Vs Arai, the Martial Arts Master

"We aren´t going to pay. We are here to stop you!"

"Oh really? Adventurers and knights far stronger and …better equipped... have tried." Arai´s eyes narrowed over Min, finally taking a chance to scan her from head to toe. "Pft, are you serious? What, you hired the local vagrant as extra muscle? And what´s up with the jester over there?"

"I´m a real adventurer-!"

"Sure you are. I bet diving for trash is quite the adventure, huh?"

"Now!" Celeria unleashed a flurry of arrows at the bandit. Arai pushed her left palm forward, shooting a tempestuous current of air out of her hand. The gale was strong enough to not only deflect the arrows but send Celeria tumbling back downhill.

Peonie tried to close the distance while Arai was busy with Celeria, but the bandit was alert. She swiftly turned around and pressed her palm upon Peonie´s stomach, releasing another current of air that sent her flying toward her elven friend on the ground.

"That was my first and only warning. Keep fighting and we´ll upgrade to fireballs, understand?"

"Forgot about me!" Min proudly proclaimed, standing behind Arai, but the bandit didn't even bother to turn around. 

"Pfft, what are you going to do, make me laugh to death?"

"Maybe, but for starters, I was thinking about kicking your ass!"

"As if-ack!" Arai tumbled forward. Min had planted her foot firmly upon her behind. "Oh, the naked hobo wants to play, huh? Fine, I´ll show your squalid ass how professionals actually do business." 

The bandit snapped her fingers, sending a small plume of fire toward Min. The naked heroine tried to dodge, but the leaves on her chest quickly caught aflame. "Eck! Hot, hot, hot!" Min yelled, throwing the flaming plants away.

"Hah! I don´t know why you are so embarrassed, it´s not like you have anything worth looking down there." 

One of the flaming embers danced away in the breeze and landed straight back into Arai´s shoulders. Her surprisingly flammable gi caught fire as well. Arai´s hazel eyes shot open, growing three times as wide as they stared at the growing inferno in her shoulder. "Aaah!!" 

The bandit aimed her hand at herself. A torrent of chilly water poured out with such intensity that not only it knocked her to the ground, but the water splashed the torso of the nearby Min.

"C-cold!" Min said, spitting a strand of wet hair away from her eyes and hugging her chest. "And what is this? An ice cube?!" she asked, pulling a little cube of ice out from her cleavage. A few more cubes were scattered across the ground, it seemed like Arai´s magic conjured more than water.

"S-so you want a t-taste of adventure, you p-pathetic little s-scamp? Fine, I´ll g-give you one y-you´ll carry the rest of your life." 

The drenched Arai stammered to her feet. Her white gi clung to her every curve, and thanks to the water now soaking it, became see-through. By the looks of the pair of diamonds trying to poke free from her chest, Arai was not wearing underwear underneath. "Come here, I´ll dry you up!"

Arai stretched both hands open at her sides, each holding a blue flame. She lifted them to make a show out of threatening Min, secretly enjoying the warm fire drying away the water. She aimed her hand at Min-

"Forgot about me, didn't you?" Peonie returned, quickly grabbing Arai´s wrist and pointing it towards the sky. The fireball hit naught but a cloud.

"Oh right, there were actual adventurers here. If you´ll excuse me, tramp, the grown-ups have work to do," Arai tried to release her second fireball straight into Peonie´s chest, but the adventurer was quicker. She grabbed her other arm and redirected the attack towards the path, where it whizzed by Celeria´s head as the elf was looking for a good place to position herself and snipe.

"Hey, watch it!" the elf yelled, reading her bow. Celeria tried to get a good angle on Arai, but it was hard to find one that didn't pierce Peonie first.

"You´ll do well not to underestimate us!" Peonie goaded. She was holding onto both of Arai´s hands and struggling to keep them from aiming at any living being in the vicinity. Sadly, it was about the only thing she could do for the time being. Arai had similar strength, and she kept her head wisely out of head-butting range from Peonie.

"Please, I can beat you all with my hands tied behind my back." Arai kicked the earth in front of her. Instead of a stubbed toe, the ground gave way to her foot and was raised around Peonie´s ankle like a rock snare, trapping her left leg in place. 

"What the?" Just as Peonie looked down, Arai threw another kick, trapping the adventurer´s right leg too. Taking advantage of the distraction, Arai tried to pull away, but Peonie´s grip was too strong. Since she still couldn't get free, she aimed her hand toward the human face.

"Should have paid the fee when you got the chance."

"Haya!" Min returned with a triumphal chop to Arai´s neck. It was enough to give bandit pause, but little else. She didn´t budge an inch. 

"Was that a punch? I barely felt it! I know cats who can kick with more force!"

"Err, would you believe I was stretching?"

"No. You are more pathetic than I thought. I can´t even feel your attacks. Go away while you still can, little tramp, and leave this fight to the professionals. Now where was I?" Arai looked back at Peonie, her hands glowing with fire once more.

"Well, let´s see if you can feel this!" Min grabbed the back of Arai´s gi and dropped all the ice she had been scooping off the ground after her failed water attack. The cubes slid down Arai´s wet skin, raising goosebumps on their way and causing the bandit to squeal.

"EEeep! Ack. C-cold!" Arai jerked her whole body like a convulsing snake. Peonie still didn´t let her go, so the bandit could do little but shake like a maraca and hope the ice would fall off. Her dance failed to dislodge the cubes, some of which found their way into her pants, making a quick stop in between her buttocks and at the bottom of her waist. "L-let me go! You idiot!"

"Ha! Fat chance! Now Celeria, come and finish this!"

"Let´s see if you´d like some ice as well!" Furious, Arai aimed her hands towards Peonie, shooting a current of snow from her fingertips straight into the neck hole of Peonie´s onesie. The avalanche poured inside her clothes, covering her skin with a veneer of icy white.

"Eeeep!" Peonie yelled, every single hair on her body standing up.

"N-not so funny, now, huh?"

"I still find the situation pretty funny," Min commented. 

"H-hey!" Peonie yelled.

"Sorry Peonie, but it´s the truth."

The cold was too much for Peonie to bear. She let go of the bandit to try and get some snow out of her skin. No matter how much she patted, the frozen water had nowhere to go as her garment completely enveloped her body. Instead, it pooled around her curves, her breasts, her waist, and even her feet.

Desperate to feel warmth, Peonie quickly untied the knot on her back and peeled the onesie down to her knees. She slapped the snow away from most of her body. Sadly, she could do nothing for the snow near around feet, but she still moaned feeling the warmth of the sun kiss her skin again. 

"Maybe I was wrong, maybe this whole party is made out of exhibitionist freaks," Arai commented, staring at the pointed arrows crowning Peonie´s brown nipples. 

"I´m not a freak! T-that was just t-too cold for me!"

"Well then. Allow me to help you warm up a bit."

"Boo! You already said that threat. Get new material!" Min yelled.

Arai launched another fireball, and the immobile Peonie braced for impact. Celeria, however, was quick on the draw. She didn´t have time to close the gap, but she did have a quiver full of arrows and knew a few spells to turn them into something else. 

The elf shot a couple of water arrows to intercept the fireball, which soon exploded into a cloud of mist when it made contact with the flames.

"Argh, I can´t see anything…" Min coughed. "But neither can she!"

"I heard that!" a fireball whizzed past Min´s nose but ultimately missed her. 

"And I saw that!" Celeria replied, launching an arrow towards the source of the light. Arai stifled a gasp. The arrow had grazed her side, ripping a hole into her gi. Even in the fog, elven accuracy was not to be trifled with.

Arai took scared steps back, a white blanket covering her vision. If the elf found her first in the middle of the fog, then it was probably the end of the line. She carefully stepped back towards the canyon wall, to at least manage to cover her back.

As Arai´s back hit the wall, a small pebble fell from the rock face to the ground, and not even ten seconds after, another arrow whizzed right by her. It was so close it pinned part of her gi to the cliff face. 

Those wore some sharp ears the elf had. Arai could feel her heart drumming and prayed that she could not hear that as well. If she wanted to win this fight, she would have to hit the elf before she could hit her.

"Marco!" Min shouted. Arai´s instinct took hold before she could even process who the voice belonged to. She shot another fireball that barely missed Min.

"Oh crap," a couple of arrows again barely missed her. They hit her sides, pinning her more of her gi into the wall. It was a miracle they hadn´t broken skin yet, but Arai didn´t want to rely on luck or the Sisters' Grace to win this fight. 

She needed a decoy, and sadly, she couldn't think of a better way to get one than taking a page out of the freak party´s book.

Arai carefully removed her hands from the sleeves of her gi and stepped out of her top, which remained pinned to the wall thanks to Celeria´s arrows. The decoy was set. Now all she needed was to get the elf's attention without drawing suspicion.

"Polo!" Min yelled. Arai smiled, the perfect chance. She released another fireball at Min´s general direction and quickly ducked. Her ears and eyes were peeled in anticipation of the elf´s sharp retaliation. Right on cue, more arrows came to finish skewering her precious gi. 

Arai had what she needed. She stood up and sent a somewhat weak gust of wind in Celeria´s direction. The fog around the elf dissipated and she became exposed before she could draw another arrow from her quiver. "There you are!" Arai aimed her hand forward, sparks already flying around her fingertips. 

"And there YOU are!" Min attempted to lunge at the bandit, but in what seemed to be a somewhat common occurrence, her feet found a stone in her path, and she tripped just short of her target.

A bright spark shot out of Arai´s fingertips, fizzling not five meters later. The confused bandit looked at the still intact elf, and then at her hand. "What the?" She looked down and was alarmed that she could see the little patch of black hair in between her legs. Her pants were down!

Min was lying down between her feet. She craned her neck up and smiled. "Got your belt!" she said, lifting said belt.

Arai swiftly kicked Min away and scrambled to pull her pants back up her athletic legs. "Urgh, you are so annoying! This is what I get for not throwing out the trash first!" 

The bandit aimed at Min, but quickly redirected her hand towards the elf, shooting a weak wind current that barely managed to deflect an arrow away from her face. 

"Argh! One thing after another with you people!"

Celeria ducked, dodging the lukewarm fireball Arai launched in retaliation. The bandit was shooting her spells with one hand, the other used to hold her pants in place and prevent them from falling.

Aria and Celeria traded projectiles from afar, the elf´s arrows unable to penetrate Arai´s windy shield, but the bandit´s sluggish spells failed to connect with the elf either. Occasionally, Arai sent a little gust of wind to keep Min down while she dealt with her priority target. 

Realizing that this was not going anywhere, Celeria began to slowly close the gap in between shots to try and defeat Arai with good old fisticuffs. This gambit didn´t go unnoticed by the bandit. Arai waited until Celeria was next to the still covered in goosebumps Peonie, to aim her hand at the elf´s trapped friend.

Celeria dug her heels and prepared herself to try to intercept the attack on Peonie, but it was a feint. Arai pulled back her arm and kicked the ground instead. 

Rocks surged from the ground near Celeria´s feet to snare her legs like a bear trap, also trapping her in place like Peonie. Using the elf´s momentary surprise to her advantage, Arai sent a simple wind blade to knock down the bow away from Celeria´s distracted hands.

"That was a valiant effort, girls. You cracked the top ten most difficult fights I had. But as always I´m victorious!" Arai said with a chuckle.