ face soon enough."

"And we're going to have to split in groups," Aerith said. "If we divide, we might get a bigger chance to find Yuffie."

"Just for security, I'm going to have to be in a team with another person of my group," Cloud said. "Aerith, you're going to have to come with me."

"Okay, fine by me," Aerith said.

Cloud looked at the Smashers. "I'll have to take five of you with us. The other 5 will have to go with Cid here. For the five I want to take...I want the kid, the old man, the swordsman, the girl, and the short man."

"Oh," Mario began, "we haven't introduced ourselves before, right?"

Cloud sighed. "Yeah, you didn't."

After some introductions...

"I want Chris, Snake, Marth, Samus, and Mario to come with me," Cloud rephrased. "The others will have to listen and follow Cid."

Cid smacked his fists together as he looked at the anthro group. "Alright, g!@*#$# idiots, you'll be Uncle Cid's little slaves from this point on!" he said. "You shall not talk back to me in any way while we look for the ninja brat in here. If you b%^&@ disobey me, you're so gonna get into a world of f&^%@#% pain!"

Lucario looked worried at Chris. "Chris, I wanted to come with Cloud..."

Chris looked worried at Lucario. "I-I'm sorry, Lucario, but Cloud wants to do it this way... I-I'm sure he's trying to get used to us so he can get acquainted better."

"I don't think it seems that way..." Lucario muttered in depression.

Cloud stared at the energetic Cid. "...Thinking again," he began, "maybe I should give a call to another friend of mine just to be sure that Cid doesn't end up making any kind of...oddity."

Cid glared at Cloud. "Your spiky %@$' is pinching your back or something 'cuz of me?"

"No," Cloud said bluntly as he took out a cell phone (a rectangular cell phone called a PHS) from his back. "I'll call someone who I can trust better than you."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, but you just joined us today in the morning," Cloud said before he began dialing a number on the cell phone. The Smashers saw as the blond mercenary turned his back to them to look away. "Yes, is that you?" Cloud asked.

"Oh, hi there, Cloud," a female voice spoke in the PHS. "Did you find Yuffie's whereabouts yet?"

"Actually, I think I did," Cloud said. "She is going about Wutai Village, the village located to the northern area of this small landmass."

"Nice!" the voice said. "So are you going to stay in that area to find her?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to tell the others about what you found?"

"Nah, it's okay," Cloud said. "I don't think Yuffie could be in the same spot all the time. It's better if everyone performs recognition just to be sure she doesn't get away."

"Oh, okay," the voice said. "If you're not going to tell the others about this, then why go ahead and tell me?"

"That's because I need you to come here and assist us," Cloud said before he turned around to look at the Smashers. "We met a bunch of stubborn people who were pilfered by Yuffie on their way to the village, and they all want to catch her with us."

"I see," the voice said. "I'm pretty sure they're giving you the bad eye if you're close to them, right?"

Cloud noticed that some of the Smashers were glaring at him. "Sort of," Cloud said. "The problem is that they're too many, though. I need to have some...order, if you know what I mean."

"Always being cautious, huh?" the voice asked. "Okay, I'll head down to the north. I'm probably going to arrive there in less than fifteen minutes or so. I can see the village from the point where I am."

Cloud nodded. "Good, I'll meet you once we finish looking around for Yuffie," he said before he hung up. He looked at the rest of the Smashers. "You guys will have to stay here and wait for my friend to come here. We're going to move on and see where we can look for Yuffie."

"I think there's no other way around to convince you, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Exactly," Cloud said. "Okay, if the people I'm with are ready to go, let's get going further into the village."

Cloud's group began to move back to the crowd of people. Chris looked behind at a disappointed Lucario before he walked away from sight, leaving all the non-human Smashers behind with a grunting Cid.

The non-human Smashers looked at Cid.

"So what's your story?" Cid asked with crossed arms. "Travelin' around the world to meet some ladies or what?"

"No..." Sonic muttered.

"Heh, then I don't see what your intentions to be traveling are," Cid said. "People often travel from place to place to discharge and settle in where they want to be."

Fox thought for a moment. "Well, we could tell you our reasons; our true intentions."

Cid raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, is that so?" he asked before he sat on a crate that was conveniently close to the village's gates. "Then let me hear your story."

Residential Area

It turned out that the human Smashers were telling Cloud and Aerith about their true intentions to travel. The group kept walking through the crowds of people while the two characters listened to their explanations.

"..." Cloud looked away. "I swear that your intentions are...so darn f^&*$# up to believe."

"T-that's the whole truth, I swear!" Chris complained. "W-we're in reality a group of people who need to stop an army from conquering the worlds, including this one!"

"Please," Cloud said. "Do you honestly think we're going to buy any of that from you? It's incredibly farfetched, you know."

"But it's the whole truth," Samus said. "Those are our true intentions to be here. Haven't you noticed how different we look from each other?"

"The only people who I call tell are different from any of you are those furry people," Cloud said. "Besides them, you're all pretty normal-looking to me."

"That...well..." Chris shook his head. "T-that was so true to the whole extent..."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "People traveling from world to world..." he muttered. "What kind of people do you think you are, honestly?"

Snake looked sideways at Cloud. "I'm sure it's hard to believe, but that's how things are for us, sadly."

Cloud shook his head. "Whatever, it's not like I care to hear about such stuff."

"(Wolf, I hope you're happy,)" Chris thought annoyed. "(You were the one who suggested us to do this...)"

Aerith chuckled nervously at this as the party preceded their walk towards the west, finding a wide area where different houses were surrounding the place. The tallest pagoda was located to the farthest point of the west, overlooking the whole village. The party looked up at the tower before the flower girl looked to her right to find a big residence. Aerith tilted her head at the imposing building before she looked at the sign to the left of the entrance. "Mansion of the Mystic Kisaragi clan," she read. "Wutai's most prevalent clan and chief leader live here..."

Cloud looked at the building. "Hmm, maybe we could ask for information about Yuffie. The leader of the village should..."

"Wait a minute," Marth interrupted. "What was the name written on the sign?"

Aerith read the sign again. "Mansion of the Mystic Kisaragi clan..."

"Kisaragi..." Chris muttered. "...That was Yuffie's last name, wasn't it?"

"It is," Cloud said. "If that's true, then perhaps this place has some sort of connection with her."

Marth glared at the building. "Then let's go inside," he said. "I want to know if she's here hiding from all of us."

Samus sighed. "You really are so mad about your stolen valuable, aren't you?"

"Sorry, Samus, but this is very crucial," Marth said. "I'd like to get back my stuff before she gets to sell a family's heirloom and a personal object to anyone out there. Do you really want me to lose Falchion? Without it, I can't even fight properly. I'm not like Ike who punches a few times; even if we know his fists don't necessarily deal that much damage."

Chris looked away. "I hope Ike didn't hear you saying that because he would get upset..."

The Altean prince sighed. "Please, don't mind some of my rants... I'm really worried about losing Falchion and my sister's tiara forever..."

Aerith looked worried at Marth. "Everything is going to turn out just fine. Have some optimism with you until we get to her, okay?"

"I'll try my best to stay calm..."

The group then decided to enter the mansion without having to knock on the door. The World Traveler frowned in pure disbelief after seeing that the blond mercenary didn't even think about knocking on the door. Perhaps what Link told Chris about getting inside other people's houses was very true, even if it sounded so rude.

Kisaragi Mansion

The group walked into the mansion. They were met by a lush green garden with small ponds and bamboo sticks spread all over the place. They looked to their right where a windy way extended across the white wall to the other side of the garden where some rooms were located. In plain sight, one of the entrances of the rooms looked highly detailed since it had Japanese letters, ginseng hanging from the letters' papers, and several golden statues of a water serpent standing at the sides of the sliding door.

And the fact that a frame with the letters "Godo Kisaragi's Room" was hanging on top of the door made it very obvious that it was the leader's room.

"Godo Kisaragi..." Mario read. "He should know about Yuffie. Maybe they're relatives."

"Who knows," Cloud said. "Maybe it's a coincidence that they both have the same last name, but it's just a thought."

"However, it doesn't discard the idea that he should know about the inhabitants of the village. After all, he must know who lives in this place infested with tourists," Snake said. "I'd suggest arranging a small meeting with the lord himself right now."

Aerith looked at the door across the garden. "I hope he can help us in any way..."

The group then proceeded to walk around the windy hallway to reach the other side of the garden. Once they did so, they stopped walking in front of the sliding door. Cloud slowly opened the door by pushing it aside, revealing a door with all kinds of ornaments: a small tea table, an altar with some photos of the ancestors of the clan, and a sleeping bed on the flat mattress's floor where someone was taking a nap.

The person taking a nap was an adult. The adult wore a purple sokutai (a long vest over a t-shirt with long sleeves) and black zori. The adult had long eyebrows, and he had a pointy beard on his chin and a wide mustache with pointy ends. Once the group stepped inside, the man yawned loudly and looked to his right to see all of them looking down at him. "..." he remained silent before he pushed him from the floor and sat down on his crossed legs. The group saw this as a sign to sit down in the same way. "Greetings," he said. "I'd like to welcome all of you to the glorious Wutai."

"We're thankful of that," Cloud said.

The adult nodded. "As you may know by now, I'm Godo Kisaragi, the leader of Wutai," he introduced himself. "Since we're always happy to receive people into the village, please do make yourselves at home."

Aerith looked serious. "I'm sorry to be asking this to you, but we're doing something here that we'd like you to help us."

"Hmm?" Godo raised an eyebrow. "What would that be, young lady?"

"It's about a person," Mario said. "We're looking for a resident of this village, and we thought you knew the people who live here."

Godo nodded. "Of course I do. It's one of my many tasks to recall the names of the people that this village has," he said. "It's easier to remember the very few names that remain, though..." he muttered. "...But in any case, I'll try to do my best to serve you in any purpose you would like me to help."

Snake nodded. "We're looking for a girl named Yuffie Kisaragi."

"..." The chief looked away. "I-I'm sorry, but I don't know any Yuffie, unfortunately..."

The sudden reaction that the leader of Wutai did made the group look a bit suspicious at Godo.

"Why did you react like that?" Snake asked. "It's not common for people to stutter unless they're trying to avoid saying something important they know. Do you know this Yuffie girl?"

"N-no, I'm absolutely possible about that," Godo said. "W-why would you ask about such a person, anyway?"

Chris looked worried. "T-that's because you have "Kisaragi" as your last name..." he pointed out. "And since Yuffie's last name is Kisaragi, we thought you were related to each other..."

"Hahahahahahaha!" Godo suddenly laughed loudly at this before turning back to look at the group. "Haven't you heard about people having the same last names, my boy?" he asked with some cheerfulness. "Kisaragi happens to be a very common name in our village. Why, you could ask anyone out there about their last name and you'll probably meet another different Kisaragi than one of the clan's members of this place."

Marth looked skeptical. "Is...that really true?"

"Of course it is!" Godo said before he followed with another laugh, wiping some tears from his eyes. "You surely met another Kisaragi from the village, so that would explain why you would think we were related."

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the chief. "So, if I take that we met another different Kisaragi, then wouldn't that mean you know who she is?"

Godo gasped in shock at this before he shook his head several times. "I-I don't know any Yuffie, as I've told you before," he said. "It's possible that she might be an outsider of another settlement..."

Mario noticed that the chief started to sweat a bit since he was rubbing his forehead with his right arm. "...Are you sure that you don't know Yuffie?"

"N-no, I don't know her!" Godo yelled in pressure. "W-why would I know her if I even have the slightest idea of how she looks like?" He swung his left arm. "I-I've had enough of this useless talk. I want all of you to leave my home right now!"

Snake looked sternly at Godo. "Look, it's clearly obvious that you know who this Yuffie is. We're looking for her since she's stole all of our stuff today."

Godo looked away.

"She stole our Materia," Cloud said. "We need to get all of it back from her."

"..." Godo sighed. "Why do you keep asking me about her? I don't know any Yuffie," he said. "Whatever you try to ask me, I won't respond since the person you're looking for is a stranger to me..." He looked back at them. "Why, maybe you're losing time with me..." He sighed more. "I don't really want to listen to any more things at the moment..."

Aerith looked at bit curious at this. "Why are you stressed? Did something bad happen?"

"...Shinra has caused me a lot of stress as of late since there are some of their operatives patrolling the village as it if were under martial law," Godo explained. "Those soldiers have been settling in here for a long time now, but it's not because they want to... It's because they're brought here by the fugitives they want to arrest."

"Fugitives, huh..." Snake trailed off.

"Exactly," Godo said. "People who run away from Shinra bring forth more of their soldiers anywhere. Since this is a proud village, it makes me feel uneasy to see so many soldiers running around the streets..." He stared at them for a while. "...You wouldn't happen to have something to do with them, would you?"

Cloud shook his head. "No..."

"I don't care about who you are," Godo stated. "For now, I'd like to have a moment of solitude for myself... I want to forget about the tragedies that took place during the Wutai War. Ever since Shinra won the war, Wutai has had the necessity to follow Shinra's rules so another war doesn't occur. Standing up against Shinra is one foolish move, and Wutai doesn't want to lose its current peace."

"What the heck is wrong with you, you coward?!" asked an angry voice from behind the sliding door.

The group and the chief looked back at the door frame where it was pushed aside by a familiar girl. Some of them gasped after seeing that an angry Yuffie came into the room and pointed a finger directly at Godo's face. "Y-Yuffie!" Godo said in shock before he quickly stood up to look at her.

The Smashers gave bored looks at the chief. "...Pardon me for being rude, but since you knew how she looked like so suddenly, wouldn't that mean you two are related?" Marth asked bored.

"Related?" Yuffie said before she faked a chuckle. "This old man right here happens to be my father; the leader of the proud nation of Wutai who HAD to turn into a freaking tourist resort!"

"Y-Yuffie, shh!" Godo whispered in shock as many of them glared annoyed at his behavior.

"You won't shut me up this time, father!" Yuffie yelled as she stomped her way between the group and the chief to stand directly in front of him. "Have you learned anything about the current status of Wutai yet, or have you considered building that water boat ride attraction you wanted to make soon?"

Godo's right eye twitched at this. "Y-you little daughter of mine..."

Seeing that this was the only chance to get close to her, the Altean stood up. "Hey, you, give me back m-"

Yuffie didn't turn around to face Marth, but she nimbly tossed a sleeping dart at Marth's throat. The Altean gasped after he received the shot before his eyes swirled a bit around and closed down as he fell on the floor unconscious, Chris looking a bit horrified at the fainted Marth.

"Are you scared of the Shinra still?" Yuffie asked angrily at Godo. "You get beaten once, and that's it? What happened to the mighty Wutai I used to know?"

"S-shut up!" Godo yelled. "Y-you don't know anything about this, Yuffie!"

"I DO know more than that thick-headed skull of yours!" Yuffie yelled before she pointed at Cloud and Aerith. "Those two over there are fighting against Shinra, you know!"

Aerith looked at Cloud. "Cloud, there she is," she whispered while Mario, Chris, and Samus went over to check on Marth. "What should we do?"

Cloud thought for a moment. "...We'll stay put to see where this conversation is going."

"W-what?"

"I think that we could get to know something more about these two if we let them rant to each other for a little bit longer," Cloud said.

Snake, overhearing Cloud's plan, rolled his eyes. "I don't think that will be the most suitable idea, but whatever you say, kid..."

"Y-you shut up, Yuffie!" Godo demanded as both glared fiercely at each other. "I won't permit you from yelling at your own father like this for any longer! You're ought to be ashamed to be acting like you are now!"

"It's my own DAMN business, not yours!" Yuffie yelled. "You don't have any authority to dictate my style!"

"D-dictate...s-style?" Godo twitched at the words. "S-such words coming from a fancy person like you...y-you're such a miserable daughter!"

Yuffie stuck out her tongue. "Well, you're a sad excuse for a father, then!" she complained. "You're the reason Wutai's gonna be a tourist resort for the rest of its life!"

"T-that's not true!" Godo yelled. "Wutai is stil-"

"Wutai is still a sucky nation of ninjas!" Yuffie complained. "It was a very proud nation before you had to chicken out by a meaningless beating in a war!"

"You have to understand that there was no way to win it!"

"And if there wasn't any way, then why not make another fight?" Yuffie asked. "People usually stand up twice after they suffer just a beating, you know! We can always strike Shinra anytime, but you're always letting them whip you like a dog! Thanks to you, I have to go around and steal Materia to recover all the Materia that Shinra has taken from us!"

"Why do you do such a thing?" Godo asked. "You're going to cause an uprising if Shinra finds out tha-"

"Wutai will be prepared until then!" Yuffie yelled. "I'm the one who is ACTUALLY doing something worth unlike you who sits down all days to watch how Wutai gets ruined!"

Aerith looked at Cloud, trying to give him a sign to intervene in the family feud.

Cloud sighed and stood up. "Yuffi-"

Yuffie did a sharp turn and looked angrily at Cloud. "No Materia for you!" she yelled before she took out a smoke ball that she slammed down on the floor.

The whole room was covered in smoke, causing everyone there to cough continuously. Once the smoke had cleared out, they looked around and didn't find the rebellious ninja anywhere. She had escaped without leaving a trace.

"Damn..." Cloud muttered.

Godo sighed at this before he turned around and looked outside the mansion. "That daughter of mine..." he muttered.

Snake stood up. "So you can't even control your own daughter, huh? That's kind of weak for the leader of a whole country."

"...Leave me alone, please..." Godo said without giving them a look. "I do not want to see anyone right now..."

Cloud took a step forward. "Before we go, have you noticed that Yuffie has been stealing Materia all this time?"

Godo shook his head. "I've never noticed that since Yuffie ran away from home three months ago... Since then, it's unclear to me about what she's been doing all this time..."

"Do you at least know if she has Materia?"

"..." Godo shook his head. "The use of Materia is forbidden," he said. "The ban has put us in complete vulnerability against Shinra..."

The three kept staring at the chief in a moment of silence while Chris tried to awake Marth.

"...Please, leave," Godo muttered.

Cloud kept staring at the chief before he shook his head. "Fine, but let us know if she brings Materia with her. If it's true that the use of Materia is banned, then you should agree that it should be taken away from Wutai."

"..." Godo nodded in silence.

Cloud looked at the others. "C'mon, we have to find Yuffie."

"After she was just standing in front of us?" Snake asked. "Tsk, maybe we didn't have a chance to catch her off-guard..."

The chief suddenly turned around to them. "I want to say one more thing before you leave from here," he said.

Aerith stood up. "What is it?" she asked.

"Yuffie is very cunning," Godo said. "She may as well be Wutai's most experienced ninja. Don't let her looks deceive you or else she might get away from all of you."

Cloud nodded. "We already knew that, but thanks, anyway," he said. "Everybody, let's go."

The group decided to leave the mansion while Mario and Chris carried an unconscious Marth by the sides. Once they left the room, Godo closed his eyes, folded his arms, and turned around to look outside to the same mountain that overlooked all the area around Wutai. "...Yuffie..." he muttered.

Entrance

Back at the entrance, hysterical laughs filled the air as Cid was rolling around the floor, laughing loudly to himself while he held his stomach with both arms. He was apparently laughing after hearing the Smashers' story about the Subspace Army.

"B-boy, you sure know how to be so f^*%&%^ funny!" Cid laughed loudly.

Sonic pressed his brow with two fingers. "Old man, that's the whole truth... It's not something you should laugh about..."

"People who travel from world to world...an army who wishes to conquer any world they want to have...hilarious!" Cid laughed.

Fox slapped his forehead. "Ugh, this guy is just impossible..."

Chip chuckled a bit. "Well, there are going to be some people who aren't gonna believe in us. You gotta show 'em some proof, or so says Chip Norris."

Knuckles looked annoyed at the imp. "Would you just shut it with that nickname of yours? The guy's laughs aren't making me feel any better right now!"

Lucario looked down at the laughing Cid before sighing. "(I wanted to go with Cloud...not stay with Cid...)"

As Cid kept laughing hysterically, the echidna put his hands on the sides of his head and grunted loudly. "DAMMIT, WHEN IS HE GOING TO STOP LAUGHING LIKE THAT?!" he asked.

The vulpine ignored the echidna's rant as he looked at Lucario. "Hey, you," Fox began, "can't you just locate that girl?"

Lucario looked at Fox. "I don't know her aura," he said.

"What? I thought your aura thing could identify anyone very easily."

Lucario shook his head. "I could easily identify anyone's aura as long as I get a glimpse or an image of that person in my mind. My aura will remember any aura very well if I get to see a person first... Outside of that, I can find many different kinds of aura here, and I won't be able to tell who is who."

"But if we assume that girl was close to us when she ambushed us, wouldn't that mean your aura could have caught her?"

"Do you honestly think my aura is activated all day?"

"I...thought it did."

"Honestly speaking, my aura senses were off by the time she attacked us," Lucario explained. "If I just had it ready, we could have found her..."

Fox looked down. "So it was all bad luck of your part."

"...I hate to say it, but yes, it was bad luck..."

Fox sighed. "You were going to be an easy way to find her... Oh well..."

"Don't take me wrong, though," Lucario said. "My aura helps me a lot to identify any person hiding from us. It helps me to stay alert every time, even when I'm sleeping. For now, though, I don't want to exert a little bit of energy this time since I think that girl won't return."

"I guess you're right," Fox said. "The last thing she'd want to do is spy us."

"That is one very unlikely thing."

If Lucario had activated his aura senses, he could have easily perceived the presence of a familiar blond Turk hiding behind some rows of trees close to the gate. Elena was carefully listening to their conversation and, unlike the laughing Cid; she picked an interest to the reason of the Smashers to be in Wutai.

Unfortunately, for Elena, she had arrived a minute ago, missing everything but Cid's laugh.

"Hmm..." Elena muttered to herself. "These guys are weird, alright... I heard that freaky old man saying something an army and those people going from world to world... I wonder what that really means, though..."

Cid's laughs suddenly slowed down before he calmed down and sat up, looking happy at them. "Well! I admit you're kinda strange, but you're strangely funny to me!"

Knuckles sighed. "At least he stopped laughing...for now..."

Sonic cleaned his right ear with a finger. "Yeah, I was getting annoyed already."

Cid nodded. "Alrighty, then," he said before putting up a serious look. "You seem friendly enough to me, so I'm just gonna let you follow us around till we find that b%$@# Yuffie."

Lucario looked annoyed. "Is it really necessary to curse so often? It's a bit ridiculous to me."

Cid stood up. "Hey, you ain't tellin' me how to f^&%*$# talk, dog," he said. "You want me to put you a leash?"

Sonic got excited. "Can you take off my collar and put it on him? You can put him a leash if you want!"

Chip thought for a moment. "Hmm, he would fit better to be my dog..."

Lucario glared at Sonic. "What was that just now?"

The hedgehog chuckled nervously. "H-heheheh, just a joke, pal..."

Cid rolled his eyes. "You guys are very odd, I swear..." He looked to the outside area where he noticed a young lady walking towards the village. "Oh great, here she comes..."

The Smashers looked outside the gates. "Who's coming?" Knuckles asked.

Elena took a peek from the tree. "Yes, who's coming?" She took a closer look. "...Oh...another one of them..."

Far to the southeastern area of Wutai, a young woman walked towards the village. The dark brown-haired woman was 20 years old, her hair was long that ran across all her back and ended in a distinctive dolphin-tail split. She wore white tear-drop earrings, a sleeveless white tank shirt that showed her stomach with a short black miniskirt and a pair of black suspenders connected to her belt. She also wore fighting gloves that came up to her elbows, which had metal protecting pads, and she wore old boots. Despite her looks by having slim, she possessed great physical strength.

"...Who is she?" Fox asked.

"That pretty gal with the big %$^@$& is one of us," Cid said. "I don't want to introduce her myself. Let her get here first."

And the Smashers waited for her to arrive. Once she arrived, the woman smiled a bit at Cid. "Hi there, Cid," she said. "What are you doing alone here?"

"Heh," Cid muttered. "Killin' some time to wait for you, of course. Cloud told me to wait for you here to make you the appointed leader of our little group." He pointed at the Smashers. "Say hello to the bunch of furry people."

The bunch of furry people...I mean, the Smashers, shot some glares at the blond man (except for Chip) before looking back at the young lady. The young lady looked at them and tilted her head in some curiosity. "Oh..." she muttered. "...Why...hello there..." she said a bit surprised.

"...What's up?" Sonic asked.

The young lady shifted her eyes. "Er...nothing...for now..." she muttered before looking embarrassed at Cid. "Cid, who are these guys? They're all wearing costumes, aren't they? Please tell me they're wearing costumes because they're even wagging their tails..."

Cid shook his head. "I'm afraid they ain't wearin' any costumes. Their fur is 110 percent real," he said. "They're pretty real, just like the lion guy in our gang."

The young lady looked back at the Smashers before she chuckled nervously. "H-hey there, nice to meet all of you," she said, trying to stay calm. "My name is Tifa; Tifa Lockhart."

Tifa Lockhart is a laid back and selfless person, with a motherly streak concerning all her friends and her attitude to others. She has a soft spot for shyness, and she is caring and loving to a fault, hiding some of her true feelings from other people. She seems to have met Cloud long before he joined the resistance against Shinra (called AVALANCHE) where she was part of, and she struggles to understand Cloud's nature as it seems very familiar for her, prompting her to stay very close to Cloud. Tifa lived in a hometown (called Nibelheim) before it was burned, and she was taken far away from it to stay safe. Once she met Cloud, she began to get closer to him, trying to figure out something that her past has to do with him.

The young lady named Tifa chuckled more. "S-so, what are your names?" she asked as she sweated a bit on the forehead.

After an introduction of each Smasher...

"Okay..." Tifa trailed off. "Well, nice to meet you all..." She quickly turned around and took out her own PHS from her pocket. She quickly dialed Cloud to call him. "Pick up the call, pick up the call, pick up the call..." she muttered in a bit of a panic, recalling that there were five odd-looking people behind her back. "...Oh, there it is," she muttered in relief.

Chip looked at Sonic. "What's she doing now?"

"I dunno..." Sonic muttered.

Tifa cleared her throat. "Cloud, are you there?"

"Yeah," Cloud said over the phone. "You got a problem over your end? Are you in the village?"

"Oh, yes, I'm in the village now."

"Did you meet up with the group I told you about?"

Tifa looked behind her.

Chip waved a hand.

Tifa looked away. "Does that group have at least five people wearing costumes?"

"No."

Tifa sighed in relief.

"They're not wearing costumes, but they're pretty real, alright."

Tifa's jaw dropped for a bit. "W-what?"

"I know how shocked you are, but it's the whole truth," Cloud said.

"I-I can't believe this!"

"Neither can I, but what can you do about them?" Cloud asked annoyed. "Anyway, you're going to be the leader of that group. We met Yuffie in here, but she ran away as soon as I spoke to her."

Tifa sighed. "Cloud, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"Just...how did you end up letting these people follow us?" she asked before took a quick glance of the group. "The guy with the fox look is giving me a really nasty look...isn't he?"

"They followed us because it concerns them as well," Cloud said. "They got their stuff stolen from Yuffie, and they wanted to come along with us to get them all back. I tried to say no but they didn't listen."

Tifa sighed once more. "There isn't any other way for them t-"

"No," Cloud interrupted. "Since I think it's a little bit dangerous to let Cid take the lead, I called you here because you were more trustworthy."

Tifa blushed a bit at the remark. "Oh...I see..."

"So yeah," Cloud said. "You are in charge to lead the group to find Yuffie. We're gonna meet up whenever we stumble to each other."

"Okay, but I'll be careful around them."

"I'm being careful around them as well. They seem a little bit trustworthy, but don't look away from them, got it?"

"Yeah...I got it..." Tifa trailed off. "(I'm SERIOUSLY not ready for this... Well, I gotta pull this through...)"

"Catch you later," Cloud said before he hung up.

Tifa kept her PHS in her pocket before she sighed loudly and turned to face the others. "Well, you guys will have to follow our lead if you want to recover your stolen stuff," she said. "So..."

Dead silence...

"...Anybody got an idea of where to start?" Tifa asked embarrassed.

"For cryin' out loud!" Cid ranted. "Isn't it obvious or what? We're gonna hit the village and look around for her!"

"Oh yeah!" Tifa said. "I-I knew that was the only option for now!"

Cid spat some smoke out from his mouth. "We gotta get a move on before that little ninja gets away from our hands," he said. "I ain't lettin' her keep our Materia without any permission."

Tifa looked at the bunch of anthros. "So anyway, can you follow us?"

Knuckles looked bored. "You don't even know what you're doing anymore, huh?"

"...No..." Tifa sighed. "I'm a bit lost right now... I mean, everything happened so suddenly," she said. "Our Materia got stolen, you guys got your stuff stolen, both of us joined together and...the fact that you look like people in costumes..."

Sonic frowned. "Why can't anybody tell we're not people wearing costumes? The joke's kinda getting so old now."

Tifa looked worried. "I'm really sorry for thinking that way about you, but what was I supposed to think?" she asked. "It's not like you get to see the same kind of guys like you."

Fox frowned. "I'm sure everyone thinks the same way about us..."

Tifa bowed to them. "Again, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend any of you."

"I'm not offended," Chip said before Sonic slapped the back of the imp's head.

"Tsk," Cid muttered as he tossed away his cigarette. "Worry about that matter later," he said. "We have a mission to do here: find the b&%^* ninja and get all our stuff back."

"I know," Tifa said. "I've got to stay calm... I'm sure I can used to this."

Lucario frowned. "Why am I thinking this is going to happen with other people?" he asked to himself.

The fighter forced a smile and nodded. "You don't worry about me thinking badly of any of you, okay?" she asked.

Back to the trees, Elena shook her head and looked up to the sky. "(When are they going to do something worth spying? I refuse to go back to Reno, and say I didn't find anything good out of them!)"

Cid brandished a new cigarette from the packet attached to his headband. The blond man ignited the item with pocket igniter before he looked back to the village. "Let's go," he said before he walked away into the crowd of tourists.

The Smashers and Tifa decided to follow the blond man, carefully walking between the rows of people.

Elena took a peek from the tree she was hiding behind and narrowed her eyes. "Now's my chance to see where they're going!" she muttered to herself before jumping out from the trees back to safe ground.

Just before she could take a step forward, she was stopped by a group of three soldiers who came from the same direction that the Smashers had went to. They were all wearing blue uniforms with blue hats that covered everything except their mouths, and had machine guns on their right hands. "Elena," the soldier of the middle began, "we've found him at last!"

Elena took a step back. "W-what are you talking about? I-I'm in the middle of an undercover mission!"

The soldier of the right saluted her. "Sorry for interrupting you, but we've found the slime of Don Corneo in this place, just as we have thought!"

The female Turk shook her head. "I-I don't care about that guy!" she complained.

"What?" the soldier of the left said in confusion. "But he's the reason why we were sent al the way here!"

"I'm in the middle of a vacation!" Elena said in her defense.

The three soldiers looked at each other. "Vacation?" they repeated confused.

"..." Elena shook her head. "That was a direct order from Reno himself."

"But you're not supposed to take vacations at a time like this!" the soldier of the middle complained. "Think about Don Corneo! Rufus has declared that Don Corneo should be killed for betraying Shinra!"

Rufus Shinra is the current president and leader of Shinra. He took over the job to order the company right after his father was assassinated. Unlike the beliefs that his father had for the company that world should be ruled by the use of money, Rufus believes that the company needs to rely solely on fear. As such, Rufus is the mastermind behind all of Shinra's actions around the world.

"I-I know that's our job, but I'm currently taking a much more crucial task this time around!" Elena protested.

"By yourself?" the soldier of the middle asked,

Elena looked away. "Y-yes, by me, that's it. It's something I'm doing personally without the help of Reno and Rude."

The soldiers looked at each other before looking at the serious Turk. "What about Don Corneo?"

Elena swung her left arm to the left. "You take care of Don Corneo! Once you locate him, give the word!"

The soldiers remained silent for a moment before they nodded. "Alright, we'll do as you say," the soldier of the right said. "Just be careful out there. Who knows what these Wutai scum could do to us while we're alone."

"I'm sure everything will be just fine," Elena said. "Now go!"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers saluted before they all scrambled back into the village.

Elena kept looking serious at their direction. "Now that the little distraction is over with..." She looked around a bit before looking worried. "...W-where did those guys run off to?!" she asked in panic before she ran into the village.

[DededeCloneChris]

Item Shop

Outside of the only item shop of the village (which had almost the same look as every other building), Tifa's group stopped walking after the fighter stopped on her trails. "Is something wrong?" Sonic asked.

Tifa turned to them. "It's just that... I-I'm so sorry, really..." she muttered. "I can't just seem to shake off the thought that there are people like you with us..."

Cid scoffed a bit at this. "Can you just get over it? These guys ain't half bad, despite most of them have fur up their a%$^#, y'know."

Most of them got offended at this "remark" while Tifa frowned. "Cid, I know for a fact this isn't our first time meeting such people, but meeting five at the same time? I wasn't really expecting that."

Knuckles grunted and crossed his arms. "Would you just stop thinking about that? We're good guys, not bad guys!"

"I know!" Tifa said, irritated about herself. "I just wish there was a way for me to get over the stupid thought sooner!"

Fox rolled his eyes. "Look, maybe you just need to engage in a conversation with one of us. Maybe that'll help you to become more "used" to see us."

"Hmm..." Tifa thought for a moment. "That...could help...but I just don't know how to do this..."

The Aura Pokémon looked at her. "..." He looked down in embarrassment. "...Can you...please tell me about Cloud?"

Everyone looked confused at Lucario. Tifa blinked a bit surprised at the question. "What?" she said confused. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Um..." Lucario looked away. "I-it's just that I wanted to meet Cloud because...I heard some stories about him..."

The fighter looked confused at this statement. "You heard stories about Cloud? How could a person like you get to hear something about him, anyway?"

"I did hear stories about him," Lucario said. "And since you two seem to know each other..."

Tifa tilted her head to the right. "(That's weird. I don't think Cloud has made that many heroics to be recognized by other people... Hmm... This does look so weird...)" She kept staring at the embarrassing Lucario. "(Besides, I haven't seen someone like this dog guy around...)"

"I-I'm sorry for being this rude," Lucario apologized. "I wanted to meet Cloud in person, but he ignored me for the most part as if he didn't care who I was."

"...Oh!" Tifa snapped out from her thoughts and chuckled heartily. "That's Cloud, alright. He likes to shrug off most people because he doesn't want to make that many friendships with others." She rubbed her chin a bit. "I guess you could say he's the kind of lone wolf, but he's not that bad, really."

Lucario blinked a bit. "Are you sure? He didn't sound interested in meeting any of us."

"Aah, you've got to give him some time before he opens up to you," Tifa said with a small laugh. "We gave him sometime, and he's made some of a close bond with Aerith. He didn't know about her until he saved her from being experimented by Shinra."

Knuckles looked a bit interested. "That girl was going to be experimented?"

"Oh yeah, it was because of her that Cloud wanted to make an assault in their HQ," Tifa said. "Thanks to us, Aerith managed to escape alive, and ever since then, we've been traveling around the world to chase after a..."

Tifa looked away, putting a serious look on her face.

Fox raised an eyebrow. "Is something bothering you?"

"...No," Tifa muttered before turning back to them. "It's just that we're all after a certain person who is planning to do something really crazy..."

Inside Tifa's mind, the image of her hometown being burned appeared. In the middle of the wild flames, there stood a tall man with long gray hair and black cape. The image was blurry, but she could picture an immensely large, thin sword being held on the man's right hand.

"..." Tifa shook her head to shake off the thought. "...Don't mind me about that," she said. "In a few words, this man is going to cause some serious problems to everyone in the Planet, and we're trying to stop him from doing whatever he wants to do..." She bowed to them. "Sorry, but I just don't want to recall more about it. Even Cloud doesn't want to think much about that person. Many of us don't like that person as well."

"I don't even know him," Cid muttered.

Tifa ignored the fact. "So yeah... Oops!" she said embarrassed. "I-I think I got a little carried off from the main topic, didn't I? Silly me..."

Chip looked happily. "Aww, don't worry, it was all very interesting."

"Heheheh, I guess so," Tifa said. "I think I was talking about Cloud, though... Back on topic, Cloud isn't a bad guy even if he acts so rude to people. Don't lose hope in getting him acquainted to you, okay? Give some time."

Lucario stared at her before he smiled a bit and nodded. "Thank you, Tifa."

"Don't mention it," Tifa said. "I'll make sure he talks more with all of you as well. I personally hate to see Cloud shrugging off people a lot."

Sonic closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "(You know, I can kind of relate Cloud with the Snake guy. Both of them are kinda like lone wolves... Hmm... Nice connection...)"

"..." Tifa blinked surprised before she looked happy. "Hey, what do you know! I stopped thinking you guys being weird and strange!"

"You did?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah!" Tifa said as she nodded. "I never thought I could get over it so fast!"

Cid rolled his eyes. "You gotta admit you were so screwed up some time ago."

The fighter chuckled a bit and sweat dropped afterward. "Y-yeah, I guess you're very right on that," she said.

Fox sighed in relief. "Finally, we don't have any more bad impressions with you... I'm relieved to hear that."

Tifa nodded once more. "Yup, I think I can do this just fine now. I hate to be so shy sometimes, and this is one of those occasions," she said. "Now that I can talk with you without having thoughts of looking away and pretend you're not here, we can focus on finding Yuffie."

"..." Knuckles looked bored. "...Second thoughts of looking away and pretend we're not here?"

"..." Tifa got a bit shocked. "I-I didn't..."

"Okay, we got you..." the echidna muttered with a sigh.

The fighter looked a bit ashamed at this. "Oh man, me and my big mouth..." she muttered under her breath before forcing a smile. "Let's just forget I said that, okay?"

Lucario looked away. "I don't think it'll be easy to forget that "comment" you said..."

"R-really, it's going to be easy later on," Tifa assured Lucario. "Look lively and let's go find Yuffie. I'm feeling much better than I was just now."

When they all looked to the west, they took a step back after finding the two most unlikely people to be walking about the village. The two characters didn't need introductions since they were not from the current world; rather they were people that the Smashers easily recognized...

The small group in front of the Smashers gasped and pointed fingers at them while Sonic, Chip, and Knuckles pointed at the new group as well, saying a loud "YOU!!!" to each other.

Tifa looked at the two newcomers before she got worried. "O-okay, now I'm getting worried again!" she complained.

"A-ha!" said one of the two characters to the Smashers. "So you're here at last! Aww, perfect, just what I thought!"

"Were you even thinking that?" asked the other character besides the first one.

"S-shut up, that's how a villain keeps their coolness," he muttered.

Lucario glared at the two. "What are you doing here of all places?"

"Well, we're here to find a little temple to DESTROY it from the inside!"

Fox crossed his arms. "And you're planning to do that while covering your back with that white mantle?" he asked with a glare.

The Smashers had found none other than Bowser and Wario. Both of them were apparently looking around to find the temple. However, there wasn't a clear explanation as to why Bowser covered his whole body (except the face) with a big white mantle.

Bowser shook his head in irritation. "Of course not! I'm not planning to conquer something without looking good!"

Chip tilted his head to the left. "What do you mean by that? Are you wearing that so you can scare people by thinking you're a ghost?"

"NO!" Bowser yelled enraged before he sniffed sadly, causing Wario to roll his eyes. "I-it's just that...I-I'm currently going around...naked..."

Sonic looked a bit disgusted. "Were you even wearing some clothes?"

"That's what I can ask you as well, hedgehog!" Bowser yelled before he sniffed again. "I-I don't really want to fight with any of you right now. I'm not in the mood to raise fists and exhale fire by the moment..."

"And neither me!" Wario complained. "You gotta scram now or else we..."

"I already said I didn't want to fight like this..." Bowser muttered.

Wario sighed. "Oh yeah..."

Lucario looked confused before he used his aura to read the minds of the villains. The group watched as the Aura Pokémon's eyes glowed yellow while he was covered by his own aura. Tifa and Cid were the only ones who looked a bit astonished at this. It took around five seconds for Lucario to read their minds before he stopped glowing and opened his eyes. "...Yes, they're saying the truth about not fighting now," Lucario assured.

Wario glared at Lucario. "Of course we don't want to fight right now! We're right down mad at the moment!"

"Pissed about what? You're mad about not finding the temple?" Knuckles asked in demand.

"No!" Bowser yelled before sniffing. "W-we...we were both pilfered from our stuff..."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "You were both pilfered?"

"Yeah..." Bowser muttered in embarrassment. "A-and worse yet, we were tricked by a snotty girl no less..."

"Snotty girl?" Sonic repeated. "What kind of snotty girl?"

Wario crossed his arms and looked away. "Well, it won't hurt to tell you this, but when we were looking around for the temple, we stumbled into this perky girl with the big gauntlet just outside the town. She wanted to talk with us, but we told her to scram and leave us alone. And right after we knew it, we were both dropped on the ground because she shot us with sleeping darts on our rears."

Bowser sniffed. "A-and when we found out, after we woke up...we lost our stuff..." He cried toon tears. "T-that malevolent girl stole my shell!" he yelled.

"Aww, shut up, crybaby!" Wario complained. "That girl stole my MOTORBIKE as well!"

The King of the Koopas looked away. "B-but my shell! T-this has never happened before in my long years! W-why would someone steal somebody else's shield? T-that's really inhuman and so mean! And stealing a shell from the very same king of the Koopas...p-preposterous! I call shenanigans!"

The Smashers kept staring at the two.

Wario looked at them. "So yeah, we don't wanna have to make some trouble with you (even though I don't really want to start any fighting)."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "You sure you're telling the truth?"

"For the love of my mother, I DON'T fight NAKED!" Bowser complained. "I want to find that girl as soon as possible and beat her up for stealing my precious shell!"

"But then, if you're really going to fight her, then why did you say you wouldn't fight naked?" Chip asked.

"That's because..." Bowser trailed off in thought. "...S-shut it! I'll find a way to get back to her!"

"And me too!" Wario agreed. "That loser won't be riding my precious Stephanie on my watch." He pointed at them. "No messing around with me, okay?"

Lucario glared at the villains. "But if we stop both of you right here, we wouldn't have to worry about the Subspace trying to destroy the temple."

Tifa looked confused at the mention of a temple. "Temple?"

Cid nodded. "These guys are sayin' they're here because of some temple with that whole story about 'em travelin' from world to world and all that s*&^$# crap."

The fighter looked a bit shocked. "D-did I just hear right?"

Bowser shook his head. "You DO know that attacking two helpless guys like us is right down cruel, right? I mean, I'm FREAKING NAKED! I know for one thing that good guys can forgive their opponents for just once!"

"Helpless? You're a bit too big to be referred as helpless," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, big and naked," Bowser said. "L-look, I have trouble trying to go around in public with this stupid mantle I found on the trash. It's still too much for me to be like this, and you want to stop a naked guy like me who's looking around for his shell?"

Lucario shifted his eyes a bit. "...Well..."

"Face it! You don't even want to stop us!" Bowser said. "You rather be clean and fight a clean fight, aren't you? Are you like the kind of idiots who believe that they need to have a fair fight? Well, guess what, wait until I'm dressed for the occasion at least!" he ranted.

The Aura Pokémon remained silent before he nodded.

"See? You guys should follow the dog's example!" Wario ranted.

Bowser sighed mentally. "(Bleh, thinking about good guys can damage your evil mind... Good think he bought that, though. I don't want to stay like this any longer...)"

Just at that moment, a tourist kid passed by and looked at Bowser before his mouth opened wide. "Cool!" he said before he took a photo of the King of the Koopas. The kid then ran away from the direction he came from, yelling "Mom! Mom! I got a picture of a real dragon of Wutai! There was this mini-sumo guy with him as well!"

Bowser grumbled some curses to himself. "And wearing this stupid mantle makes anyone in here believe I'm some sort of festival dragon..." He glared at the Smashers. "You guys better stay out of our way! Step in our way once we get our stuff back!"

"Yeah!" Wario agreed. "No girl is gonna go around in Stephanie!"

Chip tapped Sonic's right shoulder. "He's been saying this and that about somebody named Stephanie. Who is she?"

Sonic shrugged. "I think he's talking about his motorbike..."

"And also," Wario continued as he showed them his bare hair, "she stole my cool helmet!"

"I personally think you look nice without it," Chip commented, making the Smashers frown in disbelief.

"You don't know any fashion, so shut your trap!" Wario complained before he grunted and walked away.

Bowser looked mad at them. "If you have a camera, DON'T take a picture of me with this piece of cloth on my back, you got that clear?" he asked annoyed before he walked away, tugging hardly to the mantle he was using to cover his whole body.

The Smashers watched as the two villains disappeared from sight between the crowds of people. However, just after they weren't visible, many cheers from tourist children came from the same direction, and many flashes from cameras were reflected in some of the shadows of the alleys, depicting an annoyed Bowser.

"...I think we should've stopped them," Fox muttered.

Lucario shook his head. "I don't really want to fight dirty. I don't want to be reduced to their ranks."

"Then again, I think I can agree with you there."

Tifa kept staring at the flashes and listening to the loud roars from the King of the Koopas before she shook her head. "Do any of you know those two?" she asked, making the group turn at her and Cid. "The guy who always kept showing his teeth looked a bit shady for my tastes..."

"Well, we unfortunately know them," Fox said. "They're part of the Subspace Army."

"Subspace...what?" Tifa repeated in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Knuckles recalled that Tifa hadn't heard the story about their reasons to be in there. "Wait, we haven't explained you about our reasons to be here, have we?"

"What is that about your reasons to be here?" she asked confused.

Cid blew some smoke out from his mouth. "Prepare to hear some funny s*&^, woman."

Ten minutes later...

After being informed about everything, the fighter stared wide-eyed at the furry group. Surprisingly enough, what they said made a lot of sense to Tifa since she didn't see anyone who looked like them to be living in the world.

However, the very same fact made her stomach twist a bit in pain. The people before her were actually coming from other worlds, and there was even a world traveling army trying to take over those very same worlds, and her world was probably one of those different realms.

"...So then...you guys aren't from here?" Tifa asked.

"We're not from here," Knuckles said. "Each one of us comes from different worlds, but we're all together in a team to stop that army from trying to take over all the worlds out there, including this one...maybe."

"..." Tifa's eyes became a bit restless. "Oh my god... I...I can barely believe all this is happening..."

Cid stifled a chuckle. "Oh please, these s&^@*&%ds ain't telling the truth. They just wanna hide the fact they're all from that darn Shinra."

Sonic tilted his head. "What?"

"Yeah! You guys escaped from Shinra 'cuz they were runnin' crazy experiments on ya," Cid said. "That's the closest thing I can think of!"

Tifa rubbed her chin. "I think you have a point with that..."

Fox slapped his forehead. "We're NOT from this world, dangit!" he cursed, having enough to tell the same thing over and over again. "We don't even know what Shinra is as well!"

"They brainwashed you, surely," Cid theorized.

"They didn't even do a thing to our brains!" Knuckles complained.

Chip looked up in curiosity. "Weird, I thought they made me so awesome through freaky experiments because that would explain how my sweat can cure cancer."

The Smashers glared instantly at the imp. "Chip...you should SERIOUSLY shut up for once..." Sonic muttered.

Cid laughed. "Jus' tell us you're failed Shinra experiments! There's no harm in saying it!"

"We're not going to say that because we don't even belong to this world!" Knuckles ranted.

Seeing that conversation wasn't going anywhere, Tifa looked away and took out her PHS to call Cloud, trying to find a way to escape from all the craziness (and possible nonsense that was damaging her beliefs about the Smashers) as soon as she could. She unconsciously walked into the item shop where she walked around the establishment. "U-um, Cloud? Can you listen to me? A-are you there, Cloud?"

Residential Area

Back with the group of the blond teen, Cloud's pocket began to shake a bit. The mercenary took out his PHS and answered the call. "Hey there, Tifa," he said. "Did you find anything about Yuffie?"

"Not yet, but...there are some issues with us right now," Tifa said.

"What kind of issues are those?" Cloud asked, telling the group to stop walking to the east.

"Well, you see, remember those guys you told me that were going to stay with us?"

"Yeah."

"Y-you see, there's an argument outside the item shop where they're saying crazy stuff about them being from another world, and Cid is laughing and coming up with his theories about them being from here because they were failed Shinra experiments who escaped..."

"...I see..."

"I-I know what you're thinking, but it's the whole truth," Tifa reassured. "And I'm having a hard time trying to understand all of this, but..."

"It's been the same story with me," Cloud said as he eyed the Smashers. "However, judging by the situation, I think they're actually telling the truth."

"W-what? You trust them?"

"Not trust them, but believe them, at least," Cloud said. "I haven't heard or seen any of those people in any part of the world. The craziest, yet believable fact would be that they do come from another world... Besides, they saw the Turks at the pub. They didn't seem to be interested on them. Even Reno didn't even stare at them for a long time."

Chris (still carrying the unconscious Marth with Mario) sighed. "Please, just believe in us when we're saying we're not from around these parts..."

Cloud ignored the teen. "Don't worry, Tifa. They don't seem to be that weird despite the fact they might be from other worlds..."

Item Shop

Tifa stopped walking in front of a small treasure chest on the floor. She looked down at it and ducked down to open it. Seeing as it was close to the trash can, Tifa thought it wouldn't cause any harm to take its contents. She kept talking through the phone while she slowly opened the chest. "Okay, I'll believe you, Cloud," she said before she opened the treasure chest. "I'm going to have to ignore Cid because he sure looks like he's having a fun time annoying the heck out of them."

"Please do," Cloud said over the phone. "Just focus on finding Yuffie and let us know if you do."

Tifa looked inside the chest and smiled a bit. "Hey, Cloud, guess what I found in an abandoned treasure chest in the item shop!"

"What did you find?"

Tifa stood up and looked down on her right palm a small green sphere with a shiny glow that she had found in the box. "I found Materia in it!" she exclaimed. "And it's ours to take for now!"

"Oh, that's good to hear," Cloud said. "Maybe we should try to rely on that little piece of Materia for now."

Tifa chuckled at this as she looked away to the left from her right palm. "I think I did a pretty nice job in coming in here, huh?" she asked in amusement.

The fighter, as she kept looking away, didn't notice that a hand was slowly reaching after the little piece of Materia.

"So, have you found anything about Yuffie?" Tifa asked, not thinking about looking to any other way.

"Afraid not," Cloud said. "We're still lookin' around for her in our location. So far, we've been unsuccessful."

"That's a real shame," Tifa said worried. "But we're not going to leave from here, are we?"

"No," Cloud replied. "If it takes all night, we'll have to rest by the chief's mansion. He told us we could sleep in there as much as we want."

"Nice," Tifa said.

The hand finally grabbed the sphere of Materia from Tifa's palm. It began to retreat to the same way it came from.

Tifa sighed. "Well, I think it's about time I go back to the others," she said before turning back to the exit's direction. "I'm going to have to hang up on..."

The fighter looked directly at the person holding the Materia Tifa had just acquired. Tifa's eyes widened after she found none other than Yuffie standing besides her. The ninja made no talk, but she gave Tifa a wide smile while showing her teeth with a chuckle.

Residential Area

Final Fantasy VII – Hurry!

Cloud could have sworn that he heard a chuckle coming from the other end of the line. "Tifa, did you just chuckle?" Cloud asked.

"OH MY GOD!" blared the phone loudly enough to make Cloud's right ear twitch. "I-I FOUND YUFFIE! S-she's standing right in front of me!"

The blond mercenary gritted his teeth from the sudden screech before he pulled back the phone to his ear. "W-what did you just say?" Cloud asked, still twitching.

"Yuffie's right in front of me!" Tifa yelled. "A-and she just stole my Materia an-wait, Yuffie, come back here!" she yelled before the call suddenly hung up.

"Tifa? Tifa? Tifa!" Cloud yelled to the phone without having any success of getting a reply. He hung up the call and frowned. "Damn..."

"What happened?" Samus asked.

"It's Tifa's group, they found Yuffie and they're chasing her, probably..." Cloud trailed off.

Chris dropped Marth's fainted self on the ground in shock. "W-we have to get to her! I need my console so badly!"

Cloud looked to the east. "Tifa told me they were close to the item shop of the village... Let's go there, quick!" he ordered before sprinting east.

Snake grumbled. "I hope we make it there in time before she gets away again," he muttered under his breath.

They all followed Cloud's lead (while Mario was left behind to drag Marth's body all by himself), leaving behind the residential area. Unaware of all this, some figures (around four) were spying on them from an alley. They seemed to be fixing their gazes at the bounty hunter of the group.

"Don Corneo, sir," one of them began, "we've found one gorgeous woman for you."

The figures slowly retreated from their spots.

Item Shop

The Smashers kept arguing against the laughing Cid before a familiar person ran in between them and stopped right in front of a sign in front of the river that cross the entire village. Yuffie chuckled happily as she held the little piece of Materia on her right hand. "Hey, everybody!" she said, getting the attention of everyone. "The great ninja Yuffie has done it once again today!"

"Y-you!" Knuckles yelled before pointing his right fist at her. "Give us back our stuff before we force you!"

Tifa ran out from the item shop and looked at Yuffie. "Y-Yuffie, please, we need that Materia! Give it all back to us!"

Yuffie shook her head. "No! I can't just do that simply! I need all this to recover Wutai's lost honor and glory as the proud nation it was!" She pointed behind to the sign to make them look at it. "See this sign behind me? It's this kind of sign that bothers me a lot!"

The sign behind her had a cartoon version of the mythical snake running around the border. Between the snake's long body, there was a message that read "Coming Soon: Wutai Water Glory Ride! Amaze yourself of the culture of Wutai by riding a boat! Entry Fee for Adults: 1000 Gil. Entry Fee for Children: 500 Gil. Caution: No Food Allowed During The Rides. A Clean Wutai is A Happy Wutai."

"See?" Yuffie said annoyed. "I better change this soon before it's too late!"

Fox pointed at her. "We don't want our stuff sold to strangers, you know. Give it all back now!" he demanded. "Do you think I'm going to be walking around with these stupid shoes?"

Yuffie looked at the vulpine's wooden shoes. "Hey, those geta are made here! Don't insult Wutai's fashion!" she complained.

Sonic grunted annoyed. "You know what? That's it!" he yelled. "That girl's not gonna fool us this time around. I'll catch here right on the spot!"

The ninja gasped as the group slowly walked towards her. Yuffie was a bit desperate at the time, and she didn't know what to do next. Out of desperation, she took out from behind the Superspicy Curry she had stolen earlier. "O-oh man, what do I do now?" Yuffie asked as she stared at the dish. "I don't know if I have more smoke balls with me!"

Lucario grunted at Yuffie. "You're going to pay for stealing from Chris. I already know your aura very well, and that means it won't be so easy to hide from us anymore."

Yuffie looked confused. "My aura what again?"

Knuckles grinned at this. "Now you're going to hand over our stuff without having to go into hiding ever again."

Chip pumped up a fist. "One more victory for Chip Norris and his gang has been achieved today!"

Yuffie shook her head, oblivious of many things. "Y-you're not going to get anything from me! It's my job to save Wutai!"

"But it's our job to get back our stuff from you, thief," Fox said.

Sonic grinned at Yuffie. "Now stay there and let me catch ya! GO!"

Yuffie looked forward to see that Lucario and Sonic were charging at her at nimble speed. The ninja gasped at this sudden action before she turned around and accidentally tripped, throwing her hands behind her, all of this happening in a second.

Unfortunately, by the time she tripped down, she was still carrying the spicy dish, and the same mentioned dish's contents were scattered all over the air, leaving traces of flames behind. Lucario and Sonic, since both were running at blinding speed towards her without seeing the pieces, couldn't react in time to stop running right towards the bits of food, and the ending result...was extremely painful.

The small pieces of rice didn't exactly burn them. It was much worse than that.

The small pieces of rice...ended up landing straight all over their eyes, causing them to stop their mad dash as their eyes quickly were reddened to the point they looked like they were crying blood.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Sonic yelled in extreme pain as he covered his eyes with his hands before he fell on the floor and twitched a lot uncontrollably.

"GUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHH!!!" Lucario yelled in the same manner before he covered his eyes and dropped down on his knees.

Chip gasped. "Goodness gracious! They became blind with pain of the power of the super curry of death!"

Knuckles looked annoyed at him. "Would you shut up with those comments?"

Fox shook his head. "I didn't think something this would actually happen..."

The group watched as the two twitched a lot on the floor. Yuffie looked up from the ground before she turned around and found the two yelling in pain for the super spicy food spilled over their eyes. "W-what did just..." she muttered under her breath before she shook her head. "Who cares, honestly? I need to get away from here ASAP!"

The ninja got back up to her feet and quickly jumped over the sign into the river where she dove in to stay out of sight.

Cid kept watching the two screamers before he noticed that Yuffie had escaped from the scene. "Hey, where'd that girl go?" he asked. "HEY, SHE ESCAPED! THE F*&^%$ UP B*&^$ ESCAPED!"

Tifa gasped after seeing that Yuffie wasn't there anymore. "O-oh, rats! She escaped with the Materia I had found a moment earlier!" she cursed.

Music stops

At that moment, Cloud's group came running from the west (with Mario dragging Marth along some pebbles). The group stopped running when they saw Lucario and Sonic trying to resist the intense burning pain on their eyes. "O-oh my god, what happened here?" Chris asked before he looked down to the ground where the Superspicy Curry plate was empty of its contents. "Is that the Superspicy Curry on the ground?"

"C-Chris? I-is that you?" Lucario asked as he grunted in extreme pain.

The World Traveler saw the red patch spilled all over around Lucario's eyes. "L-Lucario!" Chris yelled before he ducked down to see him. "What happened to you? Why are you covering your eyes?"

"T-that ninja girl tossed that plate at us!" Sonic yelled as he tried to resist the pain. "We got it served straight to our eyes!"

Chris looked shocked. "A-and you got the whole plate?"

"Yeah!" Sonic yelled. "It hurts like I'm dying or something!" he complained.

Lucario showed his fangs in rage as he tried to sustain the pain in his eyes. Chris got a bit panicked at this that he tried to calm Lucario down by getting some water from the river to rub it on his face.

Tifa bowed to Cloud. "I-I'm so sorry, Cloud!" she apologized. "I should've looked another way so Yuffie wouldn't have to steal the Materia and provoke all this!"

Cloud sighed. "It couldn't be avoided, I guess," he said. "Too bad we got another Materia stolen as well."

"Grrrrrrr!!!" Lucario grunted in pain, gritting hard his fangs as Chris tried to find a way to help him out.

The World Traveler grabbed his own head. "W-what am I supposed to do?!" he asked in a panic.

Unaware, Chris didn't notice that Aerith had ducked down to rub the Aura Pokémon's head. For some reason, Lucario's grunts began to calm down as Aerith rubbed his head with care. Eventually, Lucario ended his grunts of pain, but his eyes were tightly closed as pain kept running through them.

"There, there," Aerith said. "There's nothing to grunt for anymore."

"...But..." Lucario muttered. "I-I can't seem to resist all this..."

"You have to hang in there," Aerith said. "The pain will go away in a few minutes."

"B-but it was super spicy curry that got spilled on my eyes..."

"...Then I guess it's going to take even longer..." Aerith muttered worried.

Lucario looked down, his eyes still tightly shut. "I...hate this...Chris..."

Chris looked worried at his Pokémon. "...Can you resist, though? Try to resist, Lucario... Can you do that?"

"...I'll try...if you say so..." Lucario muttered.

Snake shook his head. "What a way to get screwed over," he commented. "Our items backfired on us."

"That was really unlucky," Samus said. "Now we'll have to search all over again for her. Where did she go? Does anybody know where she ran off to?"

Cid thought for a moment. "I-"

"She dove right into the river!" Knuckles yelled before he ran to the edge of the river to see if there traces of Yuffie. The echidna inspected the surroundings, but there wasn't her shadow being shown anywhere. Knuckles grunted at this and looked away. "Damn, she fled already!"

Cid muttered some curses under his breath. "Well, ain't that good? We were jus' 'bout to get her, and then she jumps away while we see these two gettin' their eyes f*&%#$ up."

"I-I heard that!" Sonic yelled on the floor. "It's sapping into my brain!"

Cloud sighed. "Well, we're all back on square one..."

"Wait," Fox began, "Lucario said he identified her aura. He can sense the auras of people with ease."

The blond mercenary looked a bit confused. "Sense auras? He can do that?"

"Yeah, he ca-"

"I-I'm afraid to say I can't sense auras for now..." Lucario interrupted.

Chris looked worried. "W-what? Why can't you sense auras? Did you lose your ability again?"

"N-no, it's because the pain in my eyes isn't letting me concentrate long enough to even sense a single aura close to me," Lucario explained. "W-while I'm like this, I just can't seem to concentrate very well as I did a few minutes ago..."

Knuckles frowned at this. "Oh, great, our only easy chance to get that brat just got screwed over as well."

"I-I'm sorry, Chris. I didn't want to make you feel sorry for me..." Lucario apologized.

"I-it's okay, Lucario," Chris said. "You couldn't avoid this, anyway..."

"I was able to if I wasn't focused on her..."

"Please, don't say that..."

[Custom]

Have you won the award for longest Super Smash Brothers fan fiction yet?

[DededeCloneChris]

Have you won the award for longest Super Smash Brothers fan fiction yet?

There's an award for that?

[DededeCloneChris]

Cloud cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone present. "Alright, listen up," he said. "We still have time to look for Yuffie more. Unfortunately, we'll have to perform another search before evening comes by. If nobody finds Yuffie by evening, then let's all agree in meeting up at the Kisaragi Mansion located to the west of the village. The village chief agreed to let us rest in there, but he doesn't want us to be here for so long."

"We rather look around more, huh?" Snake asked.

"That's the idea," Cloud said. "The more time we waste, the more chances Yuffie will get further ahead from us. It's vital to keep looking for her."

Mario scratched his head a bit. "I hope we don't run into any kind of accidents like Lucario and Sonic did."

Chris looked away. "We didn't have any more curry dishes with us, don't worry..."

"Ha ha, see how I'm laughing," Sonic joked as he was able to stand up on his feet, his eyes tightly shut as Lucario's eyes. "Too bad I can't even see me laugh!" he complained, followed by a grunt.

"...Um..." Chris muttered, "...there's a problem right now."

"What problem?" Cloud asked before he remembered that Lucario and Sonic were blind at the moment. "Oh, yes..."

"Yes..." Chris said. "I presume they don't even know where they're facing anymore."

"That's right," Lucario said, still resisting the pain on his eyes. "I can't even focus long enough to tell where I'm going with this pain... I could walk anywhere, but this is just too much to bear..."

"Same here, but thing is I can't resist that much as you do!" Sonic complained. "I don't wanna run straight into a wall as well! Somebody will have to be my eyes!"

Chip pumped up a fist before he flew close to Sonic. "I know how to solve your issue, Sonic."

"Oh please, no!" Sonic pleaded.

"Ehem," Chip cleared his throat. "Sonic, I command you to follow my lead without going to another way. You shall NOT go anywhere else besides staying behind my back. That way, you won't run into anything."

"What's making you think that I'll actually listen to you this ti-" Sonic stopped talking once his feet were forced to walk all the way behind Chip. The hedgehog's feet then came to a stop before he grunted and crossed his arms. "Oh, sweet, now Chip's going to tell me when to eat my dinner."

"Hmm, that'll be pretty nice," Chip said. "Chip Norris could eventually pass on his teachings to you."

"NOT ON THIS LIFE," Sonic replied in annoyance.

Cloud was asking himself what the hell made the hedgehog do what he didn't want to do. The blond mercenary shook his head, shrugging off the puzzling thought. "Okay, I don't know what happened or made you listen to the funny-looking imp, but I don't care much either way."

"Hurray, somebody who doesn't care about the collar," Sonic said.

Take in mind it was actually taken as an honest compliment from the hedgehog.

Cloud looked at Lucario. "We have him blind, though."

Chris sighed. "By all means, I'll have to grab his hand and drag him around the village..." He turned around and saw that Aerith had grabbed Lucario's right hand. "...Um..."

Lucario smiled a bit. "Thank you, Chris. I really appreciate it."

The World Traveler was about to say a word since Lucario was oblivious of the fact that Aerith was already holding his hand. Before Chris could even say a "but", Aerith put a finger in front of her lips as a sign for Chris to follow the flow of what Lucario was thinking. "Y-yes, I'm your trainer after all," Chris said. "Now you won't run into walls."

"I just hope nobody laughs at us," Lucario said. "I won't be able to defend you because I can't see... Why am I thinking your hand is so soft?"

Aerith did a great job in avoiding the chuckle she wanted to mutter. Chris chuckled nervously at this. "W-well, how can you tell? It's not like you know how my hands feel like. If you did...that would be sick..."

"..." Lucario shrugged. "I guess you're very right on that part... Sorry."

"N-no, it's okay," Chris said, Aerith smiling and nodding at him.

Cloud ignored what Aerith was doing with Lucario. "I guess that resolves our problems with our blind members," he said. "With that away, we'll split ways from here with our current groups."

Chris pointed at Aerith holding Lucario's hand.

"...Well, with just a few changes," Cloud said. "The dog will have to follow my group."

"Of course I'll have to go with you this time," Lucario said, trying his best to avoid a smile to indicate how happy he was about the idea. "I mean, Chris is the one guiding me, isn't he?"

Aerith made a happy expression. Chris sweat dropped at this. "(I want to say no, but she looks...so...so happy... I-I don't want to say no to her! In some days, s-she will... I-I don't want to think about that gruesome fate she has in reserve in the near future!) Yes, I'm the one guiding you," Chris said simply, whimpering a bit in his mind.

"True enough," Lucario said.

Tifa frowned after thinking about Yuffie. "Do we honestly stand a chance against Yuffie? She's one nimble person, Cloud. If we do find her, there's a big possibility that she'll end up pulling a trick on us so she can escape."

Cloud shook his head. "We don't need to think about the bad stuff right now," he said. "If we find Yuffie, we'll have to do our best to corner her to a spot where she won't run away."

Cid coughed a bit. "You got a plan?"

"No, but we'll think of something," Cloud said. "Let's resume our search so we can finish this whole matter before evening comes around."

Snake furrowed his brow a bit. "I want to get done with this whole nonsense as soon as possible. We have other things to do besides hanging around with all of you."

"How ironic, we think the same things," Cloud commented. "Okay, let's all separate and look for Yuffie. Meet up at the Kisaragi Mansion west of the village to rest if nobody ends up finding her."

At that moment, Marth woke up from his induced sleep. The Altean groaned a bit as he lifted up his head. "O-oww... Why do I have this headache now? I could've sworn that girl pinched me with another sleeping dart..." He noticed that everyone was looking at him. "Did I...miss anything important?" he asked.

Mario looked away. "Sorry for dragging your head all the way here..." he muttered.

As Cloud sighed in boredom, the group didn't notice that there was a blond Turk spying on them from the right side wall of the item shop. Elena took a peek to see all of the fourteen people. "There they are," she muttered. "I need to keep tabs on them without getting any interruptions now. There's no room for error this time around."

Samus rubbed her forehead a bit. "I won't let her run away this time. I'll use my Plasma Whip to seize her before she escapes again."

There was something wrong once Samus tried to look for her mentioned gun-whip.

"..." She looked bored at them. "...She also stole my Plasma Whip, didn't she..." she trailed off a bit mad.

Fox frowned. "Well, she may as well steal everything from us. We were all completely scrapped to the last bit of equipment."

"At least she didn't think about pilfering our equipment besides Materia," Tifa said. "We wouldn't have survived in the open otherwise."

Cloud crossed his arms. "Let's all start right now. Hopefully, nothing will try to stop us from capturing Yuffie. I'm very certain that we're all going to corner her very soon."

Cid nodded. "About time we started this show," he said. "Let's get her!"

Cloud nodded. "If you feel like separating from the group to find her, that would increase the odds of finding her," he said. "Okay, guys, let's do this now."

Donkey Konga - Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing)

Once they all went to different ways, it was the start of a long chain of events that would pit them against just a person. It was all about fourteen people trying to seize and happy-go-lucky ninja of the village. Elena pushed herself against the wall to see everyone going to different ways. The Turk made a serious expression and decided to follow Cloud's group, carefully walking as far away from them to avoid being spotted.

Streets

Once they had walked several feet away from their spot, they found Yuffie looking to several small statues on a pedestal of a building. Marth yelled her name, and the ninja got startled by this that she ran away into the crowd to lose them. They all lost sight of her, and Cloud decided to choose the option to let everyone go their ways to find her. They all dispersed around, making Elena get undecided about who should she follow.

Cid had luck since he was able to see Yuffie running into some rows of trees by jumping over some bushes. The old man grinned to himself and ran after her. Unfortunately, upon crossing over the bushes, Cid eventually fell into a deep hole of thirty feet of depth. Yuffie walked close to the hole and chuckle down at the blond man, prompting him to curse her for almost everything (since he seemed to have broken a leg in the whole process). The ninja merely folded her arms behind her back and walked away from the spot.

In another part of the village, Chris confusingly looked around for any traces of the ninja. Upon looking to a building where people came out wearing kimonos, he saw that all the girls were covering their faces with fans. With a closer look, one of them seemed to be wearing a huge pauldron. The World Traveler shouted a "You!" and was able to find Yuffie. The ninja gasped at this that she grabbed the hem of her clothes and ran away into the crowd. The dragoon gave chase to her, but just as he was crossing over an intersection, a whole crowd of tourists appeared from the right and accidentally captured him by taking him away. Chris yelled in annoyance as he was dragged away with all the tourists while Yuffie watched all this from an alley. She giggled a bit and walked away.

Bridge

Aerith and Lucario were walking over a wide bridge. The Aura Pokémon was still thinking that Chris was the one guiding him around the village. Once Aerith looked down on the water, she saw that there was someone riding a small boat. That person turned out to be Yuffie. The ninja looked up to see the two characters before waving a hand at them as she entered underneath the bridge. Aerith smiled and waved her hand at her, but then she remembered what she was doing. The flower girl ran all around the bridge to reach the edge of the river and try to meet up with her. Once the boat came out, the "sailor" wasn't there anymore. Aerith looked confused at this, not noticing that Yuffie was hiding underneath the drifting boat. The flower girl looked back to the bridge where she had forgotten about Lucario, who was now being used as tourist attraction since there were families taking photos with him. Aerith blinked at this before she gasped and went to get the blind aura user and take him away from the public.

Streets

Close to the pub, Marth was doing a mad dash through the crowds of people after he located Yuffie. The ninja was now running from the serious Altean. Yuffie looked around to lose Marth until she found an alley where she ran into. Marth knew Yuffie had gone into the alley, and he then ran into it. However, upon stepping inside the alley, the Altean saw pure darkness before dozens of glowing eyes opened up (apparently from cats), seemingly glaring at him. Marth got confused at this since he knew there wasn't any real reason for the cats to grow upset with him. Yuffie should have received the same gazes, but all was answered once Marth looked to his right shoulder to spot a fish being held by a string from the rooftops. The Altean looked up to see where it came from, but he was then attacked by rabid cats that not only pushed the fish from the string, but piled up on him as well. A chuckling Yuffie, meanwhile, watched the entire scene from the roof where she held the string before she turned around and jumped away, ignoring the Japanese curses of the Altean.

Pub "Turtle's Paradise"

A wary Snake entered the pub to see if Yuffie was there. Once he looked to the table where Reno and (the fainted) Rude were, the red-haired Turk glanced at the mercenary. Reno rolled his eyes and merely pointed down of the table where Yuffie was crouching down below it. The ninja gasped after she saw the mercenary charging towards her. Suddenly, she flipped over the tile under the table, and she disappeared from sight. Snake muttered a remark before Cloud appeared from behind him. Suddenly, the tile under Cloud flipped over, and it took him down. Snake then was pulled into the floor's tile as it flipped over on his feet. The same tile then flipped over, and Yuffie appeared with a pleased expression before she ran away from the pub. A slash cut the tile in half where Cloud got in and said blond mercenary crawled up and then ran away outside, followed by a sighing Snake, who cursed some words.

Around that time, Reno saw that Elena carefully followed after the two. The red-haired Turk grumbled annoyed before he drank more wine while Rude muttered some words on the table; something about proposing to a certain fighter his undying love for her.

Streets

Around that time, a parade was held in some streets of the village. People were throwing and tossing confetti around while the nimble ninja ran between the rows of public. This time, Bowser and Wario had spotted the girl, demanding to get their items back from her. As soon as Yuffie decided to cross over to the other side of the street by running underneath a long dragon figure with a long body, being carried by several Wutai natives, the two ran underneath of it, but they were stuck in the dragon's fake insides since the natives lowered down the dragon to make it look like it was sliding over the ground. The two villains yelled in annoyance as they were taken away into the parade.

Rooftops

Above the rooftops, Yuffie was now jumping from roof to roof as she tried to escape from an angry Knuckles and Chip. The ninja easily crossed over the gaps, but so did the other two. Seeing that they've been leaping from place to place for a long time, Yuffie decided to jump into a gap to go into hiding. Knuckles had seen this, and he went to follow her. Unfortunately, as soon as he jumped into the gap, he fell right into a trash can on the lower floor. Chip gasped and then dove into the trash to go after Knuckles, but the trash can was covered by its top by a happy Yuffie, who then lied the trash can down and kicked it down a steep hill. The echidna cursed loudly, swearing to punch her so badly, while Chip merely shouted; shouting that Chip Norris could handle the situation very well and that nobody should worry about him, much to the echidna's annoyance.

Since Sonic was supposed to follow Chip, the hedgehog...was nowhere to be found. Back on the rooftops, Sonic had tripped along the chase, falling down where he hung on a rope where he was entangled with clothes wrapped on his whole body. The hedgehog yelled annoyed, wishing to see the light of day as soon as possible.

Residential Area

Yuffie was running along the several buildings as Samus gave chase after he. The bounty hunter was very determined in recovering all her stolen weaponry from the ninja. By this time, Yuffie was getting tired of running all day. The ninja was thinking about resting, but first she needed to get rid of Samus or else she would be captured. Thinking quickly, the ninja turned around a corner. Samus followed after her, and she did the same thing. Upon turning around the corner of the building, the bounty hunter didn't find the ninja anywhere. She looked around the trees of the place, but there weren't traces of the ninja. The bounty hunter decided to run away and search elsewhere, not noticing that Yuffie pressed herself against a tree's bark with a camouflage sheet of paper of the same color. The ninja sighed in relief and ran away to another direction.

Close to the same place, the figures that had taken sight of Samus focused on Yuffie as well. They seemed that they were reporting something to their boss regarding the two girls.

Just then, Elena came on the spot, and she looked around to see where they went. Cursing under her breath, she took a sharp turn and ran away to look around in a different area.

The figures then took an interest on the blond Turk before they left by walking through the alleys.

Due to exhaustion, Yuffie had to hide in an alley with a dead end. She was getting awfully tired by this time. Sighing, she looked forward before gasping at the sight of the Star Fox leader glaring at her. Yuffie began to back away from Fox, who looked very mad at her. When Yuffie was forced to back away to the wall of the alley, she gulped in fear. Her options of escaping were running out, and she had to think of a way to escape before Fox could get his hands on her. Yuffie gulped once Fox was just ten feet away from her. Thinking quickly with some hesitation, she closed her eyes and hoped that two of her fingers would strike Fox's eyes dead on. The vulpine was too busy staring at her that the fingers hit his pupils hard enough to make him yell in pain. Yuffie gasped as Fox backed away and fell on his rear, gritting his fangs in pain while he covered his eyes with his hands. The ninja then hopped over him and escaped, ignoring the harsh words that the Star Fox leader yelled at her.

And finally, the last ones, Mario and Tifa, where the only ones who were left from being tricked by the ninja. The two were chasing after the ninja, and it looked like Yuffie's legs were starting to tire her out due to the fact she was panting heavily. She was barely able to catch her breath, and her speed started to slow down. Yuffie was determined in losing every single one of her chasers to accomplish what she wanted todo with their stuff. Unfortunately, her energies said otherwise. The red plumber and the fighter saw their opportunity to catch the ninja as they were closing in on her by twenty feet of distance. Once they were about to reach her...

Yuffie turned to look and laugh at them. Apparently, it was all a trick. She had enough energies, but she was playing around with everyone. Mario and Tifa gasped as Yuffie took out a smoke ball (that she had stolen from a shop prior the chase) and slammed it down on the ground, creating a thick cloud of smoke that forced the chasers to stop and cough. Meanwhile, the laughing Yuffie ran out from it and headed towards the east with a triumphant look on her face. Closing her eyes, the ninja began to think about what she was going to do next with the stuff and Materia she had stolen from both groups. She ran out from the crowds of people.

Music stops

The moment she closed her eyes was her biggest mistake in the whole day.

After she ran several feet away from the cloud of smoke, Yuffie was suddenly pushed down to the ground by a quick figure of about 3'9" of height that leaped on her and pinned her down hard. The ninja grunted in pain before she opened her eyes and saw a menacing glare staring down at her face, prompting her to yell in fear. "GAH! M-M-MONSTER!!!" she yelped as the figure showed its fangs at her, revealing to be a feral animal.

At that moment, Cloud and Snake came running from the south. They stopped running once they saw that someone had pinned Yuffie down to the ground. Cloud looked at the figure, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's you," Cloud said. "Good timing."

Snake raised an eyebrow at Cloud. "So, I suppose you know this...animal, right?"

"...Animal? Why would you address me with such an offensive title like that?"

The ex-FOXHOUND looked back at the figure. He could have sworn that the animal just spoke to him in clean English. From what he could tell, the figure looked like an animal of some sort of lion or feline appearance. The figure was a quadrupedal animal with thick dark red and orange fur with a thin brown mane extending partway down its back. Its right eye had a scar running through it, and the remaining eye was ochre in color. The animal was otherwise adorned with a variety of beads, earrings and feathers around its head, with golden pastern braces and brands on its legs. The most singular feature that the animal had was a tail with a flame on its tip.

"..." Snake looked a Cloud. "Maybe I didn't hear right, but did the cat on top of the girl just spoke to me?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, you did hear right," he said.

The mercenary stared at the blond mercenary in some silence. The simplicity of the reply made Snake think that there wasn't anything wrong with the animal before them.

"Are you done staring at each other in silence or what?"

Now Snake did listen well. Those words did come out from the quadrupedal animal. The ex-FOXHOUND looked at the lion-like character. "...Hmm, so you know how to talk like humans do, don't you?"

The lion nodded. "Of course I can do that. It's a very easy thing to do for my species," he said. "I dislike when people don't know about my family, but I can't do anything to change that fact."

Snake stared at the talking lion. The mercenary had already met other creatures in the whole ordeal against the Subspace Army, so why get an impression for another one? "I'm sorry if I didn't hear the news about you."

Cloud looked at Snake. "I wouldn't say those things around him if I were you," he said. "He dislikes to hear that."

The lion looked away. "Cloud, please don't waste any more words with him. It's clear he doesn't have an interest in people like me."

"Not like I said I had one," Snake muttered.

Cloud frowned and looked back at the lion on top of the annoyed Yuffie. "Anyway, the guy on top of Yuffie is named Red XIII, Snake," he said, introducing the animal. "Or you can call him Nanaki if you want. Each one doesn't really matter to him."

Red XIII is a lion-like character from an unidentified species of animals. He has a strong sense of honor and courage, especially regarding his father, who he believed was a coward who abandoned his tribe some time ago (and was later found out that he was actually defending his home from a rival tribe by battling them alone). Red XIII is polite, curious and observant, with something of a distaste for humans which may stem from Shinra's treatment of him as they kidnapped him to run experiments on him (particularly forcing him to breed with Aerith (the same incident where they all fled from Shinra), since his species are known to have long lifespans). He is highly intelligent, as should be indicated by his ability to speak articulately, and he knows much about the world due to his being raised at Cosmo Canyon (his native home where most people can study the ways the Planet behaves). However, he can still be very feral and bestial when called upon. "Red XIII" is not his real name but a codename given to him by Shinra. His actual name is Nanaki.

The lion named Red XIII looked away. "Pleased to meet you, Snake," he said. "As Cloud has said before, it doesn't matter which name you want to call me. Either one is fine."

"(I can tell from his tone of voice that he's not that pleased,)" Snake thought. "Same here," he muttered.

Yuffie struggled to push the lion away from her. "U-ugh, you stupid idiot!" Yuffie cursed. "L-let me go!"

Red XIII glared down at her. "After you stole all our Materia from our hands?"

The ninja grunted before groaning aloud. "Okay, okay! I get it already, sheesh!" she complained.

Cloud decided that it was about time to call everyone to meet at the spot. The blond mercenary began to call everyone through his PHS. Unfortunately, only two of his group had said phones; fortunately, the Smashers found their way back to them.

A time passed, and everyone had gathered. Most of them had evidence about what they went through because of Yuffie (such as Knuckles and Chip having a stinky smell, and Cid using a crutch for his right leg).

Tifa sighed in relief. "Finally! We got to catch her at last!" she said.

Red XIII was still on top of the struggling ninja. The lion didn't want to move anywhere else as he kept a perfect position to prevent Yuffie from running away. The talking animal looked at the new assets of Cloud's group. "It seems you've gathered a bunch of new people, right, Cloud?" he asked.

"Yeah," Cloud said. "At first, I didn't want them to come along, but they insisted because Yuffie had stolen their things to sell them for money to get more Materia."

"I thought as much."

Knuckles looked bored at Tifa. "So you have a guy who has a very obvious feral look and can talk, huh? It's easy for you to see him without getting freaked out, but it's not the same with us?"

Tifa looked away in embarrassment. "I-I didn't know this would happen, honest!"

Red XIII chuckled a bit. "Well, I think I am a little bit grateful that there are such people who look different than humans just like I do," he said.

"Please, don't enjoy this so much," Cloud said mildly annoyed. "Anyway, why'd you come here, Red XIII?"

Chris thought it was a little bit bizarre to call the lion by its codename by saying the roman numbers. Actually, thinking again, the Smashers already had someone else named Red in their group, so they were a bit used to listen to bizarre names.

Red XIII looked at Cloud. "I came here because you didn't seem to respond to my calls," he said. "You have around nine missed calls from me."

Cloud took out his PHS to see on the screen that there was a record of nine missed calls from Red XIII. "Oh, I surely didn't hear the calls while we were chasing after Yuffie."

"I understand," Red XIII said. "I was getting worried about why you weren't answering so I had to leave my area and look for you. I used your scents to locate you. Fortunately, the area I was patrolling was close to Wutai, easier for me to track down your scents."

Cid scoffed at this. "Not like I fart every four seconds or somethin', sick animal."

Chris looked away. "I think that was disgusting and unnecessary to say..." he muttered.

Red XIII looked down at Yuffie. "And when I arrived, I saw Yuffie running straight outside. I saw my moment to stop her, and thus I halted her getaway."

Yuffie stuck out her tongue at him. "You shouldn't have come, anyway!" she yelled. "Thanks to you, I won't ever realize what I wanted t-"

"Yuffie," Cloud interrupted as he walked next to her, "it's over now. Hand over all the stolen stuff you got from all of us this instant."

Yuffie sighed and looked away. "There isn't another way to convince any of you, huh?"

"No."

"...Fine..." the ninja muttered. "...If you want your stuff, just follow me to my house..."

"The mansion?" Aerith said. "We didn't see any Materia in there."

"No, that's not my house," Yuffie said in defeat. "My house is located in a hidden section of the village just close to the gates. If SOMEBODY lets me stand up, I'll lead you all the way there."

Fox (having teary eyes thanks to the harsh pokes on them) glared at the ninja. "You're not going to pull another trick on us, right?"

"No!" Yuffie said. "I-if you want, have someone grab me by the hands so you stop thinking about me doing that to you!" she suggested.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Mario said.

Cloud ducked down to grab both of Yuffie's hands. Red XIII got off from her to let her stand up straight. Sighing, Yuffie looked bored at Cloud. "Well, now that you have me, let me take you all to my house."

Cloud nodded. "Please do."

And the ninja finally decided to give in, leading everyone to the west.

Just inside a building, Elena watched carefully the group leaving towards the gate. She narrowed her eyes and quickly and carefully left her post.

Yuffie's Hideout

The group was taken to a remote location of a small forest just close to the villages' gates. There was a simple house small enough for a single person to live in. Inside the house, there were many scattered ninja stuff (such as shurikens and kunais) with bed sheets being scrambled around a small tea table. An ashamed Yuffie looked at the whole group of fifteen people (most of them giving her glares). "You know, you guys didn't have to enter in here. You're all taking up my free space."

"Yuffie, knock it off already," Cloud said. "We're just here because you caused everything."

Yuffie looked down. "I know that, but..."

"Tell us where our stuff is so we finish all this nonsense."

The ninja wanted to cling into all the stolen spoils. Yuffie didn't want to listen to Cloud's demand, but she was cornered by everyone. There was no way to escape from them this time. "...Fine," Yuffie said before pointing at the wall of the right towards a door. "See that? It'll take you to my secret basement. That's where I hid all your Materia and stuff."

"You go first."

Yuffie bit her lip a bit. "Okay..."

The ninja proceeded to go to the door while everyone kept an eye on her. Yuffie began to walk down the stairs before everyone soon followed after her.

Once they all reached the basement, they crossed a hallway to a room where there was a machine with a screen and two levers in front of it. Some of them thought that the machine before them was used to spy on the people outside, and some others thought it was just used for Yuffie to do other stuff (possibly the latter, since there seemed to be the original version of the game Pong). There was a purple mattress with a Japanese letter written on it, and there were cat statues ornamenting opposite sides of the walls.

Final Fantasy VII - On That Day, 5 Years Ago

The ninja stopped right in front of the machine to look at them. "...You really want your Materia back?" she asked.

"Haven't you listened or what?" Fox asked. "We want everything you took from us back."

"Yeah," Snake said. "I just can't let you sell my weaponry to anybody. They're strictly confidential to the organization I'm working for, and they should be kept by members of it."

Marth looked away. "As if grenades were strictly confidential..."

Yuffie looked worried and shook her head. "B-but I just can't do this!" she argued. "N-not like this, you guys! I need to do this before Wutai gets even worse!"

"What is that about this village getting worse?" Knuckles asked.

Cloud shook his head. "Yuffie, it's over now. We don't want to listen to you anymore."

Yuffie shook her head again. "B-but you need to listen to this so you can see why I'm doing all this, Cloud!"

Cid grunted. "Haven't you head learned that we don't care s^&* about ya?"

Aerith looked at Yuffie's ashamed look. The flower girl felt a bit of sympathy for the ninja that she looked at Cloud. "Cloud...maybe we should listen to her."

The blond mercenary looked at Aerith. Sighing, Cloud looked back at Yuffie. "Fine, go ahead but make it quick."

The ninja looked down. "You might've seen the Wutai of today, right? Well, it didn't use to be like this before the Wutai War erupted," she explained. "Before then, Wutai was a proud nation of ninjas. It was one of the best nations of the world. Wutai was admired for being peaceful and intriguing by its culture. My father, back then, was feared by those who dared to attack the nation, or so I heard about the stories that people told me when I was little."

"So you loved this place so much," Samus said.

"Yeah, and I still do..." Yuffie muttered before she began to sniff a bit. "Before I was born, Wutai was a lot more crowded and more important..."

"But it looks like that today," Mario said.

"Of course not..." Yuffie said. "Wutai didn't use to have that many tourists who easily overgrown the native people by hundreds of them. You saw what it looks like now, right? ...JUST a resort town because we had no choice but surrender to Shinra...all because my father decided to surrender..."

"We saw how you yelled at your father," Cloud said. "You looked like you hated him."

"I hate him, alright," Yuffie said. "He was strong, but now he's just a pathetic excuse for a leader of a proud nation. Sure, we got peace after we lost the war, but we lost the glory. Without glory, Wutai just won't be the same as it used to be. Now look at Wutai!" she yelled before she started to sniff. "That's why...if I had lots of Materia...I could..."

"You could restore Wutai's glory," Tifa said. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Y-yeah..." Yuffie started to sob. "Y-you don't know how humiliating it is for me to live in this hell hole! Each time I see another tourist enter the village, I always think there could've been another way around Shinra, but it's useless!" She walked all the way behind the group where she pounded she wall with a fist. "My father is an idiot, the people of Wutai don't even do a thing to rise against Shinra, and soon the nation is going to lose its culture by all these stupid tourists! I hate it all!"

The group watched Yuffie dropping to her knees where she began to cry silently. Feeling sad for the ninja, Chip flew over to her and tapped her shoulder. "Aww, don't cry, you. Everything's gonna be alright, you'll see."

"I-it's not going to be alright if I don't do something about it!" Yuffie cried.

"But Chip Norris says so!"

Chris looked bored. "(Chip, stop ruining these moments with your nickname already...)"

Yuffie kept sobbing to herself before Cloud took a step towards her. "Yuffie," he began, "stop crying now."

The ninja sniffed a bit and stopped.

"To be honest, Yuffie," Cloud began, "I don't really care that much about Wutai or your feelings about the whole issue."

Yuffie gasped and looked at Cloud. "W-what?"

Some of the group looked confused at the blond mercenary. "You don't care about her?" Tifa asked.

"Why should we care about something that doesn't have to do with us?" Cloud asked. "It's Yuffie's issue, not ours. She happened to find us in the field where she wanted to steal our Materia. Once we stopped her, she gave up, but then she said she wanted to come along with us. And thorough our journey, I've seen her fixated on our Materia that she hardly ever talked with any of us."

"I-it wasn't like that!" Yuffie yelled.

"It was like that," Cloud said. "She didn't care about us, so why should we care about her?"

Mario looked worried. "I...don't think you should give her the same treatment..." He looked at Yuffie's depressed expression. "She looks like she's sorry."

Cloud shook his head. "It's hard to trust her now. She's been tricking us all day."

Chris thought for a moment. "That reminds me... Yuffie, why were you going around the village?"

Yuffie cleared some tears, but she kept looking down. "I...I wanted to see if anyone of the tourists knew about somebody who would like to sell Materia to me... Also, I was trying to convince the shopkeepers from buying the stuff I stole from you, but they gave me really cheap prices, and I refused... You guys were going around, and so I had to run away and lose all of you."

"Until I arrived, everything was going according to your plan," Red XIII said.

"Yeah..." Yuffie muttered. "I didn't have any luck, and I became stuck. I was considering leaving the village to seek out a Materia seller, but I don't really wanna go on a ship voyage again..."

"..."  Tifa shrugged. "Oh yes, you puked at least seven times in one voyage."

Yuffie shook her head and looked worried at Cloud. "Cloud, please, let me d-"

"No, Yuffie," Cloud interrupted. "It's all over. You should've done something else than stealing Materia from other people. It was your fault that you got into this mess, and you knew very well what was going to happen if you failed."

The ninja sobbed a bit and covered her face. "I...I...I..."

Marth started to feel some sympathy for the ninja. "Sorry, but this has to be done this way. Please, give us back what you stole from everybody."

Yuffie suddenly nodded, deciding to give up already. "...O-okay...there's no way around it, huh?" she sniffed. "I-I'll tell you where I hid your stuff right now..." Without looking, the ninja pointed at the two levers close to the screen. "S-see the left lever? Pull it down and...a secret door should open here in this room... Inside that room, all your stuff will be there..."

Something hit Chris's memory. Somehow, what Yuffie said was about to trigger an important detail about the lever she told the group to pull down. There was something very important, and it wasn't related to finding Materia.

Chip was the one who headed for the lever. The imp smiled and gently pulled down the lever. "There," he said before he turned to the group. "Now we can see this hidden entran-"

Music stops

And from the ceiling, a huge cage dropped down, trapping all of them except for the imp. Seeing that this was predictable, Knuckles looked bored. "...Okay, who REALLY saw this coming a mile away?" he asked in annoyance.

Everyone raised their hands.

"Just as I thought, alright..." he muttered.

Final Fantasy VII - Stolen Materia

They all turned to Yuffie. The ninja suddenly stopped sobbing and replaced her sniffing sounds for hysterical laughter. This only made most of the people in the cage get mad at her sudden change of moods. "Hahahahahahahaha!" Yuffie laughed loudly. "What made you think I'd give up all the stuff so easily, anyway? You're way SO easy to trick, y'know!"

"Y-you...bastard!" Marth yelled. "I thought you were going to cooperate and hand over our stuff!"

"Not in a million years, sadly for you!" Yuffie said. "You guys are so gullible, I swear. You should've listened to what I told you, Cloud! If you listened, I could've given you everything!"

Cloud glared at the ninja. "Yuffie..."

"Sorry, but there is NO way I'm handing over your the Materia AND the stuff that easily to such a bunch of insensitive guys like you! (Aerith: But I was caring about your problem!)" she said. "The Materia's as good as mine! Tough!" she said before she stuck out her tongue and ran away while laughing madly to herself.

Cid shook in fury before he grabbed the bars of the cage and began to yell like a madman. This was further enforced because Knuckles was doing the same thing.

"Foiled again!" Tifa said. "I can't believe she did all this again!"

"...But I have to admit she did a very good job at faking it," Aerith commented.

Marth slapped his forehead. "I don't think that's really important right now..."

"Oh, my bad..."

Chris looked down. "(I knew it; I knew this was going to happen!)" he thought. "(I found out this right after it happened, though... Dammit!)"

Sonic tried to look around. "What? Where? Who? What happened? Did we get our stuff?"

"Hedgehog, were you deaf this whole time?" Snake asked in annoyance. "The girl trapped all of us in a cage."

"Hmm, that sucks."

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Knuckles asked.

Samus sighed a place her right hand on her forehead. "Okay, now we have to think about how to come out from this cage..." She noticed that Chip was waving at them from outside the cage. "...Chip, can you try to pull up the lever? Maybe the cage will pull up. There's a rope hanging on top of this thing."

The imp nodded. "Right-o," he said before he looked pass all of them to see Yuffie coming back into the basement. "Hey there!" Chip greeted.

Everyone turned around to look at the cunning ninja. "Yuffie, stop this now!" Tifa yelled. "You don't have to steal our Materia and stuff to bring back Wutai's glory!"

"No can do!" Yuffie said with a chuckle. "That just won't do at all!"

Red XIII grunted at her. "Would you just stop? You still have time before your punishment becomes even worse."

"Well then, I'll escape from you so I don't have to be punished at all," she said. "You want your Materia and stuff? Then go find it yourselves!"

"You mean to say they're not here?" Fox asked.

"That's right!" Yuffie said. "I just brought you here in hopes for you to listen to my story, but since the cold Cloud thinks he so cool and stuff to give a little bit of his time to help Wutai, I COULD have given everything back, but since he's such a big meanie with everyone, why bother to get him to help me? I swear that everyone hates anyone who is not that cooperative with you."

Snake blinked a bit at this statement.

"Why bother sticking together when you can just leave them all behind and do it yourself?" Yuffie asked. "I mean, it's not like we have to be all together in a big group. If that group hates you, then you may as well leave 'em. You just gotta think you can do it alone without anyone's help."

The mercenary looked away, seemingly looking as if Yuffie's words made him think about something he wanted to ponder.

Cloud shook his head. "I don't care either way, Yuffie. Give bac-"

"Sheesh, all of you guys repeat the same darn thing over and over again," Yuffie said bored. "Don't you tire yourselves from doing that so many times when it's useless to do so?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Cid and Knuckles yelled furiously, banging on the steel bars even more.

The ninja chuckled heartily. "Alright, time for me to leave and challenge you in finding everything you want back from me. If you don't find what you're looking for, then it'll be forever lost in the village. Yeah, that's right. And when you're looking for everything, remember you gotta steel it." She chuckled a bit. "Heh heh...steel...steel! Get it?"

"NO!" Knuckles yelled in fury.

"Thought so! C ya!" Yuffie said before she ran away, laughing hysterically to herself.

A moment of silence passed, and the ninja's footsteps weren't heard anymore nor her laughter. Chris sighed and looked to Chip. "Chip, can you pull up the lever now?"

Music stops

"Right-o, take 2," Chip said with a salutation before he pulled up the lever, letting the cage to be carried into the roof where it disappeared into the darkness.

"Oh brother," Tifa muttered. "She's done it again..."

"It seems that way," Mario said. "I think that she was actually trying to get help so badly... Something about her, when she returned, looked different."

"What was that?" Sonic asked.

"Well, for instance...I saw that she was still crying," Mario said. "For one thing, she wasn't faking anything just now. Everything looked perfectly real and honest."

Cloud crossed his arms. "You're forgetting one main fact: it's Yuffie," he said. "She's the most cunning of people we've ever met. She might be one good "actor" if you know what I mean."

"But I think tha-"

"Enough, Mario," Cloud interrupted. "Now that we're once again back on square one, we'll have to look for Yuffie...again."

Aerith looked at Red XIII. "Can you use your nose to track down her scent?"

Red XIII shook his head. "It could be easy if it wasn't for the fact there's a lot of people in this village. Their scents combined makes it hard for me to tell which scent is Yuffie's one. Worse yet, there are so many scents of food."

"I know," Fox said, "since this is her house, we can wait here for her to come back."

Samus shook her head. "I don't think she'll be back here now that we know she lives here," she said. "It wouldn't be a smart move to come back here again."

Fox looked down. "I guess you're right..." he muttered.

Marth groaned a bit. "Please, don't tell me she won't ever be found..."

"We don't know until we try again," Cloud said. "...We'll try tomorrow, though. It's sunset already."

Sonic yawned. "I wouldn't mind lying down on a bed and TAKE this spicy stuff off from my eyes..."

Cid stopped yelling before looking serious. "I know! Let's burn her home down!" he suggested.

"Seconded!" Knuckles agreed.

"No," Cloud said. "We're not going to cause anything in her home. We don't want to fall at the same level she's at. Besides, if we did burn this place, the village would get upset."

"F^&%," Cid muttered under his breath.

Chris looked at Lucario. "Do you still feel pain?"

Lucario nodded. "Sadly, yes... I still can't concentrate well enough..."

Cloud sighed. "Well then, I think everyone wants to rest for the time being," he said. "Let's all go back to the Kisaragi Mansion. Hopefully they'll let us stay there for the night because the inns in the village are too booked up."

Everyone soon left the basement. Before Chris could step into the hallway, he looked behind where Snake was looking away in deep thought. "Snake?" Chris said. "Snake, we have to leave from here."

Snake kept looking away for a bit more. He then looked back at the World Traveler. "Right," he said.

Chris tilted his head to the right. "What were you doing just now?"

"It's none of your business," Snake said as he passed the teen and walked away.

Chris kept staring at Snake walking away. The World Traveler knew that the mercenary was thinking about something. Given the fact that snake replied a little bit late, it was surely something important. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't tell what it was. Once he was done pondering, Chris left the building.

However, none of them noticed that a person was spying on them. On the other end of the hallway, Elena walked out from the darkness as she held a notepad (with a logo of a chocobo on the cover) on her hand. It turned out she had beaten the group in getting to the house since she was the one who found the place first than they, and she hid in the darkness to stay out of sight. The blond Turk raised an eyebrow at the notepad, listing some things on it with a pen (with a logo of a moogle on its tip). "Let's see now," she began, "so far, I've gathered some juicy information about them all. For instance, that girl stole their stuff and Materia... Since they don't have Materia, that leaves them very vulnerable to any attacks..."

She bit the tip of her pen.

"Now, if I could think of a way to convince some of the soldiers to drop off the matter about that Don Corneo guy...I could get those guys arrested and brought in to Rufus!" she said before looking serious. "But I wonder, maybe there's more that I can I find out about them, specifically the group of furry people... I have to keep gaining more information before I do my report."

The blond Turk decided to leave the basement, carefully making sure nobody saw her.

Kisaragi Mansion

The evening soon came over Wutai. Surprisingly enough, the streets of the whole village were...completely emptied out. All people were resting by the time night fell. At first, it looked odd that there weren't people, but it later became creepy to some of the group. There wasn't any reason that the streets didn't have any people during the night, but there should have been at least one.

"And to prove this place encourages tourism," Mario began, "we all got free hotel clothes: jinbeis."

True to be told, the Kisaragi Mansion wasn't exactly just a normal manor but some kind of hotel. Cloud had convinced Godo for everyone to book in, allowing them to have a place to rest for the night. Oddly enough, Godo was the only one who was present at the house as a family member. The only people who attended him were hired maids.

As for the group, each one had their own rooms. Some of them went as far as to sleep in groups, while others simply slept alone. In one of room, Chris, Mario, Lucario, Sonic (who turned into a werehog), and Chip were having a conversation. Surprisingly enough, all of them (except Lucario) were wearing jinbeis (traditional Japanese clothing during summer season consisted of short-sleeved jacket with shorts). They were given jinbeis by the maids.

Chris looked happy. "Well, I personally like the service in here," he said. "We even got to eat Chinese rice."

"And free clothes," Chip said. "Chip Norris gets everything for free.

Sonic ignored the imp. "Too bad I can't even see what's in front of me anymore with this stupid spicy stuff on my eyes. Why did I have to be stuck in here while everybody went to have dinner?"

"It's because you turned into a werehog again," Mario said. "And you turned into it after we came back. Do you want to scare the mansion's lord with a sudden transformation?"

"Meh, he won't say anything."

"I say otherwise, though," Chris said. "You'll have to be hiding from anybody when you're a werehog."

"Oh, so any other non-human guy can go around? I'm one like that as well!"

"Yes, but remember your transformation," Mario said. "Anybody would freak out if they saw you transforming so suddenly."

Sonic sighed. "Guess there's no way, then..."

Chris chuckled nervously. "S-see the bright side about this: I got you your own jinbei."

"So?"

"...Forget it..." Chris muttered before looking at Lucario, who was doing a meditating position besides Chris's bed. "Are you eyes still hurting you?"

"...Yes," Lucario said in shame. "The curry has a horrible effect on eyes..." He grunted. "I want to see very soon because I'm getting sick of having to walk around with somebody grabbing my hand. Thank goodness it was you, Chris, who guided me all day."

If only Lucario knew that a girl did all the guiding for him...

"...U-um, yes," Chris said. "You have me to guide you anywhere."

"Yes."

Chris stood up and sighed. "I don't know you, but I'm going out for a walk around the garden..."

"Why?" Chip asked. "You lost somebody dear to you that you need some time alone? Chip Norris understands that, but he can always roundhouse a corpse to make it come alive again."

"...N-no!" Chris said in embarrassment. "I just want to have some relaxation by myself after the ordeal we went through to get our stuff without having any good results."

Lucario looked up, listening to Chris's words to see where he was. "Can I go with you?"

"No, it's okay," Chris said. "You should rest for now. I'll be right back in a few minutes... If you'd excuse me..."

The World Traveler walked towards the sliding door before he left the room.

Mario looked at Sonic. "Don't worry, Sonic, we'll lift that transformation very soon."

"Do you know the date?" Sonic asked.

"...No..."

"Bummer," Sonic muttered with a scoff.

Windy Hallway

Environmental Noises

The moon's reflection floated on a small pool of water of the silent garden. A lonely figure, Chris, walked silently on the wooden floor. The World Traveler looked at the garden before sighing a bit to himself. "I wonder..." he muttered, "how long will it take us to finish our things here?"

"Beats me."

Chris gasped at the sudden response that came out of nowhere. Looking forward, the World Traveler found a man in jinbei behind a pillar resting his shoulders on the wooden handrail. He looked odd to Chris since he never met him. Judging by the serious look of the man, Chris could tell he wasn't from the village. The man had a small beard and dark brown hair. Other than that, he just wore a jinbei. "O-oh, sorry, mister!" Chris apologized. "I-I didn't see you were here. You were kind of hiding perfectly behind this pillar..."

The man nodded before he looked back to the garden.

Chris sighed. "Really, I'm sorry for not noticing you... There's no need to avoid replying back to me. I won't say anything offensive..."

"...Tsk," the man muttered.

"...(Now that I think about it, I never saw him in this place before...)" Chris thought. "U-um, I'm sorry for having to ask you this, but who are you?"

"..." The man glanced sideways at Chris. "Iroquois Pliskins," he introduced himself.

"Oh..." Chris trailed off. "(Iroquois sounds a bit a funny as a name... I-I shouldn't chuckle at him for his name... But...Pliskins... Oh no, another funny name...) Iroquois?" Chris said in curiosity. "Wow, I think that name is kind of..."

"Random?" the man named Iroquois finished. "Yeah, I've gotten the same kind of response a few times."

The World Traveler thought that he could further talk with the man. "So, are you staying here in the mansion?"

"Yeah," Iroquois said with a nod. "Otherwise I'd be out in the streets. The inns of this place are all booked up to the top shelf of the main reception."

"I know what you mean..." Chris trailed off. "But how did the owner let you in?"

"Simple," the man began, "I already met him with some group of guys. We're all staying here for the night."

"Oh, so you're with a group," Chris said. "...What kind of group is that? I didn't see anyone else rather than the people I'm with."

"Well, those guys are the oddest bunch you'll ever meet," Iroquois said. "You'll see why because they all wear fur suits all day."

"...Wow..." Chris muttered. "They must be really attached to their costumes, aren't they?"

"That's one way to put it," Iroquois said. "Some of them are menacing-looking, and some of them have goofy looks on their faces that could drive you nuts. Heck, they may even give you nightmares."

"I-I'm used to see strange faces, so it's going to be fine," Chris said with a nervous smile.

"I don't, thought," Iroquois said. "Why, even some of them are human, but they could be ever weirder than the others."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's this guy who wears a tiara that makes him look girly, this woman with the stern look, this guy who doesn't seem to work as a plumber, and this other kid who likes to change clothes every so often."

Why was Chris thinking that he could picture somebody else saying those kinds of words?

"...I...see..." Chris said in confusion. "...That's strange, now that you said it..."

"Why?" the man asked.

"Well, most of what you said was kind of ironic because I happen to be traveling with the same kind of group," he said. "But it sounded kind of convenient, you know? I was about to say that you forgot the man with the dead serious look on his face and the...surprisingly tight buttocks." He looked away in embarrassment. "D-don't tell him I said that, though! He'll get mad if he heard I said that about him!"

"..." Iroquois shook his head and looked away. "I admit my suit is kind of ridiculously tight in some parts. Sadly, I've never taken fashion that badly before."

[Custom]

There's an award for that?

There should be. If there is, you've got it.

[DededeCloneChris]

Chris chuckled. "I don't see you wearing any kind of suit right now. You're wearing not-so-tight clothes."

"Yeah, but I'll be wearing my usual espionage suit again like I always do. I wouldn't mind wearing some more common clothes while I'm in the middle of the public, but I don't have any at the moment."

The World Traveler looked a bit confused at this. "...Excuse me?"

Iroquois looked at Chris. "Yeah?"

"Espionage suit?" Chris said. "What...are you? Some kind of undercover spy?"

"Maybe," the man said. "The kid in my group would ask the same thing."

"..." Chris narrowed his eyes at the man. Somehow, the World Traveler felt that the man before him was already a familar face. "...Wait just a minute here!" he said in shock. "You're not just some kind of man, are you?!"

"...Heh," Iroquois chuckled a bit. "Fooled you, didn't I, kid?"

Chris shook his head. "W-wait, you're not Snake, right? There happens to be a guy who could respond something like that just like you, and I don't think it's a coincidence that there's someone with the same kind of responses...and...the voice..." He slapped his forehead. "Aw, god, the voice! They both sound the same as well! How did I overlook that?"

Iroquois nodded. "Afraid so, kid. You're talking to Solid Snake now."

The World Traveler looked shocked. "B-but...is that really you?"

"What, haven't seen me without the headband?" Iroquois asked. "Without the headband, it's a bit hard for people to recognize who I am. I guess you fell for it, kid."

"I-I admit you looked very different without the headband," Chris said. "You were having fun messing with me, didn't you, Iroquois?"

"Hey, I just happened to be breathing some fresh air outside my room," Iroquois, or Snake, said. "And I didn't wear my headband because it was getting a bit hot."

"Then I walked here and you faked to be another person?"

"Pretty much, but the name Iroquois Pliskin was a name I used to have when I wanted to help another kid some time ago," Snake said. "It's not that fake and random, though. You just happened to fall for it."

"U-ugh!" Chris grunted in annoyance. "I can't believe I didn't think that you were you, Snake!"

Snake looked away. "It's not my fault you haven't seen me with a more normal face."

"W-well, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make the same mistake ever again!" Chris said with crossed arms. "Goodness, I thought you looked new to me BEFORE I-"

"Kid, would you stop ranting that loud?" Snake asked. "You're gonna wake up the people resting in here, especially the maids and Godo."

"O-okay, I will," Chris said. "I think I might be overdoing it a little, so I'm going to stop there..."

"Good," Snake said. "Now please leave me alone. You'll have to enjoy what time I have left before I drop out from the group."

Chris nodded. "I understand, Snake... I think I'm going to head back to my room now... Good night, Snake."

The World Traveler turned around and walked away into the hallway of the mansion. The mercenary kept looking at Chris's direction before the World Traveler came back in a hurry as if something was recalled in his mind. "What is it, kid?" Snake asked. "You can't sleep and counting sheeps wasn't enough?"

Chris blushed a bit. "I-it's not that!" he said. "Maybe I heard wrong, but did you just say I had to enjoy the time I have left for you before you drop down the group? ...What exactly did you mean by that?"

Final Fantasy VII - Anxious Heart

Snake gave Chris a stern look. "No, you didn't hear wrong. What you heard is the whole truth."

"...B-but..." Chris shook his head a bit. "...But...seriously? In a moment like this?"

"Yeah," Snake said simply.

"...I..."

"No need to talk more about this," Snake said. "I already made my decision."

"...It's just that...it's so sudden..." Chris muttered. "I mean, why drop out from the group so suddenly? I don't see what's the reason for you to do that..."

"There is," Snake said. "I'm not needed to be here anymore, nor I was needed this whole time."

"...What?" Chris asked. "What do you mean you're not needed here?"

Snake looked back at the reflection of the moon's image on the pond. "It's true. I realized that there isn't any reason for me to be with the group. I began to think that after we last met that snotty girl."

Chris looked away. "Snotty girl... You mean Yuffie?"

"Yes."

"But what made her think you weren't needed here?"

"She said that there isn't a point to be with her group because they don't care about her," Snake said. "She also said that she may as well leave them behind so she can do everything by herself, and I kind of related to what she said."

"...W-wait a minute," Chris began, "are you saying we don't care for you and that you're better off alone by yourself?"

"Pretty much," Snake said. "I work solo most of the time, kid."

"But you always receive help from Otacon, Mei Ling, and the others," Chris said. "How can you say you're alone when you have all of them to support you?"

"That's because they're the ones I resort to get info during my missions," Snake explained. "They're not physically there, which is better for me to work and avoid worrying about anyone in a battle."

The codec ringtone ran suddenly. "Oh yeah, he says the truth, alright," Otacon said. "I don't want to remember the first we met. Snake almost killed me."

"You were being very clueless about what you were doing to help the enemy, Otacon," Snake said. "And since it was a weapon of nuclear weaponry, of course I had to yell it out to you."

"Er, I personally think there was another nicer way to tell him, though..." Mei Ling muttered.

Chris shook his head. "What about you two? Aren't you against Snake's decision?"

"Frankly speaking, he can do what he wants to do," Mei Ling said. "We just give him information for anything he has trouble with. Only Colonel Roy Campbell can order him."

"Well, then why the Colonel isn't saying anything?"

"That's because Snake has already spoken to me," said the Colonel. "All he told me was something I thought over before I allowed him to do what he wanted."

"But...Snake is an important asset for the group..." Chris muttered.

"Not really, kid," Snake said. "The guys in the group are kind of very secluded when they look at me. I'm some kind of outcast for them like the hedgehog is."

"Sonic isn't an outcast!"

"Most of them treat him like as if he were a stranger stuck in the mansion," Snake said. "I don't want to annoy anyone like he does, so I should better leave everything and everyone behind."

Chris shook his head again. "You're wrong. Maybe there are some of them who really care for you!"

"The mushroom princess?"

"...Peach likes pretty much anybody who seems good or has the possibility of becoming a nice person..." Chris muttered. "...Besides her, I could probably...um..."

Snake sighed. "Can't think of some names, huh?"

"...No..." Chris admitted. "...B-but even so, you don't really have to leave, Snake! I...I do care about you!"

"Why do you care about me, though?"

The World Traveler thought for a moment. "I care about you because...you're singular like any of the guys we've met. Every single one of them is unique in their own way, and you're not an exception. I mean, you're the only one of the whole group who is dead serious about what you do..."

Snake kept staring at the pond. "Everyone else is as "dead serious" as me, kid."

"At least you keep focusing on it more than anyone..."

"Possibly," Snake said. "Unfortunately, we're all on the same level when we want to discuss about what to do next about the army. If I dropped out, the group wouldn't lose that much of aid."

"..." Chris looked down. "But having you around makes us look complete..."

Snake looked up. "Are you saying that because of the fact that we need to be the whole roster of people in the so-called tourney?"

"...I'm going to be honest: yes," Chris said. "But I'm not so sure about putting it like that..."

"Well, guess what," Snake began, "it doesn't always have to be that way. We still have some members absent, yet they're the villains who are trying to stop us from stopping them. I should just forget the whole thing and keep them away from stepping into my world. I'm better off if I'm alone without have to worry about someone close to a battle."

The World Traveler looked back at Snake. "...But...if you were to be hurt so badly, and there was no one else than yourself in an area where there's nobody close to you, what would you do?"

"I get such situations sometimes, but it hardly happens," Snake said. "If I ended up like that, then I'd blame myself for being so reckless in the fight I was taking part of."

"Even so, you're going to risk your life by being alone?"

"..." Snake looked serious at Chris. "...Who dares, wins."

"...That's isn't true!" Chris argued. "Are you planning to dare your life with this decision?"

"Most likely," Snake said. "My life is always in danger, no matter how you look at it."

"Now you're sounding like you don't even value your life..."

"Kid, stop getting off-topic," Snake said. "This isn't about whether or not I'll live. This is about me taking a decision to leave you all behind."

"But..."

"Of course, I won't forget any of you," the mercenary said. "Like I told you before, it's hard to forget all the experiences I've been through with this. Once I take my leave, though, don't try to convince me from joining you ever again."

The World Traveler remained silent for a brief moment. "...And are Otacon and Mei Ling with you?"

"I'm sorry," Otacon said. "Once Snake makes up his mind, contradicting him could mean you want him to kill you..."

Chris got a shocked look at this statement.

"That only happens to you because you make him a little bit stressed," Mei Ling pointed out.

"T-that's not true," Otacon said in embarrassment. "B-but in any case, you should listen to him, Chris."

"I'll have to agree," Mei Ling said. "You just can't force somebody to believe the same way you do."

"I'm not trying to make him believe like I do..." Chris muttered. "I just..."

"Stop," Snake muttered before he stood straight and looked at the teen. "I don't want to hear anything else about this. I already made my decision, and you'll have to respect it."

The World Traveler looked away. "...I...understand..."

Snake nodded. "Glad you understood my reason," he said. "I'll be dropping out once we're done with this mission. Until then, try not to do something to change my mind because I'll tell what you'll do, kid."

"..." Chris shook his head and looked at Snake. "But if I do, that'd mean I care for you."

"I'd like to see anyone else to try to do the same thing, but that's very unlikely at these heights," Snake said. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take a nap before I get to recover my stuff from that girl tomorrow."

"..." Chris sighed in depression. "Good night, Snake..."

"Night," Snake said before he proceeded to leave the hallway and the teen behind.

Once the mercenary was gone from sight, Chris decided to rest his arms on the wooden handrail. He stared at the same pond Snake was looking at, thinking hard about what he should do about the mercenary. "I feel like an hypocrite now..." Chris muttered in depression. "Snake surely wanted to do this because nobody gets to spend the time with him... Maybe I should've done that from the very beginning..." He grabbed his head and shook it a bit. "What am I thinking? I'm not the only one who's supposed to do that sort of thing. It's everyone's fault that he doesn't want to stay any longer with us, right? ...But should I really blame everyone or just me?"

"Snake should be the one with the blame."

Chris gasped and looked around. He could have sworn he heard a voice coming from somewhere, but this time, there wasn't anyone in the hallway except for himself. He was scared enough to the point he thought there were ghosts in the mansion. "W-who's talking to me?" Chris asked. "A-are there any ghosts in this place? Did I just break some kind of rule that's considered taboo here or what?"

"...No... You said almost the same thing as that Yuffie girl..."

"...What?"

"There's nothing to fear, Chris. It's me, Mei Ling."

"M-Mei Ling?" Chris repeated in confusion. "How can you be talking to me if Snake left? Shouldn't he be around for anyone to get into the conversation of a codec?"

"Not really," Mei Ling said. "The codec works by manipulating the staples of the ears. We can talk to anyone through that way by sending compressed, codified, and decoded communications to your ears."

The World Traveler had no idea what Mei Ling was talking about. "...Um... What?"

"...Never mind," Mei Ling said. "Thing is, codec is an easy thing to do as long as you press you ear a bit like Snake does. It was hard to get you in here because you didn't to that to let me manipulate your staples. I'm glad it worked, though."

"So you can talk to anyone?"

"As long as they press their ears and have the codec nanomachines that are hidden in there, then I can talk to them," Mei Ling explained.

"...Nano-what?" Chris asked in shock before shifted his eyes to his ears. "...T-that means you put super small machines into my ears without me knowing about them?!"

"Well...I did that," Mei Ling said. "I hid some extra ones in Snake's pockets. Those possess fly capabilities and can be controlled from where I am, and I direct them to jump into anyone's ears. I was lucky that you got close to Snake because he had some with him on his hands. That was a very long time ago, though."

Chris's skin color turned pale. "...I...had...machines...in my ears...for a long time...and I' haven't noticed until now... Oh god..."

"...They won't do anything wrong," Mei Ling assured. "They won't cause any kind of illnesses."

"...So if anyone could heard anything you talked about with Snake...does that means everyone has nanomachines in their ears?"

"Yes."

"...And they can call you anytime?"

"Yes, but they don't know how to use it unlike you and Snake. I only insert the ringtone for those I want to talk to. Here, listen to it."

The trademark codec ringtone rang inside Chris's ears, making him yelp a bit.

"Oh, sorry..."

"..." Chris sighed scared. "O-okay, that was a little bit too much information..."

"Sorry, but it had to be done if Snake was ever in need of help," Mei Ling said. "But that's enough for now. Chris, there was a favor I wanted to ask you about."

"Yeah," Otacon said as he joined in conversation. "Make that a favor by two people."

The World Traveler shook his head to snap out from his scared state. "A favor?" Chris said confused. "Why a favor?"

"Look, it's about Snake," Mei Ling said. "You've got to do something to change his mind about leaving the group."

"What? Why?" Chris asked. "He already said..."

"Even so, he has to understand that he needs to rely on others," Mei Ling interrupted. "Snake was like this a long time ago, but then he learned that he shouldn't give up on people."

"However," Otacon began, "he got back to that attitude as soon as he was admitted into the Smashers. I guess he didn't take the idea of working with an unusual group that well."

"Unlike him, we can talk with any of you guys without problems," Mei Ling said. "Snake...doesn't, though. He needs to change that attitude before he resumes being so cold like he used to."

"And if he gets like that, he might endanger the lives of people who happen to be hostages for bad guys," Otacon said.

"Seriously, do you have to remind us about your first meeting with Snake?" Mei Ling asked.

"H-hey, he brings nasty memories with the way he's acting now," Otacon said. "Might I add that he almost asphixated me when I was the one trying to save him from rotting in a cell with a dead body?"

"Oh, Snake was just very stressed that time. You should've let him breathe in and out."

"AND the time before that," Otacon added. "And the time after that..."

"...Um..." Chris recalled what they asked him to do. "...You want me to try and convince Snake from leaving the group?"

"Yes," Mei Ling said. "We're against his decision. We don't want to have the loner Solid Snake back. We want to have the little bit friendly Solid Snake."

"Little bit friendly..." Otacon muttered. "You just can't make him a lot friendlier..."

"That's a fact," she said. "But in any case, Chris, you need to do this."

"..." Chris looked worried. "W-why me, though? Why it has to be me and not anybody else? I don't want to make Snake strangle me from behind!"

"Because you're the only one who gets to talk with everyone in the group," Mei Ling said. "You have some kind of heart of gold, and we need that very same heart of gold to make Snake change his mind."

The World Traveler blushed for a bit. "...Are you trying to flatter me with those words?"

"Did it work?"

"...Not really, they made me get more scared..."

Silence...

"...Do it, man!" Otacon said, breaking the silence. "You have, no, you MUST convince Snake before he leaves as the cold man he was before! He can do anything is he's opened up a bit, but other than that, it's hard to have a conversation without him getting angry!"

"B-but I don't want to die by making him get stressed!" Chris argued. "Those eyes of his can kill anyone!"

"He's not going to do that sort of thing," Mei Ling assured. "Hopefully the Colonel will order Snake to stop."

"Maybe," the Colonel said.

"See? There's a chance for you to avoid getting hurt."

Chris remained speechless at the fact. "...And he's just going to say maybe?"

"I don't know, sorry. For now, I'll take my leave and let you all think about you want to do with Snake," the Colonel said.

"...Wait a minute, you're just going to let this go like this? Aren't you worried about Snake?"

"I am," the Colonel said. "I'm not that good at changing people's minds. I'd like Snake to stay with you, but he has requested me to leave. The last thing I'd wish to do is making him have a grudge against me for saying otherwise."

"..." Chris looked away. "I see..."

"But if you're planning to keep going with this, I won't stop you," the Colonel said before he left the conversation.

"...Why is it that I'm being pitted to do the unthinkable?" Chris asked in annoyance.

"You can do it," Otacon said. "Mario could have the same advantage, but you know Snake more than he does."

"B-but I barely touched Snake's game series!" Chris said on his defense. "I haven't played his game a long time ago!"

"Well, we can't back up now that you know what we want to," Mei Ling said. "But please, try to do it."

"...I'm not so sure about this..." Chris muttered. "...But...I don't really want Snake to leave as well..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll try to do everything I can, provided he doesn't crush my throat with a grip..."

"Oh, thanks," Otacon said with relief. "You're doing the right thing here."

"YOU should be doing this," Chris said.

"I-I-ah, don't need to, really," Otacon said. "Well, good luck out there! I'll be cheering on you from a remote spot... Bye!" Otacon said before he left the codec.

Chris looked away in annoyance. "I swear that Otacon has a phobia for Snake..."

Mei Ling chuckled. "I think so, too. Well, for now, I'm going to wish everything goes well for you," she said. "If you ever want to call us again, press your ear."

"Just don't call me when I'm sleeping..."

"We don't like to do that, anyway," Mei Ling said. "Well, see you later, Chris," she said before ending the codec conversation.

A moment of silence took place in the hallway before the World Traveler walked to the nearby pillar and began hitting his forehead against it. "Why, why, oh why to I have to risk my life to do this?" he asked in disbelief. "Screw Snake's "Who dares, wins" motto, I'm so going to lose by daring myself into this!" he cursed.

Unbestknown to him, some footsteps were heard on the hallway. Thanks to the fact he was hitting his forehead against the pillar, Chris didn't hear anything until words were spoken. "Hmm, I didn't think someone had a hobby to hit a pillar without any reason."

Chris stopped hitting his forehead and looked to his left. He found that Red XIII and Aerith (wearing a yukata; a Japanese clothing that looks like a kimono used for summer seasons) were staring at him with some odd looks on their faces.

"..." Chris blushed embarrassed. "I-I was just trying to shake something off from my mind, that's all..." Chris muttered.

"Sure you were," Red XIII said. "It "seemed" to be just that."

Aerith looked worried. "Are you okay, Chris?"

"(Well, the fact Snake is going to leave us very soon, and the fact I'm looking at one soon-to-be dead innocent girl in front of me, I'm NOT that okay!)" Chris thought. "I'm okay, don't worry," he faked. "Just okay..."

"Are you now?" Red XIII asked.

"..." Chris thought for a moment about Snake. "(...What can I do to convince Snake? I'm out of ideas...)" He looked at the two. "(...Wait... I think they can help me somehow... Let me think a bit...) Aerith, Red XIII, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Aerith asked. "You can ask us anything."

Red XIII looked away. "Once she said that, I can't back down."

The World Traveler shook his head a bit. "W-well, it's about Yuffie," he said. "You traveled along with her some time ago, right?"

"Yes, we did," Aerith said. "What about it?"

Chris folded his arms behind his back. "...It's just that...do you still believe in her as a partner of your group?"

Aerith crossed her arms. "You might get surprised, but I think she's still a partner to us."

The World Traveler looked at the lion. "What about you?"

Red XIII looked up sideways at Chris. "I don't honestly think she should be still a partner to me. Yuffie has had her reasons to be traveling with us, and the way she left us was unforgivable."

"Why is it unforgivable?"

"She betrayed us by stealing our Materia," Red XIII explained. "We were being deceived by her for a long time after we caught her from stealing our items after we escaped from the Shinra building... I'm sorry, but I don't trust humans very much as I used to."

"You still trust your grandpa," Aerith said.

"He's the only one I can look up to, and you with the others," the lion said. "But Yuffie is another different person."

Chris looked worried. "Can you answer me something else? Did you...had fun times with Yuffie?"

Aerith chuckled and nodded. "Yuffie was one lively girl when she was with us. She used to do some pranks and tell some jokes to make us feel right at home. Not only that, she was also a pretty nice cook. Even Red XIII ate her food."

Red XIII looked embarrassed. "That's because I couldn't resist the scent..."

"...Okay..." Chris muttered. "But once she left the group, do you still think she might have a place with you?"

The flower girl thought for a moment. "Hmm... I think she still has a place with us..." she trailed off. "Yuffie was affected by Shinra as all of us did: Cloud worked for them but then dropped out for unknown reasons, Tifa lost her home and friends in a gruesome accident, I was being persecuted by them to join SOLDIER, Red XIII was kidnapped from home to become a experiment subject, Cid got his space voyage cancelled, and Yuffie had her home turn into a tourist resort," she explained. "Also, another friend of us lost his arm and his friend, and another one had a cruel past...all because Shinra affected all of us."

Red XIII looked down. "If someone should be blamed for is Shinra," he said. "Because of them, the world and even its people are suffering..."

"Come to think of it," Aerith began as she looked up, "if Shinra hadn't done all those things, none of this would've happened like Yuffie having a place to live with honor..."

Chris thought for a moment. "So, do you still think she should return?"

Red XIII closed his eyes. "It's a hard choice," he said. "She caused this and she has to repay us in some way or another."

"Yeah," Aerith said. "I know she did something she shouldn't have done, but there's always room for forgiviness, and a room for her to be with us."

"Shinra is the main reason we're trying to stop them from doing more attrocities to the people," Red XIII explained. "That is one common goal that makes us all work together."

"(A common goal...)" Chris thought. "(But even if we're facing the Subspace Army, it won't be enough to convince Snake from staying with us...) Do you think...it would be a good idea if all of you were on your own to fight Shinra?"

Aerith shook her head. "No, that's dangerous," she said. "If we ever got separated, our lives could be at risk..."

"We work better when we're together," Red XIII said. "There's no turning back once Shinra has set an eye on all of us."

"(Staying together so the enemy doesn't finish you off...)" Chris thought. "(But Snake said he could fight alone well without having to worry about others...)"

"Why are you asking so many questions regarding Yuffie?" Red XIII asked.

Chris snapped out from his thoughts. "I was just trying to see if you still want her to stay with you, that's all..."

Aerith rubbed her chin a bit. "Well, if she ever wanted to come back, we would receive her with open arms, if she apologizes and starts being honest with us, that is."

"Otherwise, we may as well ignore her," Red XIII said. "If she doesn't truthfully say she's sorry, then we won't care any longer for her."

The World Traveler nodded at this. "I see..." He thought about something else. "(I need to see if I can get some kind of clue to help me with Snake...)"

Aerith yawned a bit. "Sorry, but I think it's time for me to sleep for the night."

"I should do the same," Red XIII said.

"W-wait!" Chris stopped them from taking another step. "I need to ask one last thing to you."

Red XIII grunted a bit. "Well, what is it that you have in mind?"

"(I need to listen carefully to this...)" Chris thought with some worry. "If, let's just say, Cloud were to leave the group because he thinks he can fight Shinra alone...and you happen to be not that close to him...would you still try to stop him from leaving?"

The lion thought for a moment. "I'm still grateful for Cloud for rescuing me and Aerith from Shinra, but seeing that you're asking me with a situation like that..."

Aerith nodded. "Of course I'd try to stop him," she said. "Even if I didn't know him, I would stop him from doing so."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked. "Are you absolutely sure that you would do that?"

Aerith chuckled. "I know I can do it because it happened once before," she said. "Cloud was a rather secluded person who liked to be alone most of the time. He still does that to these days, but he's starting to open up," she explained. "I guess he just won't leave us because he's starting to care for others rather than himself."

The World Traveler looked a bit surprised at this. "(So then, Cloud had a similar situation like this, but he never thought about leaving because he slowly grew together with all of them... This does seem to be helpful, but it won't change much about what I can do...but maybe I can use this as some kind of basis...)"

"Are you done?" Red XIII asked.

"...Yes," Chris said. "I'm done. I think I'm going to go back to sleep."

Aerith smiled a bit. "Let's sleep well tonight so we can see if we can track Yuffie down."

"Yes, let's do that," Chris said.

However, he recalled another different matter.

"...O-one more question!" he interrupted.

Red XIII sighed. "What..." he trailed off in boredom.

Chris looked at Aerith. "This is...a little bit more personal, but why did you offer to guide Lucario around? You looked like you were having fun..."

Aerith chuckled. "I did it because I think he's kind of special," she said. "I don't know why, but there's a lot of life in him. That, and he looks kind of cute to me."

"You know there's a lot of life in him?"

"Yes."

"(...Oh god, more of a reason that Aerith is one heck of an innocent person... S-stop thinking about her death already!)"

"Can we PLEASE go back to sleep now?" Red XIII asked. "I get a little bit upset if I don't rest."

Chris snapped out from his thoughts. "O-oh, okay, let's go, then."

The World Traveler decided to follow the two characters down the hallway. Many thoughts raced inside Chris's mind, and he mainly though about what to do to convince Snake from leaving the group. It was going to bother him a lot, but he needed to do it to accomplish Mei Ling and Otacon's favor.

Music stops

After they left the hallway, they didn't hear that somebody had sneezed a little bit loudly.

Just underneath the wooden floor, a person hid in complete darkness, except for a little light that emanated from a helmet she was wearing on her head. There was a serious Elena writing down everything she heard the moment Chris came into the scene. The blond Turk was decided to get a nice report done by all the information she had gathered up until now.

"Hmm, interesting," Elena muttered as she read her notes...

Elena's Report

-Do NOT mention I'm ignoring the search for Don Corneo to my superior (or else I'm so screwed).
-Cloud's group had their Materia stolen.
-Foreign group of people had their stuff stolen as well.
-The foreign group is from another kind of world, according to them (VERY relevant).
-The red mutt is easy to anger (still thinking if this is any relevant at all).
-Subject Snake wants to drop out from group (not relevant).
-The teen likes to get nervous a lot (I don't know why I wrote this).
-Some kind of traveling army is around these parts. This needs more information (and, of course, it's VERY relevant).
-The dog has a lot of life in him, according to the Cetra girl (might be relevant).
-I didn't receive any help from either Reno or Rude, so I should definitely receive all the credit (at least this is here to remind me I'm doing all this ALONE, you guys...)

Elena looked forward. "Well, I think this should help," she muttered. "I have enough information to start my report about those guys now... But still, it strikes me odd that the odd group came from another world... If this is true, then I might even make a new discovery for Shinra's ruling power!"

She began to crawl back outside the wooden floor to a wall she had made to enter. Once she got out, Elena coughed a bit and looked back at her notepad.

"Yes, I think this should be enough," Elena muttered as she turned around to the east. "Now I just need to make my report right away and let Rufus know about..."

For some reason, the blond Turk found herself surrounded by eight men in ninja uniforms. All of them had their eyes covered under cloth, and they were all staring at Elena.

"...And just who are you?" Elena asked. "Wait a minute, those uniforms seem a bit familiar to me..."

"These uniforms are not even ours," one of them said. "We're using this to pose as residents of this village."

"Posing?" Elena said confused. "What do you mean by posing? Why are you surrounding me? Does that mean you're not from here?"

"Of course not. We're all henchmen of Don Corneo," one of them spoke.

"...Don Corneo... W-wait a minute, you're his henchmen?" Elena asked. "Okay, I didn't plan to do this now, but you need to bring Don Corneo to Shinra after he leaked out information to Cloud's group because of his sick fascination ove-"

"We're afraid we can't do that," one of them said. "Don Corneo wishes to stay away from Shinra as far as possible."

"And since you're a Turk, we can't just let them know he's here as well," another one said.

Elena looked serious. "What is that man planning to do?"

"Kidnap you."

"...Kidnap me?" Elena asked. "Why kidnap me?"

"He wants you to be his bride."

Final Fantasy VII - Hurry!

"..." Elena processed the statement inside her mind for a bit. "...NO!" she yelled suddenly. "Y-you mean to say he plans to do the same thing he did back at Midgar?"

Midgar is the city that is commanded by the Shinra Company. Many incidents have occurred when Cloud and Tifa were there.

"Well, not exactly, but you could say that," one person said. "Besides, it would be a waste if you were the only one."

"What?" Elena asked. "Then there are more?"

Elena saw that one of stepped aside. Behind him, a familiar person was completely tied up around her arms and legs on the ground with her mouth covered under a white bandana. The person on the ground looked up at Elena and struggled to yell for help. Elena took a closer look at the girl before gasping.

"Y-you!" Elena said in surprise. "You're the Yuffie girl of Cloud's group!"

At that moment, Yuffie gasped loudly before Elena was grabbed from behind by her arms by two men. The blond Turk gasped at this and looked at her captors. "W-what do you think you're doing to me?!" she asked. "Why are you even taking her along?!"

"Don Corneo has found a liking to this girl," one of them said as Yuffie looked mad at him. "She happened to ask for help to find some kind of shopkeeper to sell some stuff, but since our disguises fooled her, we were able to subdue her."

"T-that's sick!" Elena complained. "She's barely old enough to have marriage!"

Yuffie looked a bit angry at Elena.

"It doesn't matter," the same man said. "Don Corneo can do what he pleases."

"No he can't!" Elena argued. "That man has really sick thoughts about women!"

"He couldn't care less about you. However, in the case none of you girls manage to please him, we can always have the third bride..."

"..Third bride?" Elena repeated. "What third bride is that?"

The man looked at the Kisaragi Mansion. "Right now as we speak, some of us will soon bring here another woman for Don Corneo..." He looked to the right where some men were dragging another familiar face to them. "Ah, it looks like they already did so."

Elena looked at five men coming to them, carrying an unconscious Smasher by her arms. The blond Turk watched as they dropped her on the ground and tied her around the same parts as Yuffie. The ninja looked to her left and stared at the blond woman being forced to sit down.

"...Wait..." Elena trailed off, "I think she was with the foreign group... I think her name was...Samus...or something..."

It was Samus. The bounty hunter seemed to have been unconscious. Elena looked at the men that brought her in, and they looked a bit weak. "We're sorry for the delay," one of them said. "She woke up right after we were about to make her fall asleep deeply. She then tried to knock us all down by herself, but we managed to grab her in time before she could run out for help."

"Did anybody hear you?" a man asked.

"No, the fight was very silent, sir."

One of them nodded. "Then we're all set," he said. "Now we just need to bring all of them to Don Corneo."

Yuffie's eyes widened before she began to yell as loudly as she could. Unfortunately, the cloth covering her mouth made it impossible for her yells to be loud enough for somebody to listen her pleas.

Elena grunted loudly. "N-no! I just can't let this happen! Not like this! I just came from a very important mission!" Elena tried to yell, but the men covered her mouth with a chemical on it. The blond Turk's eyes suddenly became weared out before she soon tilted her head forward, letting go of the helmet on her head that fell on the ground. Yuffie looked shocked after Elena fell asleep.

"Quick, we must move," one of the henchmen said. "No people are out in the strees because of those monsters coming out at night."

"Yes, let's haste towards Da Chao Mountain right this instant," another one said.

The henchmen nodded to each other before they all carried all the women towards the north to the mountain that overlooked the whole village. Being the only one awake, Yuffie watched as she was taken further away from her original home. The ninja yelled for help, but she stopped doing so after she saw that many dark globs appeared on bare ground and came out as the shapes of dreadful monsters with yellow eyes. The ninja didn't know that there were any monsters in the village.

Yuffie did know, however, that she was about to be forced to marry a person she never met. The only thing she wished now was help from anyone to save her. She even went as far as to call out Cloud's name for help.

Unforunately, it was futile. Nobody what was happening about her anymore. Yuffie kept yelling out for help as she, along with Elena and Samus, was brought into the mountain just in front of the village...

Samus has left the team.

TO BE CONTINUED...

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Between Honesty and Stubborness. Just when things couldn't get any worse..." Mario muttered.

------------------------------------------------------------------

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Wutai Village
Chris, Lucario, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Red, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Samus, Kirby, Meta Knight, Link, Zelda, Toon Link, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Marth, Roy, Ike, Ness, Lucas, Pit, Ice Climbers, Snake, Sonic, Chip, Knuckles, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Red XIII, Cid

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 168: Between Honesty and Stubbornness

-Wutai Village-
Kisaragi Mansion

Final Fantasy VII - Wutai

The next morning brought some lights into the village, more specifically the mansion of the Kisaragi clan. In his room, a light reached out to Chris, who grumbled a bit at the blinding light on his face. He covered his face with the futon (the bed he was using) and hoped that the light would move away.

Usually, anyone would wake up early or late. Today, they woke up by the lovely voice of a blond man who had just tripped in the hallway.

"S*&%!" Cid was heard cursing before moaning in pain, his leg still hurt from chasing after Yuffie yesterday.

"Hmm..." Chris pushed the futon off from his face and let the sunlight touch his face. He instantly sat up and looked around the room where Mario, Sonic, and Chip (on top of the hedgehog) were slowly waking up from their futons. The World Traveler looked to his right where Lucario let out a long yawn, but his eyes were still shut tightly. "Good morning, everyone..." he muttered.

"Morning..." Sonic muttered. "Phew, no werehog traits during the whole day..." he said as he touched his right arm to see if he didn't pick any fur.

Chris looked at Lucario. "Lucario, can you see again?"

The Aura Pokémon slowly opened his eyes, but as soon as he opened them, they became very watery before he shut them again. Chris could catch a glimpse of Lucario's eyes. The veins of his eyes were bright red, and the very same eyes looked hurt. "No..." Lucario said. "The pain isn't there any longer, but the aftereffect isn't letting me see clearly..."

"Can you use your aura, though?"

"I'm afraid not..." Lucario said. "My eyes twitch and itch a bit too much that they're stunning me from concentrating..."

The World Traveler looked down. "So you'll have to wait a little bit longer before you can fully recover..."

"I'm sorry for making you feel like this..."

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Chris said with a sigh.

"Well," Mario began as he stretched his arms to both sides, "we're going to have to look for Yuffie more today without having to rely on Lucario's aura or Sonic's speed."

"Don't get me wrong," Sonic said as he looked at Mario (or apparently tried to look at him, since the hedgehog was looking at the wall), "I can pretty much catch her if she's right in front of me."

"Nonsense!" Chip said suddenly as he began to fly in the air. "Chip Norris says dogs ALWAYS listen to him, no matter how ridiculous the order is."

Sonic grunted. "Chip, stop thinking you have control over me..."

Mario forced a smile. "I'm afraid to say Chip has actual total control over you, Sonic..."

"Thanks, man," Sonic said with sarcasm. "You REALLY are making me feel better this morning."

"Oh, my bad..."

They all then heard a multitude of curses coming from the hallway by an angry Cid. From what they could tell, the retired man from the space cursed almost everything he could think of, even someone named Shera. However, Cid seemed to be cursing that particular name so much for some reason.

"Oh, great," Chris muttered in boredom. "Today I had to wake up by someone cursing the harshest words I've ever heard before..."

Chip thought for a moment before he snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know! I should do the same so I look manlier to people! Chip Norris will then appear on a dictionary for the definition of awesomeness!"

The hedgehog knew where Chip was because he was too close to him. Sonic grunted and forced Chip to the futon's sheet. "Let's just start the day already!" he said. "I wanna see what, y'know, is in front of me very soon!"

"I want to say I agree with you, but not in the same desperate manner," Lucario said.

"Ugh, just ignore me, then..."

Residential Area

After everyone woke up, got dressed up, (and attended the cursing Cid), they all walked to the front of the mansion where Cloud called them for a new plan to look for the cunning ninja.

"Alright," Cloud began, "today we will be looking for Yuffie, everyone."

Marth sighed. "I really want to stop this whole thing, but seeing that she has family heirlooms stolen from me... I can't just let her go away with this."

"Same here," Fox said. "I hate when my equipment either is stolen or broken. I also hate to get replacements because there are times those very replacements aren't ready to be used."

Cloud looked at the group. "Well, let's see if anyone has an idea of what to do since I don't have any more of 'em."

Chris glanced over to Snake. The mercenary had his arms crossed while he looked away to another direction. The World Traveler thought with worry that the ex-FOXHOUND operative was still sure about leaving the group. Chris thought hard about what to do to convince Snake from doing otherwise, but anything seemed useless. He faced a hard moment.

"...Snake..." Chris muttered. "(I...I...I don't know what to do at a moment like this... I don't want Snake to leave, but another side of me is telling that I don't really want to meddle with him... I hate this so much...)" he thought.

Cloud blinked a bit confused once he looked once again at the group of Smashers. "That's strange now..." he trailed off. "Why am I thinking you guys are incomplete?"

"What do you mean by incomplete?" Mario asked.

"Well, last time I checked, I thought there was one woman with all of you," Cloud said. "She doesn't seem to be with you anymore. Did she leave somewhere else?"

The Smashers looked at each other. They soon found out that Samus wasn't around anymore.

"Hey, where is she?" Knuckles asked. "Wasn't she with us yesterday?"

"She was," Snake said. "Maybe she's still at the mansion."

"Oh, I'll go get her," Tifa offered before she ran into the mansion to get the bounty hunter.

Cloud watched as Tifa went inside the mansion's doors. The blond mercenary looked back at the group. "While she goes for her, has anyone thought about a plan? I think there's no point in looking for Yuffie given the fact that we can't capture her."

Fox crossed his arms. "Capturing her would be easier than chasing her."

Red XIII nodded. "It seems that way," he said. "Yuffie knows the village's grounds very much that any of us. It gives her an advantage to hide anywhere."

Cid grunted. "She girl knows her thing, alright," he said. "If we wanna get her, we're gonna have to get some kind of bait to fish her out from her hiding spot!"

"Yes," Marth said. "But how, though? How are we supposed to catch her?"

Snake thought for a moment. "Let's think again," he said. "She said yesterday that she's been running around the village to look for a shopkeeper who could buy her our stuff at high prices..."

"I know!" Chip chimed in. "Let's all pose like shopkeepers by putting on some costumes! That way, she won't tell we're us!"

"Oh god, for once, Chip has a nice idea," Sonic said in boredom.

Cloud closed his eyes to think about the idea. "Hmm, that could help, on second thought..."

"Can it?" Red XIII asked. "What if Yuffie can see through our disguises? Ninjas are masters of disguise, and she may as well be skilled in telling people apart."

"That poses as another problem..." Chris muttered.

At that moment, Cloud turned back to the mansion where Tifa ran outside and towards them. The fighter then stopped running in front of them to catch her breath. "C-Cloud..." she muttered.

"Yes? What's the hurry about?" Cloud asked. "Did you find Samus?"

"N-no, I found out something even worse than that..." Tifa trailed off. "S-she's not in the mansion anymore, but she was kidnapped!"

Some of them gasped at this sudden news. Mario looked at Tifa. "Wait, you are sure she was kidnapped? This is very sudden..."

"I-I know what you're thinking," Tifa said. "But's it's the whole truth!"

"Calm down," Aerith said (as she was holding the blind Lucario's right hand). "How do you know?"

Tifa stopped panting before she got back into a calmer state. "When I went to her room in the mansion, I found Godo in there. He told me that people had entered into the room during the night yesterday. He said that he knows that there were intruders in there because the room where Samus was looked a bit broken down. The door to the outside garden was wide open as well, and Godo said the maids heard some rumbling sounds in her room..."

"But there was no sign of Samus?" Marth asked.

Tifa shook her head. "I asked the maids if they saw her, but they said they didn't see her anywhere..."

"And you think she was kidnapped," Cloud said.

"Well, Godo presumed she was kidnapped because there were mud footprints going out from the room..."

Knuckles made a fist on his right side. "Damn... First, we get our stuff stolen; now we're getting ourselves kidnapped by her? What the heck is wrong with this place?"

"...Hold on," Red XIII began, "Tifa just said that there were many footprints all over her room, right?"

"Oh, yes," Tifa said. "Those footprints looked a bit big for Yuffie's feet, though. I don't think she had anything to do with this incident."

"Besides," Cid began, "the b*&^$ has an eye for Materia, not women. Otherwise she'll be a slut."

Cloud ignored Cid's comment. "It makes sense that Yuffie didn't do it. She wouldn't kidnap anyone unless they have Materia, but she hasn't even thought about doing that sort of thins before."

Aerith looked worried. "Then we can assume Yuffie didn't do it, right?"

"She didn't do it," Cloud said. "Somebody else did."

Mario thought for a moment. "But the question is who and why... Actually, make those two questions," he said. "Who would do something like kidnapping one of us?"

"Not Yuffie," Aerith said. "It was probably somebody else in here..."

Fox's eyes widened before he looked stern. "Bowser and Wario," he said. "They must be here in the village."

"Bowser and Wario?" Chris said in confusion. "What about them?"

"We met them yesterday when we were with Tifa," Lucario said. "Apparently, they got their stuff stolen from Yuffie as well, and they're looking for her to get everything back as we're doing."

Sonic grumbled a bit. "But they didn't do this. Did you forget? They said they wanted to find her before doing any sort of bad thing around here."

"Well, I don't know if I trust them, but it looks like it..." Knuckles trailed off.

"...Hey, the Turk scums!" Cid said in anger. "Those m*&^$&#%$^*&s did it!"

Cloud shook his head. "I don't think they did because Reno said they were taking a break. I honestly don't trust him, but he looked serious about the fact."

"S&^*..." Cid muttered.

Cloud knocked his forehead a bit. "This is just too hard now..." he muttered. "There are so many subjects, but all of them are not guilty of anything..."

"It just doesn't make any sense," Red XIII said. "We haven't met anyone who would go to such heights to kidnap one of us."

"And why Samus, of all people?" Marth asked. "I don't see why she needed to be kidnapped. If could have been any of us."

Aerith crossed her arms and looked down. "I wonder who did all this..."

"Everyone is wondering, Aerith," Tifa said. "It's something we didn't expect that would happen."

Cloud nodded to himself. "Guess we'll have to run yet another search in the village to see if anybody saw her going anywhere." He looked at the Smashers. "Was she going to leave you?"

Mario shook his head. "No, she never thought about doing that."

Chris looked away. "(But Snake is the one who really wants to...)" he thought, looking at the mercenary, who was wondering what to do about the current issue.

"Then she must have been kidnapped..." Mario trailed off.

Knuckles nodded. "We don't have any other choice left than looking for her. While we're at it, why don't we look for the ninja girl as well?"

"That's a good idea for now," Tifa said. "Do we separate like before?"

Cloud shook his head. "Since everyone should know the layout of the village, everyone can go anywhere. However, I wouldn't mind if some people could follow me."

Chris raised his hand. "Oh, can I go with you?"

"Me too," Tifa said.

"Me three," Aerith said with a chuckle.

"Don't mind if I tag along," Mario said.

"Can I please...come as well?" Lucario asked in embarrassment.

"I guess," Cloud said. "Anybody else can go along in groups as well."

The World Traveler noticed that Snake wasn't interested in following them. Trying to come up with an excuse, Chris looked at Snake. "Snake, do you want to come with us?"

Snake looked at Chris. "I don't really want to, but seeing that it could change things a little bit... Fine, I'll come along."

Chris sighed mentally. "(Oh, thank goodness, he's coming along...)" He noticed that the mercenary gave him some kind of stern look. This made Chris sweat bullets. "(T-that look he's giving me isn't making me feel any better... I need to stay cautious about this or else I'll pay the price through the most violent way possible... I have Lucari-oh, wait, he's blind, so I'm so dead...)"

Silently, everyone else went to separate ways; some of them going along with a partner. Cloud looked at his group and sighed. "Let's do everything we can to see where we can find Samus and Yuffie."

At that moment, a resident of Wutai (a ninja) passed by and looked at the group. "You don't seem to be around these parts," he said. "Then again, with all these tourists, it's easy to tell who doesn't live here."

"Oh, hi," Cloud said. "Who are you?"

"I'm a special officer of Wutai's police department," he said. "Master Godo sent me here to tell you about what you should watch out for some strange events."

"Mind if we ask you some questions first?"

"Would you answer me one, though?" the ninja asked. "It's important for you to know before you commit a mistake."

"What would that be?"

The ninja crossed his arms. "Well, since you're new around here, you should know that you shouldn't go out to the streets at night... Perhaps you haven't heard about the monsters?"

"Monsters?" Tifa asked. "What monsters are you talking about? If there were any monsters, wouldn't the village be in trouble?"

"Yes, but that's not exactly the case," the ninja said. "See, ever since some weeks ago, during the nights, these monsters made out of darkness have appeared in areas where people usually don't walk around. The intelligence of the village has then reported this to Master Godo, who looked into this to find out if it was true. Once he found out the truth, he issued a law that everyone should rest in their homes to prevent anyone from getting hurt."

Mario and Chris exchanged glances. "Monsters made out of darkness?" they both repeated.

Snake frowned. "Those creatures again..." he muttered.

"Monsters that appear during nights?" Tifa said.

"Exactly," the ninja said. "These monsters have been appearing all over the region surrounding Wutai. Apparently, these creatures like to patrol the area as if they were looking for something, but we can't tell what it is, or if they're even looking for something. What's more, they've been appearing on the empty streets of the city, but...they don't attack anything or anyone."

"What? I always thought monsters were hostile unless they're not bothered," Cloud said.

"These monsters don't attack anything in sight," the ninja explained. "They just patrol and nothing else."

Aerith looked worried. "Has the police done something to stop those monsters?"

The ninja shook his head in shame. "Unfortunately, we can't do anything due to the fact causing a fight in the streets would mistakenly make Shinra operatives believe Wutai will rise against it. Master Godo has then ordered that we should better watch the monsters and see if they don't do anything to the village...which hasn't happened yet."

Tifa looked down. "Shinra is making this place feel miserable..."

"Even they're not concerned about this," the ninja explained. "We don't know if they know about this, but it's better if they don't know. The last thing we want is deals from them to protect the village."

Cloud thought about the issue. "So you're saying we shouldn't go out to the streets at night?"

"Yes, for the welfare of the nation," the ninja said. "This is between you and me, but I honestly think this is so wrong..." He shook his head and looked at them. "Anyway, what did you want to ask me about?"

"Have you seen a girl wearing a blue suit?" Mario asked. "She's been missing. You know, the one that disappeared from the mansion."

"Sorry, but we don't know anything about a kidnapping," the ninja said. "If there was a missing person, perhaps you should report her to the detective department. Although we don't fight because of Shinra, we do still provide public services since this place is filled with tourists."

Aerith smiled a bit. "Can you please do that?"

"Of course, ma'am," the ninja said. "Give me a general description of the victim before I take this to the headquarters."

"I'll give the description," Mario offered before he began to describe Samus to the ninja.

Once the red plumber was done, the ninja nodded at them. "I shall take this info to the office now. I'll make sure this search for the victim starts today as soon as possible."

"We really appreciate your help," Tifa said. "Thanks, really."

"No problem," he said before he turned around and walked away from them.

Chris shook his head. "I can't believe all of this is happening... It's one problem after another."

"And with Yuffie playing tricks on us isn't helping at all," Tifa said. "Wonder where she is, though."

"We'll see if we can finish either task today," Cloud said. "For now, I'm out of options..."

"Tsk," Snake muttered as he looked around. "Talk about a tight spot." He looked in front of the Kisaragi Mansion where a big bossed gong hung on the top of a wooden platform of about 8-feet of height. "I thought Samus could manage to fend off by herself. She's one tough woman, I know that."

Mario thought for a moment. "True enough," he said. "Samus could definitely fight alone without us around."

"But if that's true, then it's safe to say she was being attacked by several men," Snake said. "However, this isn't that relevant anymore."

"I know," Cloud said. "Now, I'll ask again: does anybody know where should we go next?"

Chris looked at the gong Snake was staring at. "Ooh, look at that, a gong," he said. "I always wanted to ring one of those before."

The blond mercenary rolled his eyes at this. "Talk about a childish dream..." he muttered.

The World Traveler looked annoyed at him. "H-hey, I still have a child in my mind, you know!" he complained. "You surely have one in you!"

"Not really," Cloud said bluntly.

"...Who cares, anyway?" Chris asked annoyed before he walked towards the gong by walking around the platform before going up some steps. The group watched as the World Traveler picked up a long stick with a hard end from the floor. Chris tumbled to the sides for a bit before he gained his balance. He looked at the big bell for a bit and smiled. "Heheheh, nobody is going to say anything if I ring it a bit, right?"

Aerith tilted her head to the right. "I don't think you should really do it," she said. "What if there was anyone else guarding it?"

"But it's just a little hit!" Chris said worried. "I really want to listen to how it sounds!"

Snake frowned. "Kid, you really are childish sometimes."

Chris grunted at this. "Oh, what do you know?" he asked before he pulled back the stick and gave it a hard swing to the gong, creating a long echo that traveled many feet away across the surroundings. Some of the group covered their ears as Chris stumbled back and fell on the wooden floor. The loud sound provoked him to drop down the stick to the floor. "O-oww..." Chris muttered as the sound keep ringing. "I-I didn't know the sound could be this loud!" he yelled.

Cloud sighed as the sound kept echoing. "Before you do anything reckless, at least give it some thought, will you?"

Suddenly, on the left side of the wall of the platform, the group watched as a door suddenly appeared in sight. The blond mercenary looked a bit surprised at this, along with everyone else, who were all staring at the secret door appearing out of nowhere.

"...Hey, look at that," Tifa said. "A secret door?"

"But...how did it appear out of the blue?" Aerith asked.

Snake rubbed his chin as the sound of the gong slowly died out. "Maybe making that gong sound triggered the secret door to appear..." he wondered.

Chris stood up and looked at the group. "What are you talking about now?" he asked before he looked down at the secret door. "W-what the..."

Mario smiled a bit. "I think that you were supposed to ring the gong, Chris. Its sound made this door appear."

"(...Wait...)" Chris thought, "(now that I remember, this door down here could be revealed if the gong would be rang...)" He slapped his forehead and frowned. "(Oh god, what did I just do? I could just do it...but then again, I don't want Cloud's group to suspect why I know this...so this is necessary...)"

Cloud stared at the door before he walked towards it. The ex-SOLDIER looked at the doorknob and slowly reached out for it. Cloud then opened the door to see that there were some steps going down into the secret basement of underneath the gong. "...There's a hidden passage in here," he said.

The group went to see what he meant by the passage. They all looked into it where some lights were illuminating the bottom of the steps. "Hey, you're right," Tifa said.

"Hmm," Mario wondered for a bit. "Should we go in and see where it leads?"

"Well, we don't have anything else to think about," Snake said. "Maybe we could find out some clues about Samus's kidnapping...but that's just an assumption."

"Even so, it won't hurt us to go see what's in here," Cloud said before nodding. "Alright, everyone, let's go in."

"H-hold on, what if somebody is using this?" Aerith asked. "What if this is a secret house?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Cloud said. "Who would honestly have their house hidden under a gong? There should be some kind of secret down here, and we need to see what it is in hopes to see if we can find any clues about Yuffie... Maybe she's hiding in here..."

"In that case, let's go in there," Tifa suggested.

The group nodded in unison before they all walked down the steps of the hidden passage, Aerith carefully guiding a blind Lucario while Chris sighed and closed the doors behind his back.

Secret Basement

They all walked down the steps, and soon they found themselves standing in some kind of storage room where boxes were piled up on each other and other decorations were scrambled. There were some stairs going up to some place on the far right corner of the room.

"A basement," Mario said.

"Strange," Tifa muttered. "Why would a basement be hidden right in here?"

"It would make sense if those stairs over there would be the only way in here," Cloud said. "However, having a secret door under the gong is a bit odd..."

Snake looked around the surroundings of the basement. "...We're not alone in here," he muttered.

Chris looked worried. "W-what do you mean we're not alone?"

"I can listen to some sick breathings, and there's some kind of putrid smoke smell in the air in here," Snake said. "Can't you listen and smell them?"

Lucario smelled the air and shrugged. "There's a sick smell of smoke," he said.

"Ho...ho...ho...hohi...ho...ho...hohi..."

The group gasped after listening to some kind of laugh coming from the basement. They all looked around to see where the voice came from. Upon looking close to the stairs, the group saw that that an obese, blond man walked out from the darkness. The man wore mafia-style clothes, such as a bright red coat, unbuttoned white shirt underneath, dark blue pants, and pale brown shoes. The man had a small patch of blond hair on his head, and he had a tattoo of a heart with an arrow stuck on it. He was smoking a pipe.

Final Fantasy VII – Don of the Slums

"Hohi! Ho ho ho hi!" the man laughed.

The Smashers didn't know exactly who the man was. As for Cloud's group, they did. Aerith and Tifa, for some reason took steps away from the shady man, and Cloud, for some other reason, reacted a bit too weird. The blond mercenary shrugged, shook with worry, and then shook his head. Making a fist, Cloud's right eye twitched and looked at the man. "C-Corneo?!" he said in shock.

Don Corneo is a lonely, perverted, rich man who seeks some love. He was in-league with Shinra as a secret spy to get information about AVALANCHE until he was forced by Cloud to spill info about a secret plan to terminate the team. He is known to have sick affinities to women, as he had taken girls away to make them, presumably, his sex slaves.

"Now what do we have here?" the man named Corneo asked before looking at the group. "Hmm... Oh, but if it isn't the lovely ladies and the man who likes to be a transvestite!" he said.

"...Transvestite?" Snake muttered before looking at Cloud. "He doesn't mean you, does he?"

Cloud tried hard not to blush in embarrassment. "I-I did that just because it was needed!" he argued to Corneo.

Mario looked confused at this. "Um, Cloud, what does he mean that you're a transvestite?"

Aerith chuckled. "Oh, now I remember," she said. "We met Don Corneo back at Midgar. He had "kidnapped" Tifa so she could become her wife."

Tifa looked away in boredom. "I told you before that I just let myself get kidnapped to get information out of him..."

"So then, Cloud and I wanted to get to his mansion to rescue Tifa, but then we learned about her true intentions for being there," Aerith said. "We went through a lot of trouble to get Cloud properly dressed as a girl because Corneo wouldn't let men in his mansion. However, when we were able to make Cloud look like a girl and entered inside and met up with Tifa, the guards took us to Corneo, and he chose Cloud to be his bride."

Cloud glared in embarrassment at Aerith. "Aerith, stop right now o-"

"And then Tifa and I broke in and found Cloud in bed with Corneo," Aerith finished with a chuckle. "It looked kinda disgusting, though..."

Mario, Snake, Chris, and Lucario looked at the blushing Cloud. "..." Snake stifled a small chuckle.

Cloud glared at Snake. "What's so funny now? I-I did all that because I was worried about Tifa."

Tifa blushed a bit and looked away. "H-hey, i-it's not like I can't handle anything, you know..."

Cloud ignored her. "S-stop looking at me with those faces now! It's obvious you want to laugh at me!"

"Oh, don't worry, Cloudy," Snake joked. "Everything's just fine here."

"C-Cloudy?" Cloud twitched at the name.

Chris looked a bit doubtful. "No, I think Cloudelia sounds more girly."

Cloud glared menacingly at the World Traveler.

"What about Cloudel?" Tifa asked in curiosity.

"No. How about Cloudelina? I think it sounds nice," Aerith suggested.

"I'll go for Cloudel any day!" Corneo said with a laugh.

Cloud turned to glare at the don. "Y-you shut up! You're not wanted here!" he yelled.

"My, what a temper!" Corneo complained. "Geez, for once, it was a good thing those hotties broke into the room before I could rub your hairy chest!"

The blond mercenary blushed more. "S-stop reminding me about that incident!" he complained.

"Ugh, fine!" Corneo complained. "Besides, the last thing I want to do is dealing with you all! Thanks to you, Rufus is trying to put an end to my life as a loner!" he said before sniffing. "My life for a gorgeous woman..."

Cloud shrugged at the thought and brandished his buster sword, which he pointed at Corneo. "Why are you here? Answer me!"

Lucario tried to glance to Chris. "I think Cloud is a little bit stressed by this man, right?"

Chris sighed and nodded. "I can tell that perfectly from a mile away..."

Corneo sighed. "I'm here because Shinra is trying to kill me, duh!" he complained. "Thanks to you, my life has become hell! I had everything back at Midgar. I had women, money, mansions, and now everything is almost lost!" He sniffed a bit before he chuckled grossly. "But who cares as long as I can get some pretty women?"

"You mean kidnap women?" Aerith asked. "T-that's very inhuman!"

"And let's not forget you want to make love with you!" Tifa yelled. "I mean, who would honestly fall in love with you?"

"Grrrrrrr, what do you know?!" Corneo asked. "You're still very young and sexy to understand (Snake: Yeah, this guy is pretty much a pervert) all this!" He turned around and looked up. "However, I don't care about you anymore! I have much better things to do like choosing my next wife!"

"Did you just kidnap more women again?" Cloud asked. "You'll never change, huh?"

"Nah, I'm better off this way," Corneo said before he smiled toothily at them over his left shoulder. "Besides, three pretty women are waiting for me as we speak. I'm just hiding here so I can sneak my way through to my secret dating spot I have close to this place."

"Three women?" Mario asked. "What three women are those?"

Tifa looked a bit confused at the question. "Why ask about them now?" she asked before she thought about the question. "...Oh, right, so we might have a chance to save them..."

"No, no, no, no!" Corneo refused. "You're not gonna save them from me! I'm a good guy!"

"Tell me at least ONE thing that makes you a good guy," Cloud demanded.

"Oh, simple," Corneo said. "The fortunate woman gets to be my wife."

"T-that isn't even a good thing!"

"You don't know!" Corneo argued. "As for your question about the three women, my henchmen just got a hold on three pretty "contestants" if I do say so myself. One of them happens to have such a big bust that makes OH SO mad about her! So sexy, so dreamy, so GORGEOUS!" he explained while he drooled a bit at the image of said girl in his mind.

While Tifa looked disgusted at this, Chris looked a bit confused at the statement of the girl. "..." He looked a bit embarrassed. There was something that triggered in his mind after listening to Corneo. "...Would...that girl happen to be...wearing a blue suit?"

Corneo blinked at this before looking up at the ceiling. "Oh, the weird blue suit? Why, yes, she has one. Too bad she has it, though, because I can't see her charms very well. There's no way to take that off from here, unfortunately..."

"..." Snake grunted a bit. "Oh god, please kill me now... He wasn't the one who kidnapped her, was he?" he muttered. "If he was, Samus is going to be seriously scarred for her whole life..."

"..." Chris gasped at this. "H-he was the one who kidnapped Samus, then!"

"Um? Is that her name? Lovely!" Corneo rejoiced. "Actually, it sounds a bit odd, but who cares? She's so sexy unlike the blond Turk girl and the ninja with the oversized pauldron over her right shoulder!"

Aerith blinked a bit confused at this. "Oversized pauldron? You don't mean..."

Tifa gasped and forced a glare. "You kidnapped Yuffie as well?"

"If you mean the girl with the charming smile, then yeah, I did," Corneo said. "She looks so cute that makes me go crazy on her!"

"U-ugh, you pervert! She's only sixteen!"

"Love doesn't have any barriers for ages, you know," Corneo said with a wink, making Tifa yelp a bit.

"And who is this blond Turk you're talking about?" Aerith asked. "You don't mean Elena, right?"

"Bravo!" Corneo rejoiced. "You guessed correctly for all my three brides! If I were to marry Elena, I could get some kind of immunity against Shinra!" He hopped on the spot. "Oh man, oh man, oh man, I can't wait to arrange the wedding ceremony!"

Cloud grunted. "Corneo, let the two of them go!" he demanded.

"Um, Cloud, I think you're forgetting Elena..." Mario muttered.

"I don't care about her. She's our enemy."

"...Oh..."

Corneo shook his head and grunted at the demand. "W-why you! I don't want to listen to what you have to say! I'm gonna get myself one of 'em in bed by today's night or else I'll die from waiting too much!" He turned to the stairs. "Smell all of you later, suckers!" he yelled before he quickly ran upstairs.

Aerith gasped. "If we let him escape, we're going to lose track of him!"

"B-but why is he doing all this?" Chris asked.

"Forget about that, dangit!" Cloud complained. "We'll ask him all this after we apprehend the guy! Come on, let's go!" he ordered before he ran after the don.

The group remained behind, seeing as the blond mercenary's calm behavior had snapped out with pure rage and anger. Lucario, listening to the dead silence of the room, tried to look around. "...Does Cloud get this upset when Corneo is mentioned to him?"

Tifa sighed. "You could ask that to Cloud and he would explode," she said. "He has been having those nightmares with Corneo sometimes..."

"Well, at least I'd twice before I wear a drag and get on the bed with an obese dork," Snake commented. "But that's not something we should think about right now."

"Right," Tifa said in determination. "If we can get Corneo, we might be able to get to Yuffie."

"And save Samus, don't forget that," Mario reminded.

The group then decided to ran after the blond mercenary by going upstairs, leaving the basement behind.

???

After walking upstairs, the group found themselves walking around a golden status of a Wutai god. Several Japanese decorations were ornamenting the room's ceiling, along with a golden mattress positioned in front of the golden statue. They looked forward to see that Cloud held his buster sword with both hands, facing forward where Corneo was backing away from eight Shinra soldiers that appeared from the frontal door of the mysterious room.

"Freeze!" one of the soldiers demanded, all of them staring at Corneo. "Don Corneo, you're wanted for betraying Shinra in the past, the pay for the crime being your death!"

"G-guh?!" Corneo looked shocked at this. "N-no! I won't let myself turn in that easily!"

The group joined in with Cloud, standing around him. "Shinra soldiers!" Tifa said. "They're surely with the Turks right now, right?"

"Corneo!" Cloud yelled. "I'm not gonna let you escape after you tried to do you-know-what on me!"

Corneo shifted glances between the group and the Shinra soldiers. Desperate, the don closed his eyes and yelled loudly in panic. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

"GET HIM!" one of the soldiers said as they charged forward after him.

However, unexpectedly, Corneo moved sideways, allowing the Shinra soldiers to run straight towards Cloud's group. As the group gasped at this, the incoming charge meant something to them.

Do battle.

Final Fantasy VII – Fighting

"W-what the..." Tifa gasped as the soldiers ignored the scared Corneo as they loaded their machine guns. Right after charging, the men began firing at will at them, making everyone step away from each other to stay safe.

"Damn," Cloud muttered as he shielded himself with the buster sword's edge. "They're after us as well! They weren't ignoring us from the beginning!"

Mario hid behind the golden statue to avoid being shot. "Well, you were the one who came in here earlier! Aren't your group wanted by them as well?"

"DIE!" a Shinra soldier shouted as he fired at Aerith.

The flower girl gasped and quickly took out a long staff from behind that she used to defend herself by blocking the shots. Soon enough, she was shielded by a blind Lucario who charged up an Aura Sphere and shot it right to the soldier. The Shinra soldier yelled in pain as a blue explosion forced him to be pushed all the way to the wall where he lost consciousness and fell down. Aerith looked surprised at this. "T-thanks, Lucario..." she said.

"Don't worry," Lucario said. "Stay behind me."

"HELP!" Chris yelled as he accidentally rolled behind the Aura Pokémon to avoid being shot. Two soldiers began firing at Lucario, but the bullets that crashed against him were all dropping on the floor without having any kind of hurtful effect on him. The Aura Pokémon growled angrily at this that he charged two separate Aura Spheres and shot them right on the soldiers, knocking them out with single shots.

"Chris?" Lucario asked as he looked over his right shoulder to Aerith and Chris (even though Lucario couldn't still open his eyes). "Don't you have your spear with you?"

"I-I wish I had it, but Yuffie also stole it from me!" Chris complained. "I'll have to change jobs!" he said before he changed quickly to his Black Mage job. He took out his staff from behind and sighed. "Phew, I can use some long range magic now..."

Aerith tilted her head to the right. "Wow, did you just change clothes in a bright light?"

The World Traveler gasped and looked shocked at Aerith. Chris had forgotten that the flower girl was with them. "I-ah... T-that's one of my specialties to fight..."

"Hmm..." Aerith thought for a moment. "I think it looked...good, I guess..."

Chris sweat dropped. "Thank you for the compliment..." he muttered.

On one side of the room, Tifa and Snake were being surrounded by four Shinra soldiers. The two were standing back to back as they looked at the soldiers. "Okay, you," Tifa began speaking to Snake as she looked serious at the soldiers, "do you know any martial techniques?"

"No, but I do know self-defense," Snake said. "I don't rely too much on my weapons in all fights."

"Good," Tifa began, "because we're going to have to go physical on these guys."

"Fire!" one of the four soldiers ordered to attack before they all began shooting at the two.

Both Tifa and Snake dove right underneath the shots to roll towards a soldier each. Tifa performed a strong uppercut to the chin of the soldier while Snake used a sweeping kick to throw his soldier off-balance. The other soldiers stopped shooting and turned to each one of them to try shooting them down, but the two defenders sidestepped out of the way and charged directly to them. Snake used a somersault forward to force the soldier fall down on the floor, and then he proceeded to grab him by behind the throat to do a choke hold. The soldier choked out breath before Snake slammed him down on the floor. Tifa nimbly avoided some shots before she reached the soldier with a flying kick to his stomach, making him cough in pain before she delivered a fast punch to his face, prompting him to fall down unconscious.

Two Shinra soldiers went after the red plumber. Mario was still hiding behind the statue. The soldiers tossed some grenades to the back side of the statue, but then they were reflected back by Mario's Cape. The soldiers sidestepped from the explosives before charging to the statue.

Behind the blind Lucario, Chris concentrated his magic to the tip of his staff. "Burn to greater ashes..." he chanted. "...Fira!"

Harsh flames covered both of the Shinra soldiers, prompting them to stop running to try and make the fire disappear by flailing their arms. Aerith saw the opportunity to attack and she did by spinning her staff a bit and leaping to both men to strike their heads hard. The impacts were strong enough to make both of them lose consciousness before they fell down on the floor, fire still burning them on their backs.

Aerith looked at Chris. "Do you have Materia with you?"

"What?" Chris asked.

"You just used magic," Aerith said. "You can only use magic through Materia. Do you have any?"

"N-no, my magic is obtained through experience..." Chris trailed off.

"Is that so? That's strange..." Aerith said. "Normally Materia is the only way to get new abilities..."

"(This world relies on Materia a little bit too much...)" Lucario thought.

Back with Tifa and Snake, they still had two soldiers against them. Behind them, the last soldier of the unit yelled and shot bullets at them. The two characters then grunted in pain before the first two soldiers joined in with the attack, making matters worse for Tifa and Snake. "Cloud, help!" Tifa yelled.

"I'm coming!" Cloud yelled as he ran towards the soldiers with his buster sword with a grip behind his back. The blond mercenary jumped high and yelled as he brought the heavy weapon down on a Shinra soldier. The soldier received a harsh cut on his body, making him lose his machine gun for a moment before Cloud rammed his right shoulder against the soldier to make him crash to the nearby wall. The two soldiers stopped firing at Tifa and Snake to turn around and shoot at Cloud instead.

The blond ex-SOLDIER shielded himself by crossing his buster sword in front of him. Since the two soldiers had stopped shooting at Tifa and Snake, they were both quickly attacked by flying kicks from both fighters, making them fall to the floor.

"Shock in great paralysis..." Chris chanted. "...Thundara!"

Several bolts of strong thunders crashed right on the back of the soldiers, making them yell in pain before they fainted.

Final Fantasy VII - Wutai

And the mini battle had ended.

The blond mercenary sighed after all enemies were taken out. He spun his buster sword (as impossible as it might sound) and put it behind his back. "That should do it for now... Is everyone okay?" Cloud asked as he looked at everyone, Mario coming back from behind the statue.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tifa said. "I got shot quite a bit, but I'm okay... (Thank you, Cloud, for saving me,)" she said and thought.

"I'm okay," Mario said. "Everyone is fine."

"Good," Snake said. "These soldiers caused us some trouble, but at least they're all taken out."

Tifa chuckled and looked at Snake. "You're not half bad at fighting," she remarked before looking at the other Smashers. "And you guys know how to do your thing."

Cloud nodded. "Seems they can handle fights well," he said. "I was a little bit impressed by the dog, though. Those spheres of energy looked kinda cool to me."

Lucario smiled a bit at this. "(Did I just get a compliment from Cloud?)" he asked in excitement.

Aerith chuckled a bit. "Wow, Cloud, you complimented them?"

Cloud looked away. "Hey, I'm just saying..."

Chris glanced at the fainted bodies of the ten soldiers on the floor. The World Traveler shrugged a bit and said, "We didn't kill them, right?"

"I don't think so," Aerith said. "They were just knocked out."

"In that case, we shouldn't keep staying here for any longer," Cloud said before he turned to the right wall with a glare on his face. "Alright, Corneo, it's time for you t-"

For Cloud's dismay, it appeared that the perverted old man had escaped during the battle. Corneo wasn't in the room anymore, and there weren't any signs of him anywhere.

"...Dammit!" Cloud cursed with a stomp on the floor. "The guy escaped from here while we were fighting these soldiers!"

"That's a shame," Lucario said. "I could've seen him, but I can't do much in this condition..."

Chris sighed and looked worried at Lucario. "Please, don't say those things, Lucario. It's not your fault."

Tifa became preoccupied. "Oh no, what are we gonna do now?" she asked. "He could've escaped anywhere while we were all fighting..."

Mario shook his head. "He didn't escape from the secret passage. I was hiding there to avoid being attacked."

"Well, that should give us an obvious clue," Snake said before he faced the doors of the room. The doors had a small opening, indicating someone had left it open. "He escaped through there."

At that moment, the doors slammed open, and a familiar figure stepped into the room with a glare. "Alright, what's the whole racket in here?!"

It was none other than Godo Kisaragi; Yuffie's father and Wutai's leader.

"Godo?" Cloud said confused.

"...It's you," Godo said. "What are you doing in my statue room?"

"Statue room?" Mario repeated before looking back at the statue. "You mean that statue?"

"Yes, that's one of the ancient deities of Wutai...but that's not important right now!" he complained. "How did you all get in here?"

Snake pointed at the secret door behind the statue. "That door over there has a hidden passage that leads right under the gong in front of this mansion. Why would you have a passage like that?"

Godo closed his eyes. "Oh, that passage. That passage existed during the time of the Wutai War against Shinra. It was used mainly as an emergency route should I could get cornered in my home. I've forgotten that it was there this whole time. Besides, it's convenient to have it just besides my room."

"..." Aerith looked behind Godo where the door to his room was located in the hallway. "...Oh, so this is close to your room..." she muttered.

"How did you find this passage?" Godo asked.

Cloud's look became stern. "All this time, there was somebody hiding in the basement of the gong. We're chasing after that person, and he kidnapped Yuffie to make her his sex slave."

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The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest does not support the mistreatment towards younger audience in any way possible. It is mainly the fault of the victim to get interested in such private matters that drives them to commit a horrible mistake in life, mostly because of curiosity. As such, the story is not responsible for encouraging the next step of love.

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"...Yuffie...a SEX SLAVE?!" Godo asked in complete shock. "W-what kind of sick idea is that? For the gods of Wutai, she's sixteen years old, dangit!"

Chris slowly approached to Cloud to whisper him something. "Um, Cloud, do you really think Corneo wants to turn her into that?"

"He's the male definition for slut himself, except that he's paid with pleasure; sick pleasure," Cloud responded.

"...Oh," Chris muttered.

Godo shook his head. "I-I can't allow such a horrible and unforgivable thing to happen, not to one of the Kisaragis!" he said.

"Do you care for Yuffie, then?" Mario asked.

"Even if we have our differences, Yuffie is and will always be my special jewel," Godo said. "I know she harbors hatred towards me for making Wutai surrender against Shinra, but she's still my daughter above everything. I'd go as far as to sell the whole nation just to have her safe..."

Tifa looked bored. "You know, the last thing you said would really make her very mad."

"..." Godo looked down. "And yet, I'll end up making her mad at me... Maybe she was right that I'm a poor excuse as a father..."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Please, we're not her to discuss your family matters with Yuffie. We're here because we're chasing after Corneo."

"He's the one who kidnapped Samus," Snake said. "And we must hurry to find him before you're prepared to become a grandpa earlier than expected and father-in-law of a man older than you."

The others looked fairly disgusted at the ending result. If there was a woman nearby, she would instantly spread the word to every single corner of the world about the seemingly possible outcome.

Godo's jaw opened. "T-the gruesome thought just makes me want to... U-ugh..."

Mario looked a bit disgusted. "I really never thought about that, honestly..."

"Not to mention that'd be a first to any known marriage..." Lucario muttered.

Godo furrowed his brow and closed his eyes. "No, I can't allow such an atrocity to happen, not even to my daughter!" he said. "I need to order a research party to find as soon as possible!"

"Wait, that's a bad idea," Cloud said.

The leader of Wutai opened his eyes. "What? Why is it a bad idea to rescue her from a sick man?!"

"You'll end up alerting his henchmen, that's why it is a bad idea," Snake said. "If they were to get a word of this, they'd tell the guy Corneo to make a run for it from this place. The last thing you want to do is having a whole army look for a single girl while accidentally alerting your captors about it."

"B-but she's..."

"She's your daughter, I know," the ex-FOXHOUND said. "But you need to think better before making a reckless mistake."

Godo grunted at this. "Then how am I supposed to rescue my daughter?!"

Cloud raised his hand. "Leave the rescue to us," he said. "Corneo has her and we need her to tell us where she hid our Materia and stuff. He also has a companion of them as well. If we go by ourselves, we won't raise much suspicion."

Godo looked down and frowned. "...Can I really trust in all of you to save my daughter from being..."

Aerith looked determined. "We'll save her no matter what," she said. "She deserves a punishment, but not THAT kind of punishment..."

"At least we agree that she doesn't really deserve that treatment," Mario said. "Neither Samus..."

"...Oh god, I wonder if he has them awake..." Chris asked. "They're surely cursing as much as they can..."

Godo looked serious at the group. "Please, I beg of you, rescue Yuffie before she gets in real trouble! The last thing this family needs is an early heir for the clan!"

Cloud nodded. "We'll head out right now," he said. "Before we go, did you see Corneo?"

Godo crossed his arms. "Well, by the time I woke up, there was a big silhouette running towards the exit of the mansion. When I heard explosions coming from this room, I got up and ran to see what was happening here. Around this time, Shinra soldiers were inspecting the house to see what the reason for the event of yesterday's night was..."

"They must've been here by the time Corneo fled," Cloud said.

Chris looked worried. "W-what are we waiting for? W-we need to look for Corneo before somebody has to make a family!"

Mario looked serious. "We've got no time to waste, then. Let's go!"

The group nodded in unison before they all ran out from the statue room. Godo watched as the group went towards the exit, wishing them to rescue Yuffie and prevent the clan to have more unnecessary members into the family tree. "...Please, save her... She's my most and only valuable treasure of Wutai..." he muttered before turning to see ten fainted bodies in his statue room. "..."

After he looked at the traces of destruction around the space, now the leader of Wutai was thinking that making the room big enough to have a battle was a bad idea; a conveniently bad idea.

Streets

Cloud's group ran out from the mansion and headed for the main streets of the village. After running through some crowds of tourists, the group stopped running to look where to go next. "Where could he have run off to?" Tifa asked.

"The village itself is so big," Aerith said (while she guided Lucario by grabbing his hand once again). "He could be hiding anywhere..."

"Don't lose hope yet," Mario reassured her. "We need to think more about what to do next."

"There's a problem: he could be anywhere," Cloud said. "Thinking logically, he'd hide somewhere where he can do anything to Yuffie and Samus."

"The question is where, though," Snake said."Hmm..."

Chris thought for a moment. "(...Wait a minute. Didn't Mei Ling say that she put some nanomachines in some of us? Maybe she also put those things in Samus's ears as well...)" The World Traveler pressed his staples a bit. "(...Wait, how do you call them exactly?)"

"Chris?" Mei Ling's voice sounded.

"O-oh, Mei Ling, thank goodness you're responding," Chris said with a sigh. "I thought you weren't going to respond..."

"I was just about to call you, actually," Mei Ling said. "I forgot to tell you that you need to set the frequency to 140.96 if you wanted to call me anytime."

"...What?"

"To do that, you just need to think," she explained. "Think the number, and it'll be set. The only way to talk either to me or Otacon is to input the right frequency. Don't go forgetting it now, okay?"

In Chris's point of view, he didn't have any idea what Mei Ling was talking about. "...F-forget that for now! We're in trouble here! I really need you to answer me something!"

"Is it about Snake? Have you made any progress yet?"

"...E-er...no..."

"..." Mei Ling remained silent for a moment. Chris thought that she got depressed by the response. "...So what is it?" she asked, trying to avoid sounding depressed.

"W-well, Samus got kidnapped last night, and you said you had implanted those machines in some of us," Chris said. "Did you happen to put some in Samus?"

"I'm afraid not," Mei Ling said. "By the time I wanted to give Samus some nanomachines, she was wearing her Varia Suit. Upon contact, the nanomachines were taken out by the suit's technology. I'm pretty sure her suit took the machines as digital bugs."

"Oh no..."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't do anything else," Mei Ling apologized. "People who have codec can be easily tracked down if you input the right frequency to call them. It's like a radio. However, if they don't have codec, it's impossible to track them down."

"Oh...so much for that..." Chris muttered.

"Sorry, but you're all on your own," Mei Ling said. "Try to find Samus by yourselves, okay? And before I go, can you try to convince Snake in the subtlest way possible?"

Chris gulped mentally. "I-I'll try to do it."

"Thank you," Mei Ling said. "Well, good luck. Remember that my frequency is 140.96."

"...Right..." Chris muttered. "I'll end the transmission right now. I don't want to waste anymore time."

"Why waste time? Codec calls last a lot of time in just a second."

The World Traveler had it with the explanation about codec calls. He didn't see that time itself had frozen when he was pressing his staples.

"...O-okay..." Chris muttered scared before he ended the call, time itself returning to its main track again.

Tifa rubbed her chin. "This is bad. The more time we lose, the more danger for Yuffie is going to grow worse..."

Cloud crossed his arms. "Damn that pervert..." he muttered. "If only there was some way to know where they are..."

"So you guys are quite in a fit, aren't you?"

The group blinked a bit at the voice before they turned around and found none other than Reno and Rude (now sober) standing behind them.

Final Fantasy VII – Turks' Theme

"Reno..." Tifa muttered.

The red-haired Turk looked serious at them. "Hmm...that Corneo is good at escaping..." he remarked in annoyance.

Cloud looked serious at Reno. "What are you up to now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Reno asked. "Elena was kidnapped by Corneo. We could as well leave her behind if it wasn't for the fact that she is a Turk. The Turks have some honor, you know. Allowing one of us to be kidnapped could ruin our reputation."

"You're just doing this for the sake of the Turks' reputation?" Aerith asked. "What about Elena? Don't you worry about her?"

"Elena pretty much gets herself in trouble because of her recklessness," Reno explained. "However, she had to be recruited to the Turks because of her previous story in achievements, and because I was injured by our battle a long time ago."

Cloud looked away. "Now that you mention it, she said you were short on people..."

"Yeah," Reno said. "We don't honestly care much about Elena, but she is still a member. Whatever she does will ultimately involve the Turks. The Turks have had a reputation, as I've said before, that is very important. If we were to make mistakes or get into one, Rufus will ultimately disband us. He has the power to make us fall."

Snake thought for a moment. "(They don't care about her, but they care if she's one of them...)" he thought.

"Elena..." muttered the quiet Rude who had just spoken.

Reno nodded at her name. "Let's go, Rude. We'll give Corneo a taste of what the Turks can do..." He looked up. "...Yeah, that sounded nice... If Elena is in his hands, that's going to make things a little difficult." He looked at the group. "And, uh... You said he also took one of you, right?"

"Yes," Mario said.

"Corneo took Yuffie from us. And without Yuffie, there's no way we'll get our Materia back," Cloud explained.

"Was that some kind of petition to receive help from us?" Reno asked before he frowned. "Don't misunderstand. Just because a member of each of our group was kidnapped by the same man doesn't mean we'll help you. We have no intention of joining you. But for now, we'll agree not to bother each other. That's all."

"That's fine," Cloud said. "We have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the Turks either."

"That's good to hear. The last thing I'd want to do is helping the enemy."

Chris looked away. "(It'd be a nice thing to do, though...)"

Cloud looked around the crowds of people. "Now, uh, just what direction did Corneo run off to?"

Reno chuckled a bit. "Hmm, nice attitude, you. Fortunately, Rude managed to catch a glimpse of someone who looked like Corneo, and we're sure it's him."

"You know where he went?" Tifa asked. "Can you please tell us?"

"Not that simple, though," Reno said. "Here's a clue: it's the place that stands out the most."

Tifa looked upset. "T-this is no time for riddles! We're all racing against the clock here!"

"Geez, you hate to do work, huh? Then again, I'm on vacation, so I don't want to do work either," he said before pointing to the north. "That place stands out the most, literally."

The group turned around to look at the north, seeing the huge mountain that overlooked the whole village.

"You know it? That's Da Chao Mountain," Reno said. "That's maybe the place where Elena and that girl Yuffie were taken."

"T-then that means Samus is there as well!" Chris said.

[DededeCloneChris]

"We shall leave for now," Reno said. "You're on your own from here."

The red-haired Turk and the bald Turk silently dashed away towards Da Chao Mountain. The group watched as the two went into the crowd and disappeared from sight.

Cloud looked forward at the mountain. "So it is there where Yuffie was taken..." he trailed off.

Tifa looked serious at Cloud. "We must go there immediately!" she suggested.

"But...before we go, we should first try to communicate with everyone else," Cloud said. "We don't know what awaits us in that mountain, do we?"

"No..." Chris trailed off.

Cloud nodded at this and took out his PHS to start calling Cid and Red XIII. "Get the phone..." Cloud muttered before a clicking sound was heard. "Cid, we've found Samus's whereabouts. We've also found Yuffie's location as well."

"ARE YOU F*&^$#% KIDDING' ME?!" Cid's voice boomed in the phone, making Cloud twitch at the loud shocking words.

"N-no, I'm not f^%&$&# kidding you," Cloud replied in annoyance. "We know this because the Turks helped us."

"WHAT?!"

"Is Red XIII with you?" Cloud asked, trying to change the subject to prevent another scold from the older man.

"The mutt ain't with me. He's gone somewhere! I think he's marking his territory, the crazy bastard!"

"That's just an inaccurate and sick assumption," Cloud said. "Is there anyone else with you?"

"No!"

"...Then we all need to head to Da Chao Mountain," Cloud said. "Can you alert the others to go there as well?"

"How the f*&^ do you expect me to do that if I'm lost in this place you call a village?!"

Snake frowned. "That guy sure has strong cords. Anybody can listen to his rants from anywhere."

The blond mercenary pressed his brow. "Cid, please, this is a favor. I really, REALLY need you to tell the others to head to Da Chao Mountain."

"Go do it yourself! I have some business with that little b&^*# myself!"

And the call suddenly hung up.

"...Cid, did you just hang up on me?" Cloud asked, not receiving any response from the older man. "...Oh, great..."

Aerith chuckled a bit. "I think Cid got so upset and excited that he knew where to find Yuffie. I mean, he got pretty angry when she trapped us in that cage before..."

Chris sighed. "Please, don't tell me he's really going to kill her off..."

"Well, if he were to find her before us, chances are he'll do it," Tifa said. "We just met the guy a day ago, and we already know how he'll react."

Cloud shook his head. "Well, we have to find some way to communicate with the others and tell them to go to the mountain. Unfortunately, Red XIII doesn't have a PHS like most of us do. I've never seen him using a phone as well."

Mario raised his hand. "Let me go around the village, then," he offered. "You all can go ahead while I find and tell everyone to go to the mountain."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked.

"Frankly speaking, that's the only thing we can do to stay cautious," Cloud said. "We need to have the most people in this group we can take with us. We don't know what could be waiting for us in there."

The red plumber nodded. "I'll be on my way now. Go ahead and try to find Yuffie and Samus, okay?" he said before he turned around and ran into the crowds of people to look for the others.

As soon as Mario left, an angry Cid came charging from the same direction, running between the group before going away towards Da Chao Mountain. The blond man left a long trail of dust behind his feet before it vanished from sight along with him.

"Oh goodness..." Tifa muttered in boredom. "He already got the advantage in this "race", huh?"

"...But we don't want Yuffie to die!" Aerith gasped.

Cloud smacked his forehead. "Why the hell did I call Cid?" he asked before he glared at the mountain. "Everyone, let's go!" he ordered before they all started running towards the mountain of ancient deities.

While they were all running, Chris looked at Snake. "(But if I try to talk to him, he'll tell I'm trying to convince him to stay...)" he thought. "(Snake is very clever as well. How am I supposed to be subtle enough to finish the favor?)"

The World Traveler pondered this as they kept their way towards Da Chao Mountain.

Da Chao Mountain

The mountain itself wasn't far away from the village. In fact, it was just in front of it. The group managed to reach the base of the mountain where they looked up to see several giant carvings depicting the deities of Wutai. The carvings themselves formed several paths that lead towards holes and narrow passages. Overall, everything looked normal to them.

"Da Chao Mountain..." Snake muttered. "This is kind of the place where Mei Ling would love to study about."

The codec ring tone rang. "Hey, just because I'm part Chinese doesn't mean I want to..." Mei Ling trailed off for a bit. "...Wait, this is another world... Hmm, maybe I could get a bit interested..." she muttered to herself before she ended the call.

Snake rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I know what you want to do," he muttered.

Chris looked worried at the mountain. "Are we going to have to climb this? I personally don't like to climb that much..."

"There are some paths that seem safe, though," Tifa said. "I think we can do this just fine."

Aerith looked at the blind Lucario. "Um, can you try to do this, Lucario?" she asked.

"I'll certainly fall if I can't see where I move my feet," Lucario admitted. "Hopefully Chris will guide me to the right way so I don't fall down."

Chris cried toon tears. "(Why must you mention my name like that when Aerith is the one who's been guiding you all this time?!)" he asked in disbelief. "(If Yuffie didn't spill my only Superspicy Curry, Lucario wouldn't have to go through this, and we could've found Yuffie sooner!)"

Cloud looked to his right where he saw Reno and Rude looking up to the mountain. The Turks were focused in the mountain's structure without noticing the group walking to them. "Hey, Reno," Cloud called out.

Reno blinked and looked to his left to look at them. "You're finally here," he said. "The stubborn man came here earlier. He beat the two of us before he went into the mountain's caves."

Aerith chuckled nervously. "He has a lot of energy for being older, I give him that..."

Reno ignored her comment. 'We're gonna split into two. You do whatever you want, but don't endanger Elena."

"As if we want her to have much more hatred towards us," Cloud said.

"That's Elena, alright. Taking her job so seriously to the point it's absurd," Reno said with a sigh. "Don't worry. We won't do anything to that girl Yuffie...for now..."

Tifa looked upset at this. "So if you were to find Elena first, would you then attack Yuffie?"

"I would...if it wasn't for the fact we're on a break," Reno said, Rude nodding in agreement. "Like I said before, we don't plan to fight you guys. For now, we'll split up."

The two Turks turned towards the mountain path, carefully walking in front of the narrow ways that extended all over the front wall of the mountain.

Aerith looked at Tifa. "This is a little bit random to say, but I think Rude was staring at you for a pretty long while. He didn't look like he wanted to look at anybody else."

"What?" Tifa asked. "What are you trying to say? How did you notice he was staring at me if he was wearing sunglasses?"

"Well, his gaze was definitely directed to you," Aerith said. "I wonder why he didn't say anything else..."

Tifa looked away. "I hope it doesn't have to do with something more intimate because I'd yell..."

Chris admired the mountain's carvings for a bit before looking at the group. "I really doubt that a fat man like Corneo could easily navigate through here..." he commented.

Cloud took a step forward and looked up at the mountain. "Cid must've already went ahead of us," he said. "We've got no time to waste."

"Wait, Tifa interrupted, "what if there are monsters in here?"

"If there are monsters, we'll have to deal with them," Snake said. "However, if we were to be ambushed while we're climbing this mountain, it won't be easy to avoid falling down to a certain death."

Chris groaned. "Oh, please, I didn't want to worry about that fact! I don't want to develop a fright for heights now!"

"Can we please stop talking?" Cloud asked. "We need to go up there now."

The World Traveler gulped. "As long as we don't fall down..."

"I could save anyone from falling down, but I can't do it in this condition," Lucario said.

"Lucario, don't make me feel that I'm more screwed that I think I am currently..."

"Sorry..."

Cloud's group decided to press on by carefully leaning against the wall to prevent falling down. As they all climbed the deities' carvings, the ground floor seemed more and more distant from their current height. One look would make Chris look up, but then he would think he was slowly falling down, and so he ended up having to look forward to the wall. Surprisingly enough, Aerith managed to keep Lucario from falling down. The flower girl used her own feet to touch Lucario's feet by leaning it against his foot. Aerith knew that Lucario could grow suspicious that she was guiding her, so she told Chris to tell Lucario to follow him, when it was Aerith who Lucario was following.

Chris couldn't resist the cursing temptation to look down to the ground floor, which was about seventy feet away from where they were. "Nobody's going to fall, Chris. Nobody is going to fall..." he muttered. "Think of your happy place where you're walking peacefully on a road..."

Some seconds of thinking later...

"...N-not somewhere that reminds you of the ground floor, dangit!" Chris cursed.

"Kid, stop talking," Snake said as he was going to the left, just besides Chris. "The less you talk, the better will be for us to drift in thought while we climb this wall."

"I-I'm sorry," Chris apologized.

The World Traveler needed to make progress with Snake. Gulping, Chris thought about talking to Snake. He needed to be very subtle or else he could end up getting hurt. The World Traveler stared at Snake for a while.

"(...I-I can't do this!)" Chris thought. "(Anything is going to trigger in his mind what we talked about yesterday! Snake is not an idiot, but he is one clever bastard!)" he thought in panic. "(Dammit, I don't want to have a conversation at THIS height. It's stupid!)"

Snake noticed that Chris was staring at him without even looking away. The World Traveler was panicking a lot in his mind to notice that the mercenary was looking at him. With a sigh, Snake looked back to the left to carefully walk on the narrow path.

"(Oh god, no,)" Chris thought. "(He's surely thinking I'm trying to convince him from staying here with us. I know that look he gave me meant all that!)" He looked down...to the ground floor. "(D-dangit, stop looking down!)"

"How much are we going to have to climb like this?" Lucario asked.

"Be patient," Tifa called out from Snake's left. "I'm pretty sure I saw some entries somewhere around here..."

Cloud, being the one in the lead, stopped sliding his feet in front of the wall to see that there was a climbable spot that led to a cave. Just in front of that cave, Rude stared at it for a moment before he went inside. "I think I've found something," Cloud said. "Rude just went inside a cave. Everyone, follow me," he said before he began to climb the way up to the cave that Rude had gone into.

"A-anything than here is a really nice place!" Chris agreed.

The World Traveler looked down again. However, instead of looking at the ground floor, he stared at a rock formation where two arms in front of a Buddha-like head. Upon looking at it for a bit, something triggered in his mind.

"(....Wait a minute...)" Chris trailed off in thought, "(now that I'm looking at that place, wasn't that the place where Corneo held Yuffie and Elena hostage in the game? Why aren't they there? I thought they were supposed to...)"

"Um, Chris," Aerith began, "I need you to move up."

Chris shook his head and looked up at Snake climbing the wall towards the cave Cloud mentioned. "O-oh, sorry," Chris said before he slowly and carefully walked up the narrow path, thinking where Corneo could have gone to instead of the usual spot.

Lucario slowly tried to open his eyes to see the blurry images in front of him. His eyes were too watery, but they were less itchy than before. "My eyes are slowly recovering," he said. "I hope I can see by the end of this day..."

Aerith chuckled a bit before the two went up to the cave.

Once everyone had gone into the dark cave, they were met by the heating light of lava. It turned out that the mountain had lava inside its caves. "Oh, great, lava," Snake commented. "And just when you thought making out with someone in a place like this wouldn't look any weirder than before."

"Can you please stop saying that?" Tifa asked. "I don't want to have sick pictures in my mind about Corneo doing...you-know-what."

The group looked to their right where Rude stared at a pool of lava before looking at them. "You like to be very silent, huh?" Cloud asked.

Rude seemed to ignore Cloud's comment before he looked to his right and found some kind of passage. The silent Turk ran into it and disappeared from sight.

"(Wait, what's that passage doing there?)" Chris thought. "(That wasn't there before...)"

"Have it your way..." Cloud muttered. "Let's go there."

"What?" Tifa asked. "Isn't it a bit dangerous to go to the same place where he went?"

"Reno said he wasn't going to meddle with us," Cloud said. "It's all good."

Tifa looked worried. "Sometimes I think they're going to say otherwise later..."

Snake rubbed his chin. "Maybe, but we outnumber them. I don't think they'll attack us."

"Besides, Reno is a man of word," Cloud said. "Everything is just fine, trust me."

"Back on the matter," Aerith began, "is it okay if we go further inside? I mean, do you see that lava pond? What if there's even more of it further inside?"

"I bet my sword that we could get into a very dangerous territory," Cloud said. "However, it wouldn't make sense for Corneo to hide in such a dangerous place to do...you-know-what to women. At least I know he has common sense, but just a bit of it. If so, he should've some sort of hideout hidden within the mountain."

"Nice thinking," Tifa said. "But let's not lower our guards until we get to him."

Lucario shrugged. "I don't like heat very much... I'd appreciate if you guided me cautiously, Chris."

Aerith smiled at this, but Chris looked away. "Um, sure, Lucario, whatever you say. I won't let you sink in lava."

"Thank you."

The World Traveler wanted to smack his forehead. "You're welcome..."

The group then pressed on by going through the passage Rude had gone into. Upon walking several feet away in it, they found out that there was a complicated set of different passages that went almost every single direction.

"Darn it," Cloud muttered under his breath as they all looked around. "Now we're going to have to choose which path the real one is."

Snake looked down to find some footprints going to the right. "Not really," he said. "The pervert took that way. Just look at the footprints."

Aerith looked down. "Oh, you're right."

Snake noticed that there were more footprints going to the left. Judging by their shape, he could tell Rude went that way. "And these other footprints were from the bald guy. He surely didn't see these ones."

"Well, that's luck," Tifa said. "Now we won't have to go everywhere blindly."

Lucario grunted. "How ironic you say that..." he trailed off in boredom.

"Oh, my bad..."

Cloud looked serious at the way Corneo had gone to. "Okay, everyone, let's corner that bastard and finish this today."

The group ran into the passage in hopes to find Corneo and all his hostages. The World Traveler thought that he needed to do something to convince Snake from staying, but the fact that Snake was clever and smart could present a real threat to Chris. Anything he could bring up would make Snake know he was trying to make him stay with the Smashers.

The only thing Chris could do was to wait and think for the best approach.

???

Final Fantasy VII - Don of the Slums

Meanwhile, in the depths of Da Chao Mountain, Corneo giggled to himself as he looked up at the monument before him. "Hohi ho!" he laughed. "Yes, yes, yes! This is so feisty, I swear, feisty!"

The surrounding area was a very dark cave with a relatively long space. The cave itself was illuminated by very small lava rivers that ran around the wall's floor. Several stalagmites were stuck on the ceiling, and there were stalactites covering the edge where the small leaks of lava were.

However, there was some kind of ancient-looking structure facing the long space of the cave. Before Corneo lied some kind of temple with light brown walls that depicted some kind of ancient deity. An entrance was located in its center that leaded to an inner sanctum.

Just to the right of the upper part of the temple's wall, three figures were tied up against rotating walls over stalactites in a pond of lava. Their hands and feet were tied quite hard against the wall. The three figures could easily fall down to a possible death if they were to be released right on the pond.

"I swear I'm gonna throw up if I'm stayin' up here for longer!" Yuffie complained, being on the center of the other two. "I'm not a fan of heights!"

"I swear I'm going kill SOMEBODY after I get off from these ropes," Samus muttered, being tied up to Yuffie's left, as she glared fiercely at the pervert man.

"A-and I swear I'm going to write as many reports as possible to make you, Corneo, die a slow and EXTREMELY PAINFUL death!" Elena proclaimed, being tied to Yuffie's right, as she struggled to get her hands off the ropes.

Yuffie gritted her teeth to the point she struggled even more than Elena did. "LET...ME...GO!" she demanded.

Corneo merely giggled at this. He seemed to like Yuffie's rebellious attitude. "Hmm Delicious... scrumptious! I think I've just found a new HOBBY!"

"What are you talking about?" Samus asked. "What kind of hobby is to kidnap women for your own pleasure?"

"I-I agree with her!" Elena yelled. "T-that's such an idiotic thing to do!"

Corneo disgustingly licked his lips while he stared at Elena. The blond Turk looked very disgusted at the don's face. "Which shall it be to be my eternal love? Hmm... Hmm... Should I go...with HER?" he asked as he stared dreaminly at Elena.

"E-excuse me?!" Elena said in irritation. "I-I'm one of the Turks, you know! D-don't think you can get away with this and ME! I have a reputation to keep for them, and I'm not letting you lay a hand on me! Leave me alone if you know what's best for you!"

"When you think about it, the fact that he had his men tie us up here over lava, it makes you think he won't listen to you unless you have love with him..." Samus trailed off. "I'm NOT up for that at all."

Corneo's fascinated look went over to Yuffie, who blinked in complete shock. "Or...maybe...HER?"

"BLEEEEEEEH!!!" Yuffie yelled in disgust as she shook her head. "H-how can you think such a thing about me, you dirty pervert?! I-I'm just sixteen!"

"But love doesn't require barriers!" Corneo said, drooling a bit. "Love makes anything possible!"

"That's why love is sometimes very stupid..." Samus muttered.

"W-what are you saying? I can't get pregnant because of YOU!" Yuffie complained to Corneo. "I-I mean, my father would become a grandpa AND a father-in-law! Honestly, who has ever heard of an old man becoming son-in-law to a younger guy like my father?!"

"Y-yeah!" Elena yelled. "If you go with her, you're going to provoke a strange situation of the laws of marriage!"

"You're not helping, you know!" Yuffie complained to Elena.

"Nonsense!" Corneo said. "Besides, who's saying I'm so old? I'm in my young thirties, mind you!"

Elena sighed. "Well...that's a big relief for you," she told Yuffie.

Yuffie laughed happily. "Oh, it's a big relief, alright," she said. "It'd be a real relief it if wasn't for the fact HE WANTS TO MAKE OUT WITH ME!"

"You don't want to?" Corneo asked. "Aww, you're no fun... Well, better give you the fun instead!"

"N-no, it's okay, really. I'm already fun myself," Yuffie said in disagreement.

Samus sighed. "How the heck did I get myself dragged into this mess? I swear I'm going to put some kind of security system to my room back at the mansion should a situation like this happens again..."

Corneo snorted and looked dreamily at Samus. "Or...perhaps contestant number three should be my wife? I wonder how soft her charms are..." He drooled. "I wanna squeeze 'em..."

The bounty hunter blinked at this before she glared menacingly at the don. "Okay, you're starting to become a huge jackass pervert."

Yuffie struggled to move. "Hey, you make it sound like a compliment!" she complained. "He's more like super duper jackass pervert!"

"You're both wrong!" Elena argued. "There's one true definition that can describe well enough, and that word is rapist!"

"Would you two STOP arguing about this? It doesn't have any relevance to this screwed up situation!" Samus yelled at the two girls. "And it's not usual for me to yell like this, but you both are making me snap out, seriously!"

"What about the rapist?" Elena asked.

"Especially the rapist man!" Samus complained.

Corneo giggled with glee. "Wheee! I like how saucy women are! They tend to have more action than others!" He pointed a finger at Yuffie. "And she's the winner of this contest!"

Yuffie's jaw dropped. "G-GROSS-NESS!!!" she yelled in extreme disgust. "D-don't mess with me, old man! I swear I can be rather ferocious when the situation demands it!"

"Hohi ho! Then I chose the right girl!"

Samus looked bored. "I don't want to ruin this to you, but he'll take anything offensive and misinterpret it as love innuendos."

Yuffie looked mad. "Aw, come on! This isn't happening!" she argued before looking at Elena. "Why don't you take her? She's saucier than me!"

"E-excuse me?!" Elena asked.

Corneo snorted a bit. "Hmm, she looks saucier, alright..." he muttered, licking his drool.

Elena yelped a bit and looked at Yuffie. "Oh no, she's saucier than me!"

Corneo turned his look at the ninja. "N-no way, she's saucier!" Yuffie yelled.

The don turned to Elena. "Oh, please, everyone knows she's saucier!"

The pervert looked to Yuffie. "H-hahahaha! She's WAY saucier than me!"

Corneo mumbled words as he turned to look at Elena. "H-hey, choose the woman in the blue suit instea-"

Samus shot a death glare at Elena, not wanting to become part of the pointless discussion.

"N-never mind that!" Elena said in panic. "P-please, choose anyone else but me! I-I'm one of the Turks!"

"Well!" Corneo said pleased, licking his lips once more. "If I marry a Turk, Shinra wouldn't need to go chasing me around, right?"

"I-I-ah, what are you saying? They'll maul you to death if you did!" Elena proclaimed.

Samus looked away. "Will they now? Your allies didn't look that interested in you."

Elena pouted a bit at this. "T-that's because they don't take the job as seriously like me. They DO care about what happens to me, that I assure you!"

"Hohi hohi ho!" Corneo laughed with glee. "Then you can convince them from stop messing around with me, and then they'll tell Rufus to stop the death threat they have on me! Oh yeah, baby, daddy wants to be yours truthfully!"

Elena started to scream, struggling hard to get off from the ropes. "NO, NO, NO, AND I REPEAT, NO! I-I don't want to take part of this!" she complained. "T-that's it, my future is already set from this point on! I'm going to become his beloved, he's going to make me have babies, I'll take care of the babies while he's gone seducing another woman, I'll yell at him for leaving me ro raise our children alone, he'll say he's sorry but then he'll sneak out to go to a party club where he will party all night while I attend the crying babies who will probably start asking where he is and why I'm freaking our fo-"

"Would you please SHUT UP for once?!" Yuffie asked in irritation. "None of that is even happening at all!"

"Yet!" Elena added in panic. "I'm so screwed now, and all because I lowered my guard down for some minutes!"

"EVERYONE HERE lowered their guards," Samus said. "Well, unlike you, I DID some fighting, but then I got hand-chopped on the back of my throat."

Corneo chuckled loudly. "MAN, seeing women fighting like this looks...so SMEXY!" he said with joy. "Alright, I'm gonna have to choose all three of you 'cuz a quarrel in the bed with me in-between all of you would be something I'll look forward to! I'm can see myself moving my hands everywhere to touch anything!"

At this, the three girls looked shocked. They all looked at each other. "...Can somebody please tell me that we're going to be just fine?" Elena asked.

"I'll give you a hint," Yuffie began, "we're NOT going to be JUST fine!"

"T-that isn't a hint! That's a very obvious fact!"

"THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF IT!"

Corneo giggled. "Yeah! Women fighting against each other! Woohoo!"

Samus wanted to smack her forehead. "Please, please, anybody, I hate to say this but rescue me from this demented pervert...and these two loudmouths as soon as possible," she muttered with closed eyes.

"Okay, that's it!"

And her pleas were soon answered, much for her relief.

The three women and the don looked back at the other side of the cave where Cloud, Snake, Aerith, Chris, Tifa, and Lucario stepped into the room. Cloud was the one who was in front of the whole group, having a tight grip with both hands on his buster sword.

"It's all over, Corneo!" Cloud declared with fury. "You're gonna have to surrender now for real!"

Corneo backed away a bit. "W-what's going on here?" he asked. "W-who's there?"

Yuffie gasped. "Oh crap, Cloud!" she said. "I-I mean, please, help me here! I'm having one heck of a wild time, but that wild time is trying to kill me off!"

"Um, I'm pretty sure that wild time wants to love you...in the most disgusting way," Elena said.

"I know what I'm saying here, so shut up, you!" Yuffie complained.

Upon seeing the struggling ninja, Aerith sighed in relief. "Phew, he hasn't done anything unforgivable to her..."

Snake looked at Samus. "Oh, there you are," he said. "I thought you were a goner for a minute."

Samus looked annoyed. "Why, thank you, gentleman," she said. "Would you be so kind to take me off from these stupid ropes?"

Chris looked at the lava pool with stalactites. "I-I think we should think about this more carefully first..." He looked back at the building behind the three women. "...Wait, isn't that building..."

Snake inspected the building's structure. "Wait a minute, isn't that one of the temples of the hedgehog's world, the same we ones we were sent to find?"

"...It is," Chris muttered. "...It's the Adabat Temple."

Truth to be told, the Adabat Temple was positioned before them.

Snake rubbed his chin. "So that's why the reading said that the temple was located around the area of this village. It was hiding inside this mountain all along."

Corneo took a closer look at Clou-

"Hey, wait a minute!" Elena interrupted suddenly. "Nobody's going to say they're relieved to see me okay?"

Yuffie looked bored. "Well, nobody here cares that much about you. I mean, with you being our eternal enemy and all that...you know..."

"I think those other Turks didn't pay much attention nor cared about what you were going to," Lucario pointed out, trying to find the right direction to look at Elena.

Elena cried toon tears and sniffed sadly at this. "I-I'm just doing my work here. W-what's so bad about it?"

Tifa looked away. "Um, let me think. Oh, yes, right, because you're trying to KILL us, remember?" she asked angrily.

"I-I'm doing all this in good law!" Elena said in her defense.

"No you aren't!" Yuffie yelled. "We're the ones doing the right thing!"

"Yuffie, you're not longer one of us EVER since you betrayed us...twice!" Cloud said angrily. "And you're still saying you're one of us?"

Yuffie nervously chuckled at this. "O-oh, please, t-that was all a joke, you guys!" she said. "I mean, I was just trying to save your Materia from other people..."

"You STOLE our Materia rather than saving it!" Tifa pointed out with a finger.

The ninja looked worried. "O-okay, it was all a trick! I-I swear it was all a trick to get all the Materia!" She started to struggle even more. "I need some help here! Please, anyone, take me away from this idiot before I have children against my will!"

"You just want sympathy from us so you can escape from the pervert and from us again," Snake pointed out. "If you want some help, then promise you're going to give back all our stuff."

"N-no can do!" Yuffie said. "I need to save Wutai!"

"Well, don't call me when you need to get a godfather."

Yuffie sniffed sadly. "O-okay, I'm returning everything to you guys, I promise! But please, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SICK GUY BEFORE I GO NUTS!"

"You're going nuts now..." Samus muttered in boredom.

Corneo narrowed his eyes. "Whee, long time no see..." he said.

"We met ten minutes ago," Aerith pointed out.

"S-shut it!" Corneo yelled. "I-I don't want to listen to you guys anymore!"

Cloud took a step forward. "Corneo, your end is finally here. You're going to pay for making me dress up as a girl, dangit!"

"But, Cloudel, you had to admit it was fun," Corneo teased.

The blond mercenary shook his head. "Shut up!" he yelled. "I've had enough of you and your face!"

"Oh, who doesn't?" Yuffie asked

"All of you, be quiet!" Corneo complained. "None of you know how much I had suffered since you broke into my mansion and Shinra gave chase after me... It's a long story, but..."

"I don't care or give a darn about that!" Cloud yelled. "Let Yuffie and Samus go right this instant!"

Chris looked sideways at Aerith. "Oh my god, Cloud is seriously out of it today..."

Aerith sweat dropped. "I think he hates Corneo more than he hates Sephirot-"

The World Traveler coughed loudly. "O-oh, sorry, I had a bit of a sore throat..."

"Okay..."

"(I don't really want her to say the name of her KILLER in here...)" Chris thought with a mental sigh.

Tifa readied her fists and took a step forward besides Cloud. "Alright, it's all over for you, Corneo!" she said. "You wanted to kill us off after you found Cloud wasn't a girl (Cloud: For the last time, stop reminding me that!), so you're gonna have to stop all this!"

Yuffie sniffed. "Y-you guys are so awesome..." she muttered. "I-I'm so glad to have such caring friends..."

Elena shifted her eyes a bit. "Um, didn't they just say you're not one of them any longer?"

"You, shut up and don't ruin the moment," the ninja muttered in annoyance.

The don gasped a bit before he sighed and looked sternly at them. "You people are so serious about the whole thing, huh? Good, good... I'm not going to fool around as you're doing now. Since I have the opportunity to attack you right here, I'm gonna avenge the death of my little Aps." He giggled darkly. "Oh yeah, you're gonna PLAY with my new pet so you don't get in my way to search my new bride!"

Snake looked at Aerith. "What did he exactly mean by Aps?" he asked.

Aerith pinched her chin a bit and looked up in thought. "Hmm, I think he meant the monster he sicked on us when he tossed us into the sewers of Midgar... I remember we killed it off."

Corneo grunted at the thought. "You guys killed me pet Aps! For that, you're going to play with my little Rapps instead!" He whistled loudly enough to make an echo in the cave. "C'mon, Rapps! Your new friends are here to play with you!"

A loud roar echoed from behind the group. They all turned around and quickly backed away from a monster that came out from behind. The monster flapped its wings to stay in the air. The monster looked like a green pterodactyl with a long tail and long wings. It had some red outlines over his wings and on the tip of its hard tail. The monster named Rapps let out a screech and looked down upon its prey.

Final Fantasy VII - Still More Fighting

"Hohi, hohi, hohi, hohi, ho!" Corneo laughed. "Behold my pet Rapps, bunch of imbeciles! I hope you give him a good play time 'cuz he ain't like bad play times at all!"

"Aw, crap," Yuffie muttered at the sight of the monster. "Just when things were turning out for the better."

The group readied their weapons (or fists in some cases) as they all looked up at the monster. "H-how can you consider that a pet, exactly?" Chris asked in fear.

"Well, it'd make sense Corneo bought it from someone," Tifa said. "I've heard there are trained monsters out there that can be bought from hunters."

Cloud put a tight grip on his buster sword. "I've HAD it with all this crap!" he yelled before he jumped high above while pulling his long sword vertically behind his back. "Time for you to STOP pissing me off. METEORAIN!"

With a mighty swing (of rage), Cloud shot six flaming meteors that emerged from his buster sword. The six meteors crashed right into the pterodactyl monster square on its body, creating a big explosion of smoke that covered it completely. It let out a screeching sound before it slowly flapped its wings and started to fall down upon the entrance of the cave.

At that moment, a familiar vulpine stepped into the scene, panting heavily under his breath. "Y-you guys, I'm here!" Fox called out. "Mario told me you al-"

Chris gasped. "F-Fox, get out of th-"

And Rapps accidentally crashed right on top of the vulpine, causing him to lie down on the ground in a painful way while Cloud landed back on the ground and glared at the now unconscious monster. "It's...over for you..." he muttered between pants.

Music stops

Corneo and everyone in the room but Snake gasped after seeing that the so-dangerous monster was taken down by Cloud's finished. Corneo shook in fear at the sight of his pet knocked out on the ground that he let go of his golden pipe and let it fall down. "N-no, my adorable Rapps! No!" he said in shock.

Fox was sticking out from the front of the monster's body with hands and arms extending out. The vulpine opened his worn out eyes and looked worried at the group. "W-what did I do to get crushed by a monster?" he asked.

Snake rolled his eyes. "Ever heard of arriving at the wrong time at the wrong place?"

"O-oh, you shut up..." Fox muttered in pain.

Yuffie cheered loudly at this quick victory. "Hurray! I'm gonna be saved by 'em!" she cheered. "I knew you guys were gonna be victorious. I never lost faith in all of you!"

Elena looked sideways at her with a bored expression. "You know, I think you're just trying to flatter them with sweet tal-"

"If you shut up, I won't tell them to drop you down the lava."

"I'll be quiet," Elena muttered in fear.

Samus sighed in relief. "This is going to be over soon, fortunately..."

While Chris had to take Lucario (with Aerith already reacting to this by going along as well) to go help the vulpine, the others turned to face the don, who was shaking in fear as they all glared at him. "W-wait... J-just wait a second!"

"SHUT UP!" Cloud yelled loudly as he positioned his buster sword directly in front of him. "Corneo, we had enough about you already. It's time for you to die!"

Snake coughed a bit. "Sorry to say this, but none of us aren't that annoyed at him except you."

"Shut it!" Cloud yelled without turning at the mercenary.

Corneo snorted a bit and waved his hands at them. "P-please, just listen to me for one last time! I-I swear it won't take that long before you kill me off!"

Tifa sighed in boredom. "What is it this time? I hope it's not a trick..."

Corneo shook his head, shaking off some sweat away. "W-why do you think a bad guy like me would swallow his pride and plead for his life to guys like you, huh?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "That's an easy one. Because he's sure to lose."

Suddenly, the don chuckled at this answer and shook his head. "Quite wrong, you..." He took out a small remote control and pressed its red button.

Final Fantasy VII - Hurry!

The group saw Elena, Yuffie, and Samus being rotated upside down on their respective places. Elena and Yuffie let out a loud scream while Samus grunted loudly at the whole event. "Oh god, why the HELL didn't I say he was going to do this?" Samus asked in annoyance.

"O-oh my god!" Elena yelped. "I-I don't like any of this! I tend to become irrational when my blood goes to my head!"

Yuffie gritted her teeth. "He makes me so MAD, I swear!" she complained.

Seeing this happening, Tifa smacked her forehead and grunted. "I already said I hoped it wasn't a trick. What didn't you understand of it?"

"Hohi hohi ho!" Corneo laughed loudly. "Well, I admit you saw that coming. Too bad you're too slow!"

Chris twitched at this while Lucario pulled Fox with a simple pull out of the downed monster. "D-don't say that!" he complained.

Cloud gritted his teeth. "Damn you, Corneo, stop pulling dirty tricks out of your f*&(^$# a^$ already!" he cursed.

"Sorry, but I just can't do that!" Corneo said with a laugh. "You see, I'm sure to win this! I have everything prepared for anything should I lose. HA, in your faces, losers, in YOUR u-g-l-y faces!"

Tifa took a step forward. "Let them go!"

"NO!" Elena and Yuffie yelled.

Tifa sweated a bit. "I-I mean, let them go somewhere else besides above the lava!"

"Never!" Corneo said as he showed them the same remote control. "Not so fast, sexy woman! If I push this button, they'll fall upside down into the lava, and we'll have
ROASTED TOMATOES!" He thought about the outcome. "...Nah, make it NOTHING for ANYONE!"

Snake glared at the don. "Nothing like a sore loser, I see," he said.

"Damn..." Cloud muttered as he lowered down his buster sword. "Dammit, I didn't want this to end like this!"

"Oh no, what a way to change things around..." Aerith muttered. "W-we just can't let this happen!"

"Sorry, but you can't do anything right now!" Corneo declared. "It's time for me to make everyone listen to what I have to say. Not even Shinra can do a DAMN thing about me anymore since I have one of their precious Turks in captivity."

"CHEAP!" Elena yelled. "Be glad I'm in your captivity because I'd be KILLING you with a gun pointing at your head right now!"

"Hohi, hohi, hohi, hohi, hoooooooo!" Corneo laughed histerically while everyone glared at him. "Looks like I'm the one laughing last!"

The group had no choice but watch the don laugh maniacally at his seemingly secured victory. The three captured women struggled to get off from the ropes, reminding themselves that they could all fall into the lava. Samus thought she could use the stalactites to try to jump out, but she wasn't sure if they could resist.

Chris then recalled something about the scene. "(Wait, this part is where Reno and Rude arrive to stop Corneo from letting them fall down, but that was outside instead of inside here...)" He looked back behind the fallen Rapps. "(Maybe they'll arrive behind because that's the only place they can come out...)"

Inside the darkness of the maze, the World Traveler saw a small shining glow in it.

"(...Are they there?)" Chris asked to himself. "(They must be arriving here right no-)"

Chris's train of thoughts was interrupted as soon as he saw a long metal hand stretching out from the darkness of the maze directly to the laughing don. The group looked at the sudden apperance of the metalic hand as it snatched the remote control from Corneo, making him gasp in shock as it retreated into the darkness, everyone following its sight.

"W-what was that just now?" Tifa asked to Snake.

"How the heck should I know?" Snake asked.

"H-hey!" Corneo took some steps forward, fists raised to the air. "W-who's stealing my remote control now? G-give it back here to me! How am I supposed to make love and win this whole thing?"

Music stops

"Oh, did I make an unnecessary arrival? I beg your pardon, but I just had to come in here by orders of my boss, of course..."

Many of them looked confused at the voice that echoed from the maze's darkness. "Oh, great, now what?" Tifa asked. "Is somebody else trying to do something to us right now?"

"Why, that would be me. Don't you see the obvious in front of your eyes?" the voice asked with a snicker.

The World Traveler tilted his head to the right. "Wait, that voice... That voice isn't that hard to recognize..."

And suddenly, a floating machine with a scientist entered into the cave.

"Dr. Eggman," Chris said.

The scientist chuckled for a bit and looked at everyone before him. "It's a real pleasure to meet everyone again. It's been a long time ever since we last me-"

"We met just yesterday in the hand's world," Snake interrupted.

"Oh, right," Dr. Eggman said. "Sorry, but I've been too distracted in other important matters, namely finding the temples for one."

Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa looked at each other before looking back at the scientist. "Pardon me to ask, but who is this guy in the floating saucer?" Tifa asked.

"My name is Eggman Robotnik, or Dr. Eggman for short," Dr. Eggman said. "I'm here to accomplish one of my tasks: destroy the Adabat Temple."

"The Ada-what?" Tifa asked before looking back at the temple behind them. "You mean that temple over there? I thought it was part of Wutai's land."

Yuffie shook her head. "Now that you mention it, this temple wasn't even here in the first place... Oh, who cares about this temple? GET ME DOWN!" she demanded.

Dr. Eggman snickered. "Sorry, that won't do." He showed them the remote control that he had stole from Corneo. "Now that I have hostages, my mission is going to be a lot easier to do."

"H-hey, you just stole my opportunity to make love with them!" Corneo complained. "G-give it back to me!"

"You shut up, obese idiot," Dr. Eggman said before looking back at the Smashers. "Now, if you can stay there for the remainder of my mission, I won't have the necessity to drop those three girls into the lava down below."

Fox coughed a bit as he stood up. "W-why are you here? I thought Bowser and Wario were here to find this temple..."

Dr. Eggman shook his head. "Those two imbeciles can't even do a thing right, it seems. We told them to seek the Adabat Temple, but no, they end up going somewhere else! I don't know what happened to them in here, but I don't care. I had to come in here myself to look for the temple and I found it out of luck."

Chris shook his head. "N-no, we can't just let you destroy it like that!"

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but it must be done," Dr. Eggman said. "Besides, how are you guys supposed to enter in there without the assistance of the Temple Guardians? Do you have the tablets? I don't think you have either of those right now, am I right?"

"W-well..." Chris looked down. "...T-that's right..."

Dr. Eggman snickered. "Well, allow me to help you out. However, that aid is only going to let you see the guardians by yourself." He snapped his fingers.

The group looked back to the cave's exit where a floating cage hovered over the fallen Rapps all the way to the front of the entrance of the temple. The cage had four people in it. Some of them were grabbing the bars while some of them were looking down in shame.

"Who are they?" Snake asked.

"These are the guardians of the Adabat Temple," Dr. Eggman said. "They all are the protectors and the only people of their village. In fact, you're looking at Adabat's whole population," he explained. "I had to kidnap every single one of them because they have the tablets."

One of the four guardians looked sternly at Dr. Eggman. The guardian was a black-haired, skinny teenager named Jamal who wore a sleeveless black shirt with purple shorts and sandals. "Let us go now!" he yelled.

Dr. Eggman frowned at this simple demand. "Boy, how many times have I heard that demand before?"

"T-this isn't funny!" yelled a black-haired, young woman named Rudi. She wore a light blue shirt with a blue belt and pink-and-purple skirt with sandals. She was sitting down on the floor besides a depressed man. "We don't want to help you in any way with the ancestral temple!"

"Yeah, that's right!" yelled a young girl besides Jamal. The young girl named Nagi wore a white t-shirt, had her brown hair combed in a small ponytail, and wore pale yellow shirts with sandals. "You're just a bad guy with bad intentions!"

"Everyone, please...it's all useless now..." muttered the man besides Rudi. The man was the father of all the three children. The black-haired man named Teanchai wore a buttoned t-shirt with dark green shorts and sandals. He looked as if he was ashamed of being captured inside the cage. "There's no way for us to do anything..."

Jamal turned to him. "Dad, how could you say those things? We need to have hope!"

"In what?" Teanchai asked. "It's futile. Thanks to the earthquake, much of our ancestral home was forever lost..."

Rudi looked worried at Teanchai. "Dad, please, you need to stop acting like this..."

Dr. Eggman coughed to get their attention. "What happened to you doesn't matter at all to me," he said. "What matters to me about you is the tablets for the Adabat Temple. Hand them over now before I take extreme measures."

"N-no! We won't!" Nagi yelled. "It's our job as guardians to protect the temple from people like you!"

Rudi closed her eyes. "At this rate, we'll have to hand over the tablets against our wills..."

Jamal shook his head. "But I don't want to give up this easily!"

"Too bad, you will all have to surrender to me," Dr. Eggman said.

Cloud looked at Snake. "I hate to ask in the middle of this event, but do you happen to know what's going on?"

Snake looked away. "Remember I told you that we all come from different worlds? Well, those people also come from other worlds as well."

"Oh, please, not that whole nonsense again..."

Snake looked at Cloud. "It's nonsense, alright, but it's the truth," he said. "The fat guy in the saucer is one of our enemies. He wants to destroy the temple over there so there's no chance for us to stop his plans from conquering worlds... I know, cliche, but still..."

Cloud frowned. "I didn't believe any of this was true at all..."

"Me too, kid, me too."

[DededeCloneChris]

Chris took a step forward. "D-Dr. Eggma-"

"Stop right there, you!" Dr. Eggman interrupted, showing him the remote control. "One brusque move, and those women on the wall will fall down to their deaths!"

"...So let me get this straight," Yuffie began, "we're not going to be the sex slaves of the sick Corneo guy anymore, but NOW we're hostages for another different random obese guy for something else I barely even know about?"

"That's how things seem, apparently..." Elena muttered.

"...Okay," Yuffie began, "now I know that, from today, THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE EVER!"

"Now you're telling me..." Elena muttered in depression.

Samus sighed. "It's not exactly my best day ever, but at least things couldn't get any much worse."

"When I was a little girl, I used to kiss flowers all the time," Elena said. "One of 'em pinched me hard on my lower lip, and then a small insect flew out from that flower and pinched me on my forehead. I went ouch so much during that time of the day."

"...O...kay..." Samus trailed off at the random fact. "What the heck is wrong with you now?"

Yuffie looked bored. "Remember she said she becomes irrational when her blood goes to her head? Well, she's acting irrational now."

Samus rolled her eyes. "You've got to be kidding me..."

Dr. Eggman looked back at the family. "Will you hand over the tablets?"

"I-I refuse!" Jamal said.

"Oh, will you, now?" Dr. Eggman asked with a grin.

The atmosphere grew tense as everyone was frozen in place, thinking what to do while others were thinking what was happening. The Smashers were trying to find a way to get through the dilemma they faced, but it could end up by taking three lives away. Thinking hard, Chris looked at Lucario. "Lucario, can you try to shoot an Aura Sphere to Dr. Eggman?" Chris whispered.

"I don't know..." Lucario whispered. "I don't know where he's in the air. My eyes are still itching so badly."

Chris cursed in his mind and looked at Fox. "Can you use your Blaster?"

Fox looked bored. "I would if I HAD one right now," he whispered mad.

"S-sorry..." Chris muttered. "(I don't think I can change to another job without Dr. Eggman noticing me...and chanting a spell won't make a difference as well... If only there was some way to do something...)"

Yuffie gritted her teeth. "Okay, that does it!" she yelled. "I don't care if I fall into the lava anymore! I WANNA FALL DOWN RIGHT NOW!" she demanded loudly. "MAYBE I CAN SAVE MYSELF FROM SINKING INTO THE LAVA!"

Dr. Eggman grunted at the loud demands before he turned to the three women and floated all the way to them. "Will you just shut up, girl? I have the ultimate decision to end your life whenever I want to!"

"T-that was supposed to be my job!" yelled Corneo from the entrance of the temple. "T-there's no fun for me on bed anymore?"

"SHUT UP!" Cloud yelled.

Dr. Eggman ignored the rants. "You'll have to stay quiet for the time being if you don't want to die a gruesome death, girl!" he yelled at Yuffie.

"Like I care!" Yuffie yelled. "I look as if I was the target for obese people to kidnap me! What the hell, man, what the hell is right about this? IT'S COMPLETELY UNFAIR!"

The scientist gritted his teeth. "Silence, I say, silence!"

"I don't wanna shut up!" Yuffie yelled angrily. "You're not my father, who sucks as much as you do!"

"W-what?" Dr. Eggman asked. "I'll have you know that my IQ is the highest you've ever seen before!"

"Like I care about how smart you are, nerd!" Yuffie taunted. "I give a darn more attention than you, and that darn surely does a better job at kidnapping than a man with a rubby tummy!"

The ninja and the scientist kept arguing and insulting each other to no end, completely ignoring everyone else in the cave. Everyone watched the feud continuing as if there was nothing better to do. However, as they kept insulting each other, the World Traveler blinked a bit. "...Wait, this could actually allow me to change jobs without being noticed..." he muttered before he changed to his Agent job. "Okay, now I need to carefully aim my shot to his hand..." he trailed off as he closed his right eye and pointed his revolver at Dr. Eggman's right hand, where the remote control was being held. "Now I just hope my personality as a flirtatous man doesn't come up during all this..."

"Dude, I have perfect eyesight!" Yuffie chuckled. "You use glasses, nerd!"

"S-stop calling me a nerd, insolent girl with the ridiculously big pauldron!" Dr. Eggman complained.

"Ha, is that the best you can do to insult me?" Yuffie taunted.

"S-silence, just be quiet!"

Samus looked away in boredom. "Seriously, I REALLY hate this day. In fact, I'm going to start my own diary to state I hate this event, and to remind me to never, EVER let the door of my room open without a lock."

"I used to write chocobos on my diary's pages," Elena said randomly. "Heck, I wrote "Kweh!" in little bubbles to make them say something so people wouldn't think they were mute! How cute! Heheh, that rhymed!"

"...Okay, somebody, shoot me on the forehead now," Samus muttered. "I don't care if I die anymore. Screw this, screw Dr. Eggman, screw the girls besides me, screw these ropes, screw this cave, screw this temperature, SCREW THI-"

Samus's curses were eventually stopped by a loud banging sound. The bounty hunter watched Dr. Eggman stopping insulting Yuffie as a shot pushed the remote control away from his hand. The remote control bounced off from the wall under Samus's head, promptly crossing the other side of the lava pool where it landed right between some rocks in a place where it was hard to take out.

"..." Samus smiled a bit. "Oh, much better..." she muttered with a relieved sigh.

Fox grinned at Chris. "Nice shot there, Chris."

Chris looked embarrassed. "I-I didn't want to shoot the remote... I wanted to shoot his head but the steam of the lava got on my goggles that didn't let me see where I was aiming at..." He cleaned the goggles' lenses and took them off.

The vulpine blinked a bit at this. "...No need to be so violent, Chris..."

Chris closed his eyes. "I-I thought the shot wasn't going to kill him..."

"W-what the hell did just happen?" Dr. Eggman asked in bewilderment as he looked to his empty right hand. "W-what did just..."

"HA-HA!" Yuffie laughed in triumph. "IN-YOUR-FACE, NERD! The forces of justice will always prevail forever when I'm the one in danger!"

"That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard before!" Dr. Eggman complained.

"Do I even care?"

"Grrrr!!!"

Final Fantasy VII - Hurry!

Snake took quick action of the moment and looked at Cloud. "Kid, free the people in the cage, now!"

Cloud looked at Snake. "What?"

"I know you don't have any business with us, but we need to get all the help we can get for now," Snake said. "Use your darn sword to cut the bars and set them free, quick!"

Cloud blinked in confusion at this order before he looked serious and rushed towards the cage where the family was being held. The blond mercenary let out a yell as he jumped high above and slashed the bars of the cage to cut them in half, allowing a big hole for the four guardians to escape. The mercenary landed on the ground and looked up at them. "Now, it's your chance to get away from here!"

Rudi gasped at this and looked at her father. "D-dad!" Rudi yelled. "W-we can escape!"

Teanchai looked up from the floor and saw the hole of the cage. "T-then there is a chance to escape?" he asked before he stood up and nodded. "Quick, we must escape from Dr. Eggman!"

The family of four jumped down from the cage and quickly ran away to the group's direction. The guardians ran all the way to where the fallen Rapps was. Once they made it there, Teanchai looked at Fox and bowed to him. "We're thankful for what you've done for us."

Fox nodded. "Right, but stay away from here for the time being. You don't really want to stay any closer to that madman."

Jamal nodded. "Of course we don't want to!" he said. "We're still confused about what's happening, but from the looks of the situation, you're the good guys, right?"

"Y-yes," Chris said. "We're the ones trying to save the planet from being destroyed by Dark Gaia."

Rudi sighed. "Then there are people trying to do something about the crisis. I'm glad to hear you're doing it."

Nagi looked worried. "B-but what are you going to do now? That bad Dr. Eggman wants to destroy the temple!"

"We'll do anything to stop him from doing so," Fox said. "For now, stay away."

Teanchai nodded. "Please, don't let him destroy the ancient temple! If he does, our world may as well be doomed along with what remains of our home!"

Jamal motioned to the cave's maze behind the monster. "Everyone, over here!"

The family ran into the cave's maze to stay away from the room of the cave. Once they did, Aerith looked back to where Dr. Eggman was grabbing his head out of frustration. "What should we do now, Cloud? I'm very confused..."

Cloud ran towards her before he stopped and looked at the three captive women. "Now that we're involved in this, we don't have much of a choice but to see what happens next."

Tifa sighed. "Oh well, at least this is going to be much interesting than dealing with Corneo..." She looked around the cave. "Speaking of which, where did he go now?"

Cloud looked around the cave. "...Oh, great, he escaped again..."

"I don't think he left from where we came from," Aerith said. "I didn't see him coming our way..."

Cloud shook his head. "Never mind for now," he said before glaring at the scientist. "We have another problem to deal with."

Dr. Eggman grunted and glared down at his enemies. "Okay, you guys crossed the line!" he yelled. "Since I don't have any more hostages with me, it's time for me to jump right into the fray!"

"You and what army?" Snake asked. "I only see you and no one else on your side."

Dr. Eggman frowned. "Since it's day, Shadow Nightmares won't do a thing in here..."

The World Traveler sighed in relief. "Phew, that's nice to hea-"

"So I'm going to have to bring the night's feeling for them to dwell during the day!"

"...Say what again?" Chris asked in confusion. "I-I thought Shadow Nightmares could only appear during the night."

Dr. Eggman snickered. "They do if there's not daylight," he said before he took out a sphered that had darkish outlines circling around it. "Behold one impossible creation made out of pure Subspace matter and Shadow Bugs essence!"

"What the heck is that?" Yuffie asked. "It looks like a ball except it probably doesn't bounce."

"That's because it's NOT supposed to be a... Ugh, I don't care anymore," Samus muttered in annoyance. "You're free to guess anything you want to think."

"Is it candy? Tell me it's candy because I have candy for dinner ALWAYS!" Elena asked in excitement.

"I take that back..." the bounty hunter muttered.

Chris shook his head. "W-wait, how did you make that thing in the first place? I don't remember seeing something like that before!"

Dr. Eggman chuckled darkly. "Oh, that's why resources with the Subspace Army are much better materials than any other resources out there," he explained. "This little baby was created thanks to the efforts of the Ancient Minister. He was the one who made this possible for me to create. Actually, the credit should go to him because I only adjusted some statistics about this sphere. It makes me feel inferior, buuuuuuuuut my little help did a much better job in creating this. How was this created? Thanks to the whole absence of our plans to raids the worlds, the Ancient Minister was tasked to create the Nightmare Sphere, the ball you see here, to allow Shadow Nightmares to dwell during the day. However, this little machine doesn't quite work if it's used right outside. It only works in dark places such as caverns like this one."

Snake grunted. "I knew bad stuff would show up after that long break we had..."

"They were preparing themselves," Fox said. "They don't look like they want to take breaks."

"Exactly!" Dr. Eggman said. "You fools thought we were taking a break while we were actually doing a lot of different stuff to make sure everything could go much better." He raised the sphere. "And now, let the magic begin..."

The Smashers watched as the scientist tossed the sphere right into the wall behind him. Upon contact, the sphere broke out, and it released some kind of dark smoke that began to pollute the ceiling of the cave. Everyone looked up to see dark lines going straight down to the floor before some kind of dark feeling was felt by everyone.

Aerith embraced herself and looked around. "W-what is this dark atmosphere?"

Tifa shrugged. "This is weird...but I do feel as if the air in here got a bit thicker than usual..."

Snake looked up at the ceiling where remains of the dark smoke floated. "This isn't getting any good..." he muttered.

"Oh, on the contrary," Dr. Eggman began as he snapped his fingers and called forth a portal of the Subspace that brought a cage with a rabid Shadow Nightmare pounding on the bars, "it's getting really good now!"

Chris gasped at the sight of the monster. "Oh hell no, not another one of those things!"

Cloud stared at the enraged monster. "What is that supposed to be and what was that portal just now?"

"Starting to believe we come from another world except from that portal?" Snake asked.

Cloud looked away. "...I think so..." he muttered.

Dr. Eggman laughed maniacally before he examined at the seven characters before him. "Now, who will it be this time? I already sicked one of these on the fox. It'd be a real waste if he was the victim... Maybe I should choose..." he pointed at Aerith, "...that girl?"

Aerith covered her mouth with her right hand. "W-what?" she asked.

"OH GOD NO!" Chris yelled suddenly. "N-not her from all people!"

Tifa looked at Chris. "Wow, I never saw you getting this stressed over Aerith. Why's that?"

Chris blushed and looked away. "Y-you don't know what that monster does to people! I-it latches on your back, takes over your body, pushes you out, and creates a copy of you that will start to traumatize you for any kind of tormenting lie you've been living your entire life without acknowledging it!"

"What the f&^* does that even mean?" Cloud asked.

"In a few words," Snake began, "you're so screwed if it grabs you. You better try to stay away from it or you'll regret it later. If it does get to you, you'll become very scared."

Cloud blinked at this. "...Scared?"

Snake frowned. "Yeah, scared, as in extreme fear."

Dr. Eggman pointed at Cloud. "Oh, maybe that guy will serve very well."

Chris sighed. "Well, he's better than Aerith..."

"Chris!" Fox yelled angrily.

"I-I mean, that's still bad!" Chris yelled. "It's still so bad that... Oh no..."

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

"(Cloud has been living a really bad lie his entire life up until now,)" Chris thought. "(Anything he's thinking about his past is actually from another person close to him... If the Shadow Nightmare gets on him and Cloud denies everything he's been thinking to this point...that monster is really going to become extremely powerful by how many lies Cloud hasn't acknowledged, right?)"

The World Traveler then came to a response from himself.

"(...CRAP!)" Chris cursed loudly. "N-no, you leave Cloud alone! He doesn't deserve to be sicked with th-"

And the cage of the Shadow Nightmare thus broke out, letting out the beast that jumped to the ground and let out screech.

"...Dammit!" Chris cursed.

Dr. Eggman laughed maniacally and pointed at Cloud. "Shadow Nightmare, your meal is right before you! Get him good!"

The Shadow Nightmare let out a piercing screech before locking eyes to the blond mercenary.

Chris quickly stepped in front of Cloud. "No! Don't take him!" he yelled. "Take me instead!"

Somehow, Lucario stepped in front of Chris. "How can you say that? I won't allow it to get on you, Chris!"

Aerith stepped in front of Lucario. "No, please, take me! I don't know what's happening, but I know something bad will happen if Lucario gets attacked by that monster!"

Chris quickly stepped in front of Aerith. "Dammit, I'm trying to protect you as well!" he cursed.

Cloud stepped in front of him. "Why the hell should I fear that monster? I just need to slice it in half!"

Tifa stepped in front of him. "No, Cloud, I trust them! I understood everything they said about that monster nightmare thing!"

Fox stepped in front of her. "Don't let it get to you or you'll be sorry!"

"You were already attacked by one!" Chris yelled. "Heck, I don't want to face another stupid, sadistic, speedy enemy ever again!"

Cloud stepped in front of Fox. "You people just let me handle this, dangit!"

"You six look ridiculous standing in front of each other."

In order, Lucario, Aerith, Chris, Tifa, Fox, and Cloud looked to their right to see Snake frowning. The first six characters were all standing in a line while Snake was out of it.

"What, are you going to do a conga dance next?" Snake asked, rolling his eyes.

Yuffie laughed a bit at this. "Heheheheh, good one, man, good one!" she yelled, Samus rolling her eyes.

"...Y-you shut up!" Cloud yelled in embarrassment while everyone else looked away to different directions.

Dr. Eggman kept staring at the line of people before he shook his head and pointed at Cloud. "Shadow Nightmare, what are you waiting for? Get him good!"

The Shadow Nightmare raised its pincers and slowly started to walk towards Cloud, who gritted his teeth and put a tight grip on his buster sword.

"F*&$ this s&^$!" Cloud yelled as he charged towards the Shadow Nightmare. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"Cloud!" Aerith and Tifa yelled in unison.

"Oh hell no!" Chris cursed loudly.

As Cloud charged towards the Shadow Nightmare, a hand pulled him back, stopping him from running. The blond mercenary turned around and looked at Snake's stern look. "Now you listen to me," Snake began, "I don't want to deal with a shadow monster because a kid thinks he could stubbornly take on a monster that can't be defeated that easily."

"Who the hell are you calling a kid?" Cloud asked with a glare.

"You're the kid here," Snake said. "You're acting like one as well."

"Shut up! I don't care what anyone tells me now. That's just another common monster in my eyes, and it needs to be taken out before it attacks us!"

"Screw your eyes, then," Snake said. "You don't want to touch that thing."

"I won't because my sword will slice it!"

"Not even that will suffice, kid."

"Stop calling me a kid!"

"I will once you stop acting like one."

Fox looked up annoyed. "Oh boy, this argument brings me some memories about Tricky..." he trailed off.

"And it's making me feel upset because some people call me a kid despite I'm a teenager," Chris said. "..." He shook his head. "T-this is not important right now! What's matters now is that Shadow Nightmar-"

"It's already leaping towards Cloud!" Tifa yelled.

"Aw, crap!" Chris cursed.

"CLOUD!" Aerith cried out.

In slow-motion, Cloud slowly turned around to look up in the air where the Shadow Nightmare had its pincers wide open to his sides. The blond mercenary's eyes started to shake in surprise as he remained in place. Somehow, once Cloud looked directly at the monster's eyes, he could see a dark reflection of himself staring down at his own eyes. Around this time, the Shadow Nightmare was a few feet away from Cloud. Snake, seeing that Cloud looked as if he was frozen in place, muttered some words and frowned.

"...The hell with this," Snake muttered.

Before the Shadow Nightmare could latch its pincers on Cloud, Snake quickly grabbed Cloud's shoulders, and he pushed him to the right to evade the monster. Snake gained a small momentum, allowing him to step back from the monster in time. Cloud, since he was pushed aside, fell on the ground with a grunting sound. The Shadow Nightmare landed on the ground and screeched once more before looking to its left to Cloud.

Cloud raised his face from the ground and looked behind where the monster locked eyes with him. The blond mercenary quickly took a grip on his buster sword on his back, but the monster quickly leaped at him once again. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Cloud yelled before he closed his eyes tightly.

"CLOUD!" everyone yelled in desperation.

"There's no escape from this!" Dr. Eggman declared.

And soon, the Shadow Nightmare latched its body on the mercenary's body...

...

"..." Cloud slowly opened his eyes. He blinked in shock after he saw that the Shadow Nightmare disappeared from sight. "W-what did just happen?" he asked before he looked to his right and gasped. "H-hey!"

The group gasped once they saw that Snake had made one last action by tackling aside the monster. The mercernary held down the shadow monster on the ground by holding it from its neck. "G-grr!" Snake grunted as the beast's body started to fuse into him through his hands. "D-darn this spawn of the demon's butt!" he cursed.

"S-Snake, no!" Chris yelled. "Y-you can't be serious about this!"

"S-shut up, kid!" Snake yelled as he struggled. "T-this is exactly why I don't like to work with others. They become a real pain in the a%# to protect during a fight!"

"What?" Cloud asked.

The Shadow Nightmare screeched loudly as it completely turned into spores that ran along Snake's body. The ex-FOXHOUND gritted his teeth before he was completely consumed into a blob of darkness, screaming out in pain as the blob let out dark sparks while it flashed crazily. The group watched in bewilderment as it shook madly while Snake screamed in extreme pain. "W-what is happening?!" Tifa asked.

"I-it's too late!" Chris yelled. "I tried to prevent this, but..."

Aerith slowly shook her head. "No..." she muttered.

"Damn that idiot," Fox muttered with a fierce glare at the blob.

Music stops

Soon enough, the blob of darkness spat an unconscious Snake out from it, making him roll recklessly on the ground before he stopped right besides a confused Cloud. The blond mercenary's eyes shook in surprise at this before he looked back at the blob. "W-what did just happen? Why is he still alive?"

Lucario frowned. "This is just the beginning of something even worse..." he trailed off.

Chris gulped. "Please, please tell me this isn't happening..."

"Mwahahahahahaha, hahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!" Dr. Eggman laughed maniacally. "At last, after a long time, the fourth victim has been chosen!" he declared before pointing down at the trembling blob. "Behold the fourth Shadow Nightmare, fools! Mwahahahahahahahaha!"

The blob of darkness stopped emanating dark sparks. Soon, it began to compress itself into a smaller figure. The group gasped as the darkness took Snake's image right before their eyes. Slowly and carefully, the shadow before them stood up and looked away from them.

"...I-is that..." Tifa trailed off, gulping at the sight of the doppelganger.

"..." Fox closed his eyes. "...He's not him...but..."

"..." The Shadow turned around to face them. "...It's really good to be finally alive..." he muttered.

Snake coughed a few times before he opened his eyes and sat up. The mercenary looked to his left and glared at the shadow. "Oh f(beep) no..." Snake trailed off.

"Oh f(beep) yes, should I say," the shadow said. "What, does it really sickens you to see me alive and kicking?"

"Hell yes it does," Snake replied as he stood up. "Heck, I didn't think I'd be a victim of this whole Shadow Nightmare fiasco."

"Fortunately, you are part of this "fiasco" as you call it," the shadow said. "Thankfully, you'll be happy that your lies will be exposed to you today... Hmm, today, and it's not even night yet."

Snake shook his head. "I don't care about that," he said. "I'll just have to acknowledge my lies to you and you'll be gone, right?"

"I don't think you can do that correctly."

"So says you," Snake said. "Just watch."

"I don't need to watch when I know what you don't want to acknowledge fully to the whole extent of the word," Shadow Snake said. "Just saying it isn't enough. You REALLY have to stay true to your words. If you don't, you'll suffer the consequences greatly..."

"Tsk, whatever," Snake said. "Like I cared about my conflicts."

"Oh, you should care about them. Why, they might end up killing you or making you feel like s(beep) after all you've done your entire and worthless life."

Tifa looked confused at the whole conversation. "I-I don't understand why they're talking instead of fighting..."

"Didn't you say you understood?" Lucario asked.

"I-I was just trying to sound convicing enough for Cloud..." Tifa trailed off in embarrassment.

Cloud stood up from the ground and stared at the shadow. "Just why is that monster taking the form of him?" he asked.

"Kid, shut up," Snake said without facing Cloud. "I need to face this by myself before it gets more idiotic."

"Ouch," Shadow Snake said. "Since when I was idiotic? You know that you're talking to yourself, right? After all, we're the same person."

"Of course we are the same person," Snake said.

"Can you prove we're one, though?" Shadow Snake asked. "If one of us doesn't believe, the one with the correct answer will prevail over the wrong one. In other words, one dies, one lives."

"I admit that's a hard thing to do," Snake said. "However, I'll do it without making mistakes."

Chris looked worried at the situation. "Just what is he going to face?"

Shadow Snake closed his yellow eyes for a moment. "...I'll begin," he began, "by asking you if you think the people care about you."

Snake frowned. "I'll admit that most people admire me, and they even care about me."

Chris looked surprised. "O-okay, that's true..."

"I'm not done with this yet," Shadow Snake said. "There's one last thing I need to know from you."

"Well, spit it out already," Snake said. "I don't have time to deal with the likes of yo-"

"Do you care about the people whom you got the chance to talk with?"

Snake looked away. The mercenary suddenly started to think about the question given to him. Everyone watched as Snake rubbed his chin, thinking hard about the answer.

"So?" Shadow Snake asked. "What will it be, me?"

"..." Snake looked at his shadow counterpart. "...I care about them." His right eye twitched a bit at this statement.

The World Traveler gasped. "W-what? A-are you telling the truth, Snake?"

"...I'm pretty sure I'm telling the truth..." Snake trailed off.

Shadow Snake stared at Snake. "...Hmm, it was hard to say, huh? Do you feel less weight on your shoulders now?"

Snake glared at the shadow. "Yeah, I feel a lot of weight being taken out from my shoulders."

"Oh, that's great to hear from you," Shadow Snake said. "...However..."

"However?"

"...It'd been nicer if you didn't have to lie," Shadow Snake pointed out.

Chris looked down in depression. "...I kind of knew he was lying with that..."

Shadow Snake chuckled. "The famous and yet infamous Solid Snake isn't the best talker," he said. "For you, actions speak louder than words, huh? Well, that's mostly true, but in your case, words should speak louder than actions."

"What does that mean?" Snake asked in irritation.

"I mean to say that you're not capable of starting bonds with people," Shadow Snake said. "The closest thing to bonds that you have are the people you work with. It's incredible that you have forgotten your past bonds with other people in the past, and we both know full well that you made some friendship against your will."

Snake looked away. "I admit that, alright."

"Sure you do," Shadow Snake said. "However, what made you take this abrupt change of thoughts? I'll tell you what," he said before pointing at the Smashers, "they're the reason why you decided to become an ass."

"What?" Fox asked. "Are you trying to say he was friendlier before he met us?"

"But of course," Shadow Snake said. "Before I got to meet you, my life was kind of normal, or a little bit far off from normal, but even so, it was common for me to live. Everything went down, however, when a certain hand contacted the Colonel about my services. That's when my behavior changed."

While Snake didn't like the fact that the shadow was referring to him, Chris shook his head. "W-why?" he asked. "Why would you do that, Snake?"

Snake remained silent at this.

"...Snake?"

"Once I joined the team, I began to see many different and unusual events that couldn't happen from where I came from," Shadow Snake said. "I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like to take part of nonsenses. Guess what, the nonsense I'm trying to deal with every single day is the team I'm working for. I hate their guts so much that I wished they just left me alone."

The World Traveler shook his head again. "N-none of us is trying to piss you off!"

"You do that unintentionally," Shadow Snake said. "Just looking at any of you makes my blood boil up. Every time I look at one of them, I try my best to tolerate the fact of the scum I face. Too bad I can't tolerate them any longer, and that's what made my decision to drop out from the team."

"Drop out?" Lucario repeated. "Snake wants to disband from us?"

"Yeah," Shadow Snake said. "The kid knew about this. Hell, I've been looking at him making those depressed faces. He was trying to think about some way to convince me from staying."

Chris gasped. "Y-you mean to say you knew I was going to try t-"

"Yes," Shadow Snake interrupted. "Otherwise why would you remain speechless whenever you turned to look at me?"

"I-I..."

Fox looked at Snake. "But he can't drop out like that. Once someone joins the team, they can never drop out that easily. It's the code we follow."

"What kind of code is that?" Lucario asked.

The vulpine raised his shoulders. "Beats me. That's what Master Hand said."

"Do I have to say I brought Pichu, Roy, and Mewtwo into the team because they weren't called to be in the Brawl list?" Chris asked. "And if I recall, they WERE part of the team."

Fox looked away. "That sounds funny because Master Hand let them in when we fought the army just because he wanted them all out by getting them killed by Tabuu, but when they were taken out and we were all reunited again, he made that code right after."

"...That cheating bastard," Chris muttered. "...Wait, getting them killed... What?!"

"Eh, don't tell him I told you this...or none of the three..."

"How do you even know this?! Why didn't you say this before?"

"Hey, nowadays, it's easy to spy on someone when you have their room just across yours when you have a poorly arranged set of rooms in a mansion... And how was I supposed to say that to them? The last thing I wanted to have was an argument!"

"Ugh, I really want to know what happened during that whole army event..." Chris trailed off.

Aerith looked at Tifa. "What's a Master Hand?" she asked.

Tifa shrugged. "I bet that their boss's nickname..."

Shadow Snake sighed. "You guys are exactly the reason why I'm like this," he said. "I can't take this anymore. I want to forget everything as soon as I can before you become a hindrance to me. I only work solo."

Chris looked back at the shadow. "B-but we care about Snake!"

"I don't give a darn about you, though," Shadow Snake said. "I mean, after all, I'm the one who wants to be alone from getting closer to people, not the other way around."

Snake glared at him. "Shut up now."

The shadow continued talking. "People are so annoying when they want to talk to me. They don't understand that a man like me needs to be in solitude. My life isn't going to last too much before I succumb to the effects of FOXDIE. Overall, my life doesn't have a true meaning."

"Oh god, he's turning emo now," Yuffie commented from the wall.

"Be quiet, you," Samus whispered angrily.

"FOXDIE..." Chris trailed off. "What is this FOXDIE thing?"

"FOXDIE is a virus," Snake said. "It's a virus that was injected into my genes in order to kill rebelling FOXHOUND members with a cardiac arrest to the heart. However, its purpose was fulfilled, and I wasn't aware of it until they told me so. An ally who used to work with us injected it into me by orders of the government, but because she thought I killed her brother, she modified it so it could kill me off as well. When she found out I didn't kill her brother, she became horrified of her actions that she pleaded for forgiveness before she was put under arrest, not before telling me that my death was set at a "wildcard" value, meaning I can die randomly."

"My god..." Chris muttered. "You...can die anytime?"

"Yes," Snake said. "And I don't know when I'm going to kick the bucket, but I don't care either way."

"My thoughts exactly," Shadow Snake said. "Because of that, you think your life is worthless. None of the stuff you've done so far makes you change your mind, huh?"

Snake closed his eyes. "...They do."

"Not," Shadow Snake said. "Admit it truthfully, the reason why you don't want people to sympathize with you is because your life is very short. You're doing this only because it's your own personal conflict and nobody else's conflict. Whatever everyone tells you isn't going to change your perspective about the fact you'll die very soon. By all this, your life doesn't have a true meaning because you really don't want to do anything unless it concerns you."

Snake opened his eyes. "I don't need somebody like you to tell me tha-"

"Oh, why's that? You hate to be reminded about your unavoidable fate?" Shadow Snake asked. "I hate to say this but you're always reminding yourself about it. It's nothing different if somebody else does it. Also, we're the same person, so it makes sense you're reminding yourself through me."

Snake tightened his right fist. "I told you I don't need to be reminded. I accept everything I've done so far. I'm not lying about anything."

"But you don't truthfully believe in your truths," Shadow Snake said. "Did you think I'd go away just because you said the truths of your lies? It doesn't work that way, Solid Snake. For your truths to become truly real, you need to put a whole lot of belief in them. I'm still here, so that'd prove you're not being true to yourself."

"I'm...being true to myself, dangit..." Snake muttered.

"No you're not," Shadow Snake said.

Chris took a step forward. "N-no, please, stop this! I don't want Snake to leave!"

And the World Traveler accidentally yelled what he was trying to do all this time but couldn't bring himself to do anything.

Chris shook his head and looked determined. "I-I don't want you to leave the group, Snake! You're still an important asset for the team! Otacon and Mei Ling told me in secret that they don't wish you to leave either! In fact, they want you to keep spending time with u-"

"Kid, shut the hell up," Snake interrupted.

"W-what? No! I won't shut up now!" Chris yelled. "I-I know it'd help you if you stayed with everyone here, Snake. You need to stop being a lone wolf before you end up thinking your life is worthless when is not!"

"Why do you go to such measures for somebody like me, kid?" Snake asked aggravated. "Is my existence that important?"

"O-of course it is!" Chris said. "You're unique in your own way, that's what makes you so special!"

"Bulls(beep)," Snake said. "I don't believe any of that crap."

"And that's why you deserve to die right now to relieve you from your stress," Shadow Snake said.

"...What?" Snake asked.

"Think about this," Shadow Snake said. "If you think your life is meaningless, why go ahead living? I've been wondering why you haven't taken suicide yet."

"I don't want to suicide because I..."

Shadow Snake shook his head. "There it is," he said. "You're still living so you can find meaning to your life. It's so cliche to see that, but it's something that pisses me off so much. In fact, you're are lying to yourself with very confusing matters that you can't even resolve anymore. Your lies are just taking a turn for the worst."

"Shut up..." Snake muttered in anger.

"Don't worry, you won't have to listen to me anymore because you'll die in here," Shadow Snake said. "At last, you can find your truth in the afterlife, where these imbeciles won't pester you any longer. Isn't this what you want, Solid Snake? Didn't you want to be alone? Well, I gotta kill you right now so you become one dead lone wolf."

"I said shut up," Snake said, tightening his fists.

Shadow Snake opened his arms. "So what now? Do you want to live a lie or die with truth?"

"Shut up!" Snake yelled.

"Either way, you'll die with truth, Solid Snake," Shadow Snake said. "Your life is meaningless to the very end. I shall live in your place so your lying truths don't go to waste."

"SHUT UP!" Snake snapped out before he charged towards Shadow Snake. The group gasped as the shadow blocked Snake's incoming fists with both hands. The two of them were now trying to push each other way, but it looked like Shadow Snake had the upperhand. "What the hell makes you say all those things about me?!" Snake asked.

"S-Snake, please, calm down!" Chris pleaded. "D-don't let that shadow get to you!"

"I'm trying to kill this bastard, dangit!" Snake yelled. "That way, he won't get to me, kid!"

Chris shook his head. "S-stop, please!"

"Chris, it's useless now," Lucario said.

"W-what?"

Lucario shook his head. "Snake lost his calm self. He won't listen to anything or anyone now that he's enraged."

"H-how can you say that, Lucario?" Chris asked in disbelief. "I-I still believe Snake has..."

Shadow Snake chuckled evilly. "Look at this, none of us aren't even moving an inch from our positions," he said. "We're both equal as a whole. This proves that I am you, and you are me, Solid Snake."

"U-ugh..." Snake grunted. "S-stop calling me by my full name!" he demanded. "Y-you're not...you're not...y-you're not..."

Fox glared at this. "No, you bastard! Don't say that now before it's too late!"

"Snake, don't say it!" Chris yelled. "Please, don't sa-"

"You're not me, son of a b(beep)!!!" Snake yelled loudly. "You're never going to be me in any way, you piece of s(beep)!!!"

Dr. Eggman showed his teeth in victory. "Well, looks like it finally begins after all! I never thought it'd fail, but it never does! Quarrels between truths and lies are truly benefitial to my creations!"

Shadow Snake smirked evilly at Snake before he began to be covered by a thicker dark aura. Soon, the shadow emanated a shadowy aura that covered Snake's arms for a bit. Snake began to feel that the hands grabbing his fists started to become stronger with the grips that he began to back away thanks to the shadow. "W-what the heck is going on now?" Snake asked as he was being forced to step back.

The shadow, suddenly, lifted the mercenary from the ground. The group and Snake gasped as the ex-FOXHOUND was completely lifted above the shadow. Shadow Snake grinned up at Snake and said, "Looks like you became inferior to me, Solid Snake. I shall finish you up now."

"P-put me down now..." Snake said through gritted teeth.

"With pleasure."

And with a sharp turn, Shadow Snake slammed Snake down hard on the ground, creating a big hole that left Snake's image carved in it. The mercenary let out an agonizing scream of pain before the shadow promptly kicked him hard on his side, sending Snake rolling all the way to the temple's entrance where he panted heavily for air before he passed out of cold.

Cloud looked shocked at this. "This... How the..." he stammered for a bit before forcing a glare at the shadow. "What have you done to him?"

Shadow Snake cleaned his hands from dust before looking back at the group. "He's out of cold now," he said. "I thought I applied the necessary strenght to kill him off, but he has some resistance, I remark."

"Y-you're going to kill him?" Tifa asked.

"So what of it?" Shadow Snake asked. "He doesn't want to live any longer. Dying will help him out by relieving his neverending stress to find something he's valued for. Once he dies, he won't have any regrets."

"Y-you're wrong..." Chris muttered. "...Snake can still do something..."

Shadow Snake shook his head. "I'm afraid to say his time has ran out," he said. "Now it's time for him to die before FOXDIE kills him off."

Dr. Eggman looked back at the entrance where the guardians were hiding in the caves while watching the whole event from a safe distance. The scientist looked at the group and frowned. "Great, you're now protecting the guardians," he said. "It'd be useless if I try to take them by force again." He snapped his fingers and called forth a portal to the Subspace. "I'll leave you all alone so you can play with your new replacement for that foolish man. Once he's done with you, I'll come back to resume my mission. I'll be watching all this from a safe distance."

"What?" Tifa asked. "You're escaping?"

"Duh!" Dr. Eggman said with a small laugh before he left the cave through the portal before it vanished completely.

Shadow Snake raised an eyebrow and looked at himself. "Now where did my equipment go? It's such a pain that the ninja had to steal everything from me before this."

Yuffie looked confused. "I didn't steal from you..." She looked at Samus. "Hey, you, what does he mean?"

Samus looked away. "I don't want to explain anything for the time being..."

"What? I need explanations! I'm so confused!" Yuffie complained.

"I'm so pretty!" Elena complained randomly.

Shadow Snake chuckled darkly. "Well, since I don't have any weapons, I'm going to have to call one myself. I thank Snake for not believing in his truths because it makes me so darn powerful; powerful enough to do this."

Final Fantasy VII -Still More Fighting

With a snap of his fingers, shadow spores began to jump out from his legs. The group watched as the amount of spores began to rise in crazy piles before they all merged back with the shadow mercenary. Shadow Snake opened his arms and closed his eyes as the spores completely covered his body.

"W-what's happening now?" Aerith asked.

Cloud took a step back and narrowed his eyes. "I'd like to know more, but whatever it is, it's going to force us to fight."

Soon, the spores of darkness began to accumulate together in a big pile that began to grow to the point it reached the ceiling. Before the group, a mountain of spores of about fifty feet tall stood. However, once the spores stopped multiplying, a roar of a monster came out from them. The group took several steps back as a long machine gun began to stick out. Once the long rail gun was fully visible, the shadow spores quickly compressed themselves into one single figure that looked like some sort of machine.

The machine before them had heavily armored legs. It had the long rail gun pointing forward the wall behind the group. There was a cockpit protected under thick dark armor on top of the armored legs, and there was some kind of circular device sitting at the left top corner of the huge machine. Its legs took some steps forwards before it somehow let out a roar that sounded like that of a dinosaur.

"W-what is that thing?!" Chris asked in fear.

"Impressed much?" asked Shadow Snake inside the machine. "I'd like you to meet one Metal Gear; Metal Gear REX."

"Metal Gear REX..." Chris trailed off.

"Well, more like Shadow Gear REX," Shadow Snake said. "Hmm, Shadow Gear REX sounds kind of cool... But enough about that," he said. "With the help of this little machine, you guys will have to die right here and right now. Since my life should be meaningless, it WILL stay meaningless without you having to worry about me. Your first big mistake was trying to stay close to me, and your second big mistake was being a pest." The machine took a step backs and crouched down a bit. "Prepare to die."

Tifa looked afraid of the machine before them. "W-what do we do now, Cloud? Are we seriously going to fight that thing?"

"Grr, we don't have any other choice now," Cloud said before he unsheathed his buster sword from his back and positioned it in front of him. "We're part of this."

"Yeah!" Yuffie yelled from the wall. "If you guys let this shadow machine thingy make havoc in Wutai's grounds, I won't forgive you!"

"I really think you should shut up now," Samus commented in boredom. "Also, I hope you're ready to resist being upside down for a long time because I don't think they'll come here to help us right now."

Yuffie closed her eyes. "You guys! You're SO dead if you don't stop that thing, you hear me?! DEAD!"

Aerith took out her long staff and looked serious. "I'm ready for anything, then," she said. "I know we don't have our Materia, but we must try to defeat that machine."

"Aerith, I swear you sound unnecessarily serious at the worst times," Tifa said before she readied her fists. "But whatever, I won't let you fight all alone."

Chris looked worried and shook his head. "I didn't think this would end like this... Cloud, do you have another one of that meteor attack ready?" he asked.

"No..." Cloud trailed off. "I need time to prepare another Meteorain attack..."

"...Oh no..."

Fox looked serious at Chris. "Get ready because this is going to be a hard fight," he said. "I'll have to rely on fire magic because of you-know-what."

Chris closed his eyes. "I know, Fox, don't remind me about that... If only we had just one more helper..."

At that moment, the Altean prince came from the cave's maze and climbed over the fallen Rapps. Marth panted heavily for a bit after running before he jumped down and joined up with the group. "E-everyone...I-I'm here..." He looked up at Shadow Gear REX. "W-what?"

"Snake got attacked by a Shadow Nightmare, Dr. Eggman used some machine to allow it to dwell in here, Snake is on the other side of that machine, and his shadow in controlling that monster to kill us off," Fox summarized.

"I-I see," Marth said. "Well, we don't have any other choice but to fight, right?"

Chris sighed. "Thank goodness you came here, Marth. Please, fight with us and..."

The agent just recalled that Marth didn't have any means to fight. Taking away his Falchion meant he was completely useless.

"..." Marth looked away. "...Would you mind if...I step down from this fight for obvious reasons?"

"..." Chris turned to Shadow Gear REX while Lucario readied his fists, looking at the wrong way. "...We have Lucario blind, Fox doesn't have his boots to fight physically, Marth doesn't have his sword, Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa don't have any Materia to use special abilities, and I got my spear stolen from my Dragoon job but I don't think I will do much because I'm really scared to fight a nuclear machine..."

Shadow Gear REX aimed its rail gun down at them.

The agent looked bored as he recalled the facts once more. "...Yes, we're definitely screwed for real this time..."

TO BE CONTINUED...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Fourth Liar: Snake the Loner. Oh, and since we're all going to die by that machine, he'll be a loner his entire life?" Tifa asked.

"No, his shadow is gonna be the loner. It'll kill him off later," Cloud said.

"Oh, well, that's so lame, you know!"

"You know what else is lame?" Marth asked. "It's lame I don't have my sword to fight!"

"Shut up, tiara boy," Cloud muttered annoyed, causing Marth to grunt annoyed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Wutai Village
Chris, Lucario, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Red, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Samus, Kirby, Meta Knight, Link, Zelda, Toon Link, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Marth, Roy, Ike, Ness, Lucas, Pit, Ice Climbers, Snake, Sonic, Chip, Knuckles, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Red XIII, Cid

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 169: Fourth Liar: Snake the Loner

-Wutai Village-
Adabat Temple - Entrance

Final Fantasy VII - Still More Fighting

As the insanely big machine aimed its rail gun down at the group, Chris could tell it was aiming directly at his face. With a gulp, the World Traveler started to whimper in silence. "W-what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "I-I don't know how to fight a thing like that, it's just impossible for any of us to do damage to it! I-it's just too...big!"

Suddenly, a familiar ring tone rang. The World Traveler then found himself entering a codec conversation with Otacon.

"God, thank goodness I contacted you!" Otacon said. "Now you'll have time before that machine attacks you. The codec should slow it down for now."

Chris blinked in shock. "O-oh, please, you're not being serious that entering codec conversations can actually slow down time, right?"

"I am."

"..."

"Mei Ling does a pretty good job with this," Otacon said simply.

"...I'm a bit jealous that Snake can do this kind of thing..." Chris muttered.

"...Weren't you freaking out because you were fighting a shadow version of REX?"

"Oh, now I remember," Chris said calmly. "OTACON, please tell me there's a way to fight that machine!" he yelled in panic. "I don't want to die so young before falling in love with the girl of my dreams!"

"Why are you talking about girls now?"

"Blame my stupid Agent job for that! It takes a mind of its own when I least expect it, and it also makes me go ladies' man in an instant, but who the hell cares about it right now? I'm going to die!"

"C-calm down, will you?" Otacon asked. "Look, whatever you look at it, Meta Gear REX has a flaw that makes it not that perfect for a nuclear machine."

"N-nuclear?"

"Don't worry, it doesn't seem it has any nuclear warheads," Otacon assured. "Snake fought it without the Metal Gear having at least one of them. That should make things a little bit easier for you guys."

"O-okay, that's nice to hear, alright," Chris said. "But how do we fight it head on? Are normal attacks enough?"

"I'm afraid not," Otacon said. "Metal Gear REX possesses heavy armored legs and upper body that normal attacks won't even make a scratch on it. However, since I designed it mysel-"

"Now I suddenly want to strangle you," Chris said in boredom.

"H-hey, I didn't know what I was doing when I was making that monster!" Otacon argued. "They told me it was supposed to intercept nuclear weapons, not THROW them out! They kept me in the dark so how was I supposed to know? I-in any case, there's a flaw in REX that you should know."

"A flaw?" Chris asked. "I don't know why, but I thought you were the kind of guy who wouldn't overlook a small detail."

Otacon chuckled a bit. "Nothing can be complete without a character flaw, you know."

"...That...well...it's...true..." Chris said.

"...Anyway, the character flaw of REX is the radome," Otacon said. "Since the cockpit is sealed, the pilot can't see anything outside of it unless the radome sends the information into the cockpit. The radome is the object sitting on its left shoulder; the one that looks likes a shield. The radome itself creates a virtual reality interface inside the cockpit so the pilot can maneuver REX without going around blindly. Disabling the radome forces the system to go offline, and the cockpit needs to open so the pilot operates it manually."

"Disabling?" Chris repeated. "B-but wouldn't be best if it was destroyed?"

"I don't know if you can destroy it that easily. The radome itself has less armor built into it, but it's still durable," Otacon said. "Snake couldn't destroy it or disable it during the fight against it, but then Gray Fox came into the fight and he sliced it to destroy it completely before he died protecting Snake."

"...He...died?" Chris asked. "But then, why is he an Assist Trophy in here?"

"I dunno. Maybe the hand made a perfect replica of Gray Fox," Otacon said. "...That aside, you need to strike the radome so the cockpit opens up. When it does, attack the pilot with everything you got before the radome gets back online and the cockpit closes down. It's logical that you can possibly disable the radome's functions instead of blowing it up."

"Is there something else I should know?" Chris asked worried.

"Oh yeah, REX shoots missiles for any sides, uses lasers, and a machine gun for frontal attacks," Otacon said. "Since it's big, you need to watch out for its feet because it can crush anything very easily. Also, be careful about the rail gun because it can also crush anyone if it charges to you."

"..." Chris gulped. "W-wish us luck..."

"I will," Otacon said. "Try to save Snake, Chris. We still think there's hope for him to change his mind."

"I'll try...but I can't promise anything..."

"Good luck, then. If you want to call me, my frequency is 141.12," Otacon said.

"Oh god, not this again about frequencies..." Chris muttered. "How do you control those?"

"Oh, just think the number in your mind or something. It should work that way for you," Otacon said before the codec ended.

Chris shook his head and looked to the upper right corner of Shadow Gear REX where he found a round, shield-shaped object situated on its left shoulder. "(That should be the radome Otacon was talking about...)" He aimed his revolver to the radome. "Taste steel fused into bullets, you darn machine of hell!" Chris proclaimed as he shot bullets at the radome.

However, in a split second, a wall of darkness formed up right in front of the radome, swallowing the bullets to prevent them from damaging the virtual reality device. The agent gasped at this sudden protection.

And it was such an easy way to make Chris panic.

The agent quickly pressed his stapes. "141.12! 141.12! 141.12, dangit, 141.12!" he yelled in panic.

The codec ring tone rang, triggering another conversation with the otaku.

"Otacon, the radome is being protected by a wall of darkness!" Chris yelled. "It consumed my bullets somehow!"

"What? T-that's impossible!" Otacon said.

"Oh, right, it's impossible since I saw that wall with my OWN eyes!" Chris complained. "W-what are we going to do now?"

"E-er, I didn't wait that this shadow version of REX could possess such a defensive system like that..."

"System? That isn't a system but an abnormality!" Chris said. "Please, tell me you added another character flaw into that monstrosity!"

"I-I'm afraid I didn't add another one..."

The agent looked bewildered and helpless. "...No, we can't be screwed this time..."

"Sorry..." Otacon muttered. "But it seems you guys will have to find another way to damage the radome," he said. "Otherwise you won't do much damage to REX."

"Is it really that important to take out the freaking radome?" Chris asked.

"Of course it is," Otacon said. "REX is perfectly and heavily armored. Nothing can pierce through its armor that easily, and I don't think supernatural strength will do much either. For now, try to find a way to make that mysterious wall of darkness disappear so you can damage the radome."

"Focus every attack on the radome..." Chris muttered.

"I'm rooting for you here," Otacon said. "Call me again if you need anything."

And the codec ended once more.

The agent closed his eyes before he opened them with a serious look. "Everyone, focus your attacks on the shield object over the machine's left shoulder!" he yelled.

Aerith looked at Chris. "You mean the round one over there?" she asked as she pointed to the radome.

"That very same one!" Chris said. "Don't attack anything else but the radome. The cockpit where Shadow Snake is hiding will open once we disable the radome. When that happens, attack Shadow Snake before the radome comes back online!"

Cloud put a tight grip on his buster sword and narrowed his eyes at the radome. "Well, let's all follow that plan for now," he said. "We don't know how to fight that thing, but if attacking that singular spot is important, then let's do it."

Suddenly, they heard some dark chuckles coming from inside Shadow Gear REX.

"What now?" Tifa asked.

"You guys are serious?" Shadow Snake asked from inside the Metal Gear. "If you try to attack it, you'll end up getting vulnerable for me to attack. I'll see how each one of you do to scratch my face. C'mon, just try it," he taunted.

Fox narrowed his eyes and pulled back his right hand over his left shoulder. "Burn to greater ashes..." he chanted before shoving his hand to the radome's direction as a fire glyph shone under him, "FIRA!"

Surprisingly enough, the wall of darkness covered the radome just right after the scorching flames appeared over it. The wall managed to resist the magic attack before it lowered down into the machine.

"Damn," Fox muttered, gritting his fangs a bit. "My newly learned magic was simply rejected..."

"I'm sick of you guys coming up with your ways to attack me," Shadow Snake said before he aimed his rail gun to the group's center. "Time for you to kiss the ground good bye."

"But didn't we did that just onc-" Chris was interrupted as twenty shadow missiles were shot from the rail gun. "HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP!" he yelled.

"Everyone, disperse!" Cloud yelled, making everyone take different directions (with Aerith grabbing the blind Lucario's left hand) to evade the missiles.

Unfortunately, the explosions of the missiles were a bit too powerful. Once they all failed to shot somebody, they all made contact on the ground, causing a huge explosion of darkness that reached all of them, making them stumble from their directions. The group grunted in pain at this before they quickly stood up.

Cloud coughed some dust from his mouth and glared at the Metal Gear. "Didn't think I'd face something like this before..." he muttered.

"Of course not," Shadow Snake said. "You face fantasy monsters in here so much that you don't face against what I usually fight," he explained as he turned slowly to the blond mercenary. "Good thing you're not used to fight Metal Gears, kid."

"I don't give a darn about Metal Gears or whatever they are," Cloud said as he prepared his buster sword. "I care that this machine goes down alongside you."

"We'll see if you go down first instead," Shadow Snake said.

Before the Metal Gear could turn around completely, Cloud ran towards its left leg where he did a high jump and climbed up the armored leg to the top of the machine.

"What the..." Shadow Snake muttered as Cloud was seen jumping high into the air, going directly towards the radome.

"Take this, you darn machine!" Cloud yelled as he brought down his huge sword over the radome, creating a harsh impact on the wall of darkness that appeared right after he was about to clash the sword against the radome. The blond mercenary, however, gritted his teeth and tried hard to pierce through the wall. "D-darn this f*&^%^& protection!" he cursed, his sword seemingly doing not much of a change.

"You need assistance, so here you got it," Chris said as he aimed his revolver to the wall. "Flouris-"

Apparently, the shot's power could only deal more damage depending of how many females were around Chris. The bullet was powerful enough to send Chris for about fifteen feet away from his position where he landed on his rear and grunted in pain. As for the powered bullet, it impacted right into the wall.

However, it didn't do enough damage.

The agent slowly stood up and shook his head. "S-so, if Flourish grew that powerful..." he trailed off before looking at Tifa and Aerith. "Y-yes, they would explain why it got so powerful, but I still think it was because..."

Glancing behind the Metal Gear, Chris saw (the dazzled) Elena, Yuffie, and Samus watching the whole fight from above the wall.

"...Of course..." Chris muttered. "They're in this room..."

Yuffie struggled to get off the ropes. "D-dangit!" she cursed. "I wish I was down so I could escape from here!"

"S-shut up!" Cloud yelled from over the Metal Gear. "I-instead of running away, why not helping us out?!"

"Ha! You said I wasn't part of the team anymore so screw you, Cloud!" Yuffie said triumphantly.

Samus rolled her eyes. "You only do this when it suits you, huh? It's no wonder why he doesn't want you with them."

Yuffie looked at Samus. "What are you saying?"

"Please, it's obvious they'd leave you in a valley, abandoned where you'd starve to death," Samus said. "Now that they're in trouble, wouldn't helping them out make them believe you're trustworthy?"

Yuffie looked away with a pout. "I don't need anyone's sympathy!"

"Well, go ahead," Samus said. "However, don't expect anyone to help you when you need help, just like you need it now."

Yuffie looked down (or up to the ceiling) at this statement. The ninja began to think about what Samus told her.

"Hey, kid with the biga(beep) sword," Shadow Snake called out as the rail gun moved to the right, "get off from REX right now before you get hurt."

Cloud was about to respond, but the Metal Gear did a quick turn to the left, making Cloud stumble all the way down to the ground where he flipped and landed on his feet. The blond mercenary quickly looked back and stepped away from a crushing foot of armor of Shadow Gear REX. "That was close..." he muttered as he backed away. "(None of the attacks seemed to have an effect on that wall...)"

"Taste bullets," Shadow Snake said simply as he activated some four machine guns from the front of REX, all of them hiding inside small spaces. Cloud blinked at this before he quickly blocked a barrage of bullets by using his buster sword's edge. "Hmm, double potency would be nice now," he said before four more machine guns appeared below the first four, making Cloud back away slowly before he sidestepped out of the way. Shadow Snake stopped the attack and turned the machine to Cloud.

Tifa looked at Aerith. "Aerith, don't get too close to that gear bucket. You're not that good with physical attacks as much as I do... No offense."

Aerith nodded. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure you're much better for close-range combat."

Tifa blushed a bit at the remark. "W-well, if only there was a way for you to use magic... You're the best magic user out of everyone in the group."

The flower girl looked down in some depression. "I know, but I can still be of help..."

Tifa looked serious at the Metal Gear. "I know; provide healing items to anyone who needs 'em. You should better be the item user for now."

"Got it," Aerith said. "I'll better do that."

"And as for me, it's time to get this started!" Tifa yelled as she dashed towards the Metal Gear.

The Metal Gear noticed the fighter approaching. It turned around to face Tifa directly before it shot ten shadow missiles towards her.

Suddenly, Chris's senses reacted at the attack. "N-no! I won't let a lady be attacked by such a filthy omen of darkness!" he yelled before he took out a black cape and waved it in front of himself. "I would lay down my life at a single word..." he muttered before he instantly disappeared and quickly appeared right in front of Tifa. "Escor-"

And the agent thus was submitted to a whole lot barrage of missiles, making Tifa back away to avoid the explosions from reaching her. "C-Chris!" Tifa yelled worried as smoke flew out everywhere from where Chris was.

Once the smoke cleared out, Chris was shown standing up...and then he quickly fell to the front.

"Oh my god, Chris!" Tifa yelled.

Suddenly, a holy light shone down on the fallen agent, making saint wings appear and flutter a bit before disappearing. The agent grunted in pain and slowly got up from the ground. "W-what a man does for love...is so cruel...many, many times..." Chris muttered dumbfounded.

"Tsk, what a dumba(beep)," Shadow Snake commented. "Next time, before you protect somebody, measure how hurt you'll get."

Tifa sighed in relief. "Phew, he had an auto-life effect... I'm glad..."

"Too bad he doesn't have one anymore. I know that well," Shadow Snake said as he aimed his rail gun at the agent.

Chris yelped at this and quickly turned around to run away. "F-forgive me, but I'm still a little bit worked out with half health!" he said to Tifa.

The fighter looked a bit clueless about this before she shook her head and focused back to the Metal Gear. Tifa continued to dash towards the machine before it shot eight shadow missiles at her. "(There's no protection this time...and why am I thinking about needing it?)"

"FIRA!"

Scorching flames covered the first missile of the line, creating a chain reaction of explosions that covered Shadow Gear REX's front completely. Tifa looked back to see a grinning Fox before she looked back to the machine and quickly climbed its right left, nimbly jumping over it to reach the upper top to reach the radome's area. "I'll give it all with these!" she yelled before she charged to the radome to deliver strong fists with her knuckles, the wall of darkness forming over the object to protect it. Tifa's knuckles clashed against the wall, her voice grunting in anger as she tried to break into it. "D-dangit!" she cursed.

Cloud suddenly jumped towards the machine's left leg and quickly made it to the top where Tifa wildly punched the wall. Cloud yelled as he delivered a harsh slash on the wall before continuing. "When is this thing gonna break?!" Cloud asked.

"I dunno, but keep going!" Tifa yelled. "It's got to break down!"

Lucario grunted as he overheard the two grunting and yelling with every attack they landed on the wall. Shadow Gear REX then shook the two off, making them both fall down to the ground where they landed on their feet and quickly stepped away from the machine's crushing feet. "If I just could see for a bit, I could try to destroy that radome thing with my fists."

Aerith blinked a bit at this and chuckled. "Oh, then let me give you some aid with...this."

The flower girl took out from behind a small purple container that she opened afterward. Aerith chuckled a bit and delicately opened Lucario's reddened eyes (which caused him to twitch uncontrollably). The flower girl quickly applied several drops of the container into Lucario's left and right eyes, the Aura Pokémon grunting a bit in pain as the drops made his eyes more watery than before. "W-what are you doing to me?" Lucario asked.

"I'm using some Eye Drops so you can see again," Aerith said. "We have a lot of them with us, but we don't have that many Hi-Potions..."

Lucario grunted a bit. "B-but you only made my ey-" he stopped talking once his eyes became less and less watery. Suddenly, his vision began to restore slowly before Lucario managed to see what was in front of him (a smiling Aerith) and around. "...What?" Lucario said in confusion. "M-my eyes can see again..."

Aerith folded her arms behind her back. "You can see again? That's so great!" she said happily.

"...B-but..." Lucario shook his head. "You could've done this before?"

"Hmm, I guess, why?"

"...Well...if you could do it long before, we wouldn't have had to go around the village and search for Yuffie..."

Aerith looked at the Eye Drops's info tag behind its back. "Well, it says here it only cures blindness, but it doesn't cure extreme blindness..."

"...And you thought my blindness was extreme?"

"I think so... That curry had flames burning on its plate, was it?"

"..." Lucario let out an annoyed grunt. "Then I could've seen anything during this morning if you used that..."

"Don't look at me like that because you had to wait forcibly," Aerith said. "Otherwise the Eye Drops wouldn't have worked much. Oh, and it looks like you have some veins sticking out from your eyes, so don't do something to make you blind again, okay?"

"I was blinded accidentally, if you forgot..." Lucario muttered.

"At least you're all good to see, right?" Aerith asked with a warm smile.

"(Aerith just wants me to forget this easily, doesn't she?)" Lucario asked in defeat before he shook his head and looked at the Metal Gear. "Well...thanks for healing my eyes..."

Aerith playfully rubbed his left ear with care. "You're welcome, Lucario."

Lucario blushed a bit before glaring at Shadow Gear REX. His fists suddenly became flared up with aura. "Now that I can see again, I need to fight alongside everyone else."

"Go get him, okay?"

Lucario's cheeks reddened more at this. "F-fine..." he said in embarrassment before he dashed towards the shadow machine, Aerith chuckling heartily at this.

"He looks cute when he blushes," Aerith remarked.

Shadow Gear REX locked its vision to Lucario. "God, the blue pup is coming towards me," Shadow Snake faked some worry before moving its rail gun at him. "I'll make you go blind eternally, though." He shot twelve missiles at the aura wielder.

Lucario narrowed his eyes and easily jumped over the missile barrage. He managed to jump very high to the point he reached more than Shadow Gear REX's height. "Please, not even those missiles will stop me from attacking," Lucario said.

Shadow Snake sighed. "Well, if you want to put it that way, maybe I should put the missiles in lock-on mode."

"What?" Lucario asked before he looked behind to see the twelve missiles suddenly turning around towards him. With a grunt, Lucario shot an Aura Sphere, managing to destroy just one missile. Grunting more, he began to shoot more Aura Spheres to eliminate every single missile until they were all gone. He sighed and turned around just to be smacked hard on the face by Shadow Gear REX's rail gun. "GUARGH!" Lucario yelled in pain as he crashed right into the left wall, leaving an image of his body printed on the wall before he pushed himself off and landed on the ground. "Dirty trick..." he muttered.

"It's not my fault you were distracted," Shadow Snake said. "Besides, I thought I was supposed to stop you, wasn't I?"

Lucario gritted his fangs. "S-shut up..."

On the other side of the Metal Gear, Chris aimed at the radome once more. However, this time, Fox assisted him with fire magic, moving his right hand over his left shoulder. "Okay, let's try attacking at the same time to weaken it more," Fox said. "The protection might break apart if we damage it with a strong impact."

"Right," Chris said before shouting, "Flourish!"

"Fira!"

Both attacks connected with each other, enveloping the wall of darkness in scorching flames with a harsh bullet impact (that made Chris fly several feet away). As the fires ceased to burn, the wall didn't seem damaged at all.
Fox cursed a bit at this. "Damn that wall, when are we going to inflict some real damage?"

"Right after I inflict the damage on all of you," Shadow Snake said. "With that, I mean you won't even do anything."

Shadow Gear REX shot several missiles towards Fox (and Chris was far away, long enough to avoid being attacked). Fox narrowed his eyes at the missiles and merely stood there with a grin. "Heh, you're forgetting I have..." He looked down to his empty belt. "...Oh, righ-"

And the vulpine thus received a full barrage of shadow missiles, creating a big explosion that pushed him away towards Chris, who at the time was about to stand up before Fox's back crashed right into him, prompting both to fall down together. "F-Fox!" Chris said. "Fox, are you okay?"

"B-barely..." Fox muttered on top of Chris before rolling to the side. "T-those missiles sure can...make you feel weak..."

"One more missile should do the trick, then," Shadow Snake said before shooting another missile towards the two. However, it was quickly taken down by an Aura Sphere from an angry Lucario. "Oh yeah, dog protecting his owner."

"You won't do anything to him!" Lucario yelled before charging towards the machine. Shadow Gear REX turned to the right before Lucario leaped high up over its shoulders, running quickly towards the radome where he charged up his right hand with Force Palm on the sudden appearance of the shadow wall that covered the radome completely. "Grrrrr!!!" Lucario grunted loudly as his palm tried to pierce through the small dome.

"Don't you get it or what?" Shadow Snake asked.  "The shadow wall can't be pierced through brute force. I guess none of you will understand that."

"Shut up!" Lucario yelled before the Metal Gear tried to shake him off. However, Lucario embraced the wall of darkness to stay on top of the machine. "You won't shake me off that easily!"

"Geez, talk about annoying," Shadow Snake said before he shot three missiles out, all of them setting a lock on to go towards Lucario.

Lucario looked back at the missiles before he quickly jumped over the radome's dome to take cover. "(Maybe...)" he thought, "(I can use the dome as a means to...)"

The missiles accidentally crashed right on the dome, creating a big explosion that couldn't reach Lucario thanks to the wall being strongly resistant to the impact. The Aura Pokémon looked back to see the dome was...intact.

"What?" Lucario asked in a bit of a shock before he forgot to hold himself to the small dome and fell down once the machine shook him off quickly. He landed on his feet and stood in a fighting stance. "Why didn't the missiles do anything to the shield?"

"Tsk, the usual 'seeker missiles to damage myself' trick isn't going to work," Shadow Snake said as he turned the Metal Gear to Lucario. "The missiles are made out of pure darkness, and the wall is made of the same type of element. When both crash against each other, the wall isn't going to be damaged. Instead, it'll just nullify dark attacks of the machine altogether."

Lucario grunted at this. "And here I thought it'd do something..."

"Good thing it didn't. Shadow Gear REX is optimized to do the best performance. Heck, it does better than the normal Metal Gear REX." He aimed the rail gun at Lucario. "No matter how many times you try, you won't damage this thing."

"MOTHERF*&%#%@!!!"

Shadow Gear REX turned around to the entrance of the cave where everyone looked at the same direction to see someone jumping over the fallen Rapps's body. Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa gasped as they saw a super mad Cid charging towards Shadow Gear REX with a long spear trailing behind his back. The blond man looked as if he was in a blind state of fury.

"Cid?" Cloud muttered.

Cid didn't pay any attention to anybody as he charged towards the machine without thinking. Shadow Snake frowned inside the shadow REX. "God, are there any people with some good attitude instead of this cursing fool?" he asked in annoyance before preparing to shoot more missiles.

And by this time, Cid had unexpectedly jumped high enough to overpass the machine's height. Shadow Snake looked up to see the furious man quickly and blindly extending his spear down to the radome. "MOTHERF*&^%$@ B*&^%!!!" he proclaimed in fury before he instantly struck down the wall of darkness with the tip of his spear.

"For crying out loud, do I really need to repeat myself?" Shadow Snake asked. "For the last time, that wall of darkne-"

And suddenly, the mentioned wall of darkness broke apart in pieces that later vanished.

"What?" Shadow Snake said in some astonishment as the furious space man struck the radome hard enough to disable it temporally. Shadow Snake looked up to see the cockpit quickly opening up, revealing himself standing inside the shadow machine. "But..."

Cloud blinked a bit at this. "So...it can be pierced through?"

Shadow Snake grunted a bit. "Damn, that strike he just did was too much for the wall, then..." He looked to his left where Cid didn't even focus on him. "Hey, retard, aren't you supposed to fight me instead of looking away?"

Cid's angry look was focused on a single person, and it wasn't Snake who was his target. His eyes were giving a fierce glare at a particular ninja who at the time was tied up against the wall.

"..." Yuffie began to sweat a bit more. "...Tell me he's looking at her and not me..." she muttered to Samus, referring to the dazzled Elena.

"Ooh, twosome!" Elena said. "He's so into you. I'm jealous!"

Samus glanced at Yuffie. "Let me give you a hint: he's not looking at me."

Yuffie gulped and chuckled nervously to Cid. "H-heheheh, how're ya doing, Cid? It's a nice weather out there, isn't? Look, are you still mad that I stole all the Materi-"

"B*&%#$%%$#^%#^$#$&#%^&$%#@$%$#^%^$!!!" Cid interrupted with a loud and long curse before he quickly aimed his spear right at Yuffie's chest where her heart was supposed to be. The ninja let out a scream as Cid tossed the spear towards her, making her close her eyes while yelling.

Fortunately, for Yuffie, the spear managed to hit just right below her head, where it was stuck in place. The ninja looked up (or down in her case) to see the spear's blade carefully separated just an inch away from her hair. Yuffie turned white for a split second before she looked at Samus. "I-I have a bad feeling he wants to kill me off for good!"

"That's supposed to be the main reason," Samus said in boredom.

"I-I don't know you, but having a spear stuck just above (or below) my head isn't reassuring me at all!" Yuffie complained. "I wanna leave this place with Cid behind!"

"You little slut!" Cid called over the Metal Gear. "Ye're gonna have to say a nice apology to ol' Cid before he messes you up but GOOD!"

Yuffie smiled nervously. "C-c'mon, everything's in the past already," she said, her right eye twitching. "Can we all be just friends and have nice strolls around the world to stop Shinra from becoming a threat to the world, and defeat that man with the ridiculously long white hair?"

"F&*^ no!" Cid yelled. "If you're with us, I'll strangle you with my bare hands, and then I'll pinch your flat chest till it bursts wide open!"

Yuffie got a little bit angry. "H-hey, you can talk about killing me if you want, but you can't comment about someone's chest like that!"

"Like I give a darn!" Cid yelled. "Stop fooling around over that wall with those other girls and get down already!"

"That's something I've been trying to do all this time, you know!" Yuffie yelled. "All my blood is in my head right now!"

"Well, get down!" Cid yelled angrily.

"Take me down yourself!"

"You wish!"

"I thought you wanted me to get down, and I need help here!"

Samus sighed. "This isn't going to go anywhere at this rate..."

"You girl are so lazy to do things yourself!" Cid yelled. "I'm not gonna give a hand to ya because I-"

"Would you two stop arguing right now?" Shadow Snake interrupted in annoyance. "I really want you to stop arguing in the middle of this fight."

Cid turned to look at the shadow. "You ain't tellin' me what to do, shadowy guy!"

"Well, if you don't want to listen, then I'll push you out by for-"

"FIRA!" shouted Fox, finishing a chant he did with mutters, as he moved his right hand to Shadow Snake.

Scorching flames burned the pilot in the Metal Gear. Shadow Snake grunted in pain before a harsh bullet shot (a Flourish from Chris that pushed him back) crashed to his body. The shadow mercenary grunted more before a long staff smacked his head hard before falling down to the ground where Aerith went to pick it up, followed by two Aura Spheres to Shadow Snake. The shadow was covered by smoke from the spheres of aura before he moved the smoke away. "Okay, you guys ar-"

Shadow Snake stopped once he got a fierce punch by Tifa, who had climbed up the machine while all the attacks crashed on him. "Take this, demon of darkness!" Tifa yelled as she fiercely punched Shadow Snake's face.

"Ugh, you woman, stop it!" Shadow Snake yelled before managed to push forward and throw Tifa down, where she landed gracefully on the ground. Shadow Snake grunted a bit before he clicked several buttons on the control panel of the shadow Metal Gear. "The radome should get back online now..."

The cockpit suddenly closed down, showing a sign that the radome was fully operational again. Many of them gasped at this as Shadow Gear REX began to move once more. "Dammit, it's closed again," Cloud said.

"We'll have to damage the radome again," Tifa said. "If Cid used his special ability, then that'd mean the wall of darkness can be pierced through with fatal strikes..."

"That's the idea," Fox said. "Only fatal strikes can break through that cover."

"B-but..." Chris stuttered a bit, "what kind of fatal strikes?"

Cloud thought for a moment. "I guess fatal strikes like Cid's Jump ability..."

"That's still a bit vague," Tifa said.

Lucario looked away. "Not even my brute force can do much..."

"HEY, B*&^$#@!" Cid called over the Metal Gear. "What're we doing with this piece of sh*&^% metal? Are we fightin' it to screw it good?!"

Aerith looked at Tifa. "I guess he's still a bit of a cuckoo about Yuffie..."

Tifa rolled her eyes and looked at Cid. "Yeah, we're trying to fight it to take it down!" she yelled. "We need your help so that doesn't kill any of us!"

"I ain't seein' a reason why I should fight it!"

"W-well...it...wants to kill Yuffie before you do!"

"...This piece of scrapped metal ain't takin' that opportunity from me!" Cid yelled.

Yuffie looked annoyed at this statement. "Oh, geez, right after they take that thing down, I'm going to get killed by Cid?"

"That seems to be the idea for him...at least for him," Samus muttered.

"...Sucks to be me right now," Yuffie muttered in boredom.

"Alrighty, kids!" Cid yelled as he took out another spear from behind his back (making Chris twitch his right eye a bit). "Uncle Cid's gonna do some rumble on this hellish bulls*&^ you call machine!"

"(How the heck did he take that new spear out?)" Chris asked. "(I guess everyone uses hammer-space quite a lot around here as we do... Actually, this is kind of a pointless question...)"

"Oh god, not another cockroach," Shadow Snake said within the Metal Gear. "This one likes to curse a lot unnecessarily. So annoying, I swear..."

Cid grumbled a bit at this and pointed at the covered cockpit. "You ain't callin' me a cockroach, motherf*&^%$#. You try to shut me up; I'll freakin' kill ya off."

Lucario looked at Cloud. "Do you get sick of listening to his cursing and swearing all the time?"

"Frankly speaking, one day with him makes you extremely used to his language," Cloud muttered in annoyance.

Cid started to slash the machine randomly on the spot he was standing. "Bastard won't get a scratch, ugh!" he complained.

Cloud frowned at this. "Cid, you need to strike the circular object behind your back! That way, the cockpit of the machine should open up, and then you can attack the pilot!"

Cid turned behind to see the radome. With some kind of war cry, the space man tried to slash it, but the wall of darkness had regenerated back, protecting the radome from further receiving more damage. "What the f*&^ is wrong with this? Where in the name of a random chocobo did this dome come from?!" he asked, continuously slashing the wall to no avail.

"Oh man, I've had enough of your mouth already," Shadow Snake said before he launched ten seeker missiles out from the rail gun, all directing towards Cid.

Cid turned around and saw the missiles. "HOLY S&$^!" he cursed loudly before leaping down the Metal Gear, just in time to make all the shadow missiles collide with the spot he was before.

"Finally, at least he's down," Shadow Snake said. "Well, sorry to make all of you wait, but I guess you wouldn't mind to run around the room for a bit."

Tifa glared at the machine. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean this," he said simply before he began to fire a barrage of missiles that didn't seem to end.

The entire group gasped at the huge amount of shadow missiles being fired towards their direction. Grunting, Cloud swung his right arm and shouted, "Everyone, disperse and try to evade any missiles!"

Everyone quickly dispersed to different ways. Unfortunately, the missiles were seeker missiles, making all of them run around to avoid being attacked by a missile.

Shadow Snake chuckled. "Oh, and since using missiles all the time is kinda getting stale, I'm gonna use other weapons as well." He ordered REX to show four machine guns at the sides of the protected cockpit that began to fire at anyone running in front of REX.

"U-ugh!" Tifa was attacked by the frenzy of bullets before three shadow missiles collided against her. "C-Cloud, help!"

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled before making a sharp turn and jump over the missiles chasing him. The blond mercenary made the missiles crash against each other, creating an explosion that pushed him away some feet, but he used the push to run faster towards Tifa. He quickly reached to the place Tifa was lying down on the ground, and he blocked the bullets with his buster sword's edge. He looked down at her. "Tifa, are you okay?"

"N-not that much..." Tifa muttered. "D-darn those missiles..."

Aerith, who was running by the right side of the Metal Gear, looked to the two and gasped. "No, Tifa!" she yelled before she slowly turned to their direction, some four missiles following her. She looked behind and screamed in fear before four Aura Spheres exploded on the missiles, saving her from being attacked. She looked at Lucario, who had his palms holding out before he looked to his right and destroyed five missiles with more Aura Spheres. The Aura Pokémon was busy destroying the flying explosives; procuring most of them didn't get hurt. Aerith sighed in relief and ran over to where Cloud and Tifa were. "I-I'm coming! Hang in there, Tifa. I'll give you a Hi-Potion!"

Next to where she was, Chris gulped and held out his revolver in fear. "A-away!" Chris yelled as he shot a missile with a bullet, making it explode. Another missile went downwards on him. He looked up and quickly shot it down. "O-oh my goodness, I don't want to get hit by another dark missile again!"

"F*^&!" Cid cursed as he was attacked by a dark missile from behind, making him roll recklessly towards where Chris was. He stopped right to his left side and looked angrily at the agent. "You kid awright?" he asked with a mad look. "Havin' fun getting' your sorry a^* kicked around?"

"S-somewhat, and no for the last question," Chris admitted before he yelped and quickly shot another missile down. "I-I hate this fight so much!"

"Heh, you ain't the only one here," Cid said before he pushed his feet up and stood up. "Damn piece of metal is givin' hell to us. All these missiles will blow us into the air if we don't do s#^* fast to it."

Chris yelped once more to stop another incoming missile. "D-do you have an idea to strike the radome hard?"

"Well, I could if I'm ready to use my Jump ability," Cid admitted. "You need to gimme some time so I can use it again. Otherwise I'm somewhat f*^#$%."

"S-seriously, don't you have another plan?"

"Kill Yuffie so I can feel good with myself?"

"N-not that plan!" Chris yelled. "I meant a way to strike the radome hard!"

"You're talkin' with the wrong person, kid," Cid said. "I ain't havin' a clue about a powerful attack to damage that thing."

Chris looked serious. "(There must be some way to deal strong damage to that wall of darkness... Wait a minute... I know Kawashima isn't here to tell us there's an Over Limit ready, but I honestly think there's one ready now... If it's true, then maybe...)" He looked around the room, finding Fox sidestepping from a missile, and Lucario shooting down more missiles with Aura Spheres. "(Either I or one of those two should perform a strong attack... I'll choose...) Lucario!"

Lucario turned to his trainer. "What?"

"Use your Over Limit to use Aura Storm on the radome!" Chris ordered. "You should destroy the shield and damage the radome at the same time!"

"Understood," Lucario muttered before he flexed down his arms. "GUUUUUUARRRRGGHHH!!!" he growled loudly, calling forth a rainbow aura that shone on him.

"(Yes, there was one ready to be used,)" Chris thought in relief.

Shadow Snake noticed that the atmosphere turned darker than before. He turned Shadow Gear REX to the left where he saw Lucario glaring at his direction. "The dog's glowing in a hippie light," Shadow Snake said before Lucario put his palms closer to each other, creating a radiating sphere of aura that shone brightly. "...Wait..."

"GUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAARRRGGHH!!!" Lucario growled furiously as he pushed out his palms towards the radome, letting out a huge stream of aura energy that instantly broke into the wall of darkness, damaging the radome at the same time before disabling it once more. As the beam of aura kept going, the cockpit suddenly opened up, revealing a mad shadow piloting the Metal Gear. Lucario's stream of aura diminished overtime before he let out a grunt while the rainbow aura vanished completely from him.

"Time to attack, now!" Chris yelled as he used another Flourish shot at Shadow Snake, making Chris get pushed several feet away.

However, Shadow Snake evaded the shot in time, but it went to damage the control panel. "N-no," Shadow Snake muttered as he saw some sparks jumping out from the small hole in the panel. "U-ugh..."

"FIRA!" Fox shouted, casting scorching flames that burned the cockpit with Shadow Snake and control panel getting affected.

While the flames burned, making Shadow Snake unable to see, Cloud jumped high towards the cockpit with his buster sword raised behind his back. "HA!" he yelled, bringing down his sword with a hard slam on the control panel. "Dammit, I failed!" he cursed before pushing himself off from the cockpit.

Shadow Snake grunted and quickly regained his composure after the flames dispersed out. "You're starting to get more annoying..." he muttered before the cockpit closed down, making a sign that the radome was back online.

The codec ring tone rang in Chris's ears. The agent pressed his left staple to get in a conversation with Otacon. "Chris, I just remembered something important," he said. "The control panel of REX is a very vital point for the Metal Gear to operate."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"I mean that, if you were to damage the cockpit enough, it'll seize functions of REX completely," Otacon explained. "If it does that, there won't be a way for it to move or attack anymore."

"So if we destroy the cockpit, the Metal Gear should go down?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Otacon said. "Ignore Snake's shadow and destroy REX's cockpit! That way, you won't have to deal with that shadow monster!"

"G-got it," Chris said worried before ending the codec. "E-everyone, concentrate your attacks on the cockpit! If we destroy it, the Metal Gear will stop attacking permanently!"

"There's an actual weak point for that thing?" Tifa asked.

"Y-yes, but don't ask more about it... Just try to destroy the cockpit the next time we open it up!"

"If that's so, then I guess I'll have to be a little bit more careful with all of you," Shadow Snake said. "You've already given me enough problems with the control panel shooting some sparks, so as a sign of thanks..."

The group watched as the rail gun began to charge a blue light.

"...Die."

Lucario glared at the rail gun. "He's concentrating energy into a laser!"

"Quick, move out of the way!" Fox yelled.

"Damn," Cloud muttered before he looked back at the downed Tifa, who at the time managed to drink a Hi-Potion container from Aerith. "Tifa, you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Tifa said as he pushed herself up.

"Good, now quick, run!"

Everyone quickly ran to different directions before the rail gun fired a humongous laser that penetrated the lower right side corner of the room, creating a long passage with a dead end that was quickly covered by falling rocks with a cave in. The group looked a bit horrified at the laser's magnitude that they looked back at the Shadow Gear REX.

Yuffie dropped her jaw down (or up). "Daaaaaaaaaamn!" she said in horror. "That laser thingy was too much, you guys! Now go show that guy he shouldn't destroy Wutai's grounds with laser guns!"

"Well, that laser hopefully didn't cause a cave in," Samus muttered with a sigh of relief.

"I want it to be a pink laser next time!" Elena said randomly.

Shadow Gear REX began to pace around the room. "Hope that clarifies all of you that you shouldn't mess with a Metal Gear's shadow counterpart," he said before his rail gun began to charge once more. Instead of pointing straight forward, it pointed down to the ground. "With that demonstration of power aside, I'll make it smaller so I don't cause a cave in with me in here."

Aerith sighed. "He knows he shouldn't cause a cave in..."

"Aerith, sigh in relief when this gets over with," Cloud said.

"There you are, cockroach," Shadow Snake said as he stomped the Metal Gear's feet on the ground towards him. "Let me squash you to bloody bits."

Cloud noticed that he and Aerith were cornered on the lower left side corner of the room. With no room to escape, the blond mercenary grunted angrily at this and readied his buster sword for anything. "You bastard..."

"That's all you're going to say? Weak; so weak as you," Shadow Snake commented before he cornered the two together and raised Shadow Gear REX's right foot over them. "Say good bye now before you get shut up permanently..."

Aerith yelped at the sight of the foot's shadow and covered down. "C-Cloud, help!"

"DAMMIT!" Cloud yelled as the foot was brought down on them. He quickly closed his eyes and put his buster sword's sharp edge across in front of him in hopes to stop something he thought was impossible.

...

"...D-did we die yet?" Aerith asked, uncovering herself to look up at the machine's foot being abruptly stopped by Lucario, who had appeared using ExtremeSpeed to stop the foot from coming down on them. The Aura Pokémon gritted his fangs and he extended his hands against the foot. "L-Lucario!"

Cloud looked a bit surprised. "But..."

Lucario looked at them over his right shoulder. "W-what are you waiting for? G-get out!"

Aerith blinked at this before she regained her composure and nodded in confidence. Cloud nodded as well before the two ran out from under the foot. Lucario gritted his fangs more before he quickly used ExtremeSpeed to escape from being crushed by the steel foot.

"Hmm, nice try," Shadow Snake remarked. "You've got to thank that inhuman brute force of yours for saving them from dying."

"Grrrrrrr..." Lucario grunted, his palms flaring with aura.

Behind the Metal Gear, Cid, Chris, Tifa, and Fox were looking up at the radome. "If we combine attacks together, then we could pierce through that barrier, right?" Tifa asked.

Cid wiped his nose with a finger. "That's the plan to do here," he said. "Mix up stuff together to get something much better."

"But since the previous attacks managed to reach the radome as well, we should strike the radome with another second assault," Fox said.

Chris aimed his revolver at the radome while Fox prepared another Fira chant. "Let's start before it notices u-"

And the Metal Gear turned around to face at them, making Tifa and Cid react to run towards the machine, quickly climbing it by its legs. The two managed to reach the upper part where they both rushed together towards the radome to strike it with a harsh fist and a spear. "Now, you guys!" Tifa yelled as she and Cid were about to collide attacks against the wall of darkness.

"...FLOURISH!!!" Chris yelled in panic, pushing himself away by the bullet's force.

"Fira!" Fox shouted.

The clash of the four attacks combined managed to make the wall of darkness tremble a bit. Before their eyes, Cid and Tifa noticed that the wall of darkness shattered itself into spores of darkness that disappeared in thin air, revealing the radome. "Awright, it worked!" Cid said.

"Now attack the radome!" Fox yelled.

Before anyone could attack, Tifa and Cid fell down after the Metal Gear shook them off. The two landed on the ground on their feet before looking up at the eight machine guns that aimed at them. They then began shooting a barrage of bullets, making both yell in pain as they crossed their arms in front of them to resist the attack.

"C-Cloud, help me here, please!" Tifa yelled for help.

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled before he ran towards the two.

"Nobody's going to break my combo here," Shadow Snake commented before he shot seven dark missiles to Cloud, making him turn around to avoid the projectiles.

"You won't hurt him!" Lucario yelled as he began shooting Aura Spheres at the missiles.

"Oh well, I'll just hurt you both," Shadow Snake said before he shot eight more missiles at Lucario.

Cloud looked at Aerith while he was running away from the missiles. "Aerith, try to save Cid and Tifa from dying!"

"B-but what can I do, Cloud?" Aerith asked.

[DededeCloneChris]

"Nothing, because you're dead as well," Shadow Snake said, shooting more missiles towards Aerith.

The flower girl yelped at this before she turned around and began running for her life. One of the missiles following her was shot down by a bullet from Chris, who was at the time far away in the corner Shadow Snake had shot the laser. "N-no one will hurt a damsel here while I breat-"

And this called the attention of the Metal Gear, which shot more missiles at his direction.

"And I HAD to open my big mouth!" Chris complained loudly before he quickly ran to the north of the cave with the seeker missiles following him. "T-these missiles go so slow! Why are they like that?!"

"They're like that so they can maneuver more freely in this kind of space," Shadow Snake explained. "Also, with the tracking system built into them, it's easier for them to land themselves on anyone, and they won't stop unless they impact into something. Fortunately, making them collide with Shadow Gear REX won't do any damage to it since they're both made out of darkness, nullifying each other completely."

Even more missiles (five) were shot, but this time at Fox; the only one of the group not being attacked. The vulpine gasped and quickly dashed to the south of the room. "How the heck do you run fast with these stupid shoes?!" he asked angrily, staring down at his geta.

"Hey, don't go complaining about Wutai's geta!"  Yuffie yelled in annoyance. "They're the best around these parts, y'know!"

"You shut up! You're the reason why all this is happening!" Fox yelled, running away from the seeker missiles.

"W-well, I-I think it does..." Yuffie muttered in embarrassment.

"Let me tell you a fact," Samus began, "it IS your fault in so many points."

Yuffie sighed in depression. "(I really didn't want any of this to happen, I swear...)"

"AAAAHH!!!" Fox yelled in pain after the missiles had collided against his back. The vulpine went rolling on the ground before he stopped. Clenching his fists on the ground, he looked up weakly. "I need some help...please..." he muttered.

On the other side, Aerith continued to run away from the missiles following her. For her dismay, her energies were depleting. She started to become tired for much running that her pace began to slow down, allowing the missile to catch up with her. "S-somebody, help, please!" she pleaded.

"I-I know you want help, b-but we all need help here!" Tifa yelled from the front of the Metal Gear's machine guns before she knelt down. "T-this isn't good for me anymore..." she muttered before she lost consciousness.

"TIFA!" Cloud yelled from another side of the room. The blond mercenary grunted at this before he turned around and slid underneath the missiles following him, making them touch each other to trigger an explosion. At first, Cloud was pushed away by the big explosion, but he somehow did a flip in the air and admirably got on his feet to run towards the front, where Cid covered himself with his spear. "Damn you, imbecile!" he yelled, referring Shadow Snake.

"That's right, everyone," Shadow Snake said. "Run; run for your meaningless lives. That's all you can do for now. You're my little dogs while I'm your master. You've been very bad, so you better be taught a lesson in blood."

"I-I hate that stupid sarcasm shadows have!" Chris yelled, continuing running away from shadow missiles going after him. "T-they seriously make me mad!"

"It makes me mad you're still running," Shadow Snake said. "You're one stubborn, dead dog."

"Well, if we're talking about dogs, then he does a bad job at being a dog."

Shadow Snake looked forward from within the Metal Gear where he found infra-ray signals of a small creature over the fallen Rapps. He found that Chip had arrived at the scene, looking particularly clueless to the fact almost everyone was being pursued by shadow missiles.

Chip rubbed his chin as he looked around. "Hmm, we're still thinking they're all dogs, right? Well, you guys are so bad!"

"C-Chip!" Chris yelled.

"Hey, Chris, stop being a bad doggy!" Chip proclaimed angrily. "You all do as much of a bad job like Sonic does, but he does it much better!"

"S-stop talking about dogs!" the World Traveler yelled. "D-do something to help us against these missiles!"

Chip gasped. "Somebody wants Chip Norris's help to stop some dark missiles!" he said before he joined his hands and looked up happily. "Man, my career just got much better!" he said before he looked serious at the Metal Gear and punched the air. "C'mon, ya piece of junk! Give Chip Norris your best shot!"

"Alright," Shadow Snake said before he simply used a missile to shoot at Chip.

The imp gritted his teeth and quickly performed a flying roundhouse kick to the missile, ending with him making the missile explode, trapping him in smoke without signs of him being pushed out anywhere.

Fox blinked a bit shocked at this (being the one close to the explosion). "...Did he just...blow that missile with a kick without getting harmed?" he asked to himself as he stared at the thick cloud where the missile blown up. "But I thought that..."

And Chip's dead carcass fell down from the smoke, landing close to Fox.

The vulpine looked bored at the fallen imp. "Talk about...stupid..." he trailed off in boredom before he lost consciousness. A holy light gently touched his back, making wings appear and flutter before vanishing. The vulpine tightened his fists and pushed himself up. "Good thing we have second chances to keep fighting..." he muttered before he ducked and picked Chip on his right arm. The vulpine looked around and ran away from the spot.

Chip slowly pumped up a fist in the air. "Chip Norris shall never be defeated...you just happened to blow him up...and that's cheating because it's Chip Norris we're talking about, you know...bleh..." he muttered before he fell on his back and lost consciousness.

"You just keep resting, (crazy idiot...)" Fox thought in boredom.

Lucario quickly disposed the missiles being shot at him before Shadow Gear REX launched more missiles at him while it was busy trying to beat Cid down with a barrage of bullets. Lucario grunted at this and resumed to run away. "I can't believe all these missiles have no end!" he yelled in complain.

"A-and I can't believe nobody else besides Chip have arrived yet!" Chris yelled. "I-is it because of the maze before this room that they're not arriving?" He looked back to see the missiles closing in with him. "HELP!"

At that moment, a blue burr quickly took Chris away from the missiles. The missiles crashed against each other before they could reach the agent. Chris closed his eyes tightly, thinking he was attacked. "Hey, you gotta open your eyes or else you won't know if you're still alive, Chris."

Chris opened his eyes and found himself on Sonic's arms. He looked down to his right to see the blue hedgehog grinning at him. "O-oh, thank you so much for saving me, Sonic..." Chris trailed off with a sigh.

"Heh, you gotcha," Sonic said with a wink before he put Chris down on the ground. The agent stood up and looked at him before the hedgehog looked around. "So, more of those shadows?" he asked.

"Yes," Chris said. "Dr. Eggman came in here and he released the Shadow Nightmare on..." He stared at Sonic. "...Wait, how come you can see now?" He noticed some veins still showing on Sonic's eyes.

Sonic shrugged. "Remember that lion guy? Well, he leaped on me and dropped these drops on my eyes. They BURNED like hell, but then I noticed I was able to see again."

"...Why would Red XIII leap on you?" Chris asked.

"Well, you see, I was complaining about not seeing anything, and I think he grew upset with me and used those drops. Funny thing was that he realized he could've done that in the morning. So then, I got excited that I ran away from him," Sonic explained. "Also, I met up with the red plumber and he told me about what was happening, so I came all the way here and inspected every single corner until I found all of you in here."

"(That would explain why Red XIII did that...)" Chris thought. "B-but...in any case, we're fighting Shadow Snake who made Snake... Snake... Snake..." Chris looked shocked before he looked back to the temple where Snake lied unconscious. "S-Snake!"

Sonic looked at his direction before he reacted quickly and ran back to Snake before carrying him back to where Chris was in two seconds. Sonic tumbled at the sides before he let go of Snake from his arms. "O-oof, this guy weights a ton, y'know..." he muttered.

Chris knelt down to check on the mercenary. "Oh my god, is he okay?"

Sonic began to feel a weird sensation in his body. "H-huh, why am I feeling right now that I'm going to..."

And Sonic suddenly turned brawnier; turning into his werehog form.

Sonic looked at his claws, which had ripped his gloves (again). "Aww, come ON now!" he cursed, making Chris look at him with a gasp. "It's barely noon out there and I turned into this freakish transformation already?!"

"B-but that's impossible...unless..." Chris looked up to see that there were black tiles raining down from the ceiling as they vanished sometimes. "...That device Dr. Eggman tossed also affects you... The Shadow Nightmare can't go out during the day, but Dr. Eggman created a device to let one dwell inside dark places like this cave..."

"That idiot..." Sonic muttered through gritted fangs, tightening his fists a bit.

"I-I know you're furious, but please, calm down," Chris said. "Now it's not the time to be worrying about that." He pointed to the Shadow Gear REX. "We need to beat that thing down first."

Sonic sighed and looked down at Snake. "What about this guy? I don't think he's all that safe in here."

"Sonic, can you use your claws to take Snake back into the dark maze so he can be out of trouble?"

Sonic nodded and quickly grabbed the mercenary with his oversized claws before he stretched him all the way behind the fallen Rapps. The werehog put the mercenary down in a safe spot before he pulled back his arms and looked at Chris. "There you got him," he said.

"Excuse me, but did the hedgehog just change appearances?"

The two Smashers blinked a bit at this before they looked besides them to see a skeptical Cloud looking at Sonic. "O-oh, that..." Chris trailed off.

"Why did he just change into some kind of wolf?" Cloud asked. "I thought humans could only turn into werewolves or something like that, but why did he change?"

"U-um, look, we'll explain that later," Chris said. "But if you want to get a quick summary, Sonic got his genes changed so that he could change into a wolf, or werehog every time night arrives."

"..." Cloud looked away. "...Transforming into a wolf at night...that's really overused and cliché..."

"...." Sonic blinked a bit. "...Yeah," he agreed before he shook his head and looked at the machine. "Ready to give some beat-down, Chris?"

Chris gulped and prepared his revolver. "I-I'll see if I'm ready. Sonic, you need to attack the plate-shaped object on top of the Metal Gear. If you manage to disable it, the cockpit where Shadow Snake hides will open up. When the cockpit opens, damage the control panel inside the machine so it gets its functions down."

Sonic smacked his fists together. "Alrighty, let's do this!" he said before he quickly extended his claws all the way towards the radome, surprising Cloud for a bit.

"His arms...just stretched?" Cloud muttered.

"I know, freaky, but that's how things are," Sonic said in boredom.

Cloud looked back to the front of the Metal Gear where Cid stood in front of Tifa while spinning his spear to prevent the bullets from harming both of them. "YEEEEEEEHAAAAW, you ain't givin' s&^$ to ol' Cid, bastard! No givin' s#&*, ya hear me?!"

Cloud sighed in relief at this before looking back at Sonic's claws grabbing a hold of the radome's wall of darkness. Sonic gasped before he gritted his fangs. "Chris, what the heck is that thing covering the plate thing?!" Sonic asked.

"That wall of darkness prevents any damage to hurt the radome," Chris said. "Only fatal strikes can pierce through it, so you'll need to combine attacks with someone to break it apart."

Sonic smirked. "Then I'll just gonna press it hard!" he yelled before he started to apply a tight grip on the protection.

"It won't be enough," Cloud said before he looked at Sonic's arms. He looked back and forth between the werehog and the radome on top of the machine before he got an idea and jumped on to Sonic's arms to use them as a direct path to the radome.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled.

Chris gasped once he saw the Metal Gear slowly turning around at them, stopping its bullet barrage on Cid and Tifa. "N-now I get it. He's using your arms to get to the radome directly!" he said.

"I hate people walking over me, but do the same, Chris!" Sonic ordered as he felt the machine pulling his arms.

The agent aimed his revolver at the wall of darkness. "No, I only use long-range attacks when I'm using this job. I'll wait for Cloud to get there."

Sonic grinned. "Let's all three of us attack at the same time."

The two looked back where Cloud was reaching the radome. The blond mercenary put a tight grip on his buster sword before he leaped up high, raising it above him with a war cry.

"Now, Flourish!" Chris yelled shooting the harsh bullet that made him fly some feet away from Sonic's spot.

Because of Sonic's tight grip, Cloud's buster sword slamming onto the protection, and Chris's Flourish bullet making contact with it at the same time, the werehog crushed the wall into bits of darkness that quickly vanished in thin air, revealing an unprotected radome.

"This is starting to get bad..." Shadow Snake muttered before looking to the front of the Metal Gear, facing to the lower left corner of the room where Cid set down his spear and went to attend Tifa. "But enough about games, because it's time to get this job done right now."

Sonic noticed that the rail gun began to charge its laser. "Hey, I think he's gonna shoot something!" he yelled.

Cloud, who was on top of the machine, looked behind to see energy gathering inside. However, he got shocked once he looked to the front where Cid was busy attending Tifa. "CID, RUN AWAY WITH TIFA, QUICK!"

"I'm workin' right now!" Cid yelled, oblivious to the fact a laser was going to obliterate them since he had his back facing the machine. "You wanna have this girl alive or what?!"

"That's what I'm trying to say!" Cloud yelled. "Get out of range before that laser kills you two!"

Cid turned around. "What laser are you talking about?!" he asked before looking up at the rail gun pointing towards him. "HOLY CRAPPY S*&^!!!" he cursed before he picked up Tifa over his shoulders and quickly ran to the temple's direction.

Shadow Gear REX followed suit their direction. "It's no use," Shadow Snake said. "No matter where you run to, Shadow Gear REX will follow you. If you try shielding yourself by going under REX, I'll crush you."

Cloud gritted his teeth and looked back at the unprotected radome. He held his buster sword tight and started to slash it. "You're not going to hurt them!" he yelled.

Shadow Snake sighed and shook Cloud off rather easily. The blond mercenary didn't have enough time to set his feet down to land safely, but Sonic extended his claws towards him, catching Cloud in time before he could hit the ground. Cloud got off from the claws and quickly backed away from the stomping Metal Gear. "Laser ready," Shadow Snake said.

Cid suddenly tripped on his tracks with Tifa on his back. The space man cursed loudly very harsh words to himself as the Metal Gear was about to shoot its laser on them. "I'LL F&^% ALL THIS SOON!" Cid cursed loudly.

Aerith gasped as Lucario destroyed the missiles following her from behind with Aura Spheres. "C-Cid, Tifa, no!"

The laser then shot a huge stream of energy that covered Cid and Tifa completely, taking along a big portion of the cave as it struck the wall hard, creating a long tunnel that was then covered by a cave in. Shadow Gear REX kept shooting its laser for five seconds before it eventually vanished. Shadow Snake chuckled at this before looking to see that there were no remains of Cid or Tifa behind. "Finished."

Aerith covered her mouth with both hands. "N-no... T-they couldn't be...could they?"

Cloud looked shocked at this. "...Tifa...Cid..." he muttered, his anger about to explode at any second to unleash upon the machine.

"You kid are gonna shed some tears now? God&#%^mit, you're such a vagina-y, b^%*%!"

Cloud blinked at the curses before he looked to his right to see Lucario carrying both Cid and Tifa on his back. The blond mercenary looked surprised to see both of his allies alive. "T-Tifa, Cid!" Cloud said in relief.

Lucario set Cid down on the ground where he jumped off from him. The blond man put Tifa down on the floor before looking at Lucario. "Gotta thank this guy for savin' our a$%^&," he said. "He ran at the f*&^%&* speed of light, you."

Cloud looked and nodded at Lucario. "You don't know how grateful I am for you saving both of them... I own you one for that."

Lucario smiled mentally. "(Clouds owns me one now...)" he thought a bit happily. "It was nothing," he said, trying to hide his excitement.

"Seriously, you're full of surprises to me," Cloud remarked, making Lucario even more excited in his mind. "But I shouldn't do this in a time like this. We need to beat that machine before it gets the chance to attack us severely with that stupid laser."

Lucario mentally groaned a bit. "I see..." he muttered, wanting to receive more praise.

Shadow Gear REX slowly turned towards them as Cid took out a red feather from his pocket and lied it down on Tifa; the red feather being a Phoenix Down (a feather that could heal knocked out fighters). "You guys are starting to give me a headache," he complained. "But I promise by the end of the day that none of you will escape from here alive."

"You're gonna die, pal!" Yuffie yelled from the wall. "You're gonna die for destroying precious Wutai's grounds!"

"Wow, you're back to your cheerful mood..." Samus muttered.

"Don't take me wrong, but I'm pretty scared," Yuffie clarified. "I mean, you're not the one with the spear stuck right below your head, are you?"

"I can use a spear like a pole!" Elena said randomly. "And I can use it to cut butter!"

Samus, once more, wanted to smack her forehead. "Somebody, just take me down from here already..." she muttered.

"Die," Shadow Snake said as he resumed his assault of shadow missiles from the rail gun.

Chris aimed his revolver at the missiles from behind it, standing close to the fallen Rapps while Sonic stood next to him. "I-I'm getting so sick of those missiles!" he yelled before he fired bullets to prevent any missiles from coming out. "(W-wait...this is actually working now!)"

Shadow Snake grunted at this before he turned Shadow Gear to face the exit of the cave. "I should've focused my attention to you, kid. You're the main reason why I'm mad off now."

The agent tried to think of a good comeback. "You said you were mad that you were with a bunch of people who looked very unlikely to meet!"

"Yeah, but out of all of them, you're the one who's been bugging me the most," Shadow Snake said. "Screw you, kid. Your stubbornness for someone like me isn't needed."

The Metal Gear began shooting bullets to Chris, but the agent ducked, and he was covered by Sonic, who covered the World Traveler by stepping to the front and cross his arms for protection. "U-ugh, I'm not gonna hold on for that much, Chris," Sonic said through gritted fangs. "Y-you gotta think about something!"

At that moment, the Metal Gear began shooting shadow missiles once again. However, this time, they were all quickly taken down by Lucario's Aura Spheres. The Aura Pokémon stood behind the machine, standing several feet away from the temple's entrance. The Metal Gear, however, ignored him altogether, focusing all its attention on beating Sonic and Chris. "He's distracted. Attack the radome!" Lucario yelled as he tried to keep any missiles from shooting out.

"This time is going to be the last!" Cloud yelled as he charged towards the Metal Gear and nimbly climbed it by jumping on its legs. The blond mercenary reached the radome where he raised his sword high to land a fierce slash, yelling out, "Braver!"

The radome was struck hard with the heavy slash that it became disabled once more, forcing the cockpit to open up again. Shadow Snake grunted at this before he saw that Aerith had climbed up all the way to his position. "How the heck did you get all the way here?" Shadow Snake asked.

Aerith chuckled. "I just climbed the right leg when you weren't looking. You need to be more aware next time," she said before she took out her staff and started banging on the control panel, destroying its circuits slowly.

Shadow Snake grunted angrily and tried pushing Aerith down, but a harsh bullet attack blocked his right hand from pushing her down. Chris had shot another Flourish shot from behind Sonic, the agent being pushed towards the fallen Rapps by the shot's magnitude. "You won't hurt a lady!" he protested.

The shadow ignored his complaint before he tried pushing her off again, but scorching flames burned his body, prompting him to back away to his seat. In front of the Metal Gear, a weak Fox was holding out his open right palm to the cockpit while Cid stood next to him, having given the vulpine a Phoenix Down to revive him.

"Damn all of you..." Shadow Snake muttered before he looked back to Aerith.

And his control panel was completely destroyed.

Aerith stopped banging on the control panel before she smiled a bit at the shadow and later jumped down to the ground where she ran away from the machine. Shadow Snake looked back at the control panel, which started to shoot out sparks everywhere before it started blowing up. Soon, the Metal Gear began to shake uncontrollably, making everyone back away from it. "No, this isn't happening..." Shadow Snake muttered before the cockpit forcibly closed down on him, trapping him within Shadow Gear REX.

Music stops

And soon, the Metal Gear dropped down on its metallic knees before some explosions covered it overtime.

Everyone watched as it began to shatter into spores of darkness that vanished upon flying up into the air. The top of the machine began to vaporize into spores before it eventually vanished from sight.

Yuffie saw one last spore disappearing before she looked serious with a smirk and said, "And never come back again! You destroy Wutai's grounds, you mess with my guys!"

"...Shut up...please..." Samus muttered.

"Okey-dokey!" Elena said before she shut her mouth tightly.

Everyone reunited with each other (except for the girls on the wall). Cloud looked and nodded at Aerith. "Great job, Aerith."

Aerith smiled a bit. "It was nothing. I'm happy were able to pull through this."

"Yeah, that was luck, alright," Cid commented as he gave Tifa (now cured) a Hi-Potion to restore her injuries. "Machine saw it comin' to it, along with that son of a b%^&* of a shadow."

Marth came from behind the fallen Rapps and walked to the group. "It seems this battle ended," he said. "I'm glad that we didn't have that many problems without our weapons."

"Speaking of weapons," Fox said after he drank a Hi-Potion. He turned around and looked at the girls on the wall. "Shouldn't we just put them down now?"

"That's like the best idea in the world now!" Yuffie yelled from the wall. "I have a freaking spear right below my head, for god's sake!"

Cloud sighed and walked towards them. "We'll put you down, Yuffie, if you give us back our stuff."

Yuffie sighed in depression. "...Okay..."

Cloud glared at the ninja. "Listen, Yuffie. If you're gonna do another dirty trick on us, I'm going to have to kill you off the next time we meet."

The ninja looked apologetic at the blond mercenary. "Okay, okay, I understand this time for real, geez..."

"I hope you do," Cloud said before looking at the stalactites. "I think I saw the remote control falling between those rocks over there..."

"Wait, if you do press that control, we'll fall right into the lava," Samus said.

"Okay, change of plans," Cloud said. "Maybe we should get a ladder...or something else..."

While Cloud wondered what to do about getting the girls down, a codec signal rang inside Chris's right ear. The agent pressed his staples and got into a codec conversation with Otacon. "Otacon, we defeated the Metal Gear," Chris said in relief.

"I know," Otacon said. "Thanks to you, you won't have to face another Metal Gear. Thankfully, you destroyed it completely, and it was good it vaporized into spores...but..."

"But what?"

"I dunno, but there's something that's been bugging me..." Otacon trailed off. "If you ask me, I think that shadow version of Snake didn't look that...desperate..."

"...Well, Snake is supposed to be very serious, right?"

"Yeah, but that shadow was commanding a Metal Gear," Otacon said. "The girl destroyed it, but I think the shadow's mood didn't look that alarmed... Actually, don't you think it was a bit easy that you beat him?"

"N-no..." Chris muttered. "...Wait...what are you thinking about?"

"Well...I'm thinking that the battle...isn't over yet..."

"B-but we destroyed the Metal Gear with Shadow Snake in it! What else is there?"

"Well, aren't shadows supposed to dissipate once their true self start admitting their lies to them?"

"I guess, but I think they can be defeated through force..."

"Maybe that's not very relevant," Otacon said. "But whatever you say, Shadow Snake didn't look like he thought was in real trouble. Every expression he made during the fight doesn't make me think we won, but it's like it's making me think he had more things under his sleeve yet to show to us."

"...Otacon...you're starting to scare me... I don't see Shadow Snake around the area, minus where the Metal Gear stood..."

"...Maybe...he might be there still but you can't see him..." Otacon muttered.

"...W-what?"

"Chris, warn everyone about this," Otacon said. "That shadow might be still there with you. Be extremely careful. I don't like where this is going."

"I hope your assumptions are wrong about this whole thing..." Chris muttered before they both ended the codec call. The agent looked at everyone. "E-everyone, we need to be careful," he said.

"What? Why?" Tifa asked. "We finished that guy and his machine off."

"Y-yes, but I think this is not over yet," Chris said. "In fact...that shadow might be still on the loose..."

Cid looked mad at this. "The kid's getting' weird ideas. I see no shadow 'round this hot place!" he complained.

Chris looked worried at Lucario. "Lucario, can you use your aura to detect that shadow?"

Lucario looked a bit skeptical. "Well, if you say so..." he muttered before he glowed with his aura, his eyes turning a bright yellow. Everyone watched the aura wielder glowing for ten seconds before he stopped, his appendages lowering down. He looked at Chris and shook his head. "I can't detect that shadow anymore, Chris..."

"But...I thought..." Chris trailed off.

"Sorry, but I can't find him," Lucario said. "I think he went down with the Metal Gear."

Tifa sighed. "Please, you guys... Don't make me feel scared with those things about that guy being still alive."

The agent looked away. "I think Otacon was just imagining things..."

Back with Cloud, the blond mercenary rubbed his chin as he tried to think of a way to get down the girls from the wall. "Well, crap, I can't think of anything with that pool of lava right below all of you."

Yuffie sniffed. "Please, don't let stay up here forever, Cloud! I-I promise I'll give back everything!"

"Don't you promise, do it," Cloud said sternly.

"I-I'll do it, I'm good girl who does as she's been told to do!"

"What about you father?"

"That jackass can go to hell as much as I care!"

Cloud sweat dropped at this. "...Okay, let me think of a way to get you all down."

"You're such a peach, man! Thanks a bunch!" Yuffie said, shedding some tears upside down.

"Grow up already..." muttered Samus.

As Cloud kept thinking of a way to get all of them down, he was unaware that a presence was slowly approaching him from somewhere.

Cloud turned around and found Lucario. "Oh, it's you," he said.

"Chris told me you wanted to take them down here," Lucario said. "I can do that if you want."

"You can?"

"I can jump all the way where they all are," Lucario said. "I can cut the ropes and grab them before they can fall down."

"Okay, that'll help a lot," Cloud said nodding. "Please do."

"(I'm starting to get points for making him get impressed,)" Lucario thought happily, before he jumped straight towards the three girls. Yuffie watched as the Aura Pokémon reached the wall and grabbed it to stay stuck on it. Lucario began to cut the ropes by using the spikes of his free arm. Before Yuffie could fall, the Aura Pokémon quickly grabbed her from her wrist. He then jumped all the way down where Cloud was and set Yuffie down next to him.

"S-safe ground at last!" Yuffie rejoiced with glee, throwing her arms up before Cloud grabbed her left shoulder with his right hand. The ninja sighed in depression. "I know, I know..." she trailed off sulkily.

Cloud looked back at Lucario, who jumped right back towards the wall to get Samus down. The blond mercenary looked at Yuffie. "I hope you had fun, but it's all over now."

Yuffie looked bored. "Geez, man, I already said I was sorry like twelve times already! How many times do you want me to say sorry?"

"They won't matter as long as you give us our Materia," Cloud said.

"Look, I'll give the Materia back once we get out from this place," Yuffie said before Lucario brought Samus down to the safe ground next to them. "Seriously, I need you to stop giving me that dirty look you're making right now."

Lucario looked up at the crazed Elena. "Should I get her down as well?"

Cloud thought for a moment. "...Take her down as well. Reno was kind enough to give us a clue about where you all were."

Lucario nodded and went after Elena. Once he reached next to her, he cut the ropes keeping her on the spinning plate before he grabbed her by her right wrist and jumped all the way back to Cloud, lying her down on the ground.

"I'm sleeping!" Elena yelled out, her eyes shut tightly. "Don't bother me when I'm sleeping!"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "She's starting to become more and more annoying every time we meet her."

"Well, she's like this because she said she could turn irrational if her blood went to her head," Samus pointed out, all of them turning their backs on Elena.

"What a Turk she is, then..." Cloud trailed off.

Unaware, the four didn't notice that Elena started to levitate off from the ground somehow. The blond Turk thought she was drifting off in the clouds as she was mysteriously being taken away to the temple's entrance.

Once Aerith turned to look at the floating Elena, she let out a gasp and pointed straight at her. "E-everyone, look over there!" she yelled. "S-she's floating in midair!"

Everyone inside the wide room turned to see the floating Elena. Most of them let out gasps as she abruptly stopped floating and fell down on the ground. The blond Turk grumbled and turned to the temple's direction before Cloud let go of Yuffie's shoulder and went to check on her. He knelt down and looked around Elena. "What was that just now?" Cloud asked to himself. "How did she gain the ability to levitate by her own will?"

"That might be because she doesn't have that power."

The group listened to a voice calling out from somewhere in the room. They all looked around to see where it came from, but they couldn't find anyone close.

"W-who is that?" Chris asked.

"Kid, I'm surprised you've forgotten me that quickly. Well, I expected that from the beginning."

This time, the voice came from a completely different direction. The party started to think that they were hearing things and not an actual person. It was impossible to tell where the voice was coming from.

"That voice..." Marth trailed off. "...That voice is from that shadow!"

"Hurrah, at least there are some people who recall someone else's voice. I'm flattered, but not that much, honestly."

"I-it's Shadow Snake!" Chris yelled. "H-he's still here!"

"What? I thought that wuss went down with the machine!" Cid yelled in complaint. "How the f*^% did he manage to survive that?!"

"That'd be because I'm immune to shadow and dark attacks," Shadow Snake said, his voice coming from somewhere else. "Thanks to my 'other self' for neglecting his truths, my power is far beyond what you'd expect."

Tifa looked around with some fear. "W-why is his voice coming from different places at once?"

"Let me explain my other 'power up', please," Shadow Snake said from somewhere else. "Unlike any of the previous shadow monsters you guys had fought before, I traded offensive for defense. As such, I decided to increase further my camouflage stealth. Now, I'm completely invisible, my steps don't make any sound, and many other different ways to track me down are useless like the dog using his aura to find me. Don't even try using thermal vision as well. As of now, I'm a hundred percent invisible to your eyes."

"B-but that's..." Chris trailed off.

Suddenly, Chip pushed himself from Fox's arm and raised a finger. "That's blasphemy!" he added. "Only Chip Norris can d-"

"Oh, and in case you didn't know, the battle is not over yet," Shadow Snake said, his voice coming from somewhere else. "Let's see how everyone fares by fighting someone you can't even see or find."

Cloud shook his head and unsheathed his buster sword. "Damn that imbecile, using camouflage in a fight," he muttered before looking at Yuffie. "Yuffie, you better help us out here!"

Yuffie yelped a bit. "U-um, do I really have to?"

"Of course you will," Cloud said, putting a stern look. "Think of this as a way to say sorry for all you've done."

The ninja smiled a bit. "If I help, can I still have all the Materia?"

"I meant to say this is just a small part to forgive you," Cloud pointed out. "Besides, you love Wutai so much that you don't want this guy running about and destroy anything he sees, right?"

"..." Yuffie looked worried before she shook her head. "I-I don't want to let that guy do that!" she yelled before realizing what she said. Yuffie sighed in depression before she looked serious. "Alrighty, you convinced me, Cloud... That's pretty clever thinking of you, y'know," she said with a grin before taking out an oversized shuriken from behind. "Okay, I'll help. No dark guy is gonna destroy Wutai as long as I breathe!"

"Just to let you know, you're still giving everything back."

"I know, I know," Yuffie said in boredom.

Yell Dead Cell

Samus looked around the room. "This is bad. Since he's completely concealed anywhere...that decreases anyone's chances to land hits on him."

Lucario tried to find Shadow Snake's whereabouts using his aura. However, the Aura Pokémon couldn't detect any dark aura in the room. "It's no use," Lucario said as he stopped using his aura. "I can't detect his dark aura."

"I told you before that you don't have any ways to track me down."

Lucario, Cloud, Yuffie, and Samus backed away from their spot. They could have sworn Shadow Snake was just standing between all of them. Acting quickly, Samus ran towards the center and uses a flying kick, but she didn't strike anything but the air. "Dammit, he's not here anymore," Samus muttered. "(I could use my whip to land a strike, but that girl had to steal it from me...)" She felt that something pressed her throat rather hard. "U-ugh!"

"What, can't fight without weapons?" Shadow Snake asked, holding Samus's throat in a grip with his arms. "You rather be like me and use physical attacks, Samus."

"Y-you...bastard..." Samus muttered, her vision slowly becoming blurry.

"Leave her alone!" Lucario yelled as he ran towards Samus and fired an Aura Sphere over her left shoulder. The sphere, however, went flying and crashed against the wall, making Lucario grunt.

"Miss," Shadow Snake muttered before he slammed Samus down on the ground. Lucario quickly rushed and tossed a fist of aura where he thought Shadow Snake was, but he ended up punching the air. "Ooh, missed as well. You have really bad accuracy, dog."

"Come and get it, you!" Yuffie yelled as she dashed to where she thought Shadow Snake was. The ninja held her shuriken tight on her right hand and did a hard spin. The spin attack actually managed to land a slash on something, and Shadow Snake grunted in pain. "Ha-ha, leave camouflage to real ninjas!" she said with joy before she was kicked hard on her stomach, making her fall to the ground. "O-oww..."

"You just got lucky to do that, girl," Shadow Snake said, his voice seemingly drifting away to another location of the room.

The others spread out of the room and looked around for any signs of the Shadow Nightmare. Sonic sniffed the air, and he later shrugged at the action. "I can't sniff him out!" he yelled. "He REALLY is invisible!"

"Isn't that just wonderful or what?" Fox asked, his eyes darting everywhere while he raised his fists.

Suddenly, a jab made Fox's breath escape his mouth. The vulpine clutched his stomach and backed away before two kicks to his face made him fall on the ground. Fox coughed in pain before a sweeping kick struck the side of his head. The vulpine put his hands up and managed to grab an incoming kick. "I-I found him!" he yelled to Sonic. "Quick, attack him!"

Sonic readied his fists and sent a flying right fist to Fox's direction. The vulpine, suddenly, gasped as he was grabbed by the collar and was put in the front where he received a harsh punch by Sonic. "G-gah!" Fox gasped in pain.

The werehog looked shocked and pulled his fist back, seeing the vulpine before slammed down behind where he lied down on the ground in pain. "N-no, that was an accident!" Sonic said in his defense before gritting his fangs. "You BASTARD!" he yelled at Shadow Snake, blindly charging forward to empty air where he leaped and slashed it with both claws. "Grr!!!" Sonic grunted after just slashing the air. "Where'd he go?!"

Suddenly, an explosion went off. Sonic turned around and saw a thick cloud of smoke where Fox was. The werehog saw through the smoke a fainted Fox. "...S-sorry... I-I...just can't...go on...anymore...ugh..." Fox muttered before he passed out of cold.

"No!" Sonic yelled before he looked around. "That guy is using explosives?!"

"Fools, I also had enough power to have my equipment back, unlike my false self," Shadow Snake said from somewhere close to them. "You all better watch out before you get injured badly. These weapons are also invisible and silent. Just think about an unexpected missile on your backs"

Sonic stomped the ground. "Aww, great! Now he has weapons we can't see as well!"

Cid took out a cigarette and lighted it with a lighter. He put the cigarette hanging on between his lips and exhaled smoke. "Bastard thinks he can go chameleon on us, huh? Bring it on, b&*^%!" he dared the shadow.

"With pleasure, foul-mouthed man," Shadow Snake said from behind the space man.

Cid's eyes made a glare before he turned around and tried to slash the shadow with his spear. However, Cid only slashed the air. "S*^&!" Cid cursed, starting to slash the air around him in hopes to land a hit on the invisible shadow. "Be a man and let me see ya!"

The space man suddenly felt a square object being attached to his head. Cid looked up before an explosion was triggered on his head, making him get pushed away to the ground where he fell on his back and gritted his teeth in pain. "Sorry, I won't let you order me around," Shadow Snake taunted with a chuckle.

"F-f^%#..." Cid cursed under his breath before getting up from the ground. The space man put a tight grip on his spear and looked around, trying to find the invisible shadow. "Where the hell did you go now? Tell me!" he demanded.

It seemed that Shadow Snake had left Cid behind. The invisible Shadow Nightmare was slowly approaching a clueless Tifa, who had fists raised to her shoulder level so she could block any surprise attacks or deliver some punches. Suddenly, a fist clashes against her right fist, and she quickly reached out to the air where the grabbed an arm. "Got you!" she yelled before turning around and slamming down the shadow on the ground.

However, while she was still grabbing the shadow, Shadow Snake took advantage of this and brought Tifa down to the ground as well. The fighter swept the ground in pain before she stopped, feeling that she wasn't grabbing an arm anymore. A sweeping kick kicked Tifa further away from her spot, and she pushed herself up and got in a fighting stance. She wiped some blood from her lips and shifted her eyes around. "Careful of the snake," Shadow Snake said from somewhere around Tifa. "It might bite you if you're careless."

"S-shut up, you!" Tifa yelled back, her fists ready to deliver some blows. "Just let me find out where you are and then you'll be very sorry!"

"Ooh, I'm scared. A girl's gonna punch my guts out," Shadow Snake taunted. "I'd feel scared it if was a man, but a girl doesn't know how to punch a man."

"..." Tifa looked mad at this. "Okay, you're being sexist now!"

"I can be whatever I want," Shadow Snake said over Tifa's right shoulder before he walked away to avoid a punch from her. "You can't hit me, though," he said behind her before walking away to avoid a spinning kick. "Maybe you need some glasses so you look more defenseless," he taunted in front of her before he ducked down and evaded three punches. "After all, girls don't know how to deal a good ki-" he stopped talking once Tifa kicked him hard on the face.

"There you are!" Tifa said before she forced Shadow Snake to stand up by kicking up his chin. The shadow grunted in pain before Tifa began a series of physical combos on him. "I'll show you!" she said, delivering fast fists on Shadow Snake's face. "Not done yet!" she said, doing a quick somersault kick up to Shadow Snake's chin, herself landing on the ground. "But now I'm done!" she said, sweeping the ground hard with her right leg, accompanied with a blast of water that pushed the shadow away from her.

"U-ugh..." Shadow Snake backed away. "Better be more careful..." he muttered, his voice going to another direction.

Tifa stood up and looked around. "You coward, come back here!" she demanded.

Close to her, Lucario had his hands burning with his aura. The Aura Pokémon shifted his eyes around the room to stay cautious from the invisible shadow. "It'll be hard to strike someone you can't even detect," Lucario muttered. "But once he deals a strike, my power will just grow, and I'll remember where the blow came from. That way, I'll end up delivering most damage."

"In your dreams, dog," Shadow Snake called from somewhere.

Lucario turned around and fired a quick Aura Sphere, which only went through the air and crashed to the western wall. He grunted and looked around. "(I know he's around me, but where?)" he asked in confusion.

It was not long before Lucario felt a round object bumping into his back. He turned around and was met by a grenade's explosion, forcing him to back away to a spot where an invisible mine triggered and exploded on his feet, pushing him to the air. Lucario grunted loudly and flipped in the air to land on his feet, where a fast moving object crashed against his face and exploded, making him grit his fangs in pain. He looked at his hands burning with more aura than before.

"I better try not to make you mad," Shadow Snake taunted from a direction Lucario turned to. "Those hands can kill places very easily, and I don't want to get caught in the crossfire."

"You're just making me even stronger..." Lucario trailed off. "You better stay out of the way..."

"Yeah...that's not happening."

Suddenly, several explosions set off all around Lucario. The Aura Pokémon yelled in pain as he was pushed back into the air, this time not regaining his composure. Lucario then met a downward kick right to his face, forcing him to crash hard into the ground while his aura just kept growing, but his energy going down very quickly. "U-ugh... G-grrr..." Lucario grunted.

"Normally, my false self would've done this really poorly," Shadow Snake said from somewhere as Lucario slowly got up from the ground. "I do use my mind, though. Explosions should do more damage than mere physical attacks to you."

"S-shut up...and stop taunting me..." Lucario muttered in pain, his aura flaring up even more.

"You're not my dad," Shadow Snake taunted. "You're just a mutt with weird thighs."

"GUARGH!" Lucario turned around and shot a massive Aura Sphere that managed to hit the shadow. Shadow Snake yelled in pain as he was sent across the room, towards the temple where he crashed on the floor and grunted. "D-don't...mock me...anymore..." he panted.

"Lucario!" Aerith yelled worried before she ran to his side and knelt down. "Oh no, you're really hurt..." she muttered.

Lucario looked at the flower girl. "I-it's okay, Aerith. I can mo-"

"No, you need to rest," she said as she took out a Hi-Potion from behind. "Here, drink this. This is the last Hi-Potion we have so drink i-"

Aerith gasped once an explosion, which reached her and Lucario, pushed her away, holding a broken potion in her right hand. The flower girl twitched a bit in pain as she looked at the broken item. She gasped and looked back where Lucario was lying on the floor. "N-no!"

[DededeCloneChris]

Lucario lied down on the ground, the Hi-Potion's liquid spilled all over his body except his mouth. The damage of the explosion had taken him out.

"One down," Shadow Snake muttered as he put away his missile launcher.

Aerith looked around her pockets, but she gasped after finding out they had run out from Phoenix Downs. "N-no, we ran out of healing items!" she yelled, seeing the fainted Lucario on the ground. "I-I'm...I'm so sorry, Lucario..."

Her sobs were soon interrupted as a saint light touched Lucario's back. Holy wings appeared and fluttered a bit before vanishing. The Aura Pokémon grunted as he slowly stood up. He let out a growl as his hands began flaring with aura again.

"..." Aerith wiped her tears off from her face and smiled happily. "Well, I need to stop being dramatic..." she trailed off in embarrassment.

However, several explosions were triggered right after Lucario stood up. The Aura Pokémon screamed in pain before he was pushed several feet away. Aerith watched as Lucario rolled recklessly on the ground before he stopped, lying down with his face turning to the temple's direction.

Aerith looked horrified at this that she shook in fear. "N-no!" she yelled. "Lucario!"

"What, did you think I'd forget the fact everyone needs to be knocked out twice so they stay knocked out for good?"

Aerith took a quick action and brandished her long staff. She put up a serious face as she looked around for the nearby shadow. "W-where are you? I-I'm going to show you not to mess with us!" she said with determination.

"Aww, the girl's crying because I took out the dog that's not even hers," Shadow Snake taunted. "You're really into pups, aren't you?"

"S-shut up, I care about the people I like to be with," Aerith said. "If I need to protect them, I'll protect them from a monster like you!"

"Ooh, I'm a monster now," Shadow Snake snickered before he grabbed Aerith's staff, making her gasp and try to keep it with her. "Well, since I'm a monster, I'll take that staff of yours and break it in half."

"C-Cloud!" Aerith yelled for help. "H-he's right in front of me!"

"I got it!" Cloud yelled from afar, as he ran towards Aerith.

However, Aerith suddenly pulled her staff back to her. She gasped after Shadow Snake let go of it, allowing him to escape to another location. "He escaped!" Aerith yelled.

Cloud stopped running towards her and looked around. "Dammit, why did he have to be invincible and COMPLETELY silent?"

"Those Shadow Nightmares have really unpredictable powers..." Samus muttered. "They can increase power drastically, they can increase speed greatly, they can raise defensive skills such a camouflage, and they can call forth other things..."

Chris backed away to her side. "Just how many things can they do?"

"I wish I knew," Samus muttered. "It greatly depends on the people they take over. I can tell that much, though..."

"That's all you need to know about how dangerous Shadow Nightmares are, Sammy."

Samus turned around, but she was grabbed by the neck by two arms. The bounty hunter began gasping for breath, making Chris back away in fear. Samus's body turned around towards Chris as she tried to break free by pushing away the invisible arms, but she wasn't able to do so. "C-Chris, help..." Samus trailed off weakly.

"S-Samus, hold on there!" Chris said as he aimed his revolver over Samus's left shoulder, only for Samus to be forced to get in the direction. The agent gasped at this before he tried aiming over her shoulder again, but Samus was forced to move in its way again. "T-that's not fair, you! Using a woman like Samus as your shield and hostage...t-that's a dirty trick!"

"No, it's not," Shadow Snake said behind the struggling Samus. "It's playing on the defensive, literally."

"T-that's playing dirty on the defensive!" Chris yelled, trying to aim the behind Samus's back to shoot at the invisible enemy. "S-stop, please!"

Samus's breathings began to slow down at an alarming pace. The agent looked frightened as he tried to aim the shadow and shoot in time before Samus could be choked to death. "Q-quick..." Samus muttered in pain, her vision starting to become blurrier by the seconds.

"I-I don't know what to do!" Chris yelled, dropping his revolver to the ground. "I-I don't want to end up shooting at your face!"

Shadow Snake chuckled darkly. "Pathetic," he muttered. "Guess she's as good as deat-"

"Here comes super ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie yelled from above the shadow's position, raising high up her oversized shuriken to slash the invisible enemy. "You wanna get cut? I'll cut ya down right on the spot!"

As soon as she was about to land and slash, Shadow Snake released Samus, and Yuffie accidentally ended up slashing Samus's back harshly. The bounty hunter yelled in pain as she stumbled forward while the ninja looked horrified at her mistake. Soon after that, an explosion triggered behind Samus, forcing her to fall down on the ground where she grunted in pain and slowly got up. "B-bastard..." Samus muttered in pain.

"I-I'm so sorry, really!" Yuffie said in horror. "I-I... T-that guy moved away on the last minute!" she said on her defense. "I-I didn't want t-"

"I know..." Samus interrupted the ninja.

"That was pretty clever," Shadow Snake admitted somewhere nearby Yuffie, making her shift her eyes in fear. "I was planning to choke her until she was knocked out, and once she was revived by that crappy light, the mines I placed on her back would set off and take her out right away. That slash you did made me stop, allowing her to get saved."

Chris picked up his revolver and began firing at the air around Yuffie. "Y-you monster, stop doing this!"

"I'll stop once I get done with all of you," Shadow Snake commented. "Judging by the fact the way you're shooting right now, it's making me think you want me out, right?"

"That's the whole idea!" Chris yelled before he received a hard knee attack to his stomach. "U-ugh!"

"Never yell back to your superiors, kid," Shadow Snake said.

Chris received a hard uppercut on his chin, making him back away in pain. "Y-you're not my superior but a big bully..." he muttered before receiving a harsh kick attack on his chest, making him fall back to the ground where a downward kick slammed his stomach down. "O-oww!" Chris yelped in pain, feeling a round object being laid down on him before it exploded, making him roll away on the ground. "Y-you're...you're enjoying all this..."

Yuffie helplessly waved her shuriken around while she ran around the spot where she thought Shadow Snake was attacking Chris, but she only managed to slice through the air in a crazy frenzy. "I should've taken stealth lessons more seriously, and that also goes for rope training lessons as well!" she complained.

Suddenly, Yuffie felt that she sliced something, but then she was pushed away by an invisible missile's explosion. The ninja slid on the ground in pain before she gracefully pushed herself up and flipped in the air, landing on the ground. She twitched a bit in pain, but Yuffie managed to become numb to it as she looked around for Shadow Snake. "Learn to be less reckless, girl," Shadow Snake commented.

Yuffie gritted her teeth with anger. "Once I'll find ya, you're gonna be AWFULLY sorry for destroying Wutai's grounds!"

"How sweet to see such a girl devoted to her nation," Shadow Snake commented.

Yuffie received a missile exploding on her back. The ninja went flying forward before flipping and landing on her feet. Closing one eye in pain, she turned around and swung her shuriken hard, only slicing the air as well. "I'm gonna take camouflage lessons more SERIOUSLY, I swear!" she said in irritation.

"It's not like they'll help you out in any way," Shadow Snake commented behind her, making her turn and swing her shuriken to the empty air again. "I use advanced technology made out of shadow energy... Oh, wait, it's not actual technology but an ability I can only have for myself," he commented behind her back, making her turn, but this time without swinging her shuriken.

"Grr, stop moving around!" Yuffie complained.

"You stop moving around. It really tires me to have to walk all the time behind you," Shadow Snake said.

Yuffie turned around and swung her shuriken fast, ending up with slicing nothing. "Aww, come on, you!" she ranted.

The ninja watched as the agent tried to stand up, but he was struck hard by an invisible kick on the head, making him roll away before losing consciousness. "Forgot that he was still breathing," Shadow Snake said. "Now I won't have to worry about more scum."

Shadow Snake was suddenly slashed hard on his back by Yuffie's shuriken. The ninja, standing right behind the invisible shadow, let out a war cry as she stepped back and dashed forward to slash the shadow several times before ending it with pushing him to the ground. "Lucky hits!" Yuffie rejoiced.

The shadow had moved away while she rejoiced.

Yuffie turned around and saw Samus being pushed away by some invisible kicks on her back. The bounty hunter grunted in pain and turned around to stop a kick, but it pulled away from her before a ramming attack pushed her down to the ground. Samus, feeling a lot of pain, quickly rolled away from a crashing downward kick where it should had struck her chest. Rolling to the side, she gracefully flipped back on her feet and raised her fists. "I...still can...do this..." she trailed off weakly.

"I admire your acrobatic skills, Samus," Shadow Snake said nearby. "You're the kind of girl I'd hit."

"What are you...talking about now?" Samus asked sternly.

"You don't see girls fighting the way you do," Shadow Snake commented from another spot around Samus. "It's such a surprise to see one doing some fighting."

"Thanks for the remark...but I'm not interested in men," she muttered. She felt a round object slamming on her right arm that she quickly backed away from the spot to avoid another explosion. "Stop being invisible..."

"But if I do that, I'll get severely handicapped against all of you," Shadow Snake said. "Losing that skill will render my progress, Samus. I don't see why I should become visible."

"There you are!" Cloud yelled, coming down from above to slam down his sword on the ground. The blond mercenary grunted before he was suddenly grabbed by behind by the shadow, who tried to chock Cloud as fast as possible. Tifa came in from behind and tossed some punches behind Cloud, but the shadow had already left the chocking Cloud, the blond mercenary dropping to his right knee while he tried to regain his breath. "D-dangit..." he muttered.

Tifa looked at Samus. "Sorry, but we don't have anymore Potions or Phoenix Downs to recover," she said. "We'll have to be more careful than befor-AAAAH!!!" Three explosions exploded right behind her. Tifa went up into the air and was attacked by some downward kicks before one of them slammed right down on her stomach, making her crash close to Cloud, who looked shocked before getting angry again. "C-Cloud..." Tifa muttered on the ground. "H-help..."

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled as Aerith and Cid ran to them, Yuffie doing the same. The four who were still standing up looked around, trying to stay cautious about the invisible shadow while protecting Tifa from being harmed. "Imbecile, where are you?!" Cloud asked in rage.

"Aw, god, you all committed a big mistake now," Shadow Snake commented.

"What big mistake is that?" Yuffie asked. "We're trying to protect Tifa from getting hurt by YOU, you know!"

"That's exactly the big mistake," Shadow Snake said. "Now."

Underneath Tifa, several explosions were set off, damaging every single one of them, forcing them to go into the air where Shadow Snake fired several invisible missiles at will, creating a plethora of fireworks that caused everyone to yell in pain before they all crashed in different parts of the ground, all of them moaning in pain. "M-mother...f&%^*$..." Cid muttered before he let go of cigarette and fainted.

Samus had lost consciousness, but her back was touched gently by a holy light that made light wings appear and flutter before vanishing. The bounty hunter slowly got up, looking at Cloud, Aerith, and Yuffie still trying to stand up. "...I have to get serious now," Samus muttered.

"I already got serious enough here," Shadow Snake said.

Samus suddenly heard a yell of pain coming from Cloud. The blond mercenary was lying down on the ground, trying to reach his fallen buster sword in front of him. There was Shadow Snake's right foot stepping on top of Cloud's weakened hand, causing him to scream as Samus watched his skin being twisted painfully to the sides. "N-no!" she said.

"Cloud, no!" Aerith yelled, struggling to stand up from the ground. "L-leave Cloud alone!"

"He needs company badly," Shadow Snake said. "I don't want him to be a loner."

"W-what the heck is up with these monsters?" Yuffie asked, trying to reach out for her shuriken besides her. "W-why would they use very sadistic comments?"

"That's how Shadow Nightmares are," Shadow Snake said. "We live only to make those untrue to themselves suffer. Why not believing in the truth to save yourself from being killed is beyond me, but I know for sure we have a duty to shut up those bastards from keeping lying to themselves forever. We're doing a favor here, if you see."

"T-that's...a very twisted way to resolve things..." Cloud muttered in pain, blood starting to spill from each sides of his mouth. "Y-you...are...really...annoying...and...worthless... AAA-AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" he started screaming loudly as he felt the foot crushing his hand even more.

"C-CLOUD!" Aerith yelled.

"Don't you go saying those things, kid," Shadow Snake said. "You'll only get hurt."

"Leave them alone, you filthy being of darkness!"

Shadow Snake turned around in time to sneak right behind Marth, who decided to rush in to the fight to save Cloud from getting harmed, the latter losing consciousness. The Altean prince stopped running before Shadow Snake grabbed his left arm, put it behind his back, and began twisting to the point Marth began yelling in pain. "Trying to be a hero, huh?" Shadow Snake said behind the screaming Marth. "Don't jump into battle when you don't have your sword, kid."

"S-stop, now!" Marth yelled between his screams. "A-argh!"

"Oh, please, it's just a little twist that will break your bone," Shadow Snake said. "It's not like you're gonna miss it that much. Wait, I think you're right handed, so you'll have to start using your other hand...not like you're going to survive through this, though."

Chip, who was hiding behind the fallen Rapps, flew up and pumped up a fist. "Go, prince, go!" he cheered. "Show that guy what you're made of by throwing some fists!"

"I-I wasn't that much into physical fighting!" Marth yelled.

"You fight with a sword! Isn't that physical fighting?"

"I mean LITERAL physical fighting!"

Chip blinked a bit. "Oh...well, hang on in there. Chip Norris doesn't want to cheat and go fight that guy today. I'd beat him really badly otherwise," he said before hiding behind the fallen Rapps.

Marth slowly dropped to his knees as his arm twisted in pain. The Altean gritted his teeth in pain as he tried to resist but to no avail. "P-please...somebody...help..." Marth muttered weakly, his right arm starting to become numb to the pain.

"It's over," Shadow Snake said.

A fearsome roar echoed in the cave. Shadow Snake turned around and received a ramming attack by a reddish lion that had arrived at the nick of time. The shadow grunted as he looked down to the feral beast before him, letting go of the weakened Marth. "You..." Shadow Snake muttered.

Red XIII gritted his fangs as he faced forward to the empty air. "I knew there was a reason why everyone here was lying down on the ground," he muttered. "Then I saw the guy's arm twisting all by itself, and I also heard a voice coming from just behind him. Thinking quickly, I deduced there was someone, you, doing all that."

"Huh, smart pup," Shadow Snake said, walking somewhere else. "Well, thanks to you, you saved the metrosexual guy (Marth: D-darn you...) from dying, but you only delayed the time of his death."

The feral beast grunted. "Just because you're invisible doesn't mean I'll just give up the fighting," he said. "And for hurting everyone here, I'll be your next opponent."

"Honorable, I see," Shadow Snake remarked. "Okay, let's start the fight, pup."

"I am NOT a mere dog!" Red XIII roared in fury as he leaped forward to the air, landing on the ground without ramming to the shadow. The feral beast gritted his fangs and looked around the room. "Where did you go now? (I can't hear any footsteps or even smell a faint odor from him...)"

Red XIII was kicked a few feet away. The lion grunted in pain before he landed back on the ground and looked around more for the shadow. "I'm here, yet at the same time over all the place," Shadow Snake said. "Try to guess where I am."

"RIGHT THERE!"

A crushing fist shot downwards to the spot where the shadow was, who let out a loud grunt. Red XIII blinked at the long claw before him as he looked up to the ceiling of the room where Sonic had a claw stuck on the ceiling while the other one was all the way down where the shadow lied down in pain. The werehog chuckled and showed his fangs a bit. "I forgot the pesky hedgehog monster was still in here..." Shadow Snake muttered.

"Heh, guess now you're thinking I use my mind to strike before attacking," Sonic said with triumph. "I'm so flattered."

Shadow Snake pushed the claw away before it shot down deep into the ground. Sonic pulled back his fists before he let go of the ceiling and fell down on the ground. The werehog looked at Red XIII and chuckled. "Sorry for being annoying to ya," he said.

Red XIII stared at the werehog. "You're the hedgehog, right? I can tell that much because both of yo-"

"Yeah, I'm the hedgehog. You're surely saying that because of my smell being familiar, right?"

"No," Red XIII said. "It's because you both act pretty much the same with the cocky attitudes."

Sonic looked bored at this. "Oh, man..."

"In any case," Red XIII began as he shifted his eyes, "we must take out our enemy before he does so with us."

Sonic smacked his fists together. "Right, but first, take in mind we have people still awake over there," he said as he pointed at Aerith and Yuffie, still struggling to keep themselves awake while Marth weakly walked to them, a hand grabbing his right arm. "You look pretty beat up, even though it's just your arm."

Marth looked annoyed at the hedgehog. "D-dont say that. I tried to save Cloud from getting hurt," he said on his defense. "Why didn't you do anything before?"

"Waiting to find the right time to attack," Sonic said. "Otherwise I'd end up hurting somebody else by accident like I did with the fox guy."

"I-I see..." Marth muttered before looking at Red XIII. "D-did you see somebody else coming here?"

Red XIII shook his head. "No, but I did smell some familiar scents in the dark maze behind," he said. "They're all here, but they're lost in the maze. Since I thought it'd be better if I came here first to see how things were going, I wanted to make sure I didn't delay much of my time in coming here." He looked around and gritted his fangs again. "You better leave this room before that shadow finishes you off, though."

"R-right," Marth said before he ran towards the exit of the cave, managing to take cover behind the fallen Rapps.

Sonic readied his fists and looked around the room. "Any ideas where'd he go?"

"It's hard for me to know that," Red XIII muttered before he ran towards Aerith and Yuffie. "Can you both stand up?"

"I-I think I can't..." Aerith muttered.

"Y-you wouldn't happen to have some items with you?" Yuffie asked.

Red XIII shook his head. "I couldn't buy something at the shop because I didn't have money."

"R-rats..."

"Even so, they'd scream if they knew I could talk or even see the way I look," the feral lion said. "All I can do now is fight that enemy and keep you safe."

Aerith forced a weak smile at Red XIII. "T-thank you..." she muttered before she fainted.

Red XIII gasped silently before he grunted and turned around. "Hey, you! The invisible enemy! Come on and fight me!" he demanded.

"I'll just do that," Shadow Snake spoke from behind.

"(There he is!)" Red XIII did a sharp turn and leaped towards the voice's origin. The feral lion crossed the air and landed on the ground before a sweeping kick made him trip. Red XIII quickly reacted and rolled to the left to avoid another sweeping kick, giving him enough time to stand up and leap towards the kick's direction, successfully pinning the shadow down on the ground. "I've got you now!" Red XIII yelled before fully opening his mouth to bite the shadow's face.

Shadow Snake grunted and stuffed a grenade between the feral lion's fangs. Red XIII grunted and shook off the grenade high up before it could explode. The lion growled angrily and began scratching Shadow Snake's face before the shadow pushed him away, only to receive a fast punch from Sonic, who leaped and pinned the shadow down to the ground. Sonic smirked (rather evilly) before he began to pound the shadow with his fists. "Get off me!" Shadow Snake demanded, grabbing Sonic's arms before tossing him away. The shadow rolled forward and stood up before walking somewhere else.

"Heh," Sonic muttered as he wiped his nose with a finger. "So little time, so much damage," he muttered, pleased with himself.

"Sonic!"

The werehog turned towards the exit of the cave where Mario and Knuckles appeared from behind the fallen monster, the latter being the one who yelled. Sonic grinned and ran to meet up with them. "You're here, you guys," he said.

"Why the heck are you a werehog now?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic pointed up at the dark atmosphere. "Chris told me Eggman came in here and used some machine to let a Shadow Nightmare attack us."

"A Shadow Nightmare?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, that guy is invicible and stupidly silent," Sonic said. "Moreover, he grabbed the tight butt man and copied the way he looked."

Mario looked away. "Snake..." he muttered.

Knuckles looked stern. "You're saying that shadow is around here, except he's invisible?"

"And silent," Sonic added. "You better watch out for any surprise attack he throws because he likes to be this cheap!"

Mario looked back at Sonic. "So much for today," he said before looking around. "Let's join forces and fight Snake's shadow, then."

Knuckles nodded. "I agree," he said before readying his fists. "C'mon, you stupid monster of darkness! Fight us!"

The trio looked back where Red XIII stood close to the fallen members of the group. The feral lion shifted his eyes around, trying to see where the shadow would speak to pinpoint his location. "How long are you planning to stay hidden?" Red XIII demanded.

"Fine, pup," Shadow Snake said before he set a mine on Red XIII's back, only for him to bite it and throw it away before it exploded. "You're really impatient for my own good."

Red XIII replied with a loud roar before he leaped and extended his paws towards the shadow's direction, only for him to get a direct kick on his face. Red XIII landed back on the ground and shook his head in pain before the shadow did an upward kick to his chin, pushing the lion into the air where the shadow jumped up and pushed Red XIII away with both feet, making the feral lion crash into the ground where he growled and stood up, his right eye tightly shut. "N-not bad..." Red XIII remarked.

Knuckles rushed in with both fists ready. "You better be prepared for me, cheap idiot!" he cursed as he let out a war cry. He was then punched on his face, but he managed to grab the fist and didn't let go of it. "T-there you are!"

However, Shadow Snake chuckled and kicked Knuckles right on his stomach, making him fall back. "You know where I am...but you don't, now," he said as he walked away from the grunting echidna.

"D-darn..." Knuckles muttered before getting up. "Where did he go now?"

Knuckles was suddenly engulfed in an explosion from a nearby grenade that the shadow had dropped. The echidna was pushed away where he rolled on the ground and managed to sit down on one knee, panting a bit. "Huh, I thought you'd fall down faster. Guess I was wrong," Shadow Snake muttered.

"I can hold my ground longer than you think I can..." Knuckles muttered as he gritted hard his fangs. "J-just let me make you hurt."

"Sorry, can't let you do that," Shadow Snake said before he stepped away from a downward punch from Mario, who landed close to him. "Oh, the plumber. I forgot he was here," he said before a big fist pushed him forward, right where Mario was crouching down to make the shadow fall and slam down his face on the ground. "D-darn, I didn't see that coming," the shadow muttered on the ground before Mario performed a break dance (no, really) sweep kick, pushing the shadow away from him. "N-now you're making me really mad," the shadow muttered before getting up by rolling forward.

"Yes," Red XIII muttered. "We're gaining the upper hand in this battle."

"That's what I call making a comeback," Sonic admitted with a (wicked) grin. "That guy has his days counted."

Suddenly, the hedgehog met a grenade slamming right into his face, triggering a big explosion that pushed himself and Red XIII away. Sonic grunted loudly as he flipped in the air and landed back on the ground, sliding a bit before looking around for the shadow. "Don't get so cocky now," Shadow Snake said. "Your cockiness shall be your biggest mistake."

"G-grr..." Sonic grunted and turned around. "Y-you try saying me that closer!"

"Okay."

Sonic's eyes widened before he turned around and received a harsh kick attack on his face. The werehog went rolling along the ground while Mario jumped towards the shadow with a fist ready to attack, but the shadow walked closer to Mario and grabbed his legs, slamming him down on the ground before Red XIII leaped from behind the shadow and pinned him down, saving Mario from further harm.

Red XIII roared before he began scratching Shadow Snake's face as quickly as he could before the shadow pushed him away, only for Sonic to come back and slam down his huge fists on the shadow's chest. "G-grr!" Shadow Snake grunted before grabbing one of Sonic's fists to throw him away. The shadow pushed his feet up to walk away to another location.

"Keep it going like that...and this battle will finish soon..." Sonic muttered as he looked over to Knuckles's side. The echidna was still panting heavily after he was hurt. "You okay, Knucklehead?"

"C-couldn't be any worse than this..." Knuckles muttered as he panted heavily. "H-how come you guys can resist more attacks than I can?"

Sonic rubbed his chin. "Hmm, maybe because you're not like us who can get benefits by the abilities we buy...umm...hmm...what was the name again? Smashers?"

"...T-that's bullcrap..." Knuckles muttered. "T-that hand is going t-"

"You're going to knock yourself out, you like it or not," Shadow Snake spoke from behind the echidna.

Knuckles gasped before a mine was put on his back. The mine then triggered by exploding right on his back, prompting Knuckles to be pushed high to the air. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Knuckles screamed before his pupils shrunk when a downward kick was delivered to his stomach. The echidna let out a gasp for breath as he was sent rocketing towards the ground, where Sonic quickly reached him out with his stretchable claws, catching Knuckles in time before he could fall down hard. The were hog pulled the echidna back to him and Mario, both of them looking at their fainted member.

"Knuckles!" Sonic yelled before he slowly gritted his fangs and set the echidna down. "That's it, now I'm PISSED OFF!" he roared in fury.

Suddenly, a grenade slammed right into his face, triggering a big explosion that forced Mario to fly away as well as Sonic did. The werehog grunted and flipped once more in the air, landing hard on the ground. "Aww, the monster is mad now," Shadow Snake taunted from nearby. "I better be careful with it."

Sonic's eyes took a wild look before he licked his fangs and let out a fearsome roar to the ceiling, his claws fully opened while doing so. The werehog slammed down his fists on the ground and shifted his furious eyes around. "Where are you now?! Tell me so I can SMACK the living crap outta you!" Sonic demanded.

Red XIII rushed towards and Sonic. The feral lion looked sternly at the enraged werehog. "You better calm down before your rage takes the better of you," he said.

Sonic growled silently. "Fine, but if he makes another surprise attack ONCE more..."

Red XIII glared at Sonic. "I told you to calm down already. Your rage isn't going to help us in any way in this fight."

"It WILL help, alright," Sonic muttered in anger, glaring fiercely at Red XIII. "It's gonna make my fists a hell lot stronger!"

"Yes, but will they hit?" Red XIII asked. "Just calm down, Sonic. You won't do much in this state."

Sonic breathed in and out before he let out a long sigh. The werehog seemed to have calmed down for the time being. "Okay...I think I'm calmed now..." he trailed off.

"Good," Red XIII said before he looked around the room to see the others lying down. "You wouldn't want to harm the others..."

"Yeah...I know..."

"...Wait..." Red XIII narrowed his eyes and looked around. "...I don't see some people in here anymore..."

"What was that?" Sonic asked before looking around. "Hey, you're right... Some of them are missing..."

Red XIII growled a bit before an explosion took place between them. The two feral beasts rolled recklessly on the ground on opposite directions as Mario jumped towards a spot and delivered a downward punch, managing to hit Shadow Snake's head. "U-ugh," Shadow Snake grunted in pain as he backed away before Mario landed on the ground and performed another break dance sweep kick to make the shadow trip down forward, allowing Mario to use a Super Coin Punch to uppercut the shadow into the air.

"N-not bad," Shadow Snake remarked. "Too bad it's not that good," he later commented as he grabbed Mario in midair and tossed him away. The shadow suddenly met a hard fist smacking hard into his body, making him fly away before he crashed the ground where he rolled away in time before Red XIII could bite him. "Now you're getting harder to deal with, even if there are only three of you left."

Red XIII grunted. "Numbers aren't very important for us. Now, stay right there!" he yelled as he rushed towards the shadow, letting out an echoing howl to the ceiling.

Shadow Snake narrowed his eyes at this, but then he noticed that Red XIII's howl triggered some sort of magic since ten shining stars appeared all over the ceiling. "What the hell is..." he trailed off before the stars shot down over all the room, three of them managing to crash on him. "U-ugh!"

"My Stardust Rain attack wasn't going to be very effective," Red XIII said. "It hits randomly, so be lucky you weren't hit by the full attack."

"You're just full of surprises..." the shadow muttered. "I dare you to do better..."

"Don't you mind if I DO!" Red XIII roared while Mario and Sonic rushed towards where they thought the shadow was standing.

Back where the fallen Rapps was, a tired Chip carried on his back a weak Yuffie. The imp had sneaked into the battle to retrieve the ninja before anybody could spot him. Chip let go of Yuffie on the ground where she twitched in pain a bit and blinked at her surroundings. "There," Chip said, crossing his arms with a smile. "You're lucky that Chip Norris knows how to sneak without getting caught."

Marth, who was still grabbing his right arm with his left hand, sighed and stared at Chip. "Thankfully, nobody saw you carrying her..." he looked to his left where Chris lied down nearby, "and him..."

Chip nodded. "Well, you were lucky Chris was far apart from the others," he said. "I mean, the girl had a lot of luck because I had to lie down and pretend she didn't move or I was carrying her."

Yuffie grunted as she slowly looked up at Marth. "T-thank you...for rescuing me..." she said, noticing Marth's stern look. "I-I'm so sorry for...stealing your things, really..."

A tiara's memory appeared inside the Altean's mind. Marth rolled his eyes and looked back at Yuffie. "Be thankful than we DO have some well being, you."

"Y-yeah, I know that," Yuffie said. "B-but...seriously...I have a favor to ask... I-I need help from stopping that guy from destroying Wutai's grounds and...and...and I don't want him to hurt the others, too..."

"So now you're feeling sorry?"

"I-I know what you're thinking about me," Yuffie said, closing an eye. "B-but I was doing it for the welfare of the village..."

"Either way, it was still bad of you to steal everyone's belongings," Marth said. "...For now, you're forgiven..."

Yuffie forced a weak smile. "T-thanks, you..." She looked worried at Marth. "P-please, you have to do something to stop him!"

Marth looked away. "I don't know what to do..." he trailed off. "I can't just go back to the village and ask for assistance. I doubt I can find someone else to deal with a Shadow Nightmare..."

"Y-yeah..." Yuffie muttered. "You try getting help here...my dad's soldiers won't do much against that monster...(besides, anything from him is totally worthless...)"

Marth looked at the ninja. "We still need to think of a way to pull through this," he said. "Where did you hide our stuff?"

"Just underneath the table of my house, right next where you sat."

"...What?"

"You remember the tea table of my house?" Yuffie asked. "W-well, I hid everything just below it"

"...You've got to be kidding me..."

"N-no, it's the truth, I swear..." Yuffie trailed off with a nervous chuckle. "E-everything was practically sitting under your noses the whole time and you didn't notice...funny, isn't?"

Marth gave her a stern look.

"...Okay, it's not funny," Yuffie muttered with a sigh. "B-but that's another topic for another day..." She struggled to get up, but she fell back to the ground. "Y-you have to do something to beat that monster...the guys back there won't hold on for much longer now..."

The Altean grunted and shook his head. "But what can I do? Don't you have something we could use?"

"..." Yuffie thought for a moment. "...I think I have a spare Phoenix Down right here..." she trailed off as she dug her right hand into her pocket, taking out a reddish feather that she showed to Marth. "L-lookie here, I got one..."

Marth took the reddish feather. "Okay...what is this for?"

"I-it helps to heal knocked out people to wake up," Yuffie explained. "U-use it on somebody so you can get help..."

Marth stared at the feather before he looked over to Snake and Chris. "One of those two should...what?"

The Altean noticed that Snake seemed to budge a little.

"..." Marth looked serious at this before he looked over at Chris and let go of the feather on his back. The feather gently fell down until it landed on the agent's back, instantly releasing shiny glitters that spread all over him, and soon enough, the agent began mumbling weakly to himself before he woke up and looked around in a daze. "Phew..." Marth sighed.

"W-what...is happening...huh?" Chris asked weakly, slowly pushing himself up to stand up. "H-have we won yet?"

"No," Marth said, making Chris look at him. "Mario, Sonic, and Red XIII are fighting the shadow right now."

Chris looked back at the fallen Rapps.

"It'd be best if you didn't look," Marth said, overhearing curses from the werehog as explosions were set off. "We shouldn't attract attention to this place."

"I...guess you're right..." Chris agreed. "The last thing...I want...is shooting the air without...landing a shot..." He looked behind where Snake was budging. "...I-is he..."

Yuffie glanced to Snake. "...Wow, I thought he was knocked out..."

"I guess he has some energy left," Marth said. "That shadow delivered a strong strike to knock him out, but I think it was a bit worse than that..."

"U-ugh..." Snake muttered to himself, stopping budging. "...What happened now?" he asked, seeing Marth's feet besides him.

Marth knelt down. "We're fighting that manifestation of your lies," he said. "He's been giving us a lot of trouble ever since he knocked you out."

"...I...see..." Snake muttered.

The agent struggled to get up. He looked down at Snake before the mercenary slowly got up from the ground. "Snake..." Chris trailed off.

Snake looked away. "What do you want from me this time, kid?" he asked.

"You know what..." Chris trailed off. "I already told you...before you were knocked out by that shadow..."

The mercenary looked sternly at the World Traveler. "I'm still going to leave, kid...you like it or not..."

"B-but it's just..."

Snake tried to catch some breath to avoid making pauses. "Why the hell do you care so much about me? You should forget about me altogether."

"I...I just can't let you go like that," Chris muttered, trying to catch his breath as well. "I can't let you go that easily..."

"You want to make it harder for me to leave?"

"N-no, I don't want to make things complicated for you," Chris admitted. "I-it's just that...I-I think...I think you're a very important asset for the group, Snake..."

Snake turned away from Chris. "You told me the same thing last time."

"Y-yes, and I'm still going to continue to hold on to that," Chris said. "It's...all I can use to convince you from staying here..."

Marth looked at Snake. "Wait, you're planning to leave us behind with the Subspace Army on our tails?"

Snake turned to Marth and nodded. "My world is safe, even if I'm the only one protecting it."

"Are you sure of that?" Marth asked. "Snake, why do you think we're all together fighting the army?"

"Don't bring that crap on me," Snake said. "Unlike any of you, my world can get safe well enough from any stupid army from some s(beep)y universe of darkness."

"I don't quite think so," Marth said with a serious look. "You don't know what they'll do to you once you leave. What if they try to kill you off when you're alone in your world?"

"So be it," Snake said. "My life doesn't have any real significance. It's going to be a short life for me, so I may as well accept it."

The World Traveler slowly shook his head at this. He started to think Snake didn't care about his life at all. Chris felt that he needed to change Snake's attitude before the mercenary would think about himself as a mere nobody. "Snake...how can you be so...so serious about this?"

"Kid, my life isn't going to last for much longer," Snake said. "I don't know when I'm going to kick the bucket, but it's going to be less than fifteen years from now, more or less. Either way, it's going to be very soon for me."

"You...you still have time to do something significant, Snake," Chris said worried. "Who cares if your life is short? What matters the most is the time you use it to do other stuff like...like..."

"Like saving the world from nuclear machines like those Metal Gears you talked about," Marth said. "Isn't that something worth your life?"

Snake sighed. "I know I have the skills to disable those monstrous things...but I don't think..."

Chris took a step closer to Snake. "You're just discouraged about the fact you're going to die very soon...right? If that's so...then that means...you fear death too much..."

Snake remained silent as the other four stared at him. The mercenary closed his eyes and tried to reorganize his thoughts about the situation he faced. After he listened to several explosions setting off in the room, he opened his eyes again. "...Everyone fears death, no matter how tough they try to hide it," he muttered.

"...So you're scared of dying that you don't think you're going to do something good with the time you have?" Marth asked. "You've been doing very important achievements anyone else couldn't normally do, Snake. How can you say that to yourself if you're always saving your world from potential destruction?"

"It's because his life is short..." Chris trailed off, hinting some worry in his tone. "No matter how many good deeds he does, he thinks everything is worthless because he won't have a normal life..."

Snake looked sternly at Chris. "Don't get me wrong, kid, but I don't want anyone to bother with me."

The agent forced a glare. "Snake...y-you're being an idiot!" he yelled. "I-I don't know how to remedy your problem about having a shorter life, but the only thing we can all try to do for you is giving you some company along the way!"

Snake looked away, making a silent grunting sound.

"I mean, you've been doing extreme things nobody else has done before..." Chris trailed off in thought. "...You've saved the world countless of times from nuclear wars, you've faced the most dangerous foes out there, and you've managed to cross over worlds and meet people you thought you wouldn't meet before in your life...isn't that something your life is worth for?"

"..." Snake looked at the agent. "...And how does that compare to your life, kid?"

"W-well, I had a normal life before Lucario came to me," Chris said. "It was a really depressed one because my parents were always away from home...but it all changed once I met Lucario..." The agent sniffed a bit at the thought before he looked seriously at Snake. "Snake...you're a much better person than I am here. Even if your life is so short, you manage to accomplish very important feats in your story. No matter how long or short your life is...every moment should be the most valuable for you."

"..." Snake closed his eyes and shook his head. "...Man, what a cheesy way to put the story of my life."

The agent got annoyed at this. "I-I'm trying to make you feel like someone instead of a nobody, Snake! T-try to show some respect for the people who care about you!"

"Well, you really like to do you hardest to make people think the way you do."

"T-that's not true," Chris said in embarrassment. "I-I'm trying to make them happy with themselves..."

"...Tsk," Snake muttered as he shook his head, opening back his eyes. "I'm going to be frank with this: I didn't get moved by your little speech, kid. I still think my life is worthless to the very extent of the word."

"S-Snake!" Chris yelled.

"...But you gave me a reason to keep on living."

"I-I tried my best to..." Chris, Marth, and Chip shook their heads in unison. "...S-say what?"

"Actually, you didn't give me a reason to keep on living, but you reminded me that people struggle to work for something in their lives to become successful," Snake said. "Since I'm a mercenary, my path to find that motivation to make me think I'm someone is a long way full of perils. I'm even risking my darn life near those Metal Gears, but at least I do favors to the whole world."

"E-exactly!" Chris said with some nods.

"I just wish it all ended sooner for me," Snake muttered. "I'm talking about my life to fight organizations...I'm tired and mad to death by them all. The only thing I wish to do in life is have what most people have: a normal, pacific life as a normal citizen where you don't face life-threatening perils all the time."

"So...you're tired of saving the world," Marth said.

"One of the days, my job is gonna kill me off for sure," Snake said. "...I was really thinking that it was me who wanted to become secluded from other people, not the people trying to be secluded from me. Some times, I started to think I was jealous of everyone who didn't have a short life like I do. Other times, I thought I was jealous about people who didn't have to go through the same crap I go through each day. I tired of it all, and I want to ditch it all as soon as possible."

Chris looked down, his right eye shedding a tear. "S-Snake...I...I didn't think you hated what you always did..."

"Every mind of any individual out there wants to be a hero, kid," Snake said. "They don't ever think about the consequences one goes through. It makes me mad to think about that, but it's something I have to live every minute...and that is the burden of endangering my short life."

The group stood in silence as they stared at Snake. The mercenary turned away and sighed loudly. He took out from his pocket and cigarette that he lighted up. Smoking it, Snake let out a quick cloud of smoke from his lips while the silence still remained, except for the explosions' sounds echoing in the room where the battle was being held.

"...Snake..." Chris began, "...you're...you're...you're still a very valuable person, no matter what you think about your life..."

"..."

Maybe his ears were deceiving him, but Chris could have sworn that the mercenary had muttered some words to himself. The agent blinked a bit at this in confusion, waiting for Snake to make a reply. "...Snake?"

"Sorry," Snake replied. "I was just muttering some things about this."

"Oh, I see..."

"In any case, how do you feel about your new job as a 'hero', kid?" Snake asked.

Yuffie looked upset about the conversation as she heard screams coming from the room behind them. "Hey, if you guys forgot, there's a battle going on behind our backs! I suggest you get your butts on the other side of this big fly an-"

"Shut up."

"Yes, sir..." Yuffie trailed off.

Snake looked back at Chris. "How do you feel about endangering your life through this crap, kid? Has it been enjoyable as you thought, or has it been a real pain?"

The World Traveler thought for a moment about the question. "...It's been...good so far to me..." he said honestly. "That's what I guess..."

"Huh," Snake muttered. "Then you don't care much about dying in battle?"

"F-for that..." Chris shuddered at the thought, "...I...I just think everyone else is going to watch my back should I get hurt or really killed... At first, I was excited, then I got worried, and finally...I got used to this kind of work..."

Snake thought for a moment. "(Who can blame the kid... He started doing this so young without having any hindrances like I have...and he has such a calm state after enduring all the fights he's been through...)"

"...But even so," Chris continued, "I think I'd like to live a normal life where I don't have to fight..."

"Just like I do," Snake said, snapping out from his thoughts. "Once you get into this, you soon realize you'll possibly die trying to save other people. It's not selfish thought about thinking of yourself; it's just that you don't want to suffer any consequences along the way."

"That's...true..." Chris said concerned. "...So...Snake..."

"I'm still going to drop out from the team," Snake said. "I want to have relaxation for myself, alone somewhere in my world. I want to stop thinking about all the stress I get in this universe."

"..." Chris looked down in shame before he nodded. "...It's not really my place to convince from staying if you don't want to...and I'm not even your boss..."

Marth stared at Snake. "You can go anywhere you like. It's not our place to force you. Besides, anyone like us can do pretty much the same thing as you want to do, Snake."

Snake sighed with some relief. "Thank you for understanding," he said. "I can finally leave without having any grudges with somebody."

The World Traveler still felt a bit saddened about Snake's decision, but he fully respected Snake. The agent smiled a bit and looked at Snake. "Are you...true to yourself now, Snake?"

Snake looked away. "...Yeah, I truly believe in the truths I've been trying to admit to myself."

Chip looked happy at this before he peeked from the fallen Rapps to the battle. "...G-guys!" he called over.

Yuffie gasped. "O-oh crap, the battle!" She pushed herself up and looked at the Smashers. "P-please, you guys, stop that monster from killing everybody in here!"

"You stole my Falchion!" Marth yelled.

"C'mon, can't you kick or punch?"

"No!"

"Wow...that's pathetic."

The Altean looked annoyed before he turned to Snake. "Snake, can you fight?"

"Just a bit...but that's enough, I guess..." Snake trailed off. "What about you, kid?"

Chris gasped at the mention of his name. The World Traveler thought for a bit. "I-I'm still weak after the fight...but I don't know if I can hold on for much longer..."

Chip flew to them. "Y-you guys, you have to take a look at this!" he said in panic. "S-something's happening to the shadow!"

The four looked at each other before they all peeked from their spot towards the battle.

Red XIII, Mario, and Sonic were all panting heavily as they stood next to each other, staring at the shadow. However, something was different this time. The shadow's image began to appear in several blinks, and the shadow himself looked at his slowly tangible hands. "W-what in the world..." Shadow Snake muttered as his hands began to turn visible to anyone's eyes. "Why is this happening now?"

"Hey, the shadow's starting to become visible..." Sonic panted. "W-what is happening to him?"

"I...I don't know..." Mario said between pants. "B-but...it's surely because..."

Back to the others, the World Traveler watched as the shadow turned visible. Chris looked down and shifted his eyes to understand what was happening. "How is the shadow..." he trailed off. "How is the shadow turning visible?"

Marth rubbed his chin and thought hard about the event. "...Wait," he began before looking at the others, "Chris, do you remember the fight against Lucas's shadow?"

"Y-yes, nobody can forget those fights easily..." Chris muttered in fear.

"Don't you recall when Shadow Lucas yelled that his powers were...becoming weaker when Lucas came into the scene?"

The World Traveler blinked at this. "...T-that's right," he said before looking at Snake. "Lucas realized that his mother and Claus were dead, and his shadow's purpose to fight was because Lucas was denying himself the truths... Once he realized, the shadow began to lose its powers..."

"If that's true, then..." Marth nodded, "Snake must have realized his truths now."

Snake looked away. "What an embarrassing way to admit them, then..."

"...A shadow's power can be weakened if the victim acknowledges their lies and believe fully in the truths," Marth summarized. "However...it's hard for some to believe in the truths, and the shadows take advantage of their most hurtful lies so they keep getting stronger and stronger over time..."

[DededeCloneChris]

The agent looked at Snake. "Snake, you finally believe in your truths, then?"

"...I guess," Snake said.

"Then...w-we have to take advantage of this as soon as possible!" Chris encouraged. "We need to get back to the fight and defeat your shadow before it's too late!"

The mercenary looked back at the fight. Snake stared at his shadow still looking at himself, slowly becoming tangible once more. "...Will it make a difference, though?" Snake asked. "I'm not so sure..."

A hand was put on his left shoulder. Snake looked to his left where Marth was looking seriously at him, his right hand weakly resting on Snake's shoulder (making Marth twitch in pain). "It's going to make a difference, Snake," he said. "Just believe in your truths and everything will be fine."

"...Cheesy," Snake commented before looking back at the fight. The mercenary fixed his headband, a determined look taking over his face. "But what the heck, I'm dealing with weirdos all the time...this shadow isn't going to kill me off..."

"Or any of us," Chris added. "You better try to protect the others."

"Fine," Snake said. "Wish me luck." The ex-FOXHOUND ran around the fallen Rapps before he dashed towards the battle, becoming a bit numb to his pain.

Chris panicked at this and decided to follow Snake, albeit to say a bit weaker that the adult. "W-wait for me, Snake, please! D-don't rush like that!" Chris complained.

The Altean sighed in relief and looked at Yuffie and Chip. "Let's see if they can do it."

Yuffie looked confused at Marth. "I don't understand... What did he mean by short life?"

Marth sighed in boredom at the question while Yuffie puzzled herself about the question, Chip doing several roundhouse kicks in the air to cheer the group.

Back to the fight, Shadow Snake became fully visible. The shadow grunted in annoyance before he stared forward to the glaring trio. The shadow then gasped when he saw Snake and Chris joining in with the trio, who looked at Snake. "You..." Shadow Snake trailed off before chuckling cockily. "Seems you finally faced your truths head-on, huh?"

Snake glared at his shadow. "Yeah, and I feel a lot better than before," he said. "Much better to stop you from being such a nuisance to my eyes."

"Well, it doesn't really matter if you can fight me now," Shadow Snake said. "You're gonna be lying down and eating dirt after I'm done with all of you. I might not be invisible now, but I can still beat you in a fight."

Sonic growled a bit at this. "You just try, shadow!"

"We're not going to be discouraged because of you," Mario said with determination. "Things have changed as of now."

Red XIII nodded. "You're going to be the one who will fall down because of us."

Chris slowly aimed his revolver at the shadow. "A-and we'll do everything in our hands to shoot you down for good!"

Snake shook his head and stared at the shadow. "You guys are going to cause my death very soon..."

The agent looked annoyed. "S-Snake, will you just... Oh, forget it..."

Shadow Snake cracked his fists and motioned at himself with his right hand. "Come on, then. I challenge all of you to a fight."

Sonic chuckled. "Heheheheh, five on one isn't gonna make things easier for yo-"

"All of you, step back," Snake said suddenly.

The four looked at the mercenary. "What?!" Sonic asked. "What do you mean by stepping back now?"

Snake looked at his shadow, both of them shooting fierce glares at each other. "This is my shadow, and you don't need to bother with him anymore. You all have been beaten up to death because of this monster, so now I'll be the one who gets pounded around instead."

Sonic groaned loudly. "Aww, no!" he cursed before pointing a finger at Snake. "Why the hell do you want to do things like this now? Seriously, fighting alone is just stupid and beyond the question!"

"I-I agree!" Chris argued. "We have the shadow cornered, and you want to fight him alone by yourself? T-that's crazy! Fighting alone is not an option, Snake!"

Snake looked sternly at them. "This is a fight I need to finish myself," he said. "If you think about it, I owe you one for weakening him. However, it's my duty to see him stop bothering everyone because he's my shadow."

"Well...I don't know if I should agree, but your reason sounds..." Mario trailed off.

Red XIII shook his head. "I hate to say this, but I even think that we should all fight," he said. "Fight because you want to, not because you want to win for your pride."

"I'm prideful of myself," Snake said, stepping forward. "A big mistake, but whatever."

The shadow suddenly chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny now?" Snake asked with a glare.

Shadow Snake frowned and opened his hands at his shoulders' level. "You want to fight me alone, right? But those guys aren't letting you do it, right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

Shadow Snake took out a remote control from behind. "While I was invisible, I went around the whole place throwing explosives at everyone. I didn't say I was just doing that, though..."

Snake grunted a bit. "So, you're using your shadow powers to allow you to put even more mines that I can, right?"

"Exactly," Shadow Snake said. "Thanks to you realizing your truths, I've lost a lot of my stealth skills."

The five noticed the shadow's equipment slowly fading into dark spores.

"Oh, looks like I talked too late," Shadow Snake said before he pressed the button and said, "Now!"

Before their eyes, the whole room was set on several explosions that were triggered all at once. For Snake and Chris, the two narrowly avoided being knocked out as they crashed to the ground, but for Mario, Sonic, and Red XIII, the three didn't have the same luck and were all knocked out instantly, falling together with every single fainted fighter in the room.

Snake grunted in pain as he pushed himself up from the ground, a weaker Chris doing the same with a slower pace. "Y-you...you hid C4s all over the perimeter..." Snake trailed off. "Is that...what you tried to say?"

The remote control on the shadow's hand disappeared into darkness. "Yeah, that what I was talking about," Shadow Snake said. "Sorry for setting them all too soon, but my equipment was going to vanish completely along with all the C4s I had placed around. I didn't want them to go to waste now."

"Y-you...s-sadist..." Chris muttered in pain. "E-every single shadow...is...a sadist...to the end..."

"Shut up now," Shadow Snake simply before running at the weak World Traveler.

Chris gasped at this and aimed at the shadow, but the damage he had received prevented him from lifting his revolver high enough. Seeing this, Snake stepped in front of him. "S-Snake!" Chris said.

"Kid, can you still stand up?" Snake asked.

"I-I'm not so sure now..." Chris trailed off in pain. "T-those mines took me off-guard..."

Suddenly, Snake turned back to the shadow to block several fist attacks. The mercenary blocked them off with his own fists, but his hands were starting to wear out with all the pain. The shadow's fists seemed stronger than Snake's strength. "Don't worry, you won't last for much longer now," the shadow taunted.

Chris closed his eyes tightly and forced himself to sidestep besides Snake and shoot the shadow several times to make him back away. "S-stay away from Snake!" he yelled, falling down to one knee. "D-dangit..."

"Why can't you just heal yourself?" Snake asked, pain running through his hands.

"M-magic isn't going to work...i-if I'm this tired..." Chris muttered in pain. "I-I can't concentrate much energy into magic..."

The mercenary looked away. "(Just what I needed...)" he thought sarcastically.

Snake turned back to the shadow. Shadow Snake rushed towards him, but Chris quickly blocked him off by shooting bullets to the shadow's legs. Seeing the shadow back away, Snake took quick action and delivered a flying kick to his chest, forcing the shadow to fall down to the ground. The shadow grunted and rolled away from a sweeping kick before getting up and delivering a flying kick to Snake. The mercenary grunted in pain before the shadow delivered several punches to his face before slamming his right side with a kick, pushing Snake to the ground. "Yeah, I'm getting back to the groove here," the shadow said with a chuckle.

"U-ugh..." Snake grunted, making fists on the ground.

Chris let go of his revolver. "I...I can't help anymore..."

The agent heard the shadow's footsteps coming closer. He looked up and coughed in pain, trying to grab his revolver to make the shadow back off. However, the shadow reached the revolver and stomped on it, preventing Chris from retrieving it. "Kids shouldn't be playing with guns," the shadow said.

"S-shadows should just go away..." Chris shot back.

"Nah, I don't think s-" The shadow was interrupted as Snake came from the side and pinned the shadow down hard. The shadow, however, started a fist fight with Snake while Chris tried to reach out for his revolver and aid the mercenary. The shadow had the upper hand in the fist fight as Snake received most attacks to his face. "Geez, you liars sure know how to keep pestering," the shadow remarked, throwing fists at Snake.

Snake chuckled between hits. "W-what, you can't finish the job fast?"

"I'll do it once you stop bothering me," the shadow noted before a harsh shot connected to his back. The shadow was pushed away from Snake while the latter sat up in pain and looked Chris standing several feet away from him, his revolver aimed at the shadow's direction.

"Y-you...got to love...Flourish..." Chris trailed off.

Snake got up from the ground and ran towards the agent. He knelt down and checked on him. "Kid, you're in...no condition to keep going anymore."

"W-what about you?"

"Good question... Not that much as well," Snake admitted. "At this rate, I'll be biting the dust...very soon..."

"D-don't say that, please..." Chris muttered, managing to stand up from the ground to force a smile to Snake. "W-we just...have to keep struggling...and then...we can beat that shadow..."

Snake looked away. "Still thinking...we can win this...huh?"

"S-somebody has to stay optimistic...right?"

"...Can't deny that because somebody will do that....you," Snake muttered.

Chris shook his head and loaded his revolver. "I...I can still fight a bit more..."

"I'd suggest you should rest, though..."

"W-what difference will it make?" Chris asked. "If that shadow beats you, I'll be the next to be defeated...and I don't want that to happen..."

"(Kid, you're really stupid with those decisions you're making...)"

"(I-I'm trying to stay optimistic here, Snake...t-that's the only thing I can do for now...)"

"(You expect me to do the same?)"

"(T-that wouldn't be a bad idea if you think about it...)"

"(Maybe...but...I have a question unrelated to this matter.)"

"(W-what is it?)"

"(How in the name of Liquid is everything frozen into place now and why are our voices echoing?)"

The agent blinked subconsciously at this as he noticed time itself had frozen. He saw Shadow Snake rushing towards them, but he was completely halted in his spot. The World Traveler also noticed he couldn't move but talk to Snake.

And Chris knew it was time.

"(I-I can't believe this...)" Chris trailed off in thought. "(I...I formed a strong bond with Snake already?)"

"(Kid, I'm still here,)" Snake reminded Chris.

"(U-um, Snake...it seems both us have come into understanding with each other now...)"

"(Really now...)"

"(I-I know this is weird for you, but it looks that way... I...honestly think you're not so bad, Snake...)"

"(...I still think this is so weird,)" Snake commented, "(but whatever, I'm used to this kind of thing already.)"

"(You just like to complain about everything outside your world...)"

"(I thought I was already excused of that.)"

"(...Whatever... I-in any case, Snake, we can perform our new combined attack.)"

"(So we got it out of nowhere?)"

"(N-no, we got it because we understand each other and the fact we're...um...friends now?)"

"(Try to put that in less cheesy words, kid.)"

"(U-um...we're...acquaintances now?)"

"(Less cheesy than that, please.)"

"(We're... Wait a minute, I can't reduce that anymore! I don't know what to use here! And why are we talking about this in the first pla-)"

"(Because I want to make my last stance in here a bit more tolerable, that's why.)"

"(Oh, for the love of... Okay, I understand...)"

"(Shall we just get to the point with this combined attack? I'm starting to get freaked out by this whole echoing voice thing.)"

"(Sure, sure...)"

Time itself began to resume as the shadow rushed towards the two. "I'll take out the kid now," Shadow Snake said. "Then I can take out the best  one."

"Just try," Snake muttered before glancing at Chris. "You ready, kid?"

Chris loaded his revolver once more and nodded. "R-ready for anything here!" he said with a gulp.

"Okay, then let's begin."

As the shadow approached the two, he noticed that Snake was taking out a familiar katana from his back. Snake himself looked a bit surprised at this, and the shadow stopped running. "What in the world... Where did you get that katana from?"

Snake glared at the shadow and pointed the katana down to the ground. "Who gives a darn where this katana came from?"

The agent stared at the katana. "(There must be some kind of reason why Snake is using that sword now...)"

"Let's begin," Snake said before he ran towards the shadow with the katana trailing off along the ground.

"Pfft, now you're just plain stupid," the shadow said. "What, do you have swordsman skills or what?"

"No, but I know how to slice people with a sword," Snake said before raising his sword over him.

The shadow continued rushing towards Snake. "I'll just grab that sword and stab you to death, fool. Don't take me for a-"


Before the shadow could say anything else, Snake swiftly slashed him across his face. However, right when the slash made contact, Chris had used a Flourish shot, just in the very same spot where Snake had slashed the shadow, inflicting more pain to the shadow. The Shadow Nightmare grunted in pain before Snake slashed him across his chest while Chris shot another Flourish shot upon contact. "Huh, useful," Snake muttered as the shadow backed away a bit. He aimed the sword's edge at his shadows. "Let's make this even more interesting, kid."

"Go!" Chris yelled.

The Shadow Nightmare shook his head before Snake rushed close to him and began slashing him across every single part he could reach while Chris used Flourish several times to inflict massive damage. The attack kept going for a long while with the shadow trying to back away or block the sword, ending in failure as he was hurt even more. Snake grunted with every slash he made, and the shadow did so but with grunts of pain.

Snake pushed the shadow away to prepare a finishing blow. "Out of my sight, you idiot," Snake said before he raised his sword and brought it down on the shadow, causing Chris to shoot one last Flourish shot that forced the shadow to fly away several feet from the ground before he crashed and slid painfully on the floor. Snake frowned and put away his sword behind his back, disappearing from sight. "Well, that was rather interesting now," Snake remarked.

New Ability Learned! Bullet Slash!

Uses the sword of a lost comrade. Slashes one enemy while shooting Flourish bullets to the same spots, dealing moderate damage to severe damage depending of female members in the party.

Chris panted heavily as he slowly moved his revolver down. "W-where did you get that sword...Snake?"

Snake frowned. "That sword... It was from Frank Jaeger...Grey Fox..."

Snake heard someone falling behind him. The mercenary turned around and found Chris lying on the floor. "S-sorry..." Chris trailed off, "b-but...I can't go on...anymore..." He passed out of cold.

"Yeah...you were the one with the most injuries..." Snake trailed off before he turned around to face the shadow on the ground. It struggled to get up as Snake panted a bit. "What...have any energies left?"

"Y-you're the one to talk..." Shadow Snake muttered in pain. "N-now that you're all alone...are you sure you can walk over me like I did with everyone else?"

"I have...confidence..." Snake muttered. "I...can do this..."

The shadow started rushing towards Snake. Snake saw this as a warning before he started rushing towards the shadow as well. Both of them raised fists together and collided each other's faces at the same time. The two grunted in pain as then the two started fighting hand-to-hand, delivering punches and side kicks to each other.

Unfortunately, Snake was losing health very fast. His fists didn't deliver much damage anymore, and his pace began to slow down, allowing the shadow to deliver more hits, pushing him back. "U-u-ugh..." Snake grunted in pain before he fell on his knees while the shadow panted heavily. "N-not like this...n-no..." Snake muttered to himself before he fell down unconscious.

Shadow Snake sighed in relief. "Who would've thought he... Wait..."

The shadow saw Snake being touched by a holy light on his back. Glittering wings appeared and flapped a bit on his back before they vanished. Shadow Snake backed away as Snake began to regain consciousness. The ex-FOXHOUND grunted before he stood up and glared fiercely at his shadow. "Well, it looks like the nonsense of these places gave me another chance to beat you down to a bloody pulp."

Shadow Snake grunted at this. "Y-you're just lucky that you can still fight against me," the shadow said as he got in a fighting stance. "Let's drop the talk now. I want to see you dying so I can become the real Solid Snake."

"Huh, how funny you are," Snake said. "Everyone will know the real Snake after one of us gets knocked down."

"I'm glad you agree with me..." the shadow muttered. "Now...come on!" he demanded, rushing towards Snake.

As the two clashed fists and kicks against each other, Marth, Yuffie, and Chip watched the battle from afar. Yuffie looked restless as she hopped a bit on her feet. "Are you really sure we should leave everything to the old man?" Yuffie asked. "I think I can go ahead and help him out."

"Help him if things get bad," Marth said. "Besides, this is Snake's fight."

Yuffie looked bored. "Y'know, you're crazy and stupid if you want to fight all alone by yourself...just saying..."

Marth looked away. "In many ways...I think I agree with you..."

Chip, meanwhile, was performing some aerial roundhouse kicks to cheer on Snake. "Hit him with a low kick! Oww, that's gotta hurt! Ooh, nice punch! Ouch, that MUST had hurt a lot now! Yes, that was nice comeback! Watch out, he's doing a super punch attack now! Aww, he failed!"

Shadow Snake grunted in pain as he was pushed a few feet away from a punch delivered by Snake. The mercenary panted heavily while his shadow did the same. Snake panted a bit. "You're not half bad...I give you that," Snake remarked.

"Yeah..." Shadow Snake muttered. "You just got half of your energies recovered...but I can still kick your butt..."

"We'll see...stupid shadow..." Snake muttered before rushing towards the shadow again, the latter doing the same. Snake, however, used a somersault forward to pin the shadow down to the ground. The shadow struggled to push Snake away, but the mercenary forced the shadow to lie down on his stomach to grab his right arm and twist it. The shadow grunted in pain before he kicked Snake back. The shadow tried to get up, but Snake used a sweeping kick to hit the shadow on the side.

"D-darn..." the shadow muttered.

"What the matter now..." Snake muttered.

"(I-I had to trade power over defense...)" Shadow Snake thought. "(The Metal Gear was technically my ultimate attack...) Ugh!" the shadow grunted as Snake slammed down his right foot on his back.

"Give up now," Snake said. "It's clear you're in no condition to keep fighting any longer."

"I...I won't give up now..." the shadow muttered. "S-somebody...has to become the...real...Solid Snake..."

"Yeah...and that somebody isn't gonna be you..."

Shadow Snake grunted at this that he grabbed Snake's right foot and pulled it away, making Snake fall down to the ground. "(Now or never...)" the shadow thought, thinking about delivering another fist at Snake's face. Pushing himself up, the shadow turned around...

Music stops

And he received a harsh kick hit by Snake, who had reacted just in time before the shadow could attack him with a fist.

Marth, Yuffie, and Chip gasped in unison as the two fighters stopped moving. Snake remained still with his left foot stuck next to Shadow Snake's face. The shadow looked extremely shocked, staring forward while the last bit of pain ran through his body. Shadow Snake slowly closed his yellow eyes before muttering, "I...was fool...wasn't I..."

"...Yeah...you...were a fool..." Snake muttered. "...You...and I...were fools, actually..."

The shadow lost consciousness before he fell down hard on the ground, finally defeated.

Snake stared at his shadow for a while. The mercenary then frowned to himself and got up from the ground, still staring at his shadow. "...Hope that makes you feel much better..." Snake muttered to his dark counterpart.

"YEAH!"

Snake turned to the left to see a happy Yuffie pumping up a fist in the air. The ninja shouted with glee before she ran around the fallen Rapps and went over to Snake, with Marth and Chip following behind her. The ninja leaped to Snake and gave him a tight hug, making the mercenary look stern at her. "Oh my god, you did it!" she said. "You showed that shadow dude who the boss is!"

Snake shrugged at her and pushed Yuffie to the ground. She still remained happy at him as she stood up. "God, don't do that ever again, you got that? I don't like people to hug me that way."

"Gee, lighten up, you," Yuffie said. "You should be happy that you saved Wutai! People who save Wutai are respected. You should be thankful the great ninja Yuffie admires you!"

Snake looked away. "I'm a bit thankful, then," he said sarcastically.

Yuffie chuckled while Marth looked relieved. "Good job, Snake," he said. "We managed to defeat another Shadow Nightmare thanks to you."

"Yeah," Snake said. "One more nuisance taken care of."

Marth looked at the other dropped on the ground. "Now we need to think about healing all of them..."

Chip looked worried at this before his ears perked up at some footsteps from the exit. The imp looked back to the fallen Rapps where two familiar Turks appeared. "H-hey, it's the agent guys!" he said.

Final Fantasy VII - Turks' Theme

The trio turned to see a stern Reno and a silent Rude walking towards them. Both of them stopped and looked around the room to see the fallen group lying on the ground. Rude fixed his eyes on Tifa before he went over to her and knelt down to see if she was fine. "Tsk," Reno began, "what happened here? Did a storm hit this room or something?"

Yuffie looked angrily at Reno. "No, a monster did this." She pointed at the shadow close to them. "See that guy? He did all this to us. He brought this big&^$ machine from the shadows and attacked us with it. Then, when we took it down, that guys turned invisible and started attacking us from anywhere an-"

"Slow down," Reno said. "It's not like I care what happened here. I care about Corneo."

The ninja looked disgusted. "W-why would you care about..." the ninja trailed off before she gasped. "W-wait a minute, he's right! W-where's that pervert?"

"Ho hi ho!"

Everyone turned to the temple's entrance where a drooling Corneo held the sleepy Elena hostage by aiming down a gun straight at her face. "Corneo..." Reno muttered.

"W-where in the world were you?" Yuffie asked.

"Well! I was hiding back there in that temple," Corneo said, pointing behind him. "When that bastard shadow came in, I went into hiding by going into the temple. Once you guys took care of the shadow, I decided to take this blondy for me!" he rejoiced. "But...I'm not gonna let the Turks stop me, oh no..."

Reno sighed at this before he swiftly took out a revolver and shot Corneo square on his forehead, killing him off instantly as he was pushed away to the temple's steps. Yuffie, Marth, and Chip looked a bit shocked at this while Snake merely rolled his eyes. Reno put his revolver away. "Done," he said.

"...I...think I feel sorry for him..." Yuffie muttered as she stared at Corneo's dead carcass. "...W-wait, of course I don't!"

Reno sighed and walked all the way to Elena. The red-haired Turk stared down at her. "...Elena."

Elena shook her head and opened her eyes. The blond Turk sat up and looked around. "H-hey, what just happened?" she asked. "First, I thought I was held hostage by Corneo. Second, I find myself on the ground..." She looked at the steps where Corneo lied down. "...C-Corneo!" she yelped.

"Elena!"

Elena looked shocked at Reno before she stood up in a rush. "R-Reno! I-I'm glad you came here to rescue me! R-really, I'm so glad I didn't become Corneo's se-"

"Elena."

"Y-yes, sir?"

Reno turned away from her. "Our job here is done. Thanks to you spoiling our vacations, we didn't enjoy our stay here at Wutai. I hope you're happy now."

Elena sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry, Reno..."

"...Elena, act professional," Reno suggested. "You're supposed to be part of the Turks. A Turk never shows any weakness to anybody, let alone their own members."

"Yes, I know that..." Elena said ashamed.

"Start acting like a real Turk would act," Reno said as he walked towards the group, Elena following him from behind. Suddenly, Reno's PHS rang. The Turk took it out and answered the call. "This is Reno. What is it?"

The group saw Reno nodding a few times.

"...Okay, I got it," he said before he hung up the call.

"Was that the company?" Elena asked.

"Yeah...they asked us to find Cloud..."

Marth, Yuffie, Snake, and Chip stared at the Turks with serious looks.

"...But today we're off duty," Reno said. "We still have some time left for our break."

Elena looked back and forth between Reno and the others before she sighed in depression. "Okay, whatever you say..." she muttered, shooting a glare at the group.

Rude walked back to his comrades. The imposing man walked to Snake and showed him some Phoenix Down feathers on his right hand. "For me?" Snake asked.

Rude nodded silently. Snake stared at the feathers before he took them off from the Turk's hand. The silent Turk nodded at him before he stepped back to Reno and Elena.

Reno shrugged his shoulders and frowned. "Too kind of you, Rude, too kind..." he trailed off before he looked at the four. "Make this clear: we never saw each other during our stance in Wutai. I don't want to get a scold from Rufus." He turned to Elena. "Elena, your lips are sealed, right?"

"Y-yes," Elena said ashamed.

"Good," Reno said before he turned back to the four. "So now we're off from here. Next time we meet outside Wutai, we'll be enemies again. Tell that to Cloud."

Yuffie nodded. "Okay, but you better be honest."

"I am," Reno said. "Rude, Elena, let's go."

The red-haired Turk turned back to the exit with Rude following. Elena looked sternly at the four. "I'm not going to forget this, you hear me?" she asked with anger before she grunted and ran back to her comrades. After a small while, the trio of Turks left the cave.

Final Fantasy VII - Wutai

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Those guys give me a bad feeling every time I see 'em, but they turned out to be good guys...well, at least for now."

Marth furrowed his brow. "I don't want to deal with more problems today, please..."

Chip stared at the feathers in Snake's hands. "Hmm, what are those for?"

Yuffie looked at the feathers. "Oh, sweet! They're Phoenix Down feathers! We can use them to heal everyone here!" She took them from Snake's hands. "Awesome, there are more than enough for everyone!"

"Isn't that good?" Marth asked. "I think those Turk people were very kind."

"Well, the baldy is the kind one," Yuffie said. "I'm so sure why, though... Okay, I'll go heal everyone. The steam of this place is getting on my nerves now." The ninja chuckled to herself and went to help the others by dropping a feather on them.

Snake looked back at his shadow counterpart lying on the ground. "Hey, you, are you awake?"

The shadow replied by getting up from the ground. Instead of saying something, the shadow merely stared at Snake. Marth and Chip gulped a bit, but they knew the shadow was tamed for the time being.

"Look," Snake began, "I've realized that I needed to stay true to my own truths. It's okay for you to become part of me again. I...have no regrets any longer..."

The shadow nodded at this, but it seemed that he wanted to hear more from Snake.

"I'll try to stay true to myself from now on," Snake said. "I don't want to deal with identity problems, you know what I mean?"

"Worry no more," the shadow said. "None of us is the true Solid Snake by their own, but both of us are a part of him."

"Yeah..." Snake muttered. "I'm not Solid Snake if I don't have you with me."

The shadow seemed to smile a bit. "So, Snake, have you come to an understanding about everything you have been trying to hide from yourself?"

Snake thought for a moment. "...I am true to myself," Snake clarified.

"...Thanks," the shadow muttered nodding.

Marth and Chip saw as the shadow began to shine brightly. After a brief moment, the shadow's shining form barely looked like the real Snake before it broke into spores of light. The spores light circled a bit in the air before they all shot to Snake, who grunted a bit and shone brightly. After the spores retreated into him, Snake felt a bit weak and stepped back. "G-god, why the hell do I have to get this kind of treatment?" Snake asked irritated.

"Don't complain now," Marth said. "You're feeling much better now, right?"

"I guess..." Snake muttered. "...But promise me this isn't going to happen to me ever again."

"I can't do promises," Marth said. "Since you're going away, well..."

"It doesn't matter," Snake said with a sigh.

The group waited a time for Yuffie to supply everyone with a Phoenix Down. After she finished doing so, and after they rested up, they all reunited with each other.

"Finally..." Chris muttered. "You defeated your shadow, Snake..."

"I'm glad he did so," Aerith said. "I was worried he was going to kill us all."

Cid grunted. "The bastard went down as he was supposed to. Ain't that good or what?"

"Yes, it is," Cloud said. "Overall, we pulled through this ordeal."

Sonic looked up to the dark atmosphere of the ceiling. At that moment, the atmosphere began to clear out by itself. The werehog blinked surprised at this. "H-hey, the atmosphere Eggman made is disappearing!"

Everyone looked up to see the last of the atmosphere disappearing. "Yes, he's right," Tifa said. "I was starting to get some chills because of the air..."

"...U-ugh!" Sonic grunted in pain before he was covered in darkness. The group looked at the werehog shining in darkness before the darkness stopped covering him. Soon enough, they saw that the werehog had turned back to his hedgehog form. Sonic had his eyes closed before he opened them and looked at his hands. "H-hey...I got my normal appearance again!" he said in surprise.

Cloud raised an eyebrow at this. "Okay, that was interesting to see..."

Chris sighed in relief. "Phew, I thought that atmosphere was going to stay up there forever... I guess defeating the Shadow Nightmare gets rids of the atmosphere as well..."

Sonic looked at his gloves. "How the heck did I get my gloves back again? They get ripped off every time I transform, but they come back every time I revert back to my normal form..."

Mario shrugged. "I think we shouldn't try to find the explanation for that..."

Sonic lifted his shoulders a bit. "Meh, I guess. It's hard for me to get gloves my size, anyway."

"What I'm a bit confused about is that your dark self didn't get out..."

Sonic thought for a moment. "Hey, you're right," he said. "I wonder why he didn't come out this time..."

"Maybe he needs to come out during the night because the atmosphere isn't enough for him?"

"I guess, but let's worry about that later."

Knuckles turned back to the exit where he saw the four Adabat residents walking towards them. The echidna stared at them before they reached them. "Oh, you're here," Knuckles said. "Have you been hiding back there all this time?"

"Yes," Teanchai, the father of the family, said, "we've been watching how everyne tried to defeat that monster."

Jamal looked grateful. "You guys did a good job," he said. "We know you're the good guys, alright. We needed to find the people who were trying to restore the continents back to their places in the world."

"Wait, what?" Cloud suddenly asked, making some of the Smashers gasp. "What is he talking about with continents going back to the world?"

Snake sighed. "See what I was telling you about?" he asked. "We ARE trying to restore a world's continents back to their places in the hedgehog's world."

"Oh..." Cloud muttered. "So then..."

"Yeah, everything we told you was the whole truth," Snake clarified. "I hope you stop thinking we're insane."

"Don't be offended, but I still think you're insane," Cloud said. "But...if that's the truth...then I guess I should start believing in it..."

Teanchai had no idea why Cloud was questioning the matter. "...A-anyway," he began, staring at the Adabat Temple before them, "that is the temple of Adabat, isn't it?"

"It is," Rudi, the daughter of Teanchai, said. "At last, we have found it."

Nagi, the younger daughter of the family, showed the group the Sun and Moon Tablets. "Here!" she said. "We're the ones in charge to protect these tablets. Please, use them to restore Adabat!"

Marth grabbed the tablets from Nagi's hands and stared at the items. He turned to the group and nodded. "Shall we go in, then?"

-Adabat Temple-
Gaia Gate

The whole group stood in front of an inner sanctum where torches with blue flames lit the place. The sanctum looked exactly the same like the Mazuri's temple. They all stared at the altar at the far end side of the sanctum where Teanchai, Jamal, Rudi, and Nagi walked towards to. The family of guardians looked at the altar before a small pedestal sprouted out from the middle of the altar. Chip flew closer to the pedestal as his necklace shone brightly. "Then it was true that you are Light Gaia," Teanchai said.

"That's weird," Jamal noted. "We haven't heard much about the existence of Light Gaia...but I think we were mentioned that he did exist..."

"He opened the doors to the fragments of the Planet Tablet," Rudi pointed out. "It's proof enough he's another key to open the inner sanctums."

Chip looked up. "Then there are people who knew I existed after all?"

"It's just a possibility," Jamal said.

Sonic walked to the pedestal with the pale blue Chaos Emerald on hand. The hedgehog looked at the emerald before placing it on the hole, fitting nicely on the pedestal. After doing so, the Chaos Emerald began to shine brightly, causing the temple to shake a bit. Cloud's party looked around as the temple shook before it eventually stopped.

Sonic looked back at the blue Chaos Emerald, which now had recovered its usual brimming color. The hedgehog smiled a bit at this before he took it back from the pedestal.

"Wow, what was that?" Yuffie asked.

"That was a sign that the Adabat continent has been put back to place," Teanchai said. "Honestly speaking, I'm thankful it was restored."

Rudi chuckled heartily. "You told us that you restored Mazuri as well, right? That means you have five more continents to go."

Nagi folded her arms behind her back. "Keep going like this and the continents will be restored in no time!"

Sonic grinned at them. "You got it," he said.

Chris turned to Cloud. "I hope this makes it clear to you that we came from another world, Cloud."

"It makes it clear to me," Cloud said, "and to all of us, of course."

"To think there is the existence of many more worlds out there besides ours," Red XIII said. "It's just as if you haven't seen everything in your life."

"Well, I like my world," Aerith said. "I haven't even seen much of it yet. I don't want to see more worlds while I barely know much about mine."

"You guys are something, alright," Cid said. "I wouldn't like to deal with s-"

Aerith blocked Cid's mouth. "Don't say those words here! There are children present this time!"

The space man grumbled some words on Aerith's hands.

Teanchai looked at Sonic. "Sonic, was it? Will you do us a favor?"

"Let me guess," Sonic began, "you want me to return all of you back to Adabat, and you want us to save the kidnapped Temple Guardians as well, right?"

"You stole my words from my mouth," Teanchai said. "We'd be pleased if we could go back to Adabat now. We have to rebuild our home as soon as possible."

"Can you do that, Mr. Sonic?" Nagi asked.

Sonic grinned and looked at Chris. "He's the man behind the portals. Leave that to him."

The agent blushed at this. "D-don't put it like that, please..." he trailed off embarrassed.

-Wutai Village-
Yuffie's Hideout – Entrance

The group decided to go back to Yuffie's hideout where she went inside her home to get all of their stuff as she had promised them. At this time, Chris had come back from Yuffie's house with his Wiimote in hand, already opening the portal to Sonic's world, directly to Adabat. Teanchai's family stood in front of the portal while everyone else was standing in front of them. "Thank you," Teanchai said. "Without your help, the Adabat Temple wouldn't have been saved."

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Sonic asked. "The temple is safe and sound now."

"Yes, we're glad it's safe," Judi said. "It's still a very important part of Adabat for us. By no means shall it be put in danger."

"But we need you to do the same with the other remaining temples," Jamal said. "It's just not going to be the same if one of them were to be destroyed."

Samus sighed. "Yes, it's going to be a lot of work, but we still need to keep them safe."

"You saved Mazuri and Adabat already," Nagi said. "Surely you can save the other continents and their temples as well, right?"

"You bet," Sonic said with a grin.

"And I'll be working to open the temples so we can restore them all," Chip said.

Teanchai's family nodded. "Please do, Light Gaia," Teanchai said. "We'll leave everything in your hands."

"Have a nice trip back to Adabat," Marth said.

"We will," Teanchai said before all his family and he walked into the portal. It remained still before it vanished completely in the air, leaving a trace of sparkles behind.

Cloud kept staring at the empty air with everyone. The blond mercenary turned to the Smashers. "Wait for Yuffie to get all our stuff here. She should be coming out now," he said.

Ironically enough, the door to Yuffie's hideout opened, and the ninja came out struggling to pull two big bags with stuff inside. The ninja sighed and stopped dragging the big bags. Wiping sweat from her face, she chuckled to herself and showed everyone the bags. "Ta-dah," she said, "as I've promised, here you go, you guys: a full order of Materia and stuff ready to be shipped back to you!"

Cid rolled his eyes and went over to look inside the bags. "...Well, ain't she a peach now," he muttered sarcastically before looking at the others. "All our Materia is in here, awright."

Fox went over to the other bag. Taking a peek inside, the vulpine looked back at his group. "Our stuff is in here as well," he said.

"My tiara!" Marth yelled before he ran over to the bag and began throwing out things. The Smashers gasped at this as they all grabbed their stuff before they could fall on the ground. Soon, everybody got their stuff back, Marth taking out his sister's tiara and Falchion. "Here they are..." he trailed off in relief...before he noticed everyone looked at him with weird looks. "...Uuh..."

"...I-it's okay," Aerith said, putting up a nervous smile. "W-we were just surprised that you were acting like that..." she said as her group began to take out the Materia that has been stolen from them.

Marth looked away in embarrassment as he put Falchion into its sheath while he put on his tiara. "U-um, w-we got our stuff back, so that's the only thing that matters to me..."

"Right..." Samus said.

Mario stared at Samus's broken suit, which had been reduced to cramped pieces that were beyond repairs. "Samus..." Mario trailed off, staring at the pieces.

Samus sighed. "I can't believe she caused all this to my Varia Suit..."

Yuffie looked away and sweated a bit. "O-oh, come on, the rock I used wasn't that strong," she said. "...I had to use my shuriken to twist it open."

The bounty hunter frowned at this. "It's okay. I'm going to have to use another suit, then."

Mario fixed his red hat and FLUDD on his back. "Phew, I forgot about you for a moment, FLUDD. I hope you're not mad."

"It's fine," FLUDD spoke. "Try to be more careful, Mario."

"I'll be," Mario muttered before he (magically) put FLUDD away.

Chris embraced his DS tightly. "Professor, you're okay!" he rejoiced. "You and my game cartridge are okay!"

"Hmm, what am I thinking you're more relieved that your game cartridge is fine than me?" Kawashima asked.

"I-I...I-I didn't mean to say it that way, I swear!" Chris said in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it," Kawashima said, crying digital toon tears. "I just need to work harder so you like me more."

"(Oh god...)" Chris thought worried before he put his DS away. He picked up his spear, and he changed to his Dragoon job to put it away. "I think everyone got their stuff back, right?"

Fox placed his headgear on his head and put his Blaster and Reflector on his belt. "Yeah, I got my stuff back," he said. "Hopefully I won't look weird to you because I have my headgear back."

"Not me," Knuckles said before spotting a big spiked shell and a odd-looking motorcycle (which had the name "Stephanie" written on the seat) next to Yuffie's house. "Er...what are those things doing there?"

Yuffie looked at the mentioned items. "Oh, those things were stolen from two guys I ran into," she said. "I think one looked like some sort of dragon while the other was a sumo wrestler..."

Suddenly, from out of the bushes, Bowser and Wario jumped out and went over to get their shell and bike back. The two villains embraced their stolen items. "Stephanie!" Wario rejoiced, rubbing the motorcycle a bit. "You're okay, little girl!"

"Heheheheh, she couldn't fool us in the end!" Bowser said, pointing an accusing finger to Yuffie. "You're NOT going to be stealing stuff from us ever again!"

Yuffie blinked in confusion. "O...kay...I think I shouldn't hav-"

"Yeah, you SHOULDN'T have!" Bowser interrupted before he picked up his shell and ran away from the scene. "Wario, we're going back to the Subspace! This place is so full of thieves that I don't really want to stay any longer and get my precious, badass shell stolen again!"

Wario jumped over his motorcycle and revved up the engine. He made a hand-sign to the group on his forehead and said, "So long, suckers!" before speeding off towards Bowser's direction.

The Smashers and Yuffie merely kept staring at their direction for a while. Chip thought about it for a moment before he turned to the group. "Was it okay for us to let them go?"

"Meh, I guess," Sonic said shrugging. "Those guys went through the same ordeal we went through."

Yuffie sweat dropped at this. "O-oh, was everyone so worried about their stuff?"

The ninja noticed most of the Smashers shot glares at her. Even her former group stopped grabbing Materia to glare at her as well.

"...I-I get it, I get it already, guys!" Yuffie said in panic. "Geez, people are so stingy these days!"

Both groups stopped glaring at her, Cloud's group resuming to take their Materia back from the bag.

Once both groups had collected everything back, the Smashers separated with Cloud's group. Aerith looked sad to the fact that they all had to go for the time being. "You're going now?" Aerith asked.

"Yes," Marth said. "We're done with what we had to do here."

Cloud crossed his arms. "Well, I guess we can believe about the fact there are other worlds out there," he said. "But I think we'd be better off if we just deal with our own world."

"Yes," Mario said. "It was nice to meet all of you."

Aerith sniffed sadly at this. "G-good luck, everyone," she sniffed. "I hope you all have a good journey ahead of you..."

Lucario just couldn't shake the fact that this was probably the very last time they would ever see Aerith. The Aura Pokémon looked sadly at her that he walked to her and hugged her by the side. "Please, don't cry," Lucario muttered. "...We will come back here someday to visit you."

Aerith sniffed a few more times before she smiled a bit and tightly hugged Lucario, making him blush a bit. "W-will you?" she asked.

"...Yes," Lucario said, forcing a smile, making Aerith chuckle heartily.

The Aura Pokémon stopped hugging her before Chris came in and hugged her as well. "T-take care, Aerith," Chris said, avoiding shedding some tears.

Aerith started to get happier at this that she hugged Chris as well. "Oh, thank you, Chris," she said before the World Traveler turned back to his group and hid some tears falling down his cheeks.

Mario noticed Chris's tears that he asked, "Chris, why are you crying?"

"I-I'm not crying, Mario..." Chris muttered. "I-it's just that..." The agent whispered some things to Mario's right ear.

"...Oh...well...I...oh no...oh my god..." Mario muttered in shock. Once Chris stopped whispering, the red plumber went over to Aerith and hugged her. The flower girl smiled happily at this that she hugged him back. "Take care, okay?" Mario asked.

"I will, Mario. This is so sweet of you," Aerith said, shedding a small tear.

Knuckles looked at Chris. "What did you tell him?" he asked before Chris whispered the same things to the echidna. "...Goodness...oh god...but...that's so..." Knuckles muttered in shock. The echidna stared at the flower girl for a while. He decided to go over and hug her as well.

Sonic snickered as Knuckles was being hugged by Aerith. "Hey, Chris, what did you tell Knucklehead to make him all lovey-dovey about her?" he asked before Chris did the same thing with him. "...Oh...I see...I...ah...what...really...are you serious...you're not..." Sonic muttered in shock. In a blink of an eye, after Knuckles stopped hugging Aerith, the hedgehog was already hugging her, causing Aerith to get surprised and hug him tightly while Knuckles went back to the group.

Marth looked at the sniffing Chris. "Um, what did you tell them?" he asked, making Chris whisper Marth about Aerith's fate. "...What...but...that is so...are you kidding me...that is..." Marth muttered in shock before repeating the same thing as the previous people.

Fox crossed his arms and looked at Chris. "Why are you making all of them hug her?" he asked before Chris approached and whispered him something. "...Yes...I see...wow...oh my god...you are serious, right...but...really...oh no..." Fox muttered in shock, repeating the same action as the others did.

Samus looked at Chris. "What is wrong with all of them?" she asked before Chris whispered her something. "...Yes...a-ha...oh...oh my...that's...but that is...oh my..." she muttered in shock, but this time going to Aerith and wish her a good journey.

Chip looked angrily at this. "Hey, I was going to start a long relationship with her! Why's everyone suddenly infatuated with my girl?"

Chris looked at Chip in disbelief. "Um, Chip, you really don't want to know the reason wh-"

The imp pointed at him. "Tell me on the double!" he demanded with crossed arms. "I wanna know why everyone here wants to make fall in love wi-" he stopped talking once Chris began whispering him about Aerith's future fate. "..." Chip's eyes suddenly froze into place. The imp remained flying in the air as he stared forward towards Aerith.

The agent took a few steps back and bowed to Chip. "Sorry...but you didn't leave me with another choice," he apologized.

Chris saw as Chip floated towards Aerith. The flower girl smiled warmly at him. "Oh, Chip, you're going as well, right?" she asked before rubbing the imp's hair a bit. "Take good care of yourself, okay?" she said.

Chip kept staring at her. The imp nodded a few times and flew back to Sonic, Aerith tilting her head to the side as she wondered why Chip didn't say anything. "You okay, Chip?" Sonic asked, receiving no response from the emotionally paralyzed imp.

Snake was told about by Chris about Aerith's situation. The mercenary walked to her and shook hands. "Be careful out there," Snake said. "You have your group to keep you safe."

Aerith chuckled heartily. "Thank you for reminding me, Snake. You're so sweet."

Cloud, Red XIII, Cid, Yuffie, and Tifa looked at each other in confusion after seeing all the Smashers saying their personal farewells to the flower girl. Red XIII coughed a bit to get Snake's attention. "Excuse me for asking, but why is everyone suddenly being very nice to Aerith?" he asked.

Snake looked away. "What? She's been nicer to us than any of you were."

Yuffie smiled. "Oh, that's right. Aerith is probably the nicest person you've ever met before. Not even 10,000 puppies will suffice to match her good nature."

Aerith blushed at this. "T-ten thousand puppies?" she said asked.

"I-ah, that was an expression, of course... Ignore me, please," Yuffie said with a chuckle before Cid slapped the back of her head. "H-hey!"

Cloud rolled his eyes at this. The blond mercenary looked at Snake. "So, Snake, are you okay now?" he asked. "I mean, after that shadow of yours tried to kill us..."

"I'm okay," Snake said honestly. "Beating that thing actually made me feel much better."

"Are you sure?" Tifa asked. "You seem a bit restless."

"Seriously, I'm okay," Snake repeated. "There's no need to worry about me anymore. That shadow is history."

"S-Snake..." Chris muttered as he walked to the mercenary. "I...I was thinking about..."

"I'm going to leave, kid," Snake said. "I want to stop thinking about this nonsense. Haven't I made myself clear before?"

"But..."

Snake narrowed his eyes at Chris. The ex-FOXHOUND stared at the teen's depressed look before his look drifted off to the other Smashers, who either looked blankly, depressed, or sternly at him. "..." Snake merely pressed his stapes to call the Colonel, getting into a conversation with his superior. "Colonel, I need to talk to you," he said.

The Colonel remained silent, making Snake think that he just wanted to listen for now.

"Personally, I think I can decide for myself about what to do here," Snake said. "This kid and the others, however, are keeping me from coming to a conclusion about this, though. It's making me mad, but I just can't come to a final result for this dilemma...so I need you to give me some suggestions, Colonel."

Again, more silence came as a response from the Colonel.

"I know you're thinking that I might have been wrong, Colonel," Snake said. "I just need one wise suggestion from you so I can find my own answer for this whole problem. I want to leave, but part of me wants to see what stupid and crazy thing occurs with those guys. It's hard for me to forget everything I had been gone through, so please, I request some kind of answer from you."

Even more silence was replied to Snake.

"...Please, tell me you're thinking about this, Colonel," Snake said. "You're making me feel very guilty now. It's not funny to stay very silent when I'm facing thi-"

"La-li-lu-le-lo, La-li-lu-le-lo, La-li-lu-le-lo ," the Colonel replied finally.