Chapter 2: A Little Divine Intervention
(Author's Note: I was originally going to make this fic only one chapter, but since then I ended up with a lot more ideas than I started with, so the story will continue. This time there will be a few spoilers for Kid Icarus Uprising too, and some of the dialogue will be from the Palutena's Guidance conversations and the Palutena reveal trailer.)
Lucas stood alone in the sunflower field of the plains, looking up at the distant clouds. Spending time here brought back some sad memories, but in the end it made him feel better. He knew they wouldn't want him to let what happened with Bayonetta keep him down...She hadn't meant to hurt him with what she said, and it turned out they had more in common than he thought. He just wished he hadn't ended up accidentally revealing some of his past with his reaction to that taunt, but he couldn't undo what had happened...
Lucas needed something to take his mind off of all this, and Ness's suggestion fit that perfectly. Going to Skyworld to visit Pit seemed like a lot of fun. That goofy angel always kept things interesting in one way or another. He just had to focus on his memory of the land of fluffy cloud islands, thinking about how the nice view he'd once had of it from on board the Battleship Halberd as he ran faster and faster to build up speed…Then Lucas activated PSI Teleport, jumping through a portal that warped him straight to the sky.
The view from up there was spectacular. He could see the entirety of 'Skyworld': A group of islands that inexplicably floated on clouds, with buildings that looked like they were from ancient Greece (not that he knew what that was). Two of the islands somehow had waterfalls that went down into the clouds below, but the one that stood out the most was the one with the large temple. On its roof was a giant statue of a woman with wings which were several times longer than she was tall…It was probably a statue of the goddess Pit always talked about. There were also many smaller islands and midair platforms for anyone who wanted to fight here. Overall, it was an amazing view…
The only problem was where he was viewing it from. Lucas was far above the islands, and was on track to fall through the sea of clouds to his doom.
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
Lucas screamed as he fell from miles and miles up, panicking as he wondered how it had gone so wrong. It was a long, long way down, so far that it made the time he and Red fell from Galleom's grip and even when he fell from the 100th floor elevator of the Empire Porky Building seem laughable in comparison. All he could do was telepathically call out for help, hoping someone would save him.
"Someone, anyone, HEEEEEEELP!"
"Lucas?! What's going on?"
"I messed up the teleport somehow, and now I'm falling from the sky!"
After a while more of falling, Lucas was able to calm down enough to stop screaming, since he was so far up that he had a long time to go before he became a stain on the ground. Thanks to that, he realized how exactly he'd ended up here. The reason PSI Teleport only worked for places you had been to before was because you had to mentally picture the destination. Since he had been thinking of the view of Skyworld from when he saw it while on the Halberd, that spot was nowhere near the actual islands…He felt more than a little dumb after this realization.
Back inside Palutena's Temple, Ness was quick to let Pit know after he heard Lucas's call for help.
"Pit, I need your help! Lucas is in trouble!"
"Really? What's the problem?"
"He tried to warp here like I did, but he kinda…missed."
Pit seemed a little confused, but someone else showed up to explain things for him. She was tall, with very long hair as green as her eyes. She wielded a fancy blue staff in her right hand, and had a circular blue shield strapped to her left arm. She wore a very decorated dress that looked straight out of Greek mythology, and it was a little revealing of her left leg. He'd heard Pit talk about the goddess Palutena in the last tournament, but seeing her in person was surreal. In other words, she was as gorgeous as you would expect from a goddess…The teenage Ness soon found himself staring.
And she had noticed.
"Just so you know, you're not the only one with the power of telepathy. So you'd better not be thinking about anything…naughty."
"W-what?! I-I'm not thinking of anything like that, I swear!"
Ness's face went as red as a tomato as he quickly looked away, desperately trying to use his PSI to stop any mind-reading attempts. Anyone listening into his mind would hear:
"Don'tthinkanythingnaughtydon'tthinkanyt-CRAP-I'msorryPauladon'tthinkanythingnaugthydon'tthinkanythingnaughty-"
Pit couldn't help but laugh, feeling a sense of déjà vu.
"Lady Palutena can't actually read minds, she's just messing with you! She did it to me once, too…"
"R-right…I knew that…"
"Sure you did."
Palutena was amused by their reactions, reminded of why she enjoyed teasing Pit so much. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and she had to get back to business. With her 'all-seeing eye', Palutena quickly divined the location of the flustered boy's friend, who was now falling from the heavens and to his doom after an unfortunate misaimed teleport.
"It looks someone took a wrong turn on the hyperspace highway. You'd better catch Lucas before he crashes…He's too young for a teleporter's license, let alone teleporter's insurance."
"That definitely isn't a thing."
Pit sarcastically responded to Palutena as he opened the door to leave the temple, not hesitating to jump right off the edge of the sky island. Luckily, Palutena's Power of Flight let the flightless angel soar into the sky instead of plummeting into the ground, his wings glowing blue as he flew quickly through the air. For some reason, he didn't have to flap his wings, but Ness figured the answer was probably "it's magic". Now with more distance between them, Palutena relied on her Power of Telepathy to speak to Pit instead of speaking normally, but Ness could still listen in with his own psychic powers.
"If it isn't a thing, it should be. Don't you know that teleporter accidents are the leading cause of death for psychic teenagers? Perhaps I should give Lucas a course in Teleporter's Ed sometime…but I should probably finish teaching you how to read first."
"Hey! Maybe I would've learned how to read already if you weren't always sending me to fight monsters!"
"I could send the Centurions instead, but I think you know how that would end."
"I can't argue with that…"
Pit sighed as he flew in Lucas's direction. The Centurions that made up most of Palutena's army and served under Pit were very loyal and numerous, but they were equally incompetent. The one time they'd helped him in his recent adventure was during the alien invasion, and even then they almost all died and nearly dropped his Forces of Nature-made platform which would have burned up in atmospheric reentry…it was a long story. The only time the Centurions felt powerful was ironically when they and even Palutena were temporarily Pit's enemies thanks to the Chaos Kin's mind control…that was also a long story.
Meanwhile, Ness couldn't do much to help since he lacked wings of his own, but he did go outside and let Lucas know help was on the way.
"Don't worry, I sent Pit up there to catch you!"
"T-thanks, just hurry up! I'm running out of time!"
As Palutena's power of flight guided Pit through the sky, he finally got close enough to see Lucas falling further and further down.
"Ok, I see him up ahead! But wait, there's someone else up there…Who's that?"
Pit saw another figure in the distance, but it was too far to tell who it was. All he could see was that it was a human riding some kind of oversized bird-like creature which he hadn't seen before. He knew there were several other fighters who could fly, but he couldn't recall any who rode a bird like that...It certainly didn't look like Charizard, and the Pokemon Trainer wasn't even in this tournament, so he couldn't be the one riding it.
"Oh, don't worry about him. He's not going to fall, so just focus on saving Lucas."
Ness joined in the telepathic conversation too, not having anything else to do. "You'd better not miss!" Even if they could only get turned to trophies here, he imagined it'd be more than a little painful to hit the ground from so far up. "Geez, no pressure…" Pit kept flying towards Lucas who fell more and more, now close enough to hear him screaming in panic. "Don't worry, I'll catch you!" He was closing the distance quickly, almost close enough to grab the falling teenager when suddenly…
Lucas was pulled out of the way by a chain that hooked onto his shirt, pulling him towards the previously unknown figure riding the red oversized bird. Now that he was this close, it was easy to tell who it was. Pit would recognize that face and those pointy ears anywhere…
"That was MY save, Link! Go find your own quests, like breaking pots or stealing stuff from chests!"
Ever since the misunderstanding that led to their first fight in the Subspace disaster, Pit was really tired of Link outdoing him in one way or another. Whether it was fighting skills, archery, or just looks, Link always seemed one step ahead, so it was no wonder Pit ended up treating him as a rival. The feeling wasn't mutual, but Link always being quiet and composed only bothered Pit more.
Link grunted in confusion and annoyance, unsure why the stranger (who somehow had wings) hated him so much when they had never met before. He also took some offense to being called a thief and vandal. Sure, he had looted more than a few chests in his quest, but only from dungeons filled with monsters, not innocent people. Besides, how would he even know that..?
Meanwhile, Lucas was a little dizzy from all the falling, but glad to be saved even if it wasn't Pit who did it. Link had let him ride the bird-like creature too after grabbing him with the Clawshot, with Lucas now sitting behind Link and holding on to him to avoid falling again. With his PSI, he managed to find out that the bird was called a Crimson Loftwing and served as Link's loyal companion who carried him through the skies. It reminded him of Boney and Red's Pokemon...
"Thanks, Link…I thought I was done for!"
Link looked even more confused now, surprised at everyone somehow knowing his name. It was also a little strange that everyone else's ears were so round and non-pointy…but the angel wasn't done confusing him yet.
"Remember when we first met? Back in the war with the Subspace Army, you and Yoshi killed that clone of Peach, but Mario and I thought she was the real deal. You could've explained it to us, but you just stayed quiet like always…I bet you wanted to beat us up! Well, I want a rematch!"
Link had had enough with all of these strange questions, deciding it was his turn to get some answers. Link took a moment to think, considering a few options before deciding on what to say. He didn't talk a lot, but contrary to popular belief he was not mute.
"…Who are you?"
"So you can talk…and you forgot about me already?"
Pit responded in an annoyed voice as Link landed at Palutena's temple, dropping off Lucas who thanked him again. "Sorry, I should've been more careful…" He was pretty embarrassed to have messed up so much that he had to be saved again, and now it seemed like there would even be a fight over it as Pit went into a speech telling the new Link who he was, unable to let go of his rivalry with the previous Link.
"If you don't remember, then I'll remind you! I am Pit, servant of the goddess Palutena! Defender of Skyworld! Slayer of monsters, evil gods, and freaky aliens! And now, I'll be the one to kick your butt!"
"…"
Link didn't say anything this time. Instead he just unsheathed his sword, silently accepting the challenge Pit gave. He had no idea what this angel had against him, but it didn't matter: He had come here to compete against fighters from other worlds anyways. Finding out if Skyloft was among these islands would have to wait until after this. Someone else, however, did say something.
"Freaky aliens..? So you fought aliens too?! Cool!"
"Yeah, they were called the Aurum. The day after I blew up the Lunar Sanctum, those weirdos flew in from space and started devouring everything! It got so bad that all the gods teamed up to take them down, but then the Chaos Kin showed up and turned me into a ring...it's kind of a long story."
Ness was surprised to hear Pit had fought aliens too, since he thought his world was more about magic and monsters and stuff like that. Just what kind of strange adventures had Pit been on since last time? And what the heck was the Lunar Sanctum? He'd have to ask for the details later. Right now he was looking forward to seeing whether Pit would finally win or get his butt kicked by Link yet again. After meeting many Links who were always strong no matter the timeline, his bets were on him, but anything could happen in a battle.
"Do you guys really have to fight over this..?"
Lucas didn't want to see them fight, feeling guilty that his mistake had re-awakened Pit's rivalry with Link. He only got a stare from Link, while Pit said "Of course we do!" Neither of them were going to back down now.
"It's on!"
Pit landed on the ground and fired a barrage of light arrows, starting the battle. Then as the angel and the hero began to fight, Palutena used telepathy to give Pit some guidance on this new version of Link.
"He may have the same name and face, but this Link isn't the one you fought before. The previous Link was the Hero of Twilight, while this Link is the Hero of the Sky, also known as the original hero. In his legend, with the help of the Goddess Hylia who reincarnated as a mortal named Zelda, Link saved Skyloft, fought many monsters, and defeated the Demon King Demise. Then with the land at peace again, he and Zelda founded the original kingdom of Hyrule on the surface."
As Palutena was talking, Link defended himself from the barrage of arrows, guarding some with his Hylian Shield and simply dodging the others with short jumps to the side. Whatever the shield was made of was something very special, since it wasn't even scratched.
"So this Link lived on a floating island, got help from a goddess, and beat an evil god and his army of monsters? He's totally ripping off my style!"
Link started a counterattack with his own projectile, grabbing a bomb from his inventory and throwing it at Pit as he ran closer to him. Then suddenly, someone else interrupted the telepathic conversation.
"Puh-lease! Comparing Link to you is like comparing a star to a campfire!"
Pit was knocked back by the explosion, too distracted by the voice that sounded like a little girl…it left Lucas and Ness more than a little confused. Then Pit responded as he got up from the ground, clearly familiar with whoever this was.
"What?!"
"Just look at those chiseled features! His cheekbones could seriously cut glass."
"Uh, earth to Viridi!"
"Oh, I'm only kidding. The goddess of nature would never be interested in some hairless monkey!"
Now Ness and Lucas no longer needed to ask who she was. Apparently Mother Nature was a little girl…Then Palutena joined in, making an offer to the 'not interested' goddess of nature.
"Oh, humans aren't all that bad. I could introduce you to him if you'd like."
"Hmph. If you insist." Apparently she was that type of girl who was always stubborn and couldn't just be honest about her feelings...The anime cliche type.
Then Palutena went back to giving Pit some advice about Link, followed by Viridi doing the same.
"Back to the fight at hand: Pit, you can reflect Link's projectile attacks with your Guardian Orbitars."
"Just watch out for his dreamy Clawshot!"
On cue, Link fired said chain projectile at Pit, confused at why the angel just stood there instead of attacking. He dodged it just in time, rolling to the side as the claw nearly grabbed his tunic. Then he backed out of range of the Clawshot and fired a charged shot from his bow, trying to keep his distance while Ness gave some advice too.
"Don't forget his boomerang, it always comes back!"
"You don't need to remind me…"
Then Pit asked Palutena a question about what she said earlier.
"You said he was the 'original hero', right? He doesn't seem so original to me, not when there's so many other Links with the same name and stupid face…"
Pit was more than a little envious of Link, and one reason was his unfairly good looks. Even the sailor Link was just really cute instead. As he said that, Link guarded the charged arrow with his shield, then swapped his sword and shield for a bow. Pit wasn't the only archer here.
"Feeling a little insecure? Actually, this Link is the most original of them all. Every other Link is a reincarnation of him."
"What?! But how?" Pit knew about reincarnation after hearing how much Hades messed with souls in the Underworld, but it wasn't normal for the same soul to reincarnate looking so similar and even having the same name and personality.
Link fired an arrow as Pit spoke telepathically, but this time Pit was prepared. He summoned two shield-like objects, one in front of him and the other behind: his Guardian Orbitars. They reflected the arrow right back at Link, catching him off guard and hitting him. No one bled in this world, but he was at least a little hurt by it.
"In his dying moments, Demise inflicted a terrible curse Link and Zelda. He doomed the reincarnations of Link and the descendants of Link and Zelda's royal bloodline, forcing them to forever fight against an incarnation of Demise's eternal hatred."
Link closed the distance, swapping his bow for yet another weapon: a strange-looking whip with a blue glow at the end. He swung it as Pit tried to defend with the Guardian Orbitars, and somehow it stuck to it. Then with that leverage, he flung the front Orbitar far away, robbing Pit of one of his weapons. At the same time, Pit realized something.
"So THAT's why there are so many Links and Zeldas always fighting Ganon…it all makes sense now!
Wait…descendants? Bloodline?"
There was a moment of silence as Pit realized what that meant, his face going red as his jealousy was amplified tenfold.
"LINK MARRIED A GODDESS?!"
Pit had accidentally blurted it out loud, which Link unfortunately heard, causing him to hesitate and stop his dashing sword slash. Link was at first confused, then surprised, and then embarrassed as he blushed profusely. Clearly, this was not something he was meant to know…
"Pit, you shouldn't say that out loud…Hyrule's timelines are strange enough already."
"Oops. Spoiler alert!"
Pit didn't care and happily took advantage of Link letting his guard down, equipping his Upperdash Arm to send Link flying with a fiery uppercut. Then he fired numerous arrows at the Hylian, but Link managed to somehow glide in midair and dodge most of the arrows by using a cloth he pulled out as a makeshift parachute. He then dropped from the sky and stabbed downwards, trying to hit Pit as he fell.
"Missed me!"
Pit split his bow into two blades as Link's sword got stuck in the ground, dodging around Link's falling stab before counterattacking with a dashing slash. It knocked Link backwards and away from his sword, but he quickly retrieved his weapon using his whip. He pulled it from the ground, sending it upwards where he jumped to catch it in midair and slash forwards twice as he fell.
"Showoff…"
Pit deflected the slashes to the side, then counterattacked by slashing with both bow-swords in a scissor-like motion. Link blocked one with his Master Sword and the other with his Hylian Shield, trying to stay calm despite the shocking claim he'd heard and didn't know whether to think of. He definitely had to win now so he could get some answers once this was over…
"This fighter from Hyrule is quite impressive indeed…for a mere mortal."
Pit attacked again, slashing in an 'x' shape with both blades as Link swung his own sword with both hands. The attacks clashed and canceled each other out, and then Pit tried to follow up with a horizontal slash of his right blade only to have it clang against the Hylian Shield again. Link tried bashing Pit with the shield in his right hand, but the attack was stopped by a cut from Pit's left bow-blade.
"Nice try, but you're nothing compared to the Underworld Army!"
"You're right, Pit: the Underworld Army is nothing compared to Link!"
Pit mocked Link after blocking the attack, hopping back slightly as he re-fused his bow. Then he spun it rapidly behind him before slashing at Link again rapidly. Pit's bow-blade clanked against Link's shield three more times as the Hylian raised his sword behind him and up into the air, which reflected the sunlight and suddenly glowed blue. Link grunted as he swung vertically at Pit, who jumped backwards and away from the slash...only to get hit by the beam it somehow fired, knocking him back even further.
"Be careful, Pit. When Link raises his sword, it is empowered by the Goddess Hylia, allowing him to fire a powerful beam called a Skyward Strike."
"He relies on his goddess for help? That's so lame!"
"Ahahaha! You're one to talk, Pit!"
Now near the edge of the island, Pit's wings glowed with the Power of Flight as he flew into the sky. In response, Link sheathed his sword and used his bow to bombard Pit with a volley of arrows. However, Pit's swiftness in the air let him dodge all of them before firing back with some light arrows of his own.
Link sidestepped and jumped to avoid the arrows, equipping a new weapon as he rolled away from the last one. Realizing he was at a disadvantage against an airborne Pit, Link tried to even the odds by firing the new weapon, which sent out a claw attached to a chain which hooked onto Pit's leg. Link was using it to pull him out of the sky, reeling in the flightless angel like a fish out of water. Pit grunted as he struggled against the chain's grip, but he couldn't overpower it and was soon going to be dragged painfully into the floor.
"I told you to watch out for that Clawshot!"
"I AM watching out for it!"
Pit was about to slam into the ground when he used his twin blades to cut through the chain just in time, allowing him to at least land on his feet. As often as he got mocked by the gods, he wasn't going to let it happen against Link of all people.
Link remained silent, but his expression was clearly annoyed as he charged at Pit once more, knowing he couldn't let him fly away now that his Clawshot was broken. He slashed and stabbed at Pit, who dodged by stepping back and then to the side, and deflected Link's next slash upwards with his bow-blades. In response, Link grunted as he used a devastating spin attack.
"HEYAH!"
Knowing he couldn't block this one, Pit barely avoided it with a backflip, going over Link's head and landing behind him. But the hero just wouldn't let up, attacking again and locking blades with Pit…
This turned out to be a fatal mistake for the angel, since he couldn't match Link's strength and was being pushed back. While Pit's blades were busy stopping the Master Sword, it left him defenseless against Link's kick which sent him flying, causing him to skid across the ground painfully. "Ahh!" Link showed no mercy on the one who picked a fight with him for seemingly no reason, taking a bomb from his inventory and throwing it right as Pit tried to get up. The angel winced in anticipation of the explosion, trying to at least shield his face with his arm…
Only for it to be reflected right back at Link.
"Huh...? Lady Palutena?"
A Reflect barrier had saved Pit at the the last second, disappearing to reveal Palutena who stood in front of Pit. She must have warped there just in time to save him…
"Oh, I'm not here to save you, Pit."
Palutena's staff glowed as she activated the Power of Flight against Pit's wishes, making him fly away to where Lucas and Ness were spectating.
"I'm here for a little, um…divine intervention."
Link stood his ground and raised his sword again, making it glow blue as he prepared to fight. He didn't run even though his opponent (accurately) claimed to be a deity…Only a fool wouldn't be afraid, but Link did a very good job of not showing it. If that wasn't brave, Lucas wasn't sure what was. It wasn't very fair, though. Link had already fought Pit for a while, and it would be hard enough to fight Palutena even at his full strength. So...
"If you're gonna fight him instead of Pit, then I'd better heal him first!" Ness cast PSI Lifeup, and Lucas did too after seeing Ness do it, healing all of Link's injuries. It was only fair, but Lucas had been too shy to ask until Ness did it first. Thankfully, Palutena didn't object to this, since she didn't want it to be too easy either.
"Wait, you want to fight too, Lady Palutena?" Pit, who landed awkwardly next to Lucas and Ness after Palutena's Power of Flight dropped him from the air, was surprised to see Palutena step in like this. She warped back a short distance to dodge Link's dashing slash, then temporarily grew wings like the ones on her statue and used them to knock Link away as she spoke to Pit.
"I'm no stranger to fighting. Have you forgotten that time we fought each other?"
"Well…Yeah, sure, but that was when the Chaos Kin had you under mind control."
"Well, anything an angel can do, a goddess can do better. Perhaps you'd like to see some of the powers I've used to protect you?"
And saw them he did. "Heavenly Light!"First Palutena surrounded herself with a pillar of light as Link ran back towards her, damaging him but not knocking him back.
"Explosive Flame!" A burst of fire exploded right next to Link, but when the smoke cleared he was completely unscathed and even managed to hit Palutena with two slashes followed by a stab, knocking her back. It was thanks to the Fireshield Earrings that had let him enter Eldin Volcano without becoming a human barbecue. Link then sent out his robotic Beetle that he somehow controlled remotely, trying to make it pick up Palutena and carry her off to the sky…
"Warp!" Palutena teleported out of its grip and reappeared behind Link. Just as he turned around, she used another power. "Rocket Jump!" Palutena launched herself up with an explosion that sent Link flying, following up by firing many balls of light from her staff. "Autoreticle!" She didn't even have to look at him as the attacks aimed themselves at Link automatically. "Lightweight!" As Link deflected the projectiles with his shield, Palutena suddenly gained a huge burst in speed and tried to overwhelm him at close range, swinging her staff in a circular motion in midair.
"HIYAH!" Link's swung his sword, clashing with Palutena's staff and putting them in a contest of strength. Fortunately, her Lightweight made it easier to win that contest and knock her back, and Link took advantage of that with yet another weapon of his: the Gust Bellows. It unleashed gale-force winds that easily pushed Palutena through the air and close to the edge of the stage...
"He has so many different weapons…that must be cheating, right?!" Pit was getting annoyed at how Link had a weapon for just about anything and could somehow carry them all at once, but Ness was quick to call out his hypocrisy.
"Are you kidding me?! Your goddess has like, a bazillion powers!" Palutena only proved his point more as the battle went on.
"Superspeed!" Palutena gained even more speed as she rushed at Link, overcoming the torrent of winds with a shield bash that knocked the Gust Bellows out of his hands. "Celestial Firework!" Many firework explosions carried Link up into the air, but he dropped a bomb at the same time, which led to the fireworks detonating it in a huge explosion that knocked both of them away from each other.
As the dust settled and both of them got up from the ground, Palutena had a more serious look. All these cuts, air blasts, and explosions had damaged her outfit a little, and her hair even got dirtied by the soot from the explosion. No one did that and got away with it…
"I'm readying my Sacred Goddess Clobberlaser for deployment."
"You're using THAT?! Isn't that a little overkill?"
"Many worthy foes have gathered here…And I won't hold back on anyone." Especially not those who messed up her hair. If there was one trait all the gods shared, it was pettiness.
"Sacred Goddess Clobberwhat?" Ness asked, having no idea what they were talking about. Neither did Lucas, but he was too shy to ask. He was just worried for Link's safety with how scared Pit seemed to be of whatever this was...
"It's a giant laser that Lady Palutena sends down from the heavens. One time she used it to shoot down the Hewdraw in one shot!" Pit left out the fact that Palutena only attacked because Pit had taken too long to shoot down the Hewdraw himself.
"What's a Hewdraw?"
"It's a dragon, kind of like that 'Ridley' we fought in Subspace, but with three heads."
"I wasn't actually there to fight Ridley, you know…I was busy being a statue until I got revived by Dedede."
"Right…we really owe you guys. We would've been toast if no one got revived!" He still remembered that time when the evil Tabuu had wiped everyone out in one shot of his instant kill shockwave…that had been a close one.
"Thank Dedede; it was his idea. I didn't do much except get turned into a statue, haha!"
Then after being quiet for a while, Lucas spoke up. "B-but that was my fault, not yours! You were dodging everything until you had to save me…" Ness was not pleased with that response, though, as if he'd heard it before.
"Geez, for the hundredth time, it's not your fault! You were just afraid, and that stinky jerk took advantage of it. And you kicked his butt later, remember?"
"…"
While they had been talking, the battle of mortal against goddess raged on. Link was using every weapon he had against Palutena, but he was clearly getting tired. He was breathing more heavily, and was now covered in bruises while Palutena only had a few cuts and burns on her outfit now. It was enough to get her to take things seriously, though, which was pretty impressive considering she was a literal deity.
"Black Hole!"
Palutena used something Lucas and Ness didn't expect from a goddess of light, creating a dark vortex in the air that sucked in Link. Then she focused a bright light in her staff, preparing another attack-
"Megalaser!"
A powerful beam raced towards Link, which would be a guaranteed hit with the black hole trapping him in place...
At least it should have been, until he fired his Clawshot at one of the marble pillars of the temple, pulling himself to safety as the huge laser burned through the black hole.
"What?! I thought I broke that chain!"
"It looks like Link has a second Clawshot. He truly is impressive for a mortal…"
Palutena was impressed Link had managed to give her this much of a challenge…He was definitely worthy of the Triforce his world's gods had granted him.
"But a mortal is no match for a goddess."
Suddenly, Palutena began glowing with a multicolored aura: the aura of a Final Smash. Just before Link's Skyward Strike could hit her, the goddess of light jumped away, jumping in midair several times with her Sky Jump power until she levitated far in the sky above Link.
"Ok, charging complete."
A much larger version of Palutena's halo appeared below her facing downwards, glowing brighter and brighter as it gathered a huge amount of blue light, shining on the area it was targeting with Link in the center.
"Whoa…" Lucas and Ness watched in awe as the goddess prepared a Final Smash similar to the PK Starstorm but focused entirely into one blast. Their angel friend was more worried than impressed, and instead quickly grabbed Lucas and Ness while warning them.
"Don't just stand there, we have to get clear!" Pit pulled them along with him as he ran as far from Link as he could. The light in the sky increased in intensity until it was hard to look at…
"Palutena Glam Blaster…FIRE!"
"Wait, I thought it was a Clobberla-"
"YOOOOOOW!"
Pit screamed in panic as Palutena fired the Glam Blaster, sending a massive beam of light towards Link and the area around him. Link tried to stop it with his sword and shield, but not even the ground beneath him could endure the light which burned straight through the temple and continued downwards for a long distance, making a large hole in the clouds. Link soon fell through it, instantly turned to a trophy by the giant laser until his Loftwing caught him and flew away. Lucas, Pit, and Ness had barely avoided meeting the same fate as they stood just outside of the gaping hole Palutena's Glam Blaster put in the sky island…
There was a moment of silence as they witnessed the sheer devastation the goddess caused.
"Maybe I overdid it a little…"
"A little?! You almost obliterated us too! Just like last time!" Pit was not happy to yet again almost get killed by his own goddess. It was just like the last time she'd fired the "Sacred Goddess Clobberlaser" on the Hewdraw and nearly hit him in the process.
"That was a close one…But I have to say, that was awesome!"
Ness had seen a lot of Final Smashes, but this was one of if not the most destructive so far. He had a feeling Master Hand wouldn't be too happy about the damage he'd have to repair, but oh well.
On the other hand, Lucas had been terrified of the giant beam, still shaking in fear of the attack. He felt kind of bad for Link, too, since he'd only gotten into this fight by choosing to rescue Lucas, and now he'd become a victim of Palutena's divine retribution. Still, there was something else that surprised him more than how much damage Palutena did to her own temple…
"H-how'd you do that? You used your Final Smash…without a Smash Ball! I-isn't that impossible?"
Palutena answered Lucas's question with a smile as she warped back to the ground. She twirled her staff as she floated down, with her halo fading away now that the battle was over. It had felt good to get some exercise and fight by herself for once, and even have a challenge too.
"Maybe it would be impossible…for a mere mortal." She had been able to use the Glam Blaster just fine in her own world, so she didn't see any reason it would require a special item here.
"I guess that makes sense…You really are something, Lady Palutena."
Then, someone interrupted Pit.
"Could you please stop being such a suck-up!"
Suddenly, another angel flew in from above and landed near Palutena. He looked a lot like Pit, so much that they were practically twins. The only differences were that his outfit, hair, and wings were all black, while his eyes were red in contrast to Pit's blue eyes. His wings also glowed green instead of blue when he was flying for some reason. It might have had something to do with how Viridi had been quiet for a while...
"Dark Pit. You just dropped in to crash my party?"
Pit's dark doppelganger smirked as he talked back to the goddess, clearly not looking up to her like Pit did. The camera zoomed in on his face as he spoke up…
"Uh-huh."