Please keep in mind that unless it says complete, I'll still be updating. You cannot accelerate the speed of updates either since these things take time unless I get inspired to write quickly.

This applies to all my fics. So please stop asking me to update From the Heavens, because it's on rotation. This means you, anonymous user *cheesy. I know you're not going to read this, and if you review this story still asking to update From the Heavens, I swear I'm going to make the next chapter about my feels for Kid Loki.

Sorry for the wait. I'll stop being Grouchy Cat for now.

The humanization ray Master Hand created from the imperfect humanization cannon proved to be what Meta Knight and Pit needed to teach the latter how to fly while letting the former fight. It provided the former with a temporary transformation while allowing him to fight freely as he normally would. Pit was beginning to understand the physics behind it, but a major problem persisted. His wings were still too small to support his weight.

"Can't you just zap me with that cannon and make them bigger?" The angel whined. His mentor sighed and waited for the effects of the humanization ray to wear off before responding.

"Crazy Hand would have to build a new system completely, and he hasn't been happy since Master Hand modified his first one." He answered patiently. "And even if he did build one, the effects wouldn't be permanent and might wear off while you're still in the air."

Pit gulped, imagining the long fall. Meta Knight put a reassuring hand on his foot.

"Don't worry, we'll work on a more permanent solution."

As it turned out, the more permanent solution was to force his wings to grow. Both were a little fuzzy on how to hone that part of the body particularly, but Meta Knight had seen many creatures on Dream Land bulk up specific parts of their body through weight lifting. Ike certainly supported the hypothesis, commenting that the warriors from home who wielded large swords and heavy axes tended to have bigger arms than those who chose spears and lighter swords. When Link said something about having stronger arms from wrestling goats down, that really convinced Pit to do whatever his mentor wanted to grow his wings. Unfortunately there was still quite a bit of awkwardness in the technical details.

"Were you fishing in the library?" Falco sneered.

"It's to build up his wing's muscle strength." Meta Knight defended. It had been his idea to throw a small net over Pit's wings and weight them down with books in the center.

"Why don't you just get him to lift weights with those chicken wings?"

"He seems to lack the strange anatomy that allows your feather fingers to be so."

"Hey, my feather fingers are awesome!"

"I never said they weren't."

"Cool it Falco." Fox snapped. "We're all civilized people here."

The anthropomorphic bird rolled his eyes but shut up as his teammate requested. Meta Knight and Pit left the common area in a huff.

"This looks ridiculous, are you sure there's no other way?" the angel hissed under his breath.

"It's the best I can come up with right now." The puffball said innocently, which was a terrifying combination in Pit's mind.

"Are you still mad about the humanization experiments?" Pit questioned. Somehow Meta Knight found out that Pit had been the one to ask Crazy Hand for the contraption in the first place. Or at least, Pit had been the one to put the idea in the hand's mind. Either way, he was responsible for the humiliation he endured.

"Whatever makes you think that?"

The brunet really wanted to rip off that mask to see confirm if he was smiling. Spending time with the puffball cleared up several misconceptions. For one, he was pettier than Pit initially believed. Meta Knight claimed it to be a trait of all Dream Landers, but the angel was unconvinced. Pit wasn't above being petty himself, as he discovered that his mentor had an enormous sweet tooth and held it against him. Regardless of the mutual childish behavior, he felt strangely happy in his presence and soon began to accompany him outside of their training. Link had once said that was a sign of a good friendship, but Pit wondered if their relationship was beginning to get deeper than that. He couldn't get Ike's comment about Meta Knight's fatherly hands out of his mind.

"Pit?"

The inquisitive tone of his mentor's voice snapped him from his thoughts.

"Y—Yes?"

"Just checking."

Meta Knight hummed thoughtfully and paused in his steps when he heard the distinctive pitter-pattering of Kirby's feet running towards him. The knight swiftly side stepped his pink counterpart, allowing the young warrior to slam right into Pit's legs and topple him over. While Pit silently fumed over how intentional that was, Meta Knight snatched the paper Kirby had been waving around.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Poyo poy!"

"It's visitor's week already?"

Pit immediately grabbed the paper from his hands.

"Are you for reals?" He demanded, eyes darting across the flyer. Sure enough, it was an advertisement for a tournament during visitor's week. "How'd you get this Kirby? Master Hand didn't even send a memo out yet."

"Poyo poyo! Poyo pooooooooy poyo! Poyo poyo poyoi."

Meta Knight visibly flinched. "You seriously—I cannot believe you."

"What? What did he say?"

"He said he stole it from Master Hand's desk." Meta Knight translated bluntly. "He thought—never mind, it's not important." There was a hollowness in his eyes that Pit dare not question.

"Wow, visitor's week." Pit said, trying to steer the conversation away from a possibly horrible memory. "I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't seen Lady Palutena in a long time!"

"Isn't she in your Final Smash?" the knight questioned.

"That's just a projection of her." The brunet shrugged. "Kind of like King Dedede's thing where he pulls a Waddle Dee out of nowhere."

"Ah yes, it would be disastrous if we had to live with that many Waddle Dees."

"Poyo."

"So who are you inviting Sir Meta Knight?" Pit asked.

"You'll see." He answered in his usual unhelpful manner. The angel scowled, earning a chuckle from his flight mentor. "What good will it do you to know? You don't know of this person."

"You know, sometimes I hate you."

"I know."

With Visitor's Week looming ahead, everything intensified. Training became more rigorous, both in the arenas and in the flight simulator. Each fighter wanted to prove themselves worthy of being at the mansion, especially in front of their peers who may have not been invited to fight as a Smasher. Cleaning duties became just as tiring; Peach wanted everything spotless to make a good impression. The punishments for making a mess became harsher that even Wario thought twice about making mischief. He still bore the bruises when he "accidentally" dropped a slice of pizza on the carpet in front of Mushroom Kingdom Princess. Everyone shuddered at the memory; even Samus had been disturbed by the brutality. Despite everything descending into insanity and chaos around him, Meta Knight had grown strangely cheerful with each passing day.

"It's weird." Pit confessed to Link. "It's like someone's been slipping him happy pills or something."

"It must be the prospect of seeing his guest." The Hylian guessed. "I know I'm looking forward to seeing Illia and the kids again."

"She's your childhood friend, right?" Pit asked, suddenly recalling the trophy of a blonde girl.

"That's right, we grew up together in Ordon."

"Must be nice to have a childhood friend." Samus muttered. "Mine was a rabbit."

"Seems like a lot of us are bringing our childhood friends." Ike commented. "I invited Soren and Mist, and I know for sure Marth invited his. The guy was so flustered."

"I wonder… Did Sir Meta Knight invite his childhood friend?" Pit pondered aloud. The three stared at him in silence, all of them unwilling to voice their thoughts.

"Did he even have a childhood?" Samus finally blurted.

"…He had to grow up somehow." Link said.

The four paused to imagine Meta Knight as a child and silently agreed to never bring that subject up again.

"Either way." Ike coughed, breaking the silence. "We don't know for sure who is coming until they're all here, right?"

"That's right." Link quickly agreed. "We shouldn't get worked up over who or what might be coming."

"Just focus on beating on each other?" Samus teased. "So the status quo here? Sounds like a good plan to me."

"You don't have to put it like that…"

Suddenly, the sound of an overly sweet voice haunted the halls.

"I hear a group of four who should be doing chores right now~"

They looked at each other and scattered like pigeons. Luckily for them, most of the decorations were still in boxes, stacked neatly in each room before going up. It wasn't an uncommon sight to find other Smashers taking a cue from Snake and using them to hide behind. The ensuing week had become a fierce stealth battle. Whoever could not hide was subject to the most chores. The reigning champion was Luigi, which had been an odd outcome for the younger plumber was not even actively hiding. Snake, Lucario, and Meta Knight were close runner ups. The surprise had been Wario's ability to become inconspicuous, proving once and for all that he could do anything as long as it got him out of doing work.

Others didn't prove as lucky. Pit couldn't manage to keep his wings from twitching whenever he heard Peach lurking around, and the telltale sound of something moving against cardboard always gave him away. In the end, the boxes came down and everyone was forced to help out around the mansion. Even training had been cut down to make time to clean and garden. Soon, the decorations were up, the guest suites were ready, and everyone was anxious to see their beloved.

"It's been a long week." Master Hand began as he gathered the Smashers at the main gates. "But it's finally here. I officially declare the gates open for Visitor's Week!"

With a snap of his fingers, the golden gates slowly lurched open. The crowd filed in, slow at first, but rushing excitedly to meet their representatives.

"Lady Palutena!" Pit exclaimed, spotting his patron deity. The green haired Goddess waved as he ran over to her and gave her a crushing hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"And I'm glad to see you too Pit." She giggled, returning the hug with equal bone crushing strength. "Have you been winning your battles?"

"I'm sorry Lady Palutena, I didn't win all of them."

"That's alright Pit, there's no shame in defeat." She said gently. She pulled away and looked straight into his eyes. "You've already brought a lot of honor to me and the army. Thanks to you, we're back on the map!"

The angel was stunned. It was true that Skyworld had been grossly ignored over the years. Hearing that he brought attention and interest back to his home world made him swell up with pride.

"I'll keep doing my best here, Lady Palutena. For you, and for everyone!"

"That's what I like to hear. So, show me around the place!"

Pit happily linked arms with his goddess and lead her around. He showed her all of the training facilities, the fight simulator, and the gardens. They took a break by the pool, dipping their feet in the jacuzzi, which felt almost as good as the hot springs in Angel Land. Finally, Pit brought Palutena to the flight simulator. The Goddess took a moment to appreciate the technology of the room.

"This is where Sir Meta Knight teaches me how to fly." Pit explained. "There's this gravity thing where it makes me lighter so my wings can support my weight."

"I'm glad he agreed." Palutena said. "Friends are the best teachers, after all."

"He's more than just that." The angel blurted without thinking. Palutena gave him a look, causing him to flush. "No—Not like that! I mean…" He stumbled over his words, though the goddess waited patiently for him to find the right ones. "Well, Ike said something about his hands and how they're really fatherly, so I thought, man! He's like a father to me."

"Is that so?"

The sudden deep voice made Pit jump and spin around. Much to his chagrin, Meta Knight had been standing behind them, and the way his visitor, a Waddle Dee with a sailor's cap, was fuming suggested they had been there for quite some time.

"Sir Meta Knight!" the angel squeaked a few octaves higher than his normal voice. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Just… how long have you been standing there?"

"For a while now." He confirmed with amusement in his voice. He seemed to take pity on his flight pupil and glance up at the green haired woman. "You must be the Goddess Palutena. I am Meta Knight. This is my crew member, Sailor Dee." The puffball gave the Waddle Dee a pat on the back, who immediately bowed.

"N—Nice to meet you!" Sailor Dee sputtered.

"It's nice to meet you too." Palutena giggled.

"A—Are you really a goddess?"

Meta Knight hissed at the young Dream Lander under his breath for his rudeness, but Palutena only smiled.

"That's right."

"That's so cool!" Sailor Dee exclaimed with a burst of enthusiasm. "Not as cool as Meta Knight, but still so cool!"

The knight coughed, looking to the side. "If you'll excuse us." Before Pit could say anything, Meta Knight stalked off to avoid further embarrassment. Sailor Dee jumped at his sudden departure, but stayed long enough to glare at the angel.

"I'll be watching you mister!" He said. "I'm Meta Knight's favorite, so don't even think about trying to butter him up!"

With that, the Waddle Dee turned on his heels and chased after the masked knight. Palutena politely waited until he was gone before she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh goodness!" She laughed. "Looks like you just made a new rival, Pit!"

As he watched his goddess double over in her mirth, Pit huffed and crossed his arms. "Yeah, thanks…" But the feeling in his chest was too unnerving for his tastes. It had been the same feeling he had when he watched Marth and Meta Knight walk in sync. Was he actually jealous of that that little Sailor Dee?

"Pit, you're pouting." Palutena teased and poked his cheek. "It's unbecoming of an angel."

"I—I'm not pouting!" Pit protested. He realized his lip had extruded out even more after that and tried to rub the embarrassment from his face.

"Don't worry Pit, I'll admit I'm even a little jealous." She confessed. She smiled at his curious expression before continuing. "The older gods never taught me anything. I had to figure out all the works with… With her. So I know how hard it is for you when everyone else seems to be so distant, and what a blessing it is when someone finally does take the time to pay attention to you."

"I already know what a blessing it is." Pit countered. "You pay attention to me. You guide me through when things are rough. You're my Sir Meta Knight before I even met him! I mean, if he were a lady and a goddess."

Palutena laughed and pulled Pit into a hug. "Thanks… Sailor Pee."

"Hey!"

They were interrupted by someone clearing his throat. Ike was standing by the entrance, brow raised. Behind him were a brunette girl in an orange tunic and white skirt and what Pit guessed was a boy in black robes.

"Hey, we're starting lunch soon." The mercenary announced. "It's going to be outside in the field."

"We're coming!" Pit replied. "Oh, Lady Palutena! This is Ike! Ike, this is Lady Palutena."

Ike gave a friendly smile as he walked over, hand extended. "It's nice to meet you." Palutena blinked in surprise. Behind her, Pit began waving his arms at Ike, trying to get him to stop, but the swordsman ignored him. The brunette girl giggled from the doorway as the boy(?) in the black robes sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Ike." The boy, definitely a boy, said. "She's a goddess."

Ike tilted his head back at his friend in confusion. Luckily for him, Palutena had been amused by his honest behavior and took his hand to shake.

"Well it's nice to meet you too, Ike."

The mercenary grinned, and gestured to his two guests. "This is my sister Mist and my friend Soren."

"Hello!" The girl, Mist, giggled.

"A pleasure." The boy, most definitely a boy, Soren said simply. "We best be going now. I've heard rumors there's someone here who can out eat Ike."

The five headed out together, with Mist and Pit chatting amiably, Ike and Palutena sharing a much slower conversation, and Soren hanging in the back in silence. Once they reached the garden, Ike spotted Marth with a pretty girl in red, decided he needed to embarrass the Altean prince, and left to do just that with his guests in tow. The buffet tables had already been set up. An alloy had even been sitting on a cage with a certain pink smasher housed within. Pit and Palutena did their best to ignore the pitiful poyos coming from the cage as they got in line.

"Poor guy." Palutena sighed.

"It's for his own good, and the good of everyone else!" A strange voice piped. Pit nearly jumped at the sight of a large rodent in red magician garbs. "He'd eat everything here, and then everyone would chase him on an empty stomach. So don't feel bad for him. Now me on the other hand, I gotta stay with my pal here to make him feel less alone, but I'm starving! Won't you sneak me one bite while the little fella isn't looking?"

"Er…" Pit said, taken aback by the rodent. "I'll see if I can get you some cheese…?"

"Thanks a lot pal!"

Palutena gave Pit a look, who shrugged. They only had to wait a few seconds as they shuffled closer and closer to the food. The spread was quite impressive, stacked with different kinds of meats prepared in a variety of ways, followed by large salad bar for the herbivores. Everything smelled so delicious that the angel almost forgot to stack on some extra cheese. Once he grabbed a can of juice, he turned to find the rat.

"Wow, that's all for me?" The rodent playfully exclaimed. He laughed as Pit immediately pulled the plate away possessively. "Haha, I'm kidding! No need to look like a loser cat."

"Sorry, he gets like that when his meal's in danger." Palutena teased as her angel forked over some cheese. "By the way, we never got your name, Mister…?"

"Daroach." The rodent introduced, pausing to pop a piece of cheese in his mouth. "Boss of the infamous Squeak Squad. I'm hoping a lovely lady like yourself has at least heard of the famous treasure hunting gang?"

"Can't say I have. Well, I'm Palutena, and this is my captain, Pit."

"It's, er, nice to meet you?"

"Captain, eh? Well, I'd love to chat some more, but you two need to catch up some more, yeah? I'll let you get right to that."

As the two turned and walked away, they could hear Daraoch boasting to Kirby about his haul.

"Hey Pit!" Ness called out. "Would you and your friend like to join us?" The angel turned to see the young smasher waving at him. He was sitting with Lucas and their guests. Sitting by Ness was a middle aged blonde woman with a kind expression. Next to her was a younger blonde girl. There was a girl with bright pink hair leaning against a tree and a tall man with brown hair and a goatee sitting with Lucas. Not too far away, Pit could see a brown dog and white dog chasing some butterflies.

"Lady Palutena, would you like to join them?" Pit asked.

"Not at all!"

As they made their way towards Ness' picnic spot, the blonde woman and girl stood up together.

"Why hello there!" The woman greeted. "I'm Ness' mother, and this is my daughter Tracy! You must be Pit. Ness told me all about you. He gets terribly homesick all the time, so I'm so glad he has friends like you and Lucas to cheer up him."

Pit laughed half-heartedly, not remembering the last time he and Ness had a full conversation. Lucas seemed to pick up on his nerves and added, "Ness cheers all of us up, so it's only fair we do the same."

"Y—Yeah! Your son's a great kid, ma'am."

"Oh, come on guys!" Ness whined, going red.

"Pit, I didn't introduce you to my friends yet, did I?" Lucas quickly intervened. "That girl is Kumatora and that man is Duster. The brown dog over there is Boney. Before I came here, we traveled and fought together."

"Yo!" Kumatora greeted, lazily waving from her position. Duster was polite enough to limber over and shake Pit's hand.

"It's nice to meet you." He said quickly. He shot a look at the dogs who ceased playing and trotted over. They sniffed Pit and barked.

"Nice to meet you too! All of you." He gave them a big grin, glad to finally introduce his goddess. "This is Lady Palutena! She's the one who watches over me."

"It's so great to meet everyone here." She cheerfully said.

"Now that we've broken the ice, let's eat! I'm sure everyone is hungry right now."

The kids nodded and took their places at the spread. Palutena and Ness' mother quickly delved into their own conversation that no one else could follow. Duster and Tracy entered a slower conversation while the others spent their meal chatting amiably. When they were done eating, Lucas and Ness began to throw sticks for their dogs to catch and play with while the rest watched. They were interrupted by trumpeting and the harsh shriek of a microphone's feedback. The buffet tables had been replaced by a podium where Master Hand and Crazy Hand were positioned. Master Hand was at the microphone while some Metal Fighters were aiding him in setting up the stage.

"Hum hum, excuse me for that." Master Hand said. "Can everyone hear me? Okay, how are we all doing today!" The large hand paused at the loud cheer from Smashers and guests alike. "Good, because the preparations for the next event are almost complete. But first we'd like to introduce some guests of our own."

To Master Hand's right, a familiar sigil appeared on the stage, glowing brightly as a figure emerged. Pit had recognized him from the Melee Trophy set.

"It's Roy!" Ness whispered excitedly to Lucas and Pit.

Before anyone could react, a portal opened to Crazy Hand's left and a cat like creature descended down from it.

"…And Mewtwo…"

Murmurs immediately burst around the crowd, wondering what this meant. The next event on the schedule was setting up the tournament bracket, everyone knew that. But did the announcement of Roy and Mewtwo's arrivals mean that they would be included too?

"Settle down, settle down!" Master Hand boomed, causing another round of feedback. "They'll be helping us set up the tournament bracket after dinner, and starting the tournament with an exhibition match in the morning. Now with that said, you're all now free to mingle."

Right as the two floating hands disappeared, Marth had unexpectedly leapt at Roy, pulled him in a one armed hold, and began to ruffle his already spiky hair.

"Ah! Marth! Get off!"

Pit wondered if this was nothing new, as only the new comers of this season's tournament were staring at the scene. Everyone else had gathered around Mewtwo or returned to their own business.

"Ness, is that normal?" Lucas voiced.

"Hm? Oh yeah, they used to roughhouse a lot." Ness explained. "I think Roy said it was a way for them to cope in a casual tournament since they're both nobility."

"Everyone seems to be forming very wonderful bonds here." Palutena commented. Pit nodded in agreement. He spotted Meta Knight and Link pulling Marth off of Roy and felt his lips tug into a smile. He wondered what other things Visitor's Week would bring.

I would have had this up sooner and better but then soccer training with dinosaurs happened and I got stuck.

Anyway, I hope some of you are actually playing Fire Emblem: Awakening. I'm terrible at strategy games myself so I haven't gotten it, but my tumblr dash gets a lot of screenshots of support conversations. They're really good. I mean it, if you have it, explore all the character relationships you can because I'm pretty sure they hijacked Kid Icarus Uprising's localization team and went to town. Not as far downtown as KIU, but pretty far. (2/18/12)