Dark Pit watched Shadmé and Pit take off. He sighed and rubbed his head, then turned and began disposing of enemies in the opposite direction. He'd catch up with them later. Right now he had something to sort out.
"Right, POD," he sighed. "What's up with the Power of Flight thing? You could've gotten me killed!"
"What a pity," it joked. Or at least Dark Pit hoped it was a joke.
"I'm serious!" Dark Pit complained.
"You're a being of the air. It's just...amusing to see you panic when airborne, is all."
Dark Pit paused a moment. Then he growled, eyes flashing red. "You're an idiot. Do you throw penguins off cliffs for fun?"
"Are you calling yourself a penguin?" POD wondered airily. "You're not quite blubbery enough."
"Of course not. Like I said, you're an absolute moron." Dark Pit dug his blade into a Nettler's puffy face in his tension.
"That's no way to treat the one that allows you to fly!"
"And that's no way to treat the one that you're granting flight!" Dark Pit spat. "Either give it to me or don't! I don't want to have you deciding, while I'm airborne, for Palutena's sake, that you're bored of watching me fly!"
There was a long pause as Dark Pit battled the Underworld Army. More than once, he'd wondered if POD and the Underworld were linked. If so, then POD was doing an awful job of hiding it. And Dark Pit refused to be fooled. He'd use its services as long as possible, but refuse to listen to its recommendations.
Of course, there was the option that it was a sadistic tour guide and he was taking things way too seriously. But somehow, the dark angel didn't think that was the truth.
Dark Pit finished off the tangle of enemies he'd been fighting, then began walking across the windy battlefield. He squinted up into the sky. Was Katagi still there? The storm was still present and wild, which Dark Pit took to mean the demon had not left.
He didn't quite know how they were going to succeed in nailing Katagi accurately with a cannonball. Unless Katagi was blind and deaf to the sound and sight of cannon fire. Dark Pit doubted that.
Another Crawler rolled up to him, so Dark Pit raised his Silver Bow. The targeting reticle the Crawler used loomed across the ground, so he swiftly dashed away and began looking for the weak spot on the Crawler's back. He let loose with the charged arrow when he found it.
As he fought the enemy, Dark Pit thought back to the group he'd come to associate with. Pit, Palutena and Shadmé. How time flew. It had been at least a few years since he'd last seen Pit and Palutena. Because of the...incident that had happened at Viridi's, he'd kept himself hidden from them. He feared that whatever had ruined Viridi's Sanctuary would come to Skyworld if he retreated there, so he travelled on his own.
The Crawler finally combusted, so Dark Pit backed off before the explosion hit him. He took off, once again deep in thought.
He had no clue had long Pit and Shadmé knew each other. They acted like good friends, but Pit got along with others easily, so Dark Pit couldn't really guess. He didn't know it was possible for angels like Shadmé to appear with black wings. He'd assumed his were unnatural. As far as he knew, the Mirror of Truth had been dealt with.
Something made him stop short. He'd gone too far- he wasn't in the old battleground anymore.
The grass was dried, dead. The wisps of wind that remained did little more than yank them from the ground and splay them uselessly at Dark Pit's feet. Everywhere Dark Pit looked, nature was decayed. Trees slumped over while bushes were thin wooden skeletons.
And it was advancing. More grass was consumed by the ugly brown color as he watched it, a dying path to where he'd come from.
Dark Pit swallowed nervously. He turned to the sky. "Viridi! What is the meaning of all this!"
Her projection appeared in the sky, twisted by a condescending smirk. "Dark Pit. So now, two years later, you come crawling back to me."
"There is no crawling," he scoffed, tightening his grip on his bow. "I refuse to bow to you on my hands and knees. You know you have to stop this...this...nature isn't supposed to die!"
"Pathetic angel, telling me what nature is and isn't supposed to do."
"Don't you feel anything anymore?" Dark Pit burst out. "Even you must know this isn't right!"
Viridi's dull hazel gaze made the angel's insides twist. It was true- he had gone to help her after the defeat of Hades. Only enough, though, that it wouldn't be considered servitude. But five years in, and this had happened. Dark Pit refused to aid in corruption.
"I'll send out Phosphora," Viridi responded. "I cannot allow you to cowardly run from me after you pledged your allegiance seven years ago."
"Liar!" Dark Pit spat. "I agreed to help you when our paths crossed, not be some puppet to you."
But Viridi was gone, her projection faded. Gnarled vines curled around dead branches, and thorns sprouted from the ground. Overcome with panic, Dark Pit turned and fled, intending to find the others and raise awareness of the situation. He should've done that ages ago- why had he been such a fool?
~Shadmé~
The Skuttler Mage Pit had destroyed burst into hearts. "Well...I hit it," Pit defended himself good-naturedly.
"That could've been me! I would've exploded into a pile of hearts!" I exclaimed.
Pit pretended to aim at me. I rolled away from him and whacked a Skuttler with the butt of the staff. Slowly but surely we were making work of the room. They'd been right- at least it was Skuttlers and not something stronger.
I decided to take on a Suit of Skuttler. It rigidly rotated to face me as I got close. Raising an eyebrow, I ran around it as it tried to swipe at me. I was surprised to see that the Skuttler was exposed from the back. I couldn't believe the design. If you're going to wear armor, at least cover up entirely!
I used a forward combo to strike it, then a backwards shot. It tried to turn around, but it was too late. I took it out.
I straightened up to assess the situation. There were two Cannoneers left, a handful of Skuttlers, Suits that were slowly shambling towards us (but still nowhere close), and only one Mage. It was focusing on Pit, and waved its wand around as it cast a spell. As a Skuttler hit Pit's shoulder with its club, the angel winced, stumbling away from the enemy. Must've been a weakening spell. I sniped the Mage from my distance, and it toppled over. I put use to the Wire Staff's movement boost to good use and dashed up to the enemy, meleeing it with the staff. Pit helped me as the Skuttler Mage got up.
"We can take this thing. Come on, Pit!" He tackled it to knock it down again, and I fired one final shot at it, reducing it to hearts. "Yeah!"
Our momentary victory ended as a Suit of Skuttler punched me to the ground. I accidentally must've let it sneak up on me. Pit had me covered, though. He swung around to the back of the Skuttler, separated his bow, and slashed at the exposed bit. It rigidly tried to turn around, but Pit hopped out of the way of the next blow and attacked again. Shaking myself off, I sniped its backside as Pit used Angel Ring. Seeing the fight was almost over, I finished off one of the Cannoneers as Pit strode over. "Sorry to cut you off, Shadmé, but we should really grab that treasure and leave. It's unguarded."
I nodded as I noticed the Suit of Skuttlers were far from the box. The angel took off and opened the treasure. At that very moment, a fraction of the sun became visible as a cloud pulled away. A couple sparkles in the dust alerted me to some more glass shards. I picked them up, just as Pit brought over his reward.
"A Clover Club," Palutena reported. The green club was shamrock shaped, thin vinelike strands wrapping around the body. I rather liked it- the club seemed more bright in comparison to the darker club variants I'd seen. Pit put it away and we left the Intensity Gate.
"There's a cannon we can try up ahead," Palutena told us. Pit nodded excitedly and took off. I followed, a bit more slowly. "Hey, Palutena? Do you know where Dark Pit is?"
"He was fighting enemies a while ago, but I think he's coming back here now," she answered. I nodded, relieved. I kinda felt bad that he had gone off on his own.
I spotted the cannon that the goddess of light had told us about. Pit was already there, inspecting it all over. I squinted, a pair of Micks hovering above his head. I took them both out as I walked, and sure enough I'd gotten to the cannon.
It was huge, bigger than it had looked from a distance. The black paint was worn down by the weather, exposing some rusty parts. Pit was trying to drag a solid iron cannonball out of the ground. I came over to help him, and grunted as I felt the weight. "This thing's heavy!"
"No wonder they're abandoned," Pit panted. "Can you imagine both sides having to load these in, then be forced to take a five minute break? Phew!"
We hefted the cannonball together, then loaded it into the cannon. I backed away as Pit took to aiming it. "Just don't hit me with that thing!"
"Wouldn't count on it," Pit mumbled, concentrating. "I just need a target. Does anyone see Katagi?"
I squinted into the sky. "A lightning flash would be great right about now."
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. We had to take a guess.
"Okay," Pit sighed, looking around. "If we came from that direction...that's where the wind demon was last. I'm gonna try to fire over there. Oh! Is that a shadow in the clouds?"
I tried to look for what he was seeing. "No idea," I sighed. "Just do it. What's the worst that could happen? There are other locations."
"I'm just worried that Katagi will put together our plan and bail," Palutena explained.
"I doubt it," I snorted. "He seriously flew right up to us! That guy is scatterbrained."
"Then let's go!" Pit cheered. He attempted to aim one last time, and fired.
The resulting boom was astounding. Pit was knocked back from the cannon as the ball shrilly flew through the air. I lost sight of it after a few moments. I didn't hear it hit anything, which I guess meant we missed.
"Ow..." Pit groaned as he got up.
"I don't think it worked," I stated obviously. Turning to try to move on, my wings perked slightly. "Dark Pit's coming back! He must've heard the cannon!"
Unsurprisingly, he didn't look happy. But it wasn't normal moodiness. It was...fear?
"Pittoo? Everything okay?" Palutena asked. Pit raised his head, distracted from command of the cannon.
"No. Everything is not okay." Dark Pit was hunched over as he fought for breath. I tentatively walked over and crouched with him. "Did you see something?"
"Y-yeah." He looked straight into my eyes. "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I should have told you first."
"Told what?" Palutena wondered. Pit walked over too.
"After the defeat of Hades, I found my path crossing with Viridi's. I actually ended up...helping her. Just a little bit."
Dark Pit? Actually serve a goddess? This blew everything I thought I'd known about the dark angel out of the water. Even when I'd been recovering from my injury, Dark Pit hadn't let that slip. I thought it was extremely courageous of Dark Pit to reveal that bit of information. I put my hand on his shoulder and his head raised, just a slight bit.
"Wow, Pittoo." I wasn't quite sure what to make of Pit's tone. Perhaps he remembered how his doppelgänger had mocked him for his servitude to Palutena. It certainly didn't seem like Pit to respond in turn, but he just seemed...amazed.
"Don't get too surprised. All didn't really go to plan. Five years in, and I ditched. There was something really wrong about it."
"I see," Palutena murmured. "My connections with Viridi have been...fuzzy, these last two years. That makes sense."
"No. That's not the end. You don't understand." Dark Pit backed up, shaking off my arm. "Viridi's been off. You know how she is- she really cares about her nature. Those last two years were the exact opposite. Everything started dying around her, and she didn't care. It kept happening. And her orders changed. Now, I might be jumping the gun here, but I only can only compare it to...to when Palutena was possessed by the Chaos Kin." Dark Pit looked up at his last sentence, his maroon gaze scorching.
Pit and Palutena's reactions were exactly the same: "Wh-WHAT?!"
"Th-that's impossible, Pittoo!" gasped the goddess of light. "We killed it, remember? It was nothing but ashes, doomed to the Chaos Vortex."
"I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories," Dark Pit stated gruffly. "There's just...nothing else I can compare it to."
I was silent during their hypothesizing. An idea was taking root in my mind, just a tiny flash of an idea. Dark Pit and I made eye contact. It was as if we were thinking the same thing, even though I'm sure it was impossible. Did this mysterious act of possession have to do with POD?
~Pit~
Pit's mind was racing. Something wrong with Viridi? He didn't think that was possible!Maybe Pittoo was wrong, his view twisted by the fact he didn't like being controlled. Maybe it was a lie. But somehow, he didn't believe Dark Pit would make that up, especially since it involved him admitting he had aided Viridi and listened to her once. And somehow, that connected with other details Pit had pushed aside. In the human village they'd fought the Deathbringer in, none of the plant life was doing well. Even further back, thriving nature could only be found in the most remote of locations, like the island.
"We'll have to check on her as soon as possible," Lady Palutena decided. "Hopefully this storm will cease once we defeat Katagi, or we're going to have a dangerous flight to her Sanctuary, made worse by the changing environment, as you said, and your bipolar Power of Flight."
"That's a worry, but we don't have time for that," Shadmé said. Her brown eyes refocused, as if she had formerly been deep in thought. "We need to take out our current threat- Katagi."
Pit nodded. He'd never been in a situation so dire that they had to throw out the mission at hand. He didn't like the sound of it, and agreed with Shadmé that the wind demon had to be defeated right now.
"Alright," Dark Pit relented. He looked around one last time, as if expecting Viridi would appear somewhere to condemn him. "Let's go."
The three angels took off at a run, on the hunt for the next cannon, only to be abruptly stopped by another mob of enemies.
"Eggplant Wizard!" Pit cried out in alarm. Shadmé and Dark Pit turned their heads to face the looming purple monster.
"Let me guess- it turns you into an eggplant, right," Shadmé sighed.
"Eggplant Wizards are no joking matter," Pit replied. "Do you KNOW how long it took me to find a hospital after facing my first ones?"
"Well then don't get hit by this one!" Shadmé retorted helpfully. "There aren't any hospitals out here!"
The three angels rolled out of the way of an eggplant bomb.
"I'm fighting Igniots and Handoras instead. Those not fighting the Eggplant Wizard, say 'not I,'" Dark Pit suggested, taking off.
"Not I!"
"Not I- come on!" Shadmé grumbled. Pit laughed with relief. "Have fun!" He ran after Dark Pit to fight a group of Paramush descending onto the field.
Pit whirled to block a projectile as an arrow flew past his head. He and his doppelgänger were able to fight like this, but they had a bond, their trust, that they would not hit each other. Of all their differences, Pit and Dark Pit were matched in combat.
"I think I can fight these enemies with an arm behind my back, plus a blindfold," Pit bragged.
"Whatever you can do, I can do better," Dark Pit challenged. "You're so vain, sometimes."
"I'm not vain! I just like myself a lot," Pit returned. He slashed at a falling Paramush, the enemy weakened. In an instant he moved to its other side, to confuse it, and finished it off. Dark Pit took out a pair of Handoras, their hearts scattering from the impact.
"Hey guys, I'm alive," Shadmé joked. "I'm not an immobile piece of vegetable."
"Eggplants are vegetables?" Pit asked, surprised.
"I...think..." Shadmé trailed off, unsure. "What else would they be?"
"...Evil," Pit snorted. Enemies defeated, the group took off to challenge the next bunch.
"I know I'm probably going to be saying this a lot, but where's the next cannon?" Shadmé wondered.
"You're getting closer," Lady Palutena replied. "Just keep taking down enemies."
A Nettler popped out of the ground as Shemums scurried all around.
"This'll be easy, then," Dark Pit said, loading his bow. The Nettler ducked as an arrow flew over its head and hit a Shemum.
"Nettlers are cowards," Shadmé chuckled, running forward. Pit followed her, using his blade to hit the spongy orange enemy. "Most Underworlders are."
"Well, when the Underworld mass-produces enemies like this, you can't really expect them to be skilled," Lady Palutena pointed out.
"All the better for us," Pit replied determinedly. After a couple more slices, the Nettler was reduced to hearts.
Up ahead were Buckumps, Wave Anglers and Komaytoes. The Angels stood together and prepared to take them down.
"You know what I think?" Dark Pit snorted. "Shadmé needs a nickname too, if you're going to call me 'Pittoo' all the time in front of her." Shadmé raised an eyebrow, but Lady Palutena chimed in before she could. "Hm...Pit doesn't have a nickname, does he?"
"Pit-Stain," Dark Pit smirked.
"I should have known," Lady Palutena sighed.
Pit spun his bow at an incoming shot and deflected it as the two were talking. "Well, I dunno! Shadmé works just fine!"
"So does Dark Pit, but nooo," the dark angel uttered sarcastically.
"Do you know how much effort it takes to say that?" Pit complained jokingly. "'Pittoo' just blends together! Maybe you need me to compare them-"
"That's it!" Dark Pit exclaimed. "I know what to call her." His eyes shone with triumph.
"Do enlighten us," Lady Palutena replied.
"Yes, please do." Shadmé looked up. "I'm just dying to know!"
"Okay, so you know Spanish, right?" Dark Pit affirmed. Pit and Lady Palutena didn't respond for a moment, leading Dark Pit to roll his eyes.
"Tres. Spanish for 'three.'"
"Uno, dos, tres?" Shadmé reminded Pit, grinning. He laughed at the memory of them in the Destiny. "Yeah, I remember now!"
"Good. Well, since she's the third angel, she can be Shadres." He said it in a voice that sounded like the name was completely obvious.
The was a pause for a moment.
"...ohhhhhhh..." Pit said.
"We here at Skyworld HQ require at least 10 seconds to understand jokes and puns, especially concerning names," added Lady Palutena, referencing the brief moment of confusion after Dark Pit had been nicknamed.
"Shadres? Wh- oh." Shadmé said. "Come on, though! I never call you Pittoo."
"Too bad, Shadres," Dark Pit said.
"If you wanna call me that, I guess I'll just have to use your nickname too," the red-and-black-haired angel chuckled. Dark Pit grinned as if he doubted she would stick to her word. "Just passing on the nicknaming tradition," he responded. "Feels good to not be the victim this time." He attacked at Komayto attaching to her head. And with that, the last enemy of the group was taken out.
"I see the cannon!" Pit noted excitedly, and strode towards it. Shadmé and Dark Pit were on his heels.
"Okay, there's gotta be a more logical method than just firing it off into the sunset," Shadmé snorted.
"Silly Shadres! There is no sunset." Shadmé and Dark Pit exchanged a glance before they leaned down and helped Pit wedge the cannonball into the cannon.
"We've moved away from the source of the storm, so that's why the lightning isn't as visible," said Lady Palutena.
"Isn't Katagi the source of the storm?" Shadmé asked.
"Not necessarily," the goddess replied. "He can start it, but from there go wherever he likes."
"But still...don't you have 'Goddess-Vision' or something, rather than leave us in the dark?" Shadmé persisted.
"I'm not a hawk, Shadmé," Lady Palutena chuckled. "I'm a goddess of light."
"Figures," Dark Pit muttered.
"Perhaps we should send one of us up there to stall Katagi," Shadmé suggested.
The thought of separating themselves from each other made Pit's heart churn.
Shadmé seemed to sense his unease and her brown eyes softened. "Do you have any other plans?"
"...No," Pit relented.
"I'll go," Dark Pit volunteered. Pit and Shadmé whirled to face him. "Wh-why?"
"Why not?" he returned. "You guys have used this cannon before, anyway."
"But your Power of Flight..." Lady Palutena trailed off. Dark Pit waved a hand. "I'll be fine. Think of it like this. If you sent Pit or Shadmé up, you'd be working on controlling two different Powers of Flight- one for the angel in the sky, and one for the angel arriving as backup. It's better to keep Pit and Shadmé together. And your only option for them is down here, because this cannon weighs too much to be manned by a single angel."
Shadmé nodded at his thinking. "That makes sense." She turned to Pit, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. Dark Pit's your equal. He can do this."
"If you're sure, Pittoo..."
"Very." The dark angel spread his wings. They sparkled with red light and he sped off into the skies.
Pit worriedly turned to the cannon, walking to one side. Shadmé moved to the other. The two of them looked up at the storm.
Heeeeyyyyy I'm back! And we got a chapter full of good stuff, like Shadmé's nickname and Viridi drama as well as a cooler (in my opinion) cover.
Pit: You tell 'em, Shadres!
Yeah yeah. I'll be you guys want to know what I was up to, right? Well, on this story, it's surprisingly not writer's block or boredom. I actually stockpiled chapters to publish. So what was it?
...It was writer's block on The Dark Pit Show. I told myself I would not publish any FoLaD until I got the April Fools and OC episodes done. And that went well. As a result, I'll probably post a few episodes with in quicker frequencies for a bit to make up for it. You guys don't mind fast updates, right?
Also, summertime is here! If I'm not forced to get a job, go to camp or do housework, I'll be writing in bed with Kuro (my kitten) and food. Fun! That's my ideal summer anyhow.
We're almost at 100 reviews, guys! I'd love to say 100th reviewer gets a KI-related one-shot of their choice, but you can already suggest one-shots in my one-shot book. I can still do it though, if you want. Or I can review a book you wrote, or give you a shout-out here, or...
TwilightPrince101: Yup. It was the realistic thing to do, though, and when I'm not writing about floating eyeballs and an angel who uses puns to fight as much as a weapon, I try to be realistic!
Pit: Floor ice cream!
RandomButLoved: Fun question! And Okami is an awesome game, by the way. I pretty regurgitated random words into Google Translate and translated them into Greek, then shortened them for convenience. Katagi is derived from Greek for storm. Lirroia comes from tide (coincidentally, a name for one of my other characters in a different book is also inspired from tide) and Ifias comes from volcano! We'll get to explore Katagi's personality when the angels take to the air.
Voltaradragoness: My phone recognizes you as an autocorrect, lol. Off-topic, but yeah.
Thank you! And get that Katagi! (It was raining here a little while ago...weird...)
Guest: It's pronounced SHAD-may! And Shadres, my nickname, is pronounced SHAD-rays.
WaterStar45: I know! I'm sorry! But I'll never leave you guys, I promise. I might disappear, but maybe you should assume I was kidnapped by Hades or something and I have to fight my way out! Then write a fanfiction about it. Yay!
Don't worry about the accent! It's fine without. I only put it because if I didn't, people would pronounce it "Shadmee" or "Shadum" or "Shadmuh" and we can't have that!
Dark Pit: So you hate me for my life choices? Is that why you bring them up?
Don't ask me about the souls thing. *raises Claws* Let's finish them!
Guest: All shall be explained in due time! I look forward to unraveling the mystery. And thank you, that means a lot. Glad you can review, at least!
DrobotDestructor: I love your username! Drobot's amazingly powerful. Whoa, I'm in PA right now, too! I love PA so much, with all the tree-y mountains. I'd come back and live here if I could.
Pit: Let's go kill the Deathbringer in revenge, Drobot!