"Okay, you and Pittoo are gonna have to pretend that you're brothers." Lina said as she pulled out another uniform for the dark angel. "What?!" The two said in unison. "Me? Him? Brothers? NO!" They continued. "Good, you don't just look the part." Lina said as she dug through a bag. "Okay, Pit, if anyone asks, your name is Arthur," Lina said as she threw a shirt to the side. "And Pittoo, your name is Patrick."
Pit stifled a laugh as he buttoned up the jacket of his pristine school uniform. "Patrick, really?" Pittoo said flatly. "Well, it's better than anything, Patty." Pit said mockingly. "Shut up." Pittoo said as Lina dumped a pile of clothing into the dark angel's arms. He held the bundle out in-front of himself as if it were a dead rodent. "Do I really have to-" Pittoo cut himself off as Lina stared at him hard. "Okay, okay, sheesh. I'm getting changed." He said as he stomped out of the room and down the hallway.
Pittoo walked down the hall, muttering to himself. "Well, for Lina's sake." He said to himself as he gripped the handle of a random door. Great, I'm going soft He thought as he flung the door open wide. "Pittoo, get out of here!" Celina screamed as she covered herself with a towel as fast as she could. "Ack, I didn't know you were in there!" Pittoo yelped as he ran through the house, being sprayed by hot water- controlled by Celina. "What am I going to do with you guys?" Lina said as she buried her face in her hands.
xXx
As the search party flew through the air, a sudden screech sliced through the calm silence of the evening. "Acero, I have detected a large mass of dark energy from behind." A frightful soldier said as he slowly pulled an arrow from his quiver. "Arm yourselves." Acero simply said, pulling two dual blades from sheathes. The ring of metal sounded through the air as the soldiers pulled out their swords.
Ah, Palutena has sent me some treats, has she? A dark and eerie voice echoed inside the heads of the frightened soldiers. "Who are you?" Acero barked, more of a demand than a question. "Oh, you don't need to know. Your blood will stain the clouds before I can say."The voice said, seemingly coming from everywhere. That time it sounded almost like a growl. Clearly, the owner of the voice wasn't used to speaking in human-tongue.
"Turn around, and your question will be answered." The voice said, this time from behind the armed angels. Acero turned around and his eyes opened wide. A large black dragon hovered behind them. Immediately, Acero recognized it. "Rin-Tai," Acero squeaked, obviously afraid of the beast. All of the angels turned around, and froze. They too must have known who Rin-Tai was. He is black as the darkest cave in the Underworld Acero thought, frozen in mid-air by pure fear.
"Rin-Tai, dragon guardian of the Scales of Balance, what has happened to you? Why did you leave Koriel, your Goddess?" Acero asked mournfully. "I have been enlightened- Hades controls fate now- Koriel is obsolete- I now serve the rightful ruler of all." Rin-Tai growled, red smoke rolling out of the inverted dragon's empty eye sockets- yes, empty eye sockets. Hades Acero thought with malice.
"Now, you and your little band of misfits will die." Rin-Tai boomed as his talons began to glow blood red. One by one, screams were heard from the angels, as a dramatic change began to take place. Acero whipped around, staring in fear and awe as his soldiers were mutated into crosses between animals of the Overworld and the monsters of the Underworld.
"Your soldiers are now servants of the supreme God- and the one who shall decide whether you live through this war or not. Now, you suffer." Rin-Tai said as he slashed one blood red claw forward. Acero looked down to see a glowing red gash from his shoulder to his hip. He stared at the dark dragon in disbelief as the feathers of his wings merged together into rough leathery skin.
The awestruck commander's wings turned black, and his round pupils became reptilian slits. He screamed in pain as his bone structure manipulated itself, and his muscles shrank and enlarged at random. Fur grew along his body, and his jaw elongated into a snout. "What have... you done to us...?" Acero growled, trying to keep his voice from becoming a series of howls. "Welcome to Hades' army," Rin-Tai said as Acero's eyes turned from their light Amber to a nightmarish black. With one flap of his wings, Rin-Tai sent the mutated monsters flying down to earth, howling and squealing. As Acero's howl faded from earshot, Rin-Tai growled to himself, "See you in Hell."
xXx
"Well, today was okay, I guess." Celina said as she met up with the others in one of the many hallways of the school. "Easy for you to say," Pittoo said, shuddering at what had happened. "Now I know to watch my mouth." The dark angel said pulling a piece of wet paper from his jacket. Pit shuddered at the memory of seeing his doppelganger walk out of the bathroom soaking wet, toilet paper stuck in his hair. "Pittoo over here discovered swirlies." Pit said as he pulled another piece of toilet paper from the dark angel's hair.
"Well, there was a group of guys staring at me during lunch," Celina said as she flickered her gaze towards Pit. Pit stared hard at the ground before him. Was he blushing? "I tutored a bunch of kids in the math club." Lina said, adjusting the bow around her neck- but to no avail, it slipped again. "Nerd- cough cough." A kid with large round spectacles said. Pittoo stuck out his foot and tripped the boy. "Four eyes." Pittoo said before he turned and left the stunned boy on the ground. The group stopped, and the three angels of light stared at Pittoo. "What, he deserved it!"
As the quartet walked out of the building, their chatter was cut off by a dark howl. "A wolf- what in the world is a wolf doing in the city?" Lina asked herself as she subconsciously held out her hand. In a flash, a golden longbow etched with designs of leaves appeared in her hand. "Whoa, cool!" Lina said as a glowing white arrow appeared in her hand. "An archer, nice." Pit said as drew his bow and quiver from the air. "Am I the only swordsman here?" Pittoo said as a sword as black as night appeared in his hand. "Yup, pretty much." Celina said. "What about you?" Lina asked, addressing Celina. "Light Mage." Celina responded as she let a spark jump from her palm.
Before the group could make their weapons disappear, another piercing howl split the air- this time closer to the friends. "That doesn't sound good." Lina said as she took a sidestep towards Pittoo. He tried to snake his arm around her, but Celina slapped his arm before he could. "All the more reason to check it out." Pittoo said, trying to sound macho in-front of Lina. Lina smiled while Celina rolled her eyes. "Lead on, tough guy." Pit said.
As the group of warriors turned into the alley between the school and an abandoned building, they heard the growl yet again. "It's coming from the end of the alley- the dark part- and the whole alley is dark." Pit said. "Well thanks captain obvious." Pittoo said as he began walking into the shadows. The other three crept along, when the growling became much louder. "Hey guys, over here!" Pittoo called from beside a stack of garbage bags. "I think its over-" He didn't finish his sentence. A winged wolf- yes, a winged wolf, black as the shadows, jumped from behind the stack, snarling at the teens.
"It's too big to be a wolf from Earth," Lina said as she aimed an arrow at the wolf. "And Earth wolves don't have bat wings!" Celina yelled as the wolf leaped at her. She started throwing white orbs of fire at the wolf, causing it to yelp in pain. "Hah, fire isn't going to damage an underworld freak!" Pittoo yelled as he struck the massive wolf in the back with his sword. The wolf screeched in anger, but not in pain.
Pittoo tried to pull his sword out of the fresh wound, but it wouldn't budge. The winged wolf seemed to absorb the sword into its body and doubled in size, as well as heal itself. The bat-wolf reared up on its hind legs and aimed at Pittoo. "Oh crap." Pittoo squeaked as the overly muscled wolf sent the dark angel flying. No one saw him smash into the wall of another building.
"What the heck is with this thing?" Lina said, firing spontaneously appearing arrows at the wolf monster- which just made it grow in size. Pit scoured the body of the wolf looking for a weak spot, when he saw a patch of fur on its forehead- shaped like a star. At that moment, Pit realized what had to be done to defeat the brute- press the Savior's Charm into the monster's forehead.
"Lina, do you have the charm?" Pit yelled over the roaring of the monster. How no one could hear it was crazy. "Yeah, why?" She called. She had been trying to find Pittoo in the rubble of the exploded garbage bags. "That's how we kill this thing!" Pit said as he did a summersault, narrowly being swatted by a bloodied claw. "Distract it!"
"Hey ugly!" Lina screamed. The wolf turned her way and howled in fury. At that moment, Lina saw the yellow star-shaped fur patch. She then understood that she had to pretty much commit suicide. "Come and get me- unless you can't!" She shouted mockingly. The monster thundered toward Lina. The reincarnate dug the charm from a pocket in her skirt and threw her bow to the side. It immediately vanished, along with the arrows. "Die!" She screamed as she leaped toward it. She landed on its head, flipping onto its back. It jumped into the air, and took her soaring. "Lina!" Pit and Celina yelled in worry.
"Whatever the hell you are, you die now!" Lina said as she pressed the charm into the wolf's head. It screamed in pain as the charm seemed to burn itself into the overly furry head. Almost immediately, the body fell limp and began to shrink. "Oh my god, why me?!" Lina screamed. She had to be at least fifty feet above ground. As the wolf shrank, it began to glow a blazing white and gold. Lina closed her eyes, curled into a ball and began to pray.
"Don't let me die, don't let me-" She didn't have to finish. Suddenly, the back of her shirt split and out emerged two ivory-white wings. "What the-" Lina said as she instinctively spread her feathered wings wide. She landed gently on the ground and folded her new wings tightly. She looked up and watched the glowing lump land on the ground at her feet. "That was fast." Celina said, walking over to Lina, examining her friend's wings. She seemed oblivious to the glowing lump.
"Never mind the wings- look at the wolf!" Pit cried as he kneeled by it. The remaining three squinted, and saw a humanoid figure encased in the light. Lina knelt down where she thought the figure's head was. She stuck her hand into the light and rested her palm on the forehead of the figure. She sucked in sharply as she absorbed the light, and they all watched as her wings turned from white to gold. "Now you look even more like Kiara." Celina said with a smile.
"Acero?" Pit said, sounding quite surprised. "What?" The two girls said, also surprised. "What the heck is he doing here?" Lina asked as she propped his head up with her hand. Her memories from Kiara allowed her to remember Acero. "Oh..." Acero's Amber eyes flickered open slightly. He brought his hand to his head and winced. He looked at Celina and then at Lina. When he looked at Pit, his hand dropped to his side. "Hades- Rin-Tai- monsters- Koriel- mutants- Palutena- Pit- not dead- oh!" Acero squeaked in a panic. He fainted just moments after.
"Drama king- he always was." Said a groggy voice from the shadows. Pittoo walked slowly and dizzily into the light. "Always hated 'im." The angel said, slurring his words. He collapsed in a heap next to Acero. "Oh great- come on, let's get them back home." Lina said nervously. Pit picked up his twin, and the girls picked up the unconscious 'drama king'.
xXx
"What do you mean they're not dead?" A feminine voice screamed in rage. "Please, forgive me. I did not know they possessed Palutena's power." Rin-Tai said, coiling up in the light projected down onto the floor in the darkened room. "You have failed me, dragon. I have half the mind to kill you with Koriel's sacred blade!" The voice screamed again. "Be gone from my presence!" Rin-Tai sprang from the light and into the darkness. A woman with black flames for hair stepped into the light. Her shimmering black dress seemed to be made of shadows. One of her eyes was completely red- redder than blood- and the other black as death itself.
"Ah, Kiara. You have found a way back to your meaningless world of light yet again," The woman said. "It's too bad that I can use the precious goddess of fate against you." The woman snarled as she walked over to a black pedestal with a set of golden scaled on it. One side held an orb of light- the other an orb of darkness. As she pulled down the side with the darkness, the orb grew bigger, and the light orb smaller. As she did so, she began to laugh darkly. "I, Hades, God of the Underworld, and the one in possession of pretty little Koriel, will kill you and your friends- if I perish- along with my hostess doing it."