I plopped down on a rock and panted. It was getting hot now, and it was almost time for lunch. I was hungry…me and Jay's friend hadn't waited around for breakfast before heading out into the fields. He was on a rampage. With the weaker monsters, he sliced them up into pieces before I even got a chance to take a hit…which was nice, but made me wonder why he'd brought me along. He still gave me half the money though. By now he was slowing down a little. I don't know if it was because he wasn't upset anymore, or if he was just getting tired. I didn't have the nerve to ask…he didn't look like he wanted any questions. So I was surprised when he asked me one.

He walked over, looking hot and a little tired. He sat down next to me on the rock and we both just kind of…didn't say anything. We could see a small herd of wild chocobo a little ways away but we didn't bother them. When both our breathing had gotten quiet enough that the silence was uncomfortable, he sighed.

"So you're thinking of taking back your Island?"

I jumped. I should have known he was listening in. I laughed nervously, but was kind of embarrassed to say it.

"Um…I guess."

"Hmm." He sat down on the ground and leaned back against the rock I was sitting on, thinking. I watched him curiously, wondering if he thought it was a stupid idea or not.

"These…Floofers," he said finally. "Are they what gave you and the red Fluff your injuries?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah it was them," I said quickly. I'd almost forgotten about the injuries. The one on my head had left a scar, a tiny little bald spot, but I had enough hair that it covered it pretty well. It was small, anyway. I'd almost forgotten. How could I have forgotten, though? Reno's scars were very obvious, and I saw them every day.

"You wanna tell me more about them?"

I stared in disbelief. "You mean you believe me?"

He laughed softly. "I didn't say that. I'm just asking you to tell me more."

I thought about that. He didn't say that he believed me…but he didn't say he didn't. I grinned.

"Okay. They're small…about half the size of Yuffie…and they attack in huge groups, kinda swarm all over…the…the thing they're going to eat…" I swallowed, remembering.

Jay's friend tilted his head to show he was listening. "Go on."

I nodded slowly. "Kay. They have sharp teeth…and big claws. Their teeth have weird acid poison stuff in them…that's why it took me and Reno so long to heal, and why I was sick when you guys found us. They jump onto what they're attacking until they're covering it and they…they eat it…"

"Are they fast?"

"They're fast. And they can jump really high and fast and stuff."

"Hmm." He stared over at the chocobo herd. "And you say they drove all the Fluffs off the island? How many of you were there?"

"I don't know…there were a lot. My family's small. There were at least ten other families."

I felt shaky just thinking about it all again, but Jay nodded finally.

"Any idea what their element is?"

"Huh? Element?" I blinked.

"Yes." He stood up and turned to look at me. "Don't you remember? I was telling you just yesterday."

"Huh? Oh yeah!" I nodded quickly, feeling stupid for forgetting. Elements. "Some monsters have weak points where you can hit them with certain magic attacks and it does more damage…right?"

"Right. Like machine monsters. They are weaker against lightning attacks."

"Hmm…" I blinked thoughtfully. "I don't know…I remember…they burned the island when we were leaving. I think they did. I remember a glow like fire when we were running away, but it was in the middle of the night, and it's all blurry…I'm not sure."

"So it would be safe to guess that they at least have some fire element built into them, unless they've somehow learned to use materia. That would be unusual." Jay's friend looked thoughtful."

I blinked. "They didn't…come during wintertime either. They only came when it was warming up."

"Ah. That's another clue." He began pacing a little. "If they are fire monsters, they'd be weakest during the cold season. You said the winters there are very cold, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," I said, wondering what he was thinking.

He turned to me suddenly. "How long does it take for a materia to grow on Round Island?"

"Huh?" I said, confused by the turn in the conversation. "I dunno. The first one was taken around the time when I was born, and-"

"Wait. The Knights of Round materia has already been taken?" He looked stunned.

I nodded slowly. "By the heroes of the Meteor legend. They took it to fight Sephiroth…the elder Fluff of the island told us."

Jay's friend turned his back on me for a second, looking kind of shaky. When he'd turned back around though, his face looked normal.

"You're sure?" he asked me.

"Uh-huh."

"So…it's gone? There's no materia there anymore?"

"There was one growing when I left," I said. "That's part of why I wanna go back. Teff said it's a Fluff's job to protect a materia while it's growing, and the ones that grow on our island are the most special and rare in the world!"

He looked relieved. "So how long will it take this one to grow?"

I shrugged. "I don't know…you could ask my mom and dad, they might know."

"You ask them when we get back, tell me what they say," he decided. "Do you think it could be a second Knights of Round…? No…the same monsters can't be summoned with two different materia…that's unheard of…" He frowned.

I blinked. What was he thinking? I really didn't know. Why all these questions?

"…how come you wanna know?" I finally asked.

He looked up at me. I was sitting on the rock hugging my legs, and he had been pacing through the long grass. He stared at me, then got that same smile he'd gotten the second time he gave me sword lessons…like he was laughing. He came over and held out a hand.

"I think I'll make a deal with you, little Fluff-Sephiroth." I blinked. He'd never called me that before. "You race our Wonderful mother chocobo at the Gold Saucer until she gets to S class. I'll have Jay ride the Black. In other words, you stay with us until we get our Gold, and I'll help you take back your Island."

…I stared at him to check if he was serious. I guess he was…he looked serious. But he was smiling too. It was a little different than any of the other looks I'd ever seen him wear. He looked excited and expectant. I stared at his hand, then took it.

"Okay."

He suddenly looked serious. "Now you understand, this means you're stuck with us until we get a Gold Chocobo? It might take us years. You understand that right?"

I hesitated. Years? That took some thinking about. Did I really want to have to commit myself for such a vague period of time?

"And you'll have to follow our orders too. You'd be an official member of the crew, just like the rest of us, and you'd have to do what the Captain says at all times."

I swallowed nervously. I wasn't sure anymore. Did I really have what it took? Could I do it? What if they NEVER got a Gold Chocobo? I'd be stuck with them forever. But…what difference did it make? We had nowhere to go anyway. Might as well stay with them…why not? And why not be doing something while we were at it…working toward getting our home back. I nodded finally.

"Yeah, I got it. I'll race for you."

Jay's friend grinned. That was the first time I'd seen him grin…it was really a surprising thing. He shook my hand hard, then slapped me on the back almost as hard as Jay did it.

"Welcome to the crew, then, little Sephiroth. Let's go get some lunch, and then I'll have to start teaching you how to ride."

I grinned. "Oh yeah." Obviously, racing involved riding a chocobo. I was nervous still, but I tried not to show it. "Yeah. Let's go."

That night there was a tiny little itsy-bitsy celebration. But first Jay's friend had to convince the Captain. Well…or get close to convincing anyway. The Captain seemed pretty doubtful.

"Are you saying we should let this little Fluff ride OUR ONLY Wonderful chocobo? He doesn't even know how to ride!"

Jay's friend frowned. "Captain, he's willing to race for us for free. Not even Jay was willing to do that. You said yourself we'd be hard-pressed to find a rider light enough, since the mother Chocobo is so small. He's light! Look at him!"

He picked me up as easily as a doll and practically shoved me into the Captain's arms. The Captain looked startled, then grabbed me, hefted me once, then put me down.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "He sure is light, but do you think he's strong enough, on the other hand? Mama chocobo's not a seasoned racer, she's likely to try and pull ahead too soon and run out of energy. I don't think he'd be strong enough to keep her steady."

He nodded. "I'll make him strong enough."

I felt funny, just standing there with them talking about me.

Then he and the Captain had a quick little staring match, and the Captain gave in with a sigh. Nobody could beat Jay's friend at staring contests.

"Fine, I'll give him a chance. But if he doesn't learn quick enough, I put it on your head to find us a rider."

Jay's friend nodded. "Yes sir."

Not five minutes later, I found myself on top of the Black Chocobo, clinging for dear life with Jay giggling his head off on the other side of the fence.

"He doesn't like me!" I cried nervously, while Charky (That's what Jay called him) fidgeted beneath me and fluffed his feathers and "WARK!"ed really loud. Jay's friend had one hand on my shoulder, one hand on Charky's bridle.

"Calm down. He can feel you're nervous."

"He's scary!" I whimpered. Jay rolled, until his friend yelled, "Shut up Jay! You're making it worse!" and Jay stopped.

He whispered a couple words to the chocobo to get it to calm down, and it stopped fidgeting a tiny bit, but I was still scared. Next he turned to me with a serious look.

"Now…sit up straight."

I took a deep breath and tried to do so. It's harder than you might think…my first instinct was to lean forward and throw my arms around the Black's neck. Eventually I managed to make it into a semi straight position, but then Charky warked and sidestepped and I found myself clinging to his shoulder feathers again.

"No, don't worry. Calm down. You ready to ride or not?"

I started shaking my head, but stopped. I forced out a tiny little "Yes…", but it was definitely forced. I had to do this though.

"Okay. Now take the reins." He held them out to me. I blinked at them while I was slowly straightening, feeling like they might bite me if I took them.

"Take them," Jay's friend repeated firmly. I took them, and sat there nervously.

"Now…you hang on with your legs, mostly. Wrap them tight around his middle, but not too tight, or he'll think you're telling him to go."

I blinked nervously. "How do I know if it's too tight? Why can't I just hang on with my hands?"

"Because your hands will be holding the reins. What else are you gonna steer with, your teeth?"

Jay rolled again. Charky made a funny sound and jerked his head. I yelled and let go of the reins. Jay's friend sighed and picked them up and forced them back into my hands.

"Don't let go. Ever."

I swallowed and nodded nervously. "Okay, I'll try!"

"Now…I'm gonna start walking him. You just sit up straight, hold on with your legs, get used to the motions, alright?"

I nodded mechanically, silent even though inside I felt like crying and yelling at somebody to hurry up and get me off this scary bird thing.

You…are pathetic. It's just a chocobo. I've never heard of anybody with any sense being killed by a chocobo.

Um…Rae says someone in her party was once.

Like I said. I've never heard of anybody with any sense being killed by a chocobo.

That's mean, Sephiroth!

Of course it is. Who do you think I am?

…Sephiroth? Anyway…I guess you're right. But whatever…you interrupted the story again. Jay's friend walked the chocobo around and I tried to calm my nerves down and Jay tried to stop giggling so hard. It was all actually going pretty fine until Yuffie ran out into the field straight toward us yelling "YAY SEPHI! RIDE EM CHOCOBOY!" and Charky freaked out and jerked away from Jay's friend and started running. I went "Ah..ahh…AAHH!" and fell off almost immediately. I could hear Jay's laughter louder than ever from where I lay in the tall grass.

"Owww…" I whined. Jay's friend grabbed me and dragged me to my feet.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, but-" I began.

"Good. Now help me get the Black."

He started walking quickly toward Charky and I followed him, feeling sore and scared and discouraged. Maybe I couldn't ride in the races after all. I had no idea it was going to be this hard. Jay giggled quieter and ran out to help.

"Hey man, maybe we should just start him off on Sylkis. He's pretty easygoing, right? It'd keep the guy's nerves from snapping n' maybe he can work his way up faster if he has a little confidence at the start, whadda ya think? "

He thought about that. I could tell he was thinking. Jay chucked. "And maybe we should give Charky some Pahsana greens, eh?"

"You know we don't have any of those."

"So? We can probably buy some, right?" Jay grinned.

His friend sighed. "Even if we could, I wouldn't. He's tame enough for you to ride him, and I wouldn't want to take away his fight. That's probably what will get him through the races."

Jay scratched his head. "Whatever ya say, man. But I still say we should start the little guy on Sylkis- he seems more his type."

"Alright…you go get Sylkis," he sighed. "I'll get the Black ready for a practice run."

I blinked. Sylkis? Oh yeah…that was the Green Chocobo. Jay seemed to be the lucky one who got to give them all their pet names- he'd chosen Sylkis I think because that was the Green Chocobo's favorite kind of green…and he'd thought it was funny to name a Green Chocobo after a green.

I sighed, relieved but embarrassed. Sylkis DID seem a lot nicer and patient than Charky…but I sure wished I wasn't so stinking scared. Yuffie tackled me in the middle of my sad thinking.

"ACK! Yuffie! I just got up off the ground…! Let me up!"

"Y'know what mom says, Sephiii? She says you need to keep getting up off the ground no matter how many times you get knocked d…down!" Yuffie giggled hyperly.

I blinked. "Um…I'm not sure this is exactly what she meaaant…"

"Sooo?" Yuffie giggled. "Hee I'm jealous…you get to ride chocobos…no fair. The chocobos don't like me…"

"I wonder why," I mused, and laughed, then shoved her off. She hopped away. I hurried to catch up to Jay's friend, who was just cornering Charky and calming him down. I slowed and stopped a little ways away. He opened up the gate and led the Black out onto an area where a rough circle-ish track had been cut in the tall grass, shutting it behind him. A few seconds later, Jay came out with Sylkis and jogged over to where I was sitting on the fence. He grinned and got the Green Chocobo inside the fenced area, then waved bye to me and ran over to mount Charky, giving Sylkis' reins to me to hold. I blinked at the Green uncertainly, but he just ruffled his wings lazily and scratched a bit at the ground. I grinned in relief. Yeah, he was definitely not as scary as Charky.

So I swung my head around to watch Jay and his friend. Jay was up on Charky and letting him dance around a little bit. His friend just shook his head, glanced once at me, took out his PHS, pushed a few buttons, then told Jay to get in position. Jay rode Charky out to a certain spot on the track, and made him stop and sit still. His friend stood there on the edge, staring at his PHS for a few seconds, then went "Ready….NOW!" and Charky bolted. Sylkis warked excitedly- he was watching it too. Jay went "WOOOO!" and leaned forward and urged Charky on. The Black ran faster than I'd ever seen anything run. I sweatdropped. If that's how fast they went in races…I had a long way to go.

Once Jay and the Black had run once around the track, Jay's friend pushed a button on his PHS and yelled out some numbers, then put the phone in his pocket and walked over to join me while Jay and Charky ran out into the tall grass.

"You ready? Get up!"

I blinked and went "Oh!" and scrambled up clumsily onto Sylkis. He just stood there patiently. I giggled in relief. Jay's friend just muttered, then sighed.

"Alright. You got the reins?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"You hanging on with your legs?"

"Uh-huh…!"

He nodded back at me once. "Okay, then kick him."

"…huh?" I blinked.

"You heard me. Kick him."

"But why!"

"Because I said so, that's why!" he yelled. I meeped and shut up, then hurried up and kicked. Sylkis shot forward into a trot, but it felt like a million miles per hour to me. I yelped and was about to lunge forward and grab feathers again, but Jay's friend just shot me a look and said "Don't even think about it!" and I swallowed and just kept my balance, even though I had my eyes half-shut in fear of what was going to happen. He directed me to turn Sylkis with the reins but I shouldn't have bothered…he was just jogging laps around the field anyway, he turned before I even started pulling. I bounced up and down on that bird like a sack of…I don't know. A sack of something bouncy. It kind of hurt…I guess it would've hurt more without all those feathers. I clutched those reins as if I was one of the three Fluffs of legend holding on to the shining fur rope of Kana-tara-furio in the middle of drowning in an ocean storm. After the third time around the field I asked "Can I stop nowww!"

"No."

The tenth time around, I realized I wasn't all that scared anymore and was keeping my balance better and the bouncing didn't hurt as much. But I still asked, when we passed Jay's friend, "Can I stop NOW?"

"Nope," he said, and slapped Sylkis so he broke into a slow run.

"AAH!" I yelled, which only made him go faster, and Jay's friend was shouting "Don't let go of the reins!" at me, and I managed not to only because I was so used to clutching the reins so hard by now that I couldn't have let go if I wanted to. Ten more times around the field. "Can we stop NOWW!", another "No" paired up with "Just keep it up, silvery," and he made a funny whistle that made Sylkis run even faster…by now I was close to giving up on ever getting off that chocobo again…I thought maybe Jay's friend was determined to fuse me to the bird's back. In a way I guess he was. Later he'd give me that lecture about being one with the chocobo…or whatever…but yeah. For now I just felt like a permanent sack of potatoes tied on to its feathery green back. I was getting pretty sore too…

"Okay, now you get to use the reins to slow him down."

"Huhh?"

"Pull on them!"

I pulled. Ow. My fingers hurt. Sylkis was still running. I pulled more.

"Harder than that, come on."

I pulled till my hands were as far back as my shoulders. Jay's friend laughed. "Creep your fingers up the reins…you'll have more to pull on that way."

"Huhhh?" I said again, but kind of figured out what he meant. I pulled in more and didn't feel so stupid…and Sylkis started slowing down and doing a funny side-steppy dance. I think I was accidentally pulling on one of the reins more than the other. I evened them out and Sylkis straightened out but started running again so I had to pull in even more. It took about five times around the field to get him to stop. By then my arms hurt.

"Strong bird, isn't he?" Jay's friend remarked. I panted and nodded, feeling like my fingers were about to fall off.

"Alright, get off. That's good for today."

I felt kind of shaky and stuff. I had to pretty much pry my own fingers off the reins and then kind of half-fell off Sylkis. Jay was leading Charky back into the stables and passed by laughing.

"Hey Seph! Good job- first time he tried to teach me to ride, I fell off four times out of five! Either he's going easy on you, or you're better than we thought!"

"Ughhh…" I sat up. "Oww…sooore…"

"You'll get used to it, and after a while you'll get to where riding doesn't bother you," Jay's friend said, offering me a hand this time instead of just dragging me up. I took it and he helped me up, then patted me on the back.

"ARE you going easy on me…?" I asked, wincing as I tried to walk and my legs ached.

He got that shadowy smile. "Maybe a little. But just you wait…we'll make you a racer."

"Well…" I panted, stumbling awfully. "I sure hope you're right about getting used to it…ow."

"Hehe," Jay said while we walked in. He was rubbing Charky down. "He's always right, don't ya know?"

"Hardly," his friend said.

"Aw come off it…ya said to me when we found this guy 'He could get us somewhere, if he really does know about Knights of Round,' and here we are!"

His friend's mouth twitched. "And just where are we, exactly?"

"On our way to getting our Gold, dummy," Jay teased.

"Well…we'd better hope so."

I grinned uncomfortably. There they went again…talking about me. Jay's friend seemed to notice and tapped my shoulder.

"Let's go, dinner should be on soon. And keep our deal quiet for me, alright?"

"Huh? How come?" I followed him toward the house.

"I doubt anyone else believes you come from where you say you do. Let's just say they'd think it was stupid of me to say I'd help you out. Not that I care…but it'll just make it easier for both of us."

"Oh…okay," I murmured.

"You'll take care of Sylkis for us, won't you Jay?" his friend said with a smirk.

"Eh, sure sure, just leave him over there," Jay grumbled happily.

Okay, now for the itsy bitsy party part. We got inside and random members of the crew grinned from the kitchen table and the floor and benches scattered around the room and raised their glasses of water or milk or other more questionable drinks. Everybody seemed really cheerful except the doctor and the Captain. I watched them all watch me while I sat down on the floor where all the rest of my family was. Jay grabbed a glass of juice and lifted it up so it spilled on someone who was sitting nearby and they both laughed.

"To the Gold, and our little Fluff Rider!" he giggled. Everyone grinned and toasted to it. I really wonder sometimes why they call that a toast. I mean, it would make more sense if they all lifted pieces of toast. Or did toasting come before toast? Either way, it doesn't really seem to make sense to me. But I blushed and ducked.

Someone plopped a big bowl of spaghetti in front of me and I stared in surprise. Yuffie gasped and went "AWW LUCKYYY!" and Reno swiped a noodle and Cait Sith thwapped him and laughed. I just blinked and blinked and stared in wonder. It had been forever since I'd had pasta. The smell of the sauce and the cheese and…I suddenly noticed that there wasn't any bits of meat in the sauce either. I looked up at the farmer and his wife. They smiled at me. I grinned.

"Wow…thanks!"

Captain shook his head. "I don't see what all the fuss is about- he's hardly a racer yet."

Jay's friend smiled. "Oh, but he will be. You should have seen him keep his seat today. I'm sure he'll do even better tomorrow."

Everyone laughed at that. I wasn't sure if they agreed or if they thought it was the most funny thing Jay's friend had ever said. I grabbed a nearby fork shyly and started digging into my spaghetti, feeling like everyone was watching. I slurped a noodle.

"Mm…it's good!" I sighed contentedly. The farmer's wife smiled even bigger.

Everyone else toasted again- "To the Gold!" -and turned back to eating their own meals, talking about chocobo races and the gold saucer and good old times back at home and what they'd all do once they found the Knights of Round materia and got the money they'd been promised for helping out. I ate my spaghetti quietly and wondered what Jay and his friend were talking about over in the corner. Finally I was full and gave the rest to the rest of my family, who began to cheerfully bicker over who got more or less of it. Then someone broke out ice cream and everyone REALLY got excited. I'm afraid I might have overdone it. By the time we all went to bed, my stomach hurt a little. But I was happy when I snuggled up with everyone and started falling asleep in the middle of a nest of fur and straw and blankets. I was just starting into a dream about edible materia candies when Reno bit my ear.

"Owieee!" I sniffled and rolled over. "What'd you do that for?"

"How come you're racing with them?" Reno whispered. I guess he likes getting to the point straight off. I rubbed my ear. If he kept this up they might be as ripped up as his own within another year.

"Cause…" I started, remembering how I'd promised Jay's friend to keep the secret to myself. "Because…um…they asked me to."

That wasn't exactly a lie, but it still felt weird not being able to share the whole truth. Reno could tell.

"That's not the real reason, Seph, I can tell. Why don't you ever tell us things anymore?"

Man I felt guilty. I rolled over onto my stomach and put my head on my arms. "I dunno…I'm tired."

"So? Come on Sephi…we're your family, you GOTTA tell us!" Reno whined.

I whimpered. "I can't though!"

"Why not?" Reno said, a little loudly. Mom rolled over and mumbled, "S'time to sleep boys…"

"Because I just can't!" I sniffled, all muffled. "They told me not to!"

"Sephi…you don't have to do what they tell you, y'know," Reno huffed. "It's not like they're your parents or anything."

I didn't say anything to that. I DID have to do what they told me, now. I'd made a deal. I shivered. I wished I could tell. I still didn't understand why I couldn't. After a while Reno went back to sleep, I think, but I stayed up a long time, thinking.