Reeve was the first one to set out on his mission. First, he went to Kalm for stocking purposes. He spent a night at the Inn planning out his route. There were a lot of places where ShinRa could have established their secret labs. He decided to start at Nibelheim, which he already knew had a lab in the manor's basement. Also, Cid had reported the first clone sightings in that area, making it the logical place to start.
He got on his chopper and started the engines. It wasn't long before he reached the sea and close up on the western continent. As he neared Nibelheim, he saw the clones wandering about, though none of them actually entered the town. Seemed like the public security was doing their job correctly. Anyway, it would be best to keep a low profile, so he landed his chopper a few kilometers away and sent Cait Sith to do the exploration.
Cait Sith infiltrated the town easily but, upon entering he noticed it was way more quiet than normal. Probably because of the monsters, he thought. In any case, he walked up to the mansion up ahead. He squeezed himself between the old gate's bars and through a crack on the door.
"Sheesh, this place is a mess. Someone should come clean it up." He observed.
The stairs were split in half so he climbed the right wall with his sharp claws and jumped onto the balcony. The wooden floor was weak with gaps all over. Good thing his body was light as a feather or the floor would succumb as soon as he set foot in it. Now that he was on the manor's second floor, he whipped his head left and right. What way was the basement, he wondered. Two minutes later, he headed right and went in the study room. There, he quickly identified the basement's passageway.
"More broken stairs..." He clung to the wall as he saw the descending spiral stairs before him. He shrugged and hopped down.
When he found the lab he let out a small sigh. It was empty. As he was about to turn around, he caught sight of a piece of paper on the counter.
"Good effort, but I'm always one step ahead of you.~" Was written. They'd been had. She was a lot more clever than he had anticipated. No traces of her experiments were left. To where could she have gone now?
Meanwhile, Yuffie's team was headed to Wutai. Since it was her hometown, it would be easy-peasy getting hold of Leviathan.
Wutai had gone through a lot of troubles after the war with ShinRa. Fortunately, their economy has been doing great for the past couple of years. A lot of tourists would come just so they could enjoy the mouth-watering food of Turtle's Paradise.
Children were playing near a bridge drawn over a small water stream. When they saw Yuffie, they ran towards her, happily.
"Yuffie sis, you're back!"
"Yup, I'm home!"
The kids grabbed her clothes pushing her, gently, to play with them. Nanaki and Vincent projected a smile upon gazing such a heart-warming scene.
Even though Yuffie was mischievous, she used to steal materia and other treasures just so she could establish Wutai's glory again. The townspeople admired her for her efforts and perseverance.
"Sorry, kiddos. I must talk to my father first. We'll play later, okay?" She blinked her eye.
"Let's go guys!" She demanded as she passed her partners. They followed her quietly.
After strolling around town greeting the people on the streets, they reached the Five-Floor Pagoda. Her father rested on the higher floor.
When they stepped in, they heard a loud sound which Nanaki described as animals running ferociously. A split second later, they were surrounded by the tower's masters.
"Yuffie! You're really back!" One of them shouted.
"Yes, yes! But, can you- let go of me? I can't breath...!"
"Oh, sorry. Ahahah!"
"What brings you here at this time of the year?" The man looked at the other two figures next her and added "Are you here to introduce your boyfriend to us? And is that your pet? What a gracious beast you tamed!"
"Whaaaaaa-?! Noooo!" Her face bright red from her embarrassment. Vincent had no reaction whatsoever and Nanaki kept his silence, although he was obviously annoyed at the pet statement.
"I'm here to see father. I'm going up."
She explained the situation to her father as soon as she got to the top, but came down promptly. The Summon was now stored on Da Chao Mountain, inside the Fire Cave.
Vincent and Nanaki waited outside the Pagoda while the ninja girl went home to fetch the Leviathan Scales. Those were needed to neutralize the sacred fires inside the cavern.
Moments later, there they were climbing the enormous mountain. The view from up there was exquisite. Quite a few professional climbers would go there to challenge their skills and appreciate the scenery.
At that time of the day, there were no monsters around, so they had no problems getting to the Fire Cave. Inside it, though...
"Ah! You're that Summon thief!" Yuffie yelled.
"Oh, it's just you." The disappointment in Sveta's voice was evident.
"J-Just? For your information, I'm Yuffie Kisaragi. The greatest Wutai Warrior! Are you scared now?"
"Can't even move." She ironically muttered while rolling her eyes.
"Good! Now hand Leviathan and the other Summons you took!"
"Urgh, I don't have time for silly games. We shall meet again."
Before she could vanish like usual, Vincent shot at her feet with his shotgun.
"Next time, I won't purposely miss." He said.
"Tch, you plan to fight me? Fine. Let's do things your way for once." Sveta snapped her fingers and two shadows circled her before materializing into the monster clones. "Three versus one isn't fair, though, so I hope you don't mind me calling a couple of reinforcements."
Sveta raised her right hand. They felt a chill down their spines. She had cast a powerful Blizzaga! Nanaki and Vincent swiftly dodged the big ice blocks coming down but Yuffie didn't realize what magic she was casting. While Nanaki jumped backwards, he directed a Fira against the block to protect the girl.
Vincent leapt in the air and adjusted his aim to shoot down the woman but one of the clones jumped at him with its jaw ready to bite. He jabbed his gun on his foe's mouth and pressed the trigger. The bullet went through smashing its skull.
"Don't let those clones bite or scratch you or you'll get geostigma!" He remembered his colleagues.
The other clone headed for Yuffie ruthlessly. She supported her body with her hands on the monsters torso and jumped forward. As she did so, she casted bio poisoning the monster.
Nanaki climbed some rocks lying around venturing for a sneak attack on the doctor. She figured out his intention and quickly protected herself with a Barrier.
"Huh, a little help here!" Yuffie screeched. The monster she was fighting had cornered her.
Nanaki ran towards them and tackled the clone with great strength. It felt threatened so it turned on him leaving the ninja alone.
As for Vincent, he was loading his other weapon, a sniper. As soon as the Barrier dissipated, he would attack.
"This is becoming quite dull." Sveta said. "Let's finish things up, now, shall we?" Her hand rose up again allowing her to cast one last magic.
Obs: Yup. This time I'm gonna leave you with a cliffhanger~ Hope you're enjoying so far. :)
