Chapter 9: Journey on the Sierra

It had been half an hour since the Sierra had left Rocket Town and was now on route to the Wutai area to pick up Lance and Yuffie. Cid was at the controls flying the Sierra and Angel couldn't help but impressed with Cid's outstanding flying skills. "Wow!" Angel exclaimed as she watched Cid, "when you told me that you were the best pilot on your world you weren't joking."

Cid merely laughed at this, "of course I wasn't joking," he replied smugly, "I'd never joke about my piloting skills, in fact they came in useful the passed few times we saved the world."

Angel thought about this then nodded, "I see…when we saved our world we just took it in turns to fly the airship."

"Your friend Max must have been very brave to let all of you fly the airship, I wouldn't let anyone else near the controls, not even if our lives depended on it."

"You love your airship, don't you?"

Cid nodded, "yeah," he answered, "it's my pride and joy, of course after the meteor incident the Highwind was forced into retirement…of course now we have this baby."

Angel said nothing more and she continued to watch Cid in silence, ten minutes later they were flying over Wutai. "Well," Cid told Angel, "we're approaching Wutai now, look out of the window."

Angel walked over to the window and looked out she could see a small oriental looking town below them. "Could Lance and Yuffie be there?" She asked staring intently at Cid.

"It's a possibility, unless Lance actually took my advice and threw her off the nearest cliff, he, he. It would have done us all a favour."

"Cid!" Angel yelled as she glared evilly at Cid.

"Will you relax!" Cid shot back, "sheesh, you're so uptight sometimes, anyway," he quickly changed the subject. "I'm setting her down here." Cid rather skilfully landed the Sierra outside of Wutai and he and Angel got out of the airship and entered the town.

Angel was intrigued by the town, it was a fairly small town set at the base of a mountain said to be the home of the Da Chow Gods that the people of Wutai worshipped. The townspeople in turn were staring at Angel, they were intrigued more than they were afraid of her, and Angel merely smiled politely back to them as she followed Cid round the town. "I hope you're here Lance," she said hopefully in her head.

Meanwhile Lance and Yuffie had just made it into Wutai. "Finally we've reached town, despite your directions!" Lance commented glaring at Yuffie as he said this.

"Hey! Yuffie argued back, "We got here didn't we?"

"Oh yeah," Lance muttered sarcastically, "A whole day late."

"Well, we're here, can you untie me now?!"

Lance sighed, "Fine," He walked behind Yuffie's back and untied her hands, Yuffie brought them round to the front of her body and she began rubbing them.

"That's better," she said with a huge sigh of relief.

"Whatever," Lance muttered and he started to walk off. Yuffie saw this and she ran after him.

"Hey!" She called after him, "Where are you going?"

Lance stopped in his tracks and he turned to face her. "You're home now aren't you?" He demanded not taking his eyes off her, he used his target sensor in his left eye to make sure Yuffie hadn't stolen anything from him, she was clean.

"I didn't take anything from you," Yuffie reassured him, "besides, you have nothing worth taking anyway."

"Just get out of here Yuffie," Lance told her as he turned round and started walking away, "find someone else to annoy."

Lance continued to walk off and Yuffie ran after him, "Wait!" She called out to him, Lance turned round again and saw Yuffie standing right in front of him.

"Now what do you want?"

"You don't know this town," Yuffie explained to him.

"And I suppose you do."

Yuffie nodded, "Considering I was born and raised in this town," she boasted, "I know it like the back of my hand, I can show you around, and I'll help you find your wife."

Lance glared at Yuffie sceptically, he had already tricked her once before, he wasn't going to fall for it again. "This had better not be another one of your tricks," he hissed threateningly, "because if it is…"

"It's no trick I swear," Yuffie cut in quickly, she knew how strong Lance was and what he was capable of.

"Ha," Lance scoffed, "thanks but no thanks." Lance continued to walk off and again Yuffie ran after him, she knew that he wouldn't stop again so she ran in front of him and blocked his path, Lance stopped in his tracks.

"Look," Yuffie spoke before Lance had a chance to say anything, "you're an alien on this world," she gestured to Lance's fox like appearance and his tail. "People are already staring at you." Lance looked all around him and he saw that Yuffie was right. "See, I'm right aren't I?"

Lance sighed, he knew that while he was here he was stuck with Yuffie, "alright, fine," he gave in, "show me around."

Yuffie smiled, "I knew you'd see things my way," before Lance could respond Yuffie grabbed his hand and dragged him off, "come on, there's loads for us to see before Cid and Angel arrive." Yuffie dragged Lance off in the direction of the Da Chow Mountain.

Back in town Angel had dragged Cid to practically every clothes shop in the shopping district and she tried on practically every item of clothing in the shop, and she bought the ones that she liked. Of course Cid had to pay for them as Angel didn't have any Gil on her. An hour or so later Cid was carrying five bags of Angel's shopping.

"Shit…" Cid cursed under his breath, "Why do women need so many clothes?"

Angel smiled at Cid, "surely you don't expect me to wear the same clothes everyday?" She enquired.

"Why not?" Cid replied in answer to Angel's question.

"Because it's not very hygienic," Angel answered as they continued walking down the street.

"Now I know how Lance feels," Cid muttered under his breath, he felt like his back was about to give in under the weight of all the shopping bags.

"You know this would have been so much easier if Max or Nightshade were here," Angel commented in passing.

"How so?" Cid asked trying to remain calm.

"Well, they have their own dimension," Angel informed Cid, "if they were here we could have asked one of them to put the clothes into their dimension until I needed them."

"For now, why don't we just take them back to the Sierra and then head back into town to search for Lance," Cid suggested to Angel.

"You forgot about Yuffie," Angel reminded him.

"Oh yeah, the brat."

"You really shouldn't call people names," Angel admonished.

"Let's just get back to the airship," Cid said not listening to her, "my back's killing me."

Cid and Angel walked out of Wutai and back to the Sierra, Angel placed her shopping into one of the bedrooms. Ten minutes later they were back in the town and Cid was relieved to not be weighed down with shopping. "Where to now?" He asked staring intently at Angel.

Angel looked up at the mountain behind the town and was intrigued by all the statues and carvings on it. "Why don't we go to that mountain," she suggested as she pointed to it.

Cid sighed, "you want to go to the Da Chow Mountain?" he asked her wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to go there.

Angel nodded, "yes I do," she answered, "there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Cid shook his head, "well personally I thing it's a boring place," he told Angel, "but if you want to go there, then that's fine with me."

Angel smiled, "thank you Cid." Cid merely waved off her thank you and they both followed the trail to the mountain.

It was approaching sundown in Wutai and Lance and Yuffie were at the very top of the Da Chow Mountain. Yuffie was sat right at the edge of the cliff, Lance was stood further back leaning against the wall, he had placed his blood covered spear on to the ground next to him. It had taken them an hour to climb up the mountain and they had met a few foes on the mountain path. Fortunately Lance and Yuffie were able to make short work of them, and Lance had to admit that Yuffie was a skilled fighter, in her own way.

"Isn't it amazing?" Yuffie asked Lance.

"Yeah," Lance said, he had to admit that this was a good idea.

"Hey!" Yuffie exclaimed as she looked down, "you can see the entire town from here." Lance walked up to the edge, he looked down and he was amazed at what he saw. He could see the entire town spread out below the mountain, the river that flowed through the town shimmered in the evening sun and the town was filled with bright lights.

Lance smiled at Yuffie, "I must admit that this was the first good idea you've had."

Yuffie grinned back at Lance, "you see, when will people learn that most of my ideas are good ones?"

Lance merely laughed at this, "that's funny," he commented, "because I thought that you getting into a confrontation with me, trying to steal my wallet and insulting my wife on the loud speaker were bad ideas."

"Ha, ha!" Yuffie laughed sarcastically, "you got to admit though, we make a good team."

"Yeah," Lance agreed, "you're a good fighter," then he added quietly, "in your own way."

Yuffie glared at Lance, "What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded.

"Nothing," Lance answered, he walked back to the wall and he picked up his spear. "I'm gonna clean my spear," Lance told Yuffie, she merely waved in response and she continued to look down at the town below. Lance sighed and he sat down, he took a cloth out of his pocket and he began to wipe the surface of his spear. Lance always used to clean his spear after a battle, whenever he had the opportunity. He took his time with it cleaning the spear inch by inch not missing a single spot, in fact he was so immersed in cleaning his spear that he didn't even notice Angel running up to him.

"Lance!" Angel yelled as she ran up to him, Lance looked up and his spear dropped to the ground with a clang, he leapt to his feet and he ran towards Angel with his arms outstretched. A few seconds later Angel had jumped into Lance's arms and the two were locked in a tight embrace.

"Angel," Lance whispered her name, he was glad that she was safe and he cried happy tears and laughed, Angel laughed along with him and she hugged him tightly not daring to let go for fear that she would lose him again if she did. They were so wrapped up in their own little world that they didn't even notice Cid huffing and puffing behind them.

"Ahem…" Cid coughed bringing Angel and Lance back to reality. "If you're quite finished!"

Angel and Lance broke apart quickly, "Sorry Cid," Angel apologised, she saw the confused look on both Lance and Cid's faces. "Oh, I almost forgot, Lance this is Cid," Angel pointed at Cid, "he found me and he gave me a lift on his airship."

Is that so?" Lance asked he held out his hand for Cid to shake. "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

Cid shook Lance's hand, "It's no problem, you must be Lance, we spoke on the phone," Cid told Lance, he looked over Lance's shoulder and saw Yuffie who was now standing behind Lance. "I see the annoying pest is still with you."

"Hey!" Yuffie yelled glaring at Cid, "Who are you calling an annoying pest?"

"You," Cid shot back, he then whispered in Lance's ear so that Yuffie couldn't hear him. "I can't help but admire you, I'd have pushed Yuffie off a cliff ages ago if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with her."

Angel looked in Yuffie's direction as soon as she heard the name Yuffie, her eyes grew wide with anger and were filled with fire. "I remember you," Angel said surprisingly calm, Lance slowly backed away from Angel. "You're the one who said that I have a snooty accent."

"Eh he," Yuffie laughed nervously as she began to back away, "yeah…about that…I was just…"

Angel withdrew her blades and stared evilly at Yuffie, "I'll make you pay for what you said!" Angel yelled as she charged towards Yuffie.

"Yikes!" Yuffie screamed and she ran as fast as she could with Angel in hot pursuit. Cid and Lance were stood there watching them.

"Run Yuffie, run!" Cid yelled jokingly as Yuffie ran even faster.

"Get back here!" Angel yelled swinging her blades around and just narrowly missing Yuffie, "you're just making it worse for yourself!"

"Do you think we should help her?" Lance asked Cid.

Cid shook his head, "nah, leave them too it, Yuffie's had it coming for a long time. Like I said, I have to admire you for putting up with Yuffie, if it were me I'd have cracked along time ago."

"I have more self control than that," Lance whispered back to Cid.

"I see…" Cid replied, "Well we better get going, another friend of yours has been found."

"Really who?" Looks at Angel who was still chasing Yuffie. "Angel, stop it now, you're scaring me."

Angel stopped chasing Yuffie, "I'll deal with you later!" She shouted at Yuffie and she sheathed her blades, she returned to Lance's side again, Yuffie finally stopped running as she gasped for air.

"Yeah," Cid continued, "a friend of mine found him, I believe he said his name was Nightshade."

Lance stared at Cid, "Nightshade's been found?" he asked.

Cid nodded, "yeah, he's at Cosmo Canyon. Come on everyone, chop chop. I haven't got all frigging day!" Cid yelled impatiently and he began to walk down the mountain path, Angel, Lance and Yuffie followed him. Half an hour later and they were on the Sierra, on their way to Cosmo Canyon.

At Cosmo Canyon Nightshade was in the library reading books on the history of Cosmo Canyon. Nightshade had finished reading his fifth book when Red walked in.

Cid should be along shortly," Red informed Nightshade, he then noticed the book in Nightshade's hand. "What's that you're reading?"

"I'm reading up on the history of Cosmo Canyon," Nightshade answered as he placed the book back on the shelf. "It seems that this tribe called the GI attacked the Canyon over forty odd years ago."

"Oh yes, I remember that," Red told Nightshade a hint of sadness in his voice.

"You remember that?" Nightshade stared at Red in shock, "How old are you?"

"I'm 52 years old," Red answered, "my race had great longitivity," Red continued, "my 52 years is the equivalent of a 20 year old human."

Nightshade thought about this, "I see."

"I was only a cub when the GI attacked Cosmo Canyon, my mother and father fought them, but my mother was killed and my father fled. For years I thought that he was a coward, then my grandfather showed me this secret cave where my father fought the GI alone even after their poison darts turned him into stone."

"That's too bad," Nightshade said staring sympathetically at the beast, "I lost my parents too."

"What happened to them?" Red asked curiously.

Nightshade sighed, "my mother was killed by Balthazar, my older brother," he answered his voice was filled with hatred for his brother, "my father died two months after I was banished, he lost the will to live. I was told that he died a broken man."

"I'm sorry Nightshade," Red rested his head on Nightshade's leg and looked up at him sympathetically.

"That's ok," Nightshade smiled at Red to reassure him, "that's all in the past now, Balthazar's dead and he won't be coming back."

"Hmmm…" Red said thoughtfully, he wanted to say that the villains don't always stay dead but he kept his mouth shut.

"Anyway," Nightshade quickly changed the subject, "Cid and the others will probably be here by now, we should head back to the…"

"There's no need since we're already here," A gruff voice interrupted him, Nightshade and Red turned round to see Cid, Yuffie, Lance and Angel stood there. "So how long were you planning on keeping us waiting?" Cid demanded staring at Red.

Red walked up to his old friend, "Sorry Cid," he apologised.

Cid waved Red's apology aside, "that's ok you daft son of bitch," Cid joked.

"We went up to the observatory," Yuffie explained, "but an elder told us that you were both in the library."

"And you are?" Nightshade asked staring intently at Cid and Yuffie.

"I'm Cid," Cid introduced himself, "the best damned pilot in the world, and this is Yuffie," he pointed at Yuffie, "pain in the ass extraordinaire."

"Hey!" Yuffie yelled glaring at Cid, "I resent that!"

"Yeah, yeah," Cid replied dismissively, "Anyway I believe Lance and Angel are friends of yours."

Nightshade saw Lance and Angel together holding hands and he merely smiled impassively at them, "yeah, I know them," was all Nightshade said.

Cid walked over to a chair and he sat down and lent back on the chair placing his feet on the table. "Finally, I can relax for a while…whoa!" Cid almost fell backwards on the chair when he heard the PHS ring. "What is it now?!" He yelled as he grabbed the phone from his pocket. The name said SPIKY ASS on it. "It's Cloud," Cid told everyone as he answered the phone, "what is it Cloud?!" He yelled down the phone.

"Cid," Cloud answered on the other side of the phone, "Me and Tifa are in Coral with Barret, we met some strange creatures on the way."

"No kidding," Cid muttered sarcastically, earning him dirty looks from the others.

"Don't tell me you found more of them," Cloud sighed.

"Fraid so," Cid told him, Yuffie and Red are with me too, we're at Cosmo Canyon now, we've found others called Lance, Angel and Nightshade."

"Did someone say they found Lance, Angel and Nightshade," A female voice could be heard on Cloud's side of the phone.

"Who was that?" Cid asked Cloud.

"That would be Sunny," Cloud answered, "we also found someone called Drogo and Max, a girl called Pandora was found in Kalm, she's currently in the WRO HQ…"

"Let me guess you want me to take you there, right?" Cid asked knowing full well what the answer was.

"If you'd be so kind," Cloud pleaded with his old friend.

"WHAT IS EVERYONE'S FREAKING PROBLEM!?" Cid bellowed down the phone causing everyone in the vicinity to cover their ears. "WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT ME TO GIVE THEM A LIFT TO SOMEWHERE, I'M NOT A DAMN TAXI DRIVER!"

"Please Cid," Cloud pleaded again having just recovered from being almost deafened by Cid's yelling. "It would mean a lot to us if you could."

Cid sighed, "Fine, we'll be there in half an hour."

"Thanks Cid."

"Yeah, yeah, Cid out." Cid and Cloud hang up.

"I guess this means we'll be going to Coral?" Red asked Cid.

Cid nodded, "yeah, we have to pick Cloud and the others up, then we'll be heading for Kalm."

"Oh no," Yuffie moaned, "Not another flight, I was just getting over the last one."

"And you threw up over my damn floor, I had the thing waxed yesterday!" Cid yelled glaring at Yuffie, "And you'll be cleaning it up!"

Yuffie sighed, "I know, I know, let's just get going."

Everyone left the library and made their way to the Sierra.

Meanwhile in Barret's house Max had just walked down the stairs as Cloud hung up on the phone. Max had managed to catch up on the sleep he had missed the night before and he didn't look as tired or cranky.

"Were you talking to Cid?" Max asked as he entered the living room where everyone else was.

Cloud nodded, "yeah, he should be here in half an hour. He found more of your friends."

Max's face lit up, "who?"

Sunny smiled at him, "he found Angel, Lance and Nightshade," she told him.

"Lance, Angel and Nightshade have been found?"

Drogo nodded, "yeah, oh joy I get to have another 'friendly' conversation with Lance," Drogo muttered sarcastically, Sunny glared at Drogo and was about to respond when Tifa cut in.

"Come on Drogo, I'm sure you'll be glad to see Lance again."

"Yeah, about as much as I like having a fireball shoved up my ass!"

"How are you guys getting on with vehicles?" Barret asked Max and Drogo.

"Everything works perfectly," Max answered grinning broadly, "I managed to fix your truck last night before I fixed the bike."

"Thanks Max," Barret said gratefully, grinning at the Kitsune.

"Anytime."

Half an hour had past and there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Tifa said as she walked to the front door seeing a very disgruntled looking Cid.

"Where is he?!" Cid yelled at Tifa as he barged into the house, Red, Angel, Lance and Nightshade followed him inside. Cid saw Cloud and ran up to him ready to give him a piece of his mind.

"I only managed to get a chance to sit down after flying the damn Sierra all day! I'm not a taxi!"

Barret merely chuckled at this, Red ran into the room and lay down on the rug next to the fireplace watching the scene with a complacent smile on his face. Angel, Lance and Nightshade entered the room and stared at Max, Drogo and Sunny. There was an awkward silence followed by hugging and everyone talking at once, they were all happy to see each other again. Cid eventually whistled and everyone stopped talking and stared at him.

"As much as I like to watch this happy reunion," Cid reminded them, "but we're running on a tight ship here, so lets get going, the sooner we get to Kalm, the sooner I can go home."

Cloud nodded, "yeah, we better get going." Cloud walked out of the house and everyone followed him, five minutes later and everyone was on the Sierra again. Max couldn't help but stare in awe at it.

"Wow!" He exclaimed, "this reminds me of the airship we were travelling on back home only this one is more advanced."

Cid grinned smugly, "yeah, she's something isn't she," he walked over to the controls, "ok this is your ruddy captain speaking so listen up!" Cid barked in his usually manner, "it'll take us an hour to get to Kalm so hold on tight! Oh and Yuffie, if you throw up you're cleaning it up!"

Cid pulled backwards on the levers as the Sierra took off and headed in the direction of Kalm, loud retching could be heard on board.

"Oh Yuffie!" Cid yelled at the ninja.

"Sorry…Cid," Yuffie apologised, she sounded ill, "you know I'm not a good flyer…"

"You know where the mop and bucket is, so clean it up!"

Yuffie moaned as she got the mop and bucket and she began to clean all her sick up. Max meanwhile was stood outside on the deck concentrating hard. "Don't worry Pandora," Max spoke in his head, "we're on our way."

"See you soon," Pandora's voice echoed in Max's head.

Chapter 9 is finally complete, sorry it took so long, I was suffering from writers block plus I was busy with other things. Chapter 10 is coming soon, feel free to put any constructive comments on there. Don't just say that it's crap and then not give a reason why, I can't improve if you don't tell me. Enjoy.