Authors Note: Sorry to keep you waiting readers!
Wait… I have readers? Oh that's right, all four of you.
Well, I contemplated drawing this out to follow the Path of Radiance storyline, so I'd have to edit the previous chapter to have Greil die somehow to keep the storyline intact (maybe Greil has a heart attack after watching Ike do that? :P) but in the end, I decided not to write this fully – I'm sorry, but there's another idea that's eaten up a lot of my time. Look for the first chapter of that soon!
And I think you'll all like the other idea better (which is a spinoff of this one, but still).
So hopefully you'll look forward to the new project, and who knows. Maybe one day I will get around to writing this out, having this follow the Path of Radiance storyline, with a Radiant Dawn max stats Ike go through it, though I think it'd get boring and repetitive quickly. Maybe just on selected moments like the prologue and the Black Knight fights and other funny moments.
But enjoy this little piece I've written – it's based off the Prologue in Path of Radiance …
Oh, and spoiler alert for passing mentions of the Endings of PoR (end battle vs. King Ashnard) and RD (Ike's memory scene and end battle vs. Ashera).
And numbers mean footnotes at the end!

This morning, Ike was out sparring with his father.

But no matter whatever Ike tried, he just couldn't land a blow. And his father was shrugging off all his attempts easily.

Ike tried another flurry of slashes, only to have Greil block each, then push him back as if he were nothing. Ike recovered and was about to try to strike again, when he noticed his father thrusting the point of the training sword towards his face. Trying to backstep, Ike instead lost his balance and fell flat on his back.

"Well, Ike? You had enough?" Greil asked.

Ike sat up slowly, looking angry. He was definitely better than this! He'd done this before, taken down King Ashnard, went up against a Goddess … and yet he still couldn't get one hit on his father?

He leapt up from the ground with gritted teeth, and swung the practice sword again at his father, who blocked both attempts, and pushed him back on the third. Ike recovered swifter this time and came back with a strike aimed towards Greil's midsection, which was also blocked effortlessly. Greil pushed with the sword, causing Ike to flail backwards again. Ike then decided to try a vertical swipe …

Which was blocked by Greil again, holding his practice sword horizontally.

Greil looked through the crossed practice blades with a stern look and a hint of a smile, as if he was gauging Ike's strength. Before Greil or Ike could make a move though, a voice interrupted them.

"Dad! Ike!"

A brown haired girl in a yellow dress with a blue scarf ran down the pathway waving at them.

Greil lowered his practice sword.

"Oh, Mist."

Ike took full advantage of the distraction. He reared up and struck …

And missed as Greil had noticed and anticipated the move. His father nimbly sidestepped and as Ike, guided by the forward momentum of the strike fell forward, Greil smacked him hard in the back.

Ike flew a few metres down the clearing, his training sword flying from his hands and rolling into a bush somewhere.

"Ike? Oh no!" Mist exclaimed as she began to check on him.

Ike groaned from the impact, but apart from that and his breathing, he was lost to the world, lost in a memory ... of his mother.

But he knew what had happened to her. Sephiran had blocked his memory of the incident, and it had been unlocked in the Tower of Guidance.

As the memory faded, he heard humming he faintly recognized.

Opening his eyes, he pulled the yellow piece of fabric off his forehead that Mist must've placed to mark a patient.1

He got up and looked towards the sound of the humming, and found Mist picking flowers.

He walked over. "Mist ... that song ..."

She looked over from picking flowers. "Oh you're up. 'Bout time!"

Something about her smile reminded him of his mother somehow.

Mist stood from where she was picking flowers and got closer. "Are you all right?"

Ike grimaced a little, rubbing his back where he'd just been struck. "Nn... Yeah, I'll be fine."

Greil walked up from behind them. "So, the sleeping prince awakens!"

Mist turned her attention to her father. "Father! I can't believe you! I know those are practice swords, but they're still heavy! You have no right to be so rough on Ike."

Still looking at Ike, Greil responded, "If this is too much for the boy, he'll never make it as a mercenary."

"But-"

Ike decided to interject here. "Mist, you don't have to worry. I told you, I'm fine."

Greil laughed a bit. "Ha! You'd better be. Now grab your sword and get ready!"

Mist looked incredulous. "What? Don't tell me you're going at it again! But-"

Ike tried to calm his sister down. "Just until I land a single blow. I'm not giving up until I can get one good hit in on Father."

Greil and Ike took ready positions. "I like your resolve, Ike. But it takes more than a strong will to... Hm?"

Both of them lowered their weapons noticing someone approach them. Ike was tempted to try attacking now, but his back and being knocked out a few moments ago stopped him from trying anything. Instead, he thrust the training sword into the ground.

A green haired youth about Ike's age burst into the clearing. "Aha! I knew I'd find you here!"

Mist smiled at the newcomer. "Hi, Boyd. What brings you here?"

Boyd smiled in return. "Nothing special. You said you were going to get the boss, but you never came back. I got picked to check up on you."

Mist facepalmed. "Oh! Sorry, I got caught up with Ike and my father."

Boyd chuckled a bit. "It's nothing. Besides, I figured I'd get a good laugh watching Ike get worked over by the boss. You...look fine. What happened?"

Ike stared as best he could right into Boyd's eyes. "Nothing at all. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Only to have Mist blow his tough guy image and interrupt, "You just missed it. Just a minute ago, he was out cold."

As Boyd started smirking, Ike turned to his sister. "Mist!"

Mist started laughing as Ike rolled his eyes. "Ha ha! Sorry."

Greil motioned to Boyd. "You came at just the right time, Boyd. You can be Ike's sparring partner."

Boyd looked askew. "What? Me?"

"I'm beginning to think it would be better if he sparred with someone closer to his own skill.", Greil said, looking over at Ike.

Ike, overhearing the conversation drew his training sword from the ground. "...I understand. Thanks for your help, Boyd."

Boyd let out a huff. "Hmph! I don't know about this "to his skill" business, but I'm ready!"

As Mist and Greil backed up, Ike and Boyd took up their positions. Boyd swung his axe to signal for Ike to begin. "All right. I'm ready for you! Let's go!"

Ike moved towards Boyd as the latter stretched. Boyd opened his mouth to taunt – "Hey! What's the hold – uhh" – stopping when he found Ike was in attacking range and right in front of him.2

Mist called out from the sidelines. "You can do it! Boyd's got nothing! Take him out!"

Boyd called back. "'Nothing'! I don't have nothing." Realizing what he just said a second later, Boyd kept talking, "I mean, I have- I mean...", which gave Ike the opportunity to attack.

Ike smacked Boyd's left shoulder, the force of the blow pushing Boyd back. As Boyd lifted his axe to counter, Ike followed up with another attack, this one connecting with Boyd's shin.

Boyd dropped on a leg to show that he was finished with the practice session. Looking at his shin start bruising up, he commented, "That-that wasn't too bad"

"Boyd, you're such a loser." Mist called out.

"Shut your trap!" Boyd yelled back, still holding his shin.

Greil nodded approvingly. "Good work, Boyd. That's enough."

Boyd grimaced. "Oh, all right!" he said, and hobbled off the training field. Mist handed him a vulnerary.

Greil kept talking. "Your swordsmanship was decent enough, Ike. Don't forget how it felt. It won't always be this easy."

Ike nodded. "I know."

Greil continued, "Now that you're done warming up, it's time for you to face me again."

Ike grit his teeth and adopted a ready stance. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Greil nodded. "But first...Mist!"

Mist leapt up from where she was tending to Boyd. "Right here!", she yelled, and ran up to Ike. Boyd continued rubbing the vulnerary on his shin where the bruising had diminished slightly.3

Mist handed Ike a light brown gourd. "Here you go, Ike! It's a vulnerary." As Ike took the item, Mist advised him "I'd recommend using it now, before you fight Father. Last time, he knocked you silly."

Greil gave Mist a nod and took up a position on the training field. Noticing that Ike wasn't using the vulnerary, he cautioned, "Always take time to heal your wounds in a battle-even small ones. By the time you think you're in trouble, it's probably too late... Don't get into that situation."

Ike showed that he had heard by pocketing away the vulnerary.

"Get ready, Ike-here I come!"

His father ran towards him, shouting, "Give it your all!"

And tried an upward slash at Ike's left knee, which would have connected, if Ike had stood still. Instead, Ike stepped back, bringing his sword close to the left side of his body, then with an usual burst of speed, attacked.

It looked like Ike had gone through his father, but actually Ike had rushed in, then shifted over to the right to pass his father, while holding his practice sword in such a way that it would smack his father's midsection, then followed through.4

"Ungh..." groaned his father, collapsing to a knee from the hit.

Ike gave Greil a moment to catch his breath. Something about that had seemed too easy.

Mist ran up shouting accolades.

"Ike! You were great!"

Ike knew that wasn't the case.

"Father, you were holding back, weren't you?"

Mist looked confused. "What? Is that true?"

Greil simply nodded. "If you could tell the difference, that means you're improving."

Boyd ran up to join them, his shin all healed now, commenting, "You know, I wasn't really giving it my all either..."

Mist interrupted him. "That is such a lie."

"Bah."

Ike ignored the two. "So, Father, does that mean you finally admit that I'm ready?"

Greil stared at him for a bit. "What, to join the company? To take on a job?"

Ike nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Boyd's already out there on the battlefield. I'm ready. I'm tired of being a trainee."

Boyd broke from the argument with Mist to protest, "Listen, the difference between you and me is that I'm a professional."

Mist interjected, "A professional who just got beat."

"That was just random chance. Random chance."

As Boyd and Mist argued some more, Greil tilted his head. "You've got a point, Ike... All right. Tomorrow will be your first day as a full-fledged mercenary."

Ike couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Really?"

"But! If I think it's too much, you're back to trainee status. You'd better work hard."

"No problem. Watch- I'll catch up to everyone in no time."

"We'll see. We'd better be heading back to the fort. Everyone's waiting."

1 – And the first footnote! I made that part about Mist marking her patients with a yellow rectangle up. But seriously, where else could the yellow fabric have come from? And why did it even show up? :P I guess that's what I get for paying too much attention to detail. I hope you recognize how I'm trying to describe everything – the vertical strikes, horizontal strikes, making sure all the dialogue fits in, etc., and I hope it's making sense with the story.

2 – Another footnote! I was wondering whether or not to have the characters be aware of the game mechanics. Something like ... "Ike knew he had a 10 percent chance to critical" or in this case, here's what I really wanted to put in:
Boyd: "Hey, what's the hold – wait, you're supposed to attack me next turn!"
Ike: "I moved seven squares."
Boyd: "You're only supposed to move six! (Gets owned)"

3 – What are vulneraries? I think of them more as liquid in a bottle that you'd apply to the affected area, and it's be a portable mini heal spell. So Boyd's applying it over his shin right now. Maybe it's like a liquid ointment or something. Any ideas?

4 – Ike's Ranger critical. I hope I described it accurately, I haven't seen it in a while. Not Aether this time, cause it'd get too repetitive.

I'm tempted to write one more about this, but first, leave a comment/review to help me improve!
Until next time, nublet765 ~ out!