So, it's official, I no longer like the Marvel MCU. I guess you can say that this has been a thing coming for a while, after all, I have said that since Endgame I've no longer been invested in any of the newer projects. The only things that I've had some passing interest in is Spiderverse and the video game continuities as they're separate, new adventures. But just because I don't like the MCU anymore doesn't like I don't like exploring it as I do in all my projects. So, that diatribe aside, what do I have for you today?
As some of you may know, especially if you consult the table of contents chapter here, is that I've been exploring the Fate series more and more (the same applies to my favorites list). For the uninitiated, what is Fate? It's a subset of a larger universe commonly called the Nasuverse where magic and the like are a hidden society and it is brutal and dark at times. Just watch the opening episodes of Fate/Extra: Lost Encore, Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Zero, or the finale of the Fate/Grand Order: First Order movie for a taste of how brutal and messed up that universe can be. I will summarize it for you: TL;DR magi are dicks who will do whatever they want so long as they can get away with it and as long as it doesn't affect the majority of humanity which causes them to notice things. But regardless of which series you do or don't like, the universe itself is (mostly) coherent and fascinating to read/watch about. You can see where this is going, can't you? And so, this new story proposal, what is it?
It will be a Fate/Stay night/MCU crossover. Here are the deets of what I'm thinking of. There are multiple different stories I've read recently that appear to follow a trope, one that I'm happy to borrow for this idea as they're great jumping-off points, and that is the power/sword/Noble Phantasm of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the Kaleidoscope, in the form of the Jeweled Sword Zelretch is accidentally used by Shirou Emiya (in any of his various flavors, alternate universes, go figure) and he is dropped into an alternate universe by said sword. There are a couple of stories that I've read that have used this concept, such as "This Looks Like a Job for Overkill" by Xnasha Minstrel (id: 12402852), the (current) trilogy of stories in the "Swords and Sorcery" series by Lord of Penguin (ids: 12881601, 12881633, and 14125440), "Draconian Fate Works" by Kratos1989 (id: 10966996), and the "Professor Tohsaka" story pair by ShirouKuroEmiya (ids: 14085055 and 14054115). All of these are great story ideas and I do recommend checking them out. So, back to this story idea.
Using this knowledge of this trope that exists for Fate fics, here's what I got. Shirou is accepted as an apprentice under Zelretch for better or for worse and his Reality Marble "accidentally" copies the Jeweled Sword and in doing so yeets himself into another dimension somehow without getting himself ripped to shreds on top of this new universe not having another him to cause a paradox event. Quite convenient. The new universe he finds himself in is in some transitionary period having their foot half in the door of the Age of Gods and half out of it. Not to mention that Earth is being invaded. And Rin is with him.
So, now let's get into some of the minutiae. So, there have been a few stories that have utilized Sealing Designations before as Shirou's Reality Marble is a genuine threat as no one has been able to create those without either being a Heroic Spirit, a god, a demon, or a Dead Apostle (from what I've been able to research in the wiki); his apprenticeship to the Wizard Marshall directly would prevent any such thing from happening. Mainly because no one wants to mess with Zelretch lest they get pranked by him. And being pranked by him is like getting a face slap of shaving cream, but usually crueler (at least in our eyes) pranks. So, this allows him to develop his Reality Marble under Zelretch's tutelage but he's always suspicious, after all, Zelretch doesn't do things for altruistic reasons, he usually has a motive of some kind. So, with that being said, let's get the rest of this preface written.
Title: Unlimited Avenger Works [not final].
Rating: T+ - M, but undecided about what it will be in the end. There will be innuendos or implied things going on between Shirou and Rin, but that's to be expected of fan fics.
Pairing(s): Shirou/Rin. All others are undecided.
Summary: Zelretch had taken Shirou and Rin under his wing as apprentices in two different fields of magecraft much to the shock and horror of the Clock Tower and the Association. It seems as if their fear was well founded but for another reason as an encounter with the Jeweled Sword sends Rin and Shirou into another world where things are similar but VERY different than their home. After all, gods of thunder and superheroes didn't walk around on the street where they came from. Also, aliens didn't invade.
Disclaimer: I only own my copy of MS Word and my desktop. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) belongs to Disney and Fate to TYPE-MOON/Nasu. I only own this specific concept's idea after it diverges (as far as I'm aware). See the foreword for the full disclaimer.
XxXxXxX
The Clock Tower.
A university so prestigious that only those who first knew about it could apply to it and usually only those who came from very prestigious families with long lineages would be accepted. Though there were some special circumstances. The first was academic excellence. The second was having or presenting a skill that only they had that interested the staff. The third was by catching the (positive) attention of the Association for various deeds or accomplishments in the Moonlit world. I, Shirou Emiya, fit the latter of those special circumstances. A technicality used so rarely that many thought it was a pity enrollment rather than anything prestigious.
That sense of superiority and faux pity all fell away when it was revealed why I had been accepted.
The greatKischur Zelretch Schweinorg, aka the Kaleidoscope, aka the Wizard Marshall, had taken an interest in me and through various means that will go unspoken got me entry into the Clock Tower as an apprentice under him directly.
What horrified the university more is that the great Zelretch took on a second apprentice: Rin Tohsaka. It was well known in magi circles that the Tohsakas were adept in gem magecraft and Zelretch was known to use gem magecraft, but her appointment as his second apprentice wouldn't have been a cause for worry if it wasn't for the fact that Zelretch didn't tell any of the administrative staff what field he was teaching us. He didn't have to give specifics due to the secrecy of magi and the specifics of research being close family secrets, just the field it was. And the Wizard Marshall not saying anything got people really antsy.
So antsy to the point where people thought he was tutoring us in the ways of the prankster to torment the members of the Association while he was away, just so that they didn't forget about him. Though, to be honest, who could forget a 400-plus-year-old borderline immortal being who has seen so many timelines simultaneously without going (completely) mad?
"Damn it!" a voice called out from behind me. I turned around to see Rin looking at the dagger that she had. The same one that if you removed all of the enchantments and magecraft placed upon it, was the same as another at the base level.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I just don't get it!" I knew what she was talking about. It was an assignment that their master had assigned to Rin. "Constructing the base layers of a jeweled sword shouldn't be this difficult!"
"Well," I start to argue, "you are trying to recreate many aspects of Zelretch's magnum opus and something that borders on True Magic and Sorcery."
"I know!" Rin replied more annoyed than I'd seen her in a while.
"And we're still under the drinking age here."
"I know!" She went from looking angry to apologetic. I knew she was frustrated; she knew she was frustrated. After all, who wouldn't be? "I know," she said a bit more quietly.
"I may be a third-rate magus, and your family has been around – and apprenticed under Zelretch – for generations. Zelretch has come in contact with Types and beings that we can only dream of, fought Dead Apostles singlehandedly, and seen timelines to learn from versions of himself to gain generations worth of experience and knowledge which would take many lifetimes and generations for us to even comprehend." I say this as a walk over to her and wrap an arm around her in a hug.
After a moment of silence, she spoke up. "You're right," she muttered.
"You may not learn every aspect, but what you do learn and accomplish will be handed down to your own children and they'll continue on with that work."
She blushed at that but turned away to hide that. We had spoken about children, once. It was a badly kept secret that the two of us mainly lived together to exchange mana in tantric rituals. Sometimes it was done to help the other before a research project, other times it was to blow off stress or when we were both in the mood just in general. But the both of us were conflicted. Did I want a child one day? Yes. Did she? Also, yes. The Tohsaka legacy needed to be continued at some point. But due to both of our upbringings and parental figures, we didn't know if we'd be the best people to even have a child. It was no secret that Rin's father wasn't the most loving father – Sakura was a result of that – and her mother wasn't in the best of shape either when she was around; and the less said about a certain Priest, the better. I didn't have parents I remembered outside Kiritsugu, and he was a complex person on several different levels. It'd be something we'd both have to figure out when the time came and a conversation for another time.
Rin seemed to think of something before she stood up suddenly. "What's wrong?" I ask.
"Nothing! You've just given me a fantastic idea!" she said happily. For some reason, I didn't like where this was going. She grabbed my hand and we were in Zelretch's office soon enough.
Unlike other masters who locked away their knowledge when they weren't present, he allowed us to come and go in his office as we pleased, mainly due to the texts that were available for reference. As soon as they stepped into the office, Rin stepped behind his desk and opened a curtain, behind it was the magnum opus of Zelretch, his jeweled sword bearing the same name.
"Rin, what are you doing?" I ask carefully.
"Well, you said that he's got generations of experience on us, right?"
"Yeah…?"
"Well, what better way to get a jump start than to examine his life's work?" she concludes with an impish grin as she removes it from its case. I was right to conclude that I did not like where this was going.
I looked at her, then looked at the dagger. "No, no way."
"But Shirou~," she complained.
"You know what happened the last time I tried to examine a blade that had power properties."
She waved him off with the hand that wasn't holding the dagger. "Yeah, that was both Excalibur and Ea. Weapons made by the divine."
I remembered both of those instances very unfavorably. One was uncomfortable, the other was outright painful. It turns out that things created by gods were much more powerful than something blessed by a god. Very distinct differences. I had examined Excalibur once during the Holy Grail War. I remember the sword as it was later combined with Avalon, but trying to Trace it felt like my entire body was being lit on fire, like every time I had created a sword before I had been taught the right way to use my Circuits. But that thing, it was very different.
Ea on the other hand I never really got to Trace. I had sliced off Gilgamesh's arm while we were in my Reality Marble and when we reemerged after it collapsed due to the lack of mana, his arm wasn't among the wreckage, meaning that his ancient, god-made blade was inside the Blade Works, not as a copy, but as the genuine article not unlike Avalon. There were others that Gilgamesh had tried to use to kill me, those were archived twice, once as copies and as the originals; but those were manmade blades of which some had names and history, others did not. I had tried to Structurally Grasp it only once since Grail War, and the only time it could be done was when I was inside my Reality Marble and it burned. Whereas Excalibur felt like I had been on fire when trying to Trace it, Ea felt like I had been inside molten lead, burning from the inside out. We had prepared for it too, exchanging mana for days in advance for hours at a time and when I felt like an overcharged battery ready to explode, we had attempted it. I collapsed in absolute pain and agony to the point where I was out of commission for days bedridden and borderline comatose. I didn't dare try to Trace it outside of my Blade Works, but it was there, ready to be used like any other blade; but as the genuine article. The less I thought about time paradoxes at what this implied, the better.
"One was blessed, the other made by the divine," I correct.
She shrugged, "Semantics."
"There's a very distinct difference."
She then handed the long-bladed knife to me. "Structurally Grasp it."
"I gathered that," I deadpan. "Why?"
"Because if you can find out how some of the magecraft is weaved into it, I can replicate it!"
I knew Rin. She was stubborn to a fault and I knew that she would not let up on this. Even if I somehow got her to back down today, we'd be right back here tomorrow. I took the blade from her and held it in both hands. Looking back up to her, "Just let it be known on record that this is an extremely bad idea."
She got really giddy. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
I had long since learned how to suppress my innate Structural Grasping when I didn't want to use it. Before, any blade, even the lowly KutKo kitchen knife set, would be Structurally Grasped and stored in the Unlimited Blade Works at a single glance. At least on the bright side, there was an absolutely beautiful, hand-crafted sashimi knife that I had seen right before our trip to England which found itself in my Blade Works. At least I had that one added as a happy coincidence.
I went to my mental trigger, the hammer of a hammer-fired gun striking the firing pin. "Trace, On," I say and my Magical Circuits are now at my bidding. I initiate Structural Grasping and lower my mental shields to ensure I understand this blade more carefully.
I must have underestimated the Jeweled Sword because I understood it too well. An imitation created itself inside my Unlimited Blade Works and the power innate to its conceptual existence bled from it. In one moment, Rin and I were in Zelretch's office, the next we weren't. The only thing to show my realization of this was yelling, "Oh shit!" before rainbow flash appeared.
XxXxXxX
Zelretch watched from the shadows of his office as his two apprentices disappeared from this world. One moment Shirou was there holding his Jeweled Sword, the next he had disappeared in an iridescent, rainbow flash and his sword was clattering on the ground.
Zelretch stepped out of the shadows, picked up the dagger, and put it away. Sitting down in his chair, he smirked. "Well, you've found yourself on quite a journey young Shirou and Rin. Perhaps you'll gain valuable insight into Mysteries and your own Magecraft on your trek. Best of luck." He put his feet up on his desk. "I'll check up on them later. They'll be fine… I think."
XxXxXxX
Three years later, hidden location.
Rin and I knew we were in trouble that couldn't be easily gotten out of. Well, we could get out of it, but that'd leave too many bodies that couldn't be explained away as gang violence casualties or a gas leak. If these people could track him down through his occasional use of Noble Phantasms, they could do so again. Based on the force they showed when taking us into custody, there was no way that wherever we were was the only location and they had redundancies and were powerful in their own right. This meant if we did forcefully make our way out, we'd be hunted down again and likely made the number one on various watch lists.
Any thoughts we had were immediately pushed aside as a tall, Black man sat down with a tablet in his hands. The two big things that stood out about him were that he was bald and had an eyepatch. Beside him was a man in a suit who looked like a classic 'G-man.' He set the tablet on the table and rotated it so everyone could see what was on it.
"The two of you are very powerful anomalies," he said in a deep voice. If I were to make a comparison, he sort of sounded like that actor Sam Jackson. As he said this, clips from us fighting off various criminals played. Well, it wasn't like we went out of our way to find them, they found us. Damn my E-Rank-rated luck. "Powerful and you don't seem to exist on any records found in any government." As he said this, the feed changed to show security footage of the two of us in museums and in high-tech research facilities. "Obviously, you're after something. Things involving dimensional travel and artifacts."
"And what of it?" Rin asks defensively.
"What if I told you we had resources to help you find what you're looking for?"
"And what makes you think you can help us?"
"I belong to a very powerful organization whose resources know no bounds. On top of that, we have… experience with eccentric individuals."
"What do you think we're looking for?" I ask.
"Based on what we've been able to find, you're looking for a way home. You don't belong to this dimension, do you?" he asks. Both of us remain silent outright confirming his suspicion.
Rin replies after an uncomfortable silence, "What do you want?"
"Our organization researches objects beyond our comprehension in order to understand them as well as defend against threats against member nations in our organization. In exchange for your services, we'll provide amenities as well as usage of technology, should it be discovered as useful to you."
"And should we refuse?" I ask.
"You were trespassing on government property; you can imagine what that may entail."
"What do you mean by 'our services?'" Rin asks.
"To use your abilities to further our goals of stopping threats of a supernatural angle."
Rin and I look at each other and shared an immediate, knowing look. Whichever organization this person belongs to had us cornered. There was no clean way out of this. Rin spoke up, "We want the right of refusal. If any job conflicts with our morals, we can decline it, no questions asked and no penalties given."
The man thought for a moment before he reached up and touched his ear. "I see," he said to whoever was speaking to him. He turned his attention back to us. "That will be acceptable. However, refusing to do all work will result in you defaulting on the deal." He extended his hand, "Are we in agreement?"
"Yes," Rin said as she shook his hand, I followed after she finished.
"Welcome to SHIELD, Mister Emiya, Miss Tohsaka."
XxXxXxX
Years later, an unknown planet.
Thanos walked through his garden, picking a fruit, before continuing on to his hut where he was preparing his meal. There was something in the air that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was like static. Before he could move or react, the entire hut exploded.
No words were said next as Danvers unleashed a beam of energy toward Thanos who blocked it with the gauntlet. She proceeded to tackle him, knocking him off of his feet. She mounted his shoulders, holding his arm at bay with a leg. He tried to flex, but through the floor, one of Stark's many Iron Man suits – piloted by Banner – burst through the floor and grabbed him. Bursting through the roof and landing on the other side, Rhodes in his Warmachine suit held the other hand. Thor burst through another wall and sliced off the hand with a gauntlet. Finally, Shirou summoned two Black Keys and pinned Thanos's shadow, and held his favored blades at Thanos's midsection in what some would call a pair of scissors ready to bisect him; the blades Overedged. Steve and Natasha wasted no time walking in making their appearance known to Thanos as well who was groaning from being pinned and that was beside the missing arm.
Rocket walked over to the severed arm and flipped it over; the Stones were gone. He said what everyone was thinking, "Oh no."
Everyone was silent, contemplating what to say or do. Steve beat them to it. "Where are they?" Steve asked.
"Answer the question," Danvers 'encouraged' him.
"The universe required correction," Thanos – pained – started to grandstand. "After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Banner exploded, pushing the defeated Titan over; the Titan falls to his back.
"You should be grateful." This was answered by a hydraulically enhanced punch to the jaw.
"Where are the Stones?" Natasha repeated the question. Already assuming the answer, but needed to hear it herself.
"Gone. Reduced to atoms."
"You used them two days ago," Banner stated.
"I used the Stones to destroy the Stones," Thanos said victoriously. Well, as victorious as a defeated man could be. "It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am… inevitable."
"We have to tear this place apart, he has to be lying," Rhodes said in disbelief, shaking his head.
"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them," Nebula confirmed.
"Ah, thank you, daughter," Thanos said, happy to see there was one grateful – at least in his eyes – person in the room. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
Knowing what Thor was about to do, Shirou raised one of the Noble Phantasms and held Stormbreaker mere millimeters from Thanos's exposed neck. "What are you doing!?" Thor said angrily.
"No," Shirou shook his head. "That is too good for him. Too quick."
"Well, what did you have in mind?" Thor asked as he withdrew his ax.
"Stand behind me and keep a solid grip on anything you own," Shirou instructed. He held out his hand in front of him and started to chant, "I am the bone of my sword," as he did a chill was felt as what looked like circuits appear on his arms and legs before extending into the ground. "Steel is my body and fire my blood." Swords began to appear and stabbed themselves into the ground around them, as they did, the same circuit pattern appeared on the ground where they lay. "I have created over a thousand blades. Aware of loss and aware of gain. Withstood pain to create weapons without number in the service of saving others." More blades stabbed into the ground and the pattern beneath Shirou's feet grew. "This is the only path with no other way. My life will forever be Unlimited Blade Works!"
Those attuned to great power felt something supernatural even to them emanating from Shirou. Flames erupted from Shirou and the ground shattered in what appeared to be molten flames. The fire blew over them but it didn't burn. As the flash passed, they appeared to find themselves in a wasteland filled with small hills and bladed weapons without number. The sky was cloudy and dark, in the far distance what appeared to be a sun was on the verge of setting.
"Where are we?" Rocket asked.
"This is that place you told me about," Thor stated.
Shirou nodded as he walked to what appeared to be a particularly nasty-looking, black sword that appeared to have faded red symbols on it. "This is my Reality Marble," Shirou announced to everyone including Thanos. "The very manifestation of my soul imposed upon the universe, overriding it," he paused, "for a time." He wrapped his hands around the sword's grip. "You may believe that I create weapons, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I create a world that contains weapons without number." He pulled the sword from the ground, the dull red symbols started to glow. As they did, the air changed. "This is the only magic allowed to Shirou Emiya."
"And what is that sword?"
"A weapon that I in another place, in another time once saw," Shirou cryptically replied. He turned to Thanos, "What do you know of Earth's myths and legends?"
"Why should I care," Thanos grunted out as he struggled to stand even with the Black Keys holding him in place still.
"Because." Shirou held the blade in a battle-ready stance. "There are the feats of those in humanity's history that are held in such high regard or accomplished such great feats that their spirits are forever recorded in the Throne of Heroes. The items associated with them crystalizing into objects of power without compare: Noble Phantasms."
"And this is one of these, Noble Phantasms?" Thanos grunted out.
"Yes. It belonged to someone who became king, their sword created by the Fae and presented by the Lady of the Lake. Corrupted by betrayal, malice, and anger. An appropriate tool for what is going to happen."
The eyes of Steve, Natasha, and Thor widened as they were all familiar with the legend of which he spoke. "You mean that sword belonged to-?" Steve asks in bewilderment.
Shirou interrupted, "Yes." He then turned his attention to Thanos and shifted his stance to hold it in a reverse two-handed grip. "Vortigern, Hammer of the Vile King, reverse the rising sun," he intoned. As he did, the corrupted legendary blade was surrounded by a dark energy highlighted with violet and red. Thor and Carol could feel that it just felt evil whereas the rest of the present company felt its wrongness. "Swallow the light, Excalibur Morgan!" Shirou completed the chant and as he did, he swung upward. As he did, a beam of wrong-feeling black energy erupted forward toward Thanos and it swallowed up everything in its path. As it came in contact with Thanos, the beam consumed him and formed a pillar that stretched to the heavens, and what looked like ghosts moved around it like a pyre.
The manifestation of Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works broke apart and shattered as glass and the real world rematerialized. The fissures that had appeared weren't there, but there was a massive crater in the middle of Thanos's Garden, the rim of the crater at the foot of the stairs that Bruce had crashed through just minutes before. The remaining Avengers looked on and saw that there was nothing left in the crater but a blackened mark where Thanos's body once was. Like the flash shadows created after the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The sword in Shirou's hand was still there, but it started to vibrate before it disintegrated into the motes of light that all of his weapons broke down into when he dismissed them.
"What did you do?" Rocket asked.
"Just as Thanos rendered half of the universe to ashes, he too was rendered to ash. And before someone states it was too quick. What felt like an instant for us was several thousand lifetimes to him as time slowed allowing him to experience being disintegrated atom by atom," Shirou replied. He fell to his knees and almost faceplanted if it weren't for Thor and Steve running up to support him.
"Shirou! / Emiya!" the two called out simultaneously in instant worry.
"It's alright, I'm just exhausted," Shirou said as his vision started to waver. "There's a reason I don't unleash the full power of my Unlimited Blade Works, nor do I summon Divinely created weapons. I become borderline comatose. I can Trace many powerful Noble Phantasms without issue which is why you've never seen me like this." His knees buckled. "Just stick an IV in me, I'll wake up in a few days," he said before he passed out.
As he did though, he could only think one thing, "I've avenged you, Rin."
To be continued…?
XxXxXxX
And with that, this idea is complete. Well, as a pilot. As with my Star Wars/Avengers pilot, there's jumping around there too in time to show what I would imagine this culminating in as a story. Obviously, considering how much content is in the MCU, it would take some time to get through all of it, even if I only did the Avengers films (plus Civil War) only for this plot. The big thing that I have to take into consideration is where I have Shirou and Rin interact with the plot. The big ones being the Avengers films (and Civil War) so those are a given. But Iron Man? Nah. Hulk? No. Thor? Likely for the first, can't say much about the others (Dark World, Ragnarok, and Love and Thunder; though, maybe Dark World). Winter Soldier? For sure since it involves SHIELD and Shirou and Rin will be involved with them. Dr. Strange? Maybe, especially Multiverse of Madness, but as we know that happens well after Endgame. Spiderman? I don't think so? Far From Home is more likely while No Way Home is a big doubt but I can see why the duo may be involved. But the latter film is well after Endgame as well. Then there's also the consideration to make of when do Rin and Shirou return home to their dimension? As some of you may know, one of my biggest gripes with the Western comics scene is that everyone wants syndication, no one wants to make an open and shut story that lasts less than 10 volumes (issues) whereas manga, when it's done, it's done. There's usually a set path and once the author is done with their work, they move on to the next thing; even if they don't complete it because of various issues (getting dropped by a publisher, retiring, passing away, etc.) there's always notes to tell of what the end game was and their vision of it even if it is in the form of notes. So, that, on top of figuring out Rin and Shirou's involvement with many stories in the MCU, will be one of the big challenges. One of the greater challenges is figuring out the two's growth as well as they can't remain stagnant the entire time as that would be very boring for us. And it's not like I'm not capable of this, but it would be very time consuming on top of extensive planning. And flow charts, lots and lots of flow charts.
And on to a few notes for this entry in particular. The first thing you'll notice is the lack of action scenes. As many of you do know, action scenes aren't one of my strong suits so I end up having to read various books and see how other authors also perform these types of scenes so that the scene can be aptly described. The second thing to take note of is Shirou's incantation for Unlimited Blade Works changing from what it was in the UBW route. From what I've been able to uncover, his chant echoes his worldview at the time. The last thing is that of Excalibur Morgan. I just think it looks neat, ok? Plus, it kind of thematically fits with the scene in question. Also, I do realize that I did swap into third person for the final scene, I didn't realize that until after the fact but the scene still works. Alright, on to other story stuff.
In the time since the last entry here, I've written up a few treatments for potential pilots. The first is a Pokémon and Persona 5 idea where Ren gets thrown into the world of Pokémon after the final boss battle and gets to become a trainer. The second is a Fate and Persona 5 one that sort of follows the same concept behind the "Professor Tohsaka" duology (currently) where Rin becomes a teacher and Shirou is her TA; in this case at Shujin and they're there to investigate the Mental Shutdowns and happen to be at the right place at the right time to encounter the start of the Phantom Thieves. The third is a bit of a shitpost consisting of Ren of Persona 5 having a dual citizenship and when he was in the US, he's a guntuber with a relatively successful channel and his schoolmates find out about it after he's arrested; I sort of imagined it in the vein of the content from Garand Thumb or Administrative Results. The fourth and fifth are pretty much the same, but with different persons involved; that being a Harry Potter and Persona 5 crossover where Harry moves to Japan as an adult to get away from the insanity of the magical world, only to find himself involved in the insanity that is the Metaverse. The only difference between these two fics are more in the minutia as well as what love interest is involved, for one it's Kawakami and for the other it's Sae. The last idea is one that will tie in to the IRL stuff, but it's an Azur Lane and VOMs Project collab-style story based on a proposal for a game idea in the Pikamee fangame Discord which I lurk in. And with that, let's get on to the IRL stuff.
So, it's been a hot minute since I last uploaded. In real life, I've been busy. So, at the beginning of the month – and this ties into the final story idea – one of my favorite content creators, Amano Pikamee, retired after petty drama over a video game pretty much forced her to accelerate plans to retire which may have very well been many months or even a year out. You can dislike the owner of an IP, but attacking and harassing people over a video game they wanted to play is just scummy. This was probably the first time I had been exposed to a parasocial relationship without donating anything, without becoming a member of something and so on. I just viewed clips and their retirement hit me harder than I thought it would. So, yeah, the beginning of the month left me sort of bummed out for a good week. Work piled on, so I continued with that. Then it was my birthday. Spent it alone, but took the day off, went to brunch, got a haircut that was well overdue, went to my local range and screwed up a barrel on one of my rifles (I think it was a hot round or something), then finished the night off by going to a movie and watching that new Super Mario Bros movie (it was good). I did visit my grandmother and extended family over Easter and with my family it's always a grab bag, to be honest; good and bad stuff.
I do have a planned project going up on my YouTube sooner rather than later. It's just I have to script all of it and I'm not too good with scripts. But this is one thing that I do need to keep my thoughts clear and concise on it. I've started 3d printing some stuff again and out of the 3 things I printed, 2 came out great, the other one not so much. And that's all I have for now
I'll see you in whatever I decide to put out next.