Seraphim's First (And probably craptacular) Fic Idea

[Seraphim]

Fanfic Idea No. 1

Type: Crossover: Sailor Moon/Nanoha/[No permanent idea, yet]

Characters: Usagi and the Inner’s in the main part.

‘Prologue’: Continues straight from the meeting with Guardian Cosmos.

Six months after freeing the Cauldron from Chaos and returning to Earth, in which only very minor supernatural beasties stupid enough to attract the attention of the Senshi are dealt with, but even then they start to get the point after a couple of months and begin to avoid Juuban and surrounding districts, so the Senshi end up focussing more on their ‘egular lives and get some peace and relative relaxation.

However, after a while, they all, even Usagi, start to get antsy with the lack of action, so Setsuna and Queen Serenity (through the terminal underneath Crown) suggest they start learning more about their powers, and restart the training that they hadn’t even fully finished by the time Beryl attacked.

Main story:

Two years after the end of the prologue, because of the training all the Senshi can utilise much greater amounts of their magic without transforming, and are stronger/faster plus being far more skilled, but are still far more powerful in their Senshi forms, which also stronger than before.

Tentative third series ideas; One Piece, Forgotten Realms, Naruto(Shippuuden)?

I’ll go with the ‘dimensonal rift’ idea, to get the Inner’s an’ Usagi there.

Causes

One Piece: Some pirates and Marines clash near something from the civilization before ‘Blank Century’.

Forgotten Realms: From when Mystra tried to get Elminster out of hell.

Naruto: Something to do with Naruto learning Hiraishin…?

Miscellaneous: All of Nanoha that appears is the devices/magic/‘Barrier Jackets’ etc.

Silver Millenium style magic circle: symbols of the planets around the outside, then zodiac symbols with a crescent moon and many-rayed sun in the centre(similar to ‘Clow circle’?)

Sample Devices:

Arc Light - Usagi
Type: Intelligent
Standard form: A round blue-white jewel set on bracelet
Device Mode: Golden-yellow ornament shaped like a segment of an orange with a larger version the jewel, 2 1/2 long white handle, dark blue grips. The head attached so 3/4's of the 'segment' curve up and around the jewel.
Shooting Mode: [Still to think up]
Sealing Mode: [Argh! >.<]

Eosphoros “Dawn-bringer” – Minako
Type: Armed
Style: A chain-sword, similar to Signum’s, in yellow, but with no bow form, as the bow is Rei’s schtik.

New Artifacts: Device Frames. Enables Devices to take a wider variety of forms depending the type of frame. [Only rough ideas on how to persue this…>.<]

[Tovath]

My only suggestion is don't but to many series into the story all at once.

[Seraphim]

My only suggestion is don't but to many series into the story all at once.

I'm only going to use S.M and one other, no characters from Nanoha'll appear at all. It's just I can't seem to decide on what the other series'll be, that's why I said tentative idea's.

[claymade]

Hmmm... Hard to say much, without knowing more of what the actual plot would be. What are the goals? What are the obstacles to the goals? Who are the enemies? Who are the allies? Most importantly, what are the character tensions?

With regard to what you have here, I'd personally beware the "take the characters and give them a big initial power boost" plot element. That has a tendency to feel contrived, especially in the case of the Senshi, who aren't canonically really into the whole DBZ level-grinding-training thing as far as I've seen. Having a departure from the norm like that--both in terms of power and character--as part of the setup for your fic strikes me as feeling... stretched.

Why is such a drastic powerup necessary anyway? It seems to me that they could hold their own--in the One Piece universe at least--quite well without it. Naruto-verse might be a bit more problematic, but IMHO not so much from the strict "power level" aspects so much as the utter-sneaky-bastard level of trickery that the ninjas can operate at. Haven't read any of the others, so I don't know how plausible it would be for them.

But yeah, the most important thing won't be how you get the Senshi wherever you want to get them, or what new magical powers or gizmos you bestow on them. It's what happens to what characters, and how they react to that and to each other. Practically any premise can be made to work--it's what you paint inside that framework that really defines a fic.

[WG_Writer]

Your idea is still in what I call the impulse phase.

this is not a bad thing but what you should do is think of what you are doing and why. What I mean by this is to look at your idea and ask a number of questions based on why.

examples:
Why would the senshi's new powers resemble something from Nanoha?
Why use the Sailor Senshi at all?
Would Ranma be able to replace the senshi and the plot be unaffected?
Why specifically magical training, why not martial arts training too (not specifically Ranma, just standard "real world" level training)
Would the plot work with Nanoha as Sailor Moon

I know in this regard that seems harsh, but you need to ensure that there is a reason for most of what you do.


Now to help with some of this:

Have a plot item creation engine... i.e. Pluto, moon cats, Chibi-usa supply the intelligent devices and decribe them as training tools. My recommendation is to mention the nanoha universe(s) in passing, but refer to it as current or historical connections. This will fix the power/cross over question.

to use the senshi at all you should probably focus mostly on the "Inners" the outers will add to cast bloat more then likely.

You need a trigger for the training and an explaination, such as Usagi complaining that if everyone was stronger then she would not have to keep going through the trama of seeing everyone die all the time, or perhaps poor performance with a minor monster.

As to the third series crossover, be careful in your choice, and which senshi you choose, Anime or Manga. in all likely hood after this type of training manga Ami could probably freeze at least a third of Japan under a foot of Ice. Anime Ami probably could cover Tokyo in fog at best. This is the challenge, you need to power place your Senshi and then pick an opponent that could either take them on by power or by numbers. Otherwise there really is no story there. if you have ideas other then the fight being important then place who ever the opponent is at the desired level.

Naruto: some characters such as Akatsuki could be a threat to senshi when fighting in small numbers. Itachi could likely take any senshi just because of his gengi-jitsu so if you have a cross there then you have actual threats. Further since it does seem to be placed in an almost secert society location with modern technology does lend itself to be compatiable with the senshi world. the Akatsuki's plans for gathering the tailed demons would possible be something that the senshi would take interest in.

One Piece: lets face it, the devil fruit eaters for the most part might be an annoyance at best, In truth there are only probably a small handful of characters that could take a senshi. it would comedown to more of a fight of skill with some of the stronger ones. Luffy being a major one, the one who ate the lightning fruit for a second. ones like the weight fruit would be simply pathetic to even Hotaru, one good surprise shot from the silence glaive and its over.

Forgotten realms: I can not advise here as I have no familiarity.

[Seraphim]

claymade: Their overall power doesn't increased very much at all (in Usagi's case there barely any difference) since there isn't any extreme need for it, and it's only noticeable in the Inners and to lesser extent in Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna. It's really their skill (HTH and otherwise) and control that's increased to any appreciable degree. It's pretty much shown that the Senshi can use some power without transforming, so I decided to build on that. The idea is there is some 'overlap' between Senshi-form and 'Normal'-form, the training just increased said overlap, so I had them train so their new abilities wouldn't come straight out of the blue, the reason I did that is that they would be able hold their own in place like One Piece without having to transform, at least against the 'weaker' people.

WarGiver: I wasn't actually going to have any character from Nanoha appear at all, I was just using it for the idea of the Devices and for new abilities. Really I'm using other things for inspiration, Nanoha is just the biggest.

Hmmmmm. I'll have give this some more thought.

Thank you all for raising those points!

And, I've finally decided on the series. One Piece! Not much of a surprise there.

[claymade]

...the reason I did that is that they would be able hold their own in place like One Piece without having to transform, at least against the 'weaker' people.

Interesting. Why is it important that they be able to do so?

And, I've finally decided on the series. One Piece! Not much of a surprise there.

Sweet!

[Seraphim]

Interesting. Why is it important that they be able to do so?

I think it's that I want them to be strong enough to be able surivive, but still have to struggle towards their goal (finding a way back home and eventually other things as meet other characters), and grow with it, but not be so strong that they blow through the higher level people without batting an eyelash, which their end-of-series Senshi forms are, even without training.

Sweet!

Yup.

[Comartemis]

Here's a suggestion for Mercury's device; it needs some work, as it's only somewhat based on Nanoha's devices, but it could work.

Frostbyte
The seed for this is the gem in Mercury's tiara. When activated, Merc's gloves become covered in an intricate pattern of runes and change shape to become more like cloth gauntlets that reach to her elbows. When using a specific mode, the gloves become the base for an armor upgrade that accompanies the weapon in question. The gloves have four distinct modes: Melee defense, melee offense, seal, and shooter. Defense creates a force-shield around one of Merc's gloves, forming a sort of buckler. Offense forms an energy blade that erupts from the gauntlet just over the knuckles. Seal creates a smaller version of the Offense blade, but anything it hits becomes locked in a solid block of ice. Shooter was inspired by Gunslinger Moon: the armor on Mercury's gloves reassembles itself into a small chaingun locked in place under Mercury's forearm. This gun draws from Mercury's well of magic to create a nigh-unlimited supply of icicle bullets.

I think shooter would work especially well with Mercury's visor working as a targeting computer.

[claymade]

I think it's that I want them to be strong enough to be able surivive, but still have to struggle towards their goal, and grow with it (finding a way back home), but not be so strong that they blow through the higher level people without batting an eyelash, which their end-of-series Senshi forms are, even without training.

Hmmm, so are you saying that they wouldn't actually be able to access their Senshi forms at all in the One Piece world?

EDIT: By which I mean, if they're in anything even resembling a life-and-death struggle, and they can transform, why on earth wouldn't they?

[Seraphim]

I actually thinking of a boots/baton-rod-thingy combo for Ami. Something along the lines of Subaru's 'Mach Caliber' (only not roller blades) or Linali's 'Dark Boots' and the Caduceus Rod from Millennials.

[WG_Writer]

one thing you could go with is greek mythology, your comment with Ami and boots made me think Hermies. Mythology is always great source for inspiration. Although that would make Rei hard... really what would you hide something that symbolizes Ares as? I Helmet is the best thing that symbolizes him... perhaps a Tiara... well just a thought...

[Seraphim]

Hmmm, so are you saying that they wouldn't actually be able to access their Senshi forms at all in the One Piece world?

EDIT: By which I mean, if they're in anything even resembling a life-and-death struggle, and they can transform, why on earth wouldn't they?

Hn. Maybe an adverse reaction to being exposed to the energy put out by the pre-'Blank Century' thing(?) and being dragged be between dimensions by complete surprise and agianst their will? Though I'm probably grasping at straws here.

one thing you could go with is greek mythology, your comment with Ami and boots made me think Hermies. Mythology is always great source for inspiration. Although that would make Rei hard... really what would you hide something that symbolizes Ares as? I Helmet is the best thing that symbolizes him... perhaps a Tiara... well just a thought...

I was going to keep with a bow for Rei since she does practice Kyudo/is in the Archery Club at her school.

[claymade]

Hn. Maybe an adverse reaction to being exposed to the energy put out by the pre-'Blank Century' thing(?) and being dragged be between dimensions by complete surprise and agianst their will? Though I'm probably grasping at straws here.

I don't know much about the manga Senshi's capabilities, but could it be something just as simple as being separated from their transformation pens somehow?

(See, this is one of the reasons I like the anime Senshi. They're ever so much more portable.)

Even as things are, I think you'll find it many not be a trivial task to prevent the "true" nature of the power tiers from injecting a feeling of condescension to the fic. If all the Senshi have access to is a slight smidgen of their real power then that helps--but it still doesn't change the fact that all they're using is only a slight smidgen of their real power. As such, the "emotional footprint" in your fic of the power disparity would have to be handled very carefully.

[Seraphim]

That's the problem with manga Senshi, by Infinity they don't seem to use transformation pens anymore.

But, from what I've seen in One Piece, even supposedly 'weak' characters are capable of doing outrageous things i.e. Usopp and Mr 4's baseball bat, Nami's insane leaps near the end of the Water 7 arc.

Against people like Luffy or Rob Lucci, Ace, Enel (Aokiji and Smoker, too, I suppose), I think even the manga Senshi (in Senshi form Infinity-arc?) would have trouble. At least in one-on-one fights.

And that's not even mentioning Whitebeard, Blackbeard, Shanks and the other two Yonkou or even Gecko Moria IIRC.