After picking our way through piles and piles of refuse we come to the place where Aeris lives: the Sector Five Slums!
So beautiful. This place is alright, but doesnt have the same positive community vibe that Sector Seven did. There's stores that sell items and materia and anything you could want, but there's no central place to meet like Tifa's bar. Oh well. There is also someone important who lives here besides Aeris:
Yes, the guy are pretty sick:
Look at that guy. He's majorly messed up. He was discovered somewhere around the slums and all he could say was "uuuugggg" and "aaauuugg" but the good people of Sector Five got him off the streets and gave him a home inside this tube. All that we really know about him is that he has a tattoo of the number two on him, and that some people call him "The General." Won't you help him? Well..youre no doctor.
I've always wondered who's trophies those were too.
Well, lets get on over to Aeris' house and drop her off.
Whoa, are we still in the slums? Nice house, Aeris. Look it's got a waterfall, plants that are actually growing from the ground. And the house itself looks like it's made from for real building materials, not scrap metal and feces. Maybe we can get a nice home cooked meal or a nap in a real bed inside.
Just as nice on the inside as it is on the outside. That's Aeris' mom, Elmyra. Looks like she's a bit of a worry wart. Lighten up already, mom. Aeris is 22, she can take care of herself; she has a big ol' metal rod she can beat bad guys around with. Elmyra is a nice person, though, and invites us to stay the night for our troubles. Aeris says that tomorrow she's going to show us the way back to Sector Seven to pay us back for our bodyguard work. Elmyra gets all worried again, but concedes, saying that once Aeris decides to do something, she'll do it anyway. After the conversation Aeris goes up to make the beds, but before we can follow her, Elmyra stops us to make a request:
She is SOOO worried. She's mostly wary about Cloud having formerly been in SOLDIER, and I guess it's understandable why she wouldn't trust people involved with Shinra.
I guess this the last we'll be seeing of Aeris. She's a nice girl, but we dont want her to get hurt either. Well, le'ts rest up and prepare for the journey to Sector Seven.
Snore snore. As Cloud sleeps he has a dream of his mom.
We can see where he gets his hair from. During the dream she tells him that she'd like for him to have a girlfriend to help him out in the big city of Midgar. Cloud is reluctant to talk about relationship issues, as a lot of people are with their moms. Understandable. After the dream Cloud wakes up and quietly creeps out of Aeris' house to avoid disturbing her and let her know he's leaving.
I know you're scared, and rightly so, because the road to Sector Seven is pretty dangerous. I dont want to have to go alone either, but it's the position we're in and we just gotta make the best of it so lets set and and be brave and WWHHHAAAA??!
How'd she get there? Looks like Aeris is coming along with us no matter what anybody says. Cloud says he doesnt approve but I think he's a little relieved she's going with us.
Here it is: the terrible, twisted, nightmarish labyrinth that is the road to Sector Seven.
I swear you could catch tetanus by just looking at this place. Look at all that debris! So much. And along with all that sharp and rusty garbage are houses that decide to kill you. They are pretty terrible and weird:
I don't know why there are houses attacking. We just gotta go with the flow. After you beat up on them enough they get really mad and dead things pop out of them:
Ahhh! Scary! I don't like this guys, lets get the hell out of this place and back to safety. But wait! Just now we're able to use Aeris' limit break for the first time:
Unlike other characters, her limits generally have to deal with healing and curing and stuff like that. This limit is called "Healing Wind," and it fixes up the wounds Aeris and Cloud. Thanks Aeris!
Pretty soon we escape the scary, garbage part of the road, and make it to a playground in the middle of Sectors Six and Seven. Just a little farther to go, but why not take a break here for a bit?
What in the world is that thing theyre sitting on? Cloud and Aeris chat for a while, and Aeris reveals that she had a former boyfriend who was also in SOLDIER like Cloud. They were even the same rank, First Class. Aeris asks Cloud about this Tifa lady he's going to see, and if she's his girlfriend, which he denys. Hmmm, little romance in the air?
Their flirting is cut short by a big bird pulling a carriage.
Hey! Thats a chocobo! It seems to be coming from the direction of Sector Seven and heading to Sector Six (which is better known as Wall Market). Hmm. Wait, who's that on the end of the carriage?
TIFA?! That is so totally Tifa. Where is she going? Why is she in that dress? So many questions. Looks like we're gonna have to postpone our return to Sector Seven to get some answers. Follow that chocobo!
Well lucky you, we're visiting two slums in one post! This is the big city of the slums, Wall Market:
Now THIS is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. It's pretty popular place, and you can buy pretty much anything you could think of in this town. Tifa is here somewhere, but she's gonna be pretty hard to find in all the hustle and bustle. Lets take a quick look around and get our bearings.
This is the Honey Bee Inn. It's an amazing place. It's also a bordello Hey look, it's Johnny again! Anyway, looks like Tifa isnt anywhere around here but we did get a tip from that nice man in the suit that she might be at the Don's place. Lets go look for that then.
This is a big wall with some graffiti on it. I always thought it was supposed to say AVALANCHE but who knows..anyway the Don isn't around here so lets go somewhere else.
Even more shops! This place is BIG. No time to visit any of them now. I'm betting that big fancy building up at the top is the Don's place. It looks like a place a Don would live.
We go inside, and sure enough it IS the Don's place. And we find out that Tifa is inside there! But being a Don he has a bouncer thats not going to let us through. The reason why is this Don is a sexual animal and doesnt want to see anybody except for pretty girls. Aeris could go in, but alone things could get pretty..uh...rapey for her. Cloud has got to find a way through and is thinking hard how to solve this dilemma when Aeris has a brainstorm:
...
Well it IS the only way, Cloud. What follows is strangest adventure in any videogame before or after, and one of my favorite parts of Final Fantasy VII. Tune in next time for one big ol' gender bending fun time.
