Next chapter here for you all. It's a new pov and all so you'll have to bear with me if I don't quite get this character's personality down on the first try. Hopefully, however, I did manage to capture it well enough.

Anyways, you guys are doing great once again with your support! It makes writing these chapters all the more enjoyable!

Have fun reading!

Italics will be character's thoughts and /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything I else I may reference. I only own my OCs.

Ol' Teach

"Oh, my lady Lissa! Your delicate arms look strained by the weight of that staff. Allow me to hold it for you, and perhaps you can hold onto these flowers for me?" That Virion fellow made another attempt at giving Lissa some flowers.

Heh. I saw him pick those flowers down the road. I easily got better ones! They're yellow like the Vaike's hair!

"Surely you'd rather hold onto Ol' Teach's flowers, Lissa! They smell almost as good as him!" I proclaimed to her knowing that she would take them almost instantly; except she didn't.

"Ah, that won't really be necessary. A-Actually, I'm going to check on Robin if that's alright," Lissa scurried away from both me and Virion almost too quickly.

Virion scowled at me and I returned the same expression. Lissa had made it to Robin's side now and was out of ear shot.

"Look at what you did you brute! You've frightened the lady!" Virion dropped the flowers he was holding and crossed his arms. He made sure to get into my personal space while we were marching.

"The Vaike scare the ladies? You have me mistaken for you, feather man," I increased the intensity of my scowl that outmatched his by a mile.

"Women would never be afraid of me! Why just the other day-" Virion went on to reminisce about what I think he believes is a true story on how many women talk to him.

"Tch… Perv," I grumbled during his story.

Virion gasped at my comment, "Are you suggesting I would do ill deeds?! I'd never!"

"You sure sound defensive about it," I smirked.

"W-Why you! I challenge you to a duel!" Virion stopped in his tracks and was drawing his bow.

"Finally, something exciting! Bring it on, feather man!" I was brimming with pleasure as I pulled my axe off my back.

"Would you two stop?!" Another voice shouted to the both of us.

Both Virion and I looked to see who was yelling at us. Honestly, being yelled at is pretty common for Ol' Teach, but this one was pretty serious. When we looked at who was yelling at the both of us, we saw that our tactician Robin was the yeller.

Robin looked like he was brimming with anger almost. It was kind of unusual. Lissa was standing behind Robin while sticking her tongue out to Virion and me.

"Yes, group leader?" Virion politefully responded while I stood silent.

Robin grumbled something before unfolding a map in his hands, "Honestly, I get the hardest jobs sometimes. Come over here you two."

Before grouping back up with Robin, I turned to face Virion, "You know Ol' Teach would've won."

Virion made a clicking sound with his tongue as he was the first to walk towards Robin. I grinned victoriously as I went to follow behind him.

In a few seconds, both Virion and I made it to Robin and the tactician seemed glued to the map in his hands. He tapped a few times before looking up to confirm we were both here. Lissa was already peering over the tactician's shoulder to see the map as well.

"We've been marching for a while now so we should be coming up on the village soon. I believe we're right about here," Robin placed a finger on a point of the map before dragging it to another spot, "and the village should be somewhere around here."

"Wow. We're so far away from the capital now," Lissa spoke up from behind the tactician.

Virion nodded, "Indeed, and why was it we were coming all the way out here again?"

"Need a refresher eh, feather man? Even the Vaike remembers!" I laughed at Virion causing him to immediately frown.

"Well, Vaike, why don't you remind us all?" Lissa asked with a sly smile.

"U-Uh, well maybe our leader would like to! I wouldn't want to steal Robin's job!" I stated while placing a hand on Robin's shoulder.

I know where we're going! Yeah! I just… Can't say is all.

"No, you can go ahead, Vaike. I bet Ol' Teach knows," Robin said with a smile as well. At this point, even Virion had a smirk plastered across his face. They were all looking at me!

"Well, I mean… The Vaike can't. Too sick. Can't talk," I started to cough.

Everyone started to laugh.

"H-Hey, what's so funny?!" I wasn't very pleased, but everyone seemed to ignore me.

"Anyways, Virion, we're heading out to this village because a merchant is supposedly resting at it. That very same merchant is said to have one of the items Miriel needs for her antidote she's brewing," Robin astutely informed us all.

"That lizard's tongue, right?" Lissa asked.

"Right, the Ravenous Feroxian Lizard. I remember that part," Virion added in.

Robin nodded affirmatively at everyone's comments before folding the map back up again, "And all we need to do is find this merchant and buy these teeth. Shouldn't be too hard if we do find this person. Otherwise," He paused for a long moment.

During his pause I shot in, "Lizard hunting! So it's easy either way!"

Lissa gagged at the thought, "Pass. I do not want to go pulling a lizard's tongue. Let's just find the merchant instead."

Robin started back in the march, "It could be fun, Lissa. You should always try new things."

"What?! You're crazy to think that would be fun!" Lissa didn't enjoy the idea.

"Whoa! Lissa, watch out! It's the lizard!" Robin pointed off into some bushes.

Lissa immediately shrieked and hid behind the tactician that had started to laugh.

"The Vaike will catch it! Charge!" I went charging for the lizard our tactician spotted.

Without a second thought, I jumped into the bush and searched throughout it. There wasn't any lizard in sight. Everyone else was laughing again.

"Why are you all laughing again?!" I shouted as I went to another bush to find the lizard, "It'll get away!"

Robin had started to march away once again, "Sorry, Vaike. I don't think it was a lizard. I must've been seeing things."

I emerged from the bushes and caught back up with the others scratching my head, "You need to get your eyes checked, Robin. Can't blame ya though. Nobody has eyesight like Ol' Teach!"

I erupted into laughter before a hand covered my mouth. It was Robin and he quickly shushed me before pulling us all behind some trees.

He quietly directed our attention further ahead of us. There was a wagon with a couple of people standing around it on a bridge. It looked like there was a lot of commotion.

"Some kind of robbery?" Virion decided to ready his bow.

Just then, a person was kicked off the wagon and into the river. The water seemed shallow as the person stood up shouting at the fleeing wagon. The others that were standing around the wagon hopped into the back it would seem.

"It would appear so. They look like bandits," Robin changed his cover to a tree further ahead.

"Do we always have to run into trouble?" Lissa sounded tired as she held her staff at the ready.

I merely grinned as I readied my axe, "Bout time we got some fun on our hands! It's Vaike time!"

Fueled by excitement, I started to run in pursuit of the wagon. I could hear some shouting from my companions from behind me. They must be cheering me on.

Don't worry, guys! Ol' Teach doesn't disappoint!

My sprinting lead me past the individual that was kicked off their wagon. He seemed shocked by my speed as I ran past him. I don't blame him.

Nobody's faster than me! Not even that wagon!

I caught up behind the fleeing wagon in a little under a minute or two. They weren't expecting the fastest man on earth to be chasing them so they weren't prepared.

"What in the-! Hey, get away from us you bastard!" The man leading the oxen shouted at me before trying to whip the oxen to a faster speed.

I wasn't about to allow this as I grabbed onto him with my free hand and pulled myself onto the rolling wagon. I was determined to pull him off. He fought against me with one of his hands and his foot. Both of these were useless in stopping me.

"You're a stubborn one! Would one of you help me already?!" the man shouted to the back of the wagon and soon enough another man popped out from behind the cloth covering the back. He had a sword in hand.

That doesn't look good.

The new bandit jabbed his sword for me, but I leaped towards the front of the wagon and barely caught myself on one of the oxen. Holding on to a moving animal would be hard for some, but it was an easy task for the Vaike! Still, to a normal person, it would look like I was having some amount of trouble keeping myself from falling completely.

"Who is this guy?! Stop the damn wagon!" The other bandit told his driver pal.

The driver of the wagon pulled back hard on the oxen and the sudden stop caused me to fall off. I rolled for a good few feet before I could stop myself.

I definitely let that happen .Yup, definitely.

The bandits infesting the wagon filed out as I managed to stand myself up with a smirk. There looked to be about four of them. Each of them was holding some kind of sword besides one that had an axe like me. The axe holder looked like he was the driver. The driver was completely bald it would seem as his head shined in the sun's light. It was slightly blinding he was so bald. He was also standing at a towering height that almost even impressed me.

"You trying to be some kind of hero, huh? Well, heroes really piss me off, you know?" The axe wielder hefted his axe over his shoulder.

I mimicked his stance, "Well isn't that great cause you're not dealing with a hero. You're dealing with Ol' Teach now!"

The man with the axe looked confused, "Ol Te… Alright, who's the idiot that got followed by the crazy person?" His gang of bandits all simultaneously shook their heads to his question.

My honor was insulted by his statement. I was about to shout at him, but he cut me off before I could, "Whatever… Let's take care of this, boys. The bosses don't enjoy having to wait."

Each of the other three nodded and started to circle me with their swords drawn. They've boxed me in ready to attack. I had to quickly get into a fighting position.

Uh, not even I like these odds.

The three sword wielders charged for me. Every one of my sides was at jeopardy besides my front.

I lowered my body mass and prepared to either block or dodge the attacks. Since the axe holder was blocking my front but not really charging I still didn't have anywhere to escape to.

Two swords came chopping for me from my sides. I raised my axe on my right to deflect one attack while I used my leather guard on my left to hopefully absorb the other one. They both were blocked and I managed to not get my left arm chopped into. Now the guy behind me was going to stab at me.

Have to roll out of the way!

I rolled forward to dodge the last swordsman. It was barely successful as I could feel the man's sword graze over me during my roll. Behind me now, however, was the man with the axe. I could see his shadow towering over me as he lifted his axe over his head while two of the other bandits were closing in on me again.

Lots of problems for Ol' Teach right now!

I looked for a way out of my problem. Thinking quickly, I held my axe vertically over my head. The bandit's axe recoiled off of mine and chipped into it a little. That didn't leave me happy.

Without anytime to recover, the other two bandits were coming to attack me again. Instead of dealing with them again, I turned to face the axe holder. I immediately went for a shoulder check on him. We were close together already so he didn't have time to react. My body bowled through his and I continued to run over him until I had him in between me and his friends.

My idea seemed partially successful since one of the bandits in hot pursuit of me almost tripped over his companion. Another one managed to get around his downed friend and come towards me. He took a horizontal swipe for me that I backpedaled through. His next attack was a stab. I dodged it as well and took a swipe for him with my own axe. I caught him off guard by the fact that my reach was longer than it looked thanks to my long arms!

I cleaved into him and pulled my axe out swiftly. The bandit stumbled for a few seconds clutching his side wound before he collapsed.

"You're a tough little one! Don't just stand there, idiots! Go get the bastard!" The axe man had gotten back to his feet and was commanding his friends to fight as he came running for me.

I was easily ready to take on all three of them. I mean, I already fought four and took out one! I could take on a platoon of these guys! Except an arrow whizzed by my head and landed directly in one of the bandit's chests. The other two bandits stopped dead in their tracks. They looked to their friend on the ground and took note of the arrow.

When they looked back, a bolt of lightning crashed into the other knocking him out. The last one standing was the axe wielder whom quickly surrendered by dropping his axe and raising his hands up.

"Ok, ok! Look, I don't want to die just… be reasonable alright!?" He knelt down to the ground with his hands directly above his head.

After seeing that he looked reasonably less threatening, I cocked my head back to see my party catching up. I gave them a grin and a thumb up before they made it to me.

"Hey, don't worry! Ol' Teach softened them up for you!" I informed my party of my victory.

"That was reckless of you to do, Vaike! You need to think your actions through!" Robin wasn't immediately congratulating me.

What's wrong with him?

"What? Things were just fine! Jeez, sometimes you sound twice your age," I turned my head to not face my group.

Robin exhaled a long sigh, "At least wait for me to make a plan next time."

I chuckled and pulled him into a headlock, "Sure, as long as you promise to loosen up around the Vaike! Also, keep me on the frontlines!"

Robin smiled a little and when he did I let him out of my headlock.

"Um, so am I under arrest or something?" The last bandit awkwardly asked.

Coincidentally, Virion apparently had some spare rope that we used to tie the bandit to a nearby tree.

"Why do you carry rope?" I asked.

"You should be ready for any kind of situation, my friend! Rope has many uses!" Virion replied proudly as he put away his spare rope.

"Ew…" I immediately stopped wanting to know about his rope.

"What?! Do not think my rope has caused lewd acts!" Virion looked unhappy, but I kept ignoring him.

Before I had to listen to Virion yell any longer, Robin spoke up, "Well it seems there's a bandit group near here. Seems like his bosses are interested in raiding the town we're heading too."

"He tell us where his leaders are?" I asked.

"In exchange that we let him go, yes," Robin informed us.

My blood was practically boiling when I heard that, "Let him go?! No chance! He's no good!"

"That may be, Vaike, however, finding his leaders is of the top concern currently. I'm ok with letting one bandit go to stop two bigger ones," Robin pulled out his sword and was heading back to the bandit tied to the tree.

I ran up behind him and grabbed his sword hand, "How do you even know his info's good? He could be lying to save his bosses. A bandit would sell ya his mother but you'll find out later the woman he sold ya wasn't even his mom!"

"He's already given me the information, Vaike. Would you have me go back on my word to let him go?" Robin looked at me seriously.

I grunted in annoyance before I gave in and let Robin's arm go. He then proceeded to cut the ropes tied around the bandit thus freeing him. The bald bandit stretched and cracked his neck as he walked away from the tree that held him. He gave me a mean glare and I responded by grabbing onto my axe's handle.

"Don't get your shorts all caught up. I told your little friend the truth. No sense in getting feisty," he told me as he finished cracking his knuckles.

"You'll have to excuse us if we don't fully believe the word of a brigand like yourself," Virion was surprisingly on my side I think.

"Suit yourself. I don't give a shit if you do or don't. I just want to get the hell out of here. Fighting you guys made me realize how fast I'll end up dead if I keep being a bandit and I don't want to be dead so fuck this. See ya, assholes," he started to walk back down the path he drove the stolen wagon down without looking back to us.

"Well, I think it was nice of him to turn over a new leaf," Lissa said from behind both me and Virion.

As I watched the bandit walk away, I released my hold on my axe, "Yeah, well I still don't trust the guy. And the Vaike usually trusts a lot of people."

"There's a lizard behind you, Lissa!" Robin panicked as he pointed towards the blonde girl behind me.

Lissa shrieked and bowled through both Virion and me. I let her run me over! After I could recover, Lissa was pouting at the laughing tactician.

"You lied again, Robin!" She was visibly upset.

"Oh, man! You should've seen your face! Oh, and the way you pushed over Virion and Vaike! Priceless!" Robin was slapping his knees he was laughing so hard.

"Don't think I won't get you back for this," Lissa silently said underneath the noise of our tactician's laughing.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After our tactician recovered from his laughing fit, we followed the bandit's directions to where he informed us his leaders were hiding out. The directions lead us to a hill that had a good vantage point on the town we were heading to in the first place. An entire forest was in between us and the very town.

According to the bandit, his leaders were holding up at the bottom of the hill we were currently atop. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like he wasn't lying as there was a small encampment of bandits down below us. A good ten maybe even fifteen of them were in the camp and who knows how many were around it.

"Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen" Virion was counting out the bandits he could spot from our vantage point. He had good eyesight so we let him perform the task. Of course, the Vaike has the best eyesight of all and could've easily done the job better! I just let him do it is all.

"We have the high ground on them. Not that many ranged fighters on their side. Would their numbers be able to overwhelm us before then?" Robin was talking out loud as he tried to think of a plan.

Meanwhile, both Lissa and I were just supposed to watch the surroundings; including both our own and the camp.

"Just send the Vaike in! I'll handle it," I proudly stated to my team.

"We talked about this, Vaike," Lissa dully said from beside me causing my head to sag in disappointment.

A few more minutes of planning went by as we continued to watch the bandit camp. We spotted one individual bandit that looked highly different from the rest and even seemed like he was a commander of sorts. It was a big fellow that had a partial head of hair with armor that was easily better than the other bandits.

While we continued to watch the camp and devise a plan, a large explosion erupted in front of the camp shocking everyone. The entire bandit camp below us was in an uproar because of the explosion.

"What was that?!" Lissa asked.

"Did they blow themselves up?!" Robin also seemed shocked by the sudden event.

"Who cares!? Now's the best time to fight! Let's go with that one plan, Robin!" I shouted at my companions as I got ready with my axe.

"Which one?! Plan A? B? C? D? Oh, you mean Plan H! Well, then let's hurry!" Robin got his tome ready and started to rush down the hill.

Virion and Lissa were quick to follow behind him down the hill as another explosion erupted near the camp.

What could cause a bigger entrance than an explosion? A dual axe wielding Vaike!

I had taken the bandit's axe from before and decided now would be the best time to try it out with my own. Holding two axes was no problem for me! Even if it was kind of new to me.

I caught up to my teammates and we split off once we reached the camp. Shouts of panic took ahold of my attention.

"It's that craziest bitch! I told you she was fucking crazy! Now we're all dead!" A random voice shouted from inside the camp.

Even I want to know who this person is now.

Deciding to ponder on the mysterious person later, I hopped into the bandit camp with both of my large axes ready. Two of the bandits spotted me out quickly. None of them were ranged fighters as it seemed those bandits were firing at something else in the distance.

"Now who the hell are you?!" One of the bandits asked me with his sword drawn.

"Vaike here. Ready to show you why everyone calls him Ol' Teach," I grinned as I held up both of my axes.

"Ol… It's another fucking crazy person! Get him!" the bandit rushed towards me with his ally.

I was angered by his comment and braced myself for their attacks. When they got in range, I swung for one of their swords to deflect their blow as I dodged the second attack which was a thrust. With my left axe I swung down for the bandit on my left. He sidestepped the attack and I followed with a sidestep as well.

On my right, the other bandit tried a horizontal swipe for me to which I blocked with one of my axes before lobbing off his arm with my second axe. The bandit fell to the ground as his ally took a downward strike at me. I blocked the blow with both of my axes and used his sword as a lever to force him backwards to the ground. Then, I finished him off with a final attack.

My gaze then went to the front of the camp where a couple of archers were firing. None of my team should've gone around to the front so that must be the mysterious person these bandits are talking about. I ran behind the two archers and finished them both off simultaneously with a dual chop from both of my axes.

After dealing with them, I looked to where they had been firing. A woman with red hair wearing a load of red clothes that were accented with gold linings was fighting expertly with a few other bandits. Out of her hand flew a small circular object that exploded on one of the bandits as she took out the other with a sword.

Huh, she seems almost as good as me. She'll be fine!

Turning away from the front of the camp, I went to regroup with my friends that had gone to the back of it. I deftly outmaneuvered multiple other bandits, and I even took out a couple on the way. Of course that is to be expected.

After a short sprint to the back of the camp, I met up with my allies whom were engaged with a few bandits. Virion was firing off arrows to cover for himself and Lissa. Robin was in the middle of the battle fighting off a bandit. Even though the guy says he doesn't remember anything, he still fights almost as well as me!

I ran to my comrades in arms and intercepted a bandit that was trying to sneak up on Virion. After I sliced the bandit and incapacitated the man, Virion turned to face me whom I returned a wide grin to. Without responding to me, he fired off an arrow that whizzed by my ear. When I turned to see what he had shot, I saw another bandit lying on the ground behind me with an arrow in his chest.

Turning back to face Virion, we exchanged nods as I ran to the front with Robin whom had finished dispatching the bandit he was battling.

"Ya damn pieces o' garbage! If there's nothin' I hate more than empty pockets, its good doers like ya," An enraged voice shouted from in front of Robin and me.

We examined the shouter and found it was the man we presumed to be the leader of this camp. He had a bald head of hair with a few stray lines of hair running across his head along with his side being fully covered in hair. He had heavy metal colored slightly red covering certain key points of his body while the rest of his clothing appeared to be leather. In his right hand was a short axe that looked like it could cut through steel.

"Give up now or else this might not end well for you and your compatriots," Robin shouted back to the man as he aimed his sword straight for him.

The bandit leader spit to his side before giving us a smirk, "Give up? You lot must be misinformed. I'm Victor! There ain't a fighter out there that'll stop me an me brother!"

I hope his brother inherited better looks.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking! You think me brother's prettier than me! Well, that may be true, but the ladies love me!" He pointed towards himself with a wide grin. He then cocked his head to his side and noticed Lissa standing near to Virion.

"Well, if that ain't a pretty lady I ain't never seen. How about you ditch this lot and come with me and me brother?" He was beckoning Lissa over with his free hand. Lissa visibly gagged which merely enraged the bandit Victor. Meanwhile, Robin and I were practically dumbfounded by the way he was acting during a fight.

"Why you little- Hey, don't think I forgot about you two! I'll teach you why I was named Victor!" He raised his short axe and it seemed he was finally about to fight.

Another small explosion erupted behind both Robin and I as it would appear the red girl was still causing a ruckus. Without breaking concentration, we charged for the bandit together. Robin charged in for a stab which was deflected by the giant bandit's short axe. To follow up, I went for a slice with one of my axes, but it merely clanked off his heavy metal armor.

He laughed wildly in our faces and went for a wing on us. Just before he could, an arrow hit his axe just in time to throw his attack off course ever so slightly to miss both Robin and me. The two of us backed away from the giant Victor as I shot a smirk to the smiling Virion.

"Now ain't that cheatin' ya little buggers," Victor was practically boiling.

"Keep him busy, Vaike. I'll cover you with ranged support as well!" Robin had sheathed his sword and was now holding his yellow tome in hand as sparks flew off it.

"The Vaike's got this!" I ran towards Victor intending for a dual chop with both of my axes.

Victor was ready to intercept my attack so I changed my plan halfway. I rotated around the bandit and blocked one of his attacks with my axe and swung for him with my other. The attack connected soundly this time and managed to crack his armoring. I was overjoyed until I noticed something horrific. My axe was cracking under the pressure of the attack as well! The Vaike's axe was cracking! It's unbelievable!

Victor shot me a shit eating grin, "That's pretty lucky of me. Who woulda guessed I could be so lucky?"

It was only in that moment that I noticed something glowing on him. He had a small statue of what looked to be a goddess hanging off his belt. The statue was glowing a bright golden color.

Could that thing be doing somethin'?

As I was mesmerized by the glowing statue on Victor's belt, he took advantage of my opening and swung his axe into my side before deftly punching me in the gut. The punch had such power behind it that I was sent reeling back gasping for air.

Robin shot a bolt of electricity straight for Victor's head, but it narrowly missed him. At the same time, Lissa was attempting to heal my wound that I was losing blood from quickly. I had dropped the axe I plucked off the other bandits and was now only able to hold my cracked axe.

Victor was maniacally laughing as he dodged an attack from Robin's sword, "This all the lot of ya got?! Maybe I just need to find a better lot of would be followers with me brother!"

Victor kicked Robin and sent him flying through the air a good distance. With Robin out of his path, he turned to face the rest of us. Virion tried firing off an arrow for him, but he was able to luckily move out of the way in time. He came charging for me at about the same time Lissa finished healing my wound. The pain was still present but I willed my body to keep fighting.

He brought his short axe in for my side swiftly. I stumbled out of the way as he came towards me again with an overhead swing. My body stumbled again to the right, but he nicked into my leg which made movement nearly impossible at that point. He sent a punch for my face that connected cleanly. I tried to return a punch into his gut at roughly the same time, but mine had no effect it seemed. Another arrow was fired off by Virion, but it seemed like his body simply magically knew that it was coming as he ducked under it. From his lowered position he brought his axe up with him for the bottom of my jaw. I barely got my axe in the way of his in time.

The pressure from his blow shattered half of my axe and left me now with a one sided axe that looked like it would shatter from another blow.

"Say nighty night ya little bugger!" Victor had his axe raised up high to strike me with it.

I could only block this strike and then be left weaponless for the next. Every outcome of this battle left me as the loser.

Ol' Teach doesn't lose!

I let out a battle cry as I raised my own axe as well as my other arm. I gripped onto his axe arm to keep him from swinging down. As soon as I had grabbed onto his arm, I felt a warming presence cross over into my body from his. With my axe hand I swung for him similar to how he did to me. He grabbed onto my arm with his own and stopped my blow from connecting as well.

"You son of a-! Would ya just roll over and die already!?" He yelled directly into my face.

"Ol' Teach doesn't lose!" I yelled back at him as I went for a headbutt on him.

Our foreheads connected and the resulting impact hurt like hell. Nonetheless, he went for a knee after the headbutt. I ate in my gut and returned another headbutt to him. The resulting blows could knock any normal person out, but I'm the Vaike!

As Victor and I battled it out for control, the warming presence I felt enter my body moments ago vanished just as suddenly. When I looked to where the statue had been on Victor's belt, it was now suddenly gone! An arrow had taken it off the tight rope he had used to tie it onto himself.

A morbid look glanced over Victor's face when he realized what had happened. Immediately thereafter, a bolt of electricity crashed into his side causing him to release me from the power struggle we were locked into. Just as I had control over my axe again, I swung into him for a killing blow. My axe shattered through his armor and into him before breaking off at the base.

"Brother, I… It's getting dark, brother… So, very very dark…" Victor let out his dying words as his eyes slowly closed.

The battle was over and we could finally relax. Lissa was quick to heal up any wounds we accumulated. The mysterious red woman also met up with us and started pillaging the camp for materials.

"Did you see how the Vaike beat that big guy?! I beat him with just one, count it, one axe! That's gotta be a record!" I exclaimed proudly to my companions.

"We helped, you know? Also, don't you usually use one axe anyways?" Lissa didn't look happy about my exclamations.

I tried to think about how many axes I usually use, but ultimately gave up halfway through.

"Speaking of axe, where's my other one?!" I panicked and tried finding my last axe.

"Hello, I would like to purchase that axe," Virion appeared to be making a deal with the red haired woman.

"Sure, that'll be 300 gold pieces!" The red haired woman stated happily while holding a familiar looking axe.

Virion gracefully accepted the axe after paying for it. He then turned to face me and I realized that the axe he was holding was the one I was looking for.

"Hey, that's mine!" I tried to grab it from him, but he dodged my swipe.

"Nonesense! I just purchased it from this elegant woman," Virion stated as he pointed to the red woman.

"You sold my axe?! You can't do that!" I shouted at her in anger.

"Sure I could! It was just lying around so I took it and sold it!" She stated to me with a smile as she held up the bag of coins Virion handed her.

"Virion, what do you want for it?!" I pleaded with him.

"But I just purchased it. I can't part ways with such an item so quickly," He looked over the axe as though he was examining it.

"Please!" I was on my knees begging at this point.

"Hm," He went into deep thought.

"Do not think of me as a pervert," he stated his price and I swiftly grabbed his hand for a handshake.

"Deal! Yes, yes! Now give me my axe!" I held out my hands in a beggar's fashion.

He gave me my axe back and I held it closely to me in a similar way that a mother would hold a child.

"Oh, thank the Gods," I had managed to calm down after regaining an axe into my hands.

By the time I ended the fiasco with Virion, Robin approached the red woman with a quizzical look.

"Are you Anna?" Robin asked the red woman.

"Hm? Of course I am! Who else do I look like?" The now supposedly Anna proclaimed joyfully with a bag of money in her hands.

"I'm sorry. I was just under the impression you were just a merchant not a fighter too," Robin was rubbing the back of his head as he appeared to be embarrassed.

"When you're in my line of business you learn to do what's needed," Anna replied still smiling.

"So those explosions were yours? I didn't think such a feat was capable without magic," Robin seemed intrigued by how Anna fought.

"Oh, these? They're patented bombs made by yours truly! I like to call them Fiery Red Trickster Anna's Explosives! Or you could just call them bombs!" Anna was overly ecstatic as she held out the same circular objects I saw her toss around earlier.

"Uh, right. Hey, do you happen to have Ravenous Feroxian Lizard tongue?" Robin asked for the item we came all the way out here for.

"I'm sorry," Anna looked rather dejected and the rest of us fell in mood along with her.

"I'm sorry I have so many! How many would you like? Ten? I can give you a special deal if you buy ten!" Anna quickly picked back up in her mood as it seemed she was merely trying to mess with us.

Robin let out a fake laugh to the insane merchant in front of us that was holding a lizard's tongue, "How much?"

"One would cost you 500 hundred gold coins, but if you buy ten now I can give you them all for only 4000!" She was increasingly pushy in trying to sell us ten tongues all at once.

"N-No thanks. One will be fine," Robin carefully handed over a pouch of gold that Anna quickly snatched from him almost alike a thief.

Unlike a thief, however, she returned a tongue to us after confirming how many coins Robin handed her. After the purchase was made, Anna went on her way and we waved goodbye to her.

"Well, that was-" Robin stopped mid-sentence as he gained a strange look.

"Is something the matter, Robin?" Virion extended a hand to Robin, but quickly pulled back when the tactician erupted into strange movements.

"Itchy! Itchy! Itchy!" Robin shouted out as he started to run off scratching his back.

Behind him was the petite blonde holding a stick covered in ants on it. She dropped the stick and busted into laughter.

"Lissa, what did you do?!" Virion quickly tried to ask the princess that was uncontrollably laughing.

"I-I… I stuck a bunch of fire ants into his shirt!" She continued in her frenzy of laughter as Robin ran further and further away from us furiously scratching his back.

"Wait, doesn't he have the tongue?" I asked the others.

The sudden realization hit us all and we went rushing after Robin.

We need that tongue so I can fight Chrom again!

End of the chapter there!

Virion and Vaike have an interesting relationship. Since they can't actually support each other in the game, I figure there's a good reason for that. They wouldn't rightfully enjoy each other's company. Not at least right away.

As for bandits, they're kind of like the grunts of this world. Pretty easy to take on and their only strength is their numbers. Even that doesn't always help in the end. Real opponents for our heroes probably will crop up in the coming chapters.

Now, the statue on Victor was his goddess icon that you'd usually get when you beat him. My ruling on stat boosting items in the world is that they act more alike an accessory. They give their wearer their abilities until removed hence why Victor had such amazing luck. I'll have multiple rulings on other things to come but this is where I stand on stat boosting items.

So what did you think of the chapter? Did you like it? Maybe you hate it. Let me know in a review. Also, point out any mistakes I might've made and I'll be quick to rectify them.

If you have any questions or ideas send them over with a PM.

We'll now be getting back to the tournament finally!