Not going to lie, this chapter was actually pretty tough for me to write...which is why I took so long. But finally, it's finished!

Enjoy! ;)


Chapter 15: Mysterious Invaders

"*yawn* I'm…so sleepy…" Pit yawned, walking limply next to Palutena. It was currently five o'clock in the morning, and Pit was thrown out of bed this early by Palutena.

"I know, Pit…" Palutena sighed. "…but I'm afraid we can't wait any longer." she and Pit stopped walking once they reached the door leading to the guests' room, the room where the group stayed in to sleep in the Temple. "Get yourself ready while I'll deal with our friends in there."

"Got it…" Pit replied sleepily and walked away.

Creaking open the door silently, Palutena peeked into the dark room and could faintly see the group inside, all in a deep sleep. She then walked into the room without making any noises and tried to shake them awake, only that they wouldn't wake up no matter how hard she tried; they were down like rocks.

"They're such heavy sleepers, aren't they?" Palutena thought, and then sighed. She didn't really want to do what she thought about since she didn't want to startle them, but she had no other choice. "I'm sorry, everybody…"

She rose her staff as its orb glowed a bright blue, making the entire group's bodies glow with the same blue aura and they suddenly levitated up and away from their beds. With careful handling, Palutena guided the floating group out of the guests' room and led them all the way to her room, where she equipped them with their weapons and opened the gates right as Pit walked in.

"There you are. We can depart now." Palutena said.

Pit only did a tired nod and groggily went over to the gates… only to free fall out of it. Acting quickly, Palutena sent the levitating group out of the gates by flinging them away and activated the Power of Flight and the Magic Wings, keeping them all aloft.

"Mmm… I feel like I'm flying…" Arusu mumbled in his sleep before yawning and stretching… and as soon as he opened his eyes, he was instantly met with the scenery from outside. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

As you all might expect, his scream was loud enough to snap everyone else awake.

"WHO WHAT WHERE WHY?!" Eight yelled.

"Augh! Why are we outside?!" Eleven questioned.

Melia already knew who was behind this. "It was you, right, Palutena?" she said to the sky with a deadpan look.

"Uh, yes." Palutena replied nervously. "Sorry to drag you all out so early, but we've got an emergency. We have a BIG problem. Bigger than all of us gods." she began directing the gang to the source of the problem.

"Oh please, what could be possibly bigger than…the…" Trifle trailed off the moment he and the others saw the problem, in which they were met with the most frightening and astonishing sight ever seen at the distance: a passel of thousands of giant floating islands. "Wh…wh…" Trifle gaped, before finally yelling out loud, "WHAT IS THAT?!"

"Look!" Shulk pointed down, as everyone else followed to see blue beams of light being fired out from the islands, seemingly ripping apart some of the earth's surface and abducting it up. "It's…it's ransacking the earth!" Shulk exclaimed. Unfortunately, the gang wouldn't have much time to think about what's happening as Palutena soon called out:

"Enemies incoming!" and right on cue, a massive wave of triangular-shaped enemies known as Tribytes flew out of the islands to start attacking the gang with lasers, forcing them to dodge.

"They're firing on us!" Zelda cried as they attempted to get rid of the Tribytes.

"I'm not even sure what THEY are!" Palutena exclaimed as the gang managed to take out the Tribytes, but then next a trio of Blits appeared, and so the gang proceeded to destroy these as well. "They're organized, but who's giving the orders?"

"Maybe they're a new unit of the Forces of Nature?" Pit guessed.

"Come on now. Do they look 'natural' to you?" came Viridi's reply.

"Vi-"

"Morning, do-gooders!" Hades interjected, cutting off Trifle.

"Hades is here too? …Oh great, don't tell me you two are behind this!" Arusu claimed.

"Sadly, no, though I do applaud any and all violence directed at you all."

"Plus, you should know that I'd never work with Hades." Viridi stated. "In fact, I was about to destroy him when THEY suddenly appeared." at this point, a new type of enemy appeared to attack the gang by launching themselves up at them from below; those enemies being Quoils.

"No, they saved HER at the last minute."

"So none of you have any idea what they are?" Solo asked.

"I'm sure know-it-all Palutena is just dying to illuminate us."

"Unfortunately, I don't know any more than you do." Palutena replied.

"Well, you did say that you weren't sure what they are earlier." Jewel recalled as they all began to fly closer to the islands.

[BGM: Mysterious Invaders – Kid Icarus Uprising]

"Correct, so I can only tell you that they're not of this world."

Pit's eyes widened. "You mean they're…invaders from space?!"

"They're not just invading. This swarm is harvesting whole sections of the earth!" Viridi exclaimed. "They're like bees taking pollen back to whatever hive they call home."

"Not to quibble over details, but I think locusts are a more apt analogy." Hades spoke up. "But whatever they are, they must be stopped. Earth is MY flower to plunder, not theirs!"

"Do I have to do everything around here? Forces of Nature, drop the hammer!" at Viridi's command, a swarm of Nutskis appeared next to the gang and began shooting the invaders.

"I guess we Underworlders will get in the mix, too. Shoot anything that moves!" Hades commanded, and at that moment, a swarm of Monoeyes, Miks and Gyrazers came in and begrudgingly assisted the Forces of Nature troops in fighting off the invaders. The gang, meanwhile, stood back and watched the whole spectacle that shouldn't even be possible to happen, but it was right before their very eyes.

"It's kind of… jarring to see the Underworld Army and the Forces of Nature working together." Eight commented, basically summing up everyone's reaction to that.

"Not to mention us having to fight alongside them." Melia added.

"Even so, they still can't get along." Pit grumbled, taking down a UFO-like enemy known as a Dohz.

"Just do what you can, and try to stay out of the thick of things." Palutena advised.

With that, the gang flew into the fray to aid the two factions in battling the invaders, taking out new enemies such as Jyoks, Claxises and Plixos. "I've never seen anything like this!" Pit exclaimed.

"Tell us about it!" Trifle threw in.

"These things are tough." Viridi said.

"But what are they?" Palutena wondered as the gang started approaching one of the islands, and just then…

"HAHAHAHAHA!" a hearty and triumphant laugher suddenly came.

"Huh?!" Pit wondered as he and the others looked around for the source of the laugh, before its owner arrived into the scene while surrounded in flames. By taking a closer look inside the flames, the gang could see a red-skinned muscular man with flaming hair.

"Whoa! Where'd he come from?!" Eleven wondered.

"Villains are no match for Pyrrhon!" the man, Pyrrhon, boasted triumphantly.

"Pyrrhon? The sun god Pyrrhon?" Palutena asked.

"The one and only!"

"Wait, isn't the sun god named Helio-… You know what, I'm not even going to bother correcting anymore." Jewel thought.

"This wacko's the sun god?" Pit asked incredulously.

"Well, that's what he calls himself anyway." Viridi replied.

"Ah! So you're all together, including these humans?! Good! Pyrrhon loves a party!" Pyrrhon exclaimed.

"…Ugh, another one who speaks in the third person…" Arusu groaned while his comrades sported deadpan looks, since they've already met someone else who does that (that one being Morton Koopa Jr, in case you didn't remember).

"Sheesh, that's the one thing I despise besides humans!" Viridi chimed in, seeming to agree with Arusu.

"Listen, do you know anything about these enemies?" Palutena asked.

"Of course!" Pyrrhon replied almost immediately. "They're the Aurum, and THIS passel of floating islands is just one of their bases."

"Just ONE of their bases?! How much more hell DO they plan to raise?" Hades questioned.

"Let me drop a little knowledge on you."

"Oh, goody." Viridi said with obvious sarcasm.

"It's all in the Book of Divine Prophecy, chapter 84, section 3. 'Beckoned by destruction and corruption, the Aurum are born from and return to nothing. They travel across the galaxy to swallow up the heavens, land, and seas.'"

Everyone blinked. "That's…something." was all Shulk could say.

"Wait a second… I don't remember that passage." Viridi remarked with skepticism.

"I'll break it down for you, godlings. The Aurum are gonna eat the entire earth!" Pyrrhon said. "But stow your fear. Pyrrhon has a delivery, and the return address is 'justice'." he then flew off into a fray of Aurum troops to wipe them out with fiery blasts, while the gang ran along the island's surface and shooting at some Kolmas; those being wheel-shaped enemies that rolled across the ground.

"We can trust this guy, right?" Pit cautiously asked his goddess.

"Um…" Palutena replied, trying to think of a good answer.

"You know things are dire if THAT'S the guy we're listening to!" Viridi said.

"Fear the wrath of my pyroblasters, space weirdos!" Pyrrhon declared as he began tearing through the Aurum forces… and he was clearly enjoying himself from the sound of it. "HAHAHAHAHA! Kablooey! Kablammy!"

The gang sweatdropped. "…He's having way too much fun with this, isn't he?" Solo remarked.

Even Palutena had a similar reaction. "Yes…let's let Pyrrhon take care of this." then, she directed them into a crevice in the island. "We'll take the other side of the islands!"

"Good plan!" Jewel smirked as they flew into the crevice, shooting at several Quoils that inhabited it. After a long flight down, the gang finally emerged out from the other side of the crevice and found themselves right next to the island's tractor beam that was harvesting some of the earth's surface.

"This is out of control!" Zelda exclaimed.

"The Aurum are blowing up the earth and then taking the pieces for themselves!" Viridi scowled.

"If they're like bees, what are they doing with it all? Making honey?" Pit guessed.

The group glanced at Pit unamused. "We… doubt it." Melia deadpanned.

"Viridi, it was you and Hades who lured the Aurum to our world." Palutena accused.

"WHAT?!" Viridi snapped. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"Well, Pyrrhon said they're 'beckoned by destruction and corruption'. They were likely drawn here by the war between the Underworld and nature."

"Convenient how you've forgotten YOUR little tiff with the Underworld, and not to mention dragging those humans along!"

"Convenient how YOU'VE forgotten a massive Reset Bomb visible from space!" Trifle shot back.

"You! Zip it! The Aurum are the aggressors here! We're the victims!"

"You're absolutely right. Like it or not, we're on the same side now." Palutena said as the gang was flying towards a bigger island, with a tall tower of sorts in the very middle. "We're heading to the center of the Aurum islands. That tower is the key to stopping all this devastation. Prepare for land battle."

"OK!" the gang replied in unison and they went to the landing spot.

[BGM End]


[BGM: Aurum Island – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Once the gang landed, they first took a moment to look around and observe their surroundings: everything around this island looked like a patchwork of materials from various places put together in a structured, orderly manner to form a futuristic city of sorts. Despite that, this place was completely devoid of any organic life… well, that is, until Pit and his friends landed here.

"Coooool!" Jewel gushed. "I dig this futuristic look!"

"Is this…the future?" Pit wondered.

"The Aurum must have stolen materials from all over to build this place." Viridi concluded.

"I wonder how many other planets were harvested to make it." Palutena solemnly wondered.

"For being patched together, everything seems pretty structured." Eleven observed.

"If the Aurum are like bees, that's no surprise. Bees are orderly colonies. Likewise, the Aurum seem to act as one. And I doubt these drones have any sense of free will."

"There's all this activity here, but no actual life. It's pretty creepy!" Eight said.

"At this point, I'd expect a boss or something." Pit said. "And he'd be like, 'Muah ha ha! I've been waiting for you, Pit!'"

"…That line sure reminded me of Andross's from Star Fox 64…" Jewel thought with her eyes perked up. "Even the way Pit said it sounded similar…"

"Aww, poor Pit. Are you feeling lonely?" Viridi teased… while completely missing the point that Pit already has company. "Because I can call in one of my commanders to keep you company!"

"Heh heh… That won't be really necessary. I already have my friends here, so I'm fine!" Pit replied.

With the conversation finally out of the way, the gang walked forward and were confronted by Tribytes and a Jyok as these were soon destroyed, but then a strange portal-like object, which was a portion of the floor that was risen up, proceeded to summon more Jyoks. The gang quickly took them out before destroying the portal, causing it to sink back into the floor and open up a new passage for them. Going forward, the next enemies they encountered were a Kolma, a Plixo, and a Xoneme, plus another portal summoning more Jyoks. Thankfully, the gang destroyed them all, including the portal, and another path opened up for them.

"Taking out targets like that is the key to moving past certain obstacles." Palutena said.

"…Or we could just go 'woo hoo' and fly over them entirely." Pit replied.

"You know I can't enable the power of flight and the Magic Wings right after you've all used them."

"I know… But it sure would be nice…"

"Sheesh, talk about passive aggressive!" Viridi scoffed.

The gang then proceeded to the door, taking them to the interior of the island. Going down a corridor, they first took aim at some more Aurum troops, including a new one called a Sio that attempted to fire a black hole shot at them, but was destroyed before it could do that and the gang moved on. But just as they neared the exit, they were met by a new type of Aurum enemy that strangely looked like it was waving at them.

"Huh. Are those enemies…waving at us?" Pit wondered.

"They're not saying hello, if that's what you're asking." Viridi replied.

"Those Aurum enemies are known as Zaurums." Palutena explained. "Their attacks can confuse you, so don't stop to say hi."

"Hold on… You said before that you didn't know what the Aurum troops are, yet you know their names?" Solo raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you see… I actually don't think that's their real name. So I'm taking some…'creative liberties' to identify them!" Palutena said proudly.

"Right…" Solo sweatdropped as the gang then got rid of the Zaurums while they managed to confuse Pit and Trifle, but Eleven casted the Defuddle spell to cure them off of their confusion.

"Phew… Good thing my grandad taught me this spell." Eleven thought with a smile and they all walked over to the exit, where they ended up in a chamber with a larger portal in the middle summoning Aurum troops as the gang proceeded to deal with them before going for the portal.

"Can I say something that's been bothering me?" Melia spoke up, aiming at two Tribytes with her orbitars.

"What is it?" Shulk asked as he opened fire at another Zaurum.

"It's that Pyrrhon guy. He seemed a little off to me."

"How come?" Trifle asked.

"First off, he came from absolutely out of nowhere, and second, he was the only one who knew about the Aurum. It's like as if everything he said about them felt…scripted."

"Scripted? You mean as in he'd come in, somehow knowing about the Aurum and basically destroying some of them?" Eight guessed.

"Exactly. I mean, he just conveniently shows up and saves us from the bombardment while at the same time telling us about the Aurum. Doesn't that seem suspicious to you?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it… he did seem a bit suspicious." Solo said, with a finger under his chin.

"And not to mention that Viridi said earlier that she didn't remember the passage that Pyrrhon recited about the Aurum, so that possibly means it isn't true to begin with." Zelda added. "But what choice do we have? He's suspicious, but again, he's the only one who knows about the Aurum, so we have to rely on him for now on."

"Zelda's right. Still, we should keep an eye on him." Jewel stated.

"Eh, I dunno about that. I think you're all just being paranoid." Pit said.

Everyone sweatdropped disapprovingly in response. "Oooof course he would say that…" Trifle thought. "Pit is being naïve as always…"

They soon arrived at a large room, where they first dealt with another portal summoning Tribytes before eventually spotting a treasure chest in the distance as they ran for it… only for the floor around it to start moving down, catching them all by surprise:

"Huh?!" and then… the chest revealed itself to be a Mimicutie.

"An elevator into a torture chamber. Convenient!" Viridi grinned amusedly.

"Hades, did you put that treasure box there?" Palutena asked accusingly.

"ME? I would NEVER!" came Hades's indignant reply. Either way, the gang took down the Mimicutie as the elevator rose up back again to the upper floor, and then Pit looked over to his left to see a hot spring.

"Ooh hoo hoo! A hot spring!" he beamed and ran to it… ooonly for the hot spring to rise out of his reach. "Where's it going?! Get back here, hot spring!"

"Don't worry. There are stairs to your right that will take you to it." Palutena said.

"I love you, hot spring!" Pit shouted as he and the others ran up the stairs and into the hot spring. "Ahhh. I'm feelin' the healin'."

"I hope for your sake that's a hot spring and not some other kind of…puddle." Viridi said, causing the gang to pale up and quickly get out of it.

"Yuck! That's just wrong!" Arusu exclaimed as they heard Viridi giggling.

Trifle let out an annoyed growl. "Was this payback for us defeating your commanders?"

"Maaaaybe…" Viridi teased with an innocent smile, even though they couldn't see it.

"Oh, you ungrateful little…!" Trifle's body trembled in rage along with clenched fists, until Zelda quickly came up to him and gently patted his shoulder.

"Easy, Trifle…" she said. "Are you sure that you're not blowing this out of proportion?"

"I have my reasons." Trifle simply replied, still having a sour look on his face.

Zelda sighed. "Just try to ignore her."

Trifle huffed silently in response, but eventually calmed down and then everyone ran through the next door. On the other side were two Exo Tanks. "Hey, look! Exo Tanks!" Pit exclaimed as he and Jewel hopped on them.

"Hey, look! Who cares?" Hades replied.

"It doesn't make sense." Viridi said.

"I certainly didn't put them here." Palutena mused.

"That wasn't your doing, Lady Palutena?" Pit questioned. "Then who did it?"

Jewel shrugged. "Well, since they're here, we might as well use them!" she grinned as the two proceeded to mow down the Aurum troops around the area that were unfortunate enough to be in their way, and after they destroyed another portal to open up the way ahead, everyone kept going until they came upon a small ramp up ahead.

"There's a jump up ahead." Palutena pointed.

"You're gon-na fa-all~! You're gon-na fa-all~!" Viridi taunted as Pit and Jewel ignored her and simply drove over the ramp, landing on the platform beyond it before driving off.

"No, we di-dn't~! No, we di-dn't~!" Pit taunted back with a raspberry as the others who were taking out more Aurum troops soon caught up to him and Jewel, and then they all went through the door together. The other side held a winding path that looked very much like a racetrack, and so Pit and Jewel drove their way down to find a treasure box awaiting them.

"There's another treasure box." Palutena pointed out the obvious, as Viridi even proceeds to lampshade it:

"All hail the goddess of obvious."

Pit and Jewel decided to hop off their Exo Tanks before going for the chest… buuuut it was another Mimicutie in disguise. "Eeep!" Jewel shrieked.

"No no no no no no noo!" Pit whined.

"What elegance! What grace! What disturbing brutality!" Hades applauded.

"Ugh, you are such a creep!" Jewel retorted in disgust.

"No no no no no no no no!" Pit whined louder as he opened fire like crazy on the Mimicutie, wanting to get that disturbing monster out of his face as soon as possible as Jewel immediately helped him out. By the time the rest of the gang once again caught up with Pit and Jewel, the Mimicutie was defeated and thus they all forged ahead to the next door, first firing at the barrier in front of them to make it recede to the ground before moving along, taking an elevator up.

"I placed a grind rail up ahead for you all." Palutena said.

"Thank you very much!" Pit replied.

"Don't thank me yet. It didn't turn out exactly as I'd hoped."

"What do you mean?" Eleven asked.

"It got a little…weird."

"Not a problem! I eat 'weird' for breakfast!" Pit exclaimed as they got out of the elevator once it stopped, and immediately hopped on the grind rail. It seemed perfectly fine in the beginning… but as they moved along, they found out that it looked distorted and bent up ahead. "But it IS kind of crooked." Pit remarked as he shot at a trio of Tribytes.

"Something seems to have distorted it."

"The nerve of those Aurum! How dare they mess with your godly powers?" Viridi sarcastically asked.

"Sorry about that, everyone."

"Oh, it's fine. At least it's better than it being disabled." Shulk replied as they hopped on the next grind rail while dealing with some Quoils and landed on a platform, where they were met with another type of Aurum enemy that looked stationary as they attacked it… only for it to come to life and fire back at them.

"Your attacks are making that Baglo counterattack." Palutena told them.

"Couldn't you have mentioned that earlier?!" Arusu questioned as they managed to defeat the Baglo and hop on the third grind rail, opening fire at two Kolmas and two Blits along the ride until they made it to the next platform.

"This is the last of the grind rails." Palutena let them know.

"Watch US stick the landing!" Pit pipped up and they all hopped on the last grind rail, riding it all the way towards a small tower. There, they ran through the door and took an elevator down.

"There's a path down through that tower." Palutena informed, as the gang proceeded to head down that path.

"So…we should just keep going down this way?" Eight asked.

"I'm picking up high energy readings from the base of the tower. You can head there… I think."

"What do mean, you think?" Melia wondered.

"Aww, sounds like someone's losing her nerve!" Hades teased. "I guess I'd better step in! Get in here, boys! It's time for some Underworld Army action!" at that moment, a group of Monoeyes came in and began to descend into the tower… buuuut they didn't get far as laser turrets suddenly appeared from below and eradicated them all with laser shots. "Well, that didn't go very well."

"I think we should just leave this to Pit and his friends." Viridi said.

"Oh, sure. Do you want us to pick up your dry cleaning too?" Pit muttered.

"Now, now, Pit. Viridi has faith in you all, and so do I. I know you can handle it!" Palutena encouraged.

"Aw, how very nice of you, Palutena!" Zelda smiled.

"We'll do our best! But only for you." Pit added warmly.

"Pit certainly is devoted to you, Palutena. And I guess the same applies to his human friends." Viridi noted.

"Only because she squeezes his head wreath when he doesn't follow orders." Hades threw in.

"You mean like…THIS?!" Palutena asked teasingly, leading Pit to freak out and instinctively place his hands on his head.

"No no no no no! You'll squeeze my brains out!" he panicked… only to be met by laugher from everyone else, causing him to blush in embarrassment. "…Why do I always fall for that?" he sighed.

"Man, you should've seen the look on your face!" Trifle snickered. "It was so priceless!"

"Ha ha ha ha!" Viridi laughed. "Nicely done."

"Thank you." Palutena replied.

"Who knew pretty Palutena possessed a sense of humor?" Hades grinned amusedly.

"Hmph. Very funny." Pit grumbled as he and the group resumed moving downwards until they reached a circular platform.

"The center of that platform is an elevator down." Palutena said, but as they were about to step on it, a Rezda and another Baglo appeared in order to stop them. Unfortunately, they were easily defeated by the gang, allowing them to step on the elevator and ride it down.

[BGM End]


The elevator took the gang into a large and futuristic room, which was housing a strange machine of sorts in the very middle. This machine was tall and cylindrical-shaped, with large rectangular yellow shields rotating around its red core, presumably for protection, and also surrounding the machine were small laser turrets.

"So that's what we need to destroy?" Eight asked.

"Only one way to find out?" Hades asked.

"You bet!" Pit exclaimed as they all stood ready.

[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]

Immediately, everyone proceeded to shoot the Aurum Core with charged shots, only for all of them to bounce off one of the rotating shields. "Augh. That shield is so annoying!" Shulk groaned.

"There are gaps in it that expose the core. Keep circling around the shield, and shoot the openings." Palutena instructed. "You might want to take care of those other guns too."

"Then we should split up into two groups!" Trifle spoke up. "One will handle the guns, and the other will focus on the core!"

"Got it!" Zelda nodded as she, Pit, Trifle, Solo and Eight went for the core while the rest went to deal with the laser turrets.

"Remember to keep moving!" Pit hollered, circling around the Aurum Core until he found an opening and fired an arrow at it, hitting it at point-blank range as Zelda and Solo did the same.

"Your boy Pit gets an A for effort, including those humans." Hades said with a small hint of praise.

"I don't know what I'd do without them." Palutena smiled.

"Aw, that's really nice of you, Lady Palutena!" Pit chirped. "You're the reason I go on fighting every day."

"It seems we have a little mutual-admiration society here." Viridi stated.

"Isn't that sweet." Hades replied. "And by 'sweet', I mean DISGUSTING!"

"I wouldn't expect you two to know anything about loyalty or devotion." Palutena criticized.

"I know sappiness when I see it." Viridi replied.

"Hear hear!" Hades chimed in.

"That's enough from the cheap seats." Palutena said.

"Uhhhm… So anyway... Where were we?" Pit shook it off and continued firing on the Aurum Core along with the others, until the entire room suddenly went red and an alarm blared throughout:

"DANGER! DANGER! SEVERE DAMAGE TO CORE! INITIATING LAST RESORT PROTOCOL!"

As of cue, even more laser turrets showed up in the room and began firing wildly at everyone, but Shulk quickly used Monado Shield to block everyone from the shots before he and the rest of the laser turrets group proceeded to go to town on them while the core group resumed firing on the Aurum Core.

"Come ooooon…!" Trifle growled. "It should've exploded by now!"

"Maybe just a few more shots!" Pit replied as they just kept on going… and just when they thought they had the upper hand…

*SMACK!*

*record scratch*

All of a sudden, some sort of ball of psychokinetic energy came from out of nowhere and slammed into the Aurum Core effortlessly, as everyone saw it and the moment it hit the core, it exploded.

"Uh, pulverized…?" Pit blinked, as did the rest of the group with him before they all looked over at the laser turrets group.

"That wasn't our doing…" Eleven trailed off. "Where did that come from?"

"Oh, let's just say… from one of my top commanders. But let's see what happens!" Hades exclaimed, as the gang was completely oblivious of the elevator behind them going up. And who was standing on it? The Dark Heroes.

"Huh, that was one hell of an aim." Dark Solo remarked.

"Hmhm, exactly." Dark Eleven snickered evilly, as he was the one who delivered the blow. "And that's just a small demonstration to my good self about how my powers evolved until I can find a perfect opportunity for a rematch!"

"Then how come you didn't do that right now?" Dark Arusu questioned. "We were literally right behind them, for Hades's sake!"

Dark Eight sighed with a hint of annoyance. "Because we still have those darned Aurum freaks to deal with, you know." he reminded.

"And by Lord Hades's orders, we're not allowed to confront them until these invaders are taken care of." Dark Solo added. "Not to mention that we're technically forming a temporary alliance with them and the Forces of Nature to begin with."

"Ugh, fine…" Dark Arusu muttered.

Dark Eleven then made a portal. "We better head out now, comrades. This place might explode soon." they immediately walked into the portal… just in time as a spectacular explosion kicked in and the islands began to fall out of the sky.

Thankfully, the gang managed to escape safely, with the group being given their Magic Wings back while Pit was being held under Pyrrhon's right arm.

"You alright there, citizens?" Pyrrhon asked the gang.

"A-OK!" Pit replied while the others nodded.

"Thanks for your help, Pyrrhon." Palutena thanked. "Everyone, let's regroup." columns of light shone down on the gang, whisking them away.

"Whoop!" Pyrrhon exclaimed after Pit was whisked out of his grasp, and then he looked up at the sky. "Pyrrhon senses danger." the camera then moves over to focus behind Pyrrhon… revealing that he was looking over at a massive fleet of Aurum ships. "And now… Pyrrhon sees it." he then took off.

To be continued…


Those Aurum guys might be a giant space flea from nowhere, but golly do they have such a boppin' music track for the grounded mission part! Just like with "Lightning Battle" in the previous chapter, you definitely might want to take a listen to the "Aurum Island" track too! And we also have the introduction of the 'self-proclaimed' sun god, Pyrrhon! But... is he really that suspicious as our group thinks? Hmmm...

The Aurum Islands are taken care of, but there's still more things to take down from the Aurum! So next up it's their fleet!