Your Magic Final Fantasy Adventure

Chapter 5- On Thursday

Cloud was only a teensy bit miffed at the fact that you had to take care of a baby chocobo. Well, he wasn't so much miffed at the fact that you had to take care of it than he was at the fact that you let it eat at the table with you guys.

"This is unsanitary," he pointed out.

"But Cloud." You pouted. "It's a baby. And I gave it a bath yesterday, so it's clean. And part of my assignment is to make it feel loved, so it's eating here, so it knows it's part of the family."

"If you're supposed to show him compassion, why do you keep calling him 'it'?" asked Cloud.

"Because, I don't know its gender," you replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What if it's a girl? It's very insensitive of you to just assume it's a boy." Under your breath you said, "Not that that's a surprise or anything." You cleared your throat and continued, "I think the way to find out is in the manual, but if it isn't, I bet Hope knows."

Today was the first day that you and Cloud ate breakfast together, even if it was just cereal. You were usually in such a hurry.

"No rushing today?" asked Cloud, reading your thoughts.

"I have Home Ec at eight. I'm... not that excited about that class, so." You ate another spoonful of cereal. "I have a combat class too, though. If I'm advanced enough, I'll probably be in there with Tifa. You want me to say hi?"

Cloud simply nodded, leaving the room.

You wondered how a sweet girl like Tifa even ended up with Cloud, and then you wondered how they kept up their relationship after Cloud had graduated high school. He wasn't exactly the "drop by for a visit because I care" type.

Grabbing your bag, you started your walk to school, with your chocobo in your blazer pocket. You didn't think it was a good idea to leave it at home all day, so you'd asked a few teachers before Miss Gainsborough gave you the okay to leave it in the greenhouse while you were in class.

(Prior to that, you didn't even know your school had a greenhouse, but you found out it was maintained by Miss Gainsborough and the members of the environmental club.)

When you pushed the heavy door open, you spotted the guy who, for the life of you, you could never remember his name. Then, it came back to you. "Brendan, right?" you asked.

He turned to you. "Yeah. Have we met?"

"Yep. We have our weaponry class together, and you helped out in my magic class yesterday. I'm [name]." You held out your hand.

"Sorry I didn't remember you," he apologized as he shook your hand. He had light brown wavy hair cut into the traditional skater style, and eyes of a medium-brown. "What brings you here? Most students aren't very interested in the greenhouse."

"I need a place to keep my chocobo." As if on cue, it peeked its head out of your pocket and peeped. "Miss Gainsborough gave me the okay to keep it here until I get out of class."

"Oh! Well, in that case..." Brendan pointed to the right side of the room. "Put him by the potato plants. I don't know why, but they seem to like potato plants the most."

You sighed to yourself- Brendan made the same mistake that Cloud had made. Why did everyone say "he" by default?

When you were done settling your baby in, you trotted to the second floor to the room for Magical Home Ec. When you entered, you saw Yuffie, Vanille, and Serah talking like they'd known each other their entire lives. "Hey, it's [name]!" Vanille said. "Join us!"

"Sure," you agreed, taking a seat on a nearby stool. You had to sit on stools in this class because the tables were higher up than in most of the other classes.

"Oh, [name], I have good news," Yuffie said when you had gotten settled in. "I took our applications in, and the desk lady didn't even realize it was me! We get to move in on Saturday!"

You grinned. "Together?" you asked.

"I think so, unless someone else's roommate has transferred or dropped out," replied Yuffie.

"I'm glad you guys will be living in the dorms with us now," Serah said, smiling. "You're going to come visit me, right?"

"Of course, you'll be the first person we visit," you said with a toothy grin.

"Hey!" complained Vanille.

"And you'll be the second," you added.

Your teacher for Magical Home Ec was a man, and you'd be okay with that, if this man hadn't looked so peculiar. Your eyes were instantly drawn to his orange hair, which defied gravity on top of his head.

"Wakka!" you heard Rikku say. "What are you doing here?"

"That's the thanks I get for stepping in for you kids?" he asked. "Ms. Roberts is unavailable to teach for a while, so I'm here to pick up. It was either me or Mr. Valentine, ya?"

You practically heard people shiver.

"Exactly. So..." Wakka pulled the chair from behind his desk, turned it backward, and sat in it that way, "what were you doin' before semester break?"

"Well, for our midterm, we had a cake competition," replied Serah. "The pictures are over there on the wall."

You hadn't noticed that before, so you turned to look and saw a bunch of pictures of couples of students with cakes. "Who won?" you asked Serah.

"Vanille, and Rinoa Heartilly. Hope and I came in second place, though!" Serah smiled proudly.

"These cakes look delicious, ya?" said Wakka. "I'm gettin' hungry just lookin' at the pictures!"

"We could do it again!" suggested Vanille. "We have a few new students now, and we can get all shuffled up so everyone will have a new partner."

Wakka thought, sitting in his chair improperly once again. "Hmm... that's a tall order of work for a class that only lasts two hours," he said. "But I guess if we scaled a few things down... say, decide on what kind within the next half-hour and make these cupcakes instead of cakes. Then, we might be able to squeeze this in. What do ya say, kids? Can ya do that?"

You all cheered, a unanimous heck yeah.

"All right. Remember the rule, ya? You can't be partners with the person you were with for your midterm."

Well, obviously, that wouldn't be a problem for you; but deciding on just one partner would, so you thought carefully about your choice. You could be with Serah, Vanille, Yuffie, Rikku, Gavin, or Hope. Who would it be?

[Option 1: Vanille]

Vanille had been one-half of the winning team last time around, so why wouldn't you choose to be her teammate for the challenge?

"Cool!" Vanille said, "I have just the thing for us to do for this competition!"

"Okay, you're the boss," you submitted. "What is it?"

"Sparkling rainbow cupcakes!" Vanille showed you the page in the book she had that displayed the finished product. "They're beautiful, aren't they?"

"I admit, they do have a certain charm," you agreed.

"Great! Why don't you start on the dry mix?" Vanille handed you a bowl. "Flour, baking soda, sugar, a pinch of salt; and I'll get the wet mix ready. The measurements are in the book."

"Oh, okay." You picked up a measuring cup and headed for the materials pantry. However, once you got there, you were a little confused.

"Kaiser flour?" you asked, picking up a package of flour. "'Made from the freshly ground bones of a kaiser behemoth.' Okay, ew." You quickly put it back. "Vanille only said flour, and I don't see anything here that's just a simple flour. Hmm. I'll just choose the least gross-sounding one."

You grabbed a bag of Pulsian wheat flour, and all the other stuff, and headed out.

"Oh, good choice!" Vanille said when she spotted the bag of flour. "Nothing beats Pulsian wheat! Now for the secret weapon: combine this with the mix."

She handed you the food processor bowl. "Is this rainbow rock dust?!" you asked excitedly. "Vanille! How did you get this? Rainbow rock dust is super hard to find!"

"Over semester break; there's a mine near Oerba, and a friend of mine brought it back for me. I figured I'd need it."

When you were done making the batter, it was a shimmery rainbow paradise.

[Option 2: Hope]

You decided to be with Hope for two reasons. One, he'd placed second in the last competition. Two, he was the kid that everyone went to when they needed help with anything.

"A s'more cake?" you asked. "That's what got you second place?"

"Yeah, but we made some adjustments to it because Serah thought it was ugly. We could make it the original way, though. I actually think it'll taste better that way."

"Okay, cool," you agreed.

You oiled the pans while Hope militantly measured everything that went into the mixture. "You know, Hope," you said to him, looking over your shoulder, "you'd probably have a lot more fun if you weren't so precise with your measuring. Don't be so serious."

"But... but cooking is a serious matter," Hope said, confused.

"And school is supposed to be fun," you countered.

A tiny smile crept onto Hope's face, as he reached for the brown sugar and tossed some in. "That wasn't even in the recipe," he said, sounding satisfied with himself.

You gave him a smile of approval. "There you go! Now let's get this into the oven."

[Option 3: Rikku]

In some ways Rikku reminded you a lot of Yuffie; she was really energetic and friendly, and you felt like you could trust her, even though you'd only known her for two days.

"What about sunshine drop cupcakes?" she suggested, showing you a picture. "They're super sweet."

You'd had kind of a craving for sweets lately, so you agreed. The good thing was that these were quick; all of the ingredients you needed, except for an orange, were already on the table, and these cupcakes could be cooked with a blast of Firaga.

"That can't be safe," you said.

"That's what that room over there is for," Rikku pointed to a door to your right. "Some recipes, like this one, can't be cooked using a traditional oven. That's where the flame-tight room comes in. There's special suits you have to wear to go in there, too."

Said suits were hanging next to the room. "So," you said slowly, "you're telling me that after we mix this, we get to put on fire suits and throw level-three fire spells at it?"

"Yep, pretty much." Rikku smiled and nodded.

"This is going to be a great day," you said as you put your arm around Rikku's shoulders. "Come on, let's go find some oranges."

[Option 4: Gavin]

From the time you'd spent with him, Gavin seemed like a nice, cooperative person, and you'd decided that those qualities would make him a good teammate.

"Any suggestions?" you asked him.

"Hmm." Gavin thought as he flipped through the recipe book. "I don't know. My family and I never did eat a lot of sweets, so I'm not sure which would be best."

You gasped. What kind of parents would let their children grow up without knowing the joys of a sugar rush? "I'll choose, then," you decided, planning to choose the sweetest recipe you could find. "Oh, chocolate volcano cupcakes. Let's make these."

This recipe would probably take a little longer than some of the others, because you had to liquefy your chocolate. You stirred your milk chocolate in one pan, and your white chocolate in another on one of the room's stovetops.

Meanwhile, you kept an eye on Gavin and the dough mixture, and noticed that he didn't put any sugar in it. "Yo, Gavin, what gives?" you asked. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to put at least a little sugar in that!"

"And add to that liter of sugar you already have cooking on the stovetop?" he asked. "No, thank you. Substitutions are what separate the good chefs from the great ones, [name]. Remember that."

When Gavin went to the supply pantry to return the flour that he'd taken, you scooped a handful of sugar into your hands and threw it into the dry mix, stirring it a little so it wasn't obvious. Your actions caused the nearby Rinoa to laugh so hard she snorted.

"Substitutions, my ass," you said to yourself, satisfied.

[Option 5: Serah]

Serah, you were sure, was all about presentation; even if her cooking wasn't as good as it could be, people were probably often very pleased with how it looked. You chose her, knowing she'd be a valuable ally.

"I think I know which one we should make," She said. "Look at this. They're shiny silver cupcakes, and look what happens after you take your first bite!"

You looked at the pictures in the book, and from what you comprehended, "there's an explosion of glitter?"

"Not glitter," Serah corrected you. "Edible sparkles. You can't eat glitter- you know that, [name]."

"A silver cupcake that rewards your first bite with an explosion of edible sparkles," you recapped. "Man, I have got to make Cloud try one of these someday. I would kill to see his reaction." You laughed to yourself, as you started to get your area ready.

The flour that Serah retrieved from the supply closet was silver in itself- you'd never seen it before. "How does that turn out that color?" you asked her.

Serah grimaced. "It's probably better if you don't know and don't try to think about it."

A lot of sugar was required to make these. They were banana-flavored, too, which you found to be very strange.

These also required a spell, which you were happy to do, for the explosion part. The two of you looked very pleased with yourselves as you slid the tray of cupcakes into the oven.

[Option 6: Yuffie]

Yuffie had been your faithful companion for years; was there any other choice but to make her your partner for this?

You both flipped through the recipe book, trying to make a decision. "Oh, check this one out, [name]!" Yuffie beckoned you. "It's called a strawberry flandragora."

"That's usually served with gelatin," you pointed out. "Do you think we could get it done differently, before time is up?"

"Well, I actually had an idea..." Your breath hitched in your throat; you'd learned to fear that phrase when it came from her.

"Yeah?" you asked wearily.

"You see the recipe on the other page, the Mandrake?" she asked. You looked at it; it was a cake that bore a stunning resemblance to the plant-like monster of the same name. "Well I was thinking, we could use the flavoring of the strawberry flandragora in the style of the mandrake."

You nodded your head slowly. "Creativity. I like that."

So the two of you set off, doing double-duty since you had two recipes to read through. You also made your own modifications, such as mixing in whipped cream with the wet ingredients instead of putting it in the middle and letting it ooze.

"We'll definitely get points for creativity," noted Yuffie.

"And because they'll taste good and look nice," you added. "We did well, girl."

The two of you high-fived on the way back to your seats.

~~~~~

Every team had made nine small cupcakes, and one had to be given to Wakka for evaluation. "Well?" Rikku asked impatiently. "Who won?"

Wakka's facial expression told you that he was in tastebud heaven right now. "Well, all of you kids did really well, considerin' the short notice and everything. You're all winners, ya? See you next Thursday."

You were a little upset that you didn't win, but then again, no one had won.

With your tray of three cupcakes (you and your teammate had split one to eat, then divided the remainder) you walked down to the first floor with Yuffie to get ready for Hand-To-Hand Combat. You preferred your longsword, but you'd also trained without a weapon and so you were decent at that.

Entering class, you recognized Tifa as well as Snow and Fang. Tifa was a senior as well; you could quickly see this becoming similar to your weaponry class. There were a bunch of people here that you didn't recognize... and you were just fine with that.

Tifa walked over to you and Yuffie. "Hi there, [name]," she said. "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

It had been. You liked Tifa, but you didn't get to see her a lot before. You were about to reply when Snow said, "Ooh, cupcakes!" and walked over to you.

"You don't mind if I take one of these, do you, [name]?" he asked. You could barely confirm that it was okay before he had it in his mouth. "Thanks," he said, walking away.

You stared at him, a confused look on your face. Tifa laughed. "So I see you've met Snow."

It was then that your teacher walked in; she was a skinny woman with short, ash-colored hair, dressed in an elegant blue fighting costume. "That's Ms. Raines," Tifa told you.

"Raines?" you repeated. "Like the dean for the underclassmen?"

"She's his sister," confirmed Tifa, nodding.

"Welcome, class," she said in a voice that you thought was a little too sweet and didn't entirely match her appearance. "I'm ready to get into demonstration today, as it happens to be a personal favorite of mine, so I'll just take attendance now to get it out of the way."

You liked the sound of that.

Today, part one of class would be covering roundhouse kicks; you guys were in the kicking unit. "Who's up for demonstration?" asked Ms. Raines. "How about you, Zell?"

You turned to look at the blond-haired senior. "No thanks, Ms. R. I'm more into punches than kicks."

Snow stood up. "I'll do it,"

"Very well, Snow. Now, come up here and practice on me."

"On you?" Snow looked shocked. "I don't know about that, Ms. Raines. I don't usually hit girls... unless they're Fang."

Fang flipped the bird at Snow.

"You can call me Falsetto." She held out her hand. "Now, your best roundhouse."

Snow took a deep breath before delivering a spinning kick (which, of course, Falsetto dodged in a timely manner.)

"Very nice, Mr. Villiers; your speed in the kick is impressive. However, the height of your foot is something that could use work. Say your opponent is taller than you..."

"There are people taller than him?" whispered Yuffie.

"What about Barret, the counselor?" asked Tifa. "I'm pretty sure he's bigger."

Yuffie contorted her face in thought. "I don't know, I'd have to see them side by side."

As your two friends whispered to one another, you got up and walked over to the ring. "Excuse me, Ms. Raines," you said, looking up at Snow. He was pretty huge. You bet he was pretty built under that blazer, too... Then you shook your head, trying to get those thoughts out of you mind. "What if someone my size is going up against someone big like Snow? What's the best course of action?"

"[name], that's a very good question," replied Falsetto. "You're referring to a large size difference, yes?" You nodded. "Then a good move to have in your arsenal is a sweeping kick. The object is to aim low; such attacks will bring them down to your height. Now, when sweeping..."

She bent her knees and got close to the floor, one of her legs protruding. "Don't have your leg on the floor; they can predict and step over it if they're quick enough. You want your foot somewhere near the shin area, or behind the knee. Try it out on Snow."

"I'll go easy on you," you said, giving him a flirty wink, then kicking with all your might. Snow grasped his right leg.

"Ow," he complained.

Falsetto put a hand on your shoulder. "Treat a sweep kick as a roundhouse kick. Gather momentum before you make contact. Now try again."

"Again?!" Snow couldn't even put together a full complaint before you'd swept him off his feet, and the class clapped.

"If Lightning had this class, you'd have earned big points with her for that," noted Fang.

You nodded, smiling and rubbing your leg. It kind of hurt at this point.

For the rest of class, you did a thing called a rotational spar; the class would form a vertical loop and whoever you ended up in front of was your sparring partner. You got a good workout; you were constantly on the move with your legs, dodging, and you used your arms a lot in your battle against Zell.

After class, you returned to the greenhouse, and this time Sazh was there. "Hi, Mr. Katzroy!" you said. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking on the parsley plants," he replied. "Aerith said I could have some when they were done growing. What about you?"

"I'm picking up my baby," you replied. Turns out your chocobo was asleep in one of the potato plant pots. "Looks like he got comfortable," you added with a laugh.

"I hope you're taking good care of him," Sazh said, a fatherly tone in his voice.

"Of course," you agreed, slipping the baby into your pocket again. "Well, time to go home. See you Wednesday."

With a wave, you exited the greenhouse and started on the way back home.

{a/n}: So guys, I had absolutely no intention of this chapter being that long, but then the whole six-part multiple choice thing came into play and... sorry. The important thing is you made it through it.
Falsetto has a cameo here; she's a character from one of my favorite games, Eternal Sonata. Why is she Raines' sister in this story? I dunno, just seemed fitting.
I think this is the first chapter with actual swearing (I'll have to go back and check) so sorry about that but there'll be a lot more where that came from. I've pictured Fang in particular to have a potty mouth. And Seifer.
Sorry for rambling (that's like the third time I've apologized in this, haha.)