Once Upon a Shooting Star

Once Upon a Shooting Star is a Crossover Fanfic created by the Deviant ART user and YVTroper Royal Fanatic (sometimes called RF) mainly based on Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but tying in bands composed of characters from many, MANY other games.

The fiction focuses on Action Girl Jocelyn Michaels and her band, Explosive Underbelly! Version 2, known more commonly as V.2 to distinguish from her brother's band of the same name. Consisting of Joc, her pretty-much-brother Albert "Al" Makar, computer-savvy guitarist Grace Williams, and Sharky, the man who pretty much raised the Michaels twins, V.2 strives to reach the Rock Immortals challenge in the midst of musicians hearing a strange voice, collapsing on stage and even disappearing. After Al is told by a little psychic girl of "the chosen sixteen" and the threat of "the other side", V.2 finds themselves caught in the whirlwind of mystery.

But they are not alone. Soon, two other bands join them, and they seek out the final few chosen, learn more of the once-shrouded Redemption Organization, and, ultimately, set out to save the world.

RF has also written oneshots to supplement this work; they may also be cited here.

Additionally, she plans on writing five sequels to this. This page may grow rapidly over time...

Ladies and Gentlemen... ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!?

Tropes used in Once Upon a Shooting Star include:

Alone in a Crowd: Al's first encounter with the psychic girl. And with Lou's voice.
Animal Motifs: Mikomi has fox ears and a tail that appear when embarrassed or overexcited. Gancena wears white tiger ears and a tail on stage, and eventually even gains the ability to call white tigers to her aid.
Author Avatar: Joc is one for RF. Gancena is a modification of the Author Avatar for TVTroper Gancena.
Big Bad: Lou the Devil of Guitar Hero 3 fame.
Bi the Way: Al. Though the story hasn't mentioned it, Word of God sure has.
- Until now: Chapter 31 refers to the oneshot Had it Been Love, Al's side of a love affair gone terribly wrong...WITH LLOYD.
Cameo: Due to the sheer number of bands made up of canon characters, some bands end up having more screen time than others. RF intends to rectify this in later sagas.
Chivalrous Pervert: Lloyd Ivangale, though he's turned around some of his ways for Joc's sake.
Cliff Hanger: RoyalFanatic LOVES doing this.
Crowning Moment of Awesome: The chosen attack HELL ITSELF. ...FIVE TIMES!
Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The reunions at the end of Chapter 28.
Deadpan Snarker: Gabriel and Mikomi both.
Dogged Nice Girl / The Woobie: Goddammit, you just want to give Grace a hug by the end of it.
Do Not Call Me Ana: See Meaningful Rename below.
Engineered Public Confession: Lou to Joc during the second attack on Hell.
Evil Sounds Deep: Lou's telepathic voice is bolded, implying this.
Everyone Can See It: Al and Meru. The teasing begins after the very first meeting.
Expanded Universe: The 200 Theme Project, a series of oneshots elaborating on what the characters feel throughout Shooting Star and its sequels.
Five-Man Band: The midleaders, who also double as a less goofy and far more sadistic version of the Quirky Miniboss Squad.
- ~~The Hero~~ The Dragon: Lance
- The Lancer: Morocco
- The Smart Guy: Uther
- The Big Guy: Briggs
- The Chick: Adrian
- The Sixth Ranger: Wes
Foreshadowing: RoyalFanatic seems to be in love with this, too. In fact, she lampshades both this and cliff hangers in her Artist's Comments whenever she employs them.
Girl of My Dreams: Al dreams of Meru before meeting her.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: Poor Grace. She is forced to admit this about Al during Chapter 13.
Heroic BSOD: A MAJOR one for Joc after Al disappears, and then a relatively smaller one for Gancena after she learns about Raiden's capture.
Holding Hands: At the very end of Chapter 29...
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Raiden (Yes, that Raiden) and Gancena. He's seven feet tall. She's 5'7". This has been lampshaded by several characters.
Iconic Item: V.2 is best known for the purple masquerade masks they wear on and off stage. Grace and Sharky had the same masks when a part of the band in different colors, and even before finding Joc, Orion and Meru have the same purple masks as well.
- Lloyd and his father's hat fit this as well even though he loses it during the battling at Austin.
- All the hypnotized musicians have these as well: for example, Al's mask was the key that saved him.
In the Hood: The psychic girl wears a cloak and hood that covers all but her mouth; had she not spoken, you'd never know she was a girl!
It Got Worse: Chapters 13-15 in a nutshell, what with Grace's capture and subsequent killing, and then Al's own disappearance...among other things.
Lecture as Exposition: Two examples:
- Subverted in Al's first meeting with the psychic girl given that her exposition is so vague the readers don't understand what she's saying until a little later.
- Played straight in Chapter 18 in which the identity and motives of the Big Bad are revealed to every single band that's appeared in the story thus far.
Like Brother and Sister: Al and Joc. Frequently lampshaded.
Love At First Sight: Appears to be this way for Al and Meru.
Meaningful Rename: Gancena; only her brother refers to her by her birth name.
Moment Killer: Al, right as Gancena's about to confess to Raiden...
Mr. Exposition: Zet Travis, reporter/journalist of V.2.
- He's given a few reports including what's happen to V.2 after chapter 15, and is the one who tells everyone about Lou in chapter 18.
Nakama: The chosen, naturally.
Oblivious to Love: Al. This is most clearly shown in the theme Liar.^{[dead link]} This causes problems during the course of that story.
- And it only gets worse with himself and Meru.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Joc and Al.
Opposites Attract: Joc and Lloyd. A chaste, level-headed lady with a bold Chivalrous Pervert... yeah, they're this.
Original Character: Yeah, they're there, all right.
Parental Abandonment: Meru, left behind at a year old. Thank the gods for Nanny and Orion...
Photographic Memory: Gancena. But it can falter at times...
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Begone, Satan! You will plague us no longer!"
Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Al has five of these while he's unconscious. The second one was a case of Girl of My Dreams.
Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Meru
Shout-Out: The pet tiger Gancena gains is called Bubastis, a reference to Watchmen. This is not stated in the fic, but rather, it is the reasoning of the friend who suggested it. (See Sure Why Not, below.)
Sure Why Not: RF hears -- and takes -- a lot of suggestions from her fans and close friends. Two of the chosen bands were actually based off friends' characters, many of the canon character bands were developed alongside those who came up with them. Some of those bands were actually created while the fic was already underway!
Tear Jerker: Grace's death
The Chosen One: Sixteen of them.
The Stoic: Gabriel and Orion only appear this way.
We Can Rule Together: Lance's proposal to Al during Chapter 13.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Canon characters aside, just look at Meru and Orion. She has turquoise hair. Subverted with Orion though: his is dyed purple.