Robin trains with Chrom

The sounds of battle rang echoed throughout the nearly empty Ferox Arena, blades clashing from a fierce confrontation. In another world, this might have been evidence of a life-or-**** clash: in this world, however, it was merely the sound of a friendly sparring bout between two allies.

Robin and Chrom, the tactician and leader of the Shepherds, respectively, were locked in a fierce struggle, but just how **** that struggle looked would depend on the keenness of the observer and their knowledge of the situation…

“You’re still holding back,” Robin told her ordinarily brash opposite, her Levin Sword dancing through the air to lock with the Sealed Falchion Chrom wielded. “We’ve already had this discussion: hesitation on the battlefield will get you killed!” The tactician’s arms crossed in the air, the fringes of her sleeves and hem of her robe levitating slightly as she adjusted her footing effortlessly.

Chrom was no magic user, and he needed two hands firmly on his sword to parry the magic strikes. In an ordinary training session, the swordsman would be on the offense, which made it clear his mind was somewhere else. Robin frowned disapprovingly, engaging in a quick flurry of slashes. “I didn’t expect him to be this far off his game…”

Before their past few two-on-two battles as partners, Robin and Chrom had met in this arena in order to sharpen their skills. When they arrived in this world and learned they would be **** to fight all manner of unusual unknown combatants, their first training session had had begun with grim severity. The two were familiar with putting their lives on the line and even losing comrades for the sake of their noble goals. In that first training session, both had been prepared to stop just short of a mortal blow…

… However, that fear had turned out to be unfounded. After holding back with her magic, Robin had let loose with a Thoron bolt, holding back just slightly so as only to badly burn her opponent. However, to both of their surprise, Chrom had simply been launched into the skyline, disappearing into the horizon only to return a short time later, as though by magic.

Robin recalled this memory fondly: fighting for one’s life with the stakes of humanity versus zombie-like Risen one day, only to find the stakes reduced to pure sport and injuries reduced to a mere flouting of gravity, had left them not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Their sessions after that changed: the two strengthened their bonds as partners by going all out, fighting as two who knew the threat of **** but now found themselves freed from its grasp. For a while after that, they had been fool-hardy and brazen. It was only after being trounced in combat by two dogs, one wearing a skirt and the other accompanied by a duck, that the two had (with some embarrassment) once again decided to take the competition seriously.

The sparring had been fierce, and their ability to read each other had grown. Chrom almost never held back. So what now had him so timid…?

Robin was asking the question, but it was rhetorical. She already knew the answer, since their last training session. Chrom had gotten the upper hand on her after (for once) finally avoiding her Levin Sword strikes long enough to drain its magic and **** her to use her Bronze Sword. Against a fighter as skilled as himself, she hadn’t stood a chance. Chrom had carried his momentum into a sweeping, underhanded strike…

Robin felt her own taciturn face grow flushed, not caring to remember any more than that. Suffice to say, she had reinvented their training session with defense as a priority. “Chrom, you and I both know the next battle is going to be different from any we’ve faced. We’re both adults, so let’s act like it.” As Chrom threw another half-hearted blow towards her, she held up one hand for a time out, shutting her tome with the other. She caught her levitating weapon smartly, then sheathed it. “I need to hear it from your own mouth. What, pray tell, is special about the upcoming battle?”

Chrom clicked his teeth, sheathed his blade, and crossed his arms. He initially cast his gaze moodily into the stands of the arena, but, finding nothing there, fixed his focus on Robin again with effort. “Lucina. We’ll be fighting Lucina. Gods… to think she would also end up in this realm?”

“Yes,” Robin responded. Although she said that, she held a frown and shut her eyes, a face that should tell Chrom he’d given the wrong answer. “Our friend and your precious daughter, Lucina. I know that will be a difficult fight for you, but I want you to keep in mind that we battle for the honor of the Shepherds. We may not know the purpose of combat in this world, but we do know that if we continue to fight and win, we’ll control our own fate. Lucina must be prepared for that as well. Keep that in mind. Now… what else is different?”

“Um…” Chrom muttered, stalling. Evidently, he’d hoped the fact that Robin was entertaining his dummy answer meant he was getting out of this awkward conversation. “… She has a mystery partner?” he fished, sounding unconvincing even to himself. That was another correct answer, but not the correct answer Robin was looking for. “Normally, I rely on your scouting to inform our strategy. Since you haven’t told me anything of her partner, it’s a safe bet you don’t know anything about the devil. Am I right…?”

Robin gave him a strained smile that said “two strikes.” “Yes! A mystery partner is impossible to prepare for, when our foes may hail from any corner of the imagination. However, that also means he or she may be a more inexperienced competitor. Now, is there an elephant in the arena you’d like to address?”

Chrom finally reneged, meeting her eyes with a mixture of emotions. “… The laws of combat… Er, the manner of damage… That is to say, the effects of damage-“

“Yes,” Robin agreed, finding suddenly that she didn’t want him to say it, either. “That. Something changed, as we saw in our training, and as we witnessed spectating the Goddess’s combat with those odd creatures earlier. Yes, you were witnessing the Goddess quite well, weren’t you, Chrom?” she said flatly, gazing at her tome as though this conversation weren’t important enough to stop her multitasking.

“I-I can’t leave all the scouting to you, now can I?” the noble defended himself with an uneasy grin. “In any case, I’ll thank you not to treat me like a child. You know that on the battlefield, I’ll keep my wits about me. For that matter, I’ll protect your dignity!”

Robin smiled, glad for the sentiment. “I appreciate that, Chrom. But, allow me to remind you, we are both adults. Why, the two of us have even, ahem, seen each other disrobed before, if you recall,” she added, feeling a bit of color in her face in spite of her point. She cleared her throat. “The world didn’t end. No kingdom fell to ruin. Do you understand my point? If the moment comes to choose between protecting my dignity and your life… well, our victory, at least… I expect you to prioritize victory.” She paused, looking for his confirmation, then frowned a bit, seeing his eyes locked on her own. “What is it?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.

Chrom grinned and reached out. Robin flinched defensively for a moment, thinking he’d decided to resume their sparring, before he grabbed the fringe of her hood and drew it up, shrouding her face in its shadow. “How’s that? If your opponent can’t distinguish your identity and gender, they may not be able to use it as a tactic against you.”

Robin’s flushed face was only slightly hidden in her shroud, so she tilted her head down to hide it further. She knew it wasn’t the right time to feel her heart skip a beat. How could she tell Chrom to divest himself of sentiment and emotion when she felt this way? She wondered if the commander knew… She wondered if he felt the same way, or his offer to protect her dignity was just as a friend and noble. She tried to clear her head after the unintentionally intimate contact. Unfortunately for Chrom, she found something that cleared it right up. “Oh… so, you’re saying that if my hood is raised, you can’t even tell I’m a woman?”

“Exactly! The way you dress obscures your figure entirely. No one will be the wiser,” he declared, clearly proud of having taken the lead on strategy for once.

“… Well, that’s excellent.” A vein pulsed in Robin’s forehead as she raised her tome, summoning fire to her fingertips in preparation for a magic attack. “Since your flawless strategy is prepared, I think we have more time to practice before the match. You’re not ready for this…!”

Chrom’s cries shook the empty stadium as he spent some time learning to dodge Robin’s most aggressive magic attacks before their next match began.