With the buggy in their possession, the party decided to search further for Sephiroth. The road led them to Gongaga, another village ruined by the Shinra Company. The village was located near an old mako reactor which eventually blew up. The few that made it are now barely surviving and the village is slowly dying out. They entered the village, but not before being attacked by a young Wutai ninja named Yuffie in one of the outlying forests. She acted her age, but has shown eagerness to join the group, for some reason, so Cloud decided to let her.
It took me two plays of the game to figure out what Gongaga was and who lived there.
At the town entrance, the gang had another encounter with the Turks and this time, it got physical. Reno and Rude were no match for Cloud, Barret and Red XIII though, so the fight was not a lengthy one. After the Turks retreated, Cloud and the group continued towards the reactor, where were forced to hide from a Shinra helicopter. The passengers on it were Scarlet, the new head of the Shinra weapons branch, and a couple of low ranking guards. Apparently, they were surveying decommissioned reactors, looking for powerful materia, but they got nothing here in Gongaga. As they left, Cloud decided to take a look at the ruined reactor himself and he was right in doing so. He found a piece of materia which would enable him to summon Titan. It might not be powerful enough for Shinra, but it will surely help the party.
The group explored the town, trying to find some information about where Sephiroth might have went. Sadly, they got nothing. It wasn’t uneventful, though. One of the families there asked Cloud if he knew their son, who was also a member of Soldier. Cloud denied every knowing anyone by the name of Zack, but admitted the name did sound familiar to him.
Since there was nothing to be found in town, Cloud decided to continue exploring with the buggy. The next place along their way was Cosmo Canyon. As they entered, Red XIII was greeted as Nanaki. It turns out this was his real name, and Cosmo Canyon was his place of origin. His grandfather lives there, so he decided to visit him and let the rest of the party explore the town.
