Chain Reaction: Iron Revolution
is a Zatch Bell! fanfiction authored by Prince Gray in mid 2011.
The story takes place in ambiguous timeline but is heavily implied to take place not too many years after Zatch Bell had taken the throne. After his message of benevolence and diplomacy were ignored and mocked. King Zatch began using force to quell the uprisings going on across the Makai. That in turn backfired as Civil War officially broke out in various regions between commoners lead by elite clans against loyalists and King Zatch's men. Seeing the inevitability of his short reign, King Zatch reluctantly announced a brand new tournament for the kingship. That of course, does not stop many corrupt clans and profiters from rigging and regulating who reeived a spot for the battle.
The story mainly revolves around Ishimaru Kamikatsu. A 17 year old High School Junior (at the time of his debut) and soccer star. While cutting school early, he encounters Chainz, a 12-year-old punk biker mamodo and occasional smoker. After scolding Chainz, Ishimaru attempts to read his spell book and succeeds, destroying half of the neighborhood gate. The two become an instant duo and encounter friends such as Josh Luther and his partner Jyan, various enemies and many other obstacles as they all vie to replace their current king and succeed where he failed.
Chain Reaction: Iron Revolution contains examples of.
- Action Duo: Any mamodo and their human partner fits this trope.
- Animal Battle Aura: Chainz has a Cobra, Jyan has a Wolf.
- Break the Badass: Played straight when Slash fights Solin and the other Titans also arrive on the battlefield.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Jyan all throughout the first arc and for a good portion of the second arc before being toned down due to the story becoming Darker and Edgier.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Kai was pretty much designed with this trope in mind.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mark/Jonny's revolver, this troper finds it ironic that the Chekov gun in this case, turns out to be a literal gun. He ends up committing suicide with it in order to avoid imprisonment and possibly death row.
- Darker and Edgier: The end of what was a fairly lighthearted first arc is where the story began to turn and become this trope. Death, higher levels of violence and traumatic events among other things, were largely avoided in the first arc but became a common theme from the second arc onward.
- Dare to Be Badass: Azure after Adella's book is burned right before he fights Chase, the Big Bad of the first arc.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jyan. Though Chainz, Ishimaru, Josh, Slash and Vincent have all been known to dip into this trope from time to time.
- Deuteragonist: Generally, Ishimaru is the deuteragonist since Chainz is the main protagonist of the story while Jyan is the official tritagonist. In the second arc of the story, Slash is the main protagonist while Chainz is the deuteragonist and Ishimaru is the tritagonist. Currently in the third arc, Jyan is the main protagonist while Josh is the deuteragonist and Chainz is the tritagonist.
Word of God has stated that various characters will take up the main protagonist/deuteragonist and tritagonist roles during their respective "Character Arcs".
- Face–Heel Turn: Kai and Haley. Turns out they were never truly evil after all, they were just finding a way to stop [[spoiler:Evil sealed in a can from awakening and wreaking more havoc on the world.
- Foreshadowing: One of, if not THE most proinent trope in Iron Revolution.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Slash to Chainz because of their father stripping him of his birthright of being clan lord and giving it to Chainz.
- Invisible to Normals: Ever notice how nobody ever sees or witness many of these battles despite the destructure and explosions? Averted when The Light Society attacked a village the heroes were staying in and killer numerous civilians. Also averted when The Light Society tanks were about to lay a city under siege and it was being reported on the news before being stopped by Slash. This is referenced by Blue when explaining why The Black Corps stays in the shadows though he also mentons that the media is bribed to not get their noses to deep.
- JerkAss: Slash and Hori are a few of many, many examples of this trope. Chainz, Jyan and Josh are also a few others but they would be more aligned to the Jerk with a Heart of Gold trope.
- Light Is Not Good: TREACHOR. TREACHOR. TREACHOR. The Light Society also falls under this trope.
- Main Characters: Chainz, Jyan, Ishimaru and Josh appear in and have had a significant role in every arc so far. Slash and his human partner Kiichiro are secondary main characters.
- Metallic Motifs: Chainz and Slash's metal spells are weapons made of a silver and iron alloy and have been shown to be very powerful and durable. This is due to their mother who came from an elite iron mamodo clan and married their father, who was an heir for a clan of cobra mamodo. This however, did not go to well with some of the clansmen...
- Non-Fatal Explosions: Every battle has at least a few of these.
- Parental Favoritism: Lord Galeno to Chainz over Slash.
- The Stoic: Solaria and Slash Until his Tearjerker moment when Grace's book is burned by Treachor, however nobody outside of Kiichiro and Teal, Grace's former partner lived to tell about it.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: At least one of these is given by the protagonist right before he defeats the Big Bad. These are also given in battles againsts sub-bosses or just when somebody needs to be taught a lesson.
