Training Day

There is a lot that goes on within the barracks which the shepherds call home, today in particular is a very loud one between a very disgruntled Owain and a rather annoyed Inigo. When the sun arose that morning they both knew it was going to be a very rough day of training since the shepherds were holding a inter garrison tournament to "raise Morality" among them. For Owain thought this was a great way to show that he was in fact the chosen one, Inigo wants nothing more than to beat him just for the sake of beating Owain. Although they are good friends, Inigo can't seem to think that in a one on one that Owain could defeat him, he was after all the Exhalt's son. Owain on the other hand feels as though he should mentor his cousin with his dueling techniques and after Inigo turned down the offer they have been going back and forth about this tournament. They are so focused they seem to forget that there are others in the tournament as well. The 24 man (and woman) tournament is set to go except one match. Inigo and Owain are going to fight to see who is going to be seeded in and then the tournament is set.

As Inigo walks into the training room which has been moved around to have a raised arena, he sees a shadow move out of the corner of his eye but it has disappeared. He knows at once it is Owain, and he knows Owain is going to wait until he gets into the center before striking. So Inigo walks over to a rack to grab training sword and starts practicing against a wooden standee.

"Um Inigo?" Asked a Confused Cynthia "Aren't you supposed to Fight Owain, not just practice against this training dummy?"

"Well you see, I know what I am supposed to do. I am here," He explains "That buffoon that is now currently up in the rafters was going to wait for me to step into the center of that area that we have made then strike." He pauses to see if he could hear any sign of Owain being upset or angry. "The thing he doesn't get is that if he decides to not show himself we will default him out so he will immediately get thrown into a match with the possibility of not fighting me or being tired and fighting a very well rested me." He looks up and sees Owain and gives him a sly wink. With that Owain drops down and looks at Inigo dead in the eye

"Alright you cunning cur, I guess you saw through my strategy of surprise, but that will not mean you will be the victor of our swift battle. If my mind games wont..." He started.

"Are you guys gonna talk all day or are you going to fight?" Gerome called to them. "This tournament isn't supposed to be this competitive. So why don't you two get fighting and get over whatever it is you are fighting about so I can leave." (according to the rules every member of the tournament is supposed to be in attendance and forced by his parents and very persuasive Nah, Gerome is here)

"yeah come on." Came from the rest of the shepherds.

"Inigo, Calm down. this is only a friendly competition" Chrom called to him. It was settled they were going to step in there and have a nice sparring match.

"That I'm going to win." Inigo said under his breath.

"Alright the first to get two wins by ring out or by making the other concede will be called the victor." said Frederick acting as a referee. "Inigo, are you ready?" A nod by Inigo. "Owain are you ready?" A nod from Owain. "Fighters take your stance...and...Fight!"

Almost at lightning speed Owain lunges forward to try to strike Inigo but being the patient man Inigo is goes on a very strong defense. Inigo blocks two, three lashes but realizes that he has taken a couple of unwanted steps backwards that he is now nearly on the edge of the platform. "Hraahhh" Owain screams as he takes a side swing with his practice sword and although Inigo blocked it he left himself open and with a swift kick to Inigo's side he falls off of the platform but lands in a handstand. His feet never touched the floor. He bends his arms down and pushes to do a half flip back onto the platform

"Ohhhhh" The shepherds applaud and cheer with the strength of the prince. But he has not won yet. Inigo's weapon is on the other side of Owain who lunges again.

"RADIANT DAWN!" He screams as he swings his leg to trip his foe but Inigo jumps and dodges but is caught with a glancing shot from his wooden blade and as Inigo is running towards his own weapon he is sent slightly off course and had to take an extra step to get to and when he turns around with is sword Owain lets out another scream and lands yet another kick to finally knock Inigo out of the arena.

"Round one to Owain!" yelled Frederick with a bit of joy in his voice. Then realizing this he tries to hide his biased toward his son.

The crowd cheers and gasp as the first round ends.

"The tension between these two..." Lucina tells Morgan. I've never seen anything like it outside the battlefield."

"Lucina, Inigo isn't getting up..." Morgan says with a slight quiver in her voice.

"What!" Lucina gasps as she lunged forward to check on her brother. "Brother are you okay?" She asks loudly. the noise and chatter in the room goes down. Owain starting to get worried he might have gotten carried away.

"Inigo?" Owain asks "Are you alright?"

"Just dandy," He says "I must say Owain that last kick did what most of the girls in town do" He said with a chuckle. "But what makes you different Owain," Inigo says as he gets up "They don't have to worry about me fighting back." Inigo stands back in the starting position with a limp and readies himself for the second round.

"You are my biggest rival Inigo." Owain says with a victorious laugh "And fight like a thousand men. I guess I'll have to fight like 10,000 men, and victory will be mine to claim."

"They do just know this is just a preliminary round right?" Kjelle asks Lucina

"they do, but i think this is a lot more than just a tournament. I mean Owain is our cousin but both me and Inigo would get throne before him because of our father. I think this is about showing us that Owain is just as talented as his cousin." Lucina told her. "I feel bad for him too, knowing he might not be the leader he wants to be, the hero he should be..."

"Round Two... Ready... Fight!" Fredrick says again

This time a dodge roll by Inigo and then he is the first to hit his mark as he sweeps the legs and drops an elbow to Owain's chest. Owain rolls and then is back to his feet but takes a defensive stance. Inigo studies him fast. His legs are still active but his chest and it looks like his right arm was injured from the way he is clutching his blade. Inigo swings up to knock Owains defense off and kicks up to hit Owain's under arm.

"Aghg." Owain grunts as his injured arm was targeted, but then Owain sees something.

"Your Open!" he shouts and he lunged under Inigo's arms and lifts him up and slams him. Inigo loses his weapon, and as he gets to his knees Owain puts the tip of his sword to Inigo's face. "Concede." Owain demands. A silent crowd watches in aw but in a quick of a flash Inigo rolls backward. kicks the blade out of Owains grasp. When he is on his feet Inigo does a pirouette but lunges out his leg just a little bit to give owain a kick to his gut and catches the sword and holds it to Owain's throat.

"No, you concede." Inigo's foot pinning Owain to the ground. Owain tries to budge but then nods to Inigo.

"Round two Inigo!" Frederick says, still trying not to sound Biased. The shepherds applaud both Inigo and Owain yet again. They then get set to go in round three.

"Alright then dance boy," Owain says. "That was a very unexpected move." Inigo just now realized he did a perfect pirouette is petrified a bit by the peering eyes that are perplexed to him.

"Well then it seems that I did do a bit of dancing there." Inigo said blushing "Might we continue?" He said handing him the wooden sword and helping him to his feet.

"Yes." Owain said. "Oh and Inigo, Good luck." holding out a hand to Inigo he looks him in the eye.

"And to you." He said accepting the hand shake. Everyone is applauding their sportsmanship and is very eager to this final round.

"Ready..." Frederick yells. "... FIGHT"