Chapter 26: Scion of Legend

After morning comes the next day, the company begins their march towards where Mila Tree is with Say'ri as their guide.

"Can we have a break? We've been walking for hours!" Lissa exclaims.

"You're right. But we have to be careful at our surroundings. Who knows where the enemy might strike." Chrom says.

"Got it~!" The princess replies happily that she can stop walking for the moment.

"Then in that case…" Reina trails off as she takes out her four Poké balls. "Come one out!" She tosses them into the air.

"Me too." Kai also taking out his five Poké balls and tosses them.

Out from the Sakura's Poké balls, is Flamma, Kuro, Cait, and Mizu. As for Kai's is his Jukain, Fuko, Blacky, Alolan Sandpan, and Fang.

"Everyone, we're going to have a break." Reina tells their Pokémon and they all cheer out.

Before they knew it, some of their Pokémon are sleeping in the shade of the trees (Sceptile, Fang, Kuro, and Cait) and the rest are playing with Asuna as she chases after them.

Then Lissa sits next to Lucina as she asks, "Say, Lucina? I'm still around in your future, right? So, um… What am I like?"

"Well… You're warm and kind, for starters. Even amid the darkness and desolation. Your smile serves as a beacon of hope for all those around you." The future princess says.

At her words, the Ylissean princess smiles with excitement. "Oh, geez! I'd better get cracking if I want to live up to that. Oh! I know! Do I have children?"

"You have a son named Owain." Lucina answers.

"Aw, cute!" Lissa says with a smile. "What's he like?"

Surprisingly, Lucina becomes hesitant as she answers nervously. "He's… Well, he's quite colorful."

"Hmm… I'm not sure I want to know what that means. Oh! Wait! One more thing! Does he have…" Instead of finishing her sentence, she remains quiet.

"Yes?" Lucina asks in confusion.

However, the princess shakes her head. "No… Never mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Sorry, I just remembered I promised to help Chrom with something." Lissa suddenly speaks. "…Bye!"

"Lissa?" Lucina calls out as she watches the lady rush off.

"It can't be helped." Lucina turns to see Reina walking towards her with Éclair on her shoulder. "The way she was acting just now."

"What do you mean?"

"Lissa has this complex that only Chrom and Emmeryn knows." Reina says. "Can you imagine that you don't have one thing that the rest of the family does?"

"That's…"

Suddenly, a scream cries out not too far from them.

"A scream?!" Reina shouts and turns to Lucina. "Lucina! Go tell Chrom what happens while me and Kai get our Pokémon."

"Yes!"

-Elsewhere-

"This is it, boss! That treasure's here; I'm sure of it!" A ruffian tells his leader.

"All right, woman. Speak! Where'd you put it?" The leader, Gecko questions.

"I've never heard of no treasures here! Honest, I haven't!" A village woman replies.

Meanwhile, the Shepherds reach a village, they can already see a band of Ruffians lead by one thin man holding a short sword in his hand.

"Oh? Then I guess we're done here. She's useless, boys. Kill her."

"Aye, boss!" An ax-wielding man speaks out and walks up to her as he slowly raises his ax.

Immediately, Reina gets an arrow ready as fast as she can.

"Halt, fiends!" There stands a young man in clothing similar to that of a Myrmidon, like Lon'qu, and holds a steel blade on one hand. His hair is similar to that of a certain sweet loving thief.

"The devil are you?!" The ruffian shouts in shock of the man's possible stupidity.

"One chosen by forces beyond mortal comprehension! See how my sword hand twitches! It hungers… for justice! Leave now if you value life and limb for I cannot stay the hungry hand!"

"This guy's got rocks in his head…" The man says with a look of bewilderment before shaking his head and begins walking over to the swordsman's direction. "All right then, buy. Guess you're the first to-"

However before anyone can move from their position, the man swiftly cuts down the ruffian mid-sentence much to their surprise. The swordsman wears a triumphant smirk and glances to the dead man. "I tried to warn you, foul villain. The hand cannot be denied!"

"Oh, thank the stars! You're saved my life!" The woman thanks the swordsman.

"Wait," Chrom speaks quietly. "That stance…"

"Wh-whoa are you?!" The leader shouts in shock.

As the man readies his blade, he says, "I am the wolf who howls for justice! The eagle who cries for love! A chosen warrior come from the future to bring hope the dying world… I am Owain! Now, atone for your deeds in the eternal hellfire of perdition! RADIANT… DAAAAAAWN!"

However, as a slight breeze blows through, nothing happens. "Blast you, sword hand!" The man shouts. "Now's no time for games! You've escaped fate this time, rogue but remember- justice always prevails!"

As an awkward silence settles on all of them, Lissa finally speaks, "Wow, that guy's really weird. …Wait a second."

The bandit leader laughs. "I KNEW there were rocks in your head! Look lively, boys! Ignore the dolt and find us that treasure! Pinch everything that shines and make for the hills!"

"Not today ne'er-do-wells! The legendary blade Mystletainn is fated for my twitching hand alone!"

Lucina lets out a sigh of relief till she sees the man running after them and then she quickly glances to Chrom. "Father I'll be going on ahead."

As she said this, she quietly rushes after the man through the woods. Chrom shakes his head. "I am so lost right now. What is he even talking about? …Never mind. Let's just kill the bandits, and I'm sure everything will sort itself out."

With that, the Ylissean Prince gives a quick gesture and calls out to the other Shepherds as they began charging out into the open.

Just as the swordsman taking down a ruffian, Lissa quickly runs to him.

"Oh, hey! It's you. Thanks for helping-"

"MOM?!" The swordsman interrupts Lissa.

"Hu-what?"

"Blessed Mother! I have crossed oceans of time to find- Oh forget it. I'm your kid from the future! Look at the signet ring upon my finger. Behold, a perfect match to yours! Unique in all the word, and yet here lie two. Proof positive my claims are true!"

"…Who did what now? Hold on. Slow down. Back up. Start again."

"Um… Sorry about that. Look, the important thing here is that I'm-"

"…Oh, gods. Owain." Lissa calls out.

"Huh?"

"That's your name isn't it?"

"Indeed it is! And none have ever been prouder to bear it! For it is the name you gave me, Mother! I've come to part the dark clouds that hang forebodingly over this era!"

Hearing this speech causes Reina to sweatdrop looking at the two with an arrow in her hands. "Looks like Lissa has a… devoted son…" She mutters.

she suddenly feels someone grabbing her causing the trainer to scream out getting the other Shepherd's attention seeing Gecko holding her in a choke hold and his short sword pointing at her neck.

"Nobody move!" He orders. "Let us escape and I'll let go of this woman or else…" The leader presses the blade against Reina's neck letting out a thin line of blood. "So what are you going to do?"

"Hey!" Kai calls out. "If I were you, I would let go of her."

"Huh?"

Just then, Reina stomps on Gecko's foot which his face shows in pain and she dives down when his grip weakens and then she delivers a knee into the stomach following up with a roundhouse kick. Seeing the leader knock out on the ground, she lets out a sigh of relief with a hand on her chest.

"That surprised me." Reina says.

"That surprised us when you pulled off those tricks!" Chrom exclaims.

~Later~

With the leader being roped and the Shepherds finishing off the rest of the bandits, Asuna pokes her head out of the tent of the wagon and sees both Reina and Kai walking over to her.

"Papa! Mama!" She immediately jumps out of the wagon and rushes over letting Reina picking her up.

"Were you being a good girl staying here?" Kai asks.

"Yeah!"

"By the way, did Lissa came back? She said that she'd be coming back." Reina asks.

Asuna shakes her head. "No. She didn't."

Upon hearing this, Reina's eyes widen in shock. "Don't tell me!"

"What's wrong?"

They turn to the wagon and see the blue-haired future princess poking out of the wagon's tent.

"Lucina, have you see Lissa?" The archer asks.

The woman tilts her head. "I have not too long ago. She asked me if I've seen Owain, then rushed off."

"I thought so." Reina quickly puts Asuna down and holds her shoulder. "Asuna, stay here with Lucina."

"Okay." The girl nods.

In the woods, the princess is stumbling through roots as she looks around desperately looking for something. It wasn't long before she finally stops her tracks and sighs with frustration. "Where did he get off to? Lucina said she saw him go this way." As she said this, she frowns in a moment of silence before finally speaks, "Ugh, maybe I should just forget it. If he doesn't have one, either…"

"Lissa! Get down!"

"Huh?" She cries out in shock.

Instinctively, the woman ducks as an arrow whizzed past her head as a cry of pain rings out from behind her. She turns around and sees an arrow sticking out of the shoulder of an ax-wielding ruffian. "AAAH!"

The man, however, yanks that arrow out as he grins. "Keh heh! Let's make this quick. Hand me all your coin, girly! Unless you wanna lose that pretty head."

"S-stay back!" The princess shouts as she waves her staff around.

"Thunderbolt/Dark Pulse!" Out of nowhere, an electric blast and purple energy lands in front her startling the man as he jumps back in shock.

"Who 're you?!"

Upon seeing the attack, she turns around and sees Reina and Kai with Éclair and Blacky rushing over to her. As they stand in between her and the man, Reina asks, "Lisa, are you all right?!"

The healer nods with a look of surprise. "Y-yeah."

"No one hurts the mother of Owain!"

They glance to the owner of the voice and sees Owain dashing up to the ruffian from the side with an unusual silver blade in hand as he cries out. "SACRED… STOOOONES!"

As the ax-wielding ruffian falls to the ground motionless, the man quickly rushes over to the princess. "Mother, are you all right?!"

She nods in relief with the enemy gone. "Yeah. I'm fine. I'm… Holy crow! Your arm!"

"This? Hah! It's not but a torn sleeve." She swordsman says as he laughs it off.

"He's fine, Lissa." Kai reassures her.

"…No, I mean, HOLY CROW, LOOK AT THAT THING ON YOUR ARM!" The princess clarifies still in shock.

As they glance at his arm, they can see a circular symbol on it like a birthmark of some sort.

"Oh, right! Sorry. Guess I should have shown you before." The man says with a grin. "It's my brand. The one carried by House of Ylisse. So no more need to worry, eh?"

"Worry?" Kai repeats.

Lissa however, is too focused on her son to hear the male trainer. "Th-then you know? That I don't…"

"That your Brand never surfaced?" Owain finishes with a grin. "Yes, you told me as much." He then has a look of concern as he continues. "You said it always weighed on you… You should have seen how happy you were the day mine appeared!" He laughs lightly and says with a smile, "You were sobbing and laughing for an hour without pause!"

Lissa smiles in embarrassment. "I was kind of hoping to grow out of the crying thing…"

"Yes, well. No more worrying. It was by chance alone your Brand never surfaced. We're all family, linked by blood. You really are Chrom's sister. My Brand proves our lineage."

As he said this, tears begin to well up in Lissa's eyes. "Thank you. Just… Thank you, Owain."

"You're welcome!" The man says with a chuckle before glancing over at the bystanders. "Also, thank you for saying my mother. I assume you're also part of the Shepherds?"

"Yeah. I'm Reina, this is my partner Éclair."

"Pikachu!"

"I'm Kai and this is Blacky."

"Blacky."

"Hmm. So these are the magical creatures that have been appearing throughout the land. In fact, one of them has been following me lately." On cue, rusting is heard behind him as the sound of rustling comes closer.

Out from the bushes is a blue, penguin-like Pokémon. It is mostly dark blue with light blue facial markings, wing tips, and lower body. Its eyes are blue and it has a short yellow beak with a small point above it. Two large, yellow ridges extend from its beak over the back of its head and meet just above the nape of its neck. On its body are four large, white spots that resemble buttons. Instead of arms, it has long, flipper-like wings that are capable of knocking over and snapping trees. It has short legs with yellow, three-toed feet.

"Prinplup!" Reina exclaims pointing her Zukan at the Pokémon.

"Pottaishi, the Penguin Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pochama. One blow from its wings is strong enough to knock down trees."

"Taishi." The Pokémon speaks.

"How did you find this Pokémon?"

"Find is a different word than I described." Owain replies. "By the time I knew it, this guy was following me."

"By the sounds of it, Pottaishi chose to be with you." Reina states.

"Be with me?"

"It means that Pottaishi chose you as its trainer. You should be honored."

"Plus, in our world, Piplup are hard to find in the wild." Kai adds.

"Then I should be grateful that this fabulous Pokémon chose me! As scions of the hero, it falls on us to ensure my dark future doesn't come true. Come, Mother! Astro! We shall fight together!" Owain exclaims.

"Pota!"

"Uh-oh… Argh… Too much… passion! Sword hand… getting hungry… again!"

As she wipes away her tears, Lissa looks on with a mix of confusion and concern. "You know, maybe you should have that looked at."