Still working my way through Rebirth Chapter 7, but a lot has happened (and also this Johnny sidequest will never end)!
The banter going up Mt. Corel has been great. One of my favorite exchanges in the entire game so far was Red XIII telling Aerith she'd become one with the mountain, and her thanking the mountain for taking her in. Then Cloud goes, "What the heck are you doing, Red?" And he replies, "It happens to first time climbers all the time. Don't worry. If she faints, I'll carry her." So good.
The Turks show up just to drop off some black robes and troll us with a big machine fight. It turns out afterwards that Barret, Tifa, and Yuffie were like 50 feet away the whole time. You guys didn't see or hear anything? Could've used your help! But after the boss fight, we get our second Zack scene, this time with Elmyra coming to move Aerith (who isn't dead but comatose) to her house. Zack brings Cloud (also still comatose) along. Before and after this scene, we see Aerith staring off into the distance, so was she "watching" this unfold somehow? She seems to know about stuff like that somehow, so I'm curious to see how it goes.
We also get a board meeting with Rufus and the directors talking about Magnus Materia (which I assume is the same as the Huge Materia from the original game). It turns out that the materia comes from Weapons (or it might be the other way around because they said the Weapons were born from the materia. Maybe it's a little of both), and they're already active, as opposed to becoming active only after Sephiroth summoned Meteor in the original. Hojo is obsessed with getting his hands on one, and Scarlet has apparently been trying to produce their own version of Magnus Materia.
Reeve asks Rufus about the Neo Midgar Plan and how the previous President said dropping the plate would be in service of that plan, and so he questions how he knows the Promised Land actually exists. Rufus seems to be taking a different approach in this game, where he doesn't seem particularly interested in Neo Midgar, the Promised Land, or any of it. He seems focused on Wutai more than anything else, but I wonder what his actual goals are. Rufus also asks the mic drop question of, "Why didn't any of you try to stop this insane plan to drop the plate?" Nobody has an answer, and Rufus just walks out, with Dark Nation at his side as always.
Back in the present, we make it to the ruined Corel Reactor, and whaddya know? We find the aforementioned Weapon swimming around in the mako that's spilled out of the reactor, and there's the Magnus Materia, too! Yuffie is drooling at the prospect of getting that materia. She also explains what's going on with Wutai. I guess her old man is out, and now Lodbrok and the other Ex-SOLDIERs from Ever Crisis are in charge of an interim government. I imagine we won't actually see any of this stuff until the third game, so it's just exposition for now.
We reach the point where the bridge is raised, and the black robes decide they'd rather swim for it than wait for us to find a way to lower it. Cloud has one of his weird spells, and he almost falls into the water with them. Barret demands he stay behind and recuperate for the time being, so now Yuffie is in charge of getting the bridge lowered. I'm not a big Yuffie fan, but it's kinda nice to see her get integrated into the story now that she's not an optional character anymore.