LYDIA DEETZ AND FINAL FANTASY 7
Capítulo 12: The black knights
“Dyne, how did you get to go to Gold Saucer?” Barrett asked him once Dyne had recovered.
“I once captured one of those robots that throw people into this hellhole and reprogrammed it to come and go from Gold Saucer.”
“That's bad, we're a lot, we'd need a lot of those things," Barrett complained.
“I don't have any more robots, but I have a buggy.”
“That won't do us any good either, there are thirteen of us including you," Barrett pointed out to him by hitting the wall.
“I have a bulldozer, it's slow, but if we hook it to the trailer we can get out of here.”
“Perfect. Hey, Dyne's got a plan to get us out of here!”
The group headed for the bulldozer and then hooked it to the trailer, which was cut in half horizontally and could carry everyone in the group.
When they tried to cross the desert, several worm-like monsters coming out of the ground tried to turn and stop the group, but both the bulldozer and the trailer were heavy and moving steadily.
“We did it! We did it!” Cait shouted happily.
“Now where to go, Barrett?” Dyne asked.
“Ask Wedge that, he's the leader.”
“The leader? He looks a little young to be a leader, but all right. Tell me where Wedge.”
“The best thing to do is to go to Gongaga, the nearest place to refuel.”
“Gongaga? I thought the place was uninhabited," Lydia said, "it was all over the news, the village's mako reactor exploded and the shock wave swept the whole place for miles around.”
“Yes," Wedge said, "but Shinra covered the news as usual, I heard that the villagers are still living in the ruined city, but they will surely have fuel for the bulldozer.”
“Then let's go to that place," said Cait, and Dyne drove the bulldozer to Gongaga.
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The friends approached the village, but first they had to go through the destroyed reactor, where they met the Turks.
“I can't believe this, Lydia," complained Percy exasperatedly, "these guys are really annoying, they look like that rocket pokemon team, they lose every time, but they keep coming back for more.”
The enemies were upset with Percy's comparison, but as the cat boy said, they were eventually defeated and fled the scene.
“Well, at least they serve as sparrings that don't charge," said Yuffie and everyone laughed.
Upon arriving in Gongaga, they were able to see that the villagers were in a low mood and living as well as they could under the circumstances.
“All right," Wedge said, "get out of the trailer and find out where we can get some fuel.”
The whole group asked around and found the precious fuel, but Aerith and Cloud did not return.
“I wonder where those two are?” Tifa asked between worried and jealous.
“I see the couple approaching our location," Nanaki told them.
Tifa wanted to scold them for taking so long, but she saw that something bad was happening.
“What's going on, Aerith?” Lydia asked him.
“It turns out that this is the town where Zack's parents, my old boyfriend, live. I met them, they asked me about their son, and... I got out of control, ran away from the place.”
Tifa seemed shocked by the news and everyone noticed, but when asked if she knew the man, she denied knowing him.
“Now where to go, Wedge? Dyne asked him.
“Let's go to Cosmo Canyon," said Nanaki, "my home is there and I want to meet with my family, and I must also let you know that my adventure is over there. I plan to stay in my turf.”
“If that's what you want us to do," Percy said as if he didn't care, but his eyes betrayed him as tears streamed down his face.
“Percy, don't be a tsundere," Lydia advised him, "don't act tough when you're soft on the inside.”
“Then take care, Nanaki! Please come visit us some day and I'll make you something delicious to eat," Percy said tenderly, but his mouth betrayed him as he smiled maliciously.
“Don't be a yandere either," Lydia advised her again, "don't act cute when you're malicious inside.”
“It's the nature of cats! That's Percy!” The cat boy introduced himself by putting his palms in a "V" so that they would highlight his face.
“Emm... -Yes, well, you heard Dyne, let's go to Cosmo Canyon," said Wedge, not knowing what to think of Percy.
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The group arrived at Cosmo Canyon and Nanaki introduced them to their "grandfather" who was none other than the wise and elder of the village: Bugenhagen, who was also a renowned scientist and had his observatory far above the village.
“I am the last of my race," Nanaki said sadly, "my grandfather raised me because my cowardly father left the village one day when the enemies attacked us.”
Bugenhagen asked the group to select three members to show them their laboratory, as only three people could enter their 3D holographic observatory.
Wedge decided that it would be Lydia, Tifa and Aerith, as Jesse did not want to separate from Biggs after what happened in the desert prison, and Yuffie, considered it boring to go to an observatory.
The old man led them into his observatory and began to run the 3D holographs.
“Unbelievable," Lydia whispered in amazement at the fantastic images that appeared in front of her and her friends. The entire solar system surrounded them and Bugenhagen began to explain to them the nature of the life current and its relationship to the planet.
“In a way Barrett was right," admitted Tifa, "the more Mako energy Shinra produces, the more endangered the planet is.”
“Somehow I knew we all came from the lifestream," Aerith said.
Bugenhagen took them back to the group and then led the friends into a cave. The old man told them that if they defeated the ghosts in the cave, they would obtain several valuable Materias, and there was something he wanted to show Nanaki.
The group exchanged suspicious glances, but Bugenhagen assured them that there was no cheating, and Yuffie, who was obsessed with Materias, prayed for the group to enter the cave.
“Well, if we use Lydia and Percy's tactics, we won't have any problems," Wedge said and everyone went into the cave after Barrett convinced Dyne to go in with them, which was not easy because the man had a more sullen character than Barrett.
The ghosts of the cave and their leader did not represent a challenge for the friends, and in the end Bugenhagen led them out of the cave and pointed to a stone figure guarding the place.
“That's Seto there, your father Nanaki," Bugenhagen said with a heavy heart, "he didn't run away from the village, but he kept this entrance so that the enemy wouldn't pass by. The invaders fired arrows that turned flesh and blood into stone, but even though your father was petrified, he never stopped defending this place, and even today he still guards the entrance of the cosmos canyon. I did not tell you this before, because your mother asked me to before she died, she feared that you would seek revenge and die at the hands of the enemy tribe.”
“Then father did not run away, but defended us to the last," said Nanaki and gave a mournful howl at the same time as Seto, the petrified warrior, seemed to shed tears.
The group decided to leave Bugenhagen and Nanaki alone, so they went around the place to buy supplies and so on. Wedge, seeing that it was too late, decided that everyone should spend the night there.
Lydia decided to tour the market with Tifa as Percy had stayed at the entrance of the tunnel to wait for Nanaki.
“Those two always fight, but in the end they get along well.” Lydia noticed Tifa.
“It's true, a feline and a canine, now we just need a companion who looks like a mouse to have the whole group," Tifa joked with a wink of her eye.
Lydia noticed how each of the men passing by looked at Tifa with eyes like plates, or in a lewd or shy way.
"I wonder if she has back problems," Lydia thought with a nervous smile as she saw her friend's breasts wobble every time she moved.
Percy waited for Nanaki and in the end he and Bugenhagen left the cave.
“So you'll stay with us!” Percy was happy to hear that Nanaki would accompany them to save the planet.
“I wish I could go with you now, but with my 130 years on my shoulders, I'm afraid I'm not up for those jogs anymore.” Said Bugenhagen.
“Come, Nanaki, let's give the good news to Lydia and the others.”
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By nightfall, the whole group sat around a large campfire and told several stories about themselves, but Cloud still seemed to have trouble remembering things from his childhood and Tifa seemed very uneasy.
Both Lydia and Percy saw that Wedge looked shyly at Tifa while she only had eyes for Cloud.
“I think Wedge lost his confidence," Percy whispered to Lydia, who nodded with a sad look.
“Look at him, his face lights up every time he sees Tifa," Lydia whispered, "I don't know what else to do.”
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Late at night, the group decided to go to bed, but Wedge as group leader stayed up a little longer to finalize the details of tomorrow's trip.
“Percy, can't you sleep?” Wedge asked him when he saw his friend approach him.
“I heard a coyote in the distance and I got nervous.”
“But Percy, how can you get nervous? If you can become a panther, and you have superhuman strength as a cat boy, and in the worst case scenario you become a cat and fly away.”
“Umnya, I didn't think of that,” said Percy, pretending to be embarrassed, “tell me Wedge, can I stay with you in the meantime? Until I get sleepy.”
“Sure, Percy, you want to help me with these things?” He started to say Wedge, but he saw how Percy turned into a cat and started yawning.
"Great help you turned out to be Percy," Wedge thought somewhat displeased.
“Tell me Wedge, you're still interested in Tifa," Percy suddenly let him go, making Wedge feel as if he had been thrown into a bucket of water.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, you always look at Tifa, but now you do it with a look of resignation.”
“Wedge...”
“Look Percy. Tifa, she told me she was interested in Cloud.”
“When did she tell you that?”
“In Gold Saucer, when we were on the cable car.”
“Did she tell you that? Did she tell you he wasn't interested in you anymore?”
“Well, not... but...”
“Wedge, tell me what happened,” Percy asked his friend and he told him everything that had happened.
“I see... you see you're a fool, she didn't tell you she wasn't interested in you, she just told you she still thinks about Cloud.”
“Do you think so?”
“I'm sure of it! Look Wedge, I'm sure Tifa thinks about you, at least after the fight with Dio. Well, all right, think of Cloud too, but you have an advantage.”
“And what is that?”
“That Cloud seems interested in Aerith! Or at least he shows no interest in Tifa. Besides, you have another advantage.”
"That you look cooler than Cloud! No girl in her right mind would think of not giving you a ball if you went near her.”
“I don't want any girl, I only have eyes for Tifa.”
“I know, Wedge, and I keep the promise I made to you about helping you with Tifa.”
“Thanks Percy, you and Lydia have helped me a lot. Now I think it's time for you to go to sleep.”
“Good night Wedge,” Percy said goodbye and left the place, but before losing Wedge he turned around and looked at his friend calmly. Wedge looked happy but Percy knew that the crimson sphere of his heart was cracking more and more.
Percy frowned and ran to Tifa's room.
“Tifa, Tifa” he was pushing her with his cat's paws.
“...What? Percy, is that you?” she replied sleepily.
“Tifa, we need to talk," said Percy, who became a cat boy again.
“What do you want, Percy?” Tifa told him, although she already knew the answer.
“Yeah, that's what you think.”
“Can you read minds?” Tifa said apprehensive.
“It's not necessary," said Percy as he pointed to the cat's ears.
“This is about Wedge, isn't it?”
“No Tifa, it's not about Wedge, it's about Cloud.”
“About Cloud?”
“Tifa, what are you hiding from us, the story Cloud told us isn't true, is it?”
Tifa opened her eyes like plates and tried to deny, but when she saw Percy's wise guy expression she knew it would be useless to hide it any longer.
“All right, but promise me you won't tell anyone.”
“Ok, I will.”
Tifa was silent for a few moments and finally decided to tell him everything, how the story of Cloud did not match reality, how Zack was and not Cloud who went to Nibelheim that day, the day Sephiroth went mad and burned the whole town.
“Implanted memories? But for what purpose?”
“I don't know Percy, that's why I've been on Cloud since the first day we met in Midgar.”
“Lydia told me something about Cloud's aura, she told me she had never seen anything like it in her life. She couldn't explain what it was or could be diagnosed with.”
“I'm so scared, Percy, and what if Cloud.... It's not Cloud.”
“If it's not Cloud, it doesn't mean he'll stop being your friend," he said, and Tifa seemed to relax.
"But it also means that you no longer have to be chained to a past that prevents you from seeing that there are other people who would give everything for you. Some of them are even in this place and have always shown you how much they love you.”
“You mean Wedge...”
“Do you know of anyone else who has sacrificed everything he possessed in order to accompany you on this mission? Do you know anyone else who has formed and sculpted himself to get your attention? Do you know anyone else who's even shown their appreciation for you? No, right.”
“But I'm not interested in Wedge.”
“You're interested in Wedge," Percy cut off at the same time that he was pointing to his ears again, "but you're not as obsessed with him as you are with Cloud, but believe me Tifa, you're interested in Wedge, not only as a friend, but also as a man.”
“I... I... “
“Tifa, just promise me that you'll think seriously about Wedge," Percy said to her and went to the exit, Tifa went back to bed.
"Tifa..." said Percy in the hall with the door about to close.
“Yes, Percy.”
“Please... please... don't hurt my friend, don't hurt Wedge," he said with thick, heartfelt tears on his face.
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The next morning, the group left for Nibelheim, Tifa and Cloud's hometown, because they had received information that Sephiroth might be there.
This time it was Biggs who was driving the bulldozer. Percy, Nanaki and Cait Sith were happy up ahead on the mechanical shovel.
Barrett, Cloud, Wedge, Dyne and Lydia were in the back of the trailer, while Aerith, Yuffie, Jesse and Tifa were in the front. Both Tifa and Lydia sometimes looked at each other sideways.
"How I wish I was like Tifa," Lydia thought. "So tall, strong and voluptuous, everyone looks up to her and sees her gawking."
"How I wish I was like Lydia," Tifa thought. "So small, fragile and beautiful, everyone wants to embrace and protect her."
"How jealous I am," the two girls sighed at the same time.
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The friends arrived in Nibelheim and were stunned.
“Hey Tifa," said Jesse, "you and Cloud didn't tell us that the whole town was destroyed by fire.”
“No, I don't understand, I told you the truth! The whole town was consumed by flames!”
“Maybe Shinra is trying to cover up the disaster," Wedge said.
“That's ridiculous," Lydia said, "they could have done the same with Gongaga as well.”
“Be that as it may, we must go in and investigate," Wedge ordered.
The group entered the village and were annoyed with what the local people told them, according to them they had never seen Tifa or Cloud in their lives, even though they had always lived in the village, in fact, there was never a fire.
“We're not crazy!” Cloud complained, “I went into Tifa's room myself and even stole her underwear.”
The whole group looked at Cloud in surprise.
“Yes, you know how to pick them," Percy mocked, but then Aerith hit him in the back of the head.
"Hell, you've got a heavy hand, I pity your boyfriend," Percy criticized her, and Aerith looked at him badly, making Percy run away to Lydia.
“We'd better go into the Shinra mansion," Wedge suggested, "maybe we'll find clues there to what the hell is going on here.”
Friends entered the mansion and saw that it was also restored. Cloud went to the basement and then went up to tell the rest that he met Sephiroth and that he told him he was going to Mount Nibel.
The group was deciding the future course of action when Percy and Nanaki stopped their ears.
“There's someone complaining near the basement," Nanaki told them.
“It looks like he's having nightmares," Percy said and everyone went to investigate.
When they got to the basement they went straight into a chamber with a coffin in it.
“The noise is coming from over there," Percy pointed out.
Wedge approached the coffin to open it when it suddenly began to open slowly and from it emerged a strange individual wrapped in a long red suit that covered part of his face.
Lydia was impressed and started looking for her camera quickly.
“Excuse me, Mr. Nosferatu," Lydia asked, "could I take your picture?”
“I'm no vam...” was trying to say man, but just like with Barrett, Percy in the shape of a cat, he stuck himself in the man's face.
“Vampire! Vampire!”
“Percy, no!” Lydia shouted, but Percy wouldn't listen, and even Nanaki joined the fight and started biting the man in his cape.
“Die at once, you vile spawn!” Suddenly Percy shouted and everyone was surprised to see how the cat had a hammer on one paw and a stake on the other.
Lydia grabbed the cat at the last minute and he let go of the hammer and stake, while Barrett and Dyne held Nanaki and tried to control him.
“How could he hold a hammer and a stake? Yuffie asked, "He doesn't even have opposable thumbs! And most importantly, where he got them!”
Lydia apologized to the man who happened to be named Vincent.
“I used to belong to the Turks, but Professor Hojo used me in his experiments and I ended up with this form. When I learned that the woman I loved, Lucrecia, had died, I came to this remote village and decided to live in this coffin, to pay for my sins.”
The group informed Vincent that they were after Sephiroth and Shinra to save the planet, so Vincent offered his services to help them as he had accounts to settle with Shinra.
Once Vincent joined the team, the group headed to Mount Nibel to see if Sephiroth was in the mako reactor.
Lydia was amazed to see the rugged mountain, with sharp, twisted peaks all over the place, and began to take pictures with her old camera.
The other members of the group did not understand Lydia's fascination with the sinister landscape. To them it was as if they were entering the realms of death, and perhaps that would be their destiny once they met Sephiroth.
CONTINUARÁ...
The Bulldozer's Flight is based on the film: Terror Under The Earth (Tremors), with Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward and Michael Gross.
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