"The Final Problem" was and is my favorite Sherlock Holmes story out of the entire series (I'm more of an Agatha Christie fan, but I liked that story by Doyle). It wasn't the struggle at the end that caught me, but the way that Holmes and Moriarty both tried to stay three steps ahead of each other. Reference to the scenes Shinichi talks about in this chapter are from that story.

Japanese:

"Bocchama" – Short for "obocchama"; means "young master". It's often a title used by servants to rich or high-status people, but it's also what Jii calls Kaitou

Chapter 7

There was still a small motorboat left at the lake that Shinichi nabbed. Either the organization was paranoid, or had been expecting something, because there were a couple others prepared, and all had the keys on them for a fast get-away.

Shinichi revved up the motor and pulled out of the dock. He could still see the boat that the Boss was in, though he could only see a silhouette of the Boss on it. It was a solidly built man that was, not surprisingly, dressed in all black.

Shinichi tore off after him. I won't let you get away!

The Boss obviously hadn't been going at full speed, since Shinichi was able to catch up. Then again, Shinichi used some twists and turns to get his boat closer to the one the boss was on.

The guy had slicked back black hair, and beady eyes that glanced behind him to see who was following him. When he realized that it wasn't one of his operatives, he pulled out a pistol and took a couple potshots at Shinichi.

They missed, but came very close to doing damage. One hit the steering wheel, another hit the glass visor of the boat, and a third managed to connect with the bulletproof vest Shinichi wore.

Shinichi ducked the next volley, since the man had scarily accurate aim despite driving a boat.

The bank on either side of the lake was becoming more and more visible as the lake seemed to taper off slightly towards the opposite end, with rocky walls from the mountains that surrounded that area.

After ducking another two bullets when he saw the gun pointed back at him, Shinichi pulled out his own pistol and fired at the motor of the boat in front of him.

It missed, and hit the spot next to the motor.

Shinichi cursed as a bullet grazed his left ear. It didn't cut him, but there might be a small burn from the heat and speed of it passing so close to his head. While he seemed to have problems aiming while traveling via boat, the Boss apparently had no problems with it.

Just as he was wondering how many guns and-or bullets the Boss had on him, the fire stopped.

Shinichi peered back out, and saw that they were getting even closer to the opposite shore…enough that they would have to start to slow down or they'd crash right through the dock on the other side.

The Boss, however, did something different. He reached back and over the side of the boat…then opened the gas tank on the side.

Shinichi blinked as oil poured out behind the boat, and soon, his own boat was treading more oil than water. Shooting the oil might send it aflame, but it's a chance…what's he trying to…?

It was the glint of the lighter that gave it away.

Shinichi cursed and leapt into the water seconds before the lighter set the oil aflame, which trailed to the boat Shinichi had been using.

Since it had been kicking up oil as it ran, it didn't take much for some errant flames to catch the motor.

The resulting explosion caused the lake to act like it had a tide, and sent Shinichi further under the water where he slammed up against some rocks after being tossed around by the current.

Bubbles escaped his mouth as he silently coughed from the impact, and despite his best attempts, he blacked out. Thus, he didn't feel the pair of hands that grabbed him and started to pull him to the surface.

When Shinichi woke up with a cough, he was surprised to see the sky above him, and felt some grass of the other bank below him. He ached in various spots, and his upper back throbbed from the impact on the rocks…but he was definitely still alive.

Shinichi sat up with a start. How long had he been unconscious? Where was he? Where did the boss go…?

Who saved him?

His last question was answered when an elderly voice asked him, "Are you alright?"

Shinichi glanced to the side and saw an old man in a suit with a worried expression on his face.

"My name is Jii, before you ask…I'm an old friend of Kuroba Toichi."

Shinichi might be a bit waterlogged, but his brain still functioned just fine. "Kuroba? Then, you know Kuroba Kaitou?"

Jii nodded. "I helped him bring over the Taskforce like planned…he disguised himself as an Interpol officer and met up with your father. After a couple agents ran out of the building and were caught…"

Shinichi blinked. There must have been some on the second floor, after all…

"…Kaitou-bocchama said he heard a motor boat, and feared that one of them was escaping through the lake. He changed back and took to the sky to follow, so I followed in my car along the side. We saw you jump into the water, then the explosion…"

"You saved me? Or Kuroba did?" Shinichi looked around with a couple coughs.

"I did…Kaitou-bocchama followed the man that had been escaping. He ordered me to retrieve you while he stopped the operative on the run…"

Shinichi's eyes widened, and he shot to his feet. He stumbled a moment from dizziness, then shook it off. "That wasn't just an operative! That was the Boss! Where did they go!?" Dammit…Kuroba hasn't fully recovered from his previous injuries! He's going to get himself killed!

Jii, with wide eyes, pointed towards the mountainside just past the forest.

"That far?" Shinichi groaned in frustration. He saw that Jii had parked his car, but even a car could only go another hundred feet before the open areas of grass disappeared into trees of the forest.

Jii nodded.

"Alright…I'm going to go after him. Call my father…do you need his number?"

"No…bocchama gave me the important phone numbers before the mission…"

"Good. Call him and tell him of the area, and that the Boss is somewhere here. We should have the Boss down by the time they get here, but just in case…"

Jii nodded. "I understand."

Shinichi smiled. "Sorry to order you around like this…"

"No, no…it's quite alright. Just…hurry…"

"I know. I won't let Kuroba die."

Jii nodded.

Shinichi took off running as fast as he could, and soon vanished from sight.

Jii blinked. That boy can sure run fast…he pushed that thought aside and ran back to the car to make the phone calls.

Kaitou had two current thoughts at the moment, besides 'oh, shit'. The first was that this operative was more monstrous than even Gin, whom Shinichi had described to them, or this was quite possibly the boss of the organization.

Either way, he almost cursed himself for going after the guy.

They were playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek in the forests near the top of the mountain. How they had gotten that high, Kaitou honestly didn't remember. He had flown after the guy on his glider, then landed when a bullet hit his cape. He learned from his mistakes…he made the cape out of a more durable material so that it wouldn't tear or break. Still, he didn't fancy being shot at, and decided to land.

It was difficult to follow the man on foot since his right knee sent up shocks of pain whenever he stepped down on that leg, but adrenaline had the pain diminished shortly afterwards.

After landing, he had nearly been hit three times by the Boss's shooting skills. His hat suffered a bullet through it, and another bullet had grazed his right arm just above the elbow. The third had hit a tree where he had been a second before he moved.

Sure, he was armed with his card gun and wore a bulletproof vest, but he'd rather not have to use said items. As it was, the vest had taken a hit when the Boss had shot at him from the air. The first bullet hadn't been to his glider, but to his chest.

He had fired a couple of times as they ran through the forests. Trees became cover and camouflage for both of them, and rocks and roots on the ground tried to tangle them up.

Kaitou hadn't managed to hit the man with his card gun. The closest he got was a small tear in the arm of the man's suit…for which, he was repaid by a succession of four bullets that he narrowly avoided.

Now, the trees were thinning out…they were close to an overhang of the cliff.

Between firing and dodging, they had woven their way up one of the mountains.

Kaitou peered around a tree, then flinched and pulled back as a bullet hit the tree. He quickly ran to the next tree, then panted as he glanced back. This is really bad. There's less and less cover, now…

Another bullet narrowly missed his foot, which forced him to rush forward again to find another tree for cover. When he did, he quickly ducked behind it before a cold realization hit him.

Kaitou shivered and gritted his teeth. The edge of the cliff…I can see it, now. That guy…don't tell me he's been forcing me to run to the cliff edge to corner me!?

The worst thing was, there was nothing he could do. If he took flight, he would just be shot down. He lost track of how many bullets the other had fired, but the man either had a lot of guns on him, or was practically a walking magazine clip.

Kaitou, himself, was running out of sharpened and edged cards for his gun. Most were stuck in trees leading to the location they were at from his missed shots…others had bounced off of rocks and lay innocently on the ground farther down the mountain.

It wasn't like he could go back and get them.

When he peered out again, he caught a glimpse of black that moved to a tree closer to his location, and fired at it.

The card missed, and hit a tree somewhere behind it.

Of course, now Kaitou had to find a new hiding place since the fire had given his location away.

Two bullets rammed into the tree where he had fled from just a second after he moved.

He was running out of hiding places. Kaitou already lost track of the amount of time their game of tag had lasted. Sometimes, he had hidden behind a tree for what felt like eternity before he heard a rustle or was forced to move from gunfire.

Other times, he had to quickly zigzag through the forest to avoid being killed.

Sweat ran down his face as he skidded to a halt behind another tree. His breathing came out in pants, and he was sure that the man would be able to find him if the guy just listened for the sound of his heart beating with how it pounded in his chest.

This wasn't like facing down Snake.

This wasn't like going up against Jackal.

It wasn't even like being surrounded by men from Snake's organization.

The guy he was up against this time was those men put together and then some. Despite the guy's size, Kaitou had trouble sighting him. Despite the mass a man that build would have, he often didn't even hear the guy half the time when the Boss changed his position.

Kaitou looked out and scanned the forest.

And, the guy would either fire a single shot, or a bunch of shots. Either to hit him or make him move his position.

Cold sweat ran down Kaitou's neck. This guy isn't like Snake. He isn't like the others of the Organization that chased after me almost a week ago. This guy is a professional killer. An assassin. And he's possibly just playing with me while he's hunting.

It wasn't a pleasant realization, but it seemed to ring true. The man had been luring him to the top of the cliff to get him to go to the area that didn't have any cover. Though, the Boss had made attempts to hit him before, as well.

Kaitou yelped, then moved as a bullet tore his pant leg. It missed the skin, but it still got him to leave the shelter of his latest hideout. I do have a chance, though…I still have a couple cards left in the gun. With my back to the cliff, he'll know that I'll be cornered. Do I take the chance, though? Will he reveal himself before he kills me, or will he shoot me from the trees?

Either way, it looked bad.

The decision was made for him when the next bullet grazed his left shin, which tripped him up. He tumbled for a bit, and when he looked up, he realized that he had been driven past the safety of the trees, out into the open.

Kaitou sighed, then stood up. "Alright…I guess the hunt ends here, doesn't it?"

There was barely even the sound of footsteps before the beady eyed Boss emerged from the trees, gun pointed at Kaitou.

Kaitou moved back a bit at the man's approach, circling a bit to try and keep himself from having his back to the cliff edge.

The man moved with him, then stopped when they were across from each other, both with one side facing the cliff drop-off.

"I'll admit…I didn't expect Kaitou Kid to be working with Akai and those agents that have surrounded the warehouse. I also didn't expect Kudou to still be alive…nor did I expect teenagers to trap us."

Kaitou remained silent as the Boss spoke.

The man had an eerily cool voice that was about as warm as ice in the arctic. Though he wasn't very loud in tone, there was a hidden power that carried in his voice.

"Letting you see me was only a 'thank you' for this interesting chase. It's been a while since my prey has lasted this long."

Kaitou grinned, though he was out of tricks and he knew it. If this guy was like the other monsters, sleeping gas wouldn't work on him, and the range of his sleeping gasses would be dispersed quickly since they were outside, anyway. There was only once chance he had…

Still, he kept his poker face. "I'm honored to have given you such a satisfaction. The big Boss of a dangerous organization wasted his time to play with a thief like me…"

"Flattered, are you?"

"Very, actually!" Kaitou bowed in an exaggerated manner. "I've survived for so long against someone that is obviously an assassin."

There…the Boss seemed to relax for a split second.

Kaitou pulled his card gun from where he had stashed it in his suit, and started to pull back the trigger as he whipped it out at the Boss…

But apparently, the Boss had seen through it, and sent a bullet into the gun, which was blown apart.

Kaitou winced as some pieces cut into his right hand and others fell uselessly to the ground along with the remains of the gun.

"Nice try, Kaitou Kid. I know how magicians operate. Trying to distract me…"

"You lowered your guard on purpose to draw me in…" Kaitou smirked humorlessly as he held his right wrist in his left against the stinging of his right hand.

"Bingo. Now…I believe this chase has gone on long enough. It's time for you to die. So long, Kaitou Kid." The Boss's finger moved on the trigger.

Kaitou prepared himself to dodge, then realized that he wouldn't be able to move in time. There was a rock to his left, and the cliff was to his right. Even if he ducked, and even if he managed to clear the rock, the second bullet would hit him. He wore a bulletproof vest, but that wouldn't protect him against a headshot.

Just as he was about to curse his luck, and just as the finger over the trigger pulled it back, there was a rally shout, and another body collided with the Boss.

It took Kaitou a moment to realize what happened as the bullet went astray and missed by a wide margin.

It was Shinichi.

Shinichi didn't have any weapons on him when he had made it to the top of the cliff. He had lost the gun in the explosion on the lake, and his belt was mutilated beyond usage. There was nothing that he could kick with his normal shoes…and there hadn't even been a suitable rock if he had a pair of the power shoes.

When he got to the top and saw the gun pointed at Kaitou…all thought on how exactly he would capture the Boss had flown out the window. The only thought that ran through his head was to save the boy before he was hit.

The Boss was standing at the edge of the cliff.

There would be no turning back.

Shinichi was prepared as he shouted and threw himself at the Boss.

The gun went off, but hit nothing as the two flew over the edge.

The Boss looked shocked, then snarled and attempted to throw the boy off. They had gone over, but the cliff sloped, and if one of them got their hands free, they could grab on.

Shinichi knew that if he let go of the Boss, the man would escape. Or, climb back up and kill Kaitou. The gun had been dropped, but he didn't put it past the man to have at least a knife on him.

So, he held onto the Boss's lapels.

Even when the Boss swung at him and drove a fist into Shinichi's face, the teen held on.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Shinichi said over the howl of wind as they fell. "That when Holmes and Moriarty clashed for the final time, it was on a cliff by a waterfall. There's no waterfall here, but the situation is similar."

"Get off, you damn brat!" the Boss swung his fists out again.

But again, Shinichi held tight as they started to drift towards the cliff wall.

"After a struggle, both Holmes and Moriarty fell off the cliff. Both were declared dead. Fact of the matter is, Doyle had originally planned on both dying. But, he revived Holmes and wrote that the man was hiding away for three years before he returned to Watson."

"I don't care about Holmes, you…"

"This is similar. Except in this case…it's not a story. Doyle isn't here to revive anyone or change his mind about a character death. Falling from that height, even slowed when we bang up against the wall, will kill us. I'm not letting you go."

"You'll die…!"

"Yea. I will. I'm prepared for that."

The two hit the rock wall, and tumbled, limbs akimbo, before they once again hit a ledge and went over.

This time, the drop was steep below the ledge, and they wouldn't hit the rock wall again. That, and they were still a good seventy feet, at least, up in the air.

The Boss would have screamed if he hadn't hit his head against one of the rocks and been knocked out.

Shinichi's entire body hurt, though he couldn't tell exactly where, nor could he tell if anything was broken.

The teen smiled sadly. Then again…it doesn't matter, does it?

He was scared, at first. He knew this was the end. Even if the Boss hit first, he would still impact onto the rocky forest below…there were no trees below them to catch them.

Like the Boss had said, he would die.

After the fear came sorrow and regret.

Regret that he wouldn't be able to go back to Ran.

Despite everything that had happened, he wouldn't be able to tell her anything. He wouldn't be able to even tell her of his feelings.

And after the sorrow passed…he was flooded with the overwhelming calm that he first had when he so nonchalantly told the Boss that he knew that he would die. He was going to fall to his death, and he couldn't stop it. It was the end…

Thus, he was shocked when he felt something else a moment later that came in the form of a hand that gripped the back of his shirt.

Surprise…because they weren't falling as quickly, and had somehow glided over the rocky area below to the trees.

Shinichi blinked and looked over his shoulder in surprise. "Kuroba…?"

"You damn idiot!" Kaitou swore at the teen. "Give me a fucking heart attack, why don't you!? Are you trying to kill yourself!?"

It was, indeed, Kaitou Kuroba that had caught him. With the extra weight, and the speed at which the Boss and Shinichi had already been falling, there was no doubt that their landing wouldn't be a pleasant one…that, and since Kaitou only had one hand to steer since he clutched Shinichi's jacket hard enough to turn knuckles white.

They hit the trees, first…Kaitou flinched, but didn't actually let go of his cargo until a tree branch managed to catch him across the face while others tore at his glider. He cried out in pain as he crashed into the trees, then tumbled to the ground after he released the glider lest he be stuck in the branches with it.

Shinichi felt the breath leave him as he hit the ground and skidded. It hurt, and he heard more than felt his left arm breaking, but besides being dazed, he was still alive.

After a moment, Shinichi coughed and sputtered as he drew in gasping breaths. There were dark spots in his vision, but he had to make sure the Boss wouldn't get away. Weakly, he let go of the lapels that he hadn't released until then, and reached into his pocket with his right hand, then pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Shakily, he rolled onto his side despite the pain, and managed to get the first one around the Boss's wrist, then pulled until he clasped the other one to the Boss's other wrist. Luck be to him, after the tumble, the Boss had landed on his front, so he was cuffed behind his back.

Then, Shinichi groaned and turned onto his back again and closed his eyes in pain.

He would have passed out if he didn't hear a rustle nearby that put his senses on alert. Though, he doubted he could have even moved to sit up if he wanted to at that point.

Shinichi relaxed when Kaitou stumbled through the underbrush.

The teen was minus the hat and monocle, as well as the white jacket he usually wore, and looked decidingly worse for the wear but still alive. The right side of his face was covered in blood from when he had been hit by the branch and the monocle shattered and cut into him above his eye (not in the eye, itself, Shinichi hoped). He also couldn't seem to stand on his right leg anymore as he all but collapsed on the ground.

After a moment of harsh breathing from the two teens, Kaitou spoke first.

"You still alive, Kudou?"

"Somehow…you?"

"Somehow……you pull a stunt like that, and I'll drag you back from the grave just to kill you for doing it."

Shinichi chuckled, then grimaced. "I wasn't thinking."

"Obviously."

Silence.

Then…

"Thanks, Kudou."

"For what? Friends help each other. You saved me in return."

"And, like I said…if you ever do something like that again…"

"My ears are ringing, but I heard you the first time."

"Good. Just so we have that established."

The two fell silent as Kaitou leaned against a tree that they had fallen next to.

Then, Kaitou reached out with his left hand, despite the fact that it shook a bit, in a fist.

Shinichi stared at him for a moment before he grinned and moved his right arm up so that he tapped fists with the other, even though just that amount of movement took a great deal of effort from him.

The silent words of "we won" hovered in the air as the sound of a helicopter came to their ears.

A moment later, Kaitou was calling back up to the staff of the rescue copter.

And, soon afterwards, the two teens were safely on their way to the hospital via helicopter, while the Boss was taken in another copter.

TO BE CONTINUED…