Savior

More Trouble Than it's Worth

 "That is the last time I'm doing business with a kid!!" Cloud said.

"I thought it was kind of fun," Hollie laughed.

His friends were literally rolling on the ground laughing. He glared, "That was not funny!!" he shouted angrily.

"Looked pretty funny from here!" Zack said.

"Shut up, Zack!"

<One hour earlier>

"Okay, so how is this supposed to work?" Cloud asked.

"Just like normal materia," Zack said, "But somebody has to be nearby to lure it with the greens and the others have to keep away monsters."

"Alright."

He tried it, but nothing seemed to happen. "It didn't work."

"You probably didn't do it right," Kunsel suggested.

"I know how to use materia," he said irritated.

"Hmm..." Hollie pondered.

They suddenly heard loud 'Kweh's and 'Wark's. "It worked," Cloud smirked.

"Actually no that was Hollie," Daisey said pointing to her sister who was making various bird noises.

Cloud glared, "Don't do that. You're gonna scare them off."

She stopped and they suddenly heard various responses. She smirked, "See?"

"Who says it wasn't the materia?" he asked.

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Who says it wasn't both?" Daisey asked.

The chocobos chirping got louder and came around the corner, they stared in shock to see a stampede, "Run!!" Hollie shouted as they all turned and ran down the hill as fast as they could. "To the side!!" The group ran to the sides of the stampede, with Cloud and Zack on one side and everyone else on the other, but as soon as the group split the chocobos changed direction; towards Cloud and Zack.

"Don't let Big Bird catch you and take you to Sesame Street!!" They heard Hollie call.

"This isn't funny, Hollie!" Daisey scolded.

"Run faster spiky!! Run faster!!" Zack shouted from Cloud's shoulder.

"I'm running, damn it!!" Cloud kept running down the hill, but suddenly tripped over a root and fell to the ground, knocking Zack off his shoulder and into the air to land on his butt several yards downhill. Cloud prayed that these were not his last moments, that he would not die a tragic and embarrassing death of being trampled by big fluffy birds. That's when the strangest thing happened, the chocobos didn't kill him, they were snuggling him and cooing. "Get off me!!" he shouted, startling the birds and making them run away in fear.

"Cloud! You just scared away our transportation!" Hollie said.

He got up and glared at her, but his disheveled look made everyone laugh hysterically. He was dirty, and covered in feathers, but strangely enough his hair still defied gravity even after all of the trauma it must have suffered. "Stop laughing!" he shouted as he dug the chocobo lure out of his pocket and shoved it into Kunsel's hands, before storming off, "You idiots catch the chocobo!"

"Don't be mad!!" Hollie cried, "I'm sorry!!" she said chasing after him.

Kunsel warily activated the Chocobo Lure, and soon they heard a rush of feet and chirps coming in their direction. When they saw the chocobos coming towards them they took off running, but stopped when they realized the chocobos weren't chasing them, they were chasing Cloud and Hollie. "What the hell is wrong with these birds!?" Cloud cried. Hollie ran in another direction to truly test out her theory, and proved herself right. The Big Bird impersonators were indeed Cloud's fanclub. She watched as the squealing chocobos joyfully jumped on their prey, tackling him to the ground with a flurry of feathers before cooing madly. "Get them off!!" Cloud shouted as his friends laughed hysterically and the birds fled in terror.

"You did it again, Cloud!" Hollie said. "If you just waited for one of us to nab a chocobo we wouldn't be having this problem!... As much..." she added with a snicker.

He gave her a death glare which was a comical sight, he was even more worse for wear than his last attack. "I hate chocobos!!"

Hollie gasped in horror, "How very dare you!! All they want is to cuddle!"

"Then you cuddle with them!!"

"I would gladly trade places with you," she said seriously, "That is just too adorable! But it's not me they want to cuddle with," she pouted.

"You are so weird..."

"What," she said nonchalantly, "I think it would be fun to be cuddled by cute fluffy birds." He shook his head in reply and climbed up a large rock. She was going to tell him they could reach him, but she shrugged and decided not to.

"Third times the charm!" Zack said using the chocobo lure. Nothing seemed to happen so he tried again, still nothing, "Hmm... I guess they aren't coming back this time... Now, what are we gonna do?" Hollie whistled as loud as she could, startling everyone, "Oww! That was loud!"

In the distance they heard the running of feet, and looked to see even more chocobos running in their direction. "Holy cow..." Kunsel muttered.

They started running straight for the rock Cloud was on, he got up quickly and started panicking, looking around for a way to escape. One chocobo, a very fat one, vaulted into the air aiming straight for Cloud, pushed him off the rock and landed on him on the ground, before the other chocobos raced around the rock and they all started to snuggle him. Barret laughed, "Look at that fat sucka jump!"

"Oh my god! Is he alright!?" Tifa asked running over to him, with everyone else following. The chocobos dispersed and ran away in fear. Hollie, not wanting anymore of this whistled loudly, the chocobos stopped immediately and all of their eyes locked onto her, before they took off in a dead run straight towards her. They tackled her to the ground and cuddled with her, while she giggled hysterically. "Are you alright?" Tifa asked Cloud.

After a few moments Cloud talked, "... That fat chocobo knocked the wind out of me..." he wheezed. He heard Hollie giggling and looked up, "This is all your fault!?!?" he shouted before coughing.

Hollie giggled, "They like whistling and chirping!"

"I wanna be cuddled!" Daisey squealed. She whistled and a few chocobos ran to her and started snuggling.

Cloud got up slowly and brushed himself off. He was a mess; torn clothes, messed up hair, dirt, chocobo prints, and feathers sticking out of his clothes and even two sticking out from next to his spike making it look like a chocobo plume, "That is the last time I'm doing business with a kid!!" Cloud said.

"I thought it was kind of fun," Hollie laughed.

His friends were literally rolling on the ground laughing. He glared, "That was not funny!!" he shouted angrily.

"Looked pretty funny from here!" Zack said.

"Shut up, Zack!"

Everyone each caught a chocobo and started across the marshes, staying close together and avoiding the dreaded Midgar Zolom, soon they made it to the other side safely with no encounter. They all hopped off and said goodbye to their chocobo pals, even Cloud, the chocobos looked at them sadly before cooing a goodbye and returning to their herd. Hollie looked over to Cloud to see him look rather sad, "Its okay, Cloud we'll see them again," she said patting his back.

He blushed in embarrassment "Good riddance!" he said. She giggled and started walking with the others to the Mythril Mine. He gave one last sad look in the direction of the chocobos, before joining them.