What then?
Now would be a good time to spend an afternoon getting yourself a Golden Chocobo. This is the first ocassion to get one, and it's fun to have a reasonably well grown Knights of the Round materia arould in the giant big end battles. =)
Basically, do whatever you want - and once you're bored, go to Junon.
They all lived in a Red Submarine
In Junon, head up to the airport. Wow, did you notice something seems to be gone from the city? Can't quite put your finger on it yet.
The basic idea of this section - as revealed to you, the idea is to head to the Underwater Reactor - is quite simple. You go down the tunnel that begins from the upper level; head the way you went to the cargo ship, until you come to the narrow tunnel to the left where Shin-Ra soldiers are doing drills. They head to the tunnels. Fight your way through (none of the enemies here are very tough), go through the seafloor tunnel, take elevator up, fight more Soldiers, and stop Reno from loading the Huge Materia to a submarine. (Oh, by the way, in the seafloor tunnel you can Morph the Ghost Ship enemies to Guide Books, items the trader in Kalm wants. Trade them for Underwater materia, which can be handy when fighting the Emerald Weapon.)
Of course, there's a little snag in our perfect plan: Reno gets the thing packed to the sub, leaves in a hurry to his next appointment, and leaves the party to fight the single most frustrating boss in the game. (I don't say I hate it as much as Demon's Gate though, as that boss merely inspires me to have emotional rage; this boss inspires throughoutly cold methodical hatred.)
Before I start telling you what this major migraine source does to your sanity, let me tell you why I told you to breed a Golden Chocobo and pick up Knights of the Round earlier: With KotR, this thing is a one-hit KO. While it may get an initial attack and make your jaw hurt, when you see knights march and torch this nuisance, you'll find it worthwhile.
Without KotR, this thing can be considerable hairy. The boss consists of three parts: The body (Carry Armor) and arms (Left Arm and Right Arm). Each is a level 45 creature, though obviously the body has higher stats. The body has Lapis Laser, which kills your party dead without any precautions, and the arms can grab the characters. The arm grab means the grabbed characters get damaged as well when you damage the boss, and worse, it can grab up to two characters. No might in the world will make it let go of the characters until they're dead, so revive your fallen comrades immediately - if your remaining kicking member gets grabbed, the fight ends unhappily!
Good protection (MBarrier or Big Guard) is essential. Some techniques are effective, among them everything that has anything to do with lightning, including Bolts, Ramuh a little bit, and Magic Breath and Trine enemy skills. Aside of that, hit the thing with everything and anything.
| Level | Hit Points | Magic | Weak against | Strong against | Absorbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 24000/10000/10000 | 200/100/100 | Lightning | Gravity, Poison | - |
Carry Armor leaves God's Hand, a nice weapon for Tifa. After the fight, you get the bright idea to get into the other sub. In the submarine bay, be sure to check every box: Battle Trumpet (for Cait Sith), Scimitar (for Cloud) and Leviathan Scales key item, which will be handy in Wutai.
In the other sub, you first need to fight your way in. There's a save point in the entryway. In the command cabin, you have the option to either fight the commander and two soldiers, but who has the heart to fight Cloud's old (if brief) friends? So, you can take them hostage.
Das Boot: Edward the Scissorhands' Cut—a submarine movie in 0:00:10
This Wikibook will undoubtedly one day have a complete guide to submarines (never guessed there would be yet another unlockable minigame, right? No? Aww.) but for now, here's a brief tutorial: Directional buttons control where the thing is going, like an airplane. Triangle increases speed, Cross slows down. Square fires a torpedo, and it will hit more surely if you have a lock-on. R1 for sonar view, R2 to change views.
The reason I'm not going to explain it too well is that either you're a complete newbie, and will nevertheless master this simple task in no time at all and destroy the red submarine in good time, or you're a veteran, and destroy the red sub in ten seconds flat - just speed after the red sub, get a lock-on, and torpedo away.
If you fail - well, you did save in the sub entryway, right? If not, it's not that bad, you just missed the Huge Materia. If you succeeded, the thing stays safe in the bottom of the ocean until you grab it, no need to hurry though.
You get orders to return to Junon. Once you do, all you see is an airplane going to...
...Rocket town! Darn! Looks like they're carrying out their meteor-smashing plans!
- Todo: Huge Materia in Rockets, coming tomorrow! I must sleep, regrettably.