The band of heroes braced themselves as they landed outside of Chocobo's Forest rather abruptly.
"You would think with all the technology put into this stupid ship that it'd land a little smoother…" grumbled Amarant to himself as they stepped out of the aircraft.
"Okay, let's go in and talk to Mene first. Maybe he'll have something to say about it," said Zidane, looking back and talking to his friends as he walked.
"Sound good to me!" said Quina, running past him and into the forest.
"Quina, wait! Choco doesn't"
Zidane was interrupted by an earsplitting "KWWEEEEEHH!!!"
"…know…you." Zidane finished feebly to himself. After this he went running to see what had happened.
"Wh…Who ARE you, kupo?!" Zidane heard Mene say from a distance. He reached the heart of the forest shortly enough to see the back of Quina blocking his view.
"Me just save you and big birdy! You be more thankful!"
"What's going on here, Quina?" Zidane asked as the 6 others appeared behind him.
"Me see big mean bug here, so me stab with fork and eat! Taste bad, though…"
Choco cautiously appeared from his hiding place behind a mini plateau and saw Quina for the first time.
"Kheh?" He said in a questionitive tone. He then immediately strode over to Quina and nuzzled up against her without any notice at all. "K-k-kweeeeh!" He said, his voice full of content.
"I thought Choco only liked me…" said a puzzled Zidane. "Quina, he hadn't seen you before right now, had he?"
Quina was now stroking Choco's long neck. "No, Zidane, we just meet now. Yeees, you good birdy, huh?"
Aaaw, What a cute Chocobo! I wanna pet it!" squealed Eiko, running towards Choco. At this, he eyed the eager young girl and swiftly flew on top of a ledge.
"…Hey! I just wanted to pet ya, stupid bird!" With that, Eiko stomped back over to Vivi to complain.
After this ordeal, Choco promptly flew down next to Quina, who began patting him on the back.
"…Ohh, kupo! I think I understand! Would that happen to be a Qu?" said Mene, flying over to Zidane.
"Yes, that's Quina, and she is a Qu." Said Zidane. "But what difference does that make?"
"Quite a bit of difference, kupo! You see, back in the early days, Chocobos were very loyal companions of Qus. They were actually the ones to first tame Chocobos, if I understand correctly, kupo. And, legend has it that they were the ones who painted the Chocographs and planted them all around the world! Kupo, maybe Chocobos still have an affection for their former friends deep inside of their hearts, kupo kupo!"
"Wow! I guess that would explain that…" said Dagger.
"Yeah, no kidding! That will make things a lot easier, I'm sure!" said Freya.
"Hm? What do you mean by "things", kupo?" asked Mene.
"Oh!" Quina stopped petting Choco for a moment to explain to Mene their quest. "We look for Platinum Platter. Where is it?" Quina said. She then lost intrest in Mene once again and started patting Choco on the beak.
"Uh…yeah, basically, what she said. Oh, and this, too." Zidane handed Mene the book with the text and the map.
"Hmmm…interesting, kupo!" He said after a moment of inspection. He then placed his right elbow in his left paw, and his head on his left fist as he pondered. Everyone else did the same, save for Quina, who was petting Choco, and Choco, who was too busy being pet to care about anything.
Vivi was the one who finally broke the silence. "You said that Qus and Chocobos go back a long way?"
"It's pretty likely, kupo."
There was another brief pause.
"Perhaps…if we check all of our Chocographs very closely…" said Dagger hesitantly.
There was a collective mass of "Oh, yeah!"s and "Good idea!"s from everyone but Quina, Choco, and Amarant, who hadn't been listening to anything anyone was saying. Zidane went over to Choco, who didn't even notice, and removed all of the Chocographs from his small pouch.
"Ok, Quina, it's time to say goodbye to Choco…" said Zidane, beckoning to Quina.
"Awww, Zidane, Me no wanna say bye-bye to Choco!" she said.
"Kweh, kwehkhew kweeeeh!" agreed the Chocobo.
Quina sighed and reluctantly seized petting and stroking Choco. "Bye-bye, new friend! Me come visit later!" she said as she turned and slouched away.
"Kweh-Kheeh!" the bird called after her.
The others followed Quina out, Zidane being last.
"See ya, Mene, and thanks for your help. Take good care of Choco for Quina and I, Okay?" He said as he walked down the trail.
"No problem. Bye, kupo!"