Here we go! The first chapter, let's do this!
Disclaimer: I donut own Fire Emblem or anything else y'all recognize in this fic.
Chapter I: My Best Friend Turns Into A Dragon
December 31, 2014
New York City
Wolt POV
Hi there, my name's Wolt, the son of two wonderful folks by the name of Wil and Rebecca! They work at this big company with an acronym of LEL, which is kinda funny, but that's not the point. The thing is, Lycian Enterprises hosts a New Year's Eve party every December 31, and the employees are encouraged to bring their kids along. So here I am at a late-night party, along with my best friend Roy.
From what I knew, Roy was the long-lost son of Mister Eliwood, one of the higher-ups at LEL who's also the childhood friend of CEO Hector. Mister Eliwood lives right next to us, so when Roy and his mom suddenly appeared out of nowhere, we met and quickly became friends.
~Flashback, Nine Days Earlier~
It was late at night and I was alone and awake at home. My parents had gone to an important business meeting and left me at home alone while they were away. I could take care of myself by just microwaving some food and playing around while I wait for them to come home. I'm smart enough to not let anyone in the house, and if someone did get in, they'd have to deal with the traps.
Oh yeah, I have this weird talent to make small contraptions out of everyday objects. You know that old movie, Home Alone? Yeah, I can sorta be like the kid in that movie, except I have more applications to my inventions than just defensive machines. I could also make stuff for attacking, like a handheld snowball launcher made of plastic, rope, and rubber bands.
Anyway, so tonight I was guarding the house while watching TV, when I suddenly heard the doorbell ring. I looked outside the window and saw my parents, and with them was Mister Eliwood.
I went down to meet them. "Welcome back, mom and dad! Hello, Mister Eliwood!"
"Oh hello there, little one." He replied, "Come with me, there's someone I'd like you to meet."
"Really?" I asked as we walked over to his house, "Who is this person?"
"He's my son. He and his mom were missing for a long time, but some kid managed to find them." He knocked on his front door, and it opened, revealing a kid my age with bright red hair. He kinda looked like a kid version of Eliwood, but I noticed a very subtle difference. While his father's eyes were sky blue, his own eyes were more of an icy blue.
"Oh, hi there!' Mini-Eliwood greeted, "I'm Roy, who are you?"
"I'm Wolt, your new neighbor!" I greeted, then shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Roy."
"You kids go along and play now," Mister Eliwood said, then looked ahead and met eyes with an icy-haired woman (his long-lost wife, I presume) and winked. "Me and my wife have a lot of catching up to do."
We kids just sat around and had some fun, playing around while talking to each other. I learned that he used to live in Canada and that his mom was Canadian, and that he liked baseball and sometimes practiced fencing.
"How about you, Wolt?" He asked me, "Can you tell me a little about yourself?"
"Sure thing, Roy!" I replied. I always loved meeting new people, and somewhere in my mind I knew we would become friends. I told him about my unusual abilities and my penchant for building contraptions.
"Interesting..." Roy said, "All that stuff you do, that's pretty cool. I once met a guy..."
The conversation continued for a while before it was time for me to go back home. Over the next few days, we went outside and played in the snow in our backyards, often having snowball fights, in which I showed him the power of my snowball launcher. He was pretty impressed and we had fun in our snowball war, although I noticed that whenever he threw a snowball, it somehow felt colder than normal snow (which is saying something), and sometimes, when he exhaled, the air in front of him solidified into frost instead of forming wisps of mist.
Strangely enough, when I went to bed that very night nine days ago, I had a strange dream. I couldn't remember all of the details, but I remember the words "dragon", "manakete", and "destiny", alongside something about a "demon dragon", a "man in purple", "legendary weapons", and a "son of both man and dragon".
What could it possibly mean? Was I playing too much fantasy video games? No, that couldn't be it. I haven't heard or seen the word "manakete" in any game, book, or anything else before. Where could that word have possibly come from, and what did it mean?
I shook off those thoughts and poured myself another glass of cola. I started to feel sleepy, and I felt a bit homesick. I took a glance at Roy and his eyes told me the same thing. He wanted to go home too.
"Hey, Roy." I began as I chugged down my soda, hoping to get a confirmation from him.
"Yes, Wolt?" He replied.
"Wanna go home instead of sticking around?"
"Sure! I'm exhausted." I notified our parents and prepared to set out for our homes, which was just a block or two away from our current location, CEO Hector's house. As we left, we waved goodbye to Hector's daughter Lilina and began our quest to get home.
Of course, we weren't empty-handed. To defend ourselves, Roy had brought a baseball bat with him (he also used it to smash a piƱata earlier in the party). I brought my snowball launcher with me. Since it was still wintertime in New York City, I could use it anywhere on the streets to distract any attackers with rapidly-fired snowballs. If they came up close, I could use it as a weapon to cause some blunt damage. Nothing major, but it can still cause quite an injury.
Our journey was quite uneventful, that is, until we reached my front door. We heard footsteps coming from behind and turned to see three thugs sneering at us.
"Well well well, look what we have here." The dude with the sunglasses said, "Waddaya think, boys?"
"Seems to me that red kid is the son of that big-shot business-dude, boss." The guy to his left observed, staring at Roy, whose frosty eyes glared back with no sign of fear, "I suppose he'd fetch a pretty price if we held him ransom, no?"
"Great idea!" The guy to the right said, and made his move to grab Roy, only to be met with a bash from my friend's bat. We looked at each other and screamed at the same time, "RUN!"
I pulled out my snowball launcher and loaded it up. Soon enough, the sound of flying snow filled the air as the thugs were pelted with a barrage of frost. I snuck up behind one of them and give him a well-deserved kick, and he fell to the ground and got buried by a fresh batch of snow. The remaining two tried grabbing me, but I swiftly rolled out of their reach and Roy came in, swinging his bat so hard that the two thugs skittered a few meters away.
The amount of strength my friend had at that moment... it was scary.
I continued to launch snowballs at them and hopefully stall until the cops arrived. That is, if they heard the commotion. Roy continued to defend himself with his bat, swatting the thugs away as my snowballs slowed them down. The thug buried in the snow finally broke free of his frosty confinement and attempted to throw a punch, but I ducked and bashed my snowball launcher into his stomach, bringing him down once again.
Once again, the thugs were down to two out of three. They started to gain the upper hand against Roy, as I could see Roy starting to grow weary of swinging his arms around. To keep the pressure off of him, I did the only thing I could think of at the time:
I threw the snowball launcher at them, and it hit the leader square in the head.
I expected the man to crumple at the impact, but I miscalculated. Instead, our foes locked their eyes on me and started to advance. I began throwing snowballs manually in an attempt to delay them, but my efforts were futile. The leader grabbed me and I found myself thrashing in his grip, kicking and punching and calling for help. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Roy staring with a look of rage. Another thing was off with him:
His eyes were blood-red. Not his natural icy blue, but a shade of red so deep it could strike fear in the hearts of men.
"You... dare HURT my FRIEND?!" Roy snarled, but his voice was different. It sounded feral and reptilian.
The thug leader chuckled. "So?" He taunted, "Got a problem with that?"
In response, Roy just roared and a snowstorm formed around him, knocking all of us to the ground and making the thug boss release me from his grip. I took this opportunity to sprint away from the criminal and observe the scene unfolding before me.
The snowstorm strengthened for a moment before dying down, and in Roy's place was now a turquoise wingless dragon. Was that... Roy? Did my best friend just turn into a dragon? This was just so weird.
The dragon began breathing frost towards the thugs, and I scrambled to find a way to help it. If this dragon was really Roy, I'm going to find a way to aid him. After all, if it wasn't for me getting stuck in the grip of that thug, he wouldn't have transformed.
If his frost breath followed the laws of physics, then that would mean that if it was concentrated in a smaller stream it would hurt more due to the pressure on the fluid. I made a run for the box in front of my house which contained yard tools and stuff, and dug out a big funnel, a few rubber bands, and a few feet of spare hose. I strapped the funnel to the hose using the rubber bands, with its mouth at the end. I tried to get the dragon's attention by whistling, and he immediately turned to face me.
"Roy!" I called out, "Lemme hold this to your mouth, okay?" He seemed to have understood and nodded in agreement, and he lowered his head, allowing me to hold my improvised contraption in front of his draconic maw. "Now!" I announced, and he began to blow frost breath again, but this time, it was pressurized and hit really hard, sending the thugs' bodies (all three of them, including the dude on the ground) across the street...
...and right at the feet of our parents.
"Oh..." My dad started,
"...my..." My mother continued,
"...gods." Mister Eliwood finished. As Roy transformed back into a human, his mother quickly ran over to him as I helped him stand up.
"Roy, are you okay?" Mrs. Ninian asked, "What happened, my little hatchling?"
"Need... Sleep..." My friend replied hazily as he collapsed, probably fatigued from the fight.
I've got some explaining to do.
A lot of explaining to do.
And there it is, Chapter 1 is complete! I feel it's a substandard start, but at least the story proper finally begins! Now, the next chapter will be the spark of adventure, where the driving forces of the looming quest shall be revealed, prompting our heroes to start their journey. Stay tuned!
This is Vanillite the Dragonslayer, signing off.
