Anon, this was one of the more difficult yet compelling prompts I have received during this event. It’s such a seemingly simple phrase and yet evokes such specific imagery that I could not figure out what to do for a good three days. Like a nice mental puzzle I could ponder on while things got slow at work.
Angels, anon. Angels! Unless you meant the Charlie’s Angels franchise, then there’s only really one other reference that could be. And it’s not all that compatible with the culture of the Naruto world, so I know the fake fic has to be either an AU of some sort and/or a metaphorical “angels.”
And the Shikaara aspect! I will be the first to admit I am a Shikaara shipper, anon, but it’s a surprisingly tangling part of this prompt. In order to stay… not in character, but accurately relative to each other… Shikako and Gaara have to be from different places. Whether that be countries as in canon or in various AUs–schools, teams, departments, etc–and in my head I’m just like:
Are they enemies that can summon and battle each other with angels? Is one of them the guardian angel of the other and gets frequently summoned to do battle on their behalf? Why am I thinking about battling angels? I mean, actual legit angels are frightening flaming wheels of millions of eyes so that might be cool and horrifying to watch do battle. Wait. What?
Then I thought, hm, what about that reverse/remix of Stories of Ancient Gods–aka, instead of Final Fantasy VII being the distant past of DoS, DoS is the distant past of FFVII. Shikako’s Gelel stone means she can be summoned in the future to help stop Sephiroth/Jenova, whereas the bijuu are the WEAPONs and the jinchuuriki their humanoid avatars. But then that kind of got away from me and it just didn’t sit right.
And then I considered something like the Inuyasha-esque fusion–fully aware of the irony–but with Gelel instead? Like canon!Suna people are in the Gelel Empire and Shikako travels back in time to that era while researching the Dead Wastes and it’s Shikako displaced in time. Which led me to a slightly tweaked version that became Atlantis: The Lost Empire featuring Milo!Shikako and Kida!Gaara–and the rest of Konoha Twelve as the crew of misfits.
So… yeah. An AtlantisxDoS fusion… Never mind that I’m pretty sure Uzushio is the Naruto world equivalent of Atlantis… anyway.
Call On Your Angels
Shikako and her crew of destructive but lovable misfits brave the Dead Wastes in search of the Lost Empire of Gelel.
Action! Adventure! Romance! Betrayal?
I think, instead of Shikako being conscripted onto the crew and being caught off guard when their mercenary ways are revealed, there’s a bit of Ocean’s Eleven mixed into it? Or Inception.
Like, Haido (Orochimaru?) drops major funds on Shikako’s research and she goes and recruits her friends because THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY, GUYS, COME ON. And, well, even if it turns out to be looking at a bunch of rocks that is a lot of money and they could use a distraction etc. etc.
Except, you know, instead of rocks it’s an entire slowly dying nation because the secret behind the Gelel stones have been forgotten.
Like in Atlantis, Haido/Orochimaru does also hire an entire division of soldiers (nameless thugs with either Temujin or Kabuto as second in command) who do the whole “seize the power crystals/princess and auction the livelihood of the nation off to the highest bidder” thing. But I mean. A bunch of nameless thugs versus Konoha Twelve? Come on.
Sorry anon, I know it doesn’t really match the title, but I just really love that movie and this fusion was the only thing that even vaguely satisfied the constant poking and prodding at your prompt.
JackSGreyson Says 