Holy crap, this chapter took me forever to write! Even my hands hurt a bit... I just hope all this hard work was worth it!
Just to warn you, this chapter will contain a lot of repetitive instances of alternating between BGMs... but it's all part of the impact that this story gives! So, if it says "Replay", it means you have to start the BGM from the beginning, while "Resume" means you have to...well, resume the BGM where you paused it from.
So anyways, enjoy! ;)
Chapter 5: Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit
Previously, our heroes have ventured into the frightening Reaper Fortress and defeated the Great Reaper. With that towering beast's defeat, Palutena was able to locate the hidden labyrinth of the goddess of calamity, Pandora, and this is the place where our heroes will be going next.
The gang only needed a small break after returning to Palutena's Temple, since the Loyal Bodyguards had casted Omniheal on everyone to heal all of their injuries, but that spell costed a lot of their magic supply. After a few minutes, the four Heroes' magic supply was back in full, and so everyone was ready to head out.
"Your destination is Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit." Palutena said to them as they dashed out the gates, with weapons, Power of Flight and Magic Wings in possession. "The Reapers certainly hid it well…"
But the gang could see nothing; just clear blue skies around them. "What are you talking about? We don't see anything." Pit said. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait that long, as a dimensional rift began to suddenly form into the sky. "Whoa!" Pit flinched, as he and the others were staring in surprise at this strange tear that opened itself big enough for them to fit in.
[BGM: Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"And here we have a space pocket." Palutena announced. "In you go!"
"O-OK!" Pit stuttered and then everyone took off into that strange, dimensional void.
Once they were in… no one really knew what to make of it. The inside was a long swirling green tunnel, while Underworld monsters and Monoliths seemed to fly in random patterns.
"This is getting weird…" Pit trailed off while they were dodging the Monoliths.
"And trippy…" Jewel added, and soon the scenery would change to a black and white wavy mess.
"Man, this is hard on the eyes…" Trifle grimaced.
"You'd have to be pretty out there to base your operations in a place like this." Palutena said.
"Well, Pandora has always been pretty out there." Pit said, as they began to open fire at some Underworld troops that would cross their path.
"It's true. The goddess of calamity even LOOKS pretty out there. I guess it's no surprise that the path to her would be as twisted as she is."
"'Twisted'? I'd say 'unhinged' is more like it!"
The gang continued flying through this strange and trippy void until the scenery changed again, this time into a rainbow-like tunnel that seemed to stretch out into multiple paths on the horizon. More Monoliths and some Monoeyes and Miks were flying around this area as the gang proceeded to avoid the former group and take down the latter group, and after a little while, they were able to see something in the distance.
"What's that?" Melia asked.
"Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit!" Palutena answered.
Everyone flew into the Labyrinth's entrance… and found themselves into an even stranger and funkier place: the labyrinth itself seemed littered with colorful, geometrical-like structures. Basically, this place looked like one that wouldn't be out of place in a 3D SNES game.
"Whoa!" Pit's eyes widened.
"This is so weird…" Eight breathed, clearly weirded out by this jarring scenery.
"This is not what I expected." Palutena threw in.
Despite the weird reception, the gang proceeded forwards and took down some more Underworld monsters. But thanks to this labyrinth's influence, the Underworld monsters seemed disoriented in this place: some would randomly appear and disappear from view, while others would lose control of their flight.
"You have to watch out for those red posts." Palutena warned once said red posts that were placed everywhere between the walls, floor and ceiling soon came into the gang's view up ahead. With that said, the gang maneuvered out of the red posts' way and continued onwards…
"OW!" that is, until Eight suddenly smacked face-first into… the path?
"Eight, are you okay?" Solo asked.
"Not…really…"
Then, Eleven flew closer to the path and reached out his hand to it… and felt a solid surface, much to his and the others' surprise. "It's a wall?! This is crazy!" he exclaimed.
"Tricky tricky. A false path…" Palutena mused. "Pandora is trying to psych you all out."
Everyone then flew to the right. "How does Pandora come up with this stuff?" Pit wondered.
"Messing with people is what she does best."
After shooting down more Underworld monsters and dodging more red posts, the gang would unfortunately come across another false path, this time with Pit smacking into it.
"Not again!" he whined.
"Uh-huh. Another psych out." Palutena said.
"This is starting to get annoying…" Arusu muttered as they moved to the left, where they dealt with more enemies before eventually coming to a triangular tunnel below at the very end.
"Going down!" Palutena guided them down into the tunnel.
There, the gang destroyed more enemies while going through one of a series of three hexagonal-shaped doors that would occasionally open for them, and soon they would come upon a branching path as Palutena let them know:
"The path branches up ahead. Tell you what – I'll let you decide which way to go this time."
"Does that mean you don't know the way?!" Pit questioned, shooting a few Gyrazers before everyone chose to head right… only to fly into a dead end.
"This is a dead end!" Shulk stated the obvious, but then the exit behind them closed up.
"Looks like you're trapped." Palutena said as four Syrens showed up, in which the gang easily disposed of and then the exit opened back up. "Pulling you out of there!" the gang flew out and to the left path this time, where they found themselves into a larger tunnel with rotating yellow walls as obstacles. "Oh, my."
"We can't let her get to us!" Melia exclaimed. "We have to hustle before Pit's Power of Flight and our Magic Wings run out."
"That would be…problematic. You see, I can't extract you all if Pandora's powers are still active."
Pit and Trifle immediately paled up at that. "Y-you mean… We'll be trapped in here?!" Trifle questioned.
"I'll just pretend you didn't say that!" Pit exclaimed frantically.
Soon, everyone made it out of the tunnel and arrived into a large cylindrical-shaped room. "It's a Handora ambush!" Palutena warned.
"Wha-?! It's Pandora time already?!" Pit asked, mistakenly believing that Palutena had said Pandora.
"No, no, I said Handora. You know, the…hand…monster."
"For a master of deceit, that's pretty weak!" Pit remarked as he and the others proceeded to take out the mob of Handoras that were walking along the room's walls, including unintentionally a Souflee that just so happened to get caught into the crossfire at this exact moment.
After that, a hole opened up on the floor's middle. "Look! A way out!" Zelda beamed, pointing down at said exit.
"Now's your chance!" Palutena hollered as everyone flew down the hole, seeing a bright light at the end. But once they made it out, they suddenly found themselves… outside?
"Wait a second…" Pit started, only for he and the others to fly upside down abruptly. "Whoa!" he exclaimed before going back to what he was about to say, "We're outside now?"
"This could be another trick…" Palutena mused suspiciously.
"But it all seems so real…" Solo breathed, and indeed it looked, felt, sounded, and even smelled like they were outside.
Right next to them, a Belunka was lazily flying in the sky and was strangely spawning out smaller versions of Belunkas instead of other enemies. Even so, the gang wasted no time in taking it out along with its smaller kin… aaaaand everything suddenly went dark.
"Hey! What happened to the lights?" Eight wondered…and in a nigh immediate response to that, the lights flickered a few times before coming fully back on, as everyone was back in the Labyrinth. "O-oh! Okay, then!" Eight blinked in startle, not expecting an instant response like that to happen.
"Well, THIS is confusing." Trifle muttered, shooting a row of Monoeyes in front of them.
"It isn't called the Labyrinth of Deceit for nothing, Trifle." Palutena replied.
"The name is the only straightforward thing about this place!"
"Tell me about it!" Pit agreed, and then they came upon another branching path.
"The path branches again." Palutena told them.
Learning from their past mistake (or so they thought), the gang veered to the left… only that it turned out to be the wrong choice again. "Ugh, don't tell us this is a dead end!" Pit groaned.
"Let's go back before the power of flight and the Magic Wings run out." Palutena steered them out, and so they went to the right path… only to find out that it was also a dead end, causing the gang to become utterly perplexed at this.
"Is THIS a dead end?" Pit questioned in a mixture of confusion and exasperation.
"Yes…? No…? Uh…" Palutena replied, growing frustrated and confused.
"We're losing our grip here!" Pit shouted as they turned around and flew through a narrow hall, taking out more Underworld monsters.
"No, I just need to think."
"Could you think a little faster please?"
"I'm…I'm getting a handle on things now." as Palutena said that, everyone emerged out of the hall and into a room with several crystalline columns. "OK, watch out for the columns around you. They'll reflect your fire!"
"Then I'll just do this!" Eleven smirked and unleashed the club's special attack, creating several large tornadoes that took out all the enemies in the room.
After that, the gang flew into the exit at the far end of the room and now found themselves… in outer space?
"O…K…" Palutena blinked.
"Now this is getting ridiculous!" Trifle complained.
"Ugh, this is hurting my head…" Shulk groaned.
"I believe we're close to our target." Palutena stated.
"Oh, hallelujah!" Pit exclaimed. "Then let's do this!"
They proceeded to take out a few enemies before landing on a jump pad in an asteroid, as it hurled them directly towards another asteroid… but instead of slamming into it, they were instead suddenly taken to…a seemingly digitalized area of sorts.
"What!?" Eight was taken aback by this sudden scenery change. "How did-…?!"
"Face it, dude. There's absolutely ZERO logic in this place." Arusu said while rolling his eyes, as they were dealing with a lot of randomly-appearing Monoeyes, Wave Anglers, Gyrazers, Komaytos, Miks, and a Boogity while flying through the tunnel that would soon lead back to the Labyrinth again.
"We're nearing the landing spot." Palutena said.
"You're sure it's not another illusion, right?" Pit asked.
[BGM End]
Pit landed on the landing spot first… except that something was off. "Huh?!" he wondered as he looked around… and then the whole place flipped upside down for him. "Yeeow!" he yelled and fell to the ground. "Ow!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" the others screamed, falling down and landing around Pit.
[BGM: Into the Labyrinth – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"Ow…" Pit groaned as he got back up, and noticed his friends on the ground groaning. "Guys…?"
"…It's official. I hate illusions." Trifle deadpanned and then he and the rest got up as well, before they all went through the door right in front of them. They ended up in a wide room with two Skuttler Cannoneers and a Bluster, as they were easily wiped out.
"Quite the thrill seekers, aren't you?" a female voice said before the gang could proceeded.
"Pandora, goddess of calamity!" Pit exclaimed.
"We let ourselves in. Hope you don't mind." Palutena said.
"Oh, please. Make yourselves at home. Doesn't bother me." Pandora replied nonchalantly. "But you should know that the whole 'goddess of calamity' was really the old me. The new me leads a more grounded life. Yoga, macrobiotics, reflexology."
"Don't you need feet for that?" Pit asked.
"How dare you take that tone with me?! Especially since calamity is really more YOUR domain these days!"
"Uh…" Palutena began, but she didn't really know how to respond to that.
"Well, 'calamity' IS quite common for Breath of the Wild's Hyrule…" Jewel thought.
"It's really quite insulting." Pandora said coldly. Then, she took a good look at Pit's party, without everyone and Palutena noticing it, and saw four faces in said party that piqued her interest. "Hmm… Those guys look like they possess impressive potential…" she thought to herself. "…You know what? I was only going to set my trap on Pit only, but I guess I'll do the same to those four too. Heheheh… Now this should be fun!"
Anyways, the gang headed into the next room and found themselves surrounded by five doors. "There's so many doors…" Melia mused.
"And I'm sure there are just as many tricks." Palutena added.
"Uh, no doy." Pandora spoke in a sarcastic tone.
"So… Split up?" Shulk suggested.
"Seems like a good idea." Trifle agreed, going for the first door along with Shulk, while Eleven and Solo went for the second one, Pit and Arusu went for the third one, Zelda and Melia went for the fourth one, and Jewel and Eight went for the fifth one.
Trifle and Shulk ran along the path upon entering their chosen door… only to bump into Eleven and Solo on the way. "OOOF!" the four guys yelled.
"Nngh…" Eleven groaned. "I guess that's the wrong one…"
Solo quickly shook it off along with the rest, before correcting, "Actually… Both the door we chose and the one they chose seem to lead to the same place."
"Then we were about to go in circles." Shulk concluded.
"Ooof!" Pit and Arusu yelled, as the door they have chosen was also the wrong one due to it literally hitting them in their faces and knocking them to the ground. "A fake door…?!" Pit asked.
"That's one of the oldest tricks in the book!" Palutena said.
"You don't say…" Arusu sassed, and then he and Pit got up right as Trifle, Shulk, Eleven and Solo came back to the main room.
Zelda and Melia saw a Merenguy and two Monoeyes on the other side of their door, thus this was the correct one. "Yes! We found the right one!" Zelda exclaimed.
"Yeah, but… What about Jewel and Eight?" Melia wondered, noticing that only those two were still missing upon looking back at their party.
"WHOOOOOOOA!" suddenly, Jewel and Eight screamed as they suddenly fell from up above and to the ground back in the main room, due to their door leading them to a pitfall.
"Oh my goodness! What happened to you two?" Zelda asked as everyone else looked down at them, after being startled by the pair's sudden appearance.
"Our door led us to a pitfall…" Eight groaned, he and Jewel getting back up.
"Well, at least it brought us back here." Jewel said, and with that, everyone headed into the fourth door and quickly took out the Merenguy and the Monoeyes… only to realize that they were in yet another room with five doors.
"Oh, joy…" Trifle sweatdropped before glancing at the others. "…Split up again?"
Pit shrugged. "Sure."
Just to sum up things a bit, the fourth door was again the correct one, as the others led to the very same three shenanigans from previously… well, all except for the second door, which led to a dead end. And let's just say that only one member of the gang went in there and actually never came back out… so let's cut over to it to see who it was and what exactly happened in there.
[BGM Pause]
"Hmm, I'm having a feeling that this will be a dead end…" Solo mused, as he happened to be the one who went through this door, and as you already know, he instantly came upon a dead end. "Yep. I knew it." he sighed.
Turning around, Solo proceeded to leave… only that he wouldn't be going anywhere due to a strange mirror suddenly being planted in front of him. "What the…?" his eyes widened. "That's…weird. I don't remember seeing a mirror in here before…" he pondered with a finger under his chin as he took a look in the mirror… but soon noticed something odd about it as he remarked, "…Then again, I don't remember looking like that."
What he meant by that was that his reflection depicted him with dark grey hair and eyes, while his Zenithian Helm and the belt's buckle were silver with a black gem, and his Slime Earring was metallic grey, mimicking a Metal Slime. His tunic was monochrome, his undershirt and pants were light gray, and his boots were white with dark silver tips and bottoms. Both his Zenithian Sword and Shield were also depicted as being monochrome in color as well.
Just then, before Solo even knew, his reflection stopped copying his motions and smirked evilly before walking out of the mirror!
[BGM: Irritation – Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
"Wh-What?!" Solo flinched in shock.
"Hello…" Solo's copy smirked. His voice was identical to Solo's, only with a deeper inflection.
"You like what you see? It's your dark copy!" Pandora chortled. "Dark Solo, to be exact."
"I have…no idea what's going on…" Solo breathed, before clenching his fists and pulling out his sword. "…but I really don't like the idea of someone copying me without my consent!" he growled and slashed at his copy, but his eyes suddenly glowed before he ducked under the slash while touching the floor's surface as if he was absorbing something from it, and used Knuckle Sandwich to throw a low punch at Solo's gut to send him flying. What happened is that Dark Solo copied the floor's high density, thus allowing him to send his lighter self flying with a single punch.
"This copy is better than the original!" Dark Solo declared in a boastful…yet cold tone and aimed his hand towards Solo. "Dark Puppetry Aura Hand!" strings of dark energy shot out of his fingertips and attached themselves into Solo's limbs while he was getting back up, and he found himself being restrained in place.
"A-Agh…! I…can't…move…!" Solo groaned, and then his evil counterpart approached him while keeping him restrained.
"We're done here." Dark Solo said to him coldly.
"Well done there, Dark Solo." Pandora complimented. "Now, come bring your good counterpart over to my room while you wait for your other comrades to be born soon enough."
"As you wish, Pandora." Dark Solo simply replied and proceeded to drag an unwilling Solo away.
"…What just happened…?" Solo thought.
[BGM Stop]
Back with the others…
[Resume "Into the Labyrinth" BGM]
"Gross! It's a giant bug!" Pit shrieked as he and the others were being confronted by a Girin that emerged out of the ground.
"Ew ew ew!" Melia yelled in disgust since bugs was one of her main dislikes and wasted no time in shooting the Girin along with the rest.
"It jumps out of the ground and emits a shock wave when it lands." Palutena explained. "And technically speaking, it's not a bug. It's an Underworld Girin."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the science lesson." Pit rolled his eyes in sarcasm. "Anything else we need to know?"
"You need to dodge its shock waves."
"No, what we NEED is a giant bug zapper." Pit replied, and after they got rid of the Girin, a Skuttler Cannoneer and two Miks filled the room next, and while they were taking these monsters out, the three remaining members of the Loyal Bodyguards just noticed that one of their members was missing.
"Guys, I just realized… Solo is missing!" Eight said.
"Oh yeah, you're right!" Arusu exclaimed. "Where the heck did he go?"
"No idea." Eleven shrugged. "But I can only hope he catches up to us soon."
With the enemies taken care of, the gang made their way to the next hall… where they noticed that the walls were closing in.
"Are the walls… closing in?!" Trifle's eyes widened in shock and panic. "Where are we?!"
"The Hall of Marvelous Moving Walls." Palutena said, as they quickly made a mad dash towards the door at the end of the hall to avoid being flattened by the closing walls.
"Your delivery stinks. Say it with feeling. This isn't public radio, you know." Pandora told her as the gang got to the next hall, where they saw the wall now moving away from them as they followed its pace.
"Be careful with that moving wall." Palutena warned.
"We've got a delicious Pit panini and human sandwiches on the menu today." Pandora smirked.
The gang made it out of the hall and into a wide room with a wall moving right behind them. "Um… So, what's up with the walls in here?" Pit wondered.
"Watch them carefully, and try to time your movements." Palutena advised.
Following the goddess' advice, the gang walked around the room while watching for the moving wall and taking out Underworld troops before heading for the exit… although a Skuttler Cannoneer managed to land a shot on Arusu before he could get through the door, and he was sent falling down into one of the room's gaps.
"Wah!" luckily, he was able to quickly grab on to the ledge and pull himself back up so he could defeat the Skuttler Cannoneer, but after that, he noticed that he was the only one in the room. "Wh-… Hey! Don't leave me in here, guys!" he called out and rushed over to the door… only for the same mirror that Solo had experienced previously to land in front of him, forcing him to stop.
[BGM Pause]
"Ha ha! Perfect! My plan is working out nicely!" Pandora thought.
"…Where did that come from?" Arusu raised an eyebrow as he looked into the mirror, and could already see that his reflection was different. "Oh come on, this mirror is completely inaccurate; I do NOT look like that!" Arusu's reflection showed him with brown hair, green eyes, and his circlet gold with a red gem. His tunic was green, his mantle was dark green, his undershirt and pants were ocher, and his gloves and boots were tan. His Sword of Light was colored bronze on where the gold is supposed to be while the grip was dark green, and his Shield of Heroes was green and bronze instead of blue and gold.
"Don't you know what happens when you say something like that?" Pandora laughed… and right on cue, Arusu's reflection suddenly smirked evilly and stepped out of the mirror.
[Replay "Irritation" BGM]
"WHAT THE?!" Arusu yelled. "What is the meaning of this?! Answer me NOW, Pandora!"
"Instead of you pointlessly trying to get answers from her, why don't you punish me instead?" Dark Arusu smirked. Like Dark Solo, Dark Arusu's voice was a deeper inflection of Arusu's voice.
"…Excuse me?!" Arusu blinked.
"Punish me! Or I'll make you do!" Dark Arusu's eyes glowed as he stomps the ground in front of him, causing dirt to rise up from it and knock Arusu into the air.
"Whoooooooa!" he yelled… and then got immediately restrained by dark energy strings while still in the air due to Dark Arusu using Dark Puppetry Aura Hand on him. "G…Gah! Can't…move…!"
"What's the matter? Not strong enough to escape my strings?" Dark Arusu teased with an evil grin, but then frowned, "Well, as much as I'm pleased to see you like this, I'm at the same time disappointed."
"No worries, Dark Arusu. Maybe next time you'll get what you've been hoping for." Pandora said. "Just bring your good counterpart over to me for the time being."
[BGM Stop]
Back with the others…
[Resume "Into the Labyrinth" BGM]
"Look! An Exo Tank!" Palutena exclaimed, as the gang came upon a beetle-like vehicle in a room that appears to be a driving course of sorts.
"Now that is one heavenly ride!" Pit smiled.
"Technically, it's a vehicle of the gods. Why don't one of you take it for a spin?"
"I'll take it!" Jewel volunteered and got into the Exo Tank to start driving it around. "Yahooo! It's like I'm in Mario Kart!" she cheered. "Oh, what does this button do?" she wondered upon noticing a button on the vehicle and pressed it, as beams were fired out from the front and struck an unsuspecting Leox. "Oooh! I can attack enemies too!" she then proceeded to take out more Underworld monsters in the room while driving the Exo Tank as the others watched.
"She sure is having fun." Zelda giggled.
"That's my princess." Trifle smiled.
"But what's an Exo Tank doing here anyway?" Pit wondered.
"I wanted to get my driver's license. So I whipped up a little parking lot to practice in." Pandora replied. "But then it hit me. How am I supposed to steer without hands?"
"Didn't think this through, huh?" Shulk sweatdropped. "But how'd you build a parking lot without hands?"
"Hard work and determination."
"…Okay, then." Shulk said, and at this very moment, Jewel got out of the Exo Tank and came back to them, where she proceeded to ask Palutena:
"So, refresh our memory. What are we doing here again… and where are two of my Bodyguards?"
"…How did we not notice that Arusu is gone too?" Eleven and Eight thought unfathomed.
"I honestly have no idea what happened to them, I'm afraid." Palutena answered, unaware of Pandora casually whistling in the background. "As for the answer to your first question… Pandora has the Mirror of Truth, making her Medusa's most valuable commander."
"Uh, what's the Mirror of Truth?" Eight asked.
"I'll bet smarty-pants here knows the answer." Pandora said.
"The Mirror of Truth makes a copy of whatever stands before it." Palutena said, ignoring Pandora's comment.
"So, hypothetically speaking, it could turn one ice-cream sundae into two?" Pit asked with a smile.
"And that's why you're one of the great minds of our time." Pandora said sarcastically.
Ignoring Pandora again, Palutena explained, "It copies what's in your heart and creates beings identical in nature. So what Pandora possesses is a way to create monsters on a catastrophic scale."
"That's one way of looking at things." Pandora said.
"Then it has the potential to make entire armies for Medusa." Zelda concluded. "We have to destroy it!"
"But wait… Does the mirror copy the reflection's soul too? Or just the body?" Pit wondered.
"That's a good question." Palutena replied. "Maybe Pandora will tell us."
"Do I LOOK like a strategy guide?" Pandora retorted. "In case you haven't noticed, this ISN'T the Ask Auntie Pandora hour!"
"She makes a good point, especially when she yells." Eleven remarked.
Using a jump pad, the gang got out of the parking lot room and into a circular one with many rotating orange platforms. "Whoa! How do we deal with THIS?" Pit wondered.
"First, get a sense for the timing." Palutena began. "Then use jumps or dashes to make your way across."
"Having fun there?" Pandora teased, as she was already working on the next step of her plan behind the scenes.
"Pandora certainly has…interesting ideas about interior design." Palutena whispered at the last sentence.
Despite that, Pandora still heard her. "Rude rude rude! You don't see me breaking into YOUR home and criticizing YOUR style. I mean, marble columns? Really? How gauche!"
The gang carefully hopped along the platforms while dispatching a few Underworld monsters on the way, and when they got to the last ones, they noticed that they were in the shape of large letters.
"Those orange platforms seem to spell something." Palutena pointed out.
"Ooh, ooh! Like a secret message?" Pit quipped. "Can you decode it?"
"It says…P-A-N…D-O-R-A…"
Everyone deadpanned. "Gee, I wonder what THAT spells out?" came out Trifle's sarcastic reply.
"Yeah, it…doesn't seem like there's much to decode here."
"Well, that was a letdown." Melia spoke unenthusiastically.
"You're just jealous of my knack for interior design AND my flair for spelling." Pandora snarked.
"Yes. I'll never have powers like yours." Palutena remarked with obvious sarcasm.
Once they made it to the end, the gang used another jump pad to reach the next door. It took them to what appears to be an ordinary hall with a door at the end… but as they began to run towards it, it seemed to be strangely moving away from them, much to their surprise.
"Uh…what's this?!" Pit questioned. "The exit's moving away!"
"Maybe you should stop running in place then." Pandora snarked. "And I know that one of you two is going to be left behind right here!" she thought, ready to set her trap.
The gang dashed towards the exit as fast as they could, but they couldn't catch up to it no matter what. Then, Shulk had an idea:
"…I know!" he pulled out his Monado. "Monado Speed!" he called out as a blue aura surrounded him and everyone else… except for Eleven.
"Wha… Why it didn't work on me?" he thought, as he hopelessly watched the rest of his friends run off and away from him, then going into the door as soon as they caught up to it thanks to Monado Speed's effect. But the reason why Monado Speed didn't touch Eleven? It was all Pandora's doing.
[BGM Pause]
"Yes… And then there were two!" Pandora thought, and immediately dropped the Mirror of Truth in front of Eleven.
"Whoa!" Eleven flinched by the Mirror's sudden drop. "What in the world…?" he breathed as he looked at himself. Eleven's reflection had dark blue hair and eyes, royal blue tunic with navy blue leather on it and on his boots, gray satchel, black undershirt, silver pants, and dark gray boots. His Supreme Sword of Light was silver in place of the gold, including the one on his Erdwin's Shield, which was colored dark blue.
"What's with the…" Eleven began to say, but soon was interrupted when his reflection suddenly chuckled evilly.
"Why don't you figure that out for yourself… good me?" he then walked out of the mirror as Dark Eleven.
[Replay "Irritation" BGM]
"What the!?" Eleven exclaimed in shock. "You… You can't be me!"
"Oh, I AM you…but better." Dark Eleven smirked and rose his fist, showing that he also had the Mark of Light on the back of it, only that it was on his right hand instead on the left one. "See? I even bear the same mark as you, Luminary… Or, should I say…Darkspawn?"
However, the moment this word 'Darkspawn' came into Eleven's ears… his blood began to boil with rage. Back in his universe, it was due to him being the Luminary that he was met with a bad reputation that Carnelian, the King of Heliodor, spread out throughout the world of Erdrea about how the Luminary would bring nothing but misery to it since the Dark One was born at the same time as he did, as light and darkness are two sides of the same coin. Because of that, Eleven was referred to as the Darkspawn, but now that he managed to save his world and clear out his reputation, it was clear that he was now sick and tired of hearing the name Darkspawn, and not to mention that he had always hated that name to begin with.
He clenched his fists angrily. "You… You did not just say…"
"Oh yes, I did." Dark Eleven mocked. "Did I strike a nerve in you, Darkspawn?"
Eleven reached out for his sword. "You know what… After everything that I've been through back in my world…" he drew it out. "Words cannot comprehend how much I HATE that name!" he growled and swung his sword down at his clone, but then his eyes suddenly glowed and Eleven's arm stopped in place, with the blade of his sword just a few inches away from Dark Eleven's face. "Wh-What…?!" Eleven didn't see that coming.
With a smirk, Dark Eleven aimed his hand at his good counterpart and said, "Dark Puppetry Aura Hand." and with that, Eleven's limbs were restrained by the dark energy strings.
"N-Nnngh…!" Eleven struggled to break free, but no use. "Wh-What…did you…just…do?"
"That's none of your business." Pandora interfered. "Dark Eleven, please take him to me."
"Gladly." Dark Eleven nodded and began to drag Eleven with him.
"Was that the Mirror of Truth or something…?" Eleven thought.
[BGM Stop]
Pandora watched the two leave. "Alas… one remains." she thought. "I better work on my next trap quickly now…"
Back with the others…
[Resume "Into the Labyrinth" BGM]
"Huff… Puff…" Trifle panted, along with the others. "We appreciate you for thinking about using Monado Speed at that time, Shulk… but we still had to run like crazy!"
"I know… but at least we managed to." Shulk replied.
Soon after recovering, Jewel was quick to notice that another one of her Bodyguards was not present. "Uh… Where did Eleven go?"
Everyone's eyes widened nigh immediately upon hearing this from Jewel, and frantically looked around, but obviously they couldn't see Eleven anywhere in the room they were now.
"Oh no… I didn't realize that he didn't make it with us…" Zelda whispered.
"That's weird… I thought I used Monado Speed on everyone!" Shulk recalled. "It somehow hadn't touched Eleven?"
"Wait… so that means I'm the only one left here?" Eight asked.
"I'm afraid so." Melia replied, leading Eight to frown in worry.
Jewel patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, Eight. I just know that your comrades will catch up to us soon."
This made Eight feel better, as he had always found his best friend's words comforting for him. After that resolved, the gang focused on moving ahead… but as soon as Pit stepped on the green portion of the floor, he was suddenly sprung upwards.
"Woah!" he yelped and landed on the following platform.
The others looked at each other. "I guess it's bouncy time…" Eight shrugged and then they did the same to get to Pit's location before everyone would use more of those trampolines to get across this room.
"I thought trampolines would add a touch of whimsy to my humble abode." Pandora said.
"But you can't even use them!" Palutena pointed out.
"So what? I thought it would be fun to watch people bounce around on them. And I was right! …Even though this is the first time someone's made it this far."
"Well, there's another achievement to throw up next to 'Slaying Pandora'!" Pit grinned as he was attacking an Armin.
"Don't make ME throw up."
As they were bouncing along and dealing with Underworld troops, they eventually reached a branching path. The gang decided to head left… but then Eight noticed a green arrow on the wall on the right path with words inscribed in it that said, "Pandora's Treasure Hoard: right this way! P.S.: Not completely suspicious at all!"
"…Don't mind if I do!" Eight chirped and rushed to the right path instead. As you all might expect, this was another one of Pandora's traps in order to separate the last Hero from the others so she could make an evil copy of him with the Mirror of Truth.
By bouncing along more trampolines and shooting some Monoeyes on the way, Eight made it to a door on the right and went through, where he found three treasure chests. He went for the left one and grabbed its goodies before proceeding to go for the other chests, only to notice that they have disappeared for some reason.
"…Where did the other ones go?" he puzzled… and at this moment, Pandora found the perfect time to strike as she snickered quietly to herself.
[BGM Pause]
"AHA! And then there was one!" she thought and the Mirror of Truth landed next to Eight.
"Huh?" he turned to look at it, and saw his reflection sporting dark fuchsia purple hair and purple eyes. His bandana was a mauve color, his jacket was magenta, his shirt was chinese violet, his knapsack was lavender, his pants were a plymouth pink, and his boots were lilac. The blade of his Dragovian King Sword was shown to be pink with a cerise guard, and his Dragovian Shield was colored violet. "Hey! I don't look anything like that!" Eight complained.
"You know… I don't like it when you complain." Eight's reflection suddenly spoke as he fixed a cold glare at Eight before stepping out of the mirror, thus born as Dark Eight.
[Replay "Irritation" BGM]
Eight was way too shocked to form words by that, and so he only let out a horrified gasp while backing away slowly.
"I also don't like YOU." Dark Eight aimed his sword at his good counterpart. Eight remained completely immobile, being too shocked out of his mind… but he was actually secretly thinking about landing a surprise attack when his counterpart would less expect it.
"Hmph, he's way in too much shock." Pandora observed. "Go ahead and restrain him, Dark Eight."
While Pandora was saying that to Dark Eight as he was looking up at the ceiling to hear her talk, Eight was slowly reaching out for his sword to get ready for the surprise attack… when suddenly, Dark Eight's irises moved down to focus on Eight and glowed. Dark Eight stood immobile… and at just this exact moment where Eight swung his sword down at him, Dark Eight immediately pulled out his shield and did a shield bash, making Eight's blade bounce back harmlessly as the half-Dragovian Hero stumbled back by the force.
"Wh-What?!" Eight thought with a look of utter disbelief. "How did he know I was going to secretly attack him?!"
"Hmph. Predictable." Dark Eight scoffed and sheathed his sword, before thrusting his now free right hand towards Eight to use Dark Puppetry Aura Hand and restrain him in place.
"Ack…!" Eight yelped. "What…kind of skill…is this?!"
"Does it really matter now?" Dark Eight retorted.
"Oh, he really thought he could fool you… How naïve of him to do that with someone who has the power of Precognition!" Pandora laughed. "Go make your way to my room with your good counterpart, because the rest of your comrades are almost here. Now, isn't it great that the whole group will finally be together at last?"
Dark Eight just shuts his eyes. "…That's great, I suppose."
[BGM End]
Back with the others…
[Resume "Into the Labyrinth" BGM]
"This must be some sort of Exo Tank racetrack." Palutena said, as they have arrived into the next room after their bouncing session. "One of you might as well try it out since you're here."
Spotting the Exo Tank in front of them, Jewel immediately hopped in it. "Dibs!" she exclaimed and began to race around the track, taking out Leoxes with the vehicle's blasters. As she was doing that, however, Jewel couldn't ignore the fact that her best friend had suddenly disappeared too, since she gave a brief glance back at the party during her ride.
"What's going on…? Now even Eight is missing…" she thought. "Whatever happened to my Bodyguards?!"
"A ramp has appeared next to the starting point." Palutena informed when Jewel was almost completing a full lap. "Take it up to move forward."
"You know I and the others really appreciate your help, Palutena." Jewel smiled as she went up the ramp. "But I'd be totally fine without all this hand-holding too."
"That's right." Pandora began. "Hand-holding is strictly prohibited here. Not to be rude, but I have to project a certain aura of toughness."
"We understand. Rules of being a boss." Palutena said.
With the conversation over, Jewel used the jump pad to reach the exit above and waited for the others… who suddenly showed up next to her by Zelda using Farore's Wind to teleport everyone here.
"…That's one way to get up here." Pit remarked as Zelda giggled before they walked in, only to come upon a room with no way forward at first. "Is this a dead end?" Pit wondered.
"Hmm. I guess you'd better turn back." Pandora teased.
"No, it's a trick." Palutena interjected. "There's an invisible path you can walk on."
"Do you have to ruin EVERYthing? Honestly now."
Once again ignoring Pandora, Palutena instructed the gang, "Shoot downward in front of you to reveal the path." with those instructions in mind, the gang aimed their weapons at the pit and fired shots at it, uncovering said invisible path for them to walk on.
"Ah, so there IS a path!" Pit exclaimed.
Later, after navigating through the entire room, shooting down in front of them to see where they were going, the gang finally reached the end. "Pandora is just up ahead. It's time for you to destroy the Mirror of Truth!" Palutena hollered.
"Aw yeah!" Pit fist-pumped triumphantly and then everyone went into the door.
[BGM End]
The room was quite large and barren, save for the Mirror of Truth itself on the pedestal. "That must be the Mirror of Truth." Melia stated.
Then, Pandora came out from behind the Mirror. "You made it. Yay." she spoke unenthusiastically.
"Pandora!" Pit shouted, and then began his rally cry, "Underling of Medusa floating before me! It's time for you to atone for your crimes!" he made a few poses, with one of them being him sweeping his hair to the side complete with a sparkle. "I am Pit, servant of the goddess of light!" he performs a twirl. "And you. Are. History!" he finished it off with a Super Sentai-like stance.
The whole room was met with silence. "What was that all about?" Palutena sassed.
*SLAM!*
All of a sudden, before anyone else could say anything, the door behind the gang opened up abruptly… and then all of the Loyal Bodyguards were thrown into the room.
"Waaaugh!" they yelled as they were thrown in and fell to the ground.
The others turned around in alarm. "Guys?!" Jewel exclaimed as she was about to rush over to them… only for the Dark Heroes to walk into the room afterwards.
[BGM: Stalked by Fear (Dragon Quest VIII) – Dragon Quest XI S]
Jewel and the others, including Palutena, gasped in shock by the sight in front of them.
"What the…?!" Pit breathed. "Evil clones of them?!"
"This… This can't be…!" Jewel whispered, refusing to believe this was real as she had her hands over her mouth.
"Oh yes, it can!" Pandora chuckled. "You see, while you were all venturing inside my labyrinth, I took some sweet little time to prepare some traps to separate those guys from you…so I could create perfect clones of them to serve me!"
Realization finally hit the Loyal Bodyguards once she said that, making their eyes shoot wide. "You mean… that each of those messes we got caught ourselves into throughout the labyrinth so that clones of us could be created… were your doing?!" Eleven asked, as he and his comrades were slowly getting back up on their feet.
"Ding-ding! You're correct!"
Trifle growled. "Alright, enough fooling around… We got ourselves several bosses to take down!"
"Actually, we'll let Pandora handle the rest." Dark Eleven said, he and his comrades leaning on a wall. "We already did our part."
Trifle blinked in response, before shrugging. "Well, fine then." the gang turned to Pandora.
[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"OK, whatever. Do what you're gonna do." Pandora rolled her eyes and then spit out fireballs at them, but they dodged.
"What kind of attitude is that to have?" Pit asked. "I can take anything but indifference!"
"What's the point of getting worked up? What's the point of anything, really?" Pandora questioned, spitting out bombs at the gang as they quickly kicked them back at her.
"Quite an existentialist view from a ball of vapor." Palutena commented.
While the gang was battling Pandora, meanwhile, the Dark Heroes were watching their good counterparts from the back, studying their battle styles while they had their new weapons equipped. Each of the four were quick to judge in a bad way:
"Hmph. That Palm looks weak." Dark Eight.
"That Club sucks." Dark Eleven.
"A Staff is for weaklings." Dark Solo.
"A Blade for dual-wielding? Pfft, who needs that while you already have earth manipulation?" Dark Arusu.
"Phooey!" Pandora began to inhale a high chunk of air to suck in the gang, but they retaliated by rapidly shooting her, and then Pit finished her off with a charged shot from his Upperdash Arm.
[BGM End]
"UGH!" Pandora yelled as she was knocked back, but quickly shook it off and said, "OK, OK. I'll give you what you came for." she teleports over to the Mirror of Truth. "Here it is. The Mirror of Truth."
"Pit! You have to destroy that mirror!" Palutena ordered, and Pit immediately charged towards it.
"Wait, Pit!" Melia called out. "What if it clones you too?!"
And just as Melia said that, Shulk got a Vision of Pit doing a flying kick to destroy the Mirror…while a dark clone of him would emerge from the other side. Once the Vision ended, it led Shulk to gasp and see that Pit was already preparing to do a flying kick towards the Mirror. "Pit, STOP!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late. "Yaaaaaaah!" Pit yelled as he did the flying kick… and just as he neared the Mirror, his reflection seemed to emit a dark aura while its eyes glowed a red light. "Huh?!"
*SMASH!*
Pit destroyed the Mirror, sure… but as he kicked through it, a darker version of himself came from the other side doing the same flying kick pose, leading the rest of the gang to gasp. Upon landing with a skid, Pit looked up to see basically himself in front of him, but with black hair, wings, and clothing. "What the-"
Pit's Dark clone turned around. "Hey."
"Oh no… Not Pit too!" Zelda exclaimed in horror.
"Let's get right to introductions. This here is Dark Pit…and I'm sure you've already met his colleagues, the Dark Heroes." Pandora said as she floated next to Dark Pit. "Together, they'll be your escorts out of this life." she grinned… aaaand then Dark Pit suddenly backhands her. "No!"
"Speak for yourself." Dark Pit said, taking out his Silver Bow.
"…Did he just…?!" Trifle began, but was unable to say anything else as everyone watched Dark Pit starting to attack Pandora.
[BGM: Dark Pit's Theme – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"You fool! You were created to serve ME! Your opponent's over there!" Pandora yelled as she fired flaming discs at Dark Pit.
"You're A boss, Pandora. But you're not MY boss!" Dark Pit replied, dodging Pandora's discs. "And there's no way that the Dark Heroes are my colleagues! I work for myself and MYSELF only!" he opened fire at Pandora with arrows, but she sunk into the ground and moved under Dark Pit to attack from below, but he jumped away in time.
"Wait, so was creating Dark Pit and the Dark Heroes part of Pandora's plan all along?" Melia wondered, starting to put the pieces together.
"Having an angel CAN come in handy. And he's quite the little scrapper, isn't he?" Palutena pondered. "As for the Dark Heroes… I really don't have a clue, but something about them rubs me the wrong way, and I'm sure the same applies to Dark Pit."
"I guess my real-life persona really likes to do something with my Bodyguards in almost every story she's doing right now." Jewel thought.
"Electroshock!" Dark Pit called out, uppercutting Pandora with the Electroshock Arm.
"Ugh!" Pandora yelled, but she measly shook it off and spoke out, "The Mirror of Truth is just that. It reflects the truth. It seems that under that cute veneer of yours, Pit, you're actually quite ferocious." she took a quick glance at the Loyal Bodyguards. "And same to you, Heroes. Those deeply hidden personalities that your Dark selves demonstrated really amused me!"
"Like you even KNOW anything about us!" Arusu scowled.
"Yeah, like he said!" Pit threw in, and out of rage, he and the Loyal Bodyguards aimed their weapons at Pandora and fired a charged shot at her.
[BGM End]
The combined power of five charged shots at once was enough to overwhelm Pandora, and she let out a shrill scream of agony. "And that's that!" Pit declared.
"…Took you long enough." Dark Pit said with a scoff.
Pandora exploded, leaving her remains in place as the gang watched… when suddenly, Dark Pit rushed over to Pit and delivered a mighty kick to his gut. "Ooogh!" he cried in pain and was sent flying away.
"Pit!" Eleven cried out, only for him and his comrades to get brutally kicked down by their evil counterparts. "Ooof!" the good Heroes yelled.
"Agh…" Pit groaned. "What was that for…?"
"That's for ripping off my look." Dark Pit responded.
"And ours!" Dark Eight scowled.
Dark Pit looked over at the Dark Heroes, and only gave them a cold stare before running off.
"WE'RE the originals here!" Pit retorted as he lifted his head, and then everyone witnessed Dark Pit jumping into Pandora's remains and absorbing them.
"What are you doing?!" Palutena questioned.
"Just making sure Pandora's powers don't go to waste!" Dark Pit replied and took off flying, something that not even the original Pit could do, as he was quick to point that out with a clear hint of jealously:
"He can fly?!"
The Dark Heroes then stepped away from their good counterparts. "Let's get going now, my comrades." Dark Eleven told them. "We can deal with our good selves later."
"Whatever you say." Dark Solo simply shrugged before they all casted Zoom and rocketed away.
"Hmm… things aren't looking good." Palutena mused. "If Dark Pit has Pandora's powers, he could be allied with Medusa just like with the Dark Heroes. We need to follow them." she extracts everyone from the Labyrinth.
To be continued…
Surprise! My four villain OCs that I teased previously turned out to be dark clones of the four Dragon Quest Heroes created by the Mirror of Truth! Unlike Dark Pit, the Dark Heroes are complete and flawless copies of the Heroes, and thus they are purely evil. They were one of the main reasons why this chapter took me so long to write, as I was still thinking about how I could put and organize them in it. I originally thought about making them be born while the four Heroes were together instead of separate, but I soon decided against it since I wanted to better cover up each of the Dark Heroes' unique personalities. In case you're wondering why I chose the Dragon Quest Heroes to be the ones to have dark clones, it's because I wanted to create the most literal case of "Heroes Vs. Villains" possible. Do you get it? Eh? ;D
Dark clones of Pit and the Loyal Bodyguards were created... and so the gang will be pursuing them! Now, if you played the original game, you might remember that during the ground mission, you fight Dark Pit multiple times and in different locations, and you can't actually visit all of them in one go... so what better way to replace those sequential fights than with a fight against each of the Dark Heroes? After all, you'll also find out more about their unique abilities in battle! So, until next time!
Trivia for this chapter:
1. The flying portion of this mission makes several nods to the polygonal structures of Star Fox on the SNES (I even sort of pointed that out in the chapter itself).
2. The Skill "Dark Puppetry Aura Hand" is exclusively to the manga series (that was soon adapted to an anime, and there's even a recent version of it that I'm currently watching) Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, and actually never made an appearance in the games yet.
3. Dark Arusu's clothing colors were taken directly from Arusu's clothing colors that he sported on the front of the original Dragon Quest III's Japanese box art (the one for the NES, which is known as Famicon in Japan).
4. The Treasure Hoard room is supposed to be the same room behind one of the Intensity Gates in Pandora's Labyrinth. In the original game, the room contains three treasure chests that hold something different: either a weapon, food, or a Mimicutie.
