Chasing the Black Caped Man

Mythril Mines to Junon

Items/Skills/Materia

Mind Source

Long Range Materia

Tent

Ether

Elixir

Hi-Potion

Flame Thrower Skill

Grand Glove

Boomerang

Power Wrist

Shiva Materia

Magic Comb

The Mithril Mines area is a relatively short area, as compared to other stages of the game; however, it is still VERY lucrative for the treasure hunter, as you can find and steal many great items, and gain tons of levels in the process. Once you enter the mines, equip Choco/Mog , Steal, and Enemy Skill Materia on your characters, as well as Restore+All and whatever else you want to use. Upon entering, go directly to the right andinto the cavern, where you'll find a Tent and an Ether waiting. Climb the vine to the top to pick up the Long Range Materia, which allows characters with short-range weapons, such as Cloud, Aeris, Tifa, and Nanaki, to attack from the back row and still dish out normal damage, as well as allowing them to hit flying enemies. This materia is useful in a couple of situations during the game, but I wouldn't make it a priority to equip this one, unless you wind up in a situation where it'd be helpful. Backtrack out to the main cave and explore the mines, where you should be able to find a Mind Source in a chest.

Once you're ready to do so, go into the cave on the left, where you meet up with the Turks (Elena, Rude, and Tseng). Listen to them, as they fill you in on the next destination of Sephiroth: Junon. After they leave you, enter the back room and grab the Elixir and Hi-Potion. At this point, you can leave the mines, as you're through here, and head towards Junon and Sephiroth. However, I recommend staying in the mines for a while, as it's one of the best areas in the game for leveling up characters. Most of the enemies are pretty easy to beat and yield some decent treasure and good XP/MP upon their defeat. Stay awhile and get your characters to Level 17 or so, giving everyone a few levels and switching out several times; you may also be able to level up a couple of Materia in the process. Just leave the mines through the entrance, use a Tent and save your game, and call in new party members every so often so that everyone shares the wealth. This is also a GREAT place to get Limit Breaks, as the enemies are pretty weak and you can rack up tons of kills for all of your characters (Choco/Mog usually gets about 3 kills for the person using it); if you also use Hypers on every fighting character, your limit guage will charge up faster and you can use them more, enabling new ones in the process. Try to get everyone at least one Level 2 Limit Break here. While you're leveling up your characters, make sure to steal from Madouge, the red guy who swings a ball on a chain; he's got the Grand Glove, a weapon for Tifa that you won't be able to buy until Junon, where it costs 1200 gil. Also, keep Enemy Skill equipped when fighting the Archdragons, who hold the Flame Thrower skill; this spell does a decent amount of fire-typed damage to all enemies and is great in areas like Ice Gate, where many of the enemies are weak against Fire. After you've sufficiently leveled up your characters, leave the mines and head towards Junon.

On the way towards Junon, you'll run into a bunch of different enemies; they're all pretty easy to kill and give you decent XP/AP, but it's not worth running around and picking fights here. The only one of any importance is Zemzelett, the huge bird-like creature who has White Wind, a great Enemy Skill; however, you can't get it now, but make a note of him and go back later with the Manipulate Materia to pick it up. If you want, you can head straight to Junon now, but on your way, there are 2 possible side treks that are well worth your time. First is Condor Fort, a fort where the locals have been fighting off Shinra forces to defend their treasure; this locale is completely optional at this stage, but you'll come back here later for a major event, so it's best to get acquainted with it and the proceedings now. Go inside, buy whatever you want at the shops, sleep in the inn, which is free, and then head up to the top for the battle. I won't go into the details of the battle and how to fight it now, but it's pretty easy to figure out; I'll describe the battles here in a later section of the walkthrough, but you basically purchase and deploy troops, give them orders, and watch them fight the enemies. Anyways, talk to the chief and set up an army to defend the fort; wait until you know what type of enemies you're facing before buying troops and possibly wsting money. If you keep the enemies from storming the fort in the first battle, you will receive the Magic Comb, a double AP weapon for Red XIII that is the most powerful weapon he can get until you reach Cosmo Canyon in about 6-10 hours! Nice reward for almost no effort, so you may want to give the fort a shot.

Second of all is Yuffie, one of the two optional characters; without her, you won't be able to get the Leviathan call spell later in the game, so I'd suggest getting her now, even though she can be a major pain at times. Wander around in the forested areas until you wind up fighting a mystery female ninja, who turns out to be Yuffie; it may take a little while until you finally find her, but it's worth doing. She's pretty easy to beat, but it's after the battle that's important. First of all, after you beat her, you'll see a nearby save point, as well as Yuffie, lying on the ground. Do not go to the Save Point; check on Yuffie instead. She'll blabber on about some stuff; just answer her questions the right way and you've got her. First off, she'll ask for a rematch; turn her down and say you're petrified. She'll try to leave, and tell her to wait; then tell her you want her to join you. Then, when she asks if you want to know her name, simply move on without asking her; she'll tag along and join up with your party. If you answer her questions  differently, however, Yuffie will steal some of your money and run off.

Anyways, after you've checked out Condor Fort and picked up Yuffie, head towards Junon, thebustling port city where Sephiroth was heading. However, when you arrive, the town seems dead, as nothing's happening in lower Junon. You can check out the shops if you want, but there's really nothing of interest for sale in Lower Junon; the good stuff's all in Upper Junon. Once you're ready, heal up and give 3 of your best characters all the Magic Materia you can, as a pretty tough boss awaits you on the beach. Head down to the beach area and meet Priscilla and her dolphin friend, as well as an unexpected visitor, Bottom Swell!

BOSS: Bottom Swell

Bottom Swell can be a pretty TOUGH opponent if you're not prepared and fully healed up. He's your toughest foe so far and a worthy adversary at this point in the game. First of all, forget about physical attacks; unless you have the Long Range Materia equipped, every physical attack will miss him. Bottom Swell has 2500 HP, so try to poison him early in the fight and drain him through the battle. Since you can't physically attack him, rely on Magic, Limit Breaks, and the Choco/Mog Summon. Make sure that one character has Restore + All equipped, as you'll need it after a couple shots of Big Wave, his primary attack that does about 100-200 points of damage to every character. Whenever he makes a bubble around one of your characters, pop it with magic right away; if he traps all 3 of you in bubbles, it's game over. Just hit him with everything you've got, popping bubbles and healing up in the process; he'll eventually fall and cough up the Power Wrist, an accessory that raises your attack power, in the process.

Once Bottom Swell is defeated, Cloud will need to resuscitate the little girl using CPR in a pretty boring mini-game. Afterwards, head back up to Lower Junon and meet with the rest of your party. Stay at the inn overnight free of charge and rest up for your big journey across the sea. Go through the dream segment overnight and remember everything you hear; it'll be important later on. After you leave the inn and hear the music playing, go see Priscilla and get the Shiva Summon Materia from her; she'll also inform you of the source of the music: Rufus Shinra's welcoming parade! I'd say it's about time that you paid your respects to the newly named President of Shinra, Inc, so head on down to the beach with Priscilla and catch a ride on the dolphin up to the top of the tower, where Cloud will be greeted with a great video sequence and left atop the platform.

Welcome the President!

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