12: Dogfight
High above the clouds, Gale and his group were flying west towards where the Mii Force Captain thought Skyworld was located. However, all the group had seen so far were clouds.
“Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Ah'm… pretty sure,” Gale replied, although his tone said he wasn't very sure at all. “Ah know it's around here somewhere.”
Jigglypuff said something in a frustrated tone that Pinkie translated (loosely, the party pony specified) as, “Well what the Hellioptile do you expect? It's not like a Goddess is going to just lay out a Psyduck-ing red carpet for anyone to just waltz in on.”
“Jeez, did Jigglypuff really say that?” Shulk asked.
“Like I said, I was paraphrasing,” Pinkie replied. “Her exact words weren't that pleasant…”
“I have noticed that Jigglypuff isn't always in the best possible mood,” Ike commented. “Why is that, Jigglypuff?”
The Balloon Pokemon replied, and Pinkie gasped when she heard what Jigglypuff had to say. “You guys aren't going to believe this,” Pinkie said.
Out of nowhere, several blasts of dark magic were suddenly fired at the group, each hit knocking the pods away and sending them crashing towards the ground before only Gale was left.
“Save it for another time, Pinkie!” Shulk shouted. “We've got company!”
“What?” Gale shouted. “But Ah'm not picking up any hostiles on mah radar.”
“Is that radar of yours tuned to pick up things like giant floating eyeballs, skulls, and flowers?” Rainbow asked.
“Well, skulls in a sense, but-” Gale started. “Wait, why so specific?”
“You might wanna take a look behind us,” Rainbow replied.
Gale brought up on his main screen a camera feed from the front of Rainbow's pod to find that, sure enough, there was a number of very strange but hostile-looking creatures advancing on the group. “Ah can't say I recognize 'em,” Gale said.
“Neither can I,” Pinkie replied. “Hold on, if I can concentrate, maybe something will come back to me...”
“Poyo!” Kirby shouted as he pointed towards another advancing group of similar hostile creatures coming in from the group's left flank.
“Jiggly,” Jigglypuff added, indicating more coming from the right.
“We're surrounded!” Lance shouted. “Gale, tell me you have a plan.”
“Don't worry,” Gale replied. “This ship's built for exactly this situation. But first, everyone hold onto somethin'. This flight's about to get wild.” Gale then pulled the ship upward before going into a nosedive.
“Are you trying to get us killed, Gale?” Ike shouted.
“No, just dodgin' enemy fire,” Gale replied nonchalantly as he quickly pulled up and righted himself before ascending towards one group of enemies. “Alright, here's the plan. Lance, you already know what to do. Kirby, Jigglypuff, Rainbow Dash, you three as well as Lance are in charge of the ship's main weapons. Ah can maneuver us around, but Ah'm countin' on you four to attack.”
“And how exactly are we supposed to do that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“In front of y'all, there should be a simple-lookin' control panel,” Gale replied. “The buttons on the left and right can control where you're aimed, and the center button will fire.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Rainbow replied. “What kind of ammo are we firing, though?”
“You've got energy waves that can hit multiple foes,” Gale replied. “Kirby and Jigglypuff, you two have energy rounds that can ricochet off targets.”
“Puff,” Jigglypuff said happily. “Jigglypuff Jiggly.”
“Po~yo,” Kirby added.
“Sure, I'll take it,” Rainbow said with a shrug.
“Alright, it sounds like everyone knows what to do,” Gale said. “At least, I hope we do, 'cause we're jumpin' right into the fray!” Right as Gale said that, the ship suddenly accelerated and flew right into the group of monsters. Upon seeing the heroes, the monsters began firing blasts of dark magic at the group.
“Kirby! Jigglypuff! Take those shots out!” Lance shouted. Both puffs quickly swung their pods around and fired pink blasts of energy that connected with the dark magic blasts and caused them to dissipate. “Alright, now wail on them monsters!” Kirby and Jigglypuff quickly took aim and began firing into the group of foes while Lance activated his plasma whip and began attacking foes in front of him. The whip quickly attached to and destroyed several monsters, and the rounds Kirby and Jigglypuff fired were bouncing all over the place, hitting monsters several times each before they all met similar fates.
“Yeah!” Pinkie shouted. “Hey Gale, can I get in on this action?”
“Sorry Pinkie, but you can't,” Gale replied. “Only the lead pods can attack. It's a flaw with this ship model I've got. There's an updated model, but I didn't have time to bring it with me before this Smash Bros tournament.”
“Oh,” Pinkie said. “Well, okay. I guess I could-”
”Hello?” a voice suddenly called. ”Is somebody out there?”
“Eh?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Who are you?”
”Oh good, I'm getting through to someone,” the voice said. ”I am Palutena, the Goddess of Light, and I am reaching out to you because I need your help. My temple in Skyworld has been overrun by Underworld forces, and being short-staffed as I am, I require assistance.”
“Hey, we were actually headed for Skyworld,” Pinkie replied. “Don't worry, we're on our way.”
“Pinkie, who are you talking to?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I'm talking to that Palutena character we were searching for,” Pinkie replied. “She's reached out to us through some kind of psychic communication, and she needs our help.”
“I… don't hear anything,” Rainbow said. “Maybe it's-?”
“Rainbow Dash,” Gale interrupted, “we've got hostiles coming in from behind. D'ya see 'em?”
“I don't,” Rainbow replied as she scanned the skies in front of her. It was right then, however, that a huge creature that looked like a giant nose with eyes and tentacles suddenly appeared right in front of Rainbow's pod. “WAH!” the pegasus shouted as she slammed the fired button on her console, launching several energy waves that made contact with her foe and eventually destroyed it. Once the creature was gone, Rainbow could plainly see a few more similar creatures gathering behind the group, accompanied by some of the eyeball monsters. “Okay, I got this.” Rainbow then whirled her pod around and began firing more energy waves at the foes. Upon leaving her pod, the waves expanded to cover a wider area, most of them becoming able to hit several foes at once. However, this didn't stop the nose monsters from launching what looked like bombs from their nostrils. Rainbow did her best to try to take the projectiles out, but she was unable to hit one of them and it flew right up to Rainbow's pod before exploding, causing the pod to suddenly break off from Gale's ship and go crashing down. “AHHHHH!” Rainbow shouted as she tried to get out of her pod.
“RAINBOW DASH!” everyone shouted.
Rainbow was able to escape her pod quickly before trying to fly back after the group, but what she'd forgotten was that her wing was still injured, and she wasn't able to get very much lift before her wing buckled and she continued falling. “No, it can't end like this!” Rainbow shouted as she quickly lost altitude. Before she got very close to the ground, however, she suddenly felt herself stop. Rainbow looked behind her to see that her wings had grown slightly and were flapping on their own… and glowing. “What the-? WAH!” Without warning, Rainbow's wings carried her at high speed back towards Gale and the others.
“Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked as she saw her friend fly up next to the ship at high speed.
”I noticed that your friend was in trouble,” Palutena said to Pinkie. ”I'm going to give her my Power of Flight and guide her towoards Skyworld. It would probably be in your best interest to follow her.” Right as Palutena said this, Rainbow Dash began flying past the group.
“Gale, follow Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie called.
“What?” Gale asked.
“That Goddess Palutena is guiding Rainbow Dash towards Skyworld, and she told us to follow her,” Pinkie replied.
“Wait, you're actually talking to Palutena?” Ike asked.
“Poyo!” Kirby said.
“Oh, you can hear her too?” Pinkie asked Kirby. “Odd. It's like she's tuned to a psychic channel that exists outside of-”
“HOLD ON!” Gale shouted as he increased the throttle and the ship jerked forward at high speed after Rainbow Dash.
“Gah! Slow down for just a second, wings!” Rainbow shouted as she struggled to no avail to break free of whatever force was causing her to fly. “What is going on?”
”Well, if you're not going to thank me, I could just cut your Power of Flight and let you fall,” Palutena said to Rainbow Dash.
“What? Who are you?” Rainbow asked the voice that suddenly appeared in her head.
”I am Palutena, the Goddess of Light,” Palutena replied. ”I noticed you were a bit flight-challenged like someone else I know, so I thought I'd loan you the Power of Flight in order to save you. Plus, since you and your group are looking for me, I'm going to guide you all to Skyworld, where I'm going to need your help.”
“Alright… I guess…” Rainbow replied. “Hey, just a quick question, if you're a Goddess, couldn't you just heal my wings rather than just start steering me around?”
”I could, but what fun would that be?” Palutena replied. ”Actually, you'd have to be closer to me for me to use my Power of Healing, and even then, I don't think you'd respond to floor ice cream in quite the same way Pit does.”
Rainbow was silent for a moment, just staring at the clouds and occasional monster flying by her out of confusion. “Alright, that floor ice cream thing is where you lost me,” she finally said.
”We can discuss this when we meet,” Palutena said.
Meanwhile, Gale was flying at top speed in order to try to keep up with Rainbow Dash. The only problem was that she often flew through clouds of enemies.
“What does that Goddess Palutena think she's doing?” Gale complained as he tried to dodge incoming enemy fire that the others weren't able to shoot. “She'll get us killed before we even get to Skyworld.”
“We're just gonna have to fight through, like the good ol' days,” Lance replied as he moved his plasma whip to strike an incoming group of Monoeyes. “Kirby, heads up! You've got incoming!”
“Poyo!” Kirby shouted as he tried to shoot the Monoeyes that were attacking his side. However, the star warrior was so focused on the foes in front of him, he got completely blindsided by a Daphne flying in on Kirby's blind spot and firing two mines.
“Kirby, look out!” Pinkie shouted as she saw the mines approaching her and Kirby. Unfortunately, Kirby wasn't able to move his pod fast enough and one of the mines exploded right next to the star warrior, causing him to get broken off from the rest of the group similarly to what happened with Rainbow Dash. “KIRBY!”
Kirby was still reeling from the shock of the explosion, plus the fact that he was now falling, but he'd been in situations similar to this so many times, what he did next was almost second nature to him by now. Kirby concentrated and reached deep inside of himself before materializing a small gray phone with yellow buttons and an antennae that had a yellow star at the tip in his hand. Kirby pressed a few buttons on the phone before putting it away and leaping out of his pod and beginning to float just about 50 yards away from the ground, where the pod impacted and exploded. However, Kirby was able to inflate his body and hang in the air for a moment before seeing something bright flying towards him in the distance. Quickly, Kirby released the air he'd filled himself with and let himself fall before he caught onto the object as it passed right by him. Kirby then righted himself atop his Warp Star before soaring back into the sky at a higher speed than even Rainbow Dash could manage on one of her good days.
Pinkie saw this happen, and mentally facehoofed when she saw Kirby fly by the group. “How could I forget about the Warp Star?” she asked herself with a giggle. “And there I was worrying about Kirby.”
“Focus, Pinkie,” Gale said. “Kirby's pod is down, which means you're gonna have to take over his weapon spot. Do you know what to do?”
“I can pick it up,” Pinkie replied.
“Ah'm also gonna need to redirect some power since ya don't have any support pods,” Gale added. “Let's see… Lance, think you can afford to lose Shulk?”
“Go right on ahead,” Lance replied.
“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Shulk asked.
“Oh, it'll be nothin',” Gale replied as he brought up another screen, this one showing the current status of his ship and the surrounding pods, and moved a red pod, Shulk's, over to behind Pinkie. He then tapped the screen with all five fingers, causing the screen to disappear. Outside the cockpit, Shulk's pod suddenly flashed and disappeared from where it was before reappearing behind Pinkie.
“Woah… nice,” Shulk commented.
“Hmm…” Gale hummed. “I should put more energy into the rear gunner position, too. Lance, I'm gonna move you to the back in front of Ike. That alright with you, Ike?”
“Fine by me,” the Radiant Hero replied. “I'm not all that comfortable with using this thing to fight, anyway.”
“I know, I know, you prefer your swordplay,” Gale said as he brought up the screen from before and moved Lance in front of Ike. As he confirmed the move, Gale turned his attention to Pinkie and Jigglypuff. “You two are gonna have to work double time, by the way. You've got our only forward weapons.”
“And let's try not to miss, too,” Pinkie added. “Something tells me that the next person to take a hit like Rainbow and Kirby did won't have a way to recover.”
While this conversation was going on, Kirby had flown up next to Rainbow Dash. “So you can fly, huh?” Rainbow asked as she observed Kirby riding his Warp Star like a surfboard. “Hey, you and I are gonna have to have a race sometime. No way that little thing can beat me at my best.” Kirby laughed a little at this before winking at Rainbow and accelerating ahead. “Why that little…” Rainbow was about to say more, but instead just smiled. “Yeah, I'm starting to see Pinkie in this little demon.”
”It's only because I can sense the hidden compliment in that comment that I'm not sending you plummeting to the ground right now,” Palutena said to Rainbow Dash. ”Kirby happens to be a very good friend of mine.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said.
”Anyway, you and your group are nearing Skyworld,” Palutena continued. ”However, that means many more enemies will be showing up for you. I'd suggest landing soon and fighting on the ground.”
“Okay,” Rainbow said with a nod.
Meanwhile, Palutena sent the same message to Pinkie Pie, who relayed it to the others. “'Bout time,” Gale said. “But… Ah'm not picking up very many enemies.”
“Palutena just said that Skyworld's beyond that cloud bank,” Pinkie said as she pointed towards a group of dark clouds that Kirby had just flown through and Rainbow was headed towards.
“There's still a curious lack of foes,” Shulk commented. “If any were to ambush us, I'd assume I'd get a vision.”
“Maybe this will be one of those instances where the chapter ends on a cliffhanger in which the heroes arrive at their destination only to discover far more enemies than they could have possibly expected,” Pinkie mused.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Lance asked.
“We'll find out in a few moments,” Pinkie replied as the group neared the clouds. Rainbow Dash flew through, and the others followed suit quickly. On the other side of the clouds was a massive and beautiful floating city, full of temples and ancient-looking buildings. And at the head of the whole place was a single island that had a massive statue depicting the Goddess Palutena.
As well as tons of monsters all over the city.
“Yup, looks like I was right,” Pinkie deadpanned.
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Floor ice cream... Oh god I loved that line.
Something tells me Discord paid a visit to Skyworld at one point. Or Palutena takes after Celestia. Either way, they're both trolls.
6134447 I kinda noticed the latter a few times during my playthrough of Uprising.
6134433 But the floor is different depending on the floor ice cream. I personally think that cloud floor ice cream tastes like a mix of cotton candy and vanilla.
I wish Freedom Planet is included since it's going to be on the Wii U in August 3rd.