What good way to end off the month of February with a new chapter? Get ready, because this chapter is incredibly long!

Enjoy! ;)


Chapter 9: Medusa's Final Battle

It was finally time. With Medusa's most powerful commanders taken down and with the Three Sacred Treasures in possession, the gang was now ready to put an end to the goddess of darkness at long last.

Feeling ready than ever before, the gang rushed towards the gates. But before heading out, Pit kicked open the Sacred Casket as a beam of light shot out of it and the angel was engulfed in a flash of light.

"Equipped!" he shouted, now clad in a golden armor with a matching helmet, the Mirror Shield on his right arm and on his left hand, he held a golden bow that would fire the Arrows of Light.

[BGM: Medusa's Final Battle – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Immediately after, the gang flew through the gates and began to descent down the stormy clouds below.

"Are you ready for the final battle, everyone?" Palutena asked.

"It's now or never!" Trifle grinned.

"Yeah!" the rest exclaimed as they all continued their descent, killing any Underworld troops that appeared in their field of view.

"For this final battle, Pit is equipped with the Three Sacred Treasures." Palutena reminded.

"Using the Pegasus Wings and power of flight at the same time seems like overkill…" Pit noted.

"Who knows how reliable the Pegasus Wings are after all this time? I've turned them off."

"Understood!" Pit said, and as they flew around the now bloody-red sky, the number of Underworld troops began to multiply. "There sure are a lot of Underworld enemies around here." Pit remarked.

"Yes, so even though the Arrows of Light do a lot of damage, don't get cocky."

"At least you got us on your side to help out!" Jewel winked, unleashing her claws' special attack on a group of Gyrazers.

"True, and I'm very thankful for that." Pit smiled, and then they soon came upon a ravine right below.

"This ravine leads to the Underworld. I'm taking you all in." Palutena said and sped up everyone's wings as they dove down into the ravine. There, they instantly came upon some Trailtails. "Look at those Trailtails drawing lines."

"Or…trails, right?" Pit asked.

"Maybe."

"Probably." Pit replied sheepishly, and after they shot down the Trailtails, some Shootflies next came into the scene.

"I don't advise shooting for a little bit. The Shootflies here will react to your fire." taking Palutena's advice, the gang retained themselves from shooting for a little while they kept slowly descending deeper into the ravine, where they saw several Shootflies hanging about.

"There's a whole bunch of them!" Eight exclaimed.

"Just gotta keep quiet…" Pit whispered cautiously, taking the risk of silently shooting a Souflee and any Paramushes and Zurees that got too close to him and the others.

"I think we're out of Shootfly territory." Palutena informed once they finally flew past all the Shootflies without triggering any response from them. Everyone then flew further down into a tunnel and shot more Underworld troops that tried to make one last ditch to stop them. "The entrance to the Underworld should be up ahead." Palutena said.

"I hope the gem from Thanatos works." Pit hoped.

"Well, it IS the key to the Underworld, so it must work." Melia said.

"Watch out for Ornes ahead." came Palutena's sudden warning, as everyone looked to see several Ornes flying towards them.

"You mean those skull things?" Solo asked. "What can they do to us?"

"Well… by simply touching one, you'll have your minds painfully shattered immediately followed by instant death soon after."

Everyone's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

"Oh my!" Zelda gaped. "Anything else…?"

"They're also invincible."

"Oh sure, THAT'S fair!" Arusu complained as they began to carefully maneuver around the Ornes.

"…Suddenly, dying from a Whack spell sounds way less brutal!" Eleven exclaimed as his comrades nodded in agreement by that, and after they got past all these brutes, a glow came from Pit's pocket as he pulled out its source to reveal that it's the Underworld Key.

"Thanatos's gem is shining!" he exclaimed, while right up ahead, a large eye-shaped portal opened.

"That means we're good to go." Palutena replied. "Get ready!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!" the gang screamed as they flew into the portal.

After the bright light cleared out for them, the gang looked around to find themselves in the Underworld: a red, dreary, and barren wasteland. "The Underworld." Palutena announced.

"We finally made it!" Pit said… and right on cue, he and the others were greeted with a welcoming committee of several Underworld monsters: Monoeyes, Miks, Gyrazers, Syrens, Octos, and Paramushes.

"That's a whole lot of enemies." Shulk remarked.

"Well, we ARE on their home field." Palutena pointed out.

"Home or away – we fight to win!" Pit proclaimed, proceeding to shoot at the Syrens.

"In your past adventure, the Underworld was where you died the most, right?"

Pit grimaced at the memory. "Oh, absolutely. The difficulty level was just brutal. I'll brace for the worst!"

It was then that a group of Boogities came to greet the gang. "The metal backs on Boogities resist everything, even Arrows of Light." Palutena informed. "So be careful." the gang attempted to fire at the Boogities, only for them to turn their backs and deflect everyone's shots. The Gyrazers and Gloomerangs that came in soon after to join the Boogities didn't help matters either, as the gang was forced to dodge their attacks while trying their best to return fire.

"We're getting overwhelmed here!" Trifle exclaimed, constantly switching his aimed targets along with the others.

"No… We can't let them get the best of us…!" Pit grimaced, as things were getting heated for them pretty fast… when all of a sudden, something zipped past them as they yelped in surprise, and all the Underworld monsters in front of them were destroyed. The one who did that? "Pittoo!" Pit exclaimed, once he and his friends spotted Dark Pit flying at the distance.

Dark Pit, however, was none too pleased to be called by that nickname. "What did you just call me?!"

"Ignore that…" Melia sweatdropped, before asking, "Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"The same thing you're all doing. Pummeling Underworld fools. I'm just way better at it."

"…Wow, ego much?" the gang thought, all sporting deadpan expressions.

"Maybe you also sensed that Pit and his friends could use your help." Palutena speculated.

"Don't make me laugh." Dark Pit dismissed. "Now, enough talky talk. There's fighting to be done!" he then saw a swarm of Underworld enemies in the distance. "I'm out of here!" he flies off.

"…Did he just pull off a Sonic?" Jewel thought, blinking in surprise.

"It was nice of you to show up, Pittoo." Pit said, looking over to where Dark Pit flew off to. "But we can handle this on our own!"

"You're not on your own, everyone. You have me." Palutena smiled.

"Of course! What would we do without you?!"

The gang took out a few more Monoeyes and then reached a wall, so they flew up… but everything strangely went dark around them. Then, without any warning whatsoever, they were greeted by a giant projection of a close-up of Medusa's face, causing them all, minus Pit, to flinch in startle.

"So, you've made it this far." Medusa said.

"Yikes… we did NOT see that coming!" the group thought, while Pit was just glaring fearlessly at Medusa.

"You'd better watch your back!" he threatened.

Unfortunately, Medusa was not fazed at all by Pit's threat. "Isn't that just…precious. Guess it's all that hot air that keeps you all flying. You are darling. But you'll need more than bluster to defeat me!"

"This isn't bluster!" Pit shot back while Medusa's projection was fading. "In the name of the goddess of light, I and my friends will defeat you!" as he said that, the shroud of darkness lifted, and the ghastly Underworld Castle came into view.

[BGM Pause]

But before the gang could even fly into the castle, a barrier formed around it… and then a strange white machine of sorts rose up in front of them. The machine then unfolded itself, revealing numerous laser turrets as well as a singular red eye.

[BGM: Underworld Gatekeeper – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"What is THAT?!" Trifle yelled in shock.

"That's the last line of defense keeping us out of the Underworld Castle." Palutena answered.

"It won't be keeping US out!" Pit declared as he and his friends immediately opened fire at the Underworld Gatekeeper, only that their shots seemed to have no effect on it.

The Underworld Gatekeeper responded by firing energy bullets from the triangle-shaped turrets, forcing the gang to dodge as Melia aimed her orbitars at two turrets on its left wing and fired at them, disabling them.

"Guys, aim for the turrets!" Melia told them. "They're vulnerable!"

"Got it!" Pit nodded, along with the rest.

The Underworld Gatekeeper then launched fireballs and grenade-like projectiles at the gang, but Pit and Zelda reflected a grenade each with the Mirror Shield and Nayru's Love respectively while the Loyal Bodyguards reflected the fireballs with Bounce, as both reflected projectiles hit the other two turrets at the right wing, disabling those as well. The machine then began charging something, before a large laser was fired out of it, but fortunately, the gang was out of its reach and then Trifle and Jewel fired at the two turrets underneath the disabled ones on its wings.

With only one turret remaining, the Underworld Gatekeeper desperately fired a ring-shaped projectile along with two energy orbs at the gang, but they easily dodged those and then Shulk fired a charged shot at the last turret at point-blank range. When all of its turrets were disabled, the Underworld Gatekeeper shielded its eye with a protective cover and changed its shape into the vague form of a jet, before proceeding to ram onto the gang as they moved out of the way in time and quickly shot it back repeatedly… but none of their shots were damaging it.

"Why aren't our attacks doing any more damage?!" Eight questioned.

"Well, it IS a boss." Palutena pointed out.

"It's SO annoying!" Pit complained.

"Tell me about it!" Arusu threw in with great frustration as they all continued firing at the Gatekeeper's impenetrable shell, to no avail. "How are we even supposed to take it down, then?!"

[BGM End]

"Hi-YAH!" all of a sudden, Dark Pit came back into the scene while delivering a mighty kick to the Gatekeeper's head, as everyone's eyes widened in surprise by that.

"Pittoo!" Pit exclaimed, and then the Gatekeeper fell to the ground below where it exploded. The barrier around the castle faded as a result.

"And THAT'S how you take out a boss!" Dark Pit smirked.

Solo blinked. "…I'm not going to lie, that was actually pretty impressive."

"I'm with you there." Eleven agreed.

"For future reference, face kicking isn't usually this effective." Palutena advised.

Dark Pit just ignored her and ordered the gang, "Get a move on before more defenses show up!"

[Resume "Medusa's Final Battle" BGM]

"Pittoo's right. We should go, even if it means taking orders from HIM."

"Thanks, Pittoo!" Pit thanked.

"PLEASE stop calling me that." Dark Pit groaned in annoyance before flying off into the distance.

"Everyone, get ready to go in." Palutena said and directed everyone to the entrance of the Underworld Castle, where they burst through the front door (thankfully, not as hard as the last two previous times).

[BGM End]


[BGM: Underworld Castle Entrance – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"We're finally here." Palutena said.

"Look at these boss statues." Pit commented, seeing the statues that consisted of Twinbellows, Hewdraw, and Pandora in the room.

"It seems that each statue has a corresponding door."

"But what could this mean?" Zelda wondered.

"Hmm, I don't really know… but if I have to guess, it seems like that you might encounter these bosses again by going through the door that corresponds each of them, and you'll have to defeat them again in order to proceed."

"Sounds fair enough." Pit replied. "I'll take on Twinbellows!"

"Same here!" Jewel added.

"Count me in too!" Trifle smirked.

"And me!" Zelda finished.

"I suppose I and Melia can take on Hewdraw." Shulk said.

"Then that leaves us with-… Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me…" Arusu muttered, since the Loyal Bodyguards were left with Pandora.

"Hey…" Eight began. "At least we can hope it won't be so bad, right?" he shrugged.

"…I guess…"

"Alright, let's be off!" Pit said, and with that, they all split up and took off into their respective doors.

[BGM End]


Door 1: Twinbellows – Pit, Trifle, Jewel, and Zelda

[BGM: That First Town – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"This looks like where we had our first battle." Pit commented, as they were now standing in a facsimile of the first town they all visited at the start of their adventure, only that the sky was a bloody red, not unlike back at when Twinbellows had arrived at the town and headed into the coliseum.

"Oh, yeah!" Trifle exclaimed in realization. "The same town where we fought Twinbellows, correct?"

"You've all really come a long way since then, haven't you?" Palutena smiled.

"You said it!" Jewel beamed. "Let's go!"

The group made their way through the replica of the town, with Pit repeatedly shooting at a nearby Fire Wyrm as Jewel ran over to a Zurret and slashed its jar to defeat it. Then, after taking a left turn, Zelda unleashed a Din's Fire on a Shrip while Trifle took care of a Nettler, and then the group had to sneak past a Reaper to get to an alley… where they found themselves trapped with a Clubberskull.

"Uh…" Pit gulped.

"Oh, boy…" Zelda trailed off. "I, Melia and Eight have already fought this thing before…"

"Watch out, everyone! It's a Clubberskull!" Palutena warned.

"Yeah, we figured that part out. Got any other ideas of what we should do next?" Trifle asked.

"You'll have to defeat it to advance. Dodge to avoid getting hurt, and go in for melee attacks when you can!"

"Aye aye, Lady Palutena!" Pit exclaimed. By working together, along with Pit using a Lightning of Judgment item, the group was successful in taking out the Clubberskull and the way ahead opened up for them.

They arrived at the area leading up to the coliseum, where Jewel destroyed two Igniots by throwing a Bouncy Bomb at them while Pit handled a third one right in front of the stairs, and when an Orne was coming towards him, it led him to freak out and accidentally fire a charged shot at the Orne… which actually killed it.

"Heeeey!" Pit beamed. "Did you see that?"

"Wait, I thought Ornes were invincible?" Trifle puzzled.

"Yes, but they are no match for the Arrows of Light." Palutena replied.

"The Three Sacred Treasures have still got it!" Pit grinned and then they went up the coliseum's stairs, where on the way, they took out two Gyrazers, three Skuttlers plus a Skuttler Cannoneer, and a Nettler. But when they arrived at the very top…

"Another Clubberskull!" Palutena exclaimed, as indeed; another Clubberskull has appeared to block their way to the coliseum.

"We'll handle this!" Jewel said.

After killing the Clubberskull, the entrance to the coliseum opened up. The group first drank the Drinks of the Gods that Palutena offered them before they dashed into the coliseum, ready to face-off against Twinbellows again.

[BGM End]

[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Inside the coliseum, Twinbellows was already waiting for them and got ready to attack. "Twinbellows!" Pit shouted. "Here, boy! Old Pit's gonna teach you even MORE new tricks! And if you're good, I'll take you for a walk and give you a bath and a treat. We're going to rack up some serious Nintendogs trainer points together!"

The trio sweatdropped. "I'm not sure he'll be willing to cooperate with you, Pit…" Jewel stated.

"Yeah. Focus, Pit." Palutena demanded slightly annoyed as Twinbellows breathed a stream of fire at Pit, but he moved out of the way and shot at it repeatedly along with the trio, and then Jewel used her Water Sapphire to splash Twinbellows with a wave of water, making it roar in pain as part of its flames were extinguished.

Twinbellows then proceeded to angrily pounce on Jewel, but she had picked up a Grenade and tossed it at the beast, making it fall dazed on the ground as everyone seized the moment and fired each a charged shot at it, which proved to be the final blow.

[BGM End]

"Good dog!" Pit exclaimed as Twinbellows faded into nothing, and everything went white for the group.


Door 2: Hewdraw – Shulk and Melia

[BGM: That Burning Town – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"This place does look like the one where we fought the Hewdraw." Shulk said, he and Melia looking around the replica of the town where the gang hunted the Hewdraw heads that survived, but it appeared that the bottom is surrounded by an icy mist of sorts.

"It does look like it." Melia agreed, before immediately firing at the Miks that just descended in front of them while Shulk defeated a Skuttler with Slit Edge. "I have a hunch that Medusa is behind this." Melia stated as they ran forward and took a right turn.

"So this whole town is some kind of illusion?" Shulk wondered.

"It's as real as I am." Medusa's voice suddenly came, surprising the pair. "I built it myself using your and the Hewdraw's memories."

"Then that means you didn't know what the original town looked like." Melia concluded, using Hypnotise on a Mega Mussel to put it to sleep and letting Shulk do the rest.

"No matter. You're in my domain now, and you'll play by MY rules."

Shulk had finished taking out the Mega Mussel by the time Medusa finished saying that, and retorted to her, "Yeah? Well, some rules are meant to be broken!"

Since Medusa didn't say anything, the pair then proceeded to use the jump pads to make it across the rooftops and landing on an arena where several Underworld monsters appeared. Melia quickly took action and unleashed Poison Earth, covering the floor with poison and harming any ground-based Underworld troops to leave them queasy and weak while she and Shulk would deal with the aerial troops first.

With all the enemies destroyed, Shulk and Melia made their way into the well. A Gyrazer was waiting for them and fired a laser at them, but they ducked under it in time before Shulk shot at it to defeat it and move on, rolling away from a Monolith as they ran across the well's shallow water until they made it out with a jump pad. Then, after dealing with a Monoeye, two Skuttlers and two Skuttler Cannoneers, they looked over to see an open door with two Drinks of the Gods next to it.

"I believe the Hewdraw is behind that door." Melia said after they downed a Drink of the Gods each. "Let's do this." she and Shulk exchanged nods before running in.

[BGM End]

[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

They found the Hewdraw resting in the lake. "The Hewdraw!" Shulk exclaimed. "Your chances of winning are lower than your belly button! Which is really low!"

"Seems like you're pretty pumped up, huh?" Melia noted.

"Why wouldn't I be? If we all defeat Medusa, we'll save this world and head back home!"

They went on to attack, pelting Hewdraw with shots until it retaliated by spitting out fireballs at them, but Shulk used Monado Shield to shield him and Melia from the fireballs before firing a charged shot at Hewdraw. The serpent was then forced to dive into the lake, but since Shulk and Melia remembered this trick from the last fight, they proceeded to fire at the orange balls of light until one of them crashed down onto the Hewdraw, launching it out of the water. The pair took the opportunity to strike, with Melia using Summon Flare to boost Shulk's strength while the Monado wielder was slashing the toppled Hewdraw repeatedly until it was defeated.

[BGM End]

"Redefeated!" Shulk fist-pumped, and then he and Melia were whisked away by a flash of light.


Door 3: Pandora – The Loyal Bodyguards

[BGM: Into the Labyrinth – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"Now this is one place I wish we could forget…" Arusu muttered, as they found themselves into Pandora's Labyrinth.

"The Labyrinth of Deceit." Solo said.

"Yep. Which means a second helping of crazy. Ugh."

The four looked around the room, only that it seemed to be a room with no exit at all since there were spiked walls on all four sides. They wondered how they were going to get out, until Arusu spotted a Souflee going right through the spiked wall that was right in front of them, and so without hesitation, he charged right towards the spiked wall and passed right through it completely unharmed. "Hah! It'll take more than some fake spikes to stop us!" he proclaimed… but his celebration was cut short when a Sinistew suddenly grabbed him and dragged him into the pocket dimension in its box.

Hearing a panicked cry from their comrade on the other side, the three Heroes rushed through the spiked wall and saw the Sinistew's box hopping about in place as Arusu's muffled screams were heard in it. Acting quickly, Eleven swung his club at the box, killing the Sinistew inside and knocking Arusu out of it as he landed on the ground in front of the trio.

"You okay, Arusu?" Solo asked.

"I'll live…" Arusu groaned as he was getting back up, and then Solo sniped the two Gyrazers that were about to fire a laser at the quartet before they all went to the left to find a small glowing circle of light on the floor. They stepped on it, and…

"Whoa-oa!" they yelled as they were seemingly teleported to another part of the room. Little did they know, however, that they were actually still in the same room, but upside-down.

"Uh…what just happened?" Eight asked.

"I think we just used a warp of some sort." Eleven guessed as they walked forward, where they were greeted by two Daphnes and a Skuttler Cannoneer. They first dodged the monsters' attacks before Eight opened fire at the Daphnes, instantly killing them by burning them up while Arusu fired a charged shot to kill the Skuttler.

Running along the path, the Loyal Bodyguards found another warp point and it sent them back to the room's original state, but on the other side where the door was. Going through it, they were met by a Mik, a Skuttler Cannoneer, and a Monoeye that seem to keep passing through the ceiling and the floor. They dispatched the three enemies and moved further down the room to find another warp point, as they were again taken to the ceiling and it was then that Solo finally noticed that and addressed Eleven:

"Eleven, are you sure that was just a warp? Because I'm recognizing the structures above us as the floor we've been before."

"Now that you said it…" Eleven looked up. "I think you're right. We're all kinds of turned around."

"So we're actually passing between the floor and the ceiling? How very strange." Eight said.

"You're telling me!" Arusu threw in. "Though… You do know that this isn't our first time experiencing walking along the floor and ceiling, right?"

"I know that."

After taking out more Underworld monsters, the Loyal Bodyguards came upon another spiked wall. Obviously, they would get suspicious about it and nonchalantly walked through, ending up at the other side unharmed and finding a hidden warp point. "Hey, a secret area!" Eight exclaimed.

"I believe we're one step closer to getting out of this place." Eleven smiled as they used the warp point and found themselves facing a switch and a Zuree upon warping, as they first dealt with the Zuree before hitting the switch, making a warp point appear on the ceiling. They used the same warp point they previously used to go back… and out of all enemies they could encounter next, it had to be an Orne.

*Orne 8-bit theme plays*

"Oh, no…" Solo trailed off, all four of the Heroes paling up as the Orne itched closer and closer to them.

It was then that Arusu had one insane idea. "…Okay, I'm going to risk it." he swings his hand towards the Orne. "Whack!" he called out, sending out a slow-moving dark purple projectile…and when it hit the Orne… it actually obliterated it.

*End Orne 8-bit theme*

"…No way…" Arusu gaped, while the rest of the Heroes jawdropped at that. "It worked… IT ACTUALLY WORKED!" he fist-pumped the air triumphally.

"…WOW that was lucky…" Eleven spoke up after a moment of silence between the three.

"Well, then…" Solo began. "Apparently the Ornes aren't completely invincible… Not to Whack spells, at least."

"Hey, that's actually good to know!" Eight chirped, his energetic side kicking in as usual.

After that, they went over to the newly-activated warp point to teleport to another part of the Labyrinth and go through another door. They were now in an arena-like room, where sure enough, a wave of Underworld troops consisting of Shrips, Nettlers, Gyrazers, Gloomerangs and Snowmen appeared to attack them once they stepped into the middle of the room. They went to work on taking out each a different monster either with their weapons or spells, and once they were all taken care of, the barrier surrounding the door dissipated. By downing the nearby Drinks of the Gods, the Heroes knew that they were going to encounter Pandora on the other side of the door, and so they went through.

[BGM End]

[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Sure enough, Pandora was waiting for them on the other side. "There she is!" Arusu exclaimed. "Ready for round two?!" but… the Goddess of Calamity gave no answer in response.

"Oh… Seems like Medusa couldn't make her talk." Solo observed.

"What do you mean?" Eight asked.

"I mean that this is not the same Pandora we know."

"What?! But it looks just like her!" Arusu pointed out.

"It's only a guess, but I believe that's just a soul dressed up to resemble Pandora. And plus, Pandora is currently lying inside of Dark Pit, so how could she just suddenly escape him out of the blue?"

"How clever of you, oh half-Zenithian warrior." Medusa said. "I must say… I'm actually quite impressed at your intelligence."

"Well, Zenithians tend to be quite smart and observant." Solo simply replied.

"…Dude, did you not just realize that it's MEDUSA who's suddenly talking to us?!" Arusu questioned.

"So that Pandora is really just a disguised soul?" Eight wondered, before addressing Medusa bitterly, "I can't believe you'd stoop to recycling souls… Is nothing ever sacred to you?"

"Well, you're in for quite a treat, Medusa. Now watch in amazement as we slay Pandora for the SECOND TIME!" Eleven declared.

Pandora opened her mouth to spit out bombs at them, but Eleven swung his club at one of the bombs to send it back into her mouth, causing it to explode and grievously daze her as the Loyal Bodyguards rushed over to attack her with melee strikes until she snapped out of it and slammed the ground to send all four Heroes back. She then spat out fireballs at their direction, but they blocked them with their shields before Arusu, Solo and Eight all casted Kazap to stun Pandora greatly with lightning bolts, and then Eleven ran up to her and finished her off with a Blade of Ultimate Power.

[BGM End]

"Slaying complete!" Eleven proclaimed as Pandora faded into nothing, while the Loyal Bodyguards were whisked away.


[BGM: Underworld Castle – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Soon, everyone was warped back to the castle entrance, with the three statues now destroyed. "Nicely done, everyone! You've destroyed all bosses." Palutena applauded.

"Then it's time to destroy Medusa!" Pit declared. "So where is she?"

"The path to Medusa is back the way you first came in."

Everyone blinked. "How is that even possible?!" Trifle questioned.

"This is Medusa's domain. She's in control here, and I'm sure she's got more surprises for you in store."

"I guess it has to be expected." Melia said as they turned around and went through the door, and sure enough, there was a brand-new room on the other side and they were immediately met by a Collin and Phils, two Skuttler Cannoneers, a Specknose, an Igniot, some Shemums, a Suit of Skuttler, and a swarm of Shootflies.

"Make your way to Medusa." Palutena said.

"We're on it!" Pit exclaimed as they proceeded to deal with these enemies, and once they were done, they moved on to the next room, which looked like a dark cavern of sorts filled with streams of flames along the way.

"I find it very ironic that you would call yourself the goddess of light." Medusa said with a hint of venom in her voice. "After all, it was you who turned me into a monster. It was you who hunted me down."

"You shouldn't blame me for that." Palutena replied. "I only reflected in your appearance what I saw in your heart."

"And what about YOUR heart? I can only imagine what resides there."

"Why just imagine it? Don't you have the power to make it a reality?"

"There's no point. We all know it would be some sort of hideous creature."

"You shut your mouth, Medusa!" Pit suddenly snapped, as the others looked at him in surprise. "Lady Palutena is nothing like you! Who turns people to stone and poisons the rivers? Who reduces cities to rubble? And who is leading the Underworld destruction of the land and heavens? Not Lady Palutena. YOU'RE the one responsible for all this, Medusa. But what I don't get is how you managed to resurrect yourself in the first place!"

Everyone, including Palutena and Medusa, were left in silence by Pit's rant. "Dang…" the group thought.

The silence then lasted for a good few moments before Medusa finally replied, "…I suppose I don't really understand how that happened either."

"Don't play dumb with me!" Pit retorted.

"I…I don't remember what happened. My memories aren't what they were."

"You're slipping, Medusa. Your mind isn't all there anymore." Palutena noted. "And I can sense that your life force is weaker than it used to be. Twinbellows, Hewdraw, Pandora, and Thanatos have all been defeated. But if you withdraw your army and promise to stay in this castle, I will spare you."

Medusa only laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. Besides… It hardly matters HOW I returned. What matters is WHY. To exact revenge on you! Turning your little angel and his human friends into stone is a nice first step."

"Threaten all you want. You don't scare us!" Pit replied as his friends nodded in agreement. "We will put an end to you. We'll return to Skyworld victorious!"

Eventually, the gang made it out of the cavern and into a room with three Skuttler Cannoneers, only for them to get easily taken out by Shulk's explosive shots from his cannon. But after these were taken care of, another Suit of Skuttler appeared and so Jewel swiftly ran to its behind to slash it repeatedly until it was defeated. The way to the next room was open and the gang went through, where they were met with another Skuttler Cannoneer, an Eggplant Wizard, a Suit of Skuttler, and a Clubberskull. Pit quickly took out the Eggplant Wizard while narrowly avoiding its Eggplant Bomb before going for the Suit of Skuttler while using a Spike Ball to help him out, while Trifle shot the Skuttler Cannoneer and then used an Atlas Foot to crush the Clubberskull.

After all the monsters fell, the gang walked out of the room, only that the next area they entered was mostly a bottomless abyss. They wondered how they were going to get a move on in this room, until Palutena let them know, "I set up a grind rail, but I had to get creative. It's going to be a wild ride, so good luck."

"Don't worry – we're ready!" Pit replied as they hopped on the grind rail to start grinding. At first, it seemed perfectly normal… until they all spotted some loop-de-loops up ahead.

"Are those… loops up ahead?" Shulk wondered.

"…Oh no…" Jewel paled up… and around the loop-de-loops they all went while they were screaming. But after those loops, everything was normal again and the gang eventually landed on a plateau, only that they were all looking a little disoriented.

"Ooogh… that was brutal…" Eight groaned.

"Well… Palutena wasn't kidding about a wild ride…" Solo muttered.

"I'd… rather deal with high-speed cannon shots than with this…" Eleven groaned.

"…I don't feel so good." Jewel, however, was feeling nauseous and quickly ran up to the edge to hurl into the void of the abyss. "This is why I never go to roller coasters…" she groaned.

"Um… did I overdo it?" Palutena asked.

"Nah, it's a personal problem of mine… I can't handle loop-de-loops."

"Ah."

Once they recovered, the gang resumed moving onwards, where Medusa decided to tease them, "I can sense you all getting closer."

"There's nowhere left for you to run!" Pit said.

"Y'know, I'm very much looking forward to your arrival. I feel like Rapunzel waiting for her prince."

"She knows about the tale of Rapunzel? Then in that case…" Jewel thought, and then replied to Medusa sternly, "Well, sorry to break it to you, but those aren't exactly golden locks on your head." everyone then got onto another grind rail. "And not to mention that you definitely aren't pretty enough to be Rapunzel. If anything, Zelda here would fill the bill more appropriately."

"Aww, thanks!" Zelda smiled.

Medusa scoffed. "And you don't look exactly like brave heroes… except MAYBE for those four handsome guys with you." she referred to the Loyal Bodyguards.

"Hey, at least you're giving us credit!" Arusu grinned.

"…Actually, I think you would look more heroic if it wasn't for that hideous-looking hair of yours."

Arusu's eye twitched as his grin immediately faded, and was replaced with an angry scowl. "…Oh, YOU ARE SO GOING DOWN!" he snapped, but Medusa wasn't fazed by that at all and merely chuckled.

"Somehow, the thought of our confrontation fills me with anticipation. So hurry to me, especially you, Pit. I'll strip you of your wings and sever you from the heavens forever. And then I'll do something even more horrible to your friends, probably turn them into monsters just as Palutena did to me!"

"I don't think so!" Pit proclaimed after he and the others hopped out of the grind rail and continued on, cutting down more Underworld troops on their way before jumping into another grind rail, landing in front of two Boogities. The gang dispatched them both and entered the next room, but there was nowhere for them to go.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Eight wondered.

"There's a path somewhere." Palutena said. "Step on the switch, and use the lights to guide your way."

Following Palutena's instructions, the gang stepped on a switch nearby, making a pathway of red lights appear. The gang followed the path, realizing that it was invisible as the lights only helped indicate them where it was, until they made it to the next room where they were surrounded by an Orne, an Igniot, and an Eggplant Wizard. They were easily defeated by Shulk attacking a Gilded Bomb to blow up all three enemies at once, and then the gang made it to the next room.

"There are hidden platforms nearby that you can jump on. First, reveal the platforms, then dash up to a ledge to jump." Palutena instructed.

"Well, that's easy!" Pit said, stepping on a switch to reveal the invisible platforms by the usage of red lights as he and his friends leaped from platform to platform and kept on going… until they were met with probably the strangest-looking monster ever. "Huh? What the heck is that?!" Pit asked.

"It's a Tempura Wizard!"

"A Tempura Whatzerd?"

"If he deep-fries you all, keep your distance. One bite, and you'll be finished!"

"Oh goodness!" Zelda exclaimed in shock.

Pit paled. "Well, that's a step up from eggplant, I guess. No…not really!"

Thankfully, they all took care of the Tempura Wizard before it could transform any of them into walking shrimp tempuras, and then they focused on the Boogity that was behind the Tempura Wizard. After its defeat, they dropped down the ledge below to get to the next door. "We're getting close to Medusa." Palutena said. "Be careful not to fall."

Three Monoeyes dropped down in front of the gang as they quickly killed them, causing a red transparent path to appear. They ran along it until they got to the other side where they had to deal with three Miks and a Gyrazer to make another path appear, and next they dispatched three Shrips to get the final path to show up. At the end of it, the gang was met with one last group of monsters: an Orne and an Eggplant Wizard.

"This appears to be the final guard." Palutena stated.

"The last step before Medusa's defeat!" Pit said as they took down both enemies, but then another one showed up.

"There's an Erinus nearby. They split into two halves that you can take out one at a time." by the time Palutena finished her sentence, Pit had bisected the Erinus. Its top half was left floating in midair while its bottom half began running around… with its underwear showing.

"…It was wearing boxers?" Solo blinked.

"Uh, it looks like the bottom half lost its pants…" Pit sweatdropped sheepishly before he fired a charged shot at the Erinus's bottom half, while Solo did the same by firing a charged shot at the top half right in its eye.

With the final monster taken down, everyone made their way up the stairway up ahead, ready for their final battle against Medusa.

[BGM End]


"Ha ha ha ha ha ha. HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Medusa's taunting laugher filled the air around the gang as soon as they stepped in, immediately catching sight of the Goddess of Darkness in all her glory. "So we finally meet again, Pit. And it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Pit's friends!" everyone was looking up at Medusa in horror, as she was revealed to be every bit as tall as her astral projections, making for a very intimidating stature.

"Sh-she's huge!" Eight stuttered as sounds of thunder suddenly echoed around them, complete with lightning flashes.

"Where's a Mega Mushroom when we need one?!" Arusu questioned.

"Hmm… I have a solution for this!" Jewel thought and began to reach into her pocket of gemstones.

"Be careful!" Palutena exclaimed.

Pit then put on a brave expression and declared, "Listen well, all you demons of the Underworld! In the name of the goddess Palutena, the defender of all that is good… Those who hide in the darkness will be made to face the light!"

"Fly, Pit!" Palutena said as she activated the Wings of Pegasus for Pit for him to fly up. "I don't know what I should do for Pit's friends, though… The Magic Wings are almost at their five minutes limit…" she thought worriedly.

"Wait, what about us?!" Trifle questioned… while Medusa's fist was coming down right towards them as they all except Jewel screamed and covered their faces with their hands.

"HAH!" Jewel shouted, thrusting her right hand up as the gemstone she took out glowed a bright green before she and the others with her had a green aura surrounding them… and then to Medusa's shock, the group was slowly increasing in size and pushing back her fist due to having their hands in front of their faces.

Even Pit and Palutena looked shocked by that. "Pit, you're seeing that?!" Palutena asked.

"I am!" Pit exclaimed. "They're growing!"

The group continued to grow, until they stopped right at Medusa's height as the green aura around them faded. As soon as it did, the group who had been covering their faces realized that they weren't crushed somehow and so they uncovered their faces, and were surprised to see that they were now at eye-level with Medusa, who was standing there paralyzed in shock.

"How did…?" Shulk wondered.

"G-Guys?" Pit cautiously spoke as they all looked to the side to see a very small Pit next to them.

"Pit?!" Eleven's eyes widened… and it was then that it quickly hit him, since he and his three comrades had a similar experience before. "Wait… Are we giant?"

"Yep!" Jewel winked.

Medusa then finally snapped out of her shocked trance, and asked what exactly the others aside from Jewel were meaning to ask right now, "How… How is that possible?!"

Jewel showed off the gemstone she was holding, which seemed to have grown with her. "Size Peridot, baby!" she grinned proudly.

"You have a size-changing gemstone?" Palutena asked. "I didn't know that!"

"Oh, that's because I don't use it very often. Only for emergency situations."

Medusa growled. "You… I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" she yelled… and thus the battle began.

[BGM: Boss Fight 2 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

The giant group then struck battle stances while Pit aimed his bow at Medusa and got ready to shoot her… "Hah!" but with a yell, Medusa swung her staff to send out gusts of wind at everyone. This caused the group to slide back just a bit while they were shielding their faces, and as for Pit… he got literally blown away and was sent pretty far away from Medusa.

"Whoooooa!" he yelled.

"Pit!" Zelda cried out.

Thankfully, Pit quickly held his ground. "I'm going to try to get you closer!" Palutena said.

"Thank you kindly!" Pit replied.

"But…Medusa's using her powers to hold you back."

"Argh!"

I know it's tough, but don't give up!" Palutena then shifted her attention to the group. "As for you guys… since Medusa's powers aren't affecting you, try to distract her the best you can until Pit gets here!"

"Leave it to us!" Trifle nodded.

"Heh, I'm up for another giant battle any time!" Arusu smirked, as they got ready to battle.

Medusa growled and lunged her fist at Trifle to punch him, but he ducked under the punch and countered with a strong arm uppercut and then Solo and Melia shot her, but she twirled her staff to repel the shots away before firing eye-shaped projectiles from her eyes at them in order to turn them into stone, but they dodged those as Eleven swung his club on her head, dazing her for a bit as Jewel and Shulk slashed her away.

Medusa snapped out of it as she fired dark energy orbs at them from her staff, but Zelda repelled them away with Nayru's Love and then Medusa suddenly teleported behind them and swiped at them with her claws, scratching their backs severely.

"YAAAAAGH!" they screamed in pain, as bloody claw marks were seen from the rips of their clothing on their backs.

Pit, who was in the middle of dodging several red rotating barriers on his way to Medusa, heard and saw what happened up ahead, leading him to gasp. "Oh no! I've got to help them!" he tried to shoot at Medusa, but his shots weren't reaching her.

"You're still too far away." Palutena said.

"She's so big that it's hard to get a feel for which shots hit her." Pit stated as he flew closer, and thanks to the giant group distracting Medusa despite the claw injury, the little angel was able to land a few shots on the goddess of darkness.

"Agh!" Medusa cried by the shots she received and turned around to see Pit. "Little pest…!" she teleported away to a different spot.

"Wow! Warping that huge body must be a real pain!" Pit exclaimed.

"Who are you calling huge, you insignificant little thing?" Medusa retorted, only to get slashed from behind by Arusu.

"Hey! Did you forget that we're huge, too?!" he replied as he slashed her again, but this time she blocked it with her staff before punching him away.

Medusa then blew a kiss, sending out mines made out of dark energy at the gang but Eight blew them all back at her with a backwards-dash charged shot as they exploded on her face, dazing her again and giving everyone the chance to open fire at her simultaneously. Medusa snapped out of it again and proceeded to teleport all over the battlefield as the gang tried to shoot at her, but her constant teleporting was making it hard for them.

"Grr… Settle down, will you?!" Trifle growled.

"Hahahaha! Do you like that?" Medusa taunted as she continued teleporting, while also sending out more dark energy orbs at them.

"Alright, that's it! Fizzle!" Arusu shouted, as a shockwave of magic came out from his extended hand and struck Medusa as she tried to teleport, but couldn't.

"Wh-what…?! Why can't I teleport anymore?!" she questioned.

Arusu grinned, seeing that his spell had worked. "Aha! Gotcha!" and with that, everyone wailed on Medusa until she recoiled back.

"Now's your chance!" Palutena exclaimed, and then she used her magic to bind Medusa's legs in place with chains of light. "The good news is that I've chained Medusa's legs in place for you. The bad news is that you'll have to get up close and personal with her."

"You'll pay for that!" Medusa raged as she struggled against her bonds, but it was proved fruitless and because she was still under the Fizzle spell, she couldn't attack the gang back with any magical abilities and so she tried to punch them, but they avoided the attack and then Melia quickly used Summon Earth to decrease Medusa's physical strength so that her punches would be weaker, allowing the gang to attack her like crazy and utterly curbstomp her.

[BGM End]

And when Medusa received enough damage, she hunched over and planted her staff in the ground… then… "Uuuuuuuuuugh…" she groaned, rising up again… and revealing her hideous true face as a green-skinned red-eyed cyclops that made everyone's skins crawl.

"The actual HELL?!" Trifle yelled in shock.

"Her head!" Shulk exclaimed, completely repulsed.

"Now THIS is the Medusa I remember." Palutena said.

"Dear Empyrea, she's hideous!" Eight exclaimed… and then Medusa's head suddenly detached itself from her body and began to float around.

[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"Wait, she's still fighting?!" Melia questioned as the snakes on Medusa's hair began to fire energy blasts at the gang, but they dodged them in time.

"I can't believe she's still fighting like this. But this is a battle we cannot lose. You must overcome the darkness of the Underworld and fight!" Palutena encouraged.

"The fight against evil ends here!" Pit declared.

Medusa then fired a sweeping red laser from her eye as Pit maneuvered out of its way while the group ducked under it, and then after Melia used Summon Bolt to buff everyone's shot damage, they all proceeded to shoot nonstop back at her while dodging her attacks. After receiving enough blows, Medusa proceeded to reattach her head back to her body, exposing her eye as a result.

"Now, Pit! The eye!" Palutena hollered.

"Raaaaaaaawr!" Pit roared, charging right towards Medusa's eye and once he was close enough, he fired a charged shot at it.

[BGM End]

That attack proved to be the final blow, as a shrill scream ripped from Medusa's throat.

"You did it!" Palutena exclaimed.

Medusa staggered back and outstretched her hand as if she was trying to reach out for Pit and grab him, only to freeze in place and disintegrate into dust.

"It's over…" Zelda breathed. "It's finally over!"

"Alright, time to shrink back to normal!" Jewel took out her Size Peridot again, and used its power to shrink herself and the others back to their normal sizes.

"Now I'll patch all of us up in an instant." Eleven said, casting Omniheal to heal everyone's injuries, including the claw marks on their backs as they now became scars.

Pit then landed next to them. "Yeah! Victory!" he cheered… but the celebration was cut short when the whole castle began to rumble. "Aw man, I hate these load-bearing bosses!" Pit complained.

"Pulling you all out!" Palutena immediately took action and extracted everyone out of the castle just in time as it began to collapse into ruin.


[BGM: False Ending – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"We did it! We really did it!" Pit beamed.

"Congratulations!" Palutena praised. "I know it wasn't always easy."

"Oh, but it was so worth it!" Trifle smiled. "Now we can finally head home, right?"

"Sure thing! But, how about we have a little celebration first?"

"That sounds nice!" Zelda replied as the others nodded in agreement.

"With the world at peace again, even the sun feels warmer." Pit said.

"Aw, you're so cute, Pit." Palutena giggled, and then she and Pit dissolved into laugher.

The group watched the two having a fun time together with smiles, and at this moment, Jewel suddenly pulled Trifle over to her by his shoulders, as she was giving him a look that says, 'Shut up and kiss me, my love.' and Trifle immediately understood that as he gave her a complying look in return. But as Trifle and Jewel began to lean closer while closing their eyes and puckering their lips, Shulk suddenly got a Vision of… someone else showing up that would destroy this mood entirely.

[BGM End]

"Mmph…" he muttered with a troubled look on his face after the Vision ended, as that caught the attention of everyone except Pit, Palutena, Trifle and Jewel, and they looked over at Shulk with confused expressions.

"Shulk, what's wrong?" Melia asked. "Did you have a Vision?"

"I did…" Shulk breathed. "Someone… is about to show up."

"When?" Eleven asked.

And just then, before Shulk could reply, and before Trifle and Jewel's lips could meet each other…

"Now wait just a second." a voice said.

The couple immediately stopped at what they were doing. "Huh?" Trifle wondered.

Pit and Palutena also stopped laughing. "Did you hear something?" Palutena asked.

"I said wait just a second." the voice spoke again.

"We've got to be hearing things." Pit dismissed.

"Uh…" Shulk trailed off nervously.

"Shulk?" Solo glanced at him.

"Here it comes…"

All of a sudden, a clawed purple hand gripped the rolling credits, stopping them in place and with a malevolent laugh, the hand's owner tore the credits away… revealing a demonic, purple-skinned humanoid entity sporting an evil grin on his face, while he was standing in a background of flames.

[BGM: Hades's Infernal Theme – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"Hades?!" Palutena's eyes widened.

"Who's Hades?" Pit asked.

"The king of the Underworld!" Jewel answered, causing everyone, including Hades, to look at her with a 'How did you know that?!' look on their faces. Jewel already knew what those looks she received meant… and then her eye twitched. "…Seriously, HAS NO ONE IN PIT'S WORLD EVER HEARD OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY?!" she exploded.

"Oh, my! Seems like this little human has got quite the temper!" Hades spoke amused. "Anyways… Sorry to keep YOU waiting. But now that I'm here, let's get this party started. Welcome to MY Underworld, Pitty Pat and his goody-goody friends. You too, pretty Palutena."

"I'm…honored you know who I am." Palutena replied.

"So this little angel and his human friends took down big, bad Medusa all by themselves. What an accomplishment! Goodness, you should put this on your resume!"

"Uh, what's with this guy?" Eight tilted his head, he and the others put off by Hades's carefree demeanor.

Hades just ignored Eight and continued, "But before you do, you should know that I whipped up that Medusa especially for you."

Palutena was taken aback by that revelation. "Wait, how?!"

"Add a pinch of memories to a ton of souls. Put them in a blender, and hit frappé!"

"What are you talking about?! Explain yourself!" Arusu demanded.

"Her thirst for revenge was so great, it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. Oh, pretty Palutena…you must have done a real number on her."

"I won't deny that." Palutena admitted.

"But she's old news, and old news bores me. We must look to the future, and that future is me, the true leader of the Underworld! Next to me, little miss Medusa's going to look like a sweet, cuddly bunny."

"No! This can't be happening!" Zelda cried.

"I must bid you adieu." Hades grinned, and then the screen faded to black.

[BGM End]

To be continued…


Shocker! The REAL villain of Kid Icarus Uprising is actually Hades, who has quite a carefree and playful personality despite being the ruler of the Underworld. Just what dangers does Hades has in store for our heroes? We'll find out next time!

Trivia for this chapter:

1. The part where Jewel thought "...Did he just pull off a Sonic?" after Dark Pit said "I'm out of here!" is a reference to what Sonic does in Sonic CD, where if you leave him standing for too long, he would just jump off the stage while saying the exact same line, and then a Game Over happens.