Prologue

        The mechs clanked up to the top of the ridge, their condenser
grilles steaming in the quiet mountain snowfall. Two of the mechs knelt,
allowing twin pilots in large metal helmets, heavy overcoats and steel-toed
boots to dismount from the open-air cockpits and walk over to a high point
on the ridge. The third mech stopped a short way behind them; its occupant,
a young man wearing nothing but a thin silk shirt and woolen pants secured
at waist and ankles by rope, stared blankly ahead, his face expressionless,
his dark hair fluttering listlessly in the fickle mountain breezes.
        The two soldiers raised binoculars to their eyes and scanned the
snow-dusted wall known as the Great Northern Ranges. Not far ahead, perhaps
a mile or two more, in a deep cleft in the steep, crumbling rock slopes of
the mountains, a cloud of steam rose up from a group of sparkling lights. 
        "Well, there it is, Daisuke," the lead soldier said quietly.
"Narshe. The oldest mine works in the world."
        Daisuke shrugged, returning his binoculars to his belt pouch.
"Strange place to find an Esper, if you ask me."
        "The Emperor didn't -ask- you," the lead soldier grumped. His own
eyes seemed thoughtful in the shadow of his helmet as he added, "Still,
after a thousand years... it couldn't possibly be alive, could it?"
        "I guess that's what we're here to find out, Hiroshi," Daisuke
shrugged. "I just wish we didn't have to bring HIM along." He jerked his
thumb back at the third mech driver, who had collected a thin coating of
snow in his hair.
        "Hey, orders are orders," Hiroshi shrugged. "The Emperor says we
bring him, we bring him."
        "Yeah, but," Daisuke fidgeted uncomfortably, "they say he took out
fifty Magitechs in under three minutes- barehanded!"
        "That's what I heard," Hiroshi nodded. "If he hadn't stopped to brag
to the Generals, they never would have gotten that Dragon Hair on him." He
grinned confidently as he said, "Of course, now that he's wearing it, he'll
do anything we say. Hey, you!" he shouted at the third mech rider. "Act like
a teapot!"
        The pigtailed boy curled one arm up into an s-shape and bowed the
other from his hip. Slowly, he tipped himself over to the side, saying in a
soft monotone, "Gurgle gurgle gurgle..."
        "Yeah, yeah, that's good," Hiroshi nodded, turning back to his
companion. "See? No danger. He'll march quite happily off to his death if we
tell him to!"
        "He doesn't look very happy to me," Daisuke mumbled.
        "Yeah," Hiroshi nodded. "I guess I wouldn't be very happy either if
I were him." He jumped back up into the cockpit of his Magitech, looking at
Daisuke as he mounted up a moment later. "Onward to Narshe!" he shouted.
"Follow me!" With a grinding of gears and a whine of bearings, his Magitech
lurched down the ridge at a walk.
        "Hiroshi!" Daisuke pointed back across the ridge. "Narshe's THIS way."
        "Oh! Right, sorry..." Hiroshi turned his mech around and pointed it
towards the mountain cleft. "NOW follow me."
        Rolling his eyes, Daisuke set his mech into motion, not looking back
to watch the pig-tailed boy follow. Out of sight, out of mind, Daisuke
thought, concentrating on the faint lights barely visible through the
deepening darkness and thickening snow.
        Now, why did he have the feeling someone was aiming a lance into the
back of his head?

        *       *       *       *       *       *       *

        One thousand years ago, humans and Espers fought the War of the
Magi, bringing the planet to the brink of total destruction. To preserve
both races, the Espers fled this world, taking the power of Magic with them
into the Esper World.
        Now, technology rules the world. Steam, gunpowder and iron shape the
lives of Man, his settlements scattered like islands across the vast reaches
of the wild, wonderous world. The War of the Magi is rapidly becoming little
more than a children's fairy tale.
        But on the Southern Continent, the Emperor of Vector has begun
reviving the dread power of Magic, infusing his soldiers, weapons, and
monsters with its power.
        Is the world on the brink of another War of the Magi?
        And who will stand against the Emperor's total conquest of the world?

        TOO MANY PROJECTS PRODUCTIONS

        in a direct ripoff of

        SQUARESOFT

        and

        RUMIKO TAKAHASHI

        presents

        FINAL FANTASY 1/2

        by Kris Overstreet

        *       *       *       *       *       *

        Well, with all the stuff on my desktop, what do I do? Add something
else to my list of works in progress.
        
        This came on late last night after a long session of re-playing
Final Fantasy III (since I still don't have $200 to buy a Playstation and
FFVII). I remembered reading other FFIII stories and at least one R
1/2-FFIII crossover and being, well, unsatisfied. As I lay in bed, I
thought, I could write something better than that.
        A few minutes later, I grabbed pen and paper and started taking
notes, as the basics for a series re-casting FFIII with characters from
Ranma 1/2 formed in my head. Lines of dialogue for scattered scenes,
castings and re-castings of certain troublesome roles, and finally a
relatively firm lineup and plot synposes for the first four or five chapters
lay jumbled across two sheets of notebook paper. 
        So, in between my web work, my e-mail RPGs, my other writing
projects and the vagaries of life, I'll be writing up chapters of this
story. As you might have seen in the Prologue, I expect to walk a middle
road between the epic drama qualities of FFIII and the screwball lunacy of R
1/2. Both will crop up from time to time as I progress through the storyline.
        Since this is a Ranma 1/2 fic, I can't ask Eyrie to pre-read this,
so I'm looking for a few pre-readers familiar with both stories. Chapter One
will introduce Terra and Locke's counterparts. Terra, as you should have
guessed, is Ranma. Anyone who can guess who I've chosen to be Locke gets a
spot on the pre-reader list straight off.

        Next episode:

        Chapter One - Awakening! Rescue the Mysterious Pig-Tailed Boy!

        (Yes, I promised this with Ecchi 1/2 too. I'll try to work on that
as well...)

        Redneck

Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | "It's Christmas in Heaven, 
http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck   |       there's great shows on TV;
c/o White Lightning Productions         | the Sound of Music twice an hour 
http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/      |       and Jaws I, II and III."
Webmaster for Antarctic Press           | --- A Nybbas Christmas
http://www.antarctic-press.com/         |  ***QUESTION EVERYTHING***