Materia Tree
Cloud, "So there are a lot of experiments and tests before becoming a SOLDIER?"
Zack nodded, "Yup! It's mostly because not everyone reacts positively to mako treatments."
Tifa, "What does that mean exactly? Did they die?"
Kunsel, "No they didn't die but.. "
Ace, "Let me guess, they went crazy and tried to kill you."
Zack was quiet as he nodded, "Mn."
Cloud eyed him, "Was it someone you knew?"
Kunsel, "He was our friend and teammate."
Tifa, "I'm sorry."
Zack, "It's okay."
Kunsel, "He is not suffering anymore."
Zack, "Hey, do you think we could see Ice fairies?"
Ace's mouth twitched, "Ice Fairies?"
Cloud felt dread, "What do you mean?"
Kunsel snorted at his friend, "He heard the locals talk about how fairies used to come to town in the past, but not anymore."
Tifa bit her lips to keep herself from laughing, "I see, what would you do if you met the fairies?"
Zack, "I would ask for a wish. Fairies give wishes."
Cloud muttered, "I don't think, they can."
To Cloud's relief, they had reached the reactor and they could hear gunshots and sounds of a battle. Ace gave a grimace but didn't rush in, instead he motioned them to follow him. Zack and Kunsel looked at each other, they wanted to go inside but didn't want to leave their new friends unprotected. They followed Ace, as he scaled up the wall easily followed by Cloud and Tifa. Zack and Kunsel climbed after them to what looked like a bridge over the reactor before going inside through an emergency door.
Zack, "You have done this before?"
Cloud nodded, "Yup! We did."
Kunsel spoke seriously, "You know that's illegal."
Tifa rolled her eyes, "This whole place is illegal."
Ace, "Not to forget it's pretty much abandoned too."
Cloud, "And according to the new laws Shinra gave out before I was even born by the way. Anything that has been abandoned for more than seven years don't belong to anyone anymore."
Kunsel looked at the smug look on the three teens and laughed, "You got me there."
Ace, "But unfortunately Shinra is run by an arrogant power hungry man. So, I highly doubt he would follow his own rules."
Zack, "Well we are trying to change that. Lazard is trying to change that. It'll take time however to achieve it."
Looking in from one of the triple layer protected windows they could see Angeal and Vincent fighting off a, mechanical monster. Desmond was standing beside Brian making sure none of the smaller critters got closer to them. Brian was shooting the ones that could jump using his rifle, his hunter abilities showing itself.
Tifa, "What in the name of Gaia?"
Cloud, "Machine monsters really?"
Zack, "Oh come on! We just dealt with monsters!"
Ace hummed, "They can handle it."
Tifa looked curious, "How are you so sure?"
Ace, "Look at their teamwork and expressions. They got it handled."
Kunsel nodded, "Mr Lockhart doesn't look that worried or panicked either. I guess that means that they are doing fine."
Cloud, "So we wait?"
Ace took out some buns, "We wait, here."
Zack took one, "Thanks, this must be the infamous curry bun. It smells so good."
Tifa, "It's stuffed bun, who calls it curry? We can literally put anything inside."
Kunsel, "Zack adores the curry ones."
Cloud, "Really? Cause that's my mom's recipe."
Zack's eyes brightened, "I love it."
Cloud smiled, "Happy to hear."
Ace, 'Too bright!'
Kunsel, 'Dammit Zack! Spare my single ass from the PDA.'
Tifa simply giggled at the cute scene, before turning back to the fight. She was a bit worried about her Dad. but knew he would be fine with Desmond and Vincent. On the other hand Desmond spared the window, which they were at, a glance. He nodded at Ace, who nodded back and knew, he would not let them inside. He looked behind the machine using his eagle eyes and saw what the machine was protecting. It was beautiful to look at with all the materia hanging from crystal branches like fruits.
Desmond sighed, 'To think, it was going well for a few moments.'
Brian, 'At least the kids are not here.'
Angeal, 'Kunsel, I hope you keep Zack out of trouble.'
Vincent, 'How annoying!'
The three beast inside him rumbled in agreement, Desmond had just admitted to being their mate. But instead of celebrating, they had to deal with another human mess. It was not even their human who created it, but that bitch Doctor, who caught and jailed them inside human flesh. The three demons growled impatiently as it was taking longer to defeat the monster.
Gallian beast, -Allow us partner, the kids are here and I don't want our cubs getting hurt because of their curiosity.-
Vincent, -They have already returned? Very well, I know how bad their curiousity can be.-
Cerebus rumbled, -We can show off to our mate too.-
Berserker growled, -This machine is starting to make me angry.-
Vincent, "Desmond, cover!"
Desmond's eyes glowed, "Angeal make a shield around yourself, I know you have a materia for it. Brian. behind me, Vincent is gonna use his limit break."
Brian perked up, "I have heard about limit breaks from Master Zangan. I didn't know Vincent could use it, I know Tifa wants to find her own."
Angeal who had sharp hearing overheard their conversation and looked in wonder, "Shield."
The Shield materia shone brightly, it was a gift from Genesis for his birthday. A mastered natural Materia, the red head found as a small marble in one of their missions. Genesis had spent hours in mastering the Shield materia making it grow bigger and stronger. Desmond gave an appreciative whistle feeling the power coming from the Shield. Ace meanwhile, grabbed everyone and created his own Shield making Kunsel and Zack look at him contemplatively.
Vincent growled, "Now let's dance!"
Galian beast took over Vincent's form making everyone gasp at the complete change in appearance. Gone was the lean - muscled figure, dark hair, red eyes and pale skin. In it's place stood a beast true to it's name sporting dark fur on it's body, sharp large claws for fingers and toes, blood red hair instead of dark and two sharp horns. The beast looked at Desmond and gave a roguish grin making the eagle eyed man try hard, to not blush. It was noticed by the sharp eyed beast who grinned wider before pouncing on the machine and started to rip it apart.
Angeal, "That has to be one of the most interesting limit breaks I have seen. And I have seen my SOLDIERs with many types of limit breaks."
Desmond, "We should exchange notes. Mine is very different from Vincent's. Ace's limit break is quiet different too."
Angeal gaped, "Ace? He has a limit break? How? He's a teen, a kid!!!"
Desmond shrugged, "He got it after winning against a Mother Dragon. Don't worry, he healed her after winning and realizing she only attacked him for getting close to her nest."
Brian twitched and grumbled, "No wonder, Tifa took to training like no tomorrow and wants her own limit break."
Angeal shook his head, "What do you feed your kids? The brats who join SOLDIER could use some."
Desmond, "Ace is Ace, he's special. Don't compare others to him, it would be unfair."
Galian beast meanwhile roared as he ripped the main controller out of the scorpion like machine. He held what looked like the main engine in his claws before growling and crushing it. By the window Zack and Kunsel were watching intrigued by the limit break Vincent had. Ace had taken to explain to the two SOLDIERs on what it was and it's name.
Tifa, "I want my own limit break so bad. Something like a super punch or kick."
Cloud pat her shoulder, "You will get it Tifa, let's work hard."
Zack, "Does Desmond have a limit break?"
Ace nodded, "He can fly."
Kunsel, "It's not attack based?"
Ace shook his head, "Not every limit break is an attack type. I know that my Uncle, Cloud's Dad, had a limit break that allowed him to heal others. I don't know how much he mastered his limit break though."
Cloud looked torn between looking proud and sad, "Dad was awesome."
Zack noticing the sad voice nudged him, "Hey! We'll be here for a while, want to figure out our limit break together."
Cloud smiled at him, "I would like that."
Tifa gave Zack a grateful look, she hated seeing the people she loved and cared about sad, "I think, it's safe to go down there."
Kunsel finished his food and water, "Yeah, let's go.. How do we go in?"
Ace dispersed his shield which disappeared in shimmers of white glitter, "Come on!"
They went to the main door and Ace messed with the controller making Kunsel splutter. Ace just shrugged and went inside followed by a questioning SOLDIER. Zack snickered as he, Cloud and Tifa followed the two and greeted the adults. Vincent had returned back to normal and was giving Ace a look, along with Angeal who overheard Kunsel.
Ace, "Shinra needs better security. If I can do it, then others who are more dangerous and have a bone to pick with Shinra can do it, too."
Angeal couldn't refute that and sighed, "You have a point but please avoid doing it."
Tifa, "Here Dad, we grabbed lunch for all of you and Angeal too."
Cloud passed a large basket to Desmond, "We got as much as possible. We heard SOLDIERs ate more than normal humans, something about high metabolism and energy requirements. I'm not completely sure, it'll be enough."
Angeal smiled at Cloud, "Do not worry son, us SOLDIERs are used to going without food for days during missions."
Ace frowned, "Well, you won't have to do that here. We take care of our own."
Kunsel gave an amused smile, "You just met us."
Desmond, "And now you are our friends. That makes you ours to care for."
Zack beamed, "I like that."
Cloud smiled, "We are gonna go hunting now."
Tifa tip toed and kissed her Dad's cheek, "We'll try to get deer meat for tonight or a Capra. If we are lucky we might get a bear. But it's not bear season."
Brian ruffled Tifa's hair, "Anything you can get is fine, sweetheart. I don't mind."
The kids nodded and left them to deal with whatever the machine was hiding. They dragged Zack and Kunsel away with them too making Angeal give a relieved sigh. He could honestly say the two Third class had no idea about it as they were protecting civilian kids. He looked at the materia tree that had grown from the life stream tube inside the hall.
Angeal, "Oh Gaia! I don't think it'll be possible for Shinra to just leave your village."
Brian frowned, "Can't you just take it away?"
Desmond, "We can pretend it was destroyed in the fight?"
Vincent, "Gallian beast is good at making it look like a beast attack."
Angeal looked at them dismayed, "It would destroy the materia. Then Genesis would breath down my neck."
Desmond looked at the tree with eagle vision, "Well, it is not creating more materia then the seven materia hanging from the branches."
Vincent also looked at it properly, "True! The life stream flowing to this hallway was cut off a long time back and moved to the biggest one for convenience sake."
Angeal, "We should wait for the Turks to come, I can ask them to bring the equipment to take the tree to Shinra."
Brian, "I would prefer the whole reactor gone."
Angeal, "That's gonna take time."
Brian waved, "I know, I just have kids out there who are way too curious for their own good. I worry about them and fear they'll run into something they won't be able to deal with."
Angeal, "I understand, Zack and Kunsel tend to get curious about many things as well."
Vincent, "The communication office is this way if you want to contact... Shinra.'
Angeal eyed the man, "You don't like Shinra, do you?"
Vincent, "It's a personal grudge against one person not the entire company. Do not worry about it."
Angeal didn't question much, he knew how horrible jealousy could be after all. Genesis, Sephiroth and himself had also suffered the burnt from jealousy from other SOLDIERs who hated how quickly they had risen to fame. The three of them had figured out a teamwork between them and succeeded in their missions more. A few SOLDIERs had raised their suspicions about it only for their teachers to rebuff. Genesis had been furious, while Sephiroth was resigned and Angeal had started to question his worth. It was really bad when the three of them were second class SOLDIERs, luckily they had each other.