Infinity (fanfic)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Lyrical Nanoha fanfic-in-progress written by Andy Moczo (author of the pure crack that is Uninvited Guests) taking a shot at writing an action story. Set between the second and third seasons of the Nanoha anime, Infinity is a story that, in the author's own words, 'plays fast and loose with canon' by inserting an entire new major case into a time when canonically nothing happened, yet still makes a fair effort to remain Original Flavor.

Six months after the Book of Darkness incident, Nanoha, Fate, and of course Arf are sent to stop some pirates from stealing from an archeological site. While everything seems immediately to go well and the criminals and stolen artifacts are quickly handed off for transport, it doesn't take too horribly long for the transport ship to be hacked by a new foe who obtains the stolen orbs for their own designs.

One week later during a planned picnic with Nanoha and her friends, even Suzuka and Arisa, Fate meets a... let's call her strange girl by the name of Tsukuyomi who is looking for her brother. Besides the oddity in her mannerisms she's noticeable for wearing a formal kimono in a park and having blue hair (though Fate admits having a purple-haired friend muddies the waters a bit in what a 'normal' hair colour is). After some awkwardness and more weirdness on Tsukuyomi's part her older, but no less odd, brother, Susanoo, finds her. After asking Nanoha to translate where they're supposed to be going, they take off into the air, flying at high speed for Tokyo. The girls quickly decide that they MIGHT have to reschedule their picnic and take off after the unknowns.

What follows is a story that manages to pull off being both hilarious and yet suitably dramatic, with equal parts action and humor (ocassionaly drawn from Character Exaggeration born from memes and series in-jokes)) and makes them work. Even better, it features all the main characters from the first two seasons prominently, and gives them all chances to shine quite brilliantly; even a character or two from the third season get a cameo appearance. Can be found here.

Not to be confused with the tabletop wargame Infinity or Infinity: The Quest for Earth.

Tropes used in Infinity include:

"I... you... I... we... you... oh, you know what? I don't even care anymore. Everyone just get ready to teleport."

  • Anti-Villain: Some more than others.
  • Anything That Moves: Amaterasu has thus far displayed varying levels of attraction to Arf, Signum, Chrono, Nanoha, Yuuno, and... er... both of her own siblings.
  • Apologetic Attacker: Besides the Heroine's legendary predilection for this, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo and Ameterasu all dip into this at times. It's made clear from the get-go that they have absolutely nothing against the heroes, and in some cases outright respect and like them, but circumstances force them to fight.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Fate and Susanoo during a brief Enemy Mine scenario in chapter 8.
  • Badass Boast: Chapter 31, Amaterasu to Yggdrasil.

Amaterasu: "You ask me to do my worst? You delusional pocket calculator, you have never seen my worst."

After narrowly avoiding getting Gigant-Hammered...
Amaterasu: In the name of every god there ever was, the hat will grow back!
Vita: It's the principle of the thing!

    • When Nanoha reminds Precia that she's wholly responsible for Alicia's condition, the only thing she ever truly cared about, Precia flips out in grand style.
    • In Chapter 23, Amaterasu suggests to Signum that she should abandon Hayate, as her attachment and devotion to her mistress seems to be making Signum weak. A few seconds later, Amaterasu is staring up at the sky from her position on her back, coughing up soot, and says, "Wow. I did hit a nerve." Of course, that was exactly the reaction she had been hoping for.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Shamal scares the bejeesus out of Nanoha and Fate in Chapter 20 for not taking it easy after the battle.
    • And Lindy. Sweet mother of god, Lindy. Especially in chapter 25, when her Mama Bear tendencies hit the stage.
    • Susanoo seems like a goofball most of the time, but if his family is in danger or unexplainable situation....
  • Big Brother Instinct: Susanoo's is pronounced, Chrono's is more low-key.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Hayate and the Wolkenritter at the end of Chapter 14.
    • Taurus Bentz and his containment/support team in the middle of Chapter 26.
  • Blood Knight: Amaterasu. However, she seems to have different kinds of Blood Knight personalities, varying between a cold, serious murder machine and openly admitting she's finding the battle a turn-on. Which she uses seems to depend on some combination of how angry she is... and how sexually attracted she is to her opponent. Yikes.
    • As of Chapter 25, it seems her switching her Barrier Jacket into its Final Drive Mode is an indicator of when she's switched over.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: In a very, very, subtle way; Enlil herself. Yggdrasil tweaked the brain-tape uploaded into Alicia Testarossa's corpse just enough for her to willingly launch a first strike with a weapon the worst lunatics ever to hold power in the Infinity Empire's history would only use out of desperation.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Amy feared this would happen:

Amy: Going to make the food processors shoot bees? Force the engines spin us in circles until we all get so dizzy we throw up? Make the food processors shoot bees that cause nausea?

  • Breather Episode: Generally speaking, each major battle that takes place will be followed by a few chapters of exposition, character interaction, and occasional fluff.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, and Amaterasu. It's been implied that 'god' is merely a title or nickname they were awarded for several centuries of combat service, during which they were basically undefeated, and they certainly have the skill to back it up, even without considering the hints that they are currently operating at considerably less than their full power. But... to put it bluntly, you wouldn't know it from their personalities.
  • Catch and Return: Lindy finally electrocuting Precia this way.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Tsukuyomi is... kinda weird.
  • Completely Missing the Point: Signum, surprisingly, is the biggest offender. There are stuff likes "capable of using sword with my left hand, so it's not a problem" when Hayate worries about her confition, and thinking about her sword sheathe when Fate worries (and awed about how non-chalantly she takes her injuries) about her condition.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: Chrono is perfectly willing to send Arf to dog obedience school.
  • Cosplay Otaku Girl: Amaterasu at times seems more interested in dressing up Nanoha than actually fighting her. For bonus points, her proposed costumes so far have all been shout outs to Cardcaptor Sakura.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The 'Black Cat' cyborgs are essentially people who have had so much of their body and brain replaced by machinery that they no longer have a human mind.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Yuuno's defenses prove completely inpenetrable to anything Tsukuyomi can throw at him (much like as against Vita, in the series), but his offensive abilites are too limited and weak to threaten her, either.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Discussed by Fate, Suzuka and Arisa:

Arisa: We could sell tickets. Combat therapy. Nanoha will smack you around for five minutes, and then all your problems will just solve themselves.
Fate: It's not that simple, Arisa. She also asks what you're trying to do, and then she offers to be your friend.

From Chapter 32: Aggressive computing, for the record, was a bit like normal computing, only it wasn't actually like computing at all and was mostly just setting the computer on fire.

  • Dramatic Ellipsis: A good indicator that Chrono is about to blow a fuse.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Signum, of all people, has been saddled with "Kitten". On the bright side, only one person calls her that; unfortunately, it's the worst possible person.
  • Emotionless Girl: Tsukuyomi. Though she's simply too reserved and weird than actually emotionless. At least until her mild freak-outs in Chapter 26 and 27.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The peculiar manner in which Tsukuyomi and Susanoo act in their first scene immediately clues the viewer in to their individual personalities, and is enough to instantly alert the girls to the fact that they're not from around here. And Amaterasu's is... well, see the entry below for Marshmallow Hell.
  • Exact Words: Being artificial life forms bound to follow the commands of their ruler, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo all use this occasionally with a hefty dose of Loophole Abuse whenever they think they need to. Tsukuyomi and Susanoo use this in Chapter 33 to go against a direct order to not track down Amaterasu after her fight with Yggdrasil.
  • Expy: Tsukuyomi bears more then a passing resemblance to another blue haired girl. And Who The Hell Do You Think Susanoo Is Like! Also, Amaterasu exhibits some similarity to a certain other Tsukuyomi...
  • Facial Markings: The three god-mages all have 'a strange, stylized tattoo looking like three interlocked crescents inside a triangle' on their foreheads.
  • Finagle's Law: * In full effect. Explicitly used in a chapter title: "Anything That Can Go Wrong..."
  • Four-Star Badass: Taurus Bentz.
  • Friendly Enemy: Susanoo generally seems to consider the battles with the cast more of a game than anything else, and has openly stated he already thinks of at least Fate and Nanoha as friends... while still fighting them. He even, in their first fight, declares Fate to be his apprentice and tries to teach her to be more excited about combat. As well as giving pointers in how to more effectively use her various attacks.
  • A God Am I: Enlil gets a wee bit carried away in Chapter 26:

I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
I. Am. I...I...may have let the sensation go to my head for a moment there.

  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Signum. Shamal worries that she and Vita are much too used to it.
  • Grand Theft Me: Enlil to Alicia Testarossa; Word of God confirming "bodyjacking" can be found on Animesuki's Nanoha Fanfiction Forum.
  • Guile Hero / Magnificent Bastard: Lindy, much to Chrono's chagrin.
  • Humongous Mecha / Wave Motion Gun: One designed to provide anti-starship fire, being used as an anti-personnel weapon.
  • Innocent Bystander: Every combatant involves actively avoid this.
  • Immortality Bisexuality: Ameterasu...though her siblings seem to be immune, so she might have just been that way from the start.
  • Is This What Hatred Feels Like?: Yuuno Scrya discovers true hatred for the first time in his young life when confronted with a pirate who broke into an ancient ruin and, upon discovering wondrous artifacts of a culture older than recorded history, attempted to SELL them on the black market. It's only afterwards, with introspection and an amusing bout of ranting, that this feeling fully crystallizes.
  • Lack of Empathy: As of Chapter 30, it appears Enlil suffers from this. For instance, not understanding why Precia is upset that Alicia's brain has been overwritten and is currently serving as Enlil's new body. Or why the other protagonists are upset.
  • Lady of War: Besides the examples in the canon cast, Tsukuyomi when using her device's close-range form and Amaterasu all the time.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: The three siblings at the end of chapter 26: all powered up by being in their home dimension, all ready for payback.
  • Made of Iron: Chapter 20. Signum. Ye gods.

"Hmmmm... multiple lacerations scattered over most of my body; only a few of them were deep enough to reach bone, though. Some rather severe burns, both electrical and fire. My arm was broken in two places and nearly cut off. I was partially impaled, though that one wasn't so bad since the wound was cauterized shut. I believe I was mildly concussed when she threw me into the ground. Oh, and Laevateinn lost his sheathe."

Fate's jaw dropped. She... she... that should kill someone, shouldn't it? Shouldn't that kill a person? And yet, the older woman looked, right now, as if she'd taken a nasty spill off a bicycle at worst. She didn't even seem terribly uncomfortable, in sharp contrast to how Fate herself felt.

Signum seemed a little puzzled by her expression. "Is something wrong? Is this about the sheathe? Because I'm informed Miss Atenza has the parts needed to replace it, and the order should be done within the week, so it isn't too great a concern."

Lindy:"Fate... did you see her, after your encounter? Did you look at that girl, broken in the dirt after what you did to her? Because I did, I saw my little girl lying half-dead in a hospital bed, and I saw the burns on my son's body from when he tried to save her and you tried to kill him for it. What mother could possibly be neutral after that? ...You tried to kill my children. Did you think I wouldn't take it personally?
Lindy: "Burn."

  • Marshmallow Hell: Amaterasu's Establishing Character Moment is shoving Susanoo into this and only letting him out when Tsukuyomi points out that he doesn't seem to be able to breathe.
  • Master of Illusion: Tsukuyomi.
  • Meaningful Echo: Several, to the second season of the anime.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: See above. As a Running Gag, Susanoo will never get Nanoha's name right. He seems to have the general sound of it down, but tends to usually end up with something like 'Nanako', even when others directly point out to him he's got her name wrong.
  • Named Weapons: The current batch of villains continue the series trend of having named Intelligent Devices, with Raijin for Susanoo, Suijin for Tsukuyomi and Kagutsuchi for Ameterasu.
  • Nakama: Besides the canonical characters' immensely strong bonds, the original-character villains have a particularly wacky-yet-touching variety, contrasted sharply by Precia's presence.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Seeing that Nanoha was in danger, but not that she was successfully talking her way out of it, Yuuno and Chrono attack Tsukuyomi just when Nanoha was getting through to her. This causes Tsukuyomi to believe that Nanoha was simply lulling her into a false sense of security and thus Tsukuyomi decides to fight seriously. Nanoha was not happy.
    • And now she's four times more powerful and even more upset, while Nanoha is barely able to keep herself in the air. Thanks guys, really.
  • The Nondescript: Section Black operatives.
  • Noodle Incident: A few casual instances, but a particularly plot-centric one in Arf's assault of a prisoner she and Yuuno were interrogating, and the beauricratic fallout that ensues.

Yuuno: I can't believe you bit him!
Arf: He asked me to!

  • No Sense of Personal Space: Amaterasu.
  • Not So Harmless: Amaterasu comes across as a flirtatious goofball most of the time, but if she starts fighting seriously...
  • Not So Stoic: Tsukuyomi is very bothered with Nanoha's attempts to become friends with her, and finds herself responding despite herself. Her stoic demeanor finally cracks when Nanoha manages to accurately dissect her feelings, and she almost ready to let Nanoha to leave instead of incapacitating her... then Chrono and Yuuno had to screw it all up. She's not amused with this.
  • Oh Crap: Vita has this reaction in Chapter 21; when Signum says that Amaterasu is the most dangerous opponent, Vita says rather dismissively that if Signum hadn't been hurt when she fought Amaterasu, she would never lose one on one. Signum replies that she's not sure about that, actually.

Vita: Oh. Damn.

    • Precia in chapter 25.
    • Everybody except for Enlil, Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, and Amaterasu in Chapter 26.
  • Only Sane Man: As of Chapter 27, freaking Susanoo. Amaterasu seems to always overdo it, and as of this recent chapter, Tsukuyomi has flipped out and tried to kill Nanoha while she was completely defenseless, even when it accomplished nothing. He's the only one trying to avoid unnecessary deaths or just focus on their mission.But if you look back on previous chapters, maybe the evidence was always there.
    • Hilariously, Amaterasu in the Takamachi household.
  • Panty Shot: In chapter 22 (or 23 by FF.net's numbering), Vita accidentally provides one for Susanoo. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: In addition to the usual suspects, Precia, whom shows that without the illness that plagued her in the series, is strong (and aggressive) enough to defeat Hayate. Then the artificial gods get their long-awaited power up and show us exactly why they were called gods.
  • Playing with Fire: Signum and Amaterasu.
  • Psycho Electro: Precia's back
  • Psycho Lesbian: Amaterasu seems to have focused her, ahem, intentions on Signum. During their battle in Chapter 22, she takes the battle seriously, almost decapitating Signum in her first attack; a few moments later, she tells Signum, "I won't rest until you acknowledge my feelings for you and agree to become my personal kitten!" Signum is not amused.
  • Really Gets Around: Amaterasu.

"I'm just not a one-woman woman. I've lived for a long time, and I've developed very cavalier attitudes towards romantic encounters. So you need to know right now, there will be other women. And men. And occasionally one of each at the same time, or two of one, or several of each in varying combinations, and of course you can be one of the women involved in any of those situations, and..."

  • Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The TSAB's inner workings. Rather, to borrow a description used for the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence, "here, the right hand doesn't even know the left hand exists".
  • Robo-Family: 1,800 year old artificial constructs calling each other 'brother' and 'sister' really can't be anything else.
  • Sex Is Violence: If you're someone whose caught Amaterasu's eye, and the only way she'll encounter you is on the battlefield, well, she has no problem invoking this trope as a means of flirting.
  • Shipper on Deck: As of Chapter 22, Amaterasu is a supporter of Susanoo/Fate. Susanoo isn't very happy about it, and Fate probably won't didn't appreciate it either.

Susanoo: She is ten years old! Don't project your perversions onto me, you sick freak!

  • Ship Tease: Conspicuously and deliberately absent until recently. The author has gone on record stating how amusing he finds the fact that there are so many people out there who spend so much of their time obsessing over the love lives of completely fictional characters.
    • In recent chapter, Amy gives her "Go to hell" toward Amaterasu after she's flirting too much with Chrono. Amaterasu even lampshades it.

"Oooooh, someone's got a cruuuuuush..."

"Teleport functioning as expected, Admiral. Transmission away, and not a sign of interference from THOSE BASTARDS!" Amy suddenly shrieked. "How did they do that? How did they do that? I hate them I hate them I hate them!"

Most people had never seen Nanoha Takamachi fight seriously.
Not intensely, seriously. She fought with intensity all the time. Nanoha was strong and she liked to win, so fighting with effort was nothing to her. But fighting with serious intent to destroy, holding nothing back? That was basically unheard of. Really, the only thing that had ever seen it from the receiving end was the berserk defense program of the Book of Darkness, which should have said something about the situation that would actually push her to draw on that level of force.
First, the enemy must not be even remotely approachable. They must be something that not only refuses to see reason but is not even capable of seeing reason, something monstrous and inhuman that will only destroy and destroy and destroy until it is stopped.
Second, there must be innocent lives in danger. Her own did not count; these had to be other innocent lives. A whole world… her friends… even some silly little alien penguins that she'd spent a few minutes playing with, just for fun. She must have something to protect.
Should these circumstances be met, it is possible to see Nanoha Takamachi fight with true seriousness. It is, despite the brilliantly magnificent light-show that tended to result, not a pretty sight. She doesn't get any more powerful, or faster, or more intelligent somehow, no.
She just gets less friendly.

  • This Is Gonna Suck: Amaterasu, just before Nanoha unleashes a desperate, brand-new attack.
  • Troperiffic: If it's a meme or trope associated with the Nanoha series, you can bet the author will take it an run with it. Considering he has admitted in author's notes that he is aware this page exists and he occasionally edits it, that's probably to be expected.
  • Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Between Chrono's taskforce, Susa and Tsuku, and Section Black operatives
  • Unstoppable Rage: Amaterasu accidentally damages Vita's hat. Also, Arf flies into one after Precia hurts Fate, Fate flies into one against Precia after she hurt Arf, and only a sneak shot from Tsukuyomi stops Fate from slicing Precia in two. Then, Nanoha deliberately' sends Precia into one to distract her.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Lindy seems to be Dangerously Genre Savvy enough about this.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Enlil had a big one after Lindy shot down her proposal to make the TSAB stand down and allow the worlds it administrates to come under her rule, while implying that Enlil would be no better than a tyrant by forcibly taking over the worlds that didn't want her interference. After coming to the "realization" that Al Hazard's name isn't considered remotely threatening anymore, this is Enlil's response:

"...I am ordering the Al Sethis defense grid be reconfigured, immediately, to release the Tears of Al Hazard on the world of Midchilda. As soon as a targeting solution can be acquired." Enlil said. Her voice could have made icicles form on the table, if one didn't get the sense the chill was very, very much an illusion covering the explosion taking place beneath. "She wishes to remind me that Al Hazard no longer exists? I think I owe her nothing less than to show her why."

Susanoo: You have the control to set up a bind that can nullify even my strength, and you can do it when you're wounded and taking hits, while casting other combat magic at the same time? I'd say you're one of those 'monsters' yourself.

    • He learnt his style from Lindy. Now imagine how much better Lindy is. Or just read chapter 25. Damn.
  • Wham! Episode: The very, very end of Chapter 29 turns the entire story on its head with the following words -- such a subtly-played twist that Moczo himself stated that only two people called it in advance.

And then Fate understood. She understood why her mother was working under these people. She understood what could have coerced Precia... Precia Testarossa!... into a life of servitude. She understood why mother would hate this woman so thoroughly, and at the same time be so totally unwilling to do anything to oppose her.
The Twilight Queen's voice... the voice had seemed so oddly familiar because, slight accent aside, it was her own voice.
Fate: "A... Alicia...?"
"After all," Enlil said, as the stunned Fate watched her own lips curl into an amused smirk. "We're practically sisters."


{Lyrical Nanoha Franchise}}

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