Story ideas for UY (for Mr. Sakai)
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:48 -0700
Mr. Sakai:
I'm not really sure if you take story ideas for UY or not (some writers do, some don't), but I thought these would be interesting:
Usagi visits the shrine to check up on Grasscutter. It is gone, and Usagi is charged with stealing a sacred relic from a holy place. This, of course, lands him in prison with, of all people...Chizu(!) She of course, having been dispelled from the Neko ninja clan, has been forced to join with thieves to survive. She suspects Kagemaru of stealing Grasscutter but is doubtful since even he knows some limits and might lose sponsorship from Hikiji. The true culprit turns out to be (spoiler) Inazuma-Jei, who knows know respect for authority or sanctity, and is irrevocably drawn to the "sword of the gods." This could also lead to a large battle between Inazuma-Jei and the Neko ninja, who, now that it is out of the shrine anyway, wish to claim it for themselves. Usagi and Chizu must use all of their wits and fortitude to steal back Grasscuttter without any confrontation between themselves and Inazuma-Jei (seeing as how Usagi has figured out that Jei's soul has transferred itself to Inazuma, he is understandably paranoid about killing him/her/it again).
That's one.
Number two:
Usagi meets up with the Inspector from "Grey Sahdows" whose name has escpaed me. He and Usagi share a few fond moments and then the Inspector discloses something to Usagi. Over the past few months, the town has been plagued by sightings of Oakemano. While this could be merely attributed to superstitious peasant-folk, the Inspector himself has had some unexplainable occurances and has taken the liberty of calling an expert in exorcism: Sanshobo. He and Usagi discuss the issue and Sanshobo suspects that it is possible that the occurances are the work of a few novice witches (or whatever the Japanese designation). As it turns out, it isn't witches or wizards, it is restless undead spirits of a recent skirmish between Hikiji and the remnants of Mifune's supporters. Hikiji's soldiers, influenced by his own dark spirit and bitterly disillusioned about their defeat and damnation, have begun to try and re-live again through the folken of the village. Soon, they begin to take the living one by one until only Usagi is left. Utterly without knowledge of the supernatural and unable to fight shades he cannot see, Usagi flees hoping to find the one ally he has left: Sasuke. This would, in turn, lead to a story wherein Usagi looks for Sasuke, finds him, brings him back to the town, etc. But the important part of this story is that Usagi, for the first time in a long time, loses, even if only temporarily. And that would, in and of itself, be interesting.
Number three: (the last one)
Kitsune has run into trouble again, but not with whom you might suspect. As it turns out, she has been targeted by the Moguru ninja(is that what they're called? The Mole ninjas, that is?) for attempting to steal the the twin katanas of their leader, thus attempting to steal his material soul. Kitsune, quite ignorant about ninja values, wisely flees and runs into a potential protector: Lone Goat and Kid! But his price is high, and the remainder of the story is Kitsune attempting to steal something valuable, but that only makes her another target and raises L.G. & K.'s price. That is, until she reveals she is a friend of Usagi and he rescinds any offer of payment and, of course, defeats them all. This would, in turn, go halfway to balancing the debt L.G. & K. have with the rabbit ronin.
And that is, thankfully, all I can think of. Bad? Good? Unethical to use it?
Feel free to let me know.
And thank you for your time. This was my longest yet.
I'm not really sure if you take story ideas for UY or not (some writers do, some don't), but I thought these would be interesting:
Usagi visits the shrine to check up on Grasscutter. It is gone, and Usagi is charged with stealing a sacred relic from a holy place. This, of course, lands him in prison with, of all people...Chizu(!) She of course, having been dispelled from the Neko ninja clan, has been forced to join with thieves to survive. She suspects Kagemaru of stealing Grasscutter but is doubtful since even he knows some limits and might lose sponsorship from Hikiji. The true culprit turns out to be (spoiler) Inazuma-Jei, who knows know respect for authority or sanctity, and is irrevocably drawn to the "sword of the gods." This could also lead to a large battle between Inazuma-Jei and the Neko ninja, who, now that it is out of the shrine anyway, wish to claim it for themselves. Usagi and Chizu must use all of their wits and fortitude to steal back Grasscuttter without any confrontation between themselves and Inazuma-Jei (seeing as how Usagi has figured out that Jei's soul has transferred itself to Inazuma, he is understandably paranoid about killing him/her/it again).
That's one.
Number two:
Usagi meets up with the Inspector from "Grey Sahdows" whose name has escpaed me. He and Usagi share a few fond moments and then the Inspector discloses something to Usagi. Over the past few months, the town has been plagued by sightings of Oakemano. While this could be merely attributed to superstitious peasant-folk, the Inspector himself has had some unexplainable occurances and has taken the liberty of calling an expert in exorcism: Sanshobo. He and Usagi discuss the issue and Sanshobo suspects that it is possible that the occurances are the work of a few novice witches (or whatever the Japanese designation). As it turns out, it isn't witches or wizards, it is restless undead spirits of a recent skirmish between Hikiji and the remnants of Mifune's supporters. Hikiji's soldiers, influenced by his own dark spirit and bitterly disillusioned about their defeat and damnation, have begun to try and re-live again through the folken of the village. Soon, they begin to take the living one by one until only Usagi is left. Utterly without knowledge of the supernatural and unable to fight shades he cannot see, Usagi flees hoping to find the one ally he has left: Sasuke. This would, in turn, lead to a story wherein Usagi looks for Sasuke, finds him, brings him back to the town, etc. But the important part of this story is that Usagi, for the first time in a long time, loses, even if only temporarily. And that would, in and of itself, be interesting.
Number three: (the last one)
Kitsune has run into trouble again, but not with whom you might suspect. As it turns out, she has been targeted by the Moguru ninja(is that what they're called? The Mole ninjas, that is?) for attempting to steal the the twin katanas of their leader, thus attempting to steal his material soul. Kitsune, quite ignorant about ninja values, wisely flees and runs into a potential protector: Lone Goat and Kid! But his price is high, and the remainder of the story is Kitsune attempting to steal something valuable, but that only makes her another target and raises L.G. & K.'s price. That is, until she reveals she is a friend of Usagi and he rescinds any offer of payment and, of course, defeats them all. This would, in turn, go halfway to balancing the debt L.G. & K. have with the rabbit ronin.
And that is, thankfully, all I can think of. Bad? Good? Unethical to use it?
Feel free to let me know.
And thank you for your time. This was my longest yet.