Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 3: Pursuit

FORTY-NINE

Reno and Rude were waiting for us halfway up the mountain. The narrow trail wound snakelike around the five huge statues that loomed above us, with sheer cliffs on one side and a nearly thousand foot drop on the other. The gloom and wind weren't helping any, and it was hard to see now that the sun had gone down. I had drawn and lit one of my blaze talons to use the blade's glow as a guide, and Cid had taken out a small flashlight from his blue leather jacket and had strapped it snugly onto the wrist of his right glove as he held his spear.

"There you are," Reno said. "You all took your time."

Cid frowned. "Ain't very easy gettin' way the hell up here, smartass. Climbin' up hundreds of feet takes a little while."

Reno shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we'd better split up. It'll take less time to run Corneo to ground that way. Do whatever you feel like, but don't endanger Elena. Rude and I'll keep an eye out for Yuffie, too. We won't let anything happen to her... today."

"Fine," Cloud agreed. "But we'll be watching you."

Reno snickered as he rested his shock stick on his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. Just try to keep up, Mr. First Class. Corneo ain't gonna be waitin' around for us. He'll slip away first chance he gets."

I narrowed my eyes. "The hell he will. Let's move."

We all hurried up the path, and when it split, the Turks went right while we went left. There were turns and dead ends, some of which led right out onto the arms of the statues themselves, and even a few caves. Our search took us further up the mountain, and as we climbed, Rude met us near one of the caves and shook his head to let us know Corneo wasn't inside. So we went on, following the path around as it twisted up and up until it led right onto the outstretched arm of the middle statue where it curved gracefully around in front of its face.

The path ended at the statue's hand. Its palm was broad, about fifty feet across, and hung suspended over a very long drop. Its thick fingers were stretched out directly ahead of us with its thumb to our right, and at end of the middle finger stood Corneo, a flashlight in one hand and some kind of control pad in the other, He scanned the sky intently as if he were looking for something. The four ninjas who had carried Yuffie and Elena away were with him, and they rushed at us, weapons drawn. But between the five of us, they didn't last long.

The ninjas were good, but not good enough. While Tifa countered their attacks with a flurry of rapid punches, kicks, and throws and Cid thrust and stabbed with his spear, Cloud and I spun and slashed as our blades cut through the black-clad forms of our enemies. We kept away from the edge of the hand as we fought, mindful of where we were, and Vincent covered us with his gun. I fired a few shots myself, and we did the best we could to avoid hitting the statues. The air was full of energy blasts, gunfire, the clang of steel on steel, and more.

When the ninjas were down, I glared darkly at Corneo and fell into a ready stance with my blaze talons in hand and lit. "That the best you can do? You knew this was coming, Corneo! Did you seriously think I wouldn't track your sorry ass down sooner or later?"

"Firebrand!" he gulped, his eyes wide. "Inconceivable!"

"That's right," I continued as I advanced slowly on him. "We've got some unfinished business between us, you and I. After all you've done, well... does the expression 'skinned alive' ring a bell?"

Corneo stumbled back a step. "Now, now, no need to be hasty! You might regret it, you know. Take a look around first. My girls would say hi, but I'm afraid they're all tied up at the moment."

"Let me go!" a familiar voice yelled.

Tifa gasped. "Yuffie!"

"This is intolerable!" another voice added.