Medutena

Medutena is the femslash ship between Medusa and Palutena from the Kid Icarus fandom.

The Tale of Kid Icarus
The short story that came with the manual of the original Kid Icarus game tells the backstory of Medusa and Palutena. It describes how Angel Land used to live in harmony, ruled by two beautiful goddesses: Palutena, Goddess of Light and Medusa, Goddess of Darkness. Palutena used her light to help mankind by growing their crops, but Medusa had an unexplained hatred of mankind, using her powers to dry their crops and turn them into stone. Palutena was furious and cursed Medusa into the form of a hideous cyclops monster, then banished her from Skyworld, letting her fall into the Underworld. But Medusa was not going to let that stop her, in the Underworld, she joined forces with the monsters and evil spirits that lived there and promised that she would return with a vengeance one day. Medusa was successful in turning the tides against Palutena, having turned most of her Centurions to stone and then imprisoning Palutena in the home they used to share. Medusa did not account for one little angel boy named Pit surviving her attack, who soon set out to find the Three Sacred Treasures, relics Medusa stole from Palutena and the only thing capable of defeating the wicked goddess.

The original game
Palutena assists Pit in spirit by arming him with his bow and arrow in hopes of defeating Medusa. Should Pit manage to do so, Palutena will reward him with a kiss.

Kid Icarus: Uprising
Somehow, Medusa had returned from being defeated 25 years ago and she is hellbent on revenge against Palutena. The latter wastes no time and immediately sends Pit to defeat the leaders of her army. When Pit manages to do so with Palutena's help, she sends him directly into Medusa's domain. When Pit and Palutena ask her how she managed to come back, Medusa is at first smug, but then admits that she doesn't actually know how it happened. Regardless, she still fights Pit and is defeated after revealing her true form. Palutena congratulates him, but their celebration is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Hades, the true ruler of the Underworld. When Hades reveals that this Medusa was just a copy with the memories of the one who died 25 years ago, Palutena sounds genuinely concerned. For the rest of the game, Pit and Palutena prepare to fight against Hades (with a few obstacles on their way), only for Medusa to show up to defeat Hades herself. When Pit asks why she's helping them, Medusa honestly admits that she is fed up with being Hades' puppet. When Pit defeats Hades, Medusa is nowhere to be found, leaving her fate unknown.

Medusa's Revenge (promo short)
Palutena tells the story of how she was imprisoned in her own home by Medusa and how Pit came to rescue her. She then tells Pit that she needs his help once more, granting him the power of flight just as he's heading out. Medusa then threatens that this time, "it will be different" and attacks an innocent village of humans with her eye beams petrifying them as she laughs evilly. Palutena then shows up and tells her to stop. Medusa addresses her and tells her not to meddle with her affairs. Palutena laments that neither the human world nor Skyworld will be safe with Medusa, who then tells her that her revenge will be "so sweet". Medusa then turns to mock Pit, asking him if he has come to crash her homecoming party and calling him "Palutena's precious little Pit", they then face off against each other.

Fanon
Medutena is a rarepair in the Kid Icarus fandom, but it does have its fans. Generally, people enjoy the Light/Darkness contrast between the characters, the fact that they used to be friends adds a lot more fuel to the ship.

It currently has 10 fics on AO3, at least one of which ships it alongside Piridi.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * The relationship between Medusa and Palutena parallels the relationship between the mythological Medusa and Athena. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Medusa was a priestess of Athena, but had an unfortunate encounter with Poseidon in Athena's temple. As a punishment for something Medusa had no control over, Athena cursed Medusa and her sisters into hideous gorgons, giving Medusa the "gift" of her famous petrifying gaze, which likely served as the inspiration for Palutena cursing Medusa into her monster form in order to save humanity.