Line #74 Fanfic/ManOffTheMoon


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb8rvmt_3.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''The more things change'']]
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4	Hiding from [[VideoGame/FateExtella the force that ravaged it 14,000 years ago]], the alien supercomputer known as Se.Ra.Ph, the Moon Cell, [[DimensionalTraveler quantum slides]] into another world where humanity advanced along a completely different axis, becoming a spacefaring civilization, one among many others. Still keeping to its objective of impartially observing the Universe, the Moon Cell, to familiarize itself with this new AlternateUniverse, needs an agent to plant the necessary observation devices on Mars, where the ruins of [[{{Precursors}} ancient aliens]] called the Protheans are located.
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6	And so, instead of being summoned to fight a Grail War, the Nameless Archer once known as Shirou Emiya, who spent idle years as a Counter Guardian contracted to the Moon Cell, is assigned this mission by Archimedes, the Heroic Spirit currently administrating Se.Ra.Ph. To avoid transgressing the unwritten law that dead people shouldn’t interfere with history, he is to be incarnated in the body of a young StreetUrchin on Earth and find his way to Mars from there.
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8	A man of many regrets is thus given a second chance to walk among the living, and, with this new life, a way to come to terms with those regrets. What starts as a simple mission soon turn into a personal quest that would embroil the rest of the galaxy, including the fate of a certain red-haired woman…
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10	''Man off the Moon'' is a fanfiction by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1567691/FiendLurcher FiendLurcher]], and a ''VideoGame/FateExtra''/''Franchise/MassEffect'' crossover, starring Nameless or No Name Archer, the ''EXTRA'' counterpart of the original ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' version of Archer that found peace in his ideal and fate as a nameless hero and a Counter Guardian of the Moon Cell, but did not go through the CharacterDevelopment he gets in the game ''VideoGame/FateExtra'', and so he is still wracked with doubts as to whether the path he took during his life was the correct one. And he now has to find his answer in the universe of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', a galaxy of GreyAndGrayMorality, conspiracies, and upcoming doom.
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12	The story can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12904733/1/Man-off-the-Moon here]] and [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23107792/chapters/55287130 here]]. A discussion thread for the story, also full of extra materials, can be found [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/man-off-the-moon-fate-extra-x-mass-effect.641011/ here]] on Website/SpaceBattlesDotCom.
13	----
14	!! ''Man off the Moon'' contains examples of the following tropes:
15	* ActionGirl: Shepard, obviously. But plenty of others in the work qualify, like Miranda Lawson, Rasa, Tela Vasir. the asari commandos, the Justicar, etc. Even Liara and Tyra, two regular civilians, get their moments to shine.
16	* AllLovingHero: [[spoiler:Emiya finds himself lamenting the fact that his morals drive him to save anyone, even the most hated and feared race in the galaxy, when he stumbles upon a geth collective and hears them crying they don't want to die.]]
17	* AlternateTimeline: Since the Moon Cell slid into another universe, none of the events of the ''EXTRA'' games ever happened, and no Moon Cell Holy Grail occurred. As a result, Nameless spent more than a century alone with his thoughts.
18	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Shepard towards Emiya by the end of the boot camp, considering him a rival she wants to one day make run after her to catch up. Made even more poignant [[spoiler:after his ([[FakingTheDead fake]]) death, as she swears to live in honor of his memory]]. Another, more antagonistic example is Miranda towards Emiya (or "Emil" as she knows him), who OutGambitted her and is seemingly always one step ahead of her, leading her to decide ItsPersonal and thinking of herself as TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou in regards to him.
19	* AscendedExtra: [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_December_2010#12.2F21.2F2010_-_Usaru_Maestros_Triumph_79-77_in_Record-Breaking_Biotiball_Game Tyra T'Sanis]], [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_November_2010#11.2F04.2F2010_-_Pressure_Mounts_for_Salarian_Relics_to_Be_Returned_to_Mannovai Professor Baliya Haphia]], and [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Broker_Terminal#Prothean_Notes:_2171_-_2185 Professor Henell]] are all canonical characters of Mass Effect, all briefly referenced in blurbs from the in-universe daily news feeds like Cerberus Daily News and other in-game Codices. In this fic, they are now major characters.
20	* BigDamnReunion:
21	** Ever since Shepard parted from Emiya at the end of the first arc, [[spoiler:and ended up thinking he died on Mars]], their eventual reunion has been one of the long-awaited and most hyped moment of the story. [[spoiler:They finally do in Chapter 31.]]
22	** A more unexpected reunion would be the one Emiya and Shephard have with [[spoiler:Cassani]] in chapter 38.
23	* BigSisterInstinct : As in canon, Miranda is protective of Oriana, even if only from afar and never meeting her. She almost shoots Emiya when she thinks he is involved in a hostage situation her sister is caught up in.
24	* BondOneLiner: Emiya at Synthetic Insights' party, before jumping off a terrace to escape Citadel Security and Alliance Intelligence forces:
25	---> '''Emiya:''' Officers, I'd love to stay, but I still haven't had the chance to try out the turian cuisine... So, if you'll excuse me.
26	** His catchphrase, "''I am no one''" also counts, as he tends to say it just before evading capture, even if he is actually genuinely answering queries about his identity (see SomebodyNamedNobody below).
27	* BookDumb: Shephard, thanks to her street urchin background is completely helpless when it comes to the more theoretical aspect of being a soldier.
28	* BootCampEpisode: The first arc is one, taking place mostly in a facility in Massachusetts.
29	* BowAndSwordInAccord: Like in the game, Emiya's favorite weapon.
30	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: A trait of Emiya, carried over from both FSN Archer and EXTRA Archer, is that he tends to downplay or dismiss events that are worldshaking to others.
31	* CallBack: When shopping with Cassini and Shepard in Barcelona during their leave, Emiya explains to Shepard the practicality of dresses by [[NoodleIncident offhandedly implying to having been attacked by someone who hid a weapon in her dress]], which left a scar. Fast-forward to months later, [[spoiler:Miranda attacks him the same way, having hidden a needle and a pistol underneath her [[FormFittingWardrobe form fitting]] dress]].
32	* CharacterCatchphrase: "I am no one", usually said by Emiya after his cover is blown and people ask who he really is. He's also being ''completely sincere'' when saying that and not just being glib; he's actually discarded his old name and refers to himself by a term that indicates a lack of identity.
33	* ChickMagnet: Emiya is able to get the attention of quite a few women.
34	* ChronicHeroSyndrome: He wouldn't be a version of Shirou Emiya without one. One major point of the fic is him realizing that, thanks to his capabilities as a Heroic Spirit, he can ''actually'' be a genuine superhero in this universe, and save others without having to sacrifice the few as he sometimes ended up doing while alive.
35	* ColonyDrop: [[spoiler:Hosin threatens to do this with his orbital station in order to reunite with his wife, but wasn't really planning to go through it. Unfortunately, Rasa hijacks it, and the station really goes on a collision course with Thessia, with the onlookers helpless to stop it. Emiya finally manages to stop it using Rho Aias to slow it down and explode it with Caladbolg, at the cost of damaging his Spiritual Core.]]
36	* CuttingOffTheBranches: It's implied that Emiya meeting Shepard and befriending her pushed her off the Renegade path and onto the Paragon path of the game.
37	* DigitizedHacker: Emiya eventually masters Spiritual Hacking, a form of {{Technopath}} PostModernMagik of the [=EXTRAverse=], allowing him to become this.
38	* DistractedByTheSexy: In a GenderFlip of the usual trope, Miranda walks in on "Emil" in his underwear as he was changing into a hardsuit. She visibly freezes and can't even manage to say anything before he dresses himself. Following that, [[CovertPervert she asks him to strip again]] to take his measurements, but Emiya just gives her his measurements from his hardsuit readings, [[CluelessChickMagnet genuinely, completely oblivious as to her intent]].
39	* DoorStopper: The story is over half a million words as of this writing, and it hasn't even reached the events of Mass Effect 1 yet.
40	* DrivesLikeCrazy: In a bit of a MythologyGag, the way Shepard drives the Mako her team acquires during the Shanxi exercise can be charitably described as "extremely reckless".
41	* EatingTheEyeCandy:
42	** Miranda finds herself admiring 'Emil' as he's changing clothes, even not-so-subtly attempting to make him open his shirt again. Notably this seems to be genuine on her part.
43	** Tyra openly does so when Saiga comes out of the shower, even commenting "''Nice''".
44	** Shepard and Shiala both openly eye Emiya's bare muscled arms while he is cooking, [[CluelessChickMagnet which he interprets as them noticing his seriousness about cooking]].
45	* FantasticRacism: Cerberus as usual, but especially Rasa and Kai Leng, the latter seemingly unable to even stand in the same room as an alien. Averted with Miranda, as in canon.
46	* FakingTheDead: Emiya ends using this to escape scrutiny after the incident with Burnsfeldt.
47	* GambitPileup: The Thessia Arc quickly becomes one, between the Citadel forces led by Spectre Nihlus, the Special Tasks Group, the Serrice Guard, Matriarch Aethyta, Cerberus, and [[spoiler:Spectre Tela Vasir working for the Shadow Broker]], all looking to capture Redhax for their own reasons.
48	* GoOutWithASmile: Emiya's original death. He died betrayed by an ally, and executed for war crimes, but was satisfied in the end and went to his death smiling. It's trying to reach that happiness again that drives Nameless' quest.
49	* HiredToHuntYourself: Thanks to several mishaps during his unexpected encounter with the Alliance Navy in Torfan, Emiya ended up posing as a deep cover Alliance Intelligence personnel using Shephard's ID while pretending he was on trail of the notorious hacker Redhax.
50	* IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance: Archimedes has ''no'' idea that the Moon Cell transported itself to another universe. WordOfGod is that this is due to him relying entirely on the Moon Cell's continuing observation of their original timeline.
51	* IHaveManyNames: Thanks to his habit of adopting a new name everytime he goes into hiding, Emiya ends up with a lot of names. It's even [[LampShade Lampshaded]] by several people who are often confused on how to properly address him.
52	* IndyPloy : More than once, Emiya is forced to improvise something on the spot simply because of the sheer amount of unexpected situations he finds himself in.
53	* InterfaceScrew: Emiya undergoes a sort of "forced synesthesia" during the Thessia arc after [[spoiler:getting hit by an [=EMP=] while on the run from the STG's drones while escorting Tyra and Liara with him]].
54	* TheLadette: Shepard isn't all that feminine, and usually acts as OneOfTheBoys, to the point that she thinks dresses aren’t very practical.
55	* LastNameBasis : This is the way Emiya and Shepard address each other, despite being close friends and even after having learnt each other's first names at the end of the Shanxi exercise. Shepard even says she finds her own first name, Jane, weird.
56	* LoopholeAbuse: Abused joyfully by Emiya and his team during the Shanxi exercise to net them advantages.
57	* MagicFromTechnology: What Spiritual Hacking amounts to.
58	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Emiya, thanks to his magic and/or servant's physiology is able to shrug off a lot of injuries. Similarly, Shephard also often treats her own broken bones and mushed organs like it's nothing.
59	* MetaphoricallyTrue: When introducing himself to Miranda as Emil Nguyen, he never actually ''lies'' about his background. He simply omits details, says half-truths, and words his statements in such a way that it can be interpreted differently.
60	* MisanthropeSupreme: Archimedes, who only cares about numbers and not much else.
61	* NoodleIncident:
62	** Whenever Emiya speaks of his past to Shepard, his vagueness on the actual details so his past can't be found false result in these.
63	** How Cassani managed to get his [[NameToRunAwayFromReallyFast Butcher of the Skyllian Blitz]] moniker is almost unknown, other than it happened during the same incident where Shepard got her own contrasting moniker "Hero of the Skyllian Blitz".
64	** Speaking of, chapter 39 is literally called "Noodle Incident".
65	* NormalFishInATinyPond: Emiya is mediocre for a Heroic Spirit, but that still leaves him physically unrivalled amongst the mortals of the galaxy, and as narrow and specialized his grasp of magic is, it still is an OutsideContextProblem.
66	* NotSoAboveItAll: Emiya is extremely proud of his abilities as a chef, so he's thoroughly irked when an asari effortlessly shows him off with her biotic abilities and jumps on the first opportunity to get even with her.
67	* OutsideContextProblem: The reason why the Citadel Council or any other faction in the galaxy can't make sense of Redhax's abilities is because magic is something that doesn't exist in their universe. As such, they can only make guesses as to why he can do the things he do.
68	* OhCrap: Several times
69	** Specter Nihlus Kryik reaction when he heard about the whole ColonyDrop threat on Thessia.
70	** Cassani's reaction when he learned not only Emiya is greeting him in Arcturus Station, but that he was actually "Outis".
71	* PapaWolf: Matriarch Aethyta for her daughter Liara.
72	* ReadTheFreakingManual: When Emiya gets chewed out for pulling risky operations in fight simulation, he glibly points everything he did was condoned by the manual given to every military recruit in the Navy. The drill instructor almost suffers a HeroicBSOD because recruits aren't supposed to read the manual anymore.
73	* RedBaron: Redhax, the name given to Emiya as an infamous intergalactic hacker.
74	* ShoutOut: Emiya's answer for Captain David's demand to open a hacked door? [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey "I'm sorry David, I'm afraid I can't do that."]]
75	* SkewedPriorities: While prisoner in the house of an intergalactic criminal under siege by the Council forces and the Serrice Guard, Liara thinks ''now'' is the best time to debate Protheans and theorize about them with said criminal.
76	* SomebodyNamedNobody: Nameless introduces himself as ''I am no one'', which is significant because he discarded his original name of "Shirou Emiya" when he became the embodiment of nameless heroes upon becoming a Heroic Spirit. When the Salarians analyze his words, which came out in the original Japanese as ''mumei'' (無銘), they find that it can mean many things; anonymous, nameless, lacking signature, but also '[[HeroicSelfDeprecation I am not innocent]]'. Also, based on his words, the Illusive Man codenames him "Outis", based on the Greek hero Odysseus briefly assuming the identity of "Outis" (Greek for "no one") in ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' as part of a ploy to outsmart the cyclops Polyphemus.
77	* SpaceStation: The orbital station KX-0331, or "Hosin's Hangar", orbiting Thessia.
78	* StreetUrchin: As the fic uses the Earthborn origin for Shepard, she is an orphan and street urchin before joining the Systems Alliance. She was apparently known as "Fifth Street Shepard".
79	* SupermodelStrut: Miranda frequently does this, usually as a distraction. Also very common among Asari.
80	* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: Miranda is led to believe Emil Nguyen and Shirou Emiya are two different individuals and brothers, which Emiya is more than happy to let her believe. [[spoiler:She eventually sees through the ruse.]]

Context Fanfic / ManOffTheMoon