The Terran Rangers/Final Fantasy VII by Heather Ray (summer beach reads txt) 📕

Zack asked, as the pair stood back to back in the center of the ring of insects.

"Nothing comes to mind," Billy answered.

"Then...let's try something," Zack said, closing his eyes tightly. A faint shield of silver energy erected around the pair, and pushed outwards, throwing the insects backwards into the nearby flora. Zack and Billy quickly pulled their laser guns, and unleashed a fury of blue-tinted energy. Each blast managed to penetrate the insects' armor, soon causing all seven to evaporate in clouds of red smoke.

"Well," Zack panted, "I guess that wasn't so bad."

"You're right," came a light voice. "Not bad at all. Pretty good, in fact."

"Who's there?" Billy asked, as both he and Zack looked around the seemingly empty forest.

"A warrior," she responded, "looking for a challenge. You up to it?"

"Huh?" Zack uttered.

"C'mon," the voice taunted, "you're not afraid, are you? I'll take you both on at once!"

"We're not looking for a fight," Billy answered. "We're looking for magical energy known as Mako."

There was silence for a few moments. "Then, how about a deal? If you win, I help you find what you're looking for."

"And what do you get if you win?" Zack asked suspiciously.

"Hmm...how about that energy gun of yours?"

Zack and Billy looked at each other. "We don't want to fight you --"

"Who said you had a choice?" she said, as a figure leaped down from a perch high in a nearby tree. She had straight black hair, reaching her chin, and bright brown almond-shaped eyes. She wore a green tank top, beige denim shorts, and brown sneakers. She looked like a typical human teenager, save for the three foot long shuriken-style weapon she gripped with her right hand.

"Defend yourselves!" she shouted, throwing her massive weapon. Billy and Zack both dropped to the ground, rolling out of the path of the weapon. Billy quickly returned to his feet, and fired a single shot at the weapon. The blue energy reflected off the weapon, striking a nearby tree branch, and sending it falling towards the young woman. She easily flipped out of the way, and caught her weapon as it flew back at her at a blinding speed. She landed gracefully on the grass, and threw her weapon again -- this time aimed much closer to the ground.

"I've got it!" Zack called, staring intently at the weapon. It instantly stopped in mid-air, and dropped to the ground. The young woman stared in shock at her weapon, and glared at Zack.

"Now you've done it!" she cried, holding up her left hand. A crystal bracelet, decorated with six colored gems, glinted in the sunlight. "Leviathan!!"

On her wristband, a red-colored gem began to glow brightly, until it cloaked her in its energy. Then, a twenty-foot water serpent magically appeared in front of her, towering over the highest trees in the forest, and staring down at Zack and Billy menacingly.

"I have to admit," Zack said quietly, staring up at the monster, "I wasn't expecting that!!"

"Zack..." Billy said, running to his friend's side, "do you think a magnetic shield can help?"

"It's our only chance," Zack answered, concentrating his powers. A faint shield appeared around the pair. Suddenly, the Leviathan waved its tail, and a wave of glowing blue water appeared around him. The tidal wave grew to nearly the size of the creature itself, and crashed into the shield with the power of a truck. As suddenly as it appeared, the Leviathan vanished, along with all the water it created. The warrior then smiled when she saw her opponents on the ground, and threw her hands on her hips.

"And so, the great Yuffie Kisaragi defeats another group of would-be opponents!" she announced, throwing her hands up in victory. Her jaw dropped when she saw Billy and Zack slowly rise to their feet.

"Impossible!" she shrieked angrily. Zack smiled at her mischievously, and held his open palm at her. Instantly, Yuffie flew off the ground, being thrown back and forth in the air by the invisible magnetic force.

"Keep her disoriented," Billy advised. "We don't want to hurt her."

"I know that," Zack said, sweat beading on his brow, "but without my Zeo shard, I can't keep this up for long!"

"Let's hope she can't keep this up for much longer," Billy said, watching the girl swing in the air. Finally, she shrieked in anger.

"Let me go!" she screamed, "I give up! Uncle!"

Zack shrugged, and lowered her towards the ground. But instead of placing her on her feet, he let her hang upside down, with her hair nearly touching the grass. Billy knelt on the grass beside her, and studied her face. She was taking short, shallow breaths, and her face was flushed.

"Put me down!" she shrieked, "I gave up already! You win!"

"We'd like to make sure you don't change your mind," Billy said.

"I promise...you win," she gasped. "Oh...I don't feel so good..."

Billy looked up at Zack. "Put her down gently, Zack. She suffers from motion-sickness."

Zack started to chuckle slightly. "So the great warrior has a weakness."

Zack gently turned Yuffie right-side up, and set her on her feet. Yuffie swayed slightly, and lowered herself to her knees, still breathing quickly. She then huffed, and looked up at Zack angrily.

"You cheated!" she shouted. "You used my motion-sickness against me!"

"All's fair in love and war," Billy answered, offering Yuffie his hand. "Let me help you up."

Yuffie grudgingly took Billy's hand, and steadied herself on her own two feet. She then sighed, and smiled at them. "Nice fight. I can lose with grace...just not often."

"So," said Zack, "what do you know about Mako energy?"

Yuffie tapped her chin. "Well, I can't say I know a whole lot about Mako itself, but I do know about materia."

"What's materia?"

Yuffie's eyebrows rose. "You've never heard of materia? Where are you from, anyway?"

Zack opened his mouth to reply, but Billy rose his hand, signalling to Zack that he would handle the matter. "We're from somewhere distant, and rather secluded from the rest of the planet," he answered. "We are in need of healing magic for a friend of ours, who is dying of symptoms that our normal curative measures cannot alleviate."

Yuffie blinked, and then glanced at Zack. "Does he always talk like that?"

Zack smiled. "You should hear him when he gets excited."

Billy chuckled. "Achem...in other words, we have an ill friend, and we need to find magic to help her. We hypothesize...um, we hope that Mako energy will help."

"Well," said Yuffie, pulling her weapon from behind her back, "like I said, if you're looking for healing magic, materia is your best shot. See these gemstones?"

Billy and Zack saw that Yuffie pointed to six small marbles, spread out across the weapon with one near each point, and two in the center.

"Those are the same little marbles as the ones on your bracelet," Zack observed. "That's how you created that lizard."

"Exactly," Yuffie said. "Materia is the solid form of Mako energy. Mako is the lifeblood of the planet, that runs deep beneath the surface. Its actually referred to as the Lifestream. When Mako is exposed to air long enough, it cools into solid crystals. Or, materia."

"So, materia creates big monsters?" Zack asked.

"Not exactly," Yuffie answered. "Different types of materia do different things. Red colored materia are summons, which allow a person to summon a magical creature to launch a powerful attack on an opponent. I summoned the Leviathan beast against those bugs just now. Yellow materia enables its user to use special attacks, like a Deathblow, which is a really powerful strike. Purple is independent materia, which can be lots of different things. Some kinds give you increased luck, vitality, and stuff like that. Blue is support materia, which can increase the abilities of other materias you use with it. For example, an All materia can make a spell that usually only attacks one target work on all targets at once. And finally, green is magic materia. You can cast healing spells, elemental spells, etcetera."

"Healing spells?" Zack said, an excited smile on his face. "Perfect! Where can we get a green one."

"Its not that simple," Yuffie said. "Each materia does something different. A Heal materia can heal poisons and stuff, and a Cure materia can restore physical damage received in battle."

"How do you know which materia is which?" Billy asked.

"Simple," Yuffie explained, pulling a green marble off her weapon. She stared into it, and nodded. "This one's Lightning materia. Take a gander."

Yuffie handed the gem to Billy, who stared at it intently. Beneath the smooth clear surface, green energy swirled at an alarming speed. As he continued to stare, he saw images of bolts of lightning.

"Amazing," he said, handing the gem to Zack so he could see. "So Yuffie, what would a heal materia look like?"

"Materia creates an image to alert the user what its used for," Yuffie explained. "It would show you an image to make you understand what it does."

"So if someone's got a cold, then you'd use a Heal or Cure materia?" Zack questioned.

"Well, if someone's cold, they'd just put a sweater on or something," Yuffie said, shrugging.

"No, like if someone's sick."

"Sick?" Yuffie asked, "I don't understand. If a person's been exposed to different types of chemicals, that cause blindness, poisoning, or being turned into a stone, the Heal materia undoes any abnormality. Is that what you mean?"

"Oh yeah," Zack muttered, "I forgot there are no diseases here."

"I suppose that Heal materia is the closest thing I can think of," Billy said. "What other types of materia are there?"

Yuffie tapped her chin in thought. "That's all the types I'm familiar with. But I'm no expert. I collect materia, doesn't mean I tend to use it a lot

."

"Where can we get information about materia?" Billy asked.

"Maybe Cloud would know..."

"Cloud?" Zack asked. "Is that a person?"

"Yeah, he's our leader," Yuffie said. "He's the one carrying on the fight against Sephiroth, to save the planet from Meteor!"

"Sephiroth?" Billy and Zack asked in unison. Yuffie's eyes widened, and she sighed.

"You've never heard of Sephiroth?! The looney trying to trash the whole planet?!?! Gosh, you really have been living under a rock! C'mon, I'll introduce you to Cloud, and the rest of the squad. I don't have any Heal or Cure materia on me, but I'd bet Tifa has both. Let's go!"

Yuffie started to jog into the forest, westward. She then stopped, and turned back to them. "Oh, and while we're there, I'd recommend buying a weapon or something. Times are tough, and those Head Hunters you fought are just the beginning."

"Those bugs are called Head Hunters?" Zack whispered incredulously.

"Maybe we should look into buying some weapons," Billy whispered back. "The creatures here are more numerous, and more dangerous, than I had anticipated."