All Purpose Nanoha Fanfiction Thread!

Vivid Strike preview up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq5ILlY1UGQ

Can I get some confirmation on whether I'm the only one who thinks that "rewrite Vivid as a Spiritual Successor of Bloodsport and other films like it" is an awesome idea?

Yes. Again.

....what, did I bring it up sometime before?

....huh. Don't remember that.

Actually, the first thing that crossed my mind is Rocky, but I agree to your sentiment.

edited 1st Sep '16 7:48:29 AM by RBomber

How would you have to rewrite it to be that? That's basically what it already is.

Unless you mean "illegal underground tournament with no safety features", in which case you'd have to rewrite the characters to the point where they're virtually unrecognizable. All the girls like fighting, but all of them are also horrified at the idea of actually hurting people. Nor do any of the various mentor-type relationships work as-is if they're training their proteges to compete in illegal fights to the death.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

....Waitwaitwait Hold On.

...We talk about upcoming Vi Vid Strike or we are talking about Eva's potential fanfic?

No, seriously.

I was talking about Eva's fanfic idea, which was about a rewrite of Vivid, not Vivid Strike.

Vivid is about a bunch of upper-middle-class girls participating in martial arts competitions for fun. Vivid Strike appears to be about a girl from a bad neighborhood getting into street brawls because motorcycle gangs rule the part of the city where she lives.

Vivid Strike going Bloodsport wouldn't be all that much of a change, so far as we can tell (but we can't tell all that much, because, you know, the show hasn't aired yet). Vivid going Bloodsport would be a pretty drastic change in tone, though.

edited 1st Sep '16 8:06:33 AM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

In Einhart's case, however, this would only be A Good Thing. The Malevolent Masked Blood Knight-slash-"Dojo Destroyer" she debuted as was a hell of a lot more interesting IMO than using her as a moe-bait with which to create "NanoFate 2.0".

Which to me seems kind of hypocritical, because let's face it, accidents happen. And not in the sarcastic Make It Look Like an Accident or "It'd be a shame if something happened...." kind of ways, literal honest-to-God accidents just happen sometimes.

"To the death" would theoretically be optional, with only the really despicable heels opting to FINISH HIM!

And more specifically, the idea was that Einhart ends up being Vivio et al's gateway into an "underground fighting tournament with no safety features" (which honestly sounds more like Einhart's thing IMO if she's really serious on proving her ancestor's style as The Strongest), and Vivio - having been called on as a civilian collaborator in a Bureau-instigated sting operation - enters the Kumite (for lack of a better idea and for brevity's sake, let's just go ahead and call it that) with the intent of shutting it down. R/Lio and Corona go in as her backup.

Why are the kids going, you ask? Because Einhart has an interest in seeing whether Vivio can actually back up her Let's Get Dangerous!-esque claims about being much harder to beat when she's serious, and is only willing to take Vivio and up to one or two of her friends to where the Kumite is being held.

Vivio naturally wouldn't kill people unless she were forced to (a literal "you or me" situation, and even then only with great hesitation), and Einhart typically wouldn't either (because she prefers that her defeated opponents live long enough to tell other people about their defeat).

edited 1st Sep '16 9:16:05 AM by EvaUnit01

Hm, put that way, I could see "Ein influences Vivio more than the other way around" as an interesting premise. Engage her competitive streak rather than her befriending tendencies, and I could see her trying to prove that she's not as weak as Ein thinks she is. Maybe have Ein pick a fight with Vivio instead of Nove? I'm not sure how you could finagle having Vivio wandering around in Adult Mode so Ein can fight her, though. And I definitely think it works better if they both think the other's Adult Mode is their real age.

So, Vivio and Ein have a street brawl instead of a sparring match, Ein wins, Vivio looks for a rematch, and they end up taking it to the Kumite instead of literally brawling in the streets. Yeah, I could see that.

I don't see the Bureau using Vivio in any official capacity, though. The extended Takamachi/Yagami/Nakajima clan (plus the Saint Church) s lousy with powerful combatants that aren't nine year old girls, many of which aren't officially associated with the TSAB so could take the undercover role without risk of being recognized as an infiltrator. I'm also not sure about involving Rio and Corona. Corona doesn't have an Adult Mode (and Rio's is still pretty damn young-looking), and neither of them are anywhere near the same league as Vivio or Ein. I could see them as being part of Vivio's posse, maybe — they stay on the sidelines and make sure no one interferes with the match or otherwise gets up to shenanigans while Vivio is distracted, but don't participate in the fights as competitors. Better yet, keep Corona's abilities hidden as an ace in the hole. Say someone tries to interfere with the fight and sucker punches Rio as step one — then eats a golem to the face courtesy of Corona. That could be fun.

On a more general note, rather than regarding your fanfic idea specifically...

Yeah, I tend to agree that Ein hasn't been handled particularly well. Her whole character revolves around wanting to prove herself and her combat style, but they haven't really dug into it much. There are hints that she's so different less because she actually wants to prove herself and more because her memories are so strong that it's almost a compulsion — but they haven't really done much with the "because I want to" / "because I have to" disconnect. In a lot of ways, she's living the Hegemon's life rather than her own, but no one's actually called her out on it yet.

I don't think it's necessarily hypocritical. A little naive, maybe, but not hypocritical. They still think of strike arts as a fun hobby, not as something that could get them hurt (much less killed). The nature of Midchildian magic, plus the extra precautions mandated by the tournament rules, make "harmlessly beating the snot out of each other" an actual thing that really happens... which honestly makes the use of the "push themselves so far they hurt themselves" trope more understandable than most examples. Of course, it's somewhat annoying that, unlike in Strikers, no one's called them out on it yet. Probably because the only one of their entire group who's seen actual combat is Nove, who is still pretty damn young herself, so they don't have the experience to know better like Nanoha did in Strikers. It'd actually be interesting to see Nanoha find out the shenanigans they've been up to and getting pissed.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Accidents don't happen when it's literally impossible for them to seriously hurt each other. That's what they have devices for.

himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

Devices and the tournament safety features make it less risky but not risk-free — and they also fight outside of the ring as often as not. There's at least three times in Vivid I can think of off the top of my head where someone runs the serious risk of getting seriously hurt in spite of everything.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Fairly sure that short of deliberately attempting to cause harm, it's very, very difficult to actually do so within the Nanoha setting, thanks to all the protections and stuff they got to make everything non-lethal.

himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

@Jovian: Wait, the Vivid cast have put themselves under potentially-injury-inducing Training from Hell?

.......PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTT

This, as the meme goes, gun be gud

Vivio periodically/occasionally walks around/exercises in Adult Mode to make sure that she's as comfortable with that form as she is with her natural Kid Mode. Einhart merely happened to stumble upon Vivio on one such occasion.

Naturally!

A bit more specifically, Ein taunts Vivio after winning, Vivio gets (somewhat rightfully) annoyed about being lectured by this mystery chick who saw fit to basically ambush her, claims that she totally would've kicked Einhart's butt if she were prepared/fighting seriously, and then Ein calls her out on it, challenging Vivio to "prove it" at the Kumite in just a few weeks' time...

....point taken. Maybe they give one of the imprisoned Numbers a shot at parole in exchange for doing the job?

Forgot about Corona not having one, although I was mostly thinking of them in the context of "sidekicks", as you continue to describe in the remainder of the paragraph.

Again, "very difficult" isn't the same as "impossible". The three times I mentioned earlier (spoilering just in case, since some of them were in the manga but the anime hasn't gotten that far yet):

1. Corona using her golem control magic on herself while fighting Einhart in the tournament qualifiers. It's mentioned that doing so can force her body past its physical limits if she's not careful, and she comes close to doing herself serious harm by replicating other people's signature abilities. Had she pushed a little harder, it could have been bad for her.
2. Einhart vs Sieg in the tournament. Einhart is good enough that she pushes Sieg into her "no holding back" mode, but not nearly good enough handle the attacks Sieg can throw at her like that. Other characters straight-up tell her to forfeit the match before she gets hurt, and it's mentioned that in the previous year's tournament, Sieg shattered another competitor's hand even through the safety measures. ^note The line in question is "It went past the emulate and demolished everything from my right wrist down". We can see her hand in the flashback panel and it wasn't completely vaporized or severed, so presumably it just broke every bone south of her radius and ulna.
3. Vivio vs Einhart rematch, after the tournament. Vivio uses a Dangerous Forbidden Technique of completely switching her mana output between offense and defense as she attacks and defends. This makes her strikes and blocks extremely effective, but means that any incoming attack she doesn't manage to actively block would shred her defenses and do her serious harm. Nove is pissed at her for doing something so risky... but does let the fight go forward, despite the lack of tournament safeguards.

So that's at least three instances where serious bodily harm was a significant risk, despite the Midchildan magic system (which, it's worth pointing out, the various ultra-powerful ancient Belkan freakshows aren't actually using), the tournament safety equipment, and the fact that they're not fighting "for real".

Less Training from Hell and more Dangerous Forbidden Technique. They do a variety of potentially-stupid things to give themselves an edge. The various authority figures involved do generally scold them for it, but they don't actually stop them.

Seems reasonable!

Ein isn't really the type to be deliberately rude; she's more likely to be dismissive without really meaning to be. Less "the reason you lost is because my Hegemon Style is strongest!" and more "oh, that's too bad, I had hoped that you would put up a better fight". That would probably extend to the rematch offer as well. Less "I'll beat you again, anytime!" and more "I'll be here at this time if you want to fight again, but try to put up a better fight next time."

The Numbers that went to for-reals prison (rather than "okay, what do we do with these people now?" protective custody) were the ones that were diehard loyal to Scaglietti. It's more likely that they'd ask one of the Wolkenritter (though they might be too recognizable — there was a movie made about them, after all), someone from the Saint Church (Sister Schach seems like the most likely candidate), or one of the already-released Numbers (if you want to stick close to Vivid, Nove would probably be the best choice). Of course, all of those people would recognize Vivio, even in Adult Mode, so you also have to consider how they'd react to seeing her there.

I honestly think Rio and Corona trying to act mature and not-at-all-terrified-honest while hanging out ringside at an illegal bloodsport match would be hilarious.

edited 1st Sep '16 7:33:12 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Pretty sure the ancient Belkan freakshows can also do nonlethal magic. Pretty sure Nanoha would've been turned to paste by Vita if that wasn't the case.

himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

....sounds to me like it's more than just the kids that need a quality Starlight Breaker-ing...

Honestly, it's like she can't leave the damn story alone for two minutes, and then suddenly everybody starts risking their life over stupid shit!

I'm trying to find a balance between Einhart not really being an ass, but still making her come off as more primarily as an antagonist. But yeah, it's less archetypical Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy antics and more of a disappointed "...oh. So that's all the more you could do....?"

And that's why I tried to steer clear of the characters that have daily subscriptions for the Takamachi-Testarossa family newsletter.

Of the Numbers (legal status notwithstanding), probably the one I most strongly had in mind would've been Sette, on the (admittedly probably very tenuous) logic of letting her "do this one infiltration op, and in exchange we offer Doctor Scaglietti some extra prison amenities" or something. It's Sette, so I don't really expect that she'd be inclined to double-cross.

That said, the idea of going ahead and using someone who knows Vivio pretty well - Arf isn't really doing anything relevant that we know of, so let's give her a chance to stretch her legs - leads in to the opportunity for the hilarity-slash-drama of Vivio and friends desperately trying to avoid Arf's notice.

"Give Arf a chance to stretch her legs"

-Insert vaguely suggestive joke about Arf's legs and waggle eyebrows-

edited 2nd Sep '16 5:00:59 PM by unlikelyauthor

Fate Grand Order players will know me as Ryusei-Go.

I'm somewhat disappointed that Arf doesn't even live in the Takamachi household. I mean, she's Fate's familiar — if she's not travelling around with Fate while she's on-mission, then she should at least be holding down the fort at home. Instead, we haven't seen her basically at all since A's, which seems like a waste. Maybe they're still trying to retain some shred of plausible deniability against Nanoha x Fate, and Arf living at home with Nanoha and Vivio full time too much of a smoking gun? (Meh, it's not like there's any real plausible deniability against NanoFate anyway.)

edited 2nd Sep '16 5:19:43 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

I personally really like the idea of Arf having a life of her own outside of Fate. But it's such a shame we don't get to see any of it.

Like, how fantastic would it be to get an OVA of Yuuno needing backup on a archaeological expedition due to needing to go to a world that's more of a Death World than usual, and Arf volunteering to help out?

edited 2nd Sep '16 7:44:48 PM by 32ndfreeze

Why do people want to see Arf and Yuuno together so much? It's sort of becoming a theme. Is it Pair the Spares at work here?

himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

I thought Arf and Zafira was the Pair the Spares couple people tended to go with?

And my intention for that idea had no romantic subtext whatsoever. I just choose Arf because we don't really know too much about what she does around Strikers era as far as I know (I haven't read Vivid or Force). Most of everyone else is probably occupied with TSAB business, or doesn't really know Yuuno.

Canonically,Arf is with Chrono's household and babysitting his children In fanfiction, she's either there or in the IL working as Yuuno's assistant. Given her very useful barrier-break spell and relatively useful binding spells, plus she, as a wolf familiar, would have heightened senses of smell and hearing, she'd probably be more useful to Fate with her enforcer work now than in the beginning. Instead, she's taking care of Chrono's kids.

edited 2nd Sep '16 10:07:22 PM by Hoki

@IANCE: In my case, the conscious line of thought behind that is sort of a Put on a Bus!Shipping kind of thing.

Also because I've seen half-decent buildup for Yuuno x Arf in fanfic, while I've never seen anyone put in the in-narrative effort to show why Arf and Zafira are a thing beyond the obvious theme of "ship the beastmen familiars together".

Any chance I can get a citation on that?

My understanding was that Amy retired to play stay-at-home mom after Chrono got promoted into a desk job.

Does Arf actually have Super-Senses due to being a beastman familiar?

I mean, it doesn't exactly break my WSOD to infer that she does, but this is the first time I've ever heard of it AFAIR.

edited 2nd Sep '16 11:48:05 PM by EvaUnit01

Super-Senses was kinda a given. I mean, she's based on wolf. Or some kind of canid, but her strong sense is kinda given.