"The Road Paved in Concepts,"
is a Mega Crossover that is one-of-a-kind. Louis Starsky pulled a (currently mysterious) escapism act and begins his story buried underneath a bunch of books at the Scarlet Devil Mansion Library, where he quickly meets Patchouli Knowledge. He is then quickly taught the basics behind Danmaku, learns his first Spell Card, "Twenty-One Galaxy Maidens," which turns out to be useless at the start. Eventually Louis is forced out of the mansion and is thrust into an unpredictable crossover journey through various anime/video-game dimensions in a Kingdom Hearts-like fashion while gaining contracts from females from different worlds Negima style.
The strong point of the story seems to be the fact that the plot is written like an RPG complete with tutorial fights, side-quests, mob and boss battles, NPCs and appropriate Background Music if you’re willing to go through the (actually simple) effort of opening them. (The AO3 version of the story has working hyperlinks.) Aside from that, the plethora of Shout Outs are abundant.
The franchises currently included in this story are as follows: Touhou Project, League of Legends, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Chrono Trigger, Vocaloid, Kino's Journey, and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Tropes in this fic include:
- Alternate Universe: One of the universe Louis travels to happens to be a replica of his own with some differences.
- Art Initiates Life: Lyra from "The Maiden Drawn to Life," admitted to falling under this category.
- Badass Armfold: Sakuya Izayoi does this during her first real appearance.
- Badass Bookworm: Patchouli Knowledge in a nutshell.
- Big Damn Heroes: Averted. Louis attempts to rescue the Damsel in Distress, Mami Tomoe during her Heroic BSoD while facing Charlotte, but she winds up being the one to get the job done.
- Black and Nerdy: Louis fits this trope and makes it apparent very early in the story.
- Blood from the Mouth: Rumia appears in 2-8. In this case, her bleeding from the mouth was an indicator that the girl was dangerous.
- Cards of Power: The "Twenty-One Galaxy Maidens," Spell Card is this.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Flandre Scarlet and Lulu fit this description in this story's case. The two have yet to co-exist (perhaps for the better..)
- Combos: Combos were heavily played upon in "Team Meteora Builds Meter," where Louis and the other attacked enemies one after the other.
- Hopefully this won't be the last time this happens..
- Companion Cube: Lulu’s tea party company includes a dark wooden board with a face drawn in chalk. Can anyone say Shout Out?
- Cry into Chest: The Gensokyo Tour ends this way.
- Considering the fact that both members of this scene are ghosts, this could also be seen as a You Are Not Alone moment.
- Dead All Along: The first person narrator has been hinting at this since the story's opening paragraph and at several points throughout the story. The explicit reveal happens towards the end of "The Gensokyo Tour."
- Game Over: Louis loses to Ran Yakumo the first time they encounter.
- Genre Savvy: This happens frequently as Shout Outs that are often Played for Laughs.
- Giving Up on Logic: “Here we go again. I'm with an alien psychic and a gun-spawning magical girl, and people are calling me amazing. Maybe logic has become a thing of the past.” (A direct quote from 1-3).
- Haiku: They appear throughout chapters on occasion.
- Heroic BSoD: Louis does this during his rematch with Ran Yakumo. Mami Tomoe does this when Charlotte nearly kills her.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Marisa Kirisame gives off this impression during the first chapter.
- Hulk Speak: For whatever reason, the author has given this trait to a chibi Miku Hatsune.
- Idol Singer: Vocaloid's Meiko is portrayed as this, while a much younger Miku Hatsune is her biggest fan.
- Imaginary Friend: The basis behind Lulu’s entire tea party cast in (1-2) minus Louis.
- Interactive Narrator: Assumed to be the case during 2-5.
- Jerkass: Teemo's interactions towards Lulu.
- Magic Kiss: When Mami Tomoe and Louis went through this, the former's contract with Kyubey lifted.
- NPC: They exist throughout the story, and their existences are usually Played for Laughs.
- Offscreen Reality Warp: In (2-1), Koakuma changes into sexy referee attire during the middle of a Spell Card battle between Louis and Patchouli. Louis even questions how she managed the time to do so.
- Portal Picture: Introduced in (1-7) along with a Shout-Out to a classic.
- The Power of Friendship: The majority of Louis's battles are won with the help of allies.
- Save Point: They appear throughout the story. Louis actually loses a battle and has to return to one in 1-7.
- Side Quest Side Story: Louis responds to a Game Over by looking for other missions that his friends has to offer in (1-7).
- Speech-Impaired Animal: Kasane's appearance in 2-2. Only Miku Hatsune understands her at this point (even though it's just backwards English to the reader).
- Summon Magic: The maidens that join Louis are summoned this way through his Cards of Power.
- Throwing the Distraction: Two guards in the Vocaloid segment become distracted by Lulu flinging herself away from their post.
- The maneuver is most likely Lulu's joke animation in League of Legends.
- Trapped in Another World: Kino's Backstory winds up falling under this category.
- Tsundere: Miku Hatsune's strange round pet named Kasane seems to be this, as it likes to strike Louis on the head constantly.
- Unreliable Narrator: For a character preemptively familiar with all the worlds he goes to, he sure doesn't always have his facts together.
- For example, he believes that Miku Hatsune was the first Vocaloid preceding Meiko Sakine and Kaito. He's convinced that Kino from Kino's Journey is a dude. It should also be noted that several context clues within the same chapter(s) strongly suggest that this is not a research failure on the actual author's end.
- Virtual Soundtrack: This story has several YouTube musical cues with links that are provided within the story. The AO3 version of the story has working hyperlinks.
