Catching Chocobos

Back in the present, John was telling Nesiara the story behind Corneo's missing while waiting for the others or breakfast to arrive for them and it seems breakfast won.

"They really take their time. Have they forgotten that we are still being chased by Shinra," says John as Nesiara smiles at him.

"Let them rest. Yesterday was a long day for them. Just eat your breakfast," says Nesiara as she began to eat hers.

They ate together while waiting for the others when Kieron and Red XIII were the first to join them.

"Red can you behave like a pet when we are in the city. It would help us in the long run," says John as a talking red canine would take too much attention.

"I can do so as long as you don't pet me," says Red XIII as the innkeeper came with a bowl of meat and a plate with breakfast after seeing the two guests.

"I can't promise it," says John as the innkeeper was about to pet Red XIII.

The moment the innkeeper petted Red XIII, John had a smile on his face since Red XIII needed to accept that he will be petted when they are in a city.

Red XIII ignored it since he got food from the Innkeeper while people began to come down making the Innkeeper stop petting him.

The group had to share two tables as they were eating breakfast when John says, "We will need to change our clothes to not drag any attention to us."

"Once we bought new clothes we will need to change our way of transportation. The cars and bike take too much attention," says John as the group was confused while the family wasn't.

"We need to lay low for now and showing our position to the enemy could be dangerous. They know how we look and with what we escaped. If we continue to use the cars they will find us sooner or later," says Nesiara explaining what John meant making the others understand why they needed to change that much.

They went out as the family really didn't need to buy clothes since they had clothes in Paradise while Red XIII is an animal.

They went out as the other four went with Yui to buy clothes while the rest of the family was securing information. John made the bike disappear as they wouldn't need it for now and went to buy some tents, a map, and supplies to survive in the wild.

After an hour Barret was wearing a green hoodie with military pants. Cloud was in a black t-shirt with a normal jeans while Tifa was the same just that her t-shirt was white.

But Aerith had a blue dress on that suited her quite well since Kieron couldn't take his eyes away from her making his mouth stand wide open.

"Close your mouth before a fly flies in," says Nora seeing her brother like that.

Kieron does so as John asks, "Did you found out anything?"

"Yes, it seems the Mythril Mine south from here has a problem with monsters that resembles a giant snake that lives in the swamps in front of it. If we want to go south we will have to go through the mine," says Nora as everyone nods after hearing that.

"A Midgar Zolom. We will have a hard fight it seems," says Cloud as John smiles at him.

"You really think so. We will see," says John feeling excited.

"We still need to find a new means of transportation," says Kieron as the other seemed to think the same.

"There is a Chocobo Ranch not far from here. We will use the cars and bike to get there. After acquiring the Chocobos we will use them," says Nesiara as she and Red XIII found out by asking around the city.

"Then everything is settled. We will drive to the Ranch right away," says John as everyone nods.

They were ready to leave Kalm to first go to the Ranch and later on to the Mythril Mine. They leave the town and walk for a bit before taking the watches off again while John brought the bike back. They traveled east from Kalm to the Chocobo Ranch.

It took them an hour to see the Ranch from afar as they began to walk from there on arriving there to buy some Chocobos when to ride them only for them to hear this.

"We don't sell the Chocobos since they aren't ours. We take care of them since the owners use them for the Chocobo Races in the Gold Saucer," says the owner of the farm as he felt sorry for the group but takes a violet Materia out.

"With this Materia you can lure Chocobos. You just need to capture them. Once you did so you can return and I can equip them so you can ride them without a problem," says the owner as he hands over the material and continues, "The Materia doesn't cost much but the equipment will so be prepared. Just tell my grandson Choco Billy or my granddaughter Chloe to inform me when you return."

"Thank you," says John as he saw this as an opportunity to train the group since catching a wild Chocobo won't be easy.

"See you soon," says the owner as the group leaves the Chocobo Ranch.

"So no Chocobos but where are we going anyway?" asks Barret as the group was also questioning it.

"We need to go to where everything started," says John as Barrett, Red XIII, and Aerith looked at him confused while Tifa and Cloud had their eyes wide open.

"You don't me-," says Cloud before finishing his question as John nods.

"That's right," says John as Barret was now more confused.

"Can someone tell us already," says Barret angry because he felt left out.

"Nibelheim," says Tifa as if it was a living nightmare for her.

"That's right our next destination is Nibelheim," says Nesiara as she put her hand on Tifa who was feeling powerless.

"What happened there?" asks Barret as both Cloud and Tifa didn't really want to answer that question.

"It's the place Sephiroth lost it and killed everyone that got in his way, only three people survived. They were Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, and Tifa Lockhart. Shinra rebuild everything to hide what happened and Shinra Employees live there to hide the fact of what happened," says Nesiara as she felt that Tifa's body was shaking in fear.

"Calm down Tifa," says Nesiara as her magic entered her body making Tifa feel calm and her body wasn't shaking any longer.

"So we need to go to Nibelheim. Then we must go to Junon and get a Ferry to Costa del Sol," says Barret as he didn't think they would make it.

"We don't need a Ferry but it would be good to go to Junon and Costa del Sol," says Nesiara as the companions looked at her confused.

"We could just use one of our friends to get over the ocean," says Nesiara explaining it to their companions.

"Anyway, we should try to catch the Chocobos for now. It will be a good training for you three, while Aerith will receive some help since she is a mage," says John as he uses the Materia a little bit away from the Ranch to lure the Chocobos.

John caught three in the get-go as if it was nothing and was walking back with them while handing over the Materia to the group while saying, "Nesiara will be watching your progress so no one cheats."

The group looked grim except for Red XIII since he didn't need a Chocobo as they began to try and catch a Chocobo while Kieron, Nora, and Yui caught each one quite easily and walked towards the Ranch.

The other three were having problems since it seemed to be their first time. Nesiara gave them some pointers as they were training their stamina without knowing from all that running and jumping after the Chocobos.

In the meantime, John was already equipping the three Chocobos with Choco Billy as they got a saddle with reigns when John asks, "You don't have some protection for them?"

"I'm sorry, we don't. We raise them for races. Maybe you could find some armor on the Western Continent," says Choco Billy as he didn't know why John wanted some armor on his Chocobo but could imagine it since Monsters could kill it making it obvious that an armor could protect them.

Soon Kieron with Yui and Nora arrived having their Chocobos as Choco Billy says, "How about you buy a stable here. It might cost a bit but we are the best in raising Chocobos."

"Alright, why not," says John as he buys the stable for 20.000 Gil as well as the equipment for the Chocobos that cost him another 10.000 Gil.

'The only good thing I can look forwards is that the Chocobos are immortal making them quite useful in the future if we enter a world that is this far back again,' thinks John as he was waiting for the others to arrive when the sun was slowly setting in the west.

"Can you take them into the stables. I think we won't get anywhere today," says John as Choco Billy nods as he takes all six with him.

When he returned he picked up the equipment that John already bought and wanted to stock it away in the stable when the group arrived with three more Chocobos. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret seemed quite handled by the Wild Chocobos as grass stains could be seen on the pants while grass was in their hair.

"It seems you made it. Billy can you," says John as Billy just walked over and put everything the Chocobos needed on as he took them away to the stables.

"What is he doing?" asks Cloud as John flicked his finger against his forehead.

Cloud was holding his forehead while John says, "He is doing his job. We will be camping outside tonight."

"What about the monsters?" asks Barret as they could attack them at night since they are more aggressive at night.

"Ever heard of a night watch. We will split into groups that will be watching every three hours until the morning," says Nesiara as she found it quite nice to sleep in the free as she used to do in her world with her cousin.

They build the tents while Kieron made the campfire and they stayed there a little outside the Ranch where it was relatively safe as the monsters never attacked the whole night.