Now, I like a good Xander-empowerment fic as much as the next man, provided the next man ... likes Xander-empowerment fic. 
The problem, of course, lies in
one's definition of "good."
To my mind, a "good" scenario in this case would be one that didn't give X so much power, wisdom, or future knowledge as to have him overshadow
Buffy. Just something that could give him enough of an edge to justify him being on the front line with her and sometimes-Willow.
So I thought about various folks and their power sets, and after a while I decided to concentrate on other vampire slayers, and then my thoughts drifted to
Castlevania.
Alexander Belmont, anyone?
Now this would work fairly well as a Halloweenfic, but for maximum impact I'm thinking that Xander's mom is the/a unknowing scion of the Belmont clan
proper, which would mean that Dracula in this reality is not a poser; he's the First Evil incarnate and the single
Biggest Bad on the planet. (For those unfamiliar with the games, Drac has long since transcended mere vampirism and became the avatar of all human evil; his
"demon castle," the setting of most of the games, is an ever-shifting monster-filled manifestation of his power.)
Being a Belmont isn't incredibly awesome, either. As far as I can tell (and certainly for the purposes of this bunny) they aren't physically or
mentally superhuman in any way, just well-trained normals with a single supernatural gift... the power to ignore nearly all supernatural invulnerabilities. In
other words, if a Belmont, say, breaks a vampire's neck, that vampire will die as if it had been a human. Shooting a werewolf with ordinary bullets, same
deal. Mind you, monsters can still be really tough; it's just technically possible for a Belmont to kill them with sufficient application of non-magical
force.
...Let's use The Judge as an example. "Xander Belmont" could, in theory, kill big blue by lopping his head off with a plain ordinary
human-forged sword... if he could manage to swing it with enough force to penetrate his presumably fairly tough skin, flesh, and bone. And X would have no
particular protection against the Judge's fire. So, not as big an advantage as it sounds.
Of course, there's also the matter of the Belmonts' heirloom weapon, the holy whip Vampire Killer, which is pretty darn awesome. But first Xander
would have to find it, then I think there's a prove-yourself-worthy thing, then he'd have to learn to use a whip effectively...
In this scenario, Xander takes the place of the canonical Julius Belmont (or maybe J exists and decides to train him, either way), and the Scoobies are likely
to get mixed up in the Great Castle War of 1999 -- which would take place during season 3 or 4.
...actually, a Castlevania game where you could switch between Xander, Buffy, and Willow would be awesome.
For full points: no Buffy-bashing; no Spike-bashing, somehow manage to keep him alive long enough to join the Scoobs and maybe get his soul back
(Spuffy-shipper here; go ahead, mock me); and maybe replace Angel with Alucard (no, not THAT Alucard, the one from Castlevania ).
So... any takers? ^.^
--Sam
"Blood covers The City like a big red afghan."
The problem, of course, lies inone's definition of "good."
To my mind, a "good" scenario in this case would be one that didn't give X so much power, wisdom, or future knowledge as to have him overshadow
Buffy. Just something that could give him enough of an edge to justify him being on the front line with her and sometimes-Willow.
So I thought about various folks and their power sets, and after a while I decided to concentrate on other vampire slayers, and then my thoughts drifted to
Castlevania.
Alexander Belmont, anyone?
Now this would work fairly well as a Halloweenfic, but for maximum impact I'm thinking that Xander's mom is the/a unknowing scion of the Belmont clan
proper, which would mean that Dracula in this reality is not a poser; he's the First Evil incarnate and the single
Biggest Bad on the planet. (For those unfamiliar with the games, Drac has long since transcended mere vampirism and became the avatar of all human evil; his
"demon castle," the setting of most of the games, is an ever-shifting monster-filled manifestation of his power.)
Being a Belmont isn't incredibly awesome, either. As far as I can tell (and certainly for the purposes of this bunny) they aren't physically or
mentally superhuman in any way, just well-trained normals with a single supernatural gift... the power to ignore nearly all supernatural invulnerabilities. In
other words, if a Belmont, say, breaks a vampire's neck, that vampire will die as if it had been a human. Shooting a werewolf with ordinary bullets, same
deal. Mind you, monsters can still be really tough; it's just technically possible for a Belmont to kill them with sufficient application of non-magical
force.
...Let's use The Judge as an example. "Xander Belmont" could, in theory, kill big blue by lopping his head off with a plain ordinary
human-forged sword... if he could manage to swing it with enough force to penetrate his presumably fairly tough skin, flesh, and bone. And X would have no
particular protection against the Judge's fire. So, not as big an advantage as it sounds.
Of course, there's also the matter of the Belmonts' heirloom weapon, the holy whip Vampire Killer, which is pretty darn awesome. But first Xander
would have to find it, then I think there's a prove-yourself-worthy thing, then he'd have to learn to use a whip effectively...
In this scenario, Xander takes the place of the canonical Julius Belmont (or maybe J exists and decides to train him, either way), and the Scoobies are likely
to get mixed up in the Great Castle War of 1999 -- which would take place during season 3 or 4.
...actually, a Castlevania game where you could switch between Xander, Buffy, and Willow would be awesome.
For full points: no Buffy-bashing; no Spike-bashing, somehow manage to keep him alive long enough to join the Scoobs and maybe get his soul back
(Spuffy-shipper here; go ahead, mock me); and maybe replace Angel with Alucard (no, not THAT Alucard, the one from Castlevania
).So... any takers? ^.^
--Sam
"Blood covers The City like a big red afghan."