Chapter 4: An Open Field Assault
Pit watched over Vinnia's unconscious body worriedly. She seemed to have undergone some sort of a transformation back in the temple that wore of after the light flashed and blinded them. Pit figured she had used too much of her inner strength, and had figured something out for certain; she was definitely descended from Viridi in some way or another, which explained her ability to see angelic weapons and her strange power over nature. He wasn't going to tell her though, for he feared that if he did, she would only grow worse.
"What happened to Zephynn?" Pit asked the Somewhat Staff.
"I believe that whoever was causing those bright flashes of light may have wanted to take Vinnia and Zephynn captive," said the staff, "You protected Vinnia though. Zephynn may have been taken."
"But to where?" asked Pit.
"Who knows?" said the staff. Vinnia stirred suddenly. Pit watched her get up slowly and hold her head in pain.
"What happened?" she asked groggily.
"You went insane and tried to kill Zephynn and me," said Pit, "Is that what you were talking about when you said that only your dad could control you when your emotions got out of hand?"
"Yeah…" said Vinnia, "I don't know why, it just happens when someone sets me off. I promise you, if I tried to hurt you at all back there, it wasn't on purpose. I lose control of myself and…"
"I understand," said Pit, "It's alright. But Zephynn got kidnapped."
"So what?" said Vinnia, crossing her arms, "I could care less about him."
"Don't get too mad," said Pit, "You don't want to go insane again do you?" Vinnia rolled her eyes.
"Whatever," she said, "So I suppose since you're the angel you have to rescue him right? If so, you can count me out. It's his fault I almost tried to kill you."
"Uh… you did try to kill me," said Pit, "And it's not his fault."
"It's fate," said the staff interrupting the conversation, "It's always the fault of fate."
"Shut up," said Vinnia, "You're getting annoying too." Pit took the staff in hand and got up.
"Well, if you don't want to be around us, we'd better get going," said Pit.
"We're just going to leave her here?" asked the staff.
"If she doesn't want to come with us to save someone who's perfectly innocent that she tried to kill…" Vinnia shot up and tried to smack Pit, but he grabbed her hand before it could come upon his face.
"Vinnia," said Pit, "It's our fault for working him up. We trespassed into his mother's temple and he was startled. That's why he attacked us. And it's better to make friends than enemies. You do that by not retaliating when someone tries to get in your face." With that, he walked off to the north without even looking back. After careful consideration, Vinnia followed him.
Of course, neither of them knew where they were going and they found themselves wandering around a large, grassy, empty plain. They didn't communicate either, and simply walked in silence, completely ignoring each other. The staff looked between them constantly with its eye, worried that they might have lost any trust in each other.
He was reassured however when a couple of Slimeclopses popped up out of the ground randomly and Pit blasted them away from Vinnia. No sooner had they been destroyed did five Monoeyes appear and attack them. Pit easily took them out with shots from the Somewhat Staff. Once they had all vanished in small, individual flashes of light from taking damage, Pit swung his staff over his head professionally and took his resting stance.
"That was unexpected," said Pit, looking around for any more that might strike them.
"Where could they have come from?" asked Vinnia.
"I don't know," said Pit, "I don't think the Underworld had the Slimeclopses on their side in the last war." Words ceased to be spoken for the next few seconds before Pit addressed the staff in his hand.
"Say, you said in Skyworld that this wasn't a normal enemy we're up against," said Pit, "But those were Monoeyes, and I fight them all the time."
"I'm as confused as you are," said the staff, "I am limited in knowledge of this world. I could've sworn that…"
"Look out!" Vinnia yelled in interruption. Pit grabbed her by the arm and jumped back as a large ball of purple energy smashed into the ground in front of them. A group of Miks and Monoeyes were hovering above them nearby and were charging more energy balls. Pit shot them with a few charge shots and then instinctively turned around and shot behind him. He hit a Skuttler straight in the face and destroyed it. Monoeyes surrounded them as Pit took out the other two that had been there. Pit held up his staff in readiness for fire from the flying, one-eyed fish but Vinnia suddenly held up her hands and their fire hit a shield of vines.
"Nice!" Pit exclaimed, "Don't go crazy!"
"Drop it," Vinnia said harshly from behind him. The vines smacked away the Monoeyes so that they were easy targets for Pit, who shot them with the staff. All was quiet within the next few seconds. Pit withdrew to resting position in order to catch his breath.
"What is going on here?!" he cried.
"Don't ask me," said Vinnia, withdrawing the vines to the ground, "I'm not responsible." Pit heard the Viridi growing in her voice again and said no more, fearing another transformation. Pit and Vinnia continued walking to the north, wary of anymore enemy attacks that might come their way. Eventually they ended up walking along rocky ground leading out of the pastoral countryside. A city came into view in the distance in the light of the setting sun.
"Finally," said Vinnia, "I need someplace to rest."
"Me too," said Pit, "What city is that?"
"I think its name is Vagrant City…" said Vinnia, mulling the name over in her head, "Yeah, that's it. We had to memorize the names of the cities that are in the general vicinity of my hometown in school. It's a pretty wide general vicinity."
"Perhaps we can receive a hint as to where the gods are being held," said the staff, trying to get into the conversation.
"Are this mission and fate all you ever think about?" asked Pit in annoyance.
"No," said the staff, "I can talk about other things. Speaking of other things, I feel like we're being watched. No wait, we are being watched."
"We are?" Pit questioned, "By whom?" He was suddenly thrown forward by the impact of a golden arrow that hit him in the back. He landed flat on his face, the Somewhat Staff being thrown from his hand and landing on the ground about ten feet away. Vinnia looked around in shock as she tried to register what had just happened. Pit slowly got up and looked around, and to his shock saw a black clad angel holding a Silver Bow walking towards them. Vinnia backed up behind Pit. The Somewhat Staff levitated over to him quickly and forced itself into his hand.
"Let's show this jerk for doing that!" the staff said in rage, "Nobody gets me thrown to the ground!" No one spoke between the four of them as they stared at each other in silence. Then two more characters joined the party, coming in behind the dark clad angel. One was a muscular man holding a large sword-club and wearing dark clothing, while the other was someone hidden inside a costume that Pit very well recognized.
"Magnus… Gaol… Pittoo... what are you doing here?" he asked in shock.
