Heroes of the New Era (Fanfic)

[Gyt Kaliba]

Okay, more nervous/excited posting this at long last than I should be, but here goes.

This thread will serve as the hub for my ongoing fanfiction serial, Dragon Ball: Heroes of the New Era. The idea for this fanfiction has been brewing in the back of my mind for a loooonnngtime now - I'm not even kidding when I say that the bare-bones of it were first thought up about five years ago. The idea kept getting put off for a long time though for various reasons. First, I wanted to watch all of the franchise in Japanese form, to make sure I understood the characters even better - that took a while. Then new stuff kept coming out, most recently Battle of Gods, which kept setting me back until I could gather as much information on those, if not watch them myself.

Finally though, I feel I'm in a good enough place to at least get this going as a side-project along with my original writing projects.

Chapter Listing (this section will be updated each time a new chapter is put up, as well as it being posted in a new post)
Prologue - It Begins
Chapter 1 - Mountainside Training
Chapter 2 - The Upcoming Party
Chapter 3 - Of Love and Training, Part 1
Chapter 4 - Of Love and Training, Part 2

So far, I just have the prologue and the first chapter actually written, so it's not a lot to go on I'll admit. I have a lot more planned coming though, to live up to the story's title. The main focus of the story is going to be shifting Pan and Oob - plus a few others whom I can't mention yet - into a more active role as the planet's defenders, but expect plenty of action and presence from old, familiar faces as well. There may even be some old faces from much, much further back in the story making a re-appearance as well.

Enough banter from me for now though, let me know what you guys think even with what little there is to go on so far. Any thoughts, guesses, theories, or hopes of what you'd like to see, let me know - I don't plan on revealing everything of course, but I don't mind dropping little hints along the way in the vein of discussion.

[Ryuman]

Ahh, nice. I'm always up for material involving the training of Uub and Pan.
It seemed like you had a bit of trouble in the prologue, trying to get everything across in just the right way, but once it got to the Mirdori/Aka banter I was really with it. Felt really natural and funny. I'd be interested in seeing where this goes, so I'll stay on for what comes next. Good work!

[Gyt Kaliba]

It seemed like you had a bit of trouble in the prologue, trying to get everything across in just the right way, but once it got to the Mirdori/Aka banter I was really with it. Felt really natural and funny. I'd be interested in seeing where this goes, so I'll stay on for what comes next. Good work!

Thanks! Yeah, I'm still a little unsure about the dialogue of the 'unseen character' in the prologue. That entire part may get a re-write soon, or at least in the future. Try as I might at the moment though, the dialogue comes off one of two ways - 1) Gives away too much, or 2) sounds somewhat cliche and uninspired (which is where it's floating at right now).

I'm glad you liked the old couple's banter too, since I wasn't sure about that either. It felt amusing to me, but I wasn't sure others would feel the same way.

[Gyt Kaliba]

And...double post of update in case anyone is still somewhat interested in checking this out perhaps.

Chapter 2 is a go! Also, if you haven't already checked it out since it was originally put up, Chapters 1 and 2 are also now updated with what I like to call 'Advanced Author Notes'. They're just a fun little bonus to let you in on my writing process when it comes to this stuff, something I always find interesting to read from other authors (be it official works or otherwise). Chapter 3 will hopefully be updated with it's own notes soon enough, and Chapter 4 is already in the works.

[Saiga]

Just finished reading this, and I will continue following it. I have to say, though, that I feel a bit iffy about the Pan/Oob romance. Aren't their ages 7/13? When they're that young, it's just weird to me, and I think it's kind of overdone in fanworks anyway. Not nearly as bad as Pan/Trunks, though.

Not much for me to say other than that, I guess.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed what little I've done so far. Really need to get around to finishing the next chapter - I took an extended break for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November to focus on my original stuff, and just haven't made it back to working on this yet.

As for the Pan/Oob stuff, I can see how it might feel a bit overdone. I'm a sucker for that pairing though, it makes a lot of sense to me, but I'll try not to let it get too angsty. On their ages though, this story is set in Age 797, approximately thirteen years after the end of the manga. By this point Pan is 17 and Oob is 23. I admit that's still a little squeamish, but this was about the time frame I wanted the story to be in, so I had to work with what I had there.

[Saiga]

Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed what little I've done so far. Really need to get around to finishing the next chapter - I took an extended break for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November to focus on my original stuff, and just haven't made it back to working on this yet.

As for the Pan/Oob stuff, I can see how it might feel a bit overdone. I'm a sucker for that pairing though, it makes a lot of sense to me, but I'll try not to let it get too angsty. On their ages though, this story is set in Age 797, approximately thirteen years after the end of the manga. By this point Pan is 17 and Oob is 23. I admit that's still a little squeamish, but this was about the time frame I wanted the story to be in, so I had to work with what I had there.

Oh, shit, that's right. You specifically noted that it was 13 years after the tournament in your notes, but somehow I was just thinking 3 years and Oob = 13.

Wow, that clears THAT right up. At that age the difference isn't so significant.

[Sin]

I just read what's up so far and I really enjoyed it, the writing flowed nicely and there was enough going on to keep me interested. I especially like the author notes section which help me to envision the fanfic similar to the way you intended, and just how you imagined the sparring scene playing out to the opening music I too had the same imagery running through my head while reading.

So far it's been nice and lighthearted but I have a feeling that it's all going to change...

[Gyt Kaliba]

Thanks Sin! I'm glad to know the Author's Note section isn't just sitting there doing no good to anyone heh. ^_^ And you would be correct. We'll probably be in the 'light-hearted' stuff for a little while yet, but it's definitely heading towards some 'bad shit'.

And speaking of which, the next chapter is being worked on as we speak (like, literally, I'm sitting here lurking the net because I'm focusing on writing mainly). With any luck it'll be up by tomorrow or the next day, but no absolute promises. As a bit of a teaser, here's the motley crew you can expect to play at least some small part in the next chapter - Kuririn, #18, Master Roshi, Marron, Bra, Goten, Trunks, Bulma, Mai, and Vegeta.

[Gyt Kaliba]

And the wait is over! You know, anyone actually waiting for this. As promised, the new chapter is up (and has been for a few hours but I had to step away from the computer immediately after uploading them), though there was a bit of a problem that I ran into in the writing. The portion of material I'd planned to cover in this chapter ended up being long, a lot longer than I thought it would be...so I had to break them off into two different chapters. The plus of this is that you technically get two brand new chapters!

Chapter 3: Of Love and Training, Part 1
Chapter 4: Of Love and Training, Part 2

I'm already working on the next chapter so with any luck, I'll have it ready to put up in about a week or so. I don't think it should end up being another two-chapter endeavor, but if anything else does, it'll probably be this one. And here's a couple of teasers for where things are heading.

1) The next chapter should feature the characters of Mr. Satan, Mr. Boo, Oob, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu - plus three "original" characters that will become important-ish, and the return of a favorite character.

2) If things keep heading at their current pace, there should only be one more chapter after the next one before things finally start to 'move' a little. It'll still be fun and games for a bit longer, but we're rapidly moving towards the meat of the story.