A big 'ole family... Can you put your arm down please?
Finding Dyne took a while. There's a new path that opens up where you go through a fence and find yourself in a junkyard. At the end of the junkyard is the "boss", AKA Dyne. He's a pretty scrawny guy... but he's got a gun for an arm so better safe than sorry.
Barret tries to talk some sense into Dyne but it turns out that the man's pretty bitter about life and everything. Barret tries to tell Dyne that Marlene is still alive but Dyne decides to force the fight.
Boss: Dyne
Looks like a one-on-one brawl between two cyborgs. Dyne has Needle Gun, S-Mine and Molotov Cocktail which all do pretty shitty damage. First thing to do is summon Shiva right away. Afterwards, I stick a Bio on Dyne and turn the rest into a battle of attrition. It's an easy fight, to be honest.
After the fight, Dyne gives up. He tosses Barret his wife's old pendent and asks Barret to give it to his goddaughter. And then he takes a head first dive off a cliff... Ouch.
The next thing to do is get out of this slum. Which means that we need to win the Chocobo Race that's held in the Gold Saucer... YAY, RACING! FUN! Barret decides that Cloud is the guy who should deal with Dio. We then get a manager by the name of Ester who teaches me how to ride a Chocobo.
There's a Ramuh Materia in the jockey room. Soon after, the bell signals that it's time to race. It takes a couple of tries before I snag first place but when I do, I win it pretty easily. Dio then sends me a letter claiming that the party is free to go. What's the catch? Best yet, Dio also writes that Sephiroth is heading towards Gongaga... I'm going to catch that motherfucker.
And now I have a buggy too! This is great news! I change out Barret and Cait for Red and Tifa and quickly redo the Materia settings. Cloud becomes my fulltime mage with no less than an extra 15% MP and 7 Magic. Tifa sits in the back row with Long Range and Cover on along with Steal and Manipulate while Red XIII is the jack-of-all-trades (healing, attacking, magical damage).
Zoom, zoom, zoom!
After fighting a few battles, I realize that Tank Tifa is not to be, making me switch Tifa's and Cloud's roles. The next thing to do is to drive south to Gongaga. Red XIII learns Lunatic High on the way too which will definitely nifty. And I never knew just how annoying Touch Me's could be but fuck, they should all die.
And... great. I manage to run into the Turks... AGAIN. This time, we're facing Reno and Rude.
Boss: Reno & Rude of The Turks
The boys really aren't that hard. Yeah, they can hit hard. That's about it since Rude can use Fire for a measly 0 damage. Or something like that. A quick summon rush should knock off most of their combined HP. Oh and Cloud gained Climhazzard which is quite nice.
After the fight, Cloud, Cait Sith and Aeris (switched the party) wonder how the Turks knew where the party was going to be. The only possible explanation would be a spy but nobody seems to check out. I mean, it's clearly not Cloud (I'm not expecting Cloud to pull a Kalas if you get the reference), Tifa and Barret are part of AVALANCHE, Aeris is being chased after by the Turks, Red XIII was captured by Shinra but clearly hated it and Cait Sith is from Gold Saucer.
Anyway, Gongaga is a pretty rundown place with not much going on. But I meet the parents of a boy named Zack who apparently was also in SOLDIER, just like Cloud. Cloud doesn't know him but Aeris might. She did claim to have a boyfriend in SOLDIER and the name sounds familiar to her. She walks out of the house while Cloud and Cait chase after her.
Well, apparently she was going out with Zack. Both him and Cloud were SOLDIER First Class but Cloud's never heard of him. I check out the shops afterwards and buy some stuff. And then I notice a weapon called Fairy Tale in my inventory that gives Aeris 7 Materia slots along with 15 Attack over the Full Metal Staff. What the fuck?! I buy the Mystify and Time Materia and then pick up the White M-phone for Cait.
Just so you know, Aeris is a pure mage right now. She's got 2 Summons (Shiva and Ifrit) along with 9 Magic Materias including Time and Revive. That's +28% MaxMP, +13 Magic and +2 Magic Def. On the flipside, that also means -28% MaxHP, -11 Strength and -2 Vitality. Geez.
Cloud - Level 23
Force Stealer: Manipulate Lv. 1 (1732), Steal Lv. 1 (4825), Long Range Lv. 1 (2917)
Platinum Bangle: Cover Lv. 2 (2989), Ramuh Lv. 1 (1220)
Aeris - Level 21
Fairy Tale: Lightning Lv. 2 (2103), Restore Lv. 2 (3719), Heal Lv. 1 (3649), Poison Lv. 1 (2924), Ice Lv. 2 (2016), Time Lv. 1 (0), Fire Lv. 2 (2399)
Silver Armlet: Ifrit Lv. 1 (3011) + Shiva Lv. 1 (2978), Transform Lv. 2 (8634), Revive lv. 1 (2481)
Cait Sith - Level 21
Yellow M-phone: Elemental Lv. 1 (2809) + Choco/Mog Lv. 2 (2723), Enemy Skill (3), Sense Lv. 1 (2787)
Silver Armlet: All Lv. 1 (1324) + Restore Lv. 2 (3066), Mystify Lv. 1 (0), Ice Lv. 2 (2146)
Red XII - Level 21
Aeris - Level 21
Tifa - Level 21
Extra Materia:
Lightning Lv. 2 (2009)
Fire Lv. 2 (2035)
All Lv. 2 (3232)
All Lv. 2 (2235)
All Lv. 1 (0)
Enemy Skill (0)