Welp. Here it is. The final chapter other than the epilogue I'm planning. It's quite the finale, I enjoyed putting it together, and I hope you enjoy reading it:
Chapter 10: Endgame
Palkia was in a huddle around a table with both her group and Lucina's group. Even Wuzzles was looking over the maps and charts with curiosity.
"Okay," said Palkia. "Does everyone know the plan so far?"
There were murmurs of agreement among the group.
"Alright. Dialga, Lucina, you two had that thing, right?"
"Yes, we did," said Lucina.
"We should be able to consult with Naga shortly," said Dialga.
"Excellent," said Palkia. "Then let's roll."
Naga was resting, meditating. Then she opened her eyes and saw Lucina and Dialga, the latter in his dragon form, there.
"Dialga! And... Exalt Lucina?"
Lucina stared in awe and then bowed. "Oh Lady Naga, it is a most esteemed honor to be in your presence! Let me recite the holy rites of-"
~You can skip it, me and Naga are on good terms,~ said Dialga.
"Indeed we are," said Naga. "What brings you here?"
"I have a plan," Lucina said. "A plan to stop Grima. But I need your and Dialga's help."
"And what exactly do you need?" said Naga.
"I read you know a ritual. A ritual to alter the course of time."
Naga's eyes widened. "That ritual is extremely dangerous... It could undo all of reality if performed incorrectly..."
"I know. But it could be our only hope."
"A suggestion, if I may?" said Dialga.
"What is it?" said Naga.
"Really, I'm a firm believer that the only way to do time travel is to not do time travel," said Dialga. "But! There's one relatively less messy way to do it."
"And that would be?" said Lucina.
"We create an alternate timeline. We can't save this one... but we can save another, just like it, and start over."
"That's... Crazy enough to work." said Naga.
"If I can save my father and his friends that way... I suppose it will work," said Lucina.
"Excellent. Now hold on..." said Dialga.
He closed his eyes, then telepathically reached out to Palkia.
~Sister? We may begin Stage 2.~
Grima looked out over his desolate domain. Risen dominated the landscape and the skies were gloomy.
It was perfect.
His human body sat back and chuckled. He was content. The world could spiral further into entropy and he'd just lau-
...Wait. What was that noise?
It started soft, but it grew louder, louder, and it soon became apparent that it was some sort of strange... music? Whatever it was it was agony to Grima's ears, and he recoiled and writhed, not noticing his Risen were being drawn towards the noise.
The Risen were drawn to an enormous, elaborate dance floor. Sitting there at the DJ table were Giratina and Wuzzles. Giratina raised a claw to greet the incoming Risen.
"Yo! You all ready to par-tay?"
The Risen gave gurgles and groans reminiscent of cheers.
"Well let's get rocking!"
Wuzzles turned on a disco ball and lights, and the Risen all started dancing to the tune of Mahna Mahna.
Around the world, survivors took notice of the lack of Risen. They ventured out of bunkers, out of ruined homes, in awe of what was happening.
And they were all startled when hoop-like portals appeared near each of them, and a visage of an enormous dijin-like creature appeared in their minds.
~Yo! If you wanna get out of this mess escape is that-a-way!~ said Unbound Hoopa.
The people hesitated.
~Let me put it this way... You either accept the help of this giant monster... or let the other giant monster continue killing you all. Your choice.~
With that the people started filing into the portals.
~That'll do it! Just don't touch anything or I'll throw you right back out!~
The zombie dance party continued. The Risen were raving and grooving and busting moves.
It was then Giratina gave a wink to Wuzzles, and Wuzzles pulled out and pressed a button.
The dance floor caved in, and thousands if not millions of Risen were dropped into a swirling pit of darkness and blades below.
In some other universe, several trucks wheeled up to a popular fast-food restaurant with a bell-shaped logo. Inside the trucks were a large number of boxes labeled "burito meet".
The restaurant employees shrugged and started hauling it in.
Grima recovered as the music faded. He gazed out in horror. The survivors he needed to purge, gone. His forces, decimated. He roared in unbridled rage.
"Who did this?! Who has insulted me?! Show yourselves!"
"Yoo-hoo!"
Grima turned to find Palkia standing before his human form.
"I'm back. And I'm here to kick your ass."
"How do you dare hope to defeat me, worm?"
"Oh, I'm no worm." She stretched and grew until she was in her dragon form. "You killed my best friend in this world. You killed almost all of my friends in this world period. I'm taking you down."
"You dare challenge me, false god?" said Grima. "How hilarious. Do your best."
His dragon head lunged at Palkia. Palkia responded in kind.
The children of the Shepherds were all gathered together. Lucina, Naga, Panne, Virion, Libra, and Dialga were looking over them all.
"Okay... We seem to have everyone," said Lucina.
"...Wait," said Naga. "Where's Morgan?"
"Oh!" said Virion. "She said she had to use the restroo-"
He squinted off into the distance.
"...Oh no."
The battle between Palkia and Grima raged on. Grima snapped his jaws and fired bursts of dark energy while Palkia fired orbs of water and sliced with spatial rifts.
It was during one of these exchanges, however, that the two heard a noise.
"Hey! Jerkface!"
The two turned to see a third dragon, hovering nearby.
"Guess what? I'm not afraid anymore!"
Grima roared and snapped his jaws at Morgan. Morgan quickly darted out of the way, and Palkia moved between them to keep his jaws pried open.
"Morgan?!" said Palkia. "What are you doing here?!"
"I didn't want to go with the others!" said Morgan. "I wanted to help you fight!"
"Grima's dangerous! Leave this to me!"
"And just run away?"
"Fine! I go for the dragon body, you go for the human body!"
With that, Morgan flew down, and confronted Grima's human vessel.
"My my my," he said, looking her over. "Look at how you've grown."
"You... Dad..." said Morgan.
"Enough with your petty sentimentalities," said Grima. "The line of Naga ends here."
He conjured a lightning bolt and threw it at Morgan, who flew out of the way.
"No!" said Morgan. "You're not my dad anymore and you killed my mom! You end here!"
She unleashed a blast of draconic flame that scorched Grima's human body as he yelled in pain. This caused the dragon head to recoil, allowing Palkia to get in a decisive strike.
"You still dare to defy me, false god?"
"First off," said Palkia, "you're no god. You're a parasite, one that ate someone who cared about me and who I cared about back from the inside out."
"The old me was always destined to be subsumed by the true me... Oh, the pathetic little thing fought so hard to avoid it in so many ways.. But I am always the one to emerge victorious in the end. I always find a way."
"From what I see your way always involves subterfuge, manipulation, and cold-blooded murder. A showoff, yeah, but nothing special. You're pathetic."
She gave a draconic grin.
"Second of all... I'm more of a god than you'll ever be. And let me show you exactly how."
With that, her body flashed, and Grima's vision was overwhelmed by light.
Space. Infinite amounts of space. Floating within the space were cosmic pearls of various colors and sizes, but all too massive for any mind to comprehend.
And yet Grima was being forced to comprehend it, this true form of Palkia's, this raw embodiment of space that made him squirm and scream in agony.
His mind had been thoroughly been cracked open. And that was more than enough for a telepathic force to sneak inside.
Palkia was in a void. In her human form she tiptoed around the darkness until she came across a sight that made her heart stop.
There was Robin, chained, helpless. His eyes were closed. Palkia ran over to him.
"R-Robin! I knew it, I knew you were still in here somehow, some way..."
Robin's eyes slowly opened, and opened wide upon seeing Palkia. "V-Valentina?! Is that you? I... Still exist?"
"Yes, you do, Robin! Please, we have to get out of here..."
"N-No, I can't... I deserve oblivion, I want oblivion... Please go, Valentina, it will spare us both so much pain..."
"Robin, no... Y-you can't give up like this... Grima is not you, he never was you..."
"It's too late... I've let him consume me and all I was utterly... No one would want me to go back even if I could... I'm sorry, Valentia, at least... This way... In... a twisted sense... I'm at... peace..."
Robin's eyes closed again. Palkia clenched her fist. When her fist opened there was a strange orb of gold light inside.
"Here... Robin... Live to the promise Chrom asked of you... Escape..."
She touched the orb of gold light to Robin's forehead, where it sunk in and was absorbed. Tears streamed down her face.
"You most likely won't remember me if you do... But I don't care... I just want you to be happy again..."
There was another flash of light.
Grima recoiled and yelled, while Palkia backed off.
"Ugh... Fool! You cannot stop me with your tricks! Defying me is futile!"
Palkia shrugged. "I don't know, it's a good distraction?"
"...Wait, what?"
His dragon head looked around. Then his eyes locked on a pinprick of light in the distance.
"No... No!"
A massive portal had been opened, the children of the Shepherds about to file inside. Virion and Libra hugged Nah and Noire, while Panne talked to Yarne.
"M-mom? I'm scared. Really scared." said Yarne.
"Steady yourself," said Panne. "You have a duty to fulfill. Find me. Find your father. And you will be all right."
"Okay mom..."
They hugged.
"Uh, guys?" said Dialga. "You may want to hurry up!"
The children turned to see Grima and the remaining Risen heading their way.
"Everybody now!" said Lucina.
In unison, they all jumped in. Dialga, Naga, Virion, Libra and Panne jumped out of the way as Grima and the Risen charged through the portal as well. The portal closed behind them as the ones left behind got to their feet.
"Are they... Okay?" said Libra.
"They may be scattered... but they will survive," said Naga. "It is in the hands of the people of the new timeline now."
Giratina, Wuzzles, Hoopa, Palkia, and Morgan - the last in her human form - converged around the others.
"They make it?" said Hoopa.
"They did." said Panne.
Suddenly, cracks started appearing in the sky.
"Wha- what's happening?" said Virion.
"This universe... It's dying." said Naga.
"Dying?!" said Palkia. "No, it can't be..."
"It has been coming a while," said Naga. "With Grima's rise most of the old gods have moved on. I was one of the only ones left. And that ritual consumed most of my power even with Dialga's help. You all need to get out of here at once."
"No... Naga, we can't just leave you..." said Dialga.
Naga's hands glowed. "I'm sorry Dialga. I love you."
There was a flash.
Everyone found themselves in the Temporal Dimension, Dialga's home. Of the party, however, Naga was nowhere to be seen.
"No..." said Dialga. "No, no, no!"
He tried to charge away from the others, only for Palkia and Giratina to restrain him.
"Let go! I need to save her! I need to stop this! Why won't... you... let me?!"
He let out an unholy screech as the stripes on his body glowed a deep orange and the gem on his chest burned red.
"Dialga... please... Stop..." said Palkia.
"Bro... Please..." said Giratina.
"Uncle Dialga!" said Morgan.
Upon hearing her voice the glow on his body faded.
"...What... what is it?" said Dialga.
"I know grandma Naga is... gone... But you can't lose hope. We've gotten so far. We made the new timeline and saved Lucina's friends. And... wherever we are I hope you can show me around."
Dialga paused. He turned to Morgan and gave a faint smile.
"...I suppose I will."
And everyone moved to rest.
So yeah. That's that. I'd give thoughts on the whole experience writing this fic but I'll save that for the epilogue.