New Life in Another World

by OrangoDBZ

After somehow surviving the destruction of the universe, a young man, Robin, is pitied by the gods and is given a chance to live out life in another world. Waking up in a field with white hair, a tail, and a cloak covered in symbols he does not recognize, Robin is soon found by a young boy named Chrom and is sucked into a whirlwind of action and adventure.

5. The Turtle Hermit

Chapter 5: The Turtle Hermit

---

Robin let out a rather loud groan as he walked down the path along with the rest of the Shepherds, briefly glancing at the sun that was hanging high up in the sky before quickly shaking his head. He had just gotten done with a quick training session with Goku, and as usual he had gotten his ass beaten.

The group currently had a whopping four Dragon Balls in their possession, and just needed three more to complete their set. The gang had spent a lot of time in the southern portion of Ylisse, and were now headed northwards as, according to the Dragon Radar, that was the direction they needed to go in to get the other three.

Much to Robin's slight disappointment, however, there wasn't going to be another village or town for quite a while, meaning that they were going to have to be walking and camping outside for a majority of the rest of their journey. Robin had gotten used to doing so, mostly since he had been with the Shepherds for more then a week now, but he obviously still preferred sleeping in a bed…

"Jeez, man. I'm sleepy as hell," Oolong grumbled, rubbing the back of his head as he trudged along with the group. His tome and gun had both been confiscated from him, so it was now pretty impossible for him to be a threat to the Shepherds, or for him to escape.

Of course, this was kind of a double-edged sword, because the group now had to constantly put up with his annoying behavior.

"Eh? How come? We just started marching!" Goku exclaimed, tilting his head to the side and leaning in towards Oolong. The pig-boy was about the same size as Goku, so as a result he was able to rather easily invade his personal space.

"Yeah? "Well, some of us just aren't cut out for marching," Oolong grumpily replied with a huff, crossing his arms and looking the other way, specifically towards the Shepherds who were riding horses. "Man, why can't I ride a horse like they can?"

"Sully, Stahl, and Frederick all ride horses because they're dressed up in armor, so it'd be really difficult for them to march on their feet," Kellam spoke up from behind the group. As usual, he ended up startling them quite a bit. Of course, the armored boy was unbothered by this and simply continued. "And as for Maribelle…Well, at first she walked on her feet like us, but she kept on complaining so eventually she just got a horse imported from her house's territory."

"Huh? O-Oh, um, it's nice to see you Kellam," Robin replied, a hand on his chest because of how scared he had just gotten by Kellam's sudden surprise appearance. He then proceeded to raise an eyebrow at the forgettable guy. "But, uh, you're also wearing armor. In fact, I'd bet that yours is even heavier than the ones that the others are wearing! Why don't you have a horse of your own?"

Kellam opened his mouth to respond, before simply just letting out a sigh. "Everyone keeps on forgetting that I actually exist…"

Before anyone could give Kellam a pat on the back and tell him that everything would be okay, Oolong angrily waved his fist in the air. "Okay, but who cares about that? I'm tired as hell! I demand a break!"

"Yeah, I seriously doubt Chrom and Frederick would be okay with us stopping immediately after starting up," Robin pointed out, causing Oolong's ears to flatten down against his head.

"Hm…I guess you're right…" the shapeshifter grumbled, clenching his fists at his sides.

Stahl, who had overheard the whole conversation, spoke up. Gesturing to his horse with a good-natured smile on his face, he said "Well, Oolong, you can ride on my horse if you want."

"Yeah, no. Hard pass," Oolong quickly responded, crossing his arms and snickering as he glanced at Maribelle and Sully. "Hehe, I'd rather ride on one of THEIR horses…"

"Hell no! If you even TRY getting onto my horse I'm going to fry your little butt alive," Sully quickly shot back, glancing back at the shapeshifter with a scowl on her face. "And I'm just going to say it right now: I REALLY like bacon!"

"And while I wouldn't put it so crassly, I too will not allow you to seat your filthy posterior onto my horse's back," Maribelle chimed in, a similarly disgusted look on her face as well. "Even if you weren't a disgusting pervert, Mr. Sparkles is far too distinguished of a specimen for a lowborn peasant like you, anyways."

"Mr. Sparkles?..." Robin thought to himself in slight surprise, wondering why Maribelle had chosen such a childish name.

Meanwhile, Oolong simply raised his hands into the air as a scared look formed on his face. "H-Hey, ladies, it was just a joke. I'm not going to do anything, alright? And even if I wanted to, you guys stole my tome, so I can't transform anymore…"

"A necessary precaution. We cannot have you transforming as it may give you the ability to escape from us," Miriel spoke up, before glancing down at the Dragon Radar in her hands. "Hm…How odd…"

"What is it, Miriel?" Chrom asked the mage as he came to a halt, causing the entire group to do so as well. He had been deep in thought about something, though he was dragged out of it when he heard Miriel speak.

"Hm? Ah, my apologies, Commander. It was not my intention to startle you," Miriel apologized, giving a short bow to the prince of Ylisse. "It's just…Now that we have actually gotten nearer to the location of the next Dragon Balls, the Dragon Radar is displaying a more accurate view of their locations. Two of the balls are up north, but one of the other ones are actually located eastward. We will have to make a slight detour."

"Is that so?" Chrom inquired, bringing a hand up to his chin. "Hm…That's slightly disappointing. I was hoping that we could have just continued going north until we eventually reached Regna Ferox, and by then we would have all of the Dragon Balls with us…"

"Well, what should we do, milord?" Frederick asked his liege from atop his horse, cocking an eyebrow at the blue-haired prince.

Chrom remained silent for a few moments, before letting out a sigh and nodding towards the others. "I think it'd be best if we took the detour. If the other two Dragon Balls are up north, it'd be a bit of a hassle for us to collect them and then come back this way to get the other one. We should just get the one located westward and get it done with beforehand."

"Good thinking, milord," Frederick nodded with a smile, before turning towards the other Shepherds. His expression had immediately changed. "You heard him everyone, we're going to be heading to the west to collect the Dragon Ball located nearer to this location!"

Robin and the others simply nodded, and together the group all began to move in that particular direction. It was a bit more difficult compared to the direction that they were originally going in, and this was mostly due to the fact that the old path actually had a smooth, paved road that they could actually follow.

This new one? It was bumpy, which slowed down their horses considerably since they had to be extra careful with them. Furthermore, the path that they had decided to take was filled to the brim with all sorts of obstructions that blocked their path.

Rocks, fallen trees, and that wasn't even including the wildlife that lived in the area.

If there was one thing that Robin learnt about the wildlife of Ylisse, it was that it was pretty unique. He spotted monkeys swinging from tree to tree, glancing briefly at his and Goku's tails with intrigued yet confused expressions on their faces, horses that galloped through wide open fields, just waiting to be tamed and used for battle, and even wolves that travelled in packs together, hunting on smaller prey.

And then, eventually...The gang came across a turtle.

It was surprisingly large, and was sort of just lying down on the bumpy path in front of them with a depressed look on its face.

The group was forced to come to a halt in front of it, and Chrom proceeded to regard the sea creature with a strange look on his face.

"Eh? Is that a turtle?" the prince asked no one in particular, raising an eyebrow at the depressed animal.

"It would appear so, milord," Frederick simply stated, his expression unreadable as he also just stared at the odd appearance of the animal. He then proceeded to simply raise an eyebrow at the prince of Ylisse. "Why do you ask, milord? Have you not been keeping up in your studies? Can you not recognize a turtle?"

"Wh-What? No, of course I have, and of course I can," Chrom quickly replied, staring at Frederick as though he had just grown a second head. He then looked back at the turtle and narrowed his eyes at it. "It's just, well…What in Naga's name is a turtle doing out here in the middle of nowhere? I think…No, they obviously don't live in these kinds of places. What's it doing out here?"

"Ah, understandable," Frederick responded, before looking down at the turtle that was still looking ahead with a depressed expression on its face. "I have no idea."

"Hm…It looks kind of goofy…" Stahl muttered, rubbing his chin. Unbeknownst to everyone, this particular comment caused the turtle's eye to twitch slightly.

"Heh, I think we should kick it," Vaike stated as he sauntered towards the unmoving body of the turtle with an incredibly amount of confidence, before slowly beginning to pull his leg back.

This was the comment that broke the turtle's patience, and he quickly snapped his head towards the group, raising his front-fins up and waving them from side to side as fast as he could.

"H-Hey! Don't kick me, please!" the turtle exclaimed, causing Vaike's eyes to widen in disbelief.

"Woah! The turtle can talk!" the blonde boy cried out in disbelief as he hopped a few steps back, before immediately falling onto his bottom and pointing at the turtle in shock. "T-Tell me I'm not going crazy, you guys!"

"You went crazy a while ago, Vaike," Sully quipped, staring at the turtle in surprise. "But, um, yeah. You ain't hearing things, man. That thing really did talk…"

"I-I'm not a thing!" the turtle gasped exasperatedly, shocked by the rudeness that the Shepherds were displaying. He then pointed to Oolong, Goku, and Robin with a frown on his face. "And you guys are literally travelling with two guys who have monkey tails, and an actual anthropomorphic pig! This should not be surprising to you in the slightest."

An awkward silence befell the group as they sort of just stared at the turtle, who raised a pretty good point in all honesty, and after a few moments that silence was broken by Chrom who proceeded to let out a sigh.

"Alright, fine. That was rather rude of my companions. Let's just not dwell on this any further," the prince began, bringing a hand up to his chest as he began to introduce himself. "My name is Chrom Lowell, and I am the leader of the Shepherds. We are a vigilante group dedicated to preserving the peace of the halidom."

"He's also the prince of Ylisse," Frederick spoke up, his eyes closed as he casually revealed a key piece of information. "Milord constantly forgets to mention that."

Chrom shot a look at Frederick, before letting out a sigh and nodding back at the turtle. "Well, yes. I suppose there is that too…"

The talking animal blinked twice, before immediately letting out an alarmed gasp and hanging his head low. "O-Oh my goodness! I did not know that I was in the presence of royalty! A hundred apologies, sir! M-My name is Turtle, and as you can see, I am, well, a turtle!"

An awkward silence followed as everyone stared at Turtle, who then proceeded to blush and look the other way.

"I-I am aware that my name is rather humorous," the sea creature admitted after a few seconds.

"It…Was not my intention to make you feel that way," Chrom stiffly responded, coughing as he looked to the side.

Once again, a few more seconds passed, and then...

"Chrom's tryin' to act like a goody-two-shoes and not say anything about it, but I'm just going to say what's on all of our minds. Your name's weird, man. Like, super weird," Vaike piped up, crossing his arms and smirking at the gang's strange new acquaintance.

"Th-That's not a very nice thing to say, Vaike," Kellam spoke up, causing all eyes to turn to him. The armored boy was slightly startled that everyone was paying attention to him, though he seemed to beam as a result.

"Huh, it looks like Kellam's actually got a presence today for some reason," Robin mentally noted, smiling at his big friend. "Nice going, man!"

Sully snorted, and proceeded to punch Vaike in the back of the head. "Tiny's right, dickhead. You should apologize to the guy."

"W-What?! Why? I was just stating my opinion," Vaike weakly defended himself, earning yet another punch in the head from Sully.

Robin did his best to stifle a chuckle that was coming out as he looked on at the scene. It was a pretty humorous one, and the thing that made it even funnier was that Sully was punishing Vaike from atop her horse.

Fortunately, before that could go on any further, Goku trotted up towards Turtle and brought a hand up to his chin. "So you're a turtle, huh? Cool! I've never seen one before…"

"Huh, I would have thought that you encountered one on Mount Paozu! That place had a crazy ecosystem," Stahl chuckled in response, before immediately pausing. "Actually, wait, scratch that. Turtles don't live on mountains…"

"And they don't live out here, either," Chrom stated firmly, turning his attention to the talking sea creature. "So that begs the question…What are you doing out here?"

Turtle let out a sigh, and hung his head down low in shame. "That's…Well, it's a rather embarrassing tale, sir. You see, I swam over here to the mainland from my home on a little island on the seas surrounding Ylisse so that I could collect some rare mushrooms, which is one of my many hobbies, but after that some rather rude men with red bands around their arms spotted me and wanted to eat me! I panicked and ended up dropping my mushrooms as I ran away, and after that I ended up getting lost…"

"Huh, so there are some Red Ribbon Army members nearby? That sounds very concerning," Chrom muttered as he rubbed his chin for a few seconds, before nodding at Turtle. "So now I presume you've been trying to get back to the sea?"

The sea creature nodded in response. "Indeed. Though as I mentioned before, I can't seem to make my way back…"

Chrom remained silent for a few more moments, before smiling at his new acquaintance. "Well, if that's the case, me and my group will gladly help you find your way to the sea. It should be rather easy for us to lead you there."

"Yeah, yeah! It'd be the right thing to do, I think!" Goku chirped in agreement, a grin plastered on his face. "And we might also come across some of those Red Ribbon guys, too! You said they were strong, right?"

"Do you want to help him because it's the right thing to do, or because you just want to come across some strong opponents?" Robin whisper-asked Goku, before letting out a sigh and looking ahead at Turtle. "But, for the record, I do agree…"

"I agree as well," Kellam spoke up, pretty happy that today for some reason everyone was listening to what he had to say. "As Shepherds we should-"

Unfortunately, it seemed that his luck had run out, as before he could finish his sentence Frederick proceeded to clear his throat.

"Are you certain that is a good idea, milord?" the brown-haired knight inquired in a stern voice, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at the sea turtle. "Our schedule already took quite a hit when we were forced to take a detour…I don't think it is wise for us to set aside even more time to help out this strange talking turtle. That's not even including the fact that this might be a trap…"

"Frederick, please. What is the point in creating a whole group to protect the people of Ylisse if we're just going to ignore their pleas with the excuse of 'Oh it might be a trap'?" Chrom asked his knight, his voice slightly rising. "It's not fair to our people. Not at all."

The brown-haired knight grew deathly silent for a few moments, before letting out an annoyed sigh and shaking his head. "You raise a…Valid point, milord. Very well. Let us help this fellow find his way home."

"Truly? Oh thank you, thank you! I shall not forget this act of kindness!" Turtle exclaimed happily, clapping his flippers together.

Before the animal could say another word, Goku marched on over and threw him over his shoulders. Despite the fact that he had a massive shell on his back, Goku did not struggle at all to carry him and was able to stand up straight rather easily.

"Ah, are you going to be alright, young man?" Turtle asked Goku in a low voice, raising an eyebrow at him. He was very surprised by what the young man had just done. "I…Am aware that I am quite heavy. I have to lose some weight, to be completely honest…"

"Eh? Nah, it's fine. You're pretty light," Goku stated truthfully, causing Turtle's blush to turn even brighter.

"Well, I know you're lying, but I appreciate the compliment…"

Chrom nodded simply, before turning to his trusted knight. "Alright then, Frederick. You know where the ocean is from here, right?"

The brown-haired man let out a sigh, before gesturing for the others to follow him. "Come along, milord. It should be this way…"

And so, the Shepherds began to march in another direction, straying from their original path even further than before.

Robin didn't mind, obviously, since they were at the end of the day helping someone in need. Of course, the thought of Chrom constantly helping people without even interrogating them did pop into his mind, but he chose to push it aside for the time being…

Also, unbeknownst to the gang, as they walked, they were being spied upon by a certain pair of bandits who were hiding in some nearby bushes…

---

"Hmph. After a bunch of searching, we finally managed to catch up to them," Yamcha said with a smirk, looking on at the group of heroes as a wolf would to its prey. "It was kind of a pain, going back home and getting a replacement sword and then wasting all that time trying to figure out where they went, but we're finally here! Our efforts have borne fruit, and we can finally get our revenge, Puar! Hehehe…"

"Are you sure about this, Lord Yamcha?" the transforming blue cat inquired, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "I mean, their group seems to somehow be even bigger then before. This could be risky…"

"Heh, don't worry about it, Puar. The only new member is that short chubby guy that kind of looks like a pig, and I was just about to beat those other dudes last time when those dang girls just pulled up from out of nowhere," Yamcha replied, clenching his fists as the memory of his pathetic retreat filled his mind. However, he quickly relaxed as a confident smirk appeared on his face. "Heh, however, with our new plan, we're going to work around their presence. You remember it, right Puar?"

"Yeah, I do, Lord Yamcha," the blue creature nodded swiftly, before looking ahead at the group of Shepherds that were now disappearing into a nearby thicket of trees. "But I can't shake off the feeling that I know that pig person from…Somewhere…"

"Is something the matter, Puar?" Yamcha asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend. His arms were crossed as he leaned agaisnt a nearby tree, and a look of concern was present on his face.

The blue cat blinked twice, before smiling bashfully. "A-Ah, um, no. I'm fine, Lord Yamcha. A hundred percent!"

---

A few hours had passed, and although the gang were now incredibly far away from their original path, they eventually ended up reaching a beach located directly on the outskirts of Ylisse, and the continent of Archanea as a whole. Ahead of them was a massive ocean that stretched on for miles, and Robin could see absolutely no other landmasses as far as his eyes could see.

It was pretty rough getting there, being forced to traverse through the dangerous forest filled to the brim with all sorts of animals, plants, and other sorts of wild beasts, but they had finally made it.

"It's the ocean," Robin thought to himself with a smile, looking on at the clear blue waters. "Unlike in my old world, the water here hasn't been contaminated by pollution because of humanity. It's so clean…A shame that we have a mission, otherwise we could stick around and hang out here for a bit. Maybe have a 'beach episode' like they do in some anime, hehe…"

He then stopped thinking for a few moments, and immediately slapped himself on the forehead.

"Wait, what am I thinking? Oolong's the only one who should be having thoughts like that!"

As that happened, Goku let out a grunt as he dropped Turtle's body down onto the ground, a bit of sand getting kicked up into the air as his belly landed on the floor with a loud 'thud' sound.

Turtle groaned a little at the sudden impact, but upon looking forwards, his eyes widened and shone with happiness. "The ocean…It's really the ocean! Hahaha! I can finally go home!"

"Woah, that's a really big river…" Goku muttered, staring on at the ocean with a look of disbelief on his face.

"There's a big difference between a river and the ocean, little man!" Vaike confidently exclaimed, before blinking twice and leaning towards Miriel and whispering into her ear. "Er, I am right about that, right?"

Miriel adjusted her glasses, and began to speak. "Well, you see, it all depends on..."

As the mage began to lecture the shirtless idiot, Chrom looked at Turtle.

"Are you sure you'll be able to find your way home from here? It was really lucky that we were nearby to help you out here, but if you got lost in the ocean, I don't think anyone would be able to help you," the prince intoned rather seriously, crossing his arms.

"No, no. Thank you for worrying about me, but I know the ocean like the back of my flipper! I should be able to get back to my home rather easily from here," Turtle responded, flashing the prince of Ylisse a cheery grin.

Chrom blinked twice, before smiling and nodding. "Alright, then. Stay safe on your travels!"

Frederick, meanwhile, simply grunted. He was looking at his pocket watch. "Hmph. If that's everything, I think we should be going now. We're already behind schedule, and every second we waste here gives more time for the Red Ribbon Army to try and collect the Dragon Balls!"

However, before anyone could say anything else, Turtle suddenly spoke up. "Wait, please don't go! I insist that you stay here, at least for a little bit. I will go back to my home, and bring my master here so that he may reward you all for your kindness. He's very wise and powerful, you know."

"Eh? A gift?" Stahl asked, intrigued by what Turtle was saying.

"I assure you, helping the people of Ylisse, and those who just so happen to be in our borders, is quite literally the point of our team. We don't need a reward for-" Chrom began, though before he could finish his humble sentence, Turtle hopped into the ocean and began to swim away at an incredibly fast rate, leaving the Shepherds behind.

A brief silence followed, and it was eventually broken by Vaike.

"So, uh, what're we gonna do now? Wait around for the turtle dude or get goin'?"

"I feel it would be most wise to do the latter then the former," Frederick replied, before closing his eyes and gesturing towards Chrom. "Though, at the end of the day, it is milord's decision."

Chrom flashed an apologetic smile at his knight. "I think you already know what my answer's going to be, Frederick…"

The knight let out a groan, and began to walk towards his horse. "Well, if that's the case, then I suppose I should take the snacks I prepared earlier out…"

Maribelle let out a huff and proceeded to lift her skirt up. "How annoying…This sand is going to mess up my dress! Oh, how dreadful…"

Ignoring the words of his friends, Goku let out a giggle as he dashed out towards the ocean. He stepped into the water, though upon noticing that it got deeper the farther he went into it, he decided to just play around in it very near to the beach.

Seeing the wild boy's actions, Miriel quickly pulled out her quill and notepad and began to write down notes on what she was seeing. Robin stared at her in slight confusion, and upon noticing his stare, Miriel narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you not going to join him, Robin?" the mage inquired, raising an eyebrow at him. "It would be very good for my research, to see how your kind reacts to large bodies of water. In fact, I would not mind if you stripped as well, for it would allow me to get a good look at how you bathe too."

Robin's cheeks burnt a bright red, and that redness only increased further when Miriel looked at his tail.

"That's not even considering how your tail might react if it were to get wet…We know you lose all control of your body when it is pulled, but what would happen if it were to get wet?..."

"Y-Yeah, let's, um, not test that out please," Robin said in an uneasy tone, letting out a nervous chuckle as he did so. Much to his surprise, it was Oolong who ended up coming to his aid.

"Heh, who gives a crap about Robin?" the pig-boy asked haughtily, putting his hands behind his head as he closed his eyes. "Maribelle, Sully, and even you, Miriel…You're the ones who should strip and get into the ocean. You know, the fair maidens. Hehe, now THAT would be a sight…"

Almost immediately, two 'fair maidens' decided to give him a good punch in the head.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Sully and Maribelle screamed out in unison, staring down at him with pure, rage-filled expressions on their faces.

"Ah! Please don't kill me!" Oolong squealed out as he dropped to the floor and put his hands over his head. "I'm just a defenseless little piggy!..."

Robin chuckled at the sight, and Stahl seemed to find the scene funny as well, chuckling alongside him.

However, at that moment…

"Alright, Puar, now!"

Frederick grabbed his lance and immediately spun around, a look of pure anger present on his face as he looked from side to side. "That disgustingly surfer-like voice!..."

From a nearby cluster of trees, the familiar form of Yamcha appeared. He dropped into a fighting stance in front of the heroes, though before they could even do anything about it, Puar flew in and let out a dramatic laugh.

The blue catlike creature's body was completley engulfed in a blue smoke, though unlike last time, he was not replaced with a brand-new individual. Instead, the smoke that engulfed him instead proceeded to expand in size, until it was covering the entire beach.

Puar's face appeared on the cloud that had grown to cover the beach, and it sneered down at the Shepherds, who had now been split up in seperate parts of the cloud that was once Puar.

"Hahaha! Now that I can't see the WOMEN of your group, I'm unstoppable!" Yamcha exclaimed with glee, enunciating the word 'women' with a pretty large amount of distaste. He ran into the cloud that was Puar, which seemed to open a path specifically for him, and in a matter of seconds he had found Robin.

The white-haired boy let out a gulp, and took a few steps back as Yamcha's eyes shone in recognition.

"You!" the bandit exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"M-Me," Robin replied tentatively, his tail curling instinctively around his waist underneath his cloak. He frantically looked around, though much to his chagrin even Stahl, who had quite literally been standing next to him, was now nowhere to be seen. "Um, guys? Where are you?..."

"I'm over here!" Vaike exclaimed rather loudly, before pausing for a few seconds and grunting. "Though, uh, I guess that's not really helpful to you, huh…"

"It is paramount that everyone remains calm," the voice of Miriel spoke up, and although Robin could not see her, he could tell that she was adjusting her glasses as she spoke. "This ability to transform…Thanks to our encounter with Oolong, we are now well aware that it is in fact a form of Dark Magic, and that it will naturally disappear in five minutes for the user to recharge. Is that not correct, Oolong?"

"Wait, Oolong?!" Puar exclaimed, his face popping up near the place where Robin was standing. He was staring down at Robin as though he was expecting an explanation.

Before the white-haired boy could offer him one, though, the perverted pig spoke up from an entirely different area from within the cloud. "Uh, hehe…Yeah, about that…"

"IT REALLY IS YOU!" Puar screamed, causing everyone to become silent.

"Um, Puar? Little buddy?" Yamcha asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "What's up with you?"

Puar's face disappeared and reappeared throughout random places in the cloud that he had become, spotting the different fragmented groups of Shepherds. Chrom and Frederick were together, Stahl and Miriel as well, Vaike was on his own, and then eventually, he spotted Maribelle, Sully…And Oolong.

"Aha! There you are!" Puar's voice cried out, reverberating throughout the air as though it was everywhere and nowhere all at once. Though, to be fair, in all honesty, it pretty much was.

Oolong, who had been pushed down onto the floor due to the beat-up session he had just been involved in because of Maribelle and Sully, slowly looked up at the cloud in front of him and winced as he saw Puar's face floating within it.

"E-Eh?! Puar?!" Oolong cried out, causing Maribelle and Sully to look down at him in confusion.

"You KNOW this transforming weirdo?" Sully asked, raising an eyebrow at the pig.

A single bead of sweat ran down Oolong's face, and suddenly counting every single grain of sand that he could see on the ground seemed like a rather fun activity. "Um, well…No, of course not! Hehehe…"

Puar's face turned from a surprised one to a smug one. "Oh, no. I thought I recognized you when me and Lord Yamcha were spying on your team earlier. Hehe, to think we would be reunited in a place like this…"

"What, is he like your secret ex or something?" Vaike's voice asked once again, and Oolong's face turned bright red at this question.

"N-No way! I only like girls!" Oolong screamed out in embarrassment, before slightly blushing as a few drops of drool began to run out of his mouth. "Preferably short, cute ones that are really submissive, you know? Though, tall dommy mommies aren't that bad either…Hehe, honestly, if it's got a 'hole' down there, then I'm game…"

This perverted tangent earned him a stomp on the head from Sully, and an exasperated sigh from Puar.

"Ugh, you know, it's this exact behavior that got you kicked out of the Magic Academy in the first place, Oolong," the 'cloud' stated in a stern tone of voice, as though he was a tired parent lecturing their unruly child.

"Wait, Magic Academy?" Chrom's voice asked from somewhere else. "What's that?"

Oolong's eyes widened, and he quickly mustered up enough force to push Sully's foot off of his head. His hands were waving around in the air rapidly. "O-Oh no! Puar, I'm beggin' you here, man! Don't tell 'em, please!"

Once again, Puar's smug face returned. "Hehe, well, there's nothing stopping me! Before you take down the Shepherds, Lord Yamcha, could I tell this little piggy's embarrassing backstory?"

Yamcha blinked twice, before raising an eyebrow. "Um…I guess?"

"Alright! Thank you, Lord Yamcha! You're so cool," Puar giggled effeminately, before looking down at Oolong and smirking once more. "So anyways, me and Oolong? We know each other from this place called the Magic Academy. It's a rather prestigous school located on the border between Plegia and Regna Ferox, and only very rich or very talented individuals can afford to go there. It's pretty much the only place in the whole world where you can learn how to use the Transformation spell. In fact, I'd say it's the first spell you actually learn there! It's rather difficult to pull off, though, so many people drop out in their first year there. Old men and kindegarteners alike can be found in the first class, trying to learn how to use the Transformation Spell... But anyways, um, yeah. Here's where the funny bit comes in. Oolong? He got kicked out of the school for stealing a teacher's panties at the start of his first year! Hahaha! And not only that, it resulted in him learning a weaker, more pathetic version of the transformation spell!"

A smile tugged at the corner of Robin's lips, though it faded when he realized just what this meant. "W-Wait a minute, so that means…"

"…Puar's version of the spell doesn't have a time-limit. Crap," Chrom finished, clenching his fist by his side.

"Milord, language!" Frederick lightly chided his prince, narrowing his eyes at the blue-haired boy.

The sound of Miriel letting out a sigh could be heard, and Robin could have sworn that he could hear the sound of paper being crumpled as well. "Well, it would appear all that research that I conducted is now void. Pity…"

Maribelle and Sully were both shocked at this realization, and then proceeded to look down at Oolong's shaking form. As though they were robots that spoke at the time, they asked "Are there any other things that we should know about Puar's better version of your transformation spell?"

"Hehe, well, um…You know how he's a cloud right now? Well, I can only copy the appearance of an object, but Puar can copy the actual properties. So, like, if you were planning on just hitting his floaty body or whatever to make him stop the illusion, you can't do that," Oolong tentatively explained. "O-Of course, he can't copy power levels, or magical powers, or whatever. Like, if he turned into Miriel, he wouldn't be able to use fire powers, and if he turned into Robin, he wouldn't have super strength. It's kinda confusing, and there was a whole chapter on the exact specifics, but…"

"You didn't pay attention during your classes?" Sully asked angrily, narrowing her eyes at Oolong.

Oolong slowly nodded his head as he got up. "Heh, yeah. My teacher? She was a real baddie…"

"Ugh, why am I not surprised? Lowborn commoners such as yourselves are given the rare opportunity to an education, and you waste it on things like…OGLING YOUR TEACHER. How disgusting," Maribelle scoffed, covering her mouth with a pretty pink paper fan that she pulled out of nowhere.

Robin let out sigh as he realized that his teammate was quite literally more useless than the gang initially thought he was, before turning back to Yamcha. "So, um, this was your master plan? To separate us like this and pick us off one by one?"

"Heh, yup! It also makes sure that I can't see any of those darned girls of your group, and if they do try coming after me, Puar can just change the shape of his transformation to ensure that I don't lay my eyes on 'em," Yamcha snickered in response, thumbing at himself. "Pretty ingenious, eh?"

"Um, yeah, I guess," Robin shrugged awkwardly. "So, uh, you get scared when you just see girls, then? Not when you, like, listen to them talking and stuff?"

Yamcha's cheeks turned red, and he narrowed his eyes at Robin. "I-I'll have you know that I wasn't scared last time, alright?! I just remembered that I had some urgent business to take care of back home, alright?"

"Sure, you did," Robin sardonically replied, narrowing his eyes at Yamcha. "And I'm the Queen of England, right?"

"England? What's that?" Yamcha asked in confusion, before shaking his head and narrowing his eyes at Robin. "But anyways, uh, if I WAS scared of looking at women…Then yeah, I'd admit that hearing their voices doesn't have the same effect on me…"

An awkward silence followed.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Robin began to speak. "Well, uh, if you ever need someone to talk to, I-"

"ENOUGH!" Yamcha immediately interjected, his eyes wide in anger. "Last time, I was able to beat you pretty easily. You're strong, but you don't know how to use that strength. And not only that, you've got a pretty major weakness with that tail of yours! So, heh, let's get this started!"

Yamcha blitzed towards Robin, and the white-haired boy's eyes widened momentarily. However, he then remembered his training with Goku and quickly squatted down into a fighting position. He didn't know much, but he could at least use what he knew and put it to good use.

Robin took a deep breath, before focusing.

The bandit threw a flurry of punches directly at Robin's face, though the monkey-tailed boy was able to deftly evade all of them by tilting his head from left to right. He then managed to grab Yamcha's last punch, and pulled the bandit towards himself.

Robin grinned slightly, and immediately followed it up by raising his knee rather quickly, slamming it into the bandit's stomach, knocking the wind right out of him as he did so.

A groan escaped Yamcha's lips as he staggered back a bit, clutching his stomach in agony. "O-Ow…When the hell did you learn how to actually fight?..."

The white-haired boy, meanwhile, simply blinked twice before looking down at his fist and grinning slightly. "H-Holy crap! Did I actually…Oh my god, Goku's training was actually useful for something. Maybe I was too harsh on him, hehe!"

He then looked up at Yamcha and confidently stared down at him.

"Alright, then! I guess it's time to take out the trash!" Robin declared, pumping his fist into the air.

Yamcha, who was done with recovering, simply narrowed his eyes at Robin and then charged at him with the speed of a hungry wolf. Before Robin could even register what was going on, every part of his body was being bombarded with attacks, and he could have sworn that he began to see Yamcha's body change in appearance.

The bandit's body was engulfed in a purple aura, his eyes glowing a dark red. The image of a wolf also appeared behind his body, and Yamcha began to shout out a few specific words.

"WOLF…FANG…FIST!"

All three words were pronounced by a mighty blow from Yamcha, each and every one of the three hits somehow being packed with more pain then anything Robin had ever experienced before.

After the devastating attack was done, Robin was sent crashing down onto the ground, screaming in agony as he clutched at his stomach, arms, and basically anything else that he could grab hold of. Everything hurt like hell.

"Robin! Are you alright?!" the white-haired boy just barely heard Chrom over the sounds of his own screams, though Robin wasn't exactly available to answer at the moment.

"Stupid pussy! Let me through!" Vaike yelled out angrily, punching at Puar's fluffy body. Unfortunately, none of his attacks worked, and this only caused Puar to snicker.

"Hehehe…You're never going to save your friend!" Puar giggled loudly, before frowning ever so slightly. "And, for the record, calling a cat-person like me a 'pussy' is rather offensive, you know!"

Yamcha cracked his knuckles as he began to approach Robin's fallen body, a devilish smirk plastered on his face. "Heh, I didn't even have to pull on your tail this time…Though I guess I you DID force me to use my special technique, huh? I mean, sure, it was mostly out of surprise then genuine necessity, but still. You're the first guy who's pushed me that far in a while…I hope you know that when I kill you, little man!"

Robin looked up at Yamcha, who raised his hand high up in the air as he got ready for the final strike…

"So this is how I die, huh?" the white-haired boy thought to himself somberly, closing his eyes and looking down at the ground. "At least I did something cool before I went out..."

And so, Robin accepted that it was his time to die...

…Of course, fate had other plans.

Before Yamcha could actually bring the metaphorical axe down on Robin's neck, a certain monkey-tailed boy came dropping in from the sky, literally.

"Hey! What's going on here?!" Goku angrily asked, dropping down on the ground and pointing his weapon defensively before Robin's body. Despite the intense amount of pain he was experiencing, Robin was able to mentally figure out that Goku had used his Power Pole to propel himself over the large cloud that Puar had created, and was able to land directly right in front of him. The Power Pole really was a useful weapon to have…

"Eh? Where the heck did you come from?" Yamcha asked in confusion, slightly startled by Goku's sudden arrival. He then turned to Puar and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Puar! You let this brat get in here!"

"I-I'm so sorry Lord Yamcha! I don't know how he did that…" Puar apologized profusely. He'd probably be bowing down to Yamcha right now if he could, but that would require him to change forms.

"Don't be mean to your friend, I was just able to use my brains for once," Goku stated confidently, bringing the attention back to himself. He then proceeded to gesture to the Power Pole in his hands and smirked. "It was pretty simple, actually. All I did was run real fast towards the giant cloud when I noticed it from the water, planted my Power Pole into the ground, made it extend, and then flung myself right into here! Pretty impressive, huh?"

Much to Goku's slight disappointment, however, Yamcha wasn't exactly that interested in how Goku had done what he had done. Instead, he seemed more interested in the weapon that he had used to actually accomplish that feat…

"That weapon…" Yamcha muttered, bringing out his blade and narrowing his eyes at Son Goku. "Boy! Where did you get that staff!"

"My name isn't 'boy', it's Son Goku!" the monkey-tailed fighter declared, lightly tapping the Power Pole onto the ground and kicking up a bit of sand as a result. "And my late grandpa gave it to me. Why?"

"What?!" Yamcha cried out in disbelief, narrowing his eyes at the Power Pole. "There's only one person who could possess the length-changing Power Pole, and that was the legendary martial artist, Son Gohan! I went to that mountain where I first met the Shepherds with the desire to actually meet him…"

The bandit then turned his attention to Goku, regarding him with a new look in his eyes. Robin wasn't quite sure what to describe it with, mostly because he was currently rolling on the floor in agony, but he could probably describe it as…Respect?

"And you say that your name is Son Goku…Are you saying you're his grandson?!"

"Yeah, what about it?" Goku asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Yamcha bit his lip, before speaking up. "I didn't find him when I went to Mount Paozu…Where was he?"

Goku beamed brightly at this. "Oh, that? Yeah, he's totally dead."

The casualness, and bluntness, with which that sentence was said caused Yamcha to stagger back a bit, though he quickly regained his composure and grinned. He slowly got back into the stance that he had been holding last time, and that familiar purple aura began to envelop his body.

"Well, that's a bit disappointing, I'll admit, but there's one good thing that comes out of it," the bandit began with a smirk, the image of that wolf appearing behind him once more. "You're no doubt going to be a powerful opponent that I can go all out against! Let's hope you don't fold as quick as your brother back there."

Goku grinned in response, getting into a stance of his own. "We both might have tails, but he's not my brother, you know."

"Yeah, if we were related, I probably wouldn't be as bad as a fighter I am…" Robin managed to say, before letting out yet another groan. "Go…Get him, Goku…"

Son Goku nodded, and narrowed his eyes at Yamcha. "Are you ready to do this? I'm not going to go easy on you, you know."

"Heh, I wouldn't have it any other way," Yamcha cockily replied. "On the count of three?"

Goku's eyes lit up. "Sure! One…"

Yamcha sneered at this. "Two…"

Everyone waited and, those who could, watched the scene unfold with bated breath. The whole confrontation was about to be decided with this battle alone.

However, before the word 'three' could be uttered by anyone, another word was uttered, from the direction of the ocean no less.

"KA-ME-HA-ME…HAAAAAAA!"

"What was that?!" Chrom exclaimed, spinning around in the direction that the voice had come from. Despite the 'fog' impeding his vision, he could still make out…Something, in the distance. It was bright, and blue…And it was coming straight at them!

"Duck, milord!" Frederick cried out, tackling his liege and pinning him to the ground. It was rather uncomfortable, especially considering how heavy Frederick's armor was, but there was no doubt in Chrom's mind that it was a better fate then whatever would have happened to him if he hadn't gotten pinned to the ground.

After all, the blue light ended up ripping straight through Puar's gaseous body, eliciting an agonizing screech from the blue-cat thing. In a flash the smoke around the gang disappeared, and floating in the air Chrom spotted Puar struggling to stay afloat, a purple tome clutched tightly to his chest by his two stubby hands. Chrom also noticed that Puar's back had been singed and was bleeding rather seriously.

"I know he's an enemy, but I still feel rather bad for him," Chrom thought to himself, before shaking his head. "But regardless, Puar's holding a tome just like Oolong was. Does this mean that Puar was actually holding his tome the whole time, and yet even in his 'untransformed' state was keeping up an illusion that he did not have one? If so, he must be very skilled at that spell, considering how Oolong could only keep it up for five minutes, while he can keep it up for basically, well, forever. If only we had recruited him instead…I could try recruiting Yamcha and Puar now, but that would make four consecutive new-recruit chapters, and-"

Any and all fourth-wall breaking thoughts that Chrom had were eviscerated when the beam continued to blitz through the air, thankfully avoiding all of his teammates, who managed to regroup with one another.

The same could not be said for Yamcha, however, as the beam of pure blue energy ended slamming directly into his chest, not only catching him by surprise but also causing blood to spurt out of his mouth.

Yamcha screamed out in agony, before immediately being sent flying over the horizon. Puar noticed this, and despite being in immense pain, quickly transformed into a bird and flew after his master.

"Ah! Lord Yamcha! Wait for me!..."

Everyone stared in shock as the two threats disappeared, and slowly they turned towards the direction that the beam had come from. Turtle had returned, swimming towards the shore with a rather happy look on his face (Completely ignoring the fact that two people had just gotten hit by a strange blue energy beam), and he was currently carrying an old man who was most likely the cause of said energy beam.

He had an orange beach shirt on which was covered in black and purple flowers, and it went rather well with both the pair of orange shorts on his legs, as well as the massive purple shell that he had on his back for some reason. He was completely bald, and had a small white beard and moustache. He also had a rather stylish pair of sunglasses on.

In his right hand, he was holding a brown staff that he most likely used for walking, and in the other he was holding a large brown bag that was filled to the brim with items that were foreign to Robin.

Upon reaching the sand, the old man did a rather impressive front flip onto the beach, while Turtle simply climbed onto the shore like you would expect a turtle would.

Chrom narrowed his eyes at the old man. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was the one responsible for that beam earlier.

Whoever he was…He meant business.

Or at least, that's what Chrom initially thought. He saw Goku and Vaike helping Robin back up to his feet while Maribelle attended to his wounds using her healing staff in the corner of his eye, though his full attention was on the old man.

The new arrival quickly flashed a toothy grin at the youngsters, and followed that up by flashing them a couple peace signs. "Yo, yo, kiddos! It looked like you had a little trouble with that guy, so I decided to take care of him for ya!"

Miriel adjusted her glasses after he was done speaking. "You were the one responsible for the strange phenomenon that sent our opponents ricocheting across the horizon?"

"Erm, yeah, I think I just said that," the old man stated, dropping his big brown bag on the floor, letting a few of its contents spill onto the floor, so that he could scratch the back of his bald scalp.

"A-Ah! Master, please. You and I both know that these artifacts are invaluable…" Turtle muttered, quickly gathering up the items and putting them back into the bag. Upon noticing the odd looks he was being given, he quickly cleared his throat and did his best to create a confident smile. "O-Oh my, where are my manners? Ahem, Shepherds? I would like you to meet my master, Master Roshi, also known by many as the Turtle Hermit! He is a master in the martial arts, and is the creator of all sorts of techniques, such as the Kamehameha that you just saw. He's, well, a very big deal and, because of your kindness, will be rewarding you for your good deeds!"

"Yup, that's right," the old man, 'Master Roshi' Turtle had called him, stepped off of the sea animal's back onto the soft sand of the beach and inspected the members of the Shepherds. After a few moments, he looked down at Turtle. "Alright, which one helped you now?"

Turtle nodded, before pointing his flipper at Chrom, Goku, Robin, and Kellam. "Those four expressed interest in helping me, Master."

"You remember me," Kellam gasped, a smile forming on his face.

"Um, why wouldn't I?" Turtle inquired in genuine confusion, tilting his head to the side.

Before that could continue on, Roshi took a few steps forward, lightly stroking his white beard. "Hm, I see. In return for your kindness, I shall give you all an excellent present!"

"A present?" Goku asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

"A-Ah, sir, I assure you, it was nothing," Chrom began, taking a step forwards. "It's simply our job to help the people of Ylisse, nothing more. Turtle was in need of aid, so we gave it to-"

"Nonsense, boy, kind people always deserve to be rewarded for their deeds," the Turtle Hermit interjected quickly, before narrowing his eyes slightly at Chrom from underneath his sunglasses. "Hm…"

"Er, what is it, sir?" Chrom asked, a little bit unnerved from how Master Roshi was looking at him. In the corner of his eye, he could see Frederick lightly gripping his lance.

"Ah, it's nothing, boy," Roshi stated as he took a step back, seemingly satisfied with whatever it was that he wanted to do. "It's just, hm…Turtle told me a bit about you all on the way here and…You're the prince of Ylisse, aren't you?"

"Oh! Um, yes, sir, I am," Chrom confirmed with a nod. He couldn't blame Turtle, since being a literal prince was obviously a big deal, but a tiny part of him really wished that the sea creature had not said anything…

Roshi seemed to have caught on to that little detail and let out a little chuckle. "Heh, boy, Turtle might have already told me, but even if he didn't, that striking blue hair is a dead giveaway. I actually met your father a couple times, and he had the exact same hair and face as you, you know."

The prince's face paled. "You…Met my father?..."

"Oh yes, quite a stiff man, he was," Roshi casually stated, causing Chrom to even wonder whether or not he knew about the fact that his father had waged a bloody war that lasted for longer then a decade and caused both of the nations involved in it to be left in disastrous states.

Thankfully, before that conversation could continue any further, Frederick cleared his throat and approached Roshi. "Please excuse me for my, ahem, 'forwardness', but where exactly do you live, sir? The only other known continent is Valm, and that's east of Regna Ferox and Plegia."

"Ohohoho! I live on a little island a bit south of Ylisse. It's nothing special, to be honest. There's another island near to me where I get my groceries and stuff from," the Turtle Hermit chuckled in response, before looking at the other people he intended on giving gifts to. "Now, let me see if I got this right…Armored guy is Callum, monkey-tail with white hair is Robin, and monkey-tail with black hair is Son Goku. Did I get that right?"

Kellam blinked twice, before raising his hand. "Um, sir, my name is actually-"

"Yup! That's me, I'm Son Goku!" Goku excitedly interjected, pumping his fist into the air.

"Good to know, good to know. I will be giving the three of you, along with Prince Chrom, gifts for being kind to my friend here," Roshi nodded in response, before giving a sideways glance to Vaike. "And, hm…If I recall correctly, Turtle mentioned that one of you tried kicking him. Was that you, by any chance?..."

Vaike's eyes widened slightly, and he suddenly began to whistle while looking in another direction. "W-What?! Hehe, you must've got the wrong guy, man…"

The blonde-haired brute normally would have tried defending himself, but this guy was most likely responsible for that giant blue laser from earlier, and he definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of an attack like that…

Speaking of the devastating attack from earlier, a certain someone was rather interested in it.

"Hey, old-timer, before you give us the gifts, what was thing you did earlier?!" Goku excitedly asked, his tail wagging from left to right as he looked up at the old man. "When you shouted that weird thing and sent that big blue beam at Yamcha and Puar! That was you, right? I'm kinda bummed I didn't get to fight Yamcha, but I thought that thing was really cool, so I'll let it pass!"

"Ahahaha! You mean my Kamehameha?" Roshi asked, a light smirk forming on his face.

"Yeah! That was the word!" Goku responded eagerly, grinning from ear to ear. "Can you do it again? I really want to see it!"

"Hm…I don't see why not, hehe," the Turtle Hermit responded, placing his staff on the ground and once again dropping the bag onto the floor. The contents spilled onto the sandy ground, and Turtle was once again forced to collect them all. "I'll gladly show off to you youngsters. Hehe, it helps that there's a pretty face among you…"

"M-Master! How lecherous! You shouldn't be saying that!" Turtle gasped, before looking at Sully and Maribelle. "A-And those two are children!"

"I-I know that! I might be old, but I'm not blind! I was obviously referring to the tall beauty with the glasses over there!" Roshi immediately responded, pointing his finger at Miriel while looking at Turtle with an angry expression,

Robin glanced at Miriel, and he could have sworn that he saw a light blush flicker on her face for a few split seconds. "Did Miriel actually…Agh, never mind. Something tells me this 'Master Roshi' guy isn't as impressive as Turtle was saying…"

Oolong, meanwhile, let out a boisterous laugh. "Hah! Now THAT I can respect, old man!"

"Alright, alright. But enough dawdling," Roshi said, making a 'pulling up your sleeves' gesture despite the fact that he literally did not have any. He took a few steps past the gang, with the girls of the group deciding to keep him as far away as possible in fear that he might be like Oolong, and looked around at his surroundings. After a bit, he eventually ended up spotting a random brown log lying down on the ground. A smirk crossed his face, and he pointed at it. "Alright, then! Keep your eyes on that thing, youngsters! I'm going to use my special technique, the Kamehameha, to blow it up!"

"Blow it up? Wow, this is going to be interesting," Stahl said with a smile, pulling out a bag of popcorn.

Robin wondered where Stahl even took the bag out from. He also wondered if popcorn even existed in medieval times…

"Alright, so first, you've got to bring your hands to the side like this, and say 'Ka'…" Roshi began, bringing his hands to his side and cupping them. "Then, you've got to channel the energy within your body called 'Ki'. It's basically a spiritual energy that exists within all of us, similar to Mana. However, unlike Mana, Ki can be manipulated with your own body! Of course, this means that it is far more difficult to actually utilize, but that also makes it a fair bit more powerful. Anyways, like I was saying, you've got to channel the Ki within your body, and focus it on your hands. As you're doing this, say 'Me'…"

A light blue ball of blue light began to form within the Turtle Hermit's hands, and it began to grow larger and larger with each and every passing second.

"Then, you've got to focus on the area where you want to unleash your might, and say the next two parts: 'Ha'…'Me'..."

Robin gulped, and slowly took a step back as the light in Roshi's hands began to grow larger and larger. No one really noticed, since they were busy looking on in awe at the sight in front of them.

"And then, once you're ready, you thrust your hands forward and yell 'HA!'…LIKE SO! HAAAAA!"

The Turtle Hermit thrusted his arms forward, the blue light in his hands immediately blitzing through the air and taking the form of a beam of energy. It ripped through the air and ended up colliding with the log, which was actually quite a long distance away, in a matter of seconds. Upon collision, the log ended exploding into a million pieces that flew around everywhere.

Robin immediately winced, jerking his head the other way to avoid the destructive sight. It wasn't anything like it, but the explosion kind of reminded him of the bright white light that took out his old world. Just thinking about how he was literally burnt alive along with his entire old world sent shivers down his spine, and although this little explosion wasn't anything like that old one, which was far larger, it still caused him to get a little scared.

Everyone else was so transfixed by the explosion that they did not notice his reaction, though.

Well, everyone except Stahl, who regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "Er, Robin? Are you alright, man?"

The white-haired boy blinked twice, before vehemently nodding his head. He really did not want to bring any unwanted attention to himself. "Y-Yeah! Sorry, I was just, um, caught off-guard is all…"

Stahl raised an eyebrow at his reaction, but smiled nonetheless. "Um, okay. If you ever need to talk, you can always come to me, alright man?"

"R-Right. Thanks, Stahl," Robin chuckled nervously in response.

Roshi wiped his hands together, before putting them behind his back and turning around to face the Shepherds. "And that's how you do it. Was that satisfactory enough for you?"

Everyone remained silent for a few moments, and then…

"I've never seen such a phenomenon before. Incredible!" Miriel intoned, her tone of voice being monotonous though her eyes shining with intrigue. "This Ki...I must do some research on it posthaste!"

"Even I must admit that I am slightly impressed…" Maribelle admitted shyly, looking away.

"Wow, if I had power like that, I'd be unbeatable!" Sully cried out, slamming her fists together.

"Amazing…" Chrom muttered, crossing his arms. "Is…This why my father met him? Could it have been that my father was trying to learn that technique from him to help him win the war or something?"

Goku excitedly ran up to the Turtle Hermit, looking up at him with admiration. "Wow! That was so amazing! Can you do it again? Please? Please?! PLEASE?!"

"Hahaha! You sure have taken a liking to that technique, haven't you?" the Turtle Hermit asked with a snicker, pulling on his beard slightly. "You're just like Son Gohan, aren't you?"

Goku blinked twice, and immediately backed away. "You knew my grandpa?"

"Heh, I sure did, kiddo. I was actually his master, and taught him everything he knows about martial arts," Master Roshi confirmed with a nod. "He once told me that he found a little monkey-tailed boy in the forest, crying and alone. He then took him in, and raised him as his own. He said that he was very rambunctious at first, but after...Um...An accidental bonk to the head he turned into a good-natured boy who enjoyed training. I will admit that I didn't think you were truly that boy that Gohan took in, even though you had 'Son' in front of your name, but after seeing how you reacted to the 'Kamehameha' technique? Yup, he definitely raised you. How is he, by the way? He stopped sending me messages a while ago."

The monkey-tailed boy once again stared into space for a few seconds, before flashing the old geezer a toothy grin. "Oh, him? He died a while ago."

"O-Oh! I see…My condolences…" the Turtle Hermit muttered, averting his gaze. "To think I would outlive one of my students..."

"Yeesh, first Chrom's dad, and now Goku's grandpa?" Kellam asked jokingly, crossing his arms and looking at Robin. "Maybe he can help you find someone related to you, since you've got amnesia, right Robin?"

The white-haired boy blinked a few times, before realizing that Kellam was talking to him. "Huh? Oh, um, yeah. Haha, maybe."

"What does condolences even mean?" the wild boy asked in response, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Before anyone could answer, though, he quickly shook his head and smirked. "But anyways, how do you control that, um, 'Ki' thing! I want to try doing the Kamehameha too!"

"Hahaha! You're interested in learning, eh? How intriguing…" the Turtle Hermit mused, lightly stroking his chin for a few seconds. Eventually, he ended up smirking. "Heh, how about a deal, young man? Turtle said you and your group are going on a quest right now, right? So how about, once your quest is done, you come here again, and I can train you to learn all sorts of things, including how to properly control Ki. What do you say?"

Goku's eyes widened with glee. "Wow, really?! I'd love that, old-timer!"

"Yo, I'm not like jealous or anything, but didn't you say that you lived on some island far down south of Ylisse or something? How would Goku even get there?" Vaike spoke up, his hands behind his head.

"It would indeed be difficult, for Ylisse does not have a navy or ships either," Frederick added, HIS hands behind his back.

This did little to damper the smirk on the old man's face. "Haha! That's no problem, whatsoever! In fact, I think it could tie in pretty nicely with your gift, Goku. Let me just…"

He turned around, and raised his head to the heavens. Bringing his hands around his mouth, Roshi shouted "Come to me, Flying Nimbus!"

"Flying Nimbus?" Robin thought to himself in confusion.

A few seconds of silence followed, and before Maribelle could call the old man a dumb old geezer, out of the corner of her eyes she spotted a yellow cloud streaking through the sky. The sun was slightly setting now, giving the sky an orangish look, and thus making it kind of difficult to see the yellow cloud. However, as it grew closer and closer, it became easier to do so.

Eventually, the yellow cloud ended up stopping directly in front of the Turtle Hermit, surprising everyone. The old man had a confident expression on his face, and gestured towards the yellow cloud.

"This, youngsters, is the Flying Nimbus. Goku, it is your reward for helping Turtle out," he explained. "You can actually jump onto it, and soar through the skies with it! However, only those with pure hearts can use it. Here, let me demonstrate…"

Roshi tried to jump onto the Flying Nimbus though, much to everyone's amusement, he ended up falling straight through the cloud's fluffy texture and ended up crashing down onto the ground below.

"Eh?! That wasn't supposed to happen!" the old man exclaimed in confusion, scratching his head as he quickly got up to his feet and dusted himself off. "Could it be broken?..."

"Maybe it has something to do with the rather inappropriate comments you made about the Shepherds' mage earlier," Turtle deadpanned, trotting on over.

"H-Hey! We all make mistakes sometimes!" Roshi weakly defended himself.

As the Turtle Hermit and the actual turtle began to argue, Goku trotted on over to the Flying Nimbus and gave it a light poke. The yellow cloud jiggled as he did so, and a grin spread across his face. Goku's tail wiggled, and he immediately jumped onto the Flying Nimbus.

Unlike Roshi, who had fallen through and down onto the ground, Goku remained on top of the cloud.

"Wow! It's so fluffy!" Goku giggled as he lightly stroked the top of the cloud, before grinning and standing up. He jumped on the thing a few times, and it still did not cause him to fall down. "This is so cool!"

Roshi turned away from Turtle and stared in awe at the cloud for a few seconds, before quickly clearing his throat. "A-Ah, it seems that you too can ride the Nimbus cloud. Good. As expected."

"Eh? What do you mean 'too'?" Oolong asked with a jeer. "Didn't you fall straight through it?"

"Shut up porky! I'm going to use my Kamehameha to burn you and then eat you for breakfast!" Roshi angrily screamed at the shapeshifter, causing him to wince and take a few steps. The old man quickly regained his composure, however, and looked back at Goku. "But anyways, yes. You can actually use this cloud to fly around, Goku. Why don't you give it a test run right now?"

"Okay!" Goku happily chirped, before immediately grabbing the front parts of the cloud. Almost immediately, the cloud began following his commands, and everyone watched in awe as the Flying Nimbus ascended into the air. Goku began zooming through around, doing all sorts of cool tricks and stuff. He even went upside down, yet oddly enough he didn't fall down and hit his head or something. It was truly impressive!

Once he was done having fun, Goku went back down onto the ground and looked at the Turtle Hermit with a grin on his face. The old man simply nodded at him once in response.

"Good. It pleases me to know that you've gotten used to the cloud in such a small amount of time," he said as he put his hands behind his back. "Anyways, like I was saying earlier, once you're done with your quest, just pack up any and all items that you think you might need and then command the nimbus to take you south of the continent. You should see a small island with a pink house on it after a few hours of flying. That's where I live. Do you understand?"

"Yup! One hundred percent!" Goku excitedly chirped in response.

Roshi nodded, before turning around to face Kellam, Robin, and Chrom. The three Shepherds gulped, mostly because his gaze was an incredibly intense one, but eventually they relaxed when he began to trudge on over to the brown bag that he had dropped. He bent down, picked it up, and then came back to meet the other members of the group.

"Alright, as for you three, it doesn't really matter what kind of gift you get," he said in a casual tone of voice. "Just pick out whatever you like from in here."

Kellam, Chrom, and Robin all exchanged glances, before looking back at Roshi.

"Um, I think I'll pass," Robin said, raising his hands placatingly. Getting rewarded like this…It was honestly a kind of new experience for him. "I don't really want one. Turtle being able to go home is enough for me…"

Roshi blinked twice from underneath his sunglasses, before letting out an annoyed groan. He pulled back his bag and shoved a hand into it. "Jeez, kid. It's just a gift…But alright, then. Fine. Just tell me, what kind of Mana do you have?"

"Mana?" Robin asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side. "Um, electricity, but what does-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Roshi pulled out a slim yellow tome and chucked it straight at Robin. The white-haired boy let out a surprised yelp, instinctively turning his head to the side. The book slammed into the side of his head and then fell to the ground. After a few seconds, Robin blinked twice and then looked down at the book.

As the monkey-tailed boy bent down to pick it up, Roshi simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeesh, I was expecting you to catch it…But anyways, since you were being weird, I just decided to pick one out for you. That tome over there? That's Mjölnir, a special tome with an incredible history. I don't really feel like explaining it, but basically…Hm…Do you know the story 'Genealogy of the Holy War'?"

Robin blinked twice, before slowly shaking his head. "Um, no. I don't think so, sir."

"WHAT?!" basically everyone else present (except Goku) screamed out, staring at Robin in complete and utter disbelief. A rather uncomfortable silence followed, and then Frederick cleared his throat.

"Ah, now I remember, he has 'amnesia'," the knight said sardonically, causing everyone else to relax. He then turned his attention to Master Roshi. "Perhaps you should…Explain it to him, sir. He does not have the best memory."

"Ugh, of course he doesn't," the Turtle Hermit sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay, let's see…Well, there are many tales of brave heroes who fought against powerful enemies in the past, but one of the most popular ones is called the 'Genealogy of the Holy War'. It's a great tale, but you can read about it in your own time. Anyways, basically, this story actually took place far in the past, and is inspired by real events that actually happened! Basically, in that story, a character named Ishtar used a tome called Mjölnir, and she was so powerful that she was called by many as the 'Goddess of Thunder'. She was also incredibly beautiful, according to many historians, hehe. To think I touched a a book that was once wielded by her…Oh it makes my heart flutter…"

"Wait, are you saying that the tome you're holding is actually THE Mjölnir from one of the greatest books of our time?!" Stahl quickly asked, trying to see if he understood that right.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Roshi replied, snapping back to reality. "And now? It's yours, kid."

Robin blinked twice, and upon realizing just how valuable his gift was, quickly proceeded to pick it up. Once he did so, however, something strange began to happen. His hand was engulfed in a bright, yellow and purple light, causing him to stare at it in disbelief. No one really seemed to notice it, which was kind of weird, but he decided to let it slide.

After a few moments, the light died down, and Robin quickly looked down at his hand. Much to his surprise, a strange purple symbol had appeared on the back of his hand! He quickly brought the tome to it, trying to use its rough surface to rub it off, but it was no use. In fact, now that he had a better look of it...

The white-haired boy quickly compared it to the many symbols on his cloak, and grimaced as his fears came true. The logo on the back of his hand was the exact same one as the ones that were scattered all over his cloak!

"Um, is that supposed to happen?" Robin asked Master Roshi nervously, gesturing towards the new symbol on his hand.

The old man blinked twice, before raising an eyebrow. "Is...What supposed to happen exactly?"

"Eh? Can't you see it? The strange symbol on my hand! It looks exactly like the ones on my cloak!" Robin exclaimed, waving his hand in front of his face as though he was a crazy person, desperately trying to make the old man see it. Unfortunately, his efforts amounted to nothing, and it seemed that the other Shepherds were just as blind as Roshi was, for they could not see it either.

"Are you seeing things, Robin?" Chrom asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

Robin opened his mouth to respond, before letting out a sigh instead. This was probably something related to his whole reincarnation business, meaning that nobody would be able to make sense of it. Even he couldn't understand how he got into this world fully. Shaking his head, the white-haired boy said "I just...Never mind. Thank you so much for the gift, sir. I really appreciate it. However, I'm not sure if I can even accept it! I mean, uh, I can't even use magic, in all honesty. I mean, I want to learn in the future, but right? Nah. A-Also, uh, I've actually already got a tome. Miriel gifted it to me. See?"

Using one hand to hold Roshi's gift, Robin used his other hand to pull out Miriel's old tome. It was crusty, and dusty, and it looked as though it would fall apart any minute now.

The Turtle Hermit stared at Robin with a deadpan look on his face, and after a few moments the white-haired boy gave up.

"Alright, fine. I'll admit that this tome that I have right now is, um, not in the best quality," Robin admitted, briefly glancing at Miriel. The mage did not notice him, though, and this was because she was staring intently at the legendary, high-quality tome in his hands. With a sigh, he put the old book away and then looked at his gift. "So, um, anything I should know about this beforehand?"

"Hahaha! I'm glad you asked, boy!" Master Roshi threw his head back and cackled. "Unlike most tomes, due to its legendary status, Mjölnir will never run out of uses like the average tome would! This means that you can use the strongest spells you want as many times as you want, without fearing that your tome will run out of power! Also, according to the story, only descendants of a hero called Thrud can wield Mjölnir, but you should be able to use it just fine. It'll work for you just as well as any old tome would!"

"Eh? Are you sure?" Vaike asked, cocking an eyebrow at the old man. "I mean, if you're wrong, and Robin can't use it, then it's just a useless book, right?"

Master Roshi shrugged in response. "I'm the one who gave him the tome, I think I know more about it then you do. And anyways, think of it this way: 1000 years have passed since the time of the First Exalt, and one thousand years before that the adventures of the Exalt's ancestor Marth took place. The events of the Genealogy of the Holy War story, according to legend at least, take place a whopping 4000 years before that! I'm willing to bet that a majority of the people here have at least a little bit of Thrud's blood in 'em. He should be fine."

Miriel narrowed her eyes at Roshi. "Your logic is sound to the ears of a plebian. However, despite the numbers suggesting so, that fact is not a hundred percent certainty. According to my calculations, from the top of my head, only about 90 percent of the world's population would be related to Thrud. However, these numbers have been skewered by the fact that the continent of Jugdral, which Thrud is from, has been lost to time countless millenia ago. This lower the percentage considerably. Furthermore, according to the story at least, you needed to have MAJOR holy blood to wield the tome. I highly doubt that Robin-"

"It's a lightning tome, and it works, alright?! Just be grateful I'm givin' you something!" Master Roshi angrily interjected, before looking back at Robin. "Listen, kid, if you don't believe me, fine, whatever. It's still a tome that can help you out. Do you understand?!"

Robin looked down at the cover of the tome that he had just been given. Unlike your usual lightning tome, this one had a black cover with yellow spirals on it. There was also a yellow circle in the middle that had a smaller black circle inside of it. It was a rather intricate design.

The white-haired boy opened up to the first page, and there was already a basic lightning spell listed in there. He let out a sigh, closed the book, put in his cloak, and bowed to the Turtle Hermit.

"Thank you, sir. I'll…If I ever try using magic, I'll give it a whirl," Robin said in a serious tone, causing Roshi to snicker.

"Finally! Hehe, about time you accepted it. At least it seems that you're a respectful boy," the old geezer stated, putting his hands on his hips triumphantly.

"Hm…If that tome truly is authentic…Do you by any chance have any tomes in your possession that a Fire Mage such as myself may use?" Miriel inquired, suddenly very interested in the prospect of getting a new weapon to use and possibly study.

Roshi grinned from ear, and rubbed his hands together as a scheme popped into his mind. "Haha! Well, I was only planning on giving gifts to those of you who actually expressed interest in helping Turtle, but I could make an exception for you. All you've gotta do is show me your pant-"

Turtle slapped his leg before he could finish his sentence, and then turned to Kellam and Chrom. "Please, it's getting late and my Master is wasting a lot of time. I now know why he cannot ride the Flying Nimbus…Just pick out an item so that we can get going as soon as possible, okay?"

Kellam nodded, and looked at Chrom. However, the prince gestured for him to pick an item out first.

"Please, I insist," the blue-haired boy said with a good-natured smile on his face.

Kellam was rather surprised this gesture. "Huh? Oh, um, thank you!"

Gleefully, Kellam bent downwards, which was a bit of a struggle since he was dressed up in his big bulky armor, though he eventually managed to do it and began to rummage through the plethora of items that Roshi and Turtle were presenting to him. Robin managed to peer over his shoulder and saw all sorts of things in the bag. A sword that looked as though it was made of bones, a giant axe with a red circle on it that pulsed with a sickening glow, a dead bird with red feathers for some reason…"

"Wow, all those weapons, and, uh, the dead bird I guess, look so cool, and all I got was a book that may or may not have belonged to a character from…Incredibly ancient history. Wow, 6000 years back. That's a long time. They managed to record history for that long?" Robin thought to himself, slightly impressed. However, he quickly frowned as he remembered how the conversation went. "Actually, wait. Scratch that. This is a book that may or may not even work for me. Once I start learning practice down the line, I've gotta test it out...Man, but I also really need to read that story sometime too, especially considering how it seems to be pretty popular! Heh, it's a good thing everybody speaks and writes English in this world…Or at least, everyone in this country."

Kellam continued to rummage through the pack, looking at every object rather carefully. Despite not actually being the one looking through it, Robin still felt kind of excited since all of the items looked really unique and cool, making it very interesting to look at all of them. He wondered which one Kellam was going to pick.

Miriel felt so as well, jotting down notes on everything she could lay her eyes on. However, all of a sudden, the Dragon Radar hidden in her cloak began to beep and she quickly proceeded to stop what she was doing and pulled it out. It seemed that the next Dragon Ball that they needed…Was located in that bag!

"Kellam," she quickly began pushing through the assembled heroes, and then crouched down to meet the bulky boy at eye-level. "According to the Dragon Radar, the next Dragon Ball's position is actually in this bag. You should make it your gift and take it."

"W-Wait, really? That's super convenient!" Kellam exclaimed with a wide grin, before immediately frowning. "But, um, I kind of wanted to get a new lance…"

Miriel continued to stare at him with that…Emotionless look on her face, and Kellam eventually relented.

"Alright, fine…"

The armored boy continued to rummage through the items, ignoring some really cool-looking lances as he did so. One of them was all-gold with some blue waves surrounding it, save for a silver pointy end. Another one looked as though it was made out of bones, and had a little orange dot on it.

Now that Robin thought about it, a lot of the weapons in the bag looked like they were made out of bones. It was almost like they were relics that were made out of the bones of an entire species or something...

After a bit, Kellam eventually ended up getting what Miriel wanted from him: The Dragon Ball. It had been hiding underneath all of the items in Master Roshi's bag this entire time!

Letting out a heavy sigh as he did so, Kellam got up to his feet and presented it to the Turtle Hermit. As Turtle got to work tidying up everything and putting back all the items in the bag, Kellam said "I…Want this item, please. Can I have it?"

Master Roshi blinked twice from underneath his sunglasses, and pulled them down slightly to ensure that he wasn't seeing things. "Uh, you sure kid? That's just a random orb that I found at the bottom of the ocean about a hundred years. I didn't think it was anything impressive, so I just put it at the very bottom of my treasures. Are you, uh, sure you want it?"

"A hundred years ago?! Is he mad, or is he actually some sort of incredibly long-lived master of martial arts?..." Frederick thought to himself, before shaking his head and stepping forwards. "It may be useless on its own, sir, but this orb is actually a 'Dragon Ball', one of seven scattered across all of Archanea. When brought together they can summon a dragon called Shenron, who can grant any one wish you desire. Our group is actually travelling and trying to collect all of them before a villainous group called the Red Ribbon Army can do so for their own nefarious plans."

"I-Is that so? Yeesh, sounds impressive," Master Roshi muttered, putting his hands into his pockets. "Now I'm starting to wish I didn't offer it to you guys…"

Kellam sighed, and handed his ball to Miriel. She nodded at the orange orb, and lifted it up into the sky. Robin leaned towards her, and looked up at the magical artifact. So far they had collected the one star, two star, four star, and five star balls. Now? Now they finally had the six star ball in their possession!

"Hell yeah! Just two more and we'll be done with this quest!" Vaike excitedly exclaimed as he pumped his fist into the air, before nudging Chrom with his elbow. "Ain't that great, Chrom?"

However, the prince remained silent as he stared down at the bag of treasures that he could choose his gift from. It wasn't that he was ignoring Vaike, but rather that he just could not hear him.

"Uh, Chrom?" the blonde-haired boy inquired, snapping his fingers in front of the prince's face.

This seemed to catch his attention and, in a startled tone of voice, Chrom jumped back before nodding his head. "A-Ah, sorry about that, Vaike. I was just lost in my thoughts for a second. What were you saying?"

"Uh, I was talking about how we only need two more balls until we're done with our quest," the shirtless guy repeated, before frowning and putting his hands on his hips. "Come on, man! You know Teach doesn't like repeating himself! What gives?"

Chrom simply offered his 'rival' an awkward smile, before turning to Master Roshi. "Yes, yes. That's great and all. But anyway, um, Turtle Hermit. It's my turn to pick out a reward, correct?"

"Yep! So, what'll it be?" the old man with a massive shell on his back inquired, gesturing towards all of the tantalizing items that Chrom could get his hands on.

The prince let out a sigh, and looked down at all of them. Swords, axes, lances, tomes, and bows that he had never seen before were all laid out before him, just waiting to be picked. Any one of them could probably be sold for an incredibly high price.

However, despite this, the prince didn't want any of them. He already had the most legendary sword in the world on his hip anyways.

He didn't want any weapon. No, he wanted something else.

Looking up at Master Roshi, and clenching his fists by his side, he said "Turtle Hermit, is it alright if you answer a few questions of mine, instead? That can be my reward."

"Eh? What's Chrom up to?" Robin thought to himself, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh? Oh, um, sure, I guess. If I can answer 'em, I will," Roshi replied, his eyebrows going up in surprise. He was honestly surprised that this young man wanted a question answered, instead of a mighty weapon to help him out on his travels. "But, just so we're clear, my prince, no. I'm not going to tell you the kind of magazines I read, alright? You're too young to know that kind of stuff."

"Aw! What a bummer," Oolong groaned in annoyance, kicking a nearby rock.

"What? Ew, no, I wasn't going to ask about that," Chrom quickly replied, slightly caught off-guard by the humorous answer, before immediately shaking his head and letting his serious demeanor return. "No, I was going to ask…You said you knew my father, right? Well, what exactly did he meet you for? As much as I loathe to admit it, he wasn't the kind of man to make friends for the sake of having them. He would only meet people if it would give him a tangible benefit. In fact, he only married my mother because she had the rare high-level Light Mana in her veins that he wanted to pass down to his children! So, yeah. Why and how did you know my father?"

"I see. So that's what you wanted to know," Master Roshi replied, lightly stroking his beard. So far he had shown a rather carefree, goofy, and silly personality, but now all of a sudden he was incredibly serious. The whole beach became silent, save for the roaring of the waves behind the group and the seagulls high in the sky squawking as they flew about. With the setting sun as his backdrop, the Turtle Hermit began to speak. "Alright then, prince. Let me take it from the top."

"What? Why would Chrom waste his gift on something like that?" Robin thought to himself confusedly, before shrugging his shoulders. "But I guess, if it's important to him…"

A few more seconds passed, and then Master Roshi began to speak.

"Well, there's not much to say despite me hyping it up a lot, but basically back when the war with Plegia was not looking good for Ylisse, and when many soldiers were dying, the Exalt was desperate to try and find a way to turn things around," the Turtle Hermit explained. "I guess he'd heard that a master of Ki was hiding out just beyond Ylisse's borders, because he stole a ship from Plegia and set sail to my island. He wanted to force me into teaching his army the secrets of Ki so that they could win the war. Obviously I refused, because only those who I deem worthy should be allowed to learn it, and I sensed a great darkness in his heart. It took a bit of convincing, and he was kind of annoying because he ended up constantly coming back to my island to try and convince me to change my mind again and again, but eventually he thankfully just stopped coming. Of course, after that he ended up conscripting thousands of untrained peasants into his army, causing a massive number of deaths, so sometimes I guess I feel a little guilty about that…"

Chrom immediately clenched his fists, and the Turtle Hermit noticed this. Before he could speak up, however, Goku quickly chimed in.

"I can't blame him! That Ki stuff is super cool! I've never seen anything like it before I saw you using your Kamehameha attack!" the wild boy stated with a grin, causing the old man to snicker slightly.

"Hah! Anyone can learn how to use Ki, boy. And you recall that attack that hit your friend with the white hair over there? The Wolf Fang Fist, if I heard that correctly? That was a Ki attack," Master Roshi explained, causing Robin's eyes to widen.

"Wait, really?!" the cloaked boy inquired, which the old man nodded in response to.

"Indeed. Ki can be used in a plethora of ways, and from my place on Turtle's back I was able to detect a large amount of Ki being concentrated in his fists. Unlike my Kamehameha attack, it seems that the young man who was fighting you was concentrating Ki in his hands to power himself up," the old man theorized, twirling his moustache around. "The possibilities with Ki are endless! Though, honestly, I didn't know other people who knew how to use Ki existed apart from me. Hm...I wonder where he learnt how to use Ki?..."

"Wow, I really want to learn it right now!..." Goku bemoaned, throwing his head back in disappointment. The other Shepherds found his actions slightly humorous.

"Heh, you truly are Gohan's grandson, aren't you? Don't worry, once you're done with your current quest, you can train with me," the Turtle Hermit chuckled softly, before looking back at Chrom. His expression quickly hardened once more. "I can tell you're taking this all very hard, boy. What seems to be the problem?"

"What?" Chrom simply asked, slightly caught off-guard by the old man's words.

"You're not your father, that much is certain. He did despicable deeds…And for some reason you feel bad about that? Why? You didn't do those things," the old man stated sagely, putting his hands behind his back. "From what I've seen, you're a kindhearted young man who only wants to help others, not caring about any rewards…After all, you went out of your way to help Turtle, and chose to just ask me questions instead of taking one of the items that I was offering you! Don't worry yourself about it too much. You're not your father, and nobody thinks so. Trust me."

"That old woman from the village that Oolong was terrorizing would beg to disagree..." Chrom thought to himself, before shaking his head. After a few moments, he simply let out a sigh and nodded at the old man. "I…Thank you, sir. You've given me much to think about."

"Poor Chrom. You'd think that being the prince would be easy, but the actions of his father have certainly taken a toll on him," Robin thought to himself with a frown.

"That's nice," Master Roshi stated with a smile, before immediately letting out a huge sigh and cracking his back. "But anyways, I think that's enough of that. You've all received your gifts, so there's basically nothing for us to do here anymore. It's getting late, and swimming across the sea at night can be dangerous. Me and Turtle should get going now. Take care, everyone!"

And so, after collecting their stuff, Roshi and Turtle began to swim away from the shore, with the gang waving goodbye to them. Goku in particular shouted rather loudly, promising the old-timer that once they were done dealing with the Red Ribbon Army, he would go and train with him to unlock the secrets of Ki. He couldn't wait!

By the time Roshi and Turtle's escaping forms were no longer visible, it was nighttime. Robin looked up at the sky, and smiled at the moon, which was a quarter full.

The gang continued to just stare out at the ocean, and after a few moments Frederick proceeded to clear his throat. All eyes moved to the brown-haired knight, who quickly placed his hands behind his back.

"Well, the events that transpired today have been…Interesting, to say the least, though unfortunately they took up our entire day," Chrom's bodyguard said in a slightly exasperated tone of voice. "We're going to have set up camp for now and wake up early in the morning tomorrow to make up for the lost time…"

Chrom turned towards Frederick, and after a few moments a small smile began to slowly but surely creep its way on to his face.

"Aw, come on, Frederick. Don't be like that," the prince urged his companion, feeling a little better after hearing the old master's words. He still had…Complicated feelings about what his father did, and how he should act towards the populace, but for now, he felt a little happy inside. "It'll be fun, laying down on the beach, listening to the waves, and looking up at the stars!"

"It sounds absolutely romantic when you describe it like that, milord!" Maribelle squealed out in delight, stars literally shining within her eyes. However, she then proceeded to frown as she lifted one of her boots up. "Though I'm not quite certain how I should feel about laying down on this sandy surface…I'm aware we have tents, but if it got through, I don't know what I'd do…"

"Hey, it'll be fun!" Sully exclaimed with a boisterous laugh, slapping the haughty noblewoman on the back.

Maribelle's eyes immediately darted on over to the redhead, and she let out a slight huff as she rubbed the part that the tomboy had touched. "Please don't touch me like that…Ever again."

The group laughed out loud, and everyone began to chip in and help set up camp. As this was happening, Robin looked down at the back of his hand and grimaced, staring at the brand new symbol. His eyes flickered to the symbols on his cloak, and then back at the brand new symbol on his hand.

"What could this mean?..." he thought to himself worriedly.

---

Meanwhile, at the Red Ribbon Headquarters…

Commander Red paced through his room, his hands behind his back as he stared intently down at the ground. His one good eye was narrowed in anger.

"That stupid old bastard…" he grumbled under his breath angrily. "Where is he?! Ugh, this is what I get for setting an old ass man as my second-in-command…"

He continued to do this for a few more minutes, until eventually Dr. Gero burst through the door to the room, panting as he did so.

"P-Please forgive me for my tardiness, sir," the old man apologized, adjusting his tie as he walked towards the shorter man and bowed to him. "I was hard at work on Project Omega, and seemed to have forgotten our scheduled meeting…Please, forgive me!"

Commander Red angrily looked up at the older man, and his body began to tremble violently. Although the older man's face showed no emotion, internally he was very worried as this reaction meant that he could blow up at him at any moment…

However, thankfully, such a thing never ended up occurring as Commander Red simply let out a sigh, calming down in a matter of seconds.

"Project Omega…That is the mech-suit you are working on, correct?" the leader of the Red Ribbon Army inquired, his one good eye closed as he pulled out a pipe and began to smoke using it. "How is work going on it?"

"Very well, I'm happy to report," Gero quickly responded, putting his hands behind his back. "The workers are of course not smart enough as me, so they struggle to keep up every now and then, but overall they are a great help. Another thing slightly hindering us is the state of our technology. What we're doing is very ambitious…"

"Hmph. You sure do like gloating about your genius in discreet ways, don't you?" the leader of the Red Ribbon Army inquired, suddenly opening his one good eye and cocking a brow at the older man. "Are you trying to subtly imply that you're smarter then I am?!"

'Wh-What? No, of course not, sir. I would never! You truly are the smartest there is. That's why you're the leader of the Red Ribbon Army, after all," Gero immediately replied, bowing his head down and squeezing his eyes shut apologetically. Commander Red seemed happy with this display, simply nodding his head once, though unbeknownst to him it was all just an act on Gero's part. "Good Naga, the commander can be such a child sometimes. Is this behavior why we've had so many losses recently? Hm…"

"Good, good! Yes, I am indeed the smartest being in the world, and most likely even beyond!" the short man exclaimed loudly, raising his hands to the sky in triumph.

Dr. Gero blinked twice as he straightened his back, and then proceeded to clear his throat. "Well, erm, I'm not saying that I disagree with you, sir, but…Anyways, why did you call me here? It must be a matter of grave importance."

Commander Red's face immediately hardened, and he proceeded to nod swiftly. "Indeed, it is. I want to discuss how the Jingle Village operation is going. Do you have any updates?"

"He wanted to talk about that at night?! Gods, I have to sleep!" the older man angrily thought to himself, fighting the urge to scrunch up his nose. Ignoring his feelings, the old man let out a sigh before speaking up. "Well, it's going good, I suppose. The men of Jingle Village have all been captured, and are working hard on getting that Dragon Ball as we speak."

"Good, good…" Commander Red muttered, a small grin slowly forming on his face. "And General Blue? What is going on with his mission?"

"We received a report from him a few hours ago, sir. Apparently, he's located the Dragon Ball, but it's being guarded by a dragon of all things," Dr. Gero informed his boss. "He said that he'll need a few more days."

"A dragon?" Commander Red asked, taken aback by what he had just heard. However, he then smirked proudly. "Hmph. Well, if that's the case, then he can have those few more days! He brings results, and that's what matters! Hehehe, the Shepherds might have collected four Dragon Balls, but we'll get the last three before they can! Hahahaha!"

Dr. Gero simply sighed, choosing not to join in on the laughter. "Should I tell him that according to our sources, they've managed to add a fifth one to their collection? Hm…Probably not. I'll just tell him tomorrow. For now…It's time to sleep."

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Review Responses:

NickNays135: I'm happy you enjoyed it. Yeah, I really love Roshi too! He's super cool. Expect to see him in the future arcs and stuff. Yeah, he could get a bit…Goofy at times haha. The next arc will be…Kind of the same? I don't want to spoil too much, but basically there will be one or two chapters showing Goku's training with Roshi, but since it'll be mostly the same as canon I will instead be focusing on the Shepherds, who will be fighting against the Grimleal in the next arc. As for the exact specifics…We'll have to wait and see haha.

You're right that Robin will be training with Roshi, but not immediately. You know how Yamcha trained with Roshi in canon, but only after he saw how strong Goku and Krillin got? It'll be something like that. Apart from Robin, there'll be another Fire Emblem character that will train with Roshi, but he'll be much later. However, I will say that, in the next arc, there will indeed be one other character who will be training with Goku and Krillin.

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A/N:

The chapter's finally here, haha! Sorry for it being so long after the last one. I wanted to get it out last week actually, but I ended up getting sick.

Um, okay, so yeah. An FE4 reference was slipped in there, haha. Basically every character in Awakening can use weapons like Valflame and stuff, even though lore would state otherwise, so I supposed that Mjölnir was fair game too for Robin this case. It will be explained why its usable though later on. Robin will be using that tome when he eventually decides to start training himself in magic.

And now Goku knows what he wants to do after the quest for the Dragon Balls is over. The gang are going to kind of split up in the next arc, with the Shepherds doing stuff and Goku doing his own thing...But I suppose you'll have to wait and see exactly what I mean.

The Red Ribbon Army, meanwhile, are, as usual, scheming in the background. However, their machination will be brought to the forefront in the next chapter!

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Next time: Robin and the Shepherds traverse Muscle Tower.