Chapter 20: Entering the Black Mage Village
On their way in, Cid and Red XIII noticed very peculiar things. The Black Mages were indeed the fabled black mages of fairy tales. They were tall, round, and wore pointy hats. Their eyes glowed a bright yellow and none of their body parts were visible. They wore Grey shirts and white pants and carried long staffs with them. But there were also young men and women, all blonde and having long tails. "Very interesting indeed…" Red stated.
"It's a town of freaks!" Cid finally muttered.
"Perhaps we should rest at the inn. You've had a long run." Red glanced at Cid.
"Yea. Good idea mutt." Cid said. They both started wondering around town, receiving odd looks and friendly hellos. After walking around the small town for a bit, they came to the inn.
"It looks like we're here before the other numbskulls." Cid said.
"Yea, now would be a good time to rest."
Cid approached the clerk. "Two for the inn."
The black mage responded. "All right sir, that will be 100 gil."
Cid handed over 100 gil and received a key to his room. Cid started for his room before Red.
"Excuse me good sir, but do you know when an Airship will be landing?" Red asked from below the counter.
"Hey look at that, the funny dressed man brought a talking dog!" The black mage said.
"Heh. Isn't life full of surprises." Another one across the room said. The 'human' with a tail looked confused.
"Oh don't mind Mr. 199 over there, he's a genome, and all of them are a bit shy." The black mage clerk said.
"…My name's B.J..." the genome replied.
"About those airships. One will be landing tomorrow morning to pick up our amazing crafts."
"All right. Thank you Mr."
"No problem."
Red walked over to his and Cid's room, and fell asleep on the floor.
The Black Mage looked over to the other. "What a couple of freaks…"
** *
"I wonder of the others got here yet?" Tifa asked Barret as they approached the village.
"I dunno, but look at dem foos. It's just like dem fairy tales!" Barret said.
"Wow! They're so cute!" She received a stern glance from Barret.
"Remember, we ain't here to hug no mages, we're here to book a flight."
"Yea…Hey! Look at those people! They have tails!"
Barret chuckled. "Ain't life full of surprises."
"Can we look around Barret? No one's here yet!" Tifa took his large hand and started to pull.
"Guess I ain't got no choice. I gotta go through this with Elmyra." He grumbled. The two walked through the village, receiving odd looks and friendly hellos.
"Hey big guy, do you know about Mogster?" A genome asked.
"No. I don't even know what the hell you are." Tifa scowled at Barret.
"I'm a genome. They call me Mr.207, but I like the name Mike."
"Uh…right. Genome." Barret said.
"We don't know about Mogster, if that'll answer your question." Tifa smiled.
Suddenly things became dark and Tifa and Barret awoke to be in a marsh, in front of a moogle and his little brother.
"What are you going to teach me today, big brother?" The little one said.
"Today I'll teach you about magic conversion, Mosh."
"Gosh, what's that Mogster?" The little one piped up.
"Since there are many different dimensions, magic behaves differently in each one. When a traveler jumps between dimensions, known as plane jumping, his magic changes to that of the world he jumped in." Mogster explained.
"I don't get it…" Mosh said.
"Well, lets say you wanted to do Blizzaga in a different world. That spell might be a bunch of saws made of ice spinning around called Ice3 instead of blizzagas' big ice spike."
"Oh…Gosh big brother. You sure know a lot."
Things got fuzzy again and Barret and Tifa returned to the Black Mage Village, in front of Mr. 207 or Mike.
"What the hell was that?!" Barret yelled.
"That was an ATE, active time event." Mike replied.
"Did you get a thing about what he was talking about?" Tifa asked Barret.
"Not a damn thing. I'll just let you handle the materia from now on." Barret said.
Tifa nodded and looked around. She saw an item shop! And it even had a happy face carved into the wall. "How cute! Barret, lets go!" Tifa pulled the large man up the stairs and onto the deck.
** *
"Are too." Yuffie said to Vincent as they traveled through the dense redwoods.
"Am not." Vincent muttered.
"Are too." She stuck her tongue out at her.
"How'd I get stuck with you of all people?!" Vincent finally retorted.
"Because nobody wants to be near the vampire."
"For the last time! I AM NOT A VAMPIRE!" Vincent yelled in her face.
"…are too."
Vincent looked at the map. "We're extremely close to this village. In fact…"
He glanced up. "There it is!"
"It's about time! If I was like stuck in this forest with you any longer, I'd have to barf." Yuffie made a vomiting gesture.
"me too. Now it should be where there are no owls."
"…you sure?"
"Are you questioning me?"
"Gawd, what does it look like?"
Vincent sighed. "Let's go down the right path."
"…Which one's that?" Yuffie asked.
"What?"
"The right path?"
"The right path."
"I know! But which one is that! One of them has to be the right path and the other the wrong path!" Yuffie scowled.
"The right path!" Vincent raised his voice.
"Are you saying the right path is the right path and the left path is the wrong path, or vice versa?" Yuffie scratched the top of her head.
"Look. I'm going down the right path, you do what you want." And Vincent proceeded down the "right" path.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Yuffie shouted as she ran after him.
** *
Cait Sith and Cloud approached the windmill at the village. They had been there for quite some time. In the courtyard of the windmill, a black mage, a genome, a moogle, and an adult chocobo were wondering around.
"Hey look! A chocobo!" Cait Sith shouted. "What are they doing on this world?"
"Must be universal." Cloud looked around and noticed a moogle. He then walked over to it.
"Are you Mogryo?" Cloud asked.
"Kupo, that's me!" Mogryo responded. "What can I do for you?"
"Uh…I'd like to save." Cloud replied.
"Kupo, Let's save!" Mogryo did a flip and pulled a big book out of no where. "Let's see. Cloud and Cait Sith, Black Mage Village/ Windmill." He then put the book back in wherever it goes and did a flip to where he was originally standing. "I want mail, kupo!"
Cloud was then reminded of the letter that Cid was carrying. "My partner has a letter for you."
Cait Sith approached Cloud. "Who names a chocobo Bobby Corwin? What a dumb name."
"We should head to the inn." Cloud started to leave.
"Everyone should be there. I hope." Cait Sith bounced after Cloud.
The black mage turned to the genome. "Who names a moogle and talking cat Cait Sith?"