Chapter 21: Arrival At Junon Harbor

"AHHH! HEEEEELLLLLPPP! HEEEEEELLLLLPPP!"

Everyone was looking at her while trying not to laugh. The young girl stopped screaming and looked up at them, her eyes narrowing.

"Are you going to get me out of here?" she asked. For as you see Naruto's clone used that jutsu to pull her underground so that only her head was poking out from the ground.

"Now why should we do that? You stole our materia. No, I think I should just leave you there," said Naruto.

"No we can't do that. Monsters will just come and feed on her head," said Tifa loud enough for the girl to hear.

The girls eyes widened. It seemed that she didn't want to happen to her. Naruto saw this and thought up an idea.

'Kyuubi. Can you convince her to come with us on our journey. I have a feeling she would be a good addition to our group'

'Yeah I agree, I'll do it. I'm coming out,'

'OK,'

A large cloud enveloped Naruto and when it cleared there was Kyuubi next to him. She walked up to the young girl's head and rested her hand on it. Instantly a white semi-transparent sphere started to grow from where she touched. The sphere grew till it covered them both.

"Hey! Whats goin' on?" asked Barret.

"I want her to come along with us. Kyuubi is just talking with her, trying to convince her to come with us. I assume the sphere is for privacy," he answered.

"But why do you want her to come with us?" asked Aeris.

"Because she's a ninja. She'll have skills you don't have just for being a ninja. Did you see how fast she was in snatching that materia from Barret? That proves that she has some serious speed. She can also fight long range with that four-point shuriken. We only have 2 people that can fight like that. Barret and Gaara. Plus there might be a time where stealth is needed. When it comes to ninjas there is no-one better and three is better than two. And lastly she can steal. We might need that kind of help in the future. Anything else?"

"Yeah. How can we trust her?" asked Barret.

"Leave that to Kyuubi," Naruto said simply.

After several more minutes the sphere contracted to reveal Kyuubi and the girl now above ground. One look at the girl and you could see that she had done a 180. She looked a little humble. She then looked at Naruto and then looked at the ground as if she had been a naughty girl and Naruto was the master. She then looked up to the group and, with a timid smile, said, "I'm sorry for causing trouble,"

"Damn woman, what did you say to her?" exclaimed Barret who had since reclaimed his materia.

"Oh just some things. Now her name is Yuffie Kisaragi and she's 19 years old. She's been briefed on the current situation and has agreed to come with us. While she's with us you," she pointed to Naruto, " are going to teach her how to do ninjutsu. OK?"

"Sure," he agreed. Naruto thought teaching someone would be fun.

"Is everyone alright with this?" asked Kyuubi.

Everyone nodded except for Barret but Kyuubi was counting on this.

"Don't worry Barret. She won't steal from us anymore."

Barret trusted Kyuubi because he trusted Naruto. So he eventually nodded.

Kyuubi then turned back into the sword and with that they left the forest.

The journey to Junon was uneventful besides the occasional monster. As time went by Yuffie regained her normal persona but she still was a little respectful and she seemed very defensive of Naruto. Aside from the occasional bickering from Cloud and Barret (made up of Barret saying something nasty to Cloud and Cloud ignoring it) and a heated conversation on why they weren't using chocobos, they finally arrived at Junon.

Back in the days before the Shinra and the use of Mako energy, Junon had been a busy port town filled with fishermen, traders, merchants and all kinds of travellers journeying to and from the continent. The port joined up with its partner port of Costa del Sol on the shores of the Western Continent, a popular holiday place. Once upon a time ships would be constantly moving in and out of the ports docks. That was until the Shinra moved in.

Junon was now a completely different place, nothing like it used to be. There were very few people living in Junon now that weren't from the Shinra, and the once happy, light and busy streets of Junon were now dark, desolate and lonely. There were only a few people wandering around, and they were elderly people who were unable to afford to move. The young people had all left for a better place to live.

That wasn't the only thing that had changed. The port town of Junon had now become a two-layered city. The actual port of Junon lay at the bottom, and the larger city built up against the mountain was above it, built by the Shinra to house their ever-expanding empire. The larger city, built entirely of metal, overshadowed the small port and practically blocked off most of the sunlight, hence the darkness that swamped it. The only to the upper part of Junon lay in a lift that was built at the far end of the town. However the Shinra guarded that, so getting up there was not going to be an easy task.

Naruto and his friends, and their new friend, Yuffie, all stood in the entrance of the town and looked around. The town was so empty and lonely; most of the shops were boarded up, with many others ready to give up as well. Most of the business now was in the upper city. It reminded them a little of Midgar. The port of Junon had become the slums to the greater upper city of Junon.

"What happened to this town…?" Cloud asked, greatly saddened to see the great port reduced to a lonely slum. "It's so run down…"

Their presence attracted the attention of a nearby woman who was just coming out of her house to go to one of the few remaining shops. Like many of the remaining citizens of this town she was elderly and was forced to walk slowly, not that anyone in Shinra would have cared. The people of Shinra had almost forgotten the people in Lower Junon, and only posted a guard at the lift to keep them separate. As the woman came out she looked at them, and blinked in surprise.

"Well, now this is rare," she said, her voice old and croaking. She wandered slowly over to them. "We almost never have anyone other than the Shinra people visit this town." She eyed them over, looking at them closely through her old, aged eyes, and slowly nodded her head. "I know you guys want to get to the Western Continent, but the only way is on a Shinra ship."

That was enough to put the group down. Not only did Shinra control the town, but they also controlled the ships travelling to and from Junon as well. And since Shinra was on a constant lookout for Naruto and his group, as well as Sephiroth, getting on board a ship was not going to be easy either.

They left the old woman to her muttering and headed deeper into the town, and looked around at what few people remained in the town. All of the tradesmen and businessmen had packed up and left long ago, and there weren't many fishermen left. Thanks to the Mako reactor that had been built close to Junon, the ocean water surrounding the town had become very polluted – there were hardly any fish left. In order for the fisherman to catch their fish they had to go further out into the ocean – something that was very dangerous these days.

Separating from the group a little bit, Tifa walked on and stood by the old stonewall that bordered the once popular shores from the rest of the port. She frowned as she saw the water. It was slightly dirty, but she knew that beneath the water it would be even more polluted. A large electric tower positioned in the water, rising all the way up to the city above, also spoilt the sight. She looked up and was instantly reminded of Midgar – the large plates blocking her view of the sunlight.

"Hey! Mr. Dolphin!" came a young female voice.

Tifa looked down in surprise to see a young girl about seven or eight year's old standing on the shore. She was dressed in a swimsuit and had a pair of armbands clamped tightly around her arms. As Tifa watched the water close to the shore rippled, and to her complete astonishment a small blue head popped out. It was the head of a dolphin. A dolphin, so close to the polluted shores of Junon.

The girl smiled and waved happily at the dolphin, before cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice. "My name is… Pri-scil-la!" she shouted out to the swimming dolphin. "Now you say it!"

The dolphin made its playful sounds in reply, before diving through the air and splashing in the water again. Priscilla turned to see Tifa walked slowly down the steps towards her, her eyes wide in awe at the sight of the beautiful dolphin. Naruto, Cloud and Aeris were walking close behind her, while the others watched silently at the top of the shore.

"Who are you guys?" Priscilla demanded, placing her hands on her hips indignantly. "Are you members of the Shinra, Inc?"

The sudden hostility to her voice made the three stop in surprise. "No…" replied Tifa calmly. "Stay calm…"

"…That's how it is," said Cloud.

Priscilla's eyes flashed fiercely, the anger and hatred showing plainly on her tanned little face. "I don't believe you!" she snapped, stamping her foot against the sandy floor. "Get out of here!"

Cloud held his head. "Great…" he groaned. That was all they needed. It was clear that the Shinra were hated in Junon as much as Midgar. Not that he could blame them. The Shinra weren't exactly popular anywhere.

"What's that!" cried Aeris suddenly.

Everyone turned to the shore where Aeris was pointing, just in time to see the water around the beach begin to ripple towards them. The rippling formed into a small wave that crashed down onto the beach, going up close to the spot where Priscilla was standing. Beneath the surface of the water they could see a large shadow skulking around the electric tower. As they watched, the shadow abruptly rose up out of the water and revealed itself.

It was an enormous sea serpent, with silky scales so smooth the water slid off easily down its long, thin frame. Its face was long and pointed, with a mouth filled with many sharp teeth shaped specifically like a razor, or like a pterodactyl's teeth. It had large fins on the side of its cylindrical body, spraying water into the air as they flapped back and forth.

The dolphin was still swimming around in the water then, swimming very close to where the sea serpent had arisen. As the playful dolphin saw the serpent its entire blue body convulsed in fear, and he quickly dived down beneath the surface, moving its tail rapidly to swim off before it was caught. The serpent saw the flash of movement from the dolphin, and snapped its head round towards it.

"Be careful, Mr. Dolphin!" Priscilla cried.

She ran down the beach towards the water's edge and dived fearlessly into the water. She rose to the surface and began to swim towards the dolphin, determined to save her water bound friend.

The serpent saw her coming and sank down beneath the surface of the water. Priscilla stopped and looked around, wondering where the serpent had gone. Seconds later a huge shadow appeared beneath her, but she had no time to move. The water around her exploded into the air as the serpent burst up from beneath the surface, carrying Priscilla with it. The girl fell through the air, falling away from the serpent and back towards the water.

She landed back in the water with an almighty splash, sinking straight to the bottom as the suction from the serpent caught her up. Her head banged hard on a rock lying at the bottom of the water, and from that moment on she lay limp, floating silently on the ocean floor.

"Hey!" Cloud called out, seeing Priscilla sink. "Hold on, we're coming!"

Quickly he unhooked his sword and threw it down onto the floor, along with the amour he had on his shoulder. Then, without waiting for anyone to protest, he ran forward and dived headfirst into the swirling water, swimming down to save the girl before she drowned. Naruto wasn't far behind as he fed chakra into the sword to release Kyuubi. She jumped out of the cloud and they both sprinted to the water. Naruto in the back of his mind noticed that Kyuubi had a very nice swimsuit on but immediately shook his head. Now was definitely not the time.

"Cloud! No!" cried Tifa. She made to run to the water after him, but the serpent raised its tail and slammed it down into the water in front of her. It raised its head and screeched loudly, making the very water shake with its cry. It then turned to Tifa and began to lunge at her, its mouth wide open to reveal the sharp razor-like teeth that would cut her to shreds.

A bright blaze of white flashed through the air, and the sea serpent quickly withdrew. An icy casing formed over its head, freezing its jaws solid so they couldn't move. Tifa spun round to see Barret tearing down the stairs towards her, and she smiled. The sea serpent struggled violently for a second as the ice around its face began to crack and shatter, until it broke free and lifted its head high, screeching loudly.

It didn't have time to retaliate, for seconds later a blast of fire suddenly rose up and smashed it right in the face. The serpent screeched again in pain as clouds of smoke and steam slowly rose into the air around its face, its scaly face burned by the flames of Tifa's magic.

Down beneath the surface of the water, Naruto, Cloud and Kyuubi swam down towards the ocean bed, surprised at how deep the water had become because of the serpent's arrival. Naruto eventually found Priscilla a few feet below him, her body limp and her eyes closed. Normally she would have floated back up to the surface because of her armbands, but a long length of watery reeds growing from the ocean floor had tied themselves around her ankle, preventing her from going anywhere.

Quickly Naruto swam to her, pulling her around to face him. She was unconscious and losing air fast. He moved down and tugged hard on the reed entangled around her ankle. It was as tight as anything, and was so slippery in the water it was hard to get a decent grip on it. Naruto signaled to Kyuubi and she nodded. She released the henge on her body slightly so her inch long sharp claws showed themselves.

A loud explosion rippled through the water above him, and Naruto spared a glance upwards. A fiery red glow was shining through the surface of the water, and he could faintly hear the agonized, warbled cry of the sea serpent as it cried out again, before a flash of movement signaled to him that it had lunged again. He shook his head and turned back to Priscilla. They had to get her out soon.

The serpent snapped its jaws angrily, lunging towards the beach again with intense ferocity. Tifa and Aeris dived apart from where they stood as the serpent's head slammed into the sand between them. Nanaki took that time to lunge at the creature's head and clutched on. The creature's skin was so thick and much harder than he expected, so he wasn't able to get a strong grip. It was strong enough for him to hold on as the serpent rose upright again, and Nanaki thrust his head down at the serpent's green eyes.

There was a loud cry and a spurt of watery green blood as Red XIII's teeth tore through the soft flesh of one of its eyes. In agony the monster thrashed its head, throwing Red XIII off in the process. He flew through the air and crashed back onto the beach, rolling across the sand until he slammed into the far wall.

"Look out!" Aeris cried again.

Everyone turned as the sea serpent spun around in the water, lifting its tail up out of the water and flicking it out towards them. The group all jumped back out of its way, but Aeris was not able to move fast enough. The long, vine-like tail of the serpent wrapped around her waist and flung her to the floor, before dragging her back and into the water, pulling her under and out of sight.

"Aeris!" yelled Tifa.

While all of this was happening Kyuubi swipped the reed in half and pulled Priscilla free, pulling her close as they began to swim back towards the surface, desperate for air. They felt the loud thud of the serpent's tail landing back in the water, and Cloud widened his eyes wide in horror as he saw Aeris flash past him, entwined in the monster's tail, before she disappeared to the surface again. Quickly he left the others behind as he swam back to the surface.

Cloud broke the surface of the water seconds before Naruto and Kyuubi with Priscilla. Cloud saw Aeris just a few metres above him, the serpent's tail still holding her by her waist above the water. He couldn't reach her. The serpent screeched again, preparing to lunge another attack at his friends on the beach.

"HYAH!"

A swift figure tore down the steps onto the beach and zipped across the sand, kicking it up behind her as she ran. Barret didn't have time to turn as Yuffie ran up behind him, nor react as she leaped up onto his back and jumped off, propelling herself up into the air. She pulled out her Shuriken as she flew up, its four metal points flashing in the light.

She brought the Shuriken down hard as she neared the sea serpent's head, and the monster cried out as one of its four points landed squarely in its forehead. Yuffie used this connection as a hook as she brought her feet down firmly on the creature, before pulling the Shuriken down to cut a long, deep gash in the monster's head. In response the monster thrashed and screeched, more blood beginning to trickle from its face. It snapped upwards, trying to bite the attacking ninja.

Yuffie was already gone, however. She leaped from the serpent's head and back into the air, falling down towards the monster's tail where Aeris was still being held. Another flick from her Shuriken saw to that problem as the end of the monster's tail was cut clean off, releasing Aeris and dropping her towards the ocean, along with the tail piece. Cloud immediately began to swim to her while Naruto and Kyuubi swum to the shore. Aeris threw her arms around him as he neared her, and together they began to swim back to the shore.

Her job complete, Yuffie jumped from the monster's tail and onto its thrashing fin, making one final jump back to the shore. The sea serpent was splashing angrily in the water, one too many wounds making it screech in pain. It eventually gave up its fight and turned away, diving back into the water and swimming away from the port to lick its painful wounds.

Tifa immediately ran to the water's edge in time to help Cloud, Aeris and Priscilla out of the water. Aeris was fine, if a little shaken, but Priscilla was not so good. They dragged her up away from the water and lay her down on the sand. Her dark hair was strewn over her face, but she wasn't making any sign of movement at all.

"This is bad…" Cloud said as they all gathered around the unconscious girl. "You don't think she's dead, do you?"

"Priscilla!"

They looked up to see an old man standing on the top of the stairs. As he saw Priscilla lying there on the sand, motionless, he ran as quickly as his old body could carry him to get to her, pushing Cloud and Aeris aside to be close to her. They watched as he leaned over and put his face close to her mouth, trying to feel her breath against his cheek. He shook his head, his eyes dimming.

"Nope… She's not breathing…" he said sadly.

"Out of the way. I know how to do CPR," said Kyuubi as she knelled next to her. She carefully pushed her hair away from her face, and gently tilted her head back to clear her airway. Pinching her nose closed with one hand, Kyuubi opened her mouth and took a deep breath, before placing her mouth firmly over hers and breathing into her. She could see her lungs rising as she breathed into her, air filling them.

She pulled away from her and looked down. Nothing was happening – Priscilla was still unconscious. She went down, pinched her nose again and breathed deeply into her once more. Yet with each breath he gave her, Priscilla gave no signs of movement, and it didn't look like she was going to.

Then, as Kyuubi breathed into her for the tenth time, she felt something gurgle from within Priscilla's throat, and she quickly pulled away. Aeris's eyes lit up as the young girl shuddered slightly and coughed, coughing up water that had been lying in her lungs. She then gasped for air, her throat coarse and sore.

"Uh… ugh…" she spluttered. The old man was by her side in a flash, politely pushing Aeris away so he could be beside her.

"Hey, hey! Priscilla, are you alright?" he said. Priscilla moaned slightly, and the man sighed heavily in relief. He picked her up gently in his arms and began to carry her off back into the town, to get her inside and warmed up before she caught pneumonia and got even more ill.

"Thanks Kyuubi," said Aeris.

Kyuubi shook her head and smiled. "I'm just glad I was able to revive her,"

"Hey Yuffie, that was a job well done. Good work," Naruto congratulated her with a warm smile. Yuffie smiled shyly as she looked at the ground and said in a small voice, "Thanks,"

"What do you mean 'Thanks'? She used me as a damn spring board!" yelled Barret.

"Sometimes we need each others help and so we support each other," said Naruto.

"True but try to give me some warning kay?" asked Barret to Yuffie who nodded and apologized.

There was no reason for them to stay on the shore any longer, so the group headed back into town. Naruto, Kyuubi, Cloud and Aeris were still dripping after being in the water, and by now they were beginning to feel a little cold. A few people had gathered in the doorways of their houses, smiling at them and congratulating them on the success of their fight.

"Hey," the old woman that talked to them when they walked into town, said to them. "Come in for a while."

She turned and walked off, leaving Naruto and his group looking around aimlessly, wondering what she meant. The old woman stopped by the entrance to her house and opened the door, nodding for them to come in. The group did as they were told and entered the old woman's house. It was amazingly warm and cozy inside, seeming completely different from the rundown looks of the outside. The woman came in last, shutting the door behind her.

"I heard what happened," she said to them, walking over to the table where a pot of tea had just brewed. She poured four mugs and offered them to the wet ones, who took them gladly. The warmth was so nice after the cold of the water, and it warmed them up nicely. "You've done so much for Priscilla. You all must be tired. If you want to get some rest, stay here." She poured a few more mugs for Tifa, Barret, Nanaki and Yuffie, before heading back to the door. There she stopped, and looked back at them with an old, kind smile. "Make yourselves at home," she said, before leaving them.

Once she was gone, Nanaki climbed up onto one of the stairs and sniffed at his mug of tea. It smelled so nice – shame he couldn't drink from a mug. That didn't stop him from trying though, as he flicked his tongue carefully inside the mug.

"So, what now?" asked Barret, who was not at all interested in drinking tea just yet.

Cloud shrugged. "I'm not really sure," he replied, drinking more of the tea.

"We don't even know if Sephiroth is here, or if he's already left," pointed out Red XIII.

"If he has, then we follow him," Cloud said, determined.

"But how?" asked Aeris. "The only way across is on a Shinra ship."

"Let's not think about this right now," said Tifa suddenly. She turned to Naruto. "Take a… AHHH! Naruto! What are you doing!"

Naruto was busy taking off his coat and shirt which were dripping wet from the swim. He turned to Tifa and the others, showing his chest and all the hard muscles that went with it. "What? I'm taking off my coat and shirt so I can dry them," he explained, not yet realizing the effect he was having on the four girls. Tifa had turned around, her face red. Aeris was giggling like a school girl who just saw the hot, popular guy with his shirt off. And both Yuffie and Kyuubi were openly staring at Naruto's very defined chest. The difference was that with Yuffie, her eyes were big and round, with a small blush on her face; Kyuubi had a massive blush on her face, so much that you couldn't see the small drop of blood slowly making its way out of her nose. She was also drooling a bit.

Tifa finally had enough and bustled all the girls out of the room. Cloud, Barret, Nanaki and Gaara all looked very amused.

"What?" asked Naruto.