Xanderbunny For Sale

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Now, I like a good Xander-empowerment fic as much as the next man, provided the next man ... likes Xander-empowerment fic. The problem, of course, lies in
one's definition of "good."

To my mind, a "good" scenario in this case would be one that didn't give X so much power, wisdom, or future knowledge as to have him overshadow
Buffy. Just something that could give him enough of an edge to justify him being on the front line with her and sometimes-Willow.

So I thought about various folks and their power sets, and after a while I decided to concentrate on other vampire slayers, and then my thoughts drifted to
Castlevania.

Alexander Belmont, anyone?

Now this would work fairly well as a Halloweenfic, but for maximum impact I'm thinking that Xander's mom is the/a unknowing scion of the Belmont clan
proper, which would mean that Dracula in this reality is not a poser; he's the First Evil incarnate and the single
Biggest Bad on the planet. (For those unfamiliar with the games, Drac has long since transcended mere vampirism and became the avatar of all human evil; his
"demon castle," the setting of most of the games, is an ever-shifting monster-filled manifestation of his power.)

Being a Belmont isn't incredibly awesome, either. As far as I can tell (and certainly for the purposes of this bunny) they aren't physically or
mentally superhuman in any way, just well-trained normals with a single supernatural gift... the power to ignore nearly all supernatural invulnerabilities. In
other words, if a Belmont, say, breaks a vampire's neck, that vampire will die as if it had been a human. Shooting a werewolf with ordinary bullets, same
deal. Mind you, monsters can still be really tough; it's just technically possible for a Belmont to kill them with sufficient application of non-magical
force.

...Let's use The Judge as an example. "Xander Belmont" could, in theory, kill big blue by lopping his head off with a plain ordinary
human-forged sword... if he could manage to swing it with enough force to penetrate his presumably fairly tough skin, flesh, and bone. And X would have no
particular protection against the Judge's fire. So, not as big an advantage as it sounds.

Of course, there's also the matter of the Belmonts' heirloom weapon, the holy whip Vampire Killer, which is pretty darn awesome. But first Xander
would have to find it, then I think there's a prove-yourself-worthy thing, then he'd have to learn to use a whip effectively...

In this scenario, Xander takes the place of the canonical Julius Belmont (or maybe J exists and decides to train him, either way), and the Scoobies are likely
to get mixed up in the Great Castle War of 1999 -- which would take place during season 3 or 4.

...actually, a Castlevania game where you could switch between Xander, Buffy, and Willow would be awesome.

For full points: no Buffy-bashing; no Spike-bashing, somehow manage to keep him alive long enough to join the Scoobs and maybe get his soul back
(Spuffy-shipper here; go ahead, mock me); and maybe replace Angel with Alucard (no, not THAT Alucard, the one from Castlevania ).

So... any takers? ^.^

--Sam

"Blood covers The City like a big red afghan."

[WengFook]

If I'm not mistaken it has already been done. I remember reading such a fic. I think it was on twisting the hellmouth
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Heh, shoulda known... Off to search then.

--Sam

"Last night I almost had a lucid moment."

[Cobalt Greywalker]

WengFook, are you perhaps thinking of http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2091040/1/Family_Matters]Family Matters? It's not quite what Evil Midnight Lurker's asking for though, being a Hellsing/Castlevania crossover set around the Road Trip period AND making Xander a bit more immediately powerful.

[Black Aeronaut]

Maybe that's why he specifically said the Alucard from Castlevania.

[WengFook]

Ooo shiny, from the cursory skim through the first chapter of Family Matters... I don't recall reading it at all. Something I'm definitely going to
amend after this

But that aside yeah I do remember reading a Xander fic where he was apparently the heir to the Belmont name, he finds an old ancient leather whip in the attic,
A few holy crosses that actually seared and burned vampires, I remember him using the whip and crosses instinctively when attacked by a horde of zombies. And
thats about all I can remember aside from a vague recollection about the story being very incomplete and a little crack-ish. Thats about all I can recall :S

Yeah its not exactly what EML is saying but a Xander/Castlevania has been done already as far as my faulty memory tells me
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[Jervic]

I think you meant this fic by M. McGregor: Xander vs. Dracula it's the only pure Castlevania cross I'm aware
of.

Jervic

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Now that was nice. The blatant references to the "hearts" game mechanic were a trifle off-putting, but that's still probably the best we're
gonna get (and by McGregor even ). Thanks!

--Sam

"Java devil, you are now my bitch."

[Dragonflight]

For my money, and after multiple fanfics, I still think "Bridges" by Tassos is my favorite Xander crossover. The big reason is that it doesn't "empower" Xander at all. The big deal about him is that after the entire Buffy series, he's become the rock of "normal"-ness the others build their foundation on. No matter what happens to the others, or how powers and weirdness change them, Xander is always Xander. And he manages to keep them sane and focused on their mission the whole time without losing any of his very human limitations in the process. Bridges portrayed that very well, as I recall.
Empowerment for Xander is a bad idea, IMHO, because if you give him any special abilities, you miss the point about what really makes him special.
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Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[zojojojo]

Empowerment for Xander is a bad idea, IMHO, because if you give him any special abilities, you miss the point about what really makes him special.

for an interesting (potentially, anyway) examination of this point, i challenge all-and-sundry to rewrite the st:tng episode where q empowers riker using the scooby gang (with xander playing the part of riker, of course)
-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.

[Black Aeronaut]

Hrm... Here's an odd one I just thought of. What about a Highlander cross-over? Becoming an immortal merely means that you got lots and lots of time to
sharpen your skills. The only special items you get are an ability to sense the presence of other immortals and a remarkable degree of resilience. Besides, the
idea of Duncan McLeod hanging around the Scooby Gang amuses me.

That said, has it been done already?

[Sweno]

I seen at least 2 stories that cross over Highlander/Buffy.

I think one of them involved Xander being a fledgling (or whatever they call immortals that are too young to pop up on the radar)

Neither of them were particularly readable.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Shepherd]

blackaeronaut wrote:

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Hrm... Here's an odd one I just thought of. What about a Highlander cross-over? Becoming an immortal merely means that you got lots and lots of time to
sharpen your skills. The only special items you get are an ability to sense the presence of other immortals and a remarkable degree of resilience.

It is easy for Xander to be the underdog hero if he is a normal guy fighting things that are faster/stronger/tougher than he is despite the threat
of death. It is a lot harder to seem heroic if he simpy gets back up every time he is disemboweled. No threat of death = no dramatic tension.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

[Epsilon]

Shepherd wrote:

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It is easy for Xander to be the underdog hero if he is a normal guy fighting things that are faster/stronger/tougher than he is despite the threat of death.
It is a lot harder to seem heroic if he simpy gets back up every time he is disemboweled. No threat of death = no dramatic tension.

I'll agree in the specific case of Xander, but disagree in general. Its possible to create tension without the threat of death. In fact, in
the Buffyverse a "fate worse than death" is quite possible.

I mean, by your logic Angel couldn't have dramatic tension because he can be disembolwed but stand up again later.

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Epsilon

[Shepherd]

Epsilon wrote:

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in the Buffyverse a "fate worse than death" is quite possible.




I mean, by your logic Angel couldn't have dramatic tension because he can be disembolwed but stand up again later.

I don't see the Buffyverse being dark enough to play up the fate worse than death angle. Such stuff certainly happens (look at Drusilla), but
they don't play it up because it is too dark for the genre.

As for Angel, I think he is significantly less heroic than Xander and that this problem is exacerbated by the fact that he isn't the underdog and he is
very hard to kill.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

[Black Aeronaut]

You want dramatic tension? Xander's out of the fight - now who's covering your back? Besides, you can always have fun with him bitching about how much
it hurts to be killed.

Also: it's not really all that difficult to kill an immortal. Just make sure you take their heads. I'm sure that once word about -that- gets out, all
vamps, ghouls, and demons in the tri-county area will find it very fashionable to carry a good, sharp sword around.

[Necratoid]

Technically that is already a rule of thumb... I mean its standard practice that if nothing else works decapitate it... granted there are annoying things like
the paladin crazy species of a certain club owner... but in general life without a head isn't.

You're all missing something important here... a canon of BTVS rule.

You could get away with making Xander an Immortal and not having him notice. Happens during one of those random times he gets knocked out.... make it say...
like Buffy during her first death... just dead enough to set off the trigger. It could even be that he just got hit so many times in a way that his heart
skipped a beat and his breath was taken away... magic flying everywhere. The trigger half activated. He heals a bit faster and will survive being run through
etc.. but no one even notices.

Turns out that because he was born and raised on the Hellmout of all Hellmouths and that had side effects. The largest of which is the 'I'm someone
who actively and knowingly lives on the bloody Mouth of Hell' vibe completely overwhelms the unfed Quickening within him. This explains a lot of things...
like why his Halloween costome stuck so well... Quickening declare "Hmm... tastes like absorbing someones quickening... feels about right... Has lots of
random bits of memories of random military people and not just one guy, must be Quickening, I guess"... decided the same with the Hyena spirit... and the
Hoard of dark magic (Dracula's Igor rays, standing in the way of Willow torching the planet, etc..) and of course channeling the First slayer through him
to fight Adam. Not to mention all the random demon blood he has had on him... basically the Quickening of Alexander Harris has absorbed everything, but actual
Quickenings... including parts the energies of Goodness and Evil involved in that 'Destory the biggest baddest Mouth of Hell on the Planet, ever" as
well as helping raise a dead woman and casting a global (as in planet wide effect) effect spell that screwed up a millenium old spell of Epic proportions.
This weird vibe of Xander's is about a third of what attracts all these nonhuman women to him.

You wouldn't even have to really change anything in the actual series... except Anya doesn't get randomly offed during that last episode for added and
mostly pointless angst. Though I want to keep her around for one joke mainly. The two of them are in a car somewhere which breaks down and they have to push
it into a podunk town in the middle of Nowhere. Turns out the mechanic (Anya is already freaking about the clear but unavoidable overcharge they know is
coming), is the Sweeny Todd of Mechanic, he kills off random passers through puts the car in the junk yard in the back and gives the remains to the local
reastarnnt owner. Only he goes for Xander first... who manages to evade long enough to get his trunk open and gets his battle axe to deal with the killing
grease monkey. The way he keeps shrugging off hits and slavering on forward, Xander decides its a demon of some random type and just takes his head... which
works... and he goes to tell Anya he won and the body starts glowing behind him and... well after that FX he finds Anya looking shell shocked something about
'All that money wasted on birth control'. She only becomes coherent when she hears the car start up.

Xander found himself suddenly knowing about what is wrong with the car... weirded out he decides to at least try idea that popped into his head and
reconnecting one wire and tightening a few things the car is fine. Takes all of two minutes and no parts. He WAS being ripped off. saving several hundred
bucks snaps Anya out of it. The drive out of the town (a demon town, best to get back up). Xander asks and Anya explains about Immortals... turns out Olaf
was one... which is why he is a Troll god and still around a millenium later. As he is huge, regenerates from two sources, has armored skin, has a torso thick
neck, and is a general combat monster... people just keep banishing him. You'd need a tank division and lots of airstrikes to realistically off him. Its
just not a viable option.

Anya starts to explain to him what the wastie of money thing was... which Xander imediately realizes is a clear description of the series and/or movies...
which he asks about and then Duncan comes up. Which she laughs about because that guy was a magnet for petty 'Justice'... it got to the point it was a
running gag. She show up in person (though it was ranged cursed to start), annoy him (sometimes magic, sometimes she ranted at him) and he eventually seduced
her into going away. Eventually Xander ends up driving to where Duncan is so she can annoy him again...

Duncan (who isn't as pretty and the actor, but ruggedly hansome) responds to her showing up with... 'Oh God, not you again'... for added fun have
Amanda be there. Duncan inquires if they can skip formallities and he can bed her to get rid of her... to which she responds she isn't here for that, is
retired, and Xander is better in bed anyway. The conversation goes on for a while and Duncan ends explaining that the show is because of the rule below. They
bond over it... Meanwhile Amanda is trying to get Anya to prove Xander is better and is starting with negotiations for personal evaluation time.

That rule I keep mentioning? Dracula is a wanker. Dracula is a massive wanker. Dracula is the kind of wanker who became immune to normal vampiric
weaknesses... then celibrated by having a book written that 1: Proclaimed him awesome and 2: reveal all his species weakness and vulnrabilities to the world in
a popular novel... so he can laugh at them. Not to mention that 3) Dracula is happy to be an active wanker. So I can see Dracula being behind the Highlander
series... solely to annoy Duncan... because Duncan beat him in a poker game. That Dracula made Xander Igor around and eat bugs makes them have a bonding
point. Then the bit about how Dracula owes not only Duncan, but Spike cash and what the hell happened in Sundale lake and Spike's new job and species.

The reason Xander's eye won't regrow is two fold. 1) Despites lots and lots of trying Xander hasn't actually died yet. 2) Can be best summed up
as damage reduction. If its not magic or has less magic than the Immortal they fast heal and regenerate the damage... once the magic starts getting
involved... being Immortals isn't as cool as in the series. Random grunt vampires have higher damage reduction than you... everything can own you... at
least until you gain enough Quickening to get a higher damage reduction yourself. Which is the point of the basis for the 'Game' in the show.

Being an Immortal kind of sucks for most.Immortals... you ability to live through horrible damage and regenerate parts... Immortal blood is yummy, their hearts
are both yummy and a really valuable reagent, and most Immortals are lucky to be tormented and not nailed to a table as a convient source of goods. The
Immortals version of Watchers? They are more like bookies and score keepers. Methos HTAES the series... being several thousand years old means his blood is
rumored to be how Kalisto (the 700 year old vampire that chased Faith into Sunnydale) got that powerful and that was from one single partial feeding. The only
things he'll admit to HTAENIG more than that show is the company that holds the Methos Hunting Safaries Inc. company the show started.

The reason Xander's eye hasn't even started healing at all is that the High Priest of the First Evil was the owner of simple obsenely damage reduction
and put a curse of rotting on Xander... with got swallowed up Hellmouth energies he is soaked with or he would have probablely rotted alive into a undead
servitor. The dieing and becoming a full Immortal won't help with that and only a obscenely powerful magic user has a chance to sort said curse out from
the random background radiation of his body. Which brings up Willow and then Buffy and Dawn and then Xander's lifestyle and job... Which Duncan decides to
pity him for... a moment of silence... which means they finally here how the girl's conversation has ended up. Duncan realizes this could mean (if Anya
excepts) that Anya will be renting Xander to those Slayers of mass quantities he mentioned... which is which could be why Xander ends up in Africa.

Note Xander gets a bigger target on him and the women in his life should deside to become more protective of him... Which keeps him as Fates buttmonkey and
changes little in his life... except the added threats about what they'll do to him if he suddenly stops again. They shouldn't believe him (Duncan
will be avoiding England and Cleveland for a while yet), until a Slayer patrol asks what they should do with the heavily armed bus, from MHS Inc. they took
from that group of demons. That they found chasing some random guy (who gt away), who was scream curses at Dracula and Adrien Paul.

[Necratoid]

Double posting removed.

[Sweno]

wow, you've thought far too much about this

Alternatively you should write that fic (or farm that bunny off to someone with the talent to)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Necratoid]

Someone else will have to take it. I'm stuck at what I consider Muse Status... largely because my brain jams when I attempt dialogue. Large scale plots
are easy... Dialog not so much. This is a plot bunny thread so I felt it worth exporting.

Edit: Also, considering that it took me like 3 minutes to think most of that up... its more frustrating. At one point I was IDed as having something I think
they called disgraphia. Which basically means that the idea shorts out if you try to get it out of your had, Theoretically I don't have that anymore...
largely because the 'solution' to that disorder is writing dozens of long mind numbing papers of topics that are not interesting. and mind numbing.
That's right I'm unable get ideas past an advanced form of writer's block that mainly effects exporting ideas... quick lets force all the interest
in writing out of him... that will 'fix' the problem. Yes, I was in a Cold War with English departments.

[Black Aeronaut]

Necratoid wrote:

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That's right I'm unable get ideas past an advanced form of writer's block that mainly effects exporting ideas... quick lets force all the
interest in writing out of him... that will 'fix' the problem. Yes, I was in a Cold War with English departments.

LMAO!!! Dude, that should be your sig.

[yesilmavi]

This is more along the lines of a scooby gang powerup idea:

Due to Willow's friendship with Amy Madison she somehow gets under the notice of her mom.

Willow's been slowly corrupted by the witch mom after 'asking' for lessons.

To take what she wants. However she wants it.

In this case Willow wants Xander. And more power. Seems the other with has been slowly stealing her power/potential. (After the witch's defeat, she's
still somewhat corrupted. And can do some magic.)

So she needs a way to increase her power and potential with a spell that's still within her capabilities.

Cue the Wheel of Time crossover. She dresses up as a desert maiden. (Aviendha)(magic, just as covered as a ghost, talent for 'martial arts')

Convinces Xander to dress as Rand Al'Thor, a chosen one from one of the books she read. (plastic sword callendor) (resolve face?)

Even helps with finger painting some golden dragons on his arms.

Buffy's choice as a noblewoman seems like kismet. A small gift gives rise to Elayne, daughter-princess of Andor. (magic, artefact making 'talent')

What Willow does not count on is Ethan's spell.

And the memories and personalities it brings. (double whammo for Xander: Rand Al'Thor and Lews Therin Telamon who's crazy.)

[Necratoid]

Xander would be intresting... I mean the Hellmouth would be less insanity inducing than the Evil in a Can of WoT.... Lewis would be odd... but with familty
like Xander's he'd probablly get really, really confused about things. That and constantly argue with the Hyena. The real problem is avoiding Xander
taking a 'Balefire makes everything better' stance on combat. Opening a gate on pretty much anything kills it as well.

At this point you might as well have Amy as Min... Internally based seer powers of that nature are bound to make things interesting... getting Spike's
paramour to stop coming by to talk shop would be interesting.

[yesilmavi]

'Balefire makes everything better'

The balefire thing could be helped along with a 'misuse'. Since it destroys something or someone a while back it also destroys al their actions up to that point. (the reason given in the books on why both sides stopped using it in most cases)

Possibly using Anya's time travelling wish powers in some way?

getting Spike's paramour to stop coming by to talk shop

Could be funny yeah.

[yesilmavi]

yahf.

Xander dresses up as Grand Admiral Thrawn (full name: Mitth'raw'nuruodo), as a remembrance to Jesse. Seems he left some books in his will and Xander is dressing up as a character in one of them. Since for Xander the memories of Jesse are still too close to the heart, he's been delaying reading the books. Willow has read the books and helps Xander in how to dress. (This may cause Willow to dress differently as well.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Admiral_Thrawn

Early Imperial career

Thrawn's early Imperial career has been described in several Star Wars stories. Thrawn was originally a Captain of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Stalwart and commanded several deep space expeditions. He was then promoted to Rear Admiral and Vice Admiral, respectively, and was in charge of a forward deployed fleet. He also played a hand in Research and Development.

So a master strategist who also has some technical knowledge.

Now I don't know the limits of Thrawn's technical knowledge.
Spaarti cylinders could be a part of that knowledge. (Bring in the buffy- clones!)

If its also a SG-1 crossover like http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-7837/scr ... n+Jedi.htm
A Giles-clone is muttering "This is the last time.. The very last time.... I tell you... You.. You are never going behind the controls of a space ship again.. You... You buffy clone!"