[TartoonHand94]

Dawn cracked over the horizon, shining a crimson orange upon the war worn ruins of Crestfallen Castle.
Nearby, a Majorelle Loftwing roosted peacefully below a tree. It’s mistress, Zelda was quite the contrary to at peace. Zelda stood beside the tree, keeping vigil of the sunrise. She stared silent, stoic and terrified of the inexorable dawn. How long had she been up?

Her mind raced with concern for the winged boy she met among the clouds. The angel deprived of his mistress to serve, and the suicide mission upon which he would embark to get her back. Her thoughts were plagued by equally distressing visions of the Garuda, the winged beast who stole said goddess.
It was not strange of her to worry about a young hero fighting to save someone from an outmatching monster. What was strange about this occasion, was that her concern was not only for the angel’s safety, but for the Garuda’s as well.
Should these two forces collide, perhaps neither will emerge victorious.

It was dawn, and it was time. The boy and his men should be arriving any minute to begin the hunt for the multi-winged monster. Now her only hope to quell the bloodshed was herself and whoever answered her call.
Who would come to answer her prayers? Li was a mysterious place indeed.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Indeed, planet Li was strange and mysterious, but one thing cannot be said about one denizen in particular, as Gargos suddenly appeared from a portal to the astral plane, his great wings unfurled as he looked to the sunrise, which was a beautiful sight to behold.

"I may not be a hero, but I can sure as hell be the badass anti-hero of the day. the demonic gargoyle god said without a glance at the human form of the goddess Hylia, more commonly referred to as Zelda.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Zelda would soon be greeted with a ray of light appearing at her side, a gigantic figure descending from the skies at that established light. Almost anyone could pick up that divine aura emanating from that being from a mile away, which was...partly probably because of how huge he was.

Arceus graciously landed next to Zelda. The Original One had noticed that she also had a divine aura to her. Was she a fellow goddess? "Are you Zelda? I have come to aid you in your rescue mission. I go by the name Arceus." the PokéGod introduced himself. Of course, he was aware of Gargos appearing, but decided not to speak to the demonic-looking gargoyle. If his experiences with Giratina told him one thing, is that such creatures are not trustworthy.

[TartoonHand94]

For all the time she spent diligently monitoring the sky, the first surprise of the day abruptly emerged elsewhere.
“What?-” Zelda gasped in more confusion than terror at a loss of a proper question to ask. This was not what she had feared, for it was something she had not expected. This looked much more terrifying.
Zelda’s Loftwing awoke in a panic as a large winged demonic gargoyle emerged from a portal to the astral plane. It flocked to Zelda’s side and nudged her to climb onto its back so that they may flee together.
A reasonably startled Zelda was about ready to mount her bird when another godly giant descended beside her. It emitted a majestically divine aura that nigh instantly instilled a sense of security in Zelda’s Loftwing. Zelda was struck equally speechless for the opposite reason in the PokéGod’s presence.

Where had these two come from? Zelda had beseeched the aide of brave heroes to aid in her mission, but literal gods themselves have reported? This had already become a much bigger affair than she had anticipated. She may have inadvertently dragged even more deities into this celestial squabble.

“Yes... I am the one known as Zelda.” She formally answered as she dismounted her Loftwing. At the very least, the PokéGod was genuinely here to help.
“You Are?” Her eyes lit up to sparkle in the heavenly glow.
“Oh thank you so much Arceus! I am honored and humbled by your help!”
She guided her Loftwing to join her in a reverent bow before Arceus.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

"Lets cut to the chase, you need a monster subjegated and your chosen hero couldn't make it, so you send us in to do the dirty work of saving a goddess that happens to be an expy of athena all while punching said monsters lights out. My kind of job and i thank you dearly." Gargos said calmly, making a mental note to not piss off a pokemon that made pokemon.

{uber short post, what else is new?}

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"Haha, there's no such need to bow to me, Miss Zelda. It's not all the time I team up with someone with ties to divinity." Arceus noted, probably referring to her connection to the Goddess Hylia. He would probably say more, but Gargos...sort of rudely said the entire point of the mission without an actual necessity. Arceus decided to still not address the Cthulhu on the room, which would...probably be the best choice. At least the oddball demon knew not to piss off Pokégod.

"So, Miss Zelda. When shall we depart to aid Pit?" Arceus asked the hylian. "I am ready to aid you in whatever way I can."

[TartoonHand94]

Zelda raised the grateful smile on her bowing head up to Arceus, thous she was rather taken aback by Gargos’s rash and brash tone.

“That’s…not…Precisely why we’re here…” she began to poorly formulate a retort.
“We’re not here to ‘punch said monsters lights out.’” She firmly clarified. “We’re here to stop them from…punching Each other’s lights out.” She felt compelled to use that choice of words.

“It was here that the angel boy, Pit, and his troops lost their goddess. So I believe it is here that they will hunt the beast that took her first.” Zelda explained solemnly with genuine concern for their well being.
“However, I fear the Garuda is a beast mightier than the angelic forces can handle… And I fear even worse for what it will have to endure before they realize it.” She fretted in concern for the Geruda as well, tilting her head back down.
“They both need our help.” She turned her face back up to Arceus in a plea.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"So you wish for us to avoid a clash between young Pit and his troops and the beast?" Arceus recapped. He imagined that such a task would not be easy, especially if any of the sides refused to cooperate. "...Your heart speaks much about you, Miss Zelda. Very well, I shall abide by your request." the PokéGod said to the young girl, firmly nodding.

"If you need my help with whatever needed, call for me. I'll come for your aid." Arceus spoke to Zelda. He didn't suggest or offered his aid, he straight-up given her the opportunity to do it. Maybe it's the fact that he's omnipotent or something like that.

[TartoonHand94]

“Yes exactly.” Zelda gratefully agreed. “Thank you so much. I believe that together we can find a peaceful resolution to all of this. One where no one has to-”

A alarmed squawk from her Loftwing interrupted Zelda. She turned to look at what the commotion was and gasped at what she saw.

 
Down from the sleeping heavens, stormed a squadron of Centurions.
At the pointed front of their formation, upon a makeshift chariot drawn by two more Centurions, rode their leader.
A youthful looking angel decked in battle armor with a hardened and focused fire in his eye. The look on his face alone added decades to the guess of his age.
Years of struggle, war and great loss were spelled out in the curve of his brow.

“This is the place. We’re here!”
The angel stoically signaled to his men with a lordly wave of his arm.
All of the Centurions swiftly lined up and hovered at attention in disciplined military formation.
Their captain stood tall upon his chariot to address them.


“Alright Soldiers, listen up! Today is the day!
All of our hard work, all of our training, all the overtime we put in, has led to this!”
He began to rally his troops with the charisma befitting of a captain of the guard.

“I don’t need to remind you that Lady Palutena, the goddess who watched over us, protected us, fed us and filled our worlds with light has gone missing. It’s been hard on all of us. Skyworld hasn’t seen a sunny day since…”
He shouted with an increasing crack in his voice. He was fighting hard to hold back his own distress and retain a brace face for his subordinates.
“… And it’s up to Us to do something about it! Who Are we?”


“The Goddess of Light’s Royal Guard!”
“I can’t hear you!”
“The Goddess of Light’s Royal Guard!”
The Centurions saluted in unison.


“That’s right! And she needs us now more than ever!
I don’t need to remind you that she was stolen from us either.
Her grace was last seen here, at this very battlefield, battling an evil winged monster called the Garuda!
Wings like scimitars! Beak lined with fangs! Talons with razor sharp claws that give the weapons class a run for its money!”

“When she needed us most, we fell… She hasn’t come back…”
His voice broke. His head dropped. With a deep breath and wipe of his face, he boldly raised his head again.


“But we’re back now! And we’re not going back until she’s back with us!
What are we going to do?”
This time the Centurions hadn’t memorized their answer. A stumped hush swept over the crowd.


“I said What Are We Going To Do?
He repeated himself and wistfully began to coach.
Guys we went over this! We’re going Ssssaaaa-”


“Save Lady Palutena?”
One Centurion in the back finally suggested.
“Yes thank you!

 
We’re gonna Save Lady Palutena!”

The captain repeated to a rousing chant.
“Save Lady Palutena!”


“We’re back at the scene of the crime, and we’re going hunting!
We’re going to catch ourselves a Garuda! We’re going to capture it, slay it and Take our goddess back!”
The angel rallied with a sudden and unbecoming sense of malice.

“With your arrows, your halberds and your beefy herculean muscles, we shall rain death upon the Garuda!
We’ll make it pay for what it did to her! We’re going strip it of its wings have its drumsticks for lunch!
And when we're done, I'm mounting it’s head on the gameroom wall!
The winged boy roared, lost in his own grief turned to fury.

“No! Pit! Please!”
Zelda’s voice cried out, interrupting the rally.
No sooner than she had reached Pit’s chariot on her Loftwing did Zelda realize every centurion arrow was aimed squarely at her.


“Hey! Hey! Stand down! That’s Not the Garuda!”
Pit hastily called off his army.
“What are you doing here?”
Pit demanded, annoyed that a human was endangering herself by meddling in godly affairs.
“You have no idea what you’re up against!”
Zelda pleaded to the unstable angel.

[Mari]

As if on cue, Arle took her place beside Zelda. She greeted Pit with a bright, friendly smile without acknowledging Zelda quite yet. "Hi Pit~! ...I hope you didn't think you were going to hunt htat garuda alone. You're not the only one who wants to save Palutena, you know." the mage would introduce, briefly flashing a rather affectionate looking smile up at Zelda. It seemed that she had somehow found out about the rescue efforts, likely through the magical girl's society's own ongoing efforts to come up with a plan to rescue Palutena. "She was a part of our family. I'm not sure what part, exactly, but I know she was always nice to have around~ We made a promise to look out for each other, and I'm not gonna back down just because we're chasing some lesser deity across Li." Arle explained rather confidently. A garuda was, of course, a deva. Not quite a deity, but very close in some ways. They weren't worshiped per se like an actual deity, but had a power to them closer to what deities were physically capable of than to mortals.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Arceus was intent on listening to Zelda, but the alarmed gawking of the Skyloft brought his attention to the squadron of Centurions and their leader, the angel Pit. By that point, he was listening in to the captain's rally. It was very apparent that Palutena meant a lot to him, so the boy's rage was evidently justified...in his eyes, at least. That wasn't the main focus of the issue, however. For now, he'd need to convince Pit to lay down his weapon.

Following Zelda to Pit's chariot, he began talking. "Young one, I can feel and understand your pain. However, you are vastly underestimating the Garuda's power. If it so wills, it could easily dispatch you, no matter how well armed you are right now." he spoke. "Saving Palutena is your one true objective, am I not correct? There are other ways to save her besides recklessly throwing your life away fighting."

He seemed to notice the newcomer but decided not to comment on it. Calm down bloodthirsty Pit first, new introductions later.

[TartoonHand94]

“Please! Listen to Arceus, Pit! Or listen to me! You're making a big mistake! My father once told me that revenge is like a two-headed Gleeok: While you watch your enemy go down, you are being poisoned yourself.'” Zelda pleaded with Pit to listen to reason. “I know you want to save Palutena. We all do. But you cannot let your feelings cloud your better judgement like this! A mindless assault like this is not the answer, Pit!”
Zelda dissuaded, before a new voice spoke up beside her.
“Arle?” Zelda gasped, doing a double take to her side. “What are you doing here?”
“Yeah what Are you doing here?” Pit echoed, doing a triple take. “I didn’t ask Viridi for her help! This is between the Garuda and Palutena’s Army!” He stubbornly shouted down.
“…Wait a minute, I don’t see any Nutskis or Urles or even any Badoots with you… (Seriously how did Viridi come up with those names?)” Pit looked behind Arle to notice. “…So you’re Not just here so Viridi could rub it in my face?” He asked, changing his tone while scratching his head.
“…Well in that case, while my day job is to Protect humans like you from monsters like the Garuda, Welcome aboard operation Skewer da Garuda!” Pit saluted, remembering the likes of Magnus and Mario whom he teamed up with before.

“Pit do you even hear yourself?” Zelda groaned at the name he gave the operation. “As for you, Arle…” Zelda turned and knelt down, gently gripping Arle’s shoulders.
“Thank you for coming, but please understand me when I say stand down.” She hesitated to tell Arle off outright, as she did put out a call to “all brave warriors who heed her call.” Arle came out of the courage in her own heart and Zelda couldn’t just deny that. Yet chosen wielder of the goddess sword or not, Zelda could not bear the thought of seeing Arle fall to the Garuda’s talon’s as well.
“Please Arle. You’re the last person I want to see get hurt.” Zelda pleaded with sincerity in her voice.

“That goes for you too Pit.” She turned back up to the boy in his chariot.
“You are leading your men on a suicide mission! The Garuda's powers are beyond the average Guay or Hrock; It is not only fast and powerful, but also fiercely cunning!” She warned with every argument she could muster. “You do not know what the beast is capable of! I am afraid you and your soldiers are outmatched. And if you and your men fall, who will be left to guard Skyworld?”

“Oh… I get it… I see what you’re saying…” Pit began to ominously squint and nod. “You don’t believe we can do it, do you?” He suddenly pointed accusingly at Zelda and Arceus.
“Nobody believes the flightless angel can save Anybody! Not even after saving the world from Medusa Twice! Not after I was promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard!” A seriously irritated Pit went on to rant, fighting back tears.
“Not even after slaying Twinbellows, the Hewdraw, Pandora, Thanatos, the Minotaur, Skull Wing, the Fire Serpent, Orcos, Dark Lord Gaol, the Great Reaper, Pitto, the Galactic Fiend Kraken, The Phoenix, Craigalanche, Arlon, Phosphera, the Aurum, Pyrrhon, the Chariot Master, the Chaos Kin, the Heart of Hades, or even the Lord of the Underworld Himself! Nobody believes Pit can do Anything!”
Pit finally ran out of breath just as he arrived at the end of his list. Panting with tears streaming down his face, he was reduced to gritting his teeth with his head down, bracing to regain his composure.
“Nobody except… Her… She believed in me… She believed I could do anything…” Pit murmured with a voice that rose with him. “She believed in All of us!” He stood back up to readdress his legion. “She believed We could do anything! Lady Palutena’s the one who chose each and every one of us, to stand before her! To stand by her! To stand for what she stood for! For What’s Right! For Truth! For Justice! For Light!” He reminded them, finding motivation in remembering this himself. “She had faith in us! And we had faith in her! In through our faith, we did more than Stand: We Flew!” He shouted with a fist to the sky, to the roused cheers of the entire Army.
“And we’re going to fly today! And we’re going to save her! Because She Believed We Can!”

The hype in the air was not shared by Zelda, who could only look on in in dread.
“Now let’s get out there and prove her-”

Suddenly, Pit and the cheering Centurions were interrupted and silenced by a mighty crow from above. A avian noise akin to a roar that would terrorise a pterodactyl.
Looking up at it was enough to cause Zelda and all the Centurions alike to gasp in in fear.
There it was. With mere flaps of its wings, it blew the clouds away, revealing its form.
Its wing span eclipsed the sun and darkened the sky with each flap.
Not a mere two wings but six! With sharp talons on four of them in addition to the two on the ends of its mighty legs.
The Garuda was large, but its wings made it look enormous! It only became bigger as it descended toward our heroes in a predatory swoop!

“…Right on time!”

[Mari]

Arle just sort of gave Pit a funny look. Were he and Viridi enemies or something? Why in the god chilling out nearby's name would she be sent to mock anyone over Palutena's death? It didn't make a lick of sense. Or rather, it didn't make a lick of sense yet. Being babied by Zelda brought a little blush to her face, but she supposed she could see why the other was talking to her that way. She seemed to deflate a bit under Zelda's gaze, her feelings silently hurt by the other's lack of confidence in her. It's not like she was going to go off and die or anything like that! Have a little more faith, Zelda!

...

And then--without warning--their target presented itself to them as if it knew what they were plotting. "...Oh, I've seen this monster." Arle remarked rather casually. Say, was that even the same Garuda that had gotten the drop on Palutena? Woah, there's a dark thought. Hopefully, it doesn't become a relevant one. After all, this Garuda had clearly shown up because they were thinking about it specifically--right? Either way, it was there and threatening them. There was only one thing to do now. A familiar sword would be drawn from Arle's side. A spectral woman's voice manifested in her head, instructing her. She raised the blade and leveled it at the Garuda in the sky, a magical sheen drifting across the blade's edge and focusing at its sheen where the sun hit it. "Heads up! Bird's coming down~!" Arle instructed rather enthusiastically, trying to warn Pit not to send his centurions after the Garuda, lest they get annihilated by her ploy.

"Growth!" Arle shouted, raising her free arm up into the air and directing her open palm to the Garuda. For a moment nothing happened, but this didn't last long enough even for anyone to finish commenting on it before the earth trembled and three rather thick, fuzzy looking vines shattered through the ground, launching high up into the air. As the vines rose to meet the Garuda Arle would abruptly close her free hand into a tight fist and, in turn, the vines would violently lash out and wrap around the giant bird, violently yanking it down from the sky and slamming it into the ground! One might not be able to tell just watching, but the fuzz on those vines were actually tiny venomous thorns that threatened to envenom the Garuda as well as break it against the earth.

FkFUMrlPp_1d20+4 (Arle's Growth; Does 30% Damage, grapples and has a 50% chance at poisoning)

Arle braced herself for the thunderous impact that followed, waiting just long enough to see if her attack worked before drawing her blade back over her head and performing a very simple overhead swing accompanied by a rather ferocious yet adorably unintimidating sounding battle cry. "Hya!" Arle blurted out, a beam of holy energy arcing its way out from her sword as she swung it and soaring through the air towards the Garuda, threatening to cut into it at a range! Look Zelda! Your little prodigy performed the sacred move! She didn't even need to be taught! Of course, there was a good chance Zelda was aware of Fi--but still! She did the thing!

p_1d20+4 (Arle's Skyward Strike; Does 18% Damage and can't be dodged if Growth hit.)

Arle Damage: 0% Shield Damage: 0% Status: None Growth Cooldown: 2 Turns Remaining

1d20+4·1d20+4

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"Listen to yourself, Pit." Arceus simply retorted, keeping that calm tone of his voice. However, it was clear that the PokéGod wasn't too pleased with Pit's response. "Your heroics are indeed worthy of stories, however, that doesn't excuse the fact that your current blindness over emotions makes you overestimate your power and also underestimate the foe upon you. Do not misunderstand me. For an angel that is unable to fly normally, you've accomplished much in your lifespan. However, the Garuda's power, combined with its intelligence, makes it a foe that could overpower even fellow deities." The Original One tried to persuade the angel...only to be greeted with the sight of the Garuda sweeping into their fields of vision--

--Oh great, the newcomer decided to strike the Garuda on the spot. A loud sigh emanates from the deer-like deity. "Humans. Some of them never seem to learn..." If Arceus could, he'd eye roll. He flies upwards and suddenly roared, alongside loudly ordering one thing.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

If the sternness of his voice wasn't enough, the glare he shot to Arle, Pit and the Centurions spoke volumes about what he'd do to them if they didn't comply. He flew towards the Garuda, matching its flight height.

"Greetings." He began to speak to the beast. "I apologize on behalf of this young human who had callously attacked you just now. I wish to engage in a peaceful conversation so we can resolve something. You've caught the currently inactive soul of a goddess of light that goes by the name of Palutena. However, such actions provoked the rage of her champion. I believe we've no need of battle to solve this issue. Please, communicate with me."

[TartoonHand94]

The Pokégod's compassionate words of wisdom were just what the unstable Pit needed to hear after his emotional outburst.

If only he were listening.

“Open Fire!”

Pit loudly barked his order with little time to think about hesitating. The front lines of his troops drew their arrows aimed square at the winged beast. They let loose a vicious barrage of arrows upon the large but swift moving target.

By use of swift aerodynamics, the Garuda dodged each and every arrow of that first round.
And with little in the way off effort, the Garuda opened its massive wing span, and slammed its wings together in a forceful flap, unleashing a blast of air powerful to scatter the entire first wave of offence clear out of it's way. This gap slicing right down through the middle of Palutena's army, divided it into two platoons, but unexpectedly created a clear path for three three rather thick, fuzzy looking vines to launch straight at the recovering Garuda and violently lash out at it, tightly wrap around it and forcibly drag it down from the sky, beak-first into the ground.
The winged beast hit the ground with an appropriately thunderous THUMP.

Barely dazed from the impact, if not stung and annoyed by the poisonous thorns, the Garuda opened it's eyes to see a Skyward Strike headed right for it. With little to be done in means of escape, the Garuda was struck dead on by the Skyward Strike, letting out a cringing squawk of agony.

Pit and Zelda alike were struck speechless by Arle's deeds. Both for opposite reasons.
“...Good work Arle!” Pit commended before Zelda could reprimand her. “Now as I was saying boys...” He signaled his troops to swarm over the downed bird with their weapons drawn.
“Open F-!” This time Pit was cut short by Arceus' telekinetic shout to hold your fire. It was intimidating enough for not only Zelda and Pit, but his whole Centurion army to freeze up in silence, nearly dropping their weapons clean out of the sky.

The Garuda groggily opened its eyes to meet those of Arceus. Bound, slashed and poisoned after being shot at, it wasn't quite in the most cordial temperament.

After a cold pause of silence, the Garuda breathed, and decided to reply telepathically.
“Callously attacked me? Is that not quite the understatement? There I am minding my own business and your humans assault me like a common mortal turkey! Completely unprovoked mind you, and you still vouch for them? They are more fortunate than they deserve to be that You, Arceus of all gods try to speak peacefully on there behalf.”
He threw a squint at Arle on his one side and another at Pit on his other, simultaneously, which is quite easy when you're walleyed.
“However, respect where due, I shall assume the moral high ground and level with You of all beings, Arceus.
So what if I Do have an idol of the Goddess of Light? What's in it for me if I return her to you? Will you "leave me alone?"
Since you've already gone through all this trouble just to steal her back from me I'll... Show you!”

With that the Garuda abruptly shrank, freeing itself as it dissappeared under the wrappings of Arle's growth. Slipping through the gaps in the vines, the Garuda regained it's size to knock Pit and Arle down simultaneously with its wing span.

(Arle! Pit! Roll 19 to dodge the Garuda's Wing Slash or take 15% damage)

(o2rjiSAfp_1d20+3 Pit's dodge of the Garuda's Wing Slash)
Making a B line straight to the one other humanoid present who was not armed with a weapon pointing straight at it, it scooped Zelda up in it's tallons and glided away. Gliding in a horisonal arc, it slashed through the two split factions of Centurion, dividing them into 4 before flapping toward the horison.
With the speed of which everything was happening, Zelda could only scream. Not even sure if it was for help or sheer anxious shock. Zelda's Loftwing cried back in distressed response.

“Oh not again you don't! Don't just float there!” Pit woked his men from their stunned daze “After it!!”
Rallying them all to engage in hot pursuit.
As Pit was carried by his soldiers on a floating chariot, Zelda's Loftwing nudged Arle as if to ask for a rider to chase after Zelda.

Garuda
452 HP
Stats: Normal
Threshold 15
p_1d25
Centurion α Alpha	Centurion β Beta	Centurion γ Gamma	Centurion δ Delta	Centurion ε Epsilon
10 HP	10 HP	10 HP	10 HP	10 HP
		p_1d25
x25
Pit Damage 0% Status: Normal

1d20+3·1d25·1d25