A Fistful of Dragonite
is an Outlaw Star fanfic by Rassilon001. A re-telling of a familiar story, it strips away the space, aliens, magic, and tech and sets the same familiar characters in a wild western setting. Up and coming gunslinger Gene Starwind finds himself thrown headfirst into adventure in the search to make a name for himself. With wisecracking partners, beautiful damsels, mystical skinchangers, foreign assassins, and more besides. Pride and greed threaten to tear the frontier apart, and the lines quickly become blurred between doing what is legal, and doing what is right.
A Fistful of Dragonite contains examples of:
- Crapsack World: Not exactly the nicest of settings, with corrupt army and unfriendly bandits. Then again, that may just be the unsettled frontier where the story takes place.
- Elseworld: Western style. Basically, the author stripped away the elements of space, aliens, tech and magic found in the anime while keeping to the core characterizations.
- Evil Twin: In this verse, Hitoriga to Suzuka, and thus female, eliminating a lot of awkward questions about ‘stealing faces’ and providing better explanation as to Suzuka’s presence in the western region.
- Flashback: Melfina recovers her memory this way, in bits and pieces.
- Guns Akimbo: Leilong fights this way, when he's not going the Sword and Gun route instead.
- Indian Maiden: Aisha is reimagined as this, though not nearly as meek as most examples.
- Magical Native American: Implied with Aisha, who proudly refers to herself as a Skinchanger, but does not seem to be able to back up her claims... at first.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Aisha’s skinchanging ability, if any, is showcased off-screen, and any witnesses killed quickly after seeing it. Whether or not she truly has magic is left to interpretation.
Word of God is that this was set-up deliberately from the start. - Mythology Gag:
- Gene is called ‘Caster’ because of his Quick Draw skills. When Harry MacDougal is likewise capable of similar feats, its remarked upon in the text, in recognition of him also having a Caster weapon in the main series.
- The code on the safe in the Dragonite estate is the same as what was used to open Melfinas casket.
- Hilda blows herself up and takes others with her to her death, even spouting the same line she used in the original series.
- Harry and Ron's twin canons are called the 'Shangri La' and the 'El Dorado'
- Jim's horse is Ehferau, and later we find out Melfina has a pet cat named Gillium.
- Madame Urt owns and operates a bath house.
- One Last Smoke: Requested by Hilda as she (already dying) sacrifices herself to give Gene and Melfina a chance to escape. It proves useful in lighting some gunpowder barrels in the room she chooses to make her last stand in, making it also a Taking You with Me moment.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Skinchangers, such as Aisha, able to call on the forces of nature to empower themselves. Or maybe not.
- Quick Draw: How Gene earned himself the nickname ‘Caster’ due to firing so fast it seemed like magic. Later, a comparison is made to Ron McDougal having similar speed with his draw, in reference to how he also wielded a caster-type weapon in the original series.
- Railroad Baron: Fred Luo is re-imagined as one, though portrayed more positively than most examples.
- The Remnant: Kei Bandits are remnants of the losing side of a war (an unnamed Expy of the US Confederacy). They didn’t take it well.
- Riding into the Sunset: How the story ends, the Five-Man Band doubled up on a trio of horses and off to live at least somewhat Happily Ever After.
- Smoking Barrel Blowout: To indicate Melfina fired on Igara to save Gene’s life, when neither of them had taken a shot.
- Title Drop: Last chapter, Jim produces an actual fistful of Dragonite gold which he recovered from the mine before it collapsed.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Poor Melfina, on top of seeing her parents killed, gets a nasty knock on the head. It keeps her from remembering who she is until later in the story.
- "Wanted!" Poster: The hell raisin’ McDougal brothers have one in Heiphong.
- Wealthy Ever After: Sadly not so much, but at least they get a Fistful of Dragonite for their troubles, which is enough for a reasonably comfortable retirement.
