Cloud and everyone else stepped up to the town's limits and saw it. It looked depressingly run down and the people here didn't look especially healthy. There was an old woman who was talking with another old woman about the good old days when the Shinra weren't around and they could just talk about fish. This village used to be a cute little fishing hamlet but now it's shadowed by mighty Junon above.

Cloud: "What happened to this town, it's so run down..."

Vex: "There's an ugly upper plate here as well. Man this just makes me hate the Shinra even more. They find a town and then they build over top of it! Makes me sick!"

Yuffie: "Their materia sucks here no doubt."

Tifa: "I wonder if there's anyone we can talk to about us getting up there to the top plate?"

Yuffie: "We could bribe the guard."

Tifa: "He'll never agree to that..."

Vex: "Oh wow! A beach!" (Runs through the cobblestone path and down the wooden steps to the beach.)

Yuffie: "But it's polluted!" (Runs after him.)

Tifa: "You can't stop him...he's so stubborn." (Runs after both Yuffie and Vex)

Cloud: "Why do I always have to chase after people..." (Runs after all of them.)

 They found Vex and a little girl wearing a bright neon green bathing suit on the beach. The beach had white sand but the water was polluted so no one would swim here. There was a huge tower on the water with electric currents anyway so swimming was plain out of a question.

Vex: "Rats, I wanted to go swimming." (Stomps onto the sandy ground.)

Pricilla: (Runs to the water's edge.) "Hey mr dolphin! My name's Pricilla. PRE-SILL-AHH! Now you say it!"

Vex: "Boy, I'm glad I didn't have to say that line. UGH...what a dumb thing to say..."

Cloud: "Excuse me..." (Walks up to Pricilla.)

Pricilla: "Hey you! You're part of Shinra aren't you! Get away from here!"

Tifa: "We aren't from the Shinra!"

Yuffie: "You better watch our mouth, kid!"

Vex: "Do I look like I'm from the Shinra?" (Looks over his shinra uniform.) "Wait, that's a stupid question..."

 While they were arguing, the waves got a little rough and suddenly some sort of flying sea serpent like monster appeared. Everyone turned in shock when they saw its immense size. Pricilla saw in fright that her Mr. Dolphin was in danger from that thing.

Yuffie: "Whoa gawd! What is that thing!?"

Vex: "It appears to be some sort of monster! It's no worse and that stupid Midgar Zalom that ate my best friend." (Tears formed in his eyes but he wiped them away.) "No! Now's not the time to cry, but the time to kick this sorry monster's ass!"

Yuffie: "Watch your damn mouth, kid!"

Pricilla: "Be careful, Mr. Dolphin!!" (She runs in the water but the monster trips her down.) "Ugh!"

Vex: (Squints and takes a deep breath.) "Bottomswell is the monster's name and it's weak against...air attacks. You can't reach it unless you've got a long range weapon or have magic."

 Cloud ran up and took out some materia, he chanted and began to glow a bright green. With a prayer and a whisper, he summoned a huge bolt of lightning that came down upon it. It struck through him and crashed down on the water below, causing a small crater. Bottomswell fell to the ground but got up again. Vex jumped up in the air and landed on its tail and grabbed hold. Bottomswell felt the kid and swung its tail to get rid of him and Vex jumped down, Bottomswell shook its tail so violently that it crashed into the tower behind it and got volted. It groaned as the currents snapped and crackled about its body. Tifa took out a piece of materia and summoned a raging flame that crackled and popped about the head of Bottomswell, it shrieked and fell to the ground. Bottomswell shot a sticky ray of water at Vex and surrounded him in a sticky, rubbery bubble. "I can't move!" Vex shouted. Cloud took out his materia and summoned a small bolt of lightning to attack the bubble Vex was encased in and the bubble burst. Yuffie took her four point shirikens and threw them at Bottomswell and they sliced through Vex nodded in thanks and shouted. "Time to end this!"
 He leapt back and fell into meditation. "Majikkuhando...okibi ...SEISHOU!!!" Several red rings of energy appear around him and fly up to his hands which were raised. The ball of energy formed and got bigger until it flashed with red and yellow. Then Vex shot the energy at the Bottomswell engulfing it in a fiery explosion. Bottomswell was tossed about in the explosion and it fell into meditation and suddenly roared at them, summoning a huge tsunami. The wave crashed into them and it knocked everyone against the wall, it also washed Pricilla onto the shore. Bottomswell fell to the ground and didn't get up. Cloud and everyone else ran to Pricilla who was unconscious on the sand. Her grandfather ran down to the beach in a mad rush.

Grandpa: "What happened?!"

Cloud: "A monster attacked and we had to get rid of it. Pricilla tried to save that dolphin over there." (Points to Mr. Dolphin and it jumps high in the air.)

Grandpa: "She's not breathing, young man...do CPR!"

Cloud: "Mouth to mouth."

Tifa: "What are you going to do?"

Vex: "Do it!"

Yuffie: "Yeah! Do it!"

Cloud: "Umm..."

Grandpa: "You don't know how? All you have to do is breath into her when you take a deep breath."

Cloud: "Okay, I'll try it." (Cloud takes a deep breath and breaths into her and repeats and repeats. Pricilla coughed up some water and slowly opened her eyes.)

Grandpa: "Pricilla!" Takes her into his arms and runs up the stairs."

Vex: "He runs pretty fast for an old guy."

Grandpa: (They run up the stairs and go back to the town area and look around as Grandpa walked down the stairs. He walked up to them, smiling.) "She'll be just fine, she's going to have to rest a bit though. How about you stay in the house over there, the battle probably wore you out." (Walks away.)

Yuffie: "I could use a rest!" (Runs inside the house.)

Vex: (In the exact same tone as Yuffie) "So could I!" (Runs inside the house.)

Tifa: "Let's go!" (Runs inside the house.)

Cloud: (Shrugs and runs inside the house.)

 The house was old looking but had hardwood floors, four beds and a kitchen corner as well as a table. It looked like a house that Grandpa opened for guests or as an inn. Vex walked to the bed and tiredly plopped down on it. He was snoring within minutes. Yuffie went into the bathroom to change into cute purple pajamas and crawled into another bed and pulled out a book titled "How to Steal Materia in 101 Creative Ways."

Cloud: "I'm tired..."

Tifa: "Well I'm not, I'm going for a walk." (Walks out the door.)

Cloud: (Gets into bed and falls asleep very quickly. Suddenly he found himself in total darkness and a voice called out of him.)

Voice: "Which reminds me..."

Cloud: "Who are you?"

Voice: "You'll find out soon enough, more importantly, five years ago...Tifa was your guide."

Cloud: "Yeah, surprised me."

Voice: "But why couldn't you see each other alone?"

Cloud: "I don't know...I don't remember."

Voice: "Why don't you find out?"

Cloud: (Suddenly wakes up and walks over to Tifa.) "Tifa I want to ask you something about what happened 5 years ago. Why couldn't we see each other alone?"

Tifa: "Huh? I don't know...but something's going on outside!" (Runs outside and Cloud went after her.)

 They walked outside and everything's the same, all except for music blaring at the city above them. They heard trumpets, cymbals and anything else a marching band had to offer. There was obviously some sort of celebration going on in Junon.

Yuffie: "What's with this loud music? It's giving me a headache!"

Vex: "For some reason...I HATE trumpets!" (Stomps hard on the ground.)

Cloud: "Music sure sounds lively..."

Tifa: "Hey, Cloud! It's Pricilla!" (Points to her and Pricilla goes down the steps and walks up to Cloud.)

Pricilla: "Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry I mistook you people for one of those Shinra Inc." (Bows anime like in apology.) "I'll give you something SPECIAL!" (Searches her pockets and gives Cloud a red materia.) "It's an amulet, take it!"

Cloud: (Examines it.) "Hmm, Shiva! Thank you!"

Vex: "What's with the music? And all of those disgusting trumpets?" (Stomps on the ground.) "I HATE trumpets!"

Pricilla: "They must be having that welcoming ceremony for Rufus. They built that city above ours and the sun stopped shining and the water got polluted. I was raised on that story and I hate the Shinra so much I could die!"

Cloud: "Is there any way I could get up there?"

Pricilla: "NO! There's an electric current running through the water, it's too dangerous!" (Thinks for a minute) "...but you might be able to do it if Mr. Dolphin helps you. Come with me to the beach!" (Runs to the beach and everyone else looks at him."

Tifa: "Dangerous electric current..."

Aeris: "...Which means Cloud will have to do it."

Cloud: (Everyone walks away from him.) "Wha? Hey!" (Sighs heavily and runs to the beach after her. He walks up to Pricilla who has a whistle in her hand. Pricilla blows the whistle and Mr. Dolphin jumps up so high it clears the tower overhang. Barret is there as well.)

Barret: "Well ain't that sumthin' never seen no dolphin jump like that."

Pricilla: "Pretty cool huh? When I blow this whistle, Mr. Dolphin jumps over the beam for me." (Turns to cloud and gives him the whistle.) "Here, you take it."

Cloud: "Me?"

Pricilla: "Yes you! You just get in the water and blow that whistle and Mr. Dolphin will jump you to the beam. The only thing is that you have to time it really careful or you'll miss your jump."

 Cloud gets into the water and swims up to Mr. Dolphin and blows the whistle. Mr. Dolphin gets under him and jumps him near the beam but not quite. Cloud falls back down to the water. After about 3 attempts, Cloud was getting frustrated and just blew the whistle at where he landed and he was launched right up to the beam. He grabbed it and walked to the ladder that lead to the Air Launch pad. Cloud climbed the ladder and made it to the launch pad and gazed in awe at the huge Airship that waited there. He sighed and ran to the elevator at the edge of the launch area and made his way down to the city. He walked out the elevator into a hallway that was full of Shinra soldiers.

Commander: (Looks right at Cloud) "Hey you! Why the hell are you still dressed like that? Come in here!" (Opens the door and Cloud shrugs and runs into the room. There were two other guards in there, fully dressed in their combat clothes.)

Commander: "Go to your locker and change!" (Looks the other way while Cloud finds an open locker.)

Cloud: "A Shinra uniform..." (Puts it on, and it's a near perfect fit.) "I used to be so proud in this outfit...I wonder when I got sick of it? All done!"

Commander: (Looks him over) "Wow! You look good in it! Now, you remember the greeting march?"

Cloud: (Gives him a blank look)

Commander: "The look on your face tells me you forgot. Well, we'll help you out. Come on guys, you have to sing too."

Soldiers: "Yes sir! Rufus...." (Begin to sing in unnervingly good voices)

Commander: "Well...you have to get in line with your troops. Once you match cadence with them, shoulder your gun. Got that, oh yeah, You have to sing too."

Cloud: "Well, okay..." (Puts on his helmet so no one can see him role his eyes.) "I got it. Let's go!"

Commander: (They all leave the changing room and go out into the street and find that no one is here.) "What the hell?! No one's here!!" (Turns to Cloud) "It's your fault we missed them!"

Soldier1: (Runs to an alley and comes back.) "Let's just sneak in through the Alley, the parade is on the other side!"

Commander: "Great idea!" (All run into the alley and see that there was soldiers marching along the street along with the president's car. Rufus was waving to everyone who was cheering for his return to Junon.) "This parade is going to be on television all over the world so don't screw it up! Now guys, just sneak in the back nice and easy and whatever you do, don't go in through the front! Now Charge!"

 The first soldier walked in behind the first group and matched movements with them almost instantly. The second soldier found another group which he could tag along behind. Cloud was last to go and he found another group and snuck in the back like he was supposed to and it took a little bit of time to match movements but he gained cadence by the time he was half a block down the road. They paraded around town and eventually got to be brought in front of the President and Heideggar.

Rufus: "Well...where is it?"

Heideggar: "Um, the long range airship isn't ready yet."

Rufus: (frowns) "And the Air Forces Gelnika?"

Heideggar: "It's ready but it's in flight right now. I've arranged our trip across the sea by boat! Gya ha ha!"

Rufus: (Glares at him.) "Cut that stupid horse laugh. My father may be gone but things are going to be very different around here."

Heideggar: "Gya...?"

Rufus: (Trolley lift arrived at the lower level where Rufus was.) "Well, here's the trolley. I want you to find Sephiroth!"

Heideggar: "He was found in Junon a few hours ago, he killed a few of our soldiers but we'll find him!"

Rufus: "Don't fail me." (Gets into the trolley and the trolley goes to the upper level, leaving him there.)

 Heideggar saw everyone imitating his horse laugh except Cloud and ran to Cloud, scattering everyone else. Heideggar found a medal on Cloud's chest and threw it to the ground and stomped on it. Then he stomped off. Cloud shrugged and looked as the Commander ran up to him, frustrated.

Commander: "You messing with the army?!"

Cloud: "Who cares?"

Commander: "You're too lazy! No break for you!" (Leads him back to the recruiting room. The two soldiers from before were making out in there.) "Am I interrupting?"

Soldiers: (Still in each other's arms, blushing) "C-Commander! You startled us!"

Commander: "Oh well, good timing anyway, we're going over the gun ceremony. Drilling him...would you two help us?"

Soldier1: "Of course!"

Soldier2: "Not a problem."

Commander: "Okay, when I shout the orders, you shoulder or check or do whatever to your gun!"

 As the commander barked out the words for the gun commands, Cloud's gun handling memories flooded back to him. More and more of the commands were making sense and by the time the 20 minute drill was over, Cloud had remembered the whole thing. There was something missing though.

Commander: "That wasn't bad. All we need is a strong finish. Hey! Rookie! What's your best move?"

Cloud: "My best move..." (Takes the gun and twirls it around and shoulders it seamlessly.)

Soldiers: "Wow! Cool!"

Commander: "That's a good one! We'll use that! Okay, the gun ceremony is in 20 minutes. We'll practice on the way."

 While they walked, they practiced their gun handling techniques. Cloud took the opportunity to get aquatinted with his gun and learned the whole thing over again. He smiled and thought about the younger days when he was a soldier. He thought about Sephiroth and other things like how they were going to take him on and also about how everyone's going to cross the ocean. He's here but what about everyone else? They finally made it to the boating areas and got into position.

Rufus: (Walks in) "This is the boat we're traveling on?"

Heideggar: "Yes. Also, I've planned this ceremony for you!"

Soldier1: (Under his breath) "You did not..."

 The ceremony began, Cloud did his best to keep up with the commander and managed to do his gun handling without too much problem. He mangled a couple of moves but on the whole, did justice to the ceremony. When it ended, Rufus took a microphone and said.

Rufus: "Excellent! Keep up the good work of Shinra Inc." (He boarded the boat and Heideggar strutted in after him.)

Soldier1: (Turns to Cloud) "Thanks for helping us out with that finish..."

Soldier2: "I want to give you this...wait here." (Runs back to his dorm and back to Cloud.) "This, here!"

Cloud: "A Force Stealer..." (Takes it and the soldier leans in and kisses him on the nose. Cloud tries not to wretch.) "...Thanks!" (He gets onto the boat.) "I'm...assigned here, see you around guys." (Runs into the boat.)

Soldier1: "He's so hot...but not as hot as you!"

Soldier2: "I know he's hot, man you're SO immature!"

Commander: "Get a room!" (Walks away.) "I can't believe what I have to work with, boys these days..."
 

That's the end of Chapter 13, What did you think of it?