Sorry to keep you waiting! I didn't quite realize how busy I got in real life. Plus more polishing of the plot. But now onto the story!

~Shadmé~

After the two of us healed up, I walked up to the door and clicked the key in place. The latch fell off the door, and said object opened up.

Pit nodded his head in approval, and we stepped inside.

"So, you two just walk inside? The beast in there could've destroyed cities, scared all ocean life, EATEN your best friend, and you still want to go through with it?"

"But it didn't, though!" Pit replied. And I sighed. "Arequa. YOU are the one who first brought us here."

"Oh."

Shaking my head, Pit and I looked around. As our eyes adjusted to the gloom, we noticed more details.

The room was huge, and circular in shape. Dotted around the walls were a number of portholes that allowed us to see the ocean outside. However, most were broken as if something had forced its way through.

It was indeed a ballroom, but everything had rotted away except for the chandelier. It slowly swung back and forth, guided by the ocean current.

"So...where's the boss?" Pit had walked away and was inspecting the room.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "Arequa, please tell me there's an actual boss here. Unless you're scared of abandoned ships."

"Whoooooo..." Pit added jokingly, trying to sound like a ghost.

"Oh, be serious!" she snapped. "Of course there's a boss here! How else would you have ended up in my domain?"

The entire time, I'd been staring up at the chandelier. Now I noticed that it was trembling a little bit, as if something was approaching at a high speed.

"Hey, guys...do you see that?"

"See what? The stupid little chandelier? Ooh, how about the rapidly approaching boss monster that's gonna KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T MOVE!" Arequa responded, part sarcastically and part panicked.

"Uh oh," Pit muttered. "Arequa, what do we do?"

"Hope it doesn't hit you!"

"Great, thanks," the male angel returned. He looked out a porthole and sure enough, a draconic shape was getting close to where we were.

"Uhh, when I say three then jump, Shadmé! One...two..."

"Trois!"

"Shadmé, I'm serious! Jump NOW!"

The two of us jumped and propelled ourselves to the top of the room. What seemed to be a large dragon charged straight at us and barreled through the side.

On second glance, I began to pick out individual features. His entire body was long and serpentine, but instead of being a dragon body he possessed an extremely long tail with a point at the end. His arms and legs had been pinned to his side, likely to aid in his swimming, and I could see clearly now that they were webbed. As he spread them, his stance became more humanoid. His head did indeed appear to be draconic, but not completely. I concluded that the boss was not a dragon. So who or what was it?

"Well," he huffed. "Why are you not dead? I was told angels cannot thrive underwater."

"You were told wrong!" Pit bragged, separating his bow. "Creature of the sea, prepare to meet the light!"

"'Creature' is highly derogatory," he groaned, folding his webbed arms across his chest.

"Sheesh, what do you WANT us to call you? Your Highness?" I suggested sarcastically, baring my claws. The demon glanced at me in a slightly annoyed way. "Fire weapons?"

"Don't remind me," I growled.

"It's ON!" Pit added.

And with that, Pit and I fired ranged shots simultaneously. The beast ducked below our blasts and sailed to the side. He opened his palms and shot bubbles which knocked us back.

"Arequa, what's the deal with him?" Pit asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" the sand goddess backhanded.

Pit sighed. "But you're supposed to guide us!" He sent a charged shot at the boss.

"...Nope!"

"So you don't have a Super-Scanner Ultra Boss Mind-Reader?" the angel pouted. "Lady Palutena has a Super-Scanner Ultra Boss Mind-Reader."

"Reaaaallly," Arequa replied, drawing out her word. "Maybe Your Highness should tell us."

"Wait...we're actually calling me that?" the boss chuckled, swinging his tail and knocking Pit aside. As he moved I lunged up and gave him a few claw swipes.

"NO!" the three of us yelled at the same time.

"Come on! If not for our sake, how about the author's? I'm sure she doesn't like writing 'the beast' over and over," Pit pointed out.

"She's calling me that?" he hissed, glaring at the fourth wall. The author bashed her face against the keyb-hbrjo;vcjkn

"All right," he sighed, giving me a claw slash. "I am Lirroia, the dem- well, that's all you need to know."

"Good," Pit said. A groan of pain escaped my throat at his naïvety. "Nooo, not good! We need more!"

"I do believe I've done enough of a favor for you three," Lirroia snorted, unleashing another stream of bubbles at me, then following up with a tail whip. I was thrown up against the side of the ship with a groan.

"But Shadmé's right!" Pit said, swimming in front of me and slashing at Lirroia. "From my knowledge, bosses are supposed to be 'I am a boss, I am your enemy, and I serve the main villain! Roar! Oh, and I'm going to make an attempt to kill you even though it's my destiny to lose to the hero.'"

"That's quite enough," the boss concluded. "Perhaps I am smarter than you anticipated. I should not be expected to bow to your demands."

"Hey Lirrooooiiiiia! I'll give you a donut if you tell us who you serve! Pleeease?" Pit made the puppy-dog eyes.

"No, that's quite-"

"Pleeeeaaaase? You know you want the donut! Ooh! Or are you more of a brownie boss? I can get brownies!"

As Pit attempted to coax more info out of Lirroia (unsuccessfully), I snuck up behind him and performed some claw combos. Lirroia growled in pain as I hopped off, narrowly avoiding his tail.

"You little whelp!" he said, glaring at me.

"Heeeey, we got the big guy angry!" I chirped.

"We're an awesome team!" Pit responded, grinning and high-fiving me.

"...Please tell me this was part of your plan," the goddess of the sand beaches sighed.

"What plan?" we said at the same time. Lirroia seized the opportunity to launch some claw swipes at us.

"Of course. Even with your combined pea-brains you cannot stop me," the water demon bragged.

"Which came first? The chicken or the egg?" I demanded.

"The egg," Lirroia answered. "If the answer were 'chickens or the egg then chicken, but otherwise, it is impossible for a single chicken to make an egg."

"Okay," I continued. "Then answer me this! Which came first- the egg, or your demise?"

"Highly improbable! What do those two have to do with each other?"

The other angel and I glanced at each other, and after exchanging a nod, charged at Lirroia. He cried out as he was tackled into the wall but soon pushed back. However, we swam to opposite sides as he charged forward, and the boss tumbled head-first into the side of the ship. He flailed around to get a grip, but Pit and I soon felt pieces of the Destiny above us rain down on our heads.

"He's bringing the whole ship down!" Arequa called. She then started rambling about how the debris would affect the Ph level or something, so Pit and I tuned her out.

The male angel leapt onto Lirroia's back to dodge some falling wreckage. I noticed Pit was trying to get to a hole in the top, so I swam up to him. Rotted wood crumbled around us and the boss, and our wings started glowing, a sign that Arequa was back on track. "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?!"

"Because I don't really want a major in oceanology," I countered. We swam farther and farther away from The Destiny, and a slight explosion was heard.

"We need to get that guy some anti-depression pills," Pit muttered.

"I don't think that as why he self-destructed..." I shrugged. I turned back to the front. "Arequa, shouldn't we return to the surface?"

~Pit~

Pit nodded with Shadmé. "Yeah, shouldn't we be going back? I mean, we saved you from Lirroia."

"Oh no no no!" Pit was sure Arequa was smirking. "You two will be hanging here for a little while longer."

"WHAT?!" Shadmé exclaimed angrily. "You promised!"

"I did?" The goddess took on a somewhat bored tone. "When?"

"Uhh..." the female angel tried to think.

"Exactly! All I said was that you'd have to repay me in exchange for me saving your life."

"But we've done that already!" Pit protested.

"Okay, okay," the goddess sighed. "You can go up to the surface." She steered them upwards, but then their wings stopped glowing. Pit inhaled some water and started choking, clutching his eyes shut. He and Shadmé then started sinking instead of going upward.

"What's that? Oh, you're having trouble getting up there? I guess that you need someone's help! Hm, if only I knew someone who could save your lives again…"

Pit furiously shook his head. Come on, give us the aquatic powers back! I'll do anything, but please don't let me drown!

Instantly, he felt cool oxygen flood his lungs and he sighed. He rubbed his eyes and blinked them open.

"That wasn't necessary, Arequa!" Shadmé snarled.

The goddess of the sand beaches giggled. "Wanna do me a favor?"

Pit groaned. "We don't have a choice again, do we?"

Shadmé shook her head angrily. "Just take us to your domain to rest up. Then we'll do whatever else you want."

"Sounds good to me!" Arequa replied cheerily. They'd been traveling pretty straightforward this time, but now mounds of sand started to greet them. They swam overtop, then a temple made of marbled stone rose up. "That must be Arequa's Domain!" Pit realized.

"Give the angel a prize!" Arequa replied sarcastically. Shadmé rubbed her shoulder. "A prize? Let me offer a suggestion. Oh, I dunno- maybe a trip to the surface?"

The goddess of the sand beaches laughed so hard that Shadmé immediately started to blush. "Ohhhh, nice one, Shadmé!" The female angel turned to face the temple, ignoring Arequa.

Arequa guided the two over the sand and up by the castle. She had them swim all around, to view it from every angle. There were the occasional gemstones set in the stone, little flashes of color here and there. Columns held up most of the structure, seaweed strung around and flowing in the gentle current. The occasional school of fish would dart in between the columns. It was quite majestic, and Pit was only able to stare in a stunned silence.

"And so this is my humble domain," Arequa sighed. Pit and Shadmé made their way back to the entrance and entered the temple past the two Seagon guards.

Somehow, as soon as they stepped in, the temple was completely clear of water. Arequa switched her powers off, and Pit was quite relieved to be touching normal ground. Shadmé was a little curious as to how it worked, so Arequa explained that there was a spell over the domain that suppressed the water.

Pit heard footsteps, and turned to see the goddess herself approaching them. "Greetings," she started. "I no longer have to speak to you telepathically! ...Well, I could-" at this she wore a more thoughtful face- "but I'm sure it'd give you a headache." Pit nodded in agreement, but Arequa felt the need to demonstrate. "LIKE THIS!"

"Ghaaah!" Pit clutched his ears and winced as the sound run through his ears and head.

"Arequa, we get it!" Shadmé groaned. The goddess smirked in accomplishment. "Okay then! I'll show ya around now. Don't get left behind!" She whipped around and headed down the main hallway. Pit shook his head and followed, Shadmé behind him.

"Alright, this is the Arms Altar. You can fuse weapons, store weapons, buy weapons, grind weapons into hearts, play with weapons, murder people with weapons, eat weapons- just about anything, as long as it has to do with weapons."

"...Murder people with weapons?" Pit asked. "Did I hear right?"

"I like how you failed to notice that I added 'eat weapons,'" Arequa chuckled. "Is that normal to you?"

"Uhhh..." Shadmé mumbled. Pit shrugged. "This reminds me of that one conversation I had about Viridi about her edible, 100% energy-efficient Orbitars made from her troops."

"You mean FOR her troops?" Shadmé asked Pit hopefully, while he laughed. "Here we go again!"

"Yeah, yeah, well moving on!" Arequa said loudly.

"Wait a second!" Pit stopped her. "Could you contact Lady Palutena? I'm sure you could have her transfer my weapons here to switch out and things. Oh, and she needs to know we're alright."

"What do I look like to you, a butler?" Arequa groaned. Shadmé stepped up and stared her in the eye. "I don't care I'm underwater with Wolf Claws. I've beaten you before, and I'll beat you again."

"Hahaha," Arequa chuckled. "Not in the water you didn't! And besides, I was gonna call her. Let me just get through the tour." Shadmé nodded and let her go through the next hall.

The next room was a practice range. The room was made of thick glass, so they could see the watery outside. "Whoa!" Pit exclaimed. "That's seriously cool. But what would happen if you used an attack and it hit the glass?"

"Then the glass would break and the domain would flood," Arequa smirked. Pit went a little pale. "Don't let it discourage you from using the area, though!" She snapped her fingers, and an aquatic Monoeye dummy appeared. "Have fun!"

Pit pulled out the Compact Arm he'd received in The Destiny. They'd recovered it at a decently high intensity, so it had a couple modifiers. It looked like a chunk of carved white and red stone. He dashed up to the Monoeye dummy and nearly tripped over his own feet. Shadmé and Arequa held in their laughs.

"What?" Pit asked defensively. "This thing BOOSTS your movement speed! Nobody could've anticipated that!"

"Ahhh, so that's why we usually go and practice by ourselves," Shadmé laughed. Pit grumbled and gave the dummy a charged-up punch. The numbers were small, but one of the modifiers poisoned the dummy, so it was worth it. Shadmé nodded as she watched him beat up the Monoeye.

After Pit's mini-training session, the three headed off to a different direction. The normal aspects for visitors were what they found- bedrooms, bathrooms, and even a huge dining hall.

"Don't tell me you live alone, Arequa," Shadmé started. "Palutena has Centurions, Viridi has the Forces of Nature. What about you?" Arequa shook her head and sighed. "I have- well, had- the Seagons."

Pit cocked his head. "What happened?"

"They were captured," she said with a frown. "There's an Underworlder out there named The Poacher. He's the leader of a gang that goes throughout the lands, poaching and stealing. After I disbanded from the Underworld Army, he was recruited by the Underworld to weaken me. In revenge, he took almost all the Seagons and is doing who-knows-what with them."

"Then we need to stop it!" Pit announced determinedly. At this, Arequa smiled brightly. "Oh yes you do! That's where I'm taking you for your next mission." Pit rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh."

After a large dinner, the angels went to separate rooms to rest for their newest quest. Pit sat on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. What a day, he thought. The events before their accidental plunge into the sea, thanks to that demon guy, seemed to have happened a lifetime ago.

Just the thought of Lirroia made him all the more curious. Who was he, and why was he so secretive? They hadn't gotten much out of the Underworld boss.

But Pit wasn't one to dwell on these matters. Although Lirroia was concerning, he was sure the answers would emerge soon. Lady Palutena knew everything.

All we need to do is one more mission for Arequa and then we can get back to Lady Palutena.

~...~

Palutena paced back and forth in her control room. Arequa had once again cut off from their conversation. It was a relief to know that Pit and Shadmé were with her, but there was still a nagging suspicion in her heart. If they were truly in Arequa's care, why hadn't she heard them? And why was she keeping them so long? Arequa had been a part of the Underworld Army- Palutena could see the entire operation as a ruse to get the angels to whoever was in charge. The goddess sighed. All of a sudden, she felt someone trying to contact her. She accepted the call; it was Arequa again.

"Greetings, Palutena!"

"Enough games," Palutena cut her off sharply. "You're going to have to tell me everything. Now. Or I guarantee that I will not have my angels help you rescue your father."

"Eeerrrgh! I was literally JUST about to tell you about that!" Palutena heard the sand goddess' irritated response. "After they plunged into the sea, I used my powers to help them recover. You have Power of Flight in the air, you know? I can control their swim in the sea and provide them with the ability to breathe. Because it was along the way, I took them to The Destiny, where they finished off an Underworld Commander with the name of Lirroia. This next morning I'm taking them to the Poacher's post. It'll be beneficial in the long run, as he also works for the Underworld Army. After that, I'll return them to you. I promise." Palutena listened in a stunned silence. "And you didn't think of contacting me...?"

"Palutena...you are not their mother. You're responsible for them, yes, but you must let them make their own decisions," Arequa told her gently. "I'm not trying to hurt you, but this is the truth. Pit only asked for you twice."

Palutena's gaze shifted to the floor, and she did not say anything to that. The tension between the two goddesses was thick.

"Be prepared to receive them near Sparkling Beach in two days' time. Goodbye, Palutena." With that Arequa hung up the call, leaving the goddess of light stung, hurt and hollow inside.

Wow. I had this chapter written, then realized I got a major detail wrong and had to write it all over again! Sorry if it's not the best, but it gets the point across.

Anyhow, we have the water demon, Lirroia! His name is derived from the Greek for tide. I literally did not have a personality in mind, nor description, but I kinda like what I've got. I'll work on his appearance and post it on DA sometime.

All or most of the new bosses introduced have Greek names. I'm slightly worried that the names will be hard to memorize for everyone, so I'm trying my best to make them as notable and unforgettable as possible. So Lirroia is intelligent, haughty, but also secretive. And perhaps he will be remembered for answering "What comes first: the egg, or your demise?" with the latter choice!

RandomButLoved: Haha, thanks! Don't worry, everyone loves Pit- he's so bubbly and energetic, how could we not?

Pit: Bubbles are shiny!

Yeah, definitely important that we check on Palutena. I just wanted to establish that she's desperate to find them! In my original story draft that didn't contain mini-perspectives, she looked like kind of a jerk, heh.

Brightcloud0915: Indeed! There are going to be lots of references to the randomest things in this story! And well, Mimicuties...are demons who I swear devour your soul.

Pit: She means that Mimicuties are the monsters that look like treasure chests. When you approach, they sprout legs and start chasing and attacking you!

Animal Addict: N'aww! Glad you like it! I'm pleased with the length as well. It makes me feel satisfied with what I've written.

Dark Pit? Hm, honest answer...he's getting a mini-perspective next chapter, actually! And I'm planning on putting up the next chapter this weekend, so it's not too much longer to wait!

AnimeAngel: I agree! Those have to be one of my most despised monsters, beside Reapers (obviously), Ornes and Tempura Wizards!