Phew... for a filler chapter, I feel like I worked really hard on it! You'll soon see why!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 19: Grudge Match
[BGM: Solo Menu (Viridi) – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"Whoa…" Eleven awed as the gang looked around Viridi's temple, which was exactly what one would expect from someone so infatuated with nature: the floor and walls were as red as Viridi's dress, and foliage and roots of all kinds littered the room. "What happened here?"
"Well, you've all still got to prep for battle." Viridi's voice said as the gang looked over to see her walking in. Now that they were seeing her in person, they could now clearly mark her short stature: she stood at only 4'7'' tall in front of them. "Like it or not, I'm taking over Palutena's duties."
"You're joking, right?" Pit asked.
"No, she isn't." a voice said as the gang turned to see Arlon and Phosphora standing nearby. "Fancy meeting you all again, Masters and Mistresses." Arlon bowed.
"Hello again!" Phosphora greeted with a wave. "Now isn't this just interesting? We were enemies three years ago… but I guess we're allies now."
"We're not really sure how we should feel about this…" Solo trailed off. "I mean… we've spent a lot of time with Palutena before, so it might take us some time to get used with this sudden switched allegiance…"
"No worries. Take all the time you need." Arlon said.
"Okay, anyways…" Viridi interjected. "You humans might be needing these." she lightly tapped her staff on the floor, causing a large door behind her to open up… and much to the group's surprise, their weapons were stored behind that door.
"Hey! That's our weapons!" Arusu exclaimed as they ran over and took them, happily equipping them back. "Oh, how I missed this!" Arusu grinned, looking at his Roto Blade.
"But…how did you even find them?" Melia asked Viridi.
"I just sent in some of my forces to retrieve them from Palutena's Temple before it got wrecked." Viridi replied proudly. "Then I stored them here in my temple's own Arms Altar until you would get them back."
"Wow… That's incredible!" Shulk exclaimed.
"I told you. Anything Palutena can do, I can do better."
"I guess we didn't give you enough credit. You're kind of awesome, Viridi." Eight smiled.
"Ugh… Do any of you have to be such an insufferable suck-up all the time?" Viridi groaned in exasperation while rolling her eyes.
Eight sweatdropped. "So much for trying to be nice…" he thought.
"It won't get you anywhere with me. My only concern is taking down Hades." Viridi then turns around. "Now if you excuse me, I have some personal duties to attend to, so…knock yourselves out or something. I don't really care."
[BGM End]
But the moment she started to walk off… all of a sudden, a razor-sharp blade beam hit her on the back. "AGH!" she yelled as she was knocked on the ground, emitting loud gasps from everyone in the room…except for a certain prince, who was the one who shot her.
Trifle.
[BGM: Irritation – Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
"Heh heh heh heh…" Trifle chuckled sadistically with a darkened look on his face. "Oh, I am SO going to enjoy this!"
"Trifle?!" Jewel asked in shock, until she and the rest of the gang realized what this meant. "Oh, no…"
"Hey, Trifle…" Shulk began. "Now it's not the best time for-"
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Trifle snapped at them, making them flinch… but there was something else they noticed on Trifle that shocked them even more: he had crazy-looking eyes; those screaming of pure hatred. "I've been waiting so long for this moment! Now that I'm finally seeing her face-to-face, I can at last get our promised deal done with!" he then aimed his arm at Viridi on the floor and shot at her again.
This time, Viridi was able to deflect the shot with her staff. "Hey! What the heck is your deal?!" she questioned angrily.
"I'll tell you what my deal is. You believe humans deserve to perish… but how many times do I have to say it to get through that thick skull of yours that NOT ALL OF THEM ARE BAD, YOU HYPOCRITICAL BITCH?!"
"Why, you…!" Viridi growled, standing back up. "And here I was trying to act all nice for once to help you save Palutena… but geez, the moment I hear your yapping, Mistress Nice Viridi is GONE." she then puts her staff away and equipped a palm on her right hand, that being the Viridi Palm weapon. "Fine, if you want a fight so badly, then I'll give you one!"
"Bring it on!"
"Oh, this is going to end badly…" Pit trailed off.
"Trifle…" Zelda thought, shocked to see her cousin starting to get consumed by hatred as she was even on the verge of tears. "Please, don't end up like your father!"
Nobody in the room had any other choice in the matter… but to watch this grudging battle.
[BGM: Boss Fight 2 – Kid Icarus Uprising]
Viridi made her first move by shooting Trifle with palm shots, but he quickly swung his staff around to deflect the shots away. "Do you really think humans must suffer just because they mess with nature?!" Trifle questioned.
"Yes, I do!" Viridi shot back. "You humans ruined Earth's nature… and I plan on correcting it!"
"Getting rid of all of them won't even solve the problem!"
"But it's a START!" Viridi yelled, switching up her weapon to the Viridi Claws before lunging at Trifle and slashing him, who blocked the attack, and then Trifle did an uppercut with his arm to knock her back. He then jumped back and fired a charged shot at her, but she had recovered from the last blow and managed to evade the shot.
"I seriously can't believe you. You're just so overly confident that nature would resolve itself on its own without any humans interfering? That's just wrong!"
"No, what's wrong is that humans use nature as if they own it! It might be even better for me if they haven't even existed AT ALL!"
"What?! You can't be…" Trifle scowled and lunged at her. "You really are reminding me of my father. He started hating the Hylian race just because he thinks they're all the same and would never change! That sounds VERY similar to your case, but with humans instead, don't you think?!"
"Well, if you behaved like a better child in your life, then I guess your father wouldn't even be in that situation. You being a bad son probably caused that to happen!"
Trifle's eyes shot wide… before one of them started twitching. "…You… you did NOT just go there!"
"So what if I did?"
"Alright, THAT'S IT!" Trifle yelled and slashed Viridi repeatedly, but she dodged every attack and then kicked Trifle to a column. "UGH!"
Viridi then changed her weapon back to the palm. "Have some of this!" she fired a charged shot from it at Trifle, who quickly rolled out of the way after recovering and then fired a sword beam at her, but she avoided it as she resummoned her staff right as Trifle ran over and used his arm to punch her right in the stomach, which Viridi retaliated by sweeping her staff on the ground to knock Trifle off his feet before wrapping his legs up in tree bark that she conjured from her staff.
"Grrr…" Trifle growled as he quickly chopped off the tree barks with his sword and rolled away from Viridi's downward staff swing as she equipped the Viridi Claws again and fired shots at Trifle, to which he managed to deflect away a few of them.
Viridi then ran over and kicked him, but he backflipped to avoid the goddess, only to get a charged shot to the face. "If I had known better about your grudge… then I should've killed you during those three years ago!" Viridi barked.
"Oh, NOW you want to kill me so badly when you didn't even bother trying before?!" Trifle retorted. "Some planner you are!"
"I've been busy! And then we had the Aurum to deal with, so I didn't have time!"
"That's no excuse! And, in fact, I've been meaning to say this to you for a long time… You really don't deserve the title of 'Goddess of Nature'."
Viridi's eyes widened. "WHAT?! You didn't just say…" her body was trembling with rage. With the spectators, even Arlon and Phosphora looked shocked.
"Yes, I did. From what Palutena said about you, you're the ruler of the earth and all living beings. Are you forgetting that humans are living beings too?! Yet you wish to exterminate them, which means you're contradicting your OWN TITLE! So I don't see you as a Goddess of Nature… I'm seeing you as the Goddess of GENOCIDE, and I think that's a better goddess title for you!"
Now Viridi was burning with rage. "YOU…!" she snarled. "Alright, I've just HAD IT with you!" she then planted her hands to the ground, summoning two Urgles and she commanded them to attack Trifle as they went to do so, but Trifle easily shot them all to death.
"Are you even trying?" he questioned, only to get hit by a forward charged-dash shot from Viridi's claws.
"You should know better than to piss off a goddess!" Viridi hissed, but Trifle slashed her back. "Argh!" she yelled and slashed at him, only to clash with his blade as they kept on it.
Meanwhile, we cut over to the spectators, who were all on the edge of their seats both metaphorically and literally as they watched the grudging duel in front of them. "Oh, man! This is getting really out of hand! We gotta do something!" Pit exclaimed.
"But what exactly can we do?" Melia asked solemnly. "Trifle's hatred for Viridi seemed to have consumed him…"
The moment she heard those words from Melia, Zelda, who was all shaken and mopey-eyed during the whole fight, suddenly had her eyes shot wide in horror… and then she clenched her fists. "No…" she growled quietly, but loud enough for the other spectators to hear as she rose up from her seat. "…No! There's no way I'm going to let my own cousin end up like his father! This fight needs to stop right now!" she then called out for Trifle, "Trifle, stop this at once! Don't you realize that you're becoming just like your father?!"
"I AM NOT! This is totally different!" Trifle stubbornly shot back. "I'm just trying to knock some sense into Viridi… and if she still refuses to change her mind, then I'm just going to kill her and then I'll go after the rest of her forces too!"
This earned a shocked gasp from all the spectators, since they never expected that Trifle would go that far with his hatred. "You really are going this far as to end my life?!" Viridi scowled. "Fine, if you're going with this… then you leave me with no other choice but to kill you right here and now!"
"I'll be taking you and all of your Forces of Nature down before you can even do that!"
"…That's it, I'm breaking up this fight." Eleven said as he rose his fist with the Mark of Light and it glowed, as thunder noises kicked in and made both Trifle and Viridi stop and look around… before a massive lightning bolt shot down through the ceiling of Viridi's Temple and struck them both.
"AAAAAAAAGH!" Trifle and Viridi screamed and fell on their knees to the ground, severely weakened by the holy lightning.
[BGM End]
"N-nnnngh…" Viridi groaned, electricity surging out of her body as she struggled to remain straight. "Phosphora! Why did you do that?!" she lashed out at her commander.
"Um, that wasn't my doing, Mistress…" Phosphora trailed off. "It was his." she pointed at Eleven, who was walking up to Trifle and Viridi with a hard glare at them.
[BGM: Desolation – Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
"I just can't believe it, you two." Eleven spoke up with a clear hint of disappointment in his tone. "I can't believe that you would go that far as to kill each other over such a petty subject. Plus, we have an even more important priority than this one right now that is saving Palutena, so can't you both just let go of this stupid grudge for once?!"
He first turns to Viridi. "Viridi, like it or not, what Trifle was saying to you is right. You are not saving nature. What you're doing is that you're being selfish and you're hellbent on exterminating humans for what? Messing with nature? Something that is out of their control?!"
"But-!" Viridi began to say.
"No buts." Eleven interrupted her and continued, "Just stop and think about it for a moment… do you really believe that the main purpose of humanity existing in the Earth is to devastate nature only? If that is the case, then why would they even exist here in the first place for the sole purpose of balancing life? Remember, they're living beings too, and every living being living here has a purpose in their lives, and you know that's how the laws of nature works. In conclusion, you really are contradicting your title of Goddess of Nature as you're trying to proudly live up to it without you realizing what you're actually doing."
Viridi opened her mouth to protest, but stopped as if she was doing what Eleven had told her and remained silent.
Eleven then turned to Trifle. "And Trifle, what you're doing is also wrong. Listen, we all know you don't like Viridi from her actions… but why, oh why, would you do something like this?! What the HELL is your problem?!"
"I did this because I'm avenging the humans that were killed by her!" Trifle replied, pointing an accused finger at Viridi.
"So? What's your point of avenging them? So that they would see you as their 'hero'?"
"Exactly! She's too dangerous to be left alive! Didn't you see what she has done?!"
"Yes, I did. But the way you're going about this… you're actually not doing this because you have to; it's because you want to. This is not what being a hero is. And, put it this way… if you do kill Viridi and her entire army, what will you gain? Satisfaction? If you do that, you'll be just as worse as your father was."
"He's right..." Zelda tearfully nodded. "Trifle… I don't want you to go down the same dark path as your father did! I don't want history to repeat itself! But, most importantly…" a tear ran down her cheek. "…I don't want to lose my cousin!"
It was at this very moment that something shone deep in Trifle's mind as soon as he heard Zelda's breaking words: realization. For all this entire time, he wasn't realizing that he was really following the exact same path as his father, going to the point that his anger and hatred had consumed him to the point of wanting to end Viridi and her army's lives. This was the exact equivalent of when his father declared war on the Hylians. By losing this war, he ends up losing his own kingdom later on once Ganon would launch his attack… but most importantly, he also ended up losing…himself. His father was not the same person anymore, forever holding his grudge against the Hylians and he would just not let go of it until his death.
After being traumatized by his changed father for so long, Trifle seriously did not want to end up like he did, especially for the sake of his friends… but even more for his cousin. Seeing her hurt look made him fully realize what he had been doing this entire time, and because he spent most of his childhood not seeing her face ever since his father forbade him to go visit her, then not only would he completely lose himself if he did go down that dark path he almost went had Eleven not interfered… but he would highly likely lose his cousin again since he knew that she would not dare go near him while he was not himself anymore.
Immediately, his face lessened, the crazy look in his eyes was gone, and tears began to form. "Zelda… I-I…" he stuttered, a wave of guilt starting to wash over him as he crestfalled. "…What have I done…" he whispered in between sniffles. "I'm so sorry… I… I wasn't thinking straight due to my anger…"
The rest watched with sympathetic looks. "Wow… Usually I don't care at all about humans, but… I'm actually feeling bad for him…" Phosphora thought.
With a smile, Eleven knelt down to Trifle and gently patted his shoulder. "There, there…" he spoke softly. "At least I helped you snap out of it before it was too late. You've got several friends at your side that'll help guide you to a better future, and not to mention that you've got yourself a very caring girlfriend at your side to help this even more." they both glanced back at Jewel, who nodded sweetly in response.
"Eleven…" Trifle breathed, before a small smile spread across his face. "Thank you. I'll make sure to make the rest of my life worth living."
"I know you will." Eleven blessed.
Then, Zelda ran over to Trifle and gave him a big hug. "Oh, Trifle… I'm so glad you didn't lose yourself…" she whispered as a few more sobs escaped her mouth. "Please, don't you ever do that again!"
Trifle happily hugged her back. "I promise, my dear cousin."
[BGM End]
It was then that Viridi stood back up, her mouth completely shut and neutral, and proceeded to walk away. "Mistress, where are you going?" Arlon asked.
"…To my room." Viridi simply replied. It wasn't clear, but there was a slight hint of grief in her tone. "I need to be alone now… and my beauty rest." she leaves the room.
Everyone stood silent shortly after Viridi left, until Phosphora broke it, "Dang… To think that Mistress Viridi was receiving punishment from a mere human that was enough to break her… Never thought I'd see that one day."
"You know, speaking of beauty rest… You all should take a rest too, so I've given the liberty of drawing you a bath and preparing some guest rooms for you." Arlon addressed the gang. "I figured you might be tired after all you've been through. I also prepared some clothes for you when you're finished. The hot springs are down that hall over there," he pointed at it. "And to get to the guest rooms from there, just take a left turn."
"Got it. Thanks, Arlon." Pit thanked as they all prepared to leave. "I guess we'll see you all tomorrow." he said and then everyone went on their merry way.
The next morning…
Everyone with the exception of Viridi was sitting around a table, enjoying a breakfast of green tea and lettuce sandwiches that Arlon had prepared. Meanwhile, some Nutskis and Bladers were at the ceiling, fixing the broken roof from yesterday that was caused by the holy lightning from Eleven's powers (with him even apologizing for that, but Arlon and Phosphora just laughed it out, saying that it was no big deal).
Soon, Viridi walked into the room with a rather stoic-looking face. "Ah, good morning, Mistress." Arlon politely greeted. "Slept well?"
"Yeah yeah, I did." Viridi bluntly replied. "And I know that I need to make some preparations for Pit and his friends to set off on their upcoming mission, so if you excuse me…" she turned around to leave.
"Aren't you going to have breakfast?"
"…I'm not hungry." she proceeded to walk away… but then she suddenly felt someone grab her arm as she looked back, and saw that it was Trifle who did it. "What do you want?"
"Hey, look…" Trifle began with an ashamed frown. "About yesterday-"
Viridi glared at him. "I know what you're going to say… and I don't want to hear it. Don't expect me to forgive you that easily after everything you did to me."
"I was actually expecting that answer… and I think I deserved it." Trifle sighed. "However, I want to at least request you that you help me and my friends save Palutena and take down Hades together." he then offers a hand to her as a sign of peace.
Scowling quietly, Viridi begrudgingly took his hand and shook it. "…Just don't pester me again." she said coldly and walked off. Trifle sighed sadly at his failed attempt to reconcile with her, until Arlon came up to him and patted his shoulder.
"It has to be expected that she would still be upset with you after everything that happened between you two. But don't worry, I'm sure she'll come around." Arlon assured.
"I hope." Trifle quietly said.
"If you'd like, I can go check in on her. Besides, being all quiet and stoic isn't Mistress Viridi at all."
"I'd like that."
"As you wish, Master Trifle." Arlon said and walked off to where Viridi went.
With Viridi…
[BGM: Contrition – Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
A lot has been going through her mind ever since three years have passed in Angel Land. Before that, she was freely going around with her plans of restoring nature by eradicating humanity, only for the Underworld Army to interrupt her… and soon right after, the Aurum. And just when she thought that she could resume her plans again, this incident with Palutena's army happens, and what's worse… she knows exactly what caused it, and that happened all thanks to Pit and his friends destroying the Lunar Sanctum and letting that particular creature she had imprisoned for a long time escape and roam free again. Now she had every reason to hate them even more, especially after her grudging fight with Trifle yesterday. As a goddess, she could easily find any ways to end their lives right here and now after everything they had done to her that only led to misfortune.
But… she just couldn't.
One of the reasons? With the Underworld and Palutena's army going after the humans now, they had just robbed away all of her glory. There was no way she could combat against two equally powerful armies on her own. She needed help. And the only help she could get… was Pit and his friends. And the other reason… was one that even she couldn't understand why that's the case: during the battle against the Aurum, she felt herself softening more towards Pit and friends even after they had just trashed her commanders and demolishing her last Reset Bomb depot. Perhaps that must be why she felt that she could get help from them despite everything they had done against her during the past three years.
"Excuse me, Mistress?" Arlon's voice came from behind her, snapping her out of her thoughts as she jumped and turned around in startle. "Ah, my apologies for startling you. You were in deep thought, right?"
Viridi could only sigh in response, before she turned away from Arlon and whispered while crestfallen, "Arlon… Am I… just not good enough…?"
"I beg your pardon?" Arlon raised an eyebrow.
"Am I not good enough to hold the title of 'Goddess of Nature' at all?"
"Why, of course you are good enough to hold this title. Why do you ask?"
"Don't you know what's been happening to me for all this time?!" Viridi turned to look at Arlon with a look that just screams frustration. "All that's happened to me…was misfortune over and over! Ever since I was born as the Goddess of Nature… I always thought of myself as someone special. An almighty goddess who will always make sure that all of nature wouldn't grow unbalanced. A goddess whom every living creature can look up to… But then… I…I started th-thinking about the words that human spoke out to me yesterday… about my… indecent qualities… from how much I pride myself… to my s-selfishness… and how I-I'm not saving n-nature… no matter what I do…" her voice was at the point of breaking at this point, and Arlon could clearly notice it. "I'm… I'm not being who I thought must be… My title…of Goddess of Nature… was it all a lie…?" a few sobs escaped her mouth as she was tearing up.
In pity, Arlon walked over and hugged her. "As much as I don't want to admit it, I honestly think that human has a point." he spoke. "Believe me, I also didn't want to think it was true. But after seeing all the things you have done and after my defeat against Master Pit and his friends, it made me realize that nobody is perfect, not even gods like you. They would always see themselves as an ideal version of themselves like in your case, while they constantly deny their more naturally selfish nature. Again, doesn't that sound like your case?"
Viridi had to nod in agreement at that. "Mmhm…"
"But, let me tell you something, Mistress… If you do think that you're not worthy of holding up your title, then why am I, Phosphora and all of your forces still working for and being loyal to you?"
Viridi's eyes perked up. "Huh…?"
"Listen… just because you want to take pride in your title doesn't mean that you should be doing this perfectly without any flaws or mistakes. Everyone, including gods, makes mistakes, and this is part of our nature too, not just for humans. In fact, one thing that you can do to make up for your mistakes… is that you learn from them so that you wouldn't repeat them again. I'm sure that by doing this, you'll grow up to become a better goddess than before."
"A-Arlon…" Viridi breathed, looking up to him.
"I know it's a lot for you to take in, Mistress, so I'll leave you alone to process everything… again." Arlon breaks up from hugging Viridi and proceeds to leave. "Come back to us once you're feeling all better."
[BGM End]
But not too long after Viridi was left alone, she suddenly heard a small squeaky noise. "Hmm?" she wondered as she turned around… to see Munchie. "…What are you looking at, rodent? Can't you see I'm busy trying to reflect on my mistakes?"
Munchie continued to look at her, causing her to let out an annoyed sigh. "Go on, scram! Just because I love animals doesn't mean I'll warm up to you, you filthy…"
Munchie tilted his head.
"…ugly mohawked…"
Munchie still looked at her.
"…rodent… who's…"
Munchie then let out another squeak.
"Who's… who's… who's…"
[BGM: Riki The Legendary Heropon – Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition]
Eventually… she couldn't resist it any longer. "THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER!" she fangirl-screamed and immediately grabbed Munchie and brought him up to her face.
Having heard Viridi's scream, everyone except Eight rushed into the room. "Mistress! What's the matter?!" Phosphora asked with worry… only for her and the rest to be met by the most astonishing sight ever of Viridi nuzzling Munchie.
"Whaaaat the…?" Pit gaped.
"You are the most adorable mouse I've ever met!" Viridi beamed. "Do that little noise again! Please!" Munchie then let out the cutest mouse squeak you could ever imagine. "EEEEEEEEEE!" Viridi squealed.
"…I didn't expect her to warm up to Eight's pet too." Shulk remarked.
And as if of cue, Eight came into the scene. "Hey, has anyone seen Munchie? He must've slipped out of my pocket while I was-…" he caught sight of Viridi with Munchie. "…What in the name of Empyrea…?" he blinked.
"Our reaction exactly…" Arusu said to him.
"Hey, if you all and I warmed up to Munchie, I'm pretty sure Viridi's no different." Jewel smiled.
"And considering she's the goddess of nature, I guess having a thing for animals isn't too far-fetched." Solo added with a shrug.
"I did find him to be quite adorable." Zelda smiled.
"Isn't he?!" Viridi agreed, petting Munchie's head with her finger as he let out a happy squeal, making her giggle cutely.
"Well… I guess I can say that this little rodent helped Mistress Viridi cure off of her grief." Arlon said in amusement, as they all laughed in amusement before they resumed watching Viridi play with Munchie.
[BGM End]
Meanwhile, with Hades…
"Really? Those boneheaded humans are back in this world?" Hades asked.
"Yes indeed, Lord Hades." Dark Solo replied. "And this time, Viridi is helping them."
Hades put a finger under his chin. "Now why exactly would they even receive help from rose bud herself? Ah, whatever." a wide grin formed on his mouth as he called out, "Hey, Dark Eleven!"
Dark Eleven walked up to him. "You called?"
"I want you to do me one little favor. You've heard about how Pitty Pat's goody-goody friends came back after three years, right? And since the Aurum is now long-gone from this world… how about you go over to where Pitty and friends are going next and give them a proper 'welcome back'?"
"Oh, I already like the sound of this…" Dark Eleven chuckled evilly. "You can leave this to me, Lord Hades! With my improved powers, I'll show you how to destroy them, especially my good self… utterly and finally!"
"That's what I wanted to hear!" Hades chuckled, and then Dark Eleven left by warping away.
To be continued…
This was probably the most tear jerking chapter I think I ever wrote. Ever since I started to write this adaptation, I really wanted to dive deep into Trifle and Viridi's characters since I thought it'll be interesting to cover up their transition from how much they hate each other's guts to the moment that would lead up to their character development. And not to mention that I actually gave an actual fight for Viridi, since she was the only major character in Kid Icarus Uprising whom the player never battles during the story (heck, even Pit, the main character, gets a battle), and that was one of the main complaints from the game by some people. But here, I just fulfilled their wishes and got to write a fight for her! Needless to say, I think I really outdid myself with this chapter, wouldn't you say?
Well, now that the sob fest is done... Our gang will finally resume their mission of saving Palutena! But what exactly is Dark Eleven planning? Find out next time!
