This piece of work is copyright of myself, Andrew Venables and is not availible for copy, sale or any activity that may adjust the content of this work that in any way that may threaten the reputation of myself and any publisher. Trademarks are properties of their repective owners. This fic may not be placed on any websites without permission of the author. There will be people somewhere with copyrights to all of this. No infringement intended. Sorry about the scary stuff, like to get it out of the way at the start. Worth noting that I spent ages setting this up so it fits the width about right, there is nothing wider than the edge of your page _______________________________________________________________________________________________ CONNECTIONS - by Andrew Venables Chapter 3 - A Vision Returns Squall, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Rinoa and Irvine walked towards the city gate. "Midgar - Sector 5" yelled Squall to the others, "Stand back". A Thunder spell shot out of Squall's hand and hit the electronic lock. A twist of smoke appeared from the top. "Follow me" cried Squall, as the group raced into this city * * * * * The visions kept returning. When he went to Corel to visit Mayor Barret. When he went to Cosmo to visit the happily mated Red. When he went back to Midgar to see Reeve. When he went to Cid's home in Mideel. When he went to Wutai to give Yuffie any new and unwanted materia. Or when he went to Nibelheim to visit Vincent and Lucricia in the Shinra mansion. And even when he went back to the Costa del Sol to his Villa with Tifa. Cloud could not shake loose the visions. Cloud had gone back into Bugenhagen's planetourium, equipped with all of the Master materias. And seen something new there, Another materia, split black and white. Cloud touched it, gaining the powers this orb possessed. And understood what was going on with the entire universe. And how how he could claim it all for himself. Shaking, Cloud dropped the materia and left the planetourium. He realised that he must take it with him. Or was this the Jenova still in his body, power hungry trying to trick him. As he started the Highwind, Cloud suddenly realised how easilly he could take control of the world * * * * * Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis, Irvine and Selphie were back at Balamb Garden. They had cancelled their trip, Cid being concerned that once again the world could be in danger. Squall just thought Esthar's planning committee needed executing. Either way, he had just beaten a collection of all the others best cards. For the fifth time. Even though Quistis was still the official Balamb Card Club King, althogh Squall had challenged Quistis to a match which would enable him to become card king. "Nida to Squall. Report to the headmaster's office immidiately. Thank you" With a sigh Squall levered himself to his feet. "I'll let you know if I get back" Squall said in reply to the look on Selphie's face "OK" Squall strode out of the cafeteria and towards the elavator and pressed for the third floor. * * * * * Cloud's PHS started ringing. He unclipped it and glance to see who wanted to talk to him - Reeve. "Oh, heya Reeve. Anything important?" "Very important Cloud. Listen, at 13:43 hours yesterday, we recived six unknowen intruders to Midgar. We know they didn't have a key as they blasted the lock to the door with some unusual kind of bolt spell. They then left one and a half hours later in a red dragon-like ship, and headed towards Junon. Any thoughts?" "The ship is called the Ragnarok, property of one Squall Leonhart, and...." "How do you know this? Come on Cloud, take this seriously" "If you'd listen, Reeve, I met this guy over the Costa, where he attacked me. He fired rockets at me, but he and the rockets dissapeared before they hit me" "I belive you, just about. Bring the Highwind over to Midgar and we'll give her some weapons. Sound like you'll need 'em. Oh, and call the others and bring 'em over would you" * * * * * "Welcome Squall. Listen please. We now know that this 'Midgar' wasn't autherised by Esthar" "Brilliant Nida, absolutely brilliant" retorted Squall, sarcastically. Nida looked hurt "But....this means we can blow it up" cried Squall, thinkning of his feet. "Nida, order for the Ragnarok to be fully armed". On this note, Squall ran to the elavator. "Come on, move it guys" panted Squall. This was met by a chorus of questions. "Just shut up, will ya and meet me in the Ragnarok in one hour sharp" "Squall, will you tell us where we are going" whined Selphie. "Alright, alright. We're off to destroy Midgar. Happy now" muttered Squall, defeated. "Quit arguing you two" sighed Quistis, back in her instructor position "Yo guys, there's another ship there" called Zell from the weapons desk "Whaddya want me to do?" "Let it state it's intentions" replied Squall "Let it make the first move. Quistis, get on the blower and tell the people of Midgar to evacuate" Chapter 4 - Fighting For Pride "What the hell?" screamed Cloud. "Unnecessary question" muttered Red XIII. Cloud seized the PHS "Reeve, is the Highwind ready yet?" Cloud yelled into the small device. "Ready when you are", crackled in responce All eight of them ran to the elevator. "What do you want" snarled Cloud into the microphone. "Lupids" responed the speaker "WHAT?!?" "Lupids" replied Squall. "It's a flower. For your graves" Cloud turned off the microphone. "Alright, give 'em the Mako cannon Barret" A pulse of brilliant white light shot out of a pod on the side of the Highwind. It bouncing off the side of a suddenly appearing blue shield. Squall glanced at Rinoa, admiringly. "We aim to please" "Would you care to finish them Rinoa, or shall we use the Ragnarok" inquired Squall, politely. "Be my guest" replied Rinoa, grinning Squall leaned over and siezed the microphone. "What - no lupids?" said Squall "looks like you'll have to go without. Good day to you" All the weapons in the Ragnarok fired simultaneously. The Highwind suddenly dissapeared behind a wall of smoke and fire. Out of this cloud came an escape pod. "Oh well" muttered Squall, "they aren't going anywhere" Cloud stood, staring at the thick black wall of destruction behind him. "Goddamn it - thats twice." He thumped his hand on the window "Reeve is not going to like this" "What now, Cloud" Red's voice cutting into Cloud's thoughts. "See if they land, then if they do, we take 'em out on the ground" Cloud responded, savagely. * * * * * Squall brought the Ragnarok down slowly, still in his mind the damage the Highwind's pulse could have caused. Then, he placed it down about 50 yards from the escape pod. Squall stepped out, followed by Quistis, Irvine, Zell, Selphie and Rinoa. "Like me to take them out from here" asked Irvine, eagerly, pulling out his gun. "No, I want to fight him". Squall unsheathed his gunblade, and carried it over his shoulder. "Here he comes Cloud" observed Yuffie, dancing with exitement. "Go kick his ass Cloud" ordered Barret "Good luck Cloud" offered Tifa "If you wish to fight then do so" suggested Red "Remain proud" instructed Vincent "Go fight for all of us" muttered Cid For a second Cloud heared Aries say "I am with you". He extracted the Ultima Weapon and walked foreward. Squall stared at him, and at his sword. Interesting blade, something Odin would have carried he thought, half amused, half concerned. No match for a Lion Heart gunblade though. Squall watched him grow nearer, and they locked eyes. Squall and Cloud looked at each other once, then they stepped up and swung. Neither quite knew what to expect, but they hadn't rated their opponent's abilities so highly. Sparks flew into the air. Three times Squall thought the Ultima Weapon was going to gut him. Three times Cloud saw his own death in the Lion Heart swinging at his head. Six times a young man with long blonde hair winced as he saw death miss each of them by millimeters. Then, as he saw two strokes that cut off a lock of hair from each man, he decideed to stop the fight. He directed his airship down towards land and the fight. Chapter 5 - The Question The big blue airship flew over the battle arena. It's pilot could already tell the fighters were tiring, and victory would not be glamorous for the winner if there ever was one. The blonde haired man walked over to the teleport system and teleported right into the middle of the battle. "Ready to give up yet" panted Squall. "Never" gasped Cloud. The next thing they saw was a stream of blue numbers pass them and hit the ground. Both of them expected attack, even though they had both disabled each other's GFs and Summon monsters. Neither of them expected a young blonde man, complete with tail, with two daggers being held at the fighters' throats. With a nod, both of them raised their weapons at this new fighter. Their weapons had gone. Casually, the apparition stuck them into the ground. "Hiya. The name is Zidane. Why the hell are you two trying to kill each other?" said this startling new person. "What do you want" snapped Squall "I nearly had him" "Nearly had me?!?" snarled Cloud "I cut of some of your hair". "Touche" replied Squall" "My hair" moaned Cloud, looking at his reflection in Zidane's daggers. "For christ's sake" roared Zidane "Will you two just listen to me" "Have either of you seen either of the other two ships before" asked Zidane "NO" came the reply. "Does the name Lindblum mean anything to you" tried Zidane "What?" "Say again" "It's a large city - the biggest on my planet" replied Zidane. "Your planet?" "Where ya from then?" asked Zell, wandering over, with the rest of Squall's party at his heels. "Gaia" replied Zidane. "So why the hell are you HERE then? This isn't Gaia" cut in Tifa, exasperated. "Sod this, I'm off home" snapped Zidane "I didn't come here to be interrogated". He turned on his heel and stalked off to his massive blue airship. "Some day you'll regret this" Zidane yelled over his shoulder. "If you need me, bugger off" "What was all that about" asked Squall. "Search me" replied Cloud "I'll kick your ass some other day, partner". "Partner?" exclaimed Squall "Well, I suppose we are similar. We should work together, find out what that Zidane guy meant" "That isn't necessary" said Yuffie. "I found this materia in the Highwind. You've already used it." "Materia?" asked Squall "Yeah, materia, where we get our power from" "Like we gain our power from GFs, Squall" explained Quistis "You should of killed each other, but you were protected by your equipment" "GF?" inquired Cloud. "Guardian Force. It's a kind of monster we summon to attack things" explained Squall. "A summon monster" muttered Vincent "Anyway, this materia" insisted Yuffie. "Equip it" Cloud took the materia, and flipped a panel in this weapon. Inside were nine materia slots, but only four were in use, for the master materias. Into a spare he placed the black and white materia orb. "The knowledge materia" explained Cloud, "only found it a few days ago. Never used it" For a few moments Cloud was silent. Then he paled. "What is it, Cloud" enquired Tifa, concerned. "Our worlds...are becoming condensed...so they can all be destroyed" TO BE CONTINUED......................... _________________________________________________________________________________________________ The pace should pick up as it goes on, but, if I'm trying to span this over 5 - 6 episodes I can't let it go too fast or I'll run out of ideas. I'll try to get the next one up as soon as I can, but they usually move in jumps, so I generally don't write for a over a month then produce the next one in a couple of weeks (often caused by lack of games, money, or bosses I can't beat!) but this story will conclude eventually and I'll probably write more fiction after this, maybe some humour. All of the installments will be on Fantasy Square. Should you have comments, positive or otherwise (within reason, nothing insulting please!) please e-mail me at : carrot_veggiepatch@hotmail.com - advice from other fic writers would be nice _________________________________________________________________________________________________