Chapter 1 - Tunnel Vision
A long, long time ago, there was Chaos, a yawning cavern of absence, or a swirling infinity of creation. It exists, yet does not. From there, limitless timelines, versions of the universe have been created, or perhaps just one, created and destroyed over and over again. Gods and Goddesses have lived and died, slept and awoken, and been remade in new forms. Foe became friend, family became foe, and servants have strayed to serve another, but tricked in their false devotion.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It is only changed.
What is the power of souls?
All is peaceful. The sky is blue with the barest wisp of cotton candy clouds overlooking a gentle mountain slope. In a flash of light, an intricate gate appears floating without any visible support, which burst open to reveal a brunette angel with blue eyes that sparkled with unbridled glee. Held loosely in his hand was a gilded blue bow.
"Woo! It's so nice to just fly without worrying about anything!" The young angel exclaimed. "It's actually kinda...weird."
"Don't worry Pit," an ethereal voice teased, "There are still quite a few stragglers from the Underworld Army."
"Woah!" the angel yelled, dodging an enemy blast from a Monoeye, a pink eyeball monster with tentacles, then shooting back, causing it to explode into light, purple dust, and hearts for him to collect. "Thanks for the tipoff Lady Palutena!"
"Anytime Pit," Lady Palutena said lightly. Her voice became authoritative. "Now, you're probably wondering why you're flying out today…"
"Other than getting rid of the Underworld baddies?" asked Pit, squinting his eye as he aimed for another monster, "There isn't a lot of them though. And they're barely a threat right now."
The Monoeyes were acting fairly sluggish, and their eyes were slightly glazed over as they attacked. None of their shots had gotten anywhere near Pit except for the first one.
"Well, both Medusa, Hades, and everyone else who could lead them is gone, so they are just acting on basic instinct," surmised Lady Palutena, "And that brings us to our problem."
"I'm sure we'll be able to solve it!" encouraged Pit, enjoying the fairly easy flight as there were literally no more enemies coming at him, "It'll be a piece of cake! Mmmm...cake…"
Lady Palutena laughed, "Ah, you and your stomach Pit. I'm going to miss you while you're gone..."
"Wait, GONE?" panicked Pit, "What do you mean gone?"
"Uh, prepare for landing," said Lady Palutena evasively, "You're heading for that mountain over there."
Pit went silent as he quickly adjusted to the altitude change. He landed at the base of a grassy hill.
"Please tell me what is going on," begged Pit, following the green arrow on the ground. It seemed to lead to a large cave with old hanging vines.
Lady Palutena went silent for a moment.
"A few humans went missing here. Generally, that would be normal, with a giant mountain here and all. It has been long enough for them to have died already. However, I was informed by Hermes that none of their souls returned." Lady Palutena looked slightly uncomfortable, "Usually I wouldn't think twice about it, but I've been on the edge since Hades tried to take over."
Pit had now reached the cave and brushed the vines out of his way so they wouldn't get tangled up in his white wings.
"When I first saw it, I immediately recognized Hades' work, but it looked...strange. I tried to use my All-Seeing-Eye of Palutena, but…," Lady Palutena trailed off, "...failed. There was a Barrier in the way."
"Why not just break the Barrier with Palutena Glam Blaster, Scared Goddess Clobber Laser, or whatever you call it?" asked Pit, looking slightly annoyed from recalling the memory.
"That was actually my first idea, but I have no idea what is behind it," said Lady Palutena, slightly embarrassed, "We wouldn't want something like the Chaos Kin happening again."
"It's also very dark magic. It should be weak because it was made with human mages, but they invoked the power of Hades since they used their souls." added Lady Palutena, "Someone was desperate or crazy enough to make it." Her face darkened. "I don't want to know what is in their if even Hades decided it was too dangerous to have running around. We need to neutralize it before breaking the Barrier. The Barrier also has a soul ward that prevents anything with a soul from leaving, except for a certain combination of magic. We'll have to destroy whatever is down there before I can safely extract you."
"Yeah...that would probably be bad," said Pit, looking slightly sheepish, "But I don't like the idea of not being able to return until I clear the area. Especially the part with no hot springs."
"I'll still be able to talk to you or perhaps even see the area around you with your laurel crown," determined Lady Palutena, "I can also see how to mess with the Barrier so I can send you things at certain weak spots."
"I still don't want to leave you that long, especially just after Hades was defeated," said Pit dubiously, "But if you think it is best, I'll do it!" A large smile appeared on his face.
Lady Palutena shrugged, "If worse comes to worse, I'll just ask Viridi for a Reset Bomb."
"I thought we destroyed the Depot, and she used her last one on Pyrrhon," questioned Pit, "You're the Goddess of Light, and you don't need Viridi's help." "Aren't I good enough," thought Pit.
"If I know Viridi, she has already made new one, or at least figured out something new" dismissed Lady Palutena, "It is a little hard to use powers on something that is literally under a rock where the light doesn't shine. Now, in you go!"
"Huh?" yelled Pit as his wings glowed with blue light from Lady Palutena using the Power of Flight, "But I just flew!"
"Don't worry," reassured Lady Palutena, "You were only up for at most two minutes. You'll be fine."
With that, Pit zoomed into the darkness of the cave. He felt a slight tingling sensation, like gliding through jelly. He then proceeded to free fall, with nothing to support him.
"Help! Lady Palutena! LADY PALUTENA! HELP!" he yelled over and over for what seemed to be an eternity. He flipped over and over in the air, tumbling and turning in the strange currents within the mountain tomb as he tried to open his wings to try to glide or slow down his fall. At the very last second he felt the light, Lady Palutena had saved him! Although the landing was rather jerky compared to her normal control, she still reliably brought him to a stop.
"T-thank you, Lady Palutena," gasped Pit, letting out a breath he had not known he was holding, "Lady Palutena?"
He heard sharp breathing and murmurs of, "...thought I lost...,", "...not again," and, "...why did I risk..."
Lady Palutena spoke up, "I...underestimated the power of the Barrier. It seems that Hades has not only helped in its construction, but claimed it as his realm. This is going to limit my ability to help you."
"Don't worry Lady Palutena," reassured Pit, "I'll always trust you to catch me."
"Always Pit." Lady Palutena smiled. "Time to get going, I suppose."
Pit looked around, seeing a small garden of golden flowers behind himself. Walking forward, he saw a large archway with something that looked like an upside down version Palutena's emblem of a circle with teardrop wings over three triangles.
"Are you seeing this Lady Palutena?" whispered Pit.
"This is very strange," said Lady Palutena, who was very confused, "The columns show grecian influence. Perhaps Hades put it here."
"What do the triangles mean?" asked Pit.
"We'll have to find out later. The author wouldn't include that detail unless it was important," said Lady Palutena thoughtfully, "Go through the arch. I don't sense any gates that will prevent you from going back."
"Alright, Lady Palutena!" affirmed Pit. He walked through the purple arch.
(Totally not a break in the fourth wall at all! Nopity-Pity-Pit-Nope.)
Pit warily entered the chamber, glancing from side to side, then proceeded to burst out laughing. "Is...ha ha ha...Viridi playing a prank on us?"
A yellow flower had popped up and greeted him with a silly smile when he was expecting a giant boss monster or a giant swarm. "Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower!"
"I doubt she would willingly partner with Hades just to play a prank, Pit," Lady Palutena said dryly, "Although the name seems down her street."
"Don't you mean up her alley?" corrected Pit.
"No, it is definitely down her street," dismissed Lady Palutena
"Hey! Weirdo! I'm talking to you! Stop talking to yourself!" The flower yelled, red faced and angry. After Pit glanced back at the flower, Flowey calmed down. "That's better," said Flowey, smirking. "I've never seen anything like you in the Underground. You're new, aren'tcha?" Flowey drawled, "Suppose I'll hafta teach you how it goes down here." The flower's eyes gleamed.
"Uh...Let's not get carried away," said Pit, backing away slowly and readying his bow, "Why don't I teach you how to do some weed-URK!"
Pit suddenly felt as if his essence had been ripped from his body, and was now a compact, glowing sphere of blue-gold, the symbol of Palutena upon it, marking him as her champion. He "looked" behind him, which was the best he could describe the movement as, since he didn't have any eyes, and saw himself, except as a stone statue, much like how Palutena was when the Chaos Kin stole her soul.
"I guess this is the second time I've had an out of body experience," remarked Pit, staring at himself.
"Pit! Pit! Can you hear me?" yelled Lady Palutena anxiously.
"Ow! Yes, please don't yell in my mind," pleaded Pit.
"This is...unusual," commented the flower with a raised eyebrow, "I've never seen that happen before. Oh well, blah-blah try to catch the sprinkles blah-blah LoVe, oh gosh you got a lot of that blah-blah whatever I don't care, time for you too DIE! Your soul is too valuable to let it get away!"
The flower cackled evilly and formed small spinning orbs of light which began to surround Pit's soul.
"Uh, Lady Palutena? I don't think anyone would want to buy a game where it is impossible to win. A little help, please?" asked Pit, "Or I'm finished!"
"WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo…"mumbled Palutena, "Oh I know!"
"POWER OF MAELSTROM!" declared Lady Palutena.
From the hole letting light fall upon Flowey, a torrent of rain gushed down on him, drenching the Flower and pounding him to the dirt.
Pit's soul bobbed up and down. "Thank you Lady Palutena!" he cried out. He looked to the side, seeing a...goat lady with fire in her hand, eyes wide and seeming to have been about to strike, but caught in the act.
"Hold your fire!" demanded Pit. He tried to move towards his body, but was only rewarded with a clinking sound as he hit it. "Ow," he remarked. He tried to grab his bow next, but only a luminescent blue ghost of it seemed to come out. Hopefully it would work as well as the real thing. He aimed at the threat. "Tell me who are you, what are you doing, or I'll shoot!" He finished his ultimatum.
Goat Lady extinguished the fire with a snap of the the fingers, then stared at his soul, murmuring something about, "The Angel of Death." She began to back away slowly towards another archway behind her, shakily beginning to explain.
"I-I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS. I pass by here every day to see if any humans have fallen."
"Caretaker? That usually means I don't have to fight you until the the end of a level…" reasoned Pit, "Wait-humans!? Why are you looking for humans? Are you the reason they've gone missing?" He began to stretch the bow string.
"NO! No, no, I would never. Others...ah...not so much," admitted Toriel.
"What is stopping me from returning to my body?" asked Pit.
"The...encounter has not ended. Both of us must spare the other or one must...defeat the other," informed Toriel, "Just put down your ah...weapon." "Just for a moment!" she squeaked, when the soul tensed.
"Let's hear her out, just for a moment," reasoned Palutena, "She seems more reasonable than that flower. It seems that there are other forces at play."
With narrowed eyes, (or as narrowed as they could get considering he was a shapeless blob of energy) Pit lowered the false weapon and dropped it next to himself. Almost instantaneously, he merged back into his stone body and breathed sweet, sweet cave air! He jumped up and grabbed his bow, but held it loosely.
Toriel had backed up all the way to the door now. "I ask you to please spare as many beings possible. Many may seem violent, but they don't mean any real harm," she requested.
"Okay…?" replied Pit as Toriel retreated, "That was the most polite monster I have ever met. I don't remember seeing any goat monsters in the Underworld army."
"You're going to be down here for a bit. It would probably be best to not offend anyone important for as long as possible," considered Lady Palutena, "Allies will be important."
"You're the boss," replied Pit, "Now let's see what beyond that door."
Wings tucked behind his back, Pit trekked from his parton's light and into the darkness of the cave.
Author's Note:
I do not in fact own anything at all in this fanfiction, nor am I earning anything but self satisfaction and the occasional review. Nintendo owns Kid Icarus, and Toby Fox owns Undertale.
I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I think I could very easily mesh these worlds together, with lots of hilarious connections. Blasters are everywhere, food critiques,(Floor nice cream gives you health!), similar monsters (Monoeyes look like the Loox), building stuff (with hard work and determination), the 4th wall, symbols, palms (life force bullets), revolting dinners, new legs...it's going to be awesome! Would you prefer a more structured story, or just one shots of specific moments carefully picked for your viewing pleasure?
Poor Toriel.
Also: Ince(PIT)on. Or PITception. Something.
Reasoning for soul color: Pit is always about serving JUSTICE. Power of Flight magic is blue...and normally he is flightless except for small jumps unless Palutena helps out.
I haven't read anything like what I am planning yet, but if anyone has valid claims of me (unintentionally) stealing their work or ideas without credit, I can take this down, or we can come to an agreement that suits all or most our interests.
I am not religious, nor will I try to make someone believe something they do not believe themself. The lore is somewhat based on Greek mythology, but altered since only a couple members of the Pantheon are present in the game.
I have no idea if the Power of Caging could be used, but I wouldn't take the risk breaking the Barrier. Also, maybe the Barrier is slightly OP. Maybe I nuked Palutena's power a bit too much. Let's just say 99.9% of the power goes to actually penetrating the Barrier without breaking it because there are god rules of not being to mess with other god's realms of influence too much without champions, heroes, or minions. Chaos is also very unpredictable. It is a bit like how she could offer the power of flight in Pandora's realm, but also said that she might not be able to extract Pit until he defeated Pandora. Oh well.
Please tell me what you think. Favorites and Follows are nice, but Reviews are where you see personality! I'll try my best to respond at the very least before the next chapter is posted. Pretty please Professor Palutena, help me improve my writing. Don't like the amount of dialogue? Don't like the number of times I wrote 'said'? Characters to OOC? Tell me so I can improve your viewing experience.
I will not be abandoning RangerTale, as I will have Level Infinity Epic Super God...Plus! amount of time to work on it during the summer. Yay!