FATE/Twilight Flicker: Split Daybreak OMAKE files

[Rieverre]

---

Because except for Worm-Breath, who's been knee-deep in it from Day One, all the Masters so far have been, well, young. So I figured that a nasty old bat would make a nice contrast.

---

It makes for a nice contrast, at least. Figuring out the rest will be a bit tricky, though ... I'd say, give Perseus to Shinji - since the spoilers say Rider described him as a 'Shinji who'd succeeded' once upon a Hollow Ataraxia, but that isn't really an option here.
Still, it gives a sort of baseline regarding the kind of Master Assassin II ought to get.

---

Besides, you can actually write spells for Rin. ^_^

---

Just make something up for her and I'll translate. I think I have an idea for a couple of Ilya segments.

---

The waiting was, perhaps, the worst part. She'd been relegated to having to wait essentially since being born, so she'd just about perfected the art. Still, being so close ...
... her very being itched, and it was getting more and more difficult to resist simply throwing her Servant into the fray ...
Powerful as she knew him to be, there was something inherently off about the events she was witnessing.
Not that two Master/Servant pairs were apparently cooperating - temporary alliances were commonplace during all sorts of conflicts, not just the War.
Her eyes were keen and well trained enough that they could, with some difficulty, pierce the veil of the Caster's created territory.
What she was seeing, though ... Ilyasviel had long since learned that she could trust her instincts ... and those were telling her that there were _two_ Rider class Servants down there.
She knew of theories, theories mind, that postulated a Servant could, under certain circumstances or with certain skills, survive in this world past the end of one of the Wars. This, so it seemed, confirmed those ... but while she did not recognize either Rider, she was moderately sure no known Servant of said class had the ability to allow that and it most certainly wasn't part of the 'parcel' of that class package either.
So she suppressed her eagerness once again, and waited.
And watched.
And planned.
The watcher should be wary, though. There exists, always, a chance that they themselves are being watched.
That they themselves are being evaluated.

---

By the by, is this the night of the living dead? Err ... I mean, the resurrected Shiro? Or how is he going to summon Saber? Maybe he witnesses a fight between a different two Servants ... or it's still Archer and Lancer, just somewhere else ...
-Griever
forced to use substitute comps until the end of the month ... oh, the humanity of it all.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

Emiya Shirou stepped out the door of the Kyudo Club with a smile on his face. It might not have been the way he'd intended to spend his evening, but that didn't make finishing any less satisfying. Shinji hadn't seemed himself, though, like something was bothering him.
Getting him to talk about his problems was always a bi- Shirou stopped dead, train of thought cut off. There was an immense, shimmering dome over most of the school's courtyard, inside which...
There were two mages farther from him, trading levinbolts that splashed off of invisible shields in swirls of blue or black, and on the side nearer, three... people... involved in a lethal fight.
One, very obviously female and dressed in a tight, revealing costume dark enough to seem black in the poor light, dropped under a slash of the second's sword with a contortion that made him wince to watch, spreading her heels apart in a split even as she ducked almost low enough to kiss the grass. The third, tall and mostly hidden under a flaring cape that might or might not have been the same color as the woman was wearing, stepped up behind her and nearly spitted their mutual foe with a thrust from a weapon that Shirou would have called a yari, if the blade weren't too large and noticably off-center.
Sakura skidded to a halt a few meters away and braced her hands on her knees as she gasped for breath, but she had eyes only for the dual combats going on within the dome.
Shirou's eyes widened as, having looked away from the nearer fight at the sound of her footsteps, he saw something she couldn't. "SAKURA! WATCH OUT!"
She turned to look at him, then flinched as something blurred by her only a few inches from her side and banged off the blood-red spear in the hands of the tall, wolfish-looking man who had been about to strike her down from behind. A moment later there was a second blur, and the man in the cape was standing between her and her attacker. "#I think,#" he said, though Shirou didn't speak enough English to really follow the words, "#that you had better leave, Mister Setanta.#"
The spear-wielder didn't really move, but he nevertheless gave the impression of a man who had just received a very unpleasant surprise. "#And why'd you be thinkin' that, then?#"
"#Any number of reasons. Starting with the fact that I very much doubt Kotomine wants you dead just yet.#"
If that statement had been meant as negotiation, it certainly didn't work. "#Well if that's the way of it, then you can take your thoughts, aye, and himself's too, and stuff them up your self-righteous gobshite's arse!#"
There was a flurry of motion as the spearman lunged, which ended with the him folding almost in half around a kick that picked him up and knocked him tumbling. "#Fuck you, too, then,#" the other said mildly, and threw what looked for all the world like a business card at him.
Sakura gasped and paled, and then the world exploded.

---

That was too good a finishing line to pass up. ^_^
Sakura reacted like that because, at this point, Caster's had to set up all of his heavy magics to draw directly from her reserves - since his, well, just aren't up to it. They're not gentle about it. The spell was just one of his thunderbolt jutsu, but Shirou was at pretty much ground zero and had no idea what to expect, so it came across as more impressive than it was.
While Shirou and Co. are distracted, the Riders have been at about equal honors - Medusa's stronger, but Temujin's just plain more skilled - and Rin has been proving that youth, natural talent, and spare batteries can just plain outdo old age and treachery. Pretty soon, she'll finish and start handing out fire support, which'll be all that's needed to decide between the Riders.
Lancer will try and hit Sakura with a throw, and prompt Shirou into a 'dramatic self-sacrifice' bit.
After that... likely cut to the Emiya compound. We'll see how it works out, ne?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

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Lancer will try and hit Sakura with a throw, and prompt Shirou into a 'dramatic self-sacrifice' bit.

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*scratches head* Which will be doubly impressive, since Gae Bolga's Spear of Striking Death Flight mode is classified as Anti-Battalion. Cue goggly eyes on almost everybody when he _isn't_ splattered all over the landscape in a faux-artsy manner. He'd still be pretty much dead or dying, though.

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After that... likely cut to the Emiya compound. We'll see how it works out, ne?

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I'm thinking ... *chuckle* heh, Ilya attacks to take care of her competition for 'Onii-chan', Shiro does something stupid, gets swatted by Berserker, ends up landing inside the warehouse and *pling* out comes Arturia.

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If that statement had been meant as negotiation, it certainly didn't work. "#Well if that's the way of it, then you can take your thoughts, aye, and himself's too, and stuff them up your self-righteous gobshite's arse!#"

---

I'm thinking, it was half provocation. Kotomine's not exactly one of Irish's favorite people, I figure. Considering that Baztette was his Master in the original (or so I seem to recall) the one he got this time ought to have been similar enough that priest-guy offing them didn't give Kotomine any points in Lancer's good book either.

---

It was the one thing that the sorcerers of the Association were trained to do above all else.
Conceal the existence and effects of Majutsu from the world at large, at any cost.
It was also one of the few things the members of the Association's various branches could agree upon.
The Church was similar in its outlook where that particular matter was concerned.
It was bad enough that they had to stand the past Wars - they'd been a stretch on their resources as well as a bit of a challenge to conceal. Not one that was considered beneficial either.
This one? Something had changed, and none of the bigwigs sitting in their comfortable safehouses and Association headquarters could figure out exactly what ... only that this War was somehow different.
That had been the extent of the knowledge even dedicated research had brought before the onset.
Now?
There were Mages from all over the world being drawn towards the battleground, yes, but in numbers hitherto unexpected. At least half again as many Servants, possibly more, and even in these opening days the damages caused were ...
... impressive.
Also, increasingly harder and harder to explain away.
Though, for the old fossils back home, there seemed to be a bit of a flip side. After all, if this War was so much more than the others had been, wouldn't the prize change to follow?
And so it was that, for the first time in centuries, the Association took a more ... hands on approach. Not that any of the branches shared this with the others, but that was pretty much a given anyway.
There were some, they already realized, who would be key pieces of this grandest of games. To control them would mean to control the outcome.
It was a shame, the particular Magi manning the high end binoculars on that shift thought, that some were a bit too well guarded.
But then, that - as all things - was subject to change.
One only needed some patience.
In the center of the bionocs' sights, the image of a young looking girl with long white hair stood, almost immobile save for the locks of said hair gently swaying with the breeze as she, too waited.

---

-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[katreus]

Oooohhhh.
Nice setup, Griever. Meddling Association magicians on top of extra Masters and Servants. That city's going to look like a warzone at the end of this War. ^^;

[Rieverre]

---

That city's going to look like a warzone at the end of this War. ^^;

---

Thanks. That's sort of the point, yes. ^_^
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

Temujin flinched when the thunderbolt when off. It was understandable - the spell's flash and report may not have been anywhere close to what a real lightning strike would have been like at that range, but compared to the relative darkness and quiet of the twilight battlefield it was no less stunning, and the brilliance did an excellent job of disabling his night vision.
Medusa hadn't actually been using her eyes to see anyway. The ring she'd thrown settled neatly around his neck, and a quick twist of the wrist tightened it and ensured it would stay there. She looped the chain around that hand once, twice, then set both hands together and yanked as hard as she could. Without a longer pull, it was only enough to stagger him, but by the time he'd come back on balance and slashed the links away, it was too late even to brace himself.
Servants were hard to kill. Their bodies were not organisms, as such, as much as - to be poetic - mere clay, guided by the apothesized spirit of a former human being and powered by the mana of their Masters. That lack of reliance on the delicate physical balances and processes of ordinary life did not, however, mean that they likewise lacked weak points. A limb whose joints, muscles, or connective tissues had been damaged or severed was still rendered unusable, the heart had as much to do with distributing mana as blood, and the soul, out of its own perceptions as much as anything else, still lived behind the eyes.
If Temujin had been able to see clearly, it wouldn't have worked.
He couldn't.
It did. One dagger scraped along the length of his saber in a spray of sparks, leverage and the momentum of her charge forcing it down and away out of his instinctive guard, and then the other was spearing forwards in her other hand and sliding all-too-easily between his ribs.
His eyes widened. "Next...time..." he forced out, before a wracking cough sent a trickle of blood from his mouth.
"Perhaps," she answered as it began to precede the rest of his body in dissolving away into the sort-lived greenish sparks of raw mana in open air. Then she slipped her blade free of his heart and glanced around at the rest of the battlefield.

---

Sorry to cut down my output like this, but it's Finals Time. ^_^;
I hope I'll be able to keep up at least one story post every couple of days, but I'll be alternating between this thread and the Mai-X thread, so it might seem like less.
No promises, though.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[katreus]

GL on your finals.
Nice battle scene ending and very realistic.

[WengFook]

yup more good luck is being wished upon you in your time of finals _______________________________
"We few, we happy few. We band of buggered"
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[Rieverre]

---

Sorry to cut down my output like this, but it's Finals Time. ^_^;

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Thought it'd be something like that. No worries.
Now for a bit of filler.

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#He is here.#
The woman didn't as much as change her stride. Face was everything, and maintaining a proper air of detachment was a great asset, especially when one ventured into something like the War.
Mishima Kyoko, designated heiress and already defacto head of the Mishima group, had one rule that she had never bent and had always rigorously followed - never show surprise.
She didn't break it this time either, and continued on without a s much as a hitch. Until she was in the privacy of the hotel suite that had been acquired for her for the duration of her stay.
"Explain," she ordered after closing the door behind ... well, only herself, really. The person she was speaking to was a hazy outline to her, and invisible to just about anyone else. Also, immaterial.
He crossed the lavishly laid out living room of the suite, become less and less so with every step, until finally and with a barely audible *pling* that was less sound and more a reverbation in her bones he stood, silhouette highlighted against the dark clouds beyond the window by the lights of the Fuyuki skyline.
"Master," the Servant exclaimed, turning to face her. The gleam in his eyes was unsettling. "I can feel it in my blood! After all these years, I will finally face him in battle again!"
It was noteworthy, since he was usually a calm individual, well matched to her own temperament. To see him that agitated, having to stop himself from pacing with sheer strength of will against the onrush of nervous energy ...
... Kyoko knew much about her Servant, not because her heritage as a Magi made her look it up, and not becuase of the War - she'd never expected to take part in something she'd previously thought of as merely a fable. Rather, because a blade rumored to ahve once belonged to him was a family heirloom. Had been such for generations.
There was, to her knowledge, only one person that could bring forth such a reaction from the normally stoic Sasaki Kojirou.
This development was ... troubling.

---

Note on Berserker II: Musashi is, unlike other Berserker Class Servants, not entirely robbed of his mind by the Mad Enhancement. He is instead in a nearly constant state of Zanshin, which allows him to consciously use Skills (see www.geocities.com/max3075...sassin.htm - Sasaki doesn't actually have a Noble Phantasm here, just the technique) Similarly, while Musashi's Noble Phantasm is B ranked on his entry it's actually a bokken&jo pair:
Kenki - Sprit as Steel
Rank: D+
Type: Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~3
Maximum Target: 1 each
A paired bokken and jo that are nigh unbreakable, and capable of withstanding the most intense of energies with nary a scorch mark.
not all that impressive by themselves, yes, BUT:
Skills:
Fire and Stone Cut:
Equivalent Rank: B
Type: Anti-weapon/Defensive Slash
Maximum Target: 1
Strength technique. A high power slash. Used with the Kenki Phantasm, this Skill can cleanly slash through weapons, armor, and even reinforced concrete walls.
Continuous Cut:
Equivalent Rank: C+
Type: Anti-Personnel/Defensive Slash
Maximum Target: ??
Speed technique. This technique is more a method of attack than a single one. The user becomes a veritable whirlwind of strikes, one following so close after another that it seems as if they were blending into a single, continuous blow.
And so on.

Oh, and:
SABER II
Master: Mishima Kyoko
True Name: Sasaki Kojirou
Gender: Male
Height&Weight: 176cm, 63kg
Attribute: Lawful Evil
Strength: C
Mana: E
Endurance: E
Luck: A
Agility: A+
Noble Phantasm: B+
Magic Resistance: B
Riding: B+
Skills:
Eye of the Mind (fake): A
Vitrification: B+
Heart of Harmony: B
Tsubame Gaeshi - Swallow Reversal
Type: Anti-personnel Demonic Blade
Maximum Target: 1
A deadly technique which slices the opponents with three arcs at the same time. It is one of the things called a multi-dimensional inflection phenomenon. It is an unavoidable attack, different from that of Ge Bolg.
Noble Phantasm:
Monohoshi Zao - Whispers on the Wind
Rank: B+
Type: Anti-Battalion Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~20
Maximum Target: 10
Sasaki Kojirou's 'Clothes Drying Pole' - a three foot long nodachi, used in an oslaught of slashes the speed and power of which is such that the air itself, pushed out of the edge's way, cuts into the enemy. An evolution of the Tsubame Gaeshi.
Miscellaneous:
Image Color: Cobalt blue
Talents: Sword
Likes: The beauties of nature
Dislikes: None in particular
Natural Enemy: Matou Zouken, Matou Sakura
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Rieverre]

img451.imageshack.us/my.p...413923.jpg
though especially to Nate and myself. Not all that relevant, maybe, but still of interest.
Also, here's some fun Rider imagery:
img60.imageshack.us/my.ph...cas7iu.jpg
img137.imageshack.us/my.p...7043to.jpg
*snicker* img60.imageshack.us/my.ph...7947vr.jpg

ETA: And ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6...earch=fate
*dies laughing*

-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[WengFook]

My gosh the last link... busted a gut laughing _______________________________
"We few, we happy few. We band of buggered"
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[katreus]

Hrm... It only proves Rider can sucker punch with the best of them (and that she owns Lancer). =x

[Rieverre]

Mostly for Nate's and mine benefit. The definitive F/SN Encyclopedia. This is the sort of site that a link to would have been neat back before we started scribbling on this:
fuyuki.pbwiki.com/
*sweatdrops* *shrugs* Eh. We'll just do like Stalin where neccessary.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

I checked the link....it seems my original idea of Shiro coming back thru time to find Saber might still be useful.

---

Arthur's soul is still alive and not in the Throne yet as she is not a Heroic Spirit. Which is why she carries on the direct memories instead of a record of what she did each time until she obtains a Holy Grail. In her case, she is more or less frozen in her time and what she experiences each time is like a dream to the body in her timeline. As she's binded to that, she's still considered "dead" in the modern world, meaning she won't age, can't take surgery, etc., just like other Servants. Restoration of the soul itself (as opposed to bringing a "dead" person back to life through the use of time travel, parallel worlds, and denial of nothingness; the result is still the same but the process and operating principles are different) as a being that's part of the current world timeline is only possible through the completed materialization of the soul.

---

So...it depends when Shiro finds Saber in her timeline..if it's after her final battle and after she becomes a heroic spirit (she'll be like Sleeping Beauty at this point). The sticking point is that he'll have to awaken her. The magic that made her a Heroic Spirit will have to be modified to allow her to move thru time and space. I doubt that Shiro could do that and he may have to appeal to Gaia for that to happen. Who knows what her conditions for that may be.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Valles]

Hmm. So, trying to read and interpret the wiki then twist it to our purposes...
Chakra = Prada
The Narutoverse has a skill/training/spell/whatever that lets a person stimulate their body to grow new mage circuits (which are called the 'chakra system' there) - this explicitly lets them exceed and usethe number of such that any human could have naturally. It's completely unknown in the Type Moon world, but does still work. When he started training, Caster had no circuits - that's why, even today, he's fairly weak magically.
Caster's style of magecraft is fundamentally different from every other one practiced in this world, but it is not sorcery. If you compared them to computational operations, the Association and competing styles find and copy individual circuit boards which are hardwired for a particular task, but he uses assembly language (the twelve hand seals and their written equivalents are the elements) to write actual programs... at one point he was considering trying to create a 'high level language', but he died before he could actually start working on it. He did leave Sakura some notes about the concept, though.
His arm, despite being described as a Noble Phantasm, is really just a chunk of metal under the effect of some truly heavy-duty magecraft. His real Phantasm, Oracle, could be described as the ability to see choices and the world-lines (timelines, 'alternate dimensions', etc.) that result from them before the event, the present, the act of making the choice, is observed and resolves the equation... Heisenberg need not apply, in this case. By comparing how many lines have given characteristics, he can get a rough idea of how likely something is, and by looking for a line where a particular person reveals a particular piece of information, he can 'watch' it and then learn that data.
There are two things which can block him from seeing certain worldlines - when a factor in a choice is an individual who has a high luck score, the number of possibilities increases exponentially, and all he can 'see' in that 'area' is the equivalent of a haze of static. The other thing is that the presence of the Sixth Substance (which can be either Demonic or Divine in character, depending) acts sort of like the event horizon of a black hole - lines, possibilities, go in, but they only collapse into a singularity and he gets no clues where they go from there. For the record, he 'can't see' Lancer, Rider, Kojirou, Perseus, or either of the Berserkers, although he could guess their location by looking for the holes/knots, assuming he had time...
Sometimes improbable things do happen, so this ability is hardly foolproof.
S.M. Stirling did a much better job of explaining it...
Anyway, it seems to me that we have a bit of a problem - see, Rider+Caster+Saber+Lancer = ~1/3-1/4 of all Servants, and since they're working together rather than individually, that'd make them... a bit overwhelming. I have a plan for how to blind Caster and increase tension that way, but still... a possibility that occurs to me is that there are far more - and, in some ways, more dangerous - things in Type Moon's heaven and earth than mere magi or Servants.
Many of which things might have use for an artifact like the Grail...
Ja, -n
(*busybusy*)

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

---

Chakra = Prada

---

Something like that, though for simpleness' sake we should just stick to 'mana', if only because it's more universally recognized.

---

I have a plan for how to blind Caster and increase tension that way, but still... a possibility that occurs to me is that there are far more - and, in some ways, more dangerous - things in Type Moon's heaven and earth than

---

I'd be tempted to use some of the Dead Apostoles ... but one) I know too little about those to actually try, and two) I don't think they go to Fuyuki anytime soon, on account of Shiki and Arcueid being close enough to make things ... uncomfortable for them.
Besides, the whole Roa mess is in the past, _and_ I don't think Zelretch would be very happy if any of them messed ith the War, despite being one himself.
Hmm. Suggestions? Ideas?
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

---

Shirou tackled Sakura to the ground as the spear left the thin man's hand. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the other man, the one wearing the cloak, step between the two teenagers and their attacker. There was a flare of light behind him, and then what looked like a fan of blue-white lightning bolts from an industrial-scale static electricity demonstration seemed to crash into an invisible wall. For a moment - which couldn't possibly have been as long as it felt, to be crammed into the space of a spear's flight - the barrier held, as brilliant, firey lines traced out from the lightning's points of contact to describe impossibly intricate patterns across the empty space of the evening air, but then it failed.
Most of the streaks of brightness grounded out into the the dark silouette of their defender, but the rest sprayed out all around him and ricocheted randomly off the falling, tumbling lacework the barrier had shattered into. Some vanished harmlessly into the air, or off to either side. Others were reflected back the way they came, and still more simply over or undershot.
The last hit him in the back, just below the shoulderblades, and his entire universe vanished into brilliance...
...As he snapped awake and tried to sit bolt upright with a scream. The scream worked perfectly, but only because the attempt to move had driven his body to remind him just how many parts of it hurt, and how badly, and, especially, that his stomach and back muscles felt even worse than the rest.
A pair of small, soft hands caught his shoulders and eased him back down onto the bed. "Please, don't try to move, Senpai. You're badly hurt," Sakura told him. When he forced his eyes open to look up at her face, he could see that she looked desperately frightened.
"You're lucky to be alive, Emiya-dono," said another voice from just outside his field of view. He didn't have the energy to turn his head and look, but after a moment he placed the voice as belonging to the more benevolent of those two mysterious men from...
no, that definitely hadn't been a dream. "All three of us are, in fact."

---

---

It occurs to me that we probably hit our first chapter break somewhere during all this. You want I should try and edit it up and post it as a seperate thread, say, as 'FATE/ Change Dusk'?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

---

It occurs to me that we probably hit our first chapter break somewhere during all this. You want I should try and edit it up and post it as a seperate thread, say, as 'FATE/ Change Dusk'?

---

That'd probably be for the best, yes.

---

"There's something wrong here."
"Master," a chiding voice. "You're heading into a free for all, no holds barred deathmatch for one of the most sought after items of lore and legend ... One would think that 'wrong' is sort of par for the course here."
The woman tugged on the lapels of her suit's jacket, but otherwise didn't show any signs of having heard.
Possibly something to do with the fact that talking to thin air wasn't something to be done in the middle of a small crowd.
It wasn't even the situation she'd run into on what she'd intended to be a brief reconnaissance of the more modern part of Fuyuki.
She was ... perturbed. Perturbed enough to almost not notice the sudden rain of debris coming down around a dozen or so feet away.
Reflex and excellent visual acuity had her spotting the darting shadow that first dove into, and then again out of the cloud of pulverized plaster and glass shards where something had slammed into the wall of the highrise a dozen or so floor up.
"Master? Would you like me to pursue?"
Yes, her Servant had caught it as well, plus the fact that it was apparently another Eirei doing the grasshopper imitation up there.
Bazette Fraga MacRemitz shook her head.
Whatever was going on up there, it didn't look like something it was wise to just leap into, as much confidence as she had in her Servants skills with those blades of hers.
Normally, she wouldn't have cared and would have gone for it, but the earlier conversation with somebody she'd thought to be impartial in this ...
... she'd never been friends with Kotomine Kiriei. She didn't think the man had any friends, truth be told. But she'd been fairly sure that she knew what to expect from the man. She'd met him before after all, and liked to think she was well acquainted with him.
While the exchange of pleasantries they'd engaged in upon her visiting his Church a few hours ago hadn't been out of the ordinary for them, her instincts had been constantly on edge since just before stepping into what was supposed to be neutral ground.
Instead, the Church and Kotomine himself had seemed ... vaguely forboding.
She'd always trusted her instincts.
Which left her about as close to jumping at shadows as she'd ever been.
Not the best state of mind to enter combat in.
"Judging from the weapon, a Lancer," she heard the petite Archer state from beside her. "I couldn't see who he was fighting, though."
"Could you track him?" she whispered.
Archer's 'hmph' of offended dignity was as much of an answer as she needed.
"There was something familiar about him ... no, nevermind," the white-haired, red-coated Servant said, her face briefly creased by a frown.
"Follow him, but keep your distance. Use those eyes of yours to your advantage."
"My Master," the girlish figure tensed, then leapt, still immaterial to any but those sensitive enough to the supernatural.

---

offhand suggestion: so, did Medea in this one summon Archer - Emiya, since Kojiro isn't in the running for that spot?
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

It took a serious effort to force any sort of speech out of his body, but he managed it anyway. "Who are you? What... what was all that?"
Sakura sat back and stood. "I'll go get you something to drink, Senpai."
Shirou closed his eyes as he heard her slide a door shut behind herself. He knew how his house's doors sounded, but why would they have taken him here, rather than to a hospital?
"You may call me Caster. The rest... some centuries ago, several mage families came together and carried out a ritual in an attempt to revive an old form of sorcery - you're familiar with the difference between that, 'mahou', and 'majutsu', magecraft, correct?"
"...yes."
"So. Anyway, it was only partially successful - what they ended up with was capable of most of what they were looking for, but could only be accessed for brief periods, and then only after repeating a simplified version of the original procedure. Which has been happening periodically ever since.
"The way the current version works is that the, er, incarnation of this sorcery, what's called the Holy Grail, selects seven magicians in all the world, usually from specific family lines, and allows them to summon a single, tremendously powerful servant spirit. Then those seven pairs fight each other until only one survives, to whom the Grail then reveals itself and allows them to - briefly - utilize its power."
"You and... that man... you're..."
"#Bingo.# You're quite right - I'm a Servant. And I can tell you that all this is relevant to your life beyond the obvious reasons because one of those traditional families I mentioned is the Emiya clan. Even if you choose not to take part in the Grail War, most of the other parties will see you as a threat and... take steps."
"But... I can't. I'm not a mage."
"Talent matters, for this. Training doesn't. My Master knows even less than you do, as it happens."
But, Shirou thought, trying to figure out how to phrase it aloud - or even if he wanted to,that would make me your enemy... He had recovered enough to twitch in surprise at the snap of the door opening.
"Shall I help you with that, Nishi-sama?" Caster asked, and there was a slight creaking from the tatami as though his weight was shifting.
"No," Sakura said softly, "I have it, thank you."
...Oh.

---

Incidentally, I'd been thinking further on the 'preserving threat levels' front, and perhaps one of the association mages - or other competitors, or even Medea - has a way to steal Reiju? And, with them, Ilya's control over Berserker? If she retreats after her first attack starts going badly, then gets jumped before she can recover...
If that does happen, and it turns out to be Medea, it won't neccessarily mean that she doesn't have Archer-S in her pocket, too - I have something in mind that'll give her mana to burn...
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

---

He ran.
It was the only thing he could still do, feeling the blood pounding in his ears and his muscles burning, trying to chase away the memory.
Trying to forget.
The barren ground that covered the area that had been engulfed by a sea of flame as a result of the last Grail War offered good footing, and few visible obstacles ...
... but his vision swam in exhaustion, and his lungs were a single painful flare of anguish.
No matter how hard he ran ...
... he'd thought he'd been ready. He thought he would have been able to handle it.
He'd gone into the ritual with his intentions as clear as possible ...
... and ended up washed down with the blood of those close to him.
His home was a battleground, shattered partition walls and crimson staining floors and walls, when he woke up ...
So he ran.
The impact was hard enough, and what he'd hit unyielding enough, to knock him back and down.
His breath came in wild, harsh gasps, and even in the chilly night his face almost steamed from the heat.
For a moment, he didn't quite comprehend what was going on.
A hand grasped his shirt, hauling him to his feet.
Eyes like mirrors of cruelest ice glared at him, despite their owner being silent as a grave.
Then said owner inclined his head slightly. Reluctantly.
The act seemed to bring some reason back into the frantic man, as he reached out and steadied himself, a hand on his Servant's shoulder.
Edward shuddered.
He'd only wanted ... he'd meant ...
The wish that had driven him here, that had made him visit Fuyuki a year earlier and stay for a while ... it hadn't been selfish, had it? It had been downright altruistic. He wanted to change the world. Make it better.
And he'd come to Fuyuki. And he'd waited. And he'd found himself ... at home? Somehow. He'd been happy, almost to the point of forgetting the legend of the Grail.
But in the end, he did attempt the ritual.
And he'd managed to summon the Servant.
Berserker.
'But,' the thought raced through his mind like a spark. 'I can fix it. I will fix it.'
The crimson of blood on his hands went ignored.

---

At least that's my opinion of what happens during the first while of a Berserkers summoning. This time, though, unlike only the Servant going nuts and ripping apart almost everything in his vicinity, the Master suffered from some feedback and went more than a little nuts himself.
The results were not pretty. Insert dead friends/lover/etc. where appropriate. And Berserker didn't do all that much of it either.
So, here we have the most dangerous type of person. One willing to go over bodies because when he gets the Grail he believed he'll be able to set everything right again.

Oh. Possible plot twists.
Gligamesh enters, stage left.
Gilgamesh is pwned by Team Medea. Royally.
Also, just because it goes against the grain, what would you think of letting Sasaki actually win this 'fated' confrontation nobody doubts is coming between himself and the obvious opponent?
Any ideas about what Gramps Matou is doing, given his Servant's ... err, little problem? Hmm ... it occurs to me that they'd be the likely source of the reiju stealing technique. Input?

-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

The first thing Saber saw as she came into the world was a Caster's medallion, used as a clasp to bind the green cloak shrouding the Servant's form. For a moment, the possibilities paralyzed her, and then she had moved and Excalibur's hidden edge was resting oh-so-gently against the curve of his throat. "Where is my Master?" she demanded with a quiet force that was more menacing than any shout.
He met her eyes for a moment, then took a slow and deliberately non-threatening step to his left, turning as he did so to wave her past where he had been standing. She checked out of the corner of her eye, without taking the main focus of her gaze away from the greater threat. There were three people there, two young women hovering over an injured man about the same age. One, abundantly built and with the most arresting violet hair, was leaning down to check the bandages wrapped around his splendidly defined-
She shook of the momentary distraction with a mental snarl and examined the last mortal. She was slimmer than her companion and standing straight, though not dressed any more modestly - evidently the trends she had noted in her last War had continued - and splitting her concerned and all-too-sharp gaze between the patient and the confrontation between the two Servants.
"The boy," the Caster told her softly, "is the one you want. My own Master is the one kneeling; Rin-sama's Rider is guarding the compound's perimeter." And, indeed, now that she checked, all three bore the red traceries of a Master's stigmata along the back of their right arm.
After a moment of thought, she let the sword fall away and set herself into a stance that, though still not open, was at least not hostile. "Who are they to each other?" she asked, voice equally quiet. It seemed a more pertinent question than how her Master had come to be injured and under the care of not one but two of his rivals, since the course of the next few minutes seemed unlikely to be immediately dependant on events already in the past.
"Sisters, and the object of their mutual regard. Since none of them have a... driving personal reason to seek the Grail, I think it likely that their current association shall continue for the entire course of the war. Likewise, while I cannot speak for Rider's position, what I want... isn't anything simple power can grant." He shifted slightly, to meet her eyes squarly, and it was only now that enough of her attention was free to notice how ludicrous their initial confrontation must have seemed - he couldn't have been less than eight sun taller. "On my honor, I sincerely believe that neither you, nor your Master have anything to fear from any of us."
She spent a long, long instant trying to look into his soul and read the man... then trusted her instincts. "Very well."
"Thank you." He bowed, just the right fraction for a respected equal, then turned and nodded slightly to the girl - he had said her name was Rin? - who was watching them. The entire atmosphere of the room seemed to relax as she nodded back.

---

The sun is, for those who didn't know or can't remember, a traditional Japanese unit of length, equal to almost exactly three centimeters, making her guess the difference between their heights as about twenty-four cm, or nine and a half inches... almost dead on, since the actual difference is twenty-six.
Nrg. There's more to that scene before Ilya shows up, but my brain is like, 'no, that's a good stopping point, no need to go farther'. Gah. Sorry.
Hm. On the one hand, Gillie certainly deserves to get 0wnz3d. On the other, he's genuinely badass in his own right, and even though I do agree that Team Medea could take him down, I think they'd have to work at it... I'm torn, I guess I'm trying to say.

---

Any ideas about what Gramps Matou is doing, given his Servant's ... err, little problem? Hmm ... it occurs to me that they'd be the likely source of the reiju stealing technique. Input?

---

Perfect. Hm. Even with Assassin reduced to a glorified spy, he's still anything but useless, and a massive blunt object like a Berserker would be an excellent complement for that.
So, at this point it's shaping up into three 'major' power blocks - Matou-teme's merry crew, Team Medea, and Maison Tohsaka - surrounded by a crowd of singleton freelancers - Bazette, Eddie, et al. - who might do any given thing at any given time, as well as being subject to manipulation... Cool.
And yes, Sasaki-dono has certainly paid his dues to earn a break. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[DKnight54]

Er... Given that Arthuria AKA King Arthur is from england, isn't it more likely that she'd be thinking in terms of english measurements? Sun is a distinctively japanese measurement IIRC. She may be speaking japanese, but I think that that's likely to be a function of the summoning magic rather than her actual language...

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Valles]

---

Er... Given that Arthuria AKA King Arthur is from england, isn't it more likely that she'd be thinking in terms of english measurements? Sun is a distinctively japanese measurement IIRC. She may be speaking japanese, but I think that that's likely to be a function of the summoning magic rather than her actual language...

---

Hmm. Point. I had been thinking of her initial encounter with Sasaki in canon, where both of them are talking about swords in terms of shaku, sun, and bu, but you're right - she would be more likely to phrase it as 'ten inches', since IIRC, that system dates back to Roman times at least...
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

---

"Archer?"
She passed through the glass as if it weren't even there, snapping back into focus once inside. Her Master was brooding again ... and seriously this time.
Meaning the small training hall of the inn they'd decided to start using as their base of operations after the uneasiness following the meeting with the Church representative had been used and abused thoroughly over the past several hours.
Bazette's personal way to get her frazzled focus back onto track was as unusual as her magecraft.
It was nice to know that she had a Master who was formidable enough at direct confrontation to make her a credible force even against other Servants, Archer thought.
Archer's own appearance was less than pristine, though. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by the Irish woman.
"Master, I found the Lancer again tonight. It was odd ... he did not seem to have a Master. At least, he did not come into contact with anyone who I could identify as such," she reported. She'd caught his trail from last night again, starting her search from the point of his skirmish against the samurai-like Servant from last night. "For some reason, he'd spent quite a while with disposing of some of the local Yakuza, then crossed back over the river ... he didn't seem to be moving with any specific goal in mind."
"Maybe just sweeping through the area, then?"
"I don't believe so ... though there is the faint possiblity that he'd noticed my presence, though he took no action ..."
"So how did that happen?" Bazette gestured at her, specifically the minute tears of her attire here and there.
"The Lancer became the target of an Assassin. One of the Hassan Sabbah, from what I could discern," Archer replied. "His Phantasm seemed to be one that ripped their opponents' heart apart, regardless of defense."
"The Assassin spotted you?"
"The Assassin failed to kill the Lancer with it ... the Lancer used what seemed like a suicide move to dispatch his foe ..." Archer seemed vaguely embarassed. "There was quite a lot of backlash from it. I lost track of them when the ... discharge ... dissipated."
"Two hours ago or so?" Bazette asked. Archer nodded. "So _that_ was the source of the disturbance. Suicide move?"
"That is the only thing I could imagine that could bring forth that sort of power," Archer said.
I certainly _hope_ so, went unsaid by either of them.

---

---

Perfect. Hm. Even with Assassin reduced to a glorified spy, he's still anything but useless, and a massive blunt object like a Berserker would be an excellent complement for that.

---

Also, maybe Perseus too, a bit later? It'd give Maison Tohsaka another reason to move against them.

---

On the other, he's genuinely badass in his own right, and even though I do agree that Team Medea could take him down, I think they'd have to work at it... I'm torn, I guess I'm trying to say.

---

We'll just have to see which way would be more dramatically appropriate.

---

surrounded by a crowd of singleton freelancers - Bazette, Eddie, et al. - who might do any given thing at any given time, as well as being subject to manipulation... Cool.

---

Bazette's already a little more than just weary of Kotomine, but Eddie isn't. And he's seeking redemption, isn't he? Given that he isn't Japanese it's kinda-sorta likely that he's Christian, and willing to become part of Team Kirei/Gil's Buttmonkeys. Kirei doesn't off him and take his Reiju like he did with Irish's Master because of Berseker's reported instability. Hmm ... still need to pin down Kyoko and Sasaki-dono's loyalties aside from 'to themselves'.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[katreus]

I'm sort of confused with Valles' last piece.
Is this right after Shiro gets downed by Lancer's attack? If it is, shouldn't they be on a school grounds not in a room? And either way, how did Saber get summoned when Shiro was unconscious?