Troia Jungle
On a tip from several people in Troia Village, Cecil, Yang, Tellah, and Cid trekked north through the thick jungles in order to find Chocobo Village. They were constantly being attacked by the native creatures, driven mad by the power of the Fiends. Wild cats, Stingrats, more imps… they all emerged from the trees to attack the group.
Cid was knocking out monsters with the heaviest tool he had on hand, a large hammer. "These critters are just pouring out of the shadows, aren't they?" he said, pushing aside an unconscious spiked rodent. "It's taken us twice as long to get anywhere on land than it should."
"It's been like this for the past year," Cecil said. "You haven't been outside the castle lately."
"It's good for training, but then you have to train harder," Yang added.
"There's a clearing just ahead," Cecil said, looking back towards the rest. "It should be the place."
A few minutes later, they were standing in a large grassy meadow. It was a pretty and idyllic place, one that was easy to feel comfortable in. Due to a magic barrier, none of the crazed monsters came here. Instead, there were large numbers of chocobos strolling about, interacting with each other and watching the four men. They seemed wary, though, and scurried away quickly when approached.
"So how're we supposed to get four of these birds to cooperate?" Cid asked. He had been unhappy to discover that the Dark Elf's cavern was on an island that was impossible to land an airship on, due to being thick jungle. To himself, he made a mental note to address that problem in his next design.
"It certainly smells like chocobo around here," Yang said.
Tellah put a hand to his chin. "Smell? Oh, right! We may need some help, and I think I have just the thing. I knew I had to buy them for some reason." He reached into his bag and pulled out a stem with many green leaves. A spell kept it from drying out. "Gyshal Greens."
At that point, a shadow appeared overhead, causing the three others to back off and get ready to grab their weapons. Then a chocobo dropped out of the sky and landed beside them with a ground-shaking thump. No ordinary chocobo, it was over twice the size of the others, with a body like a huge ball. "What is that?" Cecil asked, not sure if this would be some monster chocobo.
"A Fat Chocobo," Tellah said, stating the obvious while he handed the Greens to it. "They're the leaders, so to speak. Good to make your acquaintance, Fat Chocobo."
"Hiiiiii," he responded, smacking his beak as he looked over the herb.
"They talk?" In all his time traveling, Cecil had never run into a talking chocobo before.
The Sage shrugged. "To an extent. Pardon our intrusion, but we were hoping to borrow some black chocobos to go up to the Dark Elf's cavern to the northeast."
Looking over them, the Fat Chocobo patted his chest with his wing. "Daaaannnggeeeerrr."
"We know," Tellah said. "I've got some Gyshals for the blacks to make up for it. And another for you if you would like." He brought out a second leafy stem.
Eyes widening, the Fat Chocobo chuckled and took it. "Goooood. Caaaarrreeefuuul." He then whistled to the others, getting four blacks to come over, looking expectant.
Cecil smiled, then bowed to the leader. "Thank you."
Cid looked at the chocobo nearest to him with suspicion. It looked back, curious. "I don't know about flying with these guys," he said. "I know how airships work, and they're much bigger."
"Wark!" The chocobo snatched Cid by his shirt collar. While he yelped, the bird placed him on the back of another black.
The others there, human and chocobo, laughed. "I think they like you," Tellah said teasingly, giving a few leaves to the blacks. Cid just glared at him from the chocobo's back.
I had to do something with Fat Chocobo. His song gets stuck in my head.