Phew... another overly long chapter! But there's a very neat surprise coming up near the end!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 22: The Chaos Vortex
[BGM: Growing Sorrow – Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity]
"*sniff* Zelda…" Trifle sobbed, hugging onto Zelda's statue and crying on it.
Immediately after they all returned to Viridi's Temple, the first thing Trifle did was that said above. He had already seen many bad stuff happen to his cousin ever since before and after their very long separation, with the last thing he saw being her bleeding palm, which already brought him back an awful childhood memory about the first time this happened to her. After recalling that, he hoped that something even worse would never happen to her afterwards.
Oh, how he wished he hadn't jinxed it.
And now here he was, clutching onto his now petrified cousin, which could possibly be a fate worse than death but since she had her soul taken, becoming a stone statue was the only way to maintain the person somewhat alive… but the person would still not be able to do anything or move, not unlike becoming a vegetable.
Meanwhile, all of Trifle's friends watched the scene before them with sympathetic looks, feeling awfully bad for him more than ever before. Even Phosphora and Arlon reacted similarly, and although Viridi and Dark Pit didn't show it, deep down, they were also feeling bad for Trifle. Eventually, after it felt like hours, Viridi slowly walked over to Trifle and patted his shoulder.
"Hey, listen…" she silently began. "I know that I'm not the best person who should be talking to you considering our rough relationship, but if you just stand here moping for you cousin, you won't be getting her back. And besides, Dark Pit here has opened the way to the Chaos Vortex, so it's not like everything is lost."
"I know, b-but still…" Trifle sniffled. "I-It's hard for me to not m-mourn about this…"
"He's right…" Palutena said, as everyone turned to see her lying on a couch while holding an ice pack over her head. "He and Zelda haven't seen each other for 13 long years after Trifle's father forbade him to see his cousin again. Those two were really close together, so imagine how they felt for not being able to see each other what they thought it would be ever again… and then it suddenly leads to this happening right now?"
"Oh…" Arlon whispered. "Now that makes more sense."
"But, there's something I didn't get…" Phosphora pondered. "From what I heard, only gods turn to stone when they don't possess a soul. So why did Zelda turn into stone if she's a human?"
"Well, here's the thing…" Jewel began. "Zelda is not entirely human actually, sort of like the case of Melia, two of my Bodyguards, Solo and Eight, and mine with being hybrids. She happens to be part-goddess; the mortal reincarnation of the legendary but long forgotten goddess, Hylia."
Viridi, Arlon, Phosphora and Dark Pit's eyes widened. "Wait, she used to be an actual goddess?!" Viridi asked. "Why would she give up her divinity like that?!"
"Because her land was being attacked by the evil Demon King, Demise… who just happens to be Ganondorf's progenitor. So in order to destroy him for good, Hylia attempted to use the power of the Triforce. But there was a catch: the Triforce could not be wielded by a god due to being a relic created by the gods themselves, and so Hylia had no choice but to abandon her divinity and transfer her soul to the body of a mortal so that she could one day wield the Triforce. And that mortal ended up becoming the first generation of Zelda."
"A noble sacrifice just to save her own land…" Arlon mused. "And if this Demise could be comparable to Hades, I can see why she made this decision."
"I never knew gods could reincarnate, honestly." Phosphora said.
"I guess it might be because the subject of reincarnation is quite unheard of here in Angel Land." Palutena guessed. "I don't think there ever existed a god that went through reincarnation in this world."
"Yeah, well anyways… Zelda might be an ordinary mortal, but she has Hylia's blood flowing through her veins, thus making her a half-goddess." Jewel said. "This has been passed on to every generation of Princess Zelda that existed in Hyrule throughout the years, due to their connection to the first Zelda who used to be Hylia."
"That's fascinating… It's almost like the Erdrick bloodline that I and Eleven are part of!" Arusu said.
"I was just about to say that!" Eleven threw in.
"And due to being part-goddess, that explains why Zelda turned into stone once her soul was taken away." Melia concluded.
"Exactly." Jewel nodded. "And it's no wonder why the Chaos Kin took an immediate interest in Zelda's soul; it must have sensed Hylia's essence within the soul."
"Very true…"
[BGM End]
"Anyways, enough with this little history lesson." Dark Pit interfered. "We've got to save Zelda's soul!"
It was then that Trifle wiped his tears away, clenched his fists and put on a determined expression. "You're right." he said firmly. "That Chaos Kin is going to pay for what he did… and I for sure am going to give it a lesson!" he spoke through gritted teeth, and turned to face the others. "We'll be heading out right now!"
"You got it, Trifle!" Pit smirked.
"Yeah!" the rest of the group nodded.
"I wish I could help you, everyone, but I'm afraid I need to rest right now." Palutena said. "Viridi, you don't mind lending one more final help to Pit and his friends until I get better, right?" she asked.
"Well, sure." Viridi replied, but then they all heard the sound of Dark Pit's wings glowing as they turned to him. "Where are you going?" Viridi asked.
"To the Chaos Vortex. Where else?" Dark Pit questioned and flew out of Viridi's Temple.
"We better be off too." Solo said.
"Right!" Trifle nodded, and as everyone took off, Trifle stopped for a moment to glance back at the petrified Zelda. "Zelda, wait for me here. I'll bring your soul back… and I'm going to give the Chaos Kin a piece of my mind!" he thought before following the rest to the Arms Altar to get their weapons.
Palutena, Arlon and Phosphora watched them all leave. "Good luck, everyone…" Palutena blessed.
Soon enough…
"Hold on, Zelda! I'm coming for you!" Trifle declared after he and the gang flew out the gates, heading directly towards the portal to the Chaos Vortex.
"Dark Pit has gone up ahead." Viridi said, and with that, the gang flew into the portal and into the Chaos Vortex.
[BGM: Chaos Vortex – Kid Icarus Uprising]
As its name pretty much tells you about it, the Chaos Vortex is a place of total chaos: within this bizarre dimension, the fabric of reality is in constant flux and odd happenings and transformations are quite common, such as rocks and other deformed terrain and cities floating about in this orange, seemingly endless abyss… and not to mention that freaky eye-shaped portals would appear at random intervals and monsters from all different factions would fly about.
"This is total chaos!" Shulk exclaimed, horrified by the scenery.
"Hence the name 'Chaos Vortex'." Viridi stated.
"Man, and I thought Pandora's Labyrinth was twisted!" Arusu exclaimed.
Unsure where to go, the gang flew through some of the floating debris, taking out a few Minos and Monoeyes as they did… aaaaaand then a massive wall of spooky eyes suddenly popped up in front of them.
"AAAAAAH!" everyone, including Viridi, screamed in horror at the sight. Thankfully, the eyes only stayed in for a few seconds before eventually disappearing.
"Ahem." Viridi cleaned her throat. "Yes. Well. I wasn't expecting that."
"Well, that just scared the hell out of me." Trifle remarked while shuddering a bit as they flew farther, but were soon stopped by a large shadowy hand.
"Wah!" Pit yelped and everyone waited for the shadowy hand to pull back. "That was weird." once it did, they continued on only to encounter more shadowy hands that attempted to block their path as they maneuvered around them, all while Pit was shouting, "Whoa! Ugh! Wah! H-hey! N-nice to meet ya! Hey! Ugh! Whoa! Ngh! Ah!" with each shadowy hand that popped out.
After escaping the shadowy hand territory, everyone thought they could take a breather… only to immediately be proven wrong when without any warning whatsoever, the whole area went completely pitch black, and the gang's colors became inverted.
"O…K…" Pit blinked. "Maybe the Chaos Vortex's batteries are dead."
"This place doesn't run on batteries, dingle brain!" Viridi retorted. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. You're all going the right way." she paused for a bit. "…I think."
"What do you mean you think?"
"Don't worry your little head about it."
With that, the gang flew through the now darkened area, trying their best to fight the inverted-colored monsters that assailed them in the dark. Luckily, it wasn't for too long until they saw a light at the end.
"Good – there's a way out!" Eleven said and they all flew through the exit as everything was bright again… Well, everything except for Pit.
"Uhh… Pit?" Eight asked as the whole group glanced befuddled at the angel. "Why are you looking all…black?"
"Huh?" Pit looked down at himself, and saw that he was indeed completely black all over. "Aw, man! This is my only tunic!" he whined.
"Don't be such a princess!" Viridi rolled her eyes, unaware of Jewel sulking due to feeling offended as the gang soon began to fly towards a hot spring that was flowing down like a waterfall.
"Aw yeah, it's a hot spri- Blublublublub." Pit's words were cut off into gargles when they all flew through the hot spring waterfall, which strangely restored the angel's colors back by doing so.
"Hey, you've got your color back." Viridi said.
Solo blinked. "That's…one way to do it."
"Yeah, but I also got water up my nose." Pit muttered as they flew a bit further, but then they were stopped by a giant Monoeye.
"Get out of our way!" Arusu demanded, only for another giant Monoeye to join the other one. "I SAID get out of our way!" he yelled and slashed through them both in the eye to kill them, and then the gang flew onwards as Viridi let them know:
"We're getting close to the Chaos Kin."
"OK." Pit replied.
"But watch out for look-alikes." cue a horde of Chaos Kin replicas showing up in view of the gang.
"Ugh! There's a ton of them! Nasty!" Melia cringed, immediately shooting at some of the replicas.
"Is the Chaos Kin replicating itself?" Shulk wondered, destroying a group of replicas with cannon shots. "They all seem exactly the same!"
"If that's true, then we're in big trouble!" Eight exclaimed, casting Bounce on himself to reflect the replicas' projectile attacks being launched at him.
"Don't worry, I'll try to locate the real one as fast as I can!" Viridi assured as the gang wiped out the rest of the replicas and proceeded, only to be stopped this time by a wall of weird inscriptions that just randomly showed up.
"Ugh!" Pit jolted.
"Talk about annoying!" Trifle complained as the inscriptions quickly dissipated and the gang flew on, where the floating debris began to move and form a swirl around them… and all of a sudden, shadow versions of the gang appeared; all completely black sans a pair of glowing red eyes. "Seriously? Now what?" Trifle questioned, growing annoyed at the constant distractions.
"They seem to be your shadows." Viridi stated.
"Just when our own dark clones were bad enough…" Solo groaned as they dodged their shadows' attacks.
"And besides, my shadow doesn't look anything like me!" Pit retorted. "First of all, I'm MUCH more attractive!"
"Honestly, it's like you WANT me to insult you." Viridi sassed.
"No! You just do it anyway!"
The gang then focused on fighting back against their eldritch doppelgangers, with Solo aligning himself while putting out his staff directly in front of him and used its special attack to fire out a linear shot that impaled Shadow Pit and Shadow Eight, then Jewel used her claws' special attack to unleash a series of furious swipes on Shadow Eleven, and then Melia powered up her orbitars with Flare before using their special attack to fire out multiple balls of energy that took out Shadow Jewel, Shadow Solo and Shadow Shulk, and finally ending off with Pit unleashing the bow's special attack to defeat Shadow Trifle, Shadow Melia and Shadow Arusu.
"That takes care of them." Melia said and the gang followed the rest of the spiraling trail of debris until a sight caught their eyes: it looked like the Chaos Kin on a large island in the distance. They were about to dismiss it as just another replica, but then Viridi shouted:
"THAT Chaos Kin's the real deal! After it!"
"Right!" Jewel exclaimed as Viridi accelerated everyone's wings.
The Chaos Kin then noticed the gang. "So you all really want to play a game with me, huh? Very well! Let's play some tag, then!" it taunted and took off flying into a tunnel. "Catch me if you can!"
"Hey! Where do you think YOU'RE going?!" Trifle questioned as he continuously fired at it while he and the others were chasing it.
"Throttling UP!" Viridi proclaimed and sped them all up, and as they neared their quarry, an eye-shaped portal opened up in front of them.
"My face feels like it's blowing off!" Pit winced.
"Same here…!" Eleven grimaced as they flew into the portal, taking them to a scenery similar to the one where Viridi's Reset Bomb Depot was located; that with the floating islands.
"Put on your big-boy pants and stay on the Chaos Kin!" Viridi commanded.
The gang proceeded to fly around and keep on the Chaos Kin's tail, dodging a fleet of Exo Tanks along the way before going into another portal that led them into a cave that was very reminiscent of the one they went at the Reaper Valley. "Uuungh…! I've almost got it!" Trifle yelled, as he was way ahead from the gang and shooting at the Chaos Kin like crazy.
"Not to rain on your parade, but we have to watch the clock!" Viridi warned. "If Pit starts to feel heat on his wings, you'll know it's when time is running out."
"Roger! Just keep all of us in the air as long as you can!"
From behind him, the rest of the gang watched in surprise. "Man! Trifle is, like, REALLY determined!" Pit exclaimed.
"Isn't it obvious, Pit? Trifle is desperate to save his only living family member. Of course he'd be that determined!" Jewel clarified as they all soon came upon another portal that took them back to the Chaos Vortex, where they flew through more debris while still chasing after the Chaos Kin.
At this point, the creature was fighting them back, attacking them with fireballs, energy blades, dark arrows, and small grenade-like blasts, forcing the gang to dodge these attacks. Unfortunately, as this was happening, Pit could start feeling heat gathering on his wings.
"Uh-oh…" he paled up, trying not to wince at the heat.
Viridi noticed this, and called out, "You're running out of time!"
"But I've almost got it!" Trifle said, still firing at the Chaos Kin and just when things were looking bad… the Chaos Kin slammed against a rock while attempting to fly up and away.
"Ugh!" it yelled and was left dazed in the air. The gang then managed to catch up to Trifle.
"Now's your chance! Shoot shoot shoot!" Viridi hollered.
"It's going down! Everyone, together!" Pit commanded as his friends nodded, and with that, they all aimed directly at the Chaos Kin above and fired a charged shot at it, and the combination of nine charged shots at once was enough to bring it down.
[BGM End]
"Chaos Kin down!" Viridi announced.
"All right!" Trifle exclaimed. "Now it's time to get Zelda's spirit back!" with that, everyone flew down towards an island below, which is exactly where the Chaos Kin was plummeting down to.
[BGM: Chaos Island – Kid Icarus Uprising]
However, the moment the gang landed on the island, the Chaos Kin was oddly nowhere to be seen. "Hey, where'd the Chaos Kin go?" Pit wondered.
"And where's Zelda?!" Trifle asked frantically.
"Both are close by." Viridi replied. "But you'll have to finish off some enemies first." and as if of cue, a squad of Shulms, Corals, Tribytes, Monoeyes and a pair of Boogities surrounded the gang.
"Our pleasure!" Shulk exclaimed, unleashing Monado Cyclone to blow the enemy squad away.
"These are all enemies that you've seen before, but never together like THIS."
"It IS weird." Pit commented as he fired arrows at the Monoeyes.
"I have a hunch that the Chaos Kin is creating them."
"Oh great, don't tell me that there's an endless supply of them!" Arusu groaned as he shot a Kaboom to blow up the Shulms, while next to him, Jewel was swiftly cutting through the Corals with her claws.
"No, I don't think that's possible. Even though these enemies are knock-offs, they're real enough to hurt you. So I'm sure they require quite a bit of energy to create. Which means this will be an endurance contest between you all and the Chaos Kin."
"Oh, don't you worry! We can outlast any evil moth!" Trifle proclaimed as he had defeated the two Boogities, and then Melia finished off the first wave by shooting the Tribytes.
"Here comes the second wave!"
"And here comes our second wind!" Pit exclaimed… but the moment he looked at the new wave, he immediately paled up. Why? Aside from having Rezdas, Monoliths and Handoras, there was also… an Orne. "Wait, is that an… ORNE?!" he panicked.
"If that Orne gets to any of you, it's game over."
"Not exactly, actually." Eleven said with a smirk, as rings of magic surrounded him. "Please work…!" he thought, and then he launched a Whack towards the Orne… which took it out. "Yes!"
[BGM suddenly comes to a halt]
Everyone else, excluding the Loyal Bodyguards, were instantly left in shocked disbelief. Heck, even the remaining enemies had a similar reaction as they all glanced at the spot where the Orne used to be.
"…Wh… WHAT?!" Pit yelled. "But… But I thought Ornes were invincible!"
"My thoughts exactly!" Viridi threw in. "Just WHAT did you do to take it out?!"
"That was a Whack spell. It's a banishing and darkness type of spell that can cause instant death to any enemy, no matter how durable they are." Eleven explained. "Arusu did this on an Orne I and my comrades encountered previously and it worked, so I just did the same thing."
Arusu grinned. "You're welcome!"
"You guys have a spell that causes instant death?! That is SO broken!" Viridi exclaimed.
"I know, right?!" Pit chimed in.
"No, it's not really that simple." Eleven interjected. "The spell's instant death function isn't always guaranteed to work all the time, so it all comes down to sheer luck. That's why we don't use this spell that often."
"Oh…"
[Resume BGM]
"Aaanyways…" Viridi began. "Now that the Orne is taken care of, you can focus on the rest of the enemies."
"Oh, right!" Pit said. "It looks like these Aurum troops are shielding the Handoras." he observed.
"They're called Rezdas. They'll put a hurt on you all too, so stay away from them."
"Then taking them out from the distance it is." Solo said, aiming his staff at the circling Rezdas and shooting their cores to immediately destroy them, allowing Pit to take out the Handoras while making sure to avoid the Monoliths. Once the Handoras were taken care of, the Monoliths disappeared and the next wave came.
"And here comes the third wave. This is getting old fast."
This one consisted of miniature Cacaws along with more Tribytes, only that these ones appeared to behave more differently than the ones from the first wave: they were quickly disappearing and reappearing around the arena in an erratic and jerky manner. Pit took notice of that and began to point out:
"Those Aurum troops are doing their best-…"
"…-Game and Watch impression." he and Jewel ended the sentence at the same time once the latter noticed the same thing, causing their eyes to widen before looking at each other.
"Check out the gaming IQ on these two! You're both regular video-game historians!" Viridi said impressed. "But enough nerdery for now. This place is crawling with Cacaws!"
And at this moment, one of the Cacaws crawled its way towards Pit and Jewel and let out a piercing cry, making both of them get inflicted with the Confusion status ailment. "Ugh!" Pit grunted. "Why did you create an enemy that annoying in the first place?" he questioned during his disorientation.
"You can thank the Chaos Kin for this batch! Don't blame me!" if Pit wasn't disoriented right now, he would have retorted back to her that this enemy was her creation, but alas, he couldn't and that there was no time for arguments to begin with.
Thankfully, Eleven quickly rushed over to the pair and casted Defuddle to rid them out of their Confusion before Eight took out his spear and unleashed Lightning Storm, as several summoned lightning bolts appeared and struck the Cacaws that led to their defeat. With them gone, two massive Belunkas and some Skreetles came in to take their place.
"Really, a fourth wave?!" Viridi questioned. "The Chaos Kin sure is persistent!"
"Not to mention really cowardly!" Melia added.
"Yeah? Well, so are we! …Minus the cowardly part." Pit said, and then the two Belunkas proceeded to release a small horde of Armins from their mouths.
"Those two big Belunkas are spawning the little Armins. Actually, 'spawning' is a polite way of putting it. 'Barfing up' is more accurate."
"Ugh! Hurl." Pit said in disgust, leading the group to cringe.
"Precisely."
"We really didn't need to hear that…" Eight groaned.
"Why? It makes perfect sense! Anyway, the Armins' sides are their weak points."
"Considering how tough they look from the front, they're pretty wimpy." Pit remarked.
"But they move fast! Dodge when they charge, and attack like crazy!"
Taking in Viridi's advice, the gang dodged the Armins' charge attack before Jewel retaliated by firing lightning from her Lightning Topaz to stun them in place and allow everyone to defeat them and then Eleven quickly launched a Big Banga spell on the two Belunkas, killing them and cutting off reinforcements. With only the Skreetles remaining, Eight switched his weapon to the boomerang and took them all out with a Power Throw, and as they disappeared, three Plutons and a group of Shootflies appeared next.
"The fifth wave is here!" Viridi announced.
"Come on now! This is getting ridiculous!" Arusu complained.
"Shoot those Plutons before they steal anything from you!" the gang aimed at the Plutons and were about to fire, but then Viridi shouted, "No, wait! Don't shoot! Those Shootflies will react to your fire!"
"Which is it? Shoot or don't shoot?!" Pit questioned.
"Um… Melee! Melee like crazy! Melee till the cows come home!"
Pit then swapped out his Palutena Bow to the Upperdash Arm and, together with Trifle and Jewel, he attacked the first Pluton with melee blows while Shulk, Eleven and Arusu were doing the same with the second Pluton, and so were Melia, Solo and Eight with the third one. With the Plutons destroyed, the Shootflies disappeared, and that's when a Boom Stomper and some Bumpety Bombs accompanied by more Tribytes and a Sio appeared.
"Wave six!" Viridi yelled. "Wait, that's a Boom Stomper and some Bumpety Bombs! Those are MY troops too!"
"You only noticed that JUST now?!" Trifle questioned. "What about the Cacaws and the Skreetles that appeared before? They're part of your troops too!"
"I didn't pay attention, okay?! But ugh, seeing these copies of my warriors turns my stomach!"
"Boom Stomper and Bumpety Bomb, eh? You come up with those names yourself?" Pit asked.
"Are you getting smart with me?"
"No, I'm just curious."
"Because I DID come up with those names myself. Aren't they just the cutest?"
"Right… Cute."
"Bumpety Bomb… Tee hee. Have you ever heard anything so adorable?"
"Honestly… I still think Platypunk is a much cuter monster name to me." Solo stated and used Gigasword to cut open the Boom Stomper in half and kill it, but then he felt himself getting sucked towards the Sio's black hole shot. Luckily, Shulk defeated the Sio with a charged shot before it could fire its lasers at Solo, and then they both focused on shooting down the Tribytes. And as for the Bumpety Bombs, an idea came up to Melia as she unleashed a Flare Impulse to lit up the bombs' fuses, leading to them blowing themselves up.
"Wave seven!" this next wave consisted of a Shildeen, some Syrens, and a group of Quoils and Monoliths.
"Grr, I've just about had it!" Trifle growled annoyed.
"Tell me about it!" Pit threw in.
"You have to take down the Shildeen." Viridi said.
"It has a team of bodyguards, though." Shulk noted.
"Don't worry about the Monoliths. Just don't get hit by the Quoils. Just a little tip: don't get hurt and you won't die!"
Shulk then had an idea and told the others to deal with the Syrens and Quoils, and once they did, the Visionary used Monado Purge at the Shildeen, sending a wave of Ether particles that not only disabled its force field immediately, but it also damaged it severely, thus defeating it. Then, after the rest of the gang finished taking out the Syrens and Quoils, the next wave soon came: multiple Zurees, a group of Komaytos, and… another Orne.
"And here comes the eighth wave." Viridi said with a small hint of exasperation in her tone.
"It's just a few Underworld Komaytos and Zurees." Pit said… and then he noticed the Orne. "…And another ORNE! Oh, no!"
"…Well, you know what to do, Bodyguards." Jewel said as they nodded in response, this time with Eight launching the Whack at the Orne, and luckily once again, it was successful and the Orne exploded.
"Problem solved!" Eight smiled.
Pit sighed in relief. "What would I do without you guys?" he smiled back and everyone then turned their focus on the Komaytos and Zurees, but when Pit took a closer look at the former enemies, he couldn't help but comment, "You know, Komaytos look an awful lot like little Metroids."
Viridi's eyes widened. "No! Shhhh! Stop right there!"
"What's the matter? All I said was that Komaytos look like little Metr"
"Hmm hmm HMMMM hmm! I can't HEAR you!"
"Hey, what's your problem?"
"This game universe and that game universe have NOTHING to do with each other! So don't go around spreading rumors!"
Jewel rolled her eyes. "SOMEONE here has never heard of the 'Shout-out' trope…" she thought before they all proceeded to defeat the two monster groups.
[BGM End]
After dispatching them all, the gang was starting to get tired at this point as they all fell to their knees and paused to catch their breath. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to rest at all as Viridi soon warned them:
"Hope you're not too tired, guys. The ninth wave is coming up!"
And true to form, two massive Crawlers accompanied by some Urgles plus their Aurum counterpart appeared and surrounded the gang. "Oh, you have got to be kidding…" Trifle muttered.
"When will this ever end?!" Arusu questioned exasperated as they struggled to get back up… but before they could do anything, a rain of dark arrows suddenly descended on the island, knocking down all the enemies.
"Looks like you could use a little help." a familiar voice said as the gang looked up to see Dark Pit flying down and landing in front of them.
"We could do this ourselves." Pit grumbled, and then asked, "But why are you suddenly so interested in helping us anyway?"
"While you were a ring? I was less than nothing. Unconscious. Un-MYSELF. We're connected, Pit. No you, no me. Two sides of the same coin."
"Wow… That's crazy! So that's why you have to help us save Zelda!"
"OK then. Let's take these enemies down!" both Pits said in unison, only to freeze and glance at each other with puzzled looks. "That was weird." they said in unison again, unaware of one of the Crawlers charging at them, but Shulk, after being powered up by Melia's Flare, managed to land a clean Back Slash on its core, destroying it instantly and causing the entire tank to explode. The twin angels flinched by the explosion and turned around to see Shulk looking at them with a serious expression.
[BGM: Push Forward – Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity]
"Let's save the awkwardness for later." he said to them. "We need to focus!"
"Yeah, Team Baddy's putting up quite a fight. But with Dark Pit working together with you guys, it's probably a cakewalk." Viridi threw in.
"That goes without saying." Dark Pit smirked, and so everyone turned their focus back to the enemy wave.
"Huh… So the Chaos Kin is also copying Aurum enemies that are copies of the Forces of Nature." Eight observed, upon noticing the Aurum Urgle.
"Now that's what I call copyception." Jewel remarked amusedly.
"It makes you think, doesn't it?" Viridi asked.
"No, not really." Eight simply replied. "Just a little weird, is all."
With the conversation out of the way, the twin angels decided to go for the remaining Crawler, and so the Loyal Bodyguards decided to power them up with an Oomph spell as both angels thanked them for the boost. Then, while the group dealt with the Urgles, Pit and Dark Pit snuck behind the other Crawler and attacked its core with melee blows from their Upperdash and Electroshock Arms respectively until the Crawler blew up, thus ending the ninth wave of enemies.
"You know what time it is?" Viridi began. "It's time for the TENTH WAVE!" cue two Guttlers and some Skreetles and Pew Pews showing up for this wave.
"Let me at 'em!" Dark Pit said, immediately lunging towards one of the Guttlers.
Taking notice of that action, Viridi told the gang, "Defeat that Guttler first." she pointed at the other Guttler. "As you might know, Guttlers get more powerful the more they eat."
"Well, so do I." Pit said.
"They really don't have the most discriminating tastes. They'll eat anything."
"Well, so does Pit." Dark Pit snarked, having finished taking out the first Guttler.
"Hey! At least I don't eat my friends!" Pit retorted and went for the other Guttler, who already ate a few of the roaming Skreetles to grow stronger, but nevertheless proved no challenge for the angel to defeat it, then Eight did dash-charged shots to blast the Pew Pews' projectiles back at them while also burning them up for good measure, and then Jewel took out the remaining Skreetles with energy blasts.
"Here comes the eleventh wave!" Viridi announced as three Igniots, and multiple Shrips and Gyrazers appeared in the arena. "I can feel the Chaos Kin getting tired!"
"Then we just gotta power through it!" Arusu said. Even though the gang was still feeling tired, the thought about them saving Princess Zelda was enough to motivate them and stay strong.
"Igniots can temporarily paralyze you if you get in their way. So try to avoid that."
"That's it? No joke or snappy commentary?" Pit asked.
"This is wave eleven!" Dark Pit shouted, shooting at the Gyrazers. "The time for jokes is over!"
"He's actually right, you know." Melia said and covered the ground with Poison Earth in order to inflict poison on the Igniots, before proceeding to open fire at the Shirps with her orbitars after applying the Bolt element to them.
Meanwhile, Shulk dodged one of the Igniots' petrifying beam before striking it on the side with a Slit Edge, followed by Solo taking the second Igniot out with a Kazap, and the last one was defeated by Trifle firing out a sword beam at it.
"Wave twelve! TWELVE! I think we're getting close to the end!" Viridi said, as the enemies that spawned this time were a pair of Megontas, a Shelbo, and some Trynamites.
"You keep saying that, but the enemies keep coming!" Dark Pit complained.
"Bickering isn't going to help us! If we want to defeat evil, we have to unite as good!" Shulk pointed out as he fired at the Trynamites.
"No, if we want to defeat evil, we have to unite against platitudes." Viridi replied.
One of the Megontas leapt up into the air and attempted to crush Eleven, but he jumped out of the way as he swapped out his sword for the greatsword and obliterated the Megonta with a Gigacrash, while the other one suffered the exact same fate by Arusu's Gigasmash. The Shelbo then proceeded to suck in Eight into its mouth, only to receive a Lightning Thrust in the eye as a critical hit noise was heard, and the monster instantly fell to its demise in one hit.
When the arena was cleared of enemies again, the next and final wave appeared: two Skuttler Cannoneers riding Monoliths, a massive Dohz that spawned Snowmen, a Blader, and some Monoeyes. "We're at the thirteenth wave. I'm sure this is it!" Viridi assured.
"Then it's time." Dark Pit said.
"Time for what?" Pit wondered.
"Our pre-boss-battle rallying cry!"
"Oh, right. OK. Ahem. Filth of the land, hear our words!"
"And see our actions!"
"I am Pit, servant of the goddess of light!"
"And I am Dark Pit, servant to no other but myself!"
"Together we will rain death upon you!" they both said.
"So, anyone who wants to die, step right up!" Dark Pit said.
"And anyone who doesn't want to die, too bad!" Pit added.
"Aw, yeah!" both finished in unison and high-fived, while the group stared at the two in complete astonishment.
"…Talk about impressive synchronization!" Eleven blinked in surprise.
"Nice speech, guys." Viridi snarked. "Did you stay up all night writing it? Or maybe it's your super-secret twin connection talking."
"Eh, I felt that it was too cheesy in my opinion." Solo commented. "I give it a 4.8 out of 10."
"Alright, alright! Enough from the peanut gallery!" Dark Pit retorted. "Let's get back to fighting off this last wave!"
"You got it!" Trifle nodded, and he, Jewel and Shulk immediately headed off to deal with the Monoeyes, thus leaving the rest of the enemies to the others as they then split up.
The twin angels went for each Skuttler Cannoneer riding on the Monoliths, with Pit dodging his Skuttler Cannoneer's shot while Dark Pit reflected his's shot with the Guardian Orbitars, and then they both opened fire at the monsters until they were killed. Meanwhile, Eight casted Sizzle on the Snowmen to instantly melt them away before joining in with his comrades on shooting the massive Dohz above until Eleven finished it off with a Luminary-enhanced charged shot from his club. And finally, right next to the Loyal Bodyguards, Melia blocked the Blader's attack with her staff as she retaliated with a Spear Break to throw it back, and then defeating it with a Vertical Bolt.
[BGM End]
At last, this tiring almost nonstop wave of enemies ceased. Just then, the floor below rumbled and the Chaos Kin, having Zelda's soul attached to its tail, emerged out from it, looking visibly exhausted. "Ugh… I think I used too much energy already for my reinforcements…" it groaned.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up." Dark Pit said, as everyone glared at the Chaos Kin.
"It's game over, Chaos Kin!" Pit proclaimed.
The Chaos Kin growled at them. "Such stubborn fellas you are… and just when I thought I could enjoy my next meal in peace." it then took off into the air. "Guess I'll have to take it to somewhere else!"
"No! It's getting away!" Trifle shouted.
"Here, let me help!" Viridi exclaimed, and as the Chaos Kin attempted to fly away, it instead flew straight into an invisible barrier surrounding the entire island.
"Gah!" it yelled and was knocked to the ground.
"There. That should make things easier for you all."
Trifle smirked. "Thanks a lot, Viridi! You're always thinking."
"Why you meddling little bitch…!" the Chaos Kin scowled. "Alright… you leave me with no other choice!" it turned to face the gang. "I'll destroy you all!"
[BGM: Boss Fight 1 – Kid Icarus Uprising]
"Alright, let's get down to business!" Melia said as she used Summon Bolt to power up everyone's shot damage before firing from her orbitars at the Chaos Kin, but it flew away from the shots and spat out fireballs at everyone, as they dodged them and immediately fired back at it.
"You'll pay for what you've done, Chaos Kin!" Trifle roared.
"For what? Taking your so-called cousin's soul?" the Chaos Kin teased. "You want it back so badly? Then you can have it!" it then aimed its tail at the gang, and before they knew it, four beams of light shot out from Zelda's soul at them.
"Look out!" Eleven called out as he and his comrades quickly formed a four-person shield wall in front of everyone to block each beam.
"Eating and going after souls, especially from that of a goddess, is bad enough… but abusing the power of said goddess contained in the soul is just vile." Dark Pit growled.
"Speaking of goddess, I heard from Palutena that she resisted being consumed for over three years." Viridi said. "I have to hand it to her – that takes a certain strength of will. She was waiting for you all to return, guys. I'm sure she used every last ounce of her power to resist."
"She must have suffered so much…" Pit lamented.
"There's no point dwelling on this now. We need to take down the Chaos Kin. Zelda's life is at stake!" Dark Pit ushered.
"You're right!" Trifle chimed in… and almost got hit by a pillar of light. "Wah!"
"Hahahahahahaha!" the Chaos Kin cackled while attacking the gang with more light magic by using Zelda's soul. "Who knew this soul had such powerful magic in it? I am practically invincible with this in my possession!"
"You would dare abuse Hylia's powers just to end our lives like that?!" Jewel questioned angrily.
"Oh yes, I would! If it means ending your lives indeed!"
"You… YOU MONSTER!" Arusu yelled, charging straight towards it… only to get blasted away by a burst of light. "ARGH!"
"It's hopeless! You'll never get this soul back, and soon I shall feed on it! And once I'm done with you all, I'm going after the one who imprisoned me so long ago and unleash my sweet revenge on her. Then, this whole world shall fall into chaos for all eternity!"
"GAH!" Dark Pit yelled as he was hit in the chest by a light orb. "Urgh…" he groaned while clutching his chest. "We can't let this little eldritch abomination win!"
"We know, but we can't even reach it!" Pit exclaimed, and then he found himself trapped in place by a magic circle of light. "Uuuungh…!"
"That's right! And now you all shall fall by my hands here!" the Chaos Kin declared and began to charge up another light attack with Zelda's soul. "Prepare. TO. DI–"
[BGM End]
"…ENOUGH!" a voice yelled… and all of a sudden, the attack backfired on the Chaos Kin and damaged it instead.
"YAAAAAAARGH!" it yelled in pain and collapsed to the ground. "G…urgh…"
"What the…?" Eight blinked. "What just happened?"
"Look!" Viridi pointed, as Zelda's soul detached itself out of the Chaos Kin's tail and began to glow brightly in white. "Zelda's soul is… changing form?" indeed it was: it appeared to be assuming a more…humanoid shape.
Then, once the bright light faded, everyone breathed in awe and surprise as the soul had taken the shape of a beautiful young woman who looked like an adult version of Zelda. She had long golden hair with locks trailing all the way down to below her knees, and she wore elegant white robes that went past her ankles and didn't allow you to see her feet. The woman was looking down at the Chaos Kin with a very nasty glare.
[BGM: With Power Awakened – Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity]
"Taking me out of my current vessel just to consume me was already cruel… But going out this far as to abuse my powers as if they were yours? Such an act is unforgivable!" she snapped.
The Chaos Kin got back up and looked at her. "Who in the world are you?!" it questioned.
"Your worst nightmare." the woman replied coldly, and by putting her hand out, she blasted the Chaos Kin in the face with her light magic.
"AUGH!"
"That'll show you." the woman scoffed, and then shifted her glance to the gang as her expression changed that to a warm smile.
"Z… Zelda…?" Trifle blurted out silently.
The woman chuckled. "Not quite. I am the white goddess… Hylia."
Everyone's eyes perked up. "Wait, Hylia?! As in… the legendary goddess herself?!" Jewel asked.
"The one and only."
"What?! Seriously?!" Shulk exclaimed in surprise.
"No way!" Viridi added.
"Unbelievable…" Solo whispered.
"So how come you decided to show up just now?" Dark Pit asked.
Hylia was about to answer, but then she looked over at the corner of her eye to see the Chaos Kin getting back up. "No time for answers now. You need to take down that creature!" she pointed at it. "I'll be assisting you this time, so don't worry."
"Alright!" Pit smirked and everyone got ready for phase two.
"Oh, you…!" the Chaos Kin growled at Hylia. "Fine, then I shall destroy you too!" it lunged at her to attack with its tail, but Melia used Reflection to put up a protective barrier as the creature slammed into it, and then Hylia fired several beams of light at it, but it quickly recovered and avoided the beams.
The Chaos Kin then charged up dark energy from its eye before firing eye-shaped blasts at them, but they dodged the blasts as one of them nearly grazed Dark Pit's arm as he retaliated by firing arrows at the creature, but it swerved out of the way and charged at the dark angel, knocking him to the ground.
"Ugh!" Dark Pit groaned.
"Pittoo!" Pit cried out, unaware of the Chaos Kin going for him next only to get hit by pillars of light from Hylia, catching Pit's attention as he turned to it and fired a charged shot from his bow soon followed by the group's charged shots, knocking it away. It got back up enraged and launched a poisonous cloud at everyone, only for the Loyal Bodyguards to blow the cloud away by casting Kaswoosh while also launching the Chaos Kin into the air, where Hylia would manifest a bow made out of light from her hands and fire a point-blank range arrow of light at it.
"Argh!" the Chaos Kin cried in agony and plummeted to the ground. "C…Curse you…!"
"NEVER underestimate the power of a goddess." Hylia said sternly. "In fact…" she aimed her hand at the Chaos Kin, making a magic circle appear below it that pinned it down.
"N-NO!"
Hylia turned to Pit and Trifle. "Now that I'm holding the Chaos Kin in place, why don't you both vent out your anger at it at long last? You've been waiting for this moment, weren't you?" she winked.
"Oh, you know we were!" Pit replied. "Let's go, Trifle!"
"Right!" Trifle nodded and both ran up to the bounded Chaos Kin, ready to let out all their anger and frustration at it.
"This is for hurting Lady Palutena!" Pit roared and slashed the Chaos Kin. "This is for putting me into a ring!" another slash. "This is for all the innocent people you made me kill!" another slash. "This is for anything else I missed!" and another slash, with this one cutting off the Chaos Kin's tail.
"GAAAAAH!" the Chaos Kin screeched in pain, and then Pit stepped back and pulled out a Daybreak from out of nowhere and tossing it to Trifle.
"Use this for extra catharsis, Trifle!" Pit said.
"Oh, you got it!" Trifle exclaimed and walked over to the weakened Chaos Kin. "And… finally…" he growled under his breath, aiming the Daybreak at it. "…THIS IS FOR TAKING MY COUSIN'S SOUL AWAY!" he screamed and fired away, as a massive beam of blue light shot out and engulfed the creature.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" the Chaos Kin screamed in agony before exploding into ashes.
[BGM End]
"Heh… Now THAT was a rain of death." Pit said in between breaths as he and Trifle were panting in exhaustion, looking down at the ashes on the ground that used to be the Chaos Kin.
"Aw, yeah!" Dark Pit chuckled and he and Pit gave a brofist before Trifle began to collapse on his knees, but Hylia quickly rushed to him and caught him.
[BGM: Zelda's Lullaby – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]
"You feeling okay?" she asked.
Trifle sighed. "Yeah… I am now." he glanced up at her. "Man, I really needed to let that out… and boy was it satisfying."
Hylia giggled. "I know. You were desperate to save me from the clutches of the Chaos Kin, so I can understand."
"Yep." Trifle then found the strength to get back up, and so Hylia let go of him. "Although… I never knew that my cousin's soul would actually become into the goddess herself… not to mention fight back the Chaos Kin physically unlike Palutena's case!"
"I guess I owe you and the others an explanation. As you all can see, due to my reincarnation, my former physical body is long gone… but my spirit still lingers. So in regards to my mortal form, the one you know as Princess Zelda, the mind and body belongs to her…while the spirit is me."
"Oh… now I get it!" Jewel exclaimed. "You only exist as the spirit, while your body and mind are now Zelda's!"
"You're correct. And as for me fighting back the Chaos Kin… Well, I've always been quite a protective goddess, making sure that everyone and everything I care and love remain safe. It goes all the way back during the war against Demise and his forces where I vowed to protect the humans and the Triforce by sending them all high up into the skies, and of course, having my other incarnations guide the chosen heroes in their quests. I was already fed up with the Chaos Kin abusing my powers… but what really made me finally come out of my shell was seeing you all not being able to hurt it, so at this point, I knew I had to do something. And so, I came out just like that to help you all."
"Wow…" Pit awed, and then smiled, "You were so determined to help us, Hylia! We really appreciate your help!" the others thanked her as well.
Hylia smiled sweetly. "Thank you all." she then sighed sadly. "But alas… Now that I'm free from the Chaos Kin's clutches, I need to return to my mortal vessel, and this means we will definitely never see each other again."
This made everyone frown. "Oh, right…" Pit said. "Viridi, could you bring Zelda's body over here?"
"Ah, of course." Viridi replied, and with a beam of light, Zelda's statue appeared before them. Hylia then walked up to it and slowly caressed its face, as a few tears escaped her eyes.
"This body…is so special to me." she softly spoke. "As generations pass on, my spirit would find itself in a different version of this body, like a never-ending cycle. As long as this cycle exists, I shall live on forever…" she glanced back at the gang. "Everyone… it was an honor meeting you. And even though we will forever part ways here, always remember…that I will always lie deep inside my mortal form." her form suddenly began to glow in a bright white light. "Please… Never forget that…" those were her last words before returning into her soul form.
[BGM End]
"We will never forget that, Hylia. That, we promise." Trifle thought warmly, he and the others with complete renewed energy at this point. Then, they watched the soul gently floating into Zelda's petrified body, restoring her color.
"Ugh…huh…" Zelda let out a gasp as life returned to her, and then she saw the gang. "…Guys…?"
"Zelda!" Trifle beamed, running over to her.
Zelda immediately mirrored his expression of extreme happiness. "Trifle!" she gleamed, and the two cousins embraced each other.
"I'm so relieved you're okay!"
"Trifle…" the two then broke from the hug, as Zelda was now holding Trifle's shoulders. "Thank you… for saving me." she then glanced over at the rest. "Oh, and my thanks to you all too."
"Anytime." Eleven replied warmly.
Meanwhile, Dark Pit took one last look at the Chaos Kin's remains before starting to walk away… but no sooner had he done so, the ashes suddenly started to come to life as a quiet growl came out of them, "This…isn't…over…YET!" and just like that, the ashes slithered across the ground after the dark angel and wrapped themselves around him.
"Augh Aaaaah!" he screamed, catching the attention of everyone else as they looked over in alarm to see Dark Pit getting pulled off the edge of the island, leading them to gasp.
"Oh, no!" Pit gasped. "Pittoo!" he dashed off towards the edge… and at this very moment, Shulk got a Vision of something horrible happening to Pit, making his eyes shoot wide.
"Pit, WAIT!" Shulk called out. "Your wings are going to-!"
But Pit didn't listen as he had already jumped off the island and started going after Dark Pit. "Auuuurrgh!" the dark angel screamed.
"Viridi! I need to fly!" Pit demanded.
"You already used the power of flight! Don't you remember?" Viridi questioned. "If I enable it again now, your wings will catch fire!"
"The Chaos Kin is going to destroy Pittoo! Can't you see what's at stake here? I don't care if my wings catch fire!"
"No way! Just forget about it! I'm pulling you and the others out!"
"No! Stop! If we don't help him right now, we won't have another chance! I'm begging you, Viridi! Let me fly! Now!"
"Hraaah! Fine! But whatever happens to you isn't my fault!" she then reactivates the power of flight.
"Gnrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Pit yelled, trying to resist the pain of his wings catching on fire.
"Hang in there, Pit! Be strong!"
"Help me!" Dark Pit pleaded as he outstretched his hand.
Pit immediately did the same and aligned himself with Dark Pit until he got close enough to grab his hand. "I'm getting you all out of there!" Viridi said and whisked both angels and the group out of the Chaos Vortex, and back at the still-ruined Skyworld.
There, Dark Pit groaned as he slowly rose up, having some burn marks all over his body but they thankfully weren't too severe. "How's Pit?" he weakly asked, looking at the group who were all gathered up in a row in front of him.
"Well, about that…" Shulk trailed off solemnly, as it was revealed that the group were looking down with saddened looks on their faces.
"Pit… Pit's in bad shape." Viridi spoke up, her voice quavering a bit. "He can't fly. He's barely breathing."
The camera slowly pans over to the ground in front of the group, revealing the most aggravating sight ever: Pit was lying unconscious on the ground with his clothing tattered and burned, but the most grievous and visible injury were his wings; completely burned down to the bone.
Just then, a column of light shone nearby, revealing Palutena, who was feeling better again. Everyone then watched her solemnly walk over to Pit. "Palutena? What are you doing?" Viridi asked, but she didn't answer as she knelt down and picked Pit up. The goddess of light was too lost in thought, until her thoughts took her back to when Pit expressed his desire to fly:
My wish would be to fly by myself!
And next turned to when he and his friends faced Medusa:
We'll return to Skyworld victorious!
She then turned to look at Pit again. "Oh, Pit…" she whispered with sorrow lacing in her voice before looking up the heavens.
After that, everything was total silence. The only noises we could hear were the evening winds blowing across, and that's it.
To be continued…
Ever since the first DLC came out, I've been on an Age of Calamity streak recently... which might explain why I included a lot of BGMs from that game here. And speaking of which, most of Hylia's attacks in this chapter were directly taken from Zelda's Sealing Magic moveset from the same game, so there's also that!
First Palutena, then Zelda, and now Pit... This Chaos Kin arc was definitely one bad thing leading to another, am I right? So next time, the group is going to find a way to save Pit! Until then!
