Chapter 7 - The Great Chocobo Chase!

The next morning, Vincent and company awoke to find a breakfast of ham and biscuits provided by the Cosmo Canyon When they had finished and were getting ready to leave, Red XIII padded through the door.

“Well, I suppose you'll be leaving now,” he sighed sadly, “I'll miss you all.”

“Same here, Fuzzy,” Yuffie sighed, and patted his head lightly as she walked out the door. Red XIII growled slightly, but didn't respond anymore then that.

“I thank you for my time here, however brief it was,” Eric added graciously.

“I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you'll come back soon,” Red XIII invited, “But until you do, I want you to have a small gift. Down at the gate of the canyon are three Chocobos. Use them to travel safely to Gold Saucer. Don't worry about returning them. They're able to find their own way back, so just release them when you get them.”

Vincent sighed slightly at this good news. Chocobos were capable of traveling much faster then humans; they could cover a yard in a single stride when walking at a bisque pace, and even faster when running. However, monsters feared them, and this trip was not extremely urgent, so they probably would not need to push the yellow birds too much. “Thank you,” Vincent said quietly, and the three proceeded outside to find that Yuffie was already waiting for them.

“Come on,” she called, “let's get a move on, you slow pokes!”

“Shut up, Yuffie,” Eric called back as he approached one the impatiently stamping birds. He slowly reached out his hand to its head, and it instantly nuzzled against it. As Eric rubbed its head, it gave out a small `wark', and Eric chuckled slightly.

As Vincent walked to his own chocobo, he cracked a small smile. “You seem to have a new friend,” he remarked mounted their own chocobos. Eric gave the bird another pat on the head before climbing on.

“I'll see you all later,” Red XIII called after them as they started off.

The three rode in silence out of the canyon towards the rail that led up to Gold Saucer, with only the footsteps and the occasional `wark' of their chocobo steeds making any sound. Suddenly, Eric stopped his chocobo and proclaimed loudly, “I'll call him Lord Cluck!”

“What?” both Vincent and Yuffie asked in unison.

“That's his name,” Eric explained, “Lord Cluck.” He accentuated his point rubbing the bird on its neck, “Right, Lord Cluck?”

“That's what you've been thinking about this whole time?” Yuffie asked, surprised at the sudden outburst.

“Yep,” Eric answered

“That's the best you could come up with?” Vincent asked.

Eric looked hurt. He had thought hard about that name. Why would they tear it apart like that? Suddenly, Yuffie stepped in, surprising Eric this time.

“Well, I think it's a cute name,” she said defensively. Eric smiled at her in gratitude, but she wasn't done, “Speaking of cute, you look pretty cute on your chocobo, Vincent,” she giggled. Vincent only groaned, and then drove his chocobo on.

“We need to get moving,” he said, the sound of annoyance touching his voice.

“You know, Vincent,” Yuffie continued, ignoring Vincent's statement. , “Yellow really is your color. Maybe you should try wearing some; it might make you feel a little less grouchy.” As she spoke, she drove her steed ahead of the other two, partially to avoid seeing Vincent's scowl, and partially to giggle quietly to herself for her cleverness.

“Yuffie,” Eric warned, seeing the quite disturbing look that Vincent was giving the cheeky girl. If looks could kill, then Yuffie would have been six feet under already.

Suddenly, a rabbit shot out in front of Yuffie's chocobo from the brush near the side of the road. The chocobo became spooked by the sudden movement and jumped straight up into the air. Yuffie lost her footing in her holster, causing her free foot to become entangled in her reigns. Her other foot, still in the holster, became twisted around, causing her more then a little discomfort. When the chocobo had leapt into the air, she did likewise, and when she landed flat on her back, against the saddle of the steed, the panicked bird took off running, flapping its wings wildly, with Yuffie screaming for help as loud as she could. Eric and Vincent watched the whole spectacle, Vincent smiling wickedly at how justice had been served, and Eric laughing uncontrollably.

“Should I go get her?” Eric asked as he finally caught his breath. He realized that the chocobo probably wouldn't stop any time soon, and then they'd have to look for her, which would take even more time. He spurred his own chocobo on after her, while Vincent decided to follow after slowly. It was her own fault she was in this predicament; let her get out of it herself.

Yuffie had stopped screaming by know, but had not been able to pull herself up. With the way her feet were tangled, she couldn't move them at all, and the only thing keeping her on the back of the terrified bird was that she was still holding onto the reigns. Fortunately, she managed to lift her head up to see where she was headed. Unfortunately, she saw that the chocobo was head straight for a steep cliff at the end of the meadow that ran down to the ocean, as well as some very sharp rocks.

“Yuffie!” she heard Eric call, “Hold on!”

“Eric, I'm stuck!” she called back, her voice filled with panic. What if Eric didn't reach her in time? No, she wouldn't let herself think like that. She had to try and save herself. Yuffie looked down at the foot twisted in the holster. She pushed her foot as far in as possible, wincing in pain from the twisted ankle, then set the shoe against the holster, then pulled it out. The shoe got caught against the holster, and Yuffie was able to slip her foot out of the shoe, letting it roll onto the ground. She brought her foot up beside the one caught in the reigns and tried to use it to slip her other shoe off. No good, she thought, when she was unable to push it off. By this time, Eric had caught up. He grabbed at the reigns, but missed, his hand simply running over the reigns. Yuffie's foot had pulled it tight against the bird's neck when it had become entangled, and Eric was unable to get his fingers around it.

“Yuffie!” Eric called, his voice increasing in panic as the ledge quickly came closer. “Let go of the reigns! That should loosen it up!”

“I can't! I'll fall,” she called back, and Eric saw that she was right. If she let go, she would slip down, her leg still entangled, but her head would end up on the ground. If she didn't have her face mutilated by the talons of the bird, she would suffer a concussion from having her head banged against the ground every time the chocobo took another stride. It seemed helpless, but neither Eric or Yuffie was willing to give up.

“Yuffie, I need you to let go of the reigns! If you don't, I can't reign the chocobo in! I'll work as quickly as I can, but please try to keep yourself up! Try to keep your head off the ground!”

Yuffie nodded, tears of fear forming in her eyes. She looked at Eric for a second, then she closed her eyes and let go, crossing her arms over her chest. She focused all her strength in keeping herself upright, knowing what would happen if she didn't. As soon as she let go, Eric grabbed the reigns, which had immediately loosened. He wrapped his fingers around the reigns, while he pulled the reigns of his own chocobo, letting the force of his stop halt the panicked bird. It came to a stop, and Eric immediately jumped off his mount to help Yuffie off of hers. He helped her stand, holding her shoulders steady so she could regain her composure, but before he could even react, she put her arms around him and hugged him close. Eric stood there, his eyes wide with shock. He heard her sob quietly into his chest, and when she looked up, he saw her eyes were red with tears.

“Thank you, so much,” she sobbed, whipping the tears from her eyes. “I honestly thought I was going to die back there.”

“No problem,” Eric replied quietly, “I sure you would have done the same thing for me. At least, I think you would have.”

“Of course,” she said with a stunned look on her face, “I wouldn't have thought twice about it,” and then gave him another hug. They stood there for a minute, silently contemplating what had happened and how close the two of them had come to losing their lives. Yuffie let go, and turned back to her chocobo to meet up again with Vincent, but not before giving Eric a quick peck on the cheek. As she adjusted her saddle and holsters, she smiled to herself. That was a nice thing Eric had done for her; so nice that she almost felt bad for slipping several materia of his belt when she had hugged him the second time. Almost, but not quite.

When they met up with Vincent, they explained what had happened, and Vincent seemed earnestly concerned for Yuffie, even though Eric thought he heard Vincent say under his breath, “Serves her right.”

Later that evening, the three set up camp near a small stream. Branches and such had washed up from the stream, and after being properly dried, it made excellent firewood. The three now sat around this fire, talking about the day's events. In nearby, the sounds grazing chocobos were heard.

“I'm going go check on them,” Eric said as he stood up and stretched. He walked off, leaving Yuffie and Vincent in silence. Vincent laid back against a stone and closed his eyes. As soon as he did, he heard Yuffie start talking to herself quietly.

“Now let's se what we got here,” he heard her say, “Ooh, a Haste and a Full Cure, how nice.”

Vincent opened his eyes, sat up and looked directly at her. “Yuffie, what are you doing?”

“N-nothing,” she answered, startled.

“Really,” Vincent answered, standing up, “Where did you come by those materia?”

“I found them,” she replied somewhat defiantly, as she too stood up.

“You found mastered materia here in the middle of no where? That was pretty lucky,” Vincent pointed out sarcastically.

“Yeah, it was.”

“Try telling the truth,” was all that Vincent said. “I know where you got them, thought I'm not going to make you give them back.” Vincent was starting to sound like a parent again.

“You're not,” Yuffie asked, somewhat surprised.

“No,” Vincent said firmly, “I will just say this. Remember who saved your life,” and with that, he laid back down and closed his eyes. He knew Yuffie could be greedy, but not that greedy. She would give them back, eventually. He heard her sigh loudly, then heard footsteps approach.

“Wow, Vincent's already asleep,” he heard Eric comment.

“Yeah, he is,” Yuffie said quietly.

“Well, the chocobos are all tied down for the night. Guess I'll hit the hay as well.”

“Wait, Eric,” Vincent heard Yuffie say suddenly. He opened one eye, and saw her approach the young man. “You dropped these,” she said quietly, holding out the materia and not even looking Eric in the face.

“Thanks, Yuffie! Thank you so much. I can't believe I dropped these. I would have been devastated if you hadn't found these. Thank you so much!' Eric face was filled with joy, and Yuffie seemed to be pretty happy as well, though Vincent could see in her eyes she regretted handing the materia over. He closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep. And as he slept, he couldn't help but smile slightly.

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