Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Endless Crisis ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Endless Crisis: Chapter 2

~~~

"Bout time you got here Spike!" Barret called as Cloud came to a stop in front of the bar. Cloud sighed and shook his head, quietly thankful he wasn't the last person there for once. Sometimes he really got tired of that. Looking around he noted that Reeve, Cait Sith and Cid were nowhere in sight (which was odd because the only way Yuffie could have gotten there was with Cid). Sitting down at the bar it took all his might not to just set his head on the bar and take a nap... He might be super human but damnit he needed sleep every once and a while!

Tifa gave him a look but didn't say anything; she already knew what was wrong anyway. Hell, she could feel it too, just like the last time. But whatever Reeve called them here for had to have something to do with him.

"I'm glad everyone made it here on time," Reeve says as he casually walked into the bar, closely followed Cid.

"Where the hell did you go?!" Barret called out, waking Yuffie from her spot next to him. The young ninja glared at him but didn't say anything; her stomach was still killing her.

"Had to park the Shera where we could get to it, now shut yer yap and let Reeve talk!" Cid barked. The questions stopped quickly. Red merely yawned from his place on the floor, since he was patient enough to wait.

"...Thanks Cid..." Reeve chuckled lightly. Walking a little further in the room Reeve pulled out what looked like a little flat screen from his pocket. "As you know, until the repairs are finished on our headquarters the WRO has been moved to the old Shinra base in Junon," he started as he set the screen on the table. "Well, about a week ago we noticed things were missing. Nothing big; only screws and a few bits n' pieces of scrap metal..."

"Does this story have a point?" Yuffie complained. Tifa glared at the ninja and smacked her in the back of the head, stopping any further complaints.

"Who'd be stealing junk like that?" Barret asked.

"Not who, what," Reeve replied, with a grin on his face. "When we caught the thief turned out to be a small robot."

All at once the room got quiet, everyone (except for Cid, he'd already met the little robot) too shocked to speak. "I'm sorry, but a robot?" Tifa asked carefully.

"Yes, it's no bigger than a house cat and walks around on six legs like a crab," Reeve pushed the screen and a holographic image popped up. Everyone, including Vincent, crowded around the table to watch the little image scuttle back and forth.

The robot's body was shaped like a soda can with a large red 'eye' taking up much of its front. Underneath the eye was a thick black line that could be mistaken for a smile. The six legs came out of the sides, three on each side, each one nothing more than a metal tube that was jointed half way down before tapering off into a triangle point at the bottom. The little robot walked back and forth before blinking out.

"Wow!" Yuffie exclaimed, any sign of tiredness gone. "That was cute!"

"Where did this... thing come from?" Vincent asked, weary of the thing. It could be a leftover machine from Deepground.

"Living in the underground city from what he was telling us."

Now it was Cloud's turn to be confused, "He?"

"Yes, according to Cait Sith he uses a form of binary code to speak. So through Cait Sith we were able to find out a great deal of things," Pausing Reeve pushed the screen again, changing the display to what looked like an underground passage. "It turns out there's a natural cavern that runs from the city straight underneath Junon. A few years back there was a small cave in underneath the supply room, not big enough for it to cause damage to the building but it was big enough for him to slip in and out through a hole in the wall without anyone taking much notice."

"Still... why 'he'?"

"Cait Sith says that he considers himself a 'he'," Reeve laughed.

~~~

The first thing Cloud noticed when they reached the base was that he could hear an almost constant beeping coming from the direction they were heading. Everyone was excited, Red more so than others. Reeve seemed to be in a hurry to get them there, but he seemed to be quiet on that.

"I still don't understand why it was stealing things, shouldn't this city have supplies somewhere that it could use?" Vincent asked suddenly. He refused to call the machine anything but 'it'.

"Because the laddie said that 'is supplies ran out about ten years ago. ’Is been sneakin' in and taking things to make repairs," Cait Sith replied as he walked out of a room down the hall from them. "Otherwise, there'd be no way down there."

"Hello Cait Sith, how's our guest?"

"'Is doing good, but the laddie seems a bit skittish of people," Cait Sith said, scratching his ear in thought. "I don' think e's been around many people in a while."

"Shouldn't you be watching...?” Vincent started before Cait Sith stopped him.

"Trust me Vincent, e's not causing anyone trouble... I left the fella watching TV back there," Cait Sith pointed to the door at the end of the hall.

When Cloud look he realized that he couldn't hear the beeping anymore. "Are you sure?"

"Sure as sure," Cait Sit answered as he led them down the hall. "Poor guy hasn't had anyone to talk to in some time... Only reason e's watchin TV is because 'e wants to know what's been happing."

The room they walked into was at one time a break room for Shinra personal. There were a few coaches here and there and a TV in the middle of the room. And sitting in a chair closest to the TV was the robot, his legs tucked underneath himself, quietly watching the TV as he flicked an antenna on top of his 'head' back and forth. He was watching cartoons.

"'Ellow Biggie, find anything worth watching?"

The robot turned and began to answer in rapid beeps, like the chirping of a bird, only to stop when he saw all of the other people in the room. All at once the poor thing screamed, like how cartoon characters screamed, and withdrew into himself like a turtle. Everyone looked shocked at the little robot, which looked more like a can of soda than ever. Even Cloud was shocked by its reaction.

"I told ya e's not bad... e's just a little shy..." Cait Sith walked over to the coach were the soda can sat and attempted to calm things down. "Aye now laddie, nothing to be scared of. These are ma' friends, the people you're gonna take back to the city..."

Very slowly the little robot unfolded himself, his great eye looking around the room at the occupants. Carefully he unfolded himself but stayed pushed into the corner. "Is he okay?" Yuffie asked, concerned for the little thing.

The robot moved a little bit and began beeping to speak; scratching it's top with the tip of his antenna. Turning Cait Sith answered for him, "'E says that e's sorry for jumping like that, the last time 'e came across people with swords they tried cuttin' 'im in half."

Considering this was a SOLDIER base I can see why... Cloud thought. Just looking at it he could see that the little tin can wasn't a threat, there wasn't any place to put weapons on the thing. "So... you're going to lead us down to this city?"

"I still don't see why we need it to show us the way..." Vincent asked.

The robot snorted and hopped off the chair, beeping wildly as he came to stand next to Cait Sith. When he finally stopped he sat on the floor in a huffing little bunch of metal. "...'E says that without 'im to call off the Weapon sleeping down there you'll never get far enough into the city... And 'is name is Biggie-Smalls, 'e hates being called 'it'," Cait Sith answered for Biggie, scratching his head in thought. It was going to be a long day...

"There's a Weapon down there? I thought all of them woke up when Sephiroth called the Meteor three years ago?" Cloud asked.

Biggie blinked, which was an amazing thing to watch, and attempted to answer the blonds’ question. "No, 'e says this one doesn't listen to the planet. its job is to watch over and protect the city... and someone's resting place there..."

"Someone important died down there?"

"No," Red said suddenly, breaking from the group as he walked up to Biggie. The little robot didn't move, he was completely un-afraid of the beast standing in front of him. "Tell me..." Biggie looked up at his words, "...deep in this city covered by the earth for so long... is there a great dragon that protects a sleeping princess?"

Biggie jumped and began chirping wildly again, but in happier tone than the last time. "Hold up laddie, I can't talk as fast as you!" His beeping slowed a bit, "Okay, 'e says to tell you that the princess sleeps until the time the planet needs her again... Red wat's 'e talkin about?" Red didn't get a chance to answer, Biggie started chirping again and ran out of the room before anyone could stop him. "'E says we got to leave now!"

~~~

It was amazing how fast the little thing no -Biggie- could run. Even pulling a little red cart behind him, which had the words 'Radio Flyer (*)' on the side, he was still at least five feet ahead of them with Red and Cait Sith following close behind. At least that explained how he was getting the stuff back. So here they all were, holding up gold sticks to light their was as they followed a little blinking red light in the distance. Cloud didn't mind the fact that they were rushing towards the underground city, whatever he'd been feeling was getting closer. That was never a good thing.

"Someone mind tellin' me why we're runnin'?!" Barret huffed.

"Yeah, I'm all for this but I kind-of wanna know how come he's freaking..." Yuffie called out from somewhere ahead of Barret.

Red slowed down a bit so that he was walking side by side with Cloud, a serious look on his face as he looked ahead. "There is a legend that my people tell... of a warrior princess... and of a great evil that spread across the land, its reach so great that it was a threat to all worlds. Her people were outnumbered and weak from fighting, for it was a long war and many people from all over died in the process, but her will was strong. She rallied them and filled their hearts with strength. She led them into battle riding a great red dragon and defeated the great evil with the help of great heroes from another world. But when it was over she was weak... and she knew the evil was arise again one day... So with the help of the planet they covered the city where the final battle occurred with earth and stone... And there she is to sleep... until the day it returned and the planet needed her once more..."

They were quiet for some time, thinking about how eerie the story sounded. "You don't think this has to do with Jenova... do you?" Tifa asked

"I don't know... but..." Red sighed.

Cloud's mind was already set and thinking of all possibilities, "Are there any other entrances to this city?" he called out.

Biggie slowed, scratching his top in thought before replying. "There's a small opening down by teh beach near old Midgar, but 'e says there's no way for a regular person to reach it since it opens to a cliff. Used to be a lovely beach tho' from wat 'e says."

The cave suddenly opened up into a huge cavern, the roof so high up that none of them could see the top. Reeve, being the ever prepared one, took out a flare gun and shot a round into the sky. All you could see for miles around were what looked like the ruins of metal tangles everywhere. No one spoke, all they could do was stare at the saddened ruins of a lost empire. Something green caught Cloud's eye off to the side, he walked over to a big green piece of metal and read the inscription on it.

"Welcome to New York City... population eight million..."

~~~

(*) The 'Radio Flyer' is the makers of the little red wagons that all kids had or wished they had as kids. If you still can't figure out what I'm talking about, Google it.

Reviews:

dark lance (mm . org): Lucky you for getting the first review!!! I'm glad you like the reading and I hope this chapter as just as good as the last one!