Lightning.
Chapter,The Twenty-Fourth: In Which Zell Spends 85,000 Gil.
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Eoko
with another insanely late update! And with me today are a few people from the
wonder FFXI Carbuncle Sever Linkshell
Takamine
talking too- freaks!- just kidding.
Amneris
Eoko
because of Noob Saen. So
that is why I have been busy and forgotten to update on time once again. And
garrison. Garrisons are good! So, here we go, another chapters down!
Chapter
Twenty-Fourth: In Which Zell Spends 85,000 Gil.
Zell sat in front of a computer,
several windows open displaying different search results.
(1) on so that he could input the chocobo ranch
information right into it. No need for
pens and paper when you’re a Garden student.
There were seven large ranches and a scattering of smaller
ones that were used more as boarding stables for people that owned
Zell created a custom icon of a
dots to mark the boarding stables.
He sat back, looking over the points on the
There weren’t any ranches on Balamb or the
They all seemed to be right around the locations of the
Zell immediately dismissed The
Closest to Heaven. Somehow
Ochu dinner.
There were three located on Centra.
was a possibility. Lighthouse Ridge
was right around the orphanage so it was possible Irvine took
it was a long way to travel for visits.
Still, it had to be considered if he was going to find the
The last three were Northern Hills, Mountain Coast,
and Trabia Tundra.
searches and clicked on the link for Trabia
Tundra. It was owned and operated by
Trabia Garden students and faculty.
garden almost regularly. It wasn’t far
away, and transports between the Trabia and
Zell put a white circle around it
and went to look at the other two. Mountain
Coast, just to the west of Trabia
Tundra also looked good. Northern
Hills was run by Shumi, but mostly by
hadn’t had the best luck with a particular Shumi,
but the village had seemed quite nice.
Zell looked at the littering of
yellow dots. Most of them looked after
other people’s chocobos, they didn’t have their
own. Irvine would have kept
Boarding Stable was probably the one.
It was on Balamb Island, just north of the
city. It was close and they took good
care of their birds. They even had a
number of their own for a chocobo ride run out of
town. Zell
would have to see if he just went from boarding there to selling his bird to
them.
Whatever the case it was time to make some phone-calls.
his information and his map and headed back to his room to start the, most
likely, long and tedious task of locating a single chocobo
that went by the name of Lightning.
- - -
He loved him…? How
could he love him!? The idiot of a
cowboy hated him with everything he had!
How could Zell love that?!
Seifer stalked around his room,
throwing anything of minimal value against any hard surface, such as doors,
walls and desk frames. He couldn’t calm
down. He had tried and it only got him
thinking and then even more angry.
He was jealous. He
was very, very jealous and he couldn’t explain in.
feelings for the little blond, but they were just feelings right?
If that’s all it was why did he keep shaking and throwing
things around his room? Maybe it wasn’t
just a crush. What was it then?
The thought brought a small smile to his face and a moment
of peace in the room destroying. But in
no time at all he was remembering who Zell loved and
chaos was back in control.
As this very loud activity was taking place
way down the halls. She came to a halt
in front of Seifer’s door and checked the number to
be sure. Yes, it was definitely
jumped a little when something collided with the door.
fighting? She would expect a lot of
screaming if they were… so what was going on?
Being the ever helpful and curious little brunette, she
knocked on the door, loudly, to be heard over the racket inside the room.
Seifer stopped with a book in his
hand, lifted above and behind his head.
He frowned at the door and let the book drop.
“It’s Selphie.
Seifer shook his head but headed
over to the door and opened it. “Hello
of you to stop to see what was happening, but I don’t really want any-
hey! You can’t just walk into my room.”
“What a mess!” Selphie
exclaimed. “What got you mad enough to
destroy your room??”
Seifer let the door close and
huffily moved over to a chair. “
Selphie bounced over to a seat
opposite him. “What do you mean?
best friends. You always get along now.”
“Yea, well, things change, Selphie.”
“What changed?”
Seifer cringed and looked
away. “Irvine.
“You’re making them sound like a couple, Seifer.”
“They will be a couple Selphie!
him-”
“What?!
him??”
Seifer frowned deeply and
you poor thing.”
“I can’t do anything about it.
happened…”
“But you-”
“But I nothing, Selphie.
I won’t take that away from him because of my own selfish feelings for
him.”
The brunette pouted.
bury it all up. Typical
Seifer.
“If you need to talk to someone, or destroy something, call me.
okay?”
“Yea, sure.”
“Okaaaaay,
“Yes, Selphie.
I’ll call you if I need something.
Happy?”
“No, but I feel a bit better.
she left the tall blond to his sulking and possibly more room destroying.
- - -
“You’re sure?”
:: Of course I’m sure.
We keep perfect records and no Irvine Kinneas
has ever sold us a chocobo named Lightning. ::
“Well, thank you for your time.
:: Good bye, Mr. Dincht. ::
Well, there went the first lead.
know. Selphie
could sure find out easily if she had friends on the ranch.
proud or too far in denial of any problems to accept it.
“Oh, Irvine… I’m so sorry.”
Zell crossed off the first ranch
on his list. Mountain Coast was
next. He picked up the phone and dialed.
::-Ring… Ring… Ring-
Coast Ranch, Demetri speaking, how can I help
“Hello, I’m trying to find a chocobo
your ranch may have purchased some time in the last six months.”
:: Last six months?
What kinda details ya
got? ::
“The chocobo is named
Lightning. He was sold by Irvine
bells?”
:: Lightning? Oh yea,
that name sure does ring a bell. Fast as
a whip that one. He’s a barrel racer you
know? Damn fine one too.
::
Zell leapt to his feet.
:: Yea, we got him.
Calm down there. What you calling
about Lightning for? ::
“I want to buy him from you.”
:: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
We ain’t interested in selling. ::
“That bird was Irvine Kinneas’ and
I plan to return it to him.”
:: Lightning’s ours now.
We bought him. It
“How much?”
:: How much what? How
much would we sell Lightning for? ::
“Yes, what’s your price?”
::He’s a damn good
kid like you could afford him. ::
“The name’s Zell
of the six to destroy Ultimecia.
afford the bird?”
:: Zell Dincht?
afford Lightning. He ain’t
cheap. Not even for a
“I’ve been saving up,” Zell
commented dryly. He was about an inch
from making this a confiscation mission and paying the arsehole
zilch.
:: I’d have to consult with management- ::
“Just put management on the phone!”
::Al’ight,
al’ight, hold yer
Zell waited patiently for
:: Hello, David, speaking. ::
“The manager I hope?”
:: Yes. You want to
buy Lightning? ::
“Yes, I do. Just tell
me how much.”
:: And you’re a high rank SeeD?
have as much tact as I would like him to have.
It’s common sense not to mess around with SeeDs,
period. I can’t let him go cheap.
again, you don’t mess with SeeD.
Zell had checked some prices
during his searching. 85,000 wasn’t a
bad price considering they didn’t want to sell.
Good thing occupation and name dropping actually worked some places.
“Sounds good.
don’t want to find you spiking up the price once I get out there.
:: Thursday is fine, Mr. Dincht.
::
“Good bye, Mr. Manager.” Zell hung
up. That had sounded lame.
Well, the only name he gave was David.
It wasn’t Zell’s fault he couldn’t be
completely professional with the info he had obtain from the conversation.
“Good thing I don’t buy stuff for a long time, and then buy
big things. I bought that bike a while
ago so I should have more than enough for a chocobo
and boarding it. I’ll call the
I’m gonna snap something.”
about this and that to himself, almost as if he were talking to
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1. CaTS: Coordinates and Tracking
System