Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and Fire Emblem is a property of Nintendo and intelligent systems I own nothing and I will never claim to own anything.
A Spark For The Fire
For Ranma Saotome, the victor over Saffron and countless other foes, it was another disgustingly normal Saturday afternoon. The town of Nerima had gone back to relative normality and he absolutely hated it. Normal life's monotony, whose charm had been lost on him to begin with, became actively unbearable. He had been left wanting something bigger and instead he was left with something so... small. Not just small; confining, constricting, imprisoning. School.
Even Ryoga, by any means a constant presence in his life, hadn't even shown himself since the failed wedding… Oh, the wedding. If he had expected a climax to anything following the incident with Saffron, it was that. The chance that something concrete may finally happen between the two of them, instead of a back and forth which had long since run its course in his mind. Now, there was less between them than there ever had been. It felt as if there'd been a death in the house.
Life was at a standstill. No random challenge from anyone, no mystical foes or insane time trips. Nothing… Besides occasionally protecting the school from Principal Kuno's madness.
He at least found something of a brief respite with the weekend. At this moment, he was taking a walk in the open, not only taking in the spring air but trying to distract himself from the crushing ennui. It was when he walked past the cat cafe that the beast known as his stomach made itself known. With a shrug, and not a second's hesitation, he strode inside, hoping to con a sample if not a free meal out of the visit. The first thing which struck him was what didn't - he wasn't immediately glomped upon. He gave a quick mental thanks for that one or however gods that decided he ought to have a break. His next observation, was that the old leathery frog - a harsh description but nonetheless accurate - Cologne seemed to be rifling through what he could only assume and describe as a pile of ancient junk.
Cologne took notice of the youth and gestured for him to come over.
"Over here, Son-in-law" she croaked out. With a breath drawn and a shake of his shoulders, Ranma stepped over to the Elder.
"What's up, granny?" he responded, which granted him a swift blow to his head.
"Well, Saotome," she said, likely attempting to avoid a name calling volley (if there were two apt candidates for such a contest, it would be them), "These represent almost three centuries of collecting and travels. Each one of these little baubles has their own story behind them, every one of them told to have magic powers." Without warning she picked one up and tossed it to him, which he was barely able to catch without wiping out.
"What a load of junk, right?"
Ranma gave her a glare as she rocked back and forth chuckling (which only brought forward the frog comparisons in his own mind). Once his rage subsided, he idly twirled the bit of kitsch around on his finger.
"And what's the point of having it all out? You trying to catch cash for it or what?" He asked before the small bit of porcelain nearly lept to its death, Ranma barely balancing it back onto its tiny table. Would it count as a mercy kill if he let it fall?
The hag's eye twitched a bit, but a bit spent on the discipline of her own clan she opted to let this one slide.
"They've been clogging up my back rooms. I'm hoping someone finds some value in something here and I can finally get rid of them all. I just got one of those foot bath massage doo-dads, and the sooner I can try that, the better."
Ranma, perishing the thought of what shrivelled chicken feet the old lady could have, elected to look around a while at all of the ancient goods, which seemed to range from every part of China and every time. Some of them had to have been ancient when she found them! One's specific glister caught his eye.
Strictly speaking it resembled a shield, with various indentations occupied by multicolored gemstones spread evenly across a brazen surface which age had done nothing to coarsen. Adorning the shield's surface was a strange writing that even Ranma, hardly a man of literature, had never seen before in his life.
Cologne snickered slightly at Ranma's interest.
"Oh boy, has that one got stories…"
"Lemme guess, your kids scribbled on it?"
He, somewhat deservedly, reserved another rap on the back of the skull for that.
"Its origins were lost to time long ago, but over the years it's gained itself quite a few different names. The Shield of Seals, Crest of Flames, Shield of Flames. However, elders back in the village would tend to call it a Fire Emblem."
"Sounds like a bit of crap to me… Kinda looks like you taped a few plastic jewels to a-"
Cologne raised her staff again.
"Yeah, alright..."
"Now… I can't quite remember everything about it, but the only thing known about this it's that, it's insanely old... and at one point, it may have been able to grant wishes"
"May have?"
"Well do you think I'd still be here if it worked today? It was said it used to glow for a moment… Only to stop glowing a few seconds later, of course. Now? Not even that! It's just taking up space. If I can even find somebody to take it it'll be a miracle. Bastard weighs a ton!"
Ranma looked over at Cologne, a slight tinge of excitement standing up the hairs on the back of his neck.
"Maybe, uh... I can take it off your hands? It's… kinda cool looking, honestly." He said with an inordinately small voice for him. Cologne took a moment to consider his request, internally debating whether or not she could use it to her advantage. Ranma watched the internal struggle like a tennis game of her iris' and pupils.
"Go ahead and take it. You'd be doing me a favor! Maybe it'll look nice on a wall. Beats me."
Ranma grinned and nodded, his appetite either satiated or hammered into submission by his brain for once.
"Thanks, old ghoul!" He said as he quickly exited the cafe, long gone by the time Cologne would want to give his noggin punishment with her stick.
For some people, buyer's remorse sets in after a day or so of purchase. With him, it was almost a whole ten minutes.
"What a piece of junk…" He chided himself as he ran a hand across the deceptively smooth surface of the shield. He pressed his thumb into the indent at the top of the shield, which a more attentive listener may have noticed the small clicking sound it made after being fondled. Ranma, however, was not a very good listener.
"A wish, huh? That'd've been cool. Maybe even given me a cure…" He snorted a bit at that, but with an underlying bitterness. "As if…" he murmured, kicking a stone. "That thing's been imprinted on my DNA or somethin'."
"Although…" he said to himself, as fantasies of fighting, triumph, action… even rekindled romance began to dance through his mind. He wanted something. Something that he could be proud of. Something that he could claim as being his own. His own contribution to the world that he didn't have to filter through the eyes of the grand scheme of things. He wanted to be the grand scheme, to play a part in something that would make his days at school seem paltry by comparison. Whether this was his own delusions of grandeur or a more deep-seated desire for confirmation is a question not even those closest to him could answer, but the idea was almost erotically tantalizing to him.
"If only you still worked…" he said, pressing in on the same bright crowning jewel. However, the relative stillness of his mind made him aware of the click. Something in his mind clicked along with it. He held the treasure at arm's length, his fingers tight along its edges, and eyed every one of the gemstones. With a deep breath, he began:
"I wish… I could be someplace where I could make a difference."
All at once the gemstones on the shield began to glow and make a high-pitched whistle. Ranma yelped and his arms trembled as both of the sensations began to eclipse his surroundings. He felt the sensation of falling- no, not just falling, falling during a cyclone. The stones glowed brighter and brighter until they were nearly blinding, burning themselves into his pupils and seemingly engulfing everything. Nothing of his surroundings remained.
To the outside world, it was a brief flash of light. In that flash the little town of Nerima got that much smaller.
Naga, the Divine Dragon, was always watching something. The Saotome boy had caught her eye not only because of his larger than life ego but because of his impressive latent power. She had quietly observed his battles with the prince Herb, and more recently his defeat of the creature Saffron, whose power would rival even Duma's destructiveness. Regardless of the aid he had received, or what fluke may have secured his victory, she considered it quite a feat for who was in every other way a mere mortal.
With everything threatening to engulf her world in a larger conflict than it had ever known before, she scanned time and space for a pure and powerful soul to aid her children. Ranma proved to be her most promising candidate. She would explain it to him- eventually- but she knew enough to know that if she told him directly... That she had dragged him into this war, away from every person he had ever known and every familiar dwelling of his... He would likely be less than willing to help. With his own desires clear, however, she knew something would call to him. Despite his chaotic exterior and his often abrasive manners, she knew that a good heart beat beneath his breast. Perhaps this would be the push he needed to overcome his own limitations. For now, however, she couldonly hope that her children, the royal family of Ylisse, would be able to intercept this wild boy and mold him into a man worthy of himself.
"Chrom, we have to do something!"
"What exactly do you propose we do?"
"I-I don't know…"
The bickering voices were by any definition an unpleasant way to wake up. Ranma stirred with a groan, blinking at the sunlight and the curious dampness of his surroundings. His first thought was that the Tendo's had finally kicked him out. It made more sense than trying to take a literal dirt nap.
"Hold on, I think he's waking up!" said one of the presences. Ranma let out another groan in response as he leaned forward.
"I don't suppose I'm going back to sleep any time soon" He muttered to himself, as he simply raised himself to his feet, almost floating.
Now erect he could see the sources of those voices. One, the older one, seemed near his age. Blue hair and a similar muscular physique, but also much taller than Ranma. He sported an expression of complete bewilderment with how simply Ranma raised to his feet. He was wearing some kind of armor, but to Ranma it seemed rather unsuited for combat; his right shoulder was left completely exposed.
Ranma then looked to the female, much shorter than the man. Everything about her was childlike; her blonde hair tied into pigtails, her puffy dress which made her look like one of those porcelain dolls he read about, her large eyes and tiny face. She had to be younger than either of them.
The man cautiously raised his arms and took a step back.
"Listen, kid, we're not gonna hurt you."
"No! Not a scratch. Promise!" said the girl, holding her stave behind her back to try and prove her point.
"We'd just, uh, like to know your name."
"Yeah, and what village you're from."
"Lissa!"
"W-Well, you know. As soon as you're ready to say it. Take your time." she said, smiling awkwardly and blinking to try and look innocent.
Ranma shook his head to try and make sense of it all. His body felt somewhat exhausted for whatever reason, like he'd been kicked and tossed around in some kind of storm. He rubbed his head.
"Ranma… " he said, cracking his neck. "Saotome. And, uh… Nerima? I can't get too much more specific than that."
"Ran-ma Sow-toe-may?" He repeated, his brow cocked, visibly trying to figure out the spelling.
"Nerima Village? Are you from another continent or what?" asked the girl, her eyes rolling up as she seemingly racked her brain for both the name and the village.
Their own confusion resulted in double as much for him. And then, like a fever, a chill descended across his body as the realization hit his mind and matter at once. Shivering, the words caught on the roof of his mouth.
"W-Where am I…?" he eked out, though it likely sounded less coherent.
The two figures exchanged a worried glance.
"Where in the hell am I?" he said again, much more loudly, almost screaming. His two friends looked for the words to try and tell him. Wherever he was from, it was a long way from where he was now.
Authors note thing I don't know. So I finally got around to writing this a while ago, but I recently had a friend of mine look over it, and damn! Did he do a banger of a job. Damn! Does my friend deserve most of the credit behind this chapter. I laid the ground work out and he cleaned it up and made it damn good. Like a lot better than it originally was. So hopefully he doesn't mind keeping it up for the next chapter.