Fanfic / Imperator

"And this has been our daily Imperator speech!" - Assault, making fun of the title character's speeches.

Imperator, written by JonBerry, also of A Certain Electric Deliveryman, Seven Days Survivor and A New Jedi in an Old Republic, is a crossover between Bravely Second and Worm where Denys Geneolgia of the former, finds himself in Brockton Bay nearly eighteen months before the start of the original story. From there, he joins the Protectorate, and starts to do what he does best - talk.

The Story can be found at Space Battles Creative Writing sub-forum. The author attempts to put out 3-4 updates a week.

Imperator is complete as of Aug. 21, 2018, and the sequel, August Bravery began in Sept. 18, 2018. However, it now seems to be a Dead Fic.

"AAHHHH!" I said quite calmly and professionally. - Taylor Hebert/Augustana, in her more excitable moments.

August Bravery moves the point of view to Taylor Hebert in the immediate aftermath of Imperator's ending, and how she adapts to her own growing position and power. Then official contact is established with Luxendarc, and she receives an invitation to be one of the first visitors to that world, meeting its heroes and villains.

---

This Fanfiction contains the following Tropes:

• 100% Heroism Rating: Denys is building up to this, and the local Heroes are working on making it stick.
• Achilles' Heel: The people of Earth Bet figure out that temporal effects work on Endbringers thanks to Imperator and Agnès.
• After-Combat Recovery: Augustana is more willing to take injury in a fight because she has this thanks to the Kaiser Asterisk, which fits in with her Brute rating. Once she leaves the Kaiser Job, she keeps this ability permanently active for its utility.
• All-Powerful Bystander: The Adventurer begins to lose this status in August Bravery by being more active in helping support the heroes, including handing Agnès the items she uses to fight the Simurgh and in investigating where they are from.
• Anti-Climax: The author has admitted that he ended the story on one, and has promised to make the start of the sequel pick up where Imperator left off.
• An Arm and a Leg: Denys removes his prosthetic after the final battle against Kaiser, and has to spend a couple of weeks waiting for it to be repaired.
• Artificial Limbs: One of Denys' arms is prosthetic. The public is informed that it was a result of his fight against Kaiser/Panzer.
• Badass Longcoat: Denys has one, naturally. Taylor gets one as Augustana.
• Becoming the Mask: Averted. Denys acknowledges that Imperator is his job, while Denys is who he is. He also remarks that many heroes of Earth Bet don't seem to understand this and get absorbed by their cape identity.
• Befriending the Enemy: As Imperator, Denys tries to do this to his foes. The most marked success is Lung so far, who views him as a leader worth emulating, even if their goals are different.
  • Tattletale does this to Taylor and some other Heroes while she is attending Arcadia.
  • Barras Lehr seems to view himself as a friend of Tiz, despite the feelings not being mutual.
• Better the Devil You Know: The PRT and Protectorate agree to easing off Lung in exchange for him removing the ABB's more extreme criminal activities, joining Endbringer fights, and keeping outside criminal organizations like the Elite and the Fallen out of Brockton Bay. Piggot lampshades it, muttering "The devil you know".
• Boxing Battler: While utilizing the Monk/Fighter Asterisk, this is Agnès' style. The author has implied that stated that each person expresses the same Asterisk a little differently, but hasn't revealed how it works for Tiz, Taylor or Mouse Protector yet.
• Break Them by Talking: Denys' bread and butter method of conflict resolution. So far, it has worked on Leet, Glory Girl and Shadow Stalker. However, it has also failed against Kaiser, Cricket, and Eidolon.
• Calling Your Attacks: Agnès shouts out "Bravely Second" when using the Hourglass against the Simurgh.
• Character Development: Some characters become much better people after interacting with Denys.
  • Armsmaster becomes less abrasive and has his glory-seeking tendencies curbed. He eventually sees that the best use of his abilities is as a Tinker and decides to move to Jasper so he can work closer with Dragon.
  • Uber and Leet become better thanks to a pep talk from Denys. They turn a new leaf and re-brand to become members of the Protectorate.
  • Lung is made to think of how to be a better leader for his people.
• Chekhov's Gun: Denys has Taylor train to use a taser to protect herself. It comes in handy when Sophia attacks her and Madison.
• Conflict Ball: The lack of one in the hands of Imperator and Augustana is something that people note, and wonder if there is a deeper problem at play with them. Agnès seems to have picked one up deliberately. Word of God is that she has a reason for this, which will be laid out in the story itself. It's revealed that she intends to fight all the Asterisk wielders in order to have more to study. This is because she wants to create more Asterisks in order to aid/fight Earth Bet; whichever case is necessary.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: Imperator keeps this, explained as part of the Kaiser Job. It allows him to No-Sell multiple parahuman powers.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: At first glance, Agnès doesn't seem imposing. She is an innocent young woman who is given the codename 'Little Bo Peep' because she refers to herself as a simple shepherdess and has no sense of direction. Then she single-handedly traps and injures the Simurgh using an Hourglass and two pieces of Dark Matter. The people of Earth Bet are reasonably awed and terrified of her.
• Culture Clash: Subdued in Imperator, this starts to become a serious problem in August Bravery where the subject of a Secret Identity is concerned. There's also Janne, being an officer in the Crystalguard, being treated as a child and assigned to the Wards despite being an experienced military officer.
  • Denys notes to himself that healers on Earth Bet are far more valued and allowed more privileges than on Luxendarc; on Earth Bet, it takes time to heal even after a medic has seen to someone and Endbringer fights need all the healers they can get. On Luxendarc, a healer can put a fighter back to full health right then and there and therefore if you're going to end a fight you need to Shoot the Medic First.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Behemoth gets one when it turns out it's too tough for Yoko to properly injure. Imperator himself notes that the whole battle rests on him, and he can't expect his stamina or luck to hold out forever.
• De-power: During the fight with the Geomancer, she breaks Sophia's connection to the Entities, removing her powers.
• Discard and Draw: Shadow Stalker had her shard removed by the Geomancer, taking away her powers. In exchange, this gives her the ability to use Asterisks, giving her a whole range of powers she could have instead.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Piggot thinks Denys is from another Earth. She learns the truth later.
• Experienced Protagonist: Coming out of Bravely Second, Denys is this, which lends credence to the popular theory that he has prior military experience. Averted in August Bravery as Tiz and Agnès both have reasons to be reduced in power from their games.
• The Face: Imperator is so good of a talker, that he is given a rating of Master 0.
• Flat "What": Whut is the author's usual use of this trope.
• Flowery Elizabethan English: An Averted Trope where Denys is concerned. He's a very formal speaker and the author has done a frankly amazing job of keeping to the spirit while avoiding the letter of the trope. Augustana flirts with this for a couple chapters before deciding it isn't for her.
• Forensic Accounting: In Imperator, Denys' use of this when Taylor moves to Arcadia helps break the ice with Carol Dallon. It makes a return in August Bravery when Profiteur points out that this would be the best way to track down who hired Ciggma Khint because Every Man Has His Price. He adds that because he didn't see that scale of money move means that there is some deeper motivation going on.
• Foreshadowing: That Denys still has access to Time Magic is subtly foreshadowed in Imperator with certain word choices while giving commands.
• Gold Digger: Mouse Protector acts like this around Denys, especially once she learns more of his history.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Mouse Protector is this in August Bravery, before being replaced by Shadow Stalker.
• Heel–Face Turn: Several characters and groups end up as better people than they were in canon because of Imperator.
  • Leet and Uber: Imperator is able to reach out to them and make them see that for all their talk of being "Villains", they've never actually done anything to cause distress to civilians. The two re-brand and become probationary members of the Protectorate; although, they do sometimes still stream themselves as their original aliases in video game scenarios.
  • Shadow Stalker: Imperator is able to show Sophia that her mindset and methods are not as effective as she thinks they are and are both a waste of effort and ineffectual. He also instills in her the importance of teamwork; or at least, the advantages of having someone you trust watching your back.
  • Holly, Barras and Barbarossa are all currently on the 'Face' side of this and Face–Heel Turn.
• Hero-Worshipper: Shadow Stalker is one to Imperator, because of the latter's strength and his debut was in defeating Kaiser. Unfortunately, she seems to ignore Imperator's other virtues, and focuses solely on his power.
• Heroic Bastard: Denys is an illegitimate child and the protagonist of Imperator.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Averted in the first Endbringer fight in August Bravery, where Agnès immediately breaks out the Bravely Second Hourglass as her first move.
• I Gave My Word: Denys' problem with Taylor revealing her Secret Identity on Luxendarc is actually this, and not any other problem. As an Officer and a Gentleman, this is Serious Business.
• Improbable Age / Younger Than They Look: Denys Geneolgia is 24 for most of Imperator, but his demeanour and hair make people think that he's far older. He knows this, and has accepted that it will be a common mistake. On the other hand, in August Bravery, Taylor is 15, which puts her straight in typical JRPG Protagonist age. But she's still a child in the eyes of Earth Bet.
• In-Universe Nickname: Imperator is also called Imperadad by some people after Taylor gets the Kaiser Asterisk. Augustana herself gets called the Breaker for killing Jack Slash and Bonesaw.
• Insistent Terminology: People from Luxendarc use Ba'al instead of Endbringer, and they contract Earth Bet to Earthbet. Agnès also keeps introducing herself as a "simple shepherdess" despite being anything but and the people she's talking to know it.
• Killer Rabbit: Agnès is initially introduced to the residents of Earth Bet as simply a VIP from Luxendarc, and is even given a non-threatening name: Little Bo Peep. She then shows how much of a badass she is when she stops the Simurgh in her tracks.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Between Armsmaster, Imperator, Kid Win, Gallant Augustana, and Mouse Protector, Brockton Bay is developing this theme among the Heroes. It is played up by Public Relations, and joked about by people in the know.
• Logic Bomb: Luxendarc Job Holders cause this in Thinker powers.
• Loved by All: Agnès has one, thanks to being the former Pope. She doesn't like this as it means that people keep seeing her in that role.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Parahuman powers are completely different from Jobs and the Asterisk system. This has plot ramifications that start in Imperator, but becomes immediately plot relevant in August Bravery. The Author has also explained how he sees what would happen if a Parahuman picked up a Job, and the short answer is not a lot.
• The Mole: After the dissolution of the Undersiders, Coil hires Tattletale to infiltrate the Wards.
• Motor Mouth: In contrast to Denys' own style of speech, Taylor's internal commentary is very much this, and it carries over in small part into how she speaks out loud, which often causes her to put her foot in her mouth.
• Mysterious Past: Denys has this from the point of view of everyone else. What he has told them paints a very bleak picture of his previous life. The only one who seems to know the whole truth is Taylor, whom he has told everything.
  • He has admitted to several people that he is a reformed Villain.
  • He has told Battery that his own half-brother was responsible for his missing arm.
  • Piggot is able to surmise that he comes from another universe.
  • During a joint dinner, he tells New Wave that he comes from a rich family, has a half-brother, and is an illegitimate child.
  • No longer a secret with The Reveal.
• Mythology Gag: Taylor agonizes about having to clean up her locker before Christmas.
  Oh god, my locker. I needed to clean it out before Christmas!
• Odd Friendship: Several.
  • Armsmaster and Imperator: Armsmaster is blunt and to the point, usually in a way that can come off as rude. Imperator is an eloquent speaker who always tries to get to know his co-workers.
  • Imperator and Mouse Protector: Imperator is rather dignified and elegant, while Mouse Protector is boisterous more often than not.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Imperator's public persona, which is easy for Denys to portray as it's his default state of being.
• Oh, Crap!: Mouse Protector does this when she realizes that powers can bought and given away in Luxendarc.
  • Augustana's reaction to an Endbringer coming in her direction is pretty much this, and her internal commentary points out that this is actually the reasonable and normal reaction to that situation.
• Only Sane Man: Taylor feels like this sometimes, and Denys agrees with her assessment. Shadow Stalker is developing into this while on Luxendarc as Taylor just rolls with the RPG Tropes that occur.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mouse Protector is far from her usual jovial self when telling Piggot, Miss Militia, and Chief Director Costa-Brown about how powers work in Luxendarc.
• Outside-Context Problem: The author uses this verbatim to describe how the Endbringers, and by extension all Shards react to Magic. They have no way to understand it, and it catches them off guard when it is used against them.
  • This is also how Tattletale's power sees people with an Asterisk. It's stated by the author that her power throws back garbage data about them because it can't parse what they are and how they work.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Lung has decided to play nice with the Protectorate because they can lean on the ABB more with the E88 less able to draw away their resources.
  • According to Word of God, after seeing how successful Imperator was when being diplomatic, Coil decided to try it himself. As such, he hired Tattletale under much better circumstances than in canon and even offered the Undersiders a severance pay after having them leave his service. He is still willing to kidnap and drug people to coerce them, it is simply no longer his first/only resort.
• Punny Name: As per tradition in the Bravely series, this is everywhere in Luxendarc. Taylor begins to suspect that this is deliberate on their part where people take names that are related to their jobs. She even begins warning people about this after her trip to Luxendarc.
• The Reveal: A few weeks after the Endbringer battle against Behemoth and Denys' return to Luxendarc, the truth about Denys' origins and the existence of another world that isn't a parallel Earth is released to the global population.
• Running Gag: Imperator's ability to talk villains into a Heel–Face Turn is made note of several times. Also, his culinary skills is brought up numerous times, mostly by people who want more of his cooking.
  • Taylor, and the discussion thread for the story, doesn't want to reveal the existence of actual Magic to the Cape Myrddin.
  • Agnès keeps introducing herself as a simple shepherdess to people who know her as the Pope or a Vestal or as a Hero of Light. No one is buying it and the narration implies that they are simply humoring her. This extends into her assigned Cape name - Little Bo Peep.
• Sanity Slippage: Starting with his loss against Imperator, Kaiser (Panzer) slowly loses his sanity, until he is nothing more than a madman whose only sole purpose is to see the man who defeated him dead. It is implied to have been caused or exacerbated by a Second Trigger.
• Secret Identity: It's no secret that Imperator is Denys Geneolgia to the audience. Taylor takes on the name of Augustana near the middle of the story after dithering on a name for most of the arc. No one is impressed by the choice. It is also deconstructed when Madison's parents find out and remark that it is obvious in hindsight when they know what to look for. Kurt and Stacey, co-workers of Danny, also figure this out and go behind the protagonists back to report it to the PRT to sign non-disclosure agreements. They point out that Denys didn't put a lot of effort into his own disguise, perhaps as a Hypocrisy Nod.
  • Mouse Protector lays into Taylor when she casually takes off her mask when they arrive in Luxendarc, and they get into an argument over why this Trope is necessary - or not.
  • Shadow Stalker also thinks this is a bad idea, but admits that it's not like she can force Taylor to keep the mask on. She in turn does keep her mask on as 24-Hour Armor while on Luxendarc.
• Sequel Escalation: This time around, the Bosses have multiple Jobs. Ciggma Khint, normally just the Spell Fencer / Magic Knight foreshadows the Assassin Asterisk, while Praline beta and the Jackal botch theirs by switching right before the fight.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Tiz and Agnès. Assault and Battery are an off-screen example according to the comments of other characters.
• Slave to PR: Explicitly defied. When being briefed on how Public Relations works by their representative, Taylor is told point blank that she should never be this and that it is the job of Public Relations to support the Heroes, not to control them.
• Spin-Offspring: Despite not being related, the switch from Denys' viewpoint in Imperator to Taylor's in August Bravery can be seen as this.
• The Stations of the Canon: Averted and Defied hard in that the story begins over a year before Worm itself begins, and events quickly spiral away from how Worm played out. By the time August Bravery starts, things are completely different - and that's before Luxendarc gets involved.
• Stronger Than They Look: Yoko looks like a stereotypical kitsune and is described by some as cute. She is also capable of deflecting all of Behemoth's attacks and damaging it more than any Cape has since its first appearance.
• Supreme Chef: By the standards of Earth Bet, Denys is this. However, by the standards of Luxendarc and his own opinion, he is merely mediocre. During August Bravery, Taylor gets a taste of what Luxendarc considers this to be, and is apparently blown away.
• Take That!: These two stories deliver a few gentle ones toward Worm itself as well as Fan Fics of the same, including poking at common tropes involved in each, such as The Stations of the Canon and the Idiot Ball.
• Time Stands Still: That Luxendarc Jobs can do this is something of a Game-Breaker where Earth Bet is concerned.
• Trust Password: Used by Olivia Oblige and Agnes to verify who each other are. It works.
• The Unicorn in the Garden: This not-a-trope is where the author admits that he has no idea the details of how Denys met Taylor and her parents. It happened, and it's required for the story, but attempting to explain everything would break the story.
• Villain Respect: Lung respects Imperator's skill as a leader and takes his advice on how he should rule his territory.
• Wham Episode: The Geomancer reveals to Tiz, Agnès, Taylor, and Shadow Stalker the truth about the Entities, right before ripping Shadow Stalker's Shard right out of her head, taking away her powers.
• Wham Line: "Denys," she used my name despite the mask being on. This was serious beyond measure. "Taylor was attacked today after school. By the Archer."
• Willfully Weak: Imperator intentionally doesn't use all of his abilities. He reveals his ability to use Time Magic against Behemoth.
• Wrecked Weapon: Denys' sword, Revolution, is damaged at the end of the second arc, and hasn't been repaired. It's implied that fixing a magic sword is beyond Dragon and Armsmaster, but they are working on it. He gets a replacement from Kid Win.
• Wrong Context Magic: As Denys, and Taylor get their powers from Asterisks, powers that rely on the interaction of Shards will not work on them.
  • The Asterisks and Job System from Luxendarc are not equipped with artificial limiters like shards are, so they are more effective on Endbringers than parahuman powers are, as demonstrated by Yoko and Imperator.
• Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Luxendarc generally doesn't have people who have powers with secret identities. They also see people with powers as a normal thing that doesn't have to be a big deal, unlike in Earth Bet. This has already caused some friction in August Bravery.

---