The next chapter is here at last!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 10: The Wish Seed
"I seriously can't believe this…" Trifle muttered, pacing around the living room. "Just when I thought we could finally head back home… this Hades guy makes himself known."
"Honestly, I had a feeling that this adventure wouldn't be over just yet." Jewel admitted. "I mean, just nine chapters is a bit too short for it to end."
"I'm actually with you there." Pit agreed. "Yet still, I can't believe Hades was behind the entire Underworld Invasion this whole time!"
"And he created Medusa to distract everyone." Palutena added. "I also have a feeling that the Dark Heroes actually work for him rather than Medusa, so there's that as well."
Arusu sweatdropped. "Oh, lovely…"
"So now we have to worry about an even worse threat…" Solo muttered.
"Exactly." Palutena nodded. "I've managed to locate where Hades's troops are heading to, so go get your weapons and let's set off!"
"Aye aye, Lady Palutena!" Pit saluted as he and the others dashed off to the Arms Altar to fetch their weapons before taking off to their next destination.
[BGM: The Wish Seed (Volcano Route) – Kid Icarus Uprising]
Soon, the gang was all ready and had already taken off, where they saw a few Monoeyes and Syrens flying about the dark clouds as they proceeded to immediately shoot them.
"What do you think Hades is really after, Palutena?" Trifle asked.
"Something big." Palutena replied. "He hasn't just overstepped his realm – he's kicked down the door. What I DO know is that Underworld forces have assembled at a volcano nearby. And that's where today's mission is taking us."
"Oh, I just put it all together!" Pit said as they all descended below the clouds, right into a fiery and volcanic wasteland with several fissures on the ground that would occasionally spew out flames. "The Underworld Army is here to steal magma!"
Everyone glanced at Pit weirdly, as if that was the most absurd thing he'd ever said. "…How does one even steal magma?" Melia questioned.
"Not even I know how that'd be possible…" Solo threw in.
Palutena sighed. "No, Pit. Hades wants the Wish Seed."
"Oh. Of course." Pit blushed in embarrassment.
"So, what's this Wish Seed?" Shulk asked.
"From what I've heard, it grants any single wish." Palutena explained. "As you might imagine, it's quite sought after."
"Just like with the Triforce…" Zelda sighed.
"I could really use one of those!" Pit exclaimed. "My wish would be to fly by myself!"
"Yes, yes, I'm well aware of that." Palutena said. "Anyway-"
"Don't change the subject!"
Palutena chuckled. "The Underworld forces seem to be very interested in the Wish Seed."
Eight had a troubled look on his face upon hearing this. "Who knows what Hades would wish for if he got it?! It could be a total disaster!"
The others gasped. "Oh no, you're right!" Eleven exclaimed. "We have to stop him!"
"I couldn't agree more." Palutena chimed in. "Let's hurry, everyone. If Hades has entered the game, he's playing to win."
"We're on it!" Arusu nodded.
"Plus, if anyone deserves a wish, it's me!" Pit quipped.
They all continued to fly through the wasteland, shooting several Magmoos on the way. Soon, they eventually came across a cave. "Get ready to go into that cave." Palutena told them as she directed them in, where inside, they took out more Underworld monsters such as a Fire Wyrm, Remoblams, Gloomerangs, and Syrens.
After they made it out of the cave, they were met with a jarring sight that made their eyes widen: there was a massive ocean of lava covering the entire landscape no matter wherever they looked, and streams of fire were leaping out of it.
"This is incredible!" Pit exclaimed.
"INCREDIBLE?!" Trifle glanced at Pit incredulously. "More like DANGEROUS!"
Palutena, however, seemed to agree with Pit more. "Yes, the volcano's guardian puts on quite a show."
"Who's the volcano's guardian?" Jewel asked.
"The immortal bird who lives there. The Phoenix."
"Hmm…" Pit mused. "So if the Phoenix is protecting the Wish Seed… Does that mean he created the Wish Seed too?"
"That reminds me… Phoenix eggs make the most divine omelets. Or so I've heard."
"What does THAT have to do with ANYTHING?!" Pit questioned. "Plus, you completely dodged my question!"
"Palutena really likes bringing up food subjects, doesn't she?" Melia sweatdropped.
They all flew through and around several structures made out of molten rock while shooting at more Syrens, until they came upon a crevice in the lava below as they immediately descended into it… and because the crevice's walls were literally lava, the heat soon began to get to everyone as they all started to feel sweaty.
"Geez, it's hot in here…" Shulk grimaced.
"Tell me about it!" Trifle agreed.
"It's just as hot as the Dark Land…" Eight muttered, only to flinch as a stream of fire suddenly shot out from one of the walls right in front of him and nearly grazed his face, resulting in him feeling the intense heat from it. "…I take it back. This place is WAY hotter than the Dark Land!"
"This actually reminds me more of that lava planet I and Arusu went into back in our previous space adventure." Eleven said, before wiping out some sweat from his forehead. "…Except there aren't any Fire Flowers in here…" he groaned.
"I was just about to say that…" Arusu said.
"How are you all holding up there?" Palutena asked.
"We're…very sweaty." Pit responded as they were dodging more streams of fire.
"There's an alternate tunnel route that might be cooler."
"Oh, good timing!" Trifle's face brightened as they all began to fly up from the lava crevice, arriving at a crossroads.
"But it will take us a little out of our way. I'll let you all decide which way to go."
[BGM Pause]
"Hey, I have an idea." Jewel interjected. "How about we split up and see what we can find each in both paths?"
"Sounds good." Zelda agreed. "But who's going to which path?"
Trifle's eyes darted over to the tunnel. "Well, I'm obviously sticking to the tunnel."
"I think I can handle the intended volcano route." Pit said.
"Hmm… In that case, we'll go into the tunnel with Trifle." Jewel said to Zelda, Shulk, and Melia. She then turned to her Bodyguards, "And Bodyguards, you go with Pit."
"Understood!" Eleven nodded, and so they all split up and took off to their routes. We'll be moving over to the volcano route since it's the intended path.
[Resume "The Wish Seed (Volcano Route)" BGM]
"Going to cut straight through, are you?" Palutena asked the group who took the volcano route.
"How hot can it be?" Pit smirked, shooting at a Fire Wyrm along with the Loyal Bodyguards, before they all witnessed a volcano erupting in the distance. "Whoa!" Pit awed.
"It's a good thing we're far away." Solo said.
Unfortunately for this group, the path they have gone to was during a time where this place would be in intense volcanic activity, as there were many volcanoes that were actually rising out from the ground, with some of them even floating in midair using intense pressure to propel them. Despite that, the group flew through this area about, shooting down at the many Petribombers roaming around while avoiding many rotating lava flows erupting out of the volcanoes, and just like back at the crevice, the heat being generated out of these flows was proved to be quite much for the group since they were flying close to the volcanoes.
"Whew, this is some heat!" Eleven grimaced.
"If it weren't for my power of cooling, you'd be all burned to a crisp by now!" Palutena said.
"…You have a power of cooling?" Eight blinked in surprise.
"I do."
"Well, it's not proving to be enough to keep us cool!" Arusu pointed out.
Palutena chuckled nervously. "I sometimes forget just how flammable humans and angels are."
"Riiight…"
After avoiding several more lava flows as the volcanoes seemed to be closing on them while at the same time shooting at more Fire Wyrms and also at a few Komaytos, the group made it to a volcanic vent that seemed to connect to the tunnel route that the other group went to… aaaand it suddenly erupted.
"WHOA!" the quintet yelled in shock, eyeing at the magnificent pillar of magma right in front of them.
[BGM Pause]
"That was a close one." Palutena remarked. "Good thing you didn't go through that tunnel."
"Yeah, that would've been bad." Pit said.
"Wait…" Eight's eyes widened, as he came to a horrifying realization. "…Didn't the others go in there?"
In an immediate response to that, everyone, including Palutena, mirrored Eight's horrified expression. "Oh no…" Pit paled. "Did they just…?"
"Wait, look!" Palutena exclaimed and when they looked over… they saw the other group, who had just made it out of the tunnel, only that they were all covered in soot and were coughing out smoke.
"That was way too close for comfort…" Zelda sighed in relief.
"…You know what? I'm not going to trust volcanic tunnels anymore…" Trifle grumbled.
"Guys, you've made it!" Eight beamed in relief as they flew over to the other group. "So… What happened to you down there?" he wondered.
"Well…" Jewel began.
Earlier…
[BGM: The Wish Seed (Cave Route) – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"I hope it's cooler in that tunnel!" Trifle hoped as they flew in, where they were greeted with a chamber filled with beautiful crystal formations… and also Underworld troops like Shulms, Handoras, and Magmoos. "Lots of enemies here, but at least it's a lot cooler in here!" Trifle smiled.
"Still a bit warm for my taste, but better than how it was outside." Melia said.
Soon, they made it into a deep hole…which just so happens to be somewhere in the interior of that same volcanic vent that was about to erupt, so you know what that means…
"Uh, guys…" Jewel spoke nervously as she looked down. "The magma level's rising in here!"
The others followed her gaze, and immediately paled up. "Oh boy…" Zelda trailed off. "Hopefully it won't rise too fast…"
They then flew around the vent's interior, taking down several Paramushes and Syrens while avoiding lava flows bursting out of the wall until they managed to find a tunnel as they flew in there… but as they were about to enter another tunnel, a waterfall of lava blocked their way.
"Augh! There's nowhere to go!" Shulk exclaimed as they turned around.
"Okay, stay calm, everyone!" Melia demanded.
"Stay calm?! How are we supposed to stay calm when we're about to get steamed like dumplings!?" Trifle panicked.
"I said STAY CALM!" Melia repeated with a more commanding tone as the group frantically looked around and eventually found a way out, flying into another dark chamber.
"Whew. That's a relief." Trifle sighed in relief.
Thinking that they were safe, they began to slowly fly out of the tunnel as all seemed peaceful enough… when suddenly, Zelda noticed a bright orange light coming from behind as she turned around… and what she saw made her gasp in horror:
"Guys! Behind us!"
"Huh?" Trifle looked behind as did the rest… where they saw the magma quickly rising. Trifle became so shocked by that, that his eyes comically popped out of his eye sockets. "WHOOOOA-OA NO, NO, PLEASE NO!" he screamed in panic.
"We gotta get out of here!" Shulk shouted as they flew up as fast as they could towards the exit, the heat of the lava practically licking at their heels.
Luckily, they managed to make it out of the tunnel just as the lava erupted from it, creating that magnificent pillar of magma from before. "WHOOOOA!"
[BGM End]
Back in the present…
"…Well, you guys got pretty lucky." Solo remarked.
"Yep." Shulk nodded.
"Honestly, I already knew that going into that tunnel was a big waste of time…" Melia muttered.
[Resume "The Wish Seed (Volcano Route)" BGM]
"No need to get all hot under the collar, though, right?" Palutena joked.
"…You just couldn't resist, could you?" Trifle groaned in annoyance, before everyone proceeded to go forward.
"Get ready to land soon, everyone."
"Boy, I hope my sandals don't melt." Pit hoped.
"Don't worry. I'll get you some new ones after this mission." Palutena assured him, and then they all zoomed off to some ruins in the distance.
[BGM End]
Pit landed on the ground while doing a skid… only to do it so straight towards a ledge. "Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa. Whoa!" he tried to maintain balance, but failed and fell down. Meanwhile, the others landed gracefully and as Palutena made their Magic Wings disappear, they had witnessed Pit falling down the ledge and gasped.
"Pit!" Zelda exclaimed as they rushed over, and thankfully, they found that Pit had landed on a piece of land below and nowhere close to the lava, making them sigh in relief.
[BGM: Phoenix Mountain – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"Ah!" Pit sighed as he got back up, and then the group leapt down the ledge to join up with him. "Take it easy, will ya?"
"The Underworld Army has already reached the Phoenix." Palutena informed. "But they're facing severe resistance."
"This Phoenix sounds pretty tough." Eleven commented as he shot a Frizz at a Petribomber to defeat it. "So if we want the Wish Seed too…"
"That's right. You'll have to defeat the Phoenix." Palutena finished.
Pit paled up. "I was afraid you'd say that."
"Don't worry. He's the Phoenix. He'll come back to life."
"That's not exactly what I'm worried about. What I mean to say is…I'm not scared. I'm not scared at all!"
"You do know that saying it twice doesn't make it more convincing, right?" Melia rolled her eyes.
"How about if I say it a third time? I'm not scared at all!"
They carefully walked around the area, since it was filled with lava holes on the floor while taking down some Underworld monsters. A Magmoo attempted to ambush them by jumping out of a lava hole, but Jewel saw it coming and quickly doused it with water by using her Water Sapphire as it shrunk away into nothing, while Eleven hit a Girin on the way repeatedly with his club before literally finishing it off with a Bang, and then the gang reached the door. And as they were battling a horde of enemies on the other side…
"Well, helloooooo there! Glad to see you made it!" Hades suddenly greeted them.
"Hades!" Pit growled.
"Settle down there, Pitty. Ladies don't like high-strung fellows. So the 'good guys' covet the Wish Seed too. Tell me, goddess, what do you wish for? Is it all kittens and rainbows, or is it something more…interesting?"
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours!" Palutena replied.
"Thanks so much for asking! I just have one humble, little wish." Hades made a large screen appear for the gang to see them, as it showed the image of a little girl crying over the loss of her parents. "You see this poor child? Both of her parents are dead. Awww… There was an unfortunate accident, if you know what I mean." he said with fake sobs.
However, the gang didn't take this sad story too seriously. "You mean you murdered them!" Arusu scowled, with the others agreeing with him. Sure, it was a heavy accusation, but everyone always assumed the worst when it comes to big bad villains, and Hades is no different.
"It was a simple case of distracted chariot driving. I shouldn't have been doing my hair." Hades replied nonchalantly, causing the gang to facepalm. "Anyway, I was hoping to use the Wish Seed to bring back the parents." the screen then showed the little girl happy… while her parents were zombified. "Can you think of anything more joyous than a family reunion?" several golden coins appeared around the family next. "Then after that, they'd strike it rich – like, rolling-in-dough rich!" then, it showed them wearing crowns and all sorts of royal jewelry. "And then we'd slap crowns on all of them and make 'em royalty!"
The screen disappeared, and the gang's reaction to what they saw? Complete skepticism. I mean… Why would the Lord of the Underworld, the land of the dead, suddenly want to bring back life? And also, wanting to make the living rich and with a higher class? That seems a little unnecessary.
"And that's the general gist of my wish. Pretty noble and not at all evil, right? I can't think of anyone MORE deserving of the Wish Seed than yours truly." Hades said proudly.
"Let me get this straight. You, the lord of the Underworld, want to revive the dead. That's somewhat at odds with your 'mission statement', wouldn't you say?" Palutena questioned.
"Don't tell me the goddess of light hasn't heard of altruism before."
"What a load of baloney!" Pit scoffed.
"My intentions are pure. As lord of the Underworld, you have my word."
"That just makes me more suspicious." Palutena stated.
"How cold of you. Your words pierce my heart like an icicle."
With that odd conversation out of the way, the gang had finished cleaning the area out of Underworld troops and walked across a path leading to a jump pad. They used it to get to the next area beyond another door, which was a cavernous area with a pool of lava in front of them and a few Remoblamings and Remoblams were flying about.
"The monster situation is quite clement." Palutena said.
"Is that…a good thing?" Pit raised an eyebrow.
"You know, it's importunate. Or unpropitious."
Pit still didn't get it. "Are you still speaking English right now?"
"I'm sorry, Pit. I didn't mean to confuse you. Let me make this easier for you. Big monsters kill Pit grr!"
Pit's face finally brightened. "Ah, that makes perfect sense! Thank you!"
The others looked at Pit dumbfoundedly. "…Is Pit's mind really THAT immature?" they thought.
After taking out the Remoblams and Remoblamings, the gang could see a door on the other side of the pool of lava, but they obviously had to find a way to cross it. Looking up at the ceiling, they saw a large statue with four faces on it, and so they used the jump pad at the far right to reach the room's second floor. Noticing the statue up ahead, they went up its steps and hit a switch on top.
"Umph!" Pit cried in startle when the statue suddenly jerked before dropping all the way down into the lava and sinking, leaving only its top part exposed.
"Now that the statue has settled into the lava, I don't think it'll budge." Palutena said.
"Well, I wouldn't either if I was soaking in a nice hot bath." Pit chuckled as they walked out of the room, and were met with a new Underworld monster that grossly resembled a walking stomach.
"Well, look at that. It's an Underworld Guttler."
"Looks gross." Eight cringed a bit. "So, what's its deal?"
"It gobbles up friends and foes alike, getting extremely strong in the process."
"It eats its friends to get stronger? Sheesh. Talk about a monster!" Trifle exclaimed.
"And its strength grows with every bite it takes, so if you see one, defeat it quickly."
"…Okay, that thing is totally ripping off Kirby!" Pit said, he and the others watching it eating other Underworld troops that were unfortunate enough to spawn in next to it.
"Or perhaps Pac-Man." Jewel added as the Guttler then noticed them and proceeded to hungrily charge straight at them, but then Shulk suddenly got in front of them.
"Hey, you!" he exclaimed, holding a Smart Bomb in his right hand. "Eat this!" he chucked the bomb at the Guttler as it ends up swallowing it, before immediately exploding afterwards.
"Nice one, Shulk." Melia complimented with a smile and then they ran further up the path to reach a crossroads, each leading up to a door. They first went for the door on the right, which took them to a hot spring.
[BGM Pause]
"Look, everyone! A hot spring!" Palutena smiled.
Pit's eyes sparkled. "Score!" he immediately cannonballed into the hot spring while the others just slowly walked in. "Who's got two thumbs and loves hot springs?! Everyone with two thumbs!"
[Resume "Phoenix Mountain" BGM]
Soon, they all got out of the hot spring and went to the door on the left this time, taking them to a rocky hillside. A Shelbo, a Magmoo and a Gloomerang came to greet the gang, only to get immediately obliterated by them as they next went over to a jump pad on the left to get to the upper level, where Eight tossed a Grenade he had found on the lower level at a group of Underworld monsters that consisted of a Mik, a Petribomber, a Tortolunk, a Magmoo and a Sinistew to instantly kill them all before the gang stepped on a platform that rose them up to the third level.
"Oh, Palutena~! Pretty Paluteeeena~!" Hades called out in a singsong voice. "Can you hear me?"
"Of course I can hear you." Palutena replied.
"You never told me your wish. Even after I bared my very soul to you!"
"Right. Your wish? I don't buy it. In fact, it makes me doubt this entire story. Answer me this: does the Wish Seed even have the power to grant wishes?"
"You're a sharp one. How'd you guess?"
The gang's eyes widened by this sudden revelation. "What?! Are you serious? The Wish Seed is a fake?" Eleven asked.
"Welp, there goes my wish to fly." Pit grumbled.
"Honestly, I did have my suspicions…" Solo muttered.
"It's so obvious to me now. I mean, the idea of a Wish Seed is pretty far-fetched." Palutena stated. "An item like that could make anyone more powerful than the gods."
"That's actually true." Zelda chimed in. "Doesn't stop the Triforce for existing, though."
"Hey, at least the Triforce is not from THIS world, am I right?"
"Yeah… and the fact that one's heart must be in balance in order to be given a wish."
Pit's head dropped. "Dang. I was totally gonna be like, 'I wish for…a kazillion wishes!'"
"…Wait, hold on – if the Wish Seed doesn't work, then why's the Underworld Army going after it?" Shulk wondered.
"To make everyone – us included – believe that it's real." Palutena answered.
"Oh, that's SUCH a cheap and dirty trick!" Arusu growled. "I can't believe it… Hades has really outdone himself!"
"Can't get anything past ol' Professor Palutena, now can I?" Hades grinned. "If there's one thing you can predict about humans, it's their greed. It's physically impossible for humans to resist the lure of a wish-granting item." as he said this, it led Zelda to once again sigh sadly. Again, this exact same issue happens in Hyrule all the time thanks to the Triforce's mere existence.
"And since they can't get the Wish Seed from the Phoenix to see it's a fake… You need them to THINK that someone has made off with it." Palutena confirmed.
"At which point, they'll drive themselves to extinction battling for it. And that's good for my business. An ingenious plan, if I do say so myself."
"Darn it…" Trifle snarled.
It was then that something came into Pit's mind. "But the Phoenix himself could wipe out humanity if the Underworld sets him loose!" he said.
Eight gasped. "He's right! It's either the humans themselves, or the Phoenix that could cause the extinction of humanity no matter what we do!"
"Great, this just got a lot more complicated…" Melia sighed with a clear hint of frustration.
"Yeah, we're basically in a Xanatos Gambit scenario." Jewel threw in. "And I hate this kind of scenario…" she thought with a grumpy look, before she asked Palutena, "What should we do about this, Palutena?"
Palutena sighed. "I suggest we defeat the Phoenix, since at least it won't lead to the death of ALL humans. We have no other choice. We've fallen right into Hades's trap."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, my dear!" Hades teased. "Actually, scratch that. It'll get you a hot date with the Phoenix. Ciao."
After letting out exasperated sighs, the gang pressed onwards, navigating in and out of a cavern and getting to a cliffside. "Even though Hades was behind this plan, the Phoenix won't be happy to see you all." Palutena warned.
"Considering the hell he's been put through with the Underworld forces constantly attacking him, that's understandable." Solo pointed out as he sniped a Syren flying by, before they proceeded down the cliffside while taking out Shulms and Monoeyes, and jumping across some rocks to get to the other side and through the door.
On the other side, they found themselves facing another horde of enemies, as Skuttlers, Shulms, and a Skuttler Mage appeared in the room. Shulk and Eight made quick work on taking out the Shulms by shooting them from the distance to avoid their poisonous explosion, then Pit, Jewel and Arusu slashed through the Skuttlers while Solo fired repeatedly at the Skuttler Mage until it was defeated.
When the gang went to the next room following the previous one, they were next facing off against a Suit of Skuttler and a Tempura Wizard. Trifle and Eleven quickly went behind the Suit of Skuttler to attack its behind repeatedly, while Zelda used Farore's Wind to teleport out of the flour projectile's way that the Tempura Wizard threw at her that would turn her into a tempura before she along with Melia opened fire at it.
Once both monsters were defeated, the barrier on the door disappeared and the gang went through. "The Phoenix is up ahead." Palutena informed.
"Go die now!" Hades chimed in as the gang ran up to the floating platform up ahead, and got ready to face against the fiery immortal bird himself.
[BGM End]
The gang found the Wish Seed floating in the center of the platform. "Huh… The Wish Seed looks real enough…" Eleven mused.
Just then, a loud screech was heard as the gang looked up in alarm. "The Phoenix!" Pit exclaimed as said Phoenix came diving down to the platform in a flash of flame.
"He's not going to let you go without a fight!" Palutena hollered as the Phoenix hovered above the gang and shrieked at them, and then the fight initiated.
[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]
The Phoenix began soaring around in the air. "So we should go ahead and attack him?" Pit asked.
"You have no choice. Unless you all want to be flambéed. As Solo pointed out before, the Phoenix is cranky after fighting the Underworld forces. Who knows what he's capable of? You need to stop him."
"Oh, we WILL!" Arusu proclaimed.
The Phoenix, however, made his first move by wreathing himself in flames before diving right towards the gang, but they thankfully dodged and began firing shots at him. Angered, the Phoenix came down stomping the ground to send out three shockwaves at the gang, forcing them to dodge and then the Phoenix next breathed a flamethrower at them, but Eleven slashed through the flames with Flamesplitter as Melia added the ice element to her orbitars before firing a charged shot at the Phoenix and decrease his defense.
Everyone again opened fire at the weakened Phoenix until he retaliated by flapping his wings to send tornadoes at them, which blew them all back as the Phoenix followed up by spitting out fiery rocks at them, but Jewel quickly used her Wind Emerald to blow all the rocks away with a green tornado before everyone opened fire at the bird once again.
In the midst of that, Shulk noticed a jump pad as he ran over to it, and it launched him up in the air right towards the Phoenix. Taking the advantage of that, Shulk first struck him with an Air Slash that hit the Phoenix right on his left wing, making him screech in pain and crash down to the ground, and once Shulk landed, he dealt the finishing blow with a Monado Buster right on the downed Phoenix's torso.
[BGM End]
"Phoenix extinguished!" Shulk declared.
"I'll have some nice, cold drinks waiting for you all when you get back." Palutena said.
The Phoenix gave one final shriek before exploding, creating a large Phoenix-shaped beacon of light in the sky. The explosion also destroyed the Wish Seed, which turned out to be just a bomb.
"Now everyone will know the Wish Seed was a fake!" Trifle grinned.
"No no no." Hades interfered. "That beacon shows the world that the Phoenix has been defeated! Which will only make the humans believe that someone has taken the Wish Seed. Now I'll just give them a little nudge."
Everyone gasped. "No! Don't do this!" Zelda pleaded.
Unfortunately, it would fall on deaf ears as Hades began his announcement to the world, "People of the world, the Wish Seed has been liberated! This is your chance to fulfill your wildest dreams! All you have to do is conquer anyone in your way!"
"The people will NOT be so easily deceived!" Pit shouted.
"I wish that were true, but I foresee major bloodshed. This is all my fault." Palutena lamented.
"Palutena…" Zelda whispered sadly, as the columns of light shone on them and whisked them away.
Meanwhile, at the Underworld…
"Oh, this is just too rich!" Hades chortled, as he was sitting on his throne and watching the war against the humans unfold through a screen. "My plan worked out nicely! Soon it'll be the end of all mankind and more underlings for me!"
It was then that Dark Solo approached Hades. "Lord Hades… A report, if you will." he said while kneeling down.
"Hmm? What kind of report, our dear messenger?"
Dark Solo stood back up. "I've been seeing sights of odd-looking troops that aren't from the Underworld, but they're not from Skyworld either, roaming about many regions of the Overworld."
"Is that so? How did these troops look like?"
"They seemed to be nature-themed of sorts."
Hades placed a finger under his chin. "I see… So she finally decided to enter the fray…"
"Lord Hades, should we do something about this?"
After some thought, Hades replied, "Nah, let her and her forces put on a little show for Pitty Pat and his friends for now. After all, my forces are worn out after their hard battle with the Phoenix."
"If you say so." Dark Solo shrugged.
"Say, how are your comrades doing, by the way?"
"Scheming as usual. Dark Eleven, in particular, is trying to improve his telekinetic abilities so he could stand more a chance against his good counterpart."
"Good!" Hades grinned. "You're now dismissed, Dark Solo."
"Thanks, Lord Hades." Dark Solo nodded, and then left.
Hades then relaxed on his throne. "Well, I guess we'll see how this show is gonna roll!" he chuckled darkly.
And thus, the greatest war that Angel Land has ever seen begins…
To be continued…
Next up, everyone's favorite Goddess of Nature is finally going to make her first appearance! How will the group accompanying Pit react to her? We'll find out next time!
