Chapter 13:
Mario and his party sat in silence as Dribble and Spitz piloted the Dribble Taxi towards Gaia's Northern Continent. As they crossed the ocean, Mario looked out the window and saw the ocean below. He looked into the ocean and a part of him wondered if the Lifestream would affect the sea life and potentially turn it against either them or the people of this world. Another concern, though, was that they could potentially get the attention of the locals and the last thing Mario wanted was to have to explain how and why he had come to this world. While a part of him would have relished any potential further help in dealing with Sephiroth and any monsters that he may have either recruited to his cause, or were already infected with Jenova cells and were under his thrall, he wanted to limit his exposure to the people of this world and keep them as safe from the former SOLDIER as possible. And if all went well, he could find Sephiroth and beat him while Luigi, Nanaki, and the others dealt with Bowser and the remnants of his forces and no one would be aware of just how close Sephiroth had come to taking over and/or destroying their world. However, there were a lot of things that could go wrong.
Mario looked over to his companions who sat beside him, with some even having nestled down near the feet of others. Lady Bow, being a ghost, simply floated besides Mario and had vanished so he could see. Koops had curled up into his shell and was resting on the floor next to Watt while Admiral Bobbery, and Yoshi Kid sat next to Mario with Flurrie floating above them. They each sat quietly, not making a sound. Even the courageous Yoshi Kid was quiet and did not seem to be relishing the upcoming fight against Sephiroth, though he was not about to cut and run in the slightest. Each of the party members knew that while Sephiroth was powerful, he was not unbeatable, yet, and they hoped to reach him before he did, indeed, become unbeatable.
To pass the time, Mario took out his cell phone and brought up the map of Gaia on the screen. Immediately upon activating the map, two dots were seen, one red and the other green. The red dot represented Mario's location and the green one was Luigi's. The trackers on their clothes also doubled as a life monitor so if something happened to Luigi, Mario would know virtually instantly. After a few seconds, he brought up everything the Gaia's version of the internet had on the Forgotten City, hoping to have a leg up on where they need to go when they landed. Apparently, the city had been abandoned a long time ago, but it was also the site where Sephiroth had murdered Aerith Gainsborough, a friend of Nanaki's from five hundred years ago. Still, a part of him had a feeling that something important was going to happen in that city and he wanted to be ready for it. He also had a feeling that things might not end even if they did manage to find and defeat Sephiroth in the city.
Meanwhile, back on the Eastern Continent, Kamek reappeared before Bowser and what was left of his forces. The moment he reappeared, the others gave short shouts of surprise, with some even jumping at the clap that echoed forth as he reappeared. Bowser was not in the mood for surprises, though, and he let his chief advisor know.
"Hey Kamek, where were you just now?" he bellowed. "I was considering sending a search party out for you!"
"I went to track the Mario Brothers and their allies," Kamek answered. "And also to get a map of this world as well as some Materia so we could power ourselves up a bit." Kamek then took out several pieces of Materia and continued, "I managed to get these pieces of Materia. If the shopkeeper was telling the truth, these are Poison, Earth, and Heal Materias. Poison allows the user to cast spells called Bio, Earth allows the user to cast Quake, and Heal, or Cleansing as some others call it, allows the user to cast spells that heal certain status conditions. More advanced versions allow you to lock your current status conditions so no status effects like poison, paralysis, burn, etcetera will affect you once you use it."
"So Heal's like a Feeling Fine badge," Bowser concluded, remembering how that badge had allowed Mario to make short work of some of his more elite forces and poisonous piranha plants in the past.
Kamek nodded. "Yes, master. And, as you can guess, Bio is an offensive poison spell and Quake is an offensive Earth spell. I was hoping to find some more types of Materia, such as Fire, Ice, Lightning, or Healing, slash, Restore but the store only had those. There were other issues as well, such as Mario and Luigi finding me in the store. I teleported here to escape them but I think we should get moving as quickly as possible since I'm sure at least some of them will come after us, if for nothing else than to keep us from assisting Sephiroth when they find him and fight him again. I don't know how fast Mario or his friends will be with the ability to fly but if they guess correctly and go in the right direction, which according to the map I got wouldn't be tough, they could be on us relatively quickly."
Bowser was about to give a response when Kamek's warning suddenly became prophetic. "King Bowser," a SOLDIER Koopa Troopa called, running towards him. "We just spotted Luigi and some of his allies to the east and coming fast! That native creature that fought alongside them at Midgar is with them too."
"Blast it!" Bowser seethed. "We can't even get a chance to relax or test out these Materia!"
"We could try them out against Luigi and his forces," the SOLDIER Koopa Troopa suggested.
"Don't be absurd," Bowser retorted. "We can't use unproven weapons against either of the Mario Brothers, even the younger one, without training and hope to win, especially given what happened to the last SOLDIER Koopas that tried doing that against the Marios and their friends."
The others, as well as the SOLDIER Koopa Troopa that had suggested fighting, nodded in agreement. "So where do we go?" one of the SOLDIER Koopatrols asked.
Kamek got out the map and opened it. Looking at it, he found that they were not far from the Mythril Mines. "There is the Mythril Mines to the west," Kamek suggested. "However, to get there we will have to cross a swamp and also likely fight a Midgar Zolom."
"That won't be a problem," Bowser declared, not even asking what a Midgar Zolom was, for in the back of his mind, he already knew what it was. Indeed, it may have even been advantageous for the Koopas since even if Luigi could fly, not all of the other allies could, particularly that native leonine creature, and if they got bogged down fighting a Zolom, the Koopas could use that time to gain some distance on the plumber's group and plan their next move.
The Koopa King quickly scanned the others, silently asking whether or not they had a problem with going into the mines to escape Luigi and his allies. Hearing no objections, he declared, "Okay then, if there are no objections, we're heading into the mines. Hopefully, that Zolom will show up and slow down Luigi and the others enough for us to get a big lead on them and give us some breathing room."
The others nodded in agreement and the Magikoopas proceeded to cross the swamp to arrive at the entrance to the mines and then summon Bowser and the others to the entrance across the swamp. Flying over the swamp, they looked down and could see a long, serpentine shape slithering through the swamp at high speed. There was no way anyone on the ground would be able to outrun it in a footrace, which was just how they wanted it.
When they reached the mountainside, they saw a dry patch of land and an entrance to the mountains. Landing on the patch of land, the group raised their wands in unison and with a loud clap, Bowser and the others arrived on the patch of land. Once the Koopas were safely across the swamp, they proceeded to make their way into the mines.
Not too far away, Luigi and his party were racing after Bowser and his forces. Luigi flew high above the ground so he could scout the area ahead of the party. Right behind him were Parakarry, Vivian, and Lakilester, who carried Goombella and Sushie. On the ground were Kooper, who was tucked into his shell and sliding along the ground far faster than a normal person could run, and Nanaki, who was carrying Bombette. None of the party members uttered a single word as they pursued their quarry; and despite the fact that their quarry outnumbered them more than two-to-one, they knew that they had the advantage in a battle, for Bowser and his forces were already worn down. The fliers continued to scan the area carefully but they had not caught sight of Bowser or his forces yet. Still, they could tell that they were on the right path and it would only be a matter of time before they spotted their enemy; and that time was now.
Luigi was looking ahead and spotted a swamp off in the distance. Checking his map, he knew that the swamp extended far to the north and south and that there was an entrance to the mountain range on the other side of the swamp. He also spotted what looked to be a gathering near the edge of the swamp, too. At first, it did not look to be all that suspicious, but being the more careful of the Mario Brothers he did not dismiss it as a mere gathering of explorers. Descending a bit, he went in to get a closer look and, indeed, managed to identify the gathering as Koopas.
"I found them!" he called back to the others. "They're dead ahead near the edge of the swamp."
The others acknowledged the plumber and the fliers began to descend. Electricity crackled at the tips of Luigi's fingers in preparation of the battle that was likely about to unfold. However, as the party neared the Koopas, the Koopas suddenly vanished from their sight. The sudden disappearance of the Koopas would have startled Luigi and the others at almost any other time, but considering how they were trying to flee the heroes, it did not surprise them. Without having to be issued any orders, the party members scanned their surroundings for any sign of where the Koopas may reappear, the group not discounting the possibility that the Koopas were simply trying to teleport themselves into better positions for launching an ambush. Nanaki, looking, smelling, and listening for any sign of the Koopas thought he heard something off in the distance across the swamp.
"Check across the swamp," he called up to Luigi and the other fliers. "I just heard what sounded like a clap off in the distance.
That creature's hearing must be amazing, Luigi mused as he took Nanaki's advice and flew towards the swamp. Looking down, he thought he could see a long serpentine outline gliding beneath the swamp's surface. The plumber stayed high in the air to ensure that he would not get caught off guard. Looking ahead, he could see that he was nearing a mountain range, one that looked to cover a significant area both north and south. A part of him suspected that Bowser would not teleport towards the range unless there was a way through it. Checking his map, he found that the mountain range was identified as the Mythril Mountains and contained a substance called Mythril and that there had been mines close by. He focused his attention towards the mountains, seeking an entrance to the mountain range, and possibly the mine since it would be easy for Bowser to lose the group in the mines, even if there was only one real exit and the party tried to find the exit on the other side. Eventually, he spotted a few figures in the distance near what looked to be a cave entrance. Before he could focus his gaze on them to get a positive identification on them, though, they disappeared through the cave entrance.
"I found several figures ducking into the Mythril Mine," Luigi alerted as he activated his cell phone. "Nanaki, are these mines still in use?"
"Not currently," Nanaki answered. "There are still some miners that will try to brave the swamp every so often, but the reappearance of Midgar Zoloms has dissuaded all but the most desperate from trying to mine the mythril in there."
The younger Mario Brother felt some relief at that statement since he had a feeling that if anyone had been in there, Bowser and the others would likely kill them. Still, there was the issue of the Midgar Zolom that they would likely have to face, for while he, Parakarry, Lakilester, and Vivian could fly, with Vivian being able to float, the others could not; and Parakarry and Lakilester could only carry two other partners, meaning at least three partners would be left walking, Nanaki among them since he was the heaviest of the group.
As he looked down, Luigi could see a serpentine shape quickly slithering beneath the swamp waters and grimaced, figuring that the serpentine shape was a Midgar Zolom. Even worse was the fact that since it was traveling so fast, that none of the party members that were restricted to being on foot could outrun it.
"We've got a serpentine creature in the swamp that seems to be patrolling the area," Luigi alerted the others.
"That's a Midgar Zolom," Nanaki informed him. "They are strong and can cast a powerful fire elemental spell called Beta. They have not inherent weaknesses nor resistances, though. We should be able to beat them, though."
"Yeah, but we don't wanna get bogged down fighting them while chasing Bowser. I'm almost certain that's why he came this way," Goombella stated. She then looked up at Luigi and called, "How many of those things are there in the swamp?"
"Just one so far," Luigi answered. "But I'm guessing that there are likely others close by maybe just below the one I'm seeing."
"There almost certainly are," Nanaki stated, remembering the last time he had gone through the swamp during a Midgar Zolom outbreak. "However, in general, only one will attack at any given time."
"So how do we wanna do this?" Lakilester asked. "Parakarry and I can carry one person and Vivian can float, but that still leaves three of us stuck to the ground."
"Lakilester, you take Bombette while Parakarry carries Sushie," Luigi directed. "The rest of you try to get across as quickly as possible with Parakarry and Lakilester covering you. Vivian, you're with me. We're going to be taking on any Midgar Zoloms that go after the others."
"Right," the party answered.
With that, Bombette jumped onto Lakilester's cloud right next to the Lakitu. Meanwhile, Parakarry grabbed Sushie and went to carry her across the swamp, following closely behind Lakilester. Following the two of them were Kooper, who had tucked himself into his shell and was gliding across the water as he spun, and Goombella, who was riding on Nanaki's back. As soon as they set foot in the swamp, Luigi saw the serpentine form of the Midgar Zolom stop for an instant before it turned and made a beeline right for the heroes.
Knowing that he could not afford to use lightning against the Zolom while his friends were in the swamp, he pulled out a Fire Flower, though he did not activate it as a power-up, not wanting to lose the flight his cape granted him. As the hero drew out his Fire Flower, the Zolom streaked towards the ground-bound heroes. Nanaki could see it coming but did not turn to fight, knowing that the pursuit of Bowser was more important than getting bogged down fighting the Zolom. Besides, if Luigi and his brother could beat Sephiroth, then he should have no trouble beating a Zolom.
As for the Zolom, when it neared the heroes on the ground, it sprang out of the water and roared, revealing itself to be a massive snake that resembled a King Cobra from Earth, albeit one that towered over the heroes. The heroes did not stop and turn to face it, though, knowing that Luigi and Vivian had their backs. They had more important targets to deal with. As for Luigi and Vivian, the moment the Zolom emerged from the water, Luigi opened fire with his Fire Flower. A volley of fireballs erupted from the flower and rocketed towards the Zolom. The fireballs got the Zolom's attention as they scored several direct hits on it and inflicted noticeable damage on the snake.
The snake turned to face Luigi and Vivian and lashed out at the plumber, trying to bite him. Luigi, however, merely ascended into the sky out of reach of the Zolom and it struck nothing but air. The plumber retaliated by unleashing another volley of fireballs on the Zolom, inflicting more damage to the oversized serpent. The serpent hissed as it knew that it could not reach Luigi. The same, however, could not be said about Vivan. The serpent turned its attention towards the Shadow Spirit and went to bite her. However, being a spirit, Vivian merely went intangible and the serpent's teeth merely phased through the spirit. Vivian then went tangible once more and punched it with a Shadow Fist, which not only inflicted more damage to the serpent, but also burned it, the serpent hissing in pain.
Seeing that conventional attacks were useless against these enemies, the Zolom decided to unleash its strongest attack: Beta. Focusing its magical power, the Zolom created a massive explosion of scarlet flaming energy and unleashed it towards Luigi and Vivian. Knowing that the blast could inflict real damage to them if it hit, Vivian reached up and grabbed hold of Luigi and pulled him down into the shadows to evade the attack. Beta then exploded into a mushroom cloud of flaming energy and smoke. For an instant, the Zolom thought that it had dealt with Luigi and Vivian and began to turn to chase down the other heroes. However, before it turned, it saw Luigi and Vivian emerge from the shadows completely unscathed.
Wasting no time, Luigi went and unleashed another volley of fireballs on the Zolom. This volley proved to be the end of the Zolom, for the first few inflicted new burns to the body, causing it to hiss in pain and anger. The rest of the balls, however, burned through its head as if they had been plasma blasts or lasers. With the head of the Zolom burned away, the now headless body fell back into the swamp. With the threat of the Zolom neutralized, the two heroes hurried ahead to rejoin the others. As they did so, another Midgar Zolom began to chase the ground-bound heroes. However, since the heroes had such a large head start, there was no chance of the serpent managing to catch them before they crossed the swamp.
It did not take long for the heroes to reach the other side of the swamp. Every so often, Goombella looked back at Luigi and Vivian as they battled the Midgar Zolom but she was not too concerned. The Zolom was not a significant threat to someone as strong as Luigi. Sure enough, it had not taken long for Luigi and Vivian to beat the Zolom and then rejoin the others. Once they had regrouped, and finally crossed the swamp, the party headed into the Mythril Mine, hoping that Bowser and his forces were not too far ahead of them.
Back at the Northern Continent, Dribble and Spitz drove Mario and his party to the Forgotten City. While flying over the Sleeping Forest and Corel Valley, Mario looked out the window before bringing up all information on the forest and valley. When it came up, he read that normally, one would need an item called a Lunar Harp in order to get through the Sleeping Forest. Without it, the first section would repeat infinitely, much like the Endless Stairway in Princess Peach's Castle.
He then looked out the window to see if there were any enemies or monsters in the vicinity that he and the others might have to deal with once they exited the taxi and entered into the Forgotten City. He found none, though, which put his mind at ease a bit. So far, there had been no reports of monster sightings for almost five hundred years, though there had also been no real excursions into the Forgotten City in the last five hundred years or so, either, with the last one being just after the Geostigma crisis. An uneasy feeling crept into the back of Mario's mind, for he did not want to face the prospect of fighting Sephiroth while also having to face down a horde of monsters. Looking over at the other party members, he noticed that they, too, were studying the history of the Forgotten City, as well as the city's map since they wanted to spend as little time in the city as necessary since they, and likely the rest of Gaia's society, knew so little about it. Studying the map, though, it seemed as if there was a straight shot to the inner sanctum in addition to a place to land close to the city so they should be able to get in, intercept Sephiroth, assuming he was coming here in the first place, and get out once they beat him.
It was not long before Dribble called back to the passengers, "We're coming up on this Forgotten City. Get ready to disembark."
"Got it," the others stated as they each took stock of their inventories to make sure that they were ready for whatever they would face in the Forgotten City. Mario checked his own inventory and made certain that he had everything he would need to have the best chance of facing down and beating Sephiroth. Once they were ready, the group sat in silence as they approached the city.
From the distance, it was clear that the city had seen better days. Most of the buildings, which seemed to be made out of organic materials with roofs being made out of massive conch shells. There also looked to be a road leading into the city, proper with a fork in the path not too far from the city's entrance, one path leading to the left, another to the right, and one that kept going straight. The one they wanted was the straight path, which seemed to lead to a massive series of either trees or possibly crystals of some sort that jutted into the sky and spread out.
The taxi soon began to descend as they had reached their destination. The party waited in silence as the taxi touched down near what looked to be a wooden bridge that crossed a river or lake. The taxi drove across the wooden bridge, which seemed to become a road made of some sort of crystal once across the river.
It was then that the taxi came to a stop and Dribble proclaimed, "We're here."
The doors then opened and Mario and the rest of his party emerged from the taxicab. Lady Bow was the first to emerge after Mario, followed by Koops, then Flurrie, Yoshi Kid, and Watt, with Admiral Bobbery bringing up the rear. Once the party had emerged from the cab, Mario went over to the driver's seat and told Dribble, "Stay here and keep the engine warm. With any luck, we'll find Sephiroth and deal with him quickly. Still, keep those scanners on. Alert us if anyone comes towards the city, local or otherwise. We don't want to be caught off guard by any potential reinforcements for Sephiroth, or have any innocents inadvertently get caught in the crossfire of our fight."
"You got it," Dribble answered. With that, the group proceeded to make their way across the bridge and into the Forgotten City.
Meanwhile, deep inside the Lifestream, Aerith Gainsborough was doing her best to slow down and possibly even defeat Sephiroth. However, despite the injuries and fatigue that the former SOLDIER had incurred during his fight against the Mario Brothers, he was still able to at the very least hold his own against the half-Cetra. Still, Aerith was making it far more difficult for him to progress towards his goal than he had anticipated, and it was not just the injuries and fatigue from his fight against the Marios that was hindering him. It seemed as if Aerith was also stronger this time around.
The half-Cetra young woman cast Cometeor on Sephiroth, forcing him to cast Wall over himself to halve the damage. Still, despite Wall's effect, he still felt the impact of each meteor, giving a grunt with each hit. He countered with Shadow Flare, but the half-Cetra had been expecting such an attack and went evasive. The shadowy fireballs homed in on her, but she readied her staff and managed to bat away each of the balls as she continued to move in order to make herself a more difficult target.
Seeing that he was getting nowhere using magic, Sephiroth decided to engage Aerith in a physical fight, hoping that his enhanced physiology would be sufficient to defeat the half-Cetra, despite his ragged condition. The former SOLDIER rushed towards Aerith, holding his sword out and he thrust it forward, hoping to impale her much like he had when he had killed her during the Meteorfall Crisis. Seeing the attack coming, though, as well as the fact that the attack seemed slower than she remembered Sephiroth being, allowed Aerith to sidestep the stab, causing it to strike nothing but air. She quickly countered with a thrust of her own but the former SOLDIER was still fast enough to evade the stab. She then took a swing at him, hoping to use her staff to keep him at a distance, but he managed to dodge the swing as well, though not as easily as he would have liked, something that Aerith was quick to catch on to.
"You look tired," she noted, though the former SOLDIER could catch a hint of contempt in her tone. He also saw her lips twist into almost a grin. A part of her was looking forward to this fight and was eager to finish off the former SOLDIER once and for all.
She charged in, holding her staff out almost as if it were a lance, hoping to keep her opponent at bay. When she was in range, she thrust her staff forward, hoping to score a hit, even though the former SOLDIER had evaded the same attack mere moment ago. This, however, was only a distraction as she went to cast Thundaga on the former SOLDIER. Balls of lightning homed in on Sephiroth, forcing him to deflect them with carefully timed swings of Masamune. While he was distracted with the lightning spell, though, Aerith charged him and swung her staff at him, managing to catch the former SOLDIER in the abdomen. The silver-haired fighter grunted from the strike but he did not suffer any real injuries from it. Still, he seethed. There was no way this girl should have been able to land a telling blow on him. He was far faster, stronger, and more experienced than her, both in life as well as in the Lifestream. Even half-dead, he should have been able to defeat her without difficulty. He then glared the young woman and gritted his teeth. That would be the last blow she managed to land on him. Aerith, however, was not finished.
She charged the former SOLDIER once more, taking strong but controlled swings at him. This time, though, Sephiroth was ready for her offensive and managed to evade her first strike. He almost expected her to follow it up with a spell of some sort, either Firaga or Thundaga, but she changed things up a bit and continued with her physical strikes. The former SOLDIER was thrilled that she had decided to make it a physical fight, a fight where he held the advantage, even in his bedraggled state. The half-Cetra woman took unleashed swing after swing on the former SOLDIER but Sephiroth was able to evade them, albeit with more effort than he had wanted. Still, despite his current state, he still had his skill and experience as a SOLDIER and from fighting Cloud and others on numerous occasions even after his first immersion into the Lifestream.
Carefully watching for an opening, he waited until Aerith overextended herself on a swing and once she had, he let loose with a single thrust of his sword. Aerith saw the attack coming and moved to intercept it with her staff, but only managed to partially parry it. She managed to deflect it away from her heart but the attack still caught her in the shoulder. That was when something happened that the former SOLDIER did not expect. The sword merely passed through Aerith as if she were made of wind. She did not even wince or seem to notice that he had stabbed her until she looked at the blade having pierced her shoulder almost absently. Sephiroth had to suppress a gasp as he withdrew his blade and thrust it forward again. Again, the blade passed through her body doing no damage.
"Don't you remember? I'm dead," Aerith mocked. "You killed me over five hundred years ago. And this is the result of that fateful encounter. I'm a spirit. However, I can still use the power of the Lifestream to protect the Planet. The Lifestream, itself, is what called me forth to fight you."
"Then I'll just kill you again," the former SOLDIER retorted calmly. "And this time, I'll make sure you're completely destroyed."
Sephiroth then began his offensive once more by swinging his sword repeatedly at Aerith, unleashing shockwaves with each swing. The half-Cetra woman went evasive to avoid the attacks and managed to avoid the first few, but the next couple managed to tag her and since these were magical in nature, they managed to inflict damage. She grunted with each hit as if she had been punched hard in the sternum. However, it would take more than that to destroy the half-Cetra, especially since she was now a spirit inside the Lifestream. Aerith charged towards Sephiroth once more, trying to close the distance with him so he could not use the shockwave attacks from his sword. The former SOLDIER was having none of that, though, and cast Firaga over himself. Pillars of flame erupted around him and expanded outward, forcing the half-Cetra to fall back. However, Aerith was not without her own options and seeing that she would not be able to get close to Sephiroth she decided to play to her strengths: her magic.
A shimmering barrier formed over the half-Cetra woman as she cast Big Guard over herself. Big Guard had been an enemy skill that Cloud and his party had gained from using an Enemy Skills Materia to learn the move during their quest. Even before Cloud had passed away and joined the Lifestream, though, Aerith had learned of the skill from all of the Beachplugs that had returned to the Lifestream after their defeats. It also had the bonus of making her faster, though at the cost of having the defensive effects giving out faster than they would have with Wall, though she viewed the tradeoff as necessary if she were to have any hope of being in the same league as Sephiroth, speed-wise. Still, she hoped that it would not come down to a physical fight even though she was all but invulnerable to normal physical attacks.
Next, Aerith cast Ultima and a massive green fireball erupted from her hand. Sephiroth grunted as he held out his hand and unleashed a Shadow Flare barrage on Aerith's Ultima spell. The two attacks rocketed towards each other and collided in midair. At first, neither attack budged the other, but after a few seconds, Sephiroth pushed more energy into his Shadow Flare and began to push back Aerith's Ultima. Aerith pushed more power into her own spell but all it did was slow down the approach of the two spells; Sephiroth's power and the superior base power of Shadow Flare being too much for Aerith's Ultima. Still, the half-Cetra woman was not going to surrender. She added more power to her spell in an attempt to hold back the onrushing spells. However, as she did that, the spells promptly exploded with most of the force being sent her way. The force of the explosion sent her flying backwards while Sephiroth rode the wave of the spell to carry himself further down the current of the Lifestream towards North Crater and the Northern Cave that he hoped still housed the Black Materia.
Meanwhile, Aerith was still flying backwards through the Lifestream. Using her own magic, she managed to arrest her momentum and catch her second wind. By the time she did, though, Sephiroth was long gone. She extended her senses through the Lifestream and attempted to ascertain his location but he must have been shielding himself from detection, for she could not detect him, not like before. She scanned for any shifts in the currents of the Lifestream that could expose his current location but again, nothing. A part of her wondered if he may have surfaced and was shielding himself that way. She doubted that since it would slow him down significantly and also potentially expose him to whoever had beaten him earlier, but she did not eliminate that possibility.
As she was about to continue the pursuit, though, a strange feeling came over her and she felt herself being drawn back to the Forgotten City. Extending her senses through the Lifestream, she detected activity inside the city even though it had been abandoned for centuries and had had no activity whatsoever for almost five hundred years. She attempted to move forward, but whatever force was drawing her towards the Forgotten City was getting stronger and stronger. In addition, she was beginning to feel the White Materia she had used to cast Holy to stop Meteor during Meteorfall seemingly call to her. As such, she delayed her pursuit of Sephiroth, for the moment, and proceeded to make her way to the Forgotten City.
Meanwhile, back in the Forgotten City, Mario and his party crossed the bridge leading into the city entered the city proper. The path continued through what looked like a crevice as mossy walls and stone ledges lined the path on either side of the party with a light at the end of the path. Mario and the party pushed on unopposed by any sort of enemy. While the plumber led the way, the rest of the party was not far behind with only Watt really staying back to cover the rest of the party to prevent an ambush. The party did not utter a single word as they continued along the path. Eventually, they reached the light, and entered the next section of the city.
This section contained a lake with a single island in the center of it. On this island was what looked to be a large stone structure that resembled a giant conch shell. A bridge led to an opening in the shell. Glancing around the area, as well as the lake, the party could not spot any enemies, or life-forms of any kind that they recognized as potential threats. They also looked around to see if there were any other paths that led to other areas of the city. Seeing no other viable paths, Mario and the others crossed the bridge and entered the shell.
Once they entered the shell, they found themselves in what looked to be a building that had a spiral pathway that led upwards. The group did not hesitate as they followed the path upwards. Eventually, upon reaching the end of the path, they saw a green marble that they recognized as being some form of Materia. While no one in the party could use Materia, they knew that Nanaki could and if things went bad and they had to rejoin with Luigi and his party, or even if they went well and they still had to deal with Bowser and his forces, they wanted to have all the advantages they could. As such, Mario picked up the piece of Materia and put it in his pocket. Seeing no way forward, they made their way back down the path until they came to the exit, only to see what looked to be a staircase made of light that led down likely beneath the lake. Mario took a step onto the staircase to see if it was both solid and could support his weight. Upon stepping on it, he found it to not only be solid, but able to easily support his weight. Seeing that the staircase was safe, as well seeing no other paths at the moment as well as the fact that their seemed to be an air of mysticism about this place that would attract Sephiroth, the party proceeded to make their way down into the underground area, mentally preparing themselves for the potential battle that may have awaited them down below.
Once they made their way onto the staircase and took a few steps down, the party found themselves in an underground area that looked like an underground kingdom. Some crystals jutted from the surface below and as they continued along the path, they could see what looked like a castle with medieval style towers at the bottom of the staircase. The party continued down the staircase, none of them stopping to look around at the scenery. While during any other adventure the party would not have hesitated to take a moment and take in the beautiful vista surrounding them, right now, time was of the essence.
Eventually, the party reached the bottom of the stairway of light and stepped out onto some of the medieval towers. Looking down, they saw that the towers seemed to rise out of an underground lake. Not too far ahead, they saw some stairs that led to a series of stepping-stones or columns that jutted out of the lake leading to an altar of some sort. This looked to be the end of the path, but there seemed to be no sign of Sephiroth, something that both relieved and concerned them.
"It looks like he's not here," Flurrie noted, scanning the surroundings to see if there was any sign of him that they could be missing.
"Sephiroth can't cloak, can he?" Koops inquired, turning to Mario.
"He didn't either time I fought him," Mario answered. Still, he was not about to let down his guard, and neither were the rest of his party.
"So what now Gonzales?" Yoshi Kid asked. "Do we wait and hope he shows up?"
"I'm not sure if there's anything else we can do," Watt answered. "This was our only real lead on where he could be. The only other place he might go would be the North Crater."
"We could always try there," Admiral Bobbery suggested.
"Maybe," Lady Bow said. "But what if he does come here looking for something?"
"What's here for him to find?" Koops asked.
While the others were discussing what to do next, Mario was scanning the lake, for his eyes caught sight of a glint in the water. Focusing his attention on the glint in the water, he thought he found what looked like a marble or jewel on the bottom of the small lake. Normally, he would have dismissed such a glint as not meaning much, especially since they were seeking Sephiroth, not a jewel of some sort. Still, his attention seemed to be drawn to this jewel at the bottom of the lake. Looking back, he saw that the others were still discussing what they should do.
"Hey everyone, keep a lookout while I go down to the bottom of the lake to check something out," the plumber called to the rest of the party.
"You find a lead or something?" Koops asked.
"I don't know," Mario answered. "But I have a feeling that there is something down there that could help us out against Sephiroth, especially if worst comes to worst."
The others nodded in acknowledgement as Mario then went and dove into the lake and swam to its bottom. As he did so, the others kept watch just to make certain nothing unexpected happened and/or Sephiroth or one of his allies did not arrive on the scene to ambush them.
After entering the water, the plumber saw that the lake was far deeper than it looked on the altar above. Rising to take a deep breath, he then dove back under once more as he swam to the bottom of the lake where he caught sight of the glint once more. As he approached the glint, he saw that the source of the glint looked to be an almost white marble of some sort that looked like a piece of Materia. As Mario approached it, the marble seemed to glow a shade of turquoise, indicating that it was likely a Materia piece, and an important one to boot. Mario began to wish that he had brought Nanaki along with him rather than letting him guide Luigi since he would likely know what this piece of Materia was used for and whether or not it would even be safe to pick up or use. When he reached it he stopped and considered whether or not to pick it up. On one hand, it was something he did not know much about at all, but on the other, it could potentially help him and his friends against Sephiroth, or also be used by Sephiroth and if they had beaten the former SOLDIER in coming to the Forgotten City, they could be denying him a weapon. As such, he picked it up and examined it for a few seconds to see if it reacted to his presence or touch. When there was no reaction to his touch, he pocketed the Materia piece and proceeded to swim back up to the lake's surface.
Meanwhile, inside the Lifestream, Aerith Gainsborough could feel something happening in the ancient Cetra capital, in the very place where she had been killed by Sephiroth over five hundred years ago. The beings there could not be clearly sensed or seen from the Lifestream, indicating that they were not connected to it, but she could still feel their presence, or rather, their effects on the surroundings. As she neared the lake, she was suddenly able to put a form to one of the beings in the Cetra capital. He was a human of some sort, though she suspected that there was something different about him; a power that she had never seen or heard of before, but one that allowed him to rival the strongest SOLDIER in the history of the Shinra program.
As she got closer to the capital, and the lake where she had been laid to rest after Sephiroth killed her, a strange feeling came over her, almost as if the Planet was telling her that she was about to have a second chance at something that had been stripped from her so long ago. Her vision became blurry but as it did so, she began to regain her sense of touch to its fullest. While she had been in the Lifestream, while her senses had not been stripped of her, they had changed in ways that it was difficult for her to describe. As she began to be able to feel her surroundings once more, she also began to notice something else, something she had not remembered previously. She could not feel anything below her chest and she could barely move her arms. She also had a wound in her torso that had severed a part of her spinal column. She opened her eyes and soon saw the human that had touched the Materia swimming back up to the lake's surface, seemingly unaware of her presence at all.
As for Mario, he was quickly swimming back up to the surface so he could return to his party and continue the pursuit of Sephiroth. As he neared the surface, though, something caused him to turn back and he saw a person at the bottom of the lake. He immediately surfaced, causing the rest of the party to go towards the edge of the altar to help him up but instead of trying to climb back up onto the altar, he took a deep breath dove once more beneath the surface, wanting to see who it was that was on the lake's floor. Once he was in the water, he got a clearer picture of the person on the bottom and found it to be woman he did not recognize dressed in a pink dress with a red jacket of some sort. The others looked over the edge, wondering why Mario was diving back down and they eventually spotted the woman lying on the lake's bottom.
Once Mario reached the woman on the bottom, he checked her to see if she was, indeed, still alive. Seeing some sign of life from some bubbles emerging from her nose, the plumber reached down and grabbed her, wrapping his left arm around her waist and went to swim back up to the surface. As he swam back up, he periodically checked on her to make sure that she was still breathing. She was heavier than expected but her body was still warm, indicating that she was still alive.
Once they surfaced, Mario's party quickly went over the edge of the altar to help them get back up onto dry land. Yoshi Kid extended his tongue and wrapped it around the woman to hold her above the water as Koops, Lady Bow, and Flurrie helped Mario get her out of the water. Mario helped the others get her out first and once she was safely on the altar, Mario climbed out of the water.
Back on the altar, Mario took a few breaths before heading over to the woman to check on her condition. When he reached her, he found that she seemed to have a wound on her torso, one that could very well have been fatal had she been bleeding. Putting his fingers to her wrist, he felt for a pulse and was eventually able to find one. The others went over to examine her too, curiosity getting the better of them.
"Who is she?" Lady Bow asked, even though she felt as if no one here would recognize her.
"I have no idea," Mario answered.
"Is she even still alive?" Koops asked.
"So far, yes," Mario answered, having just taken her pulse.
"So what's wrong with her?" came Watt, who was charging up for a low-powered lightning bolt in order to restart her heart should that have been necessary.
"She is definitely injured," Admiral Bobbery commented, noting the wound on her torso.
Examining the wound, Mario could not help but notice that it seemed like a sword wound of some sort. From the relatively narrow size of the wound, though, he figured the blade had to be relatively thin, just like Sephiroth's blade.
"So why isn't she responding to our talking or even being rescued from the bottom of that lake?" Flurrie asked.
"Because the blade may have damaged her spinal column and she is almost certainly paralyzed from the chest down and is also likely in shock," Lady Bow answered. She then explained further, "I used my ghostly senses to see beneath her skin and saw that her spinal column had been damaged."
"Is there anything we can do?" Koops asked. "Would a Life Shroom or an Ultra Shroom help?"
"Only one way to find out," Mario answered as he fished inside his pockets and pulled out a Life Shroom. While the Life Shroom was usually for a person who had died and would revive them, given the current condition of the woman laying before them, it would likely help her and, hopefully heal her spinal column and cure her of her paralysis.
He quickly broke the Life Shroom into small pieces and fed them to the woman, being careful to not move her and risk doing more damage to her spinal column, for he was not certain the mushroom would actually repair her spinal column, though he was a little concerned about the prospect of choking on the mushroom since she was laying on her back. As he put the pieces into her mouth, though, she closed it and managed to chew them, indicating that she was regaining consciousness. After a few more chews, she swallowed the mushroom and almost instantly, she could feel her lower extremities. She moved her legs and feet and slowly opened her eyes.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at the ceiling of the structure underneath the Cetra capital. Moving her gaze a few inches, she saw a stocky man standing over her along with several other beings she did not recognize at all. She was shocked when she heard the man ask in her own language, "Hey, you okay? Can you move?"
Taking stock of herself, and moving her arms and legs some more, she found that she could, indeed, move. She slowly sat up, testing her strength before attempting to stand and found that it was the same as it had been when she had last been here five centuries ago. She then slowly stood up but when she was fully erect, she stumbled forward a bit, causing Mario to reach out to catch her, before she could fall.
"Not too quickly," Mario cautioned. "That Life Shroom may have revived you, but other than that, it won't restore too much health. It'll take you out of the woods but you'll still need some time to rest and fully recover from whatever had put you on the bottom of that lake."
"I'll be fine, eventually," the woman told him.
"By the way, I'm Mario," the plumber volunteered. "What's your name?"
"I'm Aerith," the woman answered. "Aerith Gainsborough."
Mario and the others glanced at each other giving stunned expressions before turning back to Aerith. How was this possible? According to Nanaki, she had been killed over five hundred years ago.
"You're Aerith Gainsborough?" Koops blurted. "How? You're supposed to be dead."
"I was," Aerith admitted. "When I died I my spirit joined the Lifestream, something that happens with all life-forms on the Planet when they pass away. I've been a part of it ever since Sephiroth killed me. However, given the recent events, the Lifestream, along with your timely assistance, has given me a new lease on life." She then glanced at her surroundings and then back at Mario and the others. "We have to go to the North Crater immediately. That's where Sephiroth is headed."
"Why's he headed there?" Flurrie asked.
"He's looking for the Black Materia, a piece of Materia that can be used to cast Meteor, a spell that summons a giant meteor," Aerith answered. "He used it back during the Meteorfall Crisis."
"Then we've gotta get there before him and stop him!" Yoshi Kid blurted.
"Don't worry about him getting the Black Materia," Aerith stated almost with a knowing smirk. "He's going to be in for a big surprise when he gets to North Crater. Still, we should get there as quickly as possible. He won't stay there for long once he realizes that what he's looking for isn't there. Also, the place is uninhabited, so it'll be the best place for us to fight without threatening the Planet."
"Right," the other acknowledged.
Wasting no time, Mario got out his phone and contacted Dribble and Spitz, alerting them to the situation, saying, "Dribble, Spitz, we're coming back to you guys with an extra passenger. Once we get there, our new destination will be North Crater. Just drop us off on the top of it. We can go down the rest of the way ourselves."
"Got it," came the response over the phone. "We'll be waiting."
With that, Mario hung up the phone and the group headed away from the altar, made their way over to the stairwell, and went back the way they came.
Back inside the Lifestream, Sephiroth rode the currents of the Lifestream all the way to North Crater. Millennia ago, when the asteroid carrying Jenova had crashed into the continent, it had created a wound to Gaia significant enough that the Lifestream had converged at the point of the impact to repair the damage done to it. To this day, the crater remained, a scar inflicted by that impact that had yet to fade. It was fortuitous for the former SOLDIER that the Lifestream still flowed as strongly as it did to this crater, even more strongly here than it had to Midgar. Still, he was anxious, for there had been no sign of pursuit by Aerith or anyone else inside the Lifestream, almost as if they knew something he did not.
It did not take long for him to reach his destination. The rocks and crystallized Mako walls were enough to let him know that he had reached the end of the Northern Cave at the bottom of North Crater. The former SOLDIER grinned. He was finally here, and there was no sign of Mario, his allies, or Aerith anywhere in sight. All he had to do now was get the Black Materia and use it to summon Meteor once more so he could cause a wound to Gaia that would force the Lifestream to gather so he could take it over and become a god.
Extending his senses, he tried to ascertain the location of the Black Materia he had used in order to summon Meteor. Much to his surprise, though he could not sense any energy similar to the Black Materia. At first, he was wondering if the concentration of crystallized Mako was clouding his ability to sense the Black Materia but he doubted that. Using his sight, though, he also found no trace of the Black Materia.
"No," he said absently. "It's not possible."
The Black Materia was gone.