Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. I do not own Tales of Symphonia. They all belong to their respectful owners and you would just be wasting your time trying to sue me so will you stop sending lawyers to my house?
Ranma and the Land of Symphonia Presents:
Chapter 1 – Of Humans and Half-Elves
Being unexpectedly transported to another dimension is not a pleasant experience. The best way to describe ones first transportation would be along the lines of having your body ripped to little pieces and slowly rebuilt piece by piece somewhere else. A weak person would die. A normal man would be in a coma for at least a week. For Ranma, it rendered him unconscious for several hours.Ranma woke with a start. He immediately tried to jump up, only to be brought to his knees by a wave of pain. He bit back a shout and looked around. He concluded that he was in a holding cell, made of a type of metal material. On the opening to the cell there appeared to be a shimmering blue wall of light. Ranma crawled over to it and placed his hand against it finding it to be quite solid.
Although Ranma was not the brightest person in the world, he knew that trying to punch his way out of the cell would be futile. Leaning against the wall he looked himself over to assess his condition.
Despite being in a lot of pain, he could find no visible injuries. Looking at his clothes he found that instead of his trademark Chinese red silk shirt and black pants, he was wearing thin, light brown robes. On his right hand, he was shocked to find that there was a gem there, deeply imbedded into his skin. Taking a closer look at it, he knew that it was futile to remove it for it was too deeply inserted into his skin. It seemed to glow a pale blue with a small hint of red.
"So you're finally awake."
The voice surprised Ranma. He hadn't realized there was someone in the cell with him. Looking around into the corner behind him he saw an old lady there in a similar garb with a similar looking gem on her right hand.
"Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here?" he asked, his voice panicky and quick.
"Slow down child. One question at a time. As to where you are, you are in Iselia Human Ranch. You were dragged here by several desians."
"What is a desian?"
"Hmm, you don't know what a desian is? Your not from around here are you." Said the old woman.
"I don't even know where 'here' is." Said Ranma. From the way it was sounding, he was in a completely different country.
"Hmm, well I guess I will just have to start at the beginning. Your are in the land of Sylvarant. You were drug here by several half-elf guards known as desians to this prison known as a human ranch." Explained the old woman.
Ranma, who had recovered from his pain, stood up. "I can't stay here, I have to get to my pop, wherever he is." So saying, Ranma walked over to the blue wall and threw a light punch. The shock that he received wasn't too bad but the barrier did nothing to show signs of giving way.
"Don't be foolish young man!" chided the older woman. "Its not possible to break out of here. Even if you did the desians would come by the dozen!"
Ranma was hotheaded, stubborn as hell and an egomaniac but the words of this woman were enough to calm him down for Ranma respected his elders, at least those who earned it. "So what exactly are they going to make me do?" he asked.
"Mostly pointless physical labor. Probably to tire us out by the end of every day."
Ranma punched the ground in frustration. He couldn't spend his time here. He had to get back to Jusenkyo, or if what the woman was saying was true, he needed to find a way back to his own world. He noticed the old woman looking at him in shock. "What?" he asked.
"Young man, if you ever want to escape from here you should hide your true strength. If they find what you are capable of then you will either be killed or put in a high security cell," The woman said in a serious tone of voice. Ranma looked puzzled for a minute then looked down at the floor where he realized the cracks had spider webbed out from his hand.
"By the way, I don't believe I got your name young man."
"Ranma Saotome. A pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. My name is Marble."
3 days later…
Ranma's life had taken on a daily pattern. Get up, get fed, and get working. The labor was indeed pointless, consisting of pushing blocks, breaking rock and all other sorts of physical labor. Ranma took Marble's advice and hid his true strength from the desians, pretending to be hurt when their whips hit him, moving just barely as fast as everyone else, but always looking for an escape. He grew to loathe the half elves that simply took pleasure in whipping people for no reason.
Most of the work the desians put them through was done outside and allowed Ranma to get a good view of the surrounding areas. There was a wall that surrounded the ranch about 25 feet high on all sides. Ranma knew that he could clear the wall in a single jump but there was a small problem with that. Well, make that about 20 problems. Specifically the 20 guards stationed with crossbows that seemed to be around the workers. What he needed was some sort of distraction so the guards wouldn't make him a pincushion when he jumped.
Later back in his cell after eating the jail standard dinner, Ranma talked with Marble.
"Tomorrow child, there is going to be a great event known as the light of the oracle. The angels will come down and bestow the tower of salvation upon Sylvarant so that the chosen can begin the journey of world regeneration." Marble said excitedly.
"Huh?" said Ranma intelligently, "What's world regeneration, and what's the chosen?"
"Oh right. I'm sorry I forgot. Best start from the beginning."
Marble then proceeded to tell Ranma the story The Chosen of Regeneration. The land of Sylvarant had started out very prosperous but was steadily falling into decline as the worlds supply of mana, the worlds lifeforce, ran out. When the world was in decline, people like the desians showed up and enslaved humans while the soil became less fertile for crops and droughts would occur. It was up to the chosen of mana to perform the world regeneration ritual to restore mana to the world by releasing the seals at various points in the world.
Ranma's head was spinning from all of the information. Basically some holy man named the 'Chosen' went out to save the world. That much he could grasp. "What is this 'light of the oracle' that you talked about?" he asked Marble.
"Well a nice kid named Genis told me that tomorrow there will be a bright light that could be seen for miles around signaling that the world has been bestowed with the angels blessings. It's also a signal for the chosen to go and start the journey of regeneration."
Ranma only caught the part about the light. Maybe this was his big chance.
Ranma was working outside the ranch doing the easy physical labor, barely able to contain his excitement. He was going to get out of this place today. He was in a hurry too. Although they never seemed to do anything besides physical labor, some of the people had begun to mysteriously disappear. He never saw them again and knew that he would soon share their fate if he did not get out of there.
And then, it happened. A bright flash that illuminated the countryside, the light of the oracle. Everyone momentarily stopped their work, even the desians, to look in the direction from where it came. Ranma took this chance to leap on top of the block he was pushing, then he leaped to the top of the wall. However he couldn't resist one parting gift.
"See ya, suckers!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Many desians turned their heads to him, some even got their crossbows aimed at him, but he was long gone.
Marble was watching from the sidelines. "Good luck Ranma." She said to herself, then turned back to her work.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Well another chapter complete. My thanks goes to the first three people to read my work and critique it. I will answer some questions here.
Max Krugman: No I will not be giving him swords. There are enough sword wielding idiots that are going to be in this story already (somewhere in another universe Kuno sneezes). I was thinking more along the lines of a gauntlet or claw type weapon. It would go well with his martial arts.
Jerry Unipeg: Thanks. What more can I ask for?
Campin' Carl: I will be making my chapters longer, but this seemed like an appropriate stopping point.
For those people that have played the game, remember that they cant kill the humans before they serve their purpose, so they should feed them regularly. Oh and can someone give me a suggestion about how Ranma could get a key crest? I'm kind of at a loss on that one.
Tune in next time for the battle at Martel Temple.
