Sam Pene Fanfic

Fanfic

This story is based on the movie “Princess Mononoke” and continues from the perspective of San sometime after the end of the movie.

It’s been so long since I’ve been home. Ashitaka…..how are you doing?

I thought this one phrase constantly for the last month. Ever since I ran away from home, I’ve found that being on the road is harsh and lonely and I’m beginning to feel desperate. My depression is getting worse.

“Heeeeeeelp” I heard someone yell from the distance.

I froze in horror. What should I do? I thought to myself.

“Heeeeelp” I heard again, this time even louder.

My instincts kicked in and I found myself running towards the commotion. I could feel my body move slower. My human legs held me back. I wasn’t as fast as when I used to run with my wolf family. I burst through the trees into a clearing and spotted a large boar protecting a smaller weaker boar behind him which had its butt pinned up against a small oak tree in fear of the monster approaching.

But the monster wasn’t me, standing all but 10 metres away was a gigantic bronze coloured mountain lion. Immediately I noticed it’s scars which covered its body from head to paws. This monstrous lion had been in a lot of battles. With one leap the mountain lion grasped its ferocious jaws on the boars throat.

“NOOOOOO!!!” screamed the little boar in agony at the sight.

I reacted immediately by grabbing a huge rock sitting nearby and pegging it directly at the lions massive skull.

“Headshot!”  I exclaimed as the rock landed right between the eyes of the lion.

Surprised and confused, the lion dashed away into the thick bush of the forest.

I immediately ran over to the larger boar and noticed the wound on its neck. It was fatal.

The smaller boar scrambled over and huddled next to the bigger boar. He started sobbing.

Then something strange happened. The big boar looked at me, and with his last ounce of strength he said something.

“Please help my brother return home” before passing on gracefully. I knew the look of these boars. They were from the same place I was. They reminded me of home.

I turned to the little boar and noticed he was standing next to a sparkling stone. I paid no more attention to it or the boar as I turned around and left.

It took about 30 seconds for the little boar to catch up to me.

“Please” he said. “Please help me return home to the forest.”

“Why should I help you” I replied.

“Because I’m lost and I don’t know how to get home. You’re the wolf girl” said the young boar. “My names Ookoyama” the boar squealed.

I immediately thought of my mother Moro.

“Fine Ookayama” I said “but you better not slow me down.”

Ookoyama stared blankly as he wiggled his little body behind me.  

As time passed on and we got closer to home I could feel a presence following us. The wind was ripe with the scent of blood. I could smell the mountain lion following us.

“Why did that mountain lion attack you?” I asked Ookoyama

“Because of this stone we found” replied Ookoyama opening his mouth and displaying the shiny gem from earlier.

“What is that?” I asked him.

“My father said it heals the user” replied Ookoyama.

“Did it belong to the lions?” I asked him.

“Yes, but we didn’t realise until it was too late” he said lowering his voice and his head to the ground.

Heals the user? I thought to myself. What a joke. “Let’s go” I whispered. I knew it wasn’t safe there. We had to move and had to move fast.

Finally I saw it. The edge of the forest.

“We’re home” Ookayama squealed with delight.

I smiled. We we’re almost home. Then I saw it. A big silhouette emerge from the forest. Eyes as black as night. It was the mountain lion and it had come to reclaim what was his.

“Get behind me” I screamed to Ookoyama as I stepped forward to challenge the monstrous beast. If I can only save Ookoyama then It will mean my life was worth some value after all.

Ookoyama submitted to my command immediately in fear, but it wasn’t fear of me.

“Ookoyama, when I get the lions attention you must run into the forest as fast as you can!” I murmured very quietly to Ookayama.

“Okay” he responded.

He wasn’t crying this time. This time he was determined to make it home to his family.

“Now Ookayama” I screamed as I ran head on towards the lion.

Ookayama took off at top speed around my left flank and immediately the lion turned and attempted to cut the young boar off but I was far too quick for him. I landed on his head and immediately clawed at his eyes in hopes to blind him but it proved unsuccessful. He flung me off with a sharp move of the neck then plunged his jaws into my throat and shook me around like a ragdoll. I passed out. If only Ookoyama made it…….

I woke up. I was dazed and confused. There he was standing over me. Ashitaka. How on earth was he here.

“Here sit up” he said.

I complied.

I heard a huge squeal from behind him. Then I saw him. Ookoyama! He was alive and he was with two bigger boars which I assumed were his mother and father.

“How am I alive?” I asked looking back and forth between Ashitaka and Ookoyama.

“The stone healed your wounds” replied Ookoyama with a smile on his face.

I smiled in relief. We talked back and forth and explained everything to Ashitaka.

It turns out he showed up just in time and killed the mountain lion. If it wasn’t for him I would’ve died for sure. The boar family bid farewell and took off into the forest.

“What will you do now?” said Ashitaka.

“I think It’s time to come home” I replied with a big smile on my face.

Sye Johnson - Fan Fiction

Leaving Ogion was one of the most difficult things Ged had ever done.  Not difficult physically, for it was a mere walking out the door, but mentally as he knew what it meant and what was to come.  Leaving his master meant he was now dedicated to hunting the shadow that had plagued him.  For good or for nought he would hunt it down and stop its evil from spreading.  As he walked away from his old, beloved master’s hut he knew all this but he was filled with fear.  He was weary from his struggles and he did not know where to begin. 

He could feel the inexplicable pull that drove him northward, towards the fleeing shadow.  He knew that it too was frightened, frightened of him and the oncoming battle that could only result in one of their demise.

He was not yet ready for the fight.  He had the resolve and the knowledge that he must do this but the courage he was struggling with.  Leaning against his staff he paused for a breath.  The animals of the forest came to him and pressed against their warmth against him.  It was as if they were reminding him that it was for them that he must fight, that he must destroy the shadow so that it would not destroy the world.

“I have to do something first” Ged whispered softly to the beasts and the birds.  They all bowed their heads as if nodding and slowly departed.  “To go forward one must first know the way back” as Archmage Nemmerle used to tell him.  “I must go back”.

The journey was not as long as he thought it would be though on the way he did come across a grave.  A small mound of twisted tree branches topped with a large stone which it was out of place among the greenery.  Moss was only just beginning to grow on top of the rock but it was turning a dried, dead brown.  “There is something wrong with this” Ged thought “it is stained with evil magic”.  What he did not know was this grave belonged to the poor witch-girl he had met as a small boy, the one he had tried so hard to impress with his magic.  She had died tampering with the spirits of the dead, the fate that Ged had almost suffered.

The sun rose on the twelfth day after he left Ogion and he saw it on the horizon.  The small village once he had once thought of as lonely he now saw was peaceful.  Ten Alders stood before him.  He was at his beginning, his true home.

“Noth hierth malk man, hiolk han merth han!” Ged shouted out and, like they had so many times before, the goats came to him.  They looked at him, their yellow eyes staring with recognition.  It was so familiar that he laughed long and loudly.  It had been a long time since he had laughed that it sounded odd to him, as if it were someone else voicing his unexpected joy.

He walked down the slope towards the nearest hut.  The goats walked with him patiently as he hobbled.  The villagers stopped and stared at the strange hooded man surrounded by goats.  He passed through the village coming to a stop outside the bronze-smith’s hut.  The tall, broad-shouldered, unspeaking man has busy hammering a heated piece of metal.

“Excuse me” Ged said to the man “I need to speak with you”.  The man looked up in irritation.  He stared at Ged waiting for him to speak, instead Ged removed his hood.  The man raised his eyebrows in shock and took three steps to stand directly in front of him.  He raised his hand and placed his fingers against the scars that marred Geds face.  “Duny” he whispered then embraced his son.

They sat at his dinner table as Geds father listened to the tale of the shadow.  He listened in silence, his face impassive and as unmoving as stone.  When he had arrived at the end of his tale he took a breath and looked at his father.  “Now I must go hunting but I am scared, this shadow is like nothing else, it is evil embodied and I don’t know if I can defeat it”. 

“Fear will kill you first” his father said in his deep rumbling voice “do not worry about having the courage, I know you are strong and I know you can succeed”.  The belief that his father had in him was unexpected and it warmed Geds heart. 

“But if I fail it will become much more powerful and it will rain evil upon the world and there will be none to stop it”. 

“If you were to avoid doing things because you have the chance to fail you will never attempt anything of worth”. 

The wisdom his father was displaying shocked Ged to the core.  He would have never guessed that the silent man was capable of this level of understanding.  This had been the right decision Ged thought to himself.  His fathers advice and conviction in his abilities gave him new strength and the courage he had been lacking.

“Thank you father, you have given much perhaps even the power to succeed” Ged said with all the gratitude he could express.  He stood and began to leave knowing now that he could face whatever lay ahead.

“Duny” his father stopped him and held out his hand.  “Take this, please, and let it give you strength and remind you that wherever you go, your family is behind you”.

“To go forward you must first know the way back” he smiled to himself, finally understanding.  “Thank you father.  I will succeed”.

Ged set out with a renewed conviction.  “I will succeed” he stated to himself.  The sun rose behind him as he headed in the direction of the shadow, following the strange pull and through that link he felt the shadow flee.

“I will succeed”.

EXEGESIS:

I chose to write my fan fiction on the Wizard of Earthsea.  We studied the Ursula Le Guin text during the fantasy section.  The reason I chose to work on this text is that the world of Earthsea and the character of Ged captured my imagination early into the paper.  The world of Earthsea has an abundance of possibilities through the world of magic and landscape that is developed in the novel and the character of Ged is a well rounded hero that is constructed by his flaws and failures rather than his successes, an aspect which I find compelling. 

I chose to set my fan fiction in the period of the text that follows after Ged has released the shadow and has left his mentor Ogion but before he sets out to hunt the shadow down.  I chose this moment as the decision to change from fleeing to fighting is the biggest moment of the novel and the biggest change in Geds character.

I wanted to develop this period and further explain the change by using what Vogler (1998) refers to as the “Crossing the Threshold”.  Within the ‘mythic structure’ this is the period at the end of act one after the hero has consulted with his mentor (Geds discussion with Ogion) and before the hero is tested (Geds hunting of the shadow).  Personally I found this period is somewhat glossed over during the original novel and I wanted to further develop the moment and create an understanding about Geds resolve.

I used Voglers (1998) character archetypes of the hero and the mentor.  The hero being Ged and the mentor being his father.  Within the original text the mentor is that of Ogion and the Archmages at the wizards school but for the purposes of this story I wanted to expand on the role of the father.  The mentors role within the fantasy archetypes is “to guide”.  I wanted to expand on the idea that a father is a source of wisdom that a child can turn to at times of great strife.

The role of the hero is to “serve and sacrifice”.  The hero is the protagonist of the story and is the one who must set out on the quest which restores the worlds balance or to achieve a personal growth, win a competition, heal a wound or even find a love.  As with the case of Ged the hero does not need to be entirely good.  Ged is a character riddled with flaws and he is the one that creates the quest he as the hero must undertake.  It was through the “crossing the threshold” that I wanted to further express some of Geds strengths and his weaknesses. 

The main reason I wanted to tell this particular story is that within a world where close to anything is possible I find the best stories are those that are about real people and real worries and concerns.  Problems that regular people face in the world outside the book are more relatable than problems about a dragon attacking a village.  So by making the story about Geds fear of the future and seeking his fathers advice I wanted to make the story one that people could have experienced themselves.

 

References:

 

Vogler, C. 1989. The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for writers. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Le Guin, U. 1968. A Wizard of Earthsea. Parnassus Press.

Sophie McDonald - FanFic

The sharp pain she felt dig into her neck was like no other. She realised that this was the end. There was nothing she could do. What was Spike doing? He was ruining her. Did he know this? Did he know what he was doing?

14 hours earlier

Buffy rolled over to her right and put the deafening alarm on snooze, she stretched her arms to either side of her bed and unwillingly opened her eyes. It was 7:10am; she had class in an hour that she was already dreading.  She hopped out of bed and checked her phone.

1 New Message

“Hey Buf, you are probably asleep but just wanted to let you know that I can’t wait to see you tonight! – Spike”

Her smile stretched ear to ear, she couldn’t wait to see Spike either. They had only been dating for a couple of months but Buffy knew that whenever she was with him she felt content. They had been through a lot and the fact that Spike was a vampire, the one thing that Buffy hated, had been hard for them but they were managing.

Buffy quickly had a shower, made some toast with jam, got dressed and left for her first class of the day. She was lucky she lived in the dorms at UC-Sunnydale; it made the trip to class much easier than catching a bus or walking. She sat down in a seat in the middle of the class and waited for Willow; Willow was one of Buffy’s best friends, they had been friends since Buffy moved to Sunnydale.

“Good morning will, how are you going?”

Willow sat down in her seat, organising her books. She flicked her auburn hair behind her ears and turned to Buffy.

“Oh hey! I’m good, a little stressed for the assignment coming up. How about you?”

“Me too! Haha, what are yo-”

The conversation was cut short as the professor walked into the lecture hall. He started to explain what the class had to do for the assignment and end of year exam, his voice was boring Buffy couldn’t help by doze off.

After all of her classes for the day she headed back to her dorm to freshen up. She looked down at her watch, 8:30pm; she was running late for Spike. She pulled her long ash blonde hair into a ponytail, enhanced her ocean blue eyes with some mascara, chucked on the closest jumper to her and walked out of the door.

She walked down the street to get to Spikes house, the only lighting were the dim streetlights leading to his driveway. She reached the door and rang the bell, something about this did not feel right. Normally Spike would pick her up from her dorm and they would walk together, like a normal couple but tonight he wasn’t there. No one answered the door so Buffy just walked inside; all the lights were off apart and it seemed like no one was home.

“Spike? I’m here… Did you forget about our plans?”

Silence. He didn’t answer her. Buffy continued to walk down the hall and into the kitchen. Once she was in there she noticed the basement door wide open and light coming from down there.

Walking down the stairs one by one, the creaks did not make Buffy feel any more secure.

“Spike if you are hiding from me this isn’t funny. Where are you?” her voice was uneasy

Suddenly all the lights in the basement went off. Buffy had been put in this situation multiple times only when she was there was always a vampire to fight. It had been about 30 seconds when she felt breathing along the nape of her neck; it was warm against her chilling skin.

The sharp pain she felt dig into her neck was like no other. She realised that this was the end. There was nothing she could do. Her life had changed forever. Everything and anything she was, was gone.

“Why?” her voice cried out, she was weak, almost unconscious. Spike stood over her laughing and wiping her blood off the corners of his mouth.

*                       *                       *

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Buffy rolled over and put her alarm on snooze yet again. She got out of bed, stumbled towards the bathroom and started to brush her teeth. Her mouth was sore, what had happened last night, she thought to herself. She glanced up to the mirror and that when she saw them. She was speechless, what was she doing to do? She had a set of fangs in her mouth and she was the vampire slayer.

Still in pj’s, she ran outside her room and headed towards Willows’. Smashing her fist on the door as hard as she could Willow finally opened up.

“Buffy, what are you doing here this early?”

“Look!” Buffy pointed to her teeth

“Are those what I think they are?”

“Yup”

“How?”

“I don’t know. All I know is my memory from last night is a blur”

“You were with Spike last night. Did he do this to you?”

“No! He couldn’t” Buffy was sure he didn’t do this, he couldn’t have. “Anyway I have to go. We’ll talk later”

Buffy ran out of Willow’s room and back into her own, how was she supposed to fight these vampires when she was one herself. This was not want she needed to deal with right now, especially with her midterms coming up.

Buffy grabbed out her phone and started to dial Spike’s number.

“Answer. Answer the stupid phone you idiot”

“Hi, you have reached Spike’s voicemail. Sorry I can’t answer the phone at the moment, leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

Buffy rang his phone again and still got the same reply.

‘If he did do this then I would be dodging my calls as well… but if he didn’t he could be in trouble”

Buffy’s mind was fighting with itself; she didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that she needed to find Spike and if being a vampire, the one thing she hates the most in the world, was going to help her do it then she would let it.

 Commentary

For my fanfiction I decided to write about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a text that we studied for cult television. I thought that it would be a good idea to approach the text in Buffy’s point of view and developing a relationship, as well as introducing conflict. I focused on aspects of the original series, keeping the character the same. The good thing about a TV series is that every episode is a different storyline, and that is the approach I was thinking while writing this piece. I wanted to include a major plot twist that would change the whole series and that is why Spike turned her into a vampire. I wanted Buffy to be faced with the conflict of the unknown, this is shown through her trusting Spike or not. Even though the original TV series is dark, it always has a happy ending and for my fanfiction I wanted to not have that happy ending, I wanted the reader to be left feeling “what next?”

The main theme I wanted to portray is the love and lost in relationships, mainly the lost. I explored this through Buffy and Spike’s relationship, with the lost of trust and the unknown between them.

I used Vogler’s (1998) character archetypes of Shadow and Shapeshifter, that being Spike, and Hero, for Buffy. “The shadow is the opposite of light and provides he tension of anxiety and fear in the story. The Shadow often opposes the hero and is typically the main antagonist”, the reader knows that Spike is the antagonist in the fanfiction but Buffy doesn’t which leads him to also portray the character archetype of a Shapeshifter. “The Shapeshifter represents uncertainty and change, reminding us that not all is as it seems”, the shapeshifter archetype is more how Buffy feels about Spike, she always has this gut feeling of uncertainty. Is he good or is he bad? She doesn’t know, but we see Spike as the Shadow, the definite antagonist in the fanfiction.

Buffy on the other hand is the Hero, “the hero or heroine is the classic protagonist of the story with whom we associate most. They embody our most aspirational values”. Buffy does this by caring more about finding Spike rather than looking after herself. She is selfless and this attribute makes the reader want to associate themselves with her character.

 My fanfiction was able to follow somewhat of the structure of Vogler’s (1998) mythic narrative structure. The first act of the Hero’s journey is the ordinary world – where the hero is seen in their everyday life, we see that with buffy going through her daily routine in the beginning. My fanfiction mainly focuses on Act 1, as I wanted to end the fanfiction with the problem/sense of uncertainty so that the reader could decide what happens next. Volger continues on to explain a “call to adventure”, sometime that the hero is presented with that they cannot refuse to resolve. In my piece the conflict as such is Buffy getting turned into a vampire although that main conflict I wanted to focus on was the sense of uncertainty between Buffy and Spike.

My fanfiction mainly follows Volger’s (1998) character archetypes other than his mythic narrative structure although it does focus on aspects of it.

References:

Vogler, C. 1998. The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for writers. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

BuffyWorld -- A complete guide to all of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" episodes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://www.buffyworld.com/

Whedon, J. (Writer). (2000, February 8). The I in Team - Season 4 Episode 13 [Television series episode]. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Whedon, J. (Writer). (2000, February 15). Goodbye Iowa - Season 4 Episode 14 [Television series episode]. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer.