Shinji was standing on one of the Mushroom Palace's balconies, looking out at the colorful plains and hills of the Mushroom World.

'So many worlds...' he wondered. 'So many places we could have ended up on... and yet, we were born on our Earth. But, there's one thing that was bugging me: If there are so many worlds, and many of them much more advanced than ours - why did the Angels choose specifically our world?

And are the Angels the sole reason why we are in this situation now?' He looked down at his pink, chubby form. 'I'm not even human anymore... was that all a coincidence? Am I only in this situation because of some manic, floating glove's guilt trip? Is there a reason why he chose to put me in Kirby's place and not in someone other's?'

He sighed. 'Rei is a human-like space animal, and Mom has turned into a professional bounty hunter... but what about Asuka and the others? Back on that 'Battlefield', she was dressed in some medieval clothes... and she said that she was turned into a 'princess'.'

He chuckled at the thought of Asuka sitting on a throne and commanding everyone that came close to her. If she replaced a member of royalty, he didn't want to know what the residents of that kingdom had to go through after Asuka had come to their world. Still, there was this green-clothed swordsman who had accompanied her... was there a specific reason why he had been brought there as well? Or was he just some sort of bodyguard who had no personal ties to Asuka OR the former princess at all?

'Fox is Rei's boss in the team she's been flying in,' Shinji thought. 'Lucas was a nice buddy, and even though he had stumbled into this mess by accident, he had unusual powers as well. He helped me on my own adventures. And R.O.B., well, he's Mom's personal assistant... sort of. Does that mean that everyone of those who were brought to the 'Battlefield' and who did not come from our version of Earth are those who had the time to develop some sort of relationship with us?'

He shook his head... meaning, his whole body. 'Dang, I really am overthinking things... I don't know how Mom and Rei are dealing with it, but I can't just ignore it. And Maya? Well, she looked younger and was dressed in something she would have never worn while working at NERV... and those strange animals that were accompanying her...'

He frowned. "Wait a minute..." he murmured. "If I remember correctly... that yellow-furred rodent had sounded like Misato!"

"Wark!"

Shinji blinked. Did he just hear that?

"Pen... Pen?" he muttered as he slowly turned around.

As everyone from his home planet, the little penguin had changed. Now he was as tall as Shinji himself, and was dressed in some red suit that made him look like a bird-version of Santa Claus. He was also holding a sack in his left hand/wing/flipper.

PenPen waved. "Wark!"

Hesitantly, Shinji waved back. "Um... hi there, PenPen... what's up?"

The bird made a shrugging motion, as if he was going to say: 'Eh, the usual.'

Shinji wasn't as much surprised to see that PenPen had changed as he was surprised that he had chosen this moment to appear... and this place.

"So... where have you been?" Shinji then asked.

PenPen made a vague motion with his right flipper to the sky. Then he seemed to remember something. He reached into his sack and pulled something out.

It was a small, rolled up piece of paper.

Shinji accepted it and unrolled it.

"A... map?" he wondered.

A map it was. The map of what seemed to be a complex building, with many huge halls and intertwined corridors. Several of the rooms had numbers standing on them. Next to the map, he could read their names:

"Main Office..." Shinji read. "Compression Chamber... Storage Hall A... Storage Hall B... Trophy Programming..."

And down below the whole image, he read in big, broad letters:

'ASSIST TROPHY FACTORY: INTERIOR.'

Shinji gasped. "Th-that's... PenPen, where did you get this?"

But when he looked up again, the Delibird was gone. Only another piece of paper was left on the ground, somewhat smaller than the map.

Shinji picked it up. "Dear Shinji..." he muttered. "I'm entrusting you with this map because I believe you to be the most empathic of my children... do with it whatever you wish to do. I am doing this because I feel responsible for what happened back on your Earth, and for the feud between you and the other Angels. Right now, there are several beings that share my view and agree that the deeds of the Subspace Council have changed many of the existing rules. Many of the higher deities will oppose this, but we must do what we feel is the right thing... because we are creatures born with the gift of choice. Palkia might have banished you to several worlds, but he is not allowed to kill you or harm you in any way. One of the most important laws of the universe is that life is sacred and must not be thrown away. It is sad, however, that so many beings in this Multiverse choose to ignore this law...

Know that you, Rei and Asuka are children chosen by fate, not just in your own world. Even Arceus and Palutena know that you are carrying destiny on your shoulders, so in a way, even they are thankful that you haven't been destroyed - or that you have suffered from what certain humans on Earth had planned to do to all of humanity.

All of your guardians agree that you are the chosen ones to put an end to this, that is why I will support you as good as I can. There are other groups of heroes, though, that will play similar roles. You will meet up with them when the time is ripe.

Finally, let me tell you that Asuka is fine. She is helping some of her new friends to defend their world against the forces of the Subspace Army, but they will win if they believe in their friends. As for me, I will continue to watch you and try to intervene as inconspicious as possible... I don't want the gods to know about my current whereabouts and appearance yet. So, please keep this to yourself and only tell your mother and Rei about this.

I have faith that you will choose the right path, child.

L."

Shinji looked up from the letter. "This... was somewhat enlightening... yet, at the same time gave me more riddles..." he murmured. "Who is 'L.', and how does he or she know all these things? Wait a minute..." He double-checked the letter. "Did L. write I am one of his/her CHILDREN?"

Shinji scratched his pink head. "It... couldn't have been Father... could it?"

"Shinji?" A humanoid fox dressed in a space pilot outfit came walking outside. "There you are! Your mother, the princesses, Mario and I had just an interesting conversation with the several individuals that were cursed to become those statues. Princess Daisy was right, they all came from different worlds and had different kinds of backstories, but the one thing that stays the same throughout their tales is that they had been somehow knocked out and brought to some place... from their description, a building with heavy machinery. Can you imagine what kind of building that could be?"

Shinji raised the paper with the map on it.

"An Assist Trophy Factory, maybe?"

The first thing Lucas heard after waking up were the sounds of the waves. It also felt to him as if the ground beneath him was gently shaking.

He tried pressing his body up and felt wooden planks beneath his hands. 'A ship?' he wondered. 'I'm on a ship?'

"Hey, you finally awake?" someone standing in front of him asked.

Lucas looked up... and saw a boy standing in front of him who looked like he could be his age. He was wearing a green tunic and a green cap. It also looked like he was wearing a shield and a sword on his back.

"You've been out of it for quite a while," the other boy said. "I'm glad you finally woke up. I'm Link... and what's your name?"

"L-lucas..." the psychic boy muttered. "I'm Lucas."

"Pleased to meetcha," Link grinned. "And welcome aboard, if I may say so."

"Hey, as far as I know, this is still my ship," a cocky, female voice spoke up next to them. Lucas looked around and saw a blonde, sun-tanned girl that couldn't be older than he or Link.

"I'm Captain Tetra," she smirked and shook Lucas' hand. "Welcome aboard my pirate ship."

"P-pirate ship?" Lucas gasped. "Y-you're pirates?"

"Not me," Link protested. "And actually, Tetra is the only remaining member of her old crew, which makes her the only pirate on board..."

"Yeah, but since I'm the captain, this is still a pirate ship," Tetra insisted. "Got a problem with that? Oh, before I forget, meet my other crew members: These are Popo and Nana..."

Two other kids, a boy and a girl, came clambering down the mast, and then they jumped down in front of Lucas and smiled at him. "Call us the Ice Climbers," the girl said. They were both wearing thick, hooded parkas that somehow made them look like Eskimos, only that the boy was wearing blue and the girl was wearing pink.

"And over there is my new first mate," Tetra said.

The other boy came up to Lucas with a friendly smile and nodded. "My name's Ness... nice to meet you!"

"Um, l-likewise..." Lucas stuttered. "Say, I don't want to be rude, but... where are we? And how did I get here? The last thing I remember was fighting my..." He gasped. "Oh no! Claus! What happened to Claus?"

Link tilted his head. "Um, who's Claus?"

"My... my brother," Lucas explained. "He... sort of looks like me, except that he, um..."

"Uh... does he like to wear black and a strange, helmet-like mask?" Ness asked.

"That's him!" Lucas shouted. "But how do you...?"

Ness stepped aside. "Well, look for yourself... I was just going to carry both of you inside, when you woke up."

Claus was lying on the ship's planks, his helmet having fallen off his head. Everyone could see the similarities between him and his twin, the only difference was that while Lucas was blonde, his brother had orange hair.

"My brother..." Lucas murmured and knelt down next to him. His eyes were still closed. "Why do I have to keep fighting you?" he sighed.

"Watch out!" a new voice suddenly shouted. "He's just faking!"

Lucas gasped when all of a sudden, Claus' eyes opened up. Startled by the cold glare, he stumbled backwards... and was nearly sliced in half by the humming energy sword that had appeared in his hands.

"I told you we should have locked him up," Tetra yelled. "Everyone, get him!"

"No problem, leave him to me!" Link grinned and twirled around a long rope with a grappling hook at its end. He threw it at Claus, but Lucas' twin sidestepped the hook, grabbed the rope and pulled with all his might. With a surprised yelp, Link fell on his tummy.

Tetra shook his head. "Oh Link, what am I gonna do with you...?"

With a single leap, Claus was on the other side of the deck, where he put his helmet back on and was the Masked Man once again.

"Brother! Don't do this!" Lucas shouted. "Not again!"

"I doubt he's listening," Ness mumbled. "Stay on your guard, Lucas!"

"Okay, bro, you go from the left," Nana said.

The blue-clothed Ice Climber nodded. "Got it, sis!"

They jumped at the Masked Man and raised their wooden mallets, but with two clean swipes of the energy sword, their weapons got cut in half.

"H-hey!" Popo gasped. "N-no fair..."

Nana sniffled. "That was a present of my Mom..."

"Step back, I'm gonna test how he can handle my PSI powers," Ness shouted.

Lucas was taken aback. "PSI powers?" he mumbled.

Ness concentrated and charged up a flash of green energy.

"PK SPARK!" he shouted and let the green flash fly at the Masked Man.

'So, he can use psychic powers as well...' Lucas thought.

But in the last instant, the Masked Man's cape transformed into a pair of metal wings, and a hidden jet engine made him take off from the deck, so that the PK Spark missed him. He raised his blade and flew straightly at Ness.

Lucas clearly remembered what that weapon had done to the guardian angel, Pit, and closed his eyes in horror.

"That's IT! Enough is enough!" Tetra suddenly yelled. Her golden necklace began to glow in a golden light, which engulfed her whole body. "This is MY ship, and I won't allow anyone to just come here and cause trouble..."

In a bright flash, her sailor outfit transformed into a pink dress, her tanned skin took on a much lighter color, and her blonde locks turned into long, red hair.

"Because I am not just the captain..." she said. "I am the heir to the royal throne of the lost kingdom of Hyrule... I AM PRINCESS ASUKA!"

In one swift motion, she stood in front of Ness and spread her arms. "Nayru's Love!"

A blue, magical field that was shaped like a crystal appeared out of nowhere and surrounded both herself and Ness, shielding them from the Masked Man's attack. Crackling energy was dancing around the surface of the shield, but Claus was not able to penetrate the young girl's defenses.

A green shape came flying out of the crow's nest on top of the mast and knocked Claus' helmet off his head. "Now, Link!" the floating creature shouted.

Link had jumped back to his feet and was now throwing a boomerang at the Unmasked Man. When the wooden projectile collided with his head, he let out a small grunt and fell back down to the planks of the shop deck. His jet engine stuttered and died down.

Celebi shook his head. "Princess, princess, princess... you don't have to use your powers at every given chance, you know?"

"So what?" Tetra/Asuka huffed. "I am proud of my ancestors."

The time travelling Pokémon sighed. "Yes, but if you show all of our enemies that you are not Zelda anymore..."

The pirate captain turned princess blinked in confusion. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Never mind..." Celebi sighed. "Listen, you should bring that boy down into the brig and lock him up for now... I'll try and see if there's a way to overcome the Pig King's brainwashing..."

"B-brother...?" Lucas muttered, completely confused by the turn of events. "The Pig King? What...? Why...? Who are you?"

"I am Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon," the green creature smiled. "And I brought you here to be part of one of three groups of heroes that I and my colleagues have assembled to fight the Subspace Council: The Champion Heroes, the Parental Heroes and the Kid Heroes - that's you!"

"Kid Heroes..." Link mumbled. "You couldn't have come up with a name that sounds even more stupid, could you?"

"It wasn't my idea, okay?" Celebi grimaced.

Lucas blinked several times. "Um... what in the worlds is going on here?"

"We'll explain it to you," Princess Asuka said as she turned back into Tetra. "It'll take some time, but don't worry: We're in the middle of the ocean, and as long as the Hero of the Winds is in my crew, nobody can ever catch us!"

Link grinned as he held a weird-looking baton up into the air.