Fine! Chapter 9!

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Chapter 9

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Sakura can feel the warm breeze as they walk closer to the big blue sea. They were on a beach with pure water and shiny golden sand. "It feels so good..." Sakura said.

Syaoran sat on the sand. "I'm glad you're happy, now how are we suppose to head north? We can't cross the ocean without a boat or some sort!"

"We can fly across!" Sakura cheerfully suggested."The wind is too strong, it'll blow you right back!" Syaoran opposed. "Hm..." Sakura put a finger to her mouth and tried to think. "It's no good staying here." Syaoran said. "Lets walk along the shore to find some sort of boat rental shop..." [Even though I can find a rental shop, I don't know how to control a boat anyways...]

The walked for a few miles before something finally came into their sight, but it wasn't a boat rental shop. It looks more like a...barn...They walked closer, there was a big field right beside the beach, with fences all around; inside (the fence) there were livestocks. They couldn't tell what they, from where they were standing. As they walked closer, they realized those livestocks were Chocobos, but instead of yellow feathers ,like Chocy, they all have different colour feathers! They were blue, green, black, white,even gold!

"Wow...." They all exclaimed. They ran towards the fence. "It's beautiful!" Sakura's eyes shined. Not even Chocy knew that he has colourful relatives! Chocy stared at them with his jaw opened. Excited and surprised, he went over to talk with one of the brown ones, in chocobo language(chocobo languages are in {...}).

Chocy said: {Hey, brother, how is it going!?}

The brown chocobo looked up :{Never seen you before, are you a wild one?}

{Oh, no, see these kids here? They own me.}

{Cool, which farm are you from?}

{Terry's farm around Mt. Kilo, but I'm traveling with these kids now, so, how come you're so colourful?}

{It's born this way, our owners gave our ma and pa special kinds of nuts so that we can be colourful.}

{Delicious nuts?}

{Don't know, never tried them before.}

{So, umm...where's you owner?}

{In the back, oh, here she comes.} The brown chocobo turned his attention to the feeding call. A lady came out of the barn with a hug sack of nuts over her shoulder. She was about the age of fifteen, had two blue ponytail behind her head, and was wearing a pair of short broken jeans. "Hello, Browny, you're always the first on to come on the feeding call aren't you?" The girl said. She saw Sakura and Syaoran, and waved at them. "Howdy!! Are you guys here to mate your chocobo?"

"Mating?" Syaoran said.

"Syaoran, what's mating?" Sakura asked like a little girl.

"Ah...um..."(sweat)

~~~~~

"This is a Chocobo breeding barn. I thought you wanted to breed you chocobo." The girl said. She led them into the cocobo barn, with around 20 chocobos. The stable is made up of logs of wood, it was nice and simple with sun lights beaming through the windows. "Oh, by the way, my name is Chica, nice to meet you!" Sakura and Syoaran watched as she fed the chocobos.

"I'm Sakura and this is Syaoran, and the chocobo out side is Chocy. We're on a journey travelling to the south."

"South? But that's the ocean!" Chica said.

"We know...that's why we're stuck."

Chica gave them a shiny bright smile, "You've come to the right place. I'm the ultimate chocobo breeder!" She stood up. Syaoran added in to the conversation. "Um...how's that going to help us cross the ocean?"

She grinned. "I believed you've notice these chocobos are different from the ones you've seen." Syaoran looked around. "They comes in different colour."

"Right, each chocobo here has different colours, and each one of them have a special ability!"

"Special ability?" Both Sakura and Syaoran asked.

"Correct. For example, this brown one right here can climb rocky mountains better than any of the other chocobos. And that green one over there can travel through the forest like Tarzan, the white one can fly, and the blue one over there can walk on water."

"How amazing!!" Sakura said. "How did you teach them to do all those things?"

"They're born that way." Chica said, giving a nut to an infant chocobo (orange), "We gave their parents special kinds of nuts that I found around this area, once they mate, different coloured chocobos are borned! Their abilities depends on what kind of nut did the parents took." She looked at Sakura, who was staring at the infant chocobo, she handed it to her. "Here, you can hold it."

"Oh, thank you. Owe...it's so cute~!" The tiny infant snuggled in her arms and made a high purring sound. Sakura laughed. "Oh, that tickled. Hehe...what does this one do?"

"We'll find our when it grows up!" Chica said.

"Here, Syaoran, you try!" She handed the baby chocobo to Syaoran. "What? Me? I don't know..." He said. Once the baby went into Syaoran's arm, he stared at Syaoran curiously. Syaoran froze, a sweat dropped down from his head. "umm....hi...." He said to the baby, trying to smile.

"Warrr...." The baby purred cheerfully, and rubbed its face against Syaoran's chest. "Hey..." Syaoran smiled.

"Oh...how cute, he likes you..." Sakura said

"Yeah, he's pretty cute, isn't it?" Syaoran was too shy to say anything else.

"Oh, no, not just the baby, you're cute, too, Syaoran." Sakura commanded.

"Wha...what!?" He blushed furiously. They fooled around with the infant. Chocy can see them playing and laughting from where he was standing. He sighed, and sat down on the sandy ground.

Browny (the brown chocobo) came to him and asked. {What's wrong?}

{You guys are all blessed with special talents, and I'm not even cute, like that baby they're playing with.}

{Oh, don't worry, you've gotta be good at something. Here, want some nuts?}

{Thanks.} Chocy took the nut and start eating.

{Hey, look on the bright side, you can run wild, and look at us, we're all locked up in the fence. Poor us.}

{Why? Is it that bad in there?} Chocy asked.

{Oh, no, this is the best, we get food, treated nicely and medical care.}

{Then why did you say "poor you"?}

{I don't know, my pa said that to 'no talent chocobos' that pass out the barn somethings. I think it makes them ('no talent chocobos') feel better about themselves....oops. Sorry dud.}

{Ah, it's okay, I know I'm a no good punk.} Chocy finished the nut, and walked away from the fence. He saw Sakura and Syaoran coming out of the barn, talking to Chica. "Look, we don't want a new chocobo that can carry us over the ocean, we already have Chocy." Syaoran said

"I know." Chica said. "But I told you, I'm the ultamite chocobo breeder, I've been studying chocobos since I was five. I know what kind of nuts will breed what kind of chocobo. I'll turn your chocobo into a brand-new 'over sea creature'!!!!"

"What??" Syaoran said. "I thought they're born this way!" "Yes, most of them are, but I've come up with a brand-new method to breed useful chocobos. You see, I've discovered that their ability to do all sorts of things doesn't come from their parents, so it's not the work of genetic. I found that it was the nuts that made them so useful! I've discovered the way to breed naturally borned chocobos and turn them into useful chocobos! Just leave it to me!"

Chocy was crushed. {So, I'm not useful??} He sadly walked away, trying to get as far away from them as possible.

Sakura showed a sad face. "But will Chocy be like these colourful chocobo? His feather colour will change, won't it?"

"That is a side effect," Chica said. "I can't prevent it."

"But I like Chocy's goldish colour..." She looked down at the little chocobo in her arms. "It might be very original and old, but it's what Chocy is."

"We'll think about it." Syaoran said. "Oh, can we stay here for the night?"

"Rentals are 10 Ome dollars per night. It includes dinner and breakfast."

"You do hotels too?" Syaoran asked.

"Hey, not everyone owns chocobos, and wants to breed them."

~~~~~

"Chocy~" Sakura yelled around the beach. "Chocy, where are you?" Syaoran and her had been seaching for Chocy for almost an hour now. "What can happened to him?" Sakura looks like she's going to cry any minute. Syaoran put one arm over her shoulder. "We'll find him, some how."

Chocy was looking at them from a corner, around the trees near the beach. {Sakura...Syaoran, I'm sorry that I was a not a good chocobo, I wish I could be like those chocobos in the barn. They can swim and fly and cross mountains....and I'm...I'm just a normal chocobo who doesn't do anything special...} Tears came pouring down his face. {But if you're going to make me into something I'm not, I can't do it...I'm sorry...} He used his wing to wipe the tears, and slowly walked away form Sakura and Syaoran.

Sakura and Syaoran was tired from all the walking. They sat on the sand. Waiting hopelessly for Chocy to show up. "What if he gets lost?" Sakura asked Syaoran. "I won't accept another chocobo other than Chocy! I just can't do that to him...he's been so loyal..." She began to cry. "You were thinking of getting another chocobo, weren't you? You wanted to cross this...this stupid ocean and get this dumb journey over and done with! Weren't you?"

"No!" Syaoran looked at her seriously. Sakura was kind-of shocked, "How can I think that...., how could I say that?! Chocy was always there for us, I won't give Chocy up, not even when it means I have to go through every part of Ometin to find him. Plus...I know how much he means to you." Syaoran's eyes softened. Sakura apologized. "Sorry...I...I wasn't thinking. How can I say such a thing?"

"That's okay, we both care alot for Chocy." He looked at her, a slight movement of grin showed up on his face. "Are you all rested up?"

Sakura nodded, gave him a smile. "Yeah!"

"Then let's go find Chocy!" They stood up, and continued to walk along the shore.

Just then, a huge fish appeared out of the ocean. It has huge fins and tail, its eyes are as big as watermelons. It tried to slam on top of Sakura. "AAAHHH!!" She screamed; one because it attacked her, and two because it was so...ugly. Syaoran pushed her out of the way just as the big fish sweaped its tail right above their head.

"Oh...oh..." Sakura was shaking with fear (of the monster), "Chocy~!!!!!!! Get us out of here!!!!

" ~~~~~

Chocy was pecking on a tree bark, trying to get the delicious nuts down. Then he sense something, the feeling of Sakura and Syaroan being in danger. {Sakura...Syaoran...they need me!} He said. He started to run towards them, he didn't know for sure that the direction he was running is right, but he can feel they're there.

{How could I be so pathetic? They need me, I can't just leave them high and dry! Even though I'm such a loser, even though they're going to make me into something I'm not, I still have to escort them!} He ran through the trees, and headed towards them.

~~~~~

In the mean time, the huge fish was attacking them with bubbles, they didn't have to dodge them if those were normal bubbles. But those bubbles explodes when it hit something. Syaoran kept running away, while Sakura tried to use the tree card to pop those bubbles before they hit them, in the same time, she had to keep jumping to avoid them. But that was when the problem occured, she tripped on her own tree card, and fell right down on the sandy ground. The fish took its chance, and charged at her.

"Sakura!!" Syaoran could never let that fish gets its fin on his love, he went forward to protect her. He tried to lift her up and get her out of the way, but her leg was tangled to the tree card's branches. The fish was about to stike, Syaoran covered Sakura with his own body, he hugged her tightly, and was prepared for the worst.

Just then, Chocy emerged from the woods, and pack furiously at the ugly, gigantic fish. Its eye was wounded. It waved its tail wildly, and hit Chocy. Then retreated into the sea, leaving the injured chocobo.

"Chocy!!" Sakura and Syaoran both ran towards the poor chocobo that's lying ten feet away from them, he did move but to breathe. Sakura lifted his head in an angle, Syaoran examined his wound. "The wing, it's broken, we need to get him to a hospital!"

"Let's bring him back to Chica! She's a chocobo expert! She'll know how to treat an injured chocobo!" Sakura suggested. She looked at Chocy, who seems so weak and tired in her arms. He was breathing heavily. "Don't worry, you'll be alright." She whispered, as tear drops came down from her face.

~~~~~

"It's not really broken, but he'll needs to rest, give him around three to four days." Chica said as she patched Chocy's left wing. They were all in one of Chica's chocobo barn. Night had come, and it was chillier than before."Thank you, Chica. " Sakura thanked her.

"Don't thank me, it's coming out of you bill when you check out." She took the first aid kid, and left the stable.

"Chocy, are you okay?" Sakura knelt down to look at the bird that's lying on soft pillow. "Wark..." He replied with a gentle sound. Syaoran kneeled down beside her, "Why did you ran out today?" he looked at the bird, and thought [Yeah, right, like a bird is going to tell me why did he escaped.]

Chocy avioded eye contacts when Syaoran asked him. Instead he looked at the the colourful chocobos that are asleep in the stable next door. Syaoran turned to look at the direction it was looking. Then he understood right away of what was going on. "You're jealous, aren't you." He said. Chocy looked at him with a pair of sad eyes. "And you're probably afraid that we might turn you in to a pink chocobo." Syaoran added.

Chocy nodded slightly, indicating {right on, Syaoran.} Syaoran looked at Sakura and they both smiled. Sakura patted on Chocy's head. "Silly, no matter how great those chocobos are, we'll never think for a second, replace you with anyone of them."

"Besides, " Syaoran added. "Even though they have special talents doesn't mean they are living happily. We love you, and no one love those like chocobos like we love you." One of the chocobos eyed him, and Syaoran waved to signal [Sorry, pal.]

Chocy was so touched, he cried and put his face on Sakura's lap. "Don't worry, Chocy, we'll be here, always." They stayed in the barn till Chocy fell asleep.

~~~~~

Sakura and Syaoran arrived at the point where the fish appeared last day. "Why do we have to be here anyway??" Sakura wined. "What if the fish comes out again??"

Syaoran had a sweat drop on his head, "We're here to get revange!" he said. "We can't just leave it well and unharmed! Not after what it had done to Chocy."

You're right..." Sakura shook her head. "We need to do it. For Chocy!"

"Besides, we'll need to get pass it anyway if we want to ever pass the ocean." Syaoran added. Sakura turned to face him. "So...that's your reason to defeat it??"

Syaoran's face turned red. "Um...no?"

"Syao-ran~~~~!" Sakura looked at him with a mad face.

Bubbles started to appear on the water's surface. Next came the big fish. It emerged from the water, looking at them with a mad stare. It tried to swallow them whole by opening it mouth, and tried to cup it on top of them, but they jumped out of the way; Sakura to the left, Syaoran to the right. The fish didn't react fast enough, and bumped its head on the sand. (it's really kinda funny if you think about it) But it didn't give up, it pulled its head out of the sand right away, and started to chase Sakura by jumping up and down on the sandy beach. "WAAAAAHHH!!" Sakura cried, turned the other way around, and ran for her life.

"Oh, no!" Syaoran exclaimed. "Yo! Big fish, over here!!" He chased and whistled to the fish to try and draw its attention from Sakura. But it ignored him completely. "Alright, you asked for it!!" Syaoran pulled a charm out of his utlilty belt. The charm bursted into flame, and he threw it on the fish's scale.

It took 2 seconds for the fish to feel the burn; it jumped high up in the air, wiggling its tail back and forth with tears in its eyes."Alright, fried fish." Sakura said. It finally landed with a big bang, and held still.

"It's not moving..." Sakura said, walking towards Syaoran. Syaoran stayed close to her, and said. "I guess its dead..."

"..." Sakura remained silence for a second. "I feel sorry for it now." That brought Syaoran to the ground as he slipped, can't believe what is he hearing. "What do you want me to do?" Syaoran asked her with a little smile as he got up.

But the fish wasn't dead, it jumped up, and started to chase them again, even faster. "YAAAAAHHH!!" They both yelled as they ran.

"(Huff, puff) Can't....you use... some card... to go.... against it??" Syaoran asked in between his breath. "By the time I took out the cards, I'd be eaten!" Sakura replied. They ran hopelessly along the beach...

~~~~~

At the same time in the barn, Chocy woke up from its sleep, and looked around for signs of Sakura and Syaoran. {Sakura?? Syaoran?? I had a bad feeling about this...} Chocy thought. He can feel it, they are in danger. {What the heck am I doing in here?? I have to go help them!} He said to himself.

{You can't go out, you're still injured!} the brown chocobo said.

{Well, boo-hoo! I've got to help them!} Chocy stood up, and did some stretching.

{Good luck on opening the door.} The brown chocobo said.

{Oopss....doors, that's right...I can't open the barn door...} He lightly bumped its head on the wooden wall.

The brown chocobo eyed it, and said. {I knew it, I have to save the day.}

{Huh?} Chocy looked at him. He started to "wark" as loud as he can get, then the other chocobos started to wark too. The sound was so loud, Chocy had to use his wings to cover his ears. {What the heck are you doing??} He said throught the noise.

{It's an emergancy wark, it tells Chica that something's wrong, first one chocobo starts warking, then the others join in to help make the wark even louder.} The brown chocobo explained. {Now, once Chica comes in through the door, you charge right out like nothing else matters, got it?}

{Wow...thanks...um...what's your name?} Chocy asked.

{Browny, got the name from being brown.} Browny said.

{Mmmm...brownies...} Chocy thought of the food brownie and started to drool.

{No, no. Brow-NY! Brow-NY! With an Y!} Browny said.

{Yeah, I know, thanks, you've been such a big help.} Chocy thanked him, and helped "wark".

Seconds later, Chica came into the barn. "What? What's wrong?" Chocy took the chance, and rushed out of the barn. "What?" Chica said.

~~~~~

Back at Sakura's side, they've finally came to an end. In front of them is a high rocky mountan about 50 feet tall, they stayed close to the wall, and turned around to look at the fish. The fish suddenly slowed, down, looking as if it's taking its time, it gave them a wicked laugh. Then it attacked.

Chocy came to rescued them just in time! It kicked the stupid fish's head, the fish fell backward. "Chocy!" Sakura said. Running up to it. "Oh, Chocy, why did you come, your wound isn't heal yet!" Chocy gave her an I-am-alright wark as a reply. But the fish came back with another attack, it tried to swallow them again. Chocy push Sakura out of the way, but the fish still caught, Chocy's tail.

The fish lifted Chocy up in the air as he screams in "warks", then with one toss, the fish swallowed Chocy, whole...

Sakura and Syaoran gasped, they couldn't believed what they saw. Chocy was eaten by this big, gigantic, ugly fish. The fish licked its lips for satisfaction. "No..." Sakura whispered, it was shocking, too much for her to handle. Syaoran hugged her. Both of them breathed hard, "Chocy...no..." her voice was getting louder. She stared at the empty space, her eyes were lifeless. "How dare you!!!" Sakura released her key, and tried to attack the fish, but Syaoran stopped her. "Stop, Sakura! It's too dangerous!!!!" He held her tight as she fought to let go. "I don't care!!! It ate Chocy!!"

"That's right!" Syaoran shouted, "I don't want to lose you too!" He looked at her in the eyes, Sakura calmed down, and looked at the big ugly fish. It rose again, ready to eat both of them, too. But it stopped. Something was wrong, it can feel its stomach kicking, it started to cough, harder and harder, until it spat something out.

It was Chocy.

He was covered with slimy saliva. He shook it body to get the stuff off. Sakura ran towards him like she never run before. "Chocy~~!!!"

"Wark!!" Chocy responded to that. Sakura was going to give him a big hug, but she looked at his body, covered with icky drool, she stopped herself. "I'll hug you later..." She grinned, sweat dropped from her head.

"Alright, buddy, you made it!" Syaoran padded Chocy's shoulder, but the saliva got on his hand, "ill..." He said, rubbing the stuff on his shirt. His drew his attention to a bracelet that's caught on Chocy's foot. "What's this?" He asked. Chocy point towards the fish. "You got it from the inside of the fish?" He asked. Chocy nodded, then they remembered the fish, the stared at it for a moment as it coughed.

The whole fish started to change, first it shrunk, but not to much, I mean it's still huge. Then the ugly scales started to change into a blueish colour, so did the rest of its body. Instead of ugly, bumpy skin, its skin turned smooth and soft. It took a deep breathe, as if it was relaxing. It looked at Sakura, Syaoran, and Chocy, its mouth opened, then before you know what was going on, it spoke in a low man's voice.

"Thank you, you fellow humans, and chocobo. That thing had been stuck in my throat for days."

They all went back a few steps. Syaoran asked with a big sweat drop on his head. "You...you can talk?"

"I can sing, too, if you want me to. What do you want, BSB or Speed??"

"Um...no, thanks..."

"What's the big idea!" Sakura interruped. "If you can talk, then tell us! Why did you tried to eat us?"

"I am ever so sorry for my abnormal behavior, I wasn't myself these days. My name is Fula...ever since someone slipped that...bracelet in my food." It pointed to the bracelet on Chocy's foot. Syaoran got it off Chocy's foot, and rotated to have a better look, then something caught his attention. "This...the pattern on this bracelet is exactly the same as the missioner's tattoo!"

"That's what got to me. The someone had put evil energy into the bracelet, and some how affects who ever got his hands on it."

"But...I'm touching it, and it didn't seem to affect me." Syaoran asked.

"The bracelet only have the power to affect one person, on fish, in this case. What I meant to say is, when it got to me, I wasn't myself, and I did things I didn't mean to do, for that, I apologize. But you've weaken me, actually the evil energy is the thing you've weakened. So I'm back to normal. If only there's a way that I can...thank you, I'd..."

Sakura took her chance, "You can carry us across the ocean to the southern part of Ometin!"

"Hey, that's right!" Syaoran added. "We're trying to cross the ocean, so if you can give us a lift, that'll be great! We don't have to mutate Chocy!"

"WWaarrkk???" Chocy got scared at the mutate idea.

"I would do it, as a thanks." the fish nodded.

"Yeah!!!" They all had a group hug.

~~~~~

"I don't think that big fish is more stable than my sea chocobo, are you sure you want to ride on that thing instead?" Chica stared at the big fish on the beach beside her barn.

"It'll be fine," Sakura answered. "Beside, I don't want to make Chocy into anything, I love his just the way he is..." She patted Chocy, Chocy gave a pleasant purr. Syaoran joined in. "Chocy may not be gifted with great physical abilities like these chocobos, but it's got the gift of courage for saving us so many times." Chocy was kind of embarrassed by Syaoran's words.

"Hmm, I guess I see your point." Chica grinned. "I guess you'll be heading off."

"Yeah, got to go." Sakura said, she leaped on to the fish, along with Chocy and Syaoran. "So long!" They waved, as Fula and swam out in to the ocean.

Syaoran held the bracelet in his hand. "The bracelet of hell...we've got new problems."

"Don't worry." Sakura put her hands on his shoulders. "We'll be fine, eventually, things always work out. Don't they?"

"I guess so." Syaoran said, smiling. "But these things are not beneficial! I mean if we defeat a missioner, we get its soul, but with this thing..." The bracelet started to shake, then the pattern broke, a light came out, and went right in to Sakura's bell, where the crystal lies. "It's not all that bad." Sakura said. "Look, you just got your reward! Looks like this thing has a soul too."

Syaoran tossed the remaining part of the bracelet in to the ocean, it burst into bubbles as soon as it touches the water. "It better be." Syaoran said. The trio sat together on Fula's back and headed off to their next adventure.

to be continued...

~~~~~

Fula is really a fish from MKR (Magic Knight Rayearth), it's Clef's pet. Clef is one of my favorite character from MKR ^^. As for the Chocobo stables, there is such a thing...in FF7 that is. You can really breed a mountain, river or a sea chocobo. It's such a fun game...that's it for today! See you in the next chapter!!

Piggy Ho Ho
May 8, 2000