The Nibel reactor was another area I used to have trouble with as a kid. The place itself was tough enough, with the dragon monsters which would hit extremely hard, but the boss at the end, Materia Keeper, was the real issue. Back then, I didn’t understand materia, and I understood elemental absorption even less. This monster absorbed fire and did a huge amount of damage through Trine, as well as single hits. As a kid, I barely even knew how to bind healing materia to my gear, so I would be able to heal my party.
There was nothing left but to follow Sephiroth through the mountain. The road was the same as in the past, for the most part, and the party was near the reactor in no time. The way out was soon found, but before that, Cloud wanted to navigate through a series of ladders and pipes in order to gather the valuable equipment left behind by the reactor crew. This involved some walking back and forth, but it was eventually worth it.
The cave exit was guarded by a monster, the Materia Keeper. It was a powerful creature, able to use attacks which hit multiple targets at once, as well as some powerful physical moves. Eventually, Cloud managed to defeat it with Barret and Red XIII.
Once outside the caves, the only place reachable by foot was a local town. The town was built around an old run down rocket ship. Asking around town revealed that the rocket belongs to Shinra. It was part of a space exploration program that was scrapped due to a launch failure and high financial costs.
After the depressive atmosphere of Mount Nibel, Rocket Town serves as a refreshing change.
The captain’s name was Cid and he was definitely not willing to give up his plane. He was also an extremely ill-mannered person. His assistant, Shera, felt it the worst because, according to her words, the initial launch of the rocket failed because of her. She was attempting to repair an oxygen tank seconds before launch and was even willing to die, but Cid aborted the launch to save her life. After that, mako became a lucrative industry and the space program was scrapped. Cid basically never forgave her, even though it wasn’t really her fault.There was nothing in town for them so the party decided to search for a way to continue their journey. In the backyard of one of the houses, Cloud managed to find an old, but functional aircraft. Cloud asked the resident, a woman named Shera if it was possible for them to borrow it, but she said it belonged to “the Captain” who was at the rocket ship.
As the party was talking with Cid and Shera, they were interrupted by the arrival of president Rufus and his posy. At first, Cid was hopeful that the space program might be restarted, but it was soon obvious why they were really there. They wanted to take Cid’s plane, the Tiny Bronco. Cloud and the gang listened to the conversation from inside the house and decided to take the plane before Rufus could.
Before that, they had to deal with Palmer, Rufus’ lackey, who was inspecting the plane. Palmer was a pathetic man, easy to deal with, but he slowed them down enough for Shinra to notice the theft attempt. They started shooting at the runway. Cid also noticed what was happening and even managed to catch up and climb aboard, but as the plane was taking off, several bullets hit one of the engines and a forced landing was soon required.
The plane was not airworthy anymore, but at least it could be used as a flotation device. With nothing left for him, Cid decided to join the party for the off-chance to one day pay the Shinra back for what they did to him. They now needed to decide where to go next. Cloud overheard Rufus about Sephiroth going to some place called The Temple of the Ancients, but he had no idea where that was. However, they crash-landed at the shores of Wutai, so they decided to land on the shore and ask around in the nearest town.
They reached a bridge connecting two cliffs, when Yuffie stopped them to say something. Before she did, a pair of Shinra officers attacked. When the battle was over, Yuffie was nowhere to be found, along with any materia the party used to own. This was her plan all along – to lure them to Wutai and rob them. For better or worse, the party was now stuck in Wutai until they track down the thief.
