Yuffie quickly raced along the streets of Wutai, running excitedly along the town, while Cloud and the others quickly followed, but they had to really hurry as quickly as possible to keep up with Yuffie, and only Red XIII, Cloud, Tifa and Vincent had no trouble doing this, while Barret, Cid, Cait Sith and Aeris were quickly falling behind.
"Damn that kid! Is getting us killed by exhaustion her way of repaying us for her betrayal?!" snarled Cid, angrily, panting for breath as he run as fast as he could to keep up from Yuffie, who still zoomed along the streets of Wutai.
"Oh, quit whining. I'm sure she's got something she wants to show us, and I'm sure it'll come in use," said Aeris, calmly, though she too was gasping for breath.
"Yeah, she'd better hope so, because if this is another trick of hers, then I'm not going to be too pleased," said Cloud, irritably, and he couldn't help but still be suspicious.
Suddenly, Yuffie came to a halt, and seeing this, so did everyone else, with half the group gasping for breath, and the other half waiting expectantly. Yuffie turned to face them, and beamed brightly, ignoring their clear irritation.
"Well, this is it. The legendary Temple of Pagoda itself, just ahead," said Yuffie, as she pointed along the path ahead of them.
The others followed her gaze to see a large temple that was five floors high, but nevertheless towered over them and all the other buildings in Wutai.
Its style matched the rest of the atmosphere in Wutai, but it was still clearly a sacred place among the town, which not even the war against Shinra had disposed of, though it had clearly been around for generations in the realm of Wutai.
Cloud and the others finally broke their gaze upon the Pagoda Temple, and looked back at Yuffie, who was still waiting for a response, somewhat impatiently.
"You still ain't told us what you're going to get for us in repayment for your damn antics. And just what the heck's that temple got to do with it?" asked Barret, sharply.
"There's something INSIDE the Temple that I'm going to get for you guys. Quite a fair amount of things in fact, and they'll really come in useful, I guarantee it. Now, come on, let's go," said Yuffie, impatiently.
This time, they all walked towards the Temple of the Pagoda, as it was just ahead, with Yuffie leading them towards it, as she opened the front doors of the temple and stepped into it, with Cloud and the others all following her.
Inside, on the first floor, was only a simple room, and although it was fairly big, there was still nothing inside there at all, apart from the walls and carpets, nothing except an old man standing in the middle of the room, wearing green and silver garments, and had grey hair and a beard of the same colour. He glanced at them all, and his eyebrows rose as he spotted Yuffie, who walked up to him.
"Hey, Gorky, I'm here for the Materia. And if you won't give it up, I'll have to challenge you for it, you know," said Yuffie, calmly.
"Ah, Miss Yuffie, I see that your manners are still as poor as ever. You are here for the Materia, you say? Then you have come to climb the Pagoda, our ancient, sacred challenge that very few have accomplished?" asked Gorky, curiously.
The others listened with interest, but still didn't understand what this had to do with anything. Yuffie, on the other hand, nodded and smirked confidently.
"Yeah, that's it, old man. I know I failed all those other times, but this time, I'm ready! All those Summon Materia will be mine! Uh…I mean theirs," said Yuffie, sheepishly, as the others watched her suspiciously, but were all surprised when she mentioned the Summon Materia.
"Summon Materia!? You mean you guys have got Summon Materia!?" asked Cloud, astonished.
Noticing them all clearly for the first time, Gorky looked at them all and nodded.
"Indeed, although Summon Materia are extremely rare, we have long ago found and kept five of them, one for each of the five Pagoda guardians. I am one of the guardians, and the warrior who faces the guardians and defeats them shall gain the Summon Materia for his or her own possession as token of the warrior's victory," explained Gorky.
"Whoa, Yuffie wasn't kidding. If we had that kind of power on our side, it would really come in handy against the likes of Sephiroth and Shinra," said Cloud, thoughtfully.
"See? Did any of you ever doubt me?" asked Yuffie, grinning, as some of the others looked sheepish, while others just snorted.
"Yeah, yeah, but first you've got to earn the Materia, ain't that right, ya little punk?" asked Cid, sharply, and Yuffie nodded in response, still smirking confidently.
"Don't worry, I can handle this by myself. Those Materia will be ours, no problem!" said Yuffie, confidently.
"You mean like the way you handled yourself against Corneo and his cronies?" asked Vincent, sceptically, raising an eyebrow. Yuffie glared at him, but otherwise took no notice.
"Okay, just leave this to me. Don't interfere at any time, or we'll lose by default," said Yuffie. Cloud nodded.
"Okay then, we'll just stand back and watch, but you're on your own this time, Yuffie," said Cloud. Yuffie shrugged, while Gorky spoke up.
"Very well then, Miss Yuffie. I, the sacred guardian Gorky, shall be your first opponent in the climb of the Pagoda Temple. I may be the first and weakest of the guardians, but it is still not wise to underestimate me. As you well know, the guardians summon up a monster of their choice to fight the warrior who takes the challenge, and the warrior must defeat it in order to move onto the next stage. I shall be your opponent, and shall watch as you either win or fall by the monster I shall summon against you, Miss Yuffie," explained Gorky.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it already, now let's get started, old man!" said Yuffie, impatiently, as she got ready to battle.
Gorky nodded, and prepared to summon a monster to fight Yuffie, while the others waited and watched.
"Then let us begin the first stage of the Pagoda, Miss Yuffie! Power change!" shouted Gorky, and there was suddenly a flash of light as a monster suddenly appeared before Yuffie.
A strange bat-like creature with a humanoid shape of body and long wings joined up to its back was standing before her, glaring menacingly at her with its beady yet vicious red eyes. Its skin was a mixture of purple and blue, with red at the legs.
Cloud looked on with some surprise at how this creature had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and glanced curiously at Gorky, who was clutching a yellow Materia in his hand, and Cloud realised that it was almost certainly a Manipulation Materia, which would explain why the creature would respond obediently to every command that Gorky instructed to it.
Suddenly, Yuffie whipped out her Shuriken in a flash, and charged towards the bat-like creature, and wasting no time, she immediately slashed it straight across its side with the spiky points of her weapon, succeeding in drawing blood from her opponent from its wound.
The bat-like creature shrieked furiously, and immediately swung out one of its legs at Yuffie before she could dodge aside, and it struck her hard in the chest, sending her flying backwards to the floor in a heap, but she quickly leaped back up again to her feet, glaring hard at the bat-like creature, before she charged towards it again, her Shuriken raised high and at the ready.
Before Yuffie could strike out at the bat-like creature with her weapon, though, the monster suddenly screeched loudly, and a strange, slightly transparent white barrier suddenly seemed to form right in front of it as Yuffie struck. Her blow hit the barrier instead, and the barrier shattered at once, but the bat-like creature was completely unharmed.
In an instant after that, the bat-like creature struck again, kicking Yuffie hard, and then it suddenly seemed to glow for a moment, before it a ball of black energy appeared just before it in mid-air, and the bat-like creature sent it flying towards Yuffie, striking her hard, and she slammed into the opposite wall of the room, bruised and battered.
Ignoring the looks of concern that the others were giving her, Yuffie sprang back up from the floor again, and suddenly grasped a Materia equipped to her Shuriken, which glowed brightly at once, as green light burst at the ground at Yuffie's feet. A large circle of flames suddenly appeared all around the bat-like creature, and instantly closed in around it, and vanished, but not before leaving the monster with some nasty burns, as it shrieked in agony and rage.
Wasting no time, Yuffie quickly dashed towards the bat-like creature as fast as she could, and before it could summon up another barrier to its aid again, she quickly raised her Shuriken, and quickly stabbed one of its spikes straight through the monster's chest.
The bat-like creature let out an even more agonised shriek that ever before, which was soon cut short as the monster swayed on the spot, and Yuffie quickly wrenched her Shuriken from the creature, and it fell to the floor with a massive wound in its chest, quite clearly dead.
Gorky stared in shock, clearly struck mute by the unexpected outcome, stunned at how much Yuffie's skills had improved. Before she had set out from Wutai, she could never defeat his challenge before, and now having returned, she had done it, and in a fairly short amount of time.
"Very impressive indeed, Miss Yuffie," said Gorky, slowly, still looking startled. Yuffie smirked triumphantly.
"What else what you expect from my skills, old man?" said Yuffie, arrogantly, as she punched the air in triumph, with a wide smirk still on her face.
"Very well then, Miss Yuffie. As I had previously stated and promised, here is your reward for defeating me. My Summoning Materia is yours now, so just make good use of it," said Gorky, as he handed Yuffie a glowing red Summoning Materia, as she eagerly took it and studied it intensely, before giving it an incredulous look of surprise.
"Choco/Mog!? What the heck kind of Summoning Materia is this anyway!? It's only got a damn Moogle and Chocobo inside of it to summon! This is a joke old man!" said Yuffie, furiously.
"It is the most basic Summon Materia for completing the most basic challenge of the Pagoda, Miss Yuffie. Besides, this Summoning Materia will come in more use to you than it may first appear to, I assure you of that," said Gorky, calmly.
"Fine, we'll take it then, but someone else can have this if they want, I'm not bothered about it," said Yuffie, as she tossed the Choco/Mog Summon Materia to the others.
Cait Sith easily caught it with the robotic Moogle's big fist, and slotted it into his megaphone with his other Materia. Along with Odin, found before in the Nibelheim mansion, there were now two Summoning Materia that they had collected, and there were even more to collect as the Pagoda challenge went on.
"I thought you were just a wild child, Miss Yuffie, but you handled my challenge rather well. We'll just have to see how you do on the next challenge. Your next opponent is waiting for you on the next floor above," said Gorky, pointing upwards.
"Then he's gonna get an ass-kicking too!" said Yuffie, with a shake of her fists, smirking, as she ran past Godo, who stood there bemused, while Cloud and the others quickly followed Yuffie up the stairs to the next floor.
"Damn kid's getting cocky, alright. With that kind of attitude, she'll be defeated in no time, the little bitch," said Cid, with an annoyed growl.
"Aren't you being just a little too harsh on her? I'm sure she knows what she's doing, so why don't we trust her and let her handle this her way for once," said Aeris, as they raced up the stairs after Yuffie.
"The kid's done nothing to earn that trust so far though, that's for sure," said Cait Sith, sceptically.
"Then consider this a test to see if she can be trusted. We all have to believe in her just this once, though. To give her the chance to prove that we can trust her," said Red XIII.
They all nodded to each other in agreement, as they all reached the next floor and ran into the large room that occupied it, which looked just like the one below.
Cloud and the others all stood at the end of the room, while Yuffie stopped in the middle of it, facing towards her next opponent who stood at the other end of the room.
To their startled surprise, however, the opponent and next guardian of the Pagoda was a young boy, shorter than even Yuffie, and looked to be around only ten years old.
He was dressed in the same traditional clothes the citizens of Wutai seemed to wear, and a cocky grin was clearly visible across the boy's face, whose name was Shake.
Yuffie looked on in disbelief, incredulous that her next opponent and challenge would come from her mere child, and she looked around the room for anyone else, though there was no one else there. Noticing this, Shake looked slightly irritated. Yuffie turned to face him, with a cocky smirk.
"Hey kid, know where the REAL guardian's gone off to? I've got to fight him next, you know, so be a good little brat and fetch him," said Yuffie, with a dismissive wave of her hand. Shake now glared at her.
"Are you blind or something!? I'm standing right here!" spat Shake, furiously, flushed with indignant anger. Yuffie raised an eyebrow and laughed for a moment.
"What, so now I've gotta fight some punk like you? I can understand how Gorky became a Pagoda guardian even if he is old, but now they're choosing kids to be guardians of the great Pagoda? Is this really what the once great nation of Wutai has been reduced to these days?" said Yuffie, with a smirk and a pretend sigh.
"So I'm just a bratty punk, eh? Well even if I am, I'm still more of an adult than some dumb old bimbo girl who think's she's good enough to challenge the Pagoda, so I guess with stupid challengers like you, even kids find being guardians a cinch," said Shake, with a triumphant sneer, as he saw Yuffie's smirk had vanished now, replaced by an angry look indeed.
"What did you just DARE to call me, brat!?" hissed Yuffie, menacingly, her fists clenched tightly, as the others looked on uncomfortably, expecting quite a fight to break out between the two at this rate. But Shake merely laughed and sneered.
"See what I mean? That kind of anger you're showing now just proves how immature you really are. Like it or not, I'm your next opponent, and you can pat yourself on the back if, and only IF, you actually manage to defeat me," said Shake, calmly.
"Okay then, I will! Don't go crying if you lose, boy! Now stop yapping and fight. I'll win, just you watch and see!" said Yuffie, determinedly, as she got into a fighting stance, preparing for battle, as Shake slowly took out a yellow Materia and held it.
"About the only thing you're good at is breathing, but if you still think you're brave enough to fight past me, then here I go, brat! Though I am impressed that someone finally got past Gorky, but don't think you can beat me! Speed Change!" shouted Shake, and there was suddenly a flash of light as another monster suddenly appeared before Yuffie.
The monster looked like what appeared to be a monstrous penguin with razor sharp teeth and claws, with several spikes going from its head and across its back. Shrieking, the penguin-like creature quickly charged towards Yuffie, and Cloud could see that his monster was also being controlled by a Manipulation Materia, as it glowed bright yellow in Shake's hand.
The penguin-like monster quickly charged towards Yuffie, who dodged aside, and she slashed it swiftly across its back with her Shuriken.
The creature shrieked with rage, and counter-attacked by slashing its sharp claws at Yuffie, scoring a blow across her side, causing her to yell out in pain, before backing leaping backwards from it, and clutching a Materia on her Shuriken.
The Materia glowed brightly at once, and green light burst from the ground at Yuffie's feet as several bolts of lighting suddenly appeared out of nowhere and struck the penguin-like monster heavily.
The creature stumbled and seemed stunned for a moment, before it letting out an enraged shriek and it suddenly charged rapidly forwards, and before Yuffie could put up a defence in time, it hit her hard with the force of a bomb, sending her flying hard into the opposing wall where the others stood nearby, watching as Yuffie slid down to the floor.
"Maybe you should borrow this," suggested Cait Sith, as he tossed the red Choco/Mog Summon Materia over to Yuffie, who caught it and merely snorted at it.
"This piece of junk? As if it's going to help," said Yuffie, sceptically, half prepared to toss the thing back.
"Oh come on, just try it at least," insisted Cait Sith, impatiently.
Yuffie glared at him, but equipped the Choco/Mog Materia into a slot on her Shuriken nevertheless, and got back up to face the penguin-like monster, which still advanced on her.
Acting quickly, Yuffie quickly grasped the Choco/Mog Summon Materia on her Shuriken, and it quickly glowed brightly at once. A Chocobo suddenly appeared with a Moogle on its back, to the startled surprise of Yuffie and the others.
Suddenly, the Chocobo charged forwards, with the Moogle still on its back, at a very high speed towards the penguin-like monster, and rammed into it hard with explosive force.
The Moogle, which had fallen off the Chocobo's back and now laid on the floor, was clearly very dazed, so the Chocobo, surprisingly unharmed, picked it up with its beak, and it quickly ran away, both of them vanishing suddenly in an instant.
Yuffie and the others quickly snapped out of their startled trance as the Choco/Mog Materia stopped glowing, and they saw that the penguin-like monster lay squashed and trampled in a bloody, broken mess on the floor in the middle of the room, and it was quite clearly dead. Yuffie took her Choco/Mog Materia out of her Shuriken, and stared at it.
"Wow…guess it's useful for something after all," said Yuffie, with a shrug, starting at it, before Cait Sith suddenly reached over and snatched it out of her hand.
"Hey, what's the big idea, ya dumb cat!?" shouted Yuffie, startled and glaring at Cait Sith.
"You gave this to me in the first place, remember? I was just letting you borrow for that battle, so don't expect me to lend it out to you again," said Cait Sith.
Yuffie only snorted in response, and turned to face her opponent. Shake stood still on the other side of the room, looking stunned and aghast.
"Ah, damn it! So you CAN fight a bit after all, huh? It's been a long while since I've felt defeat. Maybe you're not so immature after all," said Shake, as Yuffie smirked confidently, after healing her injuries with a potion.
"Of course, what else would you expect from my skills? As you really are a guardian, then you should have Summon Materia too, right? Then come on, hand them over. I beat you fair and square," said Yuffie. Shake sighed, and nodded reluctantly.
"Alright then, take them. Not as if I have a choice or anything," muttered Shake, as he held out not one, but two red Summoning Materia, one in each hand.
Yuffie took both of them, and stared down at them one at a time, glancing at the one in her right hand first, glancing at the name on it.
"Ifrit, huh? So what's this one do?" asked Yuffie, curiously.
"Oh, Ifrit is a great yellow fire demon with big horns and red eyes, and he fires a massive ball of fire at his enemies to defeat them," explained Shake. Yuffie smirked, satisfied.
"Cool, this'll come in handy. Hey, mutt, catch!" shouted Yuffie, as she tossed the Ifrit Materia to Red XIII.
Red XIII, being four legged, could not catch the Materia in mid-air with his paws, and it struck him on the head. Red XIII yelped in surprise, caught out by it, as the Materia fell from his head to the floor.
Red XIII growled irritably at Yuffie, while Aeris picked up the Ifrit Summon Materia, and helped Red XIII to equip it on the large feather on his head with his other Materia. Yuffie looked down at the other Summon Materia in her other hand.
"Shiva…? So does this one do any cool moves too?" asked Yuffie, curiously.
"Shiva's a beautiful goddess with blue skin, green hair, and in contrast to Ifrit's fire powers, Shiva fires a path of ice at her opponents to freeze them. I also like staring at her breasts…speaking of which…" said Shake, slowly, and he glanced at Tifa, drooling slightly, which she noticed.
What happened next was over before anyone had even realised what had happened. There was a loud smack, and Shake was suddenly lying unconscious on the floor, while Tifa stood before him, her face red, her hand drew back, as the others stared at her in surprise.
"I HATE it when people do that. I had to put up with it from drunken weirdoes all the time when I was running the Seventh Heaven at Sector 7," muttered Tifa, appearing to calm down, as she took the Shiva Summon Materia from Yuffie, and slotted it into her right-hand fighting glove.
"Was that even necessary regardless?" asked Red XIII, raising an eyebrow.
"I guess my temper just got the better of me like all the other times, but he'll be okay, I just knocked him out, that's all," said Tifa, with a shrug.
"Even so, remind me never to get on your bad side," said Cloud, with a small smirk. Tifa grinned at him and winked.
"Believe me, Cloud, you never are. You most certainly never are…" said Tifa, softly, and Cloud grew uncomfortable, and felt strange as Tifa stared at him, and he could only stare back, until an impatient cough from Barret broke the silence and made them both jump in surprise.
Blushing furiously, Tifa turned away, while Cloud still looked uncomfortable, glancing uneasily at Aeris, who seemed to grin in amusement, but Cloud thought that there seemed to be more to her expression then she was letting on, her beautiful emerald green eyes told him so.
"So anyway, are we gonna get going or not?" asked Barret, impatiently, glancing sharply at them all.
"Yeah sure, there's just three more levels to go, I can handle them, no sweat. Then we'll have all the Summon Materia we need to take care of that Sephiroth," said Yuffie, confidently, with an arrogant smirk.
"I hope so. I doubt it will do the job by itself, but it will certainly help out a lot. Now come on, let's go," said Cloud.
Yuffie nodded, and ran up the stairs leading to the third and next floor above them, with the others all quickly following her, each of them wondering what sort of opponent Yuffie would have to face next, and wondering what sort of Summon Materia she would receive.