Let's keep up the pace! After a Giratina and Hoopa-centric chapter and a Dialga-centric chapter, time to move on to Palkia!

Chapter 5: Awkward Relations

Panne burst into Libra's room.

"There you are, manspawn! There's something you need to know about-"

She skidded to a stop in horror upon seeing Virion already there with Libra.

"Panne! You could help us!" said Virion. "We suspect there's something... suspicious going on with the Cincinnatians!"

Panne twitched. "I already know."

Libra raised an eyebrow. "Taguel ears?"

"More like seeing the one posing as one of my own kind turning into a dragon to consort with Naga."

Virion paused. He slowly took a bottle of wine from a nearby shelf, poured some into a cup, and sipped it only to promptly spit it back out in delayed-reaction shock.

"A dragon? Consorting with Naga? How?"

"Quentin, who is apparently truly known as Dialga, claimed to her to be a god from another world," said Panne.

Libra rubbed his chin. "So my worries about them causing a metaphysical disruption may be correct..."

"No, this is preposterous!" said Virion. "This Dialga may very well be a false god!"

"It's a possibility," said Panne. "He showed Naga strange technology I could not fathom."

"Question is, whatever he and the others are, what are they doing here?" said Libra.

"Should we report this to the others to find out?" said Panne.

"If they are hostile, a public outing might incur their wrath," said Libra. "We should investigate on our own for now."

Panne looked at Libra, then at Virion, resisting her urge to grit her teeth at the latter.

"...Alright then. Let's see what's going on with the alleged 'Cincinnatians'."

The three all left the room to go look. Unbeknownst to them, a small imp-like creature was looking out of a hoop-like portal from under the room's bed at them, and hurriedly ducked down and closed it to address a certain large, six-legged dragon.

{They're onto us! Oh crap oh crap oh crap Giratina what are we going to do?}

{Calm down, little fella, we can think of something...} said Giratina.

{What? I doubt swaying them with burritos and a musical number will work this time!}

{Maybe not,} said Giratina, {but straight-up throwing them off might.}

Hoopa paused, then gave a mischievous smirk.

{...Let's discuss. I feel I can provide some valuable suggestions for that kind of game.}

Meanwhile, Palkia was standing by Robin's door as he poured over maps, pressing herself to the wall as she had an internal argument with herself.

He's busy! Do you really want to interrupt him while he's busy?

You Torchiced out every time he wasn't busy!

Why are you so fixated on getting to know him anyway? It's not like you're in love with him or anything.

Well, he's pretty cool in his game and even better in person and he helped me out of a traumatic situation, so yeah, It'd be great if I could be like, friends with someone I admire.

Then go talk to him already!

Well that doesn't mean I'm not nervous!

Stop being nervous! You're a goddess, you can handle this.

I don't wanna overdo it though...

Just... Go in there and act natural!

...You know what? Okay, fine, challenge accepted, me, I'm fucking going in!

Ever so slowly Palkia peeked her head around the door.

"Er, hi, Robin?"

Robin lifted his head up from his maps and gave a small smile. "Hello, Valentia. Do you need something?"

"Uh, not really, I just wanted to talk."

"About what?"

Palkia paused. After what seemed like a million years of hesitation she leaned over Robin's maps.

"Whatcha doin'?"

You idiot! she told herself immediately after. That is not how you leave a good impression on him! He'll think you're hitting on him!

Robin blinked, then turned back to his maps. "Tactical planning. It may be peaceful right now, but we've always got to be prepared."

"Er, right," said Palkia.

She looked over the maps and noticed one she recognised in particular, pointing to it.

"These Valm guys sure seem like a bunch of troublemakers and time-wasters if you ask me!"

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Valm? That continent has its own problems, I don't think they'll bring them to ours."

Palkia opened her mouth to retort.

Spoilers!

She snapped her mouth back shut and started looking over the maps again.

"Er, sorry about that. You seem pretty thoughtful. And organized."

"Really?" said Robin? "I feel like this is a mess."

Palkia shook her head. "No, I can tell you've put a lot of thought into it! I mean, you've got every nearby country laid out and what's going on where! That takes dedication."

Robin smiled slightly. "Heh, thanks."

There was a another pause that seemed like a million years for Palkia and about an hour for Robin before the latter finally spoke.

"You seem kind of nervous, Valentina."

Palkia gulped.

Great, he knows I'm on guard! What do I do?!

Just... Tell the partial truth? Without the fine details?

That's suicide!

Not as much as telling the whole truth. Just tell him how you feel!

Okay, fine!

Palkia took a deep breath before replying to Robin.

"...Yes. Yes I am. Because you're this super-great tactician leading this super-great army and I'm just this washup from Cincinnati who admires you and wants to be your friend but feels like she can't."

Robin stared a bit at Palkia, then smiled reassuringly.

"You're one to talk about washups considering how I wound up with the Shepherds."

Palkia blinked, then smiled and nodded. "Oh, right! They told me - lying unconscious in a field?"

"Precisely. I've managed to do fine ever since. You've been doing fine, Valentina. And almost anyone who's with the Shepherds is a friend to me, including you."

Palkia relaxed noticeably. "Thanks, Robin."

"You're welcome, Valentina."

Robin shrugged.

"Besides, I'm not even the real leader. Chrom is."

"Well, glad you're not trying to show off to the new girl at my expense," said a voice.

The two jumped and yelped in surprise to see Chrom standing and smirking behind them.

"How'd you get in here so quietly?!" said Robin.

"You were both pretty distracted," said Chrom. "Anyway, Robin, I was wondering if we could both look over some swords we got from a shop."

"Oh, if that's the case sure thing," said Robin.

He then turned to Palkia. "Though... Is it alright if Valentina comes along?"

Palkia froze in place before stammering out a reply. "M-Me?"

Chrom blinked. "Well, as a valkyrie I'm not sure how much she would know about swords."

"She could afford to learn," said Robin. "If you bought these from a shop so could any bandit with enough pilfered money, or an enemy nation for that matter. Yet if she's from an exotic nation she might not know what she's up against."

Chrom rubbed his chin. "Well, when you put it that way, sure she can take a look. Valentina, I'll show you the ropes."

"M-Me?" said Palkia. "But I-"

She was interrupted by Chrom taking her hand and pulling her from her seat, and immediately after was standing next to Robin and Chrom as they led her down a side hallway.

Fantastic, thought Pakia. I know nothing about how to take care of a sword, at least nothing I can remember. I was getting chill with Robin but now I'm not going to embarrass myself in front of not just any of his other friends but his best freind, what do I do what do I do what do I do

Meanwhile, Chrom leaned in slightly and whispered to Robin.

"Glad you finally found someone."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Um, no?"

"Damn. She seems nice."

"...Not like that."

"Very well. Let's see if she can learn her swords."

In a particularly dingy room in the barracks, Chrom, Robin, and Palkia were looking over an assemblage of swords on a table. Palkia picked up one katana-shaped one.

"I know this one! It's a Killing Edge, right?"

"Yes, precisely!" said Robin.

Palkia picked up a curved, odd-looking blade and swung it around a bit. "This one looks familiar too..."

"That's a Wyrmslayer," said Chrom. "Particularly effective against any sort of dragon."

Palkia started and quickly put the blade down, rubbing her hands together gingerly. "S-Sounds convenient! Heh, pesky dragons, eating thatched-roof cottages and burning cattle, who needs 'em, right?"

After a long pause she looked over the assemblage of blades as a whole. "So... What are we looking for in particular?"

"Defects, wear and tear, that kind of thing," said Robin.

"Right... and how's this batch doing in that regard?" said Palkia.

Chrom sighed. "Not very well. All of these blades are very dulled and past their prime."

Palkia looked the blades over. "Huh, you're right."

"These things only have so many uses before they break," said Robin, "but it seems we won't even be able to do that with these! Who bought them anyway?"

A voice called from upstairs. "I got them at a discount! I needed to have money left for the really good sweets, Bubbles!"

"Dammit," murmured Robin, "who picked Gaius to go weapon shopping again?"

Chrom cast him an aside glance. "You did."

Robin's eyes widened as he suddenly blushed profusely. "...Oh, right. I did."

Palkia sighed and looked the swords over herself before an idea struck her and she stood up smiling smugly. "I may have just the trick, boys."

Robin looked over to her. "Oh?"

"You know how a lot of my spells can bend space, right?" said Palkia?

"Yeah?" said Chrom.

"Well, I know just the thing!"

Palkia pulled a spellbook out of her bag and put her hand over the swords. Her hand, the book, and the swords all started glowing teal.

"Now shrink them along the Z dimension just right..."

The swords all began to change shape, growing thinner along their lengths as more of their material became stretched out. When they were done, Palkia gestured to them proudly.

"Ta-da! Thinner swords, sharper swords - and they're still durable!"

Chrom took one of the swords and sliced at the leg of a wooden chair with it. The chair was quickly felled by the blow, and Chrom turned to Palkia with a grin. "It worked!"

Robin gazed in awe. "Palkia, you're a genius!"

Palkia blinked. "I am?"

"Yes!" said Robin. "In all my time studying magic I'd never have thought to use it to modify the properties of weapons on such a simple but effective level! It's brilliant, thank you!"

Palkia gave a fangirlish giggle she quickly muffled before giving a nervous wave of her hand. "Eheh, it's nothing, glad you appreciate a good old Cincinnati spell!"

Chrom looked between the two of them and crossed his arms, smiling. "I think after today we could all do something special."

Palkia and Robin looked to him expectantly.

"Oh?" they both said.

At the top of the castle tower, Robin, Chrom, and Palkia stood as the sun set over the vast expanse of Ylisse before them.

"This is your first time up here, isn't it, Valentina?" said Robin.

"Yeah," said Palkia, "It's really nice..."

"And I brought snacks," said Chrom.

He produced several strips of jerky he passed among the three of them, which they all began munching eagerly. Palkia thought to herself as she chewed the jerky and gazed out at the landscape.

Aaaaaaaaa I'm hanging out with Robin, and Chrom too! This is glorious!

What'll you do next?

Um, I dunno, hang out with them, or at least Robin, some more? I'm in the clear here, I don't wanna mess it up.

You gotta be more defined than that.

Hey, going on the fly worked this time, didn't it?

Well, not always. Sometimes you gotta be prepared.

What, and force it? Me and Robin have to do things naturally.

Well we still have to account for-

Palkia swallowed a hunk of jerky. "Will you two be quiet? I'm trying to enjoy this moment."

Robin and Chrom stared at her akwardly. Palkia noticed and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, sorry, that was nothing. Just me talking to myself."

As a side note, I was binging Phineas and Ferb as I wrote this and you can probably tell at certain points if you look. Next chapter is pretty important to the overarching story of this thing, so stay tuned for that.