Robin and Lucina knew where the hot spring was this time around, and they realized that it was actually only a few yards from the door leading to the staging area. How they missed it the first time was beyond Robin.
The couple skipped the awkward conversation this time and just went into their respective changing rooms without speaking to eachother. However anyone looking at their faces could see that they were still very uncomfortable with the idea of being naked in front of each other.
Robin slipped out of his coat and other clothes and wrapped a towel around his waist. He emerged from the changing room at the same time as Lucina again. They both immediately looked away from each other. But Robin suddenly had a spurt of courage and decided he could at least look at his wife when she was wearing a towel.
Robin slowly turned his head towards Lucina and he saw that Lucina must have had the same thought as she was already looking at Robin. Both of their faces reddened immediately. Robin focused all of his self control into containing his arousal and he walked towards his towel clad wife and gently grabbed her hand. His heart was beating so hard it was almost audible.
"This is way harder than I thought it would be." said Robin.
Lucina just simply nodded in agreement keeping her eyes locked with his.
They walked towards the bath to see that it was a little more populated this time around. The two they met earlier were present: The angelic hot-spring fanatic Pit was floating on his back, fully clothed as usual, and the graceful Palutena was resting against one of the decorative rocks.
But there were others present this time. Link and Zelda were having a one-way conversation where Zelda would speak to Link, and Link would just nod or shake his head. The man who defeated Chrom in the qualification matches was present speaking to an anthropomorphic fox and bird. A slender looking blonde haired woman who previously Robin had only seen wearing a skin-tight blue suit was talking to a cartoonish looking young boy. Lastly there was a monstrous creature sitting alone, whose most defining feature was the enormous spiked turtle shell on his back.
Robin and Lucina removed their towels and slipped into the bath. Eliciting a relaxed sigh from Robin as he sunk into the warm water. But then Lucina immediately started wading further.
"Alright let's get some information!" she said in her "can-do voice".
Apparently she never caught on to the fact that Robin wanted to relax a little first. Not knowing when to take a break was one of Lucina's characteristic flaws after all. Robin sighed and followed her, knowing that when she wanted to get something done, there was no chance of stopping her.
It appeared everyone was already in mid-conversation aside from the shelled monster. It went against his better judgement but Robin doubted they would be able to butt into any of the conversations being had.
"I guess the large turtle monster is our only option." Lucina whispered to Robin before he could say the same thing.
Robin was getting a little disturbed by how in sync their thinking had been lately.
They waded towards to beast who didn't look too pleased to have company.
"Excuse me, we are new here and we would like to ask a few questions about this tournament." said Robin.
The beast's eyes widened a little and his semi-hostile expression faded. Robin assumed he liked the idea that people would come to him for wisdom.
"Very well. My name is Bowser or 'King Koopa' as some call me." said the turtle beast in a deep voice.
"Well I'm Lucina: Princess of Ylisse and this is my husband Robin our Grandmaster Tactician." Lucina responded.
Robin felt the tension dropping as this encounter revealed to go much smoother than the one with Mewtwo.
"So what exactly do you want to know?" asked Bowser in a slightly condescending voice.
Robin and Lucina got closer to him so they wouldn't have to raise their voices.
"Glad you asked." said Robin "We want to know about a specific competitor who arrived today called 'Mewtwo'" said Robin.
But upon uttering the name "Mewtwo" almost everyone present went silent and stared at Robin. The only people unfazed were Pit and Palutena who didn't seem to even notice that everyone had stopped talking.
"Was it something I said?" Robin thought to himself.
Bowser let out a sigh and closed his eyes.
"So... he's back." said Bowser in an ominous tone.
"I guess." said Robin "We weren't even sure if he was here before or not."
"Oh he was here alright. In the tournament before the previous one." said the anthropomorphic bird.
"Most of us were hoping he was gone for good." said the blonde woman.
"He's an incarnation of hatred. An abomination." added Zelda.
Everyone else nodded in agreement with Zelda then began speaking to their conversation partners again but with a more ominous tone. Robin and Lucina turned back to Bowser.
"The guy has incredible psychic power that makes him crazy strong." said Bowser "not as strong as me of course, but still he shouldn't be taken lightly." he added.
Robin noticed a certain heat from Bowser's breath. Not in the way someone with bad breath would, but rather an actual fiery heat as if he was speaking to a fireplace.
"Do you know anything about fighting him?" asked Lucina.
"Newbies like you two should try to do anything you can to avoid fighting him I would say. But somehow, I get the feeling you poor suckers don't have a choice." stated Bowser.
Bowser folded his giant arms.
"I've been in plenty of scraps with him. What I've learned is that you try to keep a distance from him when you engage him at first, stay out of arm's reach or he will use his powers to bend your bones in ways you didn't know they could bend." said Bowser with an expression that had both concern and sadistic glee in it.
This statement sent a shiver down Robin's spine. He was glad Mewtwo never used any such ability during his fight with him.
"Another thing is that you should never broadcast any ranged attacks, if you give him time to react he will turn whatever you shot at him against you. If you manage to hurt him enough though you should start trying to get within closer range of him. This will give him an opening, but he is also very fragile. It only takes one good hit to send a weakened Mewtwo flying." Bowser said while nodding, prideful of his own wisdom. "Other than that all I can say is good luck, and trust me, you'll need it."
On that note Bowser stood up and left for the changing rooms. Which was a relief for Robin because, while he didn't want to admit it, he was intimidated by Bowser's size. It looked as if he could break Robin in two with little effort.
"I think that's enough information." said Robin.
"Yeah, now let's go train for our fight!" said Lucina as she grabbed Robin's hand and pulled him out of the water.
Robin tried to object but was ignored.
"So much for getting some relaxation." Robin thought as Lucina dragged him away.
Apparently she was so eager to train that she didn't even notice that she forgot to put her towel back on. Robin gulped at the sight of a nude Lucina and his heart began to race.
They got to their respective changing rooms and Robin began dressing himself. But he couldn't get the idea of his wife's bare skin out of his mind.
"It's going to be a long training session." he muttered to himself as he put on his jacket.