Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 2: Aftermath

FORTY-FIVE

Like Corneo had said, Abzeth was a lot bigger than her mate. And twice as ugly. She looked more or less like Abzu, but her hide had more of a reddish tint than the blue on his, and her horns were longer, much more curved, and glowed with a pale red aura. She had the same thick, spiked tail and cloven feet as Abzu, though, and looked to be every bit as strong, maybe more. She roared, her beady yellow eyes finding us as her long tongue hung from her mouth.

But Firebrand was right there in her path, out front with Kunsel as Abzeth charged, and easily got the monster's attention. Jessie moved so fast I could barely even see her. She was just a dark blur as she raced in to meet Abzeth and started slicing away with those incredible weapons of hers. My left arm and shoulder still ached from where I'd been shot, but not as much as before thanks to the healing spell Jessie had cast on me. So I was able to ignore the pain and focus on watching the battle as I sat just inside the tunnel with my mom.

Gotta admit, it's really exciting to be able to be a part of all this, but I never thought when Jessie invited me out to Cosmo Canyon with the others that I'd actually get to tell part of the story myself. My role in the whole thing was pretty small, honestly, and I'd have been happy just to sit and listen to everyone else as they laid it all down. But Jessie handed things off to me with a little smirk, so here I am.

Anyway, Kotch had gently set me down on the floor next to Mom, who was busy bandaging my arm as best she could with a strip of torn cloth she'd ripped off her dress. Even down here, Corneo had probably wanted his girls to look all fancy like the ones up top. She looked thin, and I realized then that she and the rest of the women probably hadn't been brought any food or tended to at all in the two weeks since Shinra had stormed the mansion after the plate collapse.

Kotch stood nearby, his eyes on the fight. He looked ready to move in an instant, bracing himself to protect us if it came to that. Maybe he did regret what he'd done under Corneo to me, my mom, and so many others over the years. It looked like he'd finally found his courage. He'd stood up to his old boss, him and Scotch both, and saved me. As much as I'd thought I'd hated them, I wasn't so sure anymore. They were both still here, even though they could've run away and left us behind while the others were fighting Abzeth. But they didn't.

Leslie was watching the battle as well, his gun in hand and ready in case anything came at us. But so far, Jessie and the others were keeping Abzeth pretty well contained. Although the monster was swinging one huge fist after another and spinning around with her spiked tail, Jessie kept well ahead of it even after her speed boost wore off, cutting at her over and over again with those cool blaze talons while Kunsel kept the pressure on with his sword and magic. Biggs, Wedge, and Lena backed them up from farther away with bursts of gunfire.

Then Abzeth jumped onto one of the walls, clinging to it like some kinda giant bug, and at least eight or nine little Abzus suddenly rushed outta the tunnel. Looked like mommy had called out the whole pack to help. At least it gave Firebrand and the others a chance to rid the town of these things for good. They were ugly little brutes, maybe five or six feet tall but hunched over. While Abzeth hurled sewer water across the room from the drains in huge, thick streams, her kids all scattered and charged after the others in a mad rush.

Jessie cut one down with a flurry of blazing slashes and a few sharp kicks, then made another one squeal with a burst of fire from the green magic materia on one of her blades. Kunsel took down another, slicing into it with his sword, but that still left over half a dozen. Biggs, Wedge, and Lena shifted their aim away from Abzeth to the shoats, but though they took out two more with Biggs and Lena's bullets and the fire from Wedge's flamethrower, three others got through, closing the gap before my friends could get outta the way.

I winced as one of the shoats charged right at Lena and tackled her while another headbutted Wedge. Biggs slipped as the sewer water that Abzeth had thrown splashed into him, and another of the shoats spat a stream of the stuff at him, too. But then, just when it was really looking bad for my friends, Firebrand was there, dashing like the wind again as she cut and sliced one shoat after another, a black and orange blur that fought like hell and was incredible to watch.