Author's Note: Hello Fanfiction.Net and its members! I'm a new member, as you might've guessed, and this is my very first work! This work will probably be a one-shot (One chapter) deal, so I can correct any mistakes, be it grammatical or personality-wise. Reviews would definitely be appreciated. I hope you enjoy my first work.

This story takes place before Yuffie meets up with the team.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Yuffie, or any of the other Final Fantasy VII characters. Squaresoft does. And credit for the characters goes to them.

Pounce! Materia Girl Strikes Again!

It was a beautiful day. Sunlight was shining down upon the world, sparkling off of the morning dew, and warming the world. The birds sang in the trees, the small woodland creatures frolicked, and all was well in the world.

"Ow! Gawd, I hate this!"

Well, almost everything. It seemed that a young ninja had fallen from her perch in a tree and had landed amongst a group of frogs. She launched her shuriken at the nearest frog and cheered when it hit. The second frog in the group of three jumped at her, but she dodged and it flew harmlessly past. She flung her shuriken at that one before it hit the ground. Another perfect hit. She turned to face the last frog just in time to see it cast Frog Song on her.

Her body shrank and her skin grew slimy and green. Her bones twisted and compacted as she became smaller and smaller. Where the ninja girl once stood, there was now a little green frog in her place. The frog swatted her and she woke up. She rushed forward and swatted the frog across from her. It swatted her back and she swatted it again. This went on for quite some time, then the enemy frog finally went down. The ninja frog jumped up and down.

After the battle, she used a Maiden's Kiss to cure her of her frog state and grumbled to herself. "I can't stand it! Why do I have to do all the work? Why can't someone else collect materia for the good of Wutai?" She raged, "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, daughter of Godo and princess of Wutai! I shouldn't be out here running errands and doing things for my old man!" She kicked a rock as hard as she could, causing it to ricochet off several trees and hit an oncoming frog.

Frustrated, she got up and stalked off. Yuffie didn't get too far when her stomach growled. She looked at her stomach and frowned. Usually, she would've been able to get a meal quickly and easily, but she didn't feel like killing, skinning, then cooking a frog or monster. She wanted something fast and easy, but delicious as well. So, with her growling stomach controlling her actions, she reached into her travel bag and pulled out a cup of instant noodles.

Immediately, she went about building a fire. After she'd gotten a nice fire going, she poured some water into the cup and set it over a little grate she'd rigged up. In a matter of minutes, Yuffie was enjoying her instant lunch via a pair of chopsticks. Once her lunch was completely gone, she put out the fire and had cleared away the evidence of her cooking. There, she thought, now no one will ever know I was here.

However, the rising trail of smoke from her fire had not gone unnoticed. It caught the attention of a lone traveler dressed in black. At his hip was a long, slender sword. He walked into the forest, heading to the source of the smoke. It was apparent that someone had been there, he'd noticed the charred wood near the base of a tree, but that someone was no longer in the area he was in. Could it be Cloud chasing after him? No, Cloud was in the mines still. Cloud would've been more careful with his used firewood as well. With a shrug, he turned and left the forest. His long silver hair flowed in the wind as he headed for Junon.

For some odd reason, Yuffie felt a cold chill run down her spine. She shivered, hugged herself, then realized that it was warm out. Huh. She thought, That was totally freaky.

Suddenly, she heard voices within the forest. "All right!" She chirped, dashing towards the sound, "Finally, I found a bunch of suckers."

Author's Note: Yeah, I know it was short, but it was just an experiment to see how I can do. If you would, please review this. It would help me greatly in writing new, better, longer stories. This is just my take on what could've happened before Yuffie joined the group. I hoped you enjoyed my first work!