From: hagen@brant.net (Shawn Hagen) Subject: [BGC][NeoNAAF][FanFic] Forward X-Moderation-Queue-Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 17:31:22 GMT Bubble Gum Crisis is owned by Artmic, Inc. & Youmex, Inc., and was created by Suzuki Toshimichi. His characters and situations that are used in this story are used without permission. Neo No Armour Against Fate Forward Neo No Armour Against Fate (NeoNAAF) is a BGC fanfic, written in 5 separate story arcs. It picks up after the end of BGC Episode 8, Scoop Chase, and continues to a conclusion-I in no way believe that this is anything like the original series would have ended. NeoNAAF is so titled to differentiate it from NAAF, my first posting of this story some years ago. I would like you to TAKE NOTE that NeoNAAF, like NAAF before it, assumes that the events in Bubble Gum Crash never took place. Once again, this story ignores what happened in Crash. The story arcs that make up NeoNAAF are as follows: Domino Effect-6 parts Flash Powder-11 parts Satisfaction for a Sin-8 parts Fearful Symmetry-8 parts No Armour Against Fate-10 parts While each of these stories have been written to be a complete story unto themselves, each part does build on the events of the previous story, so they should be read in the above order. I'd now like to offer my thanks to the people whom proofed this story. Jeanne Hedge, Suika Roberts and Bert Van Vliet, all of whom helped me catch various mistakes and offered much useful advice. Thank you all for your time. I would also like to thank Brian Edmonds and Mayeen Alam for all their work on the first draft of NAAF. While they were not able to help this time, they offered me a lot useful advice the first time around. I'd also like to thank all the people who wrote to me over the years about the original NAAF. All the constructive criticism was appreciated and put to use. And let's not forget Suzuki Toshimichi who started it all. Oh yeah, since she is standing here, with a very un-sakbatou sword over my head, I'd like to thank dear Melpomene, my wonderful and beautiful Muse of tragedy. Unfortunately none of our wacky adventures will be chronicled here. Is she gone? Good. Remember kids, if some ancient Greek goddess asks to be your Muse, just say no. So why did I re-write the original NAAF? Was I not pleased with it? I liked NAAF. At the time it had a lot of aspects that were somewhat unique to BGC fanfic, and I felt it had a solid story. A lot of other people liked it as well. Still, it was ultimately a first draft. Furthermore, I experimented with a lot of ideas that, when I looked back on later, were not really as good as I had first thought-though many were. Writing and posting as I had, before I was finished, led me into a situation where I had basically written myself into a corner. In the end I threw the last part of the story together in somewhat of a hurry just to bring it to an end. That was not good. Even was I was writing the last parts I was thinking of a rewrite. It took a little while to finish as I got caught up in other projects, FSS, Starblade, Dirty Pair, this and that. Late in '99 I decided that it was time to get cracking on this. So I did. Writing it as I have, finishing the entire thing before posting it, has allowed me to put together a better story-line, to make changes to earlier parts and make sure everything worked together well. I hope you enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Now, about Illusions. I'd like to thank Fred Herriot for doing a little pre-reading for me, but more importantly for writing his Illusions story line. It was one of the things that galvanised me to get on with this re-write. For those of you who might be curious, NeoNAAF is not backwards compatible with Illusions. In fact some might call it the Anti-Illusions, but that is not really what I wrote it for. Because of this I'd like to ask that the archivists of the RAAC archive leave the original NAAF up, as it is a necessary prequel for Illusions. I did borrow a few names from Illusions, last or first (sometimes both) for characters that had existed in the first NAAF but who had not been named by me. I don't think I borrowed anything else, but after proofing the Illusions' stories for a few months I may have been influenced by it, so some similar ideas may come up. Fred and I also generated a few similar ideas completely independent of one another. Thanks Fred. About Names In the first NAAF I played around with Eastern and Western naming conventions, putting family names first for some names, given name first for other names. It was a big mess. In NeoNAAF any name given in the text will be given first name first, family name last. In dialogue it will be in whatever way makes sense considering the name and the speaker. I hope this helps avoid confusion. About the Language In the first NAAF I started using more and more Japanese as the story went on. This led to a lot of confusion of my readers. In this version any Japanese used in the story, and I have cut it down, is translated directly within the text, saving the reader from having the go back to a list of words. In cases where there is no translation it is probably because the word was translated a sentence or two above. I hope that this will avoid some of the confusion that their use in the first NAAF caused. There are a few words I will provide translations for now, but they should be easily remembered and are often evident in their meaning from the text around them. Hai - Yes Okaasan/Kaasan/Kaasama - Mother Otousan/Tousan/Tousama - Father Oneesan/Neesan/Neesama - Elder Sister Polite Suffixes -san - while often translated at Mr./Mrs./Miss that does not quite cover the use of the suffix 'san', though it may be the best way to describe it. It is the basic polite suffix used in Japanese. Not using 'san' is considered insulting to various degrees, especially with people who are not close friends. Among close friends polite suffixes are often not used and suggest a certain closeness and familiarity. -sama - 'sama' is both a very polite and respectful suffix. It might be equivalent to calling someone 'Lady X' or 'Lord Y', though not exactly. It is very formal and would not be used all that often. When it is used it usually speaks of great respect, or sucking up. -kun - 'kun' is used as a suffix when a senior person is speaking to a junior person, and is often used in a business context, but not exclusively. For example, teachers will often refer to their students as 'X-kun'. While 'kun' is used more often to address junior males, there has been a shift where it is also being used with females as well. -chan - 'chan' is a diminutive and a term of affection. It is often used to address children, though as it can be used as a term of affection it may be used with older people as well. As it can be used to address children, 'chan' can be used as something of an insult. -sensei - While 'sensei' is most often translated as 'teacher' it can be used in other ways as well. 'Doctor' is another meaning. It can also be used as a term of respect as well, so someone might use 'sensei' to address someone who is neither a teacher nor a doctor. -hakase - 'Hakase' is used to address Medical Doctors. 'Hakushi' is what you use when you address Ph.D.s. While it is not really correct, I have used 'hakase' for both medical doctors and Ph.D. doctors as well. Primarily I have done this because I felt that 'hakase' was the better known suffix. Technology Notes There are two pieces of technology I want to explain as they show up often in the story, and some of my proof-readers have asked me what they were. NAVI (Notebook Audio Visual Interface) - NAVIs are a combination of cellular/satellite phone, personal computer, PDA and no doubt a few other things. Genom has made the NAVI popular for a number of reasons, including privacy encryption protocols, fashion colours and product placement in a number of big movies. Furthermore Genom has ensured that the NAVI is never out of range no matter where one is in the world. On top of that Genom has placed relay stations and receiver/transmitters in space as well. As Genom's advertising states, 'Complete coverage, anywhere on, and beyond, Earth. For the record I took the NAVI from 'Alice in Cyberland' and not 'Lain'. MMSD (Multi Media Storage Device [Disk]) - Whether a CD, a DVD, a computer disk, or a crystalline memory matrix, it is an MMSD. The name was chosen in an attempt to standardise the various names used for various media. It did not really work. Note About Katherine Madigan: Katherine Madigan was killed by Largo near the end of Red Eyes. It says so in the BGC B-Club Special. Yet she is present in the NeoNAAF story-line (as she was in the NAAF story-line). This is because I always liked Madigan. It seemed to me that dying in the Tower, right over some of the most advanced medical technology in the world, might not be permanent. After all, lots of people have been 'clinically' dead, but brought back. This is what I assumed happened to Katherine Madigan. She's a Company Woman, in more ways than one. That's it for the forward. I hope you enjoy reading this story. If you read the original NAAF I hope you find this one has addressed any of the problems you may have had with the first. If you have not read the original NAAF maybe you'll go and read it after this one, just to see what the differences are. Shawn Hagen, Friday, April 28th, 2000 ------------------------------ [Original NAAF Forward] No Armour Against Fate is a collection of five pieces of Bubble Gum Crisis Fanfic forming a whole. The order of the stories is as follows; Anima/aka Domino Effect (Anima was a working title) Flash Powder Eye of the Storm Fearful Symmetry No Armour Against Fate At the present No Armour Against Fate is still unwritten. Barring any drastic circumstances it will be written soon enough though. Anima/Domino Effect was written in August 1994 and the others have followed about every six months. I wrote it as an experiment. It was supposed to be a short story that would determine if I could write BGC Fanfic but became a short novel and, happily, a success. According to many of the people who have written me, this set of stories truly captures the feeling of Bubble Gum Crisis. I like to think they are right on that one. I have witten these stories from the viewpoint that Crash never happened and never will. I hope you enjoy this work. Feel free to drop me a message if you feel like offering criticism or congratulations. Shawn Hagen