"Follow me, milord. We mustn't waste any time," Raimi says and leads the group back into the room where their companions are waiting.
"Listen up everybody!" Chrom shouts in order to eget the others attention. "We'll be staying here a few days, Raimi will show us to our rooms and the training grounds. We'll be holding a meeting to clear up any questions you may have, attendance is mandatory so be sure not to miss it!"
Following the lord's short speech, Raimi accompanies the Shepherds to their stays and after everybody puts their luggage into their respective rooms she gives a brief tour of the castle, showing them the dining area, stables, barracks and -finally- the training grounds before leaving them to their devices.
After half an hour of roaming the castle by themselves or in smaller groups, the Shepherds assemble outside of the barracks.
"Alright, is everybody here?" Chrom asks, who is standing before the group of fighters. Receiving nods, he continues "So, I have some anouncements to make. As it stands now, we won't be receiving any help from Ferox."
"What?! So we made this whole trip for nothing? Shouldn't we hurry back home? Emmeryn needs us!" Lissa exclaims.
"Just let me finish talking, would you," her brother chides. "As I was about to say, there is a chance that Khan Flavia can help us after all, but that is entirely dependent on us. There will be a tournament of sorts in the near future so we'll be spending the next few days training. I don't care whether you do so by yourselves or with a partner, but I want you in peak fighting condition when the time comes. Any questions?"
"What kind of tournament are we talking about here? Are we talking about multiple rounds or is it a single battle?" Stahl questions.
"Unfortunately for us, that hasn't been determined yet. Flavia will let us know as soon as she is done with fleshing out the details. Until then, just concentrate on your training," Chrom answers. "Anything else?"
Seeing as no one responds, he says "Alright, you're all dismissed. Take today off to get used to our surroundings or just to relax if you want, but at the latest tomorrow we'll be getting to work."
After hearing this, the group quickly parts and Robin seeks out the people he wants to talk with.
First, he looks for Donnel and Stahl and finds the two of them holding a conversation near the dining area after a few minutes.
"Stahl, Donnel!" the tactician shouts to get their attention.
"Oh, how can I help you Robin?" the aforementioned cavalier asks.
"I've been wanting to talk to you about something," the amnesiac reveals.
"Uhm, I'll be leaving then. I'm sure ya don't want me around if you gots something important to talk about," Donnel states carefully.
"What?" Robin asks. "Oh, no no, it's fine, really. It has to do with you anyways, so it's perfect I found the two of you together."
"Oh gosh! Did I mess up something already?" the young boy questions, afraid of having agitated his superior.
"Relax, you haven't done anything wrong. I just needed to discuss something with the two of you," the blonde man clears up.
"Phew, well that's a relief.." Donnel sighs.
"So, what did you need from us?" Stahl interrupts after not talking for a bit.
"Right. I wanted to discuss the matter of Donnel's lacking training," Robin explains. "Obviously you haven't been working towards being in the position you're in as the others have, but nevertheless your are, so you're going to have to put in that much more work than everyone else. And for that reason, I wanted to ask you if you would mind being a mentor of sorts for Donnel, Stahl."
"Me? Mentor Donnel?" Stahl asks, shocked by Robin's proposal. "What makes you think I would be of any help to him?"
"Well, it's not like you'd be the only one to teach him things. Just the first address for him if he needs something. You're a nice guy, so I'm sure you'd get along well with Donnel and I think that him having someone he feels he can really trust will make it much easier to fit in with us," the tactician illustrates. "Additionally, you're the perfect fit when it comes to an actual training partner. Donnel doesn't really have a favored weapon and I know you can use lances and swords pretty well, so you could teach him a little bit about those two and he can chose from them."
"You're... really sure about this?" the knight questions again, still unsure.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Robin states.
"I'm just an average guy. How would someone like me be able to teach somebody something useful?" Stahl explains.
"From what I've heard, you can't be 'just an average guy' if you survived being trained by Frederick. You pull your own weight and help out where you can, so I'm absolutey sure you'll do fine," the amnesiac disagrees. "Just have a little confidence in yourself."
After having a shocked expression for a moment, a smile creeps on Stahl's face. "Well, if you say so.."
"Great! Thanks a bunch Stahl, really!" Robin thanks, happy with the knight's agreement. "Alright Donnel, if you need anything, you know where to go first. Good luck with your training, I'll get going then, I have some others I need to talk with.
"Yessir!" Donnel retorts. "Lookin forward to trainin with ya, mister Stahl!"
Smiling softly, Robin turns and leaves to search for the next Shepherd on his list.
He looks around the palace for nearly an hour, before deciding to give up for the day and returns to the dining hall to have a small meal before going to his room. He enters the room and makes his way to the counter where food is given out. Afterwards he takes his plate and looks for a place to sit. There are a few other shepherds seated at the same table, but he decides against joining them, as he doesn't want to ruin anyone's evening with his bad mood.
Robin finds a table far enough away from the others to not hear what they are saying and begins eating. To his surprise, someone approaches him after a few minutes of just sitting and eyeing his food. He turns his head to the newcomer and sees Sumia placing her own plate on the table before sitting.
"Why are you here all alone?" the pegasus knight asks. "Did you not see us or is something wrong?"
"No no, I'm perfectly fine. I've just been looking for someone for a pretty long time. I got a bit frustrated because I couldn't find who i was searching for, so I thought it was better not to bother you guys," Robin explains, poking around in his food.
"I'm sure the others wouldn't have minded, you're probably just overtthinking things," Sumia suggests. "Who is it you're looking for? Perhaps I can help you with finding him or her."
"It's Lissa who I wanted to find," the amnesiac confesses.
"Lissa? What do you need from her that's so urgent?" questions the grey-haired woman.
"I wanted to ask her whether or not I would be in fighting condition by the time the tournament takes place. If not, I would have tried to find some way to accelerate my shoulder's healing process with her," he reveals.
"I see.. I believe Lissa went to bed a while ago, she was understandably tired and after such a long time of marching she needed some rest," Sumia says.
"That would explain why I didn't find her where I looked.." Robin groans, covering his face with his hands. "Ughh, why didn't I think of that?"
Sumia giggles and smiles softly as a result of Robin's reaction.
"What's so funny?" the tactician demands.
"Oh, nothing. It's just ironic how a smart man like you didn't think of such a simple thing," the pegasus knight answers.
"I blame it on fatigue," Robin says jokingly.
"Oh, i'm sure 'your Smartliness' would have developed the perfect counter strategie to this had he gotten enough rest lately," Sumia jests.
"Please, no more of that title," Robin pleads rubbing his eyes. "I'm neither smart enough to be called such a thing nor am I of any royal descent or important office that would warrant a formal title in the first place. I bet Sully and Vaike are going to start calling me that too as soon as they hear Donnel use that word. And not long after Lissa will do it as well and then you can say good bye to my sanity."
"Don't exaggerate, Robin. I'm, sure it can't be that bad," the grey-haired lady says.
With his bad mood gone and replaced by a much cheerier one, his appetite returns and the two of them continue eating. After a few minutes, Sumia interrupts the silence and asks So... what are you going to do if you can't be a help to the others in the fight?"
"Hmm?" Robin humms, taken aback by the sudden- and seriousness of his opposites question. "Well, I already though about that a bit to be honest. In that case, I'll try to find some books about Feroxi fighting styles. If I can analyze those, I might be able to find some of their weakpoints. If I can do that, I could help out the others indirectly."
"I see.." she murmurs. "Would you like some help on the book part?"
"Excuse me?" Robin asks, surprised by her question.
"If you'd like, I could help you find some relevant books. To be honest, I've already been to the library, so I could show you the way there and help you afterwards," Sumia explains.
"That would be.. great! Thanks a bunch Sumia!" the tactician exclaims.
"No problem. We can get going when you're with eating if you'd like," she offers with a smile.
"Gladly!" Robin eagerly accepts.
He finishes his meal and the two make their way to the library.
After just a few minutes of walking, Sumia halts in front of a large set of wooden doors.
"This is it," Sumia says.
After giving a nod, Robin pushes open the doors and gasps at the sight revealing itself to him. They enter and the blonde-haired man looks around in awe.
In the middle of the large room are some tables with lamps atop them and several chairs for visitors who aren't looking to borrow books to read. Behind them, there are severeal rows of bookcases, which are are several feet tall and are filled to the brim with books. At the beginning of each row is a sign, indicating the content and type of the books in the respective coloumn. To each of their sides is a staircase leading up to an area Robin assumes is basically a copy of their current floor just with different books. Further illuminating the room is a large, golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
"It's great, isnt it?" Sumia says.
"Yeah.." the tactician agrees. "I'm just surprised the Feroxi have this big of a library when they love fighting so much."
"I agree, but in comparison with the Ylissean Royal Library this isn't that big," the pegasus knight states.
"Really?" Robin asks, the mere thought of it putting him in awe.
"Really. You should definitely go there sometime when we get back and have the time," she confirms. "Anyway, as logic would suggest, the books about war, tactics and fighting styles are all on this floor. Let's split up, find some books that could fit and bring them back here to look through them together."
"Good idea, let's do that," the amesiac agrees and the two of them get to their plan.
After a while, they meet at a table with stacks of books in their arms.
"Phew," Sumia sighs as she lets her set fall on the table. "I never would have thought they'd have this many books about fighting."
"Really?" Robin questions while dropping his and taking a seat across from the pegasus knight. "I'm more surprised they have any other books."
"That's true, I suppose," she admits. "I'm glad that isn't the case though."
"Hmm? Why's that?" Robin asks, while opening the first book on his pile.
"If they didn't have any other types of books, I'd be bored out of my mind," Sumia reveals. Following the tactician's example, she too opens the first of many books on her side of the table.
Robin finishes his first book and murmurs "Nothing relevant here..." He closes it and puts it to the side, starting a new pile. "So you like fiction? What kind?"
"Huh?" the grey-haired woman asks, looking up from her's. "Uhmm, yes? I've always liked fictional books, especially adventure or romance novels. They've always.." Sumia begins before stopping mid-sentence.
Intrigued by his conversation partner's sudden silence, Robin looks up. He is met with an absent-seeming pegasus knight. "Sumia? Is everything alright?" he asks, now becoming slightly concerned.
"Oh!" she exclaims. "Sorry, I spaced out for a bit there. I've always liked reading because I could picture hundreds of different characters with individual personalities. It makes me feel.. better, somehow."
The two continue looking through book after book in silence before Sumia asks another question. "Do you... like reading?"
"Of course," Robin answers nonchalantly. "Anything I can pull information from is great and books obviously contain lots of it."
"No, that's not what I mean.." the pegasus knight murmurs.
"Then.. what do you mean?" questions the blonde man.
"Do you.. like novels?" she brings out.
"Do I like novels?" Robins repeats. "I.. don't know. I still can't remeber anything about my past, so I don't know if I like reading fiction or not."
"If that's so, would you like to try?" Sumia asks. "If you want to, I could give you some recommendations of books I enjoyed, since I've read so many."
After thinking for a moment, Robin says "You know what? Sure. When we have the time, I'd love trying out some novels. In fact, we can get started right when we finish checking these books! What do you say?"
"Of course! Let's hurry then, so we can get started!" she agrees enthusiastically, a cheery smile retaking her facial expression.
They resume their initial activity and finally finish checking through every book. Robin stretches and lets out a long, exhausted sigh. "Finally we're done," the tactician exclaims with a look to the two stacks of books, one for those with relevant information to Robin, one without.
"I'll put these away and in the meantime you can get some novels we can check out before going to bed," he suggests, patting the aforementioned stack of books.
"Alright, I'll be back right away!" Sumia states and hurries up the stairs to look for appropriate novels.
Robin returns to the table after bringing away the books no longer need, but is surprised not to see Sumia already there. After another few minutes, he begins to wonder where she is.
'What's taking her so long? Could something have happened? Maybe I should check on her..' the blonde man decides, getting up and making his way towards the stairs. Shortly before he reaches them, he hears a loud scream.
Following it, Sumia tumbles down the staircase, sending a large pile of books in her arms flying in the process. She hits the floor with a thud and is covered in books.
"Sumia?!" Robin exclaims, rushing to her to help her up.
"Ohhh, I tripped again..." the pegasus knight moans quietly.
"Are you ok?!" the tactician asks, offering his hand to pull her off the floor.
She takes his hand and pulls herself up to her feet with his help. "I'm fine, you get used to it when you trip as oftern as I do.."
"That's a relief then," Robin says, exhaling visbly. "But, uhh, what are these?"
"Oh! These are the novels I got for you to check out!" Sumia says, kneeling down in order to pick up the books.
While getting down himself to help her, Robin aks "But why are there so many?
"I thought you would be getting three or four books, not.." the tactician begins.
"Twenty-seven," the grey-haired woman interrupts.
"What?" the amnesiac questions, confused the suddenness of her remark.
"That's the amount of books I got. Twenty-seven," she replies dead serious, while picking up the last of the books on the floor and getting back up again.
"Twenty-seven?! Isn't that.. way too much?"
"Well, I thought that since I didn't know what type of novel would suit you, it'd be better to bring a bigger variety so you could find something you really like," she argues. "Besides, it's not like we're going to read every single one of these tonight, we'll just look at a few chapters from each and you can decide whether or not it seems interesting or not. If so, you can get more into those when you have the time."
"But..." Robin begins, but stops after looking at her face. Letting out a sigh, he gives in "Fine. We'll check all of these out if you want."
"Great!" Sumia exclaims, making her way back to the table and putting down the books in her arms. Robin follows her example and sits next to her this time. Sumia begins by handing the tactician some novels and explaining their general plotline, followed by him reading the first chapter of each one. Afterwards, they talk about them and discuss what they liked and disliked about them.
This goes on for a while, until Robin finishes proof reading the beginning of the thirteenth novel selected by the pegasus knight. As he turns to her to start discussing it's content with her, he notices she is fast asleep, head resting on an opened book and a content smile plastered across her face.
He carefully takes the book away from under her face and puts it back it's stack. Robin stretches and yawns for the what has to be hundredth time this night. 'I wonder what time it is..' he thinks to himself.
The door opens and the Ylissean prince enters. "Robin?" Chrom asks, causing said man to turn to him. "There you are."
"Oh, hi Chrom. Perfect timing," Robin greets, getting up from his chair.
"Is it?" the lord asks, slightly confused.
"Oh yeah, impeccable even," the tactician confirms. "You see, I was just thinking of going to bed, but I didn't just want to leave Sumia sitting here without a blanket," he says, pointing to the sleeping woman.
Robin picks up the stack of books on Feroxi fighting styles and some of the novels he found to be quite enjoyable. "Great you came along just now, I'll let you handle this one. Just don't to anything weird, alright?"
"Wait, what's going on right now? And what do you mean, weird?" Chrom asks, growing more confused by the second and also becoming a bit flustered at the thought of what Robin could mean.
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean, 'commander'," the amnesiac counters, practically purring the last word, causing Chrom's face to take a bright red shade. Robin pats his friend's shoulder and walks past him.
"Good luck and thanks a bunch, buddy!" he calls out as he exits through the door.
After standing there for a while, Chrom mutters "Sometimes, I really hate you..."
-The next day-
Robin wakes up, grabs one of the books from the pile and makes his way to the dining area. As the tactician arrives there, he pushes open the door and walks to the food counter. The blonde man fills his plate with a few slices of bread and some meat and scans the room for a place to sit. Again, there are a few of the Shepherds sitting at a table in the middle of the room. Unlike the day before, he decides to sit with them.
"Oh, hey Robin!" Lissa greets him energetically.
Having gotten much less sleep, said man brings his hand up to cover his mouth and yawns before giving a reply. "Morning.." he mutters wearily.
"Sounds like someone didn't get much sleep," Sully analyzes with a cheeky tone. "What were you up to last night that you're this tired?"
"Nothing much. I was in the library looking for some useful books," Robin explains. "Where is everyone else?"
"Oh, the others are already in the middle of training," Kellam explains, making Robin jump in his seat.
"Gods, how do you do that.." the tactician mutters. Shaking his surprise off, he asks "This early? They sure are determined,"
"What do you mean early?" Lissa asks. "It's almost noon, you dummy."
"WHAT?!" the blonde man shouts after nearly choking on his drink. "Almost noon?! Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Calm down, Robin," Sully says. "We tried, but you were sleeping like a rock, so we gave up on it. You should be thankful we didn't throw you out of your bed."
"If you say so.." Robin says.
"Well, I'll get going now. I gotta get some more training in today. You coming later?" the red-armored knight asks while standing up.
"Yeah, I'll be coming as soon as I'm done eating. See you then," the tactician confirms.
Sully raises her hand to say good bye and leaves the room.
"Heeey, Robin?" Lissa questions carefully.
"Hmm?" the blonde man hums. "What's wrong?"
"Uhh, do you plan on joining the others with their training?" the blonde princess enquires.
"Well, I was going to at least give it a try and see whether or not my shoulder feels good enough to participate in the tournament. Why are you asking?" Robin replies, taking another bite from his bread.
"I.. don't think it's a good idea for you to be using your arm for something like that just yet.." Lissa reveals.
The tactician puts his food down and exhales. "Is it that bad?"
"Maybe?" Lissa answers, trying to avoid giving a clear answer.
"Are you not telling me something?" Robin questions, easily catching on.
"I..." she begins, but is cut off.
The blonde man raises his hand to signal her to stop and says "It's alright. If you're keeping something from me, I'll just assume that you have a good reason to do so. I'll find some other way to contribute, so don't worry. I won't do anything stupid."
"Thanks for trusting me.." Lissa thanks with a weak smile.
"Nothing to thank," he ensures and resumes his eating.
"I'll be going then," Robin says after finishing his food.
"Where are you going?" the princess asks as the tactician stands up.
"To the training grounds. If I can't train myself, I can at least keep an eye on Donnel's progress," the blonde man explains.
"Alright," Lissa says, now standing up herself. "Oh, by the way, you might want to stay out of Chrom's way for a little while. He was reaaally angry when I saw him this morning and he was muttering something to himself."
"Oh. Thanks for the information," Robini thanks, visibly paling at the thought of what Chrom's muttering is about.
-On the training grounds-
Robin walks around, looking for Donnel and Stahl and passes by the other Shepherds, who are either sparring with each other, bashing in on training dummies or, in the case of Virion, somehow doing target practice while attempting to woo Sully.
'He still hasn't learnt any better yet? He's in for a rough time if this keeps up..' Robin think to himself and smirks.
After a short while of searching, he finds his targets near the barracks. Stahl is showing the ex-farmer some basic sword and lance movements and Donnel tries his best to imitate them.
Just as Robin reaches them, the two stop and take a break.
"Oh, hey Robin!" Stahl greets as he notices the tactician approaching.
Raising his hand the blonde amnesiac greets back. "How's he doing, Stahl?" he asks, pointing to the brown-haired boy.
"He's doing surprisingly good," the knight reveals. "In the beginning he was struggling quite a bit, but he's shown some serious improvement, even in the short time we've been training."
"That so?" Robin replies. "How are you feeling, Donnel?"
"I'm doin' just dandy. It's been pretty darn rough, but I can already feel stronger!" Donnel answers.
"Great!" the tactician says and sits down at the base of a nearby tree. He opens his book and begins reading.
"Uhh, Robin?" Stahl asks. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just reading, don't mind me. I'll be watching you two for a bit as well, so please keep it up," Robin states.
"If you say so," the cavalier replies with an awkward smile. "Let's get back to work then, Donnel."
"Aye aye, Sir!" Donnel obides, leaping to his feet and saluting.
The two resume their training and Robin throws in some remarks and questions of his own. At noon they stop their session and go eat lunch together with the other Shepherds. Luckily for Robin, Chrom is nowhere to be seen, much like Sumia. They spend the rest of their day training together and go over to some sparring matches in the evening. At night, Sumia reappears and spends hours reading together with Robin.
The following days all go similarly until Flavia calls the group together on the fourth day.
"We've finally finished working out the details of the tournament," the Khan announces.
"And what are the results?" Chrom enquires.
"It'll be a five on five fight, all weapons of your choice are allowed, even magic. The scenario this year is... Siege Warfare," Flavia reveals.
"Siege Warfare?" Robin questions.
"Yes. The event will take place in a large arena filled with all sorts of obstacles. The objective is to infiltrate the enemies base and steal a flag from it. The game is won by both stealing that flag and bringing it to your's instead. Do keep in mind that all mounts are allowed as well," the blonde woman explains.
"Alright, that doesn't sound all too bad," Chrom argues. "How much time do we have until then?"
"None," Flavia replies curtly. "The tournament takes place tomorrow, so you should get your things together quickly so we can get going. The sooner we get there, the more rest you'll get before the fight. I'll see you in front of the gates in a bit," she reveals and leaves the room.
"This is way too sudden, Chrom," Robin reasons.
"I know, but we don't have a choice in the matter. We need their help, so we're going to have to do this. Get your things together, I expect everyone at the gates in half an hour at the latest," the lord orders sternly.
Choosing to obey without a word, the Shepherds part ways and head to their rooms to gather their belongings. Twenty minutes later, they gather in front of the gate and follow Flavia and Raimi on their march to the arena's city.
-The day of the tournament-
The Shepherds arrive at the arena after staying the night at a local inn. They now have the opportunity to take a first look at the battlefield before they have to decide on their five champions to take part. They enter the arena and Flavia shows them the way.
"Here we are," the female Khan finally says. "Beyond this door is the battlefield you'll be entering come this evening, so take a good look at it. I have some other things to take care of in the meanwhile, but I will be watching your match. Good luck!"
She leaves the Shepherds and Chrom turns to Robin. "So, do you already have a plan for us?" the lord asks.
"I've come up with some ideas, but I can't be sure of anything before I actually see what we're working with," Robin explains.
"Right. Let's look at the arena then," the Ylissean prince says and pushes open the door in front of them.
They enter a several hundred feet in diameter large stadium in the form of a rhombus divided in two sides. One side's floor has blue decoration, while the other one is decorated with red colors. On each side multiple obstacles are installed symmetrically, including short walls, wooden and stone pillars, trenches and many more, leaving only a slim path in the middle without obstacles. In the farthest corners, there are small stone castles with a flag of matching color embedded in a pedestal atop the structure.
"Woow.." Lissa brings out in awe. "This place is... huge!"
"You can say that again," Chrom says. "I see why mounts would be allowed."
"Uh-huh. Only five people to both defend and attack. This could be more difficult than I initially thought.." Robin analyzes.
"Anything come to mind?" the lord asks him.
"Well, maybe. I can't guarantee that this will work out that well. It'll be relatively risky, because I won't be there to make adjustments on the fly," the tactician explains.
"If I may interrupt, Milord," Frederick cuts in. "None of the now present would have followed Milord Chrom his far if he or she were afraid of being injured. I believe we are all prepared to put ourselves at risk to aid our cause. Furthermore, not to take anything away from your prowess, we are trained fighters, I find it hard to imagine a scenario in which none of us can come up with a passable solution."
Robin looks at the knight and the rest of the Shepherds and sees the determined look in each and every one of their eyes. "All right," he gives in. "Our fighters will be Chrom, Frederick, Vaike, Virion and.. Sumia."
The mentioned men all give an affirmative nod, while the pegasus knight simply stands there, dazed.
"Sumia? Are you alright?" Chrom asks.
"What?! I- I'm fine, but why would you chose me to fight in this tournament? The others are all much stronger than I am.." the grey-haired woman answers looking at their tactician with a shocked expression.
"You think so?" Robin asks her. "Judging by your performance at the border fortress and the work you've put in these past few days I would'nt exactly agree with you on that. Besides, you're the only one who can make this strategy work."
"I am? How?" she questions, tinges of doubt audible in her voice.
"Listen up guys, this is what we'll be doing-"
-In the evening, shortly before the fight-
The stands are filling up more and more with people wishing to observe what they hope will be a spectacular event. The Shepherds are in a closed off section for themselves to watch. After listening to Robin's plan, they split up and let the fighters head to their preparation room so that they can wait until the start of the match.
The Ylissean tactician is sitting in his seat, hands crossed and in front of his face and is thinking about his strategy and whether or not it will really work.
"Relax, Robin," Stahl says, pulling the blonde man's attention from the battlefield. "They'll be alright."
"I hope so.." Robin agrees. "I just wish I could be with them to help react if something unexpected happens."
"You've already done more than enough," the cavalier ensures. "And besides, he might not seem like it, but when it comes down to it, Chrom will find the right thing to do."
"That's not what I'm worried about.." the amnesiac mutters.
The two are interrupted by the booming voice of Raimi, who is standing in front of the two thrones in the middle of the stands, where Flavia and another man Robin doesn't recognize are sitting, announcing the start of the battle. "Welcome, people of Ferox! Today, we have gathered here to witness the tournament top decide our reigning Khan for the next few years!"
The crowd, now fully arrived, begins cheering loudly in anticipation.
The woman raises his arms, signaling the spectators to quiet down. As soon as they fall silent again, he continues talking. "As most of you know, this year's objective is to infiltrate the opponent's base, steal their flag and return it to their own. Bear in mind, to retrieve the opponent's flag, you do not have to be in active possession of your own," the man explains, pausing shortly.
"Isn't that good for us?" Lissa asks. "If that's the case, couldn't we just storm their base as five, defeat their defenders and have Sumia take their flag?"
"Ideally, yes," the tactician agrees. "The problem with that is that we don't know if they have a pegasus knight of their own."
"Oh, I didn't think about that.." the princess mutters.
"Now, to introduce the participants!" Raimi booms, regaining the Shepherd's attention. "Captain of the East Khan's champions is... Prince Chrom, from Ylisse!"
On cue, the five participating Shepherds step into sight from their base, gaining oohs and aahs from the crowd.
"The West Khan's champions are represented by... the mystery swordsman, Marth, who defeated the Khan's former champion Lon'zu!" the female commander announces.
Again, the five other combatants enter the battlefield. At the front is their captain, who the Shepherds already know. He is followed by two axe-wielding men, a pegasus knight who is leading her mount by foot and an archer of their own.
This time, the crowd reacts different than before. Instead of loudly cheering for the well-known name of a prince, they are surprised by the announcement of the former champion being beaten and curiosly eyeing the newcomer while whispering with their neighbors.
"Marth?!" Lissa questions. "What's he doing here?"
"I don't know, but I don't like this," Robin says. "If it's that guy, my whole plan could go completely wrong.."
"All fighters, please take your positions! The battle will begin in a minute!" Raimi advises.
The ten involved fighters obide and move to their designated positions. On the side of the Shepherds, Virion heads to the top of the blue-side base and Vaike takes position in front of it, while Chrom gets ready to charge up the middle and Frederick and Sumia mount their horse and pegasus respectively at his sides.
Their opponents choose a more defensive stance, their archer too placing himself aside the flag with the two axe-wielders defending the entrance of their structure. Marth stands in the exact same spot as the Ylissean prince on his side with fthe pegasus knight, who now is on her mount as well, behind him.
After the designated time, Raimi speaks for the last time. "Before we begin, one last thing! While all weapons are allowed and you may fight as you like, do your best not to fatally wound your opponents!" she announces. "With all the formalities out of the way, BEGIN!"
The crowd explodes and the action begins. The two swordsmen in Chrom and Marth begin charging down the middle path while the pegasus knights take to the air. Frederick begins progressing to the enemy base, but even with his mount he is much slower than the lords due to him having to move around obstacles every few seconds.
After a short time, the opposing pegasus knight goes into a free fall to attack the Ylissean prince and nearly manages to land a hit on him. In the last possible second, he rolls away and resumes his sprint towards Marth. Seeing as the knight fails in her attempt to quickly get rid of Chrom, she regains altitude to try again. This time, she doesn't even get the opportunity as Sumia engages her.
The two knights battle in the air on their mounts at frightening speeds, whirling around eachother while jabbing at the other every now and then with their lances, but both are unable to land a clean hit. Realising the stalemate the two are currently in, the Feroxi pegasus knight makes a sharp turn and bolts toward the Shepherds's base to try and steal the flag to quickly end the match. Instead of following, Sumia flys towards their opponents flag, much to the surprise of the Feroxi as she turns around to judge the distance between her and her supposed pursuer.
On the blue castle, Virion prepares to shoot. He nocks an arrow and carefully aims at the pegasus knight, who notices him ahead of time. To counteract the impending danger, she gains more altitude in order to escape from the archer's range before entering another free fall, this time aiming at Virion.
The 'archest of archers' follows the movement of his opponent up until her rapid descent, where he swiftly pulls his bow down and releases his arrow. The projectile soars through the air and buries itself in the pegasus' right wing, causing it to cry out it in pain and lash out to the side. As a result, it loses control over it's descent, leading to the winged beast not making it to the blue flag, but instead falling to the ground in front of it alongside it's rider. Luckily for them, they don't severely injure themselves, as they land in a large water ditch.
The rider climbs out of the ditch and looks at the wing of her mount. Judging it to not be a life-threatening wound, she stands up and readies her lance.
"It seems like you'll have to take on the Teach now!" Vaike exclaims while walking towards the fallen knight. "Don't take this the wrong way," the muscular man says and charges at her.
Reacting swiftly, the female warrior jabs at him, forcing him to stop in his tracks and lean to the side to avoid having his head impaled. "Woah, watch out where you're poking with that! You might injure someone!" the blonde man taunts, making himself ready to leap at her.
He lunges off the floor and swipes at the pegasus knight with his axe but is avoided through a jump backwards. She retaliates with another stab, this time towards his shoulder. Vaike brings his axe back up to block the metal tip of the lance, shoving it to the side which brings the opposing fighter out of balance. Not giving her a moment to recover, he hacks at the lance, chopping it in half, effectively disarming her. Seeing as she now has no way of attacking or much less defending herself, he brings up his left fist and buries it in her face. The Feroxi instantly loses consciousness and crumples to the ground.
In the meantime, Chrom and Marth finally engage in battle. The Ylissean lord leaps into the air shortly a few feet before they meet to perform one of is signature moves. He starts spinning in the air before falling to the floor where Marth is standing. Instead of attempting to block the prince's strike, the mysterious swordsman rolls forward, letting Chrom hit his former position harmlessy. After completing his dodge, he spins around rapidly and swings his sword horizontally at his opponent in a single fluent motion. The lord paries the incoming attack with a slice of his own, letting the blades clang off each other.
Following their initial attacks, the two exchange eerily similiar looking slices, jabs and strikes for the next minute, their battle pausing shortly after that time as their swords lock and they stare at each other.
"This technique... where did you learn it?" Chrom pants, strongly reminded of himself by the fighting style of his opponent.
"My father.. taught me!" Marth replies before pushing the blue-haired prince's blade back while flipping a few feet back.
Instantly leaping into the air after landing, the mysterious blue-haired man copies Chrom's initial attack perfectly, jumping at him while spinning continuosly. Instead of dodging the strike, Chrom chooses to block it, unlike Marth earlier. He manages to stop his opponents blade with some difficulty and pushes him back. The Ylissean prince eyes the man in front of him, both impressed by his skill and confused as to how and where he has it from. They then resume their fight, neither giving the other even a single inch of progress, seemingly matched exactly even.
During the two lords fight, that keeps the entire audience captivated, no one willing to look away in order to not miss a single second of the skilled men's tense battle, Frederick and Sumia reach the Feroxi's base.
Much like Virion before him, the Feroxi archer takes aim at the pegasus knight approaching him. Unlike her counterpart, Sumia makes no attempt to escape the bow's range, causing the archer to smile slyly, thinking he would defeat her easily.
Frederick does not waste a second however and pulls a blunted javelin from the side of his armored mount. The great knight readies himself to throw it and signals his horse to stop abruptly, using that exact moment to launch the javelin with increased momentum. It bolts through the sky and hits the archer square in the chest, just as he wants to release his arrow. From the heavy impact of the weapon, he is thrown into the wall behind him where he hits his head and falls to the ground, dazed and temporarily unable to stand up again.
Using this opportunity, Sumia lands on the roof of the red team's base and takes the flag from it's pedastal. The grey-haired woman remounts her pegasus and makes her way straight to their own flag.
"Damn you! You're gonna pay for this!" one of the two axe-wielders growls and rushes at Frederick.
The great knight simply swats the man in the head with the blunt side of his regular lance, knocking him back, but not enough to knock him out. Seeing his comrade struggle so heavily even though Frederick seemingly doesn't exert himself whatsoever, the other axe-wielder decides to come to his ally's aid. The two give each other a brief glance and run at the Ylissean knight from different sides, hoping to keep him from blocking both of them.
Before they get to Frederick, a loud boom tones, and Raimi shouts "The game is over!", much to the surprise of the Feroxi team and the crowd. All eyes fly to the Shepherd's base, where Sumia is standing next to the flag pedestal together with Virion and holds up the red flag for everyone to see.
"The winners are the Ylissean Shepherds, meaning that Khan Flavia from the East retakes the authority over the states affairs!" the commander of the border fortress announces.
After a moment of silence, the crowd explodes in cheers once more and begins chanting the names of the victorious Shepherds.
While the two lords in the middle stop their fighting, Chrom doesn't pay the crowd or anyone else any attention. "Who are you?" the prince asks his former enemy.
"I am the swordsman Marth. You need not know anything more than that, sir;" the mysterious man answers before turning away and leaving the battlefield.
Aaand... done! Finally, finally I manage to get a chapter out on time and not short. This time around, there's a looot more dialogue than usual (in comparison with the 'action' at least) so I'd love to hear some feedback on how I handled that and if it's not annoying to read. Next week, it's back to school which means less free time for me to spend on writing. I'll potentially have some stuff coming up that needs to be taken care of, so I'm not sure just yet how much time I'll have at hand this week. As always, I'll try my hardest to deliver something passable to you guys!
Next, on to the reviews!
Gallian Squad 7: How do you do it? Every time I publish a chapter, you read AND review in the same day! Anyways, I've taken note of the redundancy issue you mentioned, should be fixed for the most part this time around! If not, just let me know and I'll put some more focus on that next time.
Blooperfiction: This time, it's a javelin, so that must be why Frederick landed his shot. That and him just being the beast of a man he is. In all seriousness though, I totally get where you're coming from with the filler thing. I was running extremely low on time and the will to do anything productive last week, so that's the main reason I didn't get much done. Also, I'm pretty damn sure almost the exact same dialogue is in the game, but I swear I didn't look it up or anything. I've just played the beginning so many times and that line for some reason stuck with me. Concerning your willingness to beta the story, if you're still up for that, just write me a quick PM and we can discuss the details there!
Riku Uzumaki: I guess you could call it that. Like I said just above this, I didn't have the time or will to write much last week, so I did as much as I could manage and the result was a chapter that didn't do much of anything in progressing the story. Sorry 'bout that! Despite it's length, I'm not sure this chapter did much of that either and of course the amount of action is lacking as well. I hope you can forgive me!
patattack: Now that you say it, you're absolutely right. I haven't played Fates in a while or much at all for that matter (at least not compared to Awakening), so my knowledge and memory of those games are pretty lacking. And as for the other thing you mention, I was honestly thinking of doing just that, but I didn't in the end because I thought it wouldn't have fit in to the current Robin's way of doing things. Not much more to say about that, glad you liked the rest up until now though!
As always, thanks a bunch to the new followers jridge, Nalloc45, thuff and wolfelogix. Means a lot!
That's it for this week, so thanks a bunch to everyone who read this far.
As per usual, this has been D4v3Hunter and I hope to see you all again next weekend!
