Rose gently lowered Pit to the ground, somehow having lifted him slightly higher than she was tall before when she landed. As soon as Pit's toes touched the ground, he relaxed and pulled away from Rose.
"Are you okay, Pit?" Palutena asked.
Pit sighed in relief. "Yeah! I'm fine! Thanks to Rose, that is!" he added, beaming at her.
Rose blushed modestly. "It's no problem! I don't want you getting hurt, especially when we're about to fight some Forces of Nature."
"Now Pit, you are the captain of the Centurions, right?" Viridi asked. "And Rose, you're the captain of the Echidna army, even though Cupid's technically the commander and he's also in charge of you."
Rose didn't have a moment to answer before Viridi spoke again.
"I look forward to seeing how you fare against Cragalanche."
Pit, meanwhile, wasn't having any of it. "You should be more worried about how HE fares against ME!" he exclaimed.
Rose wiped some sweat that crept down her forehead. "As much as I'd like to have the same enthusiasm as Pit, I'm not sure I'm worried about Cragalanche as much as I'm worried about not getting my wings plucked off. I'd hate to have the same condition as Pit. In fact, I'd much rather I was able to fly to help him whenever he needs it. I'd hate to slow him down..." she muttered.
Pit placed his hand on her shoulder assuringly. "Don't worry! You won't slow me down! Show me what you've got!" he exclaimed.
"Careful Pit," Palutena warned. "I need you two in good condition. Besides you, all I've got are the Centurions, and Rose is a valuable asset to Aphrodite's team," she said, thinking a moment before adding, "You know, maybe I should open a boot camp to toughen them up a little."
Rose snickered. "What? Jealous of our boot camp back home, Lady Palutena?" she teased.
Palutena smiled. "Why, yes, as a matter of fact. Despite the fact that I am technically the Goddess of Light, the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, actually has the most powerful army that fights for good. Mostly, you stay neutral, of course, but the Underworld Vs. Overworld incident must've shaken her badly."
Rose smiled sadly. "Yeah..." She raised her arm and motioned for the Fairy Orbitars to attack some nearby enemies.
"Yeah, well even a boot camp wouldn't give them muscles like these!" Pit boasted, flexing his arms in an exaggerated motion.
Rose giggled. "You should try MY boot camp. Seriously, Lady Aphrodite's clubs are magic! It's insane how much you can lift with them!"
Pit smirked at her. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try and beat me at beating all of these Forces of Nature!"
"Fine!" Rose exclaimed. "You're on!"
"On three!"
The two angels lined themselves up back-to-back, facing to the sides, their heads turned to the area ahead of them. Rose's golden wings and Pit's snowy ones lined up perfectly.
"One..." Rose began.
"Two..." Pit continued.
"Three!" The two exclaimed in unison as they launched like bullets, darting through areas of the Reset Bomb, shooting and attacking monsters.
After a while of shooting, Rose had lost count when she saw something moving from the corner of her eye. What was it? She flew closer. It... It was a human!
Quickly, she helped the human out, Pit's back turned to her. "How many have ya got?" he asked Rose.
"Um, I lost count," she called back. "But I did find a human in the process!"
The human thanked her, giving her some chocolate. The human, a man, had wanted to give the chocolate to his son, but he owed her for saving him. Although Rose tried to refuse the chocolate, the man insisted. Rose led him to safety.
Pit turned around after she saved the human. "Oh. Sorry, that was insensitive, wasn't it?"
Rose shook her head. "It's fine. At least he's safe now."
Pit nodded. "Right. Truce?"
Rose nodded. "Truce. We'll settle this another time."
The two worked together, shooting monsters and attacking enemies, occasionally saving any humans they could find.
Rose and Pit moved along some rooted and vine-covered areas, shooting monsters and attacking them from behind, the sides, the front, or up close. Rose would support Pit from behind, having Orbitars that are mostly used for ranged attacks. With the help of her Fairy Orbitars, some monsters were able to get confused or dazed, leaving Pit the perfect opportunity to strike them.
One monster was so strong that he wouldn't let Rose get away from him, relentlessly attacking her despite Pit's efforts to draw the monster away or protect her. Her left wing was injured in the process, leaving her unable to fly for the remainder of the mission. It wasn't a horrible injury, but it definitely needed time to be healed by a drink of the Gods.
The fights have been long and tedious, but they managed to survive them all.
The two could still make out traces of buildings.
"I can still make out buildings in these woods," Pit commented.
"Yeah, and animals too," Rose added.
"Reset Bombs won't harm wildlife or natural habitats," Viridi explained. "Their only purpose is the obliteration of mankind."
Again, Rose felt the sting in her heart. Still, she didn't let it get the better of her as she launched another attack at a vine trapping a human survivor.
"Oh, is that all?" Pit muttered lowly.
"I suppose that accounts for all the life in here," Palutena mused.
"In a few years, this place will be completely covered in green," Viridi continued. "Flowers will bloom, trees will grow, and the natural food chain will take over. It will be mankind's winter and the beginning of MY spring!"
Rose furrowed her eyebrows, partly worried, part angry, and part sad. "As beautiful as that sounds," she began. "I wish it didn't have to be at the expense of the poor humans..."
Pit sighed as he continued to fight, not adding another word into the conversation.
The two entered a room in a place that used to be a
"It looks like there used to be a hot spring here," Palutena commented.
"Wait! There's still some water left!" Pit exclaimed, running over to it, grabbing Rose's wrist and dragging her along in the process. "Awesome!"
Bewildered, Rose managed to ask, "Uh, Pit? What're you doing?"
Palutena chuckled. "Don't you mean water you doing?" she asked.
Pit glared at the ceiling as though it was Palutena. "You just couldn't resist, could you?" he asked.
Rose chuckled. "I wouldn't be able to!" she exclaimed.
Viridi audibly groaned. "What's with you and hot springs anyway, Pit?"
Pit blushed. "What's with you and not minding your own business? For your information, I wasn't cheering for myself."
Rose raised an eyebrow questioningly as he somewhat forcefully placed her into a sitting position on the ground.
"Pit? What's up?" she asked.
"Aside from me, your wings. We don't want them hindering you in battle, do we?" he asked. "Now just relax. I'm gonna go in nice and easy."
Rose nodded. "O-okay," she stuttered. "I trust you." With that, she allowed herself to completely relax.
Pit cradled the golden-winged angel's spine and head so that she wasn't dunked under the hot water. After soaking her wings for a little bit, he noticed a glow and pulled her back out, watching feathers miraculously regrowing and the wings growing stronger.
Rose's wings felt almost as good as new, if not just a tad sore. It'd be an inconvenience to fly at this point, but not impossible!
"Wow, Pit!" Rose exclaimed. "Thank you!"
Pit beamed at her, helping her stand. "Now, let's keep fighting!" he cheered.
Rose thrust her fist into the air enthusiastically. "Alright!"
Just then, Rose heard a familiar voice in her head.
"Well well, it appears your henchman's enthusiasm is beginning to rub off on Rose, Lady Palutena," came the motherly voice that Rose had learned to love.
Rose beamed. "Lady Aphrodite!" she exclaimed.
Pit grinned. "Good to hear from you, milady!"
Aphrodite chuckled. "Aw, you two are just too sweet. Perhaps Cupid should bring you two together!"
Rose blushed. "What?! L-Lady Aphrodite, with all due respect, won't that distract us? I mean, I have no reason to question your judgment of course, but-"
"Love never got in the way of justice, sweetheart. It's the people that get blinded by it that drive themselves away," Aphrodite advised wisely.
"Wow..." Rose muttered, eyes wide. "I never thought about it that way!"
"Indeed. In any case, I wanted to see how my beautiful blossom was doing. After all, this is her first mission, and seeing as Rose is new, she does need to grow out her thorns just a bit," Aphrodite added, chuckling.
Rose giggled. "It's funny because we're in the Reset Bomb woods!" she exclaimed.
Pit was growing slightly irritated. "Why so many puns?!" he exclaimed.
"Aw, c'mon, Pit!" Rose snickered. "I don't need help making corny jokes! These monsters are just thorns in my side! Besi-AAH!" Rose was cut off by a pitfall trap.
Pit peeked over the edge of the hole. "Are you okay?!" he asked her.
Rose giggled. "I guess I... fell for you, huh?"
Pit was growing even more furious. But what Rose found amusing was the slight tinge of a blush crawling up Pit's cheeks. Aphrodite and Palutena were thoroughly amused.
"How fitting," Aphrodite mused. "Considering you work for the Goddess of Love herself."
Rose giggled again and flew out of the pit. "Okay, all puns aside, we should get going," she told Pit.
Pit rolled his eyes jokingly. "Finally!"
Rose noticed a jump pad that Palutena had set up for them. "Look, a jump pad!" she exclaimed.
Pit ran up to it. "Hugh- Ah! Hey, where are we?" he asked.
Rose flew up to him, flexing her wings after landing. They were on many large vines that were interconnecting. "I dunno. Looks like we're getting over some sort of layer," she commented.
"Well, we'd better get moving faster," Pit urged, running to the next jump pad. Rose decided to rest her wings and followed him.
They had jumped on about two more jump pads when they made it to a ring of rock. Rose had just barely managed to land before Pit yelled, "Look out!" and shoved Rose (and himself) out of the way of an incoming attack.
"Whoa!" Rose exclaimed.
"Are you two alright?" Aphrodite asked.
Rose nodded. "Yeah."
"That was a Lithinium. It's a flower that will fire a laser at you on sight. I suggest getting behind it somehow and attacking it like that or perhaps getting up close and personal, using melee attacks," Palutena advised.
Rose and Pit nodded in unison. "I'll distract it and destroy some other monsters, you get close to the Lithinium," Rose told him. She received a nod in response.
Rose jumped out and fired many attacks from her Orbitars at the Lithinium and some Monoeye-like monsters whose names escaped her at the moment. Pit sneaked out and hugged the wall before he got behind the Lithinium and slashed it into two.
"Alright!" Rose cheered. "Go Team Rose Pit!"
"Uh, Rose Pit?" Pit echoed skeptically.
Rose blushed. "Okay, so I'm not the best at names. I just combined our names, I'm sorry."
Pit held up his hands in a way of surrender. "N-no no, I just think it's... Creative..."
Rose raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You lie."
"I'm serious! It just caught me off guard is all," Pit admitted.
Rose playfully rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Pit."
"I'm serious!"
The two managed to defeat a flying enemy that also shot its laser. Thankfully, however, it didn't see or know where Pit and Rose were, so the two were able to shoot it down and defeat it fairly quickly.
Rose spotted a human stuck in some branches and blasted the branches off of her. This woman actually also gave Rose chocolate. Rose gave it to Pit, as he needed it more than she did at the time.
As they kept running, they began running into vines covered with crystal spikes. Rose covered for Pit as he ran before running away herself.
The two ended up in a dead end.
"You can't go any farther, so I've set up a grind rail," Palutena told Pit.
"Here, child, I will grant you a drink of the gods," Aphrodite said as said bottle appeared in her hands. "Share it with Pit, for you both need strength. This will let you regain the ability to fly for longer distance and time."
"Thank you, Lady Aphrodite!" Rose exclaimed, handing Pit the bottle first. He made the drink waterfall some into his mouth before giving the rest to Rose, who drank it and placed the bottle on the ground gently.
"And thank you kindly, Lady Palutena!" Pit exclaimed. Rose took flight beside him as he shot from the grind rails.
"It's tangled in there, so I had to wind it around the trees," Palutena said.
"Calling you a snake would be an insult to snakes!" Viridi growled.
"Though she is pretty crafty, you have to admit," Aphrodite said calmly.
"True..." Viridi admitted, sighing.
Pit jumped off at a tiny clearing, Rose landing right beside him.
The two progressed much further, Pit mostly relying on jump pads and Rose to get into high places.
Though they didn't get far without meeting a Jitterthug.
"Man, look at the face on this guy!" Pit exclaimed.
"That's a Jitterthug," Viridi boasted proudly. "Melee attacks won't hurt him at all when he's red. And when he's green, shooting him won't work! What're you gonna do NOW?!"
"Um... I guess we'll just shoot him when he's red and melee him when he's green," Rose said out loud automatically. She seemed surprised she didn't mix up the colors.
"But-" Viridi began before cutting herself off. "Oh, darn it!"
Pit chuckled. "Every enemy has its weakness!"
"Every everything has its weakness," Rose corrected. "Angels, enemies, gods and goddesses..."
Viridi growled. "Why you... How DARE you!?"
"She is right," Aphrodite said sagely. "After all, I expect no less from my blossom; my Rose."
Rose blushed modestly.
"Thanks for the advice!" Palutena told Viridi in regards to the Jitterthug.
The two were able to get rid of the Jitterthug quickly before moving onward. Pit managed to save another human before they ran onward. Another grind rail. Rose lifted off, accompanying Pit at his side while he shot monsters from the grind rail again.
When they landed, Pit saw a double-ringed vehicle. "An Aether Ring!" he exclaimed.
"You're a lucky angel, Pit!" Palutena exclaimed.
"What's an Aether Ring?" Rose asked.
"An Aether Ring is a vehicle of the gods. Frankly, this is the most popular, modern, and easily my favorite of the three, including Cherubot and the Exotank," Aphrodite explained.
"Wow!" Rose exclaimed. "I wanna try one sometime!"
Pit jumped into the Aether Ring, taking the controls quickly. Rose ran up beside him, slightly jealous, but she didn't let that get the better of her judgment. Instead, she supported him however she could.
"Man, I'm one lucky angel! These things drive smoooooth!" Pit exclaimed as he drove his way into a track-like vine.
"Plus, they provide protection AND firepower. Is that good design or WHAT!" Palutena exclaimed.
"It is!" Rose exclaimed, flying beside it. "But what's it doing here of all places? In a Reset Bomb?"
Viridi didn't answer her quite yet. The two angels made there way out of the track to a big clearing.
"This place is BIG!" Pit marveled.
"At least you have the Aether Ring," Rose winced as she was hit with an attack from a monster.
"There's another one in the middle of that giant tree," Aphrodite pointed out.
Rose glanced up at a giant tree in the distance. "That one?"
"Yes."
"But why there?" Pit commented as he shot multiple monsters at once.
"Ask Viridi," Palutena said.
"I did!" Rose exclaimed.
"Well... I installed it for my army to use," Viridi answered. "But no one passed Driver's Ed."
"I'm not surprised," Aphrodite commented.
"I can't believe you didn't think of that before," Rose said, shooting some more monsters that almost grazed her arms.
"You were attacking! I was busy!" Viridi exclaimed. "Leave me alone!"
Rose almost passed by the tree when Aphrodite stopped her. "Wait! There, there's an opening to fly through! Get that Aether Ring!"
Rose nodded and flew up. Immediately upon touching it, she was floated into the air and into one of the gaps. A protective force field surrounded the Aether Ring and many buttons and controls were set up before Rose. They were simple enough. Move, stop, shoot, barrier. There were also some others for feeding, but Rose didn't see the need for that.
Rose moved the Aether Ring away from the little platform above the ground and was surprised to find it descended slowly and carefully. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "This is so cool!"
Rose and Pit moved quickly with the Aether Rings, shooting any monsters who got in their way. Eventually, Pit and Rose had to leave their Aether Rings behind as Pit made it to a jump pad. Rose clicked an Eject button, floating her out of the vehicle, but before her feet could touch the ground, she began flapping her wings and flew over to the platform Pit later landed a jump to. They ran across an elongated platform until Pit jumped off and landed in some water.
"Pit!" Rose exclaimed worriedly, flying down to meet him.
He sat upright, his head peeking above the holy, golden water. "What is this?" he asked aloud. "A hot spring! A HUGE hot spring!"
"It's nature's bathtub!" Palutena told them.
"AND they heal us!" Rose exclaimed, landing in the water joyfully. The two stood there and soaked while their wounds slowly but surely healed. Rose didn't know why, but it felt unnatural, yet right at the same time.
When they were all healed, Pit and Rose headed up to a platform high above them. In order to spare Rose's wings, she used the jump pad as well, reeling when she landed.
"Y'know, I prefer flying..." she muttered.
Pit laughed. "If you do this more often, you'll get used to it!"
"There's a maze up ahead, so try not to get too lost," Palutena advised.
"Yes, Lady Palutena!" Rose chirped.
The two turned and twisted through the maze. At some point, Palutena decided to speak up. "Viridi's army is called the Forces of Nature. Many of her troops are made of natural resources, like wood, dirt, and rocks."
"Eco-conscious down to her troops!" Pit exclaimed. "Everyone's going green these days!"
"Well, she IS the Goddess of Nature..." Rose added.
"That's right, and I'm not GOING green, I've always BEEN green!" Viridi exclaimed. "I use cloth shopping bags. I compost my food scraps. And I separate my recycling into 15 types!"
Rose lit up. "Wow! You could sure teach me a thing or two about being green, Viridi!" she exclaimed.
"Now THIS is a goddess who sweats the details!" Pit chuckled.
Aphrodite chuckled with him. "Indeed."
Finally, the two had made it to a clearing. Palutena and Aphrodite gave their respective angels a drink of the gods before they went in.
And boy were they surprised with what they saw.
(LONG-AS-HECK CHAPTER HOLY HECKLE! Dang! Also, this was taken directly from Chuggaaconroy's Kid Icarus Uprising: Chapter 11 recording. It's on YouTube, you'll like it if you haven't watched it, and if you have, then good on you. Also, next chapter will be Cragalanche.)