The Odd Summoning Materia II

The scene was still Neibelheim. The 8 fighters were still hanging out in this oddly-spelt town at one of the many empty houses. Aeris was munching on the sandwich she had made while talking to Yuffie and walked into the living room. Red was lying down on the rug in front of Vincent, who was in a large pink armchair (Which he said “Needed to be burned”). Aeris sat down on the couch net to Cid.

The old pilot had a bent cigarette in his teeth and a remote in his hand. He was frantically channel surfing, “Shit… There’s nothing on. Whoever the fuck used to live here needed a better cable service. This’s a piece of shit!”

Red blinked, “You swear too much.”

The old man shrugged, “Guess I got it in th’ war…” He suddenly turned to the ribboned girl. “So how’s things with you and sword-boy? I hear you’ve been seein’ each other lately.”

The Ancient blushed and managed a small smile, “Well… I guess that’s kinda what’s happening…”

The pilot chuckled, “Yeah, I thought so. You two’ll be a good couple. Why don’tcha name the kid after me?”

Aeris laughed at this a suddenly caught something on the TV. “Wait, go back!”

Cid flipped back a channel to a magic special starring some magician. Aeris smiled again, “I love those things.”

Red scoffed, “I don’t. Not really too impressive to my tastes.”

Cid reached into his pocket and took out another cigarette. As he did so, Aeris looked down at her bracelet. She’d left her materia inside. She reached down to take it out, when a large flash came from the televison. The magician had just done an trick with a bright flare. But once it happened, Vincent, who had been silent so far, fell forward off his chair.

Red got up and began to sniff him, “I think that flash gave him a seizure.”

“You mean like in a fucking anime?”

Aeris took her mind off her materia and poked him with her staff, “Should we take him to a hospital?”

“Nah, he’ll be okay. I’ll just get out a Remedy.”

Cid walked off, and Aeris finished off her sandwich. Barret came in after a few minutes, talking to Cloud. Barret had Tifa riding on his shoulders. Their talking stopped rather suddenly.

After a long silence Barret blinked, “Uh… What th’ hell is with Vincent?”

Red was still looking at the red-clad man’s body, “He’s had a seizure.”

“Aw, hell.”

Barret handed Tifa to Cloud and walked over. The small girl began to suck her thumb in worry, when Cid came back in, carrying a Remedy. The many people in the room began to fuss over how to feed it to him.

“That gonna work?”

“Hell yes, it’s gonna fucking work. Open his mouth.”

“How’s he gonna swallow?”

“He’ll swallow.”

“Cid, he’s had a seizure!”

“No, I saw this shit on Seinfeld. They were giving this guy a cookie…”

Cloud unsheathed his sword in his free hand, “If you want something done…”

The Healing Materia in the hilt glowed and a green beam shot out of it. The people huddled around him leaned back suddenly, letting it pass through. Vincent sat up, looking woozy.

“You alright?” Said Cloud, looking over at him.

Vincent nodded and sat back down. Cloud sheathed his sword again.

“Tell ‘em Barret.”

“Wha… oh, yeah…”

Barret stood up and sat on the couch next to Aeris, “Me an’ Cloud did some research. We were thinking about going back down to the Shinra mansion and getting some dirt on Sephiroth. Maybe something there will tell us how to kill him. Long shot but… whudda say?”

Vincent spoke in his usual monotone voice, “Waste of time. You can go if you want, but don’t get your hopes up.”

Cid shrugged, “I’ll go, even if Mr. Fucking-Sunshine says it’s stupid. How ‘bout you Red?”

Red seemed to shrug, “Okay, sure. I’m probably the fastest reader amongst us.”

Cid scoffed, “Oh, please. After 4 years in Harvard do you think I’m some slow little bitch?”

One of Cloud’s eyebrows rose considerably higher then the other, “You got into Harvard?”

“Hell, yeah! Knowledge on building spaceships doesn’t come to you with the parts.”

Still looking skeptical, Cloud looked at Aeris, “What about you?”

The Ancient shook her head, “No thanks, but somebody needs to watch Tifa.”

The tiny martial artist began to cling to Cloud’s arms. The swordfghter himself looked odd, “Well, I was just gonna bring her with us…”

“To the Shinra house?” said Aeris. “That’s not an appropriate place for her. What if she wanders off somewhere?”

Cloud rolled his eyes, “Please, she can only walk like, five feet. I’d like you to come. Vincent, Cait Sith, and Yuffie can watch her.”

“I’ll watch the what now?”

Yuffie was just walking in. She looked from Cloud to Aeris.

Cloud sighed, “We’re going down to Shinra mansion. We want you, Cait Sith, and Vincent to watch Tifa.”

This time the thief raised an eyebrow, “Okay, you want that guy-” she pointed to Vincent, who looked at her bewildered, “To watch Tifa? He’ll eat her alive! Besides, Cait Sith is recharging. Supposedly his robot body needs to do that every few days.”

Cloud sighed and handed Tifa to Aeris, “Fine. You three can watch her. Let’s go.”

They left through the door, chatting. Once they were gone, Vincent looked over at Yuffie, “I resent that cannibalism comment.”

“Aw, I was just joking…” The ninja said. “Whatsa matter, Tifa?” The girl was squirming in Aeris’ arms. “C’mere, baby…” She picked up Tifa and bounced her up and down in her arms, causing her to laugh.

Aeris went back into the kitchen. She really wanted to take a look upstairs. Barret and Cid had been poking around earlier and said they had found some nice weapons there. Cloud said a blacksmith used to live here when he was a kid, which would probably explain it. She walked up the stairs, and passed by Cait Sith, who was still recharging. As she became level to him, there was a flash of red light. She whirled around. Cait Sith was still hunched over by the wall, Materia still present in his Megaphone and (extra large) bangle. His must’ve gone off. Her Shiva Materia leveled up two days ago. It wasn’t about to do it again for a while. She walked on.

***

Downstairs, Yuffie was playing with Tifa using the keys to the buggy. As she was jingling them, she noticed Aeris’ shoes by the door. They had taken on a red glow for a second and then vanished. She grinned.

“Something wrong?”

Vincent was still in his armchair, apparently thinking. Yuffie shook her head. Before Vincent could say anything else, she picked up Tifa and walked out of the room.

***

Aeris opened the door at the top of the stairs, into a large study. Several dusty chests were inside, some of which had been forced open by Cloud and Barret. She leaned down and looked through them. One of them had apparently tried to drill Materia slots into a sword hilt, leaving small, rough-looking holes which didn’t look like they’d hold Materia at all. She laughed slightly at the idea.

The door behind her opened and she turned. Yuffie had walked in, for some reason wearing an apron and one of those French chef hats. Tifa was cooing in her arms, jingling the keys in her small hands.

Yuffie smiled at Aeris, “Hey, would you mind watching Tifa for a few minutes? I was gonna bake something and I didn’t want her making a mess in the kitchen.”

The Ancient closed the chest she was looking through and blinked, “Uh… okay…”

“Thanks. Gotta go!”

Yuffie put Tifa in Aeris’ hands and ran out before anything more could be said. Aeris looked down at Tifa, who was squirming in her arms.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Tifa-Wifa.” The Ancient put her on the floor by one of the larger chests. “Look what I’ve found.” She drew a large Lance out of a chest, “These’ll help us to get rid of that mean ol’ Sephiroth. And maybe you can use ‘em in ten or so years.”

Tifa suddenly burst into tears. The pink-clad girl scooped her up, and cradled her. She bounced her up and down in her arms trying to soothe her. But as her did so, another red Materia gave off a bright flash. Aeris blinked and eyed her bangle. Her Shiva Materia just leveled up. How could that have happened? It must’ve been Cait Sith’s Materia that leveled up in the hallway, and hers didn’t do so till just now. That was odd though, it seemed like Shiva had leveled up some time ago. She suddenly realized Tifa was a lot heavier then before.

Speaking of Tifa, she had stopped crying. She was staring at Aeris’ bangle with an odd look on her face. Her index finger was in her mouth. As Aeris was pondering her sudden weight gain, Tifa reached over to her bangle, clasped a hand around it and pulled.
Another bright flash went off, startling Aeris. Tifa on the other hand, giggled and pulled again. And again. And again.

Aeris’ green eyes went wide. She suddenly grabbed Tifa’s hand.

“STOPIT! STOPIT! Don’t you know what this is?!”

As she spoke she began shrinking and her voice became slightly higher. Her breasts, which were already small disappeared. She was struggling to hold up Tifa, and managed for a while, but by the time the regression stopped, she was low enough to the ground to put her down.

Upon doing so Aeris ran to a mirror. She was about five years old. The Ancient remembered what happened when Tifa was at this age during her bout with the red little stone. Like with Tifa, her outfit had shrunk with her, but that that thick garment under her dress wasn’t the panties she’d put on that morning.

The door opened in Yuffie walked back in. This time without an apron or hat.

The little girl ran up to her, “Yuffie! Yuffie, you gotta help me! I have that Materia Tifa got and…”

It was when Yuffie grinned Aeris broke off.

“You… you knew…”

“Knew what?”

Apparently the Ninja had decided to keep up her “Cute and Innocent act.”

Tears were forming in the Ancient’s eyes, “You… you put the Materia in my bangle… I’m gonna be a baby like Tifa…”

Yuffie merely shrugged, “But you were the one who was always telling Tifa that she shouldn’t be too sulky and that being a baby wasn’t all that bad.”

“Bu… But I…”

“OOOO! I’m so going to love playing with you! You’re absolutely adorable! I can’t wait to get some matching outfits for you and Tifa! Can’t you just imagine how fun it’ll be having the two of you together? I hope Cloud won’t be too mad… C’mere, we gotta master that materia.”

Aeris backed off slowly, “No… No, I dun wanna be little!”

Aeris broke into a run but was caught quite quickly. Yuffie held her under her left arm and grabbed the bangle. She pulled on it again, and Aeris shrank some more, reverting to toddlerhood.

Yuffie giggled and set her down next to Tifa. While Aeris was wailing, the raven-haired girl giggled and clapped her hands. The ninja smiled, and admired her handiwork when she heard a click by her wrist. She turned to find Vincent standing behind her.

“What’re you doing here?”

Vincent looked the same as he ever did, “You made Aeris a todddler. Why?”

Yuffie blushed, “Have you ever seen Cloud’s muscles? He’s just… I kinda have a thing for him. Y’know.”

Vincent sighed, “I guess it’s good I gave you that materia then.”

Yuffie’s eyes went wide and she looked down at her bangle.

“…You wouldn’t… You could… OH MY GOD, YOU’VE GOT THE HOTS FOR CLOUD TOO?!”

Vincent blinked and there was a short pause before he responded, “Uh… no, I just don’t think you’d be a very good addition to the team. If you’re willing to steal or regress your teammates it just doesn’t seem like it’s meant to be…”

The ninja’s face was still shocked, “But… but what were you doing up here?”

“I wanted to know if you meant that crack about being a cannibal. It really hurt, Yuffie. You’d be surprised how often I’ve been called a monster.”

“Now that you’ve done this, I don’t think so.”

***

The scene was a small platform protruding from the water. Both it and the stairs leading to it were made of fine marble, and it was truly a beautiful place. In the center was a small girl, wearing a bow, short pink dress, and pink diaper. She was kneeling with her hands clasped around something. She looked like she was praying.

Suddenly, swooping from the sky came an insanely badass man with long silver hair. He landed behind her and raised his sword. But stared at her for a while and blinked.

“Jesus, why should I even bother?”

He reached down and plunked the white Materia from her hands and threw it into the distance. He flew off as it turned green.