We gathered on the beach where Yuffie had ditched the Bronco. It didn't take long for Cid to determine that our ninja had sabotaged the engines somehow before running away, and so we were gathered in a circle, discussing how we should proceed. "How long to repair the engines again?" Cloud asked.
"Not as long as last time..." Cid answered. "Couple of days probably.... Damn, as much as I wanna go with you to get that little brat I guess I'd better stay here and get to work."
"Good thinking." Vincent said. "And now let me offer a suggestion as well... If we're actually going to chase Yuffie back to Wutai we should break up into smaller groups. That'll help keep us 'off the radar' of Wutai's guardians."
"Hold on though." Barrett said. "We've got no materia. No magic. A bigger group'd be safer, don'tcha think?"
"Agreed lad." Cait added. "If we break into groups we'll be weaker. Then what happens when we run into some kind of monsters?"
Vincent was unmoved. "I still insist that small groups are better. Wutai's samurai are far more dangerous than any of the local wildlife. Avoiding them is what's most important. With Cid remaining here, there are eight of us. We should go in pairs and regather once we're in the city."
"If we get there!" Barrett insisted. "We'll have no real firepower!"
From behind us came the sound of Red clearing his throat. "Perhaps these will be of assistance in this." He said. Turning, we saw Red sitting on his haunches behind a large spread of weapons: Grenades, Swift Bolts, Fire Veils, Bomb Arms, you name it, it was there.
"Where...?" Cid started to say.
I was done. I started to step towards Red, saying "Alright, that does it..."
Tifa tried to stop me. "Actually Y/N, this might not be the best time..."
"No!" I insisted. "No, damn it, I'm tired of this." I stared straight at Red and said "Dude. Seriously. Where... In the hell... Are you carrying all this stuff?"
Rising to his feet, Red started to walk off in the direction of Wutai. As he went, he said "Apologies. I understand your frustration. To be quite blunt, though, I've come to like all of you too much to risk making your primitive hominid brains explode from the revelation."
For several moments we silently watched Red depart. It was Vincent who finally spoke. He took a bandolier of grenades and another of fire veils from Red's stash and said "The rest of you can pair off as you like... I'm going with the four-legged arsenal..." He ran to catch up with Red.
"I'm with Cloud!" Tifa announced.
"I'm with Y/N!" Aerith echoed.
"Guess that leaves me with... Aw hell!" Barrett said, staring at Cait.
"It's not so bad laddie." Cait said. "We'll have fun, get ta' know each other better!"
"I hate cats..." Barrett grumbled. "Cid, you wanna change spots? I'm sure I could fix the plane..."
"Hell no!" Cid answered. "Nobody touches my baby but me!"
We divided up Red's supplies and headed north towards Wutai...
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Three days later we arrived in Wutai. Everyone gathered together in front of the main gate. "Wow. Damn big city." Barrett said.
"Thirty years ago it was second only to Midgar." Vincent answered. "I suspect it's still so."
Aerith looked across the cityscape and settled her gaze on the Da Chao statues. "Look at that! I've never seen such large carvings before."
"Impressive." I agreed.
"Yeah, yeah. It's neat an' all. But we've got bigger fish ta' fry. How we gonna ever find Yuffie in all dis'?"
"Barrett has a good point." Cloud said. "We're into 'needle in a haystack' territory here. And it's made worse by the fact that Yuffie is, after all, Wutaiian royalty. More likely than not, anyone who's seen her will help her over us."
"All we can do, really, is start looking." Aerith said.
"True." Red agreed. "I suspect however that this will get worse before it gets better. Oh well, where should we start?"
"How about that bar over there?" I asked, indicating what I suspected was the bar where we would find the Turks.
"Sounds good. If nothin' else I can get a drink." Barrett agreed. We headed towards the bar together...
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As we entered the front door of the bar, Tifa was the first to notice Reno and Rude. "Turks!" she exclaimed, and fell into a fighting stance.
Reno turned to face us at the sound of Tifa's voice. "Well well... If it's not Cloud Strife and his merry band. Averlanche, is it?" He stared at Tifa. "Cool your jets Lockhart, we're not here for you."
Tifa relaxed slightly but didn't return to a normal standing position either. "Why are you here then?" Cloud asked.
"None of your business, yo." Reno said. "Though I've got my guesses why you're here. Look, tell you what: As long as we're not assigned to track you specifically, you stay out of our way and we'll stay out of yours. Deal?"
"Deal." Cloud agreed.
"That's good yo. C'mon Rude." Reno said. The two started for the door, but when they got there Reno stopped, turned, and said "Oh, by the way. Regarding my guess on why you're here... There's a shop three blocks north of here. Big blue and green sign, says materia though they ain't got any. What they do got, at least as of thirty minutes ago, is a certain local princess. Have fun yo." Reno let the door swing shut as he left.
"Do you buy that story?" Tifa wondered.
"I do." I said. "Did you see the look on Reno's face? He's genuinely worried about something right now... In spite of what he said about leaving each other alone, I think he's hedging his bets towards getting us to help him if he needs it."
"Why in the world would we help him!?" Barrett demanded.
"I'm sure I don't know." I lied.
"We cannot ignore a possible lead." Red said. "We should go."
"Agreed." Vincent and Cloud said at the same moment.
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A bell rang as we entered the 'materia' shop. A handful of customers we examining the shop's meager wares, and the clerk approached us. "Welcome! Feel free to look around, everything you see is for sale. No materia though. In spite of our sign, we simply don't have any anymore."
"That's alright miss." Vincent said. "We're just looking for someone."
We spread out around the store, and I started searching for the chest our ninja would be hiding in. It didn't help that there were actually quite a few chests scattered over the salesfloor. As I was looking, a came around a corner and found Red staring at one particular chest. He noticed me and backed to where I stood, never taking his eyes off of the chest. "Yuffie's scent is everywhere in this store." He whispered. "But it's incredibly strong around that place... I suspect that particular chest is not empty."
I nodded, and motioned for everyone else to join us. Once we were all in place, Cloud reached towards the chest intending to open it. Before he touched the latch, the top blew open and a brilliant white light blinded us all. We heard the sound of running feet, and Yuffie's laughter.
Ten minutes later when our vision finally cleared, we stepped outside. Red smelled the ground and said "She went east. Beyond that I can tell nothing."
"Then let's keep moving." Cloud said. "We have a trail, let's not lose it."
Just then, a trio of large men in the garb of Samurai appeared before us. And I mean, literally, appeared out of thin air. "Lord Godo wishes to speak with you." The largest said. Then, before I knew what was happening, we were somewhere else, standing inside a Wutaiian home.
"Greetings." Said a man I'd not seen before. "I am Shogun Godo."
"Not how this happened in the game..." I thought to myself. "But we had to come here next anyway..."
"You are Avalanche, correct?" Godo said. "My daughter has been in league with you?"
"Well, 'in league with' might be a bit strong, but yes, Yuffie has spent some time travelling with us." Cloud said.
The door shot in off of it's hinges, and Yuffie barged in. "Darned right I'm not in league with you! Midgar trash! Enemies of Wutai!"
"Calm yourself daughter..." Godo tried to say, but Yuffie turned on him next.
"And you! Surrendering to them! Cow-towing to them! Turning Wutai into a tourist trap! Mark my words, things will be different when I'm Shogun!" She turned and ran out.
Shaking his head sadly, Godo said "My apologies. My daughter dishonors Wutai by her actions. Go. Deal with her as you see fit. I will hold nothing against you in this."
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Back out in the streets of Wutai, we trusted Red's nose to follow Yuffie's path. We made it several blocks with no difficulties, but then "I've lost the trail." Red said, raising his head. "It seems that Yuffie has been back and forth through this area several times recently. She could have gone into this building..." he indicated a door to our left. "That one..." another to our left. "Or that large house across the street." He looked to the right.
"Let's check the two on this side first." Aerith said. "Half of us in each. If Yuffie's not here we'll all check the big house."
"Sounds good." Cloud said. He led Tifa, Cait, and Vincent to the further of the left doors while Aerith, Red, Barrett, and I checked the nearer.
As we stepped through the unlocked door, Aerith called out "Hello? Is anyone here?" There was no answer. We found ourselves in a small entry room, with three closed doors, one on each of the inside walls. I reached towards the center door and opened it.
Cats. Cats everywhere. Beyond the door, the whole next room was filled with cats, at least a hundred of them, milling about, mewling, sleeping. "Um..." I said.
"I hate cats." Barrett said. He opened the door to the right. Another room filled with hundreds of cats. "What the hell?" Barrett grumbled. Aerith opened the left door. Cats again, of course. Then, as one, all of the cats in all of the rooms lifted their heads and stared right at us. We backed out slowly and slammed the door.
"Not uncreepy..." I said.
"Even if she's in there, she's not in there." Aerith agreed.
We waited several minutes, until Cloud's group returned. "No dice." Cait said. "And it looks like you didn't turn her up either then?"
"No." I said. "Though you might like what's in there."
"Later. Let's check the house..."
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Cloud knocked on the door, but as with the creepy cat place there was no answer. "Should we enter?" Red asked. "This is someone's home after all."
"Actually it's not a worry." Vincent said. He pointed to a sign in the window. "The house is for sale. There's no one living here."
We crept in as quietly as possible. Yuffie, we knew, had to be in the building somewhere. It was just a matter of flushing her out. Silently fanning out, we examined the entire lower floor, finding nothing, then moved upstairs. As we were preparing to check the second floor, a partition screen caught my eye. There was an open window behind it, and just enough light was streaming in to cast a shadow on the screen. I tapped Cloud on the shoulder and pointed. He nodded and we moved towards the screen.
Once we were close enough, we charged. Yuffie must've seen us coming though, because she leapt up, over the screen, and ran laughing down the stairs and out the door.
The chase was on. Yuffie ran as fast as she could, but we were right behind her and the buildings in that part of town were too tall for her to leap to the roofs. We ran for several blocks, and it was clear that even Yuffie was getting winded. On the other hand, being the quarry gave her a reason to keep going, and she put on a burst of speed as we approached the edge of town.
Cloud rushed around a corner ahead of me mere seconds after Yuffie had rounded it. He stopped. We saw why once we caught up to him: Yuffie was nowhere to be seen. "What the...?" Tifa wondered.
"She was only ten seconds ahead of me." Cloud said. "Not enough time to reach the next corner even if she somehow doubled her speed. She's got to be close."
"Pssst! Look!" Cait said. He pointed to a slightly rocking jar against the wall. Cloud nodded and stepped towards the jar when Vincent stopped him.
"Wait Cloud." Vincent whispered. "If we just open the jar, she'll run off again. We need to do this in a way that disorients her."
A mischevious grin came across Aerith' face. "I've got an idea..." She whispered, and filled us in.
Two minutes later, everyone was in place. Cloud, Barrett, and Vincent surrounded the jar, and each reached out and took hold of it. Then they started shaking it violently while Tifa shouted "I've got her! I've got her! Over here!"
Yuffie jumped out faster than I've ever seen anyone move before or since. She started to run again, and as I said she was fast... But Cait was faster. Standing next to me sans moogle, he whistled and the moogle did as programed, jumping off of the roof and landing on top of Yuffie, pinning her to the ground.
We all gathered around the cursing ninja. "Get this thing off of me! Cait! Do you hear me Cait? This thing coulda broken my back! Do you realize what my father will do when he finds out you did this to me!?"
"Nothing at all." Vincent said. "Lord Godo said to do what we had to."
A funny look crossed Yuffie's face. "He wouldn't... Actually, I guess he would. So, I suppose you'd like your stuff back?"
"That's all we ever wanted." Aerith said. "Give the materia back and we'll call it even."
"Well, alright. C'mon, I'll take you to where it's hidden..."
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Twenty minutes later we were in the basement of Yuffie's home. "You live by yourself?" Tifa asked. "At sixteen? I figured you'd still be in Godo's place."
"Go-dope?" Yuffie countered. "I got outta there when I was twelve, when I figured out what a lame-O he had become since the war."
"Look, Yuffie... Why did you do this?" Cloud asked.
Aerith added "Yeah, we thought you were our friend."
Head nodded, Yuffie said "It's like this... I've always hated Shinra and Midgar. The war, you know? They stole Wutai's honor... That's why I decided we needed more materia, to become stronger. And then Godo tried to stop me... That's when I went out into the world, robbing people. It was all for Wutai."
"Yuff, we get that. But why the sudden change now, when you seemed genuine for so long?" I asked.
"I WAS genuine!" she insisted. Yuffie was quiet for a time, then said "It was the rocket. Seeing the rocket, realizing what Shinra was really planning to use it for... Long range missiles that would've wiped Wutai off the map forever... It made me angry again. At everyone from Midgar..."
"Damn... That does make sense..." Barrett said.
"Like I said, we'll let it go." Cloud said. "Just tell where our materia is."
Yuffie pointed to the far wall. "Pull the red switch." She said.
Cloud walked over and examined the switches. "Red and blue." He said. He pulled the blue. Yuffie reacted in a heartbeat, diving for the door as the cage fell, only just barely making it out.
"Told you it was the red!" she said. "Oh, by the way, everything I said here was true, except for the part about actually giving the materia back. See you later!" She saluted and ran up the stairs.
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Soon we were free and on Yuffie's trail yet again. "Don't feel bad Cloud." Aerith said. "About pulling the opposite switch, I mean. I think we all know that both switches must've been traps."
"Indeed." Red agreed. He looked towards a nondescript building. "She went in there."
We entered and found no one in sight, heard nothing either, at least at first. Then, from somewhere further inside, came a muffled scream, then another. A laugh followed. "Cloud, does that laugh sound familiar?" Tifa asked.
"Not really." He replied. "Though the screams sounded suspiciously like Yuffie. Let's check it out."
We carefully worked our way through the building, checking rooms one at a time. Finally we found a closed door. Light seeped through the doorjamb, and a man's voice could be heard as well. "Wowie-wow! Which one? Which one should I choose? Oh, it's like my birthday, such wonderful new toys!"
"New toys?" Cloud whispered.
"I'm telling you, I've heard that voice somewhere." Tifa whispered back. "I just can't place it right now."
"Me too." Aerith said. "I've met whoever this guy is somewhere before..."
"Let us go you pervert!" came Yuffie's voice.
Another female voice spoke up. "Get this through your thick skull! I. Am. A. Turk!"
"Turk?" Cloud wondered.
Red said "What Reno was concerned about, no doubt. Probably our acquaintance from Gongaga, Elena I think her name was."
"Let you go?" the man said. "Whyever would I do that? And as for you my dear Turk, I'm certain I'm owed a favor somewhere that would secure you for me."
"What the hell is goin' on in there?" Barrett asked.
"Let's find out." Cloud said. He stood and smashed open the door, stepping through the splintered ruins. Tifa followed, than the rest of us. The mystery man turned at the sound of the door crashing in, and Cloud and Tifa's eyes opened wide.
"Don Coreno!?" They both exclaimed...