Hello! This story is based off The Vagrant Angel by SaccharoKirby, but unfortunately I've been unable to find any of their social media accounts or the full version of the comic. Although this story is set in the Smash Bros universe, there are a few references to Kid Icarus: Uprising, but nothing significant enough to make the plot unclear. Also, the cover art isn't mine. I hope you enjoy the story! - Persimmon

Chapter 1

Dark Pit held the paper gingerly but firmly, careful not to crumple it. He ran his finger over the smooth wax seal of the envelope and read over the letter's message again. Congratulations! Pit, Dark Pit, and Palutena are invited to participate as fighters in the newest installation of Super Smash Bros.…

Pit was practically bouncing with sheer excitement. "I can't believe all three of us made it in!"

Palutena drew her staff closer to herself, pensively. "I still don't understand why they chose to include me…" Her eyes lit up with determination. "But I'll do my best!"

Viridi laughed snarkily. Of course she'd happened to visit right as Pit received Skyworld's invitation letter from Smash. "Maybe so that everyone can see why you need an angel to do all the legwork for you. Just don't lose too pathetically, it would make the rest of us gods look weak."

Pit jumped to Palutena's defense instantly. "Lady Palutena is more than capable of fighting! And you're one to talk, Viridi; you weren't even invited to Smash!"

She smirked, arms crossed. "I know, I know. That's 'cause I don't fight. I strategize. But I'll only help you dolts if you ask me nicely."

Pit copied her stance. "Help? Like you helped the commanders of your Forces of Nature lose to me one after another?"

Dark Pit tuned out their argument as he continued reading through the letter. There was stuff about selecting a moveset, a list of rules, guidelines on alternate outfits… as he came to understand how real it was, he just felt more exhilarated. He barely noticed the occasional fluttering of his wings, and didn't try to stop it. "Excited, Pittoo?" He looked up to see Palutena gazing at him fondly, and simply nodded in response. "You know, you look just like Pit when he got his letter last time. He didn't sleep at all that night, not even after I read him a bedtime story."

"H-Hey! Lady Palutena!" Pit yelled in betrayal as Viridi snickered and Palutena giggled mischievously. He let it go just as quickly, and turned to his twin. "I'm so happy that we'll get to fight together, Pittoo! I know the others will like you a lot. Meta Knight and Ganondorf already think you're interesting. They said you play the guitar really well."

Dark Pit frowned warily. "Wait, how do they know about that before they've even met me?"

"Well…" Pit rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I might have shown them the video?"

He yelped at the swift kick Dark Pit gave him. "I will kill you next time you show that to anyone!"

"Sorry, but you make your theme sound so nice! You know, I'm sure they'd like you anyways." Dark Pit was normally the more pragmatic twin, but this time he allowed himself to look forward to his next adventure. Just pure fighting; no gods and their stupid egos, no armies, no demons. This is going to be great.

There was going to be a gathering for all of the fighters to meet each other, and Dark Pit guessed he'd be waiting alone. Pit had decided to meet all of his friends from his last time in Smash, which would probably take forever. And as insecure as Palutena had been about her divine status, she'd instantly found two goddess friends in Rosalina, a mother lenient enough to bring her Lumas into battle with her, and Zelda, the incarnation of the goddess Hylia. At least that's all he'd understood from her excited explanation before she went off with them.

Dark Pit traced the engravings on his Silver Bow. This weapon's my best bet. After all, it's the one I have the most experience with, and I'm just as good at using it in its blade form… He was snapped out of his thoughts by a voice. "Pit!"

Pit wasn't anywhere nearby, so Dark Pit turned to see who called. Walking towards him was a young man, more like a teenager, whom he immediately recognized as Link, alongside a small, similar-looking boy who waved excitedly. That must be Toon Link. "Ahoy!"

Pit had once mentioned that Link was usually pretty reserved, but was very talkative with his friends. Now Dark Pit could confirm it for himself as Link started talking. "It's been a while, huh? How have things been in Skyworld? I see you're starting with your 'fallen angel' outfit. I'd try out my Dark Link palette, but Wind here thinks it's too scary."

Toon Link poked him. "Knock it off, Twilight! I'm not scared. It's just so cursed that I'm only going to use it for intimidation. I'm not scared."

Link chuckled. "Sure you're not. Saying it twice doesn't change anything." His brow furrowed as he got closer to Dark Pit. "Wait a second, you look a little–"

"Different?" Dark Pit interrupted, dryly. "You've got me confused with the other guy. I'm Dark Pit."

Link's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry about that! You and Pit seem so similar…"

"Are you brothers?" Toon Link asked eagerly.

Dark Pit made his answer as direct as possible. "No."

"That's not something you just ask someone, Wind!" Link hissed, glaring at Toon Link.

He tried again. "Then I guess you might be sort of like Dark Link, right? He's this shadow-creature that copies our moves."

Dark Pit crossed his arms. "I can tell you for sure I'm not a shadow-creature, and I don't copy anyone."

"That was an even worse question, Wind!" Toon Link smiled apologetically with an earnest "Sorry!", and Link turned to Dark Pit. "In any case, it's nice to meet you, Dark Pit. The gathering and first battles should be starting soon. Let's go."

There were more fighters there than Dark Pit had expected, and as soon as he located Pit, he was dragged around to meet everyone, starting with Meta Knight. "Meta Knight, look! This is my twin, Pittoo!"

"For the last time, stop calling me that," Dark Pit muttered. "And we're not related."

Meta Knight's glowing yellow eyes examined him through his mask. "He's your malevolent clone created from a mirror?" he queried, in his surprisingly deep, accented voice.

Dark Pit looked to Pit for an explanation, but he seemed equally surprised. "What? How did you guess?"

"I know better than you realize," was the only response they were given as Meta Knight wrapped his cape around himself, disappearing in a tornado. While Pit went to look for him, Dark Pit was more focused on Meta Knight's word choice. Malevolent? Isn't that a bad thing? I… don't think he meant that. It made sense, but he struggled to convince himself.

There were more than 50 fighters in total. Dark Pit had time to count, being one of the last few fighters in the list. I'm going to beat them all at some point. It won't be easy, but I know I can do it. When all eyes were on him, Dark Pit introduced himself just as he planned, grateful that he hadn't inherited Pit's stage fright. "I'm Dark Pit. I'll be happy to rain death upon all of you, so watch out."

There were a couple of murmurs, and he smirked at Pit and Palutena's exasperated looks, but then a question arose. "I would assume that makes you an Echo Fighter, correct?" Robin asked, looking up from his open tome at Dark Pit.

"I'm not anyone's echo." The dead silence following his response told him exactly what everyone was thinking. Dark Pit was annoyed at himself. Why did I even say that? Of course I'm an echo. I've always been an echo.

Lucina finally spoke up. "Being an Echo Fighter just means that you have the same moves as another fighter. Including you, there are three of us here. Dr. Mario is Mario's echo fighter, of course, and I'm honoured to use the same techniques as the Hero-King Marth."

"But I'm not exactly like Pit. We use different weapons, and he doesn't have a staff named after him." Dark Pit wasn't sure what he was trying to resist, but whatever it was, he knew he wanted to prove that he wasn't just a clone.

Robin flipped through the pages of his book. "You two only differ in three moves, but even then, you both use a bow and a gauntlet-like weapon. Tactically speaking, you're identical."

"I'd say he's more of a palette swap than a clone." Dark Pit turned to see Bowser glaring directly at him. "And I thought Dr. Mario was a bad idea."

In the second it took Dark Pit to think of a comeback, Pit retaliated. "Pittoo's not a palette swap! He's a skilled fighter in his own right!"

"You're our first 'dark' fighter, aren't you?" Mario mused. "Shadow Mario sure was hard to defeat! Pit must've had it just as hard. How many times did you beat him?"

"I…" His voice trailed off as he realized what the answer was. Zero. The only time I won was when I kicked him after we beat Pandora. Come to think of it, he mostly ignored me to focus on so many other enemies.

In the moments after Dark Pit's refusal to answer, he could make out some of the things people were mumbling to each other, and came up with responses in his mind that he didn't dare to say out loud. "That means he's weaker than Pit." Does it? I can beat him in sparring, so I can definitely beat him in battle! "What's the point of two of them?" Because we're different, obviously! "Give him a chance." Give me a chance and I'll prove all of you idiots wrong. "What a waste of a fighter." A… what?

He kept his gaze downcast to hide the angry blush he could feel on his face. He thought he'd implode until Marth broke up the discussions. "Everyone! Let's commence the battles, shall we? Anyone who wishes to fight may challenge anyone else, so for these first few days, we can witness each fighter's skills."

It came as no surprise to anyone when Dark Pit didn't volunteer. There were more than enough fighters who were willing to participate, though, so he was content with watching from the sides. Pit was one of the first to fight. "Link!" he called, holding up his bow. "Up for a rematch?"

Link gave a determined grin as he picked up the Master Sword and Hylian Shield. "Hyah."

Dark Pit analyzed their fight carefully. Link was strong and could adapt quickly, but since it was a rematch, Pit had the advantage of having experience fighting him. He opened with a flurry of spinning-blade attacks to counter Link's offensive, and kept him at bay with blade slashes and a few carefully-timed strikes with the Upperdash Arm. He seemed to panic whenever Link threw bombs or shot arrows at him, which was why the match was still fairly even. Just shield and use your Orbitars, you idiot!

While he was heavily invested as Pit took Link down twice but was knocked out once himself, Dark Pit was distracted by a conversation he could make out from the stands above him. "If this guy's so good, why'd they add another fighter just like him?" That was a kid's voice. Not Toon Link. Maybe Ness? "They could've invited everyone from last time if they didn't waste space on echo fighters."

"Like Snake and Lucas, yeah? And the Ice Climbers, and the Pokémon trainer… man, it was so fun back then." If Dark Pit had to guess, that was Sonic.

They were just reminiscing about their past adventure, but it still stung. He tried to forget about it, and focused on the fight instead. Pit and Link were now equal in terms of KOs, and this was the deciding point. It looked like Pit was finally utilizing his Orbitars, and once he'd inflicted enough damage, he attacked with one last set of slashes that had the power to send Link offstage. Pit took a moment to catch his breath, but smiled brightly after helping Link to his feet. He flashed a peace sign as Link clapped. "Victory!"

Pit was congratulated by everyone about everything: his fighting, his spirit, his sportsmanship. Link offered another match– after they recovered, of course– to settle it in a best of three, which Pit eagerly accepted. Dark Pit was the first person he sought out specifically, rushing up to him breathlessly while holding onto Palutena's hand so that they didn't lose each other in the crowd. Not that anyone could miss Palutena's long green hair or Pit's large, feathery wings. "Pittoo! How did I do?"

"Not bad, I guess," was his indifferent response. He didn't say what he was thinking. You did better than I think I ever can. Why would you set the bar so high for your… clone?