[This is a reward for an anonymous patron! Thank you so much for your support~]

The day had been relaxingly normal and the peace was only expected to continue. You had returned home without any distinct thoughts, looking forward to kicking your feet up and unwinding in the comfort of your room. It was about that time when you stepped through the door frame that everything instantly became a blur. The world you saw became dots of color that all swirled together, stripping you of your vision. You become lightheaded like never before, but you do not collapse -- you cannot, for you feel a lack of ground under your feet in that next moment. Where you tumble forward is unclear, like a never-ending fall into an abyss.

Suddenly, a whiplash motion. Your center is grabbed by an invisible force that wrangles you forward at lightning speed. You fear a painful crash, you can feel the suspense rising up over every atom of your being as though you are racing into an inevitable impact. But, the end comes before you realize it, and you find yourself fully put together, in the exact health you had before the sensation overtook you. The drumming in your heart, however, keeps you on alert as you try to understand the surroundings you’ve been thrust upon.

You perceive only the white of an expansive floor before a voice beckons to you. “My greatest greetings, Champion!” a formal, feminine tone speaks. Her volume shakes you as you try to locate her -- you appear to be alone, but you do not feel that way. “You have been summoned from a distant dimension to serve me on a specific mission. I ask of you to lend me your strength under my name, the goddess Palutena!”

Confusion causes you to stiffen. Nothing that was explained to you is recognizable -- only the name Palutena seems familiar, but certainly not in any relevant regards. As wild as it might sound, you at least believe the part of having been thrown across dimensions, considering there was no logical explanation for having appeared here in this grand chamber, the likes of which you have yet to comprehend completely. Before you can speak up, you continue to circle about where you stand, surveying the land. There is a distinct giggle that chases your curiosity -- you certainly are not alone.

“You must be overwhelmed,” this Palutena suggests. Her voice has lost some of its elegant edge and noble power. You look behind you, noticing then that a wide structure has been not far from you at all. It is quite clearly a bench of luxurious quality, meant for lounging comfortably, but its size rivals that of a sports arena. Appropriately making use of such relaxing features is a woman of amazing height, whose legs alone tower over you like buildings, one crossed over the other. You nearly tumble backwards as you stare up at the flat sole of a brown sandal, bobbing in the air where it is being maintained. The other foot, which dons a white thigh high legging, is planted sturdily into the floor, imposing upon you its incredible weight from afar. This was doubtlessly the Palutena that has been speaking to you, and she was keenly correct in her assessment; you had barely seen her legs and already you felt utterly humbled.

There was another giggle at your paralyzed silence. “Warriors come in all shapes and sizes,” Palutena says, “and your size is… particularly tiny! I wonder what surprises you have in store, Champion…”

You have since fret backwards several paces, enough that you can see the peak of this mountainous woman. Her expression being that of a carefree smile contrasts the worry you suffer through. Her hair is long and green like a stream of nature, brought to life with accessories of gold and red. The pristine dress hugs her body, but a slit down the side reveals much of her legs, which you still find yourself staring at. In order to see you, she has to peek her head forward, past the leg she has kicked up on her knee. Seeing more of that expression, however, does not ease your concerns. There are many unanswered questions, and you are unsure if Palutena intends on enlightening you.

But first, you must comment on this business about being a champion. “You… must have the wrong person,” you stutter. You swallow and proceed to speak up, realizing that the giant may not understand you well. “Th-There has to be a mistake, because I’m no champion… Err…”

“Hm? A mistake?” Palutena tilts her head. She sets her foot down, creating an impact that rattles you with fear. Did you offend her, or was the power in her footstep incidental? Palutena continues, “But, that can’t be right… I was sure I was pulling from the right pool… but it’s true, you don’t look like a champion. Definitely not a Super Rare…”

You blink -- were you just referred to as a common pull? You chuckle to hide your despair, “E-Exactly. I’m not a champion at all.”

“Eh… Really? Are you sure?” Palutena stands up. You finally lose your balance in the face of such tremendous motion, falling back onto your rear. Palutena rises high over you, her feet as huge as houses compared to you. Her stare weighs down on you like gravity, cast from directly over your head. “My spell should only pluck heroes from their universes, not commoners. If you were chosen, there has to be a reason for it! There has to, because otherwise,” she bit her thumb, “I might be in some trouble… because I need you to fight another champion in my steed.”

You cough, punched in the stomach by this information. You were never much of a fighter, let alone in this world where one woman simply towered over you. As you wrestle with these new worries, Palutena bends forward and reaches for you. The lean of her weight is like the threat of an immense avalanche, but as you focus on that, her hand sidewinds you and catches you in its grasp. A gang of fingers overpowers you and carries you into the air, the haste of which does not allow you to even scream. The movement all ends at once, and that once-distant face is now breathing upon you, giant eyes of green scanning your body with small flickers up and down. It’s no burden for her to hold you, as she has you casually pinched between her forefinger and thumb.

Palutena’s brow furrows. “You feel fragile… and weak…” These comments burn you with embarrassment, despite how much you agree. “Compared to our worlds, your world must be, well, small. Very small! Your whole planet can’t possibly be that big to produce something like you.”

“Uh, perhaps…?” As belittling as Palutena’s words are, you have at least reached some field of understanding. “So then, m-maybe I should be sent back? I don’t think I’m--”

“Hah, that won’t be as easy,” Palutena interjects, not wanting you to get ahead of yourself. You swallow as she goes on to explain, “My magic took you from your world to be a hero in mine. That’s sort of the contract -- if you want to go back home, you have to fulfill your role as my champion.”

Your squirming ceases between the two fingertips as you digest this news. Her tone was solemn and serious, her smile slightly fading as she knew what this situation entailed. The reality you were attached to and lived in was now far away, dimensions away, and the only way to return was to be a champion for a goddess, a feat you doubted you could achieve.

Palutena’s lack of confidence was uninspiring. Her face contorted to express pity for you and your circumstance. Considerately, her grasp on you shifted, the fingers unlocking from your body as they aligned into a single platform for you to sit in. On your knees under Palutena’s watch, you shudder to think of what she intends to do with you. Without a choice, you find yourself at her mercy.

“Are you sure you’re not a champion?” Palutena asks, her face leaning in closer. Her other hand is raised and a single digit points at you, causing you to be wary. You watch the finger as though it were a creature separate from Palutena. “Maybe you have some hidden warrior potential inside of you and it just has to be worked out. Pit was similar -- I think I’m pretty good at uncovering the best in people!”

Such was the only warning you would receive of Palutena’s finger weighing down on you. You cower under your arms and catch the fingertip with both hands, but your efforts to push against the pressure fail. The slender finger’s weight is too much for you, and your legs quickly buckle until you’re flat on your face, pressed into the skin of Palutena’s palm with her finger on your back. She pulls away with a slight shock that you would crumble so easily.

“Hmm, yeah. No, maybe strength isn’t one of your strengths,” Palutena remarks. She scoffs, “I figured that if humans could be good at anything, it would be brute force. I suppose your talents must be hidden elsewhere…”

“I-I… I don’t think so…” you groan as you crawl back up to your knees. Before another trial begins, you argue for how feeble you actually are. “I’m just… not a warrior. Who, o-or what, am I supposed to be fighting, anyway?”

“I don’t know just yet,” Palutena explains. “My opponent and I are both powerful entities, so we agreed on summoning champions from other worlds to settle our dispute.”

After a pause, you have to ask, “... What was the dispute?”

“Of course, it was about which of us is the better goddess! Stronger, smarter, eleganter… Everything is on the table for this one, Little Champion!” Her energy comes out more shiningly as she elaborates her conflict, but you feel the same level of despair as before. It brought you no comfort to know you were stolen from your home in order to settle what sounded like a petty argument, and still you had no way of realistically returning.

Palutena’s smile disappears. The change in expression to something so blank unsettles you. She kneels down, bringing you closer to the floor as she speaks, “But… with a mishap like this, it would be too embarrassing to even meet her. I can’t have anyone finding out about this… so I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep this a secret.” Her hands tilts, forcing you to slide off her palm and onto the floor. A coldness sweeps over you as she cranes back to full height, her house-sized feet more intimidating and closer than before. One such foot is lifted and hovers over you, exposing the flat bottom of Palutena’s sandals. “Let’s both just forget this ever happened~”

The shoe descends towards you while you still race to understand your position -- as simple as it sounds, you yet cannot believe this development. She intends to crush you here and now, to wipe clean your misfortunate for having been plucked from another world. Your blood chills all across your body as the shadow around you darkens. A mere poke from a finger was enough to push you off your feet, and so you imagine the worst as the sandal falls closer and closer, its weight promising to be relentless.

Your eyes close as you huddle into the ground, shaking and squirming in a panic. One eye opens, and you see that the foot has risen away from you, revealing Palutena’s curious expression far overhead. You blink, overwhelmed by the beating of your heart as you feel it pounding in your chest. You are alive and well, spared of a flattened fate, and Palutena giggles at your distress, a hand vaguely veiling her amusement,

“You got really scared, didn’t you?” she jokes, her smile cracking wider. “Did you think I would actually just step on you? I’m not a witch, you know! It was just some friendly playing around~” She laughs more openly, but you find little humor having been put in such a threatening situation. In this impossible circumstance, you truly had worried that Palutena would crush you underfoot without a guilty conscience.

The goddess must take notice of your dismay as her expression shifts once again into genuine concern. Her foot finally steps down, no longer suspended above your fallen form. She coos, “Oh, I really did terrify you… Forgive me! I-I assumed a little humor would lighten things up. It was just a joke! I’m not going to get rid of you!”

You swallow, lacking a response. Your silence, however, says volumes to Palutena, who kneels down once again to be closer to your level, her legs hugged together courteously. Her hand approaches you again, drawing an instinctive flinch from you before it grapples you once more -- like an object, Palutena can simply decide to pick you up and hold you how she pleases, but her intent this time seems to be benevolent. Rather than simply holding you, her hands wrap around your small body like a strong hug, and you’re embraced against her collar in what you imagine is an affectionate gesture, but has the tightness of a steel trap. If she hugged you any harder, your body would likely pop.

Palutena sighs, a breeze of a breath that you feel at your back. “So, even genuine fear wasn’t enough to bring out the hero in you,” she says, her mind still set on this champion business. Her disappointment is countered by a smile beamed down onto you. “I suppose there’s no test or trial that will awaken anything in you…”

You push against Palutena’s collar in opposition of her constrictive grip on you. “Th-That’s what I’ve been telling you…”

Your comment goes unnoticed, but you are relieved of your tight position. She lifts you off her body, holding you in a gentle fist that she stares directly at. Your upper body collapses over the top-most finger coiled over you, fatigued from what you had been put through. Palutena’s giggle is cheery enough to almost raise your spirits; “We’ll have to make due, then.”

“Yeah…? Um, what do you mean?”

“You’ll have to fight the other champion! Simple as that!” Palutena explains this eagerly, but you can barely keep up with her pace. A moment prior, you both had agreed there was no heroism in you. “It’s the only way,” she says to that concern, “if you want to go back home, that is. Win your battle for me, and you get to go back to your world! Lose, and… hmm…”

“Hmm?” You chuckle anxiously, “What happens… if I lose? D-Do I… die?”

Palutena laughs, hiding her mouth with her other hand, but its volume bellows over you. “Sorry, sorry. You won’t die! That would be a freak accident, very unlikely to happen.” You bite your tongue that being summoned by a goddess, too, is a freak accident. “It isn’t a fight to the death, but if you can’t achieve victory in my name, then you’ll be here for awhile.”

“Awhile?” You hate repeating her so much, but each end of her thought is another fall off a cliff. “Th-That doesn’t sound promising…”

“No, no it doesn’t,” Palutena admits, her smile dampened but persistent. “But don’t be demotivated! We don’t know the odds yet at all. It could be the case that your opponent is from an even tinier world! You would win for sure~ perhaps~”

Confidence was not inspired, but Palutena was nonetheless ready to proceed. She turned towards a tall exit that led outdoors, blinding you with the light that bathed her realm. You are allowed only a glimpse of the sea of clouds before the goddess’s face fills your vision again, your body turned in her fist to face nothing but her grin.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Palutena began, “so I want you to know… that I really do pity you.” You are caught speechless, unsure how to respond to such a belittling comment, but no reply is required. You find yourself being shifted in her grasp again so that you’re sides are pinched between her soft fingers, craned over her chest like a charm. “To make it up to you just a little bit, I’ll give you a luxury ride to the arena~”

By the time you blink confusedly, Palutena’s remark becomes clear. You are lowered to the chest beneath you, the breasts of a real goddess. Her other hand tenderly pulls her left breast aside, widening the cleavage just partially exposed from her robe. You whip your head up to Palutena, wondering if this was truly your place to be, but she continues to lower you until your legs are slipping between the mounds of skin. Your feet kick between them in search of a foothold, but you learn fast that you can only stay afloat by clinging to a brooch at her collar.

Despite your deeply reddened state, Palutena is content with your position. A light of sky blue washes her body as she manipulates divine energy around her. In an instant, the palace around you vanishes -- you and her teleport away, across a distance you cannot possibly estimate. Sickened by the warping, it takes you moments to gather your senses before you comprehend the new location. A clear blue surrounds you and Palutena from all directions, sparse clouds floating level with the ground. Still somewhere high in the air, you determine that you must be on a floating islet, perhaps a common feature in this universe.

You notice as well that there lacks a challenger. Other than yourself and Palutena, the featureless island is empty of anything. For fearing she might be late, Palutena had arrived early. The suspense lingers, swamping you with worry about your opponent. Everything had been explained so quickly, but it was no less important that you win, if you ever want to see a normal day again.

A finger lands on your head and scrubs at your hair. You whine a bit, lifting one arm up in protest, but Palutena continues to pet you without hassle. Peeking past her fingertip, you see above you her smiling expression, seemingly entertained.

“You seem so stressed, Little Champion,” she gently laughs, not realizing how doing so causes your body to bounce. Every breath of her’s is huge and heavy, the weight of which can be sensed through her chest. “All will be well! What are the chances that of all the souls in the universe that could be summoned, your opponent would be some noteworthy hero? I’m sure Rosalina was just as unlucky as me and rolled up a tiny human of her own. Keep your chin up!”

Palutena’s positivity fails to raise your morale as the time to meet your opponent approaches. In preparation, the goddess removes you from her cleavage, scooping you into both hands while you wait. You decide arguing would be as fruitless as before, and thus concentrate on the battle ahead.

Not long after your arrival on the islet, sparks manifest on the opposite side, like stars appearing and coming together into one space. It’s a spectacle of colors that begin to swirl like a body spun into dance, and appropriately so do the lights merge into the silhouette of a person. You watch with great awe to see who appears, but Palutena stares plainly at the sight, her demeanor shifted to be more regal and ready.

The dance of stars concludes with a woman of celestial elegance having appeared, her body afloat off the ground as though she were in the depths of space. A sky-colored dress twists around her from the motion she was in, so long that her feet are obscured by its hem. Platinum blonde hair veils her right eye, the other blinking gently as it observes her surroundings. Soft, pink lips curve into a polite smile as she looks to where you are.

Palutena greets her, “Welcome, Rosalina!”

“And a fine welcome to you as well, Palutena,” Rosalina responds. She bows as she speaks, her frame bending forward in a slow, graceful motion. You’re fascinated by this other woman, supposedly another goddess, to the point that you feel utterly paralyzed. “If you have changed your mind about this contest, I would agree to move past our disagreement,” Rosalina continues. “Truly, Palutena… I find no adequate reward for winning anything here today.”

The talk of forgoing the fight intrigues you, and you twist around to read Palutena’s reaction. You hope she might submit to canceling, but the pride of the goddess is substantial enough to feel like a presence of its own. “Nice try, Rosie, but I won’t be forfeiting this battle,” she replies, an edge of smugness in her tone. You tilt your head; did she forget who her champion is? “It would be unbecoming of a goddess to do so, afterall, especially when the title of Supreme Goddess is on the table!”

Your body is shaken by Palutena’s emphasis, but Rosalina acts unimpressed. With a flick of her fingers, the celestial woman conjures a wand from thin air, pointed with a sharp design of a star. “Very well,” she says, her eyes closed. “I shall bring forth my champion, then.”

You lean forward in anticipation as the wand is whisked from one direction to the next. A swirl of sparkles trails the wand’s head like a ribbon, its movements precise and bouncey like a baton. Similar multicolored stars appear again, just like with Rosalina’s entrance. They connected together like magnets, eventually forming a silhouette, and then a person. A whip of purple hair appears atop this champion, a ponytail that stretches far down the notably slender frame. Wipe hips are particularly eye-catching, a feature highlighted by the belly dancer attire and the nimble pose this champion holds herself in.

Rosalina motions to the summoned woman, who is clearly still baffled by where she had been teleported. “I have summoned the champion Shantae to fight for me,” she confirms. “She is a gifted dancer with many tricks and abilities, having overcome dangerous obstacles at sea.”

A smile bubbles upon Shantae’s face. She skips forward a step, her arms stretched out in excitement to either side. “That about sums me up!” she laughs. “Though, I’m not a big fan of senseless violence. I’m more of a senseful violence kind of half-genie.”

You babble the word to yourself, Genie? Sweat dots your brow as reality sinks in. The thought of facing a similarly-sized opponent is long gone, and you now must accept that your opponent is, in fact, a genie. Or, according to her, a half-genie. It made as much sense as it all mattered; dread fills you as you think of the upcoming fight.

Palutena, meanwhile, has maintained her posture in a truly admirable way. Unphased by Rosalina’s champion, her smile persists as she speaks, “Without any further delay, I will reveal my own champion.” You freeze up even more solidly than you had been when Palutena’s hand moves you out into the open. You only move again when the rush of Palutena’s motion has you topple forward in her palm. “Behold, my champion!”

In a crawl, you look up at those you’ve been presented to, but their reactions are stale and unresponsive. They appear confused, looking to each other, then back at Palutena’s hand. Shantae steps forward, pushed by her own curiosity, but hesitates to completely close the distance. With a finger to her lip, Shantae asks, “Is your champion… invisible…?”

“No, not invisible…” Palutena’s grace finally shows a crack as her shoulders droop and her lips twitch. “Just… small. Small, but condensed. Packed full of-- of, uh, power.” You’re raised slightly higher, and just as you were about to regain some balance. “Look closely! This is… Th-This is the champion that will… de-defeat you.”

You can sense Palutena’s confidence waning as the introduction proceeds, but all thoughts are lost when a shadow sweeps over your frail form. Up above, the opposing champion hovers over you, her body bent forward so that her face was only inches from where you stood. You stare into the depths of Shantae’s ocean blue eyes, flinching when they blink so close to you. The focused study on your body brings a shiver to you, helpless to have her stop.

“Ohh! Wow! A pixie or something!” Shantae cheers, her voice booming you backwards with such might. You fret even further as Shantae bounces up and down, her hands clasped together, “It’s so~ adorable! What a cute lil’ creature!”

“Ah, so something is in her hand, then?” you hear Rosalina speak, but your mind processes little else after being bombarded by Shantae’s commentary. Her words and behavior humiliate you, but Rosalina’s arrival adds to your woes. Rosalina stretches taller than her champion, and even taller than Palutena. Though she doesn’t bend forward to observe you, her studious, straight glare feels just as piercing. Her smile does nothing to ease your spirit, “Hoho~ it reminds me of my lumas. Only… a bit scrawnier.”

Palutena seems somewhat taken aback by the response. “I suppose my champion is fairly cute,” she mutters. With her eyes now also on you, the gravity of all three women bears on you like a house of bricks. You shake and huddle into yourself, surrounded by a trio of gigantic women, all of whom were inhumanly empowered even disregarding their sheer size. They mock you with their pitying discussion held right over your head, no way of hiding your embarrassment other than keeping yourself as diminutive as possible.

You wish for matters to move along and hurry to the end, but you regret that immediately when Rosalina and Shantae step away -- the battle is about to begin. Of the three giants, only Shantae shows signs of hesitation, a finger propped against her lip as she stares at you. “I’m gonna be honest,” she admits, “this whole thing seems just a little unfair.” You nod in agreement, and even Rosalina appears uncertain -- not Palutena, however, who lifts her head high in response.

“There’s no backing out of this now,” Palutena explains. “The summoning has already been cast, binding you two to find a victor. No one can go home until that’s done. Sort of like a contract.”

“Well, I do want to go home eventually,” Shantae mutters, her hips swaying in idle contemplation with herself. She nods, “Okay, whatever has to happen, I suppose! I’ve been thrown into weirder situations.”

The discussion is promptly ended. Shantae bounces on her toes, ready for battle, while Palutena walks you forward into position. You are lowered into the grass which rises around you like tall bushes up to your armpits; already you find yourself disadvantaged and vulnerable, stroked by the cold emptiness of being alone in a massive world. Palutena walks away as you turn back around towards her, both feet hurdling off as she casually returns to where she was. Timidly, you peer back at your opponent, prepared across from you with the height of a radio tower but the elegance of a dancer.

Rosalina casts a splash of firework-like effects into the air. “Begin!” she announces. “May each champion serve their master dutifully.”

You shamble backwards through the grass, but Shantae does not yet approach. Her stance is defensive and wary, her glare squared onto you. Her caution is unwarranted, and she soon realizes that when you forgo any sort of attack. Her posture loosens and she no longer bounces from one foot to the next, slowing to a standstill. Mobile or not, Shantae regardlessly intimidates you into inaction.

“Okay, so… can I just ask right out the gate?” Shantae inquires, a hand propped on her hip. “Can you do anything?”

That was a harsh question. Of course you could do things, back in your normal life. It was only here in this fantastical scenario that you were powerless. Insulted, you swing a glance back at Palutena, hoping for some sort of defense, but her head is lowered. She won’t even look at you, and so you turn back to Shantae with only a stutter’s worth of an answer.

Shantae smirks, considerably more relaxed. “I guess not!” she laughs, and then approaches. Each step is made as lightly as she normally strolled, yet the dancer’s shoes flatten fields of grass with every stride up to you. The effort to continue scrambling away is lost as you realize how pointless it would be; in just the time it took you to fear her footsteps, Shantae was already upon you, eclipsing the sun overhead with her hourglass figure.

“Okay! I’ll just, uh, make this quick then!” Shantae says while one foot is lifted high into the air, its weight hanging above you like a bus craned in midair. A single shred of glass wilts off the sole of her shoe, dancing in the air until it falls to the ground nearby. You tremble and trip backwards into a bush of grass, your arms crossed in front of you as the best shield you could muster. You babble pleadingly that you do not want to be crushed, yet Shantae’s smile shines even brighter with a playful wink goodbye.

Twitches race over you as you shell up into yourself, cowering from the crushing fate. You think you might scream, but the immediate touch of the sole on your body terrifies you into muteness. Your eyes close shut, embracing the darkness of death, until you feel far too warm to be dead. The sun warms you, the breeze cools you -- but you can’t stand up, only fidget under the hard weight of Shantae’s sole. It traps you in place but with only enough force to keep you pinned, the only pain being the pressure placed upon your chest.

Shantae giggles, the vibration of which was felt over your body. “I win! Right? This counts as winning?” She looks to the others for approval, unsure if simply stepping on you was a victory condition. Neither her summoner nor yours has a response, but before long, the answer is revealed. Shantae’s foot lifts off you, as does her entire body float off the ground. Trails of light appear and swirl around her as you sit up with relief.

“It appears that was enough,” Rosalina says, tapping her wand’s head into her palm. She offers a noble smile and a bow, “Thank you for your service, Shantae. Your efforts have quelled Palutena’s concerns… for the time being.”

Contrary to Rosalina’s remark, you found Palutena seething with frustration. Her arms were crossed and her eyes angrily turned away from the levitating dancer. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving dismissively at the pair. “Congratulations and all that, but this all came down to luck, didn’t it? So~ the truth is still undecided. We just don’t know who the stronger goddess is, and we might never know! What a weird competition this was, hmm…”

Rosalina frowns, but does not remind Palutena that it was her that arranged this battle -- you remember well enough. But the conclusion had indeed been reached, and thus Shantae had won her prize to return home. Teleportic energy concentrated around her as she was taken higher into the air, smiling confidently back at everyone.

“I hope to see you all again!” Shantae says, waving farewell to you and the goddesses. Her body begins to fade into transparency, the light swirling closer to her. In a blink, she’s gone, vanished from the world just after wishing her final goodbye.

Without being burdened by a giant’s shadow, you are finally able to stand again. The quakes of Palutena’s steps give away her approach, and you look behind yourself just as her hand is sweeping down to scoop you up. Even with the warning, you’re tripped off your feet and roll into the center of the palm, disoriented by the change of altitude when she rises. Rosalina also hovers closer, but stands ready to leave.

“Perhaps we can enjoy ourselves another competition at another time,” Rosalina suggests, but no sympathy lifts Palutena’s spirit. She sighs and settles with this, hovering away with a gentle wave of her wand. “Until then, farewell~” In the same manner that she had appeared, Rosalina teleports away, leaving just you and Palutena abandoned on the floating island.

You sit on your knees and dust the dirt off yourself. You dread the results, dwelling on your inability to return home. The worst luck in the world has struck you without mercy or reason, destiny tossing you aside in some massive-sized dimension without a proper way to go back. Is this your life from now on? Little more than a bug in a fantasy realm with goddesses and magic, neither of which could solve your conundrum? The terribleness of the predicament petrifies you, but the familiar touch of a broad finger upon your cap cleanses you of some of that fear.

Palutena’s inviting grin is there to warm you when you stare upwards at the petting finger. “Win or lose, you’ve retained 100% of your cuteness,” she playfully reports. A tap on your back emphasizes her opinion. “I’m sorry~ I know this is quite the mess to be dumped into.”

You refrain from responding. Uncertainty clearly plagues you, but Palutena’s finger makes a fighting effort to raise your spirits. It rubs against you, tending to your shoulders and giving you a support to lean against. It’s comforting, if nothing else, to rest into the finger’s side.

“I promise, I’ll look into a way to send you back home,” Palutena continues. “While you’re here, you’ll be valued as a guest of honor! You’re still my champion, and I’ll see to it you’re treated like one! It’s the least a goddess can do, wouldn’t you agree?”

It’s a reassuring gesture, one that kindles a semblance of hope. You can feel Palutena’s eyes, her gaze heavy on you to squeeze out a reaction. Under that pressure, you manage to smile up at the goddess, an expression that’s reflected back at a magnified scale. The hands suddenly clasp around you, forcing you into a hug-like embrace that cradles you into Palutena’s collar.

“There, there! I feel so bad~” she whines through pops of giggles. She stares at you tenderly in her grasp, admiring your small frame before deciding to deposit you elsewhere. As she intends to teleport, you are once again slid into the little cleavage revealed by her robe. Despite the awkwardness of being placed here, the flesh surrounds you like the blanket you wanted to crawl into. Palutena’s breathing blows over you with a calm rhythm, coaxing you into even greater comfort.

“It won’t be so bad, being my new pet and all~” Palutena says, a tease that drills into your trust. “Ohh, that was just a joke! A harmless joke! Go on, I permit you to laugh~”