Kid Icarus: Rise of the Fighters

[K-NiGhT]

Prologue: A Goddess in Need

A streak of lightning and a crash of thunder ripped through the sky yet again, waking a young girl from her light slumber. However, even though she was only the size of an eight year old, this was no child. This was Viridi, the goddess of nature. She commanded the Forces of Nature, and up until recently, her goal was the extermination of all humans on Earth.

That is, until she met that dimwitted angel, Pit, and the Goddess of Light, Palutena. The two of them waged war against her while simultaneously battling the God of the Underworld, Hades. During their war, which had raged on for over three years, Viridi had had a change of heart, and decided to aid Pit and Palutena in defeating Hades and restoring peace to the world.

The goddess got up from her bed and walked to the window to view the storm outside. For some reason, this storm gave her a sense of foreboding. She ran her hand through her long, blonde hair and shivered a little bit. She debated on whether or not to call Pit's "evil" clone, Dark Pit to come to her aid, but she decided that it wouldn't make much of a difference. He had probably left somewhere, anyway. Ever since the battle with Hades had ended, Dark Pit had been training his wings to the point of exhaustion, just so he was able to fly on his own. That was just him, though. He was always the lone wolf.

Viridi shook her head. What am I doing? she asked herself. I am a Goddess. I am not allowed to get lost in thought like this. Something terrible could happen if I let my guard down for too long.

You're right, an eerily familiar voice whispered into her head.

Viridi jumped and spun around, but saw no one. "Who's there?" she shouted. "Show yourself!"

It's a shame there's nothing left of me to show, the voice whimpered with sarcasm. One of the minor setbacks of being dead. At least tell me you haven't forgotten this dashing voice!

"Hades!" Viridi gasped.

Ding ding ding! the evil god cackled. We have a winner!

"What do you want?" Viridi demanded.

Oh, dear Viridi, Hades groaned somewhat sensually. It's not what I want, it's what you want! Last time I checked, that was the destruction of all humans.

"I don't have a problem with the humans anymore," Viridi huffed. "I've left them to their devices."

You don't seem to understand, Hades said. You really don't have a choice in the matter. I need the souls of those humans to get my body back, and you're going to help me get them! Suddenly, a black storm cloud separated itself from the black sky up ahead and drifted into Viridi's room. It let loose a wicked bolt of lighting that hit the goddess head-on. Viridi screamed as she fell to the ground paralyzed. The cloud picked her up and carried her outside into the storm.

[K-NiGhT]

Chapter 1:  Phosphora's Plea

The sun was just coming up over Skyworld, but two angels were already awake. Pit and his not-so-evil twin Dark Pit (more affectionately named Pittoo) were together in a special training room designed by Palutena herself specifically for training angels like Pit and Dark Pit, as well as her Centurions. Pit was equipped with the golden bow that Palutena had bestowed upon him back when he fought alongside many other famous heroes against Tabuu and the forces of Subspace, and Dark Pit was wielding an identical bow of a silver color. The two of them moved nearly identically to each other, causing the spar to drag out for a long period of time. Either they would both shoot an arrow at the same time, which would cancel out once they made contact, or they would get up close and melee, also to no avail. The two of them moved in sync in order to prevent injuries to either one of them. Eventually, they both gave up and fell to the ground.

"Not bad, Pit-stain," Dark Pit praised somewhat sarcastically. "You're starting to catch up to me."

"What do you mean, 'catch up?'" Pit asked. "We're basically clones. We're equal."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dark Pit dismissed. "Anyway, check this out!" Pittoo jumped up onto his feet and took a running leap. Pit cringed, as he expected his twin to fall flat on his face, but that didn't happen. Instead, he looked up to see his darker half actually flying on his own!

"Holy cow!" Pit cried. "How are you flying on your own?"

"After I beat Pandora at the Rewind Spring, some of her leftover power made it back to me," Pittoo explained. "It's not indefinite, but it definitely lasts longer than five minutes."

"Can't say I'm not jealous," Pit groaned. "It's always been my dream to fly on my own."

"Trust me, I know," Pittoo said to him, almost smiling a little bit. "What's the deal with that, anyway?"

"I would think you'd know," Pit huffed, crossing his arms.

"I honestly don't," Dark Pit sighed. He lowered himself back down to the ground softly. "All I know is that neither of us can fly on our own without the help of somebody else's Power of Flight."

"I guess I'll tell you another time, then," Pit assured him. "Right now, I want some breakfast!"

"Sounds good," Dark Pit agreed. "Race you there!" He pushed Pit out of the way and dashed for the door.

"Hey, no fair!" Pit whined, chasing after his counterpart. As they ran in the straight line toward the Dining Hall, Pit had a flash of inspiration. He quickly activated one of the Powers that Palutena had given to him, the power of Super Speed. Instantly, Pit took off at a blindingly fast clip towards Pittoo, easily passing him and beating him to the Dining Hall.

"How's that?" Pit goaded his twin as he opened the door into the hall.

"Whatever," Dark Pit said, blowing on a piece of his hair. "Anybody can cheat with those dumb Powers."

"You can always get some, too, you know," Pit reminded him. "Just ask Lady Palutena for some!"

"It doesn't matter if I'm staying here or not," Pittoo reminded him. "I'm still nobody's pawn!" the two them sat down at a table while some Centurions got busy fixing them breakfast.

"You don't have to be!" Pit said. "Lady Palutena and I just want to help you out. You're kind of, well, important to us."

"What, in that you need to keep me contained?" Pittoo accused. "Is it because I'm 'wicked' and 'destructive?'"

"That's not it at all!" Pit cried. "It's more that you're a part of me, and Lady Palutena needs all of me to be the Captain of her Guard."

"Whatever," Pittoo said again. They had received their food and began to eat in silence. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky outside and found its way into Palutena's chamber. It stopped in there and exploded with a wicked clap of thunder.

"What was that?" one of the Centurions asked. "That went straight into Lady Palutena's chamber!"

"We've gotta go make sure she's okay!" Pit cried, looking at Dark Pit. His twin nodded and the two of them ran straight over to Palutena's chamber and jumped in through the window. There they saw the green-haired Goddess of Light standing at her throne, and another woman kneeling down in front of her. This woman appeared to be younger with blonde hair. She wasn't wearing a whole lot in the way of clothing, but her most noticable feature was her blue scarf that seemed to be conducting electricity at the end.

"Phosphora!" Pit shouted, reaching for his bow.

"Easy, Pit," Palutena said, easily soothing Pit with her voice. "Phosphora isn't here to attack us. In fact, I think you may want to hear what she's just told me."

"Thank you, Lady Palutena," the young Goddess said, getting back up onto her feet. "Long time no see, Pit. You're still looking awfully cute." She looked over at Dark Pit and did a double take. "And am I seeing double? Who's this equally handsome young man?"

"Uh..." Dark Pit stammered.

"That's Dark Pit," Palutena explained. "He was created from Pit using the Mirror of Truth. He's pretty much Pit's, 'dark side.'"

"Ooh, a bad boy!" Phosphora shrieked. "I like that."

"Why are you here, Phosphora?" Pit demanded, growing impatient.

"I think somebody's jealous," Phosphora sighed. "But I'm rambling. To make a long story short here, Viridi's gone."

"Gone?" Pit repeated, not seeming to understand. "What do you mean by, 'gone?'"

"'Gone,' as in, 'missing,'" Phosphora clarified. "As in, nobody knows where she is. Arlon's been trying to track her from up in the Lunar Sanctum, but she doesn't seem to be anywhere on the planet."

"That's really weird," Pit said.

"You're telling me," Phosphora said. "The only other place she could possibly be would be the Underworld, but she would have no reason to go there."

"So basically, she's been kidnapped," Dark Pit guessed.

"That's what it's looking like," Palutena confirmed. "But why do you need our help?"

"You guys have Thanatos' key to the Underworld," Phosphora reminded her. "You're the only ones who can get down there and rescue Viridi!"

"Finally, an excuse to stretch my wings a little!" Pit said, getting excited. "Let's do this!"

"I've gotta admit, peace is really boring," Pittoo added, cracking his knuckles.

"Thank you," Phosphora said. "You have the full support of the Forces of Nature behind you."

"You heard Phosphora," Palutena told them. "Get geared up for a trip to the Underworld. We're getting Viridi back!"