GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project

August 20th, 2003

"Bowser, Aeris and Cloud: The Rescue"

Part II:
"Scattered Searches"

August 9th, 2003

The enterprise that had ballooned so drastically had started with just two of them. Cloud had to fight against his instincts to accept Mario's help. The plumber had a fight the very next day, but didn't even want to let that distract him from doing a good deed. Cloud had shaken his head, and questioned Mario's judgment at the time... but he had to admit, there was something about the little plumber he had to admire. Cloud still regretted his narrow loss to the plumber... but ghosts of the past were the last thing on his mind that night. The tournament just seemed childish now... he almost had to say that Mario had the right attitude, not worrying about it.

So there they were. Off to rescue a damsel in distress... Cloud had to shake his head at that one. Even up until the very end... Aeris had never been helpless. She had left Cloud's party to find the Sacred Land by herself. He had to remind himself that whatever her appearance was, she was an ancient. A Cetra. The fact that Bowser had been able to hold her against his will suggested something strange was at work.

Mario had accepted the premise of their quest without reservation, and was in a rush to get going to save Cloud's "princess."

"The thing you-a have to know about-a Bowser, he likes-a to toy with you."

Cloud paused, waiting for Mario to say something a little more helpful. "Ok, fine. Keep going." The two of them had picked a random direction to go searching in, branching away from the main compound of buildings. The stars seemed much brighter in this world... despite the late hour, they could still see well enough to make their way without fear of getting lost.

"You have-a to see, he wants-a to keep her, but he wants-a you to try to-a rescue her." The plumber was skipping through the grass carefree, leaping up into the air occasionally.

"Could you explain that again?"

"It's-a quite easy. Bowser enjoys-a the hunt. He likes-a to play games. He doesn't just-a want you to work-a hard to find her, he wants-a to outsmart you. Then when you find him, he-a eats you. He's not-a very polite, playing with his food."

The plumber chuckled as the buildings faded off into the distance behind him. Cloud was suddenly a bit worried about entrusting his quest to the unusual man.

"Where are we going?"

"Just-a the most obvious places first. We'll-a find him and-a beat him, no worry."

Cloud let Mario prattle on about having beaten Bowser as they kept going farther and farther away from their starting point. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere... "Mama Mia!"

Mario began running excitedly off to the east... Cloud quickly unsheathed his sword and raced forwards to match Mario's pace. An tower began to loom in the distance... Cloud felt a thrill of hope even as the ominous obelisk began to dwarf the two men approaching it. This could be it...

Mario stopped a few feet in front of it, looking up and down the structure with a critical eye. The older of the two Mario brothers held his hand in front of his face, seemingly trying to capture the tower's dimensions, and rubbed a gloved hand against its sides.

"What's the matter?" Cloud said impatiently.

"It's-a not-a bad, don't get me wrong. It's-a just not up to his usual standards." Mario sighed, sinking his hands into his pockets. "Just-a look at that top floor, how's-a he going to fit any-a flying fish or fireballs in there?"

Cloud just stared at Mario. "Come on, let's go inside."

Mario shrugged. "If you-a want. I just-a think it's-a kind of sad."

"Yeah, whatever." Cloud muttered, unconsciously quoting Squall. He paced deliberately over to the front of the tower, where a lowered drawbridge beckoned him inside. He gazed upwards... he wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he thought he could hear gentle sobbing coming from the top. Cloud walked inside quickly, as Mario followed reluctantly.

On the inside, Cloud spotted a row of stone stairs, leading upwards. He ran up them quickly, but came to a quick halt when they gave way to an expanse of lava. Mario still followed behind him, his eyes widening when he spotted the giant pit.

"Great-a boiling tomato sauce!"

"Is that what this is?"

"No, it's-a lava. Come on!"

Mario quickly leaped into the air, landing on a platform above Cloud's head. It suddenly shifted to one side... Cloud watched as Mario was carried away by a floating horizontal bridge. "It's-a easy, come on!"

Feeling more than a little bit undignified, Cloud jumped as far as he could, and caught the edge of the platform with his hands. Grunting, he hoisting himself over the top and peered over the lava. There were a series of these platforms, moving from side to side.

"Are these things how Bowser gets around? They seem awfully small for him."

Mario gave him a strange look. "Who-a cares?" The plumber leaped into the air, jumping from platform to platform, not even stopping to catch his breath. Cloud watched the plumber navigate the lava stretch with his mouth agape. He's obviously done this before.

Cloud deliberately and methodically followed Mario's steps. The tower curved upward slightly, and the base of the lava pit looked sloped... like the whole thing was built at an angle so it could be climbed. Each set of moving platforms seemed higher than the next. Cloud leaped into the air and almost fell short of his next target... he caught the platform he came from between his legs and pulled himself up again. Just take your time... you can do this. There's no rush. No rush at all.

Cloud carefully leaped and walked whenever possible through the system of floating transports. As he tried to follow the pattern of their rises, falls, and horizontal movements, he noticed the occasional bubble of lava bursting up, and fireballs flying randomly through the air. Cloud forced himself to breathe steadily and focus on the task at hand. It's just a test, you can do it.

And almost before he knew it, it was over. Cloud leaped one final time to land in an alcove perched above the lava. His brain had been locked into a pattern of periodic jumping and steady movement that the time had passed by without him knowing it. Cloud shuddered when he realized how high up he must be. Huge paintings of Bowser adorned the walls... this must be the end. But where was Mario?

A slumbering noise at his feet quickly answered that question. The plumber was lying on one side, snoring loudly, with a bubble coming out of his nose. Cloud kicked his newfound friend, and the bubble popped.

"Zzzzzzz...whaa? Hi-a Cloud... you were a while, I just thought I'd...." Mario's eyes closed again briefly. And stayed closed. Cloud rolled his own eyes. It is pretty late... I should just finish this.

At the back of the alcove, a small ramp led up to a large wooden door. Cloud approached it cautiously. It looked big enough for Bowser to squeeze through... he put his ear up to the wooden frame, listening intently for any sign of movement, or labored breathing. It was as silent as the grave... Cloud winced at the thought. Impulsively, he grabbed the handle and swung it open.

What he saw next took his breath away. A figure sat on a stone bench, facing a window, gazing out onto the desolate plains. With the limited light, Cloud could barely make out a pink dress with a red vest covering its shoulders... his heart beat faster. At last... this was it. He began walking forward quickly, not worrying about making a sound anymore. He saw the long ponytail swish to one side as the figure turned to face him. His heart stopped as Aeris's face turned to meet his.

Cloud hesitated suddenly. Last time he could remember, Aeris didn't quite look so...

"Are you ok, Aeris? You look a bit..."

"I'm sorry Cloud, but OUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE!!!! Ueee heee hee heee hee!" The figure that appeared to be Aeris tore its hair out, throwing a wig up into the air and stamping on it giddily.

"Um.... Hi.... Kefka."

The maniacal general continued laughing, pretending not to hear Cloud. "Yes, yes! You should have seen the look on your face! Pure horror! I love it! Let your hatred and grief consume you!"

Revulsion and annoyance would be better terms here.

"Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking! How did Kefka get up here? Is he really that powerful? How do I know he wasn't impersonating Aeris the whole time? Just how comfortable is that dress he's wearing? Would I look good in that wig?"

"Um, no." Cloud's experience in cross-dressing ranked among the most painful memories he had kept with him. He had no desire to relive them.

"The reason for all this is... I AM A GOD! Uee hee hee hee!" Kefka began shooting out bolts of energy. Cloud dived to one side and watched one incinerate a portrait of Bowser. "The answer to all these question is... death and destruction! Welcome to annihilation, this is your two minute warning! Uee hee hee!"

Kefka's form began to fade, even as his laugh grew louder, filling the tower. Cloud covered his ears, and stumbled backwards, trying to make his way out of the room. The sounds began to fade as he neared Mario's sleeping form.

"Mario!" He picked the plumber up and began shaking him awake. Mario's eyes unfocused and refocused on him as he tried to come to his senses.

"Good-a morning, Cloud. Did you-a find what you wanted?"

"Yes, I found who's been in this tower."

Mario nodded sleepily. "Oh. That's-a good."

"No, not really. It was Kefka."

"Oh. That's-a bad."

"Yeah, and he said Aeris is in another castle."

"Ah!" Mario nodded his head knowingly, and whispered conspiratorially in Cloud's ear. "That's-a good."

"And he also said we had two minutes until annihilation."

"I see. That's-a good."

Cloud started shaking Mario again. "No, that's-a bad! I mean.... argh. That's bad! Wake up, we need to get out of here!"

Mario suddenly seemed to snap himself awake and spring into action. Cloud had to hold onto his hand for dear life as Mario began sprinting and leaping his way back across the platforms at high speeds. Cloud ran as fast as he could to keep up, but Mario just always seemed to run faster and jump farther. He released Mario's hand, but kept pressing downwards towards the exit, trying to remember everything he had passed by on his way up.

He could hear the tower rumbling above him... it seemed like the top floors were going to sink onto him. "Hurry!" Mario yelled out in the distance.

"I'm trying!"

Cloud kept moving as fast as his feet would carry him, trusting to luck to keep him alive as he leaped into the air, praying for a platform to catch him every time he jumped. He could finally see Mario on the ground floor... but his heart sank. The first platform Mario had ridden on had sunk somehow. It was half submerged in the lava.

Mario gestured at him impatiently. The ceiling kept sinking above him. Cloud moved as far as he could to the edge of his platform... the shore was just too far away.

"You're-a gonna have to jump!" Mario called out.

"I can't!" Cloud yelled. "I'm too far away!"

"Just-a do it!"

"I CAN'T!!!" Cloud screamed out again. "I'm a mercenary, not a monkey!"

"Just-a trust me!"

Cloud backed up, and began taking a running start. This was hopeless... but the ceiling was rapidly approaching hair level. He leaped into the air...

And at the same time, Mario took a running jump into the air.

The two men grabbed each other in midair, falling together rapidly. Cloud closed his eyes and prepared for the end... but it never came. They had stopped falling. Cloud opened his eyes and looked around... Mario was holding him up in the air above the lava, with his eyes closed, gritting his teeth and wincing. Mario's feet were resting on the half submerged platform in the lava... his white boots looked like they were being eaten away by the flames.

"GOO!" Mario seemed to lose all trace of an Italian accent when he yelled.

Cloud leaned forward and grabbed the edge, pulling himself up. He quickly unsheathed his sword and extended it towards Mario... the plumber grabbed it with his eyes still closed, and Cloud dragged him up to solid ground. The two men raced outside the tower just as the ceiling hit ground zero. An explosion threw them up into the air as they passed the grass outside the drawbridge. Cloud landed flat on his back, groaning from the pain. Mario was rolling in the grass, trying to put out whatever he still had burning.

Cloud was suddenly too tired to care about anything again. He glanced at the disorderly heap of rubble behind them... so much for shoddy workmanship. Apparently Bowser didn't intend for the tower to last very long anyway. But where was Aeris...?

Somewhere else. Cloud staggered back to the mansion with Mario at his side.

"Thanks, Mario."

The plumber nodded sleepily. "It was-a fun."

"Whatever floats your boat." Cloud watched the plumber stumble in the direction of his shop. "Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah. I'm-a going to get some rest."

Cloud shrugged, and let himself stumble back to his room. It was late... and rapidly becoming early. Mario had better get enough sleep before his match, Cloud didn't need that on his conscience. Cloud collapsed into his bed, trying to make sense of it all. Apparently Bowser was just playing with them... he wanted a confrontation at some point, but on his own terms... there had to be something he could do to figure out the koopa's plans in advance. Maybe with some more help...

But the former SOLDIER had already fallen asleep, to more fitful dreams of the recent past, and possible future.




Today's Author: BigCow
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