Zhijie led Yuffie and Sonon to the gate of Sector eight which was currently not being manned, still the usual
amount of travelers of residents from multiple sectors of the slums were coming and going without incident.
"This is kind of odd, there's usually at least two grunts watching the gates during the day... guess Shinra has them
them all focused on finding us right now"
"Well this makes it a bit easier, I kind of wonder what's unique about Sector eight?" Sonon mused.
"Sector seven, sector eight, once you've seen one dirty slum, you've seen them all" Yuffie complained.
The trio followed the dirt path which led to a small pavillion of shacks. It was Sector eight's business district.
One stall had a thrift shop of clothing and another other was an antique store selling nic-nacs and odds and ends.
One item at the antique shop caught Yuffie's eye and before Sonon and Zhijie noticed, Yuffie was gone.
"So how far are we going?" Sonon asked Zhijie as he turned around to answer.
"Shouldn't be much further for you and- Where's Yuffie?" he suddenly noticed. Sonon quickly scanned the area
until he spotted her back several yards back in the small pavillion at the little antique shop.
"Yuffie..." Sonon sighed.
"Good afternoon miss, how are you?" a young man sat underneath the tin roof of the shack. Behind the boy was a
door which meant he probably lived inside the shack with whomever.
"Doing good! Doing good!" Yuffie smiled optimistically as she began looking at a nicely crafted nic-nac of a
well designed Wutain home.
"I see you got a taste for Wutai, but you might want to keep that to yourself around these parts" the boy warned.
"Yuffie! You can't just wander off like that, we're in the middle of something very important" Sonon scolded.
"Look!" Yuffie put the Wutain nic-nac infront of Sonon. "Isn't it pretty?"
"Pretty isn't going to help you, what are you going to do? Glue it on your shoulder?" Zhijie laughed.
"You know what, my grandpa has something he's been trying to sell for awhile" the young adolescent boy walked to
the back of the shack and came back with a pair of old sai's.
"Whoa! Where did you get these?!" Yuffie said with a bit too much excitement in her voice.
"Shhh! I see Shinra goons passing by" Zhijie noticed four shinra guards in the pavillion as a long haired man with a
soldier sword on his back approached them.
"Don't turn around Yuffie just listen" Sonon whispered.
"Sir, they want us to focus on rooting out the Avalanche threat in Sector seven" one of the shinra guards reported.
"Is that so? We lost three grunts here in sector eight and this is what the high and mighty say?" The third-class soldier shook his head
in disgust.
"Yes sir! A hideout was just discovered in Sector seven and the occupants could not have gone far" the taller
shinra guard wearing a red scarf informed.
"Yea, yea, I know all about that... I'm more interested in finding out what killed three of ours" the third class
soldier said reaching for his blade.
"Understand sir Roche, you want revenge, well at least we have been ordered to scour sector seven. You sir
are above us. We've delivered the orders" the red scarf guard nodded.
"Very well, go on ahead, I'll catch up later, I'm going to do my own investigation...
I bet whatever this thing is could really give me the fight that I'm craving" Roche finished with a
whisper scanning the area ready to do some hunting.
"Yes sir! Move out!" the red scarf soldier saluted as they continued on to sector seven. Roche continued on deeper into
sector eight and disappeared from view down an alley.
"Third class soldier!" Zhijie whistled.
"How do you know it's a third class soldier?" Sonon asked curiously.
"The Shinra guards talk and people listen" Zhijie smirked.
"Umm so back to business" the adolescent boy said watching Yuffie inspecting the pair of sai's.
"Right! Two hundred gil!" Yuffie quickly retorted.
"What? Don't make me laugh, these are actual Wutain weapons from the Wutain war that my father found" the boy rejected.
"They look like authentic sais from Wutai" Yuffie said finding the initials of the blacksmith who forged them near the
pommel of the weapon.
"They look authentic alright" Sonon agreed as he took a quick glance.
"Three hundred gil!" Yuffie offered.
"You're going to have to do better than that!"
Yuffie reached down into her pouch and counted out another sixty gil, "This is all I got... take it or leave it"
Yuffie finally said firmly.
"Sorry lady, these weapons are worth much more than that. My grandfather would kill me if I sold them for such
a low price. He says these sais are special"
"What's so special about them?" Zhijie's interest finally piqued.
"I don't know exactly but that's what my grandfather says"
"I have two hundred and fifty gil to add to her three hundred sixty gil, now that will be our final offer" Sonon
said with a finality in his voice putting the money down on the counter.
"Hmmm..." the boy thought for a moment looking at the money and then the sais which Sonon now had in his hands.
"Fine, their yours! But come back, we get all kinds of stuff from all over places you would never believe"
the boy finished taking the money finalizing the deal.
"Great, we'll put them up for now" Sonon said putting them away. "Now let's hurry, we've tarried long enough"
Zhijie looked carefully at the sais nodding in admiration, "Ok let's go" he said leading them down through a
residential area.
"So Zhijie, I saw you looking at the sais too, you liked them?" Sonon asked curiously.
"Well... I did some training with those weapons back in the day... but I'll tell you another time. Here we are"
they arrived at a similar shack with a fairly secure door. There was another building built on top.
"Avalanche" Zhijie whispered knocking seven times. With a series of locks and latches being undone, the
door was opened.
A woman with firey long red hair tied back in a ponytail welcomed them wearing camo pants, a camo hat,
and a black leather jacket. An older man with salt and pepper hair and glasses sat infront of a scanner
radio with a microphone in his hand in the corner of the small building. He wore a long
gray trench coat with a pair of black boots. On the adjacent side of the older man was a ladder that went up
through a hatch.
"Becky, Phil! How goes it?" Zhijie greeted trying to sound positive.
"Zhijie! Not good..." Becky looked distressed.
"Zhijie, glad you're here, things are really bad" Phil said shifting his glasses giving Zhijie his attention.
"Yes, I heard about what happened to the others..." Zhijie bowed his head for a moment of silence.
"They died protecting other citizens, but..." Phil sighed sadly shaking visibly.
"After losing them and two neighborhood watchmen, three shinra grunts went to investigate, and they never came back"
Becky carried the sentiment in her green eyes.
"Oh, this is Yuffie and Sonon, Wutains who are here to help" Zhijie said with a bit more energy trying to lighten
the mood.
"Wutains?" Becky regarded Yuffie and Sonon carefully.
"Ninjas? Professional assassins?" Phil turned his seat towards them.
"Assassins might be a bit of a stretch" Sonon shook his head.
"I think mercenaries might be a better term for us, but yes, we are the best" Yuffie reasserted.
"So give us the full story... I still can't believe this..." Zhijie said taking a seat on a crate in the corner.
Yuffie and Sonon leaned up against the wall.
"It started when a few kids came up missing, and the ones who came back described a huge creature with a multi-colored
coat had attacked them. Two of the watchmen went down near where there is an entrance to the sewer system to
investigate, but then they never came back..." Becky paused pulling out some documents out of another smaller box.
"We told the parents of the missing children to request help from shinra first, it sounded like it was beyond us. So
the parents did just that, and finally after begging them to do their job, they sent three to investigate. Hours
went by and the shinra guards never returned. Finally the parents came back to us" Phil stopped taking off his glasses.
"Mark who was an ex-shinra guard decided to take it upon himself to go investigate. Jill and Rocky decided to go with him.
We were all going to go, but... Mark said we should maintain our position here should things take a-dark turn"
Becky stopped to take a breath.
"After that, the Shinra guards boarded off the entrance with just room for run-off to come out from underneath and put
warning signs not to enter and decided no more action would be taken... those cowardly shinra bastards!" Phil finished.
"Leaving their own for dead... shameful!" Sonon shook his head.
"Exactly, someone from Avalanche has got to go as part of retribution" Zhijie said taking out his handgun cocking it back
and testing his weapon.
"Zhijie, if a gun could have stopped that thing, Mark, Jill, and Rocky would still be with us, don't be foolhardy"
Phil pointed out.
"This will be different for him, he's a Wutain like us, right Zhijie?" Yuffie said with hope gleaming in her voice.
"That's right!" Zhijie looked up with a sparkle in his eyes.
"You know, as long as we don't enter that huge drain, it's possible we may never see or hear about this thing again"
Becky interjected not wanting to send three more people to certain death.
"You really think that boarding off the drain is going to stop such a beast?" Phil disagreed.
"It won't matter, because expert ninja Yuffie is on the case with her special elite Wutain squad. We got this!"
Yuffie's confidence even managed to elicit a little smile on Phil's and Becky's face.
"Such optimism, I can only pray you will be successful" Phil smiled.
"Do you need a guide to the drainage area?" Becky offered.
"No, I know where it is, don't worry, Nayo, Billy-Bob, and Polk are coming later. You may want to make some extra
cots for them. Our hideout can no longer be used" Zhijie frowned.
"I had heard, but wasn't sure if your cell had been discovered" Phil exhaled in resignation.
"It's alright, we'll help you find another location in sector seven later. Here take these..." Becky said
handing them each a warm blue glowing vial.
"Shinra potions eh?" Sonon looked skeptically.
"Trust me, they work" Becky winked.
"If you say so..." Sonon took it reluctantly.
"I'm ready to kick this monster's ass!" Yuffie said with enthusiasm.
"Ok, let's hope your enthusiasm is as good when we see this thing" Zhijie said a little sarcastically.
"Hey! If Sonon and I could take down elaborate Shinra robotic monsters with high tech weapons all over it,
this beast will be a cinch!" Yuffie said fearlessly.
"Well there you go!" Phil said with amazement.
"Good luck!" Becky smiled letting them out as they disappeared back out into sector eight residential area.