Hey y'all. Well here's chapter 4, sorry it took so long.
Chapter 4: Materia and Moaners
"Man, am I glad to be out of there!" Yuffie scrambled her way through a bush and tumbled onto the other side.
"Hurry up Errol, or the froggies'll getcha!" she called back to the forest. She could have sworn she saw a pair of beady little eyes behind one of the trees. "Damn froggies…" she muttered.
When Errol finally managed to drag his crate of fish out of the forest, he sat down beside Yuffie, who was staring at the small village to which the nearby path lead.
"Wow, these guys are a real bunch of party animals," She remarked sarcastically, referring to the moping villagers trudging slowly towards them, "And what's with the scrap all over the place? Didn't they ever hear of street cleaners? Geez…"
"Errol…" The man who, judging by his clothes, Yuffie assumed was the mayor said, "I thought we made it quite clear that we would not be requiring any more of your deliveries."
"Hey, a young fisherman's got to make a living right?" Errol grinned, "And this'll be the last one, I promise."
"And who might this be?" The mayor gestured towards the young ninja.
"This is Yuffie. She's here to see the reactor."
The mayor said nothing. Instead, he turned and walked back towards the village. One of the other villagers stepped forward.
"You may come and stay at the inn for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, someone'll take you up to the reactor."
Yuffie jumped up from the floor, and followed the man as he gestured for them to come with him. As they approached the centre of the village, Yuffie noticed there was even more scrap metal lying around, and that the houses were all very shabby, most in a state of disrepair. She'd never seen a town like this before. Wutai was always filled with happy go lucky tourists. She hated that. And yet, she disliked this even more. People should be happy, most of the time at least. She had only ever been depressed once in her life, and that was when her mother had died during the war. After that, she realised she had to make the most of life, and have as much fun as possible. What could have happened to cause the whole village misery?
"So, erm… What's the story behind this place?" Yuffie asked the man she was following.
He didn't answer. Yuffie was starting to become irritated. She didn't like being ignored, and that was all these guys seemed to do.
"Oh come on! What is it with you people? I can't take this any more, what's with the misery?"
Errol put his hand on Yuffie's shoulder, "Yuffie… Maybe you should just leave it. We won't be here long, let's just carry on."
Yuffie sighed. She got the feeling she wouldn't enjoy her stay in Gongaga. She took one last look at the miserable villagers before making her way into the inn after Errol.
The inn was very warm, with a fire roaring in the corner. A jolly looking man led them into a back room, where three beds were made up.
"Just the two of you is it? That's unusual; we usually book groups of three. Come to think of it, I have no idea why that is…" The man began with a smile, "Anyway, we've only got the three single beds I'm afraid, no doubles."
"What?" Yuffie looked at Errol, confused, "Ohmygosh! You think Errol and I are a couple?" She burst out laughing.
"Is it that funny?" Errol asked her, looking rather hurt.
"I take it you're just friends," The man said, chuckling, "My name's Stephen, and I'll be making sure your stay here is as comfortable as possible."
Yuffie looked at him, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "Hey, why aren't you as grumpy as everyone else in this village?"
Stephen's smile grew a little smaller, "Well, I only just moved to Gongaga. I inherited this inn from my uncle, who died in the accident. I barely knew him, but I was his only nephew."
"Accident?"
"The mayor doesn't like us to talk about it really. You're going to the reactor tomorrow, right? You'll hear all about the accident, I guess."
Yuffie remembered what Errol had said, and decided to drop the subject. Instead, she went and sat on her bed, took her Shuriken off her back, and started to unpack her bag. She pulled Howie out, and put him on the bedside table, next to a small lamp shaped like a Mog. It was already getting dark, Yuffie noticed. Just how long had that boat journey taken? She lay down on her bed and looked over at Errol. He was already asleep. Then again, he was dragging that huge crate of fish all the way here, he must have been tired. Rolling over, she looked at Howie.
"How could he think Errol and I were together like that?" she whispered to the toy, "I mean, I wasn't acting in any way that would make him think that. Was I?" She lay there for a few minutes more, staring at the ceiling, before she slowly drifted off to sleep.
"He did help you get all the way here. He must like you. A little, at least."
"Shut up Howie, I'm not interested in him. I'm only interested in getting materia. I can't get distracted."
"You know that's not true. You always used to try and impress him back in Wutai."
"…Whatever."
Yuffie woke up to the sound of Errol complaining to himself whilst looking through his bag.
"Errol…"
"Oh, hi Yuffie. Sleep well?" Errol quickly closed his bag and threw it under his bed.
"Yeah, had a weird dream though."
"Really? What about?"
"Oh… I… Err, I don't really remember…"
"Oh well, the guide to the reactor should be here soon. You want me to come with you?"
"Err… That'd be nice."
Yuffie quickly turned away. She felt herself going red, so she decided to busy herself with getting some clean clothes from her bag.
"I'm gonna go get washed and changed," She said, rushing to the bathroom.
The bathroom was very cramped, its contents consisting of a toilet, a wash basin, and a bath, the latter of the three taking up at least half of the bathroom. Yuffie struggled to get changed in such a confined space, before fighting her way back to the bedroom, just in time to hear the mayor arrive, talking to Stephen in the next room. Apparently, he wanted to take them himself.
"Finally, we're going to the reactor. We'll be back to Wutai by dinner time! Woohoo!" Yuffie opened the door and walked up to the mayor, who was looking as mopey as ever.
"Come on Chuckles," Yuffie patted him on the back, "The sooner we go to the reactor, the sooner I can get out of this dump. No offense."
The mayor shot a disapproving look at her, and one bordering on disgusted at Errol.
"Come then."
The mayor led the way out of the inn, into the village square. A whole group of the villagers were standing in the distance, whispering amongst themselves and occasionally glancing over at Yuffie and Errol. One woman in the group appeared to be crying. As the mayor ushered them past the group Yuffie could have sworn one of the men was whispering threats to Errol. She really couldn't wait to leave. The mayor proceeded to walk them along the path they had used upon entering the village. To the East, Yuffie noticed a large building in the distance, surrounded by absolutely no vegetation of any kind, which was odd, considering they were in a forest.
"Is that it?" Yuffie asked.
"Of course it is." The mayor snapped.
The rest of the journey was spent in silence. Yuffie decided she'd better not speak in case the mayor bit her face off again, and Errol hadn't said a word since they'd left the inn. As they approached the reactor, Yuffie noticed that it looked a bit odd. She'd never seen a Mako reactor before, but this one certainly didn't look normal.
As they got even closer, it became clear what was odd about the reactor.
"What the…" Yuffie stopped in her tracks and stared at the building. It was a wreck. It looked as if there had been some kind of explosion, "What happened?"
"There was an explosion. Half of the town was killed. Shinra ruined our village. Ruined our lives!" The mayor looked away from them. "I want you both to leave the village by the end of the day."
"What? What has this got to do with us? It's not as if we blew up the reactor!"
The mayor turned back to Yuffie, "I don't know what involvement you have with Shinra, and I don't care. I want you to stay away from our village. Especially if you're travelling with him!"
Yuffie turned to look at Errol, but he was walking towards the reactor. What was this guy's problem with him? He's just a fisherman. She turned back to the mayor, and was about to ask him, but he was already on his way back to the village. She ran to catch up with Errol, who was already inside the reactor.
"Errol!" Yuffie called out to him as she made her way into the building. The reactor may have been a wreck, but it was still huge.
"I can't believe the reactor's destroyed," she thought, "but there must be some materia around here somewhere, there's got to be!"
She looked around desperately. She had no idea whereabouts in a normal reactor she'd find materia, let alone a ruined one. She turned a corner to find Errol inspecting a large tank in the corner of a room.
"Hey Errol, I can't seem to find any materia anywhere. It's pointless… I can't believe this…" She sighed.
Errol walked towards her, and held out his hands. In them, Yuffie saw a glowing yellow orb.
"Ohmygosh! Is that…?"
"Yep," Errol said, pushing the orb into Yuffie's hands "Found it in the tank over there."
"Thank you so much!" Yuffie exclaimed, throwing her arms around Errol's waist.
Errol chuckled, "No problem Yuff."
Yuffie let go of him, and prayed her face wasn't going red, "This is command materia," she said, "I can't wait to try it out!"
"We'll have to go get our stuff from the village…" Errol began.
"What is their problem?" Yuffie asked, "They're not exactly hospitable are they? And why does the mayor hate you so much?"
"He doesn't like the village doing business with outsiders," Errol replied, "I guess it's understandable…"
"He's just a crotchety old crab!"
The village was just as quiet as usual when they eventually made their way back, "At least that mob has gone," Yuffie thought, glad that they could get to the inn without being harassed.
"Hi guys," Stephen greeted them as they walked into the inn, "I hear the mayor's been giving you a hard time, eh? Don't take it personally."
Errol nodded at him, and walked through to the back room.
"I've just put the kettle on if you want some tea." Stephen offered.
"That'd be nice thanks." Yuffie answered, before following Errol.
This cup of tea was much nicer than the last one she had. Yuffie, Stephen and Errol were all sitting around the table.
"So what next Yuff? Back to Wutai?" Errol asked.
"No way! I need much more than just one piece of materia," Yuffie answered, "I guess I'm just gonna be away from home a little longer than expected."
"So where are you planning to head?"
"Err… I hadn't thought that far ahead." Yuffie never was one for planning.
"If it's materia you're after, you should head on over to the Gold Saucer," Stephen chirped up, "You're a ninja right? I hear they give away big prizes in the Battle Arena. Other than that, your best bet would be to head for one of the main Shinra cities."
"Midgar or Junon." Errol stated.
Yuffie thought about it for a moment, while she sipped her tea, "I guess I might as well check them all out, I need as much as I can get."
Errol looked at her for a moment, "… I'll come with you."
Yuffie stared at him, "What? But haven't you got to get back to Wutai?"
"I'm sure Mack and Fletcher can cope without me for a while," Errol said coolly, "And besides, I've got some business to deal with in Junon."
Yuffie knew he was lying, what business would a fisherman have in Junon? But she was grateful for the company, "The fact that it's Errol makes absolutely no difference", she told herself, "I'd be just as grateful with the company of anyone else."
"Thank you."