Line #9 Fanfic/TheLife


1	''The Life'' is a ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' Fan Fiction dealing with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the life]] of one Francisco Castillo, better known as Frank. It starts off with Frank joining the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and making it through [[TrainingFromHell boot camp]]. After he's done with he is deployed to fight the Covenant. His first mission ends up going not so well with Frank and his team having to make an emergency orbital jump to leave their crashing ship. Frank is the only survivor of his squad.
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3	Soon after Frank meets [[SoleSurvivor Pavel Klaus]], whom he becomes fast friends with. From that point on the duo starts earning their paycheck and kicking alien ass. The story is, paraphrasing the author, what you would get if you grabbed an extra from the Halo series and gave him the spotlight in a television series as opposed to a film. It covers over nineteen years' worth of war in nearly 230 chapters. It's a pretty humorous fan fiction (albeit one that has gotten darker with every passing chapter) with well-done action sequences that don't usually go over the top. Written fairly realistically (as realistically as you can get with {{ScienceFiction}}) it gives a different perspective on the Halo Universe.
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5	It can be found [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7100689/1/The_Life here.]]
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7	----
8	!!Provides Examples Of:
9	* ADayInTheLimelight: So far there have been a few full chapters from different point of views. The first one was appropriately titled [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin A Day In The Limelight]] and featured Pavel as the narrator. The second chapter featured UNSC Army Ranger Yevgeny Nezarian, narrating events happening in parallel to a previous chapter.
10	* AlienInvasion: What'd you expect?
11	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Frank wakes up after [[spoiler: being made into a prototype S-IV]] and notes that every bone in his body feels like it has been broken repeatedly and that his entire skin gives off the impression of being raw and dipped in lemon juice as well as several other painful analogies. Oh, and his head hurts too.
12	* AuthorAppeal: Why else would there be so many attractive female characters in the cast?
13	* AuthorCatchphrase: 'Stay strong' is featured at the end of many chapters.
14	* BadassBandolier: Caboose wears those.
15	** Bonus points for having shotgun shells on them.
16	* BadassBystander: Astrid, the girl from Chapter 102 runs across the battlefield to get help for her injured mother.
17	* BattleInTheRain: While there hasn't been a particularly memorable example, the author makes us aware that it is raining on quite a few battles. It makes for a dreary atmosphere in an action-packed, relatively humorous fanfic.
18	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mikah Black, one of the nicer [=ODSTs=] is said to have beat a squad mate to within an inch of his life in order to get them to respect their new commanding officer and his friend.
19	* [[BigFreakingGun BFG]]: The M102 Sledgehammer railgun is this in spades. Managing to take out Locust walkers with one or two shots.
20	* BoxingEpisode: There's a full chapter dedicated to showing just how Badass Frank has become and also serves to showcase one certain Avery Johnson.
21	* BrokenBird: Lately a lot of characters seem to show shades of this. Not even the main characters are exempt from this.
22	* TheCameo: Several. So far we've had a few Spartan-IIIs (Carter and Kat), some minor Navy officers, Sergeant Johnson, and the one and only Master Chief.
23	* TheCaptain: Frank is behaving increasingly like this, although his past as an enlisted soldier and NCO make it hard for him.
24	* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Frank and Pavel try to invoke this on occasion, but it actually turns out to be more like Captain Rock and Sergeant Smooth seeing as Frank is an asshole and Pavel is actually kind of nice.
25	* ChekhovsSkill: Grass is noted as being an exceptional pilot in most UNSC craft for someone that doesn't actually do any flying. The skill comes in handy when the pilot of the Pelican the team is on is killed and she has to land it. She crash-landed upside down, but still, saved the team's lives.
26	* ChunkySalsaRule: The descriptions of headshots are lovingly detailed and take up to one paragraph just to describe just exactly how the alien's brains splattered the wall behind it.
27	* CrazyEnoughToWork: Chapter 81. Frank somehow manages to airdrop a tank from a fast-moving starship in order to save his squad.
28	* DarkerAndEdgier: The later chapters have been a lot more cynical as Frank realizes the futility of it all.
29	* DoorStopper: The story ended with 1,622,859 words total. Over. One. Million. Six. Hundred. Thousand. Words. To put it into perspective, it's longer than the entire ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' series by about five times!
30	* DrillSergeantNasty: Gabuka.
31	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Played straight and then subverted in Scarecrow's death. He uses a galling gun like an assault rifle before he is brutally killed by a needle explosion.]]
32	* TheElevatorFromIpanema: This fanfiction has had several scenes when the characters have to take an elevator. So far, every single elevator scene has had a muzak arrangement playing in the background. There's usually lots of Lampshade Hanging from the characters involved. In fact, Eliza, the AI, started playing elevator music on all the ship's elevators with the intention of [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this.
33	* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Since the protagonist is an ODST this comes up sometimes.
34	%%* FriendlySniper: Snark
35	%%* TheMedic: Lockley is this.
36	* MildlyMilitary: The UNSC ''Inconvenience'' is seriously lacking on discipline.
37	* MilitaryBrat: Frank grew up as one.
38	* MoodWhiplash: Several filler chapters are humorous and soft. The action-heavy chapters are often DarkerAndEdgier. They still have some humor, but the change is sometimes a little bit sudden.
39	* MythologyGag: The number seven pops up quite more often than it should.
40	** This conversation about what would happen if zombies joined the war.
41	--->'''Pavel''': Maybe the zombies would get out of control and we'd be forced to work with the Covenant to save our asses.
42	--->'''Frank''': Like that could ever happen.
43	--->'''Pavel''': The zombies?
44	--->'''Frank''': The working with the Covenant.
45	* NeckLift: Frank has this done to him by an elite at the end of Chapter 132.
46	* NoTrueScotsman: While not actually a present trope in the fic, there is a direct reference to it. Bumblebee, a Scottish character affirms that he enjoys Whiskey more than Scotch and Snark calls him out on that by proclaiming that he is no true scotsman.
47	* OhCrap: Too often to keep count.
48	** A recent example is the time when the [=ODSTs=] on a Covenant corvette realize that it is falling back to the planet and they can't stop it. HilarityEnsues
49	* OneSceneWonder: The rocket launcher marine. [[spoiler: he was popular enough to come back as permanent squad member Robert Agnarsson.]]
50	* OnlySaneMan: The way that Caboose behaves sometimes makes it seem like he believes himself to be that. He's not entirely wrong either.
51	* RankUp: Frank has been promoted all the way to Gunnery Sergeant and went to OCS in order to become a lieutenant.
52	%%* PaintballEpisode
53	* PaintingTheMedium: There have been a couple of instances were Frank realizes that he had written down something wrong by how the other character says it. Merges with LeaningOnTheFourthWall.
54	--->'''Pavel''': Catherine was the girl, liked to be called Kate.\
55	'''Frank''': Kat? You mean Cat.\
56	'''Pavel''': That's what I said.
57	* PistolWhipping: Referenced when Frank is being interrogated by an Insurrectionist. He gets hit with the barrel and then delivers this line.
58	--->'''Frank''': You'd have better luck hitting me with the handle.
59	* PretentiousLatinMotto: Referenced when Frank carves phrases in latin on his new armor.
60	* PunctuatedForEmphasis. Frank gets pissed at his men:
61	*** You're Helljumpers. Act. Like. It!
62	* ScrewTheWarWerePartying: Any chapter that involves [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin partying.]]
63	* StealthPun: Beta Rho Omega System. Bros.
64	** Tomorrow, a new chapter of [[TitleDrop my life]] started.
65	%%* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Everybody indulges in this occasionally.
66	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Frank gets called out by Commander Albaf on Chapter 107. It's not pretty.
67	* TheSquad: Reaper Squad
68	%%* TheSquadette: Camilla "Grass" Seppa
69	* TrappedBehindEnemyLines: Occasionally
70	* TheUnfairSex: An ''inversion'' when Pavel's girlfriend cheats on him, she is portrayed as a bitch. When he sets himself to sleep around with as many women as he can before actually breaking up with her Pavel is portrayed sympathetically.
71	%%* UrbanWarfare
72	* VirtualSoundtrack: Used every now and then. Two examples that stand out are Iron Man by Black Sabbath and To Glory by Two Steps From Hell.

Context Fanfic / TheLife