Chapter 9: 'Chocobo' Love and the 'Suplemental' battle
'Gentle creatures of the plains, as quick as a bird, and lovable to keep as both pet and friend of travel. Keep them close and they will keep you ever closer to their hearts...
A new stradegy has been revealed, hoping to test it against the saints for the efforts of a war. The devils have arrived again, but is this a true turnning point?....'
The rising sun shined through the curtains on Karin, forcing her to cover her face with the blanket. "Guh...Stupid sun.." Karin groaned. Without her even noticing, a baby Chocobo flutters to the front of Karin and crawled under the blankets, lightly pecking her awake with sweet chirps.
"Not now..Little Chocobo...Just a few more minutes.." Karin groaned. Not taking 'No' for an answer, the chick continues its task, fluttering its little feathers to wake Karin up.
"Gah...What?" asked Karin, then before she knew it, the other six chicks crawl under the covers and wake Karin up from her slumber. Karin began to giggle and carefully hugged the chicks together, trying not to hurt them and to anger their mother, Koko. "Oh, you guys...I never knew Chocobos were so cute!" said Karin, petting one each of the chicks near her. Just as she held onto one of them, Koko pulls the cover away from Karin and lightly pecks her to wake up as well, including Boko.
"Hey! Hey! I'm up, I'm up!" said Karin. Boko fluttered his feathers and rubs his feathered face against Karin's, trying to wake her up more and it was working.
As Karin was starting to get up, thanks to the Chocobo family, Bartz and Tidus walks in.
"Oh, no...Your not gonna join these guys are you?" asked Karin. A smirk showed on both their faces and they immediately joined the fun. The chicks played around with Tidus's necklace, as if it was a toy to their childish playtime.
"Hey, that's mine!" said Tidus as the chicks played. Lorena walks in to watch the group goof around, giggling to herself in the process. Karin noticed Lorena and immediately got up, going to her in less than three minutes. The two hugged, glad that everything is better for the best.
"Did you forget, Kar? We're in this together...Everything is going to be alright, besides...Its time for the lovely Chocobos to get a bath..Right guys?" said Lorena. Boko and Koko chirped in agreement. The two parents knew they needed one, but the chicks weren't that happy. Like children, they went and chirped as if whining, stating 'We don't wanna bath!'
"Come on, little ones..You know you need one," said Tidus. The chicks then hid under the bed, hoping they won't come out til they said it was okay to not take a bath. They were dead wrong. Koko pushes the chicks out of the other side of the bed and Karin and Lorena picks them up, taking them to take a bath and both Boko and Koko followed.
"Its okay, guys...You'll feel much better after a nice bath.." said Karin, carrying three of the chicks, while Lorena held onto the rest. Zidane, Cecil, Firion, and the others were waiting for the group with the Chocobos to arrive; when they did, the chicks were getting nervous. Koko calms them down by giving each of her children a little peck of love, and a quick nuzzle. Each group each had one Chocobo, including the chicks, and began bathing them at the same time. Karin and Lorena were assisting Yuna, Wakka, Firion, Yuffie, Reno, and Tifa with one of the chicks, nervous about the water it was about to go into.
"Its okay..The water won't hurt you...Here," said Yuna, splashing a little water on the chick. It panics at first, but then it calmed down a few minutes later. "See? The water ain't gonna hurt you...It'll be alright," said Yuna. Cloud, Bartz, Cid, Vincent, Auron, and Zidane took care of Boko; while Tidus, Kimahri, Barret, the Warrior of light, Lulu, and Rikku took care of Koko. The rest had one chick each, taking care to wash every single dirty feather on their bodies.
"Here we go, Boko...I bet your feeling much better right now, huh buddy," said Bartz. Boko chirped with happiness as the suds gathered on his body.
Karin scrubs the chick with a sponge, cleaning carefully so she doesn't hurt the poor Chocobo chick. The chick chirped with happiness and curiosity, flapping its wings to splash water on Karin and the others with her. "Hey! Watch the hair, okay?" said Reno, playing with the chick. The baby Chocobo giggled in its own way and settled down in the water. With another chick, Cecil and Paine carefully scrub it with a sponge, gathering soap suds on it to look like a cloud.
"Oh, look at you...You look just like a cloud underneath those suds," said Cecil. Paine giggled softly, then rinsed the baby Chocobo with water, and it immediately fluttered its wet feathers, splashing water on the two.
"Hey...Don't get us wet!" said Cecil. After a few minutes, Boko does the same thing, getting the group wet behind him. "Hey!!" screamed Cid, "I didn't say 'Get me wet'! Hey!"
"Boko! That's mean!" said Bartz. Boko chirped in happiness, and Cloud even chuckled to Boko's antics; for he has been around Chocobos for a long time in his life, but not as much as Bartz. Koko splashes water on the group grooming her, getting them wet from the water.
"Hey! Meanie.." said Tidus. Kimahri chuckled to himself, but almost immediately, Tidus noticed, "Oh, hush up..." Karin noticed not everyone was here. Only Terra and the Onion Knight were the only two that wasn't here helpping out. She understood why and continued her task.
After a few more minutes, the Chocobos were getting dried off with towels. "Here we go...Taking a bath didn't hurt you, your okay," said Lorena, drying the Chocobo chick off. Bartz and Zidane dry off Boko, til he shook the remaining droplets of water off at both of them, fluffing his feathers like a puffball.
"This ain't Boko...Its 'Fluffy'.." Zidane joked. Boko grunted in fustration and he turns around to playfully headbutt Zidane's gut, not to hurt him, but in a playfull manner.
"Hey...I know your just playing, but that wasn't nice.." said Zidane. Boko knew what he meant and nuzzled him on the left side of his face, in a way of saying 'I know and I'm sorry.'
After a good half hour, the bathing of the Chocobos was done and Karin held one of Koko's chicks in her arms. "Are we all better, now?" Karin said, as if she was talking to a child. The chick fluttered its feathers in happiness. As Karin was setting the Chick down for it to go back to its mother, Terra walks in and walks to Karin, putting her left hand on Karin's left shoulder.
"He's awake now..." Terra told Karin. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards the scene. Auron looks at Reno and asks, "Why do you have a Chocobo chick on your head?"
"Dunno, but its precious, right little one?" said Reno, looking up to the chick on his head. It chirped with excitement.
"He sent me down here to get you...He wants to speak with you right now," said Terra. Karin wondered if he was all recovered from yesterday, but since the Onion Knight wants to speak to her himself, she believes he has. She makes her way to the Onion Knight's room, openning the door quietly. As she entered, she saw that he was sitting on the right side of the bed, facing his back to Karin. The Onion Knight turns around to face Karin, holding the teddy bear in his arms still and said, "You...Already knew about me? How?" Kain explained the same explanation to Bartz and he immediately understood.
"I see now...It hurts to think about it..But...Terra told me your messege, thank you...I'm sorry for a loss from you involving Geo-Stigma. I want to protect everything with whatever strength I have to offer, but I can't even protect myself, how...Ironic," said the Onion Knight.
"Have you tried to move on?" asked Karin. "Yes...But unfortunately, its not a simple task," answered the Onion Knight, "It hurts...I wish I was like other children, but I'm not...Always alone as an orphan, they never cared for an orphan like me."
"I'm sorry...I really am," said Karin, absorbing the information the youth had told, "I think I get the personality clash between you and Bartz more clearly. You take things seriously, because you had to do that when you was alone, trying to survive in the world on your own...Maybe Bartz is trying in someway to help you be a carefree child like all the others, but it seems the seriousness nature always seems to come first than your other sides."
"I think Bartz is right...I did lost my sense of adventure...But in reality, it doesn't matter at all..." said the Onion Knight, begining to become sad yet again, "All these people are getting hurt because of us and the war between the Goddess of Harmony and the God of Discord, plus Geo-Stigma is involved and so far I have made no results by far to find a cure...I want to protect everyone from harm, but little progress is made. I'm such a fool...What if there is no way to cure Geo-Stigma..And all my efforts are all for nothing.."
"Your probably have fallen into the Cloud of Darkness's trick....Don't be a fool for that. Your better than that void witch," said Karin, trying to cheer the Onion Knight up.
"...Cloud of Darkness....One of these days...If its possible," said the Onion Knight, "One of these days...I want to kill the Cloud of Darkness..For so much pain her and the others caused to everyone!!..If its possible."
"Anything is possible...You just gotta believe, that's all," answered Karin, "Nothing is impossible unless you put your mind to it..." The Onion Knight finally smiles, and then he said, "Terra told me...You wanted to help me replace the broken tools for researching the cure...I thank you, but the enemy will overwhelm us if its just you and me..So we should bring three more with us."
Karin nods to the idea, then asked, "Who are the other three should we bring?"
"Firion...Tidus...And Bartz, of course Boko will join us, we can't seperate the two. When I walked by your room one night Firion was in there with you...I overheard what you two were talking about...I'm sorry I did and it is rude to listen to other people's conversations, but maybe your dreams could mean something," said the Onion Knight. Karin had a feeling he was gonna ask about her dream with Firion in it, but its too late; he asked about it already.
"So tell me...What was the dream about?" asked the Onion Knight, showing his curious side of his personality.
Karin tells the Onion Knight about her dream. To every single detail til it ended, the Onion Knight listened to all of it carefully. After she was done, a theory was formed.
"I see...Now I think I have a theory about that dream...It seems...Your falling in love with him," said the Onion Knight.
"Really? This quick? I don't know...." said Karin. "Love is a powerful thing that is so strong we can't fight it no more. Tidus and Yuna are a good example, plus both your mom and Cecil and Lorena's mother and Tribal..He probably knows this too, Firion..Its just a theory til all the facts are straight," said the Onion Knight.
"I see...I think I know another good example..You and...Terra," said Karin. The youth began to blush a bright red, lobster red, and said,"Wha?? I uh...Uh...Please, your embarrasing me..."
" 'I'll always protect you, Terra...That's a promise'...In Dissidia: Final Fantasy, that was exactly what you said to her. I have a gut feeling you'll do anything to make sure she is safe..I know it," said Karin, reciting a quote from her PSP game that the Onion Knight says himself.
"Yes...I did say that back then...And I meant it, too...If the enemy finds out this kind of weakness, we're done for," said the Onion Knight.
"I had a bad feeling you was gonna say something like that...What do you want to do now?" asked Karin.
"We need to replace those broken utensils...We better get it done and over with so it can be out of the way...Lets round up the other guys that will join us," the youth answered. Before turning around to wait outside for the Onion Knight, he then said to Karin, "No one...Never gave me a teddy bear before...I bet its yours, but do you still...Want me to keep it?"
"It was...But I gpt other ones with me and I'm too old for that paticular one. Yes, you can keep it..Its yours now. Maybe it'll help you when the going gets tough, and help you sleep better..Always keep it close," answered Karin.
The youth smiled, and placed the bear on the bed in front of the pillows and followed Karin out of the room. Outside of the shack base, the Onion Knight, Bartz, Tidus, Firion, plus Karin and Boko walked to the SUV and got in.
"You guys make sure to buckle in. I don't want a ticket about that and ignorance of the law isn't excusable," said Karin. Tidus struggled to figure out the seatbelt thing and so did Bartz. "How do you...Uhm...I don't get it.." said Tidus.
"I don't get it either...Now how do you put this thing on?" answered Bartz. Firion was in the back with Boko, closely snugged in his feathers. "Its kinda cozy back here...Right, Boko?" said Firion. Boko chirped and nuzzled Firion on the right side of his face.
"Hang on, guys.." said Karin. She understood they haven't heard or used a seatbelt before, so she can't be mad at them. The Onion Knight helped Bartz, while Karin helped Tidus. After showing them how to use the seatbelts, they get it on at last. The Onion Knight buckled up in the passenger front seat next to Karin as she sat down and buckled up as well.
"Hold onto Firion, Boko," said Karin. Boko chirped and snuggled up to Firion to hold onto him as they went to their destination. "I can't remember where I got them, but I know its nearby.." said the Onion Knight.
"We'll drive around to these places til you remember," said Karin. Tidus looks out the window and said, "Look, there's a Burger King over there.."
"Oh..I'm hungry..." said Bartz. Karin groaned in disbelief and drove to the Burger King drive thru and placed orders for the guys. The clerk on the intercom spoke, "Welcome to Burger King, what will your order be for the day?"
"I'll take a hamburger," said the Onion Knight.
"I'll take a cheeseburger...A plain cheeseburger," said Tidus. "Me, too and fries for Boko..." said Bartz. After placing the orders, there was one person left.
"Do you want anything, Firion?" Karin asked. "Just a hamburger...And a medium Pepsi..Thank you," answered Firion. After parking in a parking lot near a grocery store, the guys started eating their food, including Karin who ordered a seven piece Chicken Tenders and a small Coke.
"This is good...Remind me to go back there again when I get hungry again," said Tidus.
"Me, too...How are the fries, Boko?" Bartz asked his Chocobo companion. Boko chirped happyly and continued eating. Firion was half-way done with his hamburger. The youth beside Karin ate all of his hamburger and putted the garbage in the bag that the food came from. "Your done? Did it fill you up til dinner?" asked Karin.
"It did.." answered the Onion Knight. Tidus was the second to finish and placed the wrappers into the bag. Bartz and Boko also finished as well and Firion was last. After throwing the garbage away, they continued the search for the place where the Onion Knight got the tools from.
After a long five minutes, the Onion Knight remembers and points at it from a block down as he saw the sign, "There! Right there!" The group heads in that direction and headed to the building and purchased another set. After stopping near a lake to stretch out, the Onion Knight gives Karin his thanks. "As soon as we get back...I'll get back to work on the antidote to get rid of Geo-Stigma..." As soon as the Onion Knight finished his sentence, a familiar voice said, "I like to see you try." Everyone turns around to the voice's source and from left to right walking to them from the east was Jecht, Exdeath, Golbez, and the Cloud of Darkness.
"We won't allow you to find a cure...All things will return to nothingness, back to the eternal void," said the Cloud of Darkness. "Your just like Exdeath, you both need to shut up about the void...God..." groaned Karin.
"Don't even think about it...You know you are no match against me, mighty weapons specialist," said Golbez, swinging his right index finger left and right like a pendelum.
"Shut up! I can take you til my last breath!" said Firion, arming himself with his bow. "Then I shall grant your wish..." answered Golbez.
The Cloud of Darkness floats in front of the Onion Knight. "We have waited for this moment...To rob your light forever.." she said.
"I've come to see if I can slay you..For good!" said the Onion Knight, "With this blade...And my magic..I will shine the light on you, just like thousands of years ago!!" Boko stayed near Karin and guided her away to a safe location, while his friend contended with Exdeath.
"Where's your girlfriend, kid? I thought she was gonna be with you?" Jecht teased Tidus. Armed with his sword, Tidus points the curled end of his blade at his father and said, "Go near her, dad...Then I'll make sure you join Shuyin and Seymour when I'm through with the three of you...Back to the Farplane!"
"Such harsh words...For a brat!" Jecht roared, rushing to attack Tidus with his own sword. The Cloud of Darkness fires energy orbs of darkness at the Onion Knight as he rushed forward at her. He dodges the attacks and tries to get near the void entity. With anticipation, the Cloud of Darkness swipes both of her vine creatures from her side and nails him, but it wasn't enough after a dozen whacks to stop the young fighter.
"Playtime is over, child...We are superior," said the Cloud of Darkness. "That's right, playtime is over...Now its time to get more serious! Stars unite!" The youth casts a spell at the Cloud of Darkness, firing comets at her at a rapid fire pace. The spell was called 'Comet' and there was a good reason why.
Each comet nailed her in different locations on her anatomy, causing a stream of damage. Karin watched the battle go on and she couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to enter the fight as well, but Boko was determined to not let her out of his sight. "Boko...I hope you understand in a Chocobo way, but I need to get in there...I'm tired of being chased and now is the time to fight back, forgive me," Karin grabbed a heavy metal steel pipe from a wrecked sign and ran to one of the enemies: The Cloud of Darkness. Jecht and Tidus still fought against one another, til Tidus got the upperhand and kicks his dad into the a brick wrecked wall near a construction sight and elbows him in the gut.
"Gugh!! Not bad...When did you get stronger?" Jecht asked. "I ain't telling you nothing, now go take a nap!" answered Tidus, high kicking his father in the head, instantly knocking him out in one hit. The Onion Knight fought as long as he can go, despite major damage he's caused on the Cloud of Darkness. "Time for us to end this...No matter the cost--" "My turn, void witch!" Karin yelled out, fully nailing the Cloud of Darkness in the head, knocking her out in one, powerful swing.
"Whoa! You've gotten stronger!" said the Onion Knight. Karin then turned her attention to Firion, because Exdeath was nothing to Bartz so she headed to Firion.
'If Golbez is Cecil's older brother...Then to me he's...My uncle!' thought Karin as she ran to the scene. Firion was worn out and hurt a bit, but still following his vow, he'd keep fighting til his final breath. Golbez levitated to the weapon specialist with only minor damage.
"I'm coming for you...Firion..." said Golbez. Just as he was about to move another foot, Karin runs in and nails Golbez in the torso, knocking him allittle backwards in the air, but stunned. "I'm coming for you, Uncle Golbez!" cried Karin, now aiming at her uncle's head.
"What?!" said Golbez in shock to see his neice fighting against him. Karin nails him in the head with the pipe. After that, Karin does the unthinkable and double kicks Golbez out of the air and he instantly falls into the lake, straight into the water. Firion watches in amazement and thinks, 'Dang...Where'd she learn those moves?' Tidus watched in shock as well, but was suprised that Cecil's fighting spirit and the feeling to save the weak was inherited.
'Whoa! When did she learn that!? She literally kicked Golbez into the water!' thought the Onion Knight. Bartz also double kicks Exdeath into the lake as well, glad that the fight was over. "Let's go before they get back up!" called Bartz.
Boko rushes to the group and they all quickly get into the SUV and drove out of there while Chaos's fighters that showed up were still down. With the tools in hand, they returned to HQ, as fast as the car could go.
"Dang, girl...How was you able to do that?! You literally kicked Golbez out of the air and straight into the water!" said Bartz, excited from the scene fight.
"It was those Kung Fu movies...I watch them too much," answered Karin. "You said 'Uncle' Golbez, why?" asked Tidus. The Onion knight turns to Tidus and said, "Its obvious. Her father, Cecil, has a brother, thus Golbez..So that makes Golbez Karin's uncle."
"Ooooohhh...I get it now..." said Tidus. "I don't want my dad to know...He might yell at me for this and I hurted his brother.." said Karin.
"We can't hide this from Cecil...He might be proud of you for learning how to fight...Eitherway..He will find out sooner or later," said the Onion Knight.
"True...Alright...But if he starts yelling..I know it was all my fault, but I'm more worried about how the Warrior of Light will react to this," said Karin.
"There's only one way to find out," said Bartz. They get closer to the hideout with each block and soon Karin will find out if she is ready to learn how to fight with a weapon of without. She just hope either the Warrior of Light, or Cecil isn't angry about her fighting against Golbez when they got back.