Pani Poni Dash! Fan Fiction / Mai-HiME Fan Fiction / Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Vegrandis Magister Ferociter ❯ Ending thoughts ( EndNotes )

The story has finally ended. For those you still did not know, “Vegrandis Magister Ferociter” loosely mean “Chibi Sensei with Spirit”. The story was named so firstly because that is what is written on that Pactio card of Becky. Secondly because I find titles always sound cool in Latin. Thirdly because I can't think of anything else. Anyone with a better title to this story please tell it to me.

 

As this fanfiction is placed in the Negima section of Fanfiction.net, obviously the main character, Negi himself and his comrades are from there. Becky and her comrades came from a comedy anime, `Pani Poni Dash!' The settings which I guess is what got most people excited, is from `Mai Hime'. This fic takes place post-series.

 

I would like to thank ReddyRedWolf (sorry about that mis-spelling that last time) and Ultima-kun for their willingness in helping me iron out some of those parts in this story. This would not be possible without their help.

 

Anyway, here is why I as the writer would rant about the whole process and talk about what some of the reviewers point out. The seed for this idea was first planted when I was reading the newly updated Tsunami Channel. In one of the parody strips, specifically Parody Strip #36 “Azumanga Daioh 2”, Tomoyo rants to Chiyo and Yomi ,

 

“You must be so smart to be high school at age of ten,;

But I know of a ten year old from Wales who teaches English at middle school (He can use magic too);

There is also a ten year old science teacher who graduated from M.I.T.;

A ten year old high school student is too common.”

 

Of course I recognized that she was referring to Negi and Becky (though Becky teaches Maths). This leads to me thinking, “Since these two little kids are geniuses and teachers, what if they met? Hell, since they are so compatible, they should just go fall in love or something like that.”

 

That idea was a passing fad, never materializing beyond a few sample lines I did. The original idea for the story was much simpler, no action, Becky bully Negi kind of story.

 

So I pack that thought away and returned to anime reviews.

 

But months after that, the idea slowly came floating back. This time, a more elaborate plot was added to it. And so one day, staring at the computer screen with nothing to write about, with no assignment at hand, I decided to try my hands on fanfiction. Thus I started my little pet project.

 

I had actually wanted a full-drawn doujin. THAT would be cool. But considering my amateur drawing skills, I decided to let words to the talking. Maybe some good artist might come across this fanfiction and like it enough to draw a doujin of it. And publish it online or on print material. Take the hint!

 

Becky as a character. Here is a question. For those who had watched `Pani Poni Dash!' Did any of you felt that my portrayal of Becky Out-of-character?

 

After all these writing, Becky remained an enigma to me. While I do try to keep the characters in character as much as possible, Becky is difficult. In the anime itself, she is a very complex, hard-to-catch character. At times, she would shout and scream at the robber with a gun, at times she would cower in fear of the dark or the attacks on her school, at times she would be a little childish girl, at times a cynical evil genius. As much as I like to capture all these facets of her character, it is incredibly difficult since there is no fixed example on how she would react to a certain incident. Hopefully, what I got kept most of her character intact.

 

`Mai Hime' as the choice of setting. The main reason for not setting the story in either Mahora Academy or Momotsuki Academy was to prevent student intervention. For one thing, they will be big distraction from the main meat of the story. Secondly, it would make things too easy for Negi. Can you imagine Evangeline going through all those enemies? Throw in Setsuna, Ku Fei, Mana…. Negi would hardly need to lift a finger. You also get students like Ayaka or to a certain extent, Asuna interfering with Negi's relationship with Becky. (That would be another story.)

 

Having the setting at home ground would simply give one lead too high an advantage or disadvantage over the other lead. The solution was to move them out of their home ground to somewhere else, the excuse was the teacher's convention.

 

Rather than create a whole new fictional school, I decided to import the setting from another anime. As some would know, the `Da Capo' island was my first choice. They got a nice, big, magical sakura tree that can easily act as a plot device.

 

Then `Mai Hime' came into mind. While more lacking in the romantic zone, it makes up for it in the existing action and supernatural atmosphere. It was a shoo-in.

 

With the choice of Fuuka as the setting, came all the rich, vibrant characters that already populate `Mai Hime'. The characters are a bonus, adding so much to the story, but they are not the focus. The focus should and will always be my two intended leads, Negi and Becky.

 

So while `Mai Hime' characters such as Natsuki and Nao make cameos, they will remain in the background, as supporting characters at best, casualty counts at worst. The reason why Alyssa played a larger role was because she was vital to another part of the story, the reasons later.

 

The Fuuka Student Executive Body. Considering Natsuki and Tate's close relationship with the previous Executive Body, it is not un-logical for them to play a part of it. We already knew that Yukino takes over Haruka as the Executive Director. I presume that Natsuki would take over Shizuru and Tate takes over Reito. The role of secretary went to Takumi simply because there seemed to be no one more suitable. (Shiho? No way! Maki maki maki….)

 

Regarding the inaccuracy of the church. The problem with the Fuuka church is that it is an anime church. And frankly anime gave religion the shaft.

 

In `Mai Hime', in the last episode, Sister Yukariko is pregnant so I figured why not give her a second child. Secondly, Miyu and Nao surprisingly enough did join the church, and brought along all their quirks and bad habits. It would be a total waste to pass on exaggerating their `mis-uses' such as charging others to hear their confessions. They were the characters that were incredibly fun to write about. Especially Nao, our resident delinquent nun-in-training. I remember there been a fanfiction named Ask Sister Nao and Sister Miyu in the `Mai Hime' section, go read their hilarious advices to everyday problems in Fuuka.

 

Choice of Nekomimimode-desu! As Becky's Pactio. All in the name of fun.

 

Actually, the studio that did `Pani Poni Dash!' is SHAFT. Their previous famous work was “Tsukiyomi Moon Phase” which featured a cute little vampire named Hazuki who loves to prance around with nekomimi ears. The opening for the anime was “Nekomimimode-desu!” Turns out Hazuki and Becky shared the same seiiyu, Saitou Chiwa so there was actually some twisted logic behind Becky's nekomimimode-desu!

 

Plus it is tame considering that Ako's official card features her as a nekomimi nurse.

 

Regarding other crossover possibilities. Please do not think this story as a `Kingdom Hearts' story. I prefer to compare it more towards `The Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi'

 

There is a limit to how this crossover works. The crossover should be logical. For example, unless some dimension hole appears (and I don't intend for that to occur. We got another well-written fanfic for that), `One Piece' should not have a place in this world. Both worlds are too different to co-exist. The possibilities are the stories that take place in the modern era, our time, not the past nor the future. Thus while `Bleach' might work its way into the story with a few creative liberties, `Naruto' (Ancient Japan), `Full Metal Alchemist' (Alternate Dimension) or any Gundam series (Too Futuristic) would not work.

 

Sequels. One word. Perhaps?

 

The 7 Apostles. A problem arose when I realized that I did not know what SEARRS would want from Becky. She is only a child, a very smart one, but still... The original idea I had was a `Terminator-style' of story, in fact I actually wrote something in that direction but that had too much things to consider (Time travel is hard) so it got dumped. Perhaps I will upload that one prologue onto Fanfiction.net one day.

 

Doing a quick research, I found nothing in anime lore that I can import into good use. That is where I realized that I had to come up with a new legend myself. Do a bit of creative re-inventing.

 

The 7 apostles was a good excuse. We had 7 mages fighting with 7 servants in F/SN. We have 7 sins for FMA. 7 dolls duking it out in Rozen Maiden. 7 apostles also made their appearance in Chrono Crusade. 7 is a good number to play with, just enough to have plenty of characters but not so much that they get diluted.

 

Alyssa Searrs the youngest survivor in Mai Hime served as the anchor to get the 7 apostles legend started in Fuuka. I had ideas for later stories to involve these 7 apostles again. Sparks will fly should all 7 meet and that is the signal that they should.

 

The idea was that at the change of every age, 7 people will be blessed with extra-ordinary skills and knowledge to help mankind ease its way into the new age. Since we have so much supernatural and fantastic stories in anime, the new age would be the age of magic and technology. These 7 would have their lines of fate such that their little actions or contributions to mankind will do just that. To identify these 7 people, you would have to identify them from the very young since once in their teens, they would be no different from other ordinary geniuses that populate the world of anime.

 

So now we have Alyssa Searrs of The Arts, Rebecca Miyamoto of Education (?) and Negi Springfield of Magic. These are the first 3 to be made known in this story. Who should be the rest?

 

1. Alyssa Searrs (Mai Hime)

2. Rebecca Miyamoto (Pani Poni Dash!)

3. Negi Springfield (Mahou Sensei Negima)

4. To be revealed

5. To be revealed

6. Undecided

7. Undecided

 

No. 4 and No. 5 already had names to them, just that I would not like to spoil the surprise. Look closely to the story for possible hints. *winks*

 

As for the last two, I was undecided about it. Here is where your vote will have influence my decision. Here I lay my possible choices. Please take into consideration the fact that their talents should not overlapped, how they can add potentially to the story, the possible chemistry between each other ….And they also should be able to survive trouble, big trouble that for example, comes from a flaming sword. Email your votes to me or put them in your review!

 

Choice No. 1: Maaka Anju (Karin)

Anju is Karin's little sister, a very talented vampire despite her young age. Could she be the future of vampires? But she will be limited by the sun. And species.

 

Choice No. 2: Fuyuki Hinata (Keroro Gunso)

Fuyuki manages to host and make friends with a bunch of alien invaders. Perhaps he would lead diplomacy in the future. But in the presence of hostility, away from his usual allies, how can he survive? But we could use more guys.

 

Choice No. 3: Illyasviel von Einzbern (Fate/Stay Night) *spoiler alert*

She would be a tricky choice since she is a homunculus. But with a little tweaking, she can cause massive damage to anything with Beserker by her side. But also quite similar to Alyssa. So any contribution to mankind?

 

Choice No. 4: Sana Kurata (Kodomo no Omocha)

God's gift to acting? But Arts have already being taken up by Alyssa. Plus what can she do?

 

Choice No. 5: Chiyo Mihama (Azumanga Daioh)

Cute Chiyo. Everyone knows and loves her. But that's all to her.

 

Choice No. 6: Kisa Sohma (Fruits Basket)

Can change into a tiger if hugged by the opposite sex. Let's make it a large, fierce tiger. But what can that do? Ahh… the tensions we can induce between Negi and Becky since she might need Negi to hug her before she start fighting.

 

Choice No. 7: Hiro Sohma (Fruits Basket)

Same as Kisa but changes in a sheep. Just to inject even more tension.

 

Choice No. 8: Henrietta (Gunslinger Girl)

But she got her skills through artificial means. And I never watch Gunslinger Girl before.

 

Choice No. 9: Li Syaoran (Card Captor Sakura)

Will be post-CCS Syaoran. No cards involved. Would be too similar to Negi due to reliance to magic (and Sakura would be around to) Buy one get one free!

 

Choice No. 10: Ana Coppola (Ichigo Mashimaro)

Epitome of cuteness. Eye candy and nothing else. Which may just be what we need.

 

And whatever ideas you had, provided that it can fit into the story logically. Don't ignore the side characters of anime!

 

Finally, thanks for reading this story. It has been fun writing it and reading all the comments given.

 

And thinking on how to rebuke or excuse myself for the flaws pointed out. And re-writing certain parts with the help of other writers. And interacting with them.

 

A truly enriching experience for me.

 

One that I would look forward to having again… but not now. Not yet.

 

Remember to vote! You can make a difference on how the 7 apostles will shape up to be.

 

Now, hurry up and get drawing the doujin!

 

KC Komicer