Chapter 1

I was happily munching on a delicious slice of blueberry pie when Lady Palutena walked into the room, smiling. "Hey there, Pit! I have amazing news!"

Please let it be a hot spring in Skyworld. Please let it be a hot spring in Skyworld.

Lady Palutena continued, "Due to the past events concerning Hades and the Aurum, Viridi and I have been talking extensively."

I had a funny feeling this would involve me in a bad way, so I consoled myself by eating more pie. "About?"

"Funny you should ask! Since we work so well together when faced with adversity, we decided to make huge changes to the way things are run."

I cringed. "What do you mean?"

Lady Palutena explained, "We're going to create a permanent merge between ourselves."

An image of a woman looking half Lady Palutena and half Viridi came to mind. "No! Please! Anything but that!"

Lady Palutena put her hands on her hips, something she did when she was slightly annoyed with me. "What's so wrong with that? I thought you would like it, considering the significant amount of time you'd be spending with Phosphora."

I sprang up. "What?! Yes! Do it! Do it now!"

Lady Palutena giggled at my embarrassing outburst. "First, you know how humans worship me, right?"

I loyally praised, "Yes! They worship you because you're amazing! You're the goddess of light and the protector of humanity!"

Lady Palutena beamed. "Aw! Thank you. My generous act to Viridi is to implement her in the humans' pantheon. You and Phosphora are going to be the messengers to the humans and announce this change."

Humans worshipping Viridi? But she hates them.

I didn't want to argue with my superior, but still . . . "Are you sure that'll go well? She set a reset bomb on them and almost obliterated them."

Lady Palutena paused. "Well yes, but ever since she aided you in stopping the Underworld Army, the humans seem to be able to forgive her."

If the humans were okay with it, it seemed morally licit. "Got it. What's Viridi's generous act to us?"

Lady Palutena grinned. "This is one of your longest-held dreams, Pit. All the training rooms and personal quarters in Skyworld will contain a hot spring."

I GET MY OWN PRIVATE HOT SPRING! THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN WHAT I WANTED!

I tried to be as nonchalant as possible. "So when is this happening?"

"Relatively soon."

A new voice clamored, "Hellooooo!"

Soon as in immediately.

Viridi burst in waving at me. "Did you miss me?"

To be perfectly honest . . . "Yeah. I liked it when the Forces of Nature and Palutena's Army were allies."

Lady Palutena grinned. "It'll be that way forever now."

Viridi shot me a sly grin. "You'll have to call me Lady Viridi now, just like you do for Palutena. Anyway, let's get those hot springs installed. I'm starting work on the one in the practice room immediately."

Viridi left while I asked Lady Palutena, "Wait, so is Viridi-er, Lady Viridi?-and Phosphora coming to live in Skyworld now?"

"Not limited to Viridi and Phosphora. Arlon the Serene and Cragalanche the Mighty are also coming. Oh right! And Dark Pit. He joined the Forces of Nature, you know. Oh right! I almost forgot: Viridi's center is going to move here and become the new right half of our home."

I mused, "That's really different. Although, you were right when you said I would like spending time with Phosphora. She's pretty! I mean . . . fierce in battle."

Lady Palutena cleared her throat. "Right. I'm very pleased with this particular tweak because it'll help with your sleep pattern. In the day, you'll be in my section where there's jazzy music to keep you up and energized, while at night, you can chill out in Viridi's section with soothing music to lull you to sleep."

I finished up my blueberry pie and tossed it in the sink, daydreaming about what the future held in store for me.