Hello! MotherUniverse here again with another fanfic.
This fanfic is basically a cosplay fest, with a bunch of OC's/self-inserts dressing up as our favorite characters from different anime's.
This fic is an experiment. It's supposed to be humorous, but we'll see how this goes.
Multiple anime fandoms will be mentioned, however, since Fullmetal Alchemist is my main fandom, the main characters will be cosplaying as FMA characters.
Also, if a word is in italics, that means the person is saying it in another language.
I am managing a delicate balance between the characters personalities and the personalities of the people they are cosplaying as, and while the personalities will blend more as time goes on, you may find the characters acting sort of OOC, but that's just the cosplayers acting as themselves. IDK if that makes sense, but whatever.
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! None of the anime characters mentioned in this fic belong to me. NONE! I only own the OC's who are cosplaying them. And the mall where the Comic Con takes place. That's fictional, and mine as well.
And without further ado, ON WITH THE SHOW!
Chapter 1: Welcome to Comic Con!
Brade
My big sister once told me that I would grow to be the tallest of all my siblings. This claim gave me more confidence than I could describe. Being the youngest of three, I didn't have much in the way of given pride. The dream that I would one day tower over my older siblings got me through the disadvantages of being the youngest. Sure, back then, I was babied, bullied, and forced to wallow in my envy as I watched my big brother and sister do all sorts of things I was never allowed to do because "I was little". But someday, I would tower over the two of them. They would be forced to look up at me, and I would rain superior with my hight.
My sister made this prediction based off my hight when I was little. All throughout my single digit years, I grew at an alarming rate. I was tallest in my class for a while. Then, when I was 10, I hit 4'11". Then I stopped growing.
All my dreams of raining superior above my brother and sister washed out the window. It was painful, and sad. My sister kept trying to be optimistic about it. She said, "Don't worry about it. Your not that short. Boys usually go through their growth spurts late". This didn't make me feel much better, especially since, while she may have tried to make me feel better, she also enjoyed calling me "shorty", "little", and "pipsqueak". Mostly because it annoyed me.
On the bright side, however, this made me perfect to cosplay in the roll of a certain heroic midget, who also happened to be my favorite fictional character ever.
Edward Elric.
I looked so badass in my blond wig that I considered growing my hair out (I wouldn't be able to, since it's against my school dress code). The red coat fit perfectly, an automail arm made from craft foam strapped to my arm, hand crafted by me. Then, with the gold color contacts to top it off, I looked exactly Edward Elric.
I am currently 12 years old. This will be my first comic con. Finally, my big sister will show me the delights of the wondrous world of cosplay and otaku's. She's been going to comic con every year since she was 17. She's currently 21.
My name is Brade Renegade, and I am the youngest of three. I have an older brother named Christian, who turned 19 a month back. My sister, Sarah, is the eldest of us. She and I have our differences, but we share something in common that bonds us together; our love for anime.
When Sarah was 15, her best friend, Jessica, or Jessie, introduced her to the world of anime through Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Sarah was hesitant going into it, but she watched the first episode, and suddenly her emotions and thoughts were thoroughly invested into the show. She had watched the entire show, and all she could think about for a long time was Fullmetal Alchemist.
Then, one day, when our mom was driving us home from school, we got stuck in traffic, and she decided to watch FMA:B to entertain herself. That was when I got into it. Her talk of this show had already interested me, but I was seven years old, so she thought it would be to old for me. However, traffic was moving slowly, and we were board. So, after some begging, she finally let me join in on the show.
I loved it. The characters where everything I wanted to be. The plot drove me. The action was thorough and entertaining. And while I didn't become a sob fit over this show like my sister (I'm not the sob-fit type of otaku anyways), I fell in love with the characters, cheered for them, held onto them, and, without a doubt, let myself become a part of the story. And that was the beginning of my investment in anime.
To this day, my sister still regrets letting me watch FMA:B at only 7 years old. If it was up to her, my "gateway series" would've been something less bloody and violent, like Pokemon, or a slice-of-life show. But I regret nothing. In my opinion, if you really want to get into anime, you need to start with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Sarah held off on letting me watch most anime until I was 10. That's when I really started throwing myself into everything. I binge watched shows like Fairy Tail, One-Punch man, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, RWBY (yes, I know RWBY isn't technically an anime), Death Note, Naruto, and One Piece. As long as it was under TV-MA, I would watch it. (My mom has a rule that we can't watch TV-MA rated things until we're 16. So Attack on Titan unfortunately has to wait).
Sarah and I are the representation of the two different types of otaku's. She's the "Fall into the plot and cry in the corner" type of otaku. I'm the "Admire the art and get excited over the action" type of otaku. This differ's our taste. I tend to avoid slice of life anime because of a lack of action scenes, and I tend not to cry over anime that much. Sarah, on the other hand, still calls me up to explain how sad she is over some ending or character death. This is a downside for me, because half the anime I've been excited to watch have been spoiled by her.
Anyways, while I might not have seen every anime in the book (hell, my sister still hasn't either), I am still invested in it. Hence why I was so excited to finally go to comic con.
My mom was out visiting friends for the week, and my dad had nothing better to do than drive me out to New York City for the annual Comic Con. Sarah lives in an apartment in New York City, so she's gonna meet us there. I currently sit in the front seat of the car, my dad driving. In the back, is my neighbor, Carman. I introduced her to Fullmetal Alchemist when I she was 10. She's a year younger than me. She decided to come with us, and is cosplaying as Winry. Also in the back is my older brother Christian. Unlike me and my sister, he is not an otaku, and was only coming for the video games (That, and dad wouldn't let him hang around the house while everyone else went up to see Sarah in NYC). He refused to wear a costume, leaving both me and Sarah very disappointed.
After a long trip full of bickering, Christian pulling on my wig in boredom, and the ever present "are we there yet?"'s (mostly coming from me), we finally arrived at the comic con.
Every year, the Terra-Bolin mall host the comic con. Only participants are allowed in the mall, and the entire place is changed to honor Comic Con. Or, at least, that's what Sarah told me.
We enter the door way of the mall. I step in first.
It's like I've entered a whole new world. A world of otaku's and anime. Where everything I love about anime can come to life. It's actually quite beautiful.
I'm greeted by a seven-foot suit of armor made of cardboard and foam. I smile. It's my older sister, Sarah Renegade, who is cosplaying as Alphonse Elric, my "younger brother".
"Hey, Sarah! It's good to see you!" I greeted.
"Actually, I'm Alphonse Elric" She corrected me. "Your in comic con, now, kid. Get into character" She then turned to Christian. "You still decided not to wear a costume, didn't you?" She scowled disapprovingly. Christian ignored her.
"How are you standing in that thing?" He questioned. "It's taller than you,"
"I have my ways" She declared.
"There you are!" Came a sudden shout from farther down the hall. Sarah's best friend, Jessica "Jessie" Kana, cosplaying as Riza Hawkeye, came running down the hall, carrying two drinks in her hand.
"Yeash, don't go running off without me!" Jessie berated my sister.
"Sorry. Dad called saying he was almost there and I got excited! Besides, you where still in line, and the food court was getting full. If we didn't get those drinks now than we may have had to go through the entire comic con without Dairy Queen! Could you have done that?!"
"Good point" Jessie grumbled.
Sarah grabbed her Dairy Queen milkshake, pulled the helmet off, and sipped from the straw. She was wearing a blond, boy-cut wig, and gold contact lenses, as if she was Al hiding in the armor. It was a clever costume.
Sarah had been working on the armor for a year. She wore stilts under the feet to get the hight (since she only stood at 5'3"), and made every detail accurate, from the spikes and the narwhale horn, to the blood seal in the back of the armors inside.
"I'm gonna go to find the video game section" Christian said, wondering off to who know's were. I could feel Sarah rolling her eyes.
"I'm assuming your gonna be good from here" Dad said, giving me a kiss on the top of the head, than a hug for Sarah. "Watch over them. Don't let them get lost"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of them" Sarah told dad, grabbing me and Carmen by the shoulders. At this, Dad turned and left the mall.
"Let's go!" I shouted, and started running towards the crowed. I was going to get to the manga section, and read everything I could.
"Wait for me!" Carmen shouted, running after me.
"Guys! Your supposed to stick with me!" Sarah shouted, running after us, although the armor made it difficult. Jessie ran from behind them.
I didn't slow down. I ran through dozens of cosplayers, breathing in the scenery all around me, not looking in front of me, and
BAM!
Josh
My sister, Tatsuko, was adopted from Japan about four months ago. She, like me, was a big fan of Attack on Titan. So of corse we had to go to comic con dressed as Eren and Mikasa.
One of the best parts of the Terra-Bolin mall was that it had a Dairy Queen in the food court. Tatsuko and I had each bought a milkshake, and where sipping it happily, when some asshole who wasn't watching where he was going crashed into me, spilling my milkshake over both of us.
"Damn it!" I shouted. "Watch it kid!" The boy was younger than me, and was rather short, and dressed as Edward Elric. Fitting, for such a small kid.
The boy looked at me with his young and angry eyes, "Well, sorry!" He snapped, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
He quickly stood up, making him appear larger than me. However, we both knew he wasn't. As soon as I stood up, I noticed at least a foot in hight difference. And judging by the disappointing scowl, he noticed this as well. We both growled at each other, then Tatsuko grabbed my arm.
"Brother, don't" She told me. My Japanese was limited, but I could tell she was trying to keep me out of a fight.
"Let go!" I snapped, pulling my arm away from her.
"Guys!" Snapped a female voice, which sounded as if it was coming from the Alphonse cosplayer. It seemed the entire group was cosplaying as Fullmetal Alchemist characters. "Quit it. You two will probably never see each other again, so there's no need to ruin each other's comic con." She berated us. She sounded older than me, and was probably a legal adult. I was only sixteen. Getting in a fight with this little kid would be no big deal, but fighting with an adult would never work out for me. Still, she had to understand I wasn't at fault.
"He crashed into me!" I seethed.
"You'll have to forgive him" She said, patting the little boy on the head. "It's his first comic con. He was just excited. You probably acted the same way during your first comic con."
She was right. I went to my first comic con when I was 13, dressed as Kid Flash. I somehow ran into a Batman, a Joker, a Deadpool, and an Elsa, all at once. It was a lot more of a hassle than what happened to me with this one overexcited kid. However, I wasn't gonna admit that.
"Fine." I grumbled in response to "Alphonse's" statement. I then turned to "Edward", "But watch where your running, pipsqueak!"
I don't know if "Ed" hated being called short in real life (because he was short), or if he was just acting in character, but he let out a ferocious growl and jumped at me.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING PIPSQUEAK! HOW ABOUT I CUT YOU DOWN TO SIZE!? LET'S SEE WHO'D BE THE PIPSQUEAK THEN!" He shouted, trying his best to tackle me. "Al" face-palmed, "Hawkeye" visibly cringed, and "Winry" let out a tired sigh, asking, "why am I friends with him again?"
"Al" grabbed "Ed" around the torso. "That's it" She said calmly. "Let's get you to the bathroom, clean the milkshake off. And you better calm down or I won't be taking you next year." Ed calmed down and settled after that threat, and the group went walking off to the bathroom.
"You could've gotten us thrown out of the comic con" Tatsuko said in a disappointed tone. However, I had no idea what she was saying.
"Tatsuko, you know my Japanese isn't that good" I reminded her in a groan.
"Sorry". She whispered. She then said to me in her broken and heavily accented English. "You could have got us..." She hesitated as she tried to think of the word. She was just as bad at English as I was at Japanese. "tussled, no, tossed? Yeah. Tossed out Comic Con"
"No, I wouldn't have" I groaned. She looked slightly confused, but understood that I was denying her statement. That was all that needed to be said.
Nobody
Ichiro and Isao Michi where identical twins, who had recently moved to America from Japan to attend a film college. They, unlike Tatsuko, spoke perfect English, however, they preferred to communicate in their language. Both twins where fans of Death Note, so, while Ichiro took on the roll of Light Yagami, Isao dressed up as L. Their cousin, Nao Michi, (who was also good at English), choose to dress as everyone's favorite Shinigami, Ryuk.
"That girl has a good cosplay" Isao said to his twin and cousin, from the table they sat at.
"Which girl? The one dressed as Rey?" Ichiro replied.
"No. The one dressed as Alphonse" Isao corrected.
"Alphonse is a boy" Ichiro reminded his brother.
"Yes, but the cosplayer is a girl" Isao pointed out. Ichiro nodded. He had also noticed a feminine voice coming "Alphonse".
"It is an impressive cosplay" Ichiro agreed. "I wonder if she bought it or if she made it herself"
"You wanna go ask her?" Nao suggested.
Isao watched the cosplayer for a second, as she dragged off an enraged "Ed", who was having a spat with an "Eren".
"No. She looks like she already has her hands full." Isao laughed. He then looked over to his twin, who was doodling in the prop he was using as his "death note". "What are you doing?" Isao asked.
"Just drawing her down" Ichiro hummed, adding the last finishing touches to his sketch of "Alphonse Elric".
"You're drawing in the Death Note?" Nao questioned.
"What do I say? Her cosplay's to die for" Ichiro replied, smiling at his own bad pun.
"That was terrible" Nao said in disappointment.
Christian
I feel out of place in this facility full of people wearing costumes. If I knew I would be the only person not wearing something, I would've pulled together something last minute.
Originally, I wasn't actually planning on coming to Comic Con. I'm 19, a legal adult, so I would've been fine staying at my parents house for the two days Dad was going out to NYC. I thought I would stay with my parents during the summer, since collage had let out and I wasn't yet tied to a job (like Sarah was), and I was excited to have the house to myself when the entire family went out, but that was not the case. Three day's before comic con, Dad decided that he would drag me to it, and since I was under his roof, I couldn't protest. I was to lazy to pull together something last minute, but now that I'm here, I sorta wish I had.
Unlike Sarah and Brad, I am not an "otaku". I don't really like anime, but that's probably more due to Sarah's annoying obsession with it than me genially hating it. Sarah had forced me to watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood with her, and while I did enjoy the show, I had no interest in constantly bing watching it continuously. As for other anime's, nothing really caught my interest, and I genially didn't care. I would watch it with my siblings every so often (mostly because they wouldn't turn it off), but nothing really peeked my interest, at least nothing I wanted to bother looking for.
While I wasn't really interested in going to comic con, there was a benefit to going here.
The Video Games.
I heard Comic Con gave you the chance to try out the new virtual reality goggles; something my family doesn't have, and won't buy. I love all types of video games, and the virtual reality goggles have been something I wanted to try out for a while.
When I (finally) find the video games, I see that the line is rather long, which I'm disappointed by. However, that's the benefit of a phone with a long battery life.
I'm playing Clash of Clans in line, minding my own business, when a cosplayer behind me starts standing over my shoulder, and breathing down my neck. I try to ignore it.
It's a guy my age, dressed as "Natsu" from some anime called Fairy Tail. I know this, because one year my sister (along with some college friends of hers) decided to go to Comic Con dressed as "Team Natsu", and she assumed the roll of "Erza" She would not shut up about it! Now I have about a dozen "Fairy Tail" terms stuck in my head because of her, and I didn't even watch the show.
"Are you playing Clash of Clans?" The guy asked. His voice seemed to be stuck in that awkward stage of decent from high and squeaky to deep and manly. I remember my voice in that stage. It was one of the worst stages of my life. Maybe the kid was younger than I thought.
"Yeah, duh" I told him, hoping he would leave me to play my game.
"DUDE!" He suddenly shouted. "I'm at, like, a level 9 town hall with that game!" He said excitedly. "My village is called the Dragon Land! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up! Look it up!"
I cringed at his annoying voice. "Fine" I snapped.
"YAY!" He shouted, seemingly oblivious to my annoyed town. I looked up his town and observed it. Surprisingly enough, he had a good strategy going, at least for a level 9. Maybe this kid wasn't as much of an idiot as he was currently acting.
"I'm Damion Line" He said, holding out a hand for me to shake, "What's your name?"
"Christian Renegade" I said, shaking his hand. I have a slightly higher interest in talking to him than I did a few seconds ago.
"Cool! We can be friends!" He said joyously. For whatever reason, he reminded me of Sarah when she's being annoying. But if I can handle her, how bad can this kid be?"
Brade
In the boys bathroom, I wash the milkshake out of my outfit with water and a paper towel. Since my outfit was dark, it didn't show up to much, but it still killed my excited mood. This was my first comic con. I hadn't even been here 10 minutes and everything was already going down South. My cosplay wasn't completely ruined; it still looked good, but now it felt uncomfortably sticky.
I felt something weird within my costume. Slipping into my shirt, I found a costume prop, which I recognized as the "key to Eren's basement". I might not have ever seen AoT, but Sarah told me enough about it that I know what the key is. I slipped it over my neck. I had no idea how it got there, but I made no plans to return it. I sighed, and left the bathroom, very put-out.
Sarah noticed my disappointed look. "Aw, cheer up, buddy! It's your first comic con! You should enjoy it!"
"My outfits all sticky" I complain. My big sister lets out a sigh, putting a large gloved hand on my back.
"Let's go get some food. You'll feel better after that" She told me.
That sounded good. I liked food. "Okay" I said with a nod. "Let's get some food"
"As long as you don't leave me in the line again" Jessie grumbled at my sister.
"I said I was sorry!" She said back in defense. "I mean, did you want to get stuck in the back of the Dairy Queen line again?"
"Well, no." Jessie admitted. "But you didn't have to go running off on me!"
"My baby brother just arrived at his first comic con!" Sarah justified. "I got excited. If you had a younger sibling, you would understand"
Jessie just rolled her eyes, continuing to walk with us.
That's when I saw him. The asshole who called me short, and spilled his milkshake on me! (Okay, so the milkshake was technically my fault, but he didn't have to call me short!) "Eren Jeager". The guy who thought he was so cool because he was an experienced cosplayer, and I was a novice. Well, I'll show him!
"YOU!" I shouted, but I don't think he heard me over the noise of the crowed. I started running at him, ignoring my sisters cry's for me to stay with the group. I ran towards him, a gleeful and satanic smile on my face. I was ready to claim revenge!
However, I slipped on a strangely placed milkshake cup on the ground. It rolled out from under my foot, and I fell to the side, and right through an unlocked door reading "Employees only"
I fell through the door, and then down a set of stairs, into what seemed like a storage room. When I finally landed at the bottom of the stairs, I was relieved to see I was relatively unhurt, but if I was sad before, now I just hit rock bottom. I felt like I was gonna cry.
"Welcome to comic con" I muttered miserably. I gritted my teeth as a tear slowly started to fall down my face. I decided to just cry down here. I wouldn't want to do it in front of Sarah. Not like she isn't sympathetic or anything, but I always feel embarrassed when I cry in front of anyone.
I found a comfortable wooden box to sit on, and made that my corner of self-pity. This was supposed to be fun. Every year since she was 17, Sarah would come back from Comic Con telling me about how much fun she had. About how, at her first comic con, people where constantly complementing her on her beautiful Saber costume, or how, at her second comic con, she and her friends where able to take pictures with the actual voice actors from RWBY, or at her third comic con she and her friends won the skit contest for their "Fairy Tail Talent Show" performance, or how her forth and most recent year of comic con she and her friends made themselves a YouTube hit by dressing up as the Teen Titians. It was always something. Something positive. Now I would be with her, cosplaying as my hero and favorite fictional character, while she dressed as my little brother. I was supposed to have as much as fun as she had. I've been here, what? 20 minutes now? I was having an emotional breakdown in a unlit storage room after falling down the stairs and getting my costume ruined! This was not my idea of fun!
I looked up and turned towards one of the only sources of light in the room; a red, neon sign hanging above a door. But it was what the sign said that drew my attention:
"Eren's Basement"
I laughed. Someone made a sign for that!? Well, I had the key, I might as well have some fun.
I went to the door, to see an old fashioned lock. When the door wouldn't open, I inserted the key and twisted. The door actually opened! I stepped inside the room. It was also dark, and empty, with the only source of light coming from the only object in the room; something gold and very glowing.
Curiosity got the better of me. I went to pick it up. It was a glowing gold small thing in the shape of a lightning bolt. I looked at it for a few seconds. When suddenly—
Images flashed before my eyes. Each image I saw was blurry, the sound quite. I saw my sister, wearing her armor, laying limp in my arms. A guy cosplaying as Mustang, saying "Your our only hope, Brade". Someone cosplaying as Kayaba from Sword Art Online was standing on a table for all the cosplayers to see, declaring "You will only get out once the chosen one defeats his arch enemy!". Then Carman's voice, talking to me in a whisper; "You... You... You... are... the chosen one"
When the images stopped, I was laying on the floor. But I wasn't in the room anymore. I was just outside it, where the door would've been. However, there was no door. Just a wall. Like the door never existed in the first place. I sat up, head throbbing. The gold lightning bolt was no longer in my hands. I was starting to wonder if it existed at all. The door was gone, the neon sign was gone, the lightning bolt was gone, the only thing still here was Eren's key. I slowly stood up, feeling dizzy.
"What the hell just happened?" I whispered to myself.
Feeling my way through the basement, I found the stairs, and started climbing them. I exited the door, walking back into the Comic Con. This would be an interesting story to tell my big sister.
AAAAANNNNNDDDDDD DONE!
How'd you like it? Good? Bad? Great? Work-in-progress? Really, really awesome? Tell me in a review!
So, here's a chart of the OC's in this fic
Sarah = Me
Jessie = My best friend (TheRoseAlchemist17)
Christian = My younger brother
Brade = My youngest brother
Carmon = A little girl who lives near our house.
Dad = My dad.
Josh, Tatsuko, Ichiro, Isao, Nao, and Damion = No one. They are my OC's. They do not reflect a person I know in real life
People who represent real life figures are pretty similar to how I displayed them in the fic. Of course, none of the self-inserts are actually the age I had them be in the fic, and their personalities are slightly influenced by my thoughts about them. One of my brother's is going through one of his more unpleasant ages, so he might not actually act that way when older. Also, those are not our real names. As much as I wish it, I do not have as cool of a last name as "Renegade".
The way I introduced my brother to Anime is a true story. I regret letting him watch FMA at a young age, but I guess no take-backs now.
I will not have a consistent update schedule for this story, but I do plan to update soon. This didn't take that long to make, so if I keep the chapters short, they should be published fairly consistently.
Can't wait to see ya'll next chapter!
~MotherUniverse signing out!