Formerly a fukufic, this is being rewritten with stand-in OCs, 3 chapters in the beginning introducing them are being written mostly from scratch while the rest of the story will be corrected and adjusted as needed.
This chapter introduces replacements for: Akane, Ranma, Tux, Moon, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. That was the *entire* team in the summer of 1995. Others joined the gang during the following year.
Chapter 2 will introduce stand-ins for Mercury, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Though most of them will really debut in Ch.5.
Sources of inspiration (soup to my stone) that made this rewriting possible at all: Countless edutaintment shows on NHK World Japan; “Little Vera” and incredible play of Natalia Negoda in particular; “Grappler Baki”; “Daughters of Mnemosyne”; “Devilman Lady”; “Tokyo Godfathers” by Satoshi Kon; “Mermaid Forest” by Rumiko Takahashi; “Worm” by Wildbow; online super Japanese name generator https://namegen.jp ; Pizzigri whose suggestion sparked the very idea.
Be warned: some blood ahead (Ch.2 onward), more than the old version had. Note the sources of inspiration listed above and how bloody and borderline explicit some of them are. Think again if you want to read this. Proceed at your own risk.
Not posting the actual chapter here just in case.
Formerly here (already nuked) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11828499/1/
Will become this: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31812 ... s/78754999
Only the first chapter is up so far. You try cramming your replacement character's entire life and complex background into a single chapter.
P.S. I'm writing on but in the second chapter the necessary research really caught up with me. I feel like Atlas with the whole sky on my shoulders. The detailed backstory, the extra sumeras, the battles of the past year, the members of the team that are gone, devoured by eldritch abominations. Those had to be real people, not cardboard cutouts, so I had to put lots of effort into them, even if they only participate in one flashback.
P.P.S. As of June 21, the effects of the record heat wave plus side effects of vaccination make me feeling tired all the time. Combine with looming deadline at work and the progress is slow. For now everything goes into the lore. What are sumeras and what is their power level and what are the ages of everyone (222, 68, a few 30+, the vast majority 22..19) their backstories, their dangerous forbidden technique that takes the place of the Almighty Silver Crystal from the old version... Ugh.