12/19

“Alas, the time has come, Pit.” Lady Palutena said with a deep sigh as she paced the floor.

“T-Time for what, Lady Palutena?” Pit asked, concerned for the goddess of light.

“Time for you to dig your face into this cake!” Palutena produced a chocolate frosted cake slice to the angel. “Happy birthday, Pit!”

“Oh, Lady Palutena! Thank you!” Pit cried out in joy as he took the cake gladly. He took the fork and began to eat as if it were is his last day alive.

“Hey Pit Stain.” A gruff voice called from behind him. Pit looked up from shoving his face and turned around.

“PITTOOF!” Pit shouted, his mouth still full of cake as he greeted his clone. He pulled him into a hug, seeming to forget about the cake he had been interested in just a second ago.

“Okay, okay, OKAY! YOU’RE SQUEEZING TOO TIGHT!” Dark Pit wheezed out, causing Pit to let him go.

“Sormf-” Pit swallowed the last bit that was in his mouth. “Sorry, Pittoo.”

“Okay, since it’s your birthday, I’ll allow the nickname for just today.” Dark pit wrinkled his nose and dusted off his black chiton. “Also, next time, don't talk with your mouth full. You got crumbs everywhere.”

“Sorry….”

“And stop saying sorry all the time too! That’s annoying as well!”

“Sor-.” Pit caught himself. “Okay.”

“Better. Now that I’m done scolding the captain of your army, Palutena. Wanna show him the surprise?”

“Gladly. You also have a surprise, Dark Pit. Don’t forget that!” Palutena said with a small giggle.

“For the last time, Palutena. I don't want any of your pathetic gifts.” Dark Pit sneered, crossing his arms.

“Well, too bad!”

“Ugh, you all are such pains in my neck.”

“I hope you’re not talking about me!” A highly annoying feminine voice said from behind the group.

“Ah, Viridi. So nice of you to finally join us!” Palutena greeted her fellow goddess.

“I wouldn’t want to miss the birthday of our two little angels!” Viridi said, laughing obnoxiously.

“Tch. Who says I’m little?!” Dark Pit shot back. “Pit maybe, but myself?”

“Well, you are a clone of me, so I think we're the same height.” Pit chipped in.

“Tch, whatever. Besides, even though I’m Pit Stains clone, that doesn't mean our birthdays are the same day.” Dark Pit retorted, his arms still crossed.

“We’re getting off topic. Besides, I’m sure our readers won’t want to listen to an argument being dragged on by us!” Palutena intervened.

“Right. Now, let us move to the courtyard!” Viridi said, ushering the group outside. The hallways were filled with dazzling lights as they made it outside.

“Aaaaaaand, open your eyes!” Palutena said, showing off the new merch.

“Wait a second, is that….. OH, GREAT GODS, IT’S A STATUE OF ME AND PITTOO!” Pit cried out and leaped for joy.

“Wow, when did you get that commissioned?” Dark Pit asked with a chuckle.

“A while back. Those carvers really went all out, traveling over half of the known world to get the finest material. Then the sculpting process took a while as well.” Palutena mused, placing her hands on her hips with a smile.

“Okay, sure, but why am I on here?” Dark Pit asked, circling the statue.

“Isn’t it obvious, shell brain? You helped us defeat Hades in at least a small way.” Viridi said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, I guess I did.” Dark said, rolling his eyes back at Viridi.

“Yes, but now that we’ve had some fun, there is an issue to attend to.” Lady Palutena said, approaching the group after she had slipped away.

“What is it, Lady Palutena?” Pit asked, looking to the goddess.

“A pyrokinetic sorceress is harassing a nearby village with her powers. You need to stop her before she burns down the entire place.”

“On it!” Pit dashed back to the armory to equip himself with a weapon. Once he was suited up, he dashed out the door and Lady Palutena granted him the power of flight. “Wow. as it really been this long since we’ve “moved out” on a mission?”

“Yeah. I’m still in disbelief too, Pit. I wonder what the humans have been up to while we’ve been dormant”

“Well, from the looks of it, they’ve been improving their society greatly! I wonder what new technologies they have come up with! And, of course, the new temples they built. I hear they’re massive!” Pit mused as he shot down some flying enemies and a Souffle.

“That’s good news about the humans advancing in their societies. As for the temples, I’m flattered that we have new people who know about us, and build temples for us. Those believers surely must be good people.”

“You know as well as I do that the humans can be relentless! You saw what they did for that wish seed.”

“I do remember that. Sometimes they are greedy, but they can also be sweet, caring, and even fun. Just like you Pit!”

“Lady Palutena, for the last time, please stop flattering me. Just because it’s my birthday, doesn't mean I always want to be the center of attention.”

“You may not, but I adore the attention, Pit Stain.” A gruff voice said from behind the light angel.

“Huh? Oh, hey Pittoo! I didn’t realise that you would be joining me!” Pit replied happily as he kept an eye out for more enemies.

“Yeah, well, Viridi deemed it necessary that I “accompany you on your mission,” so I had no other choice.”

“Well, when you put it that way….”

“Pit! You’re nearing the town now! I’m taking you down there!” Lady Palutena interrupted.

“Ahhh! Thaaaanks for the warniiiiiing.” Pit shouted as he suddenly shifted into a nosedive.

“Coming in hot!” Dark Pit comentated as the two dove to the ground. Once the two were close enough to the ground, they stood up and their wings stopped glowing.

“We seemed to have awoken some of the sleeping creatures with our landing. Pit! On your left!” Lady Palutena said just in time. Pit rolled out of the way as a black claw slashed at where he had just been a moment ago.

“WHOA! Um, Lady Palutena, what is that thing?!” Pit asked as he used his weapon to fire at it.

“If I’m not mistaken, that’s a Daidald (DIE-dalds).” A child-like voice said.

“Took you long enough, Viridi.” Dark Pit retorted as he helped shoot the creature.

“Well, so-rry I was busy updating my nature guides, you ungrateful little angel!” Viridi snapped back. “ANYways, Daidals are also known as Creatures of the Night or Black Holes, since they like sucking souls. Don’t let their insane reach fool you, it’s the eyes you wanna worry about.”

“Why the eyes?” Pit asked, slightly confused by her explanation of the creature.

“The claws only pull you in. If it grabs you, try and mash out of it! The eyes are what suck your soul out of your body, but it only works when they’re glowing! They only glow when their prey in in their grasp!” Viridi explained while the two angels dodged another one of the Daidalds’ claws.

“Great. Thanks for the advise. Now let us work!” Dark Pir retorted as he fired more shots that seemed to be doing little damage. “Ugh! This will take forever!”

“Hey Pittoo! Look! It’s got a weak spot right there in a chink of it’s shoulder blade!” Pit said, pointing to the glowing orange spot.

‘Nice spot, Pit Stain. I must say, you can be pretty observant when it comes to these types of things.” Dark Pit said as he tried to nail a shot in the weak spot. Pit skid to a stop to look at Dark.

“Huh? You mean that?!” He was so surprised that he hadn’t noticed the claw reaching behind him. “ ARGH-!” Pit howled as the claw gripped around his body and began to pull him closer to its eyes.

“Pit!” Lady Palutena cried out in despair as she watched the captain to her guard being pulled towards the deadly eyes..

“Dark Pit gasped, narrowing his eyes at the creature before charging at the arm. “I’VE GOT YOU, PIT STAIN!” He shouted before slicing the arm clean off. Pit fell to the ground with a small thump.

“Owwww. Thank you, Pittoo.” He said, groaning as he stood up. He straightened himself out, then fired one last shot at the creature. The projectile hit its mark and the creature exploded into a wave of black liquid. “Ew… What is that?! It looks like tar!” He exclaimed.

“I don't know, but do us all a favor and don’t touch it. It smells bad enough here, I don't want to have to deal with it when we get back home.” Dark said before walking around the puddle of now bubbling liquid.

“Hhhhh, I don't want to touch that. It looks like black lava.” Pit said, following the path Dark had taken around the puddle.

“The fire magics’ aura is becoming stronger. We must be nearing the sorceress.” Lady Palutena said as the two climbed up some steps.

“Pittoo, I don't think you were smelling the tar…” Pit said, pointing to the sky. Thick, acrid smoke billowed into the sky. As the two angels drew closer, they could see villagers houses ablaze in a purple flame. A few good samaritans tried to put out the flames with water, but it had little effect on the widely spreading flames.

“Whoa! Who would do such a thing?!” Dark growled angrily over the sounds of the humans panic.

“Your guess is as good as mine, Pittoo.” Pit replied, feeling great sorrow for the poor humans.“Lady Palutena? Viridi? Can either of you do anything about the flames?” He asked in a concerned tone

“We’ll try our best. I’ll look up these flames in the magic guide.” Viridi reported.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help the humans. Right now, you two have to go face this sorceress. I’ve set up some grind rails that lead to where the magic is the strongest. You are going to be mostly on your own for this battle, so help each other out. You have to have each others backs.” Palutena replied and the two angels went off to the grind rail. They leapt onto it and made their way up to a ritual casting area on top of the mountains.

☬☬☬☬☬☬

“Evil pyrokinetic sorceress before me! Stop your reign of terror now or face justice! I am Pit, servant to the goddess of light!” Pit chanted with confidence.

“And I am Dark Pit, ally of the Forces of Nature!” Dark Pit chimed in just as confident

“And it’s time for you turn down the heat! Aww yeah!” Both of them chanted at the same time

“Well, well! If it isn’t the little messenger boys! I see you’ve taken down my favorite pet Daidald. No matter, I’ll crush you in return!” The sorceress said with a smirk. “I wonder: if I crush you two enough, will you explode too?! Oh boy, would that be satisfying!”

“Not with fire we won’t! We would become burnt corpses before we’d even get a chance explode!” Dark Pit retorted as he fired his staff.

“Not with Akelus! That acts as a black hole and it’ll stretch you out like a noodle!” She said with a smirk as she fiddled with her staff. “Now, I just have to configure this to the right setting…..”

“Wait! We never caught your name!” Pit said in an attempt to distract her from her staff. Surprisingly, she stopped and looked up

“Oh? I thought that I was well known… Hmmmm. My name Quorra.” She told them as Dark pit snuck behind her for a surprise attack. He took the opportunity and shot her in the back a few times.

“GAH! YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU SHOOT ME WHILE MY BACK IS TURNED?!” Quorra shouted before unleashing a wave of normal colored fire all around her.

“Whoa!” Both Pit’s shouted as they quickly dodged out of the fires’ range.

“That was uncalled for missy.” Dark Pit said before firing his staff again. Pit also continued to barrage the sorceress with attacks.

“Pit! I just figured this out! You need to break her staff in order to get rid of all the fire!” Lady Palutena said after being quite for the longest time

“That’s a copy, Lady Palutena! It’s so good to hear your voice again!” Pit said happily as he looked to Dark Pit to make sure he had heard the message as well.

“What, were you getting lonely with only Pittoo to keep you company?” Palutena asked with a small chuckle.

The three continued to exchange blows, the Pit’s working together to try and break the staff, while Quorra threw out wave after wave of flames. Pit noticed a jump pad nearby and decided to use it to his advantage. He took a running start and leapt onto the pad. When he had enough air, he sniped Quorra’s staff, causing it to snap in half and release a shockwave of power.

“KYA~!” Quorra shouted as a shockwave knocked her off of feet and caused her to collapse onto the ground.

“Fire extinguished!” Pit cheered in victory while Dark Pit cracked his knuckles.

☬☬☬☬☬☬

Quorra looked up at Pit, a small bloodstain on her lip. She cracked a wide, creepy smile as she began to laugh in a low tone.

“It’s over, Quorra! You won’t be harassing these humans any more!” Pit said, but this comment only made her laugh louder, and it was even creepier.

“Oh no, little messenger. It has only just begun! You have taken out but one pawn. The King still reigns high upon his throne, waiting for the checkmate. I hope we meet again. I would love to show you my full potential.” Quorra said before collapsing on the ground. As her face slammed the sacrificial stone, she melted into the same black substance the Daidald before had exploded into.

“I still don't know what this substance is.” Dark Pit said, looking at the bubbling substance curiously.

“Do us a favor and bring back a sample of it. I can test it out in my laboratory.” Viridi said.

“Look! There’s a potion bottle! Put some of the liquid in that.” Lady Palutena said, and Pit carried out the action.

“Yuck. Let’s just hope the glass is enchanted enough to hold- whatever this is.” Pit commented, shaking his head in disgust.

“Let’s get you two back so you can clean up.” Lady Palutena commented before pulling the two angels out via her light teleportation.