Kitty felt like she was going to collapse in exhastion, she sat down on all fours panting hard. She felt light-headed and tired, what was going on? Kitty tried to stand up but failed miserably, whimpering she gave into the darkness clouding her vision.

Mortimers near lifeless body was drawn out from the rubble, barely breathing he couldn't even open his eyes properly. But he felt at the back of the cave the stirrings of another being.

The bandit still wielding the staff managed to alter his swings enough to block Ritia's katana dash. Turning his attention to the pink haired ninja, the man shouted a phrase "RAPID TEMPO", as he began thrusting with one end of the staff at Ritia with inhuman speed it almost appeared as though there were ten flute-staffs being thrust at her at once.

From the back of the cave a figure stepped out of the shadows displaying a wicked grin. It had five furry tails and small cat like ears on the top of its head. The female fox-demon grin deepened as she saw the state of the would be attackers.

She prepared her technique a number of willow-wips which would seek out and burn any target she chose. Waiting for the reight moment to strike.

OOC; There you have it, the thing at the back of the cave was an under-developed kitsune xD. Must sleep now. Feel free to defeat the kitsune lady in about four posts or so. Se will attack using fireballs which follow you around so be careful. Good night.

OOC: Alright g'night, I'm out in the rp, and can't do anything unless someone uses a medium ranked healing spell to heal me

(Night Al! Also, my characters pretty tired at the moment...)

Now that Mortimer was freed from the rubble, Larita sighed a huge sigh of relief as she uses one last ditch effort at the man with dental problems. Using her sagitta magic, she wrapped the man in her wind arrows. Wobbling as she gets up, she plays her secondary flute, Tibia Melodia, "Lalalala...!!" She pauses from tiredness, almost fainting in the process, "Sound Shift...!" She causes notes to ride across the arrows wrapping around the man and they burst with wind knocking the man out and dispersing Larita's energy. She rested herself against the wall, waiting to see if she's needed again.

As Larita took out one of the goons and started to rest, Kitty falling into unconsciousness and Mortimer too injured to carry on. She was left in a position by herself. "Too bad though, I like it like this." She smiles, engaging in a fierce duel with the man with Larita's staff. Rita didn't want to destroy the staff, so she only parried, countered and blocked any attacks. She didn't aim to do any thing else.

"Defend against this... Tokugi: Mirage Shuriken!" She throws a shuriken forward at the man, purposely aiming to miss, as she throws a second one, hiding in the shadow of the first one, which was low enough, being sent flying at the other mans legs. A simple jump could avoid the second shuriken, however if he jumps too high he may hit the first one and if he doesn't jump high enough, Rita could direct the strings on the second one to impale the mans back.

She hadn't noticed the kitsune woman yet.

Believing that he had seen this trick before, the man jumps twisting sideways as he spins through the air between the two shurikens, however he is unaware of the variation Ritia had made to the technique. As his body came in contact with the string the second shuriken was pulled taught and yanked back around him, spinning until he was tied up. Not much but the damage had been done and the shuriken was buried in one of his ribs. He was out of commission and if he idn't recieve medical attention soon he may die.

The fox woman fires her Willo-wisps at Ritia's back in an attempt to burn her. A wall of the flaming spheres makes its way to slam into Ritia while the other three members are beset upon by two smaller wisps each. Mortimer struggles to open his eyes and just barely manages to see what is going on. His body maybe damaged but thanks to Larita's spell he still has a few shreds of magic left. Coughing up blood as he does so, he manages one of his newer spells. It was still imperfect but it was his only option.

"Exorior phasmatis ut habito in meus animus , tribuo mihi macies umbra redimio telum." With that, three black ribbons rose from Mortimers back, seemingly made of shadow, he willed them to strike at the the fireballs heading towards the three exhausted wounded. The ribbons extend in long black arcs destroying three of the six fireballs. It would take a while before he could return them to a suable state.

But the kitsune woman was still unharmed and had plenty of magic to spare.

She turns to notice a kitsune-like woman just staring at the battle. "Don't push yourself, you're a man anyway, it's not like you're going to do any damage to a woman." She scoffs at the poor kid as a hitodama slams into Rita's back, burning off the arm piece of her kimono. Rita angrily turns around to see the bandits weren't in much better shape. Using the shadows as a boost to launch Rita, she does three flash-steps, looking very similar to an instant transmission to send her right next to the fox woman.

"Ougi: Katana Blitz." She starts off, her arm still burning as she cringes slightly, delivering a barrage of sword thrusts.

Mortimer remains hurt as one of the fireballs crashes into him, he can't see Larita or Kitty from his prone position with only one eye forced open. All he can do is think a female sexist... you don't see those everyday

Meanwhile Ritias rapid sword strikes are ineffectual against the young (for a demon) kitsune as the womans tails seem to enlarge and move with preternatural speed forming a protective shell around herself.

As Larita completes here last strike the fox womans tails lash out in an effort to smack the ninja away. With Laritas highly advanced senses she can tell that each tail is preternaturally hardened by magic to turn it into a mobile and powerful weapon.

Swirrling back with her tails outstretched, cutting out parts of the narrow cave walls, the woman appears almost as a deadly ballerina, dancing backwards with outstretched tails and shooting a myriad of fireballs at the pink ninja.

Larita watches wearily as Rita engages in combat with the fox woman. That was a rare species of magical animals. Larita studies a lot about the magicus mundus animals while in the human world and this one had little information, only rumors and stories about it wiping out a group of explorers without gaining harm. As it if had the 'ultimate' defense.

She peered at the fight, realizing something. "Rita, those tails! There's magic in them, I can sense it! They can harden and soften at that fox girls will, watch out...!" She advices, hoping Kitty would wake up soon enough to help with the onslaught of fighting.

Rita jumped into the air, avoiding the fireballs, her kimono flowing beautifully. "Interesting... a strong opponent, my attacks were pretty useless... It's also noticeable that the enemy is a female." Rita giggles intrigued, it seems even using ki would hardly do much damage with those tails. Listening to Larita's advice, she does a flash step forward numerous times, rebounding off the wall.

Swinging her hips forward, Rita plans to flash step past the fox woman, "Ougi: Binding Linen!" Rita plans on shouting, sending her rope spiraling around the fox woman, attempting to entrap her. However, that was only a set-up. "Tokugi: Disaster Fall!" She continues as she had set up a string of kunais falling down towards the fox woman.

It would seem Rita was a weapon expert, she may not utilize them properly, but she could wield them effectively by in consecutive combos.

The fox woman smiled at the little girls attempt to stop her. Sending two of her tails out in opposite directions she broke the sash before it could even be pulled taught. It was almost too late before she noticed the kunai. Her other three tails were still unoccupied and were able to block them but one got through coming down hard on her shoulder.

The fox creature howled in pain at the minor but painful injury yanking the knife out at throwing it away with a snarl. Turning to face the ninja she was really pissed now. Her tails expanded to fill the better part of the cave, only a small gap was open between her spread and braced legs. Suddenly her tails were surrounded in flame increasing their damage radius and making them hurt a LOT more should they hit. With that, the fox woman began her assault on the near cornered ninja.

The kitsune caused her tails to shoot out rapidly quickly withdrawing them and creating numerous afterimages. The way she used her tails here was eerily reminiscent of the previous enemies use of a staff. Now Ritia was under assault via a steadily advancing kitsune with what seemed like fifty flaming tails and a baseball sized ball of flame growing steadily in between her cupped hands.


Thankfully the kitsune had forgotten about the others allowing Mortimer a chance. With all her attention focused on Ritia he could attack. He almost suffered a black out as he tried to aim but still he did his best to focus, seeking to send his three ribbons of shadow straight into the kitsunes partially expose back. The opening was only there for a second before it closed again and her tail moved back in the way of a clear shot. Mortimer concentrated as best he could trying to time just right when to backstab the Kitsune.

Larita saw Mortimer pushing himself to his limits, she wanted to help, but she is not at the level to not grab the attention of the monster if she tried to do any spell. At this rate, she'd be a burden, so she closely observed the battle, watching to see if Mortimer's okay, too.

"E-eh...?!" Rita screeches in shock and fear as the kitsune lady approaches her. With afterimages slowly creeping up to Rita, as well as fifty tails flailing towards her, she was unsure what to do. She refused to shout for help, grabbing her shuriken and attaching a string to it, she swung it around wildly, trying to knock out a few afterimages and narrow the possibilities of the real one.

Rita was cornered, if the kitsune woman through one of those fire hitodamas, Rita would be doomed. If it hit the walls, it may even cause another rockslide. Rita knew; she had to take the hit. Holding her katana up, she was preparing to take the womans attack, head on.

Kitty woke with up with a headache, she looked around. Where am I?

OOC: This is a dream

Mortimer kept his spear straight.. as straight as he could considering the circumstances. Rasping out to Aria he asked raspily "do you think this will hit?"

The kitsune woman increased the pace of her tempo and her fireball had expanded to the size of a small basketball. All she had to do was keep the little ninja pinned down beneath her fifty tail tempoand the little bitch would be burned to a crisp. She raised the ball above her head ready to throw it. That is until one of the three shadow spears hit her in the back.

The kitsune yelped in pain for a second, but that was all it took. The fireball which had previously been raised above her head dropped ontop of her lighting the rest of her body aflame. Apparently her tails could withstand being set on fire but her skin couldn't. The kitsune woman lost her tempo as her only thought became putting herself out. The screaming fox woman darted around wildly desperatly trying to extinguish her burning body.

She would no longer be able to focus on fighting but her eratic and self defeating movements may have made her an even worse hazard. Ritia remained as the only one who could defeat the fox woman, and she wouldn't be able to do that without getting burned herself.

Mortimer smiled briefly seeing one of his spears go through before passing out once more.

"I'm sure you'll hit, you know what they say about people earning incredible strength during an emergency." Larita confidently nods, as Mortimer successfully hits the monster and falls into a deep unconsciousness once again. Larita stumbled over, grabbing her staff. 'Kitty and Mortimer are out... I also have to do something,' She trembles as she begins chanting. "La la la... Vignti Spiritus Aeriales, Vinculum Facti Inimicum Captent, Sagitta Magica, Aer Capturae!" She sends twenty arrows of wind to wrap up the kitsune woman, "Go Rita!" She shouts, falling over in a slump.

Charging ki to her feet, she jumps from one wall to the other side, gaining a burst of momentum as she charges, holding her katana firmly, she springs herself towards the kitsune woman set ablaze. "Hyaaaa!!" Rita screams as she uses the sharp edge of the blade, aiming to impale the monster, at the expense of injuring her own body because of the deadly flames. "Even if my enemies a female, don't underestimate me, I'm the strongest person." She smiles, sheathing her katana, her arm and chest burnt up.

Had Larita done anything else the ninjas attack may not have been successful. The wind arros although weak managed to slow down the Kitsune for a fraction of a second, and that was all Rita needed to stab the fox woman in the abdomen rather than one of her wheeling tails. Clutching her stomach, the fox woman falls to her knees in agony. The shock of the blade going through her stomach, the pain of the fire and the smoke which she has been forced to inhale have made this one of the most agonizing deaths imaginable. Still, with one final act of vengence the fox woman gives a cross between a scream and a howl before literally exploding outward in a massive fireball, sending flame all throughout the tunnel. Those who were lying down only got singed but anyone higher than flat on the floorwould suffer serious burns. As the smoke and flame clear, anyone still conscious can see a small infant fox sleeping peacefully where the kitsune woman once stood. It is by all means normal and has only one tail. Could this creature be useful? Or an enemy?

Kitty felt like she'd been in the forest before. It was dark and the trees seemed to go on forever. She walked forwards slowly wondering why she'd been here before. A piercing scream interrupted her thoughts, it sounded like... well... her.

Kitty ran forwards and saw a black wolf towering over a small copy of herself. "Help!" the little version whimpered. The wolf growled and swiped a paw across her cheek, then suddenly drew back as if it'd been stung. The wound glowed silver and an illuminating light appeared making Kitty cover her eyes. By the time the forest had become dark again the little version had disappeared.

OOC: still in the dream

Larita cautiously went over to take the initiative, she was unsure if it was an ally or enemy, but it was certainly sleeping. "I-I'll do it, Rita, you should take everyone to safety." Larita recommends, limping towards the fox to try and capture it. She was slightly singed in agony from the previous attack and she knew Rita who more than likely got the full-front of the attack was extremely injured. She continued to walk towards the tiger, hoping it wouldn't lash out and defeat Larita in a single hit or something embarrassingly, yet dangerously similar.

Rita nods as little Larita seemed to be moving forward, which Rita proudly nods. Slowly creeping past the sleeping monster, she grabs Mortimer and Kitty with much struggle and begins carrying them outside. She wondered why these three even went underground like this. She wasn't informed, she just followed them. "I'm almost there," She mutters as the three made their way up to the surface, hoping Larita would be alright.

You guys should end this soon, the battle starts tomorrow.

OOC; Larita... it's a fox... not a tiger. Also hope you don't mind but I'm gonna do a bit of minor character control on your part Larita... just to speed things along.

Larita approached the little foxgingerly stretching out one hand. As she drew closer the infant fox, eyes still shut stirred slightly but otherwise remained still. Gaining confidence, Larita extended her hand closer to the fox. This time the fox did move. Very slowly, almost pitiably so, and licked Larita's fingertips. Sensing a warm body the infant fox drew closer to the flutist snuggeling up to her as if it were its mother. The fox was an ally, and Larita emerged from the cave cradling the infant fox in her arms. Safe, and a wonderful little treasure. Perhaps in time, it could be taught the techniques used in its former life, perhaps it would not be so cruel or violent. Only time would tell, but with Larita and the other girls behind it, the foxes future was looking bright.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnd; DONE. Unless you guys have anything to ad this thread is finished... and all we got for it was a little fox lol xD

Rewards

Alberio: 3 SP, 3 MP, 600,000 Drachma
Kitty: 3 SP, 3 MP, 550,000 Drachma
Aria: 3 SP, 2 MP, 500,000 Drachma
Ritia: 2 SP, 2 KP, 300,000 Drachma

You people can decide who gets the fox as a free pet, but whoever does forfeits their money reward.