Cloud looked on the lower deck and sighed. The Shinra boat just launched and now Cloud has to find everyone. That's not going to be easy. The lower deck was nothing really to comment about. There were some crates and some deck hands scurrying about like little rats. Cloud noticed someone feeling not so good to his left. He walked up to the person and his eyes grew wider.

Yuffie: (In a sailor's suit.) "Ugh...glad to...see you!" (Turns slightly green.) "Ugh..."

Cloud: "What's wrong?"

Yuffie: "Gawd! Isn't it that obvious?" (Throws up into a bag.)

Cloud: "Oh..."

Yuffie: "Got...tranquilizer?"

Cloud: "Um..." (Searches his backpack and finds one.) "Here you go, but..."

Yuffie: (Slugs it down.) "Ugh, that didn't help..."

Cloud: "Sorry..." (Runs off.)

 Cloud found Yuffie, but where is everyone else. Cloud checked out the lower deck and found Aeris checking over some equipment and looking very busy. He walked up to her and she looked hard at his helmet and smiled.

Aeris: "Hi, Cloud."

Cloud: "Hi, Aeris..."

Aeris: "Have you seen Vex?"

Cloud: "Nope."

Aeris: "Oh well. If we see any fire or explosions, we'll know he has blown his cover. Have you seen that Airship?"

Cloud: "Yeah, I didn't know it was going to be so big."

Aeris: "It looked great! Cloud...if we can, do you suppose you could take me on it someday?"

Cloud: "Keep hoping."

Aeris: "Really? Wow!" (Returns to her chores.)

Sailor: "You!" (Points to Cloud.) "We need you upstairs, looking for terrorist planes. AVALANCHE is still alive I hear so the president has issued an order that any suspicious planes be shot down."

Cloud: "Yes sir!" (Runs up the stairs.) "Oh God, he really wants me to shoot down planes? How?"

 Cloud looked around the main area of the boat. There were a couple of large cannons around and some dorky looking soldier checking things over. He looked at the guy strangely and decided to climb the ladder to talk to the soldier, looking over the area.

Tifa: "Everything's clear!" (Takes off her helmet when she noticed that it's Cloud and winks at him.) "But...you know I really hate this sort of thing. Soldiers...war...I hate them all. Don't you wish they'd go away too?"

Cloud: "Yeah..."

Tifa: "Really? Oh Cloud!" (Stiffens up and salutes.) "Uh, yes sir! I'll continue my watch! Hee, hee..."

 Cloud went down the ladder and saw with a bit of wonder when he saw the soldier hobbling around. He ran to the ladder there and climbed up to his level and saw that the soldier looked very odd. The navigator looked at him and replied slowly.

Red 13: (In the soldier's clothes with a helmet.) "Um, it's me...Red 13. I'm a little woozy but I shouldn't get caught. Humans only care about appearances anyway..."

Cloud: "Where's Barret and Vex?"

Red 13: "I have absolutely no idea where Vex is...and Barret seems to be plastered to the window of the navigation chamber. So how do I look?"

Cloud: "Don't do very much walking."

Red 13: "Good to know. Anyway you see it, I say I make a fine human being." (Red turns away from cloud and his tail is sticking out of his uniform.)

 Cloud sighs and goes back down the ladder to the deck and finds two sailors talking. They seemed to be slacking off from their work and talking about something.

Sailor 1: "Man, I'm bushed."

Sailor 2: "Don't worry about it, we're docking up at Costa Del Sol. It's going to be really cool. I for one am looking forward to a well deserved BADLY needed Vacation."

Sailor 1: "I wanna get together with a chick!"

Sailor 2: "I wanna drink myself stupid. It's gonna be great...even though it's only a few days."

Cloud: (Shrugs behind them and walks up to Barret who's looking in the navigation chamber.) "Hey, Barret!"

Barret: "Damn it! How can that guy go on laughin' like that."

Cloud: "It's a horse laugh I know."

Barret: "Because of him...Vicks...Wedge...Jessie...urgh..." (Scratches at the glass) "URRGHH... ..." (Trying desperately to contain himself.) "Damn...wait! Look inside!"

 Inside the Navigation Chamber was a bunch of navigation equipment. The Captain was talking with the President while Heideggar was eating some doughnuts. A really short Soldier whom Cloud and Barret almost instantly picked up on was messing around with the controls.

Navigator: "So you're the new assistant, huh? You're quite short for a soldier...I mean...VERY short."

Vex: (Had his helmet on so Navigator couldn't see him.) "I'm a midget."

Navigator: "Oh my god! I'm sorry..."

Vex: "No problem. What's this button do?"

Navigator: "You should KNOW that!"

Vex: "Well, let's see." (Pushes the button and moments later, there was a loud explosion and a missile was launched into the sky.) "I didn't do it."

Navigator: "Oh my god, he just activated the cruise missile! It's heading straight for the Gelnika! Um...I'm strong enough to ignore this..."

Rufus: "What was that?"

Navigator: "Nothing! Wait! There's a report that there's a stowaway!"

 The navigator pressed a button to sound the alarm and make the announcement. Barret and Cloud and Vex were just outside there, and they were starting to imagine terrible things.

Barret: "Someone screwed up." (Looks at Vex)

Vex: "It's not my fault! He wasn't referring to me. There was a report that there was a stowaway somewhere on the ship. Not here, it's actually far away on the ship. Maybe someone blew their cover."

Cloud: "Let's go see." (They all run to the center area and saw that Tifa, Aeris and Red 13 and Yuffie were already there. Cloud looked everything over.) "We're all here...right?"

Tifa: "Yes...there's no one missing."

Cloud: "Then that must mean that the stowaway is..."

All: "Sephiroth!!"

Vex: "I'll bet he's on the slower deck. Anyone want to come with me?"

Cloud: "You know I'm going."

Yuffie: "N-Not me...I don't even like Sephiroth...a-and besides...urk..." (Turns slightly green.)

Vex: "You're going! I'll see to it!" (Vex cheerily grabs Yuffie's arm and lurched Yuffie away.)

Yuffie: "Gawd..."

Aeris: "I'm coming too!" (Runs after them.)

 They go down the stairs to the lower deck and find that there are bodies all over the place. The sailors, soldiers and anyone else were slumped down. The room itself was a huge mess. Crates and other cargo were overturned messily on the floor. The door to the engine room was open just a crack. Someone was in there... Vex opened the door and found something on the ground and picked it up. Vex smiled and handed it to Yuffie who was still a little green looking. She took it and smiled weakly. It was a red metal fan, a Wind Slash. There were more bodies on the ground and there was someone standing who had his back turned to them. It looked sort of like a soldier but it was hard to tell.

Vex: "Hello! Are you the stowaway?"

Aeris: "Who do you think it might be?"

Cloud: "Is that you...Sephiroth?"

Man: (Turned to them and then fell to his knees and onto the ground.)

Cloud: "No, it isn't Sephiroth!"

Voice: "...after a long sleep..."

Cloud: "Who's there?!"

 Cloud, Aeris, Yuffie and Vex all stepped back and saw the guard's body disappear and another person slowly rose up through the floor as if it was some sort of liquid. The figure had silver/grey hair, a battle outfit that revealed some of his chest and the figure was holding the giant, slim sword Masamune. The figure completed his look with a tattoo on his arm, #1 and had a long flowing black cape. The figure was none other than Sephiroth himself.

Sephiroth: "... who are you?"

Cloud: "You don't remember me? I'm Cloud!"

Sephiroth: "... Cloud...?"

Cloud: "What do you want?"

Sephiroth: "...The time is...now..."

Cloud: "Now? What do you mean, now?"

 Suddenly Sephiroth floated up in the air and flew out of the room in a phantasmic sort of way that could make your blood run cold. He left them a present too, a tentacle which rapidly grew into a slimy, female faced monster. The monster rose a tentacle and slapped Cloud and knocked him into Aeris. Aeris caught him but she fell to the floor. They got up and everyone got their weapons out. Vex jumped high into the air and came down on Jenova and knocked it back a little bit. Jenova threw the wiry kid off of her and Vex landed shakily to the ground. Aeris took out some materia and chanted, summoning a blast of flame that formed around the monster and blasted it. The monster screamed in pain and shot a laser from its female forehead and the explosion knocked Aeris into some crates. Vex tried the jump attack again and knocked Jenova back some more. The Monster threw him back off of her and Vex tumbled into the wall. The monster began spinning and Cloud attacked her. The blow connected but Cloud was knocked away from her. She spun faster and floated slightly up. Suddenly a giant clock appeared in front of Vex and glided into him. He cried out and suddenly found himself in suspended animation. "The stop spell..." Cloud mumbled as he attacked the monster again with his sword. The monster suddenly started to glow and everyone stepped back. It shrieked and let out a giant laser from its tail and the explosion from it smashed everyone against the walls of the engine room. Yuffie took aim and threw the Wind slash at the monster, cutting its shoulder and Cloud attacked again with his Force Stealer. Aeris summoned another flaming blast that suddenly ravaged the monster. The monster fell on its side and melted back into the tentacle. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Vex could move again. The tentacle was still there, squirming and writhing.

Cloud: "Don't touch it."

Vex: "Eeeww! What IS it anyway?! Looks like...some sort of gross looking arm."

Yuffie: "I'm sick enough already without you having to show me that gross thing...urk..."

Aeris: "Jenova...?"

Cloud: "It's some sort of piece of Jenova. It's an arm of Jenova."

Vex: (Gains a cheerful tone.) "Okey Dokey!" (Turns and stares directly at Cloud.) "It's time to play 20 questions! I'll go first..."

Cloud: (Sighs) "I know, I know...I'll explain it. Official records state that Sephiroth is dead...but we all know that Shinra Inc. owns the newspapers so we can't rely on that."

Vex: "My eyes were playing tricks!"

Cloud: "No...he is real. Now we saw Sephiroth's doing in the Building and just now we saw Sephiroth and Jenova."

Aeris: "Sephiroth is looking for the promised land..."

Cloud: "And he's brought Jenova with him."

Vex: "He isn't gonna let Shinra have it. But I'm not sure I want Sephiroth to have it either. He's evil...right?"

Cloud: "Right. We have to protect the planet from him."

Yuffie: "C-can we get off this b-bucket already...ugh..." (Turns greenish again.)

Vex: "I love how she does that!" (Smiles)

Yuffie: "Shut up, Baby Mario!"

PA: "Attention all hands, we'll be docking in Costa Del Sol shortly. I repeat..."

Aeris: "Looks like we're about to get off! I can't wait!" (Leaves the engine room with Cloud.)

Yuffie: (Looks at the Materia and at Vex) "Those people can be so stupid..."

Vex: (Bends over and picks up the Materia on the ground.) "I know, it's bright red and everything else is grey. Well, since I can't use it...here!" (Throws the Materia to Yuffie and she catches it.)

Yuffie: "Thanks!" (Smiles but then turns pale greenish and runs out the room, holding her mouth.)

Vex: (Smiles) "Isn't she great? let's give her a hand!" (Runs out of the engine room.)

 Everyone walks out of the lower deck and off of the boat. They were greeted by hot temperatures, good humidity and the warm relaxing sun. They saw some sailor run down to some girls relaxing on a pontoon plane. Barret walks out ahead of everyone.

Barret: "Man will it feel good to get out of this sailor suit!" (Sighs and takes off his hat.)

Aeris: "Aww, I'll miss the sailor outfit. It looked so cute." (Turns to Cloud and smiles to him.) "What do you think?"

Cloud: (Nods) "Ahh...kind of like...A bear wearing a marshmallow."

Barret: (Glares at him.) "Hey! This happens to be the most confortable...so shu'up!"

Aeris: "Then...how about you just use that sailor suit as pajamas."

Vex: "You're weird...!"

Red 13: "If you don't mind, I'd like to get to some shade. The heat is drying my nose." (Licks his nose.)

Yuffie: "Yeah! Me too!"

Cloud: "I suppose we should take a little break..."

Yuffie: "Don't even try to find me." (Runs off.)

Red 13: "I'm going to find some shade." (Runs off.)

Aeris: "Hey Cloud...do you think I should get a suntan?"

Cloud: "A tan is healthy..."

Aeris: "Thank you!" (Runs off)

Tifa: "I think I'll go swimming." (Runs off.) "See you around!"

Vex: "Um...um...what SHOULD I do?"

Cloud: "The right thing."

Vex: "You're no fun. I think I'll go shopping and then I'll go surfing and then I'll go swimming and while I'm at the beach, I'll have a nice cheese burger and make a giant sandcastle! After that..."

Cloud: "Just go!"

Vex: "Thankupo!" (Runs off.)

 Cloud Shrugs and runs to the edge of the dock and down the steps. He left the area just as a Helicopter approached the dock landing pad and hovered over it to land lightly. The president, Rufus jumped out first and Heideggar came out second.

Rufus: "Well...it appears that Sephiroth was on the ship."

Heideggar: "Yes..."

Rufus: "It also appears that Cloud and his friends were also on the ship too."

Heideggar: "Yes..."

Rufus: "You messed up big time."

Heideggar: "I'm ashamed of myself..."

Rufus: (Sighed and glared at him.) "Is that it? Just give one word apologies and answers?"

Heideggar: "..."

Rufus: "You make sure that those guys don't escape. Don't fail again." (Gets into the helicopter and the helicopter lifts off.)

 After the Helicopter left, Heideggar let out the rage. He hastily ran to some unsuspecting sailor and shoved him into the water and then he chased down another sailor and shoved him also in the water. He then ran to the plane and huffed and huffed angrily and stormed off while the Bikini girls tried desperately not to laugh.
 Cloud crossed the bridge into town and took a look around. They didn't call Costa Del Sol, Del Sol for nothing. There were the beach houses lined up along the coast and the bar Del Sol was just around the corner. There was an inn just out of the beach limits that looked positively gorgeous. There was some people selling trinkets and souvenirs all along the streets. The beach itself had wonderful shells and white sand and the water was crystal clear and azure as far as the eye could see. The sun beat down on the water, sending shimmers on it.
 Cloud could see that Red 13 was calmly relaxing in the shade. He was lazily looking at the sun, wondering what would be around the corner. Cloud approached him and sat down next to him.

Red 13: "Hello Cloud."

Cloud: "Hey, Red 13. I want to ask you a question...it's about your tail. Is it really on fire?"

Red 13: "Umm...well it is and it isn't...but the fire is magic. It doesn't burn, but serve as a guiding light when I travel around at night."

Cloud: "You can't see in the dark?"

Red 13: "What? I'm not a cat or anything like that."

Cloud: "Then what are you?"

Red 13: "I honestly don't know but there used to be a whole tribe of animals like me. We lived at Cosmo canyon with the humans."

Cloud: (looks up and ponders but then realizes it.) "Hey! Cosmo Canyon is on this continent! What is Cosmo canyon?"

Red 13: "The canyon used to be a forest but a meteor crashed into it. Now it is a canyon and there's a town in the canyon. There were two tribes, ours and the GI...I'm not going into it."

Cloud: "Oh...okay. Well, I'm going to see what everyone's doing. See you around!" (Gets up and goes to the materia stand. He looked at the glittering materia on the shelves and jumps when he notices Yuffie messing with them.) "Yuffie!"

Yuffie: "Oh, hey Cloud! I got this job, I sell materia!"

Cloud: (Gains a skeptical look.) "Yeah right."

Yuffie: (Fakes Sadness) "What's the matter?! Don't you trust me?"

Cloud: "Yes I trust you. Let's see the goods." (Cloud looks over the materia and picks out a revive materia and an earth materia.) "I want those."

Yuffie: "4500 Gil."

Cloud: "What?" (Looks in his wallet and gives the money to her.) "Lucky the monsters we fight give us cash when we beat them."

Yuffie: (Smiles and gives Cloud the Materia pieces.) "Thank you, have a nice day."

Cloud: "Man, you sound like you were programmed to say that."

Yuffie: "I was, it's kind of dumb too."

 Cloud leaves Yuffie alone and goes to the beach and finds Aeris and Tifa staring at what appeared to a bunch of girls crowding over someone. Vex was also there and he was eating a cheese burger and also staring at whatever was there, grabbing their interest.

Cloud: "Hey, what's up?"

Tifa: "Take a look over there." (Points.)

Cloud: "Not a bad view..." (Looks at the babes that surrounded Hojo.)

Tifa: "What are you looking at? Isn't that Hojo over there?"

Cloud: "So it is! Let's go!" (They all walk up to Hojo.)

Babe: "God! What do you want?"

Cloud: "Is that Hojo?"

Babe: "Hojo dear, someone here wants to talk to you."

Hojo: (Dressed in a pair of bluish green swimming trunks and had a pair of shades over his eyes. He was relaxing on a deck chair.) "...Cloud is it?"

Cloud: "Hojo..."

Vex: "Hey! You're that creepy lookin' guy I met in the tower!"

Hojo: "You must be that brat that nuked those soldiers... what brings you and your crew to Costa Del Sol?"

Vex: "Stuff."

Hojo: "Is that it?"

Vex: "Just stuff right now. I'm eating a cheeseburger as of this moment. (Takes a bite.) "Then I'm going to the Bar De Sol and sing some keryoke and maybe I'll go shopping to buy something I could only get here and then...I'll get with some girls maybe..."

Hojo: "Cassanova...hahaha..."

Vex: "I want to have a GOOD time here. Costa Del Sol is probably the most cool place I've been to since I was..."

Hojo: "Born from the mako... I wonder what you are. Someone like you would never be able to survive the mako you've endured. If I was still a scientist, I'd want to experiment on you but...I've resigned."

Vex: "Why?"

Hojo: "..."

Cloud: "What are YOU doing here?"

Hojo: "Isn't it obvious? I'm getting a tan."

Vex: "Good! It would make you look SO much better. You looked so pasty."

Cloud: "Answer me!"

Hojo: "Listen...sometimes you just have to do things like this. (Stands up and crosses his arms.) "Hmm, I believe you and I are after the same goal."

Cloud: "Sephiroth..."

Hojo: (Turns to Aeris) "Say, aren't you the Ancient?"

Aeris: "I'm Aeris. The least you could do is remember my name."

Hojo: "How's your mother, Ifalna?"

Aeris: "Mom? You don't know?! She died."

Hojo: "...I see..." (Turns away.)

Aeris: "...What is Sephiroth's mission? Is he an ancient? Are we linked? Do we all share the same blood?"

Hojo: (Hojo mutters some things to itself and among the words everyone could make out "Head west...")

Aeris: "He's muttering something...that must mean he's hiding something!"

Vex: "Spill it, beaker brain!"

Hojo: (Turns to Cloud) "Hmm, hmm, hmm! Cloud, have you ever felt something was calling you? Or you had to visit some place...?"

Cloud: "I'll go anywhere Sephiroth's at!"

Hojo: "Hm, interesting. How would you like to be my guinea pig?"

Cloud: (Growls and goes to his sword.)

Hojo: "What are you doing? Are you going to draw your sword?"

Tifa: "No, Cloud!"

Vex: "Man you're touchy."

Cloud: "Ugh" (Stops himself from drawing it.)

Hojo: "Ha ha ha!" (Lies down.) "Head west, Cloud. You'll probably find what you're looking for."

Cloud: "Sephiroth?"

Vex: "Duh!"
 

That's the end of Chapter 14. There's a bit more stuff on the Costa Del Sol scene but that's for the next Chapter. What did you think of this?