"Dimensional Whiplash"
By Aleenia Rheese
Chapter Ten - Encounters of the First Kind
In Cloud's World...
The Chocobo Races at
Gold Saucer
Barret led the large birds into the pens. They fidgeted in anticipation for the
race. The mean one, Glimmer, was, coincidentally, the fastest. Averaged at
189kph, 999 stamina, and was a lovely shade of burnished gold. She peeped,
going "Fwee whoo!" whenever anyone looked at her.
Cait Sith was placing bets on Alpha, Omega, and Glimmer,
the three chocobos they were going to race that day. Barret thought it was
cheating to bet on your own birds (ever since they had bred their first Gold
Chocobo, they hadn't lost a race), but he said nothing.
'Sith hopped along, talking occasionally to Esther. Ever
since an explosion at the construction site of Shin-Midgar had paralyzed Reeve,
he had gotten around and about as Cait Sith.
Vincent, the only person - aside from Tifa - Glimmer would
allow near her, groomed the nasty bird. He saddled and bridled the creature,
all the while thinking of Lucrecia, his lost love. He despised Hojo and
Professor Gast for what they did her... and him. He thought of all the ways he
could kill them - it didn't occur to him that AVALANCHE had already killed Hojo
- slowly...
Vincent was snapped out of his train of thoughts by Tifa
tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, the race is about to begin. If you're
gonna race Alpha, you should get ready," she said with a smile.
Vincent nodded. He hitched up the chocobo, and hopped on.
A moment later...
Sam
and Yuffie ran up a million stairs, or that's how Yuffie saw it. When they
reached the monitor room in the Chocobo Racing building, they stopped in front
of the many screens.
"Look," Yuffie cried, "Vincent's
racin'!" she craned her neck up towards the screen which showed a small
image of Vincent racing on a chocobo, and a small map of the track. Vincent's
little blue blip was way, way ahead of the other blips.
"Racer Vincent Valentine is waaaaaay ahead in first,
riding the amazing Gold, Alpha! In close second and third are Dunkin McNuggets
on Ronald McDonald, and Peach on Yoshi!" cried the announcer at a
remarkable speed.
Suddenly, the cheers of the crowd were interrupted and
transformed into screams. A black hole appeared above the two teenagers, a few
feet below the ceiling. Sam backed up, bumping into Yuffie, who cowered behind
him, hands on his shoulders.
Suddenly, a figure began to emerge from the darkness...
In Terra's World...
Figaro Castle
A
few hours after that eventful breakfast, Alie apologized to Terra and the
half-Esper's friends. "It's okay," said Terra. "I can't blame
you. You have been through a lot, Alie. It's natural to be uptight."
The Returners took turns telling Alie about the War of the
Magi, and how they had prevented a second War. Terra talked about her Esper
half, explaining magic and how it worked.
"Wow!" Alie exclaimed. "We've had wars, on
my world. But none as weird as that! Oh, it would be cool to learn magic!"
She grinned at her new friends. Alie was riding a gentle chocobo named Eevee.
Alie had traded her slightly-too-warm jeans and shirt for a comfortable tunic
with leggings, both a beautiful shade of robin's-egg blue.
They were on their way to the town known as South Figaro.
It was a lovely day! Alie was actually enjoying herself! And why shouldn't
I? she asked herself. I may be somewhere totally alien to me, but I
might as well make the most of it! Alie smiled to herself.
Sabin was riding next to her. He couldn't help but glance
at this strange newcomer from another world. The only people he had heard of
who came from another place were the Espers, and they now existed only in
Magicite form. Sabin remembered very clearly the day the three Goddesses
returned the power of magic...
The
group was enjoying the ride back to Narshe on the Falcon. They had defeated
Kefka! The evil tyrant/madman was gone! Terra was standing at the bow of the
ship, recently un-tied aqua-green hair whipping about her in the wind.
Suddenly, three figures appeared in the air, and the ship
seemed to be surrounded by a black cloud. Terra gasped. "The
Goddesses!" She knelt in front of them.
The first goddess spoke. "Terra, we will give you a
choice. If you become the Guardian of the Magicite, we will allow you to keep
your magic."
The second goddess spoke. "We are dying, but magic
itself doesn't have to. People should be allowed to use magic."
The third goddess spoke. "If you, Terra, Daughter of
Maduin, decide to keep your Esper half, you must be responsible for the
introduction of magic into the world once more."
All three spoke. "Do you accept this, Terra?"
Terra looked back at her friends, surprised. Her look read
'What should I do?'.
Sabin walked over to Terra. "It's your decision. It
sounds like a big responsibility."
"It is," said the first goddess, with a small
smile.
Terra looked up at the goddesses. "I accept."
The goddesses raised their arms. They all said, in unison,
"Then it shall be! We, the goddesses Goddess, Doom, and Poltergeist,
command it! First, you must teach magic to the children of Mobliz, Terra. Then
the world can begin healing."
A flash of light, and magic was restored....
Sabin still wondered when the Earth would heal. He looked again at Alie.
Maybe they should teach her magic...
A flash of light ahead cut off Sabin's train of thoughts.
He stared at the black hole which had appeared out of nowhere. A glance at
everyone said that they were as shocked as he. Alie was agape, frightened, and
almost falling off her ride.
Terra slid off Mysty, her chocobo, and stepped toward the
hole. Just as an image began to appear...