Sarah slumped as she reviewed even more 'ideas' and 'suggestions', but in reality were random complaints about past issues that individuals wouldn't let go and lifetime family feuds.
These old geezers somehow converted this 'planning meeting' into a grumble fest.
NOTHING had been informative or useful for the last ten minutes, and from Elder Godo's expression he both acknowledged the situation, expected it, and was used to putting up with crap like this.
Finally: Salvation!
<<Medical Mako Spring setup complete, ready Sarah?>>
She grinned slightly maniacally, harvested all the documents and notes on the table while ignoring the old people, and stood, interrupting a rant about shades of green acceptable on roofing tiles. "Well this was a thing, I'll be back later father."
And the room was slightly more empty.
Elder Godo sighed. "You all realize that she will likely ignore future input from everyone after this. Correct?"
The gray haired grandfather stabbed with his cane! "YOU haven't seen that travesty of jade green I've tolerated for the LAST TWO MONTHS!"
He sighed as the arguments began again.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah was somewhere in Wutai, as Adam said she couldn't directly enter her 'Home' while on this Jump due to the memory wipe drawback. "So, what's the plan boss?"
Adam examined the filled Medical Spring room.
While the mako density was fairly low compared to an entire planet, the drastically smaller area being supplied would rapidly increase in pressure. The walls now had began self shifting as the embedded pathing tunnels corroded and regrew thanks to the liquid magic passing through, and he had 'Purification' over the entire section causing the green 'liquid' to glow brightly.
It… Should be fine? Depends on what Jenova's condition was, really.
Right. <<First, Mt. Nibel was one of the many earliest locations where Shinra Electric Power Company erected a mako reactor. This helped the local settlers initially with cheap energy and Materia, but in the LONG run killed the local vegetation and wildlife while massive and dangerous monsters began spawning in due to the ecological vacuum there.>>
She waved a hand. "Right, some mountain, got it. What's the plan?"
Sigh. <<On the plus side? It is the oldest design of a mako reactor. Almost no security, no good defences, and due to a lack of personnel being deployed there the locals are near religious about the site and should ignore the area entirely. So we can get there safely without getting caught. Probably.>>
Sarah tapped a foot. "Sounds good. What's the minus side?"
Adam extracted teleportation coordinates from Gaia's information network. <<Well, it is the oldest design. The thing is a half step from exploding in the BEST CASE scenario, more likely us trying to break into the mess will cause it to blow up. Won't hurt the locals, the dangerous monsters and death of all grass and forests nearby forced the town to set up fairly far back from the place, but we are going to have to snatch and run fairly quickly.>>
She frowned. "I thought we were going to save an alien queen or something? Why are we trying to blow up the Mako Reactor? I thought she was just locked up inside it in a prison or lab or whatever. Wait, are we blowing it up to distract Shinra or something?"
Nope. <<Well uh. Technically she IS locked up inside of it?>>
Adam sent her data. <<Professor Hojo decided the best idea in the world was to take the alien creature he tortured, one he believed to be from a druid-like religious species connected to Gaia herself, and build a shrine to his victim in the reactor. Her near dead body is inside a naked woman statue while being irradiated with pure Mako and raw magic.>>
Sarah blinked. "Da fuck you say?"
He sighed. <<Yep.>> Shinra, the 'Why did we do this again?' company of the Planet, everyone!
She frowned. "Well uh. So at least we can get in and look around first, right?" And paused. "Wait, if they stuck Jenova there, why AREN'T there a bunch of security people and stuff?"
Adam 'shrugged'. <<The records say Hojo thought that would be a waste of money.>>
Sarah hesitated. "But he spent gil to make a giant naked statue thing?"
He 'nodded'. <<Has wings and stuff too.>>
They both considered how insane this one dude must be. Holy shit, seriously. <<Yeah, and it's not like the guy is DONE with Jenova either. He set up a big mansion in the local village to do more experiments, use her cells on babies, try to trap demon souls inside a vampire.>>
Sarah took a deep breath. "No. Stay focused. Goddess LITERALLY in a nuclear magic facility, what do we do?"
Adam showed floor schematics. <<Getting to her is fairly easy, but first you need to get to this location.>> A mark showed inside the building. <<We will be inserting you via teleportation out here.>> Another mark outside, on the mountain itself. <<To ensure no detection and prevent problems, I suggest you use your [Phase Pierce] and one of your snipers to clear the vicinity of monsters.>>
She nodded as he showed the layout for the 'statue'. <<Assuming Shinra followed their OWN GOD DAMNED SCHEMATICS, which is NOT a guarantee, there should be a disconnect and transportation sequence that can be activated via these three levers.>>
Simple enough. Sarah hummed. "And if it doesn't match this?"
Then fuck it. <<Just [[Harvest]] the mess and I'll make sure Jenova doesn't get hurt in the process. But uh… If I do that, teleport out FAST.>>
Because actively 'eating' a massive chunk of a magical reactor was going to make it pop, no question. <<Anyway, the medical facility should help purge Jenova from any influence from Gaia…>> Thank you, 'Purification'. <<...And we can come back to Wutai Village with lots of time for you to fix the place up!>>
She flinched. "Or steal it. Because if I steal it, I can leave the old people behind."
He rolled his eyes. <<Even Elder Godo?>>
Sarah shrugged. "You saw his eyes, he thought making us be respectful to those crazy people was hilarious. In that old, 'I be proper' mature person way, I mean."
Fair enough. <<Got your weapons ready?>>
She twisted into a grin as a massive Torgue Explosive Elementary Sniper Rifle was summoned from her inventory. "Oh yeah!"
Let's do this!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Cloud Strife glared at his so-called friends! "We CAN'T let Tifa go alone! The mountain is dangerous!"
None of them would meet his eyes, and she was getting further away.
The eight year old sniffed. "FINE! I'll go protect her MYSELF! JERKS!"
Ignoring the rest, he ran up to his friend. "Keep your eyes open, and if you hear ANYTHING like wings we run, alright?"
The teary red eyed girl shook her head. "Mommy will be there Cloud! And she will come back and make papa not sick! She'll take care of me!"
Cloud felt his heart hurt. Mom already told him that his father died long ago, so he knew what happened to Ms. Lockhart. She wouldn't be on that mountain.
But her dad had died this morning from his sickness, and she was SURE her mom could fix everything. Refused to come to Cloud's house, to get help from the villagers, she was going to the mountain alone to get mom to fix things.
Her mom would not be there.
But Cloud would be. "Well, we should be safe then, right? Your mom wouldn't want you getting hurt on the way there, right?"
He had sent Tyler to tell his mom where they were going, Cloud just had to keep his friend safe until help came to get them.
The little girl sniffled. "Okay, but we gotta hurry. Papa won't wake up."
His father wouldn't 'wake up' either, but at least HE would be there. "Then we go quiet, like hide and seek, and stay on the main paths so we don't get lost on the way." And so mom can find them easier.
She rubbed her eyes. "Kay."
He clenched his fists as he glanced at the foggy mountain. It should be fine, his mom would come fix things. It would be fine.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah landed on stone… And shivered. "HOLY CRAP it's cold! WHY!?"
Adam showed a map. <<Although we are more towards the equator than up at Wutai Village, you are currently on a VERY tall mountain.>>
She glared at the two marks on the far west/left side of the map! "It is summer! We should be WARM!"
He overlaid the Lifestreams on the map. <<Mako flow affects the local weather and stuff too. In places like this so close to the reactors, it can be much colder than expected.>>
She pointed at nothing! "My privates are going to freeze!"
A sigh suddenly had her outfit swap out with a MUCH WARMER outfit, a blue snow suit with a massive white scarf and hoodie. <<Then wear something other than an indoor business suit all the time.>>
She mumbled in her new outfit, warm and uncaring.
Adam modified her gloves again for something still warm but MUCH thinner and skin tight. <<Are you ready to get started.>>
Sarah sighed, a human sized weapon loaded and ready to fire in her hands.
"[[
Phase Pierce.]]"
Her world expanded, everything in focus, her powers apparently allocating more 'Mind Units' (Whatever the hell THOSE were) so that all objects in all directions were in focus, examined, and given danger ratings/targeting options/destructive entertainment estimates.
Sarah ignored most of that and focused on the angry looking wolves.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She paused, the four Nibel Wolf corpses hitting the snow. "Huh, I got two with that one. Weren't these bullets supposed to explode?"
Adam mentally pointed out a setting. <<It is disabled by default.>>
Sarah flipped the feature and twisted to target some sort of freak with two legs, a scorpion like tail, and a maw of fangs in a tube hole on it's torso.
BangBADOOM!
He helpfully showed her a popup naming the new blood puddle a "Bahba Velamyu" based on data from the Gaia Network. Neat.
Sarah grinned! "I… I think I can take out whole GROUPS of beasts with this thing!"
Adam was just grateful that Sarah hadn't bothered to turn on this feature back in Rapture, as the massive fireball of escaping gasses only vaguely counted as 'explosive' damage since it wasn't spraying napalm equivalent material like the 'flame elemental' snipers.
Back then NORMAL bullets made people pop into blood balloons, this overkill explosive sniper would have cracked Rapture's original wall materials.
She twisted slightly, shooting a few more wolf packs and having fun before she paused. "Is that a purple penis monster?"
Adam checked. <<It's a Battery Cap, when you get closer or it moves you can see it's just a tower of purple mushrooms with lots of fanged mouths all over it.>>
Sarah deadpanned her enthusiasm. "Yeah, no."
BangBADOOM. "No to ALL of that. I am not getting closer to ANY purple penis monsters."
All kinds of nope to all of that.
She paused mid targeting as a distant bridge came into focus… With two children on it?
The fuck!? There were wolves and supposedly DRAGONS on this mountain! These kids didn't even have Materia, much less weapons or equipment! And they were damn tiny, like itty bitty people tiny!
Why the shit were there Aerith sized people on death mountain!?
Then, because of course why not, the bridge the two were on suddenly snapped.
Sarah vanished.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Cloud held Tifa's hand with his own as he clutched frantically at the fragment of rope hanging from the cliff. The bad weather and older pathway had given up apparently at the worst time, not that he cared right now.
He was ignoring the cuts on his hand, his hurting arms and twisted shoulder.
All that mattered was the arm holding his. "I got ya!"
Tifa was hugging the HELL out of his left arm, and it hurt, and she was heavy, and she was crying and gasping and it didn't matter. "It's okay."
It was not okay. He couldn't move, his body hurt, and something was making scary 'I will break' noises inside the rope AND the wooden splinters his limb clung to right now. "Tifa, can you grab the…"
No, she couldn't even properly grab his arm. She didn't train like he did, she didn't want to one day join SOLDIER like he did. If a guy like him who practiced and exercised all the time was having problems holding on to this fragmented bridge, Tifa certainly would fall if she tried.
Cloud Strife couldn't let go. Not of her, not of the bridge.
So he wouldn't. "It's going to be alright."
Mom, I need help. "Just hold on a bit, help is coming."
It hurt. "Just…"
Mom, I… Tifa's hand slipped slightly, and he tried to move his legs to get SOME sort of grip! Something was hurt in his back though, and his legs barely moved without distracting him.
She cried! "Mommy, mommy, mommy…"
Mom, I tried.
They fell. Into confusion. "What the HELL are you two kids doing out here!? This place is as dangerous as FU… uh. This place is dangerous, alright? Oh you both are banged up."
What?
Strong arms gently separated the two.
Warm air flowed, despite the cold mountain. "[[
Cure,]] [[
Cure.]] Stupid basic Materia, I've still got to kill lots more monsters before these things improve enough to learn them all."
Tifa blinked. "Mommy?"
A woman wrapped up in thick blue clothing paused. "I'm sorry?"
And they were apparently on the OTHER side of the ravine now, missing bridge pieces still falling into the gap.
Tifa teared up. "You're not mommy."
Cloud suddenly had bright silver eyes in a flumpy blue snowsuit staring at him. "Help me out here kid, what's going on?" Her white scarf was somehow lifting both children and wrapping them up with MUCH warmer coverings.
He blushed at being handled like this. "Tifa came out looking for her mom when her dad uh…" He glanced at the girl. "Went away."
Tifa hiccuped. "Papa's just sick, I'll find mommy and she'll fix everything."
The stranger paused. "Oh."
Cloud focused. "I asked my friend to get Mom, she's going to come get us."
Tifa flinched! "NO! I need mommy! Not YOUR mommy!"
The other woman hummed.
"[[
P̞̘h͕̠a̬͙͕̗s̭e͎̣͎̤͇ ̠͈̻P̗͚̗̼̙i̝̲̫̪̝͈̙e̼r̤̥̭ͅc̙̤͉̳ḛ͍͍̝͖̫.͍͙̞]]"
Both children flinched as the woman's silver eyes GLOWED… And flickered. "There are no adults within a great distance of here. Several monsters, no other children or people. Well, that won't do."
She gently stood the two on the slick stone. "Right. First of all, my name is Sarah Kisaragi. And you two are?"
Cloud looked at the sniffling girl. "Uh. I'm Cloud Strife, and this is my friend, Tifa Lockhart."
Tifa sniffled. "Mom has to be here! I'm going to find her and… And everything will be better!"
Sarah sighed. "Cloud?"
He shook his head.
She nodded. "Very well. Let me see if I can talk to her then."
"[[
Voice of the Planet: M͚̞̱̗̜͕em̟̙o̰̰͇r̦i̫e̼͕s̯̗̗̹̫ͅ ̣̘of̳͚̜ ͔͙̖t̪̪̳h̦͙̘e̹̗̫͇ L̠̘o͍̳v̝̙̦̭̯̯̪e̼d͓̜̲̘͚.]]"
A green fog faded into existence… And suddenly a woman was there. "Oh sweetheart, I was so worried!"
Tifa blinked. "Mommy?"
She was pulled into a hug. "Thank you, Gaia's Champion. When Brian came to the Lifestream, we were so worried about our girl."
Sarah sighed. "You have limited time. And this will basically have you become one with Gaia sooner than usual."
The woman snuggled her daughter. "That's a price any parent would gladly pay."
Cloud felt stunned. "Ms. Lockhart?"
The tall woman that softly glowed green smiled. "Oh Cloud dear, thank you for helping my little one! You were so brave!"
Sarah frowned. "Brave? Sure, but don't do it again. I've killed a hundred monsters around here and it STILL isn't safe. So you're the girl's mom?"
She nodded. "Thea Lockhart. Please help my little girl."
The silver eyed woman frowned. "Am I going to have to kidnap MORE children!? How am I still the GOOD GUY here!? This place sucks!"
Cloud blinked. "I uh. I don't think I need to be kidnapped?"
Ms. Sarah waved at him. "The adults STILL haven't come looking for you OR her yet, and it must have taken HOURS to get all the way up this mountain. I'll reserve kidnapping plans until after I find your caretakers, but no promises."
Tifa's dead mom (Holy crap!) hugged her girl. "I'm sure Claudia Strife must be crazy with worry, but she IS a good mother. But my little one… WIthout my Brian, she needs help."
Sarah hummed. "Well I DID steal a very nice woman earlier today, she's a great mom. And I might take little Cloud and his mother too after I finish killing monsters on this mountain and some other stuff."
He frowned. "I don't want Tifa to leave, but we can't go! All our stuff is here."
She shrugged. "Then we'll take your stuff."
Cloud… Didn't really know how to respond to that.
Tifa's Mom sighed. "Little one, I can't stay forever… But please listen to the nice lady who saved you. She is the Planet's Champion, and she will take care of you."
Sarah blinked. "I mean, yeah, but you could ask first? Also, Gaia and I are buds I never volunteered for any sort of…" She paused as Thea shushed her.
Lifting her daughter, she kissed her forehead. "You'll be strong for me, my little one?"
Her eyes were full of tears. "No! I don't want to! Just stay forever!"
Cloud looked away. That hadn't worked when he tried to get his father to come home either, when he was younger. Not that he remembered his dad, but he still tried.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, I'll take the two of you to your mom's place. I'm sure she's worried sick, and I'm going to be doing dangerous stuff here… You two can't be here when I get back to getting rid of all the monsters."
The boy hesitated. "Can… Can you call back my dad too?" He was probably big and tall! And he probably gave hugs like the other dads, and told stories and stuff.
She sighed. "When people pass away, they return to the Planet. Your friend's mother will return there too, but I'm sure if he was still able? Your father would be glad to come visit you." She knelt down. "Now, let's go make sure your mom is alright."
Tifa's sudden cries as her mom faded away into green sparks made him focus.
Yeah, mom could help her. "Alright."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Claudia Strife checked the clock again.
It was late.
She fidgeted as she made more and more food for dinner. A dinner that was late.
Something like a nervous habit, but her boy was a good child. He must have been asked to help one of the townspeople and lost track of time. Or something.
It was late. Too late. Was she overreacting?
Another ten minutes. If he wasn't back in ten minutes, she would head to her son's friends and just check in on them. Or maybe he was visiting Tifa and her father in the clinic again? Maybe she should put some of the muffins in a basket and check on that too. In nine minutes.
She was a cool mom, she wasn't overbearing. Not for another nine minutes, at least.
The knocking on the door was a wave of relief! That was Cloud's knock, no matter how often she insisted he just come in he always loved to knock on the door to be a 'polite young man'!
She ran there. "Cloud! I was so worried!"
He looked so cold! "Mom!"
It could wait. She tugged her child into her arms! "You can't stay out all the time, even if you are older now! If you are going to a friend's house I have to know first, not just later or when you get back!"
Surprisingly, he didn't protest. Or complain of embarrassment. Or wriggle in discomfort from the cuddling.
Something was wrong. "Baby?"
He leaned in. "Tifa's sad mom, help?"
She looked at the other two for the first time… A stranger holding Thea's little one, who looked cried out and was asleep. "What happened!? And who exactly are you?"
Cloud didn't look concerned about the silver eyed woman, which helped a little, but children's safety came first!
The other woman had a sad smile. "My name is Sarah Kisaragi. I found your son trying to get this little one to stop running to Mt. Nibel and had to step in to help a bit."
Her arms hugged her son tighter! "Running WHERE!? That place is a deathtrap!"
Her little one nodded. "I couldn't stop her, and my friends were just going to leave. I had to make sure she was alright."
Claudia frowned. "Why didn't you get an adult!?"
This 'Sarah' sighed. "He sent a friend off to get you actually, it just seems like that didn't work out."
Cloud nodded. "Tyler said he would get help."
Well, THAT child's family wasn't getting any of these muffins. "Come in, all of you. The weather's been horrible as of late."
Sarah sighed. "I'd like to drop off the little one for a bit before I finish killing the monsters on that mountain. There are some UGLY things up there that could use some lovely explosions."
Memories of her husband happily smashing wolves with his hammer made her sigh with nostalgia. "I myself rarely train or fight anymore from my younger years… But I know our town would appreciate thinning the monster population. And more importantly, protecting our children."
Even that brat Tyler who could have gotten two kids hurt. But no muffins for him for at LEAST a month! Or uh. Two weeks.
She nodded. "I'll be back in less than a few hours."
What?
Sarah gently placed little Tifa on the couch… And vanished.
What? "Where did she go?"
Cloud shrugged in her arms. "She does that. It's how she saved us when the bridge fell."
When the what did WHAT!?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Step. Bang!
Step. Bang!
Step. Bang!
Sarah swapped out for a sniper with corrosive effects, better able to handle armor. "This was so much more FUN before!"
Adam would reload the previous guns like the others as she swapped through the arsenal. She could at least focus on accurate shots.
Step. Bang! HISS!
Step. Bang! HISS!
Step. Bang! HISS!
She frowned! "But now I can't just enjoy popping beasts, because I need to finish this quickly and maybe steal another family! AGAIN! What the hell, Adam?"
He agreed. <<I remember when we used to dismantle kidnapping rings, not randomly start up our own.>>
Sarah nodded as a deadly shot soaked a demon-like 'Valron' in green acid that hissed. The beasts could attack with [[Demi3]], a gravity attack that took away 75% of your health per hit. If they knew they were even in battle, that was.
Step. Bang! HISS!
Step. Bang! HISS!
Step. Bang! HISS!
Step. Click! "Shit." Switch guns again.
This one was able to give 'flammable effects', a sort of napalm that did damage over time that works great against flesh especially, if not electronics or heavy armor.
Bang! FWISH!
Oh, that burned bright! The clipped wolf behind the actual target (VERY dead already) basically turned into a freaked out bonfire as it tried to escape the unseen, unprovoked attack.
Nope!
Step. Bang! FWISH!
Good thing that Mako Reactor prevented plant life, this gun basically was a dangerous fire hazard. Even if the acid, corruption, and napalm consumed itself shortly after a shot, a forest fire was still going to burn itself out.
Could Adam get her an ice sniper rifle? Or equip ice Materia in one?
Step. Bang! FWISH!
Something to check out later.
Step. Bang! FWISH!
Adam hummed. <<Best you clear the entire mountain before we continue?>>
Step. Bang! FWISH! Bang! FWISH! Bang! FWISH!
Yeah, he should give her time to calm down a bit before going to rescue anyone. Considering Jenova might be able to psychically connect with outsiders, going in full of rage and sadness for children might not be the best idea.
Especially when Sarah had stopped by Tyler's house to see what the hell was going on THERE before coming back to the mountain. Which uh. Was a bad idea.
She found out that little Tyler had been prevented from warning Cloud's mom because his family thought the woman 'odd' and 'dangerous' for not remarrying after her husband died.
That uh. That pushed some of her buttons slightly. Both the sexist attitude that women shouldn't support themselves, the casual disregard for a child's life, and the flat out denial that Tifa would have climbed the mountain in the first place when Tyler insisted it was true.
Because his family was clearly terrified of that place, and didn't want to go there.
Better to let kids die instead, apparently.
Sarah screamed at the snow as a dozen flying monsters screamed right back with fire eating their wings. They should smash into the ground shortly.
Yeah, best let her calm down before continuing the rescue mission.
