Wutai Village

John landed near the sea to the west of Rocket Town since he could feel the Ki of the group that escaped the town on foot. He meets with the group that was waiting for him at the beach.

"How is everyone?" asks John as he looked at them.

"We are fine but what happened to you?" asks Yuffie as John's clothes were tattered because of the lightning strikes and bullets that penetrated the clothes.

"Some lightning strikes here, some bullets there. Let's just say the usual thing happened. Did you make it smoothly out of town?" asks John as they nod.

"Yes, your performance took all there attention but now we need to find a way to Wutai since monsters live in the sea," says Yuffie as she escaped Wutai in a ship.

"Then we might have to use Isobe again. The others will be waiting for us there," says John as he makes hand seals when Isobe appears.

"Hmm, John what do you want?" asks Isobe as he was sleeping peacefully until he was called.

"Can you take us across to the other shore," says John as Isobe walks towards the water.

He was surrounded by water when he says, "Come on my back. It should be easy to get you there."

They jump on his back as Isobe swims slowly to the other side. He leaves them a bit south of Wutai when Isobe disappears to continue sleeping when Barret asks Yuffie, "What should we await in Wutai?"

"I don't know the last time I was here was when I escaped to fight against Shinra alone," says Yuffie not wanting to tell the truth about what Wutai is right now.

"The last time I was here it was when Shinra and Wutai were at war," says Zack as he didn't know about the situation in Wutai right now.

"We will find out once we are there," says John as he looked at Aerith who nods.

"That's right let go and find out where and how the others are," says Aerith as she takes the lead while everyone followed her.

The other group in the meantime was North of Wutai. They landed with the Tiny Bronco without trouble when Cid asks, "Where is Shera right now?"

"She is safe with some of our friends. They are also taking care of Aerith's mother and Barret's daughter. They can also look after your wife," says Nesiara as Cid looked angry and protested.

"She is not my wife!" says Cid angry as the group looked quite confused at Cid now.

"A grown-up man and woman living together and they aren't married. You sure that you aren't married?" says Cloud as he was thinking the same about Cid and Shera.

"We are not she stayed behind because she felt guilty that she crushed my dream back then," says Cid as was defending himself against the groups stare.

"You really think a woman would stay this long beside a man that is this bad-mouthed as you just to recompensated you. I'm really rethinking about letting my husband help you with your space program," says Nesiara as Cid was fuming from having this conversation in this situation when Vincent jumped in to save him.

"We can talk about this once we are all together again. John said we shall meet in Wutai. It lays south of here. We should get moving since it will get dark very soon and monsters will begin to come out of their hideouts," says Vincent as everyone was serious again.

"You are right, we should begin to move before it gets dark. But what about the Tiny Bronco," says Cid worried about his aircraft.

"Don't worry, we will just store it away for now," says Nesiara as the Tiny Bronco just disappeared out of thin air surprising Cid while Vincent already met with Justice.

"Where is my aircraft?" asks Cid angry and surprised at the same time.

"It's safely stored away. Should I modify it a little while it's in Paradise?" asks Justice who appears on Nesiara's palm when Cid jumped from the scare Justice gave him.

"What is that thing?" asks Cid as Nesiara explained to Cid who Justice was when Cid says, "My Bronco doesn't need any modifications."

"That's what you say but I could get at least 20 percent more power out of it by modifying the motor a little and it would vast less fuel while flying. If I were to change the design I would be able to make the wind resistance less as well," says Justice as he began to list everything he would change to improve the Tiny Bronco.

"You won't touch my baby!" shouts Cid not wanting his Bronco to change.

"Alright," says Justice as he disappears again.

He knows when it's a lost battle so he didn't keep arguing with Cid. The group then began to move towards Wutai to reach it before it gets dark.

The other group arrived at the gates leading into Wutai when Yuffie got cold feet and wanted to run away when John catches her and says, "Sometimes we need to face our demons head-on Yuffie."

"And sometimes it's wise to run away from them," says Yuffie countering John's sentence making John smile.

"Yes, but always running from your demons won't help you in the long run," says John as Yuffie sighs, and they walked forward when the gates opened.

They now see a giant spa instead of the former Wutai Zack was talking about on their way when Yuffie sighs while saying, "Welcome to Wutai. The biggest spa in Gaia."

"How comes the biggest enemy of Shinra turned into a Spa Paradise?" asks Zack not believing what he was seeing.

"We needed money after losing to Shinra so we had to reform the village into a tourist trap. That's why I left Wutai Village," says Yuffie as she hated to see her hometown like this.

"Sometimes surrendering to survive is not dishonorable. Your father saved many lives by surrendering," says John as he looked around to see if the other were already there.

"Why is every sentence that comes out of your mouth towards me some wisdom?" asks Yuffie as John smiles.

"Because you are like a daughter to me and I don't want you to walk a dark path as I did before you," says John as he petted her head when he continues, "The others aren't here yet. Should we find one inn and book some rooms for us?"

"I have a better idea," says Yuffie as she was leading them towards her house. They enter it and she says, "Well, it's small but we can all sleep here until we leave Wutai Village. I will meet with my father to inform him about my return as well as inform the people to guide the others here as well."

"Do you need back-up?" asks Aerith worried about Yuffie as Yuffie smiles.

"Not really, but John needs to come with me since he promised me something when I joined the group," says Yuffie as she was ready to leave to meet her father once again.

"Well then. I will see you all later and keep an eye out for the others if they arrive earlier than we can inform Yuffie's father," says John as the group nods while he leaves with Yuffie.

"You ready to meet your father?" asks John as he walked beside Yuffie.

"Not really," says Yuffie as John smiles.

"I know that feeling. I was excited to meet my father and mother again but also scared because I thought I disappointed them somehow," says John as Yuffie looked at him.

"You were scared of them?" asks Yuffie confused.

"Yes, my father is quite a powerhouse if he were to use his powers while my mother is just a normal scientist. But still, when I returned home they believed I was dead. My father even called me an Imposter until my grandfather explained the situation to them," says John as Yuffie stopped.

"Your family is really complicated to keep up with," says Yuffie as John begins to laugh.

"Then you don't want to meet my wife's family. That is the real complicate part," says John telling Yuffie on their way how he met some of his family-in-laws before.

They arrived at a Pagoda and enter it. They walked down the floor and people in it recognized Yuffie and bowed their head to her with respect since she is the Princess of Wutai Village.

They arrived in a room where five people were discussing something important it seemed when Yuffie flew in and says, "Dad, I'm back."

And with flew in John saw how Yuffie just jumped and tried to land a flying kick on her old man only to find one of the men try to stop the attack.

John only sighs since he knew that the man wouldn't be able to stop the incoming attack as the kick landed the man was sent flying against the wall surprising not only everyone in the room but also Yuffie as she didn't know she was that strong already.

She looked at John who coughed a bit signaling to Yuffie to distract the people in the room so he can heal the man when Yuffie hugs her father while her attitude changed by 180° taking everyone's attention.

John at the same time used Medical Ninjutsu to heal the person that was looking half-dead after Yuffie's kick when Yuffie's father asks, "When did you return?"

"Just some minutes ago. I'm staying for some days with my friends before moving again with them," says Yuffie as she looked over her father's shoulder seeing John lift his thumb up telling her that the man will survive when she continues, "I also came to bring you something."

Yuffie takes a Materia out while saying, "I was hunting for Materia so we can fight finally back against Shinra."

"*sighs* I told you before that we surrendered because we needed to. We can't fight against the SOLDIERS. The last time Sephiroth alone massacred our defensive line and we are lucky to be still alive," says Yuffie's father as he looked serious at his daughter.

"War is never won immediately. It takes time and battles but sometimes a battle can be won by just waiting for the right time," says John as Yuffie's father turned around.

"Wise words. Sometimes you just need to wait for your enemy to make a mistake and take advantage of it or you wait until your enemy self-destructs himself," says Yuffie's father as he looked at John and says, "I'm Godo Kisaragi, Yuffie's father and you are?"

"John Crownguard, I am her teacher," says John as he stretches his hand towards Godo who takes it.

"How about we sit down and talk a bit," says Godo as he sat down while showing to John to sit across him.

John did so while Yuffie sat beside her father as they began to talk about their adventure and Yuffie's training.