Of Espers, Time travellers, aliens, and magical girls

[mondu_the_fat]

Life in the SOS brigade had been quiet (and peaceful) for the past month or so. Quiet, that was, until Haruhi introduced their newest member, a mysterious tranfer student from Juuban high...

The are two possible hooks. I prefer the first, although the second feels less akward. The third is possible if the story were kept first-season only. A mix is possible:

- The senshi's exploits have occasionally found their way to mass media. Despite this, anyone who hasn't had some direct contact with them tend to view them as urban legends. Except Haruhi, who'se convinced that youma, droids, and the magical girls that combat them are real. If this were the plot hook, it wouldn't be necessary to explain just exactly _how_ a senshi would join the SOS (no more than the other members). Haruhi may have simply willed it.

- Pluto, suddenly unable to view back in time and occasionally seeing a grey future full of rampaging blue giants, is coordinating with the other factions (likely the same one as Mikuru's). A senshi is sent to Haruhi's school (deliberately in the middle of the year along with a fawning e-mail to the SOS website to catch Haruhi's attention). I'm not too fond of this as there is already a time traveller in the series. The concept of time travel is also a bit different from the two shows.

Which Senshi? Pluto herself would seem to fit the bill, although for that to work a bit of age regression would be needed to match haruhi's age. Besides, there's already a cryptic member in the SOS. Somehow I doubt Neptune and Uranus would be willing to go along with Haruhi's idiosyncrasies. Saturn would fit, since her personality doesn't already match anyone of the SOS. Moon -- no, since long-term undercover work don't fit her. Mercury would work, but has too much overlap with Yuki. Mars seems serious enough to pull off such an assignment, but she and Haruhi might not get on so well (not a good idea). I'm leaning towards Jupiter because she's quite unlike any of the SOS members, and as such Haruhi would be more likely to approach her. Venus has always struck me as someone whose flightiness is just on the surface, but there are enough genki girls in the show.

* For those who are wondering why difference in personality is so important, Haruhi tends to lump members into a certain role in the SOS. The quiet girl (alien). The club's mascot (time traveller). Her Slave (normal guy). A yes man (esper). Beautiful, talented, extrovert leader (Haruhi herself).


Story:

- Monster attacks in Tokyo has started appearing. This makes Haruhi ecstatic, and drives her to find these monsters and the heroic senshi. Haruhi being what she is, resulted in the _increase_ of monster attacks.

On the senshi side, they first experience youma and other low-level opponents ... then beryl, Dark Lady, Mistress 9, the animates, and whatnot. Think SM:Another Story. Apparently, Haruhi has been resurrecting them, despite the best efforts of the planted Senshi to distract Haruhi.

(insert random adventure here, including vignettes of each resurrected bad guy... some have had ephiphanies and it seems not everyone is out to for world domination; other magical girls [including completely fictional ones... such as a "Sailor V", when Venus is already in the Senshi] pop up)

Despite all these threats, there was even a worse one -- Haruhi decides to form her own combat waitress squad. Their first encounter with the monsters resulted with her being hurt badly, and the world nearly ending because of it.

Some of the bad guys decide to kidnap Haruhi while in her comatose state. This was either to keep her asleep, or to mind control her [likely, via illusions) to do their bidding.

Senshi rescue her yadayadayada

The problem is how to end the story. Convincing Haruhi that magical girls aren't real could be fatal (to the senshi, at least). Heck, even convincing her that the enemies aren't real could be fatal, as they are directly related to the senshi. However, she can't be let to continue looking for monsters and senshi -- the simple act of wanting them to exist is wreaking havoc on reality. I suppose the best solution would be to make Haruhi lose interest and simply drop the matter, but how to go about it?

[Knight of L-sama]

An interesting idea, I'll admit. Personally I think that Jupiter or Saturn would fit best as the infiltrating Senshi, but that's probably just my personal bias.

One thing that you didn't quite cover is where the Senshi would fit amongst the factions observing Haruhi. The time travellers, Itsuki's agency and the Integrated Data Entity (or at least factions within it) aren't exactly on the best of terms and are likely to trust a new player in Haruhi game even less.

Also don't be too quick to discount Kyon as just an ordinary guy. There are hints in the anime and even more in the novel that he is far from ordinary despite appearances.

[mondu_the_fat]

Not so sure how the senshi and the various factions would view each other. I guess it will depend on what the senshi will be planning to do.

The time travellers probably wouldn't care one way or another -- their version on time travel isn't fixed. Likely they'd like the time rift to be fixed, and maybe that's something Pluto could agree with.

The Integrated Data Entity (as a whole) does not want Haruhi rebooting the world and loosing track of her until they can finish studying her. If the senshi decide to "let the genie out of the bottle" or make her unhappy, likely the IDE would oppose them.

I'm not so sure what the espers want. I'm pretty sure they don't want armaggedon, but I have a feeling they like the status quo -- after all, Haruhi is the source of their powers. Like the IDE, they wouldn't want the senshi fooling around with Haruhi. They probably won't go as far as the IDE is willing to go (like murder), though.

[Spokavriel]

Another thing to consider in the Time Travelers/Pluto dynamic. Chances are in bringing these stories together they are from a future without a Great Freeze but also without any signs of Crystal Tokyo.

Could be something to play with. Could Pluto switch to actively wanting their future to save the majority of Humanity at the cost of her Choice future?