Star Shower
The castle was visible in the distance, an intimidating intrusion jutting out of the horizon cliff. Dark grey clouds shrouded the sky to add a formidable essence to the overall location. As well, the darker light accommodated the setting sun as evening approached.
A bright glowing star, hovering high above the canopy of the forest boundary, carried two scouts. A pink stubby 'hand' pointed at the castle followed by an eager glance of the owner (whom was also the commander of the star). Confirmed of their destination, the second rider gave a curt nod and motioned for them to return to the others further back in the forest.
With only a small smile, Kirby turned the Warp Star abruptly around, taking his rider by surprise and ended up throwing the winged boy off the star. Luckily, Pit managed to grab hold of one of the Warp Star's points before fully falling off.
An apologetic frown adorned the pink warrior but the other simply grinned and waved for the commander of the star to keep going. The angel would simply hold on to the Warp Star and glide along with it.
White wings spread open to catch the passing wind as Kirby's star pulled him through the sky. A wild smile fell on the angel's lips for he was thrilled by the incredible speed he was flying at. Never before had he flown through the air at such a pace!
Kirby had a knack for crash-landing his Warp Star – something Pit was unaware of. So when the pink warrior was heading straight for ground without slowing their descent, the angel became worried.
Too slow to let go, Pit was thrown hard into the grassy forest ground right after Kirby slammed into the earth. Rolling in a jumble of limbs and feathers, it seemed like an eternity until Pit finally stopped rolling about.
He groaned at the pain all over his body. Strong arms helped him up but he stumbled due to his highly disoriented mind. After shaking the dizziness away, he peered up at two familiar faces and grinned to assure them that he was all right. Besides the sore bruises and the loss of a few feathers, he was still alive.
Mario perked an eyebrow while Link lightly smirked. Kirby suddenly appeared between the two and frowned heavily at the winged warrior, obviously guilty for hurting the other.
Before Kirby could apologize, Pit lightly laughed and sprang to his feet to show his vigour. Lightly, he tapped the pink fighter on top of his body and smirked in assurance.
Kirby smiled in relief and motioned for the angel to come to the campfire right beside the Warp Star's landing crater. Yoshi was standing by the fire, curiously peeking over at the fallen angel. The dinosaur soon made a sound of joy as the four warriors made their way over.
Food that had been gathered from the forest was piled beside the burning flames. Yoshi grabbed a few fruits and handed them to the angel. Nodding in thanks, Pit kindly accepted the small melon and apples and sat upon a log beside Mario. Yoshi continued to disperse the food among the others (although Kirby helped himself to half of the entire groups' portions).
As they ate, Pit and Kirby sketched out the details of the terrain leading to their next destination; King Dedede's castle. They emphasized on graphical details, especially Kirby who illustrated King Dedede as a mean, mad-eyed greedy tyrant, (judging by the pink warrior's crude sketches).
Yoshi did not seem to believe the round one's description. It made a disapproving noise and crossed its arms. Well, Kirby may have been overemphasizing; all of them did see the king today and he may have appeared to be a mean, greedy tyrant but he was not completely mad-eyed.
A chuckle came from Mario as he studied Kirby's drawings in the dirt. Then, his eyes diverted to Pit's rough sketch of the terrain layout and nodded in thought. He tapped the drawing and gave each fighter a small glance, receiving an understanding look from each.
After the meal, everyone settled themselves for the oncoming night. In the morning, they would make their way through the forest and possibly reach the castle by noon together.
Three members were soundly sleeping shortly after the moon had risen to its peak. Two voluntarily kept watch.
Requiring very little sleep, Pit quietly walked around the camp grounds in search of any danger. His steps were light and quick – hardly a sound was made as he strolled through the thicket of trees. Bushes however, were troublesome. His loose garb often got caught in thorny branches. Noisily, he struggled to free himself in an effort to escape without tearing his clothes.
At (probably) the tenth time getting stuck in a thorny bush, Link suddenly appeared right behind him, nearly making the angel cry out in surprise. Not even asking what all the commotion was, the swordsman unsheathed his magnificent sword and cleaved the bush to free the other.
Now why did Pit not think of that?
A questionable eyebrow was raised towards the angel. Flushed with embarrassment, Pit scratched the back of his head and merely shrugged at his ignorance. Having had enough scouting for the night, (after all, he had not seen any sign of the Subspace Army loitering around), Pit returned to the campfire with Link.
The swordsman rested against a tree, close to where Yoshi and Kirby slept while Pit fell on the same log as before. Mario was snoring away behind the fallen log, undisturbed from his sleep.
Resting Palutena's Sacred Bow on the ground beside his feet, the angel caught sight of something bright and blue in the corner of his eye. Curious, Pit glanced over at the swordsman and saw something round and glowing hovering over the young man's outstretched hand.
A strange mystical creature with transparent wings… Pit had never seen such a thing before in his long life. (Nevertheless, he had never really seen most of the fascinating creatures that inhabited the earth.)
Link had an amusing look when he noticed the angel staring. The swordsman quietly spoke to the glowing creature and surprisingly, it fluttered towards the watching warrior.
Highly intrigued at the creature, Pit welcomed it with a kind smile but was hesitant to do anything else. He gave Link a glance and received a little nod. Slowly, the angel lifted his right hand for the creature to rest upon.
It did not fully land but hovered above his open palm, soundlessly beating its delicate wings. The soft blue light radiating from its body was warm against his skin.
Just as he was enjoying the creature's company, it suddenly flew away to return to the swordsman. It lingered in front of the blond-haired boy before vanishing seemingly into thin air, leaving only a trail of glowing dust behind.
Pit was rather disappointment and it must have showed on his face for Link lightly chuckled at him. Giving him a sullen glare, Pit turned away and instead stared up through the gap in the trees at the crescent moon accompanied by hundreds of glistening stars.
Many moments had passed as Pit silently admired the heavens. He found the night more beautiful on earth than in the sky and couldn't find an answer to why that was. When it was only he and Mario, Pit had often spent most of the nights gazing at the star-stricken sky, pondering for a reason to the heaven's nocturnal beauty. (Mario, whenever he was awake, often pointed out a few interesting things in the sky such as shooting stars.)
Perhaps it was because he was seeing it at a different angle than what he was used to.
Someone noisily stirred awake. Yoshi let out a loud, tired yawn and fully stretched its body, accidentally knocking Kirby with its arm. Waking up with a start, Kirby was up and about in a wary state.
Both Pit and Link snickered at the pink warrior's confused expression while Yoshi tiredly sounded an apology. Pouting, Kirby shuffled away from the dinosaur and joined Pit on the log. Kirby's round body teetered over and ended up falling on Mario.
It was Mario's turn to wake up in a panic.
Laughing at the amusing spectacle, Pit almost didn't notice the change in the night sky until Link soundly pointed it out.
All heads, both half-asleep and awake, all turned towards the heavens. Brilliant streaks glistened over the darkness from numerous shooting stars. A star shower!
Watching under the cover of trees was not suitable.
Overwhelmed with excitement, Pit motioned everyone to get to a higher level. Smirking, Link hooked his way up a tree while Mario and Yoshi jumped from branch to branch. Kirby and Pit took into the air in haste and landed on the tallest tree limb.
Sounds of awe echoed from each warrior as they stared at the dazzling show. Hundreds of stars flashed over their heads, filling each with wonder.
It was not the first Pit had seen a star shower. In fact, he had seen many. But none were as amazing as this. As the others were captivated by the brilliant spectacle, he glanced around at each of them.
He smiled at each of their admiring faces and suddenly knew the answer to his question.
The night was more beautiful on earth because he not watching it alone, he was admiring it with friends; each following the same purpose. The world was in danger. Evil was threatening to take away the wonderful existence of both earth and sky.
As they watched the shower of stars in the heavens, their determination to protect the world grew. When the last shooting star vanished as fast as it had come, each warrior gave each other a silent, meaningful nod as to say:
Together, let us save the world.
A/N: One thing you have probably noticed was the lack of dialogue. In the cutscenes, no one talked (and thank goodness for that) so I wanted to incorporate that same interaction amongst the five characters. How well did I do on that? Storywise, the Subspace Emissary was really... confusing. Heh, I really didn't understand most of the aspects that was happening with each character but oh well, it was awesome anyway.
So thanks for reading and please leave a review!