Night 59: Main Hallway 2-East

[36_24_35]

[From here]Once they hit the dead end of this hallway, Tifa directed them to the left. A pitch black corridor greeted them like the entrance into a giant monster's belly. There was the usual apprehension, but it was an unnecessary feeling tonight. They both may have been injured, but it hardly made them infirm. If there was ever a night to brave

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[zack_fair]

They had been about to reach the end of the hall and Zack had been preparing to turn left as per Tifa's directions, but it soon become clear that it wasn't going to be that easy. The growling sound was something that was far too familiar for comfort. Zack hoped that he was wrong at first, but when he watched one of the rotting dogs step forward, he realized that he had been naive to even assume that.

It just figured that dogs would attack them. Zack knew that Tifa was only vaguely aware of what had happened to him a few nights back, but he had turned into one of these things. It made it hard to even look at them, though Zack was aware that the monsters would have no hesitation in ripping him apart.

When he had been one of these things for most of a night, it became more difficult to just focus on killing them. He realized that they didn't have any human consciousness inside, but --

The first one came right for him, almost like it knew, and Zack darted to the side, taking a swipe at it with his sword as it raced past. His blade

[36_24_35]

"Sounds good--" Tifa's words were clipped short by a quick footed hound that was hell-bent on taking her down with a running start. Her hands clenched in anticipation, which of course didn't end well. The manageable pain of her fist now sent a terrible sensation through every nerve in her body.

Black began to eat away at the borders of her vision as she wavered in stance. She thought she may have cried out, but it was hard to tell past tunnel vision and remembering to breathe properly. Thankfully, materia didn't require physical exertion. A spell of Ice coated the oncoming dog and froze him in place and then a decisive heel to the head shattered the thing into dozens of pieces.

Well, she was down a hand, but there were still two good legs and a left jab. It could certainly be worse. She could be just a fighting torso with hundreds of hounds surrounding her. A dozen or so was nothing to bemoan.

"New rule--" she began before jumping forward to catch the next frothing beast. "Bonus point for getting blood all the way on the...

[zack_fair]

Zack heard Tifa cry out, but in the end he had to assume that it was either due to shock or something that wasn't immediately obvious. Not that he could see much of her when the hallway was completely dark and they were surrounded by a pack of hounds, but she was still standing. That seemed like the most important point

[36_24_35]

"Ah, you cheat!" Her words held no heat as she watched the spray from his sword fly up. Even with the glow surrounding the institute, it was hard to see just how far up it went, but it was Zack. Tifa couldn't imagine the man half-assing anything.

Well, her fists certainly couldn't throw anything that high. She would need a bit of help. The hound she had dented in was punted into the air once, twice, before she sprinted for the nearest wall. She used her momentum to hit the force field with her feet and ricochet off into the air above. One kick was all the carcasses needed to sail higher, but it came just shy of hitting the ceiling.

All she could do was groan and let gravity bring her back down to the floor with a loud smack of her heels. The dog followed behind her with a wet thud right on top of its snarling brethren.

"That counts as mine, right?" she asked, making her way back to the center of the hallway by Zack. Technically, Tifa had used the dog as a tool, so she would still get the point! Maybe?