Chapter 12: Second Conflict
Author's note: Dark Pit takes over the story once again. As this chapter is a cross between the sister stories, the dialogue will be identical in both. Only the thoughts and points of view differ.
Dark Pit awoke especially early. He was eager to prepare for the coming conflict. He woke Magnus and Gaol. He knew that they weren't going to like his plan. But he told them anyway. They weren't happy, as predicted, but they reluctantly agreed.
This time, Dark Pit thought, he's going to die. I will sever our link and be free of him. A part of him, one that he was completely unaware of, even as he thought it, said, She will be avenged.
He went pretty deep into the cave. The other two followed. They entered a massive room full of crystals. Perfect. He activated his Power of Flight, and planted the underworld key in an alcove at the top of the room. Bait's set, now to lure in the mice.
He, Magnus, and Gaol hid near the entrance to the room. He would wait patiently for his enemy to appear. And then, victory would be assured. They had to wait for quite a while. It was well into the afternoon when they finally heard footsteps.
"This is where the light leads me," he heard. Dark Pit let loose a malicious grin from his hiding spot. Pit and his crew walked into the cave, not taking any notice of them. The crew included two new people, probably demigods. Now he had to figure out which was the one he was after.
"Here," said the demigod from the last conflict. "It's just a room full of crystals!"
"I don't know Vinnia," Pit said in response. Pit shuddered. "I feel something nearby." Realization donned on the angel's face. "Dark Pit," he whispered.
Dark Pit's grin grew more evil. That's my cue. The mice have taken the bait. He moved out of his hiding spot, making his steps far louder than they needed to be. Pit and his crew turned to look at him, surprise in their faces.
"Oh no… not this guy again…" Vinnia, the name Pit had mentioned earlier, groaned.
"Hi there. What brings you here?" Dark Pit said with mock curiosity.
"I led them," said a young woman, stepping forward. She had brown hair and eyes. If Dark Pit had an eye for beauty at that moment, he would have notice how beautiful she was. She was wearing a cream colored dress. Twin knives were belted to her waist and a bow was strapped to her back, along with a quiver of arrows. She also wore a necklace with a cobalt gem.
Dark Pit wasn't thinking about any of that. He was thinking, If she led them, then she's the one we want. Magnus and Gaol chose this moment to step out. They stood behind him. As per the plan, they stayed quiet and backed off.
"Wait a minute," Pit said, "Don't you need laurels so that you don't get a severe headache from strong weapons?"
"Not at all," Dark Pit replied. "You may need them, but I, being the better one, have no need of such crude protection." The statement was intended as an insult, and seemed to be received as such. The statement, however, was only half true: the two powerful weapons were bothering him, a lot, but he wasn't getting a severe headache.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Pit, "You're the same exact person as me! We're practically twins!"
Dark Pit's smile only widened. "My time on Earth has developed me. If you think we're equal, then prove it. I challenge you to a duel!"
Pit seemed to gain some confidence. Good, Dark Pit thought. Because he doesn't know of my new power, he'll be careless.
"I accept that challenge," said Pit, drawing his staff.
Time for the overly dramatic unveiling of my Silver Sword, Dark Pit thought. Pit's surprise at this turn of events would surely throw him off balance and tilt the battle in Dark Pit's favor. With this in mind, he took a few steps back. He then reached into his coat and withdrew the handle of his weapon. He then used the weapon's power to summon a wind around the handle, and then he threw his arm down and back, summoning the blade and a gust of wind that blew his coat back dramatically.
Pit jumped back, face reading extreme shock. "No way…" said Pit. "That weapon broke! I'm sure of it!"
Dark Pit donned the smuggest look he could muster. "You know," he started, "I should actually thank you for breaking it. Because you did, it now has the potential to become the most powerful weapon in existence." To show off this point, he summoned a small cyclone around him.
"The wind sword…" Pit said, at a loss for breath. "You took it from the bandit… and…"
"Ah, so you met that guy too. He had no business wielding such a powerful weapon. In his hands, the power was wasted. In my hands, the power's fully realized."
Pit raised his staff, clearly wary of Dark Pit's new power. Dark Pit narrowed his eyes. "En guard," he said quietly. Then, he charged. Dark Pit's focus was entirely on Pit now. Nothing else mattered. He swung his weapon at Pit, who countered with a swing of his own. Dark Pit jumped back, and charged in with a furious volley of strikes.
Dark Pit's confidence was growing. Dark Pit didn't even have to use his wind power, and Pit was already faltering. He increased the ferocity of his blows. Dark Pit pushed his enemy to a large crystal. He started a chain of blows that would have ended in Pit's decapitation. However, Pit jumped the final shot, and miraculously kept his head. Pit then bounced off the crystal and landed behind Dark Pit.
Dark Pit had already turned to face where Pit was coming from. Pit leveled his staff preparing to take a shot. Dark Pit summoned a defensive cyclone and waited for Pit to fire. The shot bounced harmlessly into the wall behind him. Dark Pit then charged at Pit, who had backed into a corner to snipe. Dark Pit would be ready to unleash another volley of attacks, but he would refrain from using the decapitate sequence. He wanted to make sure that when he did use it, it worked.
His blows jammed Pit into the wall with no escape. He kept up his furious attacks. Dark Pit now knew that the fight was in his hands. It would take a miracle to rescue Pit. Said miracle occurred when an arrow flew past his face. His pause was enough to let Pit loose. Dark Pit looked venomously at the woman who fired the shot.
Dark Pit shot a gust of wind at Pit, which incapacitated the white angel long enough for Dark Pit to turn his attention to the woman with the bow. Using wind to give him unnatural speed, he had his Silver Sword placed at the woman's leg before she could notch another arrow.
"I'd kill you, but I need you alive. So if you interfere again, you'll never walk again," he warned harshly. The woman seemed to get the idea. She dropped her bow and backed up to the other two spectators. That done he turned to Pit, who was releasing a charged shot. As he finished his turn, the shot was fired. He surrounded his blade with wind, and knocked the blast into a ground-based crater offhandedly.
He took this opportunity to charge through the smoking crater the shot had left and prepared to attack Pit furiously. The slippery angel dodged the strike and Dark Pit took a number of steps forward to compensate for his speed. He turned as Pit smacked headlong into a wall. Dark Pit took advantage of Pit's dazed state to charge again. Once he was in striking distance, he jumped, preparing to shove the blade into the ground through Pit.
The angel rolled again, and Dark Pit missed by inches. The sword was driven a few inches into the rock by sheer force. Darn! Dark Pit thought. If that had hit, it'd been over! He yanked his sword out of the ground and once again turned to face his enemy. All the stops were out now. Either him or Pit was going to die. He charged with everything he had in him. He summoned the wind to his blade to add speed and force to his attacks.
He began slashing at Pit madly. Dark Pit, mad as was, made sure to avoid carelessness in his strikes. He didn't want to be the one bleeding out on the ground.
Pit suddenly yelled, "Alright staff! Do your stuff!"
"With pleasure!" the weapon replied.
Pit's weapon took on a pink glow, and it looked as if it was extended to three times its length. Dark Pit smiled inwardly. To be using that attack, Pit must have been desperate. However, the attack was formidable, and Dark Pit's attack was knocked aside. He pressed the attack, using the wind to increase the speed and force of each strike.
"Is it because..." the light angel gasped, "I already used so much energy in the fight?"
Dark Pit didn't know what that meant, but he charged in anyway. Using a secret technique that Pit had never seen, he attacked in such a way that when Pit tried to block, the staff was knocked free. It hit the wall, bounced off it, and slid 20 feet across the cave floor. Dark Pit then kicked Pit in the back, sending him to the center of the room.
Dark Pit casually walked up to Pit, who was now on his hands and knees. Before Pit could fully regain his senses, Dark Pit placed his sword menacingly near Pit's neck. The staff, exhibiting its ability to move under its own power, flew back towards Pit, trying to get into its master's hand. Dark Pit effortlessly intercepted and poked the tip at Pit's side.
"Unhand me you fiend!" the staff yelled from Dark Pit's hand. Dark Pit only tightened his grip.
"You've lost," Dark Pit said matter-of-factly. "I could easily kill you here and now." His point was made clear and the staff shut up. He moved his sword closer to Pit's neck. "However, you have something I want. Or, rather, someone. If you hand over the girl with the bow, you can keep your pathetic life."
Pit hesitated for quite some time. "Well?" Dark Pit asked.
"I…I…I…can't…"
Dark Pit was getting frustrated now. "Hmmm?" he said as he touched his sword to Pit's neck, causing a drop of blood to drip down.
Pit screamed in panic. Dark Pit was extremely satisfied. He now knew that he had utterly and completely won.
"Mercy! Uncle! You can have her! Just don't take my life!" he yelled in a combination of misery, defeat and panic.
Dark Pit just grinned. "Terms accepted." He removed the sword from Pit's neck and dropped the staff. He then proceeded to kick Pit in the head as hard as he could. The angel was out cold. He wouldn't be waking up for some time.
"Magnus," Dark Pit barked. Magnus jumped out of the shock he had been in. "Grab the girl."
Magnus was too shocked to do anything but follow the order. He walked over and slung the girl, who had fainted on Magnus's approach, over his shoulder. As Magnus left the cave, Gaol, in full armor, proceeded to pick up the girl's dropped bow and snap it. She then dumped the pieces and turned to leave.
As she left, Dark Pit looked sternly at the other two. "If you follow us, your heads will roll." As he was leaving, he used his wind sword to knock the Underworld key from the alcove he had placed it in. He picked it up and left.