Skyworld

Kid Icarus dimension

"OOF!" Pit grunted as he slammed against a pillar, cracking it. With small pieces of it clattering to the ground, the angel slumped to his rear with a groan.

"This fighter from Hyrule is quite impressive, indeed," The voice of Lady Palutena spoke in his head. "For a mere mortal."

"Ugh… yeah. I think I got that," Pit moaned, rising to his feet and knocking his head loose of pebbles. Bouncing on his feet, he readied his blades, the split version of the Palutena Bow, and ran back into the fray.

Link jumped off a fallen pillar and swung down, the angel rolling to the side and deflecting the following attack. Blades met sword and shield as the two dueled along the surface of the floating island.

"Nice try!" the angel shouted as he ducked a swipe, slashed at Link, and jumped back, twirling his weapon. "You're nothing compared to the Underworld Army!"

His blades clanged against Link's shield before the warrior swung down, sword glowing blue. Pit jumped back, landing a short distance away.

"You know, out of everyone, you're the one I want to take down the most!" Pit taunted as he dodged and countered blows. "Think about it! The Archives say we were born at the same time!"

His wings flashed with light, Palutena's gift taking effect. Sheathing his weapons, Link took out his bow, drew back an arrow, and fired.

"And we both use a bow!" Pit continued, weaving through the air to avoid arrow after arrow. "You're totally ripping off my style!" Bringing both blades together to form his own bow, Pit shot off his own non-physical arrows. They slammed against the ground, kicking up dust as Link hopped and rolled out of the way.

"Oh, please," Palutena remarked in Pit's mind. "Comparing Link to you is like comparing a star to a campfire. After all, I've heard Viridi has quite the thing for him."

"What?!"

Caught off guard by this, Pit was too late to see Link firing his Clawshot at him. It snagged around his leg and dragged him to the ground… before Pit managed to slice the chain with one of his blades. As the chain returned to the Clawshot, Link stared at it in shock as Pit touched down.

"Why do you look so surprised? I was only joking, Pit!" Palutena said with a chuckle. "After all, there's no way the goddess of nature would be interested in some, as she would say, 'hairless monkey'. But I do consider introducing him to her."

"Can we please talk about something useful here?!" Pit shouted, Link running up to him and attack again. Pit managed to block his sword strikes, but a shield bash to the face caused him to stumble.

"All right, if you insist." The goddess replied. "Try using your Guardian Orbitars to reflect his projectiles!" Just as the advice came, Pit noticed Link ready a bomb… and chuck it at him.

"Gah! Stay back!" Pit cried, thrusting his Orbitars in front of and behind him. The bomb bounced off and was sent back at the surprised Link. Raising his shield, Link flinched as the bomb blew on contact, creating a cloud of smoke.

Pit broke into a run, closing in on Link as the smoke began to fade. The two of them collided again, weapons giving off metallic clangs on each strike. Pit sidestepped a thrust to his torso and somersaulted over a circular slash.

Bringing up both blades to block another overhead swing, Pit grunted as he tried to push back… only to feel Link's boot slam into his chest.

"Ah!" he cried, soaring several meters away and tumbling to a halt. Groaning, he rose his head up and tried to stand…

…but his eyes widened with a gasp. Link threw his boomerang with great force, the spin of the weapon strong enough to conjure a tornado-like whirlwind around it. Pit knew that if he tried to fly away, the winds would interfere.

I think this is it… I'm finished!

He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable…

…but felt nothing.

"H-huh?" Opening his eyes, the first thing Pit saw was a white gown and strands of green hair. The orange sky was now black and starry, the full moon shining behind him.

And in front of him, a reflect barrier faded as the goddess he dutifully served stood with staff in hand. Link was off to the side, having dodged the returned boomerang.

"Lady Palutena?" Pit whispered in confusion. What was she doing down here? Maybe she was here to-

"Oh, I'm not here to save you, Pit." The goddess of light replied. "I'm here for a little, uh, divine intervention." And without another word, the orb of her staff flashed… followed by Pit's wings.

"Waugh!" Pit cried as he was suddenly jolted upward, nearly dropping his weapon in the process. Struggling to regain his senses, Pit righted himself just as the Power of Flight brought him to the roof of a nearby temple. Readjusting to his new surroundings, Pit quickly spotted Palutena… who was staring Link down.

It clicked instantly. "Wait… you want to fight too, Lady Palutena?"

"I'm no stranger to fighting," the goddess explained, even as Link rushed at her and resumed his battle. "Have you forgotten that time we fought each other?"

For Pit, it felt like yesterday. "Well…" he began, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, sure. But that was when the Chaos Kin had you under mind control."

"Well, anything an angel can do…" Palutena continued, skillfully dodging a sword thrust and blasting Link with her staff. "…a goddess can do better. Perhaps you'd like to see some of the powers I use to protect you."

"Uh… okay, go ahead." Pit replied, keeping his eyes glued on the distant fight. There, Link had blocked a staff strike and was moving in again.

"Warp!" In a blink, Palutena vanished and reappeared behind Link to dodge a thrust. The fighter became confused, scanning the area…

"Explosive Flame!" …only to be blasted with a sudden explosion.

Shaking the effects of the explosion off, Link charged and swung again. With an expectant gleam in her eye. Palutena readied her shield.

"Counter!" The sword hit the shield and she immediately struck him with her staff. He stumbled back, and the goddess raised her staff again.

"Autoreticle!" A green icon that only Palutena could see appeared on Link, and three short bursts from her staff hit their mark. As Link continued to hold his own against the goddess, Pit watched in amazement as Palutena continued.

"Jump Glide!"

"Lightweight!"

"Heavenly Light!"

"Super Speed!"

"Celestial Firework!"

"Angelic Missile!"

Overwhelmed by the sheer power of each attack, Link eventually collapsed to the ground, weapons by his side. Palutena stood triumphant… and turned to Pit, her staff tip gleaming with light.

Pit's wings flashed shortly after, and he found himself soaring through the sky once again. Gliding back to the floating island, he touched down in front of Palutena and immediately dropped to one knee. "You don't need to prove anything, Lady Palutena!" the angel shouted dutifully. The goddess only smiled in reply… before another voice cut in.

"Hmph! Looks like angels only talk big!"

Pit stood, recognizing the voice. "Huh? Viridi? What are you doing here?"

"If you must know," the goddess of nature replied. "It all started when I received a message requesting a new member of the Smash Brothers."

"Many worthy foes have gathered here," Palutena added. "It pleases me to be among their ranks. "And I won't hold back on anyone when I am needed."

"Flattering," Viridi said. "But my new challenger should be arriving any minute now."

Before Pit could question the goddess' words… he noticed a familiar figure land a short distance away from them. He couldn't make it out from here… but Palutena gave an amused smirk without turning to face him.

"Dark Pit," she spoke. "You just dropped in to crash my party?"

"Uh-huh."

The dark angel suddenly rushed forward, with Palutena warping out of the way and Pit having to duck underneath his soaring counterpart. Coming to a stop and landing, he took out his Silver Bow and split it into two blades.

"Hey, it's Pittoo!" Pit called out, with his double cringing at the nickname.

"Will you quit calling me that, Pit Stain?!"

"Now," Palutena inquired. "where did you disappear to after the fight with Hades?"

The answer came not from him, but from Viridi. "Actually, Dark Pit works for me now. He's an officer in the Forces of Nature."

"What?!" Palutena gasped.

This came as no surprise for Pit. Back when he had his wings burned off and Pittoo had to save him, he ended up fighting Pandora. The goddess of calamity regained her stolen power, diminishing Dark Pit's ability to fly. Ever since, Viridi had granted him his own Power of Flight… his wings would glow purple with an occasional green shade to it.

But still, this news was nothing like Pit had expected.

"No way!"

"Just because we fought together once doesn't mean we're all buddy-buddy now," Viridi explained. "In fact, the Lightning Chariot and Phosphora are also both under my command. The battle isn't over yet!"

"Viridi's interests and mine just happen to overlap," Dark Pit said, getting into an aggressive stance. "So for this fight, I'll be happy to launch you into the stratosphere!"

Readying himself, Pit matched his twin's stance, their eyes locked on each other. "Your powers are perfectly matched here," Palutena informed them.

"It all comes down to skill!" Viridi added as the two angels stared each other down…

"Let's do this!" they both cried out, charging forth and clashing their blades together…

Back at HQ, Sonic whistled in an impressed manner. "At least I'm not the only one with a faker now."

"Yep," Pit replied. "He does seem to get along with Shadow, doesn't he? Plus, Phosphora is one of the assist trophies. If I fight both him and her, I'll be feeling the full might of the Forces of Nature!"

"Well, I suppose every great hero needs a doppelganger, huh?" the hedgehog asked. "Link has one, and BJ even impersonated Mario at one point."

The angel gave the blue blur a confused stare. "BJ?"

"As in Bowser Jr?" Sonic hinted. "I figured if either of us got tired of the name, we could use that."

"Hm. Not bad. Almost reminds me of how I wanted to call Dark Pit 'Ptooey'."

"Ha! You got a real knack for nicknames, I'll say that!" Sonic chuckled. "Oh, by the way, Fox wanted to see you. Something about delivering an invitation."

"Right! Catch you later, spiky!" Pit replied, making his way out of the main lobby. As the angel left, Sonic put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Hmm… something tells me one of the next new guys is gonna be important somehow."