Chapter 6

     When Jim woke up, he was lying in a bed.
     I don't remember getting into bed, he thought.  Last thing I remember, I passed out on the
engine room floor.  He looked at his surroundings, and immedieately knew he was no longer on
the Highwind.  Instead, he was in an oriental-styled room, complete with wall-hangings and the
futon he was sleeping on.  He stood up, and walked around a bit, exploring his new
surroundings.  He slid the door open, and walked into the main hallway.  As soon as he did, he
was greeted by a small, young woman wearing a simple white kimono.
     "Good morning!  Glad to see you're finally awake."
     "What the--oh.  Hi Yuffie.  Where are we?"
     "We're home!  Well, my home, anyway.  You're in Wutai."
     "I told you we'd get you home.  Wait a second.  Oh God.  Now I'm the one stuck away
from home."
     "Don't sweat it, Jim.  We'll get you back."
     "Don't worry too much about it.  I've got nothing to go back to.  I was probably fired
when I didn't show up for work, and we trashed enough stuff to put us on the FBI's 10 most
wanted list."
     Yuffie then put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.  "Then make yourself at home in my
home."
     "Thank you."  Jim walked down the hallway, and was greeted by a very pleasant aroma. 
He followed it, and found the kitchen, where Tifa was cooking up a storm.  She looked up to
him.
     "Good morning!  Did you sleep well?" she asked.
     "As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever had a better night's sleep," he replied, not
exaggerating in the slightest.
     "A good night's rest will cure all that ails you.  Remember that.  Would you like some
breakfast?" 
     "Yeah...that sounds great," he said.
     Cloud walked over to him from the other side of the kitchen.  "That's Tifa for you.  Her
cooking is unmatched."
     "If it tastes half as good as it smells, it should be," he replied.  "I'm going to take a quick
look around before I eat, OK?"
     "Sure, this is going to take a little while.  I'll have it waiting for you when you get back,"
said Tifa.
     With that, he walked back out into the hallway, and down the stairs to the basement, to
what appeared to be a stable.
     "WARK!!"
     Jim jumped about five feet into the air, and whirled around.  The thing he saw looked
like a giant bird, bigger than an ostrich, and covered in rich golden plumage.  To Jim, it looked
kinda like a cross between a parrot, an ostrich, and a very BIG canary.
     "What the HELL is that?!" he yelled to no one in particular.  Slowly, though, his fear
gave in to his curiosity, and he inched closer.
     "Warrr-rrk?" chirped the bird, obviously just as curious as Jim.
     "Easy there, steady fella," he said, more to calm himself than to comfort the strange
creature he was now confronted with.  He reached out carefully with his hand, against his better
judgement, and lightly patted the bird on the head.
     The bird chirped and whistled happly.  "Warr-rrk!" it whistled, lightly flapping its wings.
     "Hey, you're friendly.  That's a good thing.  So what's your name?  For that matter, what
are you?"
     "Ah, I see you found DC," said a voice from behind him.  It was Cid.
     "DC?  What's that stand for?  And what is this...thing called?"
     "That there is a chocobo.  We ride them here for transportation, to places the Highwind
can't reach.  And the name DC stands for Damn Chocobo, on account of the little smart-ass
threw me into the mud the first time I tried to ride him."
     DC was chirping loudly, and Jim was stifling a laugh.  "Yeah, DC, laugh now.  Keep
laughin', and I'll get Tifa up there to fix me roast chocobo for dinner!" said Cid, jokingly.  DC
shut up.
     I think I'd better go see if my food's ready.  Later, DC!" he said on his way up the stairs.
     "Wark!" said DC.
     Cid followed shortly after.  "Ahh, shut up.  Damn chocobo."
     When Jim got to the kitchen, his plate was piping hot and waiting for him.
     "There you go, Jim.  Enjoy!" said Tifa, beaming.
     Jim dug into his plate of food, and was amazed at how good everything actually was.  He
expected it to be good, but not this good.  "This is wonderful!" he said, in between forkfuls.
     Cloud gently poked an elbow into Tifa's ribs.  "Looks like you've got another fan."  Tifa
just smiled, and elbowed him back. 

     Outside the house, a man was standing by the door, flanked on either side by a young
woman and another man.  The first man had long, messy red hair, and was wearing a rumpled
blue suit.  A nightstick was dangling from a strap on his wrist.  The woman was a bit shorter
than him, and appeared much neater.  She had short, platinum-blonde hair, and was also dressed
in a blue suit, and carrying a pair of automatic pistols concealed under her jacket.  The other
man was also dressed in a blue suit, and also had a pair of dark sunglasses to shield his eyes.  He
was completely bald.  He was unarmed.
     "Are you sure this is wise, Reno?" asked the woman.
     "No, but we don't have any other choice," replied the red-head.
     "Rude?" she asked, glancing hopefully at the bald man.  He gave a thumbs-down, but said
nothing.
     Reno reached out to ring the doorbell, but before he had the chance, the door slid open,
and Jim ran out the door, not exactly watching where he was going.  Reno was the first to go
down, followed by Rude and Elena.  The four of them were a tangle of arms, legs, and blue suits. 
Jim stood up, dusted himself off, and offered a hand up to Reno.
     "Uh, sorry about that.  I guess I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.  Can I help
you guys?" asked Jim.  He looked at them carefully.  "You work for the government, don't you?"
     "Not exactly," said Reno.  "We happen to be free-lance contractors for hire."
     "In other words, you're hired hit-men.  Wonderful."  Jim turned back inside.  "Cloud! 
Come here!  We've got company!"
     Cloud arrived at the door, and immedieately grabbed a baseball bat sitting next to the
coat rack.  It had several ten-penny nails driven into the business end, and he was brandishing it
like a sword.
     "The Turks?  What do you want here?" he asked, waving the bat slightly.
     "Easy, Spike. We're on your side," said Reno.  "We figured you might have a little trouble
bringing down Sephiroth again, and you might need the help."
     At that moment, Sephiroth, dressed in a black turtleneck and black jeans, walked up to
the doorway.  All the Turks reached for their weapons, but Jim eased them off.
     "Relax.  He's on our side.  The Sephiroth you're chasing is merely a facsimile," said Jim.
     "If I didn't know better, I'd say Hojo was behind all this mess," said Sephiroth, in his
usual calm voice.
     "Hojo is dead.  I killed him myself," said Cloud.
     "I know.  Still, there's something about all this that distinctly smack of his work."
     "So do you want our help, or not?" asked Reno.
     "I guess we're gonna need all the help we can get.  All right, you can come along," said
Cloud, grudgingly.
     The Turks walked in, and Jim shut the door behind them.  Then, he walked into a room,
that looked a great deal like a training room.  Yuffie walked in behind him, and locked the door.
     "Hey!  What are you doing?" asked Jim, annoyed.
     "If you're gonna fight with us, you're gonna have to learn how," said Yuffie.  She walked
over to a wall, filled with weapons of almost every kind, including swords, staffs, knives, and
guns.  "Pick a weapon from this wall."
     "OK, but I--"
     Yuffie cut him off.  "No buts.  Pick."
     Jim walked over to the wall, studied its contents for a moment, and picked up a pair of
knives, each about 7 inches long, with two holes in each handle.
     "OK, now to take some armor.  Here, take this old set of Shinra Alpha.  It's pretty strong
stuff."
     Jim donned the armor plating, with some difficulty.
     Yuffie grabbed her Twin Viper from the wall, and stood in the center of the room.  "OK,
now come at me!"
     "Huh?"
     "Come on, fight!  Let's see what you've got!"
     "OK, here goes nothing," he shrugged.  Jim charged the young shinobi, and swung at
Yuffie with one blade.  She dodged easily, adn swung her weapon lightly, cracking the armor on
Jim's back.  He hit the ground, and as he staggered to his feet, he was sliced again by the Viper,
taking a chunk out of his armor.  He slashed with his left hand, again missing, and Yuffie bashed
him on the head with the flat part of the blade.  He staggered back, and shook his head.
     Jim was seeing red.  Yuffie knew that look, and she'd seen it before on the others.
     Jim was really pissed.  Yuffie wondered if he hit his limit or not.  She didn't have long to
wait.  A red aura surrounded him, and he threw his knives to the ground. He charged Yuffie, and
hit her hard in the chest with his shoulder, knocking her to the ground.  Then he picked her up,
and threw her clear across the room, where she impacted, spread-eagled and upside down, into
the wall.  There she lingered for a moment, and then fell to the ground.  
     Jim stood, astonished.  "How did I do that?"
     "Yuffie stood up and brushed off what debris from the wall she had knocked loose. 
"That was your Limit.  You only ever use that when you get really pissed off in a battle.
Apparently you've got a pretty short fuse."
     "Yeah, I was kinda known for my temper in high school.  Ow.." He looked down to see a
large gash in his stomach.  "I don't feel too good."  He then collapsed to the ground.  Yuffie ran
over to him, and muttered a few words.  One of the materia on her weapon glowed, and green
sparks showered over Jim.  In a moment, they disappeared, and he was completely healed, and
his armor repaired.
     "Wow.  That was interesting.  Let me guess.  Healing materia, right?"
     Yuffie nodded.  "I think you should pick something else.  With your reach, you'd
probably benefit from a longer weapon than those daggers."  She walked over to the wall, picked
up a long steel staff, and tossed it to him.  He twirled it around in his hand.  
     "Yeah.  This feels much better.  More solid than those knives.  But what are these holes
for?"  He was referring to a pair of holes drilled into the center, linked by a small piece of
mythril.
     "You put materia in those holes," she answered.  She explained to him the basics of using
materia, which, for her, took almost an hour.  Jim's watch beeped, and he looked at it.
     "Ah, nuts.  I'm late!  I was supposed to meet Cid in the hangar.  I was gonna help him fix
up the Highwind.  Damn!"  He ran out of the gym, wiggling out of the armor, and tossing his
staff to the ground.
     A minute later, he was in the hangar.  When he got there, Cid was waiting for him,
smoking a cigarette.  Jim skidded to a halt on the smooth cement floor.  "Sorry I'm late, Cid.  I
got held up."
     "It's about &^%&^ time you got here!" yelled Cid.  "So what're you gonna do about your
car?  We ain't got any gasoline here, and she's running on empty as it is."
     "I haven't decided yet.  I definitely want to get it running again, but I don't know how. 
Maybe I'll use some of those solar cells that Reeve guy developed for that new city.  Heard they
pack a pretty big punch.  I'll probably put in some reserve batteries, too, for when the sun doesn't
shine."
     "OK.  Just be careful.  Reeve should be able to send us plenty of help, if we need it, now
that he's mayor of Neo-Midgar.  In the meantime, you might want to get Yuffie, or Tifa, and
have them train you in the gym.  If you're gonna tag along with us, you're gonna fight for
yourself.  Just talk to Yuffie.  She'll fit you out with some equipment."
     "Yeah," said Jim, rubbing his back.  "I already talked with her.  Remind me not to get on
her bad side, OK?"
     Cid laughed, and nodded his head.  "Kid laid into you pretty good, huh?"
     "Kid?  Cid, she's older than me!"
     "How old are you?"
     "22."
     "Funny.  You seemed older," said Cid, scratching his chin.
     Just then, Cloud and the others burst into the room.  "Reeve just called.  The clone's been
spotted in the Midgar ruins.  We'd better get a move on."
     Jim nodded, and accompanied Yuffie back to the gym, to pick up his gear.  When all
were prepared, they loaded up into the Highwind, which was still having last minute repairs. 
They lifted off as soon as the last tech jumped off.  Cid had his Venus Gospel sitting next to him,
Tifa dusted off her Premium Heart, Cloud grabbed his Ragnarok, Yuffie took her Conformer,
and Jim with his simple steel staff, still empty of materia.
     As they were flying past Rocket Town, the PHS phone rang.  Jim picked it up.  "Hello?"
     "Who is this?" asked the voice on the phone. "Cloud?  Is that you?"
     "Uhh, hang on a minute," said Jim into the phone.  "Cloud!  Phone for you."
     Cloud took the phone.  "Yes?  Him?  He's our new member.  Yup.  Could use the help. 
Sure, we'll stop.  We're almost there, now.  We'll see you there, then."  Cloud hung up the phone. 
"Cid, we need to stop in Nibelheim.  Our new allies are waiting with Vincent and Nanaki, and
they need a lift."
     "All right.  I was wondering when they were gonna show up," said Cid, as he changed
course and headed for Nibelheim.
     As soon as he landed, the Turks boarded the ship, followed by a man with dark hair, a
claw for an arm, and a red cape, and what seemed to be a cross between a lion and a panther. 
Jim looked curiously at the animal.  Interesting.  They trained an animal to fight, he thought.
     The animal looked at Jim with his one good eye, and did the last thing Jim expected.  He
spoke.  "You must be the new member.  My name is Nanaki, but mose simply call me Red XIII."
     Jim was surprised.  "The cat thing can talk!"
     "I am not a cat.  I am the last of my race.  And yes, I can speak.  Quite a bit better than
you, I daresay," answered Nanaki.  "Interesting accent. You must be from Rocket Town."
     "No, I'm from Pittsburgh, originally."
     "Never heard of it."
     "I'm not surprised."  He turned toward the cockpit door, which was hanging open.  "Have
we left yet?"
     "We've been in the air for ten minutes already, you moron!" yelled Cid.
     "Wow.  This thing really does ride smooth.  Hey, what's this?"  He had picked up a glove,
with an odd-looking device on the back.
     "Used to be mine," said Tifa as she walked to him.  "It's called the Motor Drive, but it
doesn't work anymore."
     "What's this thing on top?" he asked.
     "Used to make a field that'd disrupt electronics, but the motor's busted or something."
     "This could be useful.  May I have it?" he asked.
     "If you can get it working, it's yours."
     Jim grabbed a set of tools left behind by one of the workers, and set to work repairing the
motor.  Within a few minutes, he had the motor humming.  He put on the glove.  Even though it
was a left-hand glove, and he was right-handed, he figured it didn't make much difference.  "It's a
little snug, but it fits.  Now does it work?"  He extended his hand toward his staff, which was
laying on the other side of the cargo hold.  The staff shook for a moment, then flew through the
air to his outstretched hand, and landed in his palm with a clang.  "That answers that."
     "That glove'll pack quite a punch, too, should you ever not be able to use that staff,"
added Tifa.  "Served me well for a long time."
     "I'll keep that in mind."
     "We're coming up on the ruins now!" yelled Cid from the cockpit.  "I'm going to set her
down outside of sector 5."
     Jim could feel the ship descend, and heard it fall to silence when its engines had shut
down.
     "OK, we'd better split up, to cover more ground," said Cloud.  "Tifa, Cid, come with me. 
Reno, Rude, Elena, you three should stay together.
     "I'll go with Vincent," said Nanaki.
     "Hm.  Guess that just leaves you and Yuffie, Jim," said Cloud.
     Jim and Yuffie looked at each other briefly, then looked ahead.
     "We'll start searching here, and we'll meet the rest of you at the old Shinra building," said
Yuffie.
     "All right, then, let's move out!" urged Cloud, and each of the groups went their separate
ways.

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