Chapter 21: The Chaos Vortex

Chapter 21: The Chaos Vortex (21章 混沌の狭間 21-Shō Konton no Hazama, "Chapter 21: Between the Chaos") is the twenty-first chapter in the storyline of Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Pit's goal is to venture into the Chaos Vortex to retrieve Palutena's soul from the Chaos Kin.

Air Battle
Starting off at Palutena's Temple, Pit is sent into the Chaos Vortex in pursuit of the Chaos Kin. There he is greeted with an entirely new realm, containing whirling masses and debris strewn across the skies. As he presses on, a flurry of realistic eyes suddenly flood the screen, taking Pit and Viridi by surprise. Once they disappear he proceeds further, only to encounter massive hand silhouettes obstructing his path. He maneuvers past these obstacles, only for the realm to turn completely pitch black and invert the colors of everything within. Viridi guides him through the darkness, and Pit returns to the Chaos Vortex once again, though he now appears as a silhouette. He then spots a hot spring waterfall in the distance, which returns his colors to normal once he passes through it.

After two Monoeyes briefly crowd the screen to obstruct Pit's view, the angel encounters hoards of Chaos Kin duplicates, as well as shadow copies of himself. As he proceeds, Pit approaches a large, rocky structure which one of the Chaos Kin flees into. Viridi informs him that this Chaos Kin is the original before sending him through the structure in pursuit, attacking the creature and maneuvering past floating eyes along the way. Once they exit the cave, the Chaos Kin accidentally flies into a floating rock, leaving itself dazed long enough for Pit to deal the finishing blow. Should the player fail to complete this task, Pit will be stuck in the vortex while the Chaos Kin escapes, resulting in a game over; should the player succeed, the Chaos Kin will fall down to a large chunk of land below, and Pit descends to pursue it.

Land Battle
Upon landing, Pit immediately asks for Palutena's whereabouts, to which Viridi informs him that she is nearby. However, the Chaos Kin begins deploying replicas of enemies from various factions in an effort to shake Pit off, forcing the angel to face off against hoards of enemies before he can deal with the Chaos Kin itself.

There are a total of thirteen waves, though Dark Pit appears to help his lookalike at the beginning of wave nine. There he explains how he was reduced to nothing when Pit was sealed inside the Ring of Chaos, deducing that the two angels are strongly connected to one another. The two then fight through the remaining waves with relative ease.

Boss Battle
Once all thirteen waves have been dealt with, the Chaos Kin pops out of the ground and is confronted by Pit and Dark Pit. It attempts to fly away, but Viridi summons a barrier around the area, trapping the Chaos Kin inside and initiating the battle.

During the battle, the Chaos Kin darts across the battlefield at alarming speeds, prompting Viridi to deploy an Electro Trap to occasionally keep it in place. Its strategy is simplistic, consisting of firing lasers from its eye, releasing poisonous gas, shooting fireballs, and charging into its opponents.

Epilogue
Once defeated, the Chaos Kin bursts apart, leaving behind its ash-like remains. Palutena's soul returns to her petrified body and restores her to her normal self, causing Pit to rush to her side to express his relief. Dark Pit contently watches the two reunite, then decides to take his leave—however, the Chaos Kin's ashes suddenly rush over to Dark Pit and wrap itself around him, sending the dark angel flying off the edge. Pit watches in horror before running off the edge after him, ordering Viridi to grant him the Power of Flight. She informs him that using the power so soon after its previous use will result in his wings catching fire, but Pit argues as she goes to extract him. Noting that they won't get another chance, Pit begs her to help, to which she reluctantly agrees. Now given the Power of Flight, Pit's wings begin to burn as he aligns himself to catch Dark Pit.

Should the player fail to complete this task, Dark Pit will not be saved and the player will receive a game over; should the player succeed, Pit gets close enough to grab Dark Pit and Viridi pulls them both back to safety. The two angels end up collapsed on the ground, though Dark Pit lifts himself up to ask how Pit is. Viridi tells him that Pit can no longer fly, and can barely breathe in his current condition. Palutena then walks over to Pit's side, kneeling down to lift his unconscious body into her arms. As she stares at his burnt wings, she reminisces over Pit's wish to fly on his own, as well as his declaration to emerge victorious in his fight against Medusa.

Weapons
The following is a list of weapons most commonly obtained in this chapter.


 * Hedgehog Claws
 * Crystal Bow
 * Upperdash Arm
 * Viridi Palm

Trivia
When Dark Pit joins the battle, if Pit hits him, he will strike back. Thus, it is possible to fight him in this chapter.