welcome to the first day of Icaruscember! a week put together by kiuost on twitter to celebrate the 34th anniversary of kid icarus! i have 7 unconnecting chapters all lined for this week (hopefully) so i hope you enjoy the first day!

Day 1: Skyworld


Viridi focused her gaze on the view in front of her, trying to shield her eyes from the sun.

Would it really have killed Palutena to move her realm somewhere that didn't have the sun directly in view of her temple at this exact time and place?

"Allow me, Mistress Viridi." floating right beside her Arlon produced a handy parasol to shield Viridi from the sun's harsh rays. Arlon laughed playfully to himself, "Why, what would you do without me Mistress Viridi." Viridi could practically hear the smug grin on his face.

Viridi decided to ignore his question, for the better of both of them. "Whatever, Arlon." she did not do a very good job at it, but she gets an A for effort. "Why do you think Palutena called us here anyway. Her voice sounded kind of...urgent? Is that the right word?" it definitely sounded a lot more persuasive than usual, even going so far as asking Viridi to 'please' make her way to Skyworld.

Arlon stroked his chin, "Hmm, I can't say I know why dear Lady Palutena would have called you here so urgently…"

"Maybe she's finally going to surrender?!" Viridi beamed.

"Surrender what, exactly?"

"You know, surrender!" when it was clear Arlon still did not understand what Viridi was talking about she grew frustrated, "Palutena is finally going to surrender and declare me the victor of our war!"

"Pardon me Mistress Viridi but I was not aware of any ongoing conflict between you and Lady Palutena."

"What? Of course there's a conflict! It's like I said, the battle is far from over and I won't stop until the Forces of Nature have beaten Skyworld to a pulp!" Viridi yelled out into the sky, loud enough for a couple of Centurions to turn their heads in worry, but not enough to do anything about it.

Arlon gave Viridi a small round of applause, putting away the parasol now that a couple of clouds were blocking out the sun. "I very much look forward to you...doing that." Arlon was pretty sure the Viridi herself was the only person on this earth that believed she was still battling Skyworld.

Not that he was bold enough to remind her that one of the enemy had frequent sleep overs at her temple.

"Why do I feel you don't believe me?"

"Hi Viridi!" a peppy voice from behind her cried out.

"Oh hey Pit, what's up?" Viridi answered while Arlon gave a quiet chuckle.

"I was wondering when you guys were gonna get here! Lady Palutena said you would be here hours ago!"

"You know how air traffic is. It's not my fault the GPS told me I would be here half an hour earlier!"

Taking note of Pit's confused look (Viridi was unsure if it was the air traffic comment that confused him or the time) Viridi noticed that there was something different about Pit's appearance. And his twin's, who was currently trying his best to remain hidden in the background.

It didn't take a long time until it clicked for her. Both Angels were wearing similarly ridiculous hats, which Viridi could only assume took Pit hours to convince Dark Pit to wear

"...Okay, what's with the hats? You two trying out a new style or something?"

"Maybe…!" Viridi heard Dark Pit mumble something under his breath as Pit continued, excitedly waving a small flag he was holding. Viridi's eyes followed the flag curiously.

"Count yourself lucky Viridi! You're one of the first people to take a tour of Skyworld on-"

Dark Pit began to play a pair of invisible drumsticks on an invisible drum. And yet Viridi could clearly hear the invisible drumroll, or she could at least feel the invisible aura of the annoying drumroll.

At last Pit decided he had the buildup he needed and in complete sync, but not eagerness, both twins exclaimed-

"Skyworld Tours! The new Skyworld touring experience!"

"-rience…" Dark Pit trailed off, boredly looking off into the distance.

"Skyworld...tours?" the name itself was self-explanatory, but Viridi was still very much confused on what was going on. Palutena couldn't have only called her in for this? Could she?

Viridi gave a long sigh, Palutena very much could have only called her in for this.

"Aw yeah! Twin telepathy strikes again! We did it Pittoo!" While Pit congratulated himself and his brother on their spectacular introduction they rehearsed all day for, Arlon made his way closer to the Angels to congratulate them himself. "Why, I'm impressed young master Pit and Pittoo. It must have taken you quite a while to rehearse that performance."

Pit happily nodded and even Dark Pit looked proud for a few seconds "It took us an hour! Half to make the hats and my flag and a couple of minutes to figure out the speech!" Pit waved his flag around, almost like he was more entranced by it than anyone else here.

"Yes, quite. Now, I hope you don't mind me asking more about this 'tour' you've promised us?"

"Don't encourage him!" Viridi yelled, earning her an odd stare from Dark Pit. 'What's his problem?' she wondered to herself.

"I'm glad you asked! See, I came up with Skyworld Tours to show people all around Skyworld! There's lots of cool things here to see so I asked Lady Palutena if I could start my own tour service!"

"She said yes." Dark Pit explained.

"Yup! Then Lady Palutena we needed to practice the tour on someone before starting the real thing. She said she would call up someone we could practice on to come to Skyworld today...I guess that would be you guys!"

Viridi rolled her eyes, "Lucky us."

"After that Lady Palutena gave me and Pittoo the job to come up with the whole tour! So we did! Hey, did you guys know Pittoo is really good at-What did Lady Palutena call it? Presentation? Showmanship?"

"Pitstain, just talk about the tour."

"These hats were his idea you know?"

"Piiiit!"

Viridi let out a snort of laughter, and even Arlon couldn't help but laugh along. "Sorry Pittoo, but don't consider me impressed until we've reached the end of your illustrious tour." Viridi teased.

"It's not my tour…" Dark Pit grumbled.

"Pittoo is right! It's our tour!" Pit elaborated, "We came up with it together so it's a team effort! We even made the pamphlet together-! Oh that reminds me!"

Viridi raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"Here you go!" suddenly several pieces of paper were pushed into Viridi's hands. "That's the-uh...tour pamphlet for the tour!" Pit explained, "Me and Pittoo made it ourselves!" At another mention of participating in the tour, Dark Pit opted to hide behind a nearby pillar.

Viridi weakly held in another snort of laughter as Pit continued to explain the pamphlet.

"I drew the pictures and Pittoo did the writing! Lady Palutena gave us advice on what we could show people that would be...what was the word Pittoo?" Pit turned around to face the pillar he knew Dark Pit was hiding behind. Though he wasn't quite sure why he was behind the pillar. Maybe he was tying his shoe?

"Marketable!" Dark Pit yelled out.

"Yeah! That was it! Don't tell lady Palutena but I don't really know what it means…"

Viridi was sure Palutena knew neither Pit was sure of the definition of the word, but the less she interrupted the Angels the quicker this whole new game of theirs would go. Then she would be back at her temple before she knew it.

"Here you go Arlon! We made a lot so you can have one too!" Pit held up the pamphlet high above his head for Arlon to grab. By now Dark Pit had emerged from his embarrassment pillar.

"Why young master Pittoo, I daresay you've made great strides in your penmanship! I am quite proud!" Only to be torn between hiding away again or boasting when Arlon complimented how much his writing had improved

Pit looked to his brother, a bright smile on his face. "You hear that Pittoo?! I told you! You are getting better!"

"I-I know that-! I don't need you guys telling me that…" Dark Pit whined

"Good luck getting these two to not compliment you, they're two of the nicest people I've ever-" Viridi suddenly cut herself off, more than aware of what she just said. "I...I mean they're two of the most easily impressed people I have ever meet! That's what I meant!"

Arlon gave a playful chuckle, a sure sign he understood Viridi perfectly. Meanwhile Pit decided to ignore another of Viridi's weird cut off sentences and get the tour started.

This of course started with calling Palutena and letting her know they were going to start the tour.

Dark Pit didn't really think it was necessary to let Palutena know about every little movement they made in Skyworld, but who was he to argue with the way Pit had been living his entire life?

The answer to that question he knew, was that he would be right to do that. But Pit was too far engrossed in his new endeavor to listen to any of his words on Palutena, so he found it best to just sit down and raise his voice when he was sure Pit would really pay attention.

While that was happening Viridi took the opportunity to take a look at the pamphlet Pit handed her. The pamphlet felt like it was made of simple drawing paper and hastily tapped together with clear tape. And that's because that is exactly what it was.

Opening the book Viridi saw that there wasn't much to the pamphlet besides a few pictures of select, apparently marketable, locations with a name written on top. According to Pit the pictures were his handiwork while the writing was Dark Pit's.

Viridi had to admit, it was a pretty good job for them.

She skimmed back to the start of the pamphlet and took a close look at the first two pages, the garden and the kitchen. Viridi quickly put together that these would probably be their first stops on the tour. She pondered for a moment if the two Angels had chosen the garden as the first stop just for her.

Viridi wouldn't put it past them to consider something like that.

Flipping through the pages Viridi took note of the other locations ranging from a training space, Palutena's main temple, and a library. "Can't wait to see Pit explain this one." she quietly laughed to herself.

Turning her attention away from the pamphlet Viridi was able to catch the end of Pit and Palutena's conversation.

"Pssst! Hey Pittoo, Lady Palutena wants to know if you want any of the leftover chicken caldillo in the fridge?"

"Uh, yeah! I told her I wanted it yesterda-" Dark Pit paused the middle of his sentence to adjust the hat on his head, which was hiding his laurel crown underneath. "...Yeah, I told you yesterday I wanted it! So hands off!"

At that moment Viridi recalled the instances that Dark Pit had 'called' several of the snacks back at her own temple. While she found it irritating at some points it was sort of handy knowing which foods were his as to not upset the poor Angel.

"Reminiscing about the past, Mistress Viridi?"

Viridi glared up at Arlon who was now floating right beside her, "Shut up. You were probably doing the same thing!"

"Alas, Mistress Viridi you've read me like an open book…"

"Did you just say alas?"

Dark Pit let out a heavy sigh, "Fine I won't eat ALL of it okay?! ...Yeah okay. Fine. I gotta go, me and Pit are doing something important. Bye." Dark Pit gave a small wave with his hand that anyone not paying attention to him would have missed entirely.

"Bye Lady Palutena!" Pit exclaimed waving his orange flag in the air.

After both Angels said their goodbyes to Palutena, Viridi couldn't help but throw in her own two cents at Dark Pit's expense. "I thought you said this Skyworld tour thing wasn't your idea?" she asked him.

Dark Pit crossed his arms and let out a huff, "It wasn't!"

"Then why did you say it was important?"

"I didn't-! I said it was important to Pit!"

"Nuh-uh! I heard you!"

"That is quite enough from the both of you. Can't you see you are keeping young master Pit waiting?" true to Arlon's word Pit was standing patiently at the beginning of the path, excitedly waving his flag up and down.

Viridi grumbled, ceasing her attack. "Fine. Come on Pitt-" she looked to where Dark Pit was last standing and found him predictably absent. Instead, he was now standing behind Pit, making funny faces at her that were no doubt meant to get a rise out of her.

It was working.

"Now, now Mistress Viridi. Why don't we let the Angels lead us on their tour and perhaps on the way you can get in more of your jabs at them that ultimately come from the heart?"

"...Hmph."

Pit took that as a sign to begin the tour. "Let the tour begin!" he said waving around his small flag. Pit spun around and began walking down the bridge of light conjured up by Palutena, "Now, if you'll all just follow me we'll reach our first stop in no time!"

No time ended up being just under ten minutes of walking. Just under the limit of when Viridi would begin complaining about the tour taking too long. Arlon was secretly relieved this ended up being the case, as it gave him more time to take in the environment around him. While Viridi always boasted about how she and Palutena were still 'bitter enemies' Arlon believed even she could appreciate the refined aesthetics of Skyworld.

"What's with the marble columns? These are way too last century. Honestly, what did I expect from an old hag like Palutena?" Or not.

The first stop on the tour was to no one's surprise, the garden.

The location was pretty close to Pit's artistic interpretation. There was indeed a tree and some flowers, but his drawing ended up leaving out the important fact that the garden was enclosed in a glass building and held way more different kinds of plants and flowers.

Viridi was kind of sorta impressed at the variety, and when you've impressed the Goddess of Nature with your garden then you know you struck gold. Not that any of Skyworld's residents would ever know they did that.

"Welcome to Skyworld's official garden!" Pit bellowed out, running ahead of the group to take his place amongst the flowers. Specifically the orchids, Viridi noted. Dark Pit walked past Viridi and Arlon to stand besides Pit as he continued to speak.

"This garden is really old and has been around for a really really long time! There's all sorts of stuff in here and...and...uhh…" Pit trailed off, carefully looking at his surroundings. It was almost as if he was confused about where he was. Next to Pit, Dark Pit gave a heavy sigh and continued where the other Angel left off. "This garden was made by Palutena back when Skyworld was first created It was personally designed by her, apparently."

Pit gave a very quick nod, fast enough to almost have his hat fly off his head. "Right! That's what Lady Palutena said!" Viridi took note that Pit's smile wavered for a bit.

"Thanks for stepping in Pittoo! I guess you were right about having to help me pretty early on huh…"

"I guess so…"

Arlon and Viridi looked at each other, knowing they were wondering the same thing.

'What are we missing?'

"Hey Pittoo, if it's not too much trouble can youuu…?" Pit nervously moved his foot on the ground, being extra careful not to bother the orchids at his feet. Viridi hadn't noticed it at first but neither of the Angels we're actually stepping on the flowers around them.

Viridi was so engrossed staring at the flowers she was surprised when Arlon nudged her, "Wha-?"

"It seems young master Pittoo is speaking again."

Arlon was half right. Dark Pit was in the middle of talking but stopped himself just short of explaining something else about the garden. He was trying hard to remember what Palutena explained about the garden and digging through the little he had of Pit's own memories. Eventually he started up again, "Uh, this garden used to be...hmm…"

"Abandoned!" Pit chimed in.

"Oh, yeah that's it. Thanks, Pitstain." Pit flashed his twin a smile and quieted down again to let him continue. "Palutena used her Goddess powers, or whatever, to bless this garden. Or so she says."

"So she says?" Viridi asked, "Which is it? Did she bless it or not?"

Dark Pit put his hands on his hips and pouted but before he could say anything to Viridi, Pit spoke up. "Lady Palutena did bless it! You should be able to tell! Cause she blessed it to...to...uugh…" this time Viridi took note that Pit looked more upset when he grew quiet. Even Arlon looked to more concerned about him.

"Young master Pit are you quite-?"

In a desperate move Dark Pit reached behind himself and showed off a small flag of his own. The flag was blue in color and was presumably hanging off the back of his belt this entire time. "Palutena blessed this place to be able to grow all sorts of different trees and plants from different places. And different...fauna?" Dark Pit looked to his brother for reassurance, but his twin could only shake his head, confused.

"I think you mean 'flora.' Fauna is animals, you dolts. Though I guess I should call Palutena the real dolt here if she's the one who told you that."

"What?! How could you know more about Lady Palutena's temple than her?" Pit asked.

"Because I'M the Goddess of Nature." Viridi took a big step towards them, her step creating a few more flowers at her feet to remind both Angels just who they were dealing with. "Plants are sort of my thing."

Pit gulped and turned his back to Viridi, "R-Right...I should have known."

On the other hand, Dark Pit had a different reaction than Pit. "Since when are you the expert of Skyworld? You've only ever been here once!"

"Well, twice now." Viridi corrected him.

"You know what I mean! Pit has lived-"

"It's okay, Pittoo. I don't really mind." Pit let out a nervous laugh.

Viridi looked at both Angels back and forth, she and Arlon were probably right. They were missing something, but what?

"Excuse me for intruding, but young master Pit may I ask what it is that ails you?"

If only for that moment Viridi finally understood what it felt like when she spoke out in inopportune times.

"I guess I was just hoping I could be a better tour guide." if Viridi hadn't been there during the Chaos Kin incident she wouldn't have thought Pit was capable of looking so down in the dumps. "The truth is I was kinda hoping I would be able to explore Skyworld like this. I figured if I asked Lady Palutena about doing tours she would tell me more about the places I still don't know a lot about!"

"Haven't you lived here your whole life?" Viridi assumed he did. She never heard of Angels living anywhere else but Skyworld.

Dark Pit shot her a glare but kept quiet.

"I have, but Skyworld is a big place. There's a lot of places here that I've never been to cause...y'know. It's hard to when you can't fly. Like-! Did you know we had a library?! I didn't-! Not until this morning when me and Pittoo-!"

"Alright, I get it. You don't need to explain anymore." Viridi took a step back and took another look around the garden taking note of a curious pile of dirt that felt out of place from the rest of the garden. Probably done by somebody who had no idea how to properly garden.

"Hey Pit!" Pit jumped in surprise, not expecting to be so directly called out.

"Y-Yeah..?"

"You're the tour guide, right?" Viridi asked. Pit gave her a slow nod in response. "Then tell me about that-!" Viridi pointed at the mound of dirt that out of everything in the garden caught her attention the most.

Pit instantly lit up, "That's where I'm growing my banana plants!"

"Bananas?" Arlon asked, genuinely curious if both Angels were right about Palutena blessing the garden to grow plants from all regions. Even with his embarrassing limited knowledge of plant life he knew that peach trees and banana trees were not from the same ecosystem.

"Yeah! I planted a bunch of bananas there when Pittoo told me that bananas actually have a bunch of seeds in them! Imagine just how many bananas I'm gonna get from all the seeds I planted!" ever since planting the bananas all Pit could dream about was the delicious banana splits he, Pittoo and Lady Palutena would eat.

Viridi gave Pit a sympathetic smile before turning her attention to Dark Pit, "Aww, you were listening to my lectures on fruits. I'm flattered." She didn't really believe either Angel actually knew how to grow fruit however. Considering Pit boasted about planting the entire fruit, but that was nothing a little magic from the Goddess of Nature couldn't fix.

"W-Well I mean...I guess some plants are kind of cool…" especially if you could eat them after planting them.

"Riiiight…" Viridi flashed a knowing smile to Arlon, who smiled right back at her. Right after that Viridi clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention, "Well? What are we waiting for?! We got a whole temple to tour, don't we?! Let's get going!"

Pit looked at Dark Pit, who looked just as surprised as he did. With a nod both twins made their way past Viridi and Arlon to the outside of the garden. Pit raised his small flag in the air and smiled.

"Follow me then everyone! Next stop the kitchen!"


ha ha i think this one ended being the longest one?

Oh! and be sure to visit my twitter on kiuprising if you wanna see the drawings i did for this chapter :0 i worked very hard on them ;w;