A Walk Among Giants, Chapter 20: Dynasty
Ok here is the second part of the triathlon, as not promised so enjoy!
Special Thanks to:
Girithal: I appreciate the suggestion bud, but alas I plan to make Ultimate a separate story. And once again to answer all your questions in case you didn't see the pm I sent you:
Cloud will be somewhat like what your very first suggestion was, if you remember it.
As for the Corrins, they will both be introduced however they will come from different backgrounds. That's all I'll say on that.
Also little side note here: any sort of character that as an alt or different gender will have both versions included in the story. Even if we haven't seen them yet, rest assured they are there.
UltimateCCC: I read your question over multiple times however I'm confused as to what you meant. Maybe I'm overlooking it, nevertheless I apologize for the inconvenience…
Dark Pit pulled out his map to make sure he wasn't swimming the wrong way. By now it looked like they were in the middle of the ocean. Water on all sides and no clear view of land. When he was sure he was still going in a straight path he pushed forward. His partner however was still latched unto him for dear life. However at the point she had buried her face in his shoulder to try to calm her nerves. The fact that they were in the middle of a body of water started to kick her fear factor into overdrive. Her short breaths started to quickly pick up in pace and he could practically feel her heart pounding against her chest. Not too soon afterwards and thankfully they reached the first lake checkpoint, signified by the beep of their devices.
"Ok, so far so good, if we keep at this pace we'll get there with no problems!" he states as he looks at his map again.
"Ok that sounds good" she muffled her reply, still keeping her face buried.
"Yeah just don't think about it, remember we are in a pond, just a small pond nothing more." He assures her as he thrusts forward towards the center. "How is it that you've never learned how to do something so basic as to swim?" He asks as he continues while she slowly turns her head to the side.
"I technically never had to, I've never been near any significantly large bodies of water. Where I came from we are landlocked, besides that I never really got the chance for any extracurricular activities even if I wanted to." She explains while trying to control her breathing.
"Right I forgot, you came from the time where everything went to hell." He sighs as she buries her face again trying to think happy thoughts.
"Something like that..." She muffled her reply while he couldn't help but chuckle.
DA DUM
DA DUM
DA DUM DA DUM
DA DUM DA DUM
"What is that noise?" She mumbles and slowly lifts her head as Dark Pit comes to a halt. They both see a green cone shape sticking out of the water and slowly circling them.
"Last time I checked Sharks aren't green…" He speaks up as the thing continues to stalk them.
DA DUM DA DUM DA DUM
DA DUM DA DUM DA DUM
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The little theme speeds up at the cone heads right for them. But before it gets close enough it just disappears below the waves. "O-K then…" Dark Pit says with the shrug of his shoulders before resuming. Not long afterwards however something brushes against their feet. Before either of them could react Lucina is pulled under and she drags Pittoo right along with her. Their watches now display 6 bubbles in its HUD telling them how long they can be underwater. They look around and spot Toon Link with his iconic cap on swimming around them before resurfacing.
"What is it with these little freaks!" Dark Pit exclaims watching the 'fin' circling them.
"What do we do?" She asks seeing the thing coming straight for them
"We stand our ground!" He states getting ready to take on the Toon shark head on. It disappears below the surface again however. Prompting the duo to check their surroundings at every turn. That is of course until Dark Pit is dragged under this time right from under Lucina. Of course this causes the bluenette to struggle to stay afloat in her panic. Dark Pit tries to resurface but toon kept shoving him away, he knew what he was doing. Not only that but the dark angel found out how he was moving so fast. The hero of winds has a propeller on his feet helping him move along smoothly. He readied himself as Toon circled around and prepared for another attack. Toon Link dashed at him in hopes of pushing him further down into the depths. Dark Pit had to time his attack accordingly as he was only left with 2 bubbles. He moves out of the way of Toon's attack and kicks his propeller causing it to malfunction and go out of control. It went into overdrive and dragged Toon into the dark depths below.
"Uncool duuuuuuuude!" Toon Link exclaimed in a watery voice as he was rocketed to his doom.
Lucina in the meantime was trying to keep her head above water, it wasn't going too well though as she kept swallowing water. Dark Pit resurfaced again and she wasted no time in latching unto him again. She began to cough up large amounts of water while trying to stabilize herself. "You good?" He asks as she was heavily breathing through her mouth with her eyes tightly shut. She swallowed a bit of air before she slowly nodded her head, burying her face into his shoulder again.
"Lets not do that again..." Came her muffled reply while he just exhaled.
"Yeah right there with you, just hope we don't run into anymore troublesome little turds." He sighs as he resumed swimming off towards the next checkpoint. He checks the map to make sure they were still on course and sure enough they were. Although he didn't mention it to his partner they were now approaching the part of the lake that supposedly had strong currents.
"Am I hallucinating or are we going faster than usual?" She asks shortly after feeling the water rush past her at a significant pace.
"Ok we might be in a current now but it's nothing to worry about, just keep your head down." He assures her as he tries to control his moment in the current.
"I'll try…" She mumbles albeit tightening her grip on the dark angel slightly. "Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts…" She was mentally repeating herself trying to forget about the fact that she almost drowned. Or forget about the fact that they are still in the middle of a large body of water.
"Oh shhh-" He suddenly exclaims as his voice cracks.
"What?" She says slowly raising her head but he moves it back down.
"Nothing, just let me figure it out" he states as she could feel him getting tense.
"Dark Pit, what is that, WHAT IS THAT?!" She quickly screams pointing ahead where a giant whirlpool was dragging anything around it to the depths.
"Dont worry about it, but you need to help me push away from it" He yells through the loud sound of rushing water.
"TURN BACK, TURN BACK!" She screams as she begins to panic, and of course this caused her to tightly grip around him.
"Stop, STOP PANICKING!" He exclaimed as he felt her quick and panicked rhythmic breathing. Not only that but it felt like her heart was about to burst out of her at any moment.
"OH NAGA WERE GONNA DIE!" She screams, essentially immobilizing him by crushing him from behind.
"GAH!" He breathes out while trying to loosen her hold on him to no avail. "Let… Go!" He yells past her screams of terror. He prys her loose and turns to face her trying to calm the bluenette. "Listen, you need to calm down!" He yells at her though she was completely out of it at this point, sort of kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs. "STOP PANICKING LISTEN TO ME!" He frustratingly yells while shaking her violently though she continued to panicky scream. "STOP!" He exclaims as he slaps her across the face, completely fazing her.
"The… The…" She breathed out slowly as her breathing began to slow back down to a normal pace.
"Hey, hey look at me" he says holding her head in his hands looking into her wide fearful eyes. "We're going to be alright, but I need you to calm down and listen to me ok?" He asks while she quickly let out some short breaths. "I'm gonna need you to help me push away from this thing ok, you think you could do that?" He asks while she swallows a breath of air and nods her head. "Alright here we go we got to hurry because we lost a lot of space already" he says, turning back around and pushing forward. Luckily they were at the point where the thing wouldn't start sucking them in.
"YAAAR!" They hear someone yell from behind them and they turn around. "Ye scurvy dogs ain't escaping me!" Toon Link shouts as he points forward from atop Capt. Falcon who was swimming towards them at about the speed of a motor boat. Although unlike everyone else he had a swimming cap on with tinted goggles, sort of mirroring his helmets appearance.
"Give me a freaking break!" Dark Pit growls as he looks around his surroundings.
"What do we do?" Lucina asks worriedly, taking on Toon alone proved rather difficult but now with Capt falcon involved it could be a potential recipe for disaster.
"You think you can beat me in my own turf, I am the king of the seas!" He proclaims while ushering Flacon to go faster. "You're in my world now!" He says while maniacally laughing.
"Remember what I taught you, i'm going to need you to let go for a moment." Dark Pit says as he turns to face her.
"I-I can't…" She says worried as he turns to face her again.
"Yes you can, don't panic, kick your legs in a rhythmic pattern and you should be able to stay afloat" he says as he lets her go and turns towards the upcoming duo. Captain Falcon charges the dark angel head on and they both disappear below the water.
"Awwwh, can someone not swim?" Toon says with a wide grin.
"Why are you doing this?" She exclaims while focusing on staying afloat.
"This is war, there is no peace in wartime" he shrugs as his grin only grew bigger.
"I assure you this won't end well for you, did you already forget how it went last time?" She tells him but he just scoffs.
"Yeah but this time you're all alone" he says as he holds up a finger to his lips. "Shhhhh, it'll all be over soon…" He whispers as he slowly disappears underwater
"Toon you little!" She hisses while looking in every direction. It's not long before a pair of arms grabs her from behind and she is yanked into the water.
"The more you struggle the harder you make it on yourself just fyi" he states, as he stands atop her head making her slowly drown. Before her life bar got too low however she managed to grab him and throw him off of her. She quickly pushes herself above the surface spitting out all the water she swallowed in her struggle.
"You're insane!" She exclaims as he rushes at her again. And she dives out of the way of a charging manic.
"I couldn't be more sane, I lost the last time despite your help. This time however you are going to help me win again, albeit an entirely separate way!" He pipes up with a glint in his eye.
"Why can't anybody just let things go!" Lucina groans. The other two resurface shortly afterwards trying to pin the other down.
"PK dive bomb!" They suddenly hear from above them. They turn around to see Lucas dive bomb into Toon Link. "Now DK!" He shouts as the giant ape comes swirling out of the water knocking back Dark Pit and Cpt. Falcon.
"Traitor!" Toon Link exclaims as he resurfaced glaring at the blonde.
"You betrayed me first!" He fires back, "I trusted you!" He says while Toon scoffs obnoxiously loud.
"It's not my fault you suck!" He replied nonchalantly while the blonde boy groaned in frustration. He pulls out a large bamboo stick and smacks Toon right over the head with it.
"It would've cost you nothing to simply get me out of that tarpit instead of using me as a stepping stone!" He huffs while Toon rubbed his head with a growl.
"I asked you if you'd lend me a hand and you said 'SURE' ya dingus!" Toon replies while avoiding another swing of the stick.
"I didn't know that's what you meant though, you could have worded it differently!" He protests while Toon pulls out a vine whip.
"You wanna do this then come on, you're on my turf now sunny boy!" Toon exclaims before they both do a war cry and exaggeratingly swim towards each other.
A few yards away from them however the other three were still duking it out. Although for the moment DK seemed to be winning over the other two. He grabs Dark Pit by the face and launches him off into the distance. He then turns around looking for Falcon who jumps on him from behind putting him in a headlock.
The child smashers however were in a stalemate at the moment. They both had a hold of each other's shoulders trying to drop the other below. However they ended up moving towards the whirlpool that began sucking them in rapidly. However that did little in stopping the two from their fierce stalemate. When they do finally notice they both push away from the other in hopes of escaping.
"Before we go I have one last thing to say…" Lucas calls out as Toon turns to face him with an arched brow. "EAT SHIT!" He shouts as he uses Toon to propel himself out of the water.
"You haven't seen the last of me!" Toon yells as he is sucked into the vortex. DK sees Lucas in the whirlpool and grabs Falcon from the legs and swings him into the distance. He then hurriedly goes to help his partner although despite having moved from away from the center of the vortex he was still well within its grasp. DK jumps in after him and places the boy on his back trying to best the current. Although it proved too strong from him in the end and they were both dragged under.
Lucina in the meantime was beginning to struggle to stay afloat. When suddenly a hand grabbed her from behind and she yelps in surprise. Only to see it was Dark Pit much to her relief. "Hey you actually did it Blue!" He says with a smirk.
"Can we just get out of here please?" she breathes out as he exhales while slowly shaking his head with a smile.
"You don't have to ask twice" he responds as she wrapped her arms around him and he pushed on. "Lets just hope this is the last time we get any more nuisance," he sighs as he pulls out his map.
"The good news is we are almost at the next checkpoint actually" he says rather enthusiastically.
"Good, I can't wait to be out of this lake" she breathes out as she rests her head into his shoulder again.
"You and me both!" He says, whipping his wet away off his face.
"PITTOO!" She suddenly exclaimed before she was dragged right off of him.
"Give me a freaking break!" He shouts angrily and dives after her. Below the surface he sees that it was Falcon who dragged her under. He had both arms on her shoulders pushing her deeper into the lake. There was a long trail of air bubbles behind them from the sudden scream she let out. Dark Pit was pushing himself as fast as he could but he couldn't exactly keep up with Falcons pace. At that point Dark Pit had run out of bubbles so being under was now cutting into his bar.
Lucina could only helplessly stare up at the dark angel trying to reach them. By this point her lungs started to quickly fill with water and her vision was going dark. Before long one final air bubble escaped her lips before exploding in a flash of light. Dark Pit had returned to the surface however he knew it was too late. He makes it back to the surface and lets out a frustratingly angry yell.
"Dammit Blue!" He exclaims slapping his hand into the water angrily. Falcon resurfaces a few meters away and Dark Pit wastes no time in charging at the F-Zero pilot with a loud war cry.
Lucina however materialized in a weird holding cell of sorts in the middle of an empty void. (Picture an assistant trophy case) and a holographic screen appeared before her. "You must wait for your partner to reach the next checkpoint before you can respawn." A voice came through from out of nowhere. She saw her points drop down by one because of her untimely demise. The screen however let her get a spectators view of her partner. He currently had both hands tightly wrapped around Falcons throat as he held him below the water. He explodes in a flash shortly after while Dark Pit just floated there panting angrily. "Harsh…" She whispered as he began to swim towards the next checkpoint.
He opened up his map again to see how much distance he had left to cover. On the plus side though he was able to move more quickly now. However, out of nowhere he suddenly got the sudden urge to sleep. He shook his head and kept moving onwards right now was the worst time to possibly be asleep. He could hear a faint whisper in the air though and it kept making him droopy. He pinched his eyes and shook his head again trying to focus on the task ahead.
"Jiggly?" He hears from behind him and he turns around. He sees the balloon Pokemon casually floating towards him. She was holding a microphone in her hands, and she cocked her head or body to the side.
"You seem harmless enough" he sighs while she rapidly blinks her eyes. She then moved the microphone towards her mouth and closed her eyes while taking a deep breath.
"Jiiiiiggly, puff, jiggly, jiggly," she begins to sing while Dark Pit became woozy. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton and he had trouble keeping them open. It's not long before he throws his head back and begins snoring loudly, but his wings thankfully helped him stay afloat…
*later*
"Hello anybody in there?" Came a faint voice as he slowly opened his eyes. He closed them again trying to collect his thoughts as to what happened. He begins to open and close his eyes trying to get a view of his surroundings. "Good morning sleepyhead!" He hears from behind him followed by a short giggle. He shakes his head furiously coming to his senses and turns around. He sees Palutena floating there with a look of amusement on her face. "Not the best time for a nap don't you think?" She says while he pinched his eyes again.
"I wasn't asleep, I put to sleep" he groans while looking behind her to see Rosalina casually floating a few inches away from them. Her Luma was dancing around her as she gave him a wave and a warm smile. "Why are you here?" he asks, turning to the goddess.
"Well we happened to be passing by when we noticed a log floating there, which turned out to be you who was out cold" She responds.
"So what, now you're here to knock me out of the race?" He says while she shook her head with a chuckle.
"Don't be silly, I wouldn't harm one of my children!" she assured him and ruffled his hair much to his annoyance. "Say where is your partner though, why are you out here all by your lonesome?" She says looking around for any trace of the blunette.
"She made a noble sacrifice" he simply states and turns his head.
"You left her behind didn't you…" She says while he just heavily sighed.
"Like I said, she fell in battle" he states again rather irritated.
"Ok, ok I believe you, no need to use your squeaky voice" she says followed by a short laugh. He just groaned in annoyance and began to swim off.
"Whatever I'm out of here!" He says checking his map, this little break of his actually set him back a little. He silently cursed to himself, especially for letting his guard down.
"Good luck!" He hears Rosalina say to him as he passes by.
"Yeah" he replied plainly as he breathed out frustratingly. For the most part he was lucky he ran into them instead of anyone else.
Lucina in the meantime breathed a huge sigh of relief, she spent the last few minutes banging on the glass and yelling at him to wake up. So she was glad when he ran into Palutena and she woke him up. He seemed to be closing in on the checkpoint and a loud buzzing was heard. "Respawn in 3… 2… 1…" The overhead voice said before she disappeared in a flash of light. She splashed back into the world and quickly pushed herself to the surface. Dark Pit however didn't say a word and just motioned with his head to get a move on. She wraps her arms around him and he begins the swim forward towards the next checkpoint.
They hear a whoosh behind them followed by a loud splash. Dark Pit stops and turns around surveying the area. "Up there!" Lucina shouts pointing above them as a large object was making its way towards them. Dark Pit manages to quickly swim away from the incoming mass in time. They see King Dedede splash into the water behind them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" They hear a deep voice say from behind them. Dark Pit turns to see Dark Link there with a psychotic grin on his face. Just as King Dedede laughs maniacally from behind them.
"Don't make me kick your ass again" Dark Pit says to the dark hylian in front of them.
"You ain't doing shit to me, it's 2 to 1 and you are being weighed down!" Dark Link says rather amused while Dark Pit growls under his breath. However he was still right they had him and Lucina outmatched.
"I got an idea" she whispered in his ear while Dark Link was monologuing.
"Enough talk, let's fight!" King Dedede barks as he leaps into the air coming down in the duo to crush them. Dark Pit maneuvers out of the way again as the penguin comes down with a loud splash. Dark Link uses the opportunity to charge at them however.
"Now!" Lucina yells as Dark Pit lunges her at him, which she effectively kicks him in the face causing him to fall into the water. And so they wouldn't be separated he held on to one of her arms. He pulls her back in as King Dedede prepares for another attack. He begins to suck in air into his huge gut which they were hoping he would. He raises the bluenette above his head and spins her around before slamming her right into the king's gut. All the air was knocked out of him and he fell into the water. At that point it was over for him as he began to sink below the waves holding his gut. Before he could pull her back in however Dark Link emerged between them forcefully separating the two.
"You're being a nuisance!" He growls and pushes her off further away. Before she could recover however King Dedede emerged from the water again and sucked her into his gut. "Now it's just me and you old pal" Dark Link states with a grin.
"Good just how I like it!" Dark Pit says as they both dashed at each other. Then it became a battle on who could land the first hit, as they were both throwing attacks at each other without a hit.
King Dedede raised his head up and spat Lucina out sending her into the air. She splashed down heavily and struggled to bring herself to the surface. When she eventually came to the surface she took in a large breath of air. Before she had the chance to do anything else Dedede came from behind and slammed into her with his full body. Effectively dropping her into the water and keeping her submerged with his full weight on her. He had of course sucked in air into his gut to stay afloat on the surface. Dark Pit notices his partner struggling but there was little he could do about it however.
"I told you, you're only being weighed down!" Dark Link states as he uses the distraction to put Dark Pit into a headlock. "Now watch as your partner hopelessly dies before your eyes!" Proclaims rather thrilled as the dark angel struggled in his hold.
And after it seemed like she had drowned again, signified by the lack of air bubbles coming to the surface. A boxing glove attached to a spring shoots out of the water, once again striking Dedede in his massive gut. And making him fly away like a balloon losing its air. And of course Lucina emerges from the water filling her lungs back up with air.
"What the?!" Dark Link exclaims stunned about what has just occurred. Dark Pit took the opportunity and swung his head backward right into Dark Link's face. The hylian releases him and falls backwards into the water. Dark Pit then puts his legs over Dark Link's shoulders and uses his full weight to drop him below the surface. He managed to hold him there until he stopped moving and disappeared in a flash of light. He lets out a long sigh as he takes a moment to catch his breath.
He swims back over towards Lucina who was trying her best to stay afloat. He quickly helped her up while he smirked, "where did that come from?" He says amused while she smiles.
"I swiped it off Toon Link earlier, and have kept it in my possession ever since just in case." She says rather proudly as he chuckled.
"Good call, now let's finish this," he says as he proceeds forward. They don't get far before they hear the angry yells of Dedede and him rushing towards them. That's not what caught his attention however, it was that familiar pink balloon heading towards them that did. She raised her mike to her mouth again and took a deep breath.
"Jiiiiiggly, puff, jiggly, jiggly," She began to sing and this time Dark Pit plugged his ears. Dedede however who was floating angrily towards them came under the effects of her song. He fell asleep midair and plunged into the water disappearing below the waves.
"Quick cover your…" He said as he turned his head but it was too late the bluenette was already in deep slumber. Dark Pit just sighed and waited for Jigglypuff to float away before he continued forward.
*a few moments later…*
Lucina lifted her head slowly while coming out of her daze. "Wha…?" She says half awake as she tries to shake her sleepiness away.
"Oh look who decided to wake up," Dark Pit says as he notices her finally awake.
"Yeah" she responds, still half dazed.
"Well the good news is that we're almost at the next checkpoint, that and we didn't run into anyone the whole time you were out." He informs her while she nods her head slowly.
"And the bad news?" She asks, setting her head down tiredly.
"This!" He says as he dives into the water along with her. He resurfaces and she gasps loudly while pushing her wet bangs out of her face. "You needed that" he says while she just glared at him and then just sighs.
"I guess you're right" she says before all of the sudden they feel solid ground. "Um please tell me that's land down there…" She says as he takes out the map to look at their location.
"According to this, yeah we're in the shallows now." He says as she releases her hold of him. "From here the water level should lower as we progress." He breathes out with a sigh of relief.
"Thank Naga we're finally out of the deep end!" She says although the water was still up to their chins. Now they slowly walked onwards towards the last stretch of the massive lake.
"That is probably going to be the most brutal part of this whole thing!" Dark Pit says, "and I meant it when I said you owe me big time" he says as she sighs.
"I guess you're right" she says, she did burden him for the most part with her lack of swimming skills. "How about this, since I wouldn't want you throwing this in my face every chance you get." She begins while he just grins to himself. "After this whole ordeal I will be in your servitude for a week to make up for it" she proposes while he taps a finger to his chin and hums in thought.
"Make it two weeks and we'll call it even!" He responds with that mischievous grin of his.
"Two weeks are you insane!" She exclaimed while he just shrugged nonchalantly.
"Take it or leave it princess" he said plainly while she groans to herself.
"Fine!" She agrees before he changes his mind and tries to come up with some other way to make her life miserable. And of course knowing him he will go out of his way to make sure of it.
"How can I even be sure you'll keep your word?" He asks as he turns to her and walks backwards.
"Are you kidding me I'm literally stuck with you, I mean we even share a room. I wouldn't be able to escape you, and I know you would never shut up about this." She explains as he snickered to himself.
"Well as true as that may be, that's not enough of an assurance for me." He simply states as she lets out a long sigh.
"Ok how about this, I'll put all my money into a transfer account. Should I fail to keep my word it will be forfeited to you." She says as he grins wider than before.
"That sounds better," he says as he turns back around and focuses on the path ahead. They covered a good amount of distance during their chat as the water was now down to their shoulders. Not too soon afterwards they heard their watches beep, they had made it to the second to last checkpoint.
"I can't wait to finally be done with this, I've had it up to here with being in water!" She states while he throws his head back and lets out a long breath of air.
"Yeah you're telling me" he responds while he takes another look at the map. At this point in time however the sun had begun to make its descent towards the ground.
"Well if it isn't the sleepy time dynamic duo!" They hear from behind them and they both turn towards the source. They see Palutena and Rosalina approach them with the luma resting on the cosmic princess's head.
"Oh it's you..." Dark Pit sighs while the goddess just cocks her head to the side with a broad smirk.
"Yes, were you maybe expecting someone else?" She jokes as the dark angel slumps his shoulders and groans.
"If you're here to finish me, please hurry it up, it would be a sweet relief!" He says while she just slowly shook her head.
"Oh you kids with your jokes" she replied while waving him off.
"Yeah, it's a blast I hate for it to end, we should do it again, blah blah blah." He says right after as he begins to walk away without another word.
"Oh look you actually have your partner with you for once!" She calls out to him but he just keeps on walking.
"The fact that you actually manage to put up with him on a day to day basis is a miracle all on its own." She says while staring at the grumpy angel before she turns to Lucina.
"Well once you understand how he functions, it's easy to get around his devil may care attitude." Lucina states before walking off to catch up with her partner.
"You know, you two have actually come so far from that very first fateful encounter you had." Pakutena added as she walked along with the bluenette.
"I…" Lucina begins while looking deep in thought. "I completely forgot about that to be honest!" She stated while slowly shaking her head.
"Well I don't know if you ever found out, but because of that encounter you both technically sealed your fates." She says as the swordswoman turns to her with a puzzled look.
"What do you mean?" She asks the goddess who kept her gaze straight ahead.
"Well…" She began as she turned her head to face the bluenette.
*flashack*
"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Lucina but I have some business to attend to see you around." Palutena said before Lucina could say anything, with that she turned and headed back the way she came. Her green hair majestically flowing behind her as if it were a cape.
"Oh you've met your soon to be partner I see," Master Hand says as she turns the corner to find him standing there with a long sheet of paper in his hands.
"Yes lovely girl that one, I must say she is quite different then any we've had so far" she responds.
"Indeed, in my studies for finding new potential candidates this one struck my curiosity. Of course I already had my eye on the Robins' as they had amassed quite the following. However she peeked interest not only because of her connection to one of our very best, but because of her life circumstances she hasn't really been able to explore life as most mortal beings would as they grow and experience new things. Someone like that would be perfect to our roster because of the vast new wonders we get to offer our attendants." He says as he looks up from his paper and pockets his small glasses.
"Yes, you've done a wonderful thing here by letting her have a small escape from her worries at home. In a way here she will get that chance to experience the joy and thrill of making fascinating new discoveries, living life everyday like it's a new exciting adventure." She says as she closes her eyes and sighs with a smile on her face. "You're giving her the childhood she'd never had, and so desperately deserved," she continued as she opened her eyes again. "And I am glad that I will be there to experience it all with her, no worries, no burdens, just being." she finished as she smiled at the thought of the thrills that awaited.
"Well I'd hope unforeseen events hadn't played out as they did, because now I've decided to make one quick adjustment before I announce it" he informs her while overlooking the long piece of paper.
"What do you mean?" She asks as Master Hand hands her the long sheet of paper.
"I saw how her little encounter went just now, and I must say that is not the kind of experience I want any smasher to have. Because of this they will now both be left with a sour taste about the other. My hope this time around is to get everyone to at least tolerate one another. In the previous tournament, especially the last one which you're aware of, bad conflicts arose because of the fued lots of them seemed to have with each other." He explains as she slowly nods her head and slumps her shoulders.
"The subspace…" She whispered solemnly.
"Indeed, now I am going to fiercely crack down on any and all bad blood anyone would have with any other. I will remind them that in this world their little feuds are of little importance and completely irrelevant. This being said, I cannot allow a new tournament to start off with two of my newest recruits already at odds with one another." He says as she looks up from reading the sheet.
"Oh I see…" She says while in thought, she hands him back the paper and nods. "I am glad you ran it by me, and yes I completely understand. I will forfeit my position as Lucinas' partner to Dark Pit." She states as Master Hand gleefully shakes his head/glove.
"Good, thanks for understanding, another reason why they would make an interesting pair is because like her, this boy was brought into the world only to be thrust into a war." He says rolling up the paper and placing it in his coat pocket.
"I see so this will be a little experiment of sorts, to see these two young souls see a different kind of world." She says amused while he places his hands behind his back.
"In time I hope for them to get along, and be an example to the rest of the cast" he says before he turns to leave. "However I know this will be a somewhat rocky start, it will be a while before we get the results we are hoping for. However I have a feeling it will work out in the end." He finished with a snap of his fingers and poofs away.
"The new girl just collapsed in a hallway!" Pit suddenly appears and exclaims before he takes off running.
"..."
*End Flashback*
"So… So" Lucina says trying to comprehend what she just heard. "So because he decided to be a complete ass, I got stuck with him!" She says with a groan sliding a hand down her face. The dark angel in question was ahead humming obnoxiously loud to himself to ignore those behind him.
"I was originally assigned to be partnered with him, before Master Hand decided to change the roster." Rosalina spoke up as Lucina slumped her shoulders.
"Well that and of course, you both being the adorable little clueless children, it was the perfect match!" Palutena pipes up as she giggled.
"Yeah, well he hasn't exactly made it easy" she breathed out.
"Well to be fair, you did kind of instigate the conflict further" Rosalina spoke up. "So naturally he can't be blamed 100%" she stated as the bluenette turned towards her.
"That's not true I'm the victim here!" She protested and crossed her arms.
"But did you not draw your sword while he was leaving?" She says as Lucina stayed at a loss of words.
"Y-yeah, but" she began while stumbling with her words.
"You could've simply gone about your day, but you decided to confront him, weapon drawn and everything," Rosalina said as Lucina lowered her head, the cosmic princess was right afterall. She not only sealed her fate but she also shot herself in the foot while doing so.
"It's true Lucy, I saw the whole ordeal" Palutena adds. Lucina just sort of stared down at water as they walked along. There were many thoughts going through her head at that moment. And the sudden realization about her predicament hit her like a speeding train, she never saw it coming. "It's not all bad however, it seems as if both of you have improved since that first day." Palutena states, "even Pittoo has changed for the better, and I have a feeling it was partially due to you." She says while they watched him eagerly stomp away from him.
By now the water was down to their waist and the shore was becoming visible in the far off horizon. "We've got company!" Rosalina exclaims while pointing behind them.
"He just can't seem to take a hint this guy!" Palutena says rather flustered. Heading towards them at rapid speeds was a large shell covered in spikes. Lucina knew instantly what was coming, and knew from her last encounter they wouldn't last long against it.
"What do we do, we won't be able to outrun him?" Lucina says as she turns towards Dark Pit. "Pittoo?!" She exclaimed as he just turned around and kept on walking.
"Go, well take care of this, he's been a thorn in our side for too long now!" Palutena says ushering Lucina away.
"But you won't stand a chance!" The bluenette protested.
"Don't worry we'll be fine, we've been preparing for this!" She proclaims as she reaches behind her back and pulls out a branch that was carved into a likeness of her staff. Just then Bowser leaps out of the water towards them and Palutena swings her staff at him and strikes him in the face making him fall back into the water. "You better go catch up to your partner" She says motioning towards Dark Pit with her head. Bowser begins to raise from the water again with a deep growl as he slowly shakes his head.
Lucina promptly turns and begins to hurry off towards Dark Pit. She takes one last look behind her, seeing Bowser stomp forward with a loud roar as Palutena gets into a battle stance.
"Hey why did you leave!" She called out as she began to catch up. "Hey I'm talking to you!" She exclaims while grabbing his shoulder.
"What, what do you want!" He says in a bored tone.
"Once again you walk away from someone who could've used our help!" She protests as he simply scoffs and waves her off.
"You're overreaching Blue, besides that insufferable woman can hold her own in a battle." He states as he crossed his arms and turned his head.
"How can you be so sure?" She says as he motioned behind her with his head. She turns around to see both Palutena and Rosalina effectively pushing back the large terrapin and outmaneuvering him.
"Jeez you need to stop overreacting," he says as he turns around and continues walking away. By now the sky had turned a bright orange as the sun was getting closer to the ground. They continue onwards to the point where the water was below their knees now.
"Hey Lucy, you made it!" They hear a short while afterwards. They look up and see Raven sitting atop a large jagged rock. One of many, this whole area had large rocks coming out of the sand below their feet. Dark Pit just continued forward as Lucina watched the tactician climb down.
"How'd you get here so fast?" Lucina asks as Raven just breathed out slowly.
"Well it was mostly because Shulk and I raced each other across the lake to make things a little more interesting." She states with a shrug and a smile spread across her face. "So how'd you make it here, last time I checked you weren't the best in the swimming department." She says while she playfully nudges Lucina's shoulder.
"Well, I kinda had to depend on my partner for that" she says in a hushed voice a little embarrassed.
"Ahh I see" Raven responds as he turns her head slightly seeing Dark Pit was a fair distance away. She had a glint in her eye as she turned back towards Lucina with a sly smile. "Well to tell the truth the reason I was camped out here on the beach is because I'm a little strapped for points right now due to unfortunate circumstances." She states slowly moving towards Lucina. "I do recall doing you a favor earlier so now I ask one in return," she asks as she sighs and places her hands on Lucina's shoulders.
"Uh, I guess" Lucina answers a little confused while the tactician smirked.
"Then you'll make a fine redemption!" Raven states as she gave Lucina a hard shove making her fall backwards into the water.
"What are you doing?!" Lucia exclaimed as she sat up. Raven however sat on her lap to prevent her from standing up.
"Like I said I'm cashing in on my favor!" She proclaims as she placed her hands on Lucina's shoulders again to shove her into the water. Lucina just cried out before she was pushed under the surface. Dark Pit whips around and sees his partner being attacked.
"Oh what the hell?!" He exclaimed and began to rush towards them. He sees Raven turn her head to the side slightly as a sly smile spread across her face again. Before he could reached them however he was silently ambushed by Shulk from above.
"I can't let you interfere mate!" He says as both he and the dark angel circle one another.
Lucina manages to raise her head out of the water gasping for air. "W-why?" She breathes out while Raven stares down at her.
"Well…" She begins while she tires to put more weight on Lucina. "While I'm not necessarily blaming you, our luck has been a little bumpy since we ran into you." She says while Lucina was using all her might to keep her head above water. "And if you didn't know when you defeat someone, you don't just get their point for defeating them, no, no you get ALL the points they have amassed!" She says as she smiles rather psychotically at her. "And I see that you've managed to rack in quite a good amount of points there, enough to give us the boost we need!" She says pushing downwards with more force to lower the swordswoman into the water.
"I-I trusted you!" Lucia says in disbelief before she is shoved under.
"Yeah, well that's another reason why you were the perfect target." Raven sighs as she focuses on keeping the struggling bluenette submerged.
Dark Pit managed to drop Shulk into the ground and kick him in the face as he leaped over him. He rushes over towards the women and wraps his arms around Raven prying her off his partner. "Shulk what the hell?!" She says watching her partner fumble to get up. Lucina shoots out of the water and begins to cough up water. Something that seemed to be becoming a normal thing for her. She turns around getting on her hands and knees as she breathes heavily.
Raven rears her head back with force and hits Dark Pit right in the face, he lets go of her as he tumbled backwards. Before he could recover however Raven effectively kicked him in the chest sending him crashing into the water. She turns back around to see Lucina slowly trying to crawl away.
"You're not leaving yet are you, I feel like we still have more to catch up on!" She says as she walks over to the bluenette. She kneels beside her and places both her hands on her head trying to make her face plant into the water. Dark Pit gets up but before he could do anything he is jumped from behind by Shulk.
Lucina takes ahold of the tacticians arms and throws her over her head. Raven yelps as she is hurled over and thrown to the ground. As Raven tries to get back up Lucina rushes at her and tackles her into the water. She wraps an arm around Raven's neck while using her other to push her head into the water. "If that's the kind of game you want to play, fine by me!" Lucina exclaims while tightening her hold. Raven prys her arm loose however and pulls on it making Lucina fall over.
"Please don't make this harder than it needs to be!" Raven groans as she stands up while panting. Lucina stands and turns to face her getting in a battle stance. She had to be very cautious here as Raven could find any number of ways to effectively outmaneuver and over power her.
The guys however seemed to be in a stalemate at the moment. They both had their arms locked around each other trying to overpower the other. "You're… really good… at this aren't you?" Shulk breathes out in the middle of their stalemate.
"You… have… no idea!" Dark Pit responds as he punches the monado wielder in the abdomen making him lose his hold over him. He then picks him up and chokes slammed him into the ground. Shulk however grabs his arm and hurls him over using his legs to effectively throw Dark Pit over. It was exactly where he wanted him, or where he needed him to be according the plan Raven set out. He rushed over to a large loose pillar looking rock and pushed it over. It landed on top of Dark Pits lower half completely immobilizing him. Dark Pit grunted in pain as he tried to push the large rock off of him to no avail. He sees Shulk then begin to slowly approach him while panting hard.
"Sorry mate, nothing personal just following orders" he breathes out as he picks up a large boulder. Dark Pit now started to push at the large rock on him with more force. It seemed hopeless though Shulk was definitely about to smash his face in and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Dark Pit!" Lucina exclaims as she notices the predicament her partner is in.
"I wouldn't be so worried about him right now as you should yourself." Raven calls out as Lucina turns to face her only to have Raven grab her from behind just as Robin had done. Effectively immobilizing her and leaving her in the tacticians mercy. She could only watch as Shulk raised the bolder above his head ready to bring it down.
Before Shulk could crush Dark Pit however a Luma came and slammed into his face. This made him stumble backwards a little and he tried to stabilize himself. Rosalina then jumps out from behind a large rock and shoves the monado wielder. He loses his footing and falls backwards while losing his hold on the heavy boulder. He drops to the ground followed by the boulder that crushes him instantly, making him explode in a flash of light.
"What the!?" Raven exclaimed as someone came from behind and hit her over the head. She released Lucina as she dropped to the floor.
Rosalia then helps Dark Pit roll the large cylinder rock off him. "Don't worry I'm here to help you" she assures him as she helps him get to his feet. Raven is then surrounded by the four of them as she slowly rubbed her head. She stood up to see herself completely outnumbered.
"Well this is interesting" she says rather amused about her predicament.
"You're outmatched, you can surrender now or be put down by force!" Palutena states as a psychotic smile spreads across the tactician's face and her face darkened.
"You'd think that wouldn't you" she responds slowly as she lowered her head slightly. Palutena moved in to attack but Raven did a backflip effectively kicking the goddess's staff at a precise point snapping it in half. As Dark Pit moves in from behind she picks up the broken staff piece and shatters it on his head. She then catched the Luma that tried to slam into her and threw it back at its mother. Rosalina catches Luma making her fall backwards from the impact however.
"Y-you… you planned for this didn't you?" Lucina breathed out in disbelief as the tactician turned to her and giggled menacingly.
"There is no way you could've known this would play out this way!" Palutena states as she tried to attack Raven again with what was left of her staff. Raven caught the attack and kicked the goddess away.
"I'm stuck?!" Palutena called out as the sand began to swallow her. She looks up to see Raven with her psychotic smile on her face as she sank below the ground. She had fallen onto a pit trap that was set up by said tactician, (not the item an actual pit trap).
"Palutena!" Rosalina called out watching her partner disappear in a blink of an eye.
"You have this all coordinated, you knew where you wanted us and how to get us there!" Lucina says in disbelief while trying to land a hit on Raven. "Robin is good, very good, but I've never seen him be this precise and coordinated!" She exclaims in disbelief as Raven outmaneuvered her and pushed her into her very own spider web, which she concocted out of jungle vine. And due to its contrast blended in with the shadow of the rock. And as soon as Lucina touched it, it snapped loose of its holds and wrapped itself around her completely immobilizing her.
"She's been holding back" Dark Pit breathes out as he slowly stands up. "Up until now she has been taking it easy, but now she is utilising her skills to her full potential." He says as she turns to him and winks.
"How observant of you" she says bemused as he prepares for an attack. "While normally I wouldn't have to put soo effort into a competition this one is different. See with me and my partner suffering to land a good place on the tier list, and this being an evaluation of sorts our performance must be tip top. So I apologize for the inconvenience, however unfortunate this may be" She states with a pout and a shrug.
"So now we are finally seeing what you are truly capable of." Rosalina speaks up standing on the opposite side of Dark Pit boxing the tactician in.
"Funny you should mention that…" Raven states as she leans over and picks up a makeshift rope and pulls on it. Before the cosmic princess could react she was crushed instantly by one of the pillar shaped rocks.
"We walked right into her damn trap!" Dark Pit exclaims as he and Raven circled one another. By now she had even the odds of the battle effectively. Raven just extended her arm while telling the dark angel to 'bring it' like Falcon usually taunts. However knowing her he instead leaps up into the air and climbs one of the tall rocks.
"Really running away?" Raven huffs as Dark Pit disappeared out of view. "That's hardly a characteristic I'd ever expected you to have..." she calls out while slowly looking around her surroundings. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" She calls out again while slowly looking around for him. As she is about to peek behind the large rock he went to, he rushes her from the other side. He comes from behind and wraps his arms around her, immobilizing her from utilizing her arms effectively.
"Got you!" He says rather smugly as she scoffs.
"Oh Dark Pit you should know better than that!" She states as she used her legs to get the momentum to push him back against one of the large rocks. He gets slammed into it and she breaks free of his hold with a smirk on her face.
"You've had your chance..." she simply says as a large boulder fell from above due to Dark Pit slamming into the rock it was on. Although he throws himself out of the way before he is crushed by the thing. She just groaned seeing how her trap failed to end him as he got back up. "Oh come on don't be that guy!" She sighs as he carefully prepares for his next move. He rushes her again and she uses the rocks on her sides to lift herself and kick him away with both her feet. Before he could scramble back to his feet she places her foot on his chest and puts him down. And to keep him submerged she stands atop his chest to keep him down. He takes a hold of her legs however and sweeps her off her feet. He tries to follow up but she rolled away from him before he could pin her down. "Well I guess I could utilize this handy little tool that was given to me by a previous victim since you insist on being difficult." She says as she takes out a vine whip that previously belonged to a certain hero of winds.
She whips it at him wrapping it around his legs and dropping him to the floor. Before he could even recover she whipped it again this time wrapping it around his neck as she slowly dragged him towards her. He tries to unwrap it from his throat but to little avail it was tightly secured around him. Quickly thinking on his feet he grabs a shell from the sand and slams it against a rock, he picks up one of the shattered pieces and uses it to cut her makeshift whip. He loosens it as he gets to his feet and tugs on it pulling her towards him. He quickly takes a hold of her and prepares to choke slam her as he did Shulk earlier. However she jumps up and wraps herself around his arm making him lose balance and fall over. Before he could get up however she traps his head between her thighs and drops him into the water. He thrashed around furiously for a bit but it was no use, it was checkmate. He stops thrashing shortly after and explodes in a flash of light.
She gets up and rests her hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath. She then begins to walk back to where she left Lucina. "Now where were we?" She says as she turns the corner to find the bluenette had escaped her bounds. She turns around and is then grabbed by a large hand and lifted off the ground. She was completely taken by surprise by Ganondorf of all people who was glaring at her as she struggled in his hold.
"It's good to see you again dear sister" Robin says as he is sitting atop the rock behind him. "You didn't forget about us, did you?" He says while she continued to smack Ganon's arm.
"Let me go you big oaf!" She exclaimed while still struggling in the gerudos hold. "What did you do to Lucina?!" She breathes out as Robin jumps down from the rock he was on. He then simply makes a hand gesture to the large rock he was on as Lucina slowly slides out from behind it. "No… Gah!" Raven breathed out as Lucina turned around to face Robin.
"This doesn't change anything" she states bluntly to the tactician who just kept his gaze straight.
"I know, and I wouldn't expect it too" he replied as she began to walk away. "Now sister, you wouldn't happen to have those points I lent you by any chance right?" He says as Ganon slams her against one of the rocks.
Lucina knew if she made it to the next checkpoint she could revive her partner without them having to double back. When she was a good few meters away she heard a loud explosion of light from behind her. Ravens' reign of terror was finally brought to an end...
Shortly after that she was finally out of the water and into a sandy beach. She pulled out her map as she had seen Dark Pit do so many times to see the next checkpoint was right around the corner. She began to sprint towards it, it was the start of a pavement path apparently. She hears her watch beep momentarily and she breathes a huge sigh of relief.
Suddenly however someone grabs her from behind and puts her in a headlock. "Miss me?" she sees Raven lean over her shoulder and whisper in her ear. Although she looked like hell surely taking on Robin and Ganon wouldn't have been an easy task, let alone solo. And yet here she was albeit a little roughed up.
"That's not possible!" Lucina cried out as Raven chuckled dryly.
"I can't stress this enough, but never underestimate an opponent!" she states as she tightens her hold around Lucina dropping the last of her bar and making her explode in a flash of light.
She reappears shortly after alongside her partner. "Blue come on don't let your guard down!" Dark Pit groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. They both land on the pavement below and their wetsuits are replaced by biker gear, with helmets and all that. Although Dark Pit's gear was blue whereas Lucina's was pink. Not only that but two bikes appeared next to them as well.
"Alright let's finish this!" Dark Pit proclaims as he mounts his bike.
"Hold on what is this thing?" Lucina asks rather confusedly while staring at her bike.
"It's kinda like a metal horse if you will, it should be easy to figure out, I mean you at least know how to ride a horse don't you?" He says as he crosses his arms with a look of amusement as she scowls at him.
"Of course I know how to ride a horse!" She fires back and mounts her bike only to instantly fall over. Dark Pit throws his head back and begins howling with laughter. "What the hell?" She protests as she gets back up and kicks her bike.
"Don't put your feet on the petals until you start moving dipstick!" He informs her through his snickering as she just frustratingly groans.
"Yeah now you tell me!" she mumbles to herself and mounts her bike again and this time begins to pedal away although she wobbles around for a short distance before going straight into a bush. Dark Pit however was just dying of laughter at her misfortunes.
"Just relax, don't over do it" he says while wiping some tears away. All while she drags her bike out of the bush and back into the pavement.
"This is nothing like riding a horse!" She protests and throws her helmet on the floor in a fit.
"You're right, learning to ride a bike is like 100 times easier" he responds. "Look just keep pedaling and keep your handle straight and you should be fine. Try not to be nervous and shake all around or you'll end up in another bush." He says as she picks up her helmet and mounts her bike again with a long groan. She begins pedaling while focusing on not wobbling the handle so much. "There you go now you got it!" He says as they begin to slowly ride off.
"This, this may not be so bad" She says as she starts getting the hang of it and picks up speed.
"Alright try to keep up slowpoke!" He says as he zooms off ahead .
"Oh no you don't" she says to herself and begins to pedal faster to catch up to the dark angel...
Alrighty guys and grills that is it for now the second part of the triathlon, and next is the final segment, who will come out on top? Oooooh suspense!
Anyway I'll catch you all later, whenever later ends up being. I'll try not to delay the next chapter too much to not leave you guys hanging, alright so Toodles! （〜^∇^)〜
Next chapter: Trinity…