SMASH GAMES 2: CHAOS | Super Smash Bros.

9 - The Lightning

Lucina 

The good news was that Pit was alive. For the moment. 

Lucina didn't know how long he would stay that way. It was a miracle that she'd gotten him out of the river in time; he was a lot heavier than she'd first assumed. He was currently collapsed in the reeds by the river, his face pale, and his lips growing as blue as the sky. She'd checked his breathing and pulse several times to verify that he was alive, but he was unconscious, and that didn't look to be changing anytime soon. 

She bent down and listened to his faint heartbeat again before collapsing to her behind, staring at him helplessly. She was not a cleric or a troubadour-she had no idea of how to bring someone back from the precipice of death.  

But she did know how to set a broken ankle; she'd had to do it for herself a couple of times. 

Most of the stuff that they'd stolen from the armory had been snatched away when they'd been thrown out the airlock. The only thing the both of them had on them now was Pit's strange bow, Lucina's almost-Falchion and some of the things that had landed around them after their descent: a shield, a blue staff, a couple other daggers, and one gun. No medical supplies.  

Lucina cut off the end of her cape using Falchion. She gingerly took Pit's swollen foot and began rapidly twining the strip of material around his ankle until it was set in place. When she was done, she rolled Pit back onto his back and set the surviving backpack underneath his head. She sat and went back to staring helplessly at him. 

There's nothing more you can do, she said to herself. You just have to wait and see if he wakes up.  

Lucina leapt to her feet and re-sheathed Falchion. Yes, that's what she would do, but she wouldn't sit around and stare at him while she did. There were other things to worry about. Like where in Naga's name they were.  

A recon mission. That would help calm her nerves. 

She dragged Pit closer to the river bank, where the cattails were huge and tall. They easily hid Pit's snoozing form and the remaining backpack. Lucina retreated a few yards back and surveyed her work. Yes, anyone from her position couldn't see Pit or the pack. Feeling better, Lucina turned and headed into the woods. 

For the first time, she noticed how chilly it was. Her clothes had heated up and begun smoking on their descent from the airlock, but now that the adrenaline and fear had worn off, the cold breeze swinging through the trees chilled the sweat covering her body from head to toe and her soaked clothes. She shivered and pulled her cape tightly around her as she made her way through the towering pines and spruce and dogwoods. The caws of birds rang overhead, and the setting sun poured light down through the boughs. The wind stirred the blanket of dried leaves and pine needles under her boots. Squirrels and other vermin skittered between the trees. 

Those were the only sounds that she heard. It was peaceful here. Suspiciously peaceful. 

About three miles out from her starting point, the trees began to thin. She stepped out of the woods and found herself at the base of a hill, bathed in shadow as the expiring sun moved behind it. Lucina mounted the hill and gazed around as she stood at the apex. She had a pretty good view of the surrounding area here. She was enclosed on all sides by thick deciduous forest. There was a mountain range in the far, far distance-at least a week away, Lucina estimated-but other than that, they'd landed in a sea of trees. 

Where in Naga's name was she? Anywhere near Ylisse? Somehow she doubted it. The forest around her, though quiet, felt foreign and unfriendly. Instinct told her that she was far away from anything that resembled Ylisse, anything that resembled home, and panic rose in her chest at the thought of being stranded thousands of miles from her home country, no matter what state it was currently in.