Chapter 3 – An enemy to the rescue?
It was no time to worry about trivialities, Yuffie concluded as she stepped down the Highwind's rope ladder. Cloud's unrivalled motivation was enough to completely rid her of all that psychological garbage. After a short and snappy gathering in the conference room, her job was clear – head straight for the beast and take it down. It was still morning, though a rumble in Yuffie's stomach informed her that lunchtime was near. The sun blazed down onto the plain, causing countless twinkles on the dewy grass. She stepped onto the soft ground and across the meadow.
The Highwind was stationed about a half a mile east of the Mideel woods upon a shallow knoll, but even from this distance it was instantly recognisable to Yuffie,
"That's…a Weapon!"
Cid lit a cigarette with a grumble.
"Goddammit. Lady Luck hates my guts"
"It's huuu-ggee!"
"And just when I thought we were goin' on a picnic"
It was a Weapon alright, looming silently over the desolate village of Mideel. It was unlike any other Weapon Yuffie had ever seen – a dragon-like creature with at least twenty set of wings across its feathered back. Most astonishing of all however was its colour – a shimmering light grey.
Tifa and Cloud had now descended the ladder and accompanied Yuffie and Cid's remarks of incredulity.
"I don't believe this!"
"How many Weapons are there?"
"S'not important. We gotta do our job, remember?"
Barret snapped everyone out of their trance before sprinting across the grass towards the woodland that surrounded Mideel.
Yuffie quickly followed suit and charged ahead of Barret. As she ran, she found herself gazing in awe into the sky. Much like the prairie, the silver plumage of Weapon glistened in the sunlight. Before long she was beneath the menacing shadow of the Weapon, approaching the jungle-like woods. She bounded over many ditches and carelessly leaped through patches of nettles. Mideel was still a couple of miles from the edge of woods where the party had landed. However, by sheer chance the group came across a footpath after a mile or so and did not need to plod on through the undergrowth. Not once did she halt for breath, nor stop to remove dust amassing in her boots. And when it seemed as if nothing could halt Yuffie's unwavering determination she stopped. Was that gunfire!
A minute later, Barret came running up beside her.
"Not me, that. Haven't fired a bullet all day…"
Yuffie noticed a guilty streak in Barret's voice as he said this but dismissed it as the others came running into view.
"We heard gunfire!"
"Surely the people aren't taking it on all by themselves!"
Cloud and Tifa were equally puzzled. Cid, who was already wheezing was muttering obscenities to himself.
"Awright. No time to waste. Let's go!"
If the new silver-white Weapon had surprised them it was nothing compared to the next shock in store for them. As they scurried the final stretch to Mideel, it was unmistakeable as to where the gunfire had come from.
"Shin-Ra!" Yuffie exclaimed startled, spotting a line of blue-uniformed soldiers firing frantically in the air.
There was no doubt about it; they were aiming towards the beast in the sky. Could Shin-Ra be repenting for its past sins by these acts of charity? Yuffie highly doubted that and had made a strict vow with herself never to forgive Shin-Ra for what they had done in the past.
"So…" Cloud began, "The rumours are true. Shin-Ra hasn't given up yet."
Everyone, except Barret who stood, arms crossed and silent, turned Cloud's way. Yuffie always imagined that Cloud knew all the answers.
"They're bad news right Cloud?" she said, nodding for his agreement.
"Who can say? Or what's left of it. After all, Reno and the Turks are at the top of the food chain now that Hiedeggar and Scarlet are dead. Still, by the looks of it they have some mighty power in their Shin-Ra investment – look at all those troops…"
His suspicions were probably pinpoint accurate, Yuffie thought peeking through a bush at a myriad of soldiers.
Tifa spoke quietly to her, "I heard rumours in Midgar that after Meteor, the city came just collapsed. And it hasn't recovered yet. Parents wonder the city, searching the sectors for lost children with heavy hearts. People are still suffering. I…dare not go back there. My memories…"
She paused and sniffled, "People were lost and confused. They praised AVALANCHE at first but soon felt trapped once more by the huge changes in their lives. Folks in Kalm were keen to help and accommodate at first. They gave up their beds, hosted all those who sought solace and the place was brimming with refugees from the city. But even the kind Kalm people had their limits. The migrants of Midgar became so numerous and demanding that the Mayor himself demanded that space be reserved for the 'truly needy'. The desperate people from Midgar began feigning illness, claiming more and more absurd things so that they could remain in the peaceful village. Back in Midgar, those people who had remained had some hope left - news from the South, from Junon. 'Shin-Ra will be reborn'. Shin-Ra would restore Midgar and work with the public to build a better future for the people and the planet. Just what we always wanted right? Cloud, Barret and Cid did go, of course…but there was only so much they could do"
Yuffie was hypnotised by Tifa's words. This was all news to her. As far as she knew, Midgar had been recovering quite promisingly.
"So I hear that the people were ready to try anything - even work with Shin-Ra if it meant getting a semblance of routine back into their troubled lives. And I hear that sectors one and two were rebuilt pretty hastily with three and four in progress. They weren't to be called sectors anymore and they wouldn't have barriers or concrete walls to separate them. And they wouldn't run on Mako. And there would be no tower staring down, mocking them anymore. People would be happy"
Barret had begun listening in and gave an ambivalent look as Tifa continued,
"Though I have never seen these supposed changes nor heard any more of such things"
She stopped abruptly and remained tight-lipped, having said all she wanted to. Yuffie remembered where she was once again. She faced the chaotic scene behind her once again. From their secluded position, she could see at least one hundred soldiers. Most were gunning Weapon but she even witnessed soldiers carrying women and children to safety. The Turks didn't appear to be present though curiously, the more Yuffie observed her surroundings the more she noticed the lack of casualties. In fact, she couldn't catch sight of a single injured person. Shin-Ra must have been doing an amazing job.
"This is stupid!" she burst out impulsively. She even surprised herself.
"Shin-Ra doesn't act like we do. They're ruthless, remember. Must be up to somethin', huh?"
Yuffie knew that this was her heart speaking but her head could not deny Shin-Ra's seemingly benevolent actions happening before her very eyes.
"At least we should check it out!"
Everyone, even Barret, nodded in compliance.
Such was the deafening resonances of nearby barrages of bullets and hysterical panic within the village that the presence of Cloud and the gang went almost completely unnoticed. The village was in a respectable state considering – Mideel was not only singled out by Ultima Weapon several months ago, but the village was further devastated by the eruption of a Lifestream spring shortly afterwards. Now the town had been partially rebuilt – the timber had been replaced rather wisely by more stable brickwork and a few more buildings had been constructed, extending the village further into the jungle. However, building work was far from complete and more than half of the structures were still surrounded by scaffolding.
As soon as she had made these observations, Yuffie looked around her. Her companions had dispersed.
"Oh yeah, time for action. Go me go!"
Yuffie darted to a nearby ladder, leaning against a tall shack in the corner of the village centre. Head up high, focused on Weapon looming above her, she failed to spot…
"C'mon! We got orders to attack any of Cloud's cronies, remember!"
A commander, dressed in crimson uniform and twice Yuffie's height landed a merciless kick into her chest. The solid earth awaited her as she came flying helplessly off her feet. Not a second had passed and four soldiers had pinned her down onto the floor. She tried to resist. However, the winded ninja was struggling to breathe.
"Yo..you!" she panted.
"And YOU! You do not have authorisation to be here!"
"Authouri…?"
"Pathetic. This is OUR mission, not yours. The Turks've got this one covered"
"Uhhh…"
The commander released a cruel snort echoed by the sniggers of his soldiers.
"Ha. I guess seeing your ass kicked IS funny!"
And with that remark, Yuffie corkscrewed to her feet again, propelling the four soldiers metres around her.
"Oh puh-lease. Like I'm THAT outta practice!" she wheezed.
The commander countered with another vicious boot to the groin.
"Stop doing that, creep!"
A roundhouse kick to the face was his punishment as Yuffie leapt was onto the ladder. With a fuming commander on her tail she climbed upwards as fast she could. That was an idea…
"That oughta do it. Haste!"
Yuffie brought her shuriken to her chest and began to emit an emerald glow. Not a moment too soon either. The commander had grasped her ankles and she clutched the final step with dear life.
"Want my ankles huh?"
Yuffie gnashed her teeth.
"You crazy bitch!" the Commander hollered as Yuffie stamped her boots relentlessly on his fragile fingers. After several piercing cracks of fingers snapping, he released his grip and plummeted helplessly to the ground.
"Ah! Might use that materia for tap dancing sometime"
Upon the summit of this small tower, Yuffie could distinguish Cid sweeping his Venus Gospel across the ground in circles, tripping up a mob of Shin-Ra soldiers surrounding him. Tifa, likewise was holding her own. The blue shapes of soldiers looked to be almost radiating from her fists as she repelled the Shin-Ra soldiers heading for her.
"Looks like I got off easy" she mumbled before heading for cover as bullets, intended for both her and Weapon came soaring towards her. Above her, Weapon seemed to be simply watching over the pandemonium below and not really doing much else. As far as Yuffie was concerned, she needed to get in range of the airborne monster. The Highwind would really be useful around about now but she needed to improvise. After few seconds of futile taunts towards Weapon, Yuffie decided that luring Weapon down was probably not the safest nor easiest option. The Highwind was far away and soldiers had begun swarming beneath her, mounting the ladder as of that very second.
"This is my only shot!" she exclaimed apprehensively as a Plan B formulated in her mind.
"Pleeeeeease work!"
She extracted some red materia from her pocket and covered her palms over it.
"Bahamut!"
The force of the spell made Yuffie quiver from top to toe. Fortunately she managed to sustain her balance as a glistening entity came speeding directly towards the village from high in the blue sky. The tiny gleam soon grew in size as the object drew closer to Mideel. As Bahamut stormed into view he glided towards the tower, dipping just metres above the rampage below, obliterating a rooftop in its wake ("Ooops!"). The cowardly soldiers pursuing Yuffie fled without a second thought as it approached the young ninja.
Regardless, Yuffie stood poised and undisturbed by the giant dragon. Before she even realised it, Yuffie took a bold leap from the overlooking tower. As Bahamut arrived, he swiftly bent towards the sky and rocketed into the clouds. Yuffie had narrowly escaped potential death (or certain hospitalisation) as she seized the dragon's leg. Not for all the materia in the world would she contemplate releasing her unyielding grip. Luckily, Bahamut was not at all impeded by the stowaway and welcomed Yuffie as she climbed cautiously onto its back.
Motion sickness would be a welcome change, Yuffie thought as Mideel became a mere iota of the landscape.
"What the crap am I doing!" she squealed, her legs flapping lifelessly in the zephyr. She was half overcome with exhilaration and half with panic that she'd never felt before. The deafening noises of Mideel had faded now and only the gusts of air brushing past her ears could be heard. She squeeled as a shoe slowly but surely slithered across her toes and nose-dived back down to earth.
Her mind was blank for once and all the while Bahamut hauled her closer and closer to the clouds. Finally, the creature came to a sudden halt above Weapon's head. From here, it looked bigger than ever as it hovered ghost-like in the sky, taking the abuse of hundreds of bullets from below. Yuffie gazed at its vacant expression with curiosity. Up close, the Weapon seemed to be as inactive as the clouds themselves and equally harmless. She thought back a few minutes. She had already noted a lack of casualties on the ground and the only evident damage had been from that roof that she herself was responsible for.
Bahamut was less perplexed by such thoughts. The dragon, open-mouthed and amassing a bright light beam between its jaws, was focused on its apathetic target. If Yuffie was having second thoughts, there was nothing that could be done now. The piercing laser teared through the sky and directly into Weapon. Bahamut, with his duty fulfilled, shook his head in pride and darted back to earth with Yuffie passing out from terror.