Boy, this chapter took quite a while! But alas, it's done!

Enjoy! ;)


Chapter 13: The Lunar Sanctum

[BGM: Alcamoth, Imperial Capital (Night) – Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition]

Night fell on Skyworld, and it was truly a beautiful sight with its many lights lit around the city, and the walls on Palutena's Temple glistering by the bright moon. While Pit, Trifle, Jewel and Zelda were strolling around the city, Shulk, Melia and the Loyal Bodyguards were at the Temple's balcony stargazing. Shulk was lucky to have kept a telescope that he built it himself, and was able to look at the stars much closer. But then, when he looked at a certain spot in the sky, he saw something unusual.

"Wait…huh?" he blinked, catching the attention of the others. "Why is there a second moon?"

"…What did you just say?" Melia asked.

"This might sound weird but, I swear I just saw a second moon up there."

"You can't be serious. There's no such thing as a second moon." Arusu shook his head, not buying that at all.

"No, it's true! There are two moons!"

"You're probably just mistaking a star for a moon."

Shulk sighed. "Here, Melia." he hands the telescope to Melia. "See it for yourself."

Melia took the telescope and Shulk directed her to the spot where he saw said moon so she looked at it through the telescope, and saw the exact same thing as Shulk did as she replied, "Well, I'll be darned… there is a second moon."

"Wh-…Are you really buying this?!" Arusu questioned.

Melia rolled her eyes. "You want proof, stubborn boy? Then just see it." she shoves the telescope into Arusu's hands and he looked into it… though he was actually looking at the real moon instead.

"Yep, I'm seeing the moon and it looks pretty." he said.

"Yeah I know, but look more to the right!" Shulk said.

Arusu did that… and his eyes widened in disbelief upon seeing the second moon. "WHAT…" he gaped. "…Why the hell are there two moons?!"

This caught the interest of the rest of the Loyal Bodyguards, and so they took turns looking at the second moon since there was only one telescope, and once they were done, they were left shocked as well.

"That's strange… How can there be two moons in the sky?" Eleven wondered, as he was the last one to look.

"Maybe it's a unique thing to this world?" Eight guessed with a shrug. "Like how Power-Ups are to Mario's world?"

"Hmm, I highly doubt that." Solo shook his head. "Not even the Mushroom Kingdom had two moons, so something is up with that second moon. We should warn Palutena about this."

And right on cue, Palutena appeared from behind them. "You rang?"

"…Well, that was fast."

"I happened to be passing nearby. So, what happened?"

Eleven walked up to Palutena. "We were just stargazing together, until Shulk suddenly spotted a second moon in the sky." he hands the telescope to her. "Here."

Palutena accepted the telescope and looked through it at the direction the group indicated her. "…Oh my!" she exclaimed.

"Do you know what could this be?" Eight asked.

"Mmph, I have a feeling that this has one of Viridi's commanders written all over it…" Palutena suspected before she turned back to them. "Go get the rest. This calls for a new mission!"

"Understood!" Shulk nodded along with the others, and they dashed back inside.

[BGM End]


A few minutes later…

[BGM: The Lunar Sanctum – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"Again today I will go soaring through the sky~! My enemies, I'll dish 'em up in a stir-fry~! Gracious goddess of light watches from up above~! At dinnertime I always show the cook some love~!" Pit sang as everyone had just taken off from the gate and flying into the night sky, lit up by the real moon.

"Looks like someone is chirpy tonight." Solo chuckled.

Palutena couldn't help but chuckle in agreement. "And what are you singing, Pit?"

"Just this little victory song I made up." Pit replied. "We stopped Viridi! Now it's time to take down Hades!"

"Not quite. We still have to contend with her forces. Specifically, Arlon the Serene."

"Oh, is he one of her commanders?"

"Yes, and he has a weapon so lethal, it makes Reset Bombs seem like firecrackers."

"Yikes…" Jewel trailed off.

"Arlon's base is close by. You see the moon?"

"Yeah, it's really pretty tonight." Pit smiled, looking at the real moon.

"And what about that?" Palutena asked, directing everyone to the second moon that Shulk, Melia and the Loyal Bodyguards saw earlier.

"Like I said, they're…" Pit did a double take. "…pretty…" he shifted his gaze to each moon back and forth, before finally questioning, "Wait a sec… There are two moons?!"

"…Please tell me we're just seeing double…" Trifle gaped.

"Nope. I and the others saw it before we took off." Shulk told him, as Melia and the Loyal Bodyguards gave a nod in confirmation.

"They're like eyes watching you." Palutena noted.

Pit sighed with a hint of shyness. "I wish they wouldn't. I get stage fright."

Then, all of a sudden, the fake moon began to split in half, much to everyone's shock. "Whoa whoa whoa!" Pit exclaimed frantically.

"What the heck?!" Arusu exclaimed. "What kind of moon IS that?!"

"Well, one thing's for sure: that's no moon!" Eight exclaimed.

"THAT'S Arlon's Lunar Sanctum." Palutena corrected. "Clearly, there's more to it than meets the eye."

"Very cool!" Pit gushed… aaaaand cue a massive laser nearly hitting them. "And dangerous!" Pit shouted, and then a group of Nutskis showed up as the gang defeated them all before quickly avoiding another laser. "I take it back! It's not cool at all!" Pit panicked.

"We're going in!" Palutena hollered and accelerated everyone's wings as they zoomed towards the Sanctum while they were shooting at more Forces of Nature troops, mainly Nutskis, Bladers, Badoots, Parashooters, Zerts, Trynamites and Captain Flares, and avoiding more lasers.

"We're getting close!" Zelda shouted.

"I'll get you all there. Just focus on avoiding fire." Palutena said. The gang proceeded to do just that, avoiding tons of lasers being fired at them as they flew into the Sanctum. "Those lasers are quite the security system!"

"You're telling us!" Eleven replied as they began flying on the outside of the Sanctum.

"With all THIS firepower, Arlon must be preparing for a massive attack."

"Why on earth would I be attacking?" a serene elderly voice suddenly spoke up. "I'm far too busy…defending, my dear."

"Huh?!" Pit wondered, he and the others looking around to find the location of the voice.

"You must be Commander Arlon." Palutena said.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Palutena." Arlon replied with a formal tone. "And yours too, young masters Pit, Trifle, Shulk, Eleven, Arusu, Solo and Eight, and mistresses Jewel, Zelda and Melia."

"…I'm surprised he knew our names too." Melia blinked.

"I have heard tales of your prowess from our Mistress Viridi." Arlon continued.

"Well, that's…weirdly nice of her…" Pit responded for a lack of a better answer.

"She said I mustn't let your attacks spread chaos HERE of all places, or get any of your human footprints dirtying the sanctum."

"Of COURSE she would say that…" Trifle thought annoyed.

"So before you cause a most unnatural harm, let us sit down for a chat."

"I might consider it if you withdrew your forces…" Palutena began. "…and banded with us to face the Underworld Army together."

"Those decisions fall to the will of Mistress Viridi. Unfortunately, it's entirely out of my purview. I do hope you understand."

"What's a purview? And why do you talk like that?" Pit asked. "Bad guys are supposed to be more like 'Graaahhh!' and 'I'm gonna KEEL you!'"

"…You do know that not every bad guy is like that, right Pit?" Solo sweatdropped as they were all flying back into the Sanctum, dodging more lasers as they did so.

Arlon chuckled. "The young master is skilled in impressions, I see. Would you care to perform more?"

"Uh, that's all I've got." Pit replied.

"Oh, really? Because I recall you doing impressions of General Pepper, Peppy Hare and Reyn once." Jewel winked.

[BGM Pause]

"Oh, you mean…" Pit cleaned his throat. "'It's about time you showed up, Fox!'" he first imitated General Pepper.

"Hmm…" Arlon mused. "What else?"

"'Everybody, stay alert!'" then Peppy Hare.

"Uh-huh…"

"'DO A BARREL ROLL!'" Peppy again.

"I see…"

"'Let's not lose our heads, though!'" and finally Reyn, complete with the British accent.

"Go on…"

"…That's all I got. For real, this time."

[Resume "The Lunar Sanctum" BGM]

"Wow… those were pretty good!" Zelda complimented.

Pit chuckled. "Thanks, I've worked on those for a long time." he said as they resumed flying around. Unbeknownst to them, just as they were flying out, the Sanctum's laser cannon was aiming directly at them!

"Everyone! Watch out!" Palutena shouted.

"Huh?" Pit looked back along with the others… and the laser fired.

"Aaaaaugh!" everyone screamed, as they barely managed to dodge the powerful beam in time.

"That attack was vicious!" Palutena remarked. "I see a corridor we can enter through. Hold on!" she once again accelerated their wings and directed them towards the corridor as they flew in, only to be met with some Bladers and Lurchthorns.

"It's not much safer in here!" Trifle observed.

"As I mentioned earlier, the Lunar Sanctum is very heavily fortified. But a victory here could help us contain all of Viridi's army."

"Then we'll take care of it somehow!" Pit said as he and the others did their best to avoid all enemy fire before firing back at them, and once the Bladers and Lurchthorns were taken care of, it seemed that the enemy fire was lessening.

"Huh… Their defenses are thinning out." Shulk noted.

"I'm still detecting enemies, though, so be careful." Palutena warned… and right on cue, a horde of Flages suddenly appeared.

"Augh!" Pit and Eight yelped as everyone quickly went to work on these green gelatinous guys.

"Let me introduce you to the Flages, the covert-ops specialists for Viridi's army." Arlon said. "Do they strike your fancy?"

"Uh, NO!" Arusu retorted.

"Personally, I'm quite fond of them."

"Right, 'cause we care SO much." Arusu scoffed with obvious sarcasm in his voice, as everyone next flew into a hallway littered with lasers.

"Your concern is noted."

"I WAS BEING SARCASTIC! We don't care at all!"

Soon, the gang was able to dodge all the lasers without too much difficulty… but before they could take a much-needed sigh of relief, Arlon spoke up again:

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?" Palutena asked.

"To close the gates!"

"Wait, what?!" Pit's eyes widened.

"And the gates…go…shut." and in an instant, the gates in front of the gang began closing… but thanks to each of the Loyal Bodyguards casting Kaboom to blow up a big hole on each gate so that everyone could pass through, this final trap was basically meaningless. Needless to say, Arlon was left quite intrigued by that, "…Huh, I never knew humans would be capable of unleashing magic like that."

"It's kind of a thing in the world we're from, at least." Eleven replied as he casted Kaboom on the final gate.

"Noted."

As soon as they passed through the final gate, the gang found themselves flying into a large room filled with gears. "There's an entry point through a duct up ahead." Palutena informed. "It's tight, so watch out!" and with that said, she sped up their wings again… and made them divebomb right towards the duct.

"Hrrt?!" Pit grunted in surprise by this sudden divebomb action, and then they all broke through the duct's glass.

[BGM End]


The gang made it out of the duct from the other side and landed on the floor, skidding to stop as the glow on Pit's wings and the Magic Wings shunned away. They then looked around the interior of the Lunar Sanctum, and what they saw was quite unexpected: the interior seemed to be a vast, classy, and futuristic city that wouldn't be out of place in Sonic the Hedgehog CD. The city was mainly colored gold and bronze, and the ceiling looked more like a sunlit sky with many cloud-like trails crisscrossing it.

[BGM: At the Sanctum – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"Talk about ritzy!" Pit beamed.

"This place looks stunning!" Zelda exclaimed.

"It's like a whole other world. A classier world." Palutena said.

"I'm deeply flattered by your gracious compliments." Arlon replied.

"Who knew the Lunar Sanctum would be so nice?" Eleven smiled, taking in his surroundings.

"I could get used to a place like this!" Palutena chimed in.

"Perhaps you could. But the Lunar Sanctum doesn't have room for any…MORE guests." Arlon said.

Palutena quickly changed her mind. "Uh, it's not THAT nice."

"Well, I don't care how nice this place is! It won't stop us from taking you down!" Trifle declared.

The gang made their way down the path and was confronted by some Nutskis and Urgles, but they were quickly dispatched and the gang moved on, where they were eventually met with a strange phenomenon: a group of Nutskis flew down in front of them as they proceeded to take them out, but when Eight slashed at a Nutski sporting a strange green hue… the slash went right through it, leaving the Hero utterly confused:

"Uh… are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"Arlon seems to have a penchant for visual trickery." Palutena stated.

"Oh great, we have another Pandora…" Trifle groaned in annoyance, since he now hates illusions.

"It's just a little something I whipped up to whet your appetite." Arlon casually said, as Pit noticed a Pew Pew on the corner and opened fire at it… only that it was also a hologram.

"This is so annoying." Pit grumbled. "Lady Palutena. Help us out here."

"Deploying the Palutena Super Sensor…" Palutena said.

"…I didn't know you had a super sensor!"

But then Palutena giggled in response. "I don't. You know I like to make stuff up."

Everyone deadpanned in response, but Arusu looked annoyed instead. "I can't believe you're messing with us at a time like this!" he complained.

"Don't fret. You can use the green arrows to guide your way."

"Now how did you manage to place those here?" Arlon wondered as the gang followed the green arrow towards a fake wall, revealing a door on the other side that took them to a larger part of the Sanctum, where there was a large meteorite that seemed to stand on a pillar of what appeared to be sand flowing down like a river. "Ooh, it seems you've infiltrated the Lunar Sanctum's control core, Palutena. That leaves me relatively defenseless. I'd best rectify that posthaste. If you'll excuse me, I must go gird my loins for your arrival."

"Ew!" Melia cringed. "Was that last part really necessary?!"

"TMI! Nobody wants to hear about your loins!" Pit added.

After that, the gang traversed the river of sand downhill while taking great care to avoid the mines that littered it on the way down, and finally reached the door at the end that led them to another large area with a grind rail right in front of them. They immediately hopped on the grind rail and moved onward, taking out more Forces of Nature troops and hitting switches to extend the grind rail. Soon, they landed on a platform where they dealt with an ambush that consisted of a Mudrone, a Skreetle, a Dibble Dop, a Pew Pew, a Nutski, and a Mahva, all while a Pew Pew hologram was constantly taunting them. Nevertheless, they defeated all the enemies and got to another grind rail, shooting at a Lurchthorn passing nearby and ignoring the Nutski holograms pestering them before they hopped off the grind rail and went into a room.

Already, they were faced with more enemies: a Toxiecap, two Bumpety Bombs, an Urgle, and two Pew Pews. The gang managed to slay them all, albeit with some difficulty, and the way forward opened up for them. It took them to a short hallway with a mirror at the end… and that was it.

"Now what do we do?" Pit asked.

"Look carefully at the mirror's image." Palutena instructed. "You'll notice some inconsistency."

Jewel was the first one to notice the inconsistency as soon as she looked at the mirror. "Aha! I see it! Right there!" she pointed to the spot in the reflection for the others to see, revealing that there was a pathway to their right, and so they went through the wall to discover said pathway.

The next room they went in had two green buttons on the floor, but the mirror in front of them revealed a third button between the two visible buttons, and so the gang pressed all three of them to unlock the door and move on. Next, the gang was faced with multiple gaps in between the pathway, though the mirror showed them that the pathway actually didn't have any gaps in reality. Using the mirror as a guide, the gang walked across the pathway and made it to the door on the other side.

[BGM Pause]

But just then, the moment everyone stepped into the next room… a green barrier suddenly appeared in front of the group, trapping them between it and the door.

"What the?!" Trifle flinched.

Pit, who was the only one not caught by the barrier, looked back at his friends in alarm. "Guys?!"

Zelda reached out a hand towards the barrier, only to receive a small shock from it as she pulled back her hand with a wince. "We're trapped!" she cried. "We can't do anything about this barrier!"

"Well that's certainly unfortunate of you." a familiar voice said as everyone looked over… to see none other than Dark Pit casually leaning against a large blue orb in the center of the room with a smug smirk.

"Pittoo!" Pit exclaimed.

Dark Pit immediately frowned the moment he heard that nickname again. "Seriously, that is the last time I want to hear 'Pittoo'!" he then split his Silver Bow into two blades and got into a battle stance. "Anyways, remember the last battle we fought? We didn't really get to finish it, so we're ending it right here and now! And this time, none of your friends will assist you, hence that barrier!"

"Fine, then! I won't be needing them to take you down!" Pit got into a battle stance as well.

"Be careful, Pit!" Zelda said, as she and the rest had no other choice but watch.

[BGM: Dark Pit's Theme – Kid Icarus Uprising]

The two angels charged at each other, clashing their bow blades. "Arlon, did you call Pittoo here?" Palutena wondered.

"I was wondering the same thing!" Melia threw in.

"I most certainly did." Arlon answered.

"That definitely explains this barrier…" Shulk muttered.

"But he's not usually one to follow orders." Palutena pointed out. "How did you persuade him?"

"It was quite simple, actually." Arlon replied. "Just the mention of young master Pit's presence… was enough to send his twin running here."

"Well, at least Arlon didn't mention us… because that would definitely lead to our clones being here too." Eleven shuddered, as his comrades had the same reaction as well.

"And considering how destructive my clone is… Yeah, it could be a lot worse." Arusu added.

As she watched the battle between the two angels, Palutena couldn't help but sigh, "Pittoo just isn't happy unless he's fighting someone."

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Dark Pit snarked after using his Guardian Orbitars to reflect Pit's arrows, only to get kicked away by his lighter self in response.

"You stay out of this!" Pit snapped.

"Make me!" Dark Pit shot back, equipping the Electroshock Arm and firing shots from it at Pit, but he dodged them and tried to fire off some shots from his Upperdash Arm in return, but the dark angel was too quick on his feet and thus was hard to land a hit on him. And just to rub salt in the wound, Dark Pit managed to land an uppercut on Pit with his Electroshock Arm.

"AGH!" Pit yelled but quickly recovered as he first dodged an Arm swing from Dark Pit before grabbing the dark angel's free arm, and tossing him against the blue orb.

"Urgh!" Dark Pit grunted.

"Pit! Destroy the Lunar Sanctum's Control Center!" Palutena ushered.

"I'm trying, but Pittoo's not making it easy!" Pit replied while he was firing at the Control Centre with the Guardian Orbitars, but just as he said this, Dark Pit recovered and aimed his Dark Pit Staff at Pit, hitting him square in the chest. "YAGH!" Pit yelled.

"Pit!" the group cried.

"Call me Pittoo one more time and I'll actually kill you!" Dark Pit snarled, but then that gave Pit an idea.

"Hmm, if I can piss him off enough to make him blinded by rage… I can make him weaken the Control Center for me!" Pit thought, and after dodging an arrow shot from Dark Pit, he began mockingly, "Oh, you'll actually kill me for this? Looks like you're no different from the Dark Heroes when it comes to kill the original one… PITTOO."

And with that… Dark Pit's anger rose up to the point of making him extremely pissed off as Pit wanted, with his fists clenched and trembling with rage while steam was coming out of his ears, until finally, "You… THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" he roared as he pulled out his Electroshock Arm again and fired a charged shot at Pit, but he backflipped over the Control Centre to make the shot hit it instead, causing it to fire off multiple shots at Dark Pit in retaliation.

Dark Pit tried to dodge all shots, but was knocked away by one of the shots sending off an explosion. Growling, Dark Pit got back up and charged towards Pit with the Silver Bow equipped to slash at him wildly, but Pit avoided all of his blade spam attacks easily due to them being sloppy… and in the midst of that, Dark Pit accidentally impaled the Control Centre with one of his bow blades, leading to the exact same outcome as before and he got knocked away by the explosion. The impaled blade left there on the Control Centre also caused it to emit short-circuit sparks out of it, making Pit's eyes perk up by that.

"Now's my chance!" he thought, quickly shooting at it with the Guardian Orbitars while at the same time using them to repel its shots away from him until it finally exploded, with said explosion also sending Dark Pit to a wall.

[BGM End]

"The Control Center is toast!" Pit proclaimed, and then the barrier trapping his friends disappeared.

"You did it, Pit! We're free!" Zelda beamed, she and the others rushing over to Pit as he smiled in return.

"That was pretty smart of you to make Dark Pit angry and have him attack the Control Center, Pit." Solo complimented. "Good thing one of our comrades didn't go through something similar…" he glanced teasingly at Arusu.

Arusu immediately took notice of that and looked away from Solo with his eyes closed and arms crossed. "Hey, I only didn't go through that because my traveling companions helped me snap out of it before it was too late, got it?" he said.

Solo chuckled. "I know."

"Nnnrgh…" Dark Pit groaned, catching everyone's attention as they turned while glaring at him.

"Now what, fool?" Pit questioned.

Dark Pit slowly pulled himself back to his feet, staggering a bit. "Just wait till next time!" he spat out through gritted teeth before teleporting out.

[Resume "At the Sanctum" BGM]

"Good riddance." Pit said. "Let's move on, guys."

The group nodded in response and they all left the room via an elevator, taking them up and outside of the Sanctum with four walkways in front of them.

"Where are we?" Eight wondered as he burned up a few Nutskis with his palm's fiery shots… and then a meteor nearly struck him. "Whoa!"

"It's a bit daunting, I agree." Palutena said and eventually, more meteors rained down at the gang as they carefully walked across the walkways while avoiding said meteors, until… "Ha…CHOOO!" Palutena suddenly sneezed, seemingly causing an incoming meteor to be redirected towards the gang.

"Augh!" they yelped as they barely avoided the meteor.

"The hell!? Are you trying to get us smooshed?!" Trifle questioned.

"Huh? That wasn't my doing." Palutena replied with honesty.

"Goodness. So sorry." Arlon apologized. "I must have lost myself in the golden melody of her sneeze."

"And that's why you should cover your sneezes." Melia stated.

"I would never! A strong sneeze is the sign of a strong spirit." Palutena proudly said.

The gang then went through the door and found themselves standing on the Sanctum's moon-like outer surface, in which Jewel became incredibly amazed and starstruck (see what I did there?) by these surroundings.

"This is so cooool!" she gushed with gleaming eyes. "It's like the actual surface of the moon!" she then spotted an Exo Tank next to her as she immediately hopped on. "And now, just like in Mario Kart 7's Rainbow Road and Mario Kart 8's Lunar Colony, I get to drive on a moon's surface!" she proceeded to go all out driving the Exo Tank around while shooting down Forces of Nature troops.

"Heh heh, I kind of forgot how much of a Nintendo expert she is just like me." Pit chuckled.

"She's always been like this ever since she was first introduced to video games." Palutena smiled. "But, changing the subject a little… Why was the Lunar Sanctum built anyway?" she pondered.

"That information is highly confidential." Arlon replied.

"That only makes me more curious."

"Curious or not, I took an oath of silence, and I intend to honor it!"

"Now, now, no need to get all bent out of shape."

"After all, your name IS 'Arlon the Serene'." Shulk pointed out.

"I'm well aware of my name!" Arlon protested, before taking a calming breath. "But back to the topic at hand. I cannot tell you the reasons WHY this sanctum was built. But I can say that it runs on my powers. Without me, it's just a husk, an empty shell, an orbiting house of cards."

"Ooh, that sounds fancy." Pit cooed.

"I don't think we're getting the whole story here…" Palutena mused suspiciously.

"You're in no position to demand explanations." Arlon dismissed. "I am beholden only to Mistress Viridi, and you ten are thorns in her side, and, in her words, especially you humans who refuse to be put in their place."

"Like we haven't heard THAT a million times before…" Trifle grumbled in exasperation.

"You've made your allegiances quite clear." Palutena said.

"Then enough talk! Let's get back to fighting!" Pit finished.

After mowing down several Forces of Nature enemies around the area, the gang went through the next door where Jewel hopped out of the Exo Tank as they leapt down a ledge to face off against two Zerts, a Megonta, a Lethinium, and an innocent-looking enemy who would suddenly turn into a grotesque monster called a Clobbler. With all enemies dealt with, the gang used a jump pad to get up a ledge and land on a crescent moon-shaped hot spring, much to Pit's joy. They stood there for a bit so that Pit could heal his injuries before they pressed onwards, falling down into a sand hole and landing back inside the Sanctum, then they went down the stairs and to a door.

In the next room, they were immediately attacked by two Meebas but were taken care of easily, and then they stepped on the U-shaped part of the floor as it suddenly rose up like an elevator, much to their surprise. "So, this is an elevator?" Pit wondered.

"That seems to be the case." Palutena confirmed.

"Huh, I never knew these elevators would come in all shapes and sizes." Solo remarked, as they took another oddly-shaped elevator once the U-shaped one stopped to go up another level and into the next room.

There, they ran down the stairs and were faced with an ambush consisting of a Nutski, a Lethinium, and a Skreetle, who were soon taken down by Eight, Solo and Jewel respectively and then the gang pressed on to the next room, where they stepped onto a rotating platform with three mines before two Clobblers landed on it.

"Don't just shoot wildly, everyone. As you saw before, you do NOT want to get those Clobblers mad. Try luring each one into a mine." Palutena advised.

"Good idea!" Pit said, taking in his goddess' advice and positioning himself accordingly before firing a shot at one Clobbler to provoke it into going into its grotesque form and attack Pit, only to blindly run into a mine and get killed instantly. "Ha! Fooled ya!" Pit grinned.

"Nice!" Zelda exclaimed. "My turn now!" she proceeded to do the same to the other Clobbler.

"My, Pit and his friends are lucky to have such an excellent guide." Arlon remarked. "Though we're on opposing sides, I must commend your work, Palutena."

"Thanks. It's just part of my job." Palutena replied. "Besides, they're the ones doing all the heavy lifting. Which is especially impressive for them being so small!"

"Oh, ha, ha." Arusu deadpanned.

Once the other Clobbler was dealt with, the gang ran out the door and made their way down a path where they were faced with one last ambush featuring a Toxiecap, a Megonta, and a Lurchthorn. The gang defeated them all with ease and walked through the door, taking them to a short hall with a large door at the end.

"Arlon's quarters are directly ahead. Good luck." Palutena said, and with that said, the gang walked through the door.

[BGM End]


They found themselves standing on a golden platform with elaborate designs surrounded by many gem-like lamps on similarly elaborate gold posts, and the ceiling resembled a starry sky. Directly in front of the gang, a spotlight shone down on a tall and lanky elderly-looking butler; Arlon himself.

"Arlon!" Pit exclaimed.

"Welcome. Please make yourselves comfortable." Arlon said in a formal manner and bowed. "It is my great honor to represent Mistress Viridi and the Forces of Nature." as he said that last sentence, he looked up at the gang menacingly while his exposed right eye emitted a small red glow.

[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Everyone quickly rushed towards Arlon to attack him, but then he suddenly disappeared and shrouded the arena in darkness. "What's going on…?! I can't see!" Eleven exclaimed.

"And where did he go?!" Pit asked.

"Focus, everyone." Palutena said. "Pay attention to where Arlon's attacks are coming from. After he attacks, shoot in that direction."

Taking in her advice, the gang looked around while bracing themselves for an attack… until Zelda looked over at the corner of her eye to see a crescent-shaped chakram coming right from behind the gang and about to strike them, but Zelda quickly acted and used Nayru's Love to reflect the chakram right back at Arlon, making him kneel over as the darkness around vanished.

"I say!" Arlon exclaimed.

"Good! Just like that!" Palutena complimented.

With a smirk donning their faces, the gang took this opportunity to strike Arlon with multiple blows while he was down until he teleported away from them as soon as he recovered. He then threw some homing energy orbs at the gang but Pit reflected them all back at Arlon with his Guardian Orbitars, only for Arlon to put up a barrier to block the returning shots. Then, he leapt across the arena while leaving energy mines in his wake before he shot energy darts at the gang, but they quickly avoided both attacks as Trifle, Arusu and Solo proceeded to slash Arlon followed by Melia electrocuting him with Vertical Bolt, and then Eleven whacked him away.

"Mmph…" Arlon grunted. "Very impressive, young masters and mistresses. But it's time to reveal the true extent of my power!"

With that, he darkened the arena again and proceeded to fire lasers at the gang while in the dark as they tried to fight back, but the poor visibility in the dark was way worse than before and a few of them got hit by the lasers. But then, they suddenly heard Arlon chuckling, which proved to easily give off his location in the darkness… and even better, Shulk got a Vision showing Arlon's exact location where he would eventually fire a beam of energy at the gang. Thus, as soon as the Vision ended, Shulk immediately aimed his cannon at Arlon's location and fired, leading to Arlon once again kneel over as the darkness dispersed, and then the gang proceeded to beat the crap out of him until he was defeated.

[BGM End]

"Blast!" Arlon cried.

"Whew! We can finally catch our breaths!" Pit sighed in relief.

We then cut to a zoomed-out view of the Lunar Sanctum, in which both of its halves started to slowly split apart further and fall apart, and by zooming in closer, pieces that probably came from its moon-like surface were falling off. Thankfully, Palutena made sure to activate Pit's Power of Flight and the group's Magic Wings at that time, and so they safely flew out of the crumbling sanctum.

"Lunar Sanctum defused!" Pit proclaimed victoriously.

Just then, something – some sort of green insect-like creature – suddenly burst out of the sanctum. "But what's that…THING breaking free?" Palutena wondered as the creature flew past the gang with incredible speed.

"Was that a… bug?!" Melia cringed, her disgust of bugs kicking in once again.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing." Pit waved it off.

His friends glanced at him with uneasy looks on their faces. "Um...you SURE about that, Pit?" Eight questioned with a hint of concern. "Somehow, that thing gave off a little hint of viciousness to me..."

"I'm actually with Eight there." Palutena threw in, only to change the subject afterwards, "But Viridi's forces are still a threat, so let's keep the heat on them." she then extracted them back to her temple.

To be continued…


One of Viridi's commaders is down, but there's still one more out there! So next up, our heroes are going after the second general of the Forces of Nature: a literal energetic woman! Until then!

Trivia for this chapter:

1. Pit's character impressions are the same ones he does during Fox and Shulk's Palutena's Guidances from Super Smash Bros For Wii U and Ultimate.