Rec Post (Various Fandoms)
... you know how I never rec anything? Bad habit, I know, but I just sort of assume people who want to know what I read go to my friends list. Anyway, I was not only out of the state, but sick over the weekend, so I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd do something new.
This rec post is for top-rated (in my opinion) fic. Not "if you like this pairing" fic, it's "if you're even remotely interested in this fandom, read this, even if you don't like the characters or pairings" fic. You may hate it anyway. I make no guarantees. I have always been a crack fan, so it might not be to your tastes. And the DBZ fics are a little faster paced, if you have no patience. Anyway...
Slayers
A Flower Whose Name I Don't Know Yet by Silvestris
Pairing: Copy Rezo x Sylphiel
Status: Complete
Length: Longish (probably take a night to read if you have nothing else to do)
Okay, I don't give a damn about these characters. And the pairing is outright weird. Copy Rezo killed Sylphiel's father and destroyed her hometown, after all. But in the entirety of the Slayers fandom, which was my sole fandom for about two years, this is the one fic whose name stuck in my mind five years after I read it. The title, by the way, is a reference to the end of the first season of Slayers, where Copy Rezo lays dying and asks Lina what she sees when she looks into the future, because he's never been able to see anything but Rezo's shadow. The title is Lina's reply. This is a resurrection fic, but it's a resurrection fic that gives a decent reason for the ressurection. Basic premise: The ancient tree that died at the end of Slayers NEXT brings Copy Rezo back to life to act as its avatar, and Sylphiel is the one who finds him nearly dead. She helps him, but only because of her mile-wide altruistic streak. She doesn't like this guy. Things happen. And it has pretty illustrations.
Shards of Chaos by Dust Traveller
Pairing: Gaav x Mina (OC, Line and Gourry's daughter)
Status: Incomplete (forever, I'm guessing)
Length: Over 100,000 words, at least
There are two times I liked female OCs enough that I didn't feel cheated when they were paired with an existing character. This is one of those times. Unfortunately the other one was taken down. This fic takes place twenty years after the end of Slayers TRY. Gourry and Lina are married, Amelia is queen of Seyruun, Filia is still operating her teashop, Zelgadis disappeared ten years ago (sort of. He really just made himself scarce), Xellos is still around irritating people, Valgaav ran away to God knows where after a fight with Filia, and Lina lost her powers years ago and no one knows why except for Xellos. Basic premise: Gaav resurrects himself by basically kicking ass in hell, but mistakedly thinking Phibrizzo is still alive, he erases all his memories so as not to attract attention and ends up leading a bandit gang for ten years. Then Mina, Gourry and Lina's daughter who is sort of like her mother but lacking a great deal of Lina's bravado shows up to kick some bandit ass. Gaav recognizes Mina, who looks a lot like her mother, but can't remember why. Stuff happens. Hijinks ensue. We see a few character's kids here and there, but they are all awesome, especially the son of Zangulus and Martina, who is a religious fanatic. And the main villain is nice and evil and bitter. And Zelgadis gets a fairy sidekick. Also, more pretty pictures.
Dragonball Z
Vejiitasei Ascendent by... uh... they don't actully list their name anywhere.
Pairing(s): Many, but saying them would be spoiling the plot, so in this case, I've decided to use
Main Characters in order of importance: Book One: Vegeta, Zarbon, Raditz, Nappa. Book Two: Vegeta, Zarbon, Bulma, Raditz, Gohan, Goku, Piccolo, everybody else. Book Three: Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks, Zarbon, Gohan, Raditz
Status: Incomplete (indefinitely)
Length: ... hoo boy. Have a free weekend? This is what you'll want to spend it on.
This is actually one long story split up into three parts. And yes, this is a "Planet Vegeta was never destroyed" story, but it's incredibly well done. There's a reason Vegetasei hasn't been destroyed, and Vegetasei is made into a living, breathing planet, complete with extremely complex politics. Book One starts out with Prince Vegeta, age fifteen, sneaking off Vegetasei to participate in a tournament held by King Cold. He loses in the quarters to Zarbon, but nevertheless everyone is impressed he got that far, including Zarbon. Zarbon ends up going back to Vegetasei with Vegeta as his trainer (with Frieza's blessing, actually) and awesome stuff happens. There are a billion OCs, but this is the kind of story where you read it and only later realize that all the saiyans you've been reading about really weren't in the data book, and they are necessary to the plot. Vegeta does need subjects, after all. This also has the best done Vegeta and Bulma romance I've ever seen, complete with moral dilemmas. There are some slash couples (one is the most notable), but they are also incredibly well done. And every single freaking character is fleshed out to some extent. This includes the Cold Family, the Ginyu force, Chichi, Bardock, Yamcha, you name it, though not Tien and Chao-tzu so much. There wasn't a single character in this fic I didn't like. Only weird part is that the prologues in part three are set in a future that you can't be sure is actually the future or some version of it, and they are kind of odd. Other than that... read this fic. There are, again, some pretty illustrations, though they are far and few between.
Dark Star: Book 1 by Onyx
Main Characters: Goku, Piccolo
Status: (as of 8/1/06) Completed, though a sequel is planned
Length: ~67,000
You know how the original King Piccolo had a bunch of servants with instrument names who all died in DB? In this fic, all those servants are nameks, specifically Piccolo Jr's big brothers. And they are all still alive. The fic goes A/U from there, but all the same stuff still happens, like Raditz coming, but it happens differently. The author has written a number of good DBZ fics which you can link to, but this is the best and the longest. The dynamic between Piccolo and Goku is probably the most interesting part of this, though the relationship that Piccolo has with his brothers (specifically Tambourine, and then Cymbal) is a close second.
I think that's enough for now. I'm fried. Reccing is hard work...
This rec post is for top-rated (in my opinion) fic. Not "if you like this pairing" fic, it's "if you're even remotely interested in this fandom, read this, even if you don't like the characters or pairings" fic. You may hate it anyway. I make no guarantees. I have always been a crack fan, so it might not be to your tastes. And the DBZ fics are a little faster paced, if you have no patience. Anyway...
Slayers
A Flower Whose Name I Don't Know Yet by Silvestris
Pairing: Copy Rezo x Sylphiel
Status: Complete
Length: Longish (probably take a night to read if you have nothing else to do)
Okay, I don't give a damn about these characters. And the pairing is outright weird. Copy Rezo killed Sylphiel's father and destroyed her hometown, after all. But in the entirety of the Slayers fandom, which was my sole fandom for about two years, this is the one fic whose name stuck in my mind five years after I read it. The title, by the way, is a reference to the end of the first season of Slayers, where Copy Rezo lays dying and asks Lina what she sees when she looks into the future, because he's never been able to see anything but Rezo's shadow. The title is Lina's reply. This is a resurrection fic, but it's a resurrection fic that gives a decent reason for the ressurection. Basic premise: The ancient tree that died at the end of Slayers NEXT brings Copy Rezo back to life to act as its avatar, and Sylphiel is the one who finds him nearly dead. She helps him, but only because of her mile-wide altruistic streak. She doesn't like this guy. Things happen. And it has pretty illustrations.
Shards of Chaos by Dust Traveller
Pairing: Gaav x Mina (OC, Line and Gourry's daughter)
Status: Incomplete (forever, I'm guessing)
Length: Over 100,000 words, at least
There are two times I liked female OCs enough that I didn't feel cheated when they were paired with an existing character. This is one of those times. Unfortunately the other one was taken down. This fic takes place twenty years after the end of Slayers TRY. Gourry and Lina are married, Amelia is queen of Seyruun, Filia is still operating her teashop, Zelgadis disappeared ten years ago (sort of. He really just made himself scarce), Xellos is still around irritating people, Valgaav ran away to God knows where after a fight with Filia, and Lina lost her powers years ago and no one knows why except for Xellos. Basic premise: Gaav resurrects himself by basically kicking ass in hell, but mistakedly thinking Phibrizzo is still alive, he erases all his memories so as not to attract attention and ends up leading a bandit gang for ten years. Then Mina, Gourry and Lina's daughter who is sort of like her mother but lacking a great deal of Lina's bravado shows up to kick some bandit ass. Gaav recognizes Mina, who looks a lot like her mother, but can't remember why. Stuff happens. Hijinks ensue. We see a few character's kids here and there, but they are all awesome, especially the son of Zangulus and Martina, who is a religious fanatic. And the main villain is nice and evil and bitter. And Zelgadis gets a fairy sidekick. Also, more pretty pictures.
Dragonball Z
Vejiitasei Ascendent by... uh... they don't actully list their name anywhere.
Pairing(s): Many, but saying them would be spoiling the plot, so in this case, I've decided to use
Main Characters in order of importance: Book One: Vegeta, Zarbon, Raditz, Nappa. Book Two: Vegeta, Zarbon, Bulma, Raditz, Gohan, Goku, Piccolo, everybody else. Book Three: Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks, Zarbon, Gohan, Raditz
Status: Incomplete (indefinitely)
Length: ... hoo boy. Have a free weekend? This is what you'll want to spend it on.
This is actually one long story split up into three parts. And yes, this is a "Planet Vegeta was never destroyed" story, but it's incredibly well done. There's a reason Vegetasei hasn't been destroyed, and Vegetasei is made into a living, breathing planet, complete with extremely complex politics. Book One starts out with Prince Vegeta, age fifteen, sneaking off Vegetasei to participate in a tournament held by King Cold. He loses in the quarters to Zarbon, but nevertheless everyone is impressed he got that far, including Zarbon. Zarbon ends up going back to Vegetasei with Vegeta as his trainer (with Frieza's blessing, actually) and awesome stuff happens. There are a billion OCs, but this is the kind of story where you read it and only later realize that all the saiyans you've been reading about really weren't in the data book, and they are necessary to the plot. Vegeta does need subjects, after all. This also has the best done Vegeta and Bulma romance I've ever seen, complete with moral dilemmas. There are some slash couples (one is the most notable), but they are also incredibly well done. And every single freaking character is fleshed out to some extent. This includes the Cold Family, the Ginyu force, Chichi, Bardock, Yamcha, you name it, though not Tien and Chao-tzu so much. There wasn't a single character in this fic I didn't like. Only weird part is that the prologues in part three are set in a future that you can't be sure is actually the future or some version of it, and they are kind of odd. Other than that... read this fic. There are, again, some pretty illustrations, though they are far and few between.
Dark Star: Book 1 by Onyx
Main Characters: Goku, Piccolo
Status: (as of 8/1/06) Completed, though a sequel is planned
Length: ~67,000
You know how the original King Piccolo had a bunch of servants with instrument names who all died in DB? In this fic, all those servants are nameks, specifically Piccolo Jr's big brothers. And they are all still alive. The fic goes A/U from there, but all the same stuff still happens, like Raditz coming, but it happens differently. The author has written a number of good DBZ fics which you can link to, but this is the best and the longest. The dynamic between Piccolo and Goku is probably the most interesting part of this, though the relationship that Piccolo has with his brothers (specifically Tambourine, and then Cymbal) is a close second.
I think that's enough for now. I'm fried. Reccing is hard work...