Chapter 8: Budding Bodyguard

Story mode. Written for a first playthrough and kept free of spoilers — it will not tell you what happens here, only what the game is asking of you.

Chapter 8 does two things. The first half is an escort across rooftops and scrapyards with a new companion. The second half is a town — the Sector 5 slums — with an afternoon to spare, six odd jobs, and the first shop in the game that takes Moogle Medals. It is the Chapter 3 formula again, and the same advice applies: explore before you follow the marker.

The first fight

The chapter opens with a one-on-one duel, and it is the first fight in the game that punishes button-mashing. Your opponent dodges a lot. Guard, wait for openings, counter from Punisher mode, and when he scatters floating mines around the room, clear those first. Spells barely scratch him; this is a sword fight.

Before you leave the building, note the yellow materia in a small room to the north. You cannot get to it now. You can later.

Getting out

The church stairwell has a chest down the other staircase when the railing breaks. The attic has one up the left-hand fork. Out on the rooftops, cross the plank to the east and look past the water tank for a Moogle Medal; after the long ladder, go right before you go left.

Your companion fights too, and she is a spellcaster. Give her Healing and an attack spell, and leave melee to Cloud.

At the station there is gil on the platform and a vending machine with a music disc. Then the scrapyard: after the ambush and the ladder, take the right-hand path for a chest, and check the platform by the bars.

The slums

You reach town and the escort is over, more or less. A short errand with flowers follows, and then the town opens up.

Walk everywhere before you follow anyone. The road past the Leaf House, the south corner by the weapons store and the building with the jukebox left of the Leaf House all have something. The jukebox gives you a disc for nothing. The materia shop sells Revival Materia now — buy one — and another disc.

Wind Materia is not for sale here. If you never finished Chadley’s early reports in Chapter 3, find him near the item shop — he is back — and do that now. You will want wind in this chapter.

The kids

Somebody comes asking for help, and the trail out of town leads to a gang of children with a hideout. On the trail, a dead end on the right has a chest on top of some crates. Inside the hideout there is a second Moogle Medal; take it before you leave.

Six odd jobs

Once the kids are home, the town opens properly. Six jobs, all short:

• a kid in a moogle suit at the hideout runs a shop that takes Moogle Medals — buy his membership card first;
• a frightened man on Station Way wants some broken security machines dealt with — bring wind;
• a teacher at the Leaf House has lost five children with wooden swords, and finding them leads to a fight that pays Cloud’s new sword;
• the kids have a box-smashing game, and it pays better the higher you score;
• a reporter outside the community center is chasing a local legend;
• an old man by the weapons store wants his wife’s grave cleared of monsters — you will need a key from the moogle shop.

Do all six. Doing all of them changes something small you will see later; doing some still counts for something.

While the town is open, go back to the church for that yellow materia — the room is clear now. And the path north of Station Way that was blocked on your way in is open, with a chest at the end. A man by the gramophone near the station hands out a free music disc.

Chadley is offering his first summon fight in his virtual simulator. Win it and the summon is yours. Fire and your existing summon help a lot.

Heading home

When you head back to the house for the night, every job closes. The game warns you first. Finish the board, then go.

There is a fight on the way. Wind is the answer, and your companion is the one to cast it — this opponent mostly ignores her. Sidestep, counter, and back off when he crouches and starts to glow. A Headband stops the sleep attack if you own one.

Back at the house, look around the yard. The chapter ends with a short bit of sneaking: move slowly and do not bump into things.

Game Notes

Chapter 3 introduced the hub; Chapter 8 trusts you with one. The jobs here are a little longer, the town is a little bigger, and for the first time there is a shop you can only pay with things you found. That is a good change of pace for a game that has mostly been corridors since the first slum.

It is also the best-written stretch in the first half of the game, and it does it with almost no plot. Most of what the chapter has to say, it says through who asks you for help and how they ask.

How this page was made

Researched across 5 community walkthroughs and written from scratch — no source’s wording appears here.

How we decide what to print

Completionist mode. Full spoilers, in play order, with every permanent loss called out before you reach it. 4 entries below are marked where our sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

Spoilers from here.

The chapter opens in the Sector 5 church with Aerith. A Turk comes for her, and Cloud signs on as her bodyguard. The first half of the chapter is the escape; the second is the Sector 5 slums with an afternoon to fill. The slum shares its level with Chapters 9, 13 and 14 — this page lists only what you can reach in Chapter 8.

The one deadline

Heading back to Aerith’s house to finish “Requests for the Mercenary” closes everything. Rude ambushes you on the way, and once you are through the door the six side quests, Whack-a-Box, the Chakra Materia in the church and every unopened chest in town are gone for this run. The game warns you before it happens.

What rides on the six quests:

• Aerith’s dress in Chapter 9. Two or fewer done: the simple pink dress. Three to five: the longer pink dress. All six: the long red dress. The Dressed to the Nines trophy wants all nine dresses, so plan on replaying this chapter at different counts.
• Who visits Cloud at the start of Chapter 14. All six quests and the scene in the yard afterwards push the hidden affinity toward Aerith.
• The MP Up Materia in the yard, which the guides that cover the scene tie to finishing all six.

The escape

The church. A few Security Officers, then Reno, Cloud on his own (see Bosses). The yellow orb in the small north room is the Chakra Materia; the ghostly figures block it until later. When the stair railing breaks, take the other staircase down for the Talisman. Drop the chandelier to reach Aerith.

The attic. Smelling Salts up the left fork before Aerith runs ahead.

The rooftops. Cross the plank east on the rusty roof; the first Moogle Medal is on the side section of the large building past the water tank. After the long ladder, go right first for the Ether on the overgrown tracks.

Sector 5 Undercity Station. 500 gil on the south side of the platform. The vending machine by the bench sells 21. Cait Sith’s Theme for 50 gil; it is stocked again in Chapter 14. The path north of Station Way is blocked for now.

The scrapyard. Push the container, survive the Hedgehog Pie ambush, climb the ladder and go right across the bars under the big pipe for the Caliginous Bracelet. The Remedy is on the small platform beside the bars, left of the stairs. The locked gate is a go-around; it becomes a shortcut.

The slums

The news on the monitor says Avalanche got out. Aerith takes you home, then insists on coming with you to Sector 7, and while she finds a basket you pick flowers for the Leaf House (Say It with Flowers). Then the town is yours:

• 200 gil where the road turns right past the Leaf House path.
• Echo Mist in the south corner near the weapons store.
• Celeris in the old folks’ building left of the Leaf House, whose jukebox gives 25. Tango of Tears free. One window per run.
• Ether in the Leaf House side room. One guide opens it after the delivery, another after Rude; a third invents an Ether in the backstreets that does not exist.
• The materia shop sells 19. Costa del Sol (also in Chapter 14) and adds Revival Materia. No Wind for sale — that is Chadley’s Battle Intel 02.

Danger in the Hideout. Oates leads you to the missing kids. Hedgehog Pies (ice) and Smoggers (lightning; they explode when they die). The Mega-Potion is at the dead end on the right of the south trail, on the crates up a ramp. In the hideout, the second Moogle Medal is by the girl in the light-blue jacket, and the kids give you the Handmade Necklace as a pass.

On the way back the man in the black robe grabs Cloud’s arm, and Cloud says Sephiroth is alive.

Requests for the Mercenary

The town is open. Besides the six quests:

• Chakra Materia in the church’s north room, now clear. A Healing Materia on a replay where you already took it.
• Mythril Armlet on the path north of Station Way. Wall Market sells it next chapter.
• 23. Descendant of Shinobi, free from the man by the gramophone near the station. Two guides put this in Chapter 14; it is a Chapter 8 pickup.
• Chadley near the item shop, with the Shiva VR fight (Battle Intel 05) on offer for the first time. Fire, Ifrit, and healing ready for Diamond Dust.

The six side quests

Quest	Giver	Fight	Reward
The Mysterious Moogle Merchant	Moggie (hideout)	none — buy the card for 1 medal	Moogle Emporium access
Weapons on a Rampage	Scared man, Station Way	Mark II Monodrive x5	Protective Boots
Kids on Patrol	Ms. Folia, Leaf House	Hedgehog Pie King + 2 Hedgehog Pies	Nail Bat
A Verified Hero	Sarah (hideout)	Whack-a-Box	Elixir at 10,000 points
The Angel of the Slums	Reporter, community center	Chromogger	2,000 gil
Paying Respects	Old man, weapons store	Venomantis x3	Studded Bracer

Handing in a quest usually refills HP and MP as well.

Order. The Moogle Merchant, Weapons on a Rampage and Kids on Patrol are open as soon as the kids are home. Kids on Patrol opens A Verified Hero and The Angel of the Slums; Weapons on a Rampage opens Paying Respects. One guide holds the Moogle Merchant back until after Kids on Patrol; that cannot be right, since Paying Respects needs his Graveyard Key.

Weapons on a Rampage. Three Monodrives in the Scrapyard Back Alley dead end, two in Twilight Valley. Very resistant to physical damage, shields up against melee, weak to wind. Steal a Turbo Ether. The man moves to the Center District by the item shop once you are done.

Kids on Patrol. The five kids: between the concrete pipes in the south-west of the Center District; by the crowd near the item shop and Chadley; outside the weapons store; up the road from the Leaf House by an old woman on a bench; at the town gate toward Station Way. Then the “toad king” at the end of the hideout path: kill the two Hedgehog Pies first, because the King buffs them. Ice.

A Verified Hero. Ninety seconds. Yellow boxes score, blue add ATB, red add ten seconds, big boxes want abilities. Moogle Medal for playing, Elixir at 10,000, Crescent Moon Charm at 20,000, Spectral Cogwheel and Crate Annihilator at 30,000. The harder tier is a Chapter 14 thing.

The Angel of the Slums. Damon the reporter (Oates sends you to him; one guide makes Oates the giver). Mireille inside the community center, back to the reporter, then Lookout Point. The Chromogger is weak to lightning; hit the Iron Sphere hand, not the body, and run from the fog. The Guardian Angel’s Calling Cards are on the desk. Mireille pays 2,000 gil — the Angel was laying a false trail, and this quest sets up Corneo’s secret stash in Chapter 14.

Paying Respects. Graveyard Key from Moggie (1 medal), then the Slum Public Cemetery in Nuts ‘n’ Bolts Hills. Three Venomantis: they poison and hit hard; ice staggers them. Aerith pays her respects while you are there.

The Moogle Emporium

Item	Medals
Moogle Membership Card	1
20. Gold Saucer	1
Graveyard Key	1
Salvation Badge	1
Ether	2
Silver Staff	2
Whistlewind Scarf	3
Swordplay / Sharpshooter’s / Way of the Fist / Telluric Scriptures Vol. I	5 each

The chapter gives you two fixed medals plus one from Whack-a-Box, on top of the two from Chapter 6 and whatever falls out of Shinra crates. The card and the key are the only must-buys. Everything here is stocked again in Chapter 14, along with Steel Pincers, the Enfeeblement Ring, Turbo Ether, Elixir and Moogle’s Mortar — so do not worry that you cannot afford the books yet. One list puts Steel Pincers and the Enfeeblement Ring in the Chapter 8 shop; they are not here until Chapter 14.

Going home

Rude ambushes you on the way back (see Bosses). At the house, Elmyra asks Cloud to leave after dark without Aerith. In the yard, the MP Up Materia sits by the lamp post. Then Cloud sneaks out — don’t knock things over upstairs — and Aerith is waiting at the edge of town anyway.

Bosses

Reno — Cloud alone. Resists lightning and percentage damage; immune to Silence, Slow and Berserk. Steal Ether; drops Ether and 600 gil. Guard and counter from Punisher mode, Focused Thrust into Triple Slash or Braver. Around half health he plants EM Mines; break them, then go back to him. Equip the Titanium Bangle from the Airbuster if you have it.

Rude — Cloud and Aerith. Weak to wind (one guide adds fire). Steal and drop Mega-Potion. He mostly ignores Aerith, so she casts Aero while Cloud sidesteps and counters. Second phase: a ground shockwave (dodge back) and Spirit Geyser eruptions. Sweet Dreams is an unblockable sleep; a Headband stops it. When he crouches and glows, get away.

Hard mode

Six Manuscripts in this chapter only exist on Hard:

• The Art of Swordplay Vol. VII — Reno. Lightning in Elemental in armour makes Cloud immune to his shocks; Counterstance helps.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. IV — Rude. Wind in Elemental on Cloud, Aeroga from Aerith.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. V — the Mark II Monodrives in Weapons on a Rampage.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. VI — the Hedgehog Pie King in Kids on Patrol.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. VII — the Chromogger in The Angel of the Slums.
• Telluric Scriptures Vol. VIII — the Venomantis in Paying Respects.

Five of Aerith’s Telluric Scriptures in one chapter makes a Hard Chapter 8 with every quest done one of the most valuable replays in the game. The four Vol. I books are on sale at the Emporium on any difficulty.

Game Notes

The original game gave Aerith one long evening to make an impression, and she made it. The Remake stretches that evening into a whole chapter and fills it with errands, which sounds like padding and is the opposite. You learn who she is by watching the slum talk to her — the kids, the teacher, the old man at the grave — and by the time Elmyra asks Cloud to leave, you understand exactly what she is asking him to protect.

It is also a chapter built for replaying. The dress count, the Chapter 14 visitor and six Hard-only books all live here, so you will come back. The good news is that Sector 5 is one of the nicest places in the game to spend another afternoon.

How this page was made

Researched across 8 community walkthroughs and written from scratch — no source’s wording appears here. 4 are marked where sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

How we decide what to print