Chapter 826 - 825: Johnny’s Streak of Misfortunes and the Problems of Claudia and Aerith."

After saving Barret and that idiot Johnny, their small group became a little larger, which significantly simplified the task of finding a way out of the underground labyrinth. And yet the primary goal remained to find all the remaining members of the squad. Alex was not worried about Aerith one bit—she could easily protect herself on her own, and besides, Claudia was next to her, capable of dealing with absolutely any local monster in a couple of seconds.

The only one who caused him slight concern was Yuffie. Due to her excessively hyperactive character she could quite well lead Dean into some incomprehensible wilderness. Perfectly knowing the character of his friend, Alex was sincerely certain that Dean was currently experiencing far from the best minutes of his life, trying to endure someone's continuous chatter above his ear.

Slightly shaking his head in order to drive away these thoughts, Alex shifted his gaze to Barret, who was vainly trying to deliver a slap to the back of Johnny's head. The latter nimbly hid behind Tifa's back, who was straining with all her might to hold back the rampaging giant and extinguish the conflict. Carelessly bringing a thin cigar to his lips, Alex more tightly squeezed the hilt of the Chainsword—the sword immediately responded with a loud, rolling humming roar. Hearing the predatory growl of the Chainsword, Tifa, Barret, and Johnny instantly distracted from each other and synchronously turned their heads toward the sound.

"Maybe we can finally go further already? Or has one of you decided to settle permanently in this cute laboratory?" Alex inquired lazily, casually tapping the humming blade of the Chainsword against his shoulder.

"Damn, yes, exactly! We still need to find all the others. Forward, team!.. And let this idiot stay as far away from me as possible. Because one more of his shitty mistakes—and I'll personally strangle him with these hands," Barret began speaking quickly, intending to lead the movement, but not forgetting to bestow upon Johnny the most ferocious gaze.

"I've told you a hundred times that it happened completely by accident, bro!" Johnny squealed, jumping out from behind Tifa's back and brazenly tagging along after Barret.

"Damn you, I'm not your damn bro!" Barret swore irritably, straining with all his might to restrain the desire to give Johnny a cuff from a spin.

"But you just saved me! Which means you're now my real Bro!" Johnny declared with a wide smirk, continuing to insistently pursue Barret step by step.

Once again hearing how Johnny stubbornly continued to call him "Bro," Barret merely irritably snorted and noticeably quickened his pace, intending to stay as far away from this unbearable chatterbox as possible. Observing the hasty departure of these two, Alex turned to Tifa, who was wearily rubbing her temples and forehead.

In such moments she experienced a sincere headache from the necessity of constantly playing the role of peacemaker for an adult giant and a panicking idiot. Heavily sighing, Tifa unexpectedly felt a warm palm on her shoulder and turned her head. Meeting Alex's gaze, she forced out a tired smile and quietly thanked him for the fact that he had stopped this chaos before Barret really sent Johnny into a knockout.

Quietly laughing, Alex patted Tifa on the shoulder and proposed to catch up with this colorful duo as soon as possible before Barret still put his threat into execution. Looking forward, Tifa saw Barret, who with heavy, measured steps was climbing the metal steps, and Johnny scurrying behind, who had not shut up for a second.

Perfectly knowing Barret's explosive character, Tifa not without grounds feared that another couple of minutes—and everything would end very sadly. Not wishing to allow bloodshed, Tifa grabbed Alex by the arm and pulled him after herself. Quickly catching up with the irritated Barret and Johnny who was peering into his mouth, waiting at the massive doors, Alex with a short wave of his hand made it clear that it was time to move further.

"Kid, I really hope you at least approximately understand where the exit is here? Because, honestly speaking, I don't have the slightest desire to eternally wander through this damn snake pit," Barret began speaking while walking along the echoing corridor, turning his head toward Alex.

"While Tifa and I were running toward you at the sound of the shots, I managed to notice doors with a flight of stairs. If we're lucky, then exactly there will be a direct path upward," Alex answered calmly, pointing with his chin at the fork ahead.

"And… and if we're suddenly not lucky?" Johnny inquired, slightly tilting his head to the side and swallowing dry saliva.

"If we're not lucky, then we'll meet another couple of cute local inhabitants or continue cutting circles through this underground labyrinth… We're going that way," Alex answered in an absolutely even tone, pointing a finger at the door leading to the stairwell.

"And what about the rest of your company? Aren't we going to look for them?" Johnny again spoke up, turning to Tifa.

"I think they're right now just as searching for a path upward. Which means we'll completely guaranteed cross paths with them at the exit," Tifa answered with a light smile, sincerely believing in the resourcefulness of her friends.

"Exactly. Dean and Claudia will without particular problems be able to lead Aerith and Yuffie to the surface. Definitely no need to worry about them," Alex summarized, with a powerful push tearing off the heavy metal door and opening the squad the path to the next tier.

Tifa and Barret merely silently nodded, fully agreeing with Alex's words—they themselves did not doubt the strength of their friends one bit. However, this did not at all mean that they intended to abandon them and refuse the search in such a dangerous place. Seeing these confident gazes, Alex slightly smiled and continued climbing the steps to the upper floor. On the go he casually tapped a finger on the concrete wall, sending through the thickness of stone and metal thin impulses of mana.

The magical waves rapidly spread throughout the entire underground complex, allowing Alex to compile an accurate map and understand its real dimensions. When the reflected response returned back, Alex made sure that the object was relatively small—it was inferior in scale even to Shinra's factory complexes with their gigantic Mako reactors.

Sending yet another, more directed impulse, Alex quickly localized the auras of Claudia and Aerith, who were located only a couple of levels higher. But what sincerely surprised him was the position of the second group: Dean and Yuffie somehow miraculously found themselves in a completely different wing of the complex. Alex had no difficulty guessing that it was precisely the hyperactive Yuffie who had managed to lead Dean so far away from the only logical exit.

Slightly chuckling to himself, Alex took the phone out of the pocket of his coat and wrote Dean a short message about the fact that he and Yuffie were heading exactly in the opposite direction. The answer from Dean arrived literally a couple of seconds later—he with gloomy sarcasm wrote that he himself had already begun to suspect something when they with Yuffie for the third time in a row had passed by one and the same twisted door.

Continuing to smile, Alex sent him the correct route and put the phone back into his pocket. By this moment they had just climbed to the uppermost tier that this particular stairwell allowed them to reach. Raising his gaze to the ceiling overlaps, Alex clearly understood: Aerith and Claudia were located right above them, and the long-awaited meeting would happen very soon. And while Alex was immersed in reflections, building the optimal path through the passages, Barret did not wait for anyone. He braced his powerful arms against the jammed leaves of the locked mechanical door and tried to tear them off their hinges.

"Damn it, maybe someone will finally deign to help me?! What the hell are you standing here doing nothing, chatterbox?! Grab the edge of the leaf and start pulling!" Barret loudly barked, turning his head toward Johnny who had frozen nearby.

"Oh, exactly! Forgive me, Bro, I somehow completely didn't think about that. Simply your arms are so huge that I sincerely decided that you yourself would handle it without problems!" Johnny began speaking with a wide smirk, hastily running up to the doors and beginning to pull them together with Barret.

"I fucking told you: don't you dare call me 'bro'! And stop talking so much and uselessly!" Barret exhaled irritably, through his teeth continuing to press on the jammed mechanism.

Observing how Barret and Johnny were straining with the last of their strength to open the jammed mechanical doors, Tifa slightly blinked and turned her head toward Alex. Noticing that he was thoughtfully looking at the wall, Tifa with a light motion patted him on the shoulder, attracting his attention. Feeling the touch, Alex came to from his reflections and shifted his gaze to Tifa.

Without saying a word, she merely expressively pointed a finger at the stuck door, transparently hinting that it would be good to help this pair who were hopelessly stuck in place. Turning his head in the indicated direction, Alex slightly raised an eyebrow, listening to Barret's juicy choice swear words and Johnny's squealing justifications assuring that he was pulling the edge of the leaf with all his might.

Wearily shaking his head, Alex unhurriedly approached the doors and confidently grabbed the edge of the steel leaf. The moment he without particular visible tension pulled the jammed construction toward himself, the doors responded with a prolonged metallic scrape and smoothly parted to the sides, opening a free passage. Calmly brushing off his white gloves, Alex first took a step into the dark corridor.

He already knew exactly where he needed to go in order to meet Aerith and Claudia who were located a tier higher. Lighting yet another thin cigar, Alex slightly narrowed his eyes, scrolling in his head the memories of a multitude of anomalous magical responses that he had detected during the recent scan. Reflecting on the creatures bred by Shinra in these underground laboratories, Alex suddenly recalled that the idiot Johnny had originally had some kind of personal "mission" here.

"Hey, chatterbox…" Alex called out to him, slightly turning his head toward Johnny scurrying behind.

"Em, yes? How can I help you?.. You're not planning to abandon me right here, right?" Johnny responded with a strained, nervous smile, experiencing open trembling before Alex's calm power.

"If I wanted to abandon you, I would have abandoned you long ago. What did that idiot in the suit ask you to find here?" Alex asked, rolling his eyes, and carelessly shook the cigarette ash in Johnny's direction.

"I was supposed to find one flask… Well, about this size," Johnny began explaining quickly, clearly showing the dimensions of the container with his hands.

"And what's specifically in this container? What exactly were you supposed to bring to that Shinra bastard?" Barret interrupted him, frowning, on the go crossing his arms on his broad chest and matching his pace with Johnny.

"No idea! All I know is that they'll pay me a ton of money if I deliver this thingamajig to that guy," Johnny answered carefreely, shrugging his shoulders, and with a lighthearted air threw his hands behind the back of his head.

"So you signed up to bring some crap, having absolutely no idea what it looks like… You don't even know in which specific wing it is located, besides the fact that it's packed in a container…" Alex slowly said, bestowing upon Johnny a boundlessly tired gaze.

"Spot on, bro! But knowing myself… I'm always lucky! Among the guys I'm generally known as 'Lucky Johnny'!" Johnny began speaking with an enormous smirk, proudly pointing at himself with two thumbs in a victorious gesture.

"No, Johnny. You're not lucky at all. You're simply a rare idiot," Tifa began speaking in a tired tone, not turning her head toward the chatterbox, merely slowly shaking her head.

From such straightforward and cruel words the wide smile on Johnny's face instantly trembled. He dramatically grabbed his chest with both hands and dejectedly collapsed onto his knees. Such a verdict from Tifa's lips became for Johnny the most crushing blow that he could only receive for this entire day. Beginning to comically and loudly sob, Johnny tried to justify himself and prove that he was indeed an incredible Lucky Guy.

However, Barret passing by merely turned his head and weightily reminded that it was precisely because of this "luck" that a hungry swarm of gigantic creatures had attacked them a little earlier. Having received yet another control blow to his ego, Johnny finally weakly sprawled on the metal floor, continuing to cry inconsolably.

Feeling yet another approaching attack of headache, Tifa turned back and merely heavily sighed—she simply did not know how she should comment on such performances. She had seen such behavior of Johnny too often for it to stop seeming something habitual.

Experience suggested that from her only a couple of encouraging phrases were required—and Johnny would immediately jump to his feet with his habitual self-satisfied smirk. However, before Tifa managed to open her mouth, Alex had already silently approached the lying Johnny. Without wasting time on conversations, he with an iron-concrete grip grabbed the poor runaway by the ankle and without extra bows dragged the chatterbox after himself along the flooring.

Feeling how his torso was being dragged at a decent speed along the floor, Johnny instantly came to from his "invented grief" and squealingly cried out that he was capable of walking himself. But Alex was sincerely indifferent to these panicked cries—all that he wanted right now was to climb a tier higher as quickly as possible and finally find Aerith and Claudia.

Seeing with what imperturbable air Alex was dragging after himself the desperately thrashing Johnny, Barret slightly smirked and even magnanimously offered his help. Alex in response merely widely smiled, with his entire appearance making it clear that under no circumstances in the world would he share such entertainment with him, and continued confidently walking, towing by the leg the howling throughout the entire corridor poor fellow.

"Bro! Well let me go, I really can walk myself!" Johnny continued to frantically cry, desperately trying to yank his leg out of Alex's death grip.

"No… You're wasting too much of our time on your comic performances," Alex answered in an absolutely imperturbable tone, only for a second casting a short glance over his shoulder at the dragging Johnny.

"I won't anymore! Honest word! I swear! I'll be silent and go exactly where you say!" Johnny cried in panic, more and more strongly feeling how from the friction against the metal floor his jeans were already beginning to rapidly slide down.

"Alex, really, let him go. He promised that he would be silent and not delay us," Tifa said in a soft, conciliatory tone, with a smile patting Alex on the arm.

Stopping for a moment, Alex looked at Tifa, and then shifted his gaze to Johnny, who was straining with all his might to frantically pull up his jeans before they finally slid down and the pink boxers with red hearts of all those present would open to the gaze. Heavily sighing, Alex simply could not refuse Tifa her request and calmly released Johnny's ankle.

And the moment the poor runaway gained the long-awaited freedom, Johnny immediately briskly jumped to his feet, along the way catching the sliding pants. However, from the too sharp yank a cracking sound of tearing fabric rang out along the corridor—and Johnny's jeans with a scrape burst, with guts exposing his pink underpants with hearts. Freezing in place like a statue, Johnny slowly lowered his head downward and stunned stared at his jeans, torn evenly along the central seam.

The moment this happened, Tifa instantly covered her eyes with both palms and sharply turned away, with her entire appearance making it clear that she sincerely did not wish to observe such a spectacle. Observing how Johnny was frantically and unsuccessfully trying to cover the intimate zone with his hands, Barret frantically burst into laughter, heartily grabbing his stomach.

Wearily catching his breath, Alex was not at all surprised at how strongly and regularly Johnny was unlucky in life. Not wishing to linger any longer because of this striptease, Alex softly placed his hands on Tifa's shoulders and carefully began pushing her forward along the corridor. Still bursting with laughter, Barret turned around and walked after Alex and Tifa in order not to lag behind the group.

"Hey, guys, what's with you?! Don't abandon me here alone!" Johnny cried in panic, scurrying after them and along the way trying to cover the torn jeans with his hands.

"For the sake of everything holy, quickly cover your pink underpants!" Alex cried out, squeamishly turning his head back and with disgust bestowing a gaze upon Johnny.

"And with what do you think I should cover them?! I have absolutely nothing with me!" Johnny began speaking in an offended, tearful tone, poking a finger at the hole in the jeans.

"Just take off your jacket and simply tie it around your waist, you idiot! Is it really that hard to think of that?!" Barret barked, physically feeling how he was beginning to rapidly grow stupid from merely being next to Johnny.

"Oh… Exactly! And really, why didn't I think of that myself?!" Johnny cried out with sincere stunned amazement and with a gaping smile slapped a fist against his palm.

Quickly pulling off his leather jacket, Johnny hastily wrapped it around his waist in order to hide the shame. Having tied the sleeves more tightly into a tight knot, he examined himself from bottom to top and, having made sure that the jacket would not fall during walking, raced after the departed Alex, Tifa, and Barret. Hearing the hurried running behind himself, Alex slightly turned his head and saw that Johnny had after all covered his ridiculous pink underpants, using his own jacket in the manner of an improvised skirt.

Slightly shaking his head, Alex stopped carefully covering Tifa's back with his palm so that she could again normally look around. However, even after that Tifa was not going to turn around toward Johnny unnecessarily—before her eyes this picture of the underpants with pink hearts still stood.

Having spent another few minutes walking, they continued to advance along the long underground corridor under the unending, chaotic chatter of Johnny, who managed to comment on absolutely everything that came into his eyes, and even tried to peek into every ajar door. Alex felt how with every second his patience was approaching the critical mark. Fortunately for the integrity of Johnny himself, the group quickly reached the needed passage leading upward.

In two counts opening together with Barret yet another jammed mechanical door, Alex first took a step forward in order to carefully examine the stairwell. Climbing the steps, he regularly looked back, controlling so that no one lagged behind. Having climbed out onto the platform higher, Alex stopped at the next stuck doors. He knew: it was precisely on this tier that Aerith and Claudia were located, and therefore he wanted to deal with the lock as quickly as possible.

"And how long are we still going to cut circles through this underground hole?! Where is this damn exit already?" Barret heavily sighed, clinging with his fingers to the edge of the heavy mechanical door.

"Right now we're located on the minus third level. Which means the exit to the surface that we need is already somewhere very close," Tifa answered, pointing a finger at the barely noticeable, half-erased inscription on the concrete wall.

"Whoa… And how did you figure that out so quickly, Tifa, baby?" Johnny inquired with sincere amazement and enthusiasm, stretching his neck toward the dilapidated plaque.

"Did you just ask that completely seriously?" Alex said in the most dry tone possible, with a sharp powerful yank jerking the mechanical doors toward himself and with a scrape flinging them open.

"Well… I just really got interested!" Johnny muttered embarrassed and squeakily, instantly hiding behind Barret's broad back, just so as to avoid Alex's lethal gaze.

"Then be so kind as to at least sometimes turn on your brain and think normally. The numbering of underground floors works exactly the same as in any ordinary building, just with the prefix 'minus'," Alex answered, shaking his head, and, softly placing his hands on Tifa's shoulders, slightly pushed her through the opened passage.

Feeling how she was softly pushed forward by the shoulders, Tifa slightly laughed, perfectly understanding all the deep irritation of Alex because of Johnny's hopeless stupidity. The poor runaway himself was still frantically hiding behind Barret's broad back, not daring even to stick his nose out. Only when Alex went a little further along the corridor did Johnny exhale with relief, but at the same second he felt how a heavy five-fingered hand with a death grip grabbed him by the nape of the neck and roughly pushed him forward.

Rubbing the bruised place after the unpleasant push, Johnny fearfully turned his head back and met the gaze of Barret, who merely sternly waved his chin, calling him not to stand there like a fool but to quickly move his arms and legs. Strainedly smiling, Johnny with a hurried step hurried to catch up with Alex and Tifa.

Observing the hastily departing back of Johnny, Barret wearily snorted and hurried after the group. He was fed up to the grinding of teeth with walking through this damned underground complex. All that he sincerely wanted at that moment was to return as soon as possible to his little Marlene, who with only her cute appearance and warm hugs could instantly raise his mood and force him to completely forget about the fact that because of one finished idiot their entire squad had gotten into yet another mess.

Walking ahead shoulder to shoulder with Tifa, Alex confidently led the group exactly in that direction of the corridor where he had quite recently sensed the magical presence of Claudia and Aerith. But when they had already practically reached the needed turn, an deafening crash rolled through the echoing underground tier—as if a most powerful lightning had struck right into the thickness of the concrete from the heavens. Frowning from this unexpected sound, Alex directed his gaze forward and slightly narrowed his eyes.

"What was that sound just now? Don't tell me this complex is finally starting to collapse over our heads?" Tifa asked in a cautious tone, feeling a tangible vibration of the ceiling overlaps.

"No… Seems that was Aerith's magic," Alex said, already intending to tear off into a rapid run.

"Well if those are her tricks, then the girls are right now fully fighting someone there! Let's hurry!" Barret immediately figured out, instantly on the go raising his machine gun.

Briefly nodding, Alex slightly stomped his foot on the floor, sending a wave of mana along the concrete overlaps in order to instantly clarify the situation. As soon as the reflected response returned back, Alex quickly understood that Aerith and Claudia had directly collided with those very anomalous mutants that had been bred within the walls of this laboratory.

Without saying a word, Alex sharply tore off from the spot and at full speed raced forward along the corridor. And the moment he only gained speed, ahead again a powerful explosion thundered deafeningly, painfully resembling a direct lightning strike. Tifa and Barret also did not waste a single second and quickly ran after Alex, not even paying attention to Johnny, who was straining with all his might to run as the rearguard, frantically holding with both hands the jacket tied around his waist.

Some time before this moment in the spacious underground hangar that most of all resembled a closed experimental testing ground of Shinra, a fierce battle was fully raging. Claudia confidently held the gigantic Buster Sword in front of herself, with a cold gaze intently observing the strange, ugly creatures that outwardly resembled a terrible mixture of humans and disgusting deep-water fish.

Even more tightly squeezing the hilt of her weapon, Claudia with a sharp wide swing met the mutant that in a desperate jump tried to reach her with its claws. On the spot bisecting the first monster, Claudia did not delay for a second and in the blink of an eye with chopping movements cut up several more creatures that had approached. Being right behind Claudia's back, Aerith was squeezing an elegant magical staff in her hands.

Drawing an arc in the air with it, she sharply jerked the magical staff from top to bottom—and at the same moment from the ceiling of the hangar with a deafening crack a thick branching lightning struck, incinerating several mutants at once. Successfully repelling the first wave of attacking creatures, Claudia narrowed her eyes and shielded Aerith with herself, intently looking around in search of new threats.

"Be extremely attentive. These creatures are clearly smarter than they seem at first glance," Claudia warned in a cold tone, holding the Buster Sword at the ready in case of a repeated lunge.

"I've already managed to notice that myself. Look how competently they hide behind these covers," Aerith answered, nodding her head, and began rhythmically rotating her staff, winding yet another spell around it.

"Do you even have anything in your arsenal besides lightning and your favorite little flowers?" Claudia asked, delivering a sharp, whipping kick with her leg right into the chest of a jumping mutant and casting a short glance over her shoulder at Aerith.

"Well of course there is! I have something better tucked away," Aerith answered with a cunning, mysterious smile, completing the complex magical passages.

"Then activate it as soon as you're fully ready," Claudia cut off, with a powerful swing of the sword deftly parrying yet another attack of the fish-like monster.

"Get ready… Right now I'll immobilize them all dead!" Aerith began speaking quickly when the crystalline tip of her magical staff shone with a bright, blinding light.

Having finished with the preparation of the spell, Aerith sharply and with force struck the tip of her magical staff against the concrete floor. At the same second on the flooring of the hangar a gigantic bright-pink magical circle flared up, illuminating everything around with its overflows. Seeing this radiance, Claudia slightly lowered her gaze downward, sincerely not understanding exactly what kind of spell Aerith was using right now.

However, already a moment later she received an exhaustive answer to her silent question. From the depths of the magical circle with a ringing hum thick crystal-pink chains burst out, which on the spot rushed toward the mutants and with a death grip wrapped around their torsos, not allowing the monsters to make even the slightest movement.

Seeing the result of the spell, Claudia turned her head toward Aerith, clearly being pleasantly surprised by such precise magic. Aerith, for her part, quickly waved a hand to her and cried out that it was necessary to finish off the bound creatures as soon as possible, because she herself had no idea how long exactly she would be able to hold such a huge number of creatures simultaneously.

Hearing this call, Claudia did not waste precious time on extra words and instantly spun around. Leaning forward, Claudia sharply tore off from the spot, with a crushing yank instantly closing the distance to the nearest mutant. Finding herself at point-blank range, Claudia powerfully swung the Buster Sword from top to bottom, backhandedly bisecting the first enemy.

The blade of the heavy sword with a rumble drove into the concrete floor, and Claudia immediately jumped up, using the hilt as a point of support. Pushing off from the ground and simultaneously extracting the sword from the concrete, Claudia soared high into the air. Deftly spinning right in flight, Claudia with all her might threw her Buster Sword at the next mutant. The heavy blade drove exactly into the chest of the monster, nailing it dead to the floor.

Landing right on the hilt of her own sword, Claudia sharply leaned forward, using the entire weight of her body. Engaging the inertia in order to with a yank extract the Buster Sword from the cracked concrete, Claudia rapidly rolled on the floor, tightly squeezing the hilt. Rolling up close to the next mutant, she delivered a sweeping horizontal blow, cutting through yet another monster along the belly. Having dealt with it, Claudia without a pause continued chopping these creatures one after another until only the last corpse remained on the testing ground.

As soon as the last mutant fell silent, Aerith exhaled with relief—she felt light fatigue from the fact that she had had to hold so many living creatures with the chains at once. Clapping herself on the chest several times in order to catch her breath more quickly, Aerith squeezed the magical staff with both hands and with a joyful smile jumped up to Claudia.

"You and I are simply the best team in the world! Hooray!" Aerith said in a cheerful, ringing tone, highly raising an open palm in order to give Claudia a high-five.

"Hmm… Indeed, excellently done," Claudia briefly nodded and, absolutely without thinking, clearly clapped her palm against Aerith's palm.

"Whoa! You really did it! He-he-he! I told you that you and I are the most real friends!" Aerith exclaimed with eyes widely open from happiness and immediately tightly embraced Claudia around the neck.

"Okay, that's enough, stop hugging me. I don't have such a habit, unlike some," Claudia said with a sigh, placing her palms on Aerith's shoulders and vainly trying to carefully push her away from herself.

"Oh, come on, don't be so shy! Or… maybe you simply wanted Alex to hug you right now instead of me? I can whisper to him, and he'll gladly hug you!" Aerith issued in a mocking, singsong tone, narrowing her eyes and looking up at Claudia from below.

"I'll manage somehow. I don't care who it is, I simply in principle don't like all these tendernesses and hugs," Claudia answered in a strict tone, finally with difficulty detaching the restless friend from herself.

"Oh, I don't believe you! All people in the world simply adore hugs. And you too! You're just… what are people like you called?.. Exactly, a tsundere!" Aerith joyfully cried out, victoriously pointing a finger right at Claudia's nose, amusingly shaking her head from side to side.

Looking at the finger frozen right at her nose, Claudia heavily sighed and shifted her gaze to Aerith, who at that moment was smiling too brightly and self-satisfiedly. Shaking her head, Claudia was already preparing to propose to move further. But when these words had practically escaped her lips, she caught with the edge of her ear a suspicious rustling carrying from all sides.

Narrowing her eyes, Claudia with a sharp motion shifted her gaze to the ventilation grilles under the ceiling and instantly grabbed Aerith by the arm, drawing her after herself. Shielding her friend with her back, Claudia directed the heavy Buster Sword right at the ventilation, not taking her eyes off the darkness of the shafts.

Blinking in surprise, Aerith carefully peeked out from behind Claudia's shoulder and slightly tilted her head to the side, sincerely not understanding what was happening. Claudia, for her part, continued to listen sensitively to the surrounding space—the strange dry rustle was becoming louder and closer with every second.

Already a moment later all the ventilation grilles around the perimeter of the hangar were simultaneously knocked out with flesh. From the exposed shafts outward poured yet another horde of mutants that with incredible agility crawled along the walls and ceiling, clinging with long claws to the concrete and metal.

Claudia and Aerith cold-bloodedly observed how more and more ugly creatures filled the space under the ceiling. Even more tightly squeezing the staff in her hands, Aerith highly raised it above her head and smoothly waved it. At the same second around her and Claudia a scattering of small pink crystals flared up, which as a protective dome smoothly spun in the air.

Casting a short glance at the protective crystal, Claudia merely approvingly nodded and moved her left hand to the side. On her open palm blue sparks immediately flickered and crackled—Claudia on the go activated her Materia. On the tip of Aerith's staff branching lightnings also shone—and they simultaneously prepared to bring down a magical storm on the enemies.

"Try to aim right there where the largest accumulation of these creatures is right now," Claudia said, practically finishing accumulating a powerful charge of lightning.

"I got it! Right now I'll smash these ugly things with all my strength! Let's see how they crawl along the walls after that!" Aerith answered with an excited smile, already completing the preparation for the joint crushing blow.

To be continued...

(Well, I guess I'll start with the news that—what the hell—I've caught a cold yet again. I just don't get how it happened. I'm outside for maybe half an hour a day at most—just to grab breakfast—and that's it. But today I woke up feeling like the monster living under my bed had beaten the crap out of me. And I *know* that bastard already moved out, since he refused to pay rent in cash. I have absolutely no use for human fingers; you certainly can't buy food or pay bills with those. Anyway, I'm in shock. As for the story, we're moving right along. We'll be making it to the surface soon. Alright, it's really hard for me to think right now, so I'm going to take some meds and hit the sack. Peace, love, and stay healthy.)

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