Took a Level in Badass/Fan Works

Examples of in  include:
 * The Sun Soul takes this idea and turns it Up to Eleven... for Pokemon. No really, the author manages to take something as innocent as Pokemon and upgrade it into a grim, gruesome, and nightmare-inducing retelling, without going overboard on the crazy. Each character is leaps and bounds ahead of their original counterparts in terms of sheer badassery and so far the story has consisted mostly of adventure, mixed with politics and romance, with plenty of action and Anyone Can Die added in.
 * Ash Ketchum certainly qualifies. Trainer abilities aside, the lad is dangerous with a knife.
 * A very interesting inversion of this trope comes from the Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic NGE: Nobody Dies. Shinji Ikari is no stranger to Taking Levels In Badass, but Nobody Dies Shinji could be more accurately described as having Lost A Level In Suck; thanks to Yui surviving the backstory, Shinji has grown up into a well-adjusted and perfectly normal teenager, with none of the numerous neuroses that plagued him in canon but also none of the unGodly self-confidence or super-powers other fanfics tend to give him when doing this. It makes for a very interesting take on Shinji's character to see him stick up for Asuka and trade verbal jabs with his classmates when he's not smiting Angels with an Eva-scale BFS or a Wave Motion Gun. Then again, when you're the walking embodiment of You Suck, even becoming an Ordinary High School Student is a big step in the right direction.
 * In the Chance Encounter series, Paris, Helen and Briseis, the former becoming a skilled archer, the latter two being skilled swordswomen, and Balian takes a subtle one, picking up a bunch of new moves from the Fellowship and moving more smoothly in battle, going from ordinary Badass Normal levels to, while under mind control and what could be considered a Super-Powered Evil Side, fighting Legolas to a standstill.
 * Shinji & Warhammer40K tried to invert this trope in a manner similar to Nobody Dies but the author wound up overshooting the target and turned Shinji into a very straight (and very EPIC) example of this trope instead (Case in point, there's nothing ordinary about an Ordinary High School Student with his own gang and the universal respect and adoration of his entire hometown).
 * Sailor Moon Millenials gave this treatment to Chibi-Usa of all people by having her come back from the future as a teenager and newly-christened Neo Sailor Moon. While not exactly a Future Badass, she was at least as useful as the other Senshi on a consistent basis.
 * Tohru Honda--No, really--Tohru frickin' Honda gets this treatment in the Western AU fic The Swordsman and The Gunslinger. On the surface, she appears to be a sweet, Yamato Nadeshiko, but she can hold her own in a fight. Even a person who knows her very well is amazed that she can handle an enemy.
 * Author Avatar Art of the Mass Effect self-insert Mass Vexations starts off as a You Suck character. By the time he gets to Virmire, though, he's taken several, culminating in leading a salarian STG unit into battle.
 * In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, due to Year Inside, Hour Outside training and applied phlebotinum, Kyon keeps taking level after level in Badass. It's nearing Memetic Badass status within the story itself.
 * In at least two Harry Potter fanfics, Harry is subjected to this. In "Harry gets Motivated", he asks Professor Moody to mind control him into relentlessly forcing himself to study to exclusion of everything except whatever Harry has to do to stay mentally and physically healthy, and to protect himself from Voldemort. This fic ends with Harry  Another example is "In Cold Blood", wherein Harry is asked by Gringotts to work as a freelancer assassinating Death Eaters for them. The goblins have a magical method that allows them to transplant knowledge from prisoners, so that Harry can fight well beyond the level of his targets. The fic is rather vague about how much knowledge of what Harry gains: all it states is that the first donor is a skilled enough torturer to keep a man on the edge of death for six months, and that after Harry gains the torturer's skill a "seemingly endless" number of donors file in after him, with "everything Harry could possibly use" against his victims.
 * Dumbledores Army and The Year of Darkness is all about Neville Longbottom, and the DA, levelling up in Badass to the point where they're able to stand up to, and fight, Death Eaters on a nearly-equal-to-equal basis.
 * Matthew Streika, once the living embodiment of the Idiot Ball carrying Wide-Eyed Idealist, now has taken some levels in badass. He threw himself in the way of The Brute's attack, got some nifty magic, and kicked a lot of ass. Shuuji followed in Chapter 2, redeeming himself by making a Heel Face Turn, and then reducing Medraut to a quivering wreck. Even little Alina, who in the first Canon was an annoying Bratty Half-Pint, became so much more Badass as a Biological Superpowered Magical Weapon. Alina's adoptive little sister, Alexandra "Lexie" Ivanov, starts out only able to summon little lizards and heal people...and she is a Shout-Out to Final Fantasy's Summoner Class...wait, what's she summoning now, a bigger lizard? Nope, you're dead, Adrian. What's that sound? Its the world taking a fear shit: She just summoned Dragon Emperor Andreclav
 * The Poke Wars series takes this trope and dials it Up to Eleven. Each and every surviving character becomes one hell of a badass fighter.
 * The Naruto/Justice League Crossover "Connecting the Dots" does this to most of the Konoha 11, but especially to Tenten. You remember Tenten? Trust me. Not this one.
 * Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns has given levels in badass to more than just the dwarven noble Wise Prince protagonist, plus some antagonists (the Sloth Demon, Piotin Aeducan, the Fade Beast-, etc.)
 * Raonar Aeducan goes from Cultured Warrior / Guile Hero to Cultured Badass / Magic Knight / Barrier Warrior;
 * Faren Brosca, the dwarven commoner rises from Lovable Rogue / Action Survivor to straight-out Action Hero / Badass Adorable with almost complete hostile magic immunity.
 * Kallian Tabris, the city elf, also a Lovable Rogue, finds herself forced to drink Avernus' alchemical potion, making her blood poisonous to darkspawn (and she can even read their attack intentions like some sort of battle precognition). Maiden Of War / Hot Chick with a Sword indeed.
 * Alim started out as a One-Man Army blood mage but eventually learned shapeshifting and telepathy. He also seems to avoid the Squishy Wizard trope altogether, though mostly through timely applications of forcefields. One can only wonder what will happen if he ever becomes an Arcane Warrior too.
 * Alistair didn't get many special powers, but Raonar's tutoring did yield a much higher level of self-confidence, actually making him lose a level in suck. A Magic Knight in his own right.
 * Theron Mahariel and Gwenith Cousland can still qualify as Badass Normal members, but it is unlikely that the story will end without them also getting some sort of powerup. One might say it is required, considering what happened in the latest chapters.
 * It is interesting to note than even seems to have gone through this after his memorable Break the Haughty several months-long period of
 * Takato Matsuki from the Tamers Forever Series becomes easily the strongest of the Tamers, leading to extreme jealousy from Rika.
 * Jeri also grows from being The Cutie into a true Action Girl.
 * And if you thought TK Took a Level in Badass in Adventure 02 just look at him now.
 * In the Sonic the Hedgehog fic Entropy has a few canon characters reach up a few levels, namely Amy who pretty much pwns a demoness early in the story while, but the one who takes the cake and pretty much eats all of it, is Agent Bazooka, also called Bazza who is revealed to be   of all people! One example isn't enough to describe her.
 * Everyone did in Magica Madoka Veneficus Puella. All of the weapons can be spammed without hesitation. All the characters have enhanced strength and reinforced body structures. Oh, and
 * In Rise of the Galeforces, this happens to virtually ALL of the Supers who have been bought Back from the Dead at some point or another. Stratogale, Splashdown, and Thunderhead, all of whom died thanks to the humble Cape Snag, return to the story's current timeframe in ways that are both epic and well-earned, with Apogee and later Macroburst and Phylange following soon after. And as for the original Super Family Team, who are already a Badass Family as is, a Noodle Incident or two before the beginning of the story has apparently made them even more Badass.
 * Terrordactyl counts as a meta example, at least where the geological time scale is concerned. According to him, Pteranodons were in fact rather nice creatures who didn't want to partake in the Late Cretaceous warfare - Cut to the present day, and a certain genetically engineered Ptero-Soarer taking down entire roving ravenous raptor regiments without breaking a sweat.
 * in The Tainted Grimoire, after learning how to draw his aura and then again after being given the ability to.
 * Eri in The World Ends With You fanfic, Eri's Game, goes from fashion designer to butt-kicking activist.
 * In the Ranma ½ fic Desperately Seeking Ranma, Nabiki Tendo goes from college student to high-powered magical girl/martial artist in about a year, thanks to a combination of raw native talent, involuntary improvements in her physical abilities caused by exposure to high levels of magic and ki, and intense training by Ranma.