Chrono Paradigm

EXTRA REBEL: Crossing Fates

"What the...? Where am I?"

Kain groaned as he groggily got back up. Looking around, he found himself in a white void.

"Oh goddamn it please don't tell me Hakumen actually killed me and that the epilogue was a lie," Kain groaned. "The last thing I remember here is going home to my loving Iris and adorable Kairi, and I REALLy want that to be real."

"Nah, you're just here to explain shit."

Kain jumped and looked behind him to find his auburn-haired twin sister, Cerena.

"The hell? What're you doing here?" Kain asked. "Actually where the hell are we? What is this, the Boundary?"

"Something like that," Cerena shrugged. "As to why we're here, you and I are tasked to inform the public about a few things regarding the author and future projects."

"What the...?" Kain asked, confused. "Why doesn't he just release an author's note then?"

"But that's boring and overdone like an overused cliché," Cerena groaned. "Besides, I'm sure us breaking the fourth wall is much more entertaining than reading a block of text."

"And is it even okay for us to be doing this?"

"Well I mean, the canon games do it already, so why not here too?"

"Fair enough..."

"Now, let's see what's on our list here," Cerena said as she took out a piece of paper and looked through it. "First off, the Chrono Paradigm prequel, "Overture Sins" will go on a temporary hiatus after the next (and presumably last) chapter of Hikari's arc is published."

"Does anyone still even like that?" Kain asked. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he hasn't gotten even a review after the last chapter."

"Eh, when you take a shit-long amount of time, that kinda happens," Cerena shrugged her shoulders. "I mean it was mostly focused on us OCs, and the community would rather have a more prominent focus on canon characters at the very least. That's pretty much why Chrono Paradigm did much better. Besides, opinion on you are mixed."

"Mixed?"

"Well the OS version of you is a colossal douche and a pro-active depression patient, while the CP version of you is something of a Byronic seinen-esque hero who still took away a decent portion of the spotlight from Dad."

"Hey I didn't steal that much," Kain argued.

"You ended up stealing Dad's moment of comforting Mom."

"...Shut up."

Cerena rolled her eyes as she went on. "Half of the people thought you were a colossal asshole and just generally didn't like you anymore, while the other half thought this version is much better than the CP version and is generally much more relatable. I dunno any way you look at it, OS is now the Metal Gear Solid 2/Devil May Cry 2 of our little 'series'. Either way, it's by far his least successful story out of the five that're marinating right now."

"So you're saying it's the black sheep."

"Yep," Cerena said. "At least the author's getting better at descriptive writing, so it wasn't a complete waste of time."

"Fine, I concede on that part," Kain grumbled. "So what else?"

"Let's see here..." Cerena mumbled. "Oh! The actual important part! With the recent announcement of BlazBlue: Centralfiction, the author has decided to write a sequel!"

"WHAT?!" Kain yelled.

"Yeah, well since Chrono Paradigm is essentially Chronophantasma, and Overture Sins is an attempt at Calamity Trigger/Continuum Shift with the individual character story arcs, this sequel–what the hell is it called? Oh right–"Crossing Fates", will be telling the tale from after that convoluted war and ending it to the epilogue of CP, including a brand new plot to boot."

"Well now," Kain said. "This gonna include Centralfiction's plot like we did with Chrono Paradigm and Chronophantasma?"

"Well since the endings for Chrono Paradigm and Chronophantasma...'differ', for a lack of better words, and the resulting setting is now radically different, Crossing Fates will have little to no actual connection to Centralfiction, asides from the newcomers of Centralfiction appearing in Crossing Fates at a predetermined point."

"So how would this be any different from OS?"

"Well for starters, the canon characters are gonna have a much more prominent role, with Dad being an actual co-protagonist. And all of them are freakishly buffed with the transition to the future."

"What about us?"

"Due to some complaints he found during his run of Paradigm and OS claiming that you were OP or how he' some boring invincible hero and Gary Stu who apparently wins all the time, or something retarded like that, he's gonna rework all of us in an attempt to rebalance them," Cerena said. "Which I personally find bullshit. I mean c'mon, you couldn't win one fight by yourself without resorting to the Azure or having back up! You're over-reliant on both aspects."

"What the–!? I totally did win one by myself!" Kain argued.

"Name me one," Cerena smirked.

Kain was about to answer, but, strangely couldn't think of one. After several minutes of contemplating...

"...Shut up," Kain grumbled.

"Let's see your win-loss record, shall we?" Cerena asked, before glancing down the list.

"That has that?" Kain groaned.

"In order:

1: Chapter 1: Vs Tsubaki: You won with the Azure.

2: Chapter 7-8: Vs Burai and Hikari: You won with the Azure.

3: Chapter 8: Vs Jin: You used the Azure and ended up drawing with him.

4: Chapter 9: Vs Jin, Tager, Noel, Makoto and Azrael: You were wearing a giant berserker suit made from your Azure, and you ended up losing to iris.

5: Chapter: 12-14: Vs Hakumen: You had Iris's and Azrael's help, and you ended up using the Black Beast Armor aka the Azure. Not to mention it lasted for like 3 chapters.

6: Chapter 15-16: Vs Ragna: You both ended up using the Azure, you ended up getting the help of Azrael, Iris, Jin, Noel/Mu, and Saya, and still lost, only recovering just in time to stop Ragna from killing Mama Noel and only able to beat Dad after Hakumen blasted him with his Astral Finish.

7: Chapter 19: Vs Envy and Relius: You had Hakumen's, Valkenhayn's and Iris's help, and you used the Azure, and you lost, not to mention you and Iris got kidnapped by Relius.

8: Chapter 20: Vs Envy, Hazama, and Relius: You had a lot of people's help, but they retreated, and only after Iris went batshit insane and managed to deal some damage to Envy, so you did jackshit.

9: Chapter 25: Vs Nu and Terumi: You had a lot of people's help. You ended up activating your Azure completely after Nu slaughtered you, and proceeded to slaughter her back.

10: Chapter 26: Vs Saya: There was no way you were winning that one.

11: Chapter 27: Vs Ragna, Kidou and Iris: You were going berserk with the Azure, and lost again to Iris.

12: Chapter 32: Vs Nu: You were only acting as a means of letting Dad fly so that he could fight Nu with Mama Noel. You used your Azure by the way.

13: Chapter 33: Vs Akira: You got your ass handed to you, then Itsuki, Kidou, Azrael and Hakumen joined the fray, and you got ass handed to you again. Not to mention everyone else had to deal with your last-minute clone that Akira oh so lovingly crafted...ugh...

14: Chapter 34: Vs: Akira Rematch: You were able to hold him in a standstill with the Black Beast Armor, but then emotionally shut down when he mentioned Saya raping you in front of Iris and Hikari. Recovered just in time to save Iris from Akira, after the former had pummeled him with her Unlimited.

15: Chapter 36: Vs Izanami: You not only had your Black Beast Armor, but also Iris's Luminous Aegis, and had Ragna and Jin helping you, and you all almost lost if it weren't for Izanagi's last-minute awakening. And even as Izanagi (which is like super Azure mode), you were only equal with Izanami, and would've lost in the process had Ragna, Jin and surprisingly Akira not stalled her long enough for you to finish her off.

16: Epilogue: Vs Hakumen: You were Izanagi. And you almost lost.

...you see a pattern here, right?"

"...Shut up," Kain groaned, unable to admit that he had a spotty record.

"And you cared for Iris waay too much," Cerena pointed out. "To the point of more-or-less shunning the majority of your friends save Alicia and Kidou in favor of taking care of her. I know you had a crush on her and all, but c'mon, they were you friends you knew your ENTIRE LIFE. Hostile backgrounds be damned, you should've at least paid attention to them some more instead of leaving them in the back-seat driver's seat in favor of Iris. It was pretty much the main reason why you ended up getting kidnapped by Relius, when you could've, y'know, broken the barrier Envy had placed forcibly with Iris's Luster Blazer and gotten help.

"And you had little to no emotion back in OS? I mean c'mon, you were practically a depressed zombie who only showed any emotion by hating someone or killing someone because society butt-raped you and Saya, who then proceeded to rape you, and then you just said 'fuck all of you' and proceeded to train to become the best serial killer 'vigilante'. Not exactly a ray of sunshine in my book, and not exactly an exciting character either."

Kain just groaned even louder.

"Hey, at least that one review had me laughing," Cerena cackled. "'REST IN PISS', he said! Oh that was a laughing stock! And his other review too; he didn't even spell your name right! And Hakumen fucking manhandled you and tore you a new asshole! I've never seen you so scared in your life! And after that Burai, who you've been trouncing up to this point, literally danced circles around you–AHAHAHAHAA!"

"Why must you chastise me like this?" Kain asked irritably.

"I'm your twin sister. It's my job to make your life all the more degrading when needed," Cerena managed to stop laughing. "Anyways, the author was going to rework all the OCs in terms of power and skills. Buffing some, nerfing some, etc. Including reworking some of your moves and weaponry. The biggest rework is you though; a new drive, reworked moves, a few new tricks, but a huge nerf to your hitting power as a result, in exchange for speed and utility. Overall, you'll be much more balanced than you were back in CP or OS."

"Is that so," Kain said. "What about the others?"

"Of course," Cerena said matter-of-factly. "I mean c'mon, who actually remembers Baldr?"

"Wait, you said 'co-protagonist' before."

"Yeah, you and Dad are the two main protagonists of this story," Cerena said. "What? You thought you were going back into a side role? Please, you're the Ragna archetype and successor. Of course you're getting a leading role, whether people want it or not."

"Alright then..." Kain sweat-dropped. "Tell me, since this is gonna be a new story, does this mean we're gonna have to see new OCs?"

"Well, yeah," Cerena said. "With a new story requires new actors to play the roles needed. And the author has some interesting plans indeed."

"Oh great," Kain groaned.

"Lighten up, my cute twin brother," Cerena patted him on the back. "I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time."

"You're just happy that you're getting a more prominent role now, aren't you?" Kain asked.

"Oh indubitably," Cerena grinned. "Seriously, I only showed up on the last segments of the ending, and only showed up a little over briefly in the epilogue and that alternate harem ending you made just 'cause the author thought it'd be funny. I demand more justice damn it! And poor Sieg didn't even get to say anything, even after he's a human again!"

"Right..." Kain said, somewhat uncaringly. "Speaking of new characters, do people even know who you are?"

"Huh?" Cerena asked. "Oh right, since I did kinda show up at the last minute...alright, I'm pretty sure I can make a good introduction. Ahem!"

Placing her script to the side, Cerena faced the audience, taking a dramatic bow.

"Cerena Bloodedge Mercury is the name," Cerena introduced herself in a rather whimsical tone. "Daughter to Celica A Mercury and Ragna the Bloodedge, half-daughter to the Vermillion side of the Bloodedge Family, and half-twin brother to Kain Bloodedge Vermillion. Pleasure to meet all you wonderful people out there."

"Who the hell're you talking to?" Kain asked as Cerena went to pick up her script.

"We're shitting on the fourth wall," Cerena replied casually. "There's bound to be someone reading this shit."

"Uh huh..." Kain rolled his eyes. "Wait who the hell's voicing you?"

"Voicing huh?"

"I mean, if you go to the author's profile page, he gave all of the OCs Japanese and English voice actors for the readers to imagine," Kain explained. "Since you showed up at the last minute..."

"Oh I see," Cerena said as she glanced down to her script. "So I technically don't have a voice. Alright here script...am I being voiced by fabulous people...?"

Cerena - Ryoko Shiraishi (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)

"Yeah~," Cerena said in a satisfied tone.

"Wait, doesn't Michelle Ruff voice Carl?" Kain asked.

"Way ahead of you there," Cerena assured her blonde twin.

Future Carl - Hikaru Midorikawa (JP), Crispin Freeman (EN)

"...The hell happened to Carl...?" Kain asked.

"I think it's a growth spurt," Cerena said. "I mean he looked a lot like pretty boy Claude, and he was supposedly pretty damn short way back in the day."

"Ok then," Kain said. "Curious, what's gonna happen to OS if he's putting it into hiatus?"

"I dunno," Cerena shrugged. "He was considering taking it down and remake it from scratch. Since it isn't doing as well as he wanted it to, he was considering this. Honestly, he's not even having fun with it anymore; he much prefers his Pokémon stories at the moment; and the viewers clearly aren't enjoying it. Then again, he did rush it somewhat due to him being excited for it, but frankly, he said it hurts writing it now."

"Seriously...?" Kain asked, sounding somewhat shocked by that.

"And the fact that he takes like at least a month to update it will lead to story fatigue and the decay of interest," Cerena went on. "The lack of anything since the latest chapter of Overture Sins proves his point anyways. Hell, Chrono Paradigm still gets more love and views than this, and he hasn't touched it in over a year now until now."

"...That does make sense," Kain contemplated. "And damn..."

"The main flaw was that the execution was done poorly," Cerena said. "If he does remake it, he said he'll probably go back to using a normal story-line, as opposed to the individual character arcs he tested. So if anything, you the readers will probably get a better version of Overture Sins if he does consider going through with it."

"Well, it's a shame, but what can we do about it..." Kain sighed. "But then again, won't we get some backlash from going back into our story, when we ended off Chrono Paradigm?"

"Hey, it's a new story, so they get the benefit of doubt," Cerena said.

"I suppose you have a point," Kain said. "So? How is he going to approach this?"

"Well since the first mistake he did was rush out on it, the author decided to take his time developing the plot," Cerena said. "He's already done with the first two chapters, so he'll release them when he feels that it's time."

"Well anyways," Kain said. "You heard it here. BlazBlue: Crossing Fates will act as the sequel to Chrono Paradigm, and will be released soon, so look forward to that if you liked Chrono Paradigm, and thought Overture Sins could've been better."

"Yep," Cerena smirked. "So look forward to that, you cute little lambs you."

"...Curious, how many new OCs are gonna be introduced?" Kain asked.

"Uh...if you count me, and Sieg since he's no longer a robot...at least 7. All of them plot relevant, so it's not like we're adding stupid people," Cerena said. "And also he's gonna bring in the characters that were introduced into CP EXTEND, like Miss Lambda."

"And you think people won't complain about there being too many OCs?" Kain asked with a skeptical look.

"Look at it this way," Cerena reasoned. "Even with the new OCs, in total, the canon cast still out-numbers us, and I'm pretty sure neither of us can beat Dad, so it's not like overpowering them is an option."

"Eh, you got a point."

"Good. Now that we're done here, how about a little spar?"

"Huh?"

Cerena summoned her large mechanical scythe and spun it around, before slamming the hilt into the ground, making it stand like a pole, with her leaning against it.

"Once the thing starts, we're out of the picture, since we won't exist yet," Cerena said with a rather predaceous grin. "So how about until our debut comes, we duke it out? A friendly spar until then?"

"...Alright then," Kain said, taking out his trusty gun-sword. "I'll heed to that."

The Vermillion gunner faced the Mercury reaper, each facing each other. With a feral grin, Kain and Cerena lunged at each other, engaging in an endless fight until told otherwise.

EXTRA REBEL: END

AN: Yeah, so kinda wasn't expecting to do this myself...^^' But I thought updating Chrono Paradigm once last time would be a better way to inform you guys, since Chrono Paradigm is by far the more successful and well-received of the two BB stories.

But yeah, you should've get the gist of it. I'm planning to make a sequel, Crossing Fates, and putting Overture Sins on hiatus once I post the last chapter to Hikari's arc, and possibly rewriting it into a more stable and straightforward style. Honestly, while I was excited to write Overture Sins at first, now it's just painful for me to try and keep myself from writing it now; and the fact that I got no reviews on the latest chapter for OS kinda snapped me back into reality that this wasn't working out. Hopefully I can make it MUCH better once I rewrite it.

EDIT: Added in that little tid bit with Cerena's VA and Carl's new VA. I know it doesn't really matter, but I figured, since I gave all the other OCs voices, I figured, why not her as well? Also I'm pretty sure in the span of 20 years, puberty or something would hit Carl.

EDIT (11-26-15): OS is cancelled. Don't bother with it anymore. I couldn't even find the time to write up the last chapter, so I'll delete it whenever I remember to. Also quick question: is it okay to put the Ragna x Noel x Celica threesome in CP's character tag thing? I mean it's kinda pretty damn spoilerish, but it's pretty much the biggest pairing out of the many canon pairings I ended up establishing in CP. I also highly doubt anyone else actually made a threesome like this.

So yeah, look forward to that. I haven't actually been in this community for a while now, so I'm curious to see how much it's changed.

Well, until then, I'll see you all then.