Chapter 2: War

"Godo? Dad, I'm home," Yuffie called. Godo was always in her house these days. Sometimes, it seemed that he had no other life outside being there. He wanted an excuse to check up on her she supposed. Sliding the door to her house shut, she took a casual look around her room. It hadn't changed much since Avalanche were last there. It hadn't changed at all really, except for a bit of wear and tear. The place really needed to be cleaned up a bit; the walls needed painting, the curtains were sun-bleached and even the carpet was worn in places. Maybe she'd get round to it when times weren't so stressful. With the Planet as it was at the moment, she wished she was back with Avalanche. She remembered the last time they were all here, four years ago. Looking back on it now, that had been the funniest time of her life. Running around from place to place, hiding in pots, behind screens, up in rafters, just so she could steal all their materia. She laughed. Good times. They had all unfortunately, gone their separate ways. Barret was in Kalm with Tifa, and they were taking care of Marlene. Cid was in Rocket Town, Red XIII was in Cosmo Canyon studying. Why anybody would study on their own, willingly was something beyond her. Reeve had gone back to Gold Saucer with Cait Sith, their fortunes were very popular amongst young couples and children. She'd heard that the place had closed down recently though, so she didn't know where they were now. Lastly, Cloud and Vincent had disappeared off the face of the Gaia. She'd heard of sightings of Vincent from a few contacts she had in Junon about a year ago, but other than that, nothing.

She walked over to her bed and threw her Conformer on the neatly made covers. The cleaning lady had obviously been here. She was a true blessing, being able to keep her room clean. She paled to think what her room would look like without her help. A rubbish tip probably. No, more like a landfill. She continued down the stairs and into the room where "the cage" was. The cage that she tricked Cloud into trapping Vincent and Aeris in when she took their materia. She always smiled when walking in there at the memory.

Yuffie made her way over to the switch that activated the cage. The left switch still operated the cage but the right lever was disabled now. She pulled the right one and a keyboard slid out from underneath. A small screen showed up above the levers. "Password" was written on it in green lettering. Yuffie typed it in without hesitation.

AVALANCHE

The password made a beep in affirmation and suddenly the floor went out from under her. Yuffie wasn't surprised by this anymore but the feeling of having nothing stable to lean on was still odd. She pulled her legs under her as she knew it could be a rough landing. After falling for another six seconds she landed on the floor with a thump.

"You know Yuffie, you should really get a set of stairs built in."

She looked up to see her father looking down at her, his hand outstretched. Yuffie ignored it and got up herself.

"I think it's fun," she insisted. "It's like my own miniature theme park!" Godo rolled his eyes a her.

"You're twenty years old Yuffie. When are you going to grow up?"

Yuffie looked at him in surprise. He hardly ever criticised her fun-loving personality She opened her mouth to say something very rude but he continued, cutting her off.

"Anyway, I think I'll bring down a cushion next time. How was training?"

"Shorter than I wanted it to be, but…"

Godo nodded. "I know," he said. "Before, you'd be gone all day. Four hours just isn't enough for you."

"I haven't seen you in a few days," she said, walking into the room, filled with maps and reports and nonsense that Yuffie was supposed to read but never bothered to. A computer screen bleeped and buzzed on her left, gathering and feeding information here from other networks. It was hard to believe that all this was under her house. It would have made more sense to put it under the Pagoda or somewhere but Godo insisted on putting it here, for reasons that nobody would expect it here. She didn't agree, it would make perfect sense to put it here, as they had one of the "Eight Warriors" as it's bodyguard. (The "Eight Warriors," was a description the press had taken a shine to after the destruction of Meteor. It was now used in everyday language.) In the centre of the room was a giant world map painted out on the floor. Some cities were shaded in red, others were painted green. Wutai was shaded in blue. Some of the maps hanging on the walls had red, green and blue pins in the same points as the map on the floor. For one brief moment Yuffie thought of the game "Battleships" she'd played as a child.

"I've been busy," he replied, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Being the Lord of Wutai has it's downsides you know."

"What's our situation?" Yuffie asked, trying to divert his attention from giving her a lecture on how important is it to be an example to Wutai, and how it would soon be her turn.

"We haven't seen each other in a while, you tell me what you know, and I'll fill you in with anything you've missed."

"Couldn't you just tell me?" she whined. Godo gave her a pained look. She opened her mouth to give a swift remark but decided against it when she looked at the state he was in. Nothing too obvious; his clothes were clean and he was very well kept. What she saw was his slumping posture, the dark circles under his eyes and the worry lines that creased his brow, making him look much older. She decided to concede for once.

"Alright," she said, walking over to the map on her right. Godo gave her a grateful smile.

"Well," she said, pointing to the city on the map. "This is Junon. They started a war about six months ago by invading and taking over Kalm. They then swarmed the Mythril Mines and took Fort Condor as well. Um…" she started wringing her hands, desperately trying to think of something to say. Yuffie hated speeches, especially trying to speak without some sort of object in her hand like a sheet of paper or a card so that if she couldn't think of anything, her little notes would help her. It was weird talking in front of even her father like this. They had never been that close anyway, and things only got worse and worse when her mother died. They had just, drifted apart she supposed. And the rift was becoming too wide to seal now. Besides, what could she-

"Tell me about it's defences," Godo prompted, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Okay, I suppose it's well placed," she started, unsure of what to say. Godo was nodding, willing her to continue.

"It's the only real docking area on the continent so they would be able to control any major trade going in and out of there." She felt her confidence growing with each sentence she spoke. "They also have the only airstrip which basically puts them at a major advantage to us, because they can control anything going in or out of the continent."

"Good," said Godo. "You forgot to mention the Chocobo Farm though, which they took last night." Yuffie froze.

"Really? But, the farm is our main supply of grains!"

"Now you're starting to think like a strategist Yuffie," Godo said with a half-smile and laid his hand on her shoulder. "Yes, it is. And now that they're in control of our number one mode of transport it's going to make things really difficult for us. I have people sowing seeds as we speak, but for now, we're going to have to rely on our stores to feed the chocobos."

"Attack isn't our option Dad, you know that. It's just a last resort."

"I realise that," he replied, walking away from the map towards the centre of the room. He rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "Even if we wanted to attack Junon we couldn't. Our army is still far too small. Every option has to be looked at though, you know that as well as I do."

Yuffie didn't reply, she just kept looking at the map. It wasn't just the western continent that Junon controlled. Their rule spread as far as Corel. Costa Del Sol didn't put up resistance at all. They knew that their trade system would be greatly affected with Junon's absence early on, and did what was best for their town. Corel's situation was pretty similar; their trade in coal had flourished under Junon's rule.

"What are we going to do?" she asked quietly.

Godo looked at her sadly. His daughter was still too young to face this kind of thing. The responsibility she had been given was enormous, and it worried him on how she would deal with it.

"I'm thinking of bringing in conscription. I can't see any other choice. Most men have done a year's army service already. It'll just be a few others that we have to train."

"Who are you putting in charge of this?" she asked. "Shake?"

Godo looked uncomfortable.

"Uh, no actually. I was thinking you could do it."

"Hell no!" she exclaimed, clenching her fist and taking a threatening step forward. Godo raised his hands in a defensive manner and kept the space between them, stepping backwards. Anger flashed in her eyes. "I'm stronger than that, and you know it. I beat you for Leviathan's sake! I don't need to be kept on the sidelines like someone who can't defend herself!"

"Now honey…" Godo tried to reason.

"Don't, call me 'honey,'" she snapped. "I am not in the mood for training arrogant little-"

"Yuffie, don't say something you'll regret."

"Urgh!" she screamed. "I'm going to burn something down!" She grabbed a mastered fire materia from her pocket and slotted it into her crystal bangle. She concentrated, and soon a yellow glow started to surround her. Godo, panicking at the thought of the cost of replacing all this equipment tackled her to the ground, breaking the spell. Yuffie reacted by punching her father in the gut, making him fall backwards.

"That was uncalled for Yuffie," he grunted, clutching his stomach. She didn't reply, instead she brushed herself off and headed for the exit.

"I'm going out," she said, before storming off.

"You get back here young lady!" Godo yelled after her. "Yuffie!"

That was the problem of having one of the most powerful girls on the Planet as your daughter. You had no control whatsoever.

"Turtles Paradise," said Reno triumphantly, holding up a glass of beer. "I've been waiting four years to get back to this place." Rude took his own glass and drank some of his beverage.

"We've got to go find some work tomorrow Reno, remember that," he said.

"Oh quit it and have some fun, my bald headed friend. We're here now, it's our first day in this wonderful town so we might as well celebrate."

"You celebrate wherever you go," he pointed out. "Remember the last time you were here?"

Reno snorted into his glass.

"Remind me, Rude."

"….. I'd rather not."

"Elena was hilarious that day," Reno chuckled fondly, thinking of his friend. "Do you know where she is now?"

Rude folded his arms. "Last I heard, she was living with some relations in Junon."

"Family," he murmured. "A luxury we never got to experience." Rude said nothing, just stared into his beer, hoping that it would do something to break the uncomfortable silence that was growing. However, he knew it could only do that when he got drunk, so he didn't relish the thought of it happening.

"Anyway," Reno said, stretching his body like a cat. "Let's not break the mood. Everything is going well for us again. Life is good."

"You look tired, Reno."

"…don't worry about it okay?" he said with a laugh. "I'm just not used to being awake at seven in the morning." He yawned.

"At least I'll get a sleep-in tomorrow."

Rude's eyebrow raised above his sunglasses.

"Uh, Reno?"

"Yeah?" he replied, taking a drink.

"The people of Wutai get up at seven every morning."

Reno started choking on his beer. He started coughing and spluttering, spraying the alcoholic liquid like a fountain across the table. Rude waited a few seconds, before reaching over and slapping him on the back. He coughed a few times more, before finally clearing his throat.

"You okay?" Rude asked.

"No!" he almost yelled. "We have to be up at seven? Every morning? SEVEN?" A few people looked over to where they were sitting, throwing dirty looks.

"Keep your voice down," Rude said flatly. "You're disturbing the customers."

"SEVEN?" he whisper-screamed.

"You do know that fifty percent of the population get up at five to start training here, don't you?"

Reno was truly speechless. His eyes were wide, and he felt as if he could faint at any moment.

"But, I… how, sleep… dark… why?" he mumbled incoherently.

"I think that you should-"

"YOU!" a shrill voice yelled across the bar, interrupting the engrossing conversation between the two Turks. It bounced off the walls, echoing through their eardrums over and over. Reno flopped his head down on the table.

"Oh damn," he moaned. He knew that voice, but he didn't want to turn around to meet it. What he really wanted to do was leave his forehead rest on the cool, smooth, wooden table and sleep for eternity so he'd miss this encounter. Rude didn't speak, he just nodded. He didn't know if it was to himself or Reno though. Probably to himself because Reno was currently face down on the table, but it didn't really matter. He didn't care about this encounter. He knew it was going to happen eventually so sometimes it was better to get over these things. He propped his head on his hand and waited for his red-headed friend to get over his childish behaviour, which didn't take long.

Reno put both palms on the table and pushed himself up dramatically. Putting a smile on his face he turned around to face his former enemy.

"Yuffie!" he said with forced enthusiasm. "Who'd have thought we'd be in the same place at the same time! How are you?"

"Don't play me for a fool, Turk," the ninja growled. "What are Junon scum like you doing in Wutai?" Reno raised his hands in defence.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa babe, you have the completely wrong idea here!" Yuffie placed her hands on her narrow hips, not convinced.

"Don't ever call me that again," she threatened, closing her fist.

"Reno, just be quiet," Rude muttered to himself.

"Hey, sor-ry, honey. I can't help myself." Reno's smirk was wiped from his face as Yuffie's fist collided with his gut. He hunched over himself, completely winded. He didn't even have time to tense. Her skills had definitely improved.

"Yuffie," Rude spoke up. The twenty year old jumped at the mention of her name.

"Rude!" she replied. "I didn't see you."

"…I apologise. I didn't mean to scare you."

"You did not scare me," she insisted. "I was just, surprised, that's all." She shook her head furiously. She was getting off track.

"Tell me what you're doing here," she demanded.

"We heard that Godo was looking for bodyguards," he explained. "We wanted to go for an interview."

"A Junonian would not 'look for an interview,'" she hissed. "Not here."

"That's the truth," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. He looked over at Reno, still clutching his stomach in pain. The ninja could pack a punch.

"I wonder if that's what you'll say after a little 'questioning' Turk, cause I don't trust ya." Yuffie turned to the bar tender.

"Call the Wutain Guard," she ordered. "And we must have a talk later about letting sworn enemies of Wutai into a bar, never mind consume alcohol." She turned to the Turks.

"You're under arrest, under the suspicion of spying."

Reno groaned, but in exasperation or pain, no one was sure.

Authors Note: Finally! Got all background done and the main characters have met so now I can finally get the ball rollin'! Thanks for reading!

LC

LetMeLive: I hope I can meet your expectations with it! Thanks bunches for reviewing!