DBZ Aftershock Characters: Yancy & Ran · 1:48pm Apr 23rd, 2015
Set up For Cast:
The story follows a new generation of 'heroes'. Though most of them are more aptly called protagonists and in come cases are outright antagonists. Some of this cast fall under the guidance of Bulma, Korin and Roshi while others have their own support networks & agendas.
The story would likely start with Roshi convincing Bulma to go on a working holiday to scan areas for resources. Though he has other reasons; despite functioning well Bulma is understandably still saddened by Trunks's death. Roshi's hopes that going to some more nostalgic places will help and if not, at least give her a short break. But when they swing by the Diablo desert, and avoid multiple booby traps, they are accosted by a young woman with light orange-red hair and a muscular physic, threatening them to leave her territory or else. She immediately changes her tone after getting a good look at them and starts calling for Puar.
As it turned out once the Cyborgs were gone Puar drifted back to the desert and stumbled across as young girl hiding in Yamcha's old home. (Or found her in the desert & helped her relocate to the hide out.) She'd been trying to hold out against bandit groups who wanted Yamcha's stash of weapons. With Puar's guidance, both on fighting and weapons the girl, (who'd been doing OK but was surviving on borrowed time.) managed to fight them off and mostly keep the hunting ground for herself. By the time they meet her she gets by as a guide and protector for travellers. Despite the Cyborgs death she stayed in the desert, not having anywhere else to go. (Suffice to say almost everyone in cyborg world had a crappy life growing up so she's just no exception to the rule on that front.)
Yancy:
This character is based off a few scattered ideas and concepts i've also seen in other fics. For this discussion I call her Yancy in honour of, if I recall, one of my favourite DBZ OCs who was built on a similar premise for a one shot. Namely both Yancy's are hinted, or outright stated, to be Yamcha's reincarnation who came back to earth to look out for Puar and potentially Bulma. Now whether this is actually the case in Aftershock would be up for debate, Puar thinks so and there are similarities. (I imagine her appearance being like a female Yamcha's from a path to power movie jut with orange hair & a ponytail.)
After meeting them she asks to be Roshi's student, and he enthusiastically agrees, under the caveat she use her powers to help people. (Thanks to gravity machines, which Bulma may still access to, as well as access to Korin and Mr Popo, more advanced training than what was available in early DB is accessible to the cast earlier.)
Much like in DB a lot of Roshi's training involves helping out with stuff like farming and building while wearing weights. This is essentially community service and Yancy also doubles as a bodyguard/agent for Bulma to help deal with roving gangs. But Bulma has to use her carefully, lest she send Yancy off to face something too strong, or it looks like she's using a living weapon. Yancy herself gets rather mixed responses from people but tries to do her best regardless.
Characterization:
Yancy is someone who loves martial arts and is eager to grow strong and improve her skills. She's a friendly and chipper person, though be it with a somewhat satirical sense of humor. She can be fairly blunt and to the point but isn't 'usually' trying to be rude. She likes being around people, but can also find it overwhelming after so long spent almost alone in the desert or just with Puar. I picture her as being a bit, not dim, but naive when it comes to certain things particularly romance & the like, due to her only companion growing up being Puar. Who, while hardly unaware of these things, probably can't offer the full 'socialisation' aspect of those things and may not have even covered it.
Yancy is aware some of them, especially Puar think of her as Yamcha's reincarnation which, does and doesn't bother her. (Roshi is rather indifferent to the idea & Bulma just occasional notices similarities due to Puar bringing it up.) Sometimes she questions how they truly care for or regard her and how much of 'her' is just left over bits of 'him' if that is the case. But she mostly tries to stay positive and remember her good fortunes that came from it regardless. Yancy is also extremely protective of Puar and good at reading him.
Puar himself can have rather sever bouts of sadness which Yancy always tries to help him through before bouncing back, he's also rather paranoid about losing her 'again' which is part of why she didn't take Yancy to see Roshi or Bulma.
Combat:
Her fighting style is built on the Turtle school views, namely, endurance and strength. She favours hand to hand combat, or her sword, and usuall opts for the most direct approach. She can however be canny and sneaky if needed and can use like like the kienzan when she needs to along with stuff like ki channelling and has a habit of flipping and jumping around at high speeds in ground based spars. (Ki channelling means channelling ki through or around something, similar to what Trunks did with his sword.)
Yancy likes drawn out fights to look at her enemies style and for fun. Complimenting her preference for hand to hand combat she's very good at aura based attacks, like Nappa's lightning Aura and the Wolf Fang Fist. She'd develop multiple different aura techniques from cutting ones, to dense protective ones and burning ones. (This means she punches people with fire fists, along with a great variety of other aura and none aura based techniques with subtle variations that suit Yancy's attack style.
Specialized techniques that haven't been mentioned but are currently running through my mind: Yancy creating a unique form of body modification (like the four witches) but one that effect her whole boy to make her stronger, faster and tougher than hell. The best comparisons, Greed's armour form Fullmetal Alchemist and Luffy's red skin thing.
Oh and she's a totally huge dork when it comes to attack names as well, naming practically everything and even going to what everyone else deems silly amounts of effort to make them work. Like calling a High kick 'Hyena Kick!' or how she spent ages figuring out how to make her 'wolf fang howl' not only give off a howl as she fired it, but to let her speak while gathering ki in her throat.
Role in the story:
Yancy is one of the primary perspective characters and the story follows her training, her missions and travels as she goes across different territories & meets different people. One of the main aspects of the story, in concept, would not just be gaining power, but using it responsibly and knowing when not to use it. Essentially not all problems can be solved by beating up the bad guy, especially if the locals don't want her to and or dislike/fear her afterwards. Puar also plays a role being the groups spy/rogue. This is in part because I like giving characters things to do and it seems like a useful skill in 'delicate' situations. But she's only one of the perspective characters, barring Bulma and Roshi, who else do I have?
(The rival!) Name: Ran/Rin
Her name is currently undecided as well so I'll continue my established trend can call her Ran. Mostly due to being inspired by Doramouses's Eclipse and it's Ranshin character. (Also anyone looking for a great DB fic, that is probably the best one I can recommend, ever.)
Ran isn't human but a blue furred tiger-person who hails from a isolated mountain range where her clan fled to escape the Cyborgs. I made this decision partially because I feel the lack of use of such characters was kind of sad and also the designs are cool. Much like Yancy initially was she is mostly self taught, but she had more 'concrete' information to go off along with the rest of her clan. This is thanks to the mountain range they chose to hide in was also Tenshinhan's and Chaozu's residence once. And before they fell in battle to the Cyborgs Tenshinhan left everything he knew inscribed on walls and in scroll. His hope was that if he failed people might come along who could use that information to defeat them.
Due to this many members of her clan are ki users, though Ran is easily the strongest of them. She sought out Crane Hermit & others, hoping to master her self taught skills, though they did not become her masters. (Crane and Tao are also players to one degree or another but to what degree i'm not sure.) Initially I pictured her situation being similar to Nam's, wanting to earn or win money for her village and keep them independent or at least safe from villainous power-blocks. But i'm starting to think that them becoming a sort of mercenary clan could work better. They'd have strong belief on honouring ones contract. This could easily put her into conflict with Yancy if they crossed paths in such a scenario.
(Opinions on either idea, a new one, or a fusion would be appreciated.)
Ran eventually seeks out Roshi, hoping he would help her further master her skills and teach her the Turtle schools techniques. She may or may not have already encountered Yancy before this, but regardless joins the other girl in her training.
Characterization:
Ran is the blue oni to Yancy's red Oni. She's deliberate in all she does, calm, generally quiet and serious she is an extremely controlled and confident person who places great emphasis on her behaviour.
Both Ran and Yancy share a a strong love of martial arts and have a similair degree of skill and strength; they bring out the best in each other in almost all instances. Yancy makes Ran relax and become more sociable when normally she tries to be more restrained/refined, or is just plain being shy. While Ran is someone Yancy can be quiet around and a fellow warrior. I actually imagine if they fought at the 'first' world tournament Yancy would lose during in the semi-finals to her.
If I went with the mercenary background I picture Ran being somewhat ashamed of her clans growing reputation, this is part of why she always comports herself in the best manner possible. This extends to her being somewhat more self concious than much of the rest of the cast, though even then it is only to a degree. She also has a strong sense of family and is very loyal to anyone and everyone in her clan regardless of who they are, but this also can extend to her friends, though only a few. She places a deep importance on behaving honourably, and honouring her agreements regardless of personal cost.
Combat Style:
Ran's fighting style focusses on defence, dodging, counter attacks and Ki channelling. She wears a dark blue and white robes with multiple strips of enchantment cloths hanging from it. (Basically a fusion of Buu Saga tien's, Chichi's martial arts dress, and Pikkon's outfit.) She channels ki through these to create her first layer of defence, absorbing and redirecting blows before responding with her body (if she has to) to deliver a powerful and precise counter attack. These can also be sharpened, not to kienzan levels but still sharp. (This style of combat was inspired by Krillen and Piccolo's fight in the 23 tournament arc.) She's also got a reference for defensive aura techniques, both subtle and obvious.
If her 'armour' is taken from her she will resort to multi-hand combat, sprouting four to six arms and using that to overwhelm her opponent. Thanks to these arms she can also channel more ki, faster for bigger attacks. She dislikes this style thought and prefers fighting defensively and considers it against her 'sense of aesthetics/sensibilities to do otherwise'. Some of this may be in response to attitudes about beasts being savage so she tries to be the opposite.
(Yancy is not above noting that she herself fights with claws (ki claws) more than Ran does and will be disappointed when the other girl does not join her in making puns.)
I debate giving her a third eye which lets her more easily observe, sense and mimics her opponents and even more so their attacks,possibly covering up her regular eyes when she uncovers it. Her speciality is ki channelling and control allowing her to use complicated techniques.
Proud of her skills but a realist Ran will fight with everything she has and admit defeat honourably when forced, even if she hates her opponent.
Ran has variations on the Kikoho and a possible attempted power up based on a similar principle (still in theory stages)
She also has a powerful meelee attack called shock wave strike which involves dozens of rings glowing up and down her arm. When she hits someone with one of these the damage is extremely focussed and concentrated. Plus she uses it with six arms XD
The attack was most likely stolen and improved upon after she saw Shula, a 'minor' demon noble fight Yancy.
But while they do partner up Ran and Yancy are essentially protagonists in their own story and they are far from alone. So how about a unique pair of travellers with their own agenda, methods and powers? Well here comes some more world building and the like.
