It was a beautiful day. A few clouds in the sky and a nice breeze with the ocean beyond in the distance. In the winter time, traversal in Nibelheim could be quite difficult at times which was why by late fall all the village residents stocked up on food, some wood, medical supplies, and extras of every sundry they could afford that had a use. The general store would be plumb full of goods up until they start having big snows. Claudia and Thea were beyond excited as they slowly marched out of town on their blue chocobos.
"You girls be careful and don't stop until you get to the port you hear?" Mrs. Strife hollered. Just before they reached the exit of the village another woman hollered the same thing as it was Thea's mother.
"Ok mom!" Thea replied as many onlookers watched them leave. The road was a bit windy but was recently paved and gave way for them to easily reach the port within ten to fifteen minutes by chocobo. During the day, very few creatures were out except for the usual animals such as some rabbits, dear, foxes, squirrels, and birds; however, just recently some of the merchants and travelers had been encountering some mildly threatening creatures. The two young women rode at a slow and steady pace.
"How's it feel?" Thea asked with enthusiasm enjoying it much herself.
"I'm at a loss really... I rode a yellow chocobo when dad took me to Kalm once, but never a blue one." Claudia said holding her reigns.
"The blue ones have a lot of magical power according to Mayor Weston's wife" Thea explained.
"What kind of magical powers?" Claudia asked listening intently.
"The powers of the ocean she says. What that means, I don't know..." Thea shrugged already detecting the question from Claudia. Claudia turned forward holding on to her reigns deep in thought admiring the bird she was riding. The birds contentedly kept an evenly paced march which was about twice as fast as they would be walking.
"Didn't Mrs. Weston think to ask the breeder or the wrangler of these birds how to get them to use their um, abilities?"
"To be honest..." Thea readjusted her cowgirl hat. "She really said that the mayor brought them in late one night. They do roam wild in these lands she said but...I've never seen one" Thea confessed.
"Neither have I, although... I do remember my mom telling me a story when I was ten" Claudia began to remember.
"And"
"She said long before Shinra came to Nibelheim that there were many more chocobos and that they used to not be so distrustful of people" Claudia started as they came to the first curb in the road. The birds carefully navigated each turn with care, then one of the chocobos let out a sonorous chirp as if encouraging Claudia to continue her story.
"Brian's father had mentioned that Shinra had actually hunted these birds and not for the right reasons" Thea shook her head sadly.
"My mother had befriended a blue chocobo as she and a friend would always be out collecting herbs and flowers for their mothers' apothecary. Back then she says you rarely ever saw a monster except for deep within the mountains. One day they came across a baby chocobo that appeared to be lost. It appeared a little scared, but they offered it some food and easily won its trust. They wandered further into the valley until they saw a mother chocobo slowly approaching"
"Did she see your mom and her friend as a threat?" Thea asked nervously.
"No, the baby chocobo seemed to recognize its mother and ran straight to her. She said the baby chocobo looked back at them a couple times and then ran off with its mother and a few other chocobos they could see off the far-off distance in the valley. Then for a couple of months they didn't see any chocobos except for early in the morning they would hear a very beautiful melodious set of calls from these birds"
"You mean as if they were singing?"
"Yes, it was as if they were singing. My grandmother had even talked about the song of the chocobos..." Claudia paused now the story coming front and center.
"I never really knew chocobos had a song. They can sound adorable, but I had thought that was the extent of it" Thea admitted. "So did your mom ever see them again?"
"Yes, several months later when my mother was out again with her mom and friends they saw the baby chocobo, only it had grown considerably. We then saw another chocobo of equal size and they came to see them. It was like a reunion and farewell my mom said. She could see a little sadness in their eyes. They petted the birds and spoke to them, and it almost felt like the birds could understand them. Before they left, they began chirping in a harmonious way and then they backed a safe distance away. A few moments later mom described it as a mini-geyser of water which carried them high up in the sky and they glided to some faraway place" Claudia concluded.
"What a story, I had heard bits and pieces of tales like that, but I thought it was all make-believe" Thea said with amazement.
The birds quietly began chirping a little as they had arrived at their destination. The port had its usual workers and had the constant flow of ships in the harbor bringing equipment and materials that Shinra needed for building and other various tasks. There was one chocobo pen off to its own with a lone yellow chocobo suited up resting under the shelter in the pen. Thea and Claudia rode their birds to the pen and carefully dismounted.
"Blueberry, Skye, we're going to go get our supplies and we'll be back soon. Please wait for us here" Thea pleaded. The two birds entered the pen as Claudia opened the gate to let them in. The yellow chocobo under the shelter raised its head for a moment to see the new visitors then laid its head back down in a restful position.
"Now the fun part, let's go pick up our freight" Thea smiled.
"You think the birds can handle the load?" Claudia asked a bit unsure.
"These birds are a lot stronger than you think. The special saddles will allow us to use side baskets to carry the load"
"Maybe we can ride the ocean back home" Claudia suddenly laughed.
"I don't know... sounds a bit fantastical to me" Thea laughed as they wandered into the port.
On the other side of Nibelheim, Claudia's father, Glenn, and the rest of their monster patrol were deep in the valley wilderness beyond the Shinra Manor. Their patrol had went on for a couple hours without incident until a sudden silence struck the area and the wind itself seemed to seize its movement. Mr. Zander and Mr. Strife halted the group listening and looking around vigilantly as their keen senses as hunters began warning them of the impending danger.
"Get down and take cover!" Councilman Zander instructed as they all followed suit and hid behind trees, bushes, tall grass, and boulders.
"What is it?" Brian whispered hiding behind a big boulder with Zander, but Zander did not respond. Both of his eyes looked grave as they looked to the sky. Mr. Strife was behind a tree with his gun loaded already preparing to take a shot. Dale wasn't too far off in the middle of some very high weeds with his rifle loaded and already aiming albeit nervously. When Glenn looked up in the skies from behind the bush he was hiding, he realized exactly what it was they were facing. This was part of the reason why all the junior troopers were sent away. Glenn wanted to see how they were going to deal with such a creature. Shinra had disturbed a beautiful natural mako fountain and planned on extracting it, but in the process they disturbed a sleeping ancient wonder of the world, a green dragon.
The green dragon's flight was limited on how high it could go. It's flight patterns seemed a bit irregular as if it had been injured? It was now about 50 yards away from them and heading towards town.
"When I say fire, shoot" Councilman Zander spoke a little lower as everyone aimed their firearms at the beast. The dragon began scanning the area as if on a hunt with its mouth agape tasting the air. Instead of using a firearm, Glenn prepared a spell from a materia he "borrowed" from a senior officer. Mr. Strife was sizing up the beast as he aimed thinking this was the first time he had ever seen such a denizen worried that these greenbacks they had with them may lose their courage.
"Fire!" Zander whispered loudly. The dragon instantly detected them but the bullets proved faster slamming into its green scales. It zoomed down towards from where the fire came.
"Reload damnit!" Zander hollered.
"Calling the deep frosts of ice... BLIZZARA!" Glenn cried just before the dragon landed less than ten feet near them. Blue light formed and cold polar winds appeared as a medium sized boulder of ice formed and slammed in the dragon's chest stunning it for a couple of moments giving Glenn's companions just enough time to regroup.
"Back up everyone!" Mr. Strife hollered as Zander stubbornly reloaded his double barrel shotgun. The shells could leave a hole in a full-grown moose, but the gun constantly needed to be reloaded even if it only took a few seconds. A few seconds was all it took for one to lose their life.
The dragon charged and swiped at Zander with his claw slashing at him before he could finish reloading his gun knocking him back several feet. Brian had his rifle reloaded just in a nick of time before it could continue its onslaught on Zander. The shot hit the dragon in its belly leaving a strong painful stinging sensation but barely penetrating. Another three shots were fired at the dragon drawing its attention once more towards Dale and Mr. Strife. Dale had both of his dual pistols out firing until they were both empty each of the twelve shots leaving nasty nicks on the creature's hyde. The dragon was trying to determine where that ice attack came from. All the distraction gave Brian enough time to help Zander get to a safe distance.
"What's it doing?" Dale asked Mr. Strife a bit nervously with his now empty pistols as the dragon widened it mouth directed at them. Mr. Strife had heard tales of dragons but had never seen one and suddenly he knew exactly what it was getting ready to do.
"It's going to breathe fire!" Mr. Strife said as he and Dale turned to run as the dragon blasted flames from its mouth singeing their clothes as they fled. Dale yelped in pain as the fire burned his back. As they ran, they came across Glenn who was preparing another Blizzara spell, but now he was interrupted.
"Glenn, get Dale somewhere safe!" Mr. Strife said grabbing his now hot axe. Glenn quickly grabbed the now injured Dale and took him behind another tree and lied him there.
"Stay quiet, and don't move" Glenn warned as he rushed to rejoin Mr. Strife who was already ignoring his burns. Dale felt the burns acutely and lied helpless where Glenn left him. As the dragon was recovering from its deep breath, Mr. Strife spun around with his iron axe and landed a hit on its front leg leaving an inch gaping gash. As the dragon opened its mouth to bite at Mr. Strife, his axe buried in its lower jaw causing it to let out a primal roar in pain. Glenn took out his axe sprinting to Mr. Strife's side as a shot rang out hitting the dragon in one of its eyes by Brian now limiting its vision.
This was all Glenn needed, he felt the strength of the materia embedded in his axe as he gripped it running head on jumping into the air as the dragon flailed wildly with its uninjured front leg grazing Glenn as he leaped in on his thigh. He ignored the pain and came in with an overhead swing burying his axe into the dragon's chest. The dragon flailed with more desperation and vigor as it collapsed, then it was able to swat both Glenn and Mr. Strife aside. Brian and Zander had enough time to reload once again as they took their final shot in the creatures gaping mouth silencing it once and for all.
