"A long time ago, there existed two goddesses. One was the beautiful and caring goddess of light, Palutena. The other was the not-as-pretty and mean goddess of darkness, Medusa. One fostered the growth of humanity, while the other loathed humans and did everything in her power to ruin their lives. And I'm not talking about minor things like prank calling or putting graffiti on their houses. She ruined their crops, murdered them, and destroyed their homes."
"The brave and heroic Palutena was left with no choice but to battle against her opposite, rallying her army of Centurions against her…In what was a very easy battle, the mighty Palutena managed to apply a curse to Medusa that turned her into a monstrous Gorgon, after which she was banished to the Underworld, swearing revenge against the incredible Palutena and mankind for her defeat."
"It was many years before the world would see Medusa again, but this time around she had become the Mistress of the Underworld…And with an army of her own behind her, she was able to invade Skyworld, sealing poor, poor, pretty Palutena in stone and banishing all the angels away. But one angel managed to escape her revenge, and after braving both the Underworld and Skyworld he acquired the Three Sacred Treasures and fought against Medusa."
"Naturally, he was successful, and he rescued the gorgeous Palutena from her stone prison, earning her praise as a reward. And for a time, that was the last anyone ever saw of Medusa…"
The story was finished being told with a rather foreboding remark, and the lady responsible for saying it lowered her pristine sapphire staff beside her hip while overlooking her audience of one. She was a tall, divine being with flowing green hair that extends almost to her feet, and she wore a gold laurel around the top of her head that complemented her hair color well. On her body was a simple-looking white dress with numerous gold ornaments, most noticeably the ones attached to her belt. Beside a gauntlet on her left arm was a prismatic shield, though it was hard to imagine her using it by her kind demeanor alone.
Her audience of one was an angel boy of average height and build. He has many tufts of brown hair, a white tunic decorated with red and gold hems on the bottom that is fastened on the shoulder by a single gold pin with a ruby-like gem embedded on it. He has bronze and gold cuffs on his wrists, a gold bracelet on his upper left arm, and another gold ring on his right thigh. Despite being an angel with wings, he stands on the ground with brown sandals that are decorated with crossing, beige bands. He had an eager smile on his face after the lady was done talking, but at the same time you could tell he was pondering something else.
"You know I like it when you tell me stories Lady Palutena, but umm…I was there during all of that, was there any reason why you brought it up again?" The boy questioned while leaning one fist against his chin and putting an innocent look on his face. Palutena smiled at the boy, telling him in an honest tone "Oh Pit, I wasn't telling YOU that story, you just happened to be here while I was."
Pit lowers his head and looks around curiously at the surrounding area, and even across the entire cloudy landscape of Skyworld he couldn't find a single other soul close by. Puzzled, he turns to face Palutena and asks her "Umm…Lady Palutena, I'm the only other person around." "It's better if you don't think too much about that Pit." Palutena replies without changing her expression in the slightest.
"Alright, if you say so…" Pit gives up on the matter just like that, showing just how much he trusted Palutena's words. With a nod of his head, the angel clenches his right fist and puts on an earnest expression before he asks of Palutena "So what did you need me to come here for then?" Palutena opens her eyelids and pulls her staff out farther from under her arm, pointing it towards the bright skies beyond Skyworld while directing Pit's attention towards that direction.
The angel turns around and looks out past Skyworld to see a few pink creatures with a large single eye flying between the clouds. Confused, Pit said "Huh? Monoeyes? But they're from the Underworld, what are they doing all the way up here?" Palutena immediately replied in a concerned tone of voice "No one from the Underworld Army would dare to venture up this far unless they were being directed by someone else."
Pit turns around and says with a shocked look on his face as he leans forward "But the only one who could control the Underworld Army is Medusa…Right? But that would mean she's been…" "Resurrected, yes. Even though it's been 25 years, she has managed to return. And with her army preparing to attack the humans, it's up to me as the goddess of light to protect them from harm." Palutena says firmly to Pit, and the angel nods his head before stating "Don't worry Lady Palutena, I promise I have your back."
Palutena's concerns melt away with a smile and a slight tilt of her head as she says to the angel "Hehe, I know you do Pit. But I can tell the Underworld Army has gotten a little stronger since last time, so there's a couple things I need to give to you before you can tackle them." The goddess holds her staff out and the spherical sapphire atop it glows, summoning forth with a flash of light a silver colored bow that was missing the string. The bow is thrust into Pit's open right hand, and with an enthusiastic glance over the weapon he says "Oh cool! What is this?"
Enjoying the awed expression of her trusted ally, Palutena explained to Pit while drawing her staff back beside her hip "That is the Silver Bow, it's a prototype weapon I made for you after seeing the return of the Underworld Army. It is powered by my magic, and it can fire an unlimited numbers of shots. It'll be useful for the moment, but I will try and make some more weapons for you while you are out on the battlefield."
Pit, in the middle of Palutena's explanation, tests out the new bow by pointing it towards the sky and pretending to pull the string. Instantly, an arrow of silver light is fired up quickly, but it only travels a short distance before it begins to shrink into nothingness. With a bright smile on his face, Pit lowers his arm and exclaims "This is so amazing! Thanks Lady Palutena! …Wait, you said this is a prototype?"
He looks up at the goddess for an answer, and she replies while glancing off to the side "Well I had to work quickly, so it's not a perfect weapon…I'll try and get you something better out of that later on, but for now it should work against the Underworld Army." "You're too kind Lady Palutena. This should be more than enough to stop them!" Pit pumps the bow into the air and fires off one more shot to get a feel for the weapon, while Palutena puts on a sly grin and says "Oh, in that case I guess I don't need to give you my second gift."
"Huh? What second gift?" Pit looks at Palutena and asks, and the goddess says to him in turn "Oh, just something you've been wanting for a very long time Pit…The power of flight!" It was at that very instance that Pit's jaw dropped in sheer disbelief, and he gleefully proclaimed with both fists clenched "Y-You're not pulling my leg here, are you Lady Palutena? You're actually going to give me the power to fly?!"
"Well I was, but since you seem so satisfied with just the Silver Bow…" Palutena was clearly taunting Pit in a kindly manner, but before she finished her sentence Pit shook his arms out and said in a desperately apologetic tone "Oh no no no! I'll never be able to defeat the Underworld Army without the ability to fly! I'm sorry for acting arrogant, Lady Palutena, so can I pretty please have the ability to fly?"
With Palutena being stared at with Pit's pitifully innocent puppy-dog eyes, the goddess quickly folded and said to the angel "Oh alright Pit. Here you go, one power of flight, coming right up!" Another wave of her staff allows a magical energy to flow into Pit's wings, making them glow with a rainbow light that causes the wings to flap, taking Pit off the ground much to his combined surprise and delight. "Whoa! I'm actually flying!" He proclaims with a wide and happy grin on his face.
He immediately turned around with Silver Bow in hand, looking back at Palutena and waving at her while exclaiming triumphantly "Thank you very, very, very much Lady Palutena! I won't let you down!" Palutena is about to say something else regarding Pit's new power, but the young angel quickly turns around and flies off to fight the Underworld Army with abundant enthusiasm.
Palutena then realizes that she could have easily pulled Pit back with her control over his flight, but then with one hand leaning against her chin she murmurs to herself "Well, I guess I can give it a minute or two before I tell him about the limitation…Don't want to damper that enthusiasm too much!" She gets a light chuckle out of what she said, and then with a brush of her staff against the empty air she teleports away from the edge of Skyworld back to her temple in order to cover Pit in what would be his toughest battle. But another hero was on the way, unknowingly coming to assist him…
Clash of the Elements Part 4, Final Story: Uprising
Chapter 3?: The Heads of the Hewdraw
Flying through the depths of space once more was the teenage Elemental Overlord Riku. It had been quite a number of months since he last made a visit to another world, and it's been that long since he's devoid himself of any inhibiting emotions like happiness or anger. He did this after realizing that it was a lack of good judgment due to his emotions that nearly led to one disaster after another on other worlds. But while he considered this plan of his to be a good idea, the two dragons that were allied with him from another realm had other thoughts.
"Riku, this plan of yours is ridiculous. Just because you want to be more focused when helping other worlds doesn't mean you have to be emotionlessly during travel!" The black dragon Takashi proclaims, berating Riku for his fool-hearted decision. The teenage Overlord replied while glancing slowly to the right "If I let up for even a second, then I'll go back to the way I was before. A foolish child who let his emotions get the better of him…"
"You're still being a fool, just of a different sort." Takashi bluntly points out, and Riku calmly says in turn "Don't chide me for my decisions, Takashi. Not when I'm doing this for the benefit of the universe." The dragon could be heard growling at the boy not long afterwards, with the white dragon Sodenko intervening afterwards with a remark of "For once I agree with my brother. There have only been two instances where your emotions have gotten the better of you in a negative manner, and-"
"It led to the destruction of one world and the near destruction of another, that is what you were about to say, right?" Riku interrupts in a rather blunt but honest tone of voice, followed by Takashi angrily exclaiming out of a lack of patience "If you are so set on beating yourself up over everything you do that you are going to destroy your own emotions and identity, then why don't you just stop being an Elemental Overlord?!"
The teenage Overlord had to take pause for a moment at that comment, thinking about it before he said to the black dragon "What else is there for me? My memories of other worlds prevent me from truly relating to others on my own, my similar appearance to my brother prevents me from saying I have my own identity, and the atmospheric effects the higher-ups have applied to the worlds along with my powers mean I can never be normal. All I have is my duty to the worlds in the universe."
"That still doesn't mean you have to get rid of your emotions! To think that you'd be so unreasonable…" After Takashi's gripes were ignored by Riku, who in his mind felt that Takashi was the one being unreasonable in this instance, he looked back on ahead and saw a planet in the distance. It was the planet Earth, but this one appeared to be surrounded by an array of mystical space phenomena such as constellations and seas of blue stardust.
Curious about this, Riku began to fly towards the planet at high speeds without saying anything to the two dragons. But Takashi had something to say to him before he ended their conversation "…Riku, I just wish you go back to the way you were someday…I respected you back then." For a moment, Riku grimaced at what was said to him, but put himself back into a stoic stake as he flew past all celestial phenomenon and went through the atmosphere of the planet. The fact that he wasn't transformed into another creature was already a good sign about his visit here…
The skies were bright and the clouds had a slightly orange tint to them, but Riku didn't find anything suspicious about them until he delved further into the sky and began to notice some other creatures flying around with him. They were pink, one-eyed creatures that were gathered together in a swarm of five with their sights aimed directly towards the teenage Overlord. They widened their eye for a moment and then fired off a blast of black and yellow electricity as big and round as their bodies.
Riku quickly drew his helix-bladed sword and performed a calm and swift 360 slash with his blade extended to cut down the energy blasts, firing out a slicing wave of wind that strikes through all the creatures in a single swoop. They disintegrate into nothingness, leaving Riku to float in mid-air and comment "Ok, so those were Monoeyes…I'm definitely in the Kid Icarus world." Immediately upon realizing this he turns around to find any other signs of activity in the sky.
Flipping around while dispelling his sword for the time being, the teenage Overlord catches a brief glimpse of a three-headed purple behemoth flying behind a thicket of clouds. He was pursuing a glowing speck, but the speck seemed to have some fight in him seeing one of the heads was blown off from the rest of the body as it passed into view again. The head flopped around as it fell towards the ground, and that was enough for Riku to figure out his next move.
Easing the slight tension in his muscles, Riku flew straight at the site of the aerial battle as fast as he could muster, noticing that he didn't feel at all weaker in any manner. After a good thirty seconds of flight, the teenage Overlord ends up catching up with the three-headed beast right as the glowing speck has managed to take off another head and had just fired off the decisive shot against the remainder of the body.
The creature is covered in explosions that drags it out of the sky, with the last head proclaiming in a pained but somewhat flamboyant tone "No! I'm too pretty to die!" When the behemoth crashes against the ground far below it creates a rising, glowing explosion. The one person responsible for defeating the beast, a young brown-haired angel with bright aura wings. In his right hand was a dark purple blade that appeared to have the aesthetic of cursed armor, complete with a blood red, fanged tip.
The angel swung his left fist up and proclaimed triumphantly "And that's the end of that!" But before he can enjoy his victory too much a voice calls out to him from afar in a reminding tone "Not yet Pit, the Hewdraw doesn't need a body to survive. It's two detached heads are still out there, so you need to follow them, pronto." Pit is then turned around and made to quickly descend towards the ground with his weapon drawn out beside himself. Riku was following close behind, and as he dived through the clouds to catch up with the angel another swarm of enemies began to launch an attack on Pit and Riku.
There were some Monoeyes, but this time there was also some green, impish orbs with large tongues along with some jellyfish creatures that looked a lot like…Metroids? Riku drew his blade upon seeing these Metroid look-a-likes called Komaytoes, and commented in a surprised tone "Boy, doesn't this bring back memories…" He kept his voice to a whisper before turning around to fend off the creatures with steady swings of his sword.
Meanwhile, Pit was firing off piercing purple shots from the blade in his hand, the shots being big enough to consume all of his enemies whole. The angel's focus remained strong until the voice speaking to him commented "Pit, when you get a chance, you might want to turn around." "Huh? Is the Underworld Army attempting a sneak attack, Lady Palutena?" Pit inquires, and as he turns around Palutena answers in a slightly worried tone "Not quite, but I think this is a little more troublesome."
Pit catches a glimpse of Riku in battle above him, and his eyes widen in disbelief and slight annoyance as he comments "What? Since when can humans fly?!" Palutena says in turn "They shouldn't be able to…Gods and goddesses would have to give them wings in order to make that possible. Pit, I know the Hewdraw heads are still a problem at the moment, but I need you to talk to this human for a bit so we can find out what his deal is."
"Alright Lady Palutena…" Pit spoke in an annoyed tone, and a bit of jealousy creeps to the surface as he rubs the back of his head with his free hand and states "Now even humans are flying on their own…This just hasn't been my day." By this point Riku has dispatched of the forces of the Underworld Army that had attacked him, which allows him to flip back around and look down at Pit, who was glancing at him with a puzzled look in his eyes.
"…So much for my stealthy approach." The teenage Overlord commented quietly before he looks at Pit and says to him while picking up the speed of his descent to get closer to him "Hey, you're Pit, right?" The angel widened his eyes in shock and was left with his mouth agape for a moment before he replies "Huh?! How do you know my name? …Have we met before?"
As Pit tilts his head and strains his brain trying to remember the person who spoke to him, Palutena intervenes and says in a cautious tone "Be on your guard Pit, my Palutena Alarm is going on red alert here." "Speaking of being on guard…It might be a good idea to stop Pit from hitting the ground." Riku says, gesturing his right pointer finger downward, and after being briefly caught up in her own surprise that this boy heard he speak Palutena uses her powers to put the brakes on Pit's flight.
This unfortunately causes Pit to be jerked downward from the sudden stop, only for him to be dragged back into his normal position with a little soreness in his wings. Thankfully, Palutena stopped him just thirty feet away from the solid ground. As Pit postured himself upright and scratched the back of his wings with the dull part of his blade, he says in a relieved tone of voice "That was a close one…My wings were almost torn right off my body!"
"That wouldn't have been good news, the spare angel wings were all accidentally thrown off of Skyworld by the Centurions last week…" Palutena comments in response to that, but despite her using a serious tone of voice Pit assumed otherwise and said in a jovial tone "Hehe…That's a good joke Lady Palutena." The fact that Palutena was silent afterwards did nothing but make Pit reply in a hesitant sounding "L-Lady Palutena?"
Riku floats beside Pit as he has his conversation with Palutena, and the goddess points out afterwards "Worry about that later Pit, right now I REALLY need you to talk with that flying human. After all, he seems to have heard me talk to you…" Pit was left with an agape mouth again before Riku explains "It's not like you are focusing your voice on just Pit here, Palutena."
"Even so, normal humans shouldn't hear my voice unless I focus on them. Of course, you've shown that you aren't just some normal human. I got to admit I'm kind of getting impatient here, just who are you?" Palutena demands an answer from the boy, while Pit ponders the remark and mentions "Huh, so that's why Magnus didn't hear you back then."
Riku nods his head and knows not to drag things out any longer, and under an assumption he decides to directly say "My name is Riku, the Elemental Overlord." Palutena immediately states in surprise "The Elemental Overlord?!" Pit was taken aback for a moment before saying "Whoa what?! You know who this guy is Lady Palutena?"
"Not the boy specifically, but I recognize the title. I'll explain in a bit Pit. You don't have much time left to fly and we still need to find the two Hewdraw heads." Palutena's reminder makes Pit slap his forehead and say in a panicked tone "Oh no, you're right!" Swerving his body around, the angel tries to look for any sign of rambunctious activity from the heads, leading to him noticing a town filled with stone houses being assaulted by the bounding heads of the Hewdraw.
"There they are!" Pit exclaims while pumping his left fist forward, and Palutena exclaims "Hurry Pit, the townspeople are in trouble without our help!" Her concern for the humans was blatant, but before Pit is sent off flying towards the town Riku states while folding his arms together "I'll come with you."
"I figured you would…Besides, I'm afraid you're going to have to answer a few questions for me before I can trust you." Palutena says, followed by Riku stating in a calm tone of voice as he and Pit fly straight towards the attacked town "I wasn't planning on resisting. But first, you should probably tell Pit what you know…I'm actually curious how you know about my title."
"Well, a long, long time ago…Maybe two-thousand years to be precise, there was this legendary figure named the Elemental Overlord. He could control all the elements from fire to wind, but the primary one he used was light, like me. He fought against the Dark King in a legendary battle that nearly reached our planet. But considering how long ago that was, I think this boy may be his successor…I heard from another source that there was some sort of prophecy involving his return." Palutena's explanation comes to an end rather quickly as Pit and Riku end up above the town.
"From the higher-ups, is that right?" Riku inquires, and Palutena says "Oh, so you know about them already? Yeah, that's who I heard it from then." Pit glances over at Riku and says in a delighted tone "So you're a hero from another world? That's so cool!"
"…I wouldn't say I'm a hero, Pit…" Riku says, trying his hardest to fight back embarrassment over the young angel's glee. Pit is then reminded of a rather bothersome fact and with a curious raise of his eyebrows he asks "Hey wait, so how do you know me and Lady Palutena's names? …Did we meet at that Super Smash Bros. tournament and I just forgot?"
Palutena says in an honest tone of voice "I think he probably knows about that tournament Pit, the Elemental Overlord is said to govern peace across all the worlds, after all. Anyways, prepare to hit the town, we got Hewdraws to hunt!" At the goddess' command, Pit is sent gliding towards the town with Riku following close behind, and the young angel turns towards the teenage Overlord and says to him "Oh I get it now! So you're some kind of super powered space cop!"
"…I've honestly never heard it put that way before." Riku says after staring at Pit in sheer disbelief. The two heroes then flip their bodies around and land softly on the stone ground, with Pit's wings losing their glow as he holds his weapon out and looks at the destruction caused by a combination of the Hewdraw heads and the Underworld Army. "They're out of control!" Pit proclaims in a horrified tone of voice.
"That they are Pit. We're never going to defeat it unless we can get them to stand still in an open environment." Palutena explains, and Pit finds it fit to ask "Lady Palutena, would you happen to have any Hewdraw bait? …Actually, would a head without a body even need to eat?" Palutena chuckles and replies in an assuring tone of voice "Don't worry Pit, I got you covered. But there's just one last thing I have to ask…Riku, what is your purpose in being here?"
Pit turns around and looks at the boy, and Riku folds his arms and says honestly to both Pit and Palutena "I'm here to help you face the Underworld Army. We have the same goals, so I'm willing to assist you however I can." Pit puts his two cents into the matter by saying to Palutena "Lady Palutena, I'm ok with having Riku help us out."
"Two is better than one, they always say. Really, Riku doesn't seem untrustworthy, so if he wants to tagalong he's more than welcome to. But only if he agrees to follow my orders every now and then." Palutena makes her rules clear, leading to Riku nodding his head and saying "I think that's only fair. You know this world more than I do, after all." Pit then flips around and extends his left hand while saying "The put 'er there Riku! Now we're partners!"
The teenage Overlord extends his hand out and gives Pit a good shake, sealing the partnership between him and Palutena's Army. "Alright, your first order of business is to help Pit destroy the Hewdraw heads for good! I've got a lock on a small, abandoned coliseum nearby, so head on over there and we can initiate 'Operation: Hardcore Hewdraw Halting!'" The young angel turns around and cautiously holds his weapon out, looking at the coliseum up ahead and commenting "Alright Lady Palutena, we're on it!"
The two heroes make a sprint towards the Coliseum, fending off any members of the Underworld Army that try to stop their advance. Pit cuts down the steel-barred doors of the coliseum with his blade and then slowly walks inside, looking around and noticing that not a single member of the Underworld Army has touched this place yet. He then says "Alright, I've made it to the coliseum, what's the plan Lady Palutena?"
"Well Pit, how would you like another gift?" Palutena asks, and enthusiastically Pit smiles and says "Another gift? Wow! You've been so generous with them lately Lady Palutena, and it's not even my birthday! What is it?" "Just stand still and close your eyes, and you'll receive it soon enough." Palutena's tone had a hint of mischievousness to it, but the oblivious angel closes his eyelids while keeping his peppy grin on his face.
Suddenly, the coliseum is filled with a bright pink mist that covers both Pit and Riku's bodies. The teenage Overlord flinches in shock for a moment as a peculiar odor surrounds his body, but when Pit takes a whiff at it he licks his lips and assumes "Oh boy, is it a giant cake? Are you going to use a giant cake to lure out the Hewdraw?" "I wouldn't exactly get your hopes up there Pit…" Riku calmly points out afterwards.
Before Pit can open his eyes and reply to that, the ground in the center of the coliseum is blown apart, and a dark purple dragon head with two horns and pupil-less orange eyes flops against the ground a couple of times before setting it's sights on both Pit and Riku. During this time the angel says "Why noooooooooooOOOOOOOOT?!" He's left with a look of utter shock on his face as he notices the Hewdraw head's sudden appearance, followed by him stumbling back as the head smacks it's teeth together and drools slightly.
Riku summons forth his sword and leaps off to the right while Pit jumps off the left, with the Hewdraw head lunging forward and smashing skull first against the side of the coliseum, which jolts apart some of the bricks and leaves the beast feeling slightly dizzy for a moment. Pit places one hand on his heavily beating heart while trying to steady his blade and get a good shot in on the head's back, all the while exclaiming to Palutena "Lady Palutena, what did you put on me?! The Hewdraw's going crazy!"
"It's my patented Palutena Monster Pheromone! It attracts monsters of any sort!" Palutena seemed all too proud of what she had accomplished here today even though Pit's life was in incredible danger. As the angel fires off a heavy bolt of energy at the back of the beast's head, he exclaims in disbelief "Yeah, attracts them to me! You've turned me into a fleshy delicacy!"
"…I really have to wonder why you had to cover me with that Pheromone as well, Palutena." Riku states in a somewhat annoyed tone, and the goddess replies "Well it's not like I had a choice in the matter." To which Pit points out while leaping and rolling to the right to avoid another lunge and bite from the Hewdraw "You could have just NOT used the Pheromone! There had to be a better way to handle this!"
"Oh Pit, you should know by now that despite my winsomeness and equanimity, I do have a strong streak of rascality" Palutena speaks out in a more blatantly mischievous tone of voice, and Pit exclaims after firing off another large bolt at the Hewdraw head "I don't even know what that means!"
As the Hewdraw head takes the projectile attacks from both of his opponents, he continues to smack his lips and say in a savoring tone of voice "Mmm…I must say, I haven't smelt something this good since my mother's cooking. I wonder if you'll both taste the same way?" Pit finally gets rid of his panic long enough to slash at the Hewdraw's nostrils and fend the creature off when it performs another lunge, and as the beast crashes on the side of it's head from recoil Pit swings one fist forward and proclaims "You better be careful, head of Hewdraw, this delicacy has a bit of a kick to it!"
Once the Hewdraw head was down on it's side, Riku took the broken debris from the right side of the coliseum and held it above the beast, bringing it all down upon him in a single heavy load to ensure that he was crushed. The head blew up in a fantastical display of light, and Riku claps his hands together while turning to face Pit, saying to him in a humble tone of voice "Good job knocking him down Pit, you made him vulnerable enough to defeat."
"Whoa! That's what an Elemental Overlord can do?!" Pit exclaims in an awed manner as he blinks a few times at Riku. The teenage Overlord has to say to him "Focus Pit, we still have one more head to deal with. Besides, you really shouldn't be fanboying over what I did just now." "He's right you know Pit. We need to stay focused. Fortunately, we won't be needing that monster pheromone anytime soon." Palutena's intervention directs the young angel's attention back towards her.
"Whew, that's a relief…" He says, and Palutena comments "I'm not saying it wouldn't be useful, but it doesn't matter right now because I found the last head on my own. It's run off to the lake outside of town. Head east from here and you should be able to find it." "For a head, it's pretty mobile. Alright, thanks for the directions." Pit makes a swift quip before thanking Palutena for her help, and then him and Riku rush out of the coliseum to make their way to the lake.
As they weave their way through town, Riku puts out whatever fires he can with a guided stream of water, noting that the humans have abandoned the town while the attack was still going on. "Glad you're here to put out the fires, Riku, it'd be horrible to imagine the humans trying to deal with this on their own." Palutena says in an appreciative tone of voice, and while he switches to his blade in order to deal with a few Monoeyes he replies with "I imagine there's little technology on this world…Well, human-based technology anyways, so there's no easy way for humans to fight fires or rebuild their houses."
"That's correct." Palutena replies, and Pit brings up afterwards "Kind of wish we could do something to help, but you aren't exactly the goddess of water, are you Lady Palutena?" The goddess chuckles at that remark and says in turn "It's fine Pit, we're doing the humans a great favor by fending off Medusa's forces."
"Yeah, they aren't lucky enough to have weapons crafted by a goddess." Pit says in an appreciative manner while firing a rapid series of bolts at the green-orbed creatures and a Komaytoes that was floating behind them all. As he swerves his body to focus back on the winding road ahead Riku glances at him and asks "Speaking of weapons…What's the story behind the one you're wielding now?"
"Oh, this blade? It's called the Gaol Blade. On the last mission I did, I defeated a human possessed by the Underworld Army named Gaol, and Lady Palutena took the possessed armor away from her and used it to create this weapon. It's pretty nifty, but I think I'm going to try something else out next time." Pit's explanation leads to Palutena saying in a taunting manner "I think you just get bored easily when it comes to weapons, Pit."
"Hey now, got to keep my enemies on their toes, they won't be able to do anything if they can't guess what weapon I plan to use!" Pit tries to justify his decisions, but Palutena logically points out "But if you keep doing that, you're not going to get good with any weapon type." Riku then interjects by continuing to glance at Pit and saying "She's right, but at the same time you should make sure you feel comfortable with your decision, Pit."
"Ugh, you guys really aren't making this easy for me…" Pit bemoans as both bits of advice leave him feeling rather confused. But his confusion turns into determined focus as he and Riku finally make their way past the outer wall of the town, and a quick spring through the woods takes them to the shoreline of the sparkling lake. Upon arriving there, they find a serpent slithering into the depths of the water with the last Hewdraw head attached to the top of it. The creature had dark pink scales, but otherwise looked exactly like it's brothers.
The Hewdraw raises itself upright, towering over the two heroes as it lashes it's head down, roaring out before he says in a mocking tone of voice "Well, well. So nice to SEE you again! And it seems you brought a pal along!" Pit matches the Hewdraw's arrogance by confidently boasting "You won't feel the way for long." As he swings his Gaol Blade to the side the Hewdraw smacks his lips in laughter and lunges his head forward while exclaiming "That's big talk, little firecracker!"
With both heroes at arms and a guttural roar coming from the final Hewdraw, the battle had begun. The Hewdraw starts off by spitting out a few fireballs at his opponents, and while Pit dodges off to the left and charges up his weapon Riku grabs the fireballs with his mind and holds them up in front of them for a few seconds before throwing them back. The Hewdraw manages to slink backwards into the water, splashing up enough of it with a lash of his tail in order to put the fireballs back out.
But he did that entirely by accident, as he wasn't expecting the second boy to catch his attack. "Whoa whoa, hey now! I didn't sign up for this! Since when does Skyworld have someone like this on their side?!" While he was leaning back in the water and distracted, the Hewdraw is shot underneath the chin by a bolt from Pit's Gaol Blade, which stings him slightly.
The Hewdraw then decides to retreat into the water to make it harder for the heroes to strike at it's delicate underside, but Riku punches at the ground and sends a bolt of electricity gliding straight towards the lake. "Bad idea, bad idea!" Pit says in a panicked tone of voice as the bolt strikes the water and sends electricity surging through it, putting on a flashy display of light that forces the Hewdraw out of the lake…With all of the electricity surrounding the beast instead of harming it in the slightest.
"…Umm…Maybe we should have told Riku that the Hewdraw primarily uses electricity." Palutena bemoans a little too late, while Pit tries to stay calm as he fires off another charged shot at the Hewdraw, only for the electricity surrounding the beast to deflect the shot with ease. The Hewdraw then opens it's mouth and says "Thanks for the present human! Now it's time for me to make a return!" He wastes little time in firing off a powerful beam of orange electricity, but Riku merely holds his blade up and sets up a barrier of electricity from it that allows him to hold back the Hewdraw's might while he stands in place.
The teenage Overlord then glances at Pit and gives him a nudge towards the Hewdraw, showing Pit that the barrier was down around his body and that his underside was open once more. At this point, the angel smiles confidently and comments in a drawn out tone "Ooooh, I get it now." He then wastes little time in aiming precisely at the center of the Hewdraw's chest and firing one large shot from the Gaol Blade.
The power of the shot was enough to send the Hewdraw's head reeling back, which in turn removed the electric beam from sight and freed up Riku. The teenage Overlord then took hold of his blade and dashes at the Hewdraw's body, leaping at it and delivering a clean slash at the bottom of the head, which causes the beast to lumber back a few inches. Finally, Pit rolls forward to get his Gaol Blade charged up and fires one last bolt at the spot Riku struck, dealing a decisive, critical blow to the Hewdraw that causes time to freeze for a brief moment and a swift and sudden "boom!" fills the air.
The Hewdraw lashes around for a bit in pain, realizing that he is about to perish, but as his body twitches he tries to have the last word by saying "Before I go, I just wanted to say-" He explodes just like the other two heads before he could finish, and since he was in the middle of a lake his demise leads to the water being spread about in a light rain across the lakeside. As both Pit and Riku were touched by the droplets, Pit had a rather puzzled look on his face as he inquired "Huh, I wonder what he wanted to say?"
"Beats me, but that's another of Medusa's commanders out of the way, good job Pit!" Palutena praises Pit for his work, but the angel is quick to turn to look at Riku and raises his left hand up while proclaiming "Hey, you did good yourself Riku! High-five!" The teenage Overlord dispels his sword and glances at the angel, telling him in a stoic tone of voice as he folds his arms together "Yeah, we made a great team there Pit. The Underworld Army should be taken care of easily with the two of us fighting together like this."
Pit's puzzled by Riku's lack of enthusiasm, letting out a murmur of "Huh?" as he lowers his arm. Palutena then chimes in with a remark of "Alright, I'm going to call out back now Pit. Sorry to say Riku, but you're going to have to find Skyworld on your own if you want to keep helping us." Pit is then surrounded by a pillar of light and swiftly called back to Skyworld with Palutena's magic, while Riku looks towards the sky and asks "Can I at least get some directions?"
"Sure. Just go straight up into the air, turn around, and keep flying until you eventually see a bunch of floating islands. It shouldn't take you very long." Palutena's explanation, while somewhat vague, gave Riku just enough information to find Skyworld on his own. Giving the goddess a thankful nod of his head, the teenage Overlord took off from the lakeside, flying past the rainbow formed as he prepared to go visit Skyworld and continue his mission here…
Next Time: Fear the Reaper!