Final Fantasy 7 1/2: Magic Planet A Final Fantasy 7/Beast Wars crossover fanfic written by Stella Quetzacotl First created: Aug 10, 2001 Last modified: Aug 18, 2001 ~~~~~Legal Stuff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes only. All FFVII characters are the sole property of Squaresoft. All Beast Wars characters are the sole property of Hasbro. All other characters are the sole property of the author. Most of the Maximals' and Predacons' dialogue in this chapter is taken from the Beast Wars pilot episode. While I have tried to keep it as close as possible, some changes were necessary due to storyline. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~Setting~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a TOTAL rehash of the Beast Wars saga, in which the group lands on the FF7 planet (what would you call it, anyway?) instead of Earth. They'll take different beast modes, but I'll keep the same names for convenience. The time is twelve years after the FF7 saga; Marlene is sixteen years old. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~Text Conventions~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [This is a character thought] *This is emphasized text* Chapter 2 "Are you sure you know where we're going?" Laz asked. "No." Marli shrugged. "I'm just looking for something unusual." Laz stopped, frowning. If there was anything that studying monsters had taught him, it was caution. "Marli," he began, running to catch up, "we don't know what we're dealing with..." "I know," Marli replied impatiently. "But we can handle it. We have our Materia with us, don't we? And I can use my staff." She reached back to finger the dented metal Guard Stick. "If you're scared, you can always turn back." "I'm not," Laz denied sullenly. "But there's a difference between bravery and stupidity." Marli turned to glare at him. "I mean," he hastily amended, "it's not smart to just walk up to these aliens from outer space or whatever with no plan in mind." "Fine. Here's the plan. We go find the ship or meteorite or whatever, see what it was, and then go back home," Marli snapped. "Happy?" "Mar-*lee*..." "Gad, you're a worrier! Marli threw up her hands in a plea to the heavens for patience. "I'm not planning on letting whoever was in those things *see* us, much less try to attack. I just want to see what they look like. What could happen?" Laz was about to answer, but he was interrupted by a Vlakorados - one full ton of red scaly skin and horny blades and bad attitude - crashing down from the sky above them in a hail of branches, dirt and leaves, voicing a snarling scream that made the humans' ears smart. With a yell of alarm, Marli unsheathed her staff and backed up, almost falling over backwards in her haste. Laz, only a little calmer, scrambled up a small embankment and clung, shaking. Vlakorados was one of the most dangerous monsters to walk the planet, and they weren't even supposed to exist this far south. The Vlakorados pulled itself laboriously to its feet, glared balefully at the humans, then turned aside and spoke. "That fool Megatron!" "Eep," Marli postulated. "Erp," Laz agreed. "How *dare* he betray me!" Ignoring the two humans in his rage, the Vlakorados gathered himself and leaped over the embankment. Laz peeked over the edge just in time to see the monster speeding off toward the north. "It... talked... " he murmured. Marli shook off her surprise, sheathed her staff and started to scramble up the embankment. "Let's follow it, Laz. Betcha it's an alien." "Hey, check it out!" Traveller exclaimed. She stretched her neck westward. Optimus left off arguing with Rattrap a moment to look through his binoculars. Two yellow shapes - birds that looked like Traveller - were chucking dust through the valley, singing in their warbly language. He whistled appreciatively. "They're fast, all right. You chose a good form." Cheetor snorted happily. "Hey, you think that's speed? I could outrun both of 'em in my sleep." "Dream on!" Traveller retorted, flapping her wings - a mere reflex, as her beast form was flightless. "You don't have a microchip's chance in an energon surge of beating me in a race." "You wanna bet on that?" the cat demanded slyly. Before Traveller could answer he was off and running, in a beeline toward the valley. "Hey! Jerk!" Traveller yelped, then raced to catch up. Soon the two were bouncing dots in the valley, growing rapidly smaller. "Traveller! Cheetor! No!" Optimus shouted. The two ran on, unheeding. Their laughter floated back to him , ghostlike. Optimus grimaced. He needed to be able to control those two! Tapping his comlink, he ordered, "Cheetor! Traveller! Return to base immediately! We don't have time for this!" He put all the stern authority he could muster into his voice. No answer. Optimus tapped his comm again. "Cheetor! Traveller! Please respond!" Only static. "No good," Rhinox said, a little sadly. "The energy fields mess up the comlinks. Anything over a hundred meters, they ain't worth jack." "Well, that's just prime," Optimus answered, stamping a hoof in frustration. Rattrap swung his tail. "So - this yer first day on de job or what?" "Shut up, Rattrap." Optimus didn't look away from the shrinking dots in the distance. "Oh, yes SIR!" Rattrap gave a mock salute with one tiny forepaw. "Oh, I feel just HEAPS better knowing our lives are in yer capable hands." He turned to Rhinox. "We're all gonna die," he said quietly. Rhinox shook his massive head disapprovingly. Optimus ignored Rattrap and glanced back toward his two wayward charges as they disappeared over a ridge. Cheetor and Traveller were both gasping for breath, but they were laughing loudly as they ran. Trading the lead, they made their way with reckless abandon through the mountain range of their temporary home planet, kicking up clouds of dust in their wake. The dust hung in the air after their passage as long as their pealing laughter. Traveller was the first to notice how far they'd gone. Catching up to Cheetor with a little burst of speed, she panted, "D'ya think - we oughta - head back now?" "What - are you - afraid?" Cheetor leapt a crevasse smoothly. "'Cause - I'm not." "Afraid?" Traveller followed his maneuver. "No - just - if we don't - get back soon - Optimus - is gonna - be mad - at us." Pine needles blew from her footfalls, crackling admonishingly. "'Sides - we still - got Preds - to worry - about." "I ain't - worried - 'bout no - Preds," Cheetor countered. Traveller just grunted in annoyance. They probably would have continued this way until they reached Nibelheim, but just then a girl's short scream rang out across the sky. Cheetor and Traveller stopped short. "What was that?" Cheetor gasped. "Sounded like someone in trouble," Traveller said. "And of course, that's where we Maximals come in. You with me?" Cheetor pointed his nose southward, where the scream had come from. "This cat's all over it!" As one the two turned and ran with jubilant determination, making tracks for the southern valley. "This is ridiculous!" Marli cried, twirling her staff in what she hoped was a threatening manner. "First a talking Vlakorados and now a talking Stinger!" "Stinger?" the blue- shelled monster hissed. "Is that what you call these creatures? Well, well, a rather fitting name, I suppose." "Marli, back up a minute!" Laz shouted, gripping his Materia. Marli jumped back and Laz yelled, "Big Guard!" Green light burst from the earth beneath Laz's feet, giving rise to two fisheye lenses of yellow light that flashed into existence and faded before Laz and Marli. The Stinger jerked back. "The alien power source!" he hissed. "You little whelps are more formidable than I thought." He lunged, fangs opening, but just before he could pin the light-headed creature down with his front legs he struck something sharp and hot. He staggered back with a howl. "Hey, this Big Guard really does work," Laz said with surprise. "What'd you expect it to do?" Marli said impatiently. "Give us the power to do the hula?" Laz cocked an eyebrow at her. "It only works for a limited time, though. If you're gonna attack him, I'd do it now." "Oh, right." Marli flipped her ponytail back and lunged, staff out. She'd been tutored in weapon fighting by some of the best, but the Stinger parried every strike she tried. "Hehehehehe," the spider chuckled, "is that the best you can do?" "Just warming up!" Marli challenged. She attacked afresh - crescent moon, ride-the-tiger, ward-off, all in quick succession - but the Stinger was maddeningly quick and seemed not to feel her blows. "Marli, the Big Guard's almost run out," Laz said warningly. "You'd better hurry up and beat that thing." "Well, I don't see you helping!" Marli snapped. "Don't you have Flamethrower or some such?" "I don't know if I have enough magic left," Laz answered solemnly. "Well, the only magic I have is Gravity and Barrier," Marli snapped. "And my physical attacks ain't working!" She swallowed down panic. "How much time does the Barrier have left?" Laz closed his eyes, then opened them. "None." Marli felt the jerk in the pit of her stomach that meant the Barrier and MBarrier cast by Big Guard had run out. "Great." The Stinger advanced, laughing maniacally. "Hold it right there, Predacon!" a child's voice rang out. "Not another step!" another child's voice added. Marli and Laz turned as a Cuahl and a Chocobo hopped down from a ridge behind them and adopted combat poses. "Maximals!" the Stinger hissed. "You dare to rob me of my dinner! Tarantulas, TERRORIZE!" With a caphony of gears and servos he rearranged his body from a spindly-legged spider to a humanoid robot with spider characteristics. As Marli and Laz gaped, the Cuahl and the Chocobo looked at each other and grinned. "Cheetor, MAXIMIZE!" the Cuahl cried. He reared up on his hind legs, his front legs folded back and his head folded down, and there was a blue-metal robot with yellow eyes and spotted Cuahl fur where he'd been standing. "Traveller, MAXIMIZE!" the Chocobo echoed. She stretched up, her wings folded back and her head flipped down, and her form converted into that of a silver-skinned femme robot with green eyes and white feathers forming arm guards extending from knuckle to elbow. "You two might want to duck!" the former Cuahl told the two humans. He pulled his weapon - a quasar cannon - from someplace on his person that Marli didn't catch and leveled it at the spindly-limbed former Stinger. "Get down!" Marli leapt at Laz, knocking him to the ground as the Cuahl fired multiple times. The Stinger gave a hoarse scream and returned with his own salvo, machine-gun fire issuing from his fingers. The former Chocobo leaped in front of the Cuahl and blocked the ammo with her arm guards, then answered with a laser rifle. "Marli? What are those?" Laz whispered, inching away. Marli dragged him into the bushes. "I'm guessing those're the aliens." Optimus reeled back as if the flashes of light coming from the west and south were hitting him. "Uh, oh," Rattrap said. "Move! Move!" Optimus ordered as Rhinox started running. Optimus grabbed Rattrap by his tail and slung him onto Rhinox's back as the purple rhino galumphed past. Then, switching his tail, he followed. "Hope we're not too late!" Neither Rhinox nor Optimus could hope to match Cheetor's or Traveller's speed, but the scenery blurred around them as they ran until it seemed they were traveling through a warp tunnel. They cleared the valley their ship overlooked and entered rougher terrain, rocky and mountainous with scruffy, thorny vegetation. The trails grew progressively thinner, and Optimus slowed to let Rhinox take the lead. Now they ran single file down a trail that seemed to be little more than the line where two mountains were squished together. "Heads up! Roadblock!" Rattrap announced. Optimus looked up. A small avalanche had filled the little valley with rocks, effectively cutting off all traffic. "Veer left!" Optimus ordered. "It's not as steep, we'll - " Rhinox barreled through the rocks like they weren't even there, sending dirt and rock flying in every direction. "Ah yes," Optimus sighed, galloping through the doorway Rhinox had opened. "Silly me." "Ow, ow, OW!" Traveller cried. She ducked behind a tree to cradle her wrists. "Doesn't that thing ever run out of ammo?" Cheetor covered her. "Guess not," he called back. "And he's slaggin' hard to hit!" "You just can't aim," Traveller retorted. Bark exploded by her right ear and she jerked away. "Yikes! But apparently he can!" Cheetor stopped firing abruptly. "Don't stop shooting, dope, I take back what I said about your hit-to-miss ratio, okay?" "I'm trying," Cheetor gritted, ducking behind a boulder, "but my cannon's got a quasar jam!" He yowled in frustration. "Of all the times for *this* to happen," he complained. "Oh, slaggit - " Traveller stepped out from behind her tree and was promptly shot in the gut by one of Tarantulas's mini-missiles. She shrieked and Cheetor pulled her behind his boulder. "Man, we are in it *deep*," she moaned. "Cheetor! Traveller!" Cheetor looked up. "Optimus!" Optimus stood on the same ridge Cheetor and Traveller had made their entrance from, with Rhinox and Rattrap at his side. "Traveller, go back to beast mode, and both of you get to cover!" he ordered. "We'll swat that pesky Predacon!" Tarantulas sneered. "Oh, I would not count on that, Maximals," said a deeply diabolical voice. "Nooo." The Maximals looked up. Just behind Tarantulas stood a thickly-muscled, tusked red reptile who looked for all the world like a dragon without wings - an Under Lizard. He was supported by a Bizarre Bug, a flylike creature with orange and green wings; an emerald-green combination of a shrimp's head and body, a praying mantis's arms, and a wicked scorpion stinger - a Head Hunter; and a blue pterosaur with magenta markings on his wings, known as a Formula. "For I believe you are soon to have... how shall I put it..." the Under Lizard continued, "...difficulties of your own! Yesss..." "An Under Lizard," Laz reported, "a Head Hunter, a Formula, and a Bizarre Bug. On the other side, a Doorbull, a Behemoth, and a Trickplay." "And a Cuahl, a Stinger, and a Chocobo in the middle," Marli said morosely. "All have the ability to speak, and the Cuahl, Stinger, and Chocobo can turn into humanoids. I'm guessing the rest can, too. And none of them are even local fauna." "Why do you think they're fighting?" "Who knows?" Marli shrugged. "It's important," Laz insisted. "Anytime you're going to fight, you have to have a reason." "Shh," Marli warned. "They'll hear you. Just listen." The Doorbull was speaking again. "We don't have to do this, Megatron," he said, voice two shades from pleading. "There has been peace between the Maximals and Predacons for centuries. Why start this up again?" "Peace perhaps on your side, Maximal scum," the Under Lizard retorted. "Yesss. But not on ours. Permit me to inform you that an enemy which appears to be peaceful may in fact be merely... biding its time." "Does that answer your question, Laz?" Marli murmured. Laz nodded, eyes wide. Behind his shelter of rock, the Cuahl bared his teeth in victory as a light on the pommel of his gun blinked twice. The Chocobo, in her bird form once again, bobbed her head approvingly. Unheeding, the Under Lizard continued. "We Predacons have never abandoned our role of galactic conquest, nooo. We have been merely waiting for the right moment - to STRIKE!" "Y'mean like this?" The Cuahl swung himself up over the rock, aimed, and fired once. The blast struck the Under Lizard in the face, snapping his head around. "Cheetor!" the Doorbull cried warningly. "Ahh - a treacherous, underhanded sneak attack," the Under Lizard purred, rubbing his cheek. "I like you, pussycat. Yess. But it shall avail you naught - noo." He drew himself up to his full height. "For now the power gauntlet has been cast! Predacons! TERRORIZE!" The Doorbull reacted. "Do it! MAXIMIZE!" Marli and Laz watched, awestruck, as the assembled monsters transformed into powerful humanoid robots. "Waspinator - TERRORIZE!" buzzed the Bizarre Bug. "Rhinox - MAXIMIZE!" trumpeted the Behemoth. "Scorponok - TERRORIZE!" yelled the Head Hunter. "Rattrap - MAXIMIZE!" chittered the Trickplay. "Terrorsaur - TERRORIZE!" screeched the Formula. "Optimus - MAXIMIZE!" roared the Doorbull. "Megatron - TERRORIZE!" bellowed the Under Lizard. Marli felt slightly dizzy. "Now... obliterate them," the former Under Lizard ordered, and the battle was joined. Next chapter... The Maximals get some unexpected help in battling the Predacons, and Laz and Marli get to show off their knowledge of Materia.