It was the weirdest sensation that Lucina's body had ever experienced. Or rather her lack of a body as she was nothing more than particles of light.
She thought she had prepared herself for the travel, but it still came as a shock to her. Palutena had told her that she and Pit would be traveling back to Altea via a beam of light. Their bodies would break down temporarily and return to normal within seconds. That information did not warn Lucina that her body would feel like being doused in weird mixture of hot and cold water.
True to Palutena's word, the trip was over in a flash. Their sudden reemergence was unexpected, and Lucina lost her footing upon landing on the solid ground. She toppled over and let out a low moan. It felt like her body was being stitched back together and she did not enjoy the feeling. As she looked skyward, she could see a glimpse of the pillar of light vanishing into thin air.
Pit landed more gracefully than Lucina though it probably because of his wings. He looked down at Lucina, looking sympathetic. "Yeah, light traveling threw me off balance my first time as well," he said, offering Lucina a hand.
Lucina gratefully accepted his help and was back on her feet, only swaying slightly. She then took in her bearings to get an idea of where in exactly in Altea they were. They had landed in a wooded area, not unlike the one that she and Corrin had flown over before. But she was not sure if it was the exact same area.
She turned towards Pit and asked, "Are you able to fly up there and figure out where we are?"
He shifted uncomfortably on the spot. "I would… except I can't fly freely," He muttered, looking at the ground.
"Why is that?"
Pit sighed. "I'm only able to fly freely when blessed by Lady Palutena's power," he admitted. "Most of the time I'm limited to gliding. I was granted the power of flight to lead a training session with my troops. My troops do not need the blessing to fly."
"So why are they not restricted like you are?" Lucina asked.
Pit looked at her and gauged just how much he should say. "Its no big deal. I am actually a human like you." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I was living on the streets ever since I was five," he said. "It was a struggle for me to survive until Lady Palutena rescued me."
"You were living on the streets? What about your parents?" Lucina gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she noticed Pit's face had soured. "I'm so sorry Pit," Lucina said in a soft tone. "It was a personal question, and I shouldn't have asked it." She bowed to him as an apology gesture.
He waved her apology aside. "Its ok Lucina. I mean, look at me now! Captain of Skyworld!" His face brightened up at that cheerful thought. "I owe much to Lady Palutena and that is why I will succeed in the mission she assigned me with!"
Pit then turned to Lucina, who was still bowing to him. "Now I have a question for you Lucina?"
"What's that Pit?" Lucina asked, standing straight back up.
Then she noticed he was holding her sword, examining it closely. It was shimmering softly in the afternoon sun. He must have grabbed it while she was bowing. Instinctively, she lunged forward and snatched her precious blade from Pit. "Don't touch that," she snapped, safely placing her sword out of Pit's reach.
Pit held up his hands defensibly. "Whoa there! Your weapon caught my attention back in Skyworld and I had to check for myself and I was right!"
Lucina raised an eyebrow. "Right about what?"
"Your holding one of the Eight Sacred Treasures of the world!"
She stared blankly at him. "Uh… what?"
"You're kidding, right?" He paused, as though waiting for her tell him she was kidding. "Wait… you have never heard about them?"
Lucina shook her head. "Hold on a second…" He reached into his pockets and removed a deck of cards. "I have been working collecting cards of Myth and Monsters for the last three years," He explained while searching through the deck. "I think I have some cards on me."
Pit searched diligently through his deck while Lucina wondered why he would bring cards with him in the first place. After a moment, he whipped out one card and handed it to Lucina.
She looked down on the trading card and it was indeed a picture that looked like her weapon. At the top of the card, there were four stars and a title that read 'The Falchion – The Sword of Light'. There was a short bio near the bottom of the card that read, 'One of the Eight Sacred Treasures of the world. This legendary blade has been passed down by the royal family of Altea. Increase your Active Fighter's ATK by 50 when this card is on the field.'
Lucina reread that last line. "Increase your Active Fighter?" She repeated in a disbelieving voice. "What is this nonsense?"
Pit looked offended as he reclaimed his card. "Don't you insult Myths and Monsters in my presence! It's the only game we have up in Skyworld that helps us feel connected with the surface world! See!"
He handed Lucina another card. This time she was stunned looking at a wildly drawn image of her Uncle, Marth. He too had four stars next to his name. "So… this card game of yours… is based off of people and objects on the surface?" Lucina asked, as she looked at her Uncle's bio.
Pit nodded, looking proud that Lucina was catching on. "That's right. Lady Palutena can keep tabs on important events through her reflection table. She then passes along this information to her blacksmith who then forges into this trading cards."
"That's not creepy at all," Lucina muttered as she stopped reading Marth's short biography. A single word caught her attention. "Exiled? My Uncle is not exiled? My father said Marth was just away traveling outside our border," She explained, trying hard to keep the jealousy out of her voice. "Helping protect Altea from the other regions!
"Well… maybe we got that info wrong," Pit evasively suggest as he rubbed the back of his head. "Like I'm surprised you of all people are carrying the Falchion."
Lucina laughed. "This?" She held her weapon. "Sorry to disappoint you Pit, but I think your mistaken. Both my father and Marth have the same weapon and were created at the same time. What I'm holding is a replica based on their Falchions."
Now it was Pit's turn to be puzzled. "No… I know those Eight treasures are real! But how could there be two Falchions?" While in deep thought, Pit walked past Lucina, stroking his chin. "There must be something that Lady Palutena missed?" He asked, turning back around to face Lucina.
She had other questions that she considered more important that her cherished blade. "Let's backtrack a moment. I don't want to question Palutena's intelligence… but why would she assume that Marth was exiled?"
Pit shifted uncomfortable on the spot. "Well… maybe your dad lied to you about it? To protect you from the truth?"
A fury washed over Lucina. Her father? A liar? True he may be overprotective, but to suggest that he would lie to her? Or that he would set his own brother into exile!
As an angry Lucina opened her mouth to respond, Pit's eyes widen. Lucina heard the rustling of branches behind her and turned around to locate the source of the noise.
An unknown person was dashing towards her from the trees. She was caught off-guard and fell backwards. Above her there was a deep gong sound as Pit was now standing in front of her. Lucina saw in front of pit was what appeared to be a shield of light.
That shield was holding the assailant at bay. They were slashing with all their sword against the shield, but they were making no progress. "It will take more than that to break my Guardian Orbitars," Pit gloated.
He looked back at the fallen Lucina and said, "Don't worry Lucina! I'll save you!"
Except he wasn't the only one who spoke. The boy attacking Pit said the exact same words. "Hang on Lucina," the other boy growled. "I save you from this scum!"
Confused, Lucina got back to her feet to get a better look at the boy struggling to break Pit's shield. She gasped as she recognized the fiery redhead, Roy. Roy was a year younger than her and showed tremendous talent at swordplay. So much so that he caught the attention of General Ike and became his apprentice. Unfortunately, that praise went to his head and made him a little bit too self-centered for his own good.
"Stop Roy," Lucina commanded. "Pit isn't threating me! He's escorting me home."
Roy let out a laugh. "Your hero is here Lucina," he hollered, clearly not listening to a word Lucina said. "I thought that pillar of light was suspicious. Turns out I was right and I'll take you home!" He took another swing that was blocked again by the shield. "Why won't this shield break?" He growled, his frustration mounting.
He let out a roar and swung with all his might. Again, it was to no avail as the moment his sword made impact, it bounced harmlessly off the shield. The collision was enough to knock Roy several feet backwards. Roy laid groaning in the grass, his sword beside him.
Pit let out a triumphant shout. "What did I tell you Lucina? It would take something stronger than that to break this baby!"
Lucina wasn't listening as she stared at Roy. What was Roy doing here? Was he searching for her? It seems foolish that he would come alone… especially since he was always following…
"AETHER!"
A deep voice bellowed above them. She looked up and saw a short glimpse of a man falling from the sky. In a flash, General Ike's blade crashed into Pit's Guardian Orbitars from above. The force from the blow was enough to shatter the shield from the moment of impact. Lucina and Pit were both stunned as Ike got back to his feet, brushing some dirt off his knees.
"Ah yeah," Roy jeered, sitting back up while watching his master with joy in his eyes. "Now your in a world of hurt jerk!"
"That's enough Roy," Ike calmly said, not keeping his eyes off the duo in front of him. "I've told you before to remain calm and not let your emotions get the better of you. It could cost you your live one day."
Lucina stared at the General. She should have figured her parents would send the best of the best to find her. She looked over at Pit and was surprised to see a sparkling light of captivation in his eyes. "You are General Ike," Pit sputtered out. "You're only a one-star card, but it's so cool to see you in person!"
Evidently Ike was confused by this statement. He placed his large sword on his shoulders and stared at the boy. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"A card game from where I'm from…" He caught himself. "This isn't the time to explain that. Listen sir, I have a message to give to…"
"Princess," Ike cut across Pit's words. "Step away from that boy."
Lucina did not heed Ike's orders. "General Ike," she spoked calmly, staring Ike straight in the face. "Please listen to me. Pit is escorting me back home. He has a message to give to my father!"
Ike did not say anything. He simply stood there continuing to observe the two. When he didn't say anything, Lucina asked, "Has anyone found Corrin? She was with me when… I went missing."
Roy stood up looking concerned. "Corrin's missing?" he asked, looking between Lucina and Ike. "All we were told was to find you and bring you home! No one said anything about Corrin."
Lucina could not believe what she was hearing. "Seriously? No one noticed she's gone. I can take you to where we were before…"
"Finding and bringing you back home is the top priority," Ike interrupted her. "Chrom made that quite clear. Now step away from the boy. Do not make me repeat myself."
She was feeling angry. Her best friend was missing, and no one cared enough to look for her as well. "Were going to give you the message to give to Father," Lucina boldly stated. "You can tell him that I'm safe and that I'm going back out there to search for Corrin!"
"You will do no such thing," Ike replied, removing his weapon from his shoulder. "The world out there is too dangerous for you to handle."
"But its my fault Corrin gone in the first place! I will never forgive myself if something happens to her and I just stayed at home and did nothing!"
"And you won't be alone," Pit added, pulling out a bow from thin air. "I'll be by your side Lucina. I'll protect you from anyone who stops you from finding your friend."
Lucina looked at the angel. She was touched by Pit's pledge. Then she returned to look back at the General. "So, you step aside General Ike," She ordered. "And let us through!"
Ike sighed. "I'm sorry Chrom," he muttered to himself. Then he addressed Lucina, saying, "Last chance Lucina. Either come quietly or if I have to use force to bring you home then I will!"
Pit answered for Lucina, notching an arrow of light on his bow. "Don't worry Lucina," he reassured her, noticing the nervousness on her face. "This arrow is designed to incapacitate, not to kill. I'll be able to stop him easily… after all he only has an agility rating of 10…"
Lucina interrupted him shouting, "Watch out!"
Ike launched himself forward, sprinting furiously towards them. Pit calmly released his arrow. It flew, straight at Ike's muscular chest at a blistering speed…
The arrow came within a few inches of Ike's body… when the General easily sidestepped the arrow. Roy yelped as the arrow ended up hitting him instead. He crumbled backwards and laid twitching on the ground.
Meanwhile, Pit's eyes widened in fear as Ike was right on top of him. He pulled apart his bow, revealing two curved swords. But before he could perform any action, Ike used his free hand and sucker punched Pit in the stomach.
The blow of the impact was massive, and Pit went flying backwards. The poor boy collided with a tree and Pit slid to the hard ground, coughing up blood.
"But… you are supposed to be slow," Pit weakly groaned…
"This isn't a game," Ike calmly said. "You need experience to survive out in the real world."
A glowing light out of the corner of Ike's eyes caught his attention. He spun and saw Lucina standing there, drawing out her Falchion. The blade was glowing brightly as Lucina was breathing heavily. "Is that…" Ike started to say as Lucina rushed forward.
Lucina's feet were moving by themselves. She hated seeing her new friend being hurt. But she was up against General Ike, one of the best fighters in Altea. She knew she had next to no chance of beating him… but she had to try. She figured her best bet was to use… that technique.
It was her turn to let out a bellow as she lunged her blade forward. The weapon released a flash of blue light as Ike raised his weapon to block the blow. The clash between the blades echoed throughout the immediate area.
Ike lost his grip on his weapon, and it spun in the air like a pinwheel. Both fighters were surprised as they watched the blade disappeared between some trees. "I did it," Lucina excitedly exclaimed. "I actually did Uncle Marth's technique!"
In her excitement, she had forgotten who was standing in front of her. Ike reached forward grabbing the collar of her armor. He lifted her up off her feet as though she weighed nothing more than a twig. "Let her go," Pit weakly said, clutching his stomach in pain.
"Enough games Princess," Ike growled, his hot breath flowing into her face. "Time to return home…"
"Let her go!"
An unknown voice called out from behind them. Ike released Lucina, who landed on her feet. Both turned and saw a figure in a brown hood standing before them. On his shoulder was one of Altea's Carrier Falcons. He held a familiar looking blade in his right hand.
"Is that?" Lucina whispered in disbelief.
"What are you doing here," Ike ordered, staring daggers at the person.
The individual took their free hand and lowered the hood. Even at a distance, the familial blue hair was recognizable.
"Why I'm answering my dear younger brother's summons," Marth answered. "And it looks like I arrived in the nick of time!"
