Disclaimers: As always, Final Fantasy IV/2 and Final Fantasy VI/3 belong to Squaresoft Entertainment. Street Fighter (I mentioned Chun Li, Cammy, Berk, Etc. earlier) belongs to CAPCOM. Don't worry, they'll not be in this fic... much. i.e., they will when they are mentioned, or when we check in on Prof. West.
Again, Alie and Sam belong to moi, and I go under the nom de plume of Aleenia Rheese. Oh, and... GOMEN! That pic I made with my computer of Alie and Terra and Seph and... ah... the other guys I drew, IT SUCKS! I can't help it! I can't draw well with the mouse. Control is such a pain in the ass with the mouse! (I can't believe how thin Aleenia's neck is, and her HEAD!! @_@!!) I draw better freehand, believe-you-me! :P
"Dimensional Whiplash"
By Aleenia Rheese
Chapter Sixteen - Rude Goes Mad, Tifa In Terrible Danger
Cloud's World, Neo-Seventh Heaven
Sam yawned. He was EXTREMELY bored. He wanted to go out and start using his revolver. So what if it was 8:53 PM! He wanted to shoot something! He stretched out on his bed, and stared hard at the ceiling.
It was six months since Sammy had gotten thrown into a new world. He was almost a master with the revolver, Vincent told him.
He was inside his assigned room in Neo-Seventh Heaven. He looked up as Yuffie came in the door. She plopped down on a chair across from him. " 'Sup, Sam. What'cha up to?" she asked, swinging her legs back and forth. He shrugged. "Wanna run around Shin-Midgar?" she asked. "I'm bored. You bored?" she asked. She was getting annoying, but - for reasons Sam couldn't put his finger on - he didn't mind.
"Actually, yeah, I am," he said, sitting up. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of gray trousers that Tifa had acquired for him. They were a little big, but he liked baggy clothes.
Yuffie grinned. "Cool! Why don't we check out the materia shop?" she asked.
Sam gave her a look. "So you can rob 'em blind?" he said.
Yuffie had a look of mock surprise on her face. "Who, me? I would never do a thing like that!" she said innocently.
Sam rolled his eyes. "O'course you wouldn't," he said dryly. Yuffie grabbed his arm and tugged the boy to his feet. He let her lead him through the door.
Tifa watched the two exit her bar. She smiled, then turned to Barret. "Aren't they cute?" she asked, giggling. "They're falling for each other, and don't even know it!" she said.
Barret looked back at the now-closed door. "So?"
Tifa rolled her eyes, and biffed Barret on the arm. "You don't have a romantic bone in your entire body, Barret!"
Outside, Sam and Yuffie were heading toward the Materia Shop. Yuffie spotted three familiar figures. Reno, Rude, and Elena were heading toward Neo-Seventh Heaven. The later was tagging along behind, like an eager puppy.
"Hey! I haven't seen you three sorry goons for a while!" Yuffie called to them. Reno looked her way, then made a face.
"Leave us alone! We aren't Turks anymore, so we have no beef with you. So fuck off," he snarled, giving Yuffie the finger. He then turned back to the Neo-Seventh Heaven, shoulders hunched, sulking.
Yuffie stared after him, then burst out laughing. "They used to think they were soooo tough!" she squealed. "Now look at 'em!" She doubled over, holding her sides.
Sam stared blankly at her. "Uh... who were they again?" Apologizing, Yuffie told him about the Turks. Sam nodded. "Yeah, they sound like real asses," he said. Yuffie nodded.
"Yeah. I'm not surprised that they've become nothing but low-level dorks," said the ninja/thief. "With Shinra, they were high-level dorks, but that was only because they had firepower to back up their stupidity."
Inside the bar
"Hey! Barkeep! We want three beers!" crowed Reno. He sat hunched at the bar, looking grumpy and upset. Tifa rolled her eyes.
"Coming up," she said with a yawn. She filled three mugs out of a keg, and clunked them down on the bar in front of the three has-beens. She looked at Reno's shabby clothes. It looked as if he'd slept in them. "You got the gil to pay for this, Reno?"
He glared at her, and his eyes focused on her face. "Oh, shit! YOU!" he cried, falling off his stool. He stood up, and brushed himself off. "I shoulda guessed. That brat outside hangs out with you jerks."
Tifa reached over the bar, and grabbed the front of his shirt, and hauled him over. He ended up half-laying on the mahogany bar. Tifa pulled her arm back, ready to smash the Turk's face in. "Watch it, Turkey-boy! I can kick your ass anytime! We've seen that!" Tifa snarled. "You guys are nothing but a bunch of drunk wussies! With a P!"
Reno was pretty lost. "Pwussies? Wupssies? Wussiesp? Wussieps?"
Tifa glared at him in disgust. "You must have killed all of your brain cells, idiot," she said, shoving him away and onto the floor. His nightstick, coming loose from his belt, skidded across the floor. Rude, on the other hand, had gotten the message. He was cracking his knuckles, and walking slowly toward Tifa. Elena scrambled over to Reno to help him up.
Tifa adjusted the straps of her gloves, accepting Rude's challenge. They circled each other slowly in the small space of the bar. Rude threw the first punch, which Tifa dodged. She kicked at Rude's face, but he jumped back and away. He then rushed Tifa, who made a move to get our of the way, but tripped on Reno's discarded nightstick, and tried to keep her balance.
Rude, bending over, used his momentum to head-butt Tifa's midriff. The AVALANCHE member went down with a cry of pain. Rude landed on top of her, and quickly got to his knees. He began to punch Tifa repeatedly in the face, his knees pinning her to the floor. His motions made his shades fall to the floor, and there was a gleam in his eye that Elena had never seen there before.
Elena stared at Rude as he pummeled Tifa, who was screaming from pain every time Rude's fist came in contact with her now-bloodied face. Elena winced when Rude lifted Tifa up into a semi-sitting position, then slammed his fist into the woman's face. Tifa slammed against the floor, her head contacting the ground with a sickening THUMP. Tifa lay there motionless.
Rude stood, and began to kick Tifa's unconscious body. Elena felt bile rise in her throat. That wasn't like Rude at all. Not at all! Now he was beating her just to beat her!
Elena stood, and ran to grab Rude's arm. "Rude! Rude, stop! You won! Now stop!" she screamed frantically. Rude just knocked her backwards, and resumed kicking Tifa. Elena heard the crack of Tifa's ribs breaking. "RUDE, STOP! Reno, help me stop him!" she cried, pulling the dazed Turk to his feet.
Even Reno was fazed by Rude's sudden attack. Rude's face was flushed, his eyes gleaming feverishly, his chest heaving with every raspy breath. His hands were covered with blood, and his mouth was twisted into a fiendish grin.
Reno's face was pale as he picked up his nightstick, aimed it at Rude, and fired a stunning blast of electricity at his friend. Rude roared in pain as the electricity sizzled through his nerves. The big man then fell to the ground, unconscious.
Elena went over to check on Tifa. She was covered with blood, and she had a few broken ribs and her nose was broken as well. There was blood matting her hair where her head had hit the floor. Her breathing was shallow and raspy, and she was constantly coughing blood, which spilled out of her mouth and nose. Elena stood up and searched her pockets for her Restore Materia.
"C'mon, dammit! Where is that stupid materia!" she said in a shaky voice. Tifa was bad. Elena didn't know if she could live for much longer. She whirled around when the door to the Neo-Seventh Heaven opened. She saw Cloud Strife enter, yet unaware of what had happened to Tifa. "STRIFE! YOU HAVE TO HELP TIFA!" she screamed, grabbing the startled man's arm and propelling him toward the other woman's body.
Cloud's blue eyes grew wide, his mouth hung open, his face drained of blood. He rounded on Elena, grabbing her by the front of her suit. "WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BASTARDS DONE TO TIFA?!" he screamed in Elena's face. The blonde woman shrank back as far as possible.
Reno grabbed Cloud and hauled him away from Elena. "HEY! We came in to get a drink, and I started a little tizzy with the barmaid! Rude snapped, and did this to her!" he shouted, his face white.
Cloud clamped a hand over the Restore Materia on his sword handle, and used Cure 3 on Tifa's broken, battered, and bloody form. Some of the wounds healed, and the blood vanished, but the wound on her head refused to heal, and still bled sluggishly. Her ribs were still broken, and she was out. Cloud was afraid she was in a coma.
Murmuring to her that it would be okay, Cloud carefully picked Tifa up in his arms. He turned, and started. Elena stood before him, eyes filled with tears. "I... I tried to stop Rude. I tried to help. I... I didn't... we just came for a drink... not to cause trouble... We aren't Turks anymore..." she began to sob. "What happened to Rude?" she whispered to herself.
Cloud stared at the pale woman before him, and then at Reno, who was staring blankly at Rude, who was lying on the floor, unconscious. He carried Tifa in back, and pulled out his PHS. He had calls to make.
