Author's notes: Well here we go, chapter 2. I honestly didn't think anyone would read this so I was pleasantly surprised when I got not just one, but two reviews. Anyway, thank you very much to DarkElena and Drywater for your reviews. This chapter starts off a little slow, but stick with it, or alternatively, just skip to the second half for some action!Well, without further ado, here it is...
Oops, one more thing;
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters. I do own a few characters in this chapter however, so yay me.
Chapter 2: Mmm, fish...
"Well Howie, this is it. We're actually gonna do it. Say goodbye to the life you once knew. From now on we've gotta fight to survive, it's a big, bad world out there. And we've always gotta be on the lookout for materiaDon't wanna be missing any chances."
Taking one last look at Da-Chao, and praying to Leviathan to keep her safe, Yuffie prepared to take the biggest step of her life. Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked out of the city. There was a small dock on the South coast of the island where she'd hopefully be able to hitch a ride. One of the fishermen that worked there often stopped by the city to sell his catch, and Yuffie was always showing off to him with stories of her great feats as a ninja. And if not, well, she'd just have to stow away.
About ten minutes had passed, and Yuffie was starting to get hungry. She turned around to look at the city she'd left, and realised it was already out of sight.
"Wow," She thought, "This is the furthest I've ever been away from home… I'm such a loser!" Deciding now would be as good a time as any to stop for lunch, she sat down and opened her bag to find a beaky little face peering out at her. Taking Howie out of the bag, she set him down beside her while she took out a biscuit and started to eat.
"Y'know Howie," She said with a mouthful of crumbs, "Thish ishn't anywhere near ash hard ash I thought it would be." Swallowing she carried on, "Dad and the others are always like, 'Oh, you can't go outside the city Yuffie, there are all sorts of monsters! Blah blah blah!' But we're having no trouble!"
After packing up her bag she climbed to her feet to continue her journey, carrying the chocobo in her arms, deciding to give him a bit of fresh air for a while. Her destination was still a few hours away.
"Why did they have to build this place so far away from the city?" She said, thinking out loud, "I mean, wouldn't it have been so much easier to have it on one of the beaches at this end of the island?"
After she'd been walking for what seemed like hours, Yuffie saw a mountain coming into existence on the horizon. All she had to do was cross it, and she'd be at the dock. As she got closer, she realised that it was quite a lot bigger than she'd thought. Although she'd never been too far out of town before, she'd seen the mountain from the top of Da-Chao. You could practically see the whole island from up there. Yuffie tried not to think about Wutai too much. Hopefully she wouldn't be away for too long, but it had barely been two hours and she was already starting to feel a little homesick. Holding Howie tighter to her chest, she began her ascent up the gradual slope of the mountain.
The top of the mountain was relatively flat compares to the rest of it, Yuffie noticed, as she caught her breath. A short distance away, there was a shabby rope bridge perched across a drop of about 50 feet.
"That bridge doesn't look too stable," Yuffie said to the stuffed bird in her arms, "I'd better put you back in my bag for now."
Little Howie now safe in her backpack, Yuffie cautiously made her way towards the bridge. It looked as if it could barely hold her weight, but there was no other way.
"And after all," she thought, "The fishermen had to come this way to get to Wutai, so it must be safe."
Deciding to trust the bridge, Yuffie stepped onto it. It wobbled uneasily. How anyone could get across here carrying a crate full of fish was beyond her. Treading softly from plank to plank, she eventually reached the halfway point. Looking South over the gorge, she could see that they were another two rope bridges precariously creating paths to the other side of the mountain.
"Oh great," she muttered to herself, "As if risking my life once wasn't enough."
One and a half bridges later, and she finally set eyes on her destination. After the final crossing, she'd only be walking for ten more minutes before arriving at the dock. This one looked even less sturdy than the last two, but she'd come this far, there was no turning back now. First step… No problems. Second step… Going well. A few steps later, and Yuffie was no longer nervous. Reaching the end, she stepped back onto solid ground, and let out a sigh of relief. Not wanting to waste any time, the young ninja hurried on, but stopped when she heard a deafening crash echo through the mountains. Slowly turning around, she took in the scene. The third bridge had completely gone. Peering over the edge, Yuffie saw that the bridge had fallen, and by the looks of it, crushed a few monsters. She didn't know what they were, but by the looks of the green slime splattered around the area, they were bugs of some sort.
"Oopsy," Yuffie giggled, looking down at the mess she had caused, "Hey wait a minute – I killed my first monsters! Woohoo!" Resisting the urge to dance around, she ran off down the mountain towards her next stop.
As Yuffie got closer to the dock, and she could see her destination more clearly, she noticed something a little odd. Surely those boats shouldn't be left unmanned? And why where all those fish just lying about all over the place? Where was everybody?
"Hello!" Yuffie called out, "Is anybody here?"
Rounding the corner of the boat house, she saw the reason for the fishermen's absence.
"Oh shhh-ugar!"
Yuffie was almost blown off her feet when she came face to face with a huge, enraged, roaring creature, looking like a cross between a turtle and Bahamut. Of course, Yuffie had never seen Bahamut, but she imagined him to be quite scary. After quickly running off in the opposite direction for a few seconds, she stopped.
"I'm supposed to be the ninja here," she thought, "I guess I'd better put my training to good use."
Turning around to face the beast, Yuffie grabbed her shuriken from her belt and threw it towards the monster. Clang! It bounced off of its shell and flew back towards her. Grabbing it from the air, Yuffie stepped back to assess the situation.
"Its shell is obviously super hard," she said to herself, "So I'll have to get in close and attack it from underneath. Yeah, that's right!"
Ducking her head, Yuffie charged at the beast. Just as she was about to slash, it lifted one of its enormous feet and kicked her away. She landed ten feet away, in a pile of fish. Lying there for a second, attempting to recover some of the energy that blow took out of her, Yuffie heard an awful roar coming from the monster's direction. She quickly jumped to her feet and looked towards it. An old man was standing with his spear impaled very close to the monsters neck, just underneath its shell.
"You ok there missy?" He asked her.
Yuffie stood open mouthed for a second, trying to take in what had just happened, "Er… Yeah, fine."
The monster was still roaring, and now flailing too. Yuffie figured she'd better help the old guy out, but before she had a chance to act, two more guys swept in, spears at the ready, and attacked the monster. One of them she recognised.
"Errol? What's going on here?"
The youngest of the men turned to Yuffie, leaving the other two to finish off the snarling fiend.
"The Adamantaimai like the smell of the fish," Errol explained, "We get attacked on average twice a month, we know how to handle it by now."
Apparently just noticing who he was speaking to, Errol broke out into a smile, "Hey Yuff! Long time no see! What brings you this far South?"
Yuffie was still staring at the men cleaning their spears next to the dead monster. Today was not her day. First she gets beaten in a fight by a ten year old, and now she's upstaged by a bunch of old geezers, and Errol of course.
"I… I…" Yuffie stammered.
"Come inside," The first old man said to Yuffie, walking into a small, water stained hut, "I'll make you some tea."