New California Dreaming

New California Dreaming by Hotpoint (Also available on FF.Net) is a Fallout fanfic. Although it takes place in the Capital Wasteland, it incorporates many elements from the other games, mainly Fallout 2.

The New California Republic has not heard of anything about the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel for too long. Ranger Scout-Sergeant Cassidy Nagor Coyle is sent on a recon mission to check out what's going on.

This fanfic contains examples of the following

 * Badass: Coyle is a Ranger formerly from 1st Recon, he has to be.
 * Brick Joke: Combined with Call Forward. In canon the Galaxy News Radio aerial was shot off by a Super Mutant. Early on here, Coyle thinks about shooting it off and making people believe a Super Mutant did it. When he reaches the Mall proper, he delivers on the promise.
 * Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Subverted. When Coyle catches some buckshot with his left hand, it leaves him temporarily unable to use that hand for gunfighting.
 * Fan Disservice: Coyle has an unpleasant memory of Ghoul lesbian porn films and Super Mutant lapdancers.
 * The Gump: Coyle visits a lot of places that the Lone Wanderer would eventually go to and is responsible for some of the events.
 * Guns Akimbo: Coyle favours a .44 Desert Eagle and a MP9.
 * Magnetic Weapons: Coyle brought a M72 Gauss Rifle (not to be confused with the Chinese Gauss Rifle) with him to take down BOS Powered Armor.
 * One Riot, One Ranger: Played with. While Coyle is a real badass, he's only supposed to be doing recon, not tearing down strongholds singlehandedly.
 * Shout-Out: Coyle mentions a comic book superhero called Captain California who was rebuilt after a crash, received a Super Serum, was frozen and later revived by Skynet, also getting to punch a villainous leader in the face. Derek thinks it's a stupid idea, especially after Coyle says that Captain California picked up a flying surfboard. Hotpoint's author's notes proceed to give a Suspiciously Specific Denial about the inspirations.
 * ‘Never go up against a Californian when a free meal is on the line’
 * 'The goggles, they do nothing'
 * ‘I know what you're thinking’ he spoke up. ‘Did he fire twenty shots or only nineteen? ....’
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Coyle's attitude towards an awful Super Mutant joke.