Hello people! Sentinel07 here with Chapter 30 of Kid Icarus: The Great War.
Thanks to everyone who enjoyed the last chapter. Congratulations to superbigz for getting the question right and getting it right first. :)
Italics means a character's personal thoughts.
Bold and italics refers to quotes using telepathy.
Make sure you keep reading those AN's at the bottom for anything that might be upcoming.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kid Icarus or any other referenced video game or anime.
Well, might as well keep the ball rolling. Time to keep these battles going. Hard to believe we're up to Chapter 30. I never imaged the story would go this long when I started in May.
By the way, I also have a word for guest reviewer Maikou, assuming he or her is still reading this. If you've got something to say, give it to me in the form of constructive criticism instead of just bashing how I handle language or violence. Your opinion means nothing to me if you're just going to rant at me. That's why your latest review was deleted and disregarded.
Anyway, chapter time!
(BEGIN)
Chapter 30: Ice Ice Baby
"How much further is the Aurora Glacier from here?" asked Pit as he kept up with the group.
After resting for a tiny bit at Boreas' place, Pit insisted that he and Sheba get going again to the glacier. Obviously, since they would have no chance on getting in on their own, Boreas instructed Klein and Celsius. The two warriors were happy to carry out Boreas' instructions, although they apparently were in capable of doing it in a quieter fashion.
"Butt out Celsius! I'm taking the lead here!"
"Dream on! You've got the navigational skills of a broken compass!"
"Better that than someone who's like a blind bat half of the time!"
"Take that back, you jerk!"
"Blind bat!"
"Broken compass!"
"Oh, for Zeus' sake, make them stop!" groaned Pit as he covered his ears.
Klein and Celsius' powers created a small barrier for them to proceed, although it was still as cold as it was before. Pit asked if Boreas wanted to come, but he turned the offer down. Something about wanting to just sit back and watch the news, which Pit interpreted as him just being lazy. Anyway, it didn't really matter. Only he and Sheba were journeying into the Aurora Glacier whenever they came across it. Pit was also taking this chance to look over the powers he had brought with him.
"So those are powers?" asked Sheba as she looked at him. "You don't seem to use them often."
"Well, sometimes I look just overpowering enemies with my brute strength." Pit grinned as he flexed his muscles a bit before laughing. "But I have been thinking a bit more about them as of late."
"Oh, and why is that?" asked Sheba.
"Well, you and almost everyone else can use magic to some extent. Meanwhile, I can't really use it outside of these powers. So, I decided that I gotta use what I have." said Pit. Sheba smiled at his words.
"That's admirable of you, and smart as well. You're probably not the type for magic, at least not until you can read." she giggled the last part.
"Yeah yeah, I know." Pit shrugged it off. He was starting to believe that he really should learn how. It was starting to get embarrassing now that more people heckled him about it.
However, in addition to this, Sheba had something else on her mind. A conversation she had with Boreas before they left.
Flashback, about an hour earlier
Sheba was just getting her coat on again when Boreas came across her, looking as jolly as ever.
"Ah, Sheba. You getting ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes sir. I just need another minute." she said back.
"No need to be so formal. I don't get many opportunities to talk to others besides my subordinates." chuckled Boreas.
"I'm kind of surprised that you can put up with those two." wondered Sheba.
"Ah, they're good people, and they do a great job together believe it or not." Boreas chuckled again before his face got a fond look on it. "You know, just looking at you, you remind me a lot of Lady Shiki."
Sheba's eyes widened as she looked back at Boreas.
"You knew my mother?" she asked incredulously.
"Yes, I did. You resemble her quite bit, in both looks and personality. She was quite the woman." sighed Boreas in reminisce. Sheba just turned her head though. Talking about her family wasn't exactly easy.
"As I recall, she gave you a sacred blade forged from her own power, right? Falchion, correct?" asked Boreas. Sheba weakly smiled and held up her gauntlets.
"This is Falchion now." she smiled. Boreas' eyes widened a bit.
"Huh? But I thought Falchion was an indestructible blade." he said.
"It was supposed to be, but I broke it by accident. I'm terrible with swords. Thankfully, Lord Dyntos helped me re-forge them into these gauntlets." said Sheba.
"Ha ha ha ha! You truly are an unpredictable one. Shiki was like that too. You could never tell what she was thinking." laughed Boreas before his face became more serious. "I assume that you haven't been in contact with….""
"Boreas!" Sheba nearly yelled out the name, catching him a bit off-guard. "I…I apologize for that. I just don't want to talk about it."
"No, it's alright. That's perfectly understandable. I apologize for bringing it up." said Boreas before turning to see Pit joining them. "You should be going now. I wish you luck in the future."
Sheba smiled at the North God's generosity.
"Thank you, milord."
End flashback
Sheba was soon brought of her flashback by Celsius' snapping fingers.
"Hey! Earth to Sheba! You in there?" she asked. Sheba shook her head at the sudden noise, nodding her head a lot as she did. Celsius raised an eyebrow but otherwise let it go. They all wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible after all.
After a little bit more walking, Pit started to see something in the distance; something that began to glow a bit, even in the whirling storm.
"Hey, is that…." Pit started.
"The Aurora Glacier. Beautiful, isn't it?" smirked Klein.
The Glacier was a little hard to see in the swirling winds, but Pit could make out most of it. Ice formations were everywhere, forming columns, and almost looking like some kind of ice castle. However, Pit could tell that a lot of it went underground too.
"How big is it?" asked Pit.
"Not that much digger can your typical castle, I imagine. We haven't been in there for a while ourselves. You should see it when the storm lifts. It's quite the spectacle." said Klein.
"Well, we'll have to take care of whatever is in there first." said Pit.
"Correct." Klein's face grew sterner as he looked at Pit. "Be careful though. I sense something very strange in there. I think it's coming from whatever is causing the storm. If it is, be extremely cautious."
"Why? They're probably just Legion of Time soldiers or Einherjar." said Pit. However, Klein just shook his head.
"I've sensed those before, but this is different. You probably can't tell, but this energy feels….chaotic. As if it's unstable or something. I feel much bloodlust in it. Whatever this thing is cannot be underestimated. So please be careful, Pit." warned Klein. Pit nodded at the warrior.
"I will, Klein. Sheba and I will take care of business and we will see you guys again." he smiled.
"I look forward to it." smiled Klein back, as the two guys shared a brief fist bump. The two girls finally caught up to the boys, as Sheba was filled in as well.
"Well, you ready?" asked Pit.
"As much as I ever will be." said Sheba.
And with that, the two of them entered the icy entrance of the Glacier, their trek for the Ice Gem well on its way now.
(LINE BREAK)
"All right, I'm standing above the storm now."
Pyrrhon was currently hovering over the storm at the Arctic Circle. After Palutena's failed attempts to contact Pit, Pyrrhon volunteered to check it out himself. Thinking that his naturally flamed body would help him, Palutena agreed and he was on his way. He was hovering above right now, about to charge in.
"Well, this little ice storm isn't going to keep Pyrrhon out. Have at you, ice storm!" he yelled as he began charging the storm. However, right as he did, something neither he nor Palutena expected happened. The freezing winds of the storm began to freeze his outstretched right hand, causing to fall back as it quickly melted away.
However, the very fact that it was frozen, even if for a split second, surprised Pyrrhon. Most things made of ice melted around him if they got within a few meters, but the fact that it was cold enough to freeze him for even that small amount of time was surprising.
"It must be many degrees below zero now." said Palutena.
Now, Pyrrhon may be egotistical, but he wasn't stupid. Even he knew that he dived further into that storm, he'd most likely die in seconds. The ice storm would sap away any oxygen for fire almost instantly.
"So Pyrrhon can't help? Crud, well that's no good." he spoke to himself. He was in such a conundrum that he couldn't even come up with anything witty to say.
(LINE BREAK)
The majority of people there were shocked to see Luna standing before them, not quite looking the same as she did before. Her clothes were the same, but her demeanor looked totally different. The fact that she now had a spear in her hands as opposed to the parasol of old she had made quite a difference in terms of perception.
Not to mention the sheer force of the spell she unleashed. It was nothing like the others had seen.
"Luna? You mean the Goddess of the Moon?" asked Gwen. Luna turned and smiled at her.
"In the flesh." After that, she looked around, as if trying to find something. "Is Prometheus here yet? How about Pyrrha for that matter?"
"Um, no I don't think they've shown up." noted Iris. Luna sighed and face palmed her head.
"Honestly, they're taking THAT long? I had to learn two different weapons in the past months and they couldn't bother to show up before me?" Luna sighed again.
"Well, maybe they're stuck outside because of the barrier. Speaking of which, how did you get in here?" asked Iris.
"Oh, my mom sent a blast of hers down ahead of me to open the barrier before I arrived. Galaxy Spirits can do that you know?" she wagged a knowing finger at her.
However, Gwen wasn't really up to conversation.
"Not to interrupt your little reunion, but we've got a Monolith here." she muttered to them, keeping Ragnarok at the ready. Iris and Luna both got up as well.
"Yeah, you're right." said Iris.
Luna looked up at the sky, seeing the whale-like Ultima towering above her. She squinted a bit to see who was hovering around it, her eyes widening as she saw Amiti. Seeing his confident look made her begin to grit her teeth in annoyance.
"I've got a score to settle with that guy." she spat.
"You mean Amiti? Did something happen?" asked Gwen.
"He kind of kicked her and Prometheus' butt a few months ago." Iris laughed sheepishly, much to Luna's embarrassment.
"Thanks for the reminder." she groaned.
Meanwhile, Amiti just sneered at the group below him. So the Goddess of the Moon decided to make an appearance. He didn't see that coming but it was hardly a setback of any kind. After all, he had unfinished business after he allowed her and Prometheus to live back at the Valley of Hope so many months ago.
"Well, the Moon Goddess is back for another round. And with some new toys in tow as well." snickered Amiti as he floated closer to the ground. "I wonder if you'll be a better match this time."
"I've trained for quite a while. I'd like to think that you'll be the one on your back soon." threatened Luna as she readied her spear. Amiti took notice of its look.
"Ah, that would be Leviathan, correct? The ancient spear of the water dragon. So it ended up with the Galaxy Spirits up above, huh? Interesting." said Amiti as he readied Requiem.
"You talk too much sometimes. Iris, let's go!" shouted Luna.
"Right!" called Iris as she sprang along with Luna towards Amiti, both leaving Gwen behind. The girl watched as the two warriors flew into the air towards Amiti.
"And they don't even give me a second thought." groaned Gwen. However, she didn't get much time to think about it. She still had a bunch of Einherjar around her, and the ones that Iris was originally fighting were now focused on her.
"How nice of them. More for us. Ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed Ragnarok.
"You can see the joy on my face." deadpanned Gwen as she gripped Ragnarok and stormed at the remaining Einherjar. She wanted a piece of Amiti as well.
(LINE BREAK)
"Lightning Punishment!"
Aki pounded his hammer against the barrier formed around the Underworld, hoping to break through it. However, it didn't budge a bit.
"This doesn't seem to be working." sighed Phosphora. The two of them offered to see if they could punch a hole in the barrier, but it didn't work so far. Aki was really getting impatient. He was the son of Thor for heaven's sake. Why couldn't he break through this?
"The Underworld might be done for if we don't get in there." he groaned.
"You don't think they'll win on their own?" asked Phosphora. "We may not have Pit or Pittoo down there, but Iris and Luna are more than capable."
"Maybe, but I'm more worried about that Monolith. If there's one thing I know about the Legion, it's that they don't make the same mistake twice. I imagine this Monolith is far more powerful than Orphan was." worried Aki.
"I guess we'll just have to trust our friends." said Phosphora, trying to hide her own worry.
(LINE BREAK)
Pit and Sheba walked down the steps into the Aurora Glacier, as they began wandering through its halls. They were….eerie to say the least. What seemed like crystal adorned the walls and pathways, and mirrors seemed commonplace in some areas. It was like some kind of crystal palace inside the Glacier, and Pit wasn't all that fond of it.
"Oh great, is this another Zelda rip-off?" groaned Pit.
"Actually, I think it's a Paper Mario rip-off." smiled Sheba. Pit just groaned again.
"Well, ain't that just great. I can't tell left from right in here. Couldn't Klein and Celsius just come along?" asked Pit.
"I think Klein said something like "If we guided you through, that'd make it too easy. We don't like handholding" or something like that." quoted Sheba.
"What a load of….well, never mind. So, got any ideas?" asked Pit.
"Well…" Sheba couldn't really figure much out. The mirrors and hallways were giving her an odd sense of vertigo. Not only that, she was worried that they had still not come across any Legion soldiers, unless the monster causing the blizzard was the only guest here.
Pit walked a ways into the next room, seeing pathways that extended over large chasms. Things didn't seem to make sense along the walls. On his left, he'd see one thing, and then something totally different on the other. If these were mirrors, then why would they be showing different things? Pit tried giving it some thought. He didn't have Palutena to help him through the puzzles. He'd have to do this on his own for once.
"I wonder. Something doesn't seem right here." said Pit.
"What are you doing?" asked Sheba.
"A little hunch I've got." said Pit. He walked straight up to one of the walls, knocking on it a bit. He nodded to himself as he did so, confusing Sheba even more. However, he soon jumped back and gathered energy in his hands.
"Mega Laser!"
The magical blast impacted the wall, blowing it to bits as a hidden room was revealed to them.
"Woah!" said Sheba as she ran over. "How did you know that?"
"The wall sounded kind of hollow, so I figured I'd blow it up. Like Lady Palutena told me once, "sometimes walls may lie", or something like that anyway." smiled Pit.
"Heh, could have fooled me." smiled Sheba.
One puzzle down, who knows how many to go.
(LINE BREAK)
"How do you think they're doing?" asked Klein as he and Celsius were making their way back.
"Eh, they'll be fine. That Pit guy has seen through his fair share of dungeons, I imagine." said Celsius with her hands behind her head.
"Yeah, but whatever's in that place must be pretty strong. I imagine that it will be quite the show." said Klein.
The two of them then stopped, smirking at each other.
"Wanna go watch?" asked Celsius.
"After you."
(LINE BREAK)
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
Luna cried out as she lashed out with her spear against Amiti's Requiem, the impact of the two weapons creating a shockwave through the area. Iris came from the other side, trying to hit his blind side. Bringing up his left arm, Amiti blocked the attack, forcing them both away.
"Guess I'll have to bring in my spare. It's been a while." said Amiti as he pulled into his pocket, pulling out what seemed to be just a sword handle. However, energy formed around it, until a light blue energy in the shape of a broadsword formed.
"He just had to have another sword." muttered Luna. "Oh well."
Luna charged forward, making use of Leviathan's twin blades to relentlessly attack Amiti. However, he could block twice as well now with the two swords he carried. The second sword, Zwei, was lighter and quicker than Requiem, allowing Amiti to use it more effectively in conjunction with Requiem. Luna didn't let this get to her, pouring energy into Leviathan as blue dragon-like beings of energy formed around her blades.
"Rising Dragons!"
The two forms shot out from the blades, roaring towards Amiti. Requiem blocked one shot, but the second dragon grazed his sides, causing him to grimace as he saw it coming back for a second strike. He flipped in the air as it shot past him, allowing him to slice through it with Zwei. Iris used the opportunity to strike at Amiti directly. However, the fact that the two girls were starting to gain ground on him didn't sit well with him, as he unleashed a burst of energy to force distance between him and them.
"Not bad. To think that you learned so much in few months. You truly do have a gifted lineage to be in possession of such power." said Amiti.
"I'd rather not talk about the weapons. Just that I'm going to get payback for what you did last time to Prometheus." glared Luna.
"Prometheus. Oh yes, now I remember him." pondered Amiti in a mocking tone. "I haven't seen him in so long. I long figured he ran away like a frightened puppy."
To put it lightly, Amiti's words were just making Luna angrier. She immediately turned to Iris.
"Iris, do you think you could get to Ultima and find a way to dispel the barrier? Most of it is a machine after all, so something has to be controlling the barrier." Luna spoke.
"Ah, I see what you mean. But can you take him alone?" she asked.
"Don't worry about me. Just go." said Luna, who immediately charged back into battle.
"Luna…" Iris trailed off as the girl engaged Amiti again. She was about to turn towards Ultima when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Gwen was hovering next to her.
"Gwen, are you done?" she asked.
"Yeah, more or less." spoke Gwen. Her armor had some holes here and there, showing obvious wear and tear. Still, it appeared to be holding up well enough. "I'll come with you to Ultima. The sooner we get the barrier down, the sooner we can get reinforcements."
"Sounds like a plan." said Iris as they began a route to Ultima.
Luna's spear matched Amiti blow for blow, although she could feel her stamina beginning to wane. Even with the new strength, she was never one for endurance. She'd have to resort to magic sometime soon before she became too physically exhausted.
"Freeze Lancer!"
Luna's signature ice attack impaled Amiti in a couple places, although it was hardly enough to slow him down. He turned to the side to see Iris and Gwen flying towards Ultima.
"Ultima, unleash everything you have." he said calmly.
At once, what appeared to be additional cannons appeared through Ultima's arms and head, locking on to the two incoming figures.
"Uh oh." said Iris.
"Looks like it's preparing a welcome for us." spoke Gwen with Ragnarok at the ready.
At once, Ultima's new cannons began firing at the two girls, hardly giving them a chance to even catch their breath. The attacks they dodged continued to rain down on the Underworld Sanctuary, leveling another tower on the west side. They began to realize that they couldn't continue to be reckless, lest they bring the whole place down.
However, through the lasers, Iris squinted and saw something. There were some small structures on top of Ultima's head, kind of like a tiny tower. A glowing light was there, and she had a hunch about what it was.
"Gwen! I think whatever is holding the barrier is right there!" she pointed at the spot for Gwen to see.
"Hmm, you might be right. Can't be wrong to check." said Gwen.
Meanwhile, Luna continued matching blows with Amiti, alternating physical attacks with her ranged Ice spells.
"Your spells don't have much effect on me. I guess Forseti took a lot of energy from you." smirked Amiti, clutching both of his blades.
"I can do it again if I want. I've always been known for my efficiency." smiled Luna. "For example, Glacier Core!"
Orbs of ice appeared around Luna, forming two glyphs at her sides. As her magic welled up, the two glyphs unleashed two massive waves of ice energy, causing Amiti to try and block both blasts.
"Grr….urg….grah….so much power." he groaned as he struggled against the twin blasts.
This energy was becoming too much for even him to handle, taking all he had to try and deflect the waves away, leaving him slightly out of breath. Looking over to Luna, she was twirled her spear around, more ice particles forming.
"So, what do you think?" Luna smirked at Amiti. He gritted his teeth while also regaining his composure. Luna just smirked again as she stopped twirling.
"So, ready to continue?"
(END)
Well, I hope you all enjoyed that. Things are getting good now. Luna is displaying much more confidence and skills than we saw before. And Pit even demonstrates some level of puzzle solving. A tiny bit anyway.
And we even get a tiny bit on Sheba's own backstory. More on that to come. :)
And as Sheba suggested, if you want to imagine the inside of the Aurora Glacier, it's very similar to the Crystal Palace from Paper Mario 64. Another excellent game in my opinion.
Hope you all enjoy and review as always.
Sentinel07, out!