After yet another lively feast in the company of his new friends, Alex began to wonder how to occupy himself for the rest of the day. Judging by Jessie's vague hints, late in the evening she planned to drag him out on a raid — to infiltrate the Shinra plant in Upper Sector 7. But there was still plenty of time left until dusk, and those hours needed to be spent somehow. While Alex indulged in his thoughts, the others began quickly saying their goodbyes and leaving Seventh Heaven to return to their own business.
Barret, Biggs, and Jessie descended into the secret bunker under the bar to calmly discuss plans for the next Mako Reactor. Wedge left with the words that it was time to feed his "little ones" — by which, of course, he meant an entire horde of alley cats. Hearing about the furry ones, Aerith and Yuffie immediately lit up with the idea of going with him and helping with this responsible task.
Even Dean temporarily set aside his endless opening of boosters. He rose from the table and left the bar, muttering that he urgently needed to get some fresh air, or else he'd end up breaking something out of boredom. Watching him go, Alex looked at the emptied seat and smiled as he surveyed yet another impressive mountain of drawn duplicates. In the end, Alex remained in the bar with Tifa, though Claudia lingered for a short while as well.
When Tifa asked for help with a couple of minor problems for the local residents, Claudia strictly clarified that she had no intention of working for free. Tifa assured her with a smile that the townsfolk always paid fairly for any assistance. Nodding reservedly in farewell, Claudia left Seventh Heaven, habitually adjusting the massive Buster Sword on her back. Left alone with Tifa, Alex finally remembered one matter that was perfect for killing time until late evening.
"Want to take a walk over to Sector Six?" Alex asked, leaning his elbows on the bar counter and holding a cigarette between his fingers.
"What do you need in Sector Six for?" Tifa asked curiously, tidying up and putting the clean plates, glasses, and goblets back in their places.
"I already mentioned the Black Market. I need to visit my chum Leslie and place a couple of orders with him," Alex answered with a smirk, stubbing out the cigarette in a clean ashtray.
"So… is this something like a date?" Tifa clarified with a light, coquettish chuckle, turning to Alex and also leaning on the wooden surface right next to him.
"Well… almost. It's hard, of course, to call a trip with a girl through the Black Market a proper date… Although, if we're lucky, we might find an excellent piece of wood there to replace the section of the counter that Barret punched," Alex said in a thoughtful tone, pointing a finger at the distinct dent from Barret's heavy fist.
"That's true… I was already seriously thinking of sending Barret to the junkyard to look for some old boards and making him fix everything himself. Especially since he now has two working hands," Tifa said with a chuckle, propping her cheek on her fist and examining the dents on the bar counter.
Alex laughed quietly, vividly picturing Barret's expression as he cursed up a storm while digging through mountains of rusty scrap, trying to find at least a couple of decent wooden boards for repairing the counter. Shaking his head at that image, Alex stood up, intending first of all to drop by his dormitory and grab some money. Tifa immediately followed him, first wiping her hands with a towel and habitually pulling her combat gloves onto her fists.
She knew perfectly well that Don Corneo had already departed for the next world, but that by no means meant that the Wall Market had become an absolutely safe place where one could stroll while letting one's guard down. Leaving the bar, Alex and Tifa unhurriedly headed toward the dormitory, chatting the whole way about all sorts of pleasant little things. Upon arrival, Tifa first of all bounced over to Marle, whose face immediately bloomed with a warm smile at the sight of the guest she sincerely considered her own granddaughter.
Alex politely nodded to the landlady, for which he received the habitual demonstrative eye-roll. Compressing his lips, Alex shook his head with a chuckle and climbed the stairs to the second floor, to his room. Going inside, he pulled out from under the bed a bag stuffed to the brim with tight packs of gil and immediately went back outside.
Finding himself in the fresh air, Alex heard Marle's strict, nitpicking voice and Tifa's slightly embarrassed replies as she tried to explain exactly where they were headed. And the moment he took a step onto the walkway, Marle fixed him with such a heavy and frowning gaze as grandmothers usually reserve for the most wayward and disobedient grandsons.
"My dear Tifa told me where you two have decided to go. Even if that fat bastard Corneo has kicked the bucket, that doesn't mean the Wall Market has turned into a quiet park! Do you understand me, boy?" Marle articulated in an icy tone, looking Alex up and down with a strict gaze.
"Yes, ma'am. I understand perfectly," Alex nodded reservedly, trying with all his might to sound as calm as possible so as not to pour oil on the fire.
"I'm not 'ma'am' to you!" Marle snapped, threateningly shaking a dry fist in the air.
"Yes, ma'am, Marle! Order understood, I will protect Tifa with my own life if anything goes wrong!" Alex blurted out with a calm face and an absolutely mechanical voice, slowly pronouncing the words and saluting like a parade robot.
"You little brat! You think I'm joking around with you here?! Get over here right now, I'll give you a quick briefing!" Marle barked with fierce enthusiasm, deftly reaching for the hefty wooden rolling pin standing by the porch.
Seeing the rolling pin being swung at him, Alex did exactly what he always did in such situations. He decided to hide from the enraged Marle behind the one person the landlady was guaranteed not to hit. Hiding behind Tifa's broad back, Alex slightly peered out from behind her shoulder and looked at Marle with a mocking, narrowed gaze.
Seeing this insolence, Marle flared up even more and began threatening Alex with retribution with redoubled energy, actively drawing intricate pirouettes in the air with the rolling pin. Finding herself in the very epicenter of these passions, Tifa was clearly struggling to hold back the rising laughter. She hadn't seen Marle yell at someone so furiously in a hundred years, and what's more, waving her legendary rolling pin, which had already claimed more than one local idiot in Sector Seven.
Trying not to burst out laughing at the top of her lungs, Tifa gently stopped Marle, saving Alex from inevitable punishment, and affectionately said that it was time for them to go. Elderly Marle sighed heavily upon hearing the tender tone, but in farewell once again clearly threatened the fugitive in the person of Alex: if anything at all happened to Tifa, that very rolling pin would immediately end up somewhere it had absolutely no business being.
Hearing such a direct and unambiguous threat, Alex awkwardly scratched his cheek, preparing to deliver some caustic reply. But before he managed to open his mouth, Tifa grabbed his hand and literally dragged him after her down the street.
The last thing Alex managed to see while being hauled away was Marle's expressive gesture, clearly demonstrating the anatomical trajectory of her kitchen utensil's flight. Having dragged Alex a decent distance away, Tifa finally released his hand and exhaled with relief.
"Please forgive her… It's just that Marle fiercely disliked Corneo. She's had to personally drive off his thugs more than once when they poked their noses into our parts," Tifa said with a soft, apologetic smile, turning to Alex.
"Come on, Marle is far from the first elderly woman to threaten me with that kind of retribution. At least I reacted in time, and yet another wooden stick didn't shatter into splinters against my head," Alex answered with a chuckle, taking out a new cigar. Habitually lighting it, he quickened his pace, drawing level with Tifa.
"So… this has already happened to you?!" Tifa asked again with sincere surprise and a little shock in her eyes, staring at Alex.
"Yep. In the city where I'm from, there's one very popular tavern. And there no one even dares to peep — everyone is scared to death of the local proprietress, Mama Mia. And this nice lady has a couple of times quite successfully smashed wooden rolling pins against my head. And she also regularly threw heavy cast-iron frying pans at me," Alex said with a light smile, stroking his chin and nostalgically recalling past days.
"How horrible… And what did you do after that?!" Tifa gasped in shock, sincerely amazed at what Alex had had to go through in the past.
"What do you mean, what? I picked up the rolling pins and frying pans thrown at me, privatized them, and ran for my life under her furious howls! It was even fun," Alex answered with a laugh and cheerfully gave Tifa a thumbs-up.
Hearing these words, Tifa hesitated for a moment, completely not understanding how to react to what she had heard: whether she should laugh heartily or show sympathy. But what caught her most of all was the mention of Alex's hometown — she desperately wanted to know what that place was even like. Sensing her sincere interest, Alex saw not a single reason to hide the truth.
He gladly began telling her about the city of Orario — the place that had become a home for his huge family and many friends, as well as the headquarters of his multiversal guild. Of course, in the process of the story Alex preferred to omit the details about the endless labyrinth of the dungeon and the willful deities who had descended from the heavens.
He merely described Orario as a large city where thousands of adventurers come and live, earning their living by obtaining rare trophies and glory in hunting dangerous monsters. Tifa nodded understandingly: even in her native Nibelheim there had always been plenty of desperate mercenaries and trackers who caught or destroyed wild beasts for a small reward.
But the moment her thoughts touched upon Nibelheim, the shadow of past tragedies inevitably engulfed her completely. Tifa sighed heavily — before her eyes the hellish flames of the ashes flared up again, and the silhouettes of the dead townsfolk loomed. Noticing how Tifa's gaze immediately dimmed as she sank into the abyss of heavy thoughts, Alex decided to immediately seize the initiative and lift her spirits.
Without thinking long, he delivered a couple of deafeningly stupid jokes with an absolutely impassive expression. Hearing this completely absurd pun, Tifa sharply turned her head to Alex, and in her eyes froze a silent question: "What did you just say?!" But instead of explanations, Alex merely spread into a wide smile and delivered yet another meaningless remark with an even more serious face. After the second such pun, Tifa couldn't take it anymore. She laughed quietly, covering her face with her palm.
What made her laugh was not the stupid joke itself, but the pathos and ironclad calm with which Alex told it. And at the same time Tifa was immensely grateful to him for so deftly and gently pulling her out of the clutches of grim memories. Laughing and discussing all sorts of things, Alex and Tifa didn't notice how they approached the massive iron gates of Sector Six, through which a leisurely stream of rare passersby was flowing.
"By the way, I wanted to ask this morning… How did you, Dean, and Aerith even manage to get into Sector Seven so early? At that time the checkpoint gates are locked tight," Tifa said with lively interest, walking next to Alex through the gate passage.
"Through the underground technical tunnels, and then straight through — the Train Graveyard," Alex answered thoughtfully, bringing the cigar to his lips and briefly surveying the familiar bustle at the entrance to Sector 6.
"Through the Train Graveyard?.. And you… didn't meet any ghosts there?" Tifa asked quietly, leaning slightly toward him.
"Why does everyone keep going on about ghosts? Aerith also buzzed my ears off about the rumors that unrested spirits live there. Do you believe those tales too?" Alex responded with a chuckle, turning to Tifa walking beside him.
"I don't know… I want to believe that there's something more after death. Everyone says that when we die, our souls simply return to the Lifestream. And that means we'll never be alone no matter what," Tifa answered with a light, slightly thoughtful smile, interlocking her hands behind her back and taking several slow steps forward, overtaking Alex.
"Do you really believe that?" Alex asked with sincere curiosity, looking at how her face was illuminated by an incredibly tender smile.
"At least I very much want to believe it," Tifa answered in a soft tone, turning to Alex and looking him straight in the eyes.
Seeing the sincere hope in Tifa's eyes, Alex did not tell her the cruel truth. He decided to remain silent about the fact that only the memories and emanations of emotions of the beings who had died on this planet remain in the Lifestream, while the true soul goes further — exactly as the system created by his father is supposed to function. And Gaia itself is merely a repository of memory about everyone who has lived and will ever live on its expanses. Continuing to smile, Alex playfully poked Tifa on the nose with his finger.
"If you sincerely believe that, then that's how it is," Alex said with a warm smirk, walking past Tifa.
At those words Tifa shone even brighter and unhurriedly stepped after him. Walking a little farther along the streets of Sector Six of the Slums, Alex and Tifa saw the familiar outlines of the Wall Market. At this time of day the district had not yet turned into that buzzing and noisy mess that Alex remembered from a couple of days ago. Passing by the chocobo stable, Alex hoped to see Sam, the colorful owner of this establishment. However, not finding the local cowboy in place, Alex led Tifa onward.
Finding themselves in the very heart of the Wall Market, he couldn't help but notice how strikingly the local atmosphere had changed after Corneo had untimely departed this life due to the cruel laws of gravity, having involuntarily counted the steep steps with his head several times. For a moment Alex closed his eyes, intending to locate Leslie with the help of his powers, and immediately sensed his presence right in the mansion of the former head of this district.
Sincerely surprised that Leslie was still hanging around in this den, Alex smirked intriguedly. Tifa standing nearby also did not hide her amazement at how the Market had transformed in just forty-eight hours. She noticed that the streets were now controlled by collected and fit patrolmen. They did not behave like Corneo's arrogant and unrestrained thugs, but rather resembled strict municipal order, suppressing any minor scuffles between guests.
"Let's go. I think I know exactly where my chum has settled," Alex said with a smirk, patting Tifa on the shoulder and beckoning her to follow him.
"Everything here has changed so amazingly after Corneo's death…" Tifa said thoughtfully, catching up with Alex and matching his pace.
"Nah, not everything can change so radically in just a couple of days," Alex answered with a light chuckle, shaking his head.
"I'm not talking about the buildings and signs! I'm talking about how it's become much safer here," Tifa answered, rolling her eyes, and playfully punched Alex in the shoulder with her fist.
"Ah, in that sense. Well, I noticed that too. Especially if you look at these new patrolmen. Hmm, looks like the 'Big Three' didn't waste any time and quickly took control of the order after the fatso's departure," Alex muttered, stroking his chin and nodding toward the vigilant guards.
Tifa once again swept her gaze over the group of patrolmen who had just, without unnecessary cruelty, broken up a couple of grappling drunks and simply dispersed them to different corners, instead of staging the traditional bloody brawl as it had been under the previous masters. She couldn't help but note to herself that such a humane order definitely appealed to the local residents far more than the lawlessness of Corneo and his thugs.
Moving deeper into the Wall Market, Alex led Tifa past the entrance to the underground arena. Casting a glance there out of pure curiosity, he suddenly froze: on the counters of the local souvenir shop stood figurines — his own, Dean's, and Aerith's — and all of them were made with animal masks on their heads. Noticing how Alex had turned to stone in place, Tifa peered over his shoulder inside and also saw the rows of collectible statues.
Immediately recognizing the familiar images in them, she covered her mouth with her palm, frantically trying to hold back the breaking laughter. Somehow suppressing the giggle, Tifa suggested buying a couple as a gift for Marlene — especially insisting on the figurine of Dean in the image of the Dragon Warrior, with a bright red cloak and a bamboo hat on his head. Hearing that suggestion, Alex's eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly, but deep down he himself wanted to get his hands on this merch.
With an absolutely stone face he approached the counter while Tifa standing behind him continued to silently choke with laughter, and silently pointed with his fingers at the needed boxes. The seller spread into a wide commercial smile and immediately held out the sealed packages to them. Having paid for the purchase, Alex decided not even to try to find out who exactly had come up with such a brilliant and brazen idea and how these figurines had managed to occupy the counters the very next day after the Mako Reactor explosion.
"I think Marlene will be completely delighted with such a gift. They can even be adapted as bar decorations! Especially yours and Aerith's — in those very concert outfits," Tifa said, quietly rolling with laughter and carefully accepting the two boxes with the figurines into her hands.
"I never in my life would have thought that they'd be stamping plastic toys in my honor… A creepy feeling, to be honest," Alex answered with a heavy sigh and carefully put the purchase into his travel bag.
"And they whipped them up at breakneck speed! Clever people sure know how to make money out of thin air," Tifa drawled cheerfully, shaking her head.
"You know, maybe I should find that genius who got this ridiculous idea into his head and slightly teach him a lesson," Alex muttered with a sigh, automatically reaching into the inner pocket of his coat where a telescopic baton rested.
"Oh, come on, it's not worth it. These are just funny souvenirs, and besides, unlikely anyone will match you face-to-face with these toys," Tifa continued giggling and lightly tugged Alex by the sleeve, timely dissuading him from a vendetta against a random merchant.
Hearing Tifa's reasonable words, Alex sighed heavily and lowered his hand, trying to switch his attention to the main goal of his visit. It was already clear to him that the first batch of figurines had flown onto the counters right after he, together with Dean and Aerith, had won the tournament in the underground arena right before everyone's eyes and then raised a ruckus in Corneo's den.
And slightly redesigning them for the new images was a matter of a couple of hours for the local dealers, after all, this was their direct livelihood. Climbing the steps to Corneo's mansion, Tifa involuntarily slowed her pace, experiencing disgust and deep mixed feelings toward this place. In the past the Don's servants had more than once visited her in the bar, under the most varied pretexts imposing "proposals of marriage" from their lustful boss.
And every time Barret and the guys had had to kick these insolent ones out with a fight. Gathering her spirit and driving away the unpleasant thoughts, Tifa hurried after Alex so as not to fall behind. Climbing to the very top, Alex and Tifa noticed that collected and frowning guards of the "Big Three" were now on duty at the main entrance to the mansion. Approaching closer and briefly stating the essence of the visit, Alex had already prepared himself for the fact that he would have to clearly and with the application of force explain the right to enter.
However, to his sincere surprise, they were let inside without unnecessary questions and interrogations, merely asked to wait in the hall. Alex was even a little upset that they had been let through so easily — he had been hoping that a small fight would be an excellent way to release the accumulated irritation after buying an entire series of his own plastic copies.
Following the guard into the waiting room, Alex curiously looked around. Inside everything remained the same, with the exception of one important detail: all of Corneo's screaming, vulgar luxury and bright decorations had been cleaned out completely. Now the mansion of the former criminal baron more resembled a strict municipal center than a den of the local mafioso.
Finding themselves in the hall, Alex with a dull sound dumped the heavy bag of gil onto the table and sat down on a chair next to Tifa. After a short pause the heavy doors of the room silently opened, and Leslie appeared on the threshold in his familiar clothes. But instead of the habitual icy and detached expression on his face, Leslie was smiling — so warmly and openly, as if all his many years of anxieties had finally evaporated without a trace.
"My chum Leslie! I see everything's sorted out for you. And you've even managed to become the local boss here," Alex said with a smirk, rising from his seat and approaching Leslie.
"I had to take everything into my own hands. Merle insisted that I simply had to fix at least part of what that fat bastard managed to do while I was working for him," Leslie answered with a sigh, slightly shaking his head and taking off his cap.
"So you did find her after all… I told you everything would work out," Alex said with a chuckle and amicably patted Leslie on the shoulder.
"Yeah… Without your help I never would have found her in my life. Thank you so much," Leslie said with a warm smile, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder.
"No need for thanks. Better help me with this matter. And of course, not for free — a deal is a deal, we won't mix one with the other," Alex answered, holding out to Leslie a folded sheet with the list of needed materials.
"Hmm… Most of this list I can get in literally a couple of hours. But with the rest I'll have to fuss a bit," Leslie said thoughtfully, briefly running his eyes over the lines.
"I need exact deadlines. You yourself understand perfectly well what I'm busy with right now," Alex said with a smile, leaning on the edge of the table and habitually lighting a cigarette.
"Do I ever know! The whole of Midgar is buzzing right now about what you three pulled off on the upper Plate… I can bring everything closer to midnight. As I understand it, delivery is needed to Seventh Heaven?" Leslie smirked, carefully putting the list into the inner pocket of his jacket and shifting his gaze to Tifa.
"Be so kind, Leslie. I'll definitely warn the others so they don't undertake anything. You yourself understand why," Tifa said with a soft smile and nodded slightly.
"No problem, we'll arrange it. Anything else needed?" Leslie nodded reservedly, absolutely not objecting to past disagreements, and again looked at Alex.
"I need a good board for the bar counter. Roughly these dimensions," Alex answered, showing the dimensions of the needed timber with his hands.
"Ask Carl at the market, he deals in such lumber. Just keep in mind: that crook loves to inflate prices if he senses that the buyer's pockets are bursting with gil," Leslie said thoughtfully, recalling exactly where the needed item could be obtained.
Nodding his head, Alex memorized Carl's name and where to look for him, after which he immediately moved on to the more important question — discussing payment for the transportation of the materials. Leslie did not try to name an enormous price for the delivery of such valuable resources and named the exact sum for the entire order.
"All the materials will come to two million gil," Leslie named the final figure in an even tone after a quick calculation of the prices for Alex's entire list.
Hearing that sum, Alex was not worried in the slightest and calmly unzipped the bag to count out the needed money. Tifa, for her part, experienced genuine shock from such an astronomical figure and merely shook her head with a strained, nervous smile on her face. The moment Alex opened the bag, Leslie immediately spotted the boxes with the collectible figurines inside and awarded Alex an extremely interested gaze.
However, Alex pretended that nothing unusual was happening and continued quickly counting out two million. Having settled with Leslie and settled all the details, Alex understood that it was time to return. Beckoning the still-stunned Tifa after him, Alex turned to Leslie.
"Maybe you can also keep an ear out for rumors among Shinra people, just in case?" Alex asked with a light nod, standing next to Leslie.
Leslie nodded understandingly in response, for he was one of the few who knew perfectly well who was actually hiding under the plush animal masks. Leaving the mansion, Alex saw Merle, who was animatedly talking about something with Chocobo Sam, Madame M, and Andrea on the balcony of the second floor.
Meeting gazes with this colorful company, Alex nodded to them slightly and headed for the exit together with Tifa. Coming out into the fresh air, Alex lightly shook Tifa by the shoulder to finally bring her out of the stupor in which she had been after the announcement of the cost of the materials.
"I'm fine… I just never expected that all of this would cost so much," Tifa said with a sigh, slightly shaking her head.
"What did you expect? When such resources are tightly controlled by the corporates, the only way to get them is the Black Market. Hence such prices," Alex answered in a carefree tone, slightly shrugging his shoulders and seeing no problem in the expenses.
"Can't argue with that, of course… At least these dirty monies will be used so that the residents of the Slums finally get a stable source of light," Tifa said with a warm smile, feeling relief growing inside.
"Where are you racing off to? The reactor still needs to be assembled, and you're already preaching about light for all the Slums. Let's first buy a board for the bar counter that Barret broke, and then everything else," Alex noted with a chuckle and playfully tugged Tifa's cheek.
"Oh, come on, leave me alone! Can't a girl dream a little about a bright future?" Tifa responded, exaggeratedly rolling her eyes, and slapped Alex on the hand.
"More precisely — an illuminated future! He-he-he!" Alex blurted out a stupid joke and himself laughed heartily at it.
Observing how Alex was sincerely laughing at his own stupid joke, Tifa merely smiled slightly and began pushing him in the back with her palm, reminding him that they still needed to buy a board for repairing the bar counter. Ceasing to laugh, Alex obediently began descending the steps, setting off in search of the merchant named Carl.
It was no trouble at all for Alex and Tifa to find Carl. At that very moment the shady dealer was furiously arguing with yet another visitor for whom he had shamelessly inflated the price. In the end the indignant market guest simply sent Carl on a long walking trip, threw the goods back onto the counter, and proudly walked away. Approaching closer and explaining exactly what they needed, Alex prepared to listen to the price tag. The merchant, looking them over, without a twinge of conscience announced the figure.
"Five thousand gil! And not a gil less!" Carl declared with an important air, lazily leaning on the wooden counter.
Hearing such a sum, Tifa immediately entered into an argument, proving that an ordinary wooden board could not cost that kind of money. However, instead of honest bargaining, Carl began inspiredly spinning an entire epic story about where exactly this wood had come from and through what incredible dangers it had had to be transported to end up on his display.
While Tifa continued to persistently bargain with the dishonest Carl, who loved to skin customers three times over, Alex began to quickly tire of this empty chatter. Without saying a word, Alex simply extended his hand and with a dull creak squeezed the thick iron handrail standing by the stall. The moment Alex unclenched his fingers and stepped back, the stunned Carl saw what the sturdy pipe had turned into under someone else's grip — the metal had been chewed like soft plasticine.
Meeting gazes with the pale shop owner, Alex merely nodded slightly toward Tifa, wordlessly making it clear: it was she who decided here how much this piece of wood would cost. All that remained for the mortally frightened Carl was to immediately agree to a reasonable price of three hundred gil and quietly pray that his own limbs would not repeat the fate of the iron handrail.
"Take it… Three hundred gil, and we're even!" Carl stammered, swallowing saliva at the sight of the crushed iron pipe.
Having paid, Alex tucked the wooden board under his arm and, taking several steps forward, slightly turned his head back, tossing Carl a final phrase.
"Remember us, Carl. Maybe in the future we'll drop by you one more time," Alex said with a smile, slightly waving goodbye.
At those words Carl's already pale face became absolutely white. Having moved a decent distance away, Tifa could no longer restrain herself and laughed heartily at how the arrogant speculator's face had contorted. Laughing together, Alex and Tifa unhurriedly headed back to Sector Seven. Laughing at the unfortunate Carl, Alex and Tifa very quickly returned to Sector Seven of the Slums, having completed everything for which they had gone to the Wall Market.
Returning to Seventh Heaven, Tifa firmly declared that she would make Barret personally repair the bar counter that he himself had broken. Alex had no objections on that score and merely shrugged understandingly. Reaching the bar, they entered and saw that only Dean was sitting in the establishment, and right in front of him on the table sat some strange thing.
The moment Tifa made out what was enthroned in front of Dean, a frightened squeal burst from her chest. She lightning-fast jumped onto Alex's back, frantically clinging to him and trying as hard as possible to protect herself from the creature that had been dragged into her bar. Hearing the female squeal, Dean lazily turned his head and stared at Tifa, completely not understanding the reasons for such panic.
Alex, for his part, examined with lively interest the green creature resembling a lizard with yellow eyes, clad in a dense robe. He immediately recognized this local "Pokémon" named Tonberry, which, despite its deceptively cute and innocent appearance, was one of the most dangerous creatures on all of Gaia.
Tifa, hanging on Alex's back, was trying with all her might to drag him back outside, just to get as far as possible from this walking threat. The Tonberry itself, which had been forcibly dragged into the bar, merely continued imperturbably chewing a piece of dried meat that Dean was generously feeding it.
"Dean, where the hell did you dig up this thing?" Alex asked in a calm tone, nodding his chin toward the Tonberry.
"You mean this green little guy? Yeah, I found him at the dump. And what's with your reaction anyway? It's just a Pokémon," Dean answered with a smile and patronizingly patted the Tonberry sitting on the table on the head.
"Dean, get away from the Tonberry immediately! This creature is deadly dangerous!" Tifa cried in a nervous tone, continuing to hide behind Alex's shoulder.
"So this little guy's name is Tonberry?.. Nah, bullshit, I'll call him Steve. You like that name, Steve?" Dean tossed out carelessly and held out another piece of jerked meat to the green creature, completely ignoring Tifa's panicked warnings.
"And how did you even cross paths with Steve?" Alex asked with a sigh, sincerely surprised at where Dean had even managed to find such a creature.
"Well, I went for a walk, see. I look — some idiots are duking it out at Queen's Blood… In short, I played with them and won dry. And that bastard didn't want to give me the card I'd honestly earned! So I chased after him to knock him on the head…" Dean began telling in a lazy tone, taking an impressive gulp of beer and continuing to stroke the Tonberry on the crown of its head.
"Get to the point, Dean," Alex interrupted him in a weary tone, waving his hand and wishing to skip the boring details of the chase.
"In short, I caught up with that idiot at the dump. And then this little guy Steve crawls out of the piles of trash. I'm like: 'Oh, cool, a local Pokémon!'. I thought some more: hey, Alex has a whole three of his own Pokémon, and am I any worse? So I grabbed this little one. So now this is my personal little guy Steve," the hunter summed up contentedly, lightly stroking the Tonberry on its scaly nose.
"Well, cool, yeah," Alex responded in a cheerful tone, tightly holding Tifa with one hand so that she wouldn't have a full-blown panic attack from what was happening.
"That's what I'm saying! This is little guy Steve!" Dean exclaimed with a satisfied smirk and with a light click tapped the beer bottle against the Tonberry's oil lamp, as if proposing a toast.
To be continued...
(So, Dean got his first Pokémon. I was initially wondering what kind of pet Dean should get, and I came to the conclusion that Tonbury was the perfect pet. Where else can you find a simultaneously cute and dangerous little guy with whom Dean can drink beer and grab snacks? And so enters Steve, the most dangerous Pokémon in all of Gaia. Now it's time to eat. Peace, love, and glory to Steve.)
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