smash_logs | (no subject)

The message Hajime left on the network haunted him. It beckoned him back into the tunnels, into the pockets of space that split open throughout FDC. He couldn't stand the idea of the city being in such grave danger as that. If he let it get worse than it had to be, he might even lose someone else dear to him.

When the bomb blew up, Pit's dread flared up into a panic. He flew into action mode, trying to keep the monsters at bay while searching for any other place the rift could be hiding. He didn't know what else to do. Countless times, he prayed for Palutena to come help him, it didn't matter how. He wasn't sure if she could hear him. This place was awfully... closed off. It drove him crazy when he needed her.

So when the island appeared in the sky, you bet your bunkers he was hyper focused in on it. He stared at it suspiciously, feeling a weird sense of deja-vu creep over him that he dismissed rather quickly. Whatever it was, he didn't like it. But... he couldn't leave it just hanging there, alone, unexplored!

But there was one problem. It was the one problem that shouldn't even be a problem for an angel like himself.

"Augh! If only Lady Palutena were here..." he lamented to himself out on the campus lawn. "I could really use her Power of Flight right about now..."

Just as he says that, Pit would suddenly feel an unusually warm hand resting on his shoulder, as Pyrrhon approaches him from behind. "Sounds like someone could use some divine intervention! Or should I say, AWESOME intervention?" Pyrrhon grins widely, sticking his godly chest out proudly. "Pyrrhon should, because of course, he's Pyrrhon."

Pyrrhon had been wanting to check out the island ever since he first saw it- these shadow creatures seemed to have some unique powers. Powers that could possibly be of use to him, if he learned more about them. But going to a place like that, likely filled to the brim with enemies, without some kind of ally wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. Asking for help wasn't exactly Pyrrhon's style either, but this way, he could be the one offering help.

"Palutena's not the only god around, after all! And she's nowhere close to the best, either."

Upon abrupt contact and abrupt... Pyrrhon, Pit winced hard enough that his wings flipped out a little in sudden spreads. When did he get here? It's a good thing the sun god could touch things without setting them aflame, because that would have started a feather fire. He turns around to face him instead, stepping back a few feet to create some distance.

"Oh, uh, hey there, Pyrrhon," he greets with a bit of uncertain resentment peeking through. They weren't exactly on the best of terms, and insulting Palutena didn't win any points with him, either. But what he offered was exactly the kind of thing he was wishing for... He could feel his conflicted feelings twisting around each other. One of them was inching out on top.

"You'd really do that for me? But why?"

"Because up there is EVIL, Pit!" Pyrrhon strikes a dramatic pose, pointing up into the sky. "Evil, horrible monsters bent on our destruction! And, seeing as how you're a fellow warrior of justice, it's our job to take the fight to them! Destroy them, before they harm the innocent and their peaceful way of life!"

His finger slowly lowers back down, pointing at Pit now. "Now, are you ready to join me on my mission? Got everything you need? You might wanna pick up a snack or something before we head off, I don't tend to keep ice cream around to toss onto the floor to you like Palutena."

"That's okay. I have more of an appetite for exploration right now, anyway."

Pyrrhon had betrayed him before, and that was the part about him that stuck out most to Pit. It hurt! And he wasn't sure whether he could trust him or not. But how or why would he stab him in the back this time? It was a completely different set of circumstances, and there were no Aurum involved (as far as he knew). This was a tough decision to make alone. He DID have something he desperately needed and wanted, though...

"All right. I'll team up with you. But don't try anything funny this time!" he warns. "Maybe this will be your chance to show me you really care about justice as much as you say you do."

"Oh, come on. I'm not going to do anything funny! Unless you want Pyrrhon to go find a jokebook to bring, but he gets the sense that's not what you meant."

Pyrrhon is completely, 100% trustworthy, Pit, don't worry! Unless he happens to find some control center to turn the shadow bugs into his minions, but. That's somewhat unlikely!

"Now then, I might not be able to grant the power of flight- unless you want your wings catching on fire immediately that is. It's kinda my thing, a bit unavoidable. Buuut, I'm sure there's another of ol' Palutena's powers I can grant you here! Now hold still."

Pyrrhon reaches down, grabbing Pit by the neck of his shirt, and unceremoniously picking him up, tossing him in the air and catching him, holding up by his stomach.

"ANGELIC MISSILE: ULTIMATE PYRRHON VERSION!" And just like that, Pyrrhon winds up, and throws Pit as hard as he can- along with channeling a little godly power into Pit's momentum, sending the angel flying straight towards the island, leaving behind a glorious trail of flame.

Pit didn't even have time to react before he was sent shooting skyward. There were a lot of looks of terror directed at Pyrrhon before and during his lift-off procedure. "Whoa, whoa whoa, hold on, can we discuss this fir-" Bye, Pit!

He screams. He's like a little bottle rocket with wings!

"It feels like my wings are already on fiiiiiire! Actually, no. ALL of me's on fire!" What kind of Angelic Missile IS this?! Like a blazing comet, the angel launches toward his destination and crash-lands rather ungracefully- and rather painfully. There is now a smoking Pit-shaped hole in the side of a mountain. But he'll be fine. Just a little toasty.

Pyrrhon comes floating up by him, frowning a bit. "Darn. Guess I undershot it a bit... Ah well, close enough I guess." Pyrrhon sounds more upset that his aim wasn't spot on than he is concerned about Pit's well being at all, as he reaches right into the new Pit-hole and plucks him out. "And hey, you're still alive! Good thing you're an angel, or all that sudden acceleration PROBABLY would've killed you. Ha, I didn't even think about that! After all, evil's afoot! Pyrrhon has no time for thinking."

By now, Pyrrhon's carried Pit the rest of the way up, dropping him on his feet at the top of the mountain. "Now, brush off all that soot and dirt! It's time to get started."

Pit spits out a mouthful of pebbles and groans, nursing his shoulder. Only a couple steps on this island and he feels like he could already use a good long soak in a hot spring. He's had more than his fair share of rough landings before, but that didn't make him hate them any less. Pyrrhon is SUCH an annoying jerk.

"Why did I agree to this?" he sighs, posture sagging. "I should have just borrowed an airship."

It's easy to get over the aches when the sights of this new territory spread out before him. There is a nice advantage to landing on a mountain, and that is the expansive view. A blanket of treetops descends beneath the slope and stretches down to end at a yellowing meadow. In the clearing stands a configuration of chalky stone structures- pillars, stairs, a dry fountain, a long brick road... These mysterious erections catches Pit's attention immediately.

"Hey, what's that? A town? Seems pretty empty. Guess it's just a bunch of abandoned ruins."

"Hey, don't be like that!" Pyrrhon punctuates his statement with a hard, friendly pat to the shoulder Pit's nursing. Really, he's not trying to hurt you, Pit. "There's no better way to travel than the Pyrrhon Express!" A moment or two passes, before he adds "Well, at least when my aim's right. In hindsight, I probably could've just carried you. But that's all in the past, now!"

Pyrrhon takes a few dramatic steps forward- really, there's very little that he does that he doesn't try to infuse with as much drama as possible- as he surveys the landscape. "An empty town will have no answers for us! Or... on second thought, maybe it will? Pyrrhon's intel on this place isn't nearly as good as his intel on the Aurum. Which is to say... I've got no clue where to start."

Pyrrhon rests a hand on his chin, thinking as he surveys the landscape, looking for anything that seems important. "What about you, Pit? You've got some experience infiltrating and destroying alien control centers. Any leads?"

Upon being whopped on the shoulder like that, Pit couldn't help but let out a noise of complaint. The last thing he wanted was a pat on the shoulder, no matter how friendly it was!

"I'd say we both have some experience in that field," remarks Pit. "But it's not my expertise. I'm not even sure this is the work of aliens myself, but... maybe you're onto something here. An island appearing overnight sure is suspicious. Some would even say... out-of-this-world."

It better not be. He'd had it up to here with alien invasions!

"Maybe we should check it out? All the leads are probably down there waiting for us."

"If they're not aliens, then what else would you recommend calling them? Sure seems pretty alien to Pyrrhon."

And now that friendly hand on Pit's shoulder is giving him a rough push forward. "Anyway though, you go ahead and lead, Pit. If I lead I'll probably end up leaving you in the dust, what with my ability to fly and all. We're heading for the ruins, right? Seems to be the only visible structure from here, so unless we find something else, that's our best bet. Unless they built the control center in the middle of the trees."

It was all he could do NOT to trip and fall down the cliff. Pit waved his arms around in circles to regain balance after the shove. If that wasn't bad enough of a shove, he had his sad lack of flight capabilities shoved in his face again. He's so not in the best of moods...

"All right. Guess I'll be taing charge, then," he sighs. "From the ground. Just don't set any trees on fire, okay? I'm trained in fighting monsters, not forest fires." He leaps off the ledge with a flap of his wings and down to the next one with ease.

The descent went like this without any hitches, Pit hopping down the cliffside and into the woods, where he continues the descent down the steep slope. Out the corner of his eye, Pit notices movement going on behind some trees up ahead. Oh, great. Primids. He makes sure Pyrrhon was in earshot when he says, "Looks like there's monsters on this island, too. They're the same kinds that keep showing up all around the city recently. We'd better be on our watch."

Pyrrhon's following behind Pit, naturally. And naturally, he's not having nearly as much trouble as Pit is, since he's just floating down the slopes. "Hah! Who cares if we set a freaky shadow monster island on fire? Honestly, I'm looking forward to toasting some more of them."

Pyrrhon doesn't seem to have noticed the movement in the trees, looking in the opposite direction at the time. Which is good, since there'd likely already be a forest fire going if he had. "No offense, Pit, but you mind speeding it up? When Pyrrhon offered to let you lead, he was under the impression you'd be darting around all fast like you usually do. Pyrrhon wasn't planning on a club-speed mission."

~~"Uh, hello? I AM using a club," replied Pit, whipping out a club from nowhere~~

"But all these trees are slowing me down!" protests Pit in a huff. Despite saying that, Pyrrhon's complaint pushes him to carry his feet faster than before. He tries to ignore the scrape of brambles across his legs and twigs over his face. Focusing on picking up speed like that, he didn't watch his step and treads right over a fleshy pink thing that could have very well been mistaken as just part of the forest's ensemble of scenery.

It launches upward and fastens itself on Pit's face, halting his progress.

"MMMMMMMPH!" The angel struggles as it smooches his life force out of him, trying to rip it off his face with all his might. "MMPH MM MM MMPH MMMMMMPH!"

Pyrrhon looks at the strange display of the creature... sucking on Pit's face, a bulbous backside noticably swelling as it fills with whatever the heck it's draining from Pit. The creature's so weird looking, it takes Pyrrhon a moment to realize that, oh yeah, he should probably spring into action. "TIME FOR PYRRHON TO SPRING INTO ACTION!" Like that.

He holds a hand out, and shoots out a fireball, blasting the mysterious creature off of Pit's face. As well as setting some of Pit's hair on fire, Pyrrhon quickly moving forward and just kinda, trying to pat the fire out before the angel notices. There's still some smoke coming off him, though. "Lucky for you, Pyrrhon had your back! You really need to be more careful, Pit."

Patting fire out with a fiery-looking hand... Yeah, that looks like it's gonna work. For some reason, it does.

"I can't feel my face anymore." Between getting it sucked dry and fireball-roasted, it's no wonder. He pats it as if to make sure it still exists, even though it would be silly if it didn't, being that he can see and talk. Then he encounters a horrifying realization.

"...Oh no! My eyebrows are gone! Pyrrhon!" he admonishes. "Isn't there a way you could have done that without flamebroiling my face? Auuugh, my handsome face..." He enters a period of mourning, slumped shoulders and all. "I'm gonna look so stupid!"

Pyrrhon's fiery body basically works however he wants to work. Do not question your gods, Pit.

He leans down to get a closer look- Jeez, Pit's short- examining his face. "Eh, it's just a little scorched. No big deal! You'll be fine! It's not like your eyebrows won't grow back or anything, after all. You're just gonna smell like burnt hair for a little while."

Pyrrhon stands back up, grabbing Pit's arm and giving it a tug as he starts walking forward. "Now stop moping, and let's move out! We've got some evil ruins to check!"

"Alright, alright! No need to be pushy!" He snaps his arm away from Pyrrhon's hold and trudges along with heavy steps, as though walking his irritation off before breaking into a run. The further away from him, the better.

This time, he's more careful about where he's stepping because he doesn't want to be bald, too! Knowing Pyrrhon, he would probably set him on fire all over again if he happened to be in the way. Talk about unfriendly fire. The enemies scattered throughout the woods were pushovers, especially if Pyrrhon was there to obliterate them alongside him. In a matter of minutes they clear the forest and after a quick and breezy jaunt across the field, the ruins they had spotted from the mountain lay before them.

Pit glances around at the stone structures with curiosity. "This looks like it might have been the center of town once upon a time," he comments. "Or maybe a place of worship. I wonder what happened to the people who lived here?" It's pretty saddening for him to think about. Such a quiet place, once filled with voices. He heads toward the center to get a better look around.

Pit is right to fear him. Restraint and careful aim are not one of Pyrrhon's strong suits. He prefers to just fill the air with as much fire as he can, in most situations.

"Who knows? Maybe they were turned into those creatures. Or they're the ones that created them, but failed to keep them under control." Pyrrhon shrugs a bit, as he looks around the ruins, searching for any secret entrances or clues about where other, more important structures might be.

"Doesn't really matter, though. Only things here now are those shadow creatures, and Pyrrhon doesn't think this building can help us take care of them."

"But closing the rift might." Pit isn't sure how informed Pyrrhon was about the situation with the underground network of tunnels and the trophies, or what fearsome contents lie beneath them. "A student came from the future- a future where we failed to 'close the rift' of a dimensional boundary, and as a result chaos broke loose and led Final Destination City to its destruction. All this strange stuff going on with the alternate universe versions of ourselves and the shadow monsters showing up all over the place is just the first sign of things to come because of it."

What good would hanging around some ruins on a floating land mass do when the rift is lurking beneath the earth? A weighty sense that this expedition is going to be nothing more than a headache with Pyrrhon settled in, and the anxiety of knowing the danger was still waiting to unravel the fabric of the city sank its needles into him. "I doubt I'll find it here. But... I have a feeling this island is somehow related." The feeling evaporates and makes way for resolve. He places a palm on the stone globe before him, feeling its cool smoothness. If only it could just relay the answers he's seeking through touch...

"Giant floating island that came out of a huge rift in space has something to do with a rift we need to close, huh? No clue how you came to that conclusion!" Pyrrhon chuckles a bit, as he moves toward the center. It's like some kind of basin or something, like it's designed to move things downward. Seems like the perfect place for a secret passageway.

"Well, if this place DOES have any secrets, then it's gonna reveal them one way or the other! PYROCANNON!" Right as Pyrrhon charges up his blast though, Pit might hear some kind of mechanical sound coming from the globe he was touching. And if someone was looking really, really close, someone might notice the object in the center of the basin starting to open just a crack. Unfortunately, there's not really any time to notice it, before it's suddenly burned to bits and blown apart by a huge flaming laser, revealing a metal, now scorched passageway that it was right about to reveal on it's own anyway.

"AHA! A secret passageway reveals itself! All credit goes to Pyrrhon for it's discovery.

Pit winces as the stone is blown to pieces, and he holds up an arm to protect his face from the flying rubble. Now he views what Pyrrhon uncovered, and his face opens up in curiosity.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go down and check it out!" He might have commented on how Pyrrhon was using his brain, but he wasn't, really. He was just using his pyro-blasts. Nonetheless, Pit is pretty grateful that his habitual impulse to fire away uncovered what they were looking for, even though a part of him felt bad about desecrating what could be a sacred place. But hey, even sacred places could be sacrificed when heroes had work to do! Pit leaps right into the hole without waiting.

Pyrrhon doesn't feel bad at all about desecrating it. It's not a sacred place dedicated to him, after all! Just some other lame god.

The Sun God descends down behind Pit, finding a dusty corridor, illuminated by flickering lights, a couple of which are out- though it's a bit brighter now that Pyrrhon's down here. Since he's made of fire and all. "Hmmm... Doesn't look like anyone's been down here in a long time. Seems like the perfect place to hide evil plans!"