Gifts

The Pogo Stick

Boing.

Boing.

Boing.

Fang paused and put down the secateurs she'd been using to trim the rosebush, one of several that grew in the front yard. Boing was not a noise she usually heard in her front yard. In fact, it wasn't a noise she heard very often at all. But what could be making it?

Boing.

Boing.

Boing.

The answer arrived in the form of Diana gleefully bouncing through the front yard on what appeared to be a bright orange pogo stick. For a split-second, Fang could only stare, her mind already groaning under the weight of all the mischief her younger daughter could get up to with a pogo stick.

What was especially puzzling was that Fang couldn't remember buying one for Diana, and she was fairly sure that Lightning hadn't either. Years of raising the little girl had given both of them a finely tuned sense of danger. And there was just something about Diana and a pogo stick that screamed danger and disaster.

Sure enough, disaster struck. Diana landed the pogo stick awkwardly and instead of going back up, she went hurtling off to one side. Fang leapt forward and managed to catch her before Diana could end up hitting the ground face first.

"Thanks, mommy!" Diana hugged Fang and then scampered off to grab her pogo stick. "Falling on my face would have hurt!" Then she was turning, getting ready to get back on her pogo stick.

"Hold on a second." Fang put one arm on Diana's shoulder. The little girl turned and tilted her head to one side, the very picture of childish innocence. It was terrifying.

"Mommy?"

"Where did you get that pogo stick? I didn't buy it for you. Was it your mom?"

Diana shook her head and then broke out into the sunniest of smiles. "Aunt Vanille got it for me yesterday. She said she saw it in a store and thought I would like it." She lifted the pogo stick up. "See? It's a Gary one, and it's awesome."

Fang's eye twitched. Of course, it had to have been Vanille. And there, right in front of her, was the smiling visage of her least favourite gorgonopsid. If Diana hurt herself on the pogo stick, she was going to march right into the offices of the Gary people and beat them over the head with it. Then she was going to go after Vanille because there was no way the redhead hadn't foreseen all the trouble Diana could get into with a pogo stick.

"Right. Did your aunt tell you anything else when she gave it to you?" Fang was already getting a headache.

Diana nodded. "She said I should practice outside on the grass first because that way, if I fall, I won't break my head open, and you won't have to kill her, which is good because I like her a lot."

"I see." Well, at least some of Vanille's common sense was still intact. "Look… I just want you to be careful, okay? A pogo stick might be a lot of fun, but you'll get hurt if you aren't careful."

"I'll be careful, mommy. I promise." Diana flashed her a salute. "I'll practice super hard and everything. I'll be the best pogo stick person in the whole world."

Fang chuckled. "I'm sure you will."

And with that Fang went back to the gardening, albeit with one eye on her daughter.

Boing.

Boing.

Boing.

X X X

Lightning was reviewing some requisition forms when she became aware of an odd sound, one that wasn't at all in keeping with the usual sounds in her home.

Boing.

Boing.

Boing.

It was coming from upstairs. More than a little curious, and wondering what fresh disaster the girls had unleashed, she headed for the stairs, only to be greeted by a sight that stopped her heart in her chest.

Averia was running toward the stairs at full speed, one hand outstretched. "Don't! Diana, don't go down the –"

And Diana… Diana was bouncing down the corridor on a pogo stick. And then she was bouncing down the stairs. Lightning gave a strangled gasp, already imaging all the ways that Diana could end up breaking her arm or worse, as the little girl pogoed down the stairs at full speed, avoiding Averia's outstretched hand by a hair's breadth.

By some miracle, Diana made it down the stairs none the worse for wear, and she quickly set about pogoing in a circle around Lightning as Averia rushed down the stairs, grabbed her, and began to swing her around.

"You little twerp!" Averia screeched. "I told you not to pogo down the stairs! You could have broken your stupid neck!" The older girl had given up swinging Diana around in favour of putting her into a headlock. "I'm your big sister. It's my job to keep you alive, so the next time I tell you not to pogo somewhere, don't pogo there!"

"Mom!" Diana wailed. "Help! Averia is picking on me!"

Wordlessly, Lightning pulled Diana away from Averia. For a moment, her eyes met Averia's. She gave the girl a small nod. She knew exactly how Averia felt. Then she pulled Diana into a tight, tight hug before easing back. "Diana, I love you very much. No more pogoing down the stairs."

Diana stared at her for a long moment before realising just how serious she was. "Okay, mom." She paused. "But can I still pogo around the house as long as it's not down the stairs?"

"Uh… no." Lightning frowned. "Wait, where did you even get a pogo stick?"

"Aunt Vanille gave it to me."

"Ah." Lightning reached for her phone. "Go play outside. I need to call your Aunt Vanille."

X X X

Diana was true to her word. She stopped pogoing around the house, but that didn't stop her from pogoing everywhere else. She pogoed through the park, she pogoed through the front yard, and she even pogoed through school until Miss Gainsborough finally told her that she wasn't allowed to pogo around anymore. Apparently, the other kids had complained about her hopping around on her pogo stick while playing tag. They said it was cheating. Diana just thought it was cool.

"She's gotten way too good at that," Fang murmured as she and Lightning watched the girls play around at Sazh's ranch. The three girls were busying chasing after Chirpy, and Diana had decided that the only real way to catch up to a chocobo was on a pogo stick.

"She has." Lightning's eyes widened slightly as Diana changed direction abruptly, somehow adjusting the angle of her pogo stick to pitch her sharply to one side. She almost managed to catch Chirpy before the bird darted away, snickering as the girls continued to run after him. He was taking it easy on them, of course. They'd never have gotten close if he were running at full speed. "Vanille, you still haven't explained why you got her a pogo stick in the first place."

The redhead, who was sitting on a fence nearby, waved her can of lemonade in the air. "Well, a pogo stick is for bouncing on, right? Diana has always seemed… kind of bouncy, you know?"

"I guess." Fang made a face. "But you know, she could have broken her neck pogoing down the stairs."

"Hey, I didn't think she'd do that," Vanille retorted sharply. "You know, I'd never want her to hurt herself." She paused, voice growing thoughtful. "Besides, I'm not sure if falling down the stairs would even have hurt her."

"Explain." Lightning growled. "Now."

"Well…" Vanille shrugged. "You know how Diana can transform into a miniature Ragnarok? And remember how you guys asked me to run tests on her and everything to make sure it wasn't hurting her or anything?"

"Yeah." Fang nodded. "You said that's why she can eat so much but never get any bigger."

"The transformation is a highly energetic process that her body is still trying to make more efficient." Vanille took a sip of her lemonade. "But that's not all. I have a theory. There are certain… changes that occur just prior to the transformation. I've seen them in you, Fang, and I've seen them in Diana too. When she was at the lab, she stubbed her toe on something. There was a brief spike in those indicators. I wouldn't be surprised if the transformation is automatically triggered under sufficient stress, injury, or danger – like a defence mechanism." She sighed. "But the only way to test that theory would be to do something pretty horrible to her, or at least make her think we were going to do something pretty horrible to her. And we're not doing that."

Lightning closed her eyes. "Having kids is complicated."

"When one of them turns into a miniature Ragnarok? You bet it is. And you can blame Fang for that, by the way." Vanille dodged the empty can that Fang threw at her head. "But, look, Diana is a good kid. Things will work out – and she's pretty handy with a pogo stick too. See?"

Diana had somehow managed to pogo herself onto Chirpy's back, dropping the pogo stick in favour of holding onto the bird as tightly as she could as he continued to evade Claire and Averia. As the game finally came to an end, Chirpy walked over to the pogo stick and nudged it with one claw.

"Kweh?"

Diana giggled. "No, Chirpy, I think we'll need a bigger one for you!"

X X X

The Ice Skates

It shouldn't have surprised Lightning that Averia turned out to be a good ice skater. She was no slouch herself, and Averia loved winter. They'd started taking her to ice skating rinks and frozen lakes when she was only little, and now, at the age of twelve, she was a skilled skater. But although some people loved to do tricks – and Averia could do those – what she loved most of all was speed.

Right now, they were on a large frozen lake beside one of major camping areas near New Bodhum. It was famous for being a nice place to skate during the middle of winter, and Averia was shooting across the ice, arms and legs in motion as she cut a swift course around the edges of the lake, her form smooth and relaxed despite the pace she set. In the meantime, Diana and Claire were taking part in a limbo contest on the ice with some of the other kids – a contest that Diana was winning quite handily, thanks to her small stature.

"She's something, all right." Hope grinned and eased to a stop next to Lightning. He had one arm around Vanille to help keep the redhead upright. Although Fang had not been a great skater to begin with, she'd learned quickly. Vanille had not taken to ice so easily although she had been making some progress under Hope's tutelage. Not far off, Sazh and Dajh were meandering across the ice while Chirpy napped under a tree. Ice skates and chocobos did not mix.

"She is." Lightning watched as Averia spotted an open stretch of ice and really poured on the speed, one hand behind her back as she leaned to one side, turning. "But those ice skates don't look like her old ones. Fang must have bought her new ones."

"Oh, those? I got those for her." Hope shrugged. "She mentioned that she needed some new ones, you know, the kind you use for speed skating, and I thought I'd get her some."

"Just like that?"

"Well, yeah." Hope grinned. "Until Vanille and I have kids, I'll have to be content with spoiling yours."

"Is that so?" Lightning chuckled as Diana emerged from the limbo contest victorious. "Well, thanks. She looks like she really likes them."

X X X

Fang had sort of expected Averia to move on from her interest in skating. It wasn't that the girl was flaky, but she had a quick and inquisitive mind. She also happened to pick things up very quickly. It wasn't unusual for her to really throw herself into something, get good at it, and then move on to the next challenge. The rate at which she burned through video games was a testament to that.

However, her interest in speed skating endured.

As Averia entered high school, she continued to devote a large chunk of her spare time to skating. She wasn't interested in all the fancy twirling and spinning. No, she wanted to go as fast as she could. Even a few hundredths of a second faster was enough. All that mattered was pushing herself that little bit further.

And she got better.

When Averia was sixteen, she won the championship for her age group. Fang was there, cheering her head off like the others, as Averia won in a photo finish.

"So… what now?" Fang asked as they sat in the living room at home. The others had already gone to sleep, but Averia was still too amped up. Instead, she sat on the couch and stared into empty space. But Fang could tell that it wasn't empty space to her. She was reliving the race – every moment of it.

"I don't know." Averia smiled. "I hadn't really thought about what I was going to do if I won."

"Are you going to keep on skating?"

"Maybe. But probably not as much as before."

"Oh?" Fang raised one eyebrow. "What are you going to do instead?"

"Well, I still want to join the Guardian Corps, mom." Averia grinned. "And that means getting into one of the big academies so I can do university at the same time. I need to have the right grades for that."

"Your grades are already good." Fang snickered. "Although didn't Claire beat you in English last time?"

"By one point, mom. And I beat her in Maths and Science." Averia sighed. "And, yeah, my grades are good, but I need great grades. The Guardian Corps is really popular. There are a lot of people trying to get into the big academies." She glanced at the ice skates that were propped up on a table nearby. "Skating takes up so much time. The Guardian Corps has always been my dream. If I want to get there, I need to ease up on my skating."

"Are you sure?" Fang asked quietly, putting one arm around Averia. "You don't have to join the Guardian Corps if you don't want to. Your mother and I just want you to be happy. I know your mother is kind of a living legend and everything…"

"I do want to be in the Guardian Corps, mom, and I can still skate when I want to." Averia ran one hand through her hair. "Winning a championship was great, but I've only ever wanted to go fast. And I can still go fast, even if I'm not racing competitively. Besides, what are the odds I'll have to use ice skates in the Guardian Corps?"

"Pretty small." Fang smirked. "But you never know. Life can be strange sometimes."

X X X

Lasso

Claire wiped the sweat off her brow and followed her Uncle Sazh out of one of the chocobo pens. It was hard work getting all the chocobos checked, but it was something that had to be done regularly. Although some chocobos loved being around people, there were just as many that merely tolerated humans. Oh, it wasn't a matter of those chocobos being mean or nasty, they just didn't like people getting too close too often.

Still, it was Sazh's policy to check every chocobo for health problems on a regular basis. Some were easier to see than others. If a chocobo's feathers were falling out that was hard to miss. Likewise, a chocobo with a badly hurt claw was easy to see because it would be walking funny.

But the best outcome was to catch problems before they got that easy to see. It was much easier to fix a claw when it was only irritated than when it was truly hurt. And it was a lot easier to get an infection treated before it started making feathers fall out. It was nicer looking too.

Claire was the youngest of the helpers, but at fourteen, she'd already built up a better understanding of chocobos than most people. She had a certain way with them, and she had a keen eye for all the little things that might suggest a bigger problem. It helped that she'd spent years around Chirpy, and the bird had told her all about the kinds of injuries that chocobos were likely to pick up in their day-to-day lives.

Most chocobos managed to stay still long enough for a quick inspection, but there were a few that needed more wrangling. That was why her Uncle Sazh was teaching her how to use a lasso. She had no idea where he'd learned how to make and use one, but she wasn't about to complain. Lassos were cool, and she'd have been lying if she said she hadn't imagined chasing after her younger brother and sister with one.

He started off by showing her how to make her own out of a spare length of rope and then made her practice until she could make one blindfolded.

"You never know when you might have to make one," Sazh said. He patted her on the back. "So it's always good to practice until you don't even have to think about it. It's the same as archery. The more automatic you make it, the better you'll be."

He had a point there. Claire had done enough archery over the years that she didn't even have to think when using a bow. "I get it."

"Kweh." Chirpy sidled over. "Kweh."

"Yeah, I can think of a few people I'd like to lasso too, Chirpy. Just tell me who you want me to get, and I'll get them for you." Claire grinned. "It must be tough not having hands."

"Kweh kweh."

"You've got a point. A beak seems handy too."

Claire practiced until she had everything down pat and then Sazh moved on to teaching her how to throw a lasso and reel something in. They started with posts and other easy targets. He demonstrated, and then she did her best to imitate him. Sometimes, it worked out, and she'd get a solid grip on her target. Other times, she'd miss completely, drawing an amused chuckle from Chirpy and a knowing smile from Sazh.

"Relax, I wasn't much good either when I first started." Sazh stretched. He was still a strong man, but he wasn't a young man anymore by any means. "You'll get it soon enough, and once you do, we'll find more interesting things for you to lasso."

When Claire finally got the hang of it, it was just in time. No sooner had she gotten Sazh's seal of approval than a chocobo leapt over a low fence, making a beeline for the open plains. It had a bit of a beak problem, but it hadn't appreciated having a veterinarian poke at it.

"Someone stop that chocobo!" one of the ranch hands yelled.

Claire grabbed her lasso and took aim as the chocobo darted past, chased by half a dozen ranch hands. Her lasso caught the chocobo around the shoulders, and she smirked. She'd caught it. But her smirk didn't last long. The chocobo was running at full speed, and it weighed a lot more than she did.

"Gah!"

Claire would have gone flying right off her feet if Chirpy hadn't chosen that exact moment to grab her end of the lasso in his beak. He was bigger than the other chocobo – he was bigger than most chocobos – and the other animal screeched to a halt.

"Are you all right?" Sazh asked as he helped her back onto her feet and checked her over for any injuries. "Claire?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She ran one hand through Chirpy's feathers. "I owe you one." He nuzzled her cheek. "I'll bring you something special the next time I come around, okay?"

Sazh shook his head. "You kids are going to be the death of me." He breathed a sigh of relief. "No lassoing anything bigger than you are, Claire, not unless you want to go for a ride."

X X X

"You know, we should probably stop her." Serah tilted her head to one side. "But this is kind of fun to watch."

"Yeah." Snow nodded. "Let's give her a little longer."

In the living room in front of them, Ice and Alyssa had been in the midst of another scrap when Claire put an end to things in true big sister fashion: she lassoed both of them and got both of them trussed up.

X X X

Omake: The Gifts That Keep On Giving…

General Lightning Yun-Farron glared at the three young idiots in front of her. "You three seem determined to find your way to my office."

"That wasn't our intention, ma'am." It was at times like this that Averia hated being the senior officer out of the three of them. "But we didn't have a choice this time."

"Enlighten me."

"Yes, ma'am." Averia gulped. "We were on patrol, as per usual, when we became aware of a Guardian Corps chase headed in our direction. In accordance with standard operating procedure, we made ourselves available to the commanding officer of the chase."

"Continue."

"After the chase ended in a crash, the suspects fled on foot, making their way into the winter festival area. As we were the closest officers to the scene, we decided to pursue them on foot."

"I see." Lightning glared at Diana. "Tell me, why is there footage of you on a pogo stick floating around the evening news?"

"Ma'am, the item in question is more than a pogo stick, it's a special model designed specifically for extreme sports and stunts." Diana tried to think of a way to put things that wouldn't result in her scrubbing toilets until the end of time. "The thickness of the crowd made pursuit on foot difficult. As such, I requisitioned the pogo stick from a festival performer and used it to bypass the crowd, allowing me to apprehend one of the suspects."

"Are you serious?" Lightning shook her head. "You mean to say that bouncing around like a lunatic was the only way to catch the suspect?"

"Yes, ma'am. The pogo stick allowed me to bounce over the crowd, closing the distance in a manner that would have been impossible on foot."

Lightning rubbed her temple. Fang… Fang never had to deal with this sort of thing. "And why is their footage of you on ice skates, Averia?"

"The suspect I was pursuing seemed to be familiar with the layout of the festival, ma'am. He was able to secure some ice skates and make his way across the frozen lake bordering the southern edge of the festival. I believe his plan was to escape into the woods on the other side of the lake. However, I was also able to secure some ice skates. I pursued him onto the ice, and I was able to apprehend him due to my greater speed."

"Right." Lightning made a mental note to strangle Hope later. "And you, Claire, would you mind explaining the lasso?"

"Although the suspect I was pursuing was not armed with a projectile weapon, he did have a knife, and he appeared to be well versed in close quarters combat. Given the large number of civilians nearby, I believed that using a lasso to immobilise him was the safest method to apprehend him." Claire paused. "He did try to cut his way out of the lasso with his knife, but I kicked him in the head."

"I see." Lightning took a deep breath. "I suppose you three did what you had to do. I certainly can't complain given some of my more… interesting methods of arrest."

Diana had to fight to keep a straight face. Everyone knew the story of Lightning Farron and how she'd once apprehended a fleeing terrorist with a well-aimed golf club.

"Still, do you have any idea how you three looked on the evening news?" Lightning growled. "Although the main purpose of the Guardian Corps is law enforcement, we do have an image to uphold."

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am?" Diana asked.

"Granted."

"I thought we looked awesome."

"I will overlook that comment because if I didn't I'd have to grab this book and throw it at you." Lightning tapped the big, big book of Guardian Corps regulations on her desk. "Good work, I guess. But please, please try not to end up on the news next time."

"Understood, ma'am." Averia saluted. "Uh… and what does mom think?"

"Your mom thinks the whole thing is hilarious." Lightning rolled her eyes. "Now, get going. I want all of your reports first thing in the morning."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

When I started writing this chapter, the only section I had planned was Diana's. The thought of her on a pogo stick was just too funny to leave alone. Averia's came next, and I decided to go with ice skates because I thought they suited her personality. I've already had Claire down at Sazh's ranch a few times, so having her learn how to use a lasso was a natural step to take. As for the omake… well, it would be a shame if they didn't get to use their gifts when they got older.

I also write original fiction, mostly fantasy. You can find links to it in my profile. If you're looking for something fun to read, try Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf. If you've enjoyed any of my humorous stories, you'll absolutely love that one. If you want something more serious, try The Last Huntress.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.