DISCLAIMER
... Don't own FF7, YGO, nor ANY of the mentioned anime, games, and books, except for the book I'm currently working on... Which is the original version of this... No copyrighted characters in it though...
Sorry for never updating this thing much, so I made this chapter extra long! Forgive me?
Chapter XX: Finding a Plan
Cloud's P.O.V.
' What was all that about?' I thought as I watch Rose exit the building. Throughout the whole thing, she was talking to the ground as the water's glowed brightly green, like Mako. ' I better get to the bar before her - she'll be asking questions if she knew that I followed her.' I took off, going with the shortcut to the bar. It only took me about ten minutes to get back to the bar, with Rose arriving behind me five minutes later.
" Hey Rose," I said casually as she walks by the children. " Where'd you go?"
" Somewhere," she replied as she walks by and into the bar.
' I knew that you wouldn't answer with the going to the church,' I thought with a smirk. I walked in after her, finding that she was surrounded by her animals, who were wondering why she went somewhere.
" Being chewed out by animals. Not something you see everyday," Yuffie said with a laugh. Nananaki just rolls his eyes at Yuffie's comment as he pads away to the back, laying down. " Hey, I didn't mean you as an animal!"
" Yuffie," I said as I pulled her aside before she could pick a fight with Nananaki. " Rose is planning sometime either tonight or tomorrow to leave somewhere. I have no clue where, but we got to be ready to follow."
" Why?" she asked in confusion.
" The remaining Shinra soldiers might end up finding her and will try to capture her, again. Duh."
" Ah!" She looks outside at Denzel and others. " But if we all leave, what about the kids?"
" We're taking the Sierra and Highwind, telling them that they're having a ride for their first time in them. You tell Cid and the others the plan though, 'kay?"
" Okay!" she said as she sets out to tell everyone. I glanced at Rose, who was still held by Trila and others. Ebony was just laughing at the whole thing in humor. I walked back outside, to tell Denzel and the other kids about how they're getting a ride.
" Hey!" Rose suddenly said as she pushes past the animals. " There's the Chocobo Farm in a distance, right?"
" Yeah. I take it that you want to see the chocobos in the near future?" I said as I turned to her.
" Yeah."
" Well... you can use one of the rental motorcycles we have, free of charge. Next time though, you will have to pay for one. And I'll also accompany you there, since I know a way there without any monsters to bother with."
" Sounds fair enough. Hey Ebony! Want to see the chocobos?" Rose said as she looks at Ebony, who stopped laughing right away and looked excited.
" You bet!"
After I told the kids, I led the way to the 'cycles. Ebony looks all ready to move, and Rose even looked slightly excited.
" You both know how to ride this sort of vehicle, right?" I asked.
" Rose does, and I do... a little bit, anyway. She's been teaching me."
" We have another expert, eh?"
" Yeah, so what?" Rose said, in a joking way. " Hey Ebony, you taking a bike yourself?"
" Ah hell no! I'll pair with you or Cloud, I don't want to chance this yet!"
" Sheesh, afraid of riding by yourself?"
" Hey, after I get the controls of the thing, then I'll try it!"
" You two always like this?" I asked as I opened the garage and pulled two bikes.
" Sometimes," both answered.
" Now... where's the throttle on this thing?" Ebony said as she stares at the one she was close to. " Um... not used to not seeing the throttle on top. Or the handle bars underneath the weird armor thingie."
" It's not that hard Ebony," Rose said as she rolls her eyes.
" You're scary at times Rose... I'm riding with Cloud!"
" Chicken."
We were soon speeding off, Rose easily getting the hang of the motorcycle and now racing me. Ebony was hanging on tight to me, but enjoying the rush of the race.
" C'mon, Rose will end up beating ya if you stay this speed!" she yelled over the wind. Rose heard and smirked as she sped up, passing me.
" This'll be fun," I said as I matched her speed. People watched us as we headed for the exit, which opened as we came nearer. Bursting through it, we opened the gas and rushed through the dirt, rocks, and dead grass. Rose stayed just ahead of us, making sure to not let me pass.
" Having problems back there?"
" Nope, no trouble!" I yelled as I reeved the engine and did a quick move to get beside her.
" You're not beating me so easily!" Rose said as she throws the throttle to full and raced, with me following though and staying right beside her.
" Look, there's the farm!" Ebony said as she pointed after nearly about thirty of high-speeding through the plains. It was much faster when you're pushing the bikes to the top speeds than in the city, since there's a speed limit.
" It's it, alright!"
" Let's finish this race then! Whoever gets to the sign, wins!" Rose shouted over the noise.
" Fine by me!"
We shot forward, both of us practically neck-to-neck. I wasn't about to let up, and neither was Rose.
" Aaaaand here we go! Both of the contestants are both reeving up to their top speed, both evenly matched! We can see the sparks between them, ladies and gentleman, but who will win! It's too hard to tell!" Ebony yelled as she laughs. " Go Cloud, go!"
" Thanks alot Ebony!" Rose laughed as she suddenly shot forward ahead of me. How'd she found extra boost, I don't know, but I was able to catch up before we reached the sign.
" We have a tie! No one is a winner or a loser!" Ebony said as we both screeched to a halt. I skidded sideways, Rose did a weird back-wheelie that ended up spinning around in circles before stopping, landing the front wheel back on the ground.
" Awsome move Rose! You've perfected it!" Ebony said as she hopped off the seat.
" I had to after that incident, remember?"
" Ah yes, where you have hit that rock while on the back wheel and you flew off into some thorny bushes. Yup, I remember."
" Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go see some chocobo's," Rose said as she climbs off her bike and heads to the farm.
" She has a more positive attitude, now that she doesn't have to worry about some white, long-haired guy with a long pointy sword going after her. At least for now," I heard Ebony say. I blinked as I felt my face go pale.
" What did you say?" I asked, hoping not to hear the name.
" Malshano is who I described," Ebony said. I sighed in relief. " Yup, Malshano, the younger brother of Sephiroth, since they look too alike to not be brothers."
" WHAT!" I yelled as I nearly toppled over. " Please tell me you're kidding... Sephiroth doesn't HAVE a brother... does he?"
" Hell, I don't know how Sephiroth could have a younger brother, and neither does Rose. They met just yesterday night, before we escaped to here," Ebony said, though she had a weird look. " I hope Rose doesn't kill me for giving out information like that."
" But... but why the hell is there someone like Sephiroth? I didn't even think that it's possible to have two Sephiroth's..."
" It ain't two Sephiroth's, it's Malshano and Sephiroth. Jeez, get it right. Problem though, Rose says that Malshano's stronger than Sephiroth, when she finally came back to her house last week."
That was it, my knees gave way to the weakness and I sat back on my motorcycle, stunned.
" Someone stronger than Sephiroth?"
" Yup, though don't worry too much. He can't attack anyone he please, because of the curse. It's only Rose that he can strike without something happening to himself. Don't know what it is, but Rose said something about it... the curse, I mean."
" And why didn't you mention this earlier? We could've used that information to be on alert."
" Because Rose doesn't want people to interfere with her life. Even I had trouble being with her the first time we've met last year. She wasn't like this at all back then, but still wasn't all that friendly, either."
" If ya say so..."
" Alright, enough of this talking! I want to see the chocobo's!" Ebony said, not preparing to talk anymore about Rose or Malshano as she starts going to the stables. I followed behind her, still shocked.
Rose's P.O.V.
" - and that's Cloud's personal chocobo, the gold one, see? His name is Damien. And the black one, which belongs to Tifa, is Aira. And with the last one..."
" What's wrong with the last chocobo?" I asked the stable boy of the farm, whose name was Rikki.
" Oh, nothing's wrong with it, but we never can get near it. Cloud caught it, but it always bites anyone who got too near."
" Oh. Well, I guess I'll greet the chocobo's personally. Thanks for the info."
" No prob!" he said as he leaves the stable. With him gone, I greeted the golden one first, the black, then the others that belongs to the rest of Cloud's group, by softly talking to them as I petted their beaks. They enjoyed the attention. I then turned my attention to the one that Rikki mentioned about no one ever getting near. To inspect, or not to inspect. That, is the question... Inspect it is. I walked over to the stable, which has a really shadowed corner, with a dark figure in it.
" Hello? You in there?" I said softly.
" K-KWEH! (GO AWAY!)" I heard as the chocobo in the stall suddenly bustled over to the door and nearly snapped my face off. It, or she, puffed out her feathers to make herself bigger as she hisses. She was a beautiful color of light purple, much lighter than I've seen on the screen when I played FF7, her eyes deep blue and her beak and feet flaming orange.
" Hey, whoa, I'm no threat. I swear on it," I said as I placed both my hands in front of me like I was surrendering. " But if you ask if I'm crazy, I'd say yes, since I thought I heard you say go away..."
" ...kweh? (...huh?)" the chocobo said. " K-kweh kweh kweh k-k-kweh? (You can understand me?)"
" Apparently, yup."
" ... kweh kweh k-kweh. (You're different.)"
" You don't know the half of it." I leaned against the door, being careful that she isn't attack me. " So, why you being so opposing to humans? Don't like people that much, like me?"
" K-kweh. (I guess.)"
" Heh. At least you don't have such crazy days like me."
" Hey Rose!" Ebony said as she bounded into the stables. The chocobo dashed back into the dark corner. " Hello, was that a chocobo that just moved?"
" Yup. A chocobo that doesn't like too many people," I said as I looked at the chocobo. " You do know that you don't have to be afraid of Ebony here."
" K-kweh kweh k-kweh kweh! (I'm not afraid of humans!)" the chocobo answered as she came back to the door. Apparently, she doesn't hate me now, but is still very cautious of others. Her beak bumped into my arm, which made me pet her. She froze, but then gave into the scratching, because she lazily closed her eyes and made this weird purring sound. Cloud walks in to see this.
" How the...! How can you pet it while it nearly takes everybody's hands!"
" Not an 'it', she's a she. I thought you would know that," I said with a smirk.
" Kweh. (Right.)"
" ... gawd, you're one crazy woman," Cloud said as he shakes his head.
" Perhaps I am."
" Kweh kweh k-kweh kweh k-k-kweh. (I don't think you are crazy.)"
" Thanks... er... what's your name?"
" Kweh kweh k-kweh kweh.(Don't have a name.)"
" Then how about one? Uh... Kasiya? (Kah-zi-e-ya)"
" Kweh k-kweh. (Good name.)"
" Wait, now you're telling me that you can understand chocobo's now?" Ebony said, though very excited.
" Yup."
" Cool!"
" Impossible..." Cloud said.
" Anything's possible these days Cloud, believe me... I don't think Kasiya likes being trapped in here all these days," I said as I glanced at Kasiya, who nodded at that to Cloud.
" Ah... okay... I guess Kasiya's yours?" Cloud said, still kinda in shock. Kasiya cocks her head at him, then me.
" Wanna be partners?" I asked.
" ...kweh! (...sure!)"
" Awsomeness," I said as I opened the stable door. Cloud and Ebony jumped aside as Kasiya rushed out of the stall and stretches. " Looks like you're with my motorcycle, Ebony. That cool?"
" Of course! I studied enough to get it now!"
" You need a saddle for Kasiya?" Rikki asked, who was watching from the doorway.
" Kweh! (No!)"
" Nope, Kasiya doesn't agree to have one."
" Then how about the travel pack one, at least? Much easier to transport things, and it won't even bother you, Kasiya."
" ... kweh. (... okay.)"
" She's says okay."
" Great!" Rikki said as he rushes into the tack room and brings out a simple leather pack thing that has two packs for both sides of the chocobo's body. " Should I charge you for it, though?"
" Of course, there's a catch," I laughed. " If you did, how much?"
" 300 gil!"
" What about this?" I said as I pulled out a semi-large, uncut gem of ruby from my bag and tossed it at him. He looks at it, astonished.
" Those gems do come in handy," Ebony said, impressed by the quick thinking.
" Why do you think I've packed as much as I can into this bag with all my things and the gems and money?" I whispered. Believe me, it would weigh a tom if it wasn't for the fact that the bag makes even a few hundred pounds as light as a feather, as well as I can fit in more than the size looks. I bet anything that Rose 1st did that with some sort of spell or magic.
" Ah. Good thing you have alot of gems from that place you discovered years ago."
" Is this really genuine?" Rikki asked as he stares at it.
" I'm sure, since I took it to a gem shop before anything. I even got the small papers about them."
" Ah! Then it'll be just this for the travelling pack!" Rikki said as he rushes to his house.
" We need to get gil though, Rose. I doubt we can live on the gems like that. Besides, you like them too much."
" At least the amthryst ones," I laughed. I picked up the pack, then looked at Kasiya. " Wanna wear this, or Ebony ride with it on her bike?"
" Kweh kweh k-kweh kweh. (I will ride with it.)"
" 'Kay, then I guess I either ride ya, or run with you guys," I said as I began strapping the pack on her, though I had to sort through the buckles so that they are correctly in place.
" Hah, like you can keep up with motorcycles," Cloud said.
" I'm telling you Cloud, she can run," Ebony said.
" Then let's see this happening, I'm ready to go back!" He goes over to Damien and the other chocobos. " You guys wanna follow?"
" KWEH! (YES!)" they all answered in unsion. Cloud smiles brightly as he throws all the doors open, having them litrally stampeding out of the stable, waiting outside for us now.
" Kasiya and I will await for the race back!" I said as we rushed outside, Cloud and Ebony following.
They both climbed onto the bikes, reeved them up, and took off, with me and all the chocobos rushing after them. I stayed in speed with Kasiya, who was actually the fastest out of all the other chocobos. That really surprised me, but it was also a good thing. At least we had more in common!
" Let's catch up Kasiya!" I said as I boosted my speed.
" Kweh! ('Kay!)" Kasiya said, doing the same as I. We easily caught up with Cloud and Ebony, then passed them, though they went back ahead of us in a matter of seconds. The chocobos behind us eventually gained more distance to us. I was beginning to tire, but I wasn't about to back down yet. I took a deep breath as I ran much faster. I was going to find out exactly how fast I can run, because this is the best oppontunity. I bypassed Kasiya, then the bikes. I kept going, not glancing back to see how far I went ahead of them. My head and heart was pounding with blood. And the wind was stinging my eyes! I blinked several times to try and get the dust out... wait, dust? I opened my eyes again to see the walls around Midgar appraoching - fast. I started to slow down, trying to not have myself become part of the wall...
WHAP!
I at least slowed down to not have anything broken, like, for instance, my nose? And the wall stopped me from the fast run. But boy, my hands had the most painful smack upon my life... I leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
" I'm going... to find a way... to slow... down much... quicker..."
Good run? Rine said as she laughed slightly.
" Shut-up, I don't need your two cents!"
You are still mastering your abilities, so I am not laughing at you. I have had the same problem, so did your great-great-great-great grandmother. Believe me, I know. I was there.
" Gee, thanks for the tip..." I said sarcastically, though I was laughing giddily. The blood did rush to my head, because everything was now a little funny. Ebony and Cloud, along with all the chocobos, arrived about four minutes later. Cloud looked flabbergasted as he stops and stares. He couldn't say anything, since he was in shock again. Eony, however, laughed at Cloud's expression.
" I told ya, but did ya listen? Nope!" She jumped off the seat and came over to me. " You okay, Rose?"
" Oh yeah, peachy, I feel like a million bucks..." I said as I laughed.
" Something's wrong with ya if you're laughing like that," Ebony laughed as she helped me up. " You can't sit after a run like that. Walk it off."
" Now you sound like my old soccer couch!"
" It's the truth, though. C'mon, let's get inside."
" Kasiya, you gonna stay out here?" I asked before I allowed Ebony to drag me inside.
" Kweh! (Yeah!)" Kasiya said as she blinks at me, along with the other big birdies. They were surprised to see me run that fast, like everyone including me.
" Then I'll see ya sometime soon, then..." I said as Ebony finally got me walking.
" You guys enjoy your freedom," I heard Cloud say to all of the chocobos as he follows with both bikes in trail.
" Kweh! (Bye!)"