Hidden Identity (Book Two)-Complete

Year Five, Day Twenty-two

Cress POV

We slept in tents again last night. We should reach Junon tonight at the latest, depending on how many encounters with monsters we have along the way. If we still had our vehicles, the trip would be a lot shorter and easier. Less encounters, too.

Out of nowhere, Aerith begins to sing a song I don't recognize. It's a really pretty song, and it somehow fills me with energy. I can tell it has the same effect on the others, as well.

"What was that?" Tifa asks her when she finishes. "It was so beautiful and reviving."

"It's a song my mother taught me for when you're on a long journey," Aerith replies, turning pink. 

"Elmyra?" Barret questions.

"No, my real mom, Ifalna, a Cetra."

"Oh."

Tifa sighs. "I wonder if it has some magic in it because I feel a lot more energized than I did when I woke up this morning-"

Out of nowhere, a girl dressed in the garb of a Wutai ninja jumps out from behind some rocks and shouts, "halt, ShinRa followers! Give me all your materia, and I'll let you pass unscathed!"

"A Wutai girl? A little far from home, aren't you?" Barret says, frowning. "We ain't got the time to be messing with you."

"Then you better hand over your materia quickly, mister!"

"No. I ain't going to listen to some Wutai pipsqueak."

Cloud buts in before they start going at it. "Look, we're not giving you our materia. We need it for our mission. And we don't work for ShinRa. We're actually trying to undermine ShinRa."

"Ooh! A mission? Like a quest?" the girl says excitedly, her whole mood changing from slightly threatening to hyper and excitable. "A heroic quest to bring down ShinRa! Count me in! I'll find lots of materia traveling with all of you!"

"What!?"

"I am the Great Ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi! From now on, I shall aid you in your quest to end ShinRa!"

We all exchange looks of exasperation. Oh boy, this girl has way too much energy. She doesn't even know that our real goal is to stop Sephiroth from destroying the Planet.

"Fine, guess there is no stopping you," Cloud relents, groaning slightly.

Yuffie grins broadly and does this little fist pump jump. "Yeah! Awesome!"

As we get moving again, Yuffie bounds over to me. "Hi! I noticed that you have silver hair. Were you born like that? If not, how did your hair get like that? You have really pretty eyes."

"Um, thanks?" I reply, not used to being around someone like her. "My silver hair is the result of experimentation, actually-"

"It was ShinRa, right? Those guys are so awful to have experimented on you! Is that why you're trying to take them down? Cool! A heroic quest of revenge against the people who caused you so much suffering!"

"I guess? Um, sort of? Really, our main goal is to find and stop a man named Sephiroth-are you okay?"

Yuffie had frozen with a scowl on her face at the mention of Sephiroth. "That demon. The one responsible for the state of my country. Sephiroth. I want to end him, too. After all the people he's killed, the families he's ripped apart...he needs to die."

I nod. "Yes, we will stop him because he's planning to hurt a lot more people by destroying the planet."

"That's part of the reason I've been hunting materia," she explains. "Partly to help Wutai, but partly so I can take him down myself. I'll have a higher chance of defeating him with all of you with me. Say, what are your names?"

"I'm Cress. The dog-thing is Red. The dark haired girl is Tifa, and the girl in pink is Aerith. The bad-tempered man with the gun-arm is Barret, and the one who looks a bit like a chocobo is Cloud-he's our leader. Sephiroth destroyed Tifa and Cloud's hometown and killed many of their friends and family. Red is just with us until we reach his home. Barret is a bit over-protective of the planet, and Aerith is an Ancient, so she is connected to the planet and is moved by its callings or something."

"What about you?"

"Revenge. And a desire to protect the planet and everyone who lives on it."

"Oh. Cool."

Didn't have anything to do, so I decided to post this shorter episode. Yuffie has now joined the party. I will have everyone join in the end, even the other optional character, Vincent.