Final Fantasy VII/Cosmo Canyon

There are very few pathways to take from Gongaga next; the only real way lies west, over the river to a mysterious place that tends to live in eternal twilight. It's hard to miss as the game throws some really big hints toward you that checking out Cosmo Canyon would be a good idea. Among other things, if you drive past the town in the Buggy, it will break down, leaving you at the mercy of the local mechanic.

Red XIII, whose name you find out is Nanaki, joyously goes to see his grandfather. This turns out to be a 130-year-old, legless, hovering man called Bugenhagen. This place is full of mysteries.

There isn't a whole lot to do in Cosmo Canyon right now. You can visit the Shildra Inn (which has one of those Turtles Paradise posters of #5) and pick up an Elixir by the couch after staying there. Or you can shop for all-new weapons and silver armlets. Aside the Shildra Inn poster, there's also another Turtles Paradise poster #4 in the Tigerlily Arms Shop after learning of Red XIII's heritage and his shame, proceed further up, and you'll encounter another materia shop which also sell some new materia!

Once done, climb all the way to the topmost building, where Red XIII is talking with Bugenhagen. Red XIII wants Bugenhagen to show you his contraption, and for that, you need to hunt down two party members. Your party is scattered throughout the city; Barret, Yuffie, and Cait Sith are in the rooms in the mountainside, Tifa and Aeris are in the bar at the inn.

Once your party is selected, head back up. Bugenhagen will show you his holographic planetarium, and lecture you on some of the basics of the game's backstory. Basically, Mako-sucking technology is evil and the lifeforce in every living being is really good. After this, everyone will retreat to the Cosmo Candle, the big bonfire in the lower plateau. You need to talk to everyone here. Barret wants to rebuild AVALANCHE, Aeris thinks of how alone she is, and Tifa seems strangely lost in thought, thinking of the past again. Lastly, you need to talk to Red XIII, who seems to be pretty mad, because he thinks his father was a wimp. Bugenhagen seems to disagree - and intends to show him exactly what the truth was.

Cave of the Gi
You probably noticed a steel door that was closed down and some kid was wondering what kept it in place. Your party will now consist of Cloud, Red XIII and one character of your choice. Equip them well. Bugenhagen will follow you from a distance, but doesn't participate in any battles.

After the door, there's a long descent down, then a big room full of little caves. Each of the caves has a rock. If you hit one, you either get a bunch of not too happy Gi Spectors, or the other cave opens up. The one you need to hit is the one nearest the wall up there, but don't worry too much about the battles either if your characters are at proper level. The worst trick the monsters in this area have up their sleeves is the Death Sentence attack, which really isn't all that frightening unless you attack very slowly. It's an Enemy Skill, so make sure it gets cast on whoever has the materia.

The next few areas up are a little bit of a maze. After the door to lowermost area, you can head left and down to get to the ledge on the first floor, where you can pick up Added Effect materia. However, don't run on the brown stuff; you won't be able to stop, and if you hit the wall, you will get seriously injured. Not too badly, but enough so you'll want to heal up.

Head up the right side of the room and circle back to find the Black M-Phone for Cait Sith in the first chest you see in the room. Then you'll pass through a tunnel. As you head back up, go through another tunnel on the right to get an Ether in the other chest. In the next area you'll find five passageways, the first and the fifth ones are connected, the fourth one leads to an X-Potion, the third one is a dead end, and the second one leads you through. After going through the second passage, head to the southwest and look for a secret passage in the tunnels to reach the chest with a Fairy Ring.

You should keep in the middle of the rooms and head up. A few times, you'll end up to some spider webs; walk in them and you need to fight Stingers. Keep your healing spells handy when fighting these; their Sting Bomb attack tends to be really nasty. Before you head into the next room, look for a passage on the left to reach a chest with a Turbo Ether'''.

Eventually, you'll end up in a big cave with a nasty-looking Gi Nattak!

After the fight, pick up a Gravity materia from the floor. Happy ending: Red XIII finds out that his father was really brave. Time to leave Cosmo Canyon. Red XIII will follow you, and now has a Seraph Comb weapon which you can equip as it's not really that bad. Your Buggy gets repaired by the local mechanic if it broke down; if not, you may have to find the mechanic wandering outside of the buildings in Cosmo Canyon.