Chapter 19:
Back in Wutai, Mario, Aerith, and their parties made their way towards the gathering site for the Ninja Tournament. They had followed a path across a small bridge and through a small forest and found themselves near a cliff with several statues on its side. Aerith recognized the statues as representing the members of Avalanche, with Cloud being on the left, then Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart, Aerith, something that caused Aerith to look concerned since she did not want to be recognized by anyone else here; Nanaki, referred to as Red XIII on the label to the left of the group with his true name in parentheses; Yuffie Kisaragi, Cid Highwind, Cait Sith, and Vincent Valentine.
As the group arrived at the gathering area near the base of the mountain, they saw a group of people already assembled, along with a few ninjas wearing black ninja robes and hoods. There were ten other teams, including the two teams that had passed the entry exam. With the arrival of Mario and Aerith's teams, there were a total of twelve teams present. Most of the members of the other teams wore stereotypical garb of ninjas, such as dark clothing with ninja hoods covering their faces as well as being armed with ninjato swords. Mario, however, knew that at least on Earth, real ninjas generally wore civilian clothing in order to actually blend in with their surroundings more easily. As such the irony that, he, Aerith, and their teams were actually attired more like real ninjas than the other participants in the tournament, or the ninjas that seemed to be organizing the tournament, was not lost on him. However, the plumber did not let down his guard. Just because these ninjas dressed as stereotypical Hollywood ninjas did not mean that they were not actual ninjas or that they did not have ninja or martial arts training. And also, just because Mario and friends had proven a challenge for Sephiroth did not mean that they were invincible to anyone else here should it come down to a battle between the teams.
About fifteen minutes after Mario and Aerith's team had arrived, a man dressed as a samurai shogun appeared on top of one of the statues on the side of the cliff they were facing. Mario could see that he was armed with a katana that had some jewels seemingly imbedded into its hilt that were just the right size and color to be Materia pieces. Standing out on a ledge, the ledge lowered itself until he was only a dozen or so feet above them. That was when he began his speech.
"Welcome all of you to the Wutai Ninja Tournament! I also wish to extend an extra special welcome to those who gained entry by way of the recent written exam. We specifically made that specific exam to be challenging and have several twists in it." Mario and the others who had passed the exam could attest to that. It was then that the shogun continued, "Now, the Ninja Tournament will begin in earnest. In this stage of the tournament, you will be given a single scroll: a Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder scroll. Each type of scroll will have a certain code on it that, when combined with the other two scrolls, will grant you entry to a pagoda off in the distance on the other side of town that will allow you passage to the next part of the Ninja Tournament. Your goal, of course, is to get the other two scrolls so you will be granted entry to the next round of the tournament. To do this, you will have to navigate your way through the forest that surrounds this village as well as the mountain range that contains the statues of the Planet's great heroes of the past. Depending on your scroll, you will be taken to different entry points that are marked with the same emblem that will be found on your scroll.
"The other rules for this part of the competition are simple: get the other scrolls you need in order to pass. Until you get the necessary scrolls, though, you are restricted to the forest and mountain areas. You may not enter the village, proper, under any circumstances. Doing so constitutes you leaving the tournament and surrendering your scroll to your jōnin commanders. There is a path in the forest that leads to the pagoda where you will learn of the next stage of this tournament. Also, you may notice some objects on the ground. You may take anything in the forest you find, even objects found on your opponent's persons. In addition, you will still be allowed to keep all the other treasures scattered throughout the exam areas that you manage to find, even if you do leave via any of the exits or by simply entering the village, proper.
"Finally, this portion of the tournament will last for the remainder of this day's daylight hours. Once the sun is fully set, this stage of the tournament will be called. If you have not reached the pagoda by nightfall, you're out, even if no one has reached the pagoda and managed to gain entry. Even if you lose your scroll early on in this stage of the tournament, you are not disqualified since you can simply get it back later on, or take the scrolls from another team. You're not out of it until you leave, nightfall comes, or, unfortunately, die. Think about that as you go through this stage. Okay, with that being said, everyone, go to you jōnin commanders, get your scrolls, and let the Ninja Tournament begin in earnest. Good luck!"
With that, the teams began searching for their jōnin commanders. Mario found his team's jōnin commander relatively quickly, seeing a ninja that bore the same marking on his uniform that had been found on the top of his test. Looking over at Aerith, he saw that she had also found her own jōnin commander and was already about to receive a scroll from him. He looked over at her and nodded, indicating that he was willing to do virtually whatever it took to get to the next stage, barring them finding a Great Gospel tome somewhere in the forest or mountains. Once they had reached their jōnin commanders, they were given their scrolls, Mario had received a Fire Scroll, and then proceeded to make their way to their designated entry points into the forest or mountain range. For Mario and his team, their entry point was somewhere in the mountain range. As they were led to it, though, each team member kept careful track of where they were going and the path that led to the gathering area, as well as the location of the tall pagoda off in the distance.
Once they had reached their entry point to the mountain range, a small arch that was labeled, Entrance, the jōnin commander looked over at Mario and his party and told them, "This is as far as I go with you. From here on out, you're on your own. Be alert. There are monsters present in both the mountains and the forest. Be vigilant, be smart, and you will be victorious. Good luck."
"Thanks," Mario and the rest of his party answered. With that final exchange, the group went through the entrance to the mountain range and began the next phase of the Ninja Tournament, Mario making certain that he had Aerith on speed dial on his phone should he find a Great Gospel tome, or she find one and let him know that their mission was accomplished.
Meanwhile, three Sephiroth Clones appeared on the beaches of Wutai. Given the abilities of Jenova to shapeshift into beings it had absorbed, the clones shapeshifted into people that had a similar look to the remnants of Sephiroth but would be different enough to not draw too much attention from anyone. Using Sephiroth's knowledge of Mario and Aerith's mission, they knew that they would be somewhere in Wutai. All they had to do was find out where. And given the fact that the Ninja Tournament was being advertised as having rare prizes as well, they had a good feeling that they knew exactly where Mario and his allies were headed.
Wasting no time, the clones rushed into Wutai to make certain that they managed to find Aerith and her allies and defeat them before they managed to find anything, particularly any tomes. Knowing they would likely need support, they summoned several Shadow Creepers to aid them, two for each Clone, in their search for Aerith and her allies. Once they were ready, they made their way towards Wutai Village, none of the few monsters on the beach daring to hinder them in any way.
An hour had passed since the start of the Ninja Tournament in earnest and Mario and his team were searching for not only an opposing team with a Blizzard or Thunder scroll, but also for any treasures that may have been lying on the ground. So far, though, they had only found a couple potions and a Fire Materia. While the Materia would not do Mario and his team much good, it would be great for Aerith. As such, he placed it on the handle of his Ultra Hammer so it could grow should he engage in any battles.
During the hour, Mario's party had also begun searching for other teams, hoping that one of them may have either a Blizzard or Thunder scroll, while also being on alert for other teams that may have been tracking them. Vivian extended her supernatural senses to see if anyone was in the vicinity. Should she detect someone, she would warn Mario and Goombella at a moment's notice. So far, though, she had not detected anyone, which had her on edge. Despite being in their normal attire, the group really stood out, with only Aerith's group standing out just as much as them. They also had heard nothing on the news about Sephiroth or the battle outside of Midgar while they had traveled to Wutai, so chances were that no one in this tournament knew that Mario was a close match for a monster like Sephiroth.
The party continued making their way through the mountains, hoping that they would come across some other teams. Eventually, they managed to come across another team, but that team had only a single Fire scroll on it. They figured it would not be worth the energy trying to take the scroll from the team, even if they though that having an extra Fire scroll could come in handy in the future or could also be used to help Aerith's team. The other team, however, did not give them a choice as the moment they caught sight of Mario's team they initiated a battle.
Seeing this as a good time to train in the use of his Star Power, Mario let the power of the stars flow through him as the opposing ninja team launched its assault. He went with only one star's worth of power for the moment so he would not be overwhelmed. Besides, he did not want to risk killing any of the opposing team members. Almost instantly, he could feel the power flowing through him. The leader of the team was charging towards him and he could almost sense an unnatural power emanating from the opposing ninja. This ninja must have been using Materia of some sort. This was confirmed when the opposing ninja team drew their swords, showing that the hilts were imbued with blue, purple, and green Materia pieces.
Wasting no time, Mario drew his Ultra Hammer and prepared for the battle. As one, the opposing ninjas charged towards him, rightfully viewing him as the greatest threat to their team. However, they seemed as if they were moving in slow motion to him. Risking a quick glance around, he noticed that everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Only, it was not the world that was slow; it was him that was fast. He suppressed a grin. He had not expected the power of the stars to be this potent. Even more, any physical or mental fatigue that he had been experiencing beforehand had promptly vanished and he felt as if he were fighting at his absolute best.
He casually sidestepped the first opposing ninja's stab and performed a spinning back heel kick that connected with the unfortunate ninja in the back. The force of the kick lifted the ninja off his feet and sent him flying through the air, where he face-planted into the ground several feet away. He attempted to rise, but a foot on his back told him that it was safer for him to stay down.
Just as Mario had convinced the first ninja to stay down, a second one charged towards him, performing a slash that was intended to take off the plumber's head. Mario raised his Ultra Hammer as if it were made of foam rubber and effortlessly intercepted the slash. A loud clang rang out throughout the mountains as the two weapons clashed but what sounded like a battle for the ages was little more than a light warm-up exercise for the plumber. A quick side-kick sent the second ninja flying through the air until he landed on his back a few feet away and skidded across the ground, still conscious but suddenly realizing that Mario was a far deadlier opponent than he and his team had initially anticipated.
The third member of the opposing ninja team was wiser and, seeing that Mario was far faster than they were, even with their Speed Plus Materia, decided to use his Magic Materia to try to defeat the plumber, or at the very least deal with the plumber's allies, both of who seemed to merely be watching as Mario did all the work. Closing his eyes, the final ninja cast Blizzaga on Mario. A large spear of ice erupted from the ninja's sword as he pointed it at Mario, causing the plumber to duck in order to avoid the attack. The spear was moving almost at a snail's pace to Mario's new reckoning and the plumber was easily able to avoid it. The plumber responded by charging the ninja and rendering him unconscious as he grabbed the ninja and performed a chokehold on him, keeping his hold on him until the ninja was unconscious, at which point, he let the ninja go, gently placing him on the ground, making sure that he was merely unconscious and not worse.
After the battle, Mario mentally analyzed how the fight had gone and how the stars' power had affected him. Throughout the fight, he had noticed that he had been mentally adapting to using the power of the stars as the fight had drawn on. It was clear that he had not had the SOLDIER Koopas' issue in using the power of the stars that they had had with their Jenova and Mako enhancements. He realized that he could risk using more Star power in future battles and would be able to adapt to the power. He only hoped that Luigi was learning the same thing in the Gold Saucer as easily as he was learning it here.
After a few moments, the plumber went about investigating them to see what they had besides the Fire scroll. The first thing he noticed was the Ice Materia, which was larger than other Materia he had encountered before. Given the large size of the ice spear that had been used against him, he suspected that this Materia would allow a user to cast more powerful Blizzard spells. He then went to the other ninjas and found that they had blue and purple Materia on them that he did not recognize as Speed Plus, MP Plus, HP Plus, Magic Counter, All, Thunder, and Elemental. Not recognizing the Materia, he put the blue and purple Materia in his pocket but he placed the green Thunder Materia on his Ultra Hammer so it could grow since it looked smaller than the other green Materia that had been used to cast the ice spell on him near the end of the battle.
During the battle, Mario's allies had all watched in stunned silence. They knew that the plumber had very quick reaction speed and could keep up with fast opponents, but they had never seen him use super speed before. To them, he looked like a blur as he fought the opposing ninja team. Their mouths merely hung open as they watched him dispatch the opposing ninja team singlehandedly, and non-lethally.
After the fight had ended and Mario had plundered the opposing ninja team of their items and scrolls, he went over to his teammates and showed them the treasures he had obtained. It took a few moments for them to form a coherent sentence.
"Wow Mario, that was incredible," Goombella eventually began. "What happened? I couldn't even track your movements."
"I used the power of the Stars," the plumber answered. "I only used one star's worth of power and was able to do that."
"Then why didn't you and Luigi do that against Sephiroth from the beginning?" Vivian asked.
"Because we didn't have training in how to use the Stars' power," Mario answered. "That's also why I only used one star's worth of power in this fight. But it seems like I don't have the same issues with using Star power with minimal training that the SOLDIER Koopas did with the Jenova and Mako enhancements."
"That's great but we should get going before more teams show up," Goombella suggested. "While we can probably deal with them, I'd rather not have to worry about a potential battle of attrition, or drawing too much attention to ourselves from outside. After all, we don't want Sephiroth sending an army after us."
Mario and Vivian nodded in agreement. Once they were ready, they continued on their quest, searching for more ninja teams, hoping that the next one would have either an Blizzard or Thunder scroll.
Elsewhere in the tournament grounds, a ninja team that held a Thunder scroll was searching the forest for teams that had either Fire or Blizzard scrolls. So far, though, they had only come across teams with Thunder scrolls. They had taken down one of the teams with a Thunder scroll since that team also had access to some Summoning Materia, and they took the scroll in order to use as potential trade bait in the future but other than that, there was little that any of the other teams they had encountered had.
"Man, this is more boring than I thought," one of the ninjas lamented with a sigh. "Why aren't there any teams with Fire or Blizzard scrolls?"
"Don't be so loud," another of the team admonished. "And quit your whining. We all knew going in that this part of the tournament wouldn't be easy."
"Yeah, but I didn't know everyone else would be hidin'."
"What did you expect," the third ninja, and team leader, whispered harshly. "This is a ninja tournament. Ninjas don't just stay out in the open waiting to be mugged or worse."
"Yeah, but this is gettin' old," the first ninja complained. "We haven't seen anyone in a whole hour. Aside from that initial burst, the place looks barren and all we've got to show for it is a freaking Blizzard scroll and some Materia."
"Don't badmouth the Materia," the team leader cautioned. "That red Materia piece we've got is a Summoning Materia. Who knows what may come from that?"
Before the first ninja could respond, the second ninja silenced the other two with a, "Hey."
The others looked over at him quizzically. He then motioned to their left and pointed as if he had spotted something. Taking positions near a series of logs, the other two ninjas looked out to see what their comrade had spotted. At first, they had seen nothing, but after a few moments, they managed to spot a man who looked to be in his thirties with long, silver hair and a long katana. The team shrugged in unison as they had not recognized him from the orientation and, thus, figured that he did not have anything of value.
"Who is that?" the first ninja asked.
"Don't know," the second one answered. "I don't remember him from the orientation or even from the new arrivals."
"Yeah, but most of the ninjas were wearing classic ninja outfits and hoods," the leader said. "Maybe one of the teams took off their clothing so as to not be recognized as a ninja," he guessed.
"Maybe," the second ninja said cautiously. "But this guy doesn't move like a ninja," he said, noting the man's gate was casual almost as if he did not have a care in the world.
"Then let's take him out and see if he is," the first ninja suggested, his mask hiding his grin.
The rest of the team then went to draw their swords when out of nowhere, the blade of a katana erupted from the back of the second ninja. The ninja's eyes went wide with pain but since he had been stabbed in the heart and lungs, he did not make a sound. He simply slumped forward and slid off the blade. Before the swords of the other two ninjas could clear their sheaths, though, the same katana that had slain their comrade beheaded both of them, their heads falling to the ground and rolling as their bodies fell to the ground and remained still.
Once the ninjas were dead, the Sephiroth Clone emerged from his cover to check his handiwork. Seeing that all three ninjas were dead and that they were not decoys, not that the ninjas could really hurt them. To the Sephiroth Clones, they were merely playing ninja. Despite not being ninjas, themselves, the clones viewed Mario and his friends as being more ninja-like than any of these wannabes, especially since the rest of the world had not managed to track them down or even realize that offworlders had arrived on Gaia yet.
The other two clones soon arrived on the scene and examined the corpses, with the two stooping down to relieve the corpses of any items and scrolls that could be of use to them. They collected the Thunder scrolls and almost scoffed. The scrolls had no power imbued in them at all and were nothing but pieces of paper with what looked to be a code of some sort. The Materia piece, on the other hand, would be quite useful since it summoned the Knights of Round. The clones grinned, with the de facto leader taking the Materia piece and placing it in his sword. The other two then took whatever else the ninjas had had on their bodies. Once they were finished plundering the ninjas, they reached down and touched the necks of the fallen ninjas. As one, they began to assume the physical characteristics of the ninjas, just as Jenova had been able to in life. Once they had assumed the ninjas' physical forms, they copied the ninjas' clothing and proceeded to make their way deeper into the forest, attempting to track down Aerith Gainsborough and kill her so that on the off chance that Mario or Luigi found another Great Gospel tome, it would be of no use to them.
As for Aerith and her team, in the first hour of the current phase of the tournament, they had spent their time actively searching for opposing ninja teams. While Aerith was not as much of a fighter as her friends in the past had been, or even as much as Mario and his allies currently were, she was still more than willing to engage in a physical fight if the need came. And also with her magical abilities and numerous Materia, including Comet, she could dish out a lot of damage in a battle should she have to. So far, though, their search had turned up nothing. The opposing ninja teams were either busy elsewhere or were doing their best to hide from Aerith and her team, which made little sense to the half-Cetra since she was far from the strongest participant present. She figured that that title would have gone to Mario.
The team continued its search until it did, eventually, come across an opposing team, or rather, an opposing team had come across them. Wasting no time, the opposing ninja team opened the battle by unleashing a barrage of shuriken at Aerith's team. Lady Bow responded by grabbing both Aerith and Ms. Mowz and turning them intangible. The shuriken passed through the allies, shocking the ninjas, who immediately went to draw their swords, hoping to engage Aerith and her allies in close combat. Aerith had other ideas, though, as she immediately went to cast Cometeor on the opposing ninjas. Almost immediately, fiery meteors rained down from the sky and collided with the opposing ninjas, the explosions throwing up dirt and debris. Not wanting to kill them, though, Aerith held back on the spell's power, simply having them stun the opposing ninjas, rather than kill them. Once the spell was finished, though, the three opposing ninjas were rendered unconscious.
After the battle had concluded, Ms. Mowz quickly went about scouring the unconscious forms of the ninjas in order to take anything that may have been of value. Searching the bodies, she only found some more shuriken, a Blizzard scroll, something that they already had but she figured that another one could be of use later on, and two pieces of Magic Materia: Revive and Restore. She immediately gave the two Materia pieces to Aerith, who placed them on her staff. Once they had finished, they continued their search for other opponents, hoping that they would be able to get the other two scrolls needed and gain entry to the next part of the tournament.
They continued to wander the forest for the better part of a half hour trying to find some other ninja teams to get their scrolls. A part of Aerith hoped that the next team they came cross had either more than one Fire scroll or more than one Thunder scroll since that would allow the team to avoid unnecessary combat. As they continued to wander, Lady Bow extended her senses around them to see if she could sense anything like a presence that could indicate a nearby ninja team, or even just a scout. So far, though, she sensed nothing. Ms. Mowz also kept her nose in the air and her ears open on the chance that she might catch the scent or sound of anyone approaching, or any potential opponents caught flatfooted.
Not too far away, though, a suspicious trio of ninjas was on approach towards Aerith and her party. They grinned as they noticed that Mario was not with her. They had suspected that that would be the case in this tournament when they saw that the ninja teams consisted of three people but they were content to find out that it was, indeed, the case.
Using their abilities to shroud their presence from the abilities of the half-Cetra's teammates, they were able to approach the party and examine it without being detected. They had managed to catch the tail end of the short skirmish between Aerith's team and the opposing ninjas that had attempted to accost them. They had only caught her using Cometeor, which caused them to grimace a bit. Cometeor was a powerful spell that was useful against multiple opponents and while it was not Ultima, it was still quite potent, especially if wielded by someone who had as much magical power as Aerith. However, they were not without magic, either, and since they were imbued with Sephiroth's power, they did not require Materia to use most basic spells. Still, they wanted to take precautions since if they were discovered, Aerith could potentially cause their battle to draw a noticeable amount of attention and if Mario showed up, that could make this mission far more difficult.
Looking on, they saw and felt Lady Bow and Ms. Mowz extend their senses to try to detect any potential enemies. Their magic, however, allowed them to remain hidden, even from the Boo. Still, they were careful to not become complacent. They knew that they would have to launch their attack soon. And when they saw the Boo and Squeek turn and rejoin Aerith, their guard seemingly lowered, they saw that the time to strike had come.
Being careful to not reveal their presence, and maintain their disguise as ninjas in order to throw off Aerith and the others should the party survive this initial assault, one of the clones drew out the red Materia and, closing his eyes, activated it, summoning the Knights of the Round to attack Aerith and her party.
Almost immediately, thirteen knights appeared behind Aerith and her party, the knights being completely beholden to the will of the one who had summoned them. Aerith, hearing something behind her, turned around and saw the Knights standing before her but no sign of the one who had summoned them. Her eyes went wide with shock as she faced down the knights. Bow and Ms. Mowz, noticing that Aerith had stopped turned around to see what had caused her to stop and saw the thirteen knights standing before them, their weapons drawn and ready to engage.
"What the…? Bow began. "Who are they?"
"The Knights of Round," Aerith answered in a low voice as she drew her staff and prepared to engage in the fight of her life.
"As in the Knights of the Round Table?" Ms. Mowz asked, having heard of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table from Mario at a reunion between allies several months back.
Being unfamiliar with Earth or its legends, Aerith did not know what the Knights of the Round Table were, the knights being known as the Knights of Round because the Materia used to summon them came from an island called Round Island in the northeastern-most part of Gaia. She held up her staff as the Knights formed up around the group, surrounding them.
"The Knights of Round are considered to be the most powerful Summon in the world," she warned the others. "And not just because there are thirteen of them. Each knight is also a powerful fighter in and of himself." While Aerith had not fought them or summoned them before, she was still intimately familiar with the fact that Cloud had used them in some of his battles against Sephiroth and they had proven invaluable in those fights.
She looked past the knights to see who had summoned them, hoping that by quickly taking down their summoner, they would return to wherever they had come from, and that she could get their Materia so she could summon them later, but she could find no one behind them. This meant that she and her team were stuck having to face down the knights on their own. And there was always the possibility that their summoner would attack them while they were distracted in dealing with the knights.
Not wanting the knights to attack first, she opened the battle by casting Cometeor on the knights, hoping that at the very least, she would hit the leader and inflict some significant damage to him. Aerith's high magical strength made an already powerful spell even stronger as a series of meteors landed among the Knights of Round. They spread out and directly struck four of the knights, striking them on the head and exploding, the explosions engulfing the knights in fire. The meteors would not be enough to kill them, or even render them unconscious, but it would interrupt their attacks and it kept them at bay for a time so there were only nine other knights to deal with at the moment.
Once the spell was finished, it was the knights' turn to attack. Fortunately, for Aerith, the knights that used magic to attack had taken direct hits from Cometeor, as did their leader, so she could focus on avoiding their physical attacks without having to worry about attacks hitting from long range. The knights immediately charged towards her, knowing that with their superior numbers, they would be able to beat her, and the rest of the team, through superior numbers. Lady Bow, however, had other ideas and reached out to both Aerith and Ms. Mowz and grabbed hold of them, turning them intangible. This was when Aerith was more thankful than ever that her Cometeor had hit the magic users since she was uncertain whether or not her intangibility would be useful against the knights' magic.
As the party vanished from their sight, the knights stopped for a second, wondering where the party had gone, before each of them turned formed up in a circle, looking out so they would catch any attempted surprise attack. While the nine knights had formed up, the other, more magically inclined knights and the leader, rose from the ground and joined their comrades, waiting for the time when Aerith and her team would reveal themselves.
While Aerith's team was intangible, Ms. Mowz drew out a Shooting Star and readied it for when Bow could no longer keep them intangible. Once Bow released them, Ms. Mowz held up the shooting star and activated it before the knights could react. Still, the moment the party became tangible once more, one of the knights caught sight of them, and the star above their heads, and cried out a warning to the others in a language that none of the party members understood. However, it would not be enough.
The moment the party became tangible, stars rained down on the knights as they went to go on the offensive against Aerith and the others. The knights scattered, trying to avoid the deadly torrent of stars but they had mixed results. Some managed to avoid more hits than others and the magic users managed to cast their spells, forcing the party to scatter as fire, ice, and comet magic was cast on them. Aerith stood in front of the party and cast Cometeor in a defensive role as meteors rained down all around her and the party, forming a makeshift barrier around them that managed to blunt the impact of the knights' spells. The fire and ice spells fell well short of the party and detonated harmlessly in the distance. The meteor spell, however, was stronger and had managed to partially get through the Cometeor barrier that Aerith had cast.
Some of the meteors struck close to the party member and detonated, their explosions sending the party members hurtling through the air. They eventually crashed into the ground a few feet away from their point of launch. Due to her magical resistances, Aerith suffered the least damage from the meteor spell. She quickly rose and readied herself to intercept the charge of the rest of the knights. Lady Bow also did not suffer much damage since she had managed to make herself intangible while flying through the air, causing her to phase into the ground, which would allow her to launch a sneak attack when the rest of the knights went on the offensive again.
As for Ms. Mowz, she suffered the worst of the meteors. With no inherent magical defenses or ability to go intangible, she was forced to take the full brunt of the explosion that had erupted close to her position. The blast had sent her flying through the air and crashing into the ground several meters away. After hitting, the ground, she remained there, dazed for a second before the cobwebs cleared and she took stock of herself. Feeling her body and not finding any wet sensations or feeling any real pain when moving, she was thankful that she had not suffered worse. She slowly stood to face down the knights once more.
As for the knights, the other knights soon made another charge towards Aerith and the party. Since Lady Bow was too far away for Aerith and Ms. Mowz to reach in a timely fashion, the others steeled themselves for the upcoming assault. As the first knight came, Ms. Mowz dodged his swing and slapped him in the chest, hoping against hope that her attack would do at least some minimal damage. Unfortunately, though, it did nothing and she was forced to go evasive as two more knights joined the first and launched their attacks on the Squeek. Ms. Mowz's small size and agility proved to be quite the boons as she managed to avoid their stabs and slashes with ease.
As for Lady Bow, she saw that Ms. Mowz was dealing with three knights and proceeded to go to her aid. Spring up from the ground in front of the knights and delivering a series of slaps with her fan. While her fan was not weak by any means, against the strong armor of the knights, it may well have been a simple piece of paper for all the damage it did to them. Still, the duo were not out of the fight and Lady Bow grabbed Ms. Mowz so the two of them could go intangible while the knights launched their next assault.
As for Aerith, she had to deal with six knights, though things were a little different with her since she had more offensive magic at her disposal. As the knights charged her, she unleashed another barrage of Cometeor on the knights, fiery comets raining down from the sky and landing among the knights, the explosions forcing them to the side as they struggled to endure her assault. Still, the knights endured the assault without suffering too much damage and were prepared to launch their next strike. The six knights soon charged Aerith once more and took several swings at her, one at a time, which surprised the half-Cetra woman since this made her defense far easier. The first knight thrust his sword at her chest, forcing her to move to her left to avoid it, with the second slashing her chest. She moved her staff to intercept the swing and a loud clang rang out as the two weapons clashed. The third knight soon moved in to slash at Aerith, prompting her to draw back her staff and duck to avoid his slash. She then swung her staff low, managing to catch the two knights in the legs and sweep them off their feet, something that surprised her since they were wearing heavy armor.
The fourth knight soon went to slash her with his axe, prompting her to dodge to her left and roll before rising to assume a fighter's stance. The knight did nothing as the fifth knight joined the fight and went to thrust his lance at her. The half-Cetra woman sidestepped the stab and went to search for the sixth knight, who quickly made his presence known as he went to perform a downwards strike with the intent of cleaving the woman in half. Aerith managed to sidestep this attack too. She then backed away a few steps, getting ready to cast Cometeor again and endure their next assault. However, before the knights launched their next assault, something bizarre happened. The knights stood tall and raised their weapons in salute to Aerith and the party before promptly vanishing from the battlefield, loud claps sounding as air filled the spaces that had just been vacated by the knights. Aerith and the party's eyes went wide with surprise but they were thankful that the knights had departed, figuring that the magic that had kept them on the battlefield had run out.
Aerith breathed a sigh of relief as the knights vanished from the battlefield. Still, neither she, nor the rest of her party lowered their guard, for whoever had summoned the knights was still out there and she felt her magical reserves decrease due to the battle. She was certain that the summoner and/or his team would take advantage of her current weakness and soon launch their attack.