Rain started to fall down on the third day of their journey through the woodlands around Corneria City. Their coats and cloaks clung to their bodies while they rode alongside a gentle river. Still, Ike, Marth and Roy were in a good mood and showed it by singing various songs they heard in their respective home countries.
In the evening, the rain finally stopped, and they put up their camp between the river and the forest. Roy volunteered to take care of dinner, and started to roast a huge piece of meat over the campfire.
Pit was in deep thought, though. The previous day, they had come across an old, abandoned campsite. An empty crate that was left behind bore a special emblem, a grinning wolf face – the sign of Star Wolf. That meant they must have put up camp at that place, not too long ago.
Pit was feeling guilty for using Star Wolf to kidnap Krystal and allow Fox to show his true abilities as a hero. He also endangered the blue-furred vixen, as he never knew how the rough mercenaries would handle her.
He didn't want to use the Star Rod's powers to cause harm to people, he wanted that they looked up at him as some sort of benefactor.
He looked over to where Link was giving his winged Pokémon a large piece of meat. Charizard tore right into it and then gave Link a disgusted look. "Hey, that meat is completely charred… you want me to eat this?"
"I admit that Roy isn't the best cook I've seen," Link said with a frown. "But you could be a bit more grateful, you know? Or do you prefer your meat raw?"
Charizard grumbled something unintelligible, but Link and Pit could tell that he was getting used to receive roasted meat for his meals, ever since he became Link's companion.
Link came over to Pit and sat down next to him with a grin. "Charizard always acts all grumpy, but once you get to know him better, you realize that he's actually a decent guy… he just hides it well."
He then got more serious. "Pit… I must say, I am curious. How did you get here in the first place?"
"You know that, don't you?" Pit asked. "You brought me to the Queen."
"Yes, but what happened before that?" Link asked.
And Pit told him how he found the small store and met Mr. Hando, and how he bought the game and played it in his room. When he reached the part where Link's own adventures started, the Hylian boy waved it aside. He seemed more interested in the reasons for Pit's appearance in the gaming store.
Pit frowned, but he really couldn't come up with any good explanation. Any memory he had from being weak and scrawny were completely wiped out of his head, so he couldn't recall any boys that teased him. Link asked him about his previous life, and Pit told him about his home, his parents and his school.
Later that evening, they all put up their blankets and layed down to sleep. Ike, Roy and Marth were fast asleep, and Charizard was snoring loudly as well. But Link turned around to face Pit one more time before they slept.
"It's because of the Star Rod," he said.
Pit blinked. "What?"
The Hylian hero sighed. "I should have known it, but it works differently if you use it, because you're not from Nintendopia."
"What do you mean by that?" Pit wondered.
"I wasn't allowed to use the Star Rod's powers too often," Link explained. "Only in times of dire need or danger could I risk to use it's wish granting abilities. But you seem to be able to use its powers freely… that's how you made Star Wolf kidnap Krystal. Although they will always recall that it was their plan from the beginning. But at the same time, the Star Rod is taking something from you… your memories!"
Pit thought about it. He didn't feel as if he was missing something. "Well, I'm sure Palutena must have had her reasons when she gave me the Star Rod," he said.
Link looked at him very thoughtfully before he sighed and turned around to sleep.
----
In the middle of the night, Pit woke up because of some strange sound he had heard.
The campfire was extinguished, and he was surrounded by darkness. He then felt Link's hand on his shoulder, and the Hylian boy asked him: "Did you hear that as well?"
"Yes," Pit nodded. "What could that be?"
They decided not to wake the others and carefully left the camp. The strange noises were coming from within the woods. It almost sounded like the clinking and tapping you could hear in a craftsman's workshop.
"If it only was a bit brighter…" Link murmured. "It's so black, I can't see a thing!"
"Wait a minute," Pit whispered. "I still have the Spell Stone Beltino gave me…" He pulled out the magical rock, and its soft, blue gleam drove away the darkness and illuminated a small clearing in front of them. In its middle, they could see a huge group of small creatures surrounding a machine that had surprising similarities to the Graviton in Corneria City.
Pit looked at their spherical body, their huge noses with the mustaches, and the tiny bows on their single strands of hair.
"Oh no, ding!" they murmured. "Somebody found us! Whatever shall we do, boing? Whatever shall we do?"
"Calm down!" Pit told them. "We are not your enemies. We are your friends."
"Can that be?" one of the small creatures asked. "Can a being as big and intimidating as you can really be our friend? Or do you plan on picking us up and throwing us around for your amusement? Zoom!"
Link barely suppressed a snicker when hearing that. "I assure you we mean you no harm! You are the Mr. Saturn, correct? We are allies with Corneria, the same ones you gave the Graviton as a present."
"You are right, dingding!" they said in unison. "But ever since our ship here crash-landed in this forest, we were worried if we would ever find a way back to our home planet… and we always had to fear being eaten alive by local predators."
"I feel sorry for you guys!" Pit said.
One of the Mr. Saturn sighed. "Oh, if we only weren't this small and defenseless! If only we had the strength to defend ourselves against any hostile creatures! Just a few nights ago one of our friends went missing, and we fear the worst. If we only had the strength to protect ourselves."
"We also haven't enough energy left to make our ship fly back home again, zoom!" another one spoke up. "As long as we don't find another way of gathering energy, we won't be able to leave this planet. Ding ding!"
"Isn't there anyone who can help us, boing?" a third Mr. Saturn wailed.
"I can!" Pit said. "I carry the Star Rod."
The Mr. Saturn suddenly grew very excited. They all started blabbing and looked at the golden ring that surrounded Pit's arm with awe.
"Is there any way I could help you?" Pit asked. He really felt pity with these creatures, because he knew that once again, he was responsible for their situation, because it was his wish back in Corneria that brought them here in the first place.
"Winged little boy," one of the big-nosed aliens whimpered. "We have but one wish: Give us a different form! A form in which we have nothing to fear from any wild creatures that might see us as prey."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Pit said. "You all will fall asleep, but if you wake up again in the morning, you will have changed. You will have become strong beings that have nothing to fear from any hostile beings. You will also be able to hover in the air, increasing your mobility. And on top of that, you'll have the natural ability of gathering energy by yourselves, so you'll be able to fly back home very soon."
He waited for a reply, but all he could hear was soft snoozing.
"They're already asleep," Link said. "Come, let's get back to the camp."
Pit put the Spell Stone back in his bag, and they walked back to their camp. Ike, Roy, Marth and Charizard were still sound asleep.
"What do you think about this?" Pit asked as they lay back down on their blankets.
Link just shrugged and said: "I wonder what it will cost you…"
----
The next morning, they woke up by a bloodcurdling scream.
"OH MY GOD! Where did those come from?"
"Your sword! Grab your sword!"
"PIT! Get up and help us!"
Pit jumped to his feet and saw to his horror that their camp was under attack. Link, Ike, Marth and Roy swung around their blades to fend off a swarm of monstrous creatures, while Charizard angrily blew plumes of flames against the floating beings. Yoshi was fighting as well and boldly threw his green-spotted eggs at the creatures. He abstained from trying to grab them with his long and flexible tongue, though, as he didn't want the floating monsters grab it with their sharp mandibles.
Pit could just stare when he recognized the floating beings. They looked similar to floating jellyfish, with a green, transparent membrane that surrounded three red, glowing nuclei. On their underside, the sharp mandibles were jutting out. The creatures hovered around and filled the air with their shrill screeches.
Pit recognized them instantly, as they were the same creatures that gave a certain series of Nintendo games their name.
"The Metroids…" he murmured. He then shouted: "Link! Guys! The only way we can fight them is with ice weapons."
"Now he tells me…" Charizard grumbled after his twenty-third try to fry the Metroids with his flames failed.
"Ice?" Ike shouted. "Where are we supposed to find ice weapons in such a situation? We only have our blades…"
"AAAAARRRRRGGGHH!" Roy's terrified scream made them turn around in surprise. "Get… get it off… GET IT OFF!!"
To Pit's horror, one of the Metroids had managed to latch onto the red-haired swordsman's head and clamped down with his mandibles. Roy tried very hard to push the alien creature off, but it was futile. Then he gasped while the Metroid started to drain him from his vital energy.
"Roy!!" Marth shouted. "Guys, we… we have to help him!"
"Everybody, duck!" Link shouted as he took out his bow. Ike, Marth and Pit obeyed, and Link focussed his magical energies on the tip of the arrow, which suddenly got surrounded by an aura of freezing, magical energy.
"Take this!" Link yelled as he fired his Ice Arrow at the Metroid that was draining Roy. In an instant, it was frozen solid.
"Now!" Pit yelled. "Hit it with your strongest attack!"
Ike yelled on top of his longs, drew back his blade, threw it up into the air, jumped after it, snatched it in mid-air, twirled around… and came plunging down on the frozen Metroid.
The heavy blade sliced the frozen creature apart like a loaf of bread, and Roy was set free, gasping for air. Angrily, Ike stomped down on the two halves of the Metroid, breaking it into even smaller fragments of ice.
"Unbelievable…" Marth murmured. "That was the Aether… Ike's strongest attack! I've never seen him use it before…"
"Wh-what's going on?" Roy muttered while he was staggering back to his feet. "What are those creatures?"
"Metroids…" Pit grumbled as he watched the remaining aliens that were now keeping their distance and circling them. "The most dangerous alien life form you can imagine… but I have no idea why they are here."
"They certainly look very hungry…" Yoshi whimpered.
"I… heard of them…" Link muttered. "General Pepper told me a story about a legendary bounty hunter who once hunted them… but he also said that the last Metroid had been killed after the destruction of Planet Zebes. So how… how can they be here?"
"I wish I knew…" Pit said. "I wish I knew…"
And suddenly, something strange happened. The circle around his wrist lightened up, and all of a sudden, he was hearing words. The voices of the Metroids were still shrill screeches and hisses, but he now heard how they talked to each other… by using some sort of primitive telepathy.
"Why?" he snarled and tightened his grip around his bow. "Why are you doing this?"
One of the bigger Metroids suddenly turned around in mid-air and came floating towards him. Pit flinched, and the others reached for their weapons… but then the Metroid stopped and Pit could hear a voice in his head:
'SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND US? THEN KNOW THAT WE ARE THE METROID! WE ARE HERE TO DRAIN ALL OF YOU WEAKER LIFE FORMS OF YOUR ENERGIES! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!'
"Well, you'll see that we're not as harmless as other creatures you dealt with…" Pit grumbled and separated his sacred bow into a pair of blades.
'WE HAVE DECIDED TO SPARE YOUR LIVES FOR NOW,' the Metroid went on. 'YOU KNOW OF OUR ULTIMATE WEAKNESS… ALSO, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO MADE US WHAT WE ARE TODAY, SO WE'LL LET YOU LIVE FOR TODAY!'
"What… what do you mean?" Pit asked in confusion. "I made you like this? What's that supposed to mean?"
'LAST NIGHT, WE WERE JUST THE WEAK, PATHETIC MR. SATURN! NOW WE ARE SO MUCH MORE! WE ARE THE METROID! AND WE WILL MAKE NINTENDOPIA OUR NEW HOME PLANET! UNTIL NEXT TIME WE MEET, GREAT BENEFACTOR… THE NEXT TIME, YOU MIGHT BE OUR PREY; THOUGH!'
And the Metroids turned around and floated away, their shrill screeches echoing in their ears even after they were gone.
Link sighed in relief. "Well, that was that. Let's get out of here quickly, before they come back!"
He then turned around and saw how his winged friend was kneeling on the ground and clutching his head. "Pit?"
"It's all my fault…" he cried again and again. "It's all my fault…"