Somewhere? Various Somewheres?
-So there's more game to play. Before, we were all going along a track that led to this point. Now? No clue. Wheee! Here we go.
-Angeal! “You call yourself SOLDIER? You tarnish the SOLDIER name.”
-Then a fist pounds from the camera’s point of view on glass, agitating green liquid. We’re in one of those test containers. Why is Angeal pissed at Zack?
-Wait, was that the lab beneath Shinra Manor?
-New scene. Zack standing in a pool of water in the open air as a feather floats down from above. “Those wings. I want them too.” Zack to join Team Angeal?
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Lab Beneath Shinra Manor
-Now we’re DEFINITELY in the Manor. Zack broke out of his glass container. Cloud’s contained down here too. Zack gets him out, but Cloud’s out of it.
-After breaking out, Zack knocked out the Shinra scientist watching over him. Took “Dresser Keys” to upstairs in the manor.
-Research notes nearby find that the Jenova conditioning didn’t work on Zack, most likely because of the SOLDIER mako stuff he’d already taken in.
-The same notes show that Jenova conditioning didn’t work on Cloud either. Toxicosis, system damage, recovery unlikely.
-One of Hojo’s subordinates left a frustrated diary (and 10,000 gil – yoink!) in the other room.
-Zack grabs the out-of-it Cloud and leaves. Cloud gets dragged around like an old suitcase in Crisis Core.
-Can no longer get into Vincent’s coffin. Sleep well, buddy.
-An email blast from the Keepers of Honor (an Angeal fan club) notes that Angeal was sighted near a woman in a white dress by a broken down church.
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Shinra Manor – Main Building
-An email notice from Shinra declares both Zack and Sephiroth KIA. This is eerie to see. “Two infantrymen were also killed in action.” Who was the second, after Cloud? Just the random no-name who accompanied Cloud and Sephiroth and Zack probably.
-Aw. Kunsel emails Zack, freaked and disbelieving by the notice of his friend’s death.
Friendship!
-Went to the locked dressers and got 5,000gil and a SOLDIER outfit. What’s the SOLDIER outfit for? To disguise Cloud?
-Btw, there’s no way this will end well. It’s possible that Zack gets away and was hiding in the background all during the events of FFVII, but I can’t imagine Cloud getting away.
-There’s now a random encounter in the lobby of the Manor. Because Crisis Core just can’t help itself. Not a big deal, it took like two seconds, just not sure why they felt the need to add that in.
-New missions now available, but this doesn’t feel like the time, given that Zack is still dragging Cloud’s ass to safety.
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Nibelheim
-The burned town is restored. That was QUICK.
-Some infantrymen charge in. “The professor’s test samples are escaping!” Wait… does this mean Zack is a clone now? I doubt it. It could just be referring to Zack and Cloud as the nearly-dead test subjects for Hojo, but since this is FFVII they could both be clones by now.
-A SWARM of infantrymen come in. They start to drag away Cloud and I have to fight them off. Super intense.
Notice Cloud being dragged in the background. A ticking clock.
-Fought them off, but they were tough.
-Hey! Zack noticed, too. They’re tougher than usual. This has me super convinced now that Zack is Clone!Zack, not at full strength. [Later edit: Second and third thoughts on this. Not as sure anymore.]
-Zack returns with Cloud to the mansion “to regroup.” That seems like a supremely terrible idea, given that this is a Shinra mansion, no?
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Shinra Manor
-Zack thinks Cloud has mako addiction. Huh? I guess he was just saturated with the stuff in the tank and then taken away from it. Zack’s frustrated.
-Hey hey! He gives Zack new non-mako infused clothes, the SOLDIER garb from the dresser.
Probably the same SOLDIER garb that Cloud used through FFVII.
-!?FDJKLFHDS ZACK’S READING AERITH’S LIST OF 23 TINY WISHES.
Including her wish to spend more time with Zack. This isn’t fair. ....I mean, it is Fair, but it's not... I'll just stop now.
-Zack heads off towards Midgar with Cloud.
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Next time: Zack and Cloud, alone together.
