Night 49: Mystic Healing Spa and Acupuncture
[from here]The first thing that hit him was the heady smell of incense, like he'd just walked into one of those touristy occult shops that occasionally fronted for the real deal. Sam spun around, blinking. Where had they
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His clothes were different. The comforting weight on his back was gone; his materia was gone; his PHS was gone. More than that, it was raining.
The soldier frowned to himself and peered through grimy windows. It was hard to tell, but he was pretty sure that was the main street of the town they'd gone to earlier in the day. So that was it? They got thrown back to Gaia long enough to almost crash an airship and to fight a Tonberry, and then they got pulled back? How did that even work?
Or maybe the point had been to show them how the place was abandoned. He still had no clue what it was supposed to mean, but for the moment Zack had to deal with the fact that they were back in the town. And there was a chance it was dangerous.
"Fine," he responded to Cloud, distracted as he gripped his flashlight (it was back, too) and started to move through the area, searching for any sign of hostiles. For the moment they seemed to be in the clear, but there was no telling how long that would last. Why had they ended up back here, rather than in the hospital itself? He had a bad feeling about this...
When he turned back to face Cloud, he took note of the clear green materia in his hand. "Huh," he remarked. "Looks like you ended up with a souvenir." What they'd just experienced hadn't been fake, then. It certainly hadn't felt fake, but Zack really couldn't be sure at this point. What was better, to go home only to be yanked back just as quickly, or to be toyed with through some sort of simulation? He couldn't say, especially when he considered the lack of people.
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-It was a little like getting whacked over the head by Magic Hammer, spun in a circle twenty five times, and then being pushed off a speeding hoverboard. Yuffie staggered, feeling momentarily drunk. “W-What the…”
How? How was this even happening?! One second they’d been in Kalm, the next, they were standing in some building, in the rain, and her stuff was gone! Yuffie’s squawk of outrage was tiny, but heartfelt. How dare they! How dare they, how dare Landel, toss them around like they were nothing; give them things, give them their home, warp it, take it away again, give them… ugh!
“I’m peachy-keen, Chocobutt,” she grumbled. The disorientation was evaporating fast in the wake of irritation, which in turn was quickly pushed away in favour of taking stock. That was when she noticed that shiny little wonderball sitting in the palm of Cloud’s hand. “Hey, that’s-woah. If you’ve got that, how come we… and does that mean everything back on Gaia was real?” She turned to Zack “Shin-Ra used to have some pretty nifty virtual reality software, right? Could that-“
The bubbling stream of questions was cut off by a series of low, scuffling sounds from outside. Something groaned, broken and gurgling. Yuffie froze. No. No way. She’d had enough of these guys the last time around! Made sense that the freaky undead things would still be stinking the town up after nightfall, and it didn’t take a genius to realize that they’d somehow been landed in the town, but gawd! Give a girl a break, seriously!
At least she was properly armed this time ‘round, instead of being slung over Homura’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Yuffie hefted her shuriken, looking toward the windows and the door. “Party might be getting crashed, guys,” she commented. “I’ve never been in here; check for a way out back. The zombie-whatevers go down easy, but they’re not exactly loners.” She’d rather just get out of there fast than risk having to cut her way through a swathe.
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But there were slightly more important things to worry about now, such as getting out of their current situation. "And I don't know why this is all we brought back, but I suppose one materia between all of us is better than nothing." If it even worked as a proper materia should.
Cloud looked between them, then gave a decisive nod to Zack and held the lightly glowing sphere out to him. "You're the least equipped right now, so you should hold onto this." He didn't want to admit that he was a bit iffy about giving it to Yuffie, since he didn't know if they'd ever get it back if he did.
This was just in time, it seemed, as there was a sound of movement close by. The ninja was right. They didn't need to get into a large-scale fight right now if it could be avoided. They no longer had the advantage in skill and equipment. (Well, skill possibly, but they didn't have all their abilities.) He motioned for the others to go first, sticking back with the wakizashi at the ready should any try and come through the front door.
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When the girl looked to him for details on the Shin-Ra simulations, he nodded in affirmation. They were thinking along the same lines, which was kind of disturbing if he thought too hard about it. Still, they could theorize as much as they wanted without actually getting to any real answers. Running around in circles wasn't going to do them much good, but it seemed clear that their homecoming had been a sham.
Zack wasn't sure what to think of that. It hadn't been the time or place for him, though he realized that there wasn't any time where his existence in Gaia would make sense. It was the sort of thing he didn't want to think too hard about. Even if he got out of this place, what happened then?
But he could work for his friends, and that was what he kept in mind. He took the materia when Cloud offered it to him with a word of thanks, seeing the logic in Cloud's reasoning. Even if this materia didn't belong to him, they could always share it, and he could easily return it to his friend when he got himself a sword. Using it without a slot would require holding it in his hand when he cast (and there was no telling how well it would work in this place), but he luckily had a free one.
And he might end up using it even sooner than he'd thought, since it sounded like they had company. The zombies were outside for the moment, but the other two were right: they needed to get out, or they could easily be surrounded. Nodding to Cloud, he moved through the spa toward the back rooms, searching for the door that would get them outside. Then they'd be able to get their bearings. "C'mon," he urged Yuffie as he moved, not wanting her to get any stupid ideas.
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Still, since it was Cloud who'd dished out the (unspoken) order, Yuffie was willing to suck up her pride. "Head's the weak spot," she lingered long enough to say. "I could down one with a single rock-throw from ten feet, center or temple. Or, y'know, just chop their heads off."
Information given, she turned, brushing past Zack to search for an exit. The shambling was growing closer, the stench of corpses growing steadily stronger. Yuffie wrinkled her nose. They made for an easy fight, sure, but they were so gross. And Mr. Big Bad SOLDIER dude's attitude wasn't helpin' any. What was he expecting? For her to do something dumb, get somebody hurt? Get real!
It didn't take her very long to spot a way out. Whether it led out or just to some other room, she didn't know, but maybe it didn't matter. Wasn't like tonight was making any sense anyway. "Over here, c'mon," she said. "Sounds like it's clear this way. We should be a-okay."
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It looked like Yuffie had found a back door, which was fortunate. He'd hoped they wouldn't have to go back through the front where there would be undead gathering - even if they weren't that difficult to take down.
Cloud waited until the other two were ahead and at the door before following. Then he moved to the front again, putting his ear to the door just in case there was more of the zombies waiting for them on the other side. Hearing nothing, he figured now was as good a time to head out as any. The longer they stood around, the more chance enemies would have to sniff them out and gather.
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