Chapter Three: Woe of the Worlds

Palutena frowned as she personally checked over her last angel's wings. Simple enough, but Pit made it more difficult by his constant fidgeting. She knew he was bursting with questions, but she refused to say anything until she was certain his health was intact. The last time he overused the power of flight was still fresh in her mind.

"Doesn't look like there's any permanent damage," she finally concluded, releasing him.

Immediately the angel broke free and whirled around to face her. "I told you. Now can you tell me what's going on? What's Palkia doing here? Why was she acting so crazy? And why is she suddenly a stone? Does this mean that are Pokémon real? If they are… can I get a Pikachu?"

The goddess of light took a deep breath. "Yes. I don't know. Not sure. Because all Pokémon came from earth. Yes. No."

He stared at her blankly. "Um… Okay…? Now maybe explain…?"

She sighed. "Sorry, I didn't think I'd have to bring this up until the next Super Bash Sisters game."

"…You mean, Super Smash Bros."

She waved dismissively. "What I'm trying to say is, other universes exist other than our own. A lot of those games you play come from the stories that occurred in those universes."

Pit let that sink in for a while before grinning impishly. "So Pokémon are real!"

"But you won't be getting one," she gave him a stern look. "There are strict rules in place that keep the worlds separate and distinct, and for good reason. Can you imagine the chaos there would be if there were no boundaries between the worlds? People and things coming and going as they please? Think about it this way—what would have happened if Hades invaded the Pokémon World? Or stole the Triforce from the Zelda universe?"

The angel winced. "Yeah… That would've been bad…"

"Exactly. That's why crossing-over is not normally tolerated—for the sake of maintaining order and balance in each world."

"But then… what about Super Smash Bros? Does it take place in its own world, too?"

"It's a bit of a special case. There has to be an opposite to everything; so, to create balance, order must be complimented by chaos. That's why the World of Trophies was created—to channel chaos and keep it contained. No real people actually live there, however; instead, avatars of the worlds' heroes are created and sent in their stead. These would be the trophies you see in the game."

Palutena's angel opened his mouth in a circle. "Ooooooh. I guess that explains why I've never been there before, even though I'm in the game. Wait, when did you make an avatar of me?"

"When you were asleep. I figured I'd tell you about it once we finally got our sequel, but I guess I forgot about it."

Pit frowned, upset that he had missed out on that. The avatar thing sounded interesting, and he wished he could have seen his own in person before it got shipped off. Still, he thought it was neat that somewhere some tiny version of himself was fighting off calamities. Unlike a certain other version he could think off.

Glancing over at the pedestal in the center of Palutena's chambers, Pit studied Palkia's pearl. "So… if the worlds are supposed to stay separate, then why is Palkia here?"

The goddess followed his gaze and pursed her lips. Standing with her in person, Pit could see how much the situation troubled her. "As deity of space, Palkia is responsible for keeping the boundaries between the worlds, making sure they stay separate. She can freely move between them if the needs are great enough, but… Something terrible must have happened to her to throw her into a fit like that…"

"Like what?"

"…I'm not sure… We'll just have to wait until—"

Palutena cut off as a sudden humming filled the air. Both goddess and angel stood at attention as the pearl in the center of the room began glowing. As if suspended by some unseen force, it began to rise and increase in size. Pit took a step in front of Palutena as the stone blossomed into a dragon once more—much smaller in size, but still a force to be reckoned with.

Eyes still red with rage, Palkia scanned the room hungrily. A harsh feminine voice pierced Pit's thoughts.

"All right, where's that puny little angel? I gotta score to settle with him."

Palutena took charge before the situation could erupt into chaos. Speaking quickly, she welcomed the legendary dragon.

"Lord Palkia, you gave us quite the scare back there. What on earth brings you to Angel Land?"

The dragon snorted. "Angel Land? Is that where I ended up? Huh. Guess there's worse places… Hope I didn't trash the place. Wasn't quite in my right mind, if you know what I'm saying."

Pit blinked, wondering at the dragon's manner of speech. She spoke bluntly and with a slight drawl—not at all what he was expecting for the supposed deity of space. Half of him had been expecting another Arlon, or maybe even a sultry voice like Pandora's. Instead, Palkia gave off clear tomboy vibes.

The goddess of light nodded sympathetically. "I thought you seemed a little… out of sorts. What happened?"

Palkia's grimace turned into a snarl. "What happened? I'll tell you what happened! Some stupid franchise has grown bigger than its britches and is giving me all kinds of grief." The dragon stomped its feet, shaking the entire room. "Hmph! Why anybody thought it was a good idea to create those soul-sucking leeches of darkness is beyond me. They keep popping up in all the wrong places and I'm at my wit's end trying to keep them contained. Even with all my efforts, worlds are disappearing left and right. But of course, that's what happens when you craft a game that has A COMPLETE LACK OF REGARD FOR THE BOUNDRIES BETWEEN WORLDS. THINGS WERE BOUND TO GET OUT OF HAND. BUT NO. IT'S ALL FOR THE STORY. ARGH, JUST THINKING ABOUT IT—"

Pit winced as the dragon's voice skyrocketed in volume. The spatial Pokémon was getting worked up again, and the angel worried that he might have to calm her down again. Thankfully, Palutena intervened once again before things could take a turn for the worst.

"Palkia, calm down… You're not making any sense."

Palkia pressed her jaws into a thin line in an apparent attempt to retrain herself. Releasing her breath in a gusty sigh, the dragon said, "The boundaries between worlds are being threatened, Goddess of Light. My realm is diving into chaos. Been working my tail off to restore order, but the second I had my back turned, I was attacked."

"But that's impossible. You're the only one with access to the Realm Between."

"Not anymore," the dragon snorted derisively. "Like I said, they've been breaking rules left and right. They're making their own paths…"

Pit had been trying his best to follow the conversation, although ultimately failing. Palutena had only just introduced him to the concept of worlds. All this talk went over his head. Still, having sat on the side lines for so long, he felt he had to speak up.

"Who's they?" The angel asked.

Palkia opened her mouth to reply. Before she could utter so much as a syllable, the doors to Palutena's chambers swung open.

"Lady Palutena!" a tiny Centurion squeaked in the open doorway. "Milady, there's been an attack! The humans are suffering!"

The deity of space slowly straightened, her face grim. "I was afraid of that."

Chaos. Familiar, but unwelcomed.

In the streets the people were screaming and shouting, some raising their voices to the gods and demanding why their happiness had been shattered so soon. Was peace that intolerable? Were the gods pleased only when mankind suffered?

While these stooped in their self-pity or bitter accusations, a few men—veteran soldiers—took up arms against the rising threat. However, their attackers were unlike anything they had ever faced before. Not even the forces of the Underworld compared; these new and foul creatures were mindless but unyielding, bolstered by their ungodly number. Their dead yellow eyes stared out of their black skins, hungrily eyeing their victims.

The human resistance was quickly discovering that their weapons were useless. Some breezed through these new enemies harmlessly, as if they were nothing but ghosts. Others discovered that those they managed to vanquish only returned.

Only one fighter was having any success: a masked youth with a strange sword and dark cerulean hair.

This chaos was all too familiar to this fighter, and all the more unwelcomed. One fight always led to another. The fighter was beginning to realize that the road to home would never be paved smoothly.

A/N: Sorry for how brief this chapter is, but the next chapters will be much longer-and full of actual action ;D At any rate, yay! I finally (officially) got to introduce Palkia! I hope people won't be too upset that I decided to make her female, but personally in my mind I like assigning genders to Legendary Pokemon even though they are supposedly genderless :P I also chose to make her female so I could assign her a properly gruff tomboy personality, which I am very eager to write about in future chapters. Poor Pit's got yet another gal to harass around xD

Speaking of Pokemon, we touched a little of my own headcannon/theory/ect concerning the little creatures and their origins. Most species (if not all) seem to have strange connections to stones. You have evolutionary stones (even the Everstone), and more recently the Megastones. Then you have the light and the dark stones, which held Zekrom and Reshiram. Palkia's "Pearl" form that I used in this fic is basically the same thing-a dormant stage for the dragon. I could go into more details and theories, but this isn't a Pokemon fic, so... HEARTLESS!