A/N: Gomen-nasai for the long delay. I've been busy working on my Kingdom Hearts fanfiction in addition to this one and a college research paper on Anime. Busy, busy, busy, that I am!
Since I'm working on two stories at once, both will be updated on a monthly basis. So sorry.
To apologize for the delay, I've compensated by making this particular chapter very interesting. I hope you enjoy it!
Ja ne!
Chapter 10
The next day, Zack, Aerith, and Trang bid farewell to the innkeeper of the Nibelheim Bed & Breakfast and head for the mountains. Luckily, the three of them discovered a Chocobo renting service that lends green Chocobos to visitors traveling from Nibelheim to North Corel through the mountain range. Glad to see that they'll have some sort of transportation, Trang goes up to the Chocobo keeper and asks about his rates.
"Well, a one-way trip is 500 Gil per person and a round-trip is 1000 Gil per person," explains the keeper. "For the one-way trips, I have a keeper on the other side of the mountains who can send me back any Chocobos I need. Round-trips are more expensive because you're reserving Chocobos and making them unavailable for one-way trips."
"We're only going one-way so," replies Aerith.
"Allright then, this way," the keeper motions them the follow him to the Chocobo stables.
The stables were built out of wood in order to allow easier air circulation and keep the Chocobos cool. All in all, there were about twenty occupied Chocobo stalls where the green Chocobos were squawking away excitedly to get out.
"Now then, have any of you ever ridden a Chocobo before?" wonders the keeper, turning around to face them.
Trang responds to the question positively, but Aerith and Zack were a whole other story.
"Well, I haven't ridden a Chocobo in a really long time," explains Aerith, recalling her one-time experience when she traveled with Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Nanaki and the group had to catch Chocobos in order to cross the swamp guarded by the terrible Midgar Zolom.
"I've never ridden a Chocobo, period," replies Zack somewhat embarrassingly. During his time in SOLDIER and even before then, Zack never had a reason to learn how to ride Chocobos since he was always traveling in the Shinra trucks and occasionally used motorcycles to get around.
"I see," exclaims the keeper. "Well, usually I charge 50 Gil for riding lessons, but since you kids caught me in a good mood today, I'll teach ya fer free."
After thanking the middle-aged man graciously, Aerith and Zack went about trying to learn Chocobo-riding. All Trang could do was stand by and watch the potential theatrics with a smile. Surprisingly, Aerith caught on pretty quick and in less than an hour, she's riding the training Chocobo as if she's done it her whole life. The young woman was greatly relieved that she had that riding experience in the past, even if it was eighty years ago.
Zack, on the other hand, was a different case entirely. No sooner had the keeper helped him get on the Chocobo did the big green bird start dashing around in the training corral with Zack hanging helplessly on the tail in tears.
"HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?!" he cries out.
"Chocobos can sense when a rider is inexperienced! This one in particular loves to get mischievous whenever he gets a novice rider on him!" explains the keeper as he runs after them.
Meanwhile, Trang and Aerith are laughing their heads off at the spectacle.
After two more hours of teaching, Zack finally manages to successfully ride the Chocobo and the three of them were finally off towards the mountains. As they traveled along, Trang and Aerith could not help but have sporadic giggle-fits whenever they looked at the poor young man on his bird.
"Would you guys knock it off already?" Zack sighs with exasperation. "It's not funny anymore."
"Oh, but it was and still is," replies Trang with another fit of giggling.
"I can't wait to tell Cloud and the others," exclaims Aerith with a grin.
"You wouldn't," responds the young man with a glare.
"Stop being such a Bandersnatch," the brunette banters back.
"I hate Chocobos," groans Zack.
"You're just saying that because you were unlucky enough to get a bad one," chuckles Trang. With a soft kick to the sides of the Chocobo, Trang dashes further ahead of her two friends. "Last one to the other side is a rotten Cactuar!"
"Oh no you don't!" exclaims Aerith, racing after her.
"H-hey! Wait for me!" adds Zack as he clumsily coerces his Chocobo to chase after them into the sunset.
Back in the mind plane of the Lifestream, Cloud sat alone in the whiteness as he contemplates silently in the stillness. He senses another presence and turns to find Tifa coming up and sitting down besides him.
"What are you thinking about?" she wonders out loud.
"You should know," replies Cloud with a soft chuckle. "You know me better than anyone."
"Yeah, you got that right," responds Tifa with a smile. She stares out into the empty space before them for a few minutes as she began thinking. "I wonder how Zack and Aerith are doing."
"I hope they're having the time of their lives," thought Cloud.
"Me too," agrees Tifa.
As expected, Aerith, Zack, and Trang discover the Chocobo renting station on the other side of the mountains and proceed to drop their birds off there at the stables. From there they continued the rest of the way on foot until they reached North Corel. Or rather, the North Corel train station; the site of the old North Corel camp was converted into a modernized train station and the inhabitants have moved back to the original Corel located in the desert. The quicksand that lined the perimeter of the desert was still there; however, travelers can ride Buggies that act like buses which take them from the outskirts of the town inside and vice versa. The Golden Saucer park was still there and now stands as the official tourist attraction of the very expanded town of Corel. The blue Tram still remains and provides visitors direct transportation to the Golden Saucer from the North Corel train station.
Upon reaching the North Corel train station, the three travelers hear in a circulating rumor that the recent owner of the Golden Saucer has gotten his hands on a strange new monster and was exhibiting the creature at the park. Curious to see what the creature was, Zack, Aerith, and Trang proceed to the Tram until a Tram attendant stops them.
"I'm sorry, but tonight's Ladies' Night at the Golden Saucer," apologizes the female attendant. "No men allowed."
"Aww, what a shame," exclaims Aerith.
"Oh well," sighs Trang, crossing her arms behind her black-haired head. "We can see the monster tomorrow I guess."
"Oh, I'm afraid that won't be possible," spoke up the attendant. "The Golden Saucer owner, Gio, has decided that today will be the last day he will be exhibiting the monster. Someone is planning to purchase the creature from him."
"What?" exclaims Zack in surprise.
With an apologetic bow from the attendant, the three of them huddle together to pool their options.
"I really want to see that monster," vociferates Trang anxiously.
"I want to see the Golden Saucer again," adds Aerith.
"And I want to see the Golden Saucer, too," adds Zack. "Besides…. I can't let you girls go up there on your own."
"C'mon Zack; we can take care of ourselves," argues Trang. "And it's not like you can if you wanted to anyways. Ladies' Night, remember?"
All of a sudden, Aerith turns around to face her back to them and breaks out into another giggle fit. Zack and Trang are confused until the young woman too starts giggling and grinning as well.
"Ooh-kay, can someone fill me in on the joke?" exclaims the poor young man. "Is this a girl thing or something else? What's so funny?"
Almost as quickly as the giggle-fest began, it suddenly ended as Trang and Aerith turn to face their male friend with smug smiles plastered onto their faces. For a few moments, Zack looks back at them in confusion, wondering what it was that they were smiling about. He turns around and then looks back at them again to find that they were indeed smiling at him. But what for? As Zack scratches his head, the realization hits him like a ton of Huge Materia.
"OH NO!" he exclaims with big shocked eyes. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NOO!! YOU WOULDN'T!"
"Why Aerith, doesn't Zack have the nicest long hair?" began Trang playfully.
"Why yes, Tracy, Zack does indeed have nice long hair," Aerith giggles back in response. "Maybe we can do some braids or curls."
"Ooh, maybe we can tie them up into bunches*!" suggests Trang excitedly, clapping her hands together.
As the two young women continue trading ideas, Zack could do nothing but stare at them in nervous fear. "What have I gotten myself into?"
Trang and Aerith stare out the window of the Tram in wonder as the vehicle takes them closer and closer to the Golden Saucer. They breathe sighs of awe as they watch the blinking decorative lights of the park and the ongoing whimsical theme music.
"Isn't this great, Zackina?" chuckles Trang as the two girls look to their "female" companion for a response.
"This is embarrassing," groans the dressed-up young man with arms crossed to cover his water-balloon breasts. "We're going to get caught."
"Well maybe if you have left your Buster Sword back in the train station's lockers, it wouldn't make you stick out so much," retorts Aerith.
"I'm not leaving my sword anywhere," grumbles Zack as she shifts uncomfortably in his airy emerald-colored floral dress with short sleeves, which was picked out of a store courtesy of his girl friend. His raven-black hair was watered down and curved slightly inward in an attempt to make him look more feminine in addition to a matching green headband. In place of his gloves, he wore charm bracelets which Trang and Aerith both claim look cute on his manly wrists. To him, they felt like prisoner's shackles.
"Really, Zack, you're as iffy as Cloud was when I dressed him up as a woman," notes Aerith with a smirk. "Although, he was more flexible towards the idea than you."
"What?!" exclaims the young man with wide eyes full of surprise. "Cloud dressed up as a woman too?"
"Only because he had to in order to save Tifa," replies the brunette. "You know, we should get both of you guys to dress up together. That'd be the cutest picture ever!"
A feeling of disturbed shock shivers up Zack's spine as the imagined what his best bud looked like in a dress and decked out like a woman. He gives a grimacing grin as he puts his hand over his eyes. "No wonder Cloud's so emo. Poor guy… Poor us!"
"We're here!"
Trang nearly leapt up in excitement as the Tram pulls into the ropeway station. Like two little kids in candy land, she and Aerith tremble with anxiety as they waited for the air trolley to stop and open its door.
With a whoosh of air escaping from the its brakes, the Tram's door slides open and a flood of women and little girls spills out from within, carrying Zack out along with Trang and Aerith. As the disoriented young man tries to right himself up, the two girls were busy checking out the park map and deciding where to go to first.
"Oh wow, they added a LOT of things!" exclaims the brunette.
"Ooh, let's go to the Speed Square!" suggests Trang.
"Hmm, I want to see what the Round Square has," returns Aerith.
"How about we all just calm down for a few minutes?" gasps Zack as he stumbles up to them. Luckily, Aerith and Trang opted to let him keep his boots since he argues that Aerith wore boots too. If he hadn't won the argument, he'd be in high heels and in pain. "The place doesn't close until midnight so we have plenty of time."
"Oh yeah, the monster!" exclaims Trang, hitting her fist into her hand. "We should go see that first before they take it down later."
"Excuse me," Aerith calls out to a man hopping by in a Chocobo costume. "Where can we find the monster?"
"That exhibit is located in Battle Square," replies the employee. "But it won't be open for a couple of hours."
"Really now?" exclaims the brunette with a disappointed sigh. She turns to face her friends as the costumed man hops away. "Guess we have two hours to kill then."
"Speed Square!" chirps Trang with a grin.
After paying the entrance fee, the three of them proceed to the Speed Square where the black-haired young woman eagerly leaps into the seat of the rollercoaster shooter.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Zack whispers to Aerith, who nods in agreement.
During the ride, the half-Ancient and former SOLDIER watch with wide fearful eyes as Trang excitedly shoots everything she could find. Zack in particular was impressed with how she was careful not to use up her ammunition too quickly despite her trigger-happy persona. She would've been one heck of a sharpshooter in Shin-Ra. Aerith was just plain nervous.
What an interesting girl, she thought with a meek smile.
Thanks to her shooting ability, Trang manages to rack up enough points to get one of the better prizes after the ride. With a huge grin, she picks out a big stuffed yellow Chocobo and turns to face Zack. She then thrusts the stuffed animal into the young man's arms, which catches both him and Aerith off guard.
"This is a gift from me to you," she tells him. "For all the birthdays you missed years ago."
If Zack's face could blush a brighter shade of red, he'd look like a ripe tomato. Aerith, on the other hand, did nothing but smile at the gesture.
"Aww, isn't that sweet?" she coos tenderly.
"Y-you… really didn't… really didn't need to, ya know," stutters the young man most difficultly as he held the stuffed animal in his arms. "Birthdays aren't… that important to me."
"Don't be such a Bandersnatch, Zack," banters Aerith. "Just because you were a First Class SOLDIER doesn't mean you're too manly for birthday presents."
With an awkward sigh, the young man gives a smile of thanks and accepts the gift, making Trang very happy. Aerith looks up at a clock and notes that they still have time for one more thing before the monster exhibition opens. Trang suggests going on the Gondola for a change of pace, since she noticed how uneasy the other two felt on the rollercoaster shooter ride.
They arrive at the Round Square and each takes a seat on the wooden benches inside the shack-like ride, Trang across from the stuffed toy Chocobo and Aerith across from Zack. As they look outside the window, Aerith smiles at her dress-wearing male friend.
"Looks like you got to take me to Golden Saucer for our date after all," she laughs gently.
"Yeah, but I was expecting you to be the only one wearing a dress for the date," retorts Zack playfully, pulling the bottom of his dress down so that it would cover his exposed knees.
While the two of them exchange joking responses, Trang gazes out the window at the park outside with a rather sad look on her face. Aerith was the first to notice after some time had passed and became a little worried and curious at the same time.
"Have you ever had a boyfriend, Tracy?" she asks the young woman.
The question caught the black-haired girl by surprise as she pulls her eyes away from the window and looks at her friends. She thought about her answer and looks down at the floor. "Yeah, I did. Once."
"What kind of guy was he like?" continues Aerith.
Trang thought long and hard about her former boyfriend as she picks up her head and stares at the stuffed Chocobo. It had been a long time since she last saw him and even longer since the day they became a couple. "He was… a very nice guy… and very cute." Remembering the good times brought a smile to her face. "For me, he was my best friend. We talked about all sorts of stuff. He was amazed that I like guy stuff like weapons and fighting. We got along really well."
She stops to look up at the ceiling as if to allow the memories to come back easier. "Then, when we were at the prime of our teenage life, we confessed our feelings to each other and became boyfriend and girlfriend. Those were… happy times. No, any time I was with him was a happy time. I've never felt happy before I met him. He… brought out a side of me I never knew I had."
"Aww, that's so cute," commented Aerith with a smile. "And you've been together for so long now."
"Well," began Trang, turning her eyes down to the floor again. "Actually, he broke up with me about eight years ago. He told me that he felt that he was weak and that I deserved someone who was strong."
The young woman suddenly felt something wet on her hand and realizes that a tear has fallen from her eye. She blinks the welling tears away as she tries not to cry. Aerith makes a move to console her, but Trang motions to her that she was all right.
"It's all right," she assures the brunette. "We went back to being friends and still are. I think it's better that way. However, the silly guy still feels guilty about the whole thing, even after I told him I forgive him. Guys are weird."
"Yeah, guys are weird, aren't they?" agrees Aerith as she looks at Zack, who cocks an eye back in response.
"Hey, I never broke up with you," he argues with a smirk.
He's right. He never did break up with me. I was the one who decided that, thought Aerith, a feeling of guilt washing over her.
* Taken from Ginger Ninja's Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, All The Roads We Have To Walk.
A/N: Wow, I bet you didn't expect THAT, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU? Ha ha ha… :D Well, I hope you like it. See ya next month!