This was something I've thought of for a long time. It was practically the only keeping me sane during my night job at a warehouse. Both avatars are in this story, but Robin is an entirely new character so the female version must be present to fill the avatar's role in awakening.
"We have to do something."
Ugh, whose talking? Couldn't they see he was enjoying a nice dirt na- No what, that wasn't dirt, some kind of prickly substance under him, grass maybe? That's strange, there wasn't any grass when he fell asleep. Did a powerful wind storm pass through and he got caught in the middle of it? Nah, he would have known if he was being tossed to and fro in a violent wind powerful enough to throw him around.
Eh, maybe he was just tired. Not like this is the first time he's fallen asleep and forgotten where he fell dozed off.
"What do you propose we do?"
Ah right, mysterious voice number 1 is joined by another. Brilliant, he's gonna be the talk of the region until some unfortunate sucker gets caught with his pants down...again. Hopefully Rin was nearby, he's not in the mood to deal with random strangers in the middle of nowhere.
"I... I dunno..."
'Go away, I'm trying to sleep.'
Someone chuckled and he realized that he might have just spoken that thought out loud.
"I can see that, friend."
These people aren't going to leave are they? He mentally sighed, steeling himself for the accursed sunlight he hated so much and opened his eyes.
Huh, his retinals didn't melt the second the sun hit them.
Good to know.
The light was still bright as hell though made somewhat more bearable by two hazy figures blocking most of the sunbeams. His eyes took a tad longer than he liked to adjust so he could see who the hell was disturbing his sleep.
Two people were leaning over him, a man with blue hair and a blonde pig-tailed girl with some weird head accessory. They both looked relieved to see him awake, which was a tad unusual to him. Most tended to avoid him just on the off chance they might get cursed or some other nonsense. Either these people are too nice for their own good or like taking risks.
Hmm, now that he thought about it, there was something digging into his midsection almost painfully. That certainly wasn't there before, he wouldn't have fallen asleep in the first place if there was such a nuisance.
Ah~ How much had changed, he couldn't stand to sleep in such conditions anymore. Rin's spoiled him too much. Would it be too soon to ask for one of those tasty treats when he finds him?
The blonde one smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back, strange, "Hey there."
"There're better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." Blue said.
'I'll have you know the ground is a wonderful place to take a nap.'
Blue chuckled again with blonde giggling next to him. Gah, curse his loose tongue, it's screwed with him for the last time!
"Is it really?" Blue replied with a grin, holding out his hand, "Give me your hand."
Staring at the hand for a brief second, he wondered if Blue was blind or he just overlooked something pretty obvious, shocking himself with a yellow clad hand he instinctively knew was his reached out for the offered help.
He felt so many things were wrong when Blue pulled him up to just under his head.
'The hell? Since when am I this tall? Or is Blue just really short?'
Oblivious to the other's inner thoughts, Blue asked, "You alright?"
He tilted his head in thought, taking in the extra parts and increased height he knew he didn't have, "I think?" Looking down he saw two long arms with yellow gloves and fingers he didn't remember having, "Either this is one weird dream, or I'm forgetting something cuz I certainly don't remember having these."
"Having what?" The blonde girl joked, "Hands?"
"Yeah, pretty much."It was a strange feeling, having physical limbs. Like being made of some sustain that had no physical limits, air, water, shadows and than being forced to live under the restrictions of a clay-shaped human. He hasn't had this form for long and he already misses his shadowy limbs.
Experimenting with his newly acquired fingers, he missed the look the two shared, growing more uncomfortable with his increassingly disturbing expression on his face. His hood casting a sinister shadow over the upper half of his face and eyes glowing a haunting white. The black ribbons twitching and swaying without wind.
Blue held back a shutter but Blonde wasn't so iron-willed as she took a step back, a tad afraid of the strange behavior.
"Since when do I have gloves?"
The man gave a shaky laugh as the look was replaced with a look of interest, eyes sparkling with an almost innocent curiosity. His companion gave the elder a look of confusion over the sudden drastic change.
"Is..." he began, trying to choose his words carefully, " that something you do often?"
"Do what?"
"Nothing."
The yellow-clad one hummed nonsensically, ignoring the curious gazes sent his way, and moved to find out whatever what jabbing him in the back, and finding some kind of sword and a book attached to a series of belts around his waist. He'll find out what the book is for later, besides who carries a sword around anymore?
Satisified with his current bearings, he turned to the others, "So who are you guys?"
"My name is Chrom," blue, or Chrom replied, "The delicate one here is my little sister, Lissa."
Blonde, Lissa, frowned, glaring at her brother, "I am not delicate. …Hmph! Ignore my brother, he can be a bit thick sometimes. So," she turned back to him with another smile, "Who are you two?"
He raised an eyebrow, two? Both Chrom and Lissa gazed down to something just behind him and he turned to notice someone else on the ground beside them. A girl with light brown hair tied in pigtails, wearing a black and purple cloak laying on a field of some of the brightest green grass he'd ever seen.
Her face wasn't one he had seen before in any of his travels, so he honestly had no idea why he was sleeping next to her in a field he didn't recognize. He was slightly intrigued by the lingering remnants of darkness surrounding her but he'd leave that for later.
He shook his head, "Never seen her before."
"Ha, that's a likely story." A previously unseen figure marched up, dressed entirely from head to toe in sturdy looking armor, drawing some uncomfortable glances by the mysterious one at his appearance. "We're expected to believe you have no idea who this person is despite laying right next to her?"
He shot the armored newcomer a dry glance, "Ah, how useful future sight would have been." he sighed dramatically, "I would have made up a more believable excuse if I knew I'd be faced with a skeptic."
The armored one scoffed in disbelief, "Truly a suspicious one indeed."
"And here I thought I'd never see the day a human Golurk would appear before me." He replied saracastically, "Truly a sight to behold."
Before any of the could respond, soft groaning caught their attention. The other mysterious figure was coming back to the realm of consciousness, blue eyes fluttering open, clouded and lacking focus. The lingering traces of darkness dissipating instantly, leaving behind nothing not a single trait of its existence. The boy frowned, any dark force could potential leave nasty after-affects, especially near the head. He'd have to wait and see, but hopefully the woman was fine.
Her eyes cleared as she drank in her surroundings, noticing the blades of grass she lay on, to the clear, blue sky and final the odd collection of people standing before her. What an odd group to be together, her blank mind found some familiarity to one, the strange blue haired man wearing one sleeve, but despite her best efforts nothing came to her.
In fact, all but one brought that curious state of familiarity. The man, or, as she took a closer look was more along the lines of a young boy, dressed entire in the same shade of pale yellow or black. Combined with what only could be a dress, hood with two pointy ears, youthful face framed by white hair and the most beautiful opal eyes, he quickly became the damn most adorable thing she'd ever seen.
Then again, she couldn't recall anything other than this vast emptiness and pounding headache.
"You alright miss?" the boy asked her, the shadows cast from his hood left a spooky impression in direct contrast with the concern in his eyes.
She felt a smile creep on her face despite that, "Yes, thank you for the concern."
He smiled back, offering a hand to which she accepted. Despite being smaller than her, he easily pulled her up with little to no effort.
"You guys are really lucky Shepherds found you. Brigands would've been a rude awakening!" Lissa chimed in, getting two radically different responses.
Confusion crossed the boy's face. "Brigands?"
The woman raised an eyebrow, "Shepherds? What kind of sheep do you have that you require armor?"
Chrom grinned, "Heh, it's a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary here."
Said man sighed, "A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, strangers but my station mandates otherwise."
"Um." the boy raised his palm like a student wishing to ask his teacher a question, "This is gonna sound like an odd question, but where are we? I don't recall ever coming across brigands like...anywhere."
Frederick cast a critical gaze at the youngster, "Now that I find hard to believe. You've never encountered a brigand before?"
The boy shrugged, "Perhaps there are brigands in other regions but where I come from, we call them dumb teenagers with way too much time on their hands. Most people just consider them an annoyance as even a child can kick their ass."
Chrom coughed, trying to disguise a laugh, Lissa wasn't so subtle and snickered while Frederick shot a disbelieving gaze at the younger male. "I-I see. Well, this is the Halidom of Ylisse, just south of Southtown. Might I ask where you are from?"
"Ylisse eh? Never heard of it, then again I was never the best at Geography outside my home region. That was always Rin's job so what do I know." He blinked, a thought crossing his mind as he realized his mistake, "Oh wow, can't believe we got this far into this conversation without introducing myself. Never too late I suppose."
The white haired boy turned to face the others, "Well, my name is Robin from the Ula'ula Island of the Alola region. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"A pleasure to meet you Robin, though I can't say I've ever heard of Alola before." Chrom replied, Robin seemed surprised to hear neither of them had heard of his homeland judging by the look he gave them. "You've never heard of Alola? Strange, it's a pretty popular resort destination, and if Rin's mother was anything to go by, an absolute dream to live there."
Robin gained a thoughtful look as he attempted to remember what he was doing before he fell asleep, hoping it held the answer as to his current predicament but so far coming up blank.
"Alola sounds like a nice place," Lissa said with a smile, turning her attention to the only other female in the group, "And what about you miss?"
"Ah yes, I'm from...I'm..." the woman frowned, panic flashing in her eyes as realized nothing was coming up, no name or even mundane things like her favorite color, hell not even what she looked like, it was simply gone, "Um, I'm sorry. I can't seem to remember."
Alarm replacing his almost wistful pout, Robin stared intensely at her as if trying to understand something she couldn't see, grimacing with a tight frown.
"Oh I've heard of this!" Lissa exclaimed, "It's called amnesia!"
"It's called a load of Pegasus dung." Frederick retorted, "Quite a convenient excuse to not explain your purpose here."
"B-but it's the truth!" She pleaded.
"...What if it IS true, Frederick? We can't just leave her here, alone and confused. What sort of Shepherds would we be then?" Chrom pointed out.
"Just the same, milord. I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock."
The brown-haired woman felt something tugging on her sleeve, coming to see Robin gripping it as he stared at her with a focused gaze.
"U-um..." she started, slightly intimidated by the glow of his opal eyes, "Something wrong?"
He made a humming sound, "Give me a sec." Grumbling under his breath, "I was never good at any psychic moves but this might be simple enough..."
Eyebrows were raised as everyone heard his grumblings, "Psychic moves?" Chrom asked, "Are you saying you can read her mind?"
"Eh, not quite. There are..." Robin paused, gathering his thoughts as to best explain his actions, "I'm not a psychic from birth, so I can't read minds or anything, but there are...Lingering thoughts, I suppose you can call them. You won't be consciously aware of them and they can slip out on instinct. I find them much easier to read since they're kind of off on their own, and tend to leave imprints behind. And...well...There isn't much else going on with her, so they stick out like a sore thumb."
He ignored the scoff from the great knight and the skeptic looks from everyone else and focused on the scattered thoughts he could see. Most were too fragmented to get anything other than vague details, like a lot of purple for some reason, something about desks or destiny, an E word, a strange desire to punch a Hydreigon for some reason.
If he were a real psychic he probably would have found it before the memories were too broken to read. E...Focus on the E, something about that drew his attention.
E...A name beginning with E?
Elizabeth...Ester...Emilia...Estelle...
A sharp gasp broke his concentration, the memories scattering into oblivion that even an experienced psychic would find near impossible to read. Blinking, Robin brought his focus to the woman's face as a bright smile lit up her face.
"Estelle." She echoed, her smile widening, a sense of wonder enforcing her conviction in her eyes, "Yes, Estelle! Estelle's my name!"
Robin faltered under the sheer joy of her smile as she looked at him, "Thank you for helping me remember my name Robin."
To everyone's amusement, Robin turned a very delicate shade of pink, "E-eh, i-it was- your welcome.." his voice trailed off to a whisper as he tried to pull down his hood to hide like a shy child attempting to hide behind his mother.
Estelle giggled, mentally cooing over the cute image Robin made.
"Awww," Lissa let slip, noting in girlish glee that they could practically see the steam rolling off Robin's glowing red face. Snickering to herself with Chrom smiling at the hilarious sight before him.
"Pardon my asking, but was that it? A few simple guesses and that's supposed to be proof of your psychic abilities?" Frederick inquired, cynical by nature.
"N-not p-psychic." Robin tried to level his voice to stop stuttering, lightly gripping his head due to the use of his horribly untrained abilities, "Can't use a lot of psychic moves not to mention they're mentally draining for non-psychics like me to use-"
Lissa gasped, "Chrom, look! The town!"
Black smoke filled the sky as red hot flames burned and consumed a small village.
" Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt... Frederick, Lissa! Quickly! Estelle, stay here with Robin."
"Wait," Estelle called out, watching as Chrom, Lissa and Frederick rushed to aid the town. Left to her thoughts, she wondered what her next move would be. Should she follow them to assist? Did she even have any weapons on her person? A quick search later she found a simple fire tome in a coat pocket.
But what about Robin? Could he fight? He had a sword and a tome himself, but how skilled was he? Looking at Robin she began to notice something odd. Numbers of some kind. She recognized what some of the numbers meant, but a few of them she had no idea what they were. All she knew was, Robin was very powerful.
"Robin,"She called, "Can you fight?"
Said boy frowned, clenching his fist, he had one massive headache from his stunt earlier, making his shadows harder to form, "Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"My 'fighting style' never involved a sword or whatever the book's for." He looked down, a fiery determination burning in his eyes.
An intense focus graced his face, the black ribbons twitching, once, twice, before swaying against the wind, the edges sharpening to a deadly point like blades made of shadow. The blades appeared fragile as if a single breath of wind would shatter them, but held long enough to frighten his opponents, "But I think I can still fight."
Robin's actually pretty strong at this point in the story, where he might as well just curb stomp everything in his path. Well, he could. This character is at the very end of his journey, beginning a new one in a strange new environment and out of his element, so it's going to take a lot of training before he can use his full power in his new form. I'm going to try and balance his strength with his new 'fragile' form that he's woeful unprepared for to prevent him from simply one-shoting everything.
Fun fact, I actually named Robin off of the Avatar Robin. At the time, I simply couldn't think of think of a name I felt would fit him and I was on a fire emblem high. Robin's my favorite character so why not name my favorite pokemon after him? ;D