A Summoner's Journey
Grand Hero Battle: Female Robin
Team for this chapter: Robin, Lyn, Nino and Klein
After a three hour nap and lunch in the mess hall, I set out to the World of Awakening with Robin, Lyn, Nino and Klein to do the Grand Hero Battle against Robin's twin sister, Robin. I took the postcard from my desk and headed into the portal. When we landed in the World of Awakening, the postcard glowed with a bright blue light and the map of the battle blinked into existence like a mirage. The floor turned into cold blue stone as the earth transformed into an ocean. Solid white stone walls rose in front of us, forming a tight entrance to Female Robin's squad, which consisted of a blue mage, an axe fighter, a red mage, a lance fighter and Female Robin herself. My Robin examined the enemy's formation and positions. His sister clearly placed her troops well. Nearly every area around her team was a killzone with three enemies able to strike at once.
"Most of the space here is covered by Robin's troops" my Robin observed "It'll be tough getting to the heart of her team without being slaughtered"
"And if you lose one unit in Grand Hero Battles, the map will disappear" I warned "So Robin, you have to formulate a strategy that'll win us the battle and also keep all of us alive"
"Hmm… that'll be quite hard" Robin said, cupping his hand under his chin "When it comes to tactical prowess, me and my sister are equals. Whenever we play chess, it's always a challenge to outsmart her"
"The same concept applies to battle" Klein agreed "We're all pieces on a board right now, but what can we do to knock all of Robin's pieces out, but also not lose any of our own?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out" Robin went over to a stone wall and knocked on it with his fist "It isn't cracked and doesn't look easy to break. We can't rely on a secret shortcut to bypass her forces"
"I got an idea" Lyn said and everyone turned to her "Since Nino's a mage, she can likely handle the red and blue mages down on the top of Robin's team. We can send her up to that spot…"
Lyn pointed to the top left corner of the area.
"... and kill the axe fighter. Then, the mages will come for her and Klein can shoot them from behind the wall"
"That might just work" Robin pulled his Blarraven+ from his coat pocket "Alright then. Nino, you're up. Do your best!"
Nino ran towards the axe fighter, Gronnblade in hand.
"Gronnblade!" she shouted and dozens of miniature green blades flew at the axe fighter like bullet fire. The swords peppered the axe fighter and sent him skittering backward, giving Nino the chance to do a follow up attack. Nino thrust her hand forward and sent down a circle of blades from the sky, the blades exploding in a starburst of green once they collided with ground or flesh. One blade pierced right through the stunned axe fighter and he dissolved into golden light. As the light and dust settled, the two mages dashed towards Nino, drawing their tomes from their pockets.
"Thoron!" the blue mage launched a fast bolt of horizontal lightning towards Nino, who took the attack easily due to her triangle advantage. However, the red mage was much more of a threat.
"Bolganone!" the red mage pointed his finger towards Nino and the ground beneath her exploded into a gushing inferno of lava. Nino managed to survive, but she was barely living. One touch and we'll lose. Nino countered back at the red mage with two Gronnblade attacks, but the mage survived. Luckily, Klein was able to fire two arrows from over the wall and they struck down both of the enemy mages. Three down, two to go. Female Robin came towards Nino's left and prepared to fire Gronnwolf, but Lyn stepped in her way and disrupted the spell. The swordswomen slashed Robin twice with her Sol Katti, but she lived and retreated while the lance fighter took the tactician's place. The lance fighter thrust his Silver Lance towards Lyn's stomach, but she sidestepped and swung her blade, aiming for the soldier's throat. The lance fighter was able to raise his shield in time to block while Female Robin's Gronnwolf crashed into Lyn, pushing her back.
"Gronnblade!" Nino's voice cried and a circle of magic swords surrounded the lance fighter and exploded, defeating him too.
"As I predicted!" Female Robin glowed with vibrant orange flames and shot an Ignis-powered Gronnwolf at Nino, but Lyn jumped in the way to intercept it. The magic ripped away at Lyn's skin and clothes, but she didn't falter and stabbed Robin through the chest with her Sol Katti. An arrow sailed over the wall and pierced Female Robin's face, ending the tactician for good. As Robin collapsed to the ground, the battleground faded away. The rushing ocean waters turned back into fertile grass. The cool blue stone floor shifted back into rough rock. Female Robin appeared out of thin air, Gronnwolf tome in hand.
"I didn't think anyone could break through my strategy" Robinne said, visibly impressed "The only one who could was my brother"
"Well Robin, your brother was commanding this fight the whole time" I said as my Robin revealed himself from behind Lyn.
"Good to see you again sister" my Robin smiled as his sister ran into his arms.
"Robin! I never thought… How did you get here?" Robinne asked as she wrapped her arms around Robin's shoulders.
"It's a long story sis" Robin said reassuringly as he played with Robinne's white pigtails "Visit my room in the barracks tonight. I'll explain everything"
"Thank you brother. I'm just happy to be with you again… after so long" Robinne's grip grew tighter around Robin. I decided to give the twins some space and told Lyn, Klein and Nino to go back to Askr. When I arrived back in Askr Castle, I found a blue and purple postcard for the Normal and Lunatic Grand Hero Battles with Female Robin. I completed the Normal difficulty for a 3* Robinne, but the Lunatic version was near impossible. Lyn's strategy didn't work at all, as the red mage one-shot Nino with Bolganone+. I tried to bring in Niles to tank the two mages, but he couldn't kill the axe fighter fast enough and the soldier's Silver Axe cut down Niles in one hit. What I needed was someone who could defend against both mages and physical attack. It's what I'd call a "mixed tank". Sadly, I didn't have anybody like that in my arsenal, so I had to settle with my 4* Robinne for now. As there was nothing else to do, I left to my chambers and began to draw in a notebook Sharena gave me.
Later into the night, Robinne was assigned a room in the barracks, but she went to her brother's room instead to talk to him. She wasn't able to be with him since they were children and when he and the Shepherds rescued her from Validar's clutches. Now, she had all the time in the world to be with her long lost sibling. Robinne walked down the torch-lit barracks hallway, her boots clicking again the hardwood floor.
"Robin? May I come in?" Robinne knocked on Robin's door quietly, as to not rouse anybody else from their slumber. The lock clicked and the door opened, revealing Robin.
"Hello Robinne. How are you doing?" Robin asked as he returned to his desk to continue writing.
"I'm fine at the moment. What are you doing?" Robinne looked over her brother's shoulder to see that he was drawing a tic-tac-toe board.
"Anna told me she'll buy us a personal chessboard tomorrow morning" Robin said as he dipped his quill pen in more ink "For now though, let's stick with tic-tac-toe"
"But Robin, tic-tac-toe always ends in a tie. Unless the opponent is really stupid"
"That's why I'm modifying it a little"
Robin drew a third horizontal line and a third vertical line, creating a 4x4 tic-tac-toe board.
"Ah! I see" Robinne scanned the drawing with her brown eyes "By expanding the grid, you create more paths to cover and make it harder to win"
"Smart as ever sister" Robin stood up and brought over a nightstand to play the game on. The two siblings sat on opposite sides of the table.
"I'll be X. You'll be O" Robin informed as he dug a bronze coin from his pocket.
"I call tails!" Robinne called as Robin flipped the coin in the air, landing it on his gloved palm.
"It's heads. Looks like I make the first move"
"Wait just a moment!" Robinne got up from her seat and examined the coin in Robin's hand. Her mouth quickly turned into a smirk.
"Cheating brother? I didn't expect that of you" Robinne snickered as she sat back down and drew an O in the center of the grid.
"Well, I knew I could never get that past you" Robin took the pen from Robinne's hand and drew an X right next to her O.
The game went on for 8 minutes, mostly due to the twins thinking for a while on what their next move would be. Robinne cupped her hand under her chin just like her brother and then drew an O on the lower left corner, leaving one square open for her to complete the row.
"Checkmate" Robin drew an X on the top row, making him the winner.
"Damn it" Robinne slapped her forehead in personal disgust "Well, good game"
"You too Robinne" Robin got up from his seat and grabbed an Elthunder tome from the corner of his desk "I'm going to go out to the training yard. Want to come?"
"Sure thing!" Robinne followed her brother out the door, drawing the Gronnwolf from her pocket. When they arrived, they found Eliwood and Lyn already sparring, Silver Sword against Sol Katti. Their fighting was intense, almost like they were dancing with their blades. Eliwood's sword clashed with Lyn's, generating an explosion of sparks.
"As if I'd lose!" a burst of white wind rushed out from Lyn's boots and she dashed behind Eliwood at blinding speed, knocking him off his horse with the flat of her blade. Eliwood landed on the ground and rose his sword to defend himself, but Lyn's Sol Katti already found itself under the Lycian lord's neck.
"Ha ha, skilled as ever Lyndis" Eliwood gently pushed the Sol Katti away from his neck and stood up, dusting his clothes off "You're getting more and more better with the sword everyday"
"Thank you Eliwood. I can say the same for you" Lyn complimented, sheathing her legendary sword "But training with both lances and swords means you'll never be as good as me with swords or as good as Oswin with lances"
"Being prepared for everything is always the best coarse" Eliwood pointed out "I'd rather be versatile to not have exploitable weaknesses"
"You're right on that" Lyn said "For example, I'm weak to lances and Hector is slow because to his armor"
"Remember when you two argued on the Dread Isle because Hector's armor made too much noise?" Eliwood reminisced
"And then we started yelling at each other" Lyn closed her eyes and smiled wearily "Funny that I accused Hector of being too loud and I ended up being the loud one!"
"Well, passion springs from the feelings of love and care toward someone else. Now look where you two are now. The Marquess and Marchioness of Ostia!"
"Our live certainly had it's ups and downs" Lyn agreed "Let's just hope Lucian summons Hector soon. I miss him"
"Me too" Eliwood said "Aside from Odin, the army here seems to lack the brash and fiery attitude Hector had"
"Yeah" Lyn remained silent for a couple seconds "I'm going to bed now. See you tomorrow"
"Goodnight Lyn"
"Goodnight Eliwood"
And the two lords went back into the barracks. Next to the Robin twins, an arrow landed on the bullseye of a wooden target.
"Ah yes!" Gordin grinned like an over excited kid "Lon'qu, did you see that shot?"
Lon'qu barely looked up from the book he was reading "You're still too slow"
"What did you say? I hit it on the mark!" Gordin's excited face turned to anger at Lon'qu unimpressed attitude.
"One time out of twenty. You need more practice" Lon'qu replied coldly.
Gordin grumbled "You big loft. I hit that one on the nail!"
Lon'qu and Gordin continued to binker as Robin and Robinne headed to the right side of the yard to begin their duel.
"Ready?" Robin opened his Elthunder and generated a sparkling ball of electricity.
"Make the best twin win" Robinne summoned a swirling sphere of wind in her palm and prepared to throw. Robin attacked first by throwing his ball of electricity towards his sister. Robinne sidestepped to dodge and countered with her sphere of wind. Both magicks collided with each other, resulting in an explosion that drew people to the training yard to see what was going on.
"Elthunder!" Robin called down a bolt of lightning from the sky and struck Robinne hard, but she retaliated by summoning a large green wolf head. The Gronnwolf lunged at Robin and knocked him to the wall, but the tactician wasn't finished yet. The aura of Defiant Speed blazed from beneath his feet and he rushed in front of Robinne, delivering a swift elbow to the stomach. Robinne was knocked back, spluttering and blood covering her lips. But before Robin could finish the match, Robinne glowed with blazing orange flames, like a bonfire.
"Time to tip the scales!" Robinne rose her Gronnwolf, which was burning with the power of Ignis. She thrust her hand forward and a giant magic wolf head came out, surrounded by orange flames. It lunged at Robin fast, but Robin couldn't let his sister beat him. Not with so many others watching. He quickly drew his Blarraven+ from his pocket and shouted:
"Here's how it's done!"
And summoned a flood of flaming spirit birds from his tome, bombarding the Gronnwolf coming towards him. But it was not enough. Gronnwolf, which was enhanced by Robinne's Ignis, plowed through Robin's ravens and smashed into him hard. Robin collapsed onto the ground, the Blarraven+ laying in the dirt next to him.
"Robin! Robin, are you okay?" Chrom leaned over the tactician worryingly.
"... Ha ha"
Everyone took a step back as Robin began laughing. He got up and dusted the dirt off his black coat.
"You surprised me sister. I didn't think you could give me a fight so intense" Robin gave Robinne a warm smile. Robinne put the Gronnwolf back into her pocket and walked over to her brother.
"Well, that was fun" Robinne grinned as she headed back into the barracks "Goodnight everyone"
"After all that and just a few words?" Abel wondered aloud.
"I guess it runs in the family" Gaius put his arm around Robin's shoulder "Let's get you something to eat Bubbles. You look tired"
"Yeah, eating would be nice" Robin said "Anybody want to join us?"
Chrom and Seliph decided to go with Robin and Gaius while everyone else dispersed. Nighttime in the barracks wasn't as quiet as it seems.
Sorry that this chapter wasn't very eventful or exciting. I mostly wanted to use this chapter to show what happens in the barracks. Next up is the Blazing Shadows Paralogue, which should come out by next week. Once again, thank you for all the favourites, follows and helpful reviews! Until next time!