Deviox's Orphanage of Snippets (Mostly Wrom Crossovers, now featuring Touhou!)

Sky Striker Taylor: It's a big world (Yugioh x Worm)
Sky Striker Taylor: It's a big world.​


Taylor kept pace behind Aileron. For being such a short person, the little android was more than capable of moving far faster than one would imagine at a glance. Still, she never imagined that her Mother was friends with them.

"Are you sure we won't get blasted? I still remember watching the news of what they did to Lung." Taylor worried. While she was suited up, it was only to keep her identity concealed from any outside observers. All of her S-Type gear was back at base.

Aileron scoffed at Taylor's worries though. "I talked with them after the incident. They did not take well to a false dragon demanding tribute from them.

"I see…" Taylor muttered, stopping at the front gates.

Brockton Bay was considered to be a bit of an anomaly of a city in several ways. While it wasn't the first place Scion or the first Elemental Heroes were found, it has seen more dimensionally displaced people than any other city. Several thinkers have tried to figure out why this was the case, but each has offered different and sometimes contradictory answers.

Taylor briefly took in the sight before her as she stopped. The Mansion as everyone called it. Most places that would have a 'The Mansion' would typically view it as an abandoned and haunted house. Here, it was anything but.

An abandoned building that was renovated virtually overnight into what the pair looked at now. Taylor fought to keep her mouth closed as Aileron opened the front gate, leading them into a well-tended garden.

A garden is currently being tended to.

"Ah, there you are, Sheou." Aileron said, drawing the attention of the gardener. The gardener turned around, standing up, towering over the already tall Taylor.

"Ah, Aileron. It is good to see you again. And please, call me House when I'm in this form." The Dragonmaid said, staring down at the practically minuscule Aileron. "I take is that this is Raye's successor?" House then proceeded to dust any dirt off of her body.

"Her daughter, yes."

House inspected Taylor from top to bottom. Staring deeply into her. "She's got plenty of potential," House commented, quickly turning around. "Come in. Did you have anything to eat before coming here?"

"We did," Aileron said, following House as she entered the mansion. "What did you want to see us for?"

"Does the name Tribrigade mean anything to you?" House asked as they entered what Taylor thought was a parlor or living room. House pulled aside another, green-colored Dragonmaid, and whispered something into their ear. The green maid bowed and then quietly left.

"Tribrigade, publicly known as another Case 23. Current location unknown, but suspected to be chasing Slaughterhouse Nine. The public considers them to be Bounty Hunters with a good reputation. However, they do have a tense relationship with various non-local law enforcement groups such as the PRT." Aileron rattled off.

"I see." House entered a thinking pose.

"I assume you have some guests aligned with them?" Right as Aileron asked that, the two guests walked in. One was a girl with blond hair and an ln X-like symbol on her forehead, and the other was a dark-skinned boy with white hair and with a couple of red streaks.

"Have a seat," House said, motioning towards some more seats. Soon, the green Dragonmaid returned, pushing a cart with some teacups and a kettle. "Parlor, skip over the tea for him. He can't drink it." House motioned to Aileron.

Parlor hummed with a smile, setting out tea cups for everyone except Aileron. "How would you like your tea?" She asked Taylor as she started pouring everyone except Aileron at the little table a cup.

"Uh, what kind of tea is it?" Taylor asked

"Oh! It's black tea."

"Two sugars," Taylor stated.

"Meet Ecclesia and Albaz." House declared, each of them nodding.






"So, to simplify," Taylor said, looking at Ecclesia and Albaz, "You want me to take in the two of them. Right? Taylor looked at the two of them. They've been displaced from the same world as the Tribrigade, and we're on good terms with them.

"That is correct," House stated. Taylor looked at Aileron, hoping he would give some kind of answer.

"This is your decision to make." He stated. Taylor turned to the two of them. Ecclesia looked like she was very much within her element here, while Albaz very much wasn't. Honestly, it was easy to find more things different between the two than there were similarities.

"Please," Ecclesia spoke up. "We have nowhere to go in this world, and if the Despias are looking to attack this world too…" Her voice trailed off, but her worries were clear.

"Tch," Albaz said, looking at anything other than Taylor. However, it was obvious that he was hopeful for a good answer.

Taylor stated and stared. She was reminded of, well, herself. Lost, abandoned, and without any friends. Sure, they had the Tribrigade, but who knows when or if they'll ever get in touch with them.

However, Taylor had the Hercules. She could easily get around the country and show up wherever the Tribrigade next appeared. Provided that Ecclesia and Albaz wanted to meet with them again.

After long, mental deliberation, Taylor made her decision.

"They can stay with us."

Ecclesia's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Let us go get our stuff!" She said, grabbing Albaz and dragging him away. His protests were heard as he was dragged down the hall.

"They certainly are an interesting pair," Aileron stated. "You did the same thing your mother would have done." He then said, turning his attention to Taylor.

"You have my thanks," House stated. "The Despias might start to start to target you, so you'll need to get stronger, let's they start to protect you."

"Lest they start to protect me?" Taylor asked, seeing the two of them return with their belongings. Taylor blinked as she saw Ecclesia casually carry around what could best be described as a massive hammer. Except instead of a hammerhead, there was a dragon skull almost as big as Ecclesia was, along with what seemed to be a rocket engine on the other end.

"Oh," Taylor said. Then remembering their discussion earlier, staring that Albaz was the stronger of the two of them.

It's nice to finally have this out of the oven. Even if in the end it was a fair bit rushed.

Got called into work today like 20 minutes before I needed to be there. Thankfully, it was a very quiet day there, so I basically threw this together in a few hours. I've had this sitting in my head for a while. As you can tell, instead of the Anime/Manga protagonist getting thrown into the world of Worm, countless people from the various archetypes are inside of Worm instead!

Here, we've seen some of the more popular archetypes. Dragonmaids, Fallen of Albaz + Ecclesia (more of an engine than an archetype), with mentions of Elemental Heroes and Tribrigade. The latter of which is, lore-wise, part of the same world as Ecclesia.

There's a whole load of issues that need figuring out if I do go this route. Why are people from Yugioh Archetypes randomly showing up on Earth Bet? How does this affect the power dynamic? Can Exodia rip Scion to shreds? (Yes) All things I really don't want to figure out right now.

On top of learning the lore behind various archetypes, which is surprisingly deep when you start looking.
 
Sky Striker Ace - Taylor: Prologue (Worm x Yugioh)
Sky Striker Ace - Taylor
Prologue​


"Emma Annette Barnes!" Zoe Barnes called out to her daughter, barging into her room. "You're here, good." She then said, noticing how her daughter's new friend was also in the room.

"Mom! You just can't barge in like that!" Emma shouted back.

"I can when I get a call from Taylor's mom inviting you over for a day of training!" Emma stiffened up at that. An almost flight or fight signal going up. Something Emma's new friend didn't notice.

"Training? Is she an instructor?" The friend said. Emma's instantly looked at her friend, trying to come up with something to say.

"Oh, she's a well-regarded trainer," Zoe said with a smile. It was the kind of smile any child would be afraid of. "I was asked to bring you over early tomorrow morning. So you will be awake and ready for it."

"B-but-" Emma tried to find a way out.

"You're going, no buts." Zoe declared, turning to Sophia. "I'll call up your mom about your invitation, but what she says about the invitation. If she tells you to come, I'll come and pick you up."

"But-" Emma once again tried to say something.

"I said no buts! Do you want me to tell her to put you on Taylor's regime?" Emma stiffened at that response.

"N-no…" Emma said.

"Good. I'll be sure to wake you up in time to have breakfast." Zoe said, exiting the room, the door almost slamming shut as she left.

There were a few seconds of silence before Emma suddenly started cursing. "Shit shit shit…" she repeated over and over again.

"Is Taylor's mom the one who taught you how to fight?" Sophia said.

"Yes! And she's an absolute monster!" Emma said.

"Oh come on, how bad could it be?" Sophia waved off. "I'll just have another chance to show that little prey where she belongs." Emma just looked at Sophia in bewilderment, trying and failing to find the words to describe how wrong she would be.






Sophia fell onto her ass, landing right next to Emma. She glared up at Taylor's mother. "Still that predator you think yourself as?" the mother declared. Her platinum silver hair and the crimson tassel of her wooden sword flowed in the gusty wind.

"Tch, I'm just not using my normal weapon." She said, using the wooden sword she was lent to get back up.

"A worthless excuse." The trainer said, circling Sophia like a wolf, seemingly utterly ignoring the redhead as she got closer. "You should always come to training fully prepared to fight." As she got closer to Emma, the redhead panicked and pulled herself to her feet.

However, just as she did so, someone else stepped onto the yard. Another woman, about as old as the mother. This one with gray hair tied up into two ponytails. The trainer smiled as she shifted her attention. "Take a ten-minute breather." She then said. Emma collapsed back onto her rear as the two women walked into the building.

"Damn it. For some prey, she can put up a fight." Sophia growled out, shaking her limb through some of her bruises.

"Oh no…" Emma said in a panic as she looked at the house. "Auntie Raye is really pissed."

"What do you mean? She's keeping that annoying woman off of us."

"We… If Auntie Raye called Auntie Roze, then I don't think we'll be training with Raye for too much longer."

Sophia looked at Emma. She had doubted her worry before, but she knew that Raye could throw down in a fight with her weapon. If Emma was even more worried about Roze's training… "I hate to admit it, but our best bet might be to just get out of here."

"Not a bad idea for a training exercise." A new voice said. It was the Gray haired woman from before, now wearing an interesting-looking cap. Her voice was far colder than Raye's voice was. "First, let me introduce myself. I am Roze. Raye asked me to take over for today's training. And you will find me less merciful than Raye was."






Raye watched as Roze began her training exercise. She let out a loud sigh as she dropped her act. "I'm not fit for imitating Roze," she mumbled out loud, looking down at her old communicator. "But of all the times for Emma to turn her back on Taylor…"

Raye shook her head, raising the old device to her ear. "Aileron. It's Raye."

"Raye!" The almost childish voice on the other end said excitedly.

"It's been too long," Raye said, her smile almost audible.

"Give me a moment…" Aileron said. Raye pulled the communicator away from her ear and leveled it out. A moment later, a holographic image of Aileron appeared. "There! How's Taylor?"

Raye smiled sadly. "She's doing well. Taking a bit longer to get over the death of Danny than I am."

"I see…" Aileron said somberly.

"And right as Emma decided to try to stab her in the back too."

"What!? Why?"

"I still need to drag out the details, but she got a new best friend while Taylor was at camp," Raye explained. "Said a new best friend called Taylor 'prey.' So I'm letting this 'predator' experience the 'prey's' training routine."

"Training…. Roze is there now?"

"Yep. I warned her that they won't be as to keep up with Taylor."

Aileron almost giggled. "I don't think even you'd be able to keep up with Taylor at the same age."

Raye giggled back. "Speaking of, have you tested…"

"Raye," Aileron cut her friend off. "We both know you can't use the Sky Striker anymore. The imperfections in the cloning process…"

"Okay, okay. I know…" Raye said with a disappointed sigh. "I just wish I didn't need to force it onto Taylor."

"You're giving her more of a choice than you had then."

"Are you really offering a choice, when you already know the answer?" Raye countered. There was a long pause as Aileron failed to bring forth a counter. "The key is in place." Raye eventually said, rubbing her eyes. "Please, do everything you can to keep Taylor safe."

"I'll do what I can."


Finally got this out. Good lord, getting this out was a pain. It's a reboot of the Sky Striker snips I took a stab at in the past. As you can tell, it's already radically different than what it was before. And I'd like to ultimately think it would be for the best. If I do turn this into a proper fic, this would be it's opening post.

...And now I'm realizing it's Halloween. I didn't exactly plan for this to be my Halloween release, but here we are.

Anyway, do let me know what you think! I don't exactly have a hard plotline in mind for this, other than a few plot threads, but nothing to tie them all together just yet.
 
Phantasy Star Online 2, Episode 7: Worm, Prologue
Prologue


AD 2009/7/8​


I desperately gasped for air as I ran towards what I hoped was the forest. I squinted at the blurry view before me, hoping to make sense of what I saw. I could still hear the gunshots behind me as I ran, abandoning everyone. I barely stopped myself as I ran into a rail guard instead. I gasped as I quickly realized where I was: the cliffside overlooking Brockton Bay.

"There's the bitch." An angry voice growled from behind me. My skeleton practically jumped out of my body when I heard that voice. "I was just going to kill a bitch like you, but I think Matters would love to add a whore like you to her gang."

"Calm your tits." A second voice said. I could barely make out the blurry silhouette of another man. "We're not going to change plans just because a little girl kicked you in the dick. Bitch dies like the rest."

"Are you shitting me!?" I think the first person turned around to talk with the second. I quickly took advantage and moved to escape, running along the railing towards the forest, only to stop when a gunshot rang out.

"Tch, I missed." The second voice said.

"Damn it fine. But we kill the bitch slowly."

"Then get her before she-"

He was cut off by the sound of a loud crack. I saw a dim light appear in the air as another crack rang out.

"What the fuck is that?" One of the two people asked in a bit of awe before a loud, glass-like shattering sound rang out, causing a bright flash of light to erupt where the light was, forcing me to cover my eyes.

When the light seemed to dim, I saw what appeared to be someone. My blurry sight couldn't make out much of them other than that they were tall, wearing what was probably a black outfit with dark blue highlights, and I couldn't only make that out rom the bright light that was next to them.

"You're…" A distorted synthetic voice said as I thought they looked at me.

"Oh? That bitch is so important that you'd teleport in to save her? Creating portals is a bit of a lame ability for a cape." One of the men asked.

Wait, the person is a cape!? "Please! Help me!" I begged them as I got closer to them.

I think they looked back and forth as they grabbed me, picking me up. I let out a cry as I suddenly found myself flying into the strange light my supposed savior stepped out of.






[Persona] looked at the portal they just threw the girl through, before turning their attention to the two men pointing guns at her.

"Surrender," she declared, summoning their double saber.

"With that bogus weapon? Don't you know not to bring a knife to a gunfight?" The boss said, pointing their gun straight at her, his partner following suit.

"Very well," The next thing the boss knew, he was impaled by the same sword, and his body kicked away before the same sword was used to lob off his partner's head.

[Persona] stood there in silence for a few moments until they heard the crack of a gunshot. She let out a grunt before rushing towards the noise.

"So, this is where you're from? It's already proving to be an interesting planet." A smooth voice said in Persona's head.






AP 228/10/25​

Luther tapped his chin as he looked at the girl before him. She was in a coma of some sort, no doubt due to what was, by all means, seemed to be a very extended stay in subspace. Its chaotic nature made it difficult to figure out where, when, or even how long she was within Subspace.

For all Luther knew, the girl before she had been trapped in subspace from before the Big Bang or could have been there for mere seconds. However, most of the evidence he found pointed towards a longer stay than a shorter stay.

He tapped his fingers on the table as he looked at the results of his medical scan. She had immense Photonic potential, yet lacked the means to utilize the said potential. It was like having a massive container of water, yet no means to get any of the water out. It would be an interesting case study if he didn't already know all he needed to know about it.

His masterpiece already taught him so, so much.

He shook his head. His main attention was on Sarah, Clarissa, and the Klaiskrays Project. He had little time to work on a new project that wouldn't get him any closer to Xion.

Still, it would be an immense disappointment if someone with such immense Photonic potential couldn't utilize it for Arks. He let out a light huff as he made a slight modification to the medical records, adding Acute Photonic Sensitivity to it.

With that done, he closed his console and left the room. Hours later, the girl on the table was taken away for a 'life-saving' medical procedure.






AD 2009/7/9​

[Persona] looked around at all of the corpses littering the area. Most of them were children, none older than the age of 16, with a few adults. Most of the adults were the assailants of this slaughter, having been cut down by [Persona] herself.

"Who would do such a thing?" The voice of a young boy rang out in his head.

"Who would pointlessly kill so many people?" A young girl said.

There was a moment of silence as [Persona] investigated the scene some more before she began to walk back towards the cliff she had first appeared.

"I imagine you noticed it too, Luther?" A woman's voice rang out.

"Naturally," The same smooth voice from before said.

"Noticed what?" A gruff man demanded.

"The brainwashing," The woman said.

"They were brainwashed?" The boy asked.

"They were forced to do that?" The girl followed up.

"Not all of them, but roughly half of them were," The woman said. "If I wasn't linked to [Apprentice], I wouldn't have noticed it myself."

"It can be difficult to notice brainwashing that thorough."
The smooth voice replied.

"Tch, now that shit leaves a dirty taste in my mouth," The gruff voice replied.

[Persona] looked down at the city lights from the cliffside. While her mask prevents any emotions from being seen, her body language, normally stiff and mysterious, instead shows a level of nostalgia.

Then, she disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the bodies of the dead and a shattered rip to subspace.

When the sun rose, a golden man flew down from the sky, his head tilted as he looked at the crack in space. He stood still like a statue, glaring at it intently before mechanically raising a hand, the shattered space returning to normal, before flying away again.

Hours after that, the first people arrived to find a mountain of bodies, all of them long since gone cold.


*Cough cough* It's, uh... It's been a while... This is largely due to a few things. One is a bit of writer's block, two is that when my writer's block did lift, it was for writing NSFW stuff, and three, well, work's been exhausting. You'd be surprised how many people just don't listen to basic instructions.

Anyway, work stuff is easing up a bit, so I'll be (trying) to start getting some more content out, though I'll need to figure out where exactly to pick up with some things. The first real 'boss' of Old World is dead and I've gotta figure out the cleanup there. I had a nice set of plans for Twilight that'll take more than just a few thousand words to get off the ground. I really want to make that Sky Striker Ace snip I wrote into a proper fic, but I also know little about card lore (not anime lore) and also know it won't get as much reach as I'd like...

The list goes on and on and it's a bit overwhelming. Until I can figure SOMETHING out... Well, we'll just have to see where everything goes for me. For now, I'll just do a couple of PSO2 snips. If someone doesn't explain the lore, I'll probably drop a post explaining a few things of what's happening from the PSO2 side of things. Until then... Well, it just feels good to have something out.
 
PSO2 EP7, Chapter 1
2011/4/10​



Taylor grumbled as she woke up. She felt a drop of water land on her head, stirring her out of her daze. The wet pavement beneath her told her a storm had just passed. Another drop of water urges her to get up faster. With a groan, she pulled herself to her feet, looking around. Her most recent memory was defeating the Primordial Darkness, and having some kind of conversation with Xion, though she couldn't remember… any of it.

It took her a few moments to finally get her mind in a good enough place to start guessing where she was. The weathered brick walls of an alleyway gave Taylor a few guesses, most of them were good, though she had no idea how she could have ended up here.

Her thoughts were forced to a halt when she saw a snow-white figure lying down as well. "Matoi!" Taylor called out, hurrying over to her friend. The fresh, powered-up outfit the Technique-wielder had been wearing had returned to her regular uniform. Taylor quickly inspected her close friend, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that she was unharmed and was likely just knocked out.

With a bit of effort, Taylor rested Matoi against the wall before she tried using her communicator, trying to get into contact with Arks, only to be met with dead silence. Not unexpected. She knew most Arks stationed on Earth got recalled to Oracle to deal with Shiva, possibly all of them for the final push. Instead, she tried to radio the Mother Corps, only to get more silence. Taylor's brow tightened as she tried Earth Guide next, only to be met with more silence. Lastly, she tried to call Enga's personal phone, just to be met with nothing but radio silence.

Either her communicator was dead, Aether communicators were dead worldwide, or something else was at play. All three were distinct possibilities. While not entirely visible, she didn't come out of the fight with the Primordial Darkness entirely unharmed. While all of her systems appeared to be fully functional, she couldn't fully verify it until she got back into contact with the Arks fleet. The Luminmech rampage across Earth could have easily damaged or destroyed the Aether communication network, though given that the attack was more of a mindless rampage, she had her doubts about that as well.

Which left the unknown factor being the most likely one. The most she could do was activate her SOS Transponder and wait for rescue.

Taylor looked at Matoi, smiling at just how peaceful the albino looked before securing her onto her back, and walking out of the alleyway. As she exited, she saw an ocean, which greatly narrowed down just where she was. She took in the view for a few moments, only to notice something she thought she'd never see again.

The Rig.






Hitsugi grunted as she heaved the massive rifle. She's back in her school uniform now. "Mind telling me why you're a gun now?"

"It's rather complicated," the gun said, its center orb lighting in synch with its speech.

"Harriet, we've got time," Hitsugi replied. "Aether communications aren't working."

The gun sighed. "You remember meeting Lisa on the Arks ship, right?"

"The… creepy cast girl, right?" Hitsugi said in thought.

"That's… not wrong," Harriet said with a light sigh. "Just know that I was sealed inside her."

"That doesn't sound all that complicated," Hitsugi said.

"The full story isn't one to be shared on the streets. Or without my partner's consent." Harriet said.

"...and if you see any of those kids on the floor…"

"Hitsugi, hide!" Harriet said in a loud whisper. Hitsugi was quick to follow her companion's advice, diving behind a dumpster.

"Shoot them in the head. Twice." Hitsugi managed to catch a glimpse of a really big burly man wearing a dragon mask. Despite the cold weather, he was shirtless, showing off the tattoos that covered his body.

"Yakuza," Hitsugi whispered in disgust, her katana formed in her hand.

"While I would normally support your efforts to defend those kids…" Harriet whispered, "I doubt you're at your best right now. Are you sure your phone isn't working?"

"Definitely," Hitsugi replied, her school uniform disappearing, being replaced with her avatar form.

"Very well. Set me aside for now. While I'm dead weight to you, I'm still a Cosmogenic Arm. No regular user could hope to use me."

"That's a relief to hear," Hitsugi said as she rested the gun against a dumpster she was hiding behind.

Hitsugi then took a deep breath, stepping out from behind the dumpster and staring at Lung as she stepped into clear view, her katana resting on her shoulder.






Taylor wasn't too sure how long she stared at the Rig, but it was definitely until she felt Matoi stir on her back. Taylor secured her a bit more tightly as she slowly awoke.

"Mmm, Taylor?" Matoi said, looking around and rubbing her eyes a bit. "Where are we? Earth?"

"Yes and no," Taylor replied. "We're on my Earth."

"Your Earth?" Matoiasked, slowly piecing together what Taylor just said. "Wait, your Earth? Earth Bet?" She said with a bit of excitement. I had told her stories of my home in the past.

"You bet," Taylor said with a light smile. "See that building in the ocean? With the big shield? That's the Rig I've told you about."

"Oh! Didn't you say it had a light bridge?" Matoi asked.

"It's probably turned off right now. Light complaints I bet."

"I see." I kneeled to let Matoi off of my back. "Did you see Hitsugi or Harriet?"

"I didn't. Hitsugi isn't patched into our coms, and if you've returned to your normal form…" Taylor started.

"It's likely Harriet returned to being a gun," Matoi finished.

"Provided that-" I was cut off when I heard a loud draconic roar, a ball of fire suddenly visible in the night sky. "Dragon, dragon, dragon…" Taylor said, something tickling at the tip of her memory.

"Your home city had a dragon?" Matoi said in a bit of surprise. "Is it friendly?"

"No, he wasn't…" Taylor said, her eyes lighting up in a bit of worry. "Lung!"

"Lung? Like the organ?"

"No, I think it comes from his native language, but that's not important right now," I said. "We have to stop him," I said taking off in a run towards where I heard the fire.

"If Hitsugi is fighting Lung, do you think she'd win?"

I racked my head for a few long moments. "Probably? It's been over 10 years since I've been here, but I remember Lung being a big deal. However, Hitsugi did help against both Deus ESC-A and Primordial Darkness, so…"

"Let's hurry just to be safe. Even if she could handle him, she might still be exhausted from earlier." Matoi said, starting to move towards the action. It was at least a few blocks away, but at the very least, we'd run into familiar faces.

Perhaps this would be a good chance to battle-test that new class?"







Hitsugi ducked under the swipe of a claw. "Tch, why can he turn into a dragon?" She said as she heard the man-turned-dragon roar. She's already incapacitated the mooks, keeping her katana in its sheath to avoid fatally harming them.

And for her troubles, the big beefy man with dragon tattoos was now a big growing dragon. She had originally considered hit-and-run tactics, however, when he showed not just the ability to regenerate but also the ability to spray fire at her, she quickly changed her mind and opted to just continuously pressure him, hoping to overwhelm his healing factor.

However, Harriet's warning was proving to have been worth listening to. She was getting exhausted, not just from fighting the Profound Darkness earlier, but the near-endless waves of Luminmechs from before that. Something the dragon seemed to notice as he pressured her more and more, forcing Hitsugi on the defensive.

She sucked on her teeth as she sidestepped the dragon man's downward swipe, trying to use the opening to slice his arm off, only to need to leap back to avoid a gust of flames.

It was becoming clear to Hitsugi that the dragon man wasn't just strong, but also experienced. Experienced enough that even if she wasn't as exhausted, she'd still likely be on the back foot. To add to her worries, the dragon still seemed to be getting bigger. Big enough that Hitsugi was realizing that she'd need to force the fight onto the streets soon.

Then, she saw a Falspawn Scorpion come out of nowhere and slam Lung in the face, with a swarm of Hornets following soon after. The next thing she felt was getting picked up by someone from behind and dropped on her back onto a nearby roof.

"Are you okay? Sorry if I was a bit rough there." the voice of a masked girl with gorgeous red hair said.


Yay, got something out again! This time, I went and gave that PSO2 Snip a follow-up. Not too sure I like the theme chosen for Hitsugi vs Lung, but it should be fine. That said, I do suppose I should explain that...

In PSO2 (Classic), Emergency Codes are events that can occur randomly while on a quest. These events can range from defeating a boss (Duel) to defeating a group of elite mobs (Attack), to collecting or mining resources (Collect), defending a point (Protect), and so on and so on. For those familiar with FFXIV, they're basically FATEs. I will likely be repurposing some Emergency Codes for something else (IE Disaster will become the Endbringer code). Sadly, New Genesis lacks any real variety with its Emergency Codes, but that's a discussion for another time.

As for the fic itself, I currently don't plan to give this its own thread for the time being unless it starts to get rather long. For now, I just plan to make this the first snip series on the thread and just see how it goes.
 
Fate/Counter Revival (Fate Heavens Failure x Worm)
"I'm sorry if the tea isn't up to your standards," Rin said to her guest. "Had I been expecting you, I'd have gone out of my way to get some higher-quality tea leaves."


Their guest simply chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm not even at your house," he said, taking a sip of his tea. "It is better than many who are aware of my arrival."


Rin blinked a few times. "I am… admittedly not sure if I should be humbled or not." It was a well-known fact that their guest had some enemies. Clocktower politics was an… interesting game to say the very least.


The guest simply chuckled. "Take it as a compliment," he said right before taking a sip. "Gather the rest of your friends. What I'm here to discuss involves them as much as it involves you."


Rin nodded, leaving the room to do as their guest asked. Said guest took another sip of his tea. "This is some good tea."


Less than five minutes later, Rin returned with her friends. "Shirou and Sakura; meet Kisschur Zelretch Schweinorg, Wizard Marshal and wielder of the 2nd Magic."


"Please, call me Zelretch." The Wizard Marshal stated, taking another sip of his tea. "Feel free to show yourself, Rider. What I'm here to discuss will greatly involve your Master. I'm sure your Master and her friends would appreciate your input."


There was a long pause of several long seconds before Rider revealed herself, materializing in a blue shine. "Your reputation proceeds you."


"It takes little thinking to figure out that you'd be here," he declared, "After all, I am from the Clock Tower. And naturally, many within the Clock Tower want your heads for how the Grail War ended." He stated with an exasperated sigh.


Everyone seemed to stiffen. "I take full responsibility for what happened," Rin declared.


Zelretch sighed at Rin's declaration. "A noble sacrifice, but a pointless one. We've already concluded that the corruption of the Grail predates yours and even your father's birth. The issue at hand isn't so much the destruction of the grail," Zelretch paused, taking a sip of his tea.


Rin took the hint. "It was that a path to the root was cut off."


"Indeed," Zelretch said, placing his now empty cup down. "Ultimately, I believe what you did was completely necessary given the situation at hand. However, many senior Clock Tower Magi simply do not care. What they see is a unique, once-in-a-millennium opportunity being completely and utterly disrespected and thrown in the garbage."


The locals all flinched at Zelretch's declaration. What they had just been told completely and utterly demolished them. They all looked at each other. Rider's stance tightens.


Suddenly, Zelretch took a sip of his tea, the cup now filled with the same black tea that had been in it earlier. "Under normal circumstances, I would be able to use Rin's capability to replicate, even in a temporary and limited capacity, my Jeweled Sword would be enough for me to take her on as my apprentice, ultimately leading to the charges being dropped." He glanced towards Sakura. "In such a situation, while there would be some Magi willing to learn more about the long-term effects of a Servant's existence, we both understand what might happen if such a situation would occur."


However, such a declaration made it clear that these weren't normal circumstances. "Shirou's the complication, isn't it?" Rin declared. Everyone's gaze fell upon the diminutive silver-haired girl, though said hair had been steadily turning from its almost perfect silver color to a more pinkish shade.


"Indeed. The Eizenbern's alone are more than enough to cause issues in this situation." Zelretch explained. "However, an almost perfect replication of the 3rd True Magic is almost enough to overshadow the forced closing of the Path to the Root."


"Thus, politics," Rin stated.


"Exactly." Zelretch nodded. "However, there is one method available to me," Zelretch took another sip of his tea.


"You use your second magic to send us another world." Rin quickly figured out. "However, I doubt I doubt you'd just send us to any world."


"More than that." Zelretch declared. "It's a world that's stuck with a ticking time bomb. One that could reach out across the Kaleidoscope."


That was… more than a worrying picture for everyone involved. "Wouldn't Alaya or Gaia deploy the Counter Force or even Counter Guardians in that case?" Shirou asked. He, no, she was still getting used to their new voice, made clear by the somewhat inconsistent pitch.


"It's being suppressed."


"Huh?" That was a surprise to everyone present.


"How is that possible?" Rin said, deep in thought.


"That's what I need you to figure out," Zelretch stated. "I've already discovered a means to neutralize the timebomb. It's simply a matter of waiting for the right opportunity to use it." Zelretch declared, finishing another cup of his tea. "However, discovering how the Counter Force of not just Gaia but Alaya too are being suppressed is equally as important. Doing so would allow us to develop countermeasures, and potentially allow us to better deal with Types in the future."


"That's… quite the important task. Are you sure that what we uncover won't also be used by other Magi?"


"I doubt that they would be capable of utilizing it. Aliens are involved in this situation."


"Aliens?" Shirou and Sakura asked in worry.


"Are they Types?" Rin followed up.


"Thankfully, no. However, there is the possibility that they could rival a Type." Zelretch said.


The silence was deafening but did better put into scope the task that they were being given. Go to another world to assist in developing a countermeasure to an alien race that could rival Types in terms of strength. More specifically, to develop a countermeasure to Counter Force Suppression.


"That's quite the task you're putting us up against," Rin stated.


"I am aware. As such, I've come prepared with additional compensation," Zelretch said, pulling out a pair of glasses, seemingly out of thin air. "First, for Rider. Mystic Eye Killers potent enough for your particular eyes." He set them down and slid it across the table. It rested for a few long seconds a Rider stared at it, before picking it up and inspecting it. Then, the blindfold hiding her eyes fell off, revealing her closed eyes as she placed the glasses on, opening them soon after.


"They work," Sakura said with a smile.


"For you, Shirou," He then pulled out the empty sword scabbard. "It was left behind in your previous body." Shirou held it, inspecting it.


"I…" Shirou looked at it and examined it closely. Only when she began to perform a Structural Grasp on the scabbard did his eyes shoot wide open. "I had Avalon inside my body?" There was a mass scramble as everyone but Zelretch tried to get a better look.


"That's…" Rin quickly took a thinking pose.


"That must have been the catalyst to summon Saber," Sakura put together.


"Clearly," Rin said, spending a few more moments thinking as Zelretch smiled. Just as Shirou was pressing Avalon against her body, Rin grabbed her arm. "Wait. Avalon must have been what saved your life during the Fire. A fire that no doubt burned away your Element and Origin." Rin hummed for a few more seconds. "And your father likely decided to hide it within you to hide it, right?"


"The Eizenbern clan hired Shirou's father to serve as their representative in the 4th Grail War," Zelretch stated, helping to confirm Rin's theory.


"Then that's likely the case. And when he saved you, since you lacked an element or origin at the time, your soul instinctively reached out for something new to grasp onto," Rin continued.


Sakura's face lit up in realization. "Turning his Element and Origin into Sword."


"I don't recommend putting it back in your body just yet," Rin stated. "We still haven't determined if what Illya did to you had an effect on your Element or Origin, and with your soul likely still settling into its new vessel, it's likely that Avalon could have a similar effect again."


Shirou looked at Avalon a bit, before nodding, putting it on her lap. "Probably a good call."


Zelretch let out a hum. "You know, I had glossed over that little detail myself. If you want, I could take it back and return it to where Excalibur rests."


"Are the Fae impatient to get Avalon back?" Shirou asked.


"No. If anything, they seem… happy that Avalon is still out there." Zelretch said, stroking his beard. "A curious thing to say the least. I have some ideas as to why, but that's not for this discussion."


"Then I'll remain its… keeper for now." Shirou decided.


"Very well. For you, Rin, I have two gifts." Zelretch then pulled out a heavy-looking cloth bag. "First, a surplus of gemstones, many are already charged." He stated. Rin's eyes lit up as she eagerly grabbed the bag, and opened it up. Within were a wide range of gemstones. "Second, however, is my offer of mentorship."


"Wait, really?" Rin said in shock. "I mean, uh,"


Zelretch chuckled. "It would be a waste to see such talent go to waste," he declared with a smile.


"I am honored to be your student then." Rin finally declared.


"Good. I'll get started on your lesson plan then," Zelretch stated. "Lastly, for you Sakura." He revealed a thick book, on top was a replication of Sakura's own Command Seal. "A method to restore Command Seals. It can only store 3 Command Seals, and takes about a month to restore one when placed in ideal conditions."


"Like on top of a major Layline?" Sakura said, pulling the book towards herself, and looking at it.


"Indeed. However, do not expect the process of transferring a seal from the book to yourself to be painless." The Wizard forewarned.


"I will keep it in mind," Sakura stated.


"I will give you a week to decide on my offer," Zelretch said, standing up. "Afterwards, I'll give you one more week to get your affairs in order. Should you accept, I will have one more gift prepared before I transfer Rin's mansion, not your home Shirou, to a location I have prepared. Any longer than that and even I will be powerless to stop the wheel of politics."


"I see, thank you, Wizard Marshal," Rin said.


"Think little of it, Rin." The wizard said before leaving.


The next week, Zelretch returned, and the girls accepted his offer.








On the day of the transfer, Zelretch appeared in the living room of Rin's mansion with his final gift in hand. On the table was a kettle filled with tea. "I would thank you for the hospitality, but today is pure business," he said, politely declining what he knew would be some really good tea. "First, my last bit of assistance." He said, setting a stack of large cards down. On top was a painting-style picture of a knight with a sword. Under it, written in stylized but very clear English was the word 'Saber.'


The group stared down at them, closely inspecting them. Shirou picked up the top card, revealing the second card in the same art style as the Saber card, but with a bowman aiming towards the sky instead and labeled Archer.


"They're named after the Classes of the Holy Grail War," Sakura said, picking up the Archer card to reveal the Rider card.


"Naturally," Zelretch said with a grin. "These are the Class Cards and were used as an alternative to the Servant system in an alternative timeline." He bent over, fanning out the remaining cards, showing off the rest of the classes from the Grail War. "They come in two use cases. Include and Install. Include grants you limited access to the Servant's Capabilities, typically just their weapon of choice. Install grants you full access to a Servant's capabilities, but is extremely strenuous on your body. Without the use of a capable Mystic Code, it can easily be lethal." Zelretch then took the two class cards from Sakura and Shirou and restacked the cards, turning his attention to Rin. "Ruby in particular is highly capable of utilizing them."


Rin's face paled at that declaration. "I see." She said, dread apparent in her voice. "I'll have to keep that in mind, but it's… good to know we already have a capable Mystic Code."


Sakura took a few steps closer to her sister before whispering in her ear. "What's Ruby?"


"I'll explain later," Rin whispered back.


"However, as they are now, they're blank. Any use of a Blank Class Card is often lethal." Zelretch warned. "They won't start seeking a Servant until they arrive. If Alaya or Gaia have any capability to act, they will likely attempt to interact with the Class Cards in some way, either speeding up the seeking process or ensuring a particular Servant ends up on the card."


"Or both," Rin said with a nod. "Assuming no Counter Force interference, how long do you expect the cards to be ready?"


"I can't say," Zelretch said. "There's plenty of unique circumstances that are all occurring at the same time that makes it difficult to give a proper estimate."


"So simply look for anything suspicious in the cards?"


"Correct." Zelretch placed the deck of cards on the table. "Lastly, upon arrival, there will be plenty of files explaining your new identities in that world. As you already know, that world does have programs in place to support the dimensionally displaced, however, they are meant to tie you down to the government."


"Something we don't want," Shirou stated, folding her arms.


"Exactly," Rin stated.


"I wasn't able to perfectly replicate the history for all of you. You were particularly difficult, Shirou, so be sure to carefully read your new profile."


"Gotcha," Shirou said.


"Any final questions?" Zelretch stated, looking around. After a lack of a response, Zelretch let out a hum, summoning the real Jeweled Sword Zelretch. "Let's begin then." He said, pointing the tip of it into the floor, thrusting it down. Then, in a singular instant, the windows outside changed from being the dead of night to a bright morning. "Welcome to Brockton Bay of the planet Earth Bet."








Rin finished reading her profile. It was a simple one, but one easy to work with. Ultimately, she had been a rich family from Japan living in relative isolation until the endbringer Leviathan sank Kyushu, and in turn Fuyuki. Ultimately, she was the last surviving member of her family.


Sakura had a similar story, though less rich and more well-off. Dead family, the works.


Shirou, on the other hand… "Emilya von Einzbern," she stated, not sure what she should even think about it. She was from Germany but spent much of her life in Japan after the murder of her family, then further sought refuge in the States following Kyushu's sinking.


Elsewhere, a young Taylor Hebert was still sleeping off a slumber party with her bestest friend ever. As she slept, she dreamt of cards.

It's been a, uh, little while since I last posted anything. While my muse hadn't entirely been on vacation this last... *looks down* 4 months, what it has been working on is, once again, not fit for Spacebattles.

I still have ideas on what I want to do for a part 2 for the PSO2 snip, but I can't really seem to get it off the ground in a way I like, so it's effectivly been shelfed. I do have plot points in mind for the a part 2 of this, but if that'll get off the ground is another matter entirely. That said, I feel like I should explain where this little snip came from.

TLDR; I want to see more Heaven's Failure Shirou/Emilya. However, I havn't seen too many fics involving the idea. As I let the idea brew some more, I ended up giving Queen of the Cards a reread made me want to have a Magus!Taylor.

On a seperate note, you'll notice that Zelretch isn't (too much of) a troll here. While it's ultimetly come to my attention that he isn't offically a much of a troll, he will enjoy a good gag. He know's of Rin's problem's with Ruby, and while his decision with the Class Cards wasn't particularly fueled by that, he dose get a bit of a laugh out of it..

As for the Class Cards themselfs, I do have some idea on who I want in them, but I've also got some rules I'd want to follow. Having a Japanese and a Germanic represenative are both musts. I'd like to have a PArahuman, but that would likely limit me to just Hero and Khipri. I'd also like a Counter Guardian that's not an Emiya but that's a tall task. And naturally, we need a Knight of the Round in there somewhere. Avoiding any 5th War Servants would be nice but not needed. More importantly however, I'd want minimial overlap with the Prisma Taylor fic.

Not too sure why I'm revealing my Class Card rules, just something I want to get off my chest since I'll probably never get this out. I do have the thought of having Musashi in Saber, but eh...

Lastly, my full sized fics. I do have something in the works for Old World Collapse, but getting things to flow toghether nicely is a pain in the ass. Blazing Phoenix is, in all likelyhood, offically dead. Twilight of the Abyss is something I want to work on, but my muse is having fun with other ideas.

Now then, to finish this boring ass double shift locked away just making sure there's no god damn fire.

Edit: Forgot to shill my Discord Server.
 
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Fate/Counter Revival 2
Taylor tossed and turned in her bed. "I know you're awake," she heard her mom. Taylor only let out a moan. "You know you start boot camp today, right?" The 12-year-old only let out another moan from under her blankets. "Remember, we agreed that it was this instead of summer camp," One more moan was heard under the blankets. "Okay, that's it. If you're not out of your bead in 10 seconds, I'm resealing-"

Taylor was bolting out of bed before her mom had finished that sentence. Only then did she get a look at the clock. 6 in the morning. "Ugh, mooooom, doesn't it start at 8?" Taylor bemoaned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, no longer acting as tired as she was just a few moments ago.

"Rin agreed to give you breakfast if you came early. And you agreed to that, remember?"

Taylor thought on that for a few moments, before her eyes lit up! "Wait, you hypnotized me into-"

"That means you need to work on your resistance to it," Annette said with a kind yet cruel smile. "Now get dressed. You remembered to pack your things, right?"

"Yes Mom," Taylor groaned, finally willing to admit she'd lost.

"Good. Remember that you're staying the week at Rin's place."

"I know Mom," Taylor droned on.

"And that Dad thinks you're still going to summer camp."

"I know."

"Just wanted to make sure." Her mom teased with a grin on her face. "Be down quickly or I'm really going to reseal-"

"I will, I will!" Taylor almost shouted, throwing a pillow at her mom. The throw landed straight at the body as the mother retreated. Taylor sighed a bit as she put on her Mystic Eye Killers. She didn't exactly need them anymore, but she kept a habit of leaving them on anyway. They didn't quite have the money for surgery, so suddenly appearing without them could cause more questions than she knew she could answer.

That, and she hated hypnotizing people. Especially Emma.

10 minutes later, Taylor stepped out of her room in a simple short-sleeved shirt and a large bag filled with clothes and other travel supplies rested on her shoulder. "I'm ready."






"Annette, I've been tutoring Taylor for over a year now. I know you don't like the idea of the examination, but if I'm going to put together a proper lesson, I need to see it for myself. It's long overdue."

Taylor peeked around a corner as she heard her mom and Rin get into a minor argument.

"I know, it's just…"

"Look, she'll be fine. I've had to do the process several times over the past year. She won't even feel it after a full day, I promise."

The mother sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "You asking me is more of a courtesy, isn't it?"

Taylor could hear Rin smile. "Yep."

Taylor saw her mom look at her, causing the young Magus to flee. "Fine. Like you said, it's long overdue. Just make sure you do not tell anyone about her Origin. Not even Taylor."

"Okay," Rin said, shrugging off the comment about Taylor's Origin. It wasn't uncommon for a magus to keep an Origin from themselves under the right circumstances. "And just to make sure, you don't have a family crest, right?"

"None," Annette said. "I had fallen out with my family long before the Clocktower Bombing."

"And had no way to recover the crest." Rin followed up.

"You know Crest Extraction from a corpse requires specialized skills. And after the Bombing," Annette started.

"Any surviving Magi with the skill was in high demand," Rin finished with a sigh. A loud growl then echoed in the room, causing Annette to blush. "Come, you can join us for breakfast. Emilya should be done soon."

"Thank you."

The two left for the dining room, finding Taylor seated, humming a tune as she waited. "Oh, now that I think about it, neither of you have been here for a meal yet, have you?" Rin then realized.

"Nope," Taylor said, popping the P.

"You're going to love it then," Rin said with a smile. Then a short pink-haired lady walked in, carrying a massive stack of pancakes. Taylor's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as Sakura followed behind Emilya carrying enough plates for everyone; including Rider who turned a corner and took a seat at the table.

Breakfast began surprisingly quietly. "So, Taylor," Rin eventually said between bites, causing the youngest girl to look up, cheeks stuffed with delicious pancakes. "I'm going to be performing a thorough soul examination. After we do some physical training." Taylor blinked, looking at her mother.

"Yes, I've given Rin permission to look at your soul." The mother said, drawing the child's attention for a moment.

"You're going to be here for a month, Taylor. I need to know what exactly I'm looking at." Rin explained, getting Taylor's attention again. "But we won't start right away. We'll start with some physical training with Emilya's help. Afterward, just before lunch, we'll conduct the examination. Depending on how your soul reacts to the examination, we'll either end for the day there or conduct a lecture. Later tonight, we'll go through what chores you'll be expected to do while you're here."

"Chores?" Taylor bemoaned.

"You're going to be living under their roof." Annette followed up, taking a bite of her pancake. "Oh, this is really good."

"I know!" Taylor managed to say right after swallowing a big bite.

"Emilya is a monster when it comes to Western food," Rin explained with a smile. "But yes, you're going to learn how to help out around here, much like you do at your own house." Rin took a bite of her pancakes. "However, because everyone here knows about Magecraft, you get to use it to help you with your chores."

Taylor's eyes seemed to light up at that idea. She had to be very stringent with using her magecraft whenever she was home. In short, absolutely no magecraft was to be done when Dad was around. Ultimately, she's never been given a good opportunity to do magecraft for chores since he could walk in.

Annette finished her pancakes first. "Just remember to keep it discrete when we get home," she warned as she stood up. "I need to get going. I need to be at the university soon."

Everyone nodded. "Bye, mom!" Taylor said, everyone else sharing their farewells.

Breakfast ended soon after, with Sakura taking most of the dishes away for washing as Rin and Shirou led Taylor to the dojo to begin her training for the day.






Taylor rushed down Emilya with a barrage of jabs and hooks. Her body was reinforced to make her faster and stronger. However, despite the raw barrage of blows she Taylor pushed out, it was rarely both fists. The barrage would be oppressive to many Magi, yet Emilya managed to comfortably weather the storm, a pair of gloves granting him the knowledge needed to handle it.

It had surprised Rin when she realized that Emilya hadn't been given full knowledge of Archer's fighting style. There were too many variables at play to rule out what it could be, but she did know one thing: Emilya did gain all of Archer's traceable weapons. Enough for the former male to forge her own path in combat, rather than just borrow from Archer. However, if anything, Emilya was more willing to borrow more from others, focusing on borrowing skills from everyone rather than just mastering a single set with a single set of skills. It was an interesting arrangement, though Rin noticed Emilya had settled into a few favorites.

Rin's attention then focused on Taylor. If Rin had to describe the 12-year-old's combat style, it was similar to a boxer. Going in and hitting as hard as she could while trying to use her overwhelming offense to let her stay in. Of course, that was rarely ever the full story when it came to one's magecraft. If anything, Rin almost applauded the 12-year-old's little bit of sleight of hand. Right as Emilya was about to leap away, a stone wall ripped up from the ground, cutting off Emilya's escape, letting Taylor finally land a single solid hit straight into Emilya's gut.

Rin then let out a clap. "And that's the round." She said, declaring the round of combat over. Taylor returned the wall of rock to the earth and Rin returned the dojo to its original condition. "Okay you little rascal, I've been meaning to ask. Where'd you get the idea to do magecraft like that?"

"Oh, I got the idea from a TV Show called Avatar," Taylor stated. "See, in it, there's these people that can bend the elements using martial arts, and-"

"Okay, I think I get the idea," Rin said, not wanting to get Taylor's blabbermouth going.

"We could watch some later," Taylor offered.

"That'll depend," Rin said, not wanting to watch it, but also willing to admit that it would give her some idea of where Taylor wanted to push her combat magecraft. "Emilya, you didn't need to throw the round like that."

Emilya rubbed the back of her head slightly. "I know, but I wanted to try this out," Emilya raised the gloved fist.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Rin sighed massaging her forehead. She then looked at the clock on the wall. "I'd say use a real weapon next round, but it's time for Taylor's examination. Rin then walked away from the arena, pulling out a towel and tossing it to Taylor. "Towel yourself off then meet me in my workshop."

A few minutes later, Taylor was knocking on Rin's door. "Come in," Rin said. Taylor let herself in, finding that Rin's typical work table had been cleared off, and on it was a series of removable chair cushions. "Strip then sit on the table."

"I know," Taylor said with a light sigh. "I get to keep my underwear on at least, right?'

"You can," Rin said getting something out of her drawer and beginning to prepare it. Taylor simply stripped her clothes off, leaving her undergarments on as she sat on the table. Rin then presented Taylor with a small gem. "Swallow then lay face down."

Taylor grabbed the small gem, swallowing it down like a pill before laying down like asked. She felt her body start to feel an intense burn start to build up soon after. Taylor winced a bit, but it wasn't anything Taylor hadn't dealt with before.

"Okay, let's see what we've got here." Rin pressed her fingers against Taylor's back. "50 Circuits total, most of good quality. No Crest. Earth element. Wait, is that…" There was a long pause as Rin ran her fingers up and down it. "That doesn't…"

"Is something wrong?" Taylor managed to ask.

"I'm not too sure," Rin asked as she stared intently at Taylor's back. Suddenly, Rin had a sudden epiphany. "Have you been having any strange… visions or dreams or anything in that nature?"

"Uh, I guess I've been having weird dreams. I remember seeing…" Taylor tried to think through the pain she felt.

"Tell me after I'm done examining you," Rin said, examining more of Taylor's soul. The examination lasted several more minutes as notes started to get written down. Eventually, Rin finished, snapping her fingers. The intensity of Taylor's pain started to faid, leaving behind aches all across her body. Taylor let out a groan as she started to roll onto her back, letting out an aching moan. "So, those dreams?" Rin then asked.

"Right." Taylor moaned out, trying to compose herself as she stood back up. "Well, in one dream I remember a girl dressed in black using a bunch of floating guns. Another one had a pink-haired boy dressed as a girl on a griffon. One more had had this man turn into a dragon surrounded in flames…"

"Is there anything linking these dreams together?" Rin interrupted.

"Yeah," Taylor said, sitting up with a groan. "They all had a weird focus on a singular card."


So, this chapter ended up going a good bit longer than I expected it to do. It doesn't help that I ended up dumping the original version of this chapter as well. I'll probably upload that to Scraps at some point this week. Not too sure I like how I characterized Rin here. Sakura was a good bit too quiet too, but she wasn't meant to be a focus in any regard either, so I'd like to think that gets a pass.

But yeah, there are more than a few things likely to get changed should I change this into a full-sized fic. Taylor's having Mystic Eyes is the first thing likely to get axed. It just seemed like a fun idea to have Taylor's glasses be Mystic Eye Killers instead of actual eyeglasses. Another is both Taylor's element and pre-Ruby fighting style. Might just be me wanting to do a bit of merging of a Melee fighting style and Cagliostro (from GBF) to make something work. The Avatar stuff was mostly just an excuse for something Taylor could have seen.

In other news, I might have slightly lied about saying I've finalized my cast of characters. In short, I had realized I might be leaning in too heavily from a single Fate Entry, so I'm still floating a few ideas around there, but it largely just boils down to Saber and Lancer getting changed around.

Anyway, discussion makes OP happy and all that jazz. Chapter 3 will either take place between 1 and 2, or touch upon other plot ideas I might want to tackle in the full fic. Not 100% sure yet.
 
Fate/Counter Revival 3
Preface: This takes place long before Chapter 2 would. And would be a few days or weeks after the Scrapped chapter.


Rin stuck the probe into the dirt, pressing further and further down until only the gemstone on top was sticking out of the ground. Rin soon let out a sigh of disappointment when she didn't get the result she wanted out of it. With a bit of a grunt, she started to pull the probe out of the ground, before turning her attention to the location of her current ire. Brockton Bay University.

It was rested on top of a minor, but important, Ley Line. One important enough to be worth surveying. However, two things stopped her from going in for the survey. The first was that it was in the middle of the day, and given the distance between her and her mansion, it wasn't remotely feasible to come here in the middle of the night. Not that she even had a driver's license. And given she was trying to maintain as low of a profile as possible right now, doing as much as she could by the book was important. And with most of the buses not running after midnight, it made any late-night trips difficult.

However, that issue only just exacerbated the real problem: The University had a Bounded Field protecting it. She could tell it was a low-powered one, so it likely operated more like an alarm system alerting its owner to any intruder, but it wasn't any kind of risk she wanted to take. She was already closer to the field than she'd like.

"And what do you think you're doing here?" A firm voice warned her from behind. Rin could sense a spell being built up behind her, no doubt a warning not to move.

This is the part where Rin wishes she brought Emilya or Rider along.

Rin held her hands up, making sure the staff-like probe was on full display. "Just doing a little survey of the Ley Line." She said, giving the staff a light shake. "My apologies if you're the Second Owner. It was hard to find if there was one here."

The woman scoffed, snatching the Mystic Code straight from Rin's hands. There was a brief inspection when the woman let the spell fizzle out. "If you keep your human experimentation to just the gang's, you're free to take it."

Rin released her breath, dropping her hands and turning around. "Rin Toshaka. A Magus from Japan."

"Annette Hebert," she said, holding out her hand. Rin looked at it for a moment before shaking. The foreign magus could tell that Annette was carefully analyzing her. Eventually, Annette released Rin's hand. She then pulled out her phone and pressed a speed dial number. "Hey, Taylor. Yes, it's safe to bring down the wards. I'll be there soon. Love you too." Annette then snapped her phone closed. "We should talk in my office."

Rin sighed, collapsing the Mystic Code to an even smaller size before stuffing it into her pocket. "We should."






"Most Magi would look at you like an alien if they saw you using modern technology like this," Rin said as she sat down, watching Annette place down a recording device and start up her computer. Little Taylor had already left the room, directed to go to the library. Rin could only guess what the child was going to do there, but it was ultimately unimportant compared to the situation in front of her.

"Good," Annette said. "Now then, what's a Magus like you doing here in Brockton Bay?"

"That's rather complicated, but are you familiar with the 2nd Magic?" Rin followed up. She figured any play at deception right now would do more harm than good.

"The operation of parallel worlds? I know of it, but it's been long lost." Annette said.

"Lost? That would explain a few things." Rin said, stroking her chin.

"I do get what you're coming from. You had some incident experimenting with the 2nd in some capacity and ended up here." Annette then started logging into her computer.

"No," Rin said. "On my world, Kishur Zelretch Schweinorg, the founder of the Second Magic and Master of the Kaleidoscope, still lives."

"Still lives? What year was it for you?"

"2004."

"2004? He should have been long dead, but…"

"He found a way to extend his life."

Annette sighed. "True Magic is bullshit." She typed a bit more on her computer.

"That sounds like some kind of a joke," Rin admitted.

"It's related to the Parahuman culture here," Annette explained. "Am I right to assume there were no Parahumans on your Earth?"

"Correct."

Annette let out a hum in acknowledgment as she typed away on her computer. "Back to the main question: Why are you here? You're not here by some kind of accident."

Rin mulled over how to answer that question. Eventually, she decided to take a gamble. "My group is tasked with uncovering the reason behind the suppression of the local Counter Force."

The typing stopped as Annette processed what she was told. "Would you be restoring the Counter Force?"

"It's something I'd consider doing if possible. However, me and my group are still settling in. Any leads you have would give us somewhere to start, however." Rin offered, finding an opportunity.

Annette glanced towards the clock. "I don't know much more than what the average Magi knows, as few of us as there are now."

Rin wasn't surprised by Annette's choice of words. While Magecraft was a dying art in her world, there was still plenty of life in it. Here tough? There was no Clocktower to provide some form of unity anymore.

"Was the British Museum Bombing really that bad?"

"It was brutal," Annette said, leaning back in her chair in thought, looking at the ceiling. Rin kept quiet as she let the woman in front of her gather her thoughts. "Brutal enough to effectively be a decapitation strike."

"Decapitation? Really?" Rin was skeptical but deferred to the local magus.

"That's right, you probably don't know," Annette said, leaning forward, arms now resting on the desk. "I probably need to paint a timeline for you. First, I know that some Magi had taken notice of the influence of the Counter Force weakening before I was born. It was a topic of discussion, but ultimately it went nowhere."

"That far back? Do you know how they discovered it?" Rin said, mentally running through some testing methods.

"No idea. Ultimately, the Association decided not to act on it. Especially since no Divine Spirits returned."

"That sounds…" Rin wasn't sure what to think of it.

"As far as I know, the issue kept getting thrown around as being someone else's problem," Annette explained.

"But why would-" Rin's eyes shot wide open. "Without someone like Zelretch to force the issue, they decided to just ignore the issue since it ultimately had no impact on their studies."

"I'll assume you're correct," Annette stated, shrugging. "It was before I was born anyway. What I do know is that the issue got brought up again once the Golden Man, Scion, appeared. However, he proved to be much too… public to deal with through normal means."

"And when Parahumans started appearing shortly after, you started using them as a proxy?" Rin figured.

"Not me specifically, but the other Magi did. However, I don't know anything about their findings."

Rin hummed in thought. "But what does all that have to do with the British Museum Bombing?"

"Likely everything," Annette explained. "See, the bombings happened a month after Parahumans went public. Even back in 1987, there were simply too many for the Clocktower and Church to keep them under wraps."

Rin's eyes widened. "Going public must have sent the Clocktower into a panic."

"Exactly. I had already fallen out with my family back then, but the entire magecraft world lit up. They set up a massive meeting on how to address the situation."

"All of their years of inaction caught up with them," Rin muttered.

Annette nodded. "And with the promise of so many families sharing all of their research on Parahumans…"

"Everyone ran to the meeting like moths to a lamp."

Annette nodded. "I don't know what happened at the meeting beyond the massive explosion that vaporized both the museum and the surrounding buildings."

Rin leaned back in her chair as she digested what she had just been told. A decapitation strike was definitely the right word to describe what happened. There was no way the Magic Association could survive such a strike. "How many?"

Annette shook her head. "I don't know, but chances are, if they had a Crest, they were there."

Rin stayed silent for several long minutes. "I see." She eventually said. "I… I suppose I owe you a favor."

"Then I have something I'd want in return. Knowledge of knowledge" Annette said.

Rin's eyes narrowed. "What would you want?"

"Can your group mentor my daughter in Magecraft? I'll even sweeten the deal and put you into contact with the few people that could help."

Rin saw this request in several different ways. The most obvious was to use her daughter to keep an eye on her. However…. "Before I accept that, I'd need to talk that over with my group."

Annette relaxed slightly. "Very well."

"However," Rin saw an opportunity to press into something that had been nagging at her in the back of her mind. "You seem to trust me far too much."

Annette blinked a few times, before chastising herself with a shake of her head. She then pulled up the same hand she used to shake Rin's hand. On it was a marriage ring. "This mystic code lets me know a lot about a person. Like their moral compass."

Rin stared at it, quickly figuring out what had happened before letting out a light chuckle. "Of course."

"Now then," Annette grabbed a piece of scrap paper and started writing on it before handing it to Rin. "That's my personal number. Contact me when you've made your decision."

"Uh, right," Rin said, taking the phone number before pocketing it.

"For now, I'll take you to the best place to get your Ley Line readings then show you out."


Nice to finally have this out. I wanted to get something out last week, but the muse decided to take a surprise trip to NSFW land. Ultimately, I ended up typing most of the 2nd half of this snip on my phone bored at work. Overall, I've got 2 more little bits for this I want to do before I either call it quits with this little series or convert the idea into a fic that'll die an ignorant death after a few months. That said, I'm not too sure I can make them a good length, but we'll see when it happens. That said, if anyone has a good Servant sheet for Caster Morgan le Fay, do let me know.

On a separate note, I was playing some Fate CCC (before hitting the Passionlip wall with Caster) and Extilla and it kinda wants me to do something with the Mooncell. Not too sure what exactly. My first thought goes to a global Grail War on Earth Bet for the Regalia, but I'm more than open to thoughts.

Also, have a link to my Discord.
 
Fate/Counter Revival 4
Taylor fiddled with the lockbox that Rin had given her. Her Magecraft teacher was out of the country working on a long-term project, leaving Taylor both the mansion to house-sit and the lockbox in her hand as a form of homework.

Overall, the assignment was simple. Open up the lockbox with as little prana as possible. Once opened, any of the goodies inside were Taylor's to keep. However, apply too much Prana, and the box was set to destroy what was inside.

The difficulty was in execution. Taylor was accustomed to brute forcing her way through most of her Mysteries. Be it her Rock Armor, the walls she throws up to separate or entrap her opponents, or even dealing with Hypnosis. Her 50 circuits were often more than enough to help her overcome most of her shortcomings in finesse.

Taylor squinted her eyebrows as she poured a bit more Prana into the lockbox, carefully manipulating the lock. She could feel the amount of prana starting to brush against a limit, but she could also feel herself getting closer and closer to getting something to give way.

And right as she was about to pull back her prana, her phone started ringing! The surprise noise from such an intense degree of focus caused Taylor to dump Prana directly into the lockbox! However, instead of destroying its contents, the box swung wide open! Out flew 7 golden cards. Taylor could hardly make out any of their details as they all scattered about, catching a glimpse of one or two of them phasing through a wall.

By the time all the action stopped, all that was left in the box was a pink and gold wand with a wand in the center and unease in her heart. Taylor's phone rang again, distracting Taylor again as looked at it before answering. "Hey, Emilya."

"Hello, Taylor. Just checking in before we get on our flight. We didn't forget to tell you anything, right? I know this is your first time housesitting for us," the pink-haired girl said over the phone.

"Uh, doesn't look like it," Taylor said, gently closing the lockbox. It didn't seem to lock back up thankfully.

"Good. Remember that there are some leftovers in the fridge. It won't stay good the entire time we're gone, but it'll be good in a pinch."

"I know," Taylor said.

"Any luck with the lockbox yet?" Emilya said, causing Taylor to straighten up.

"Uh, a bit of luck I think. I'm still working on it" Taylor lied through her teeth.

"Good, I'd hate to see you miss out on what's inside. We all worked hard on it." Taylor heard some background noise on Emilya's end. "Okay, that's our flight, I've gotta go."

"Have a good trip!" Taylor said with a smile.

"And have fun sitting the house, bye." Emilya hung up moments before a loud digital-sounding yawn echoed out as the lockbox was suddenly swung open. The wand from before started to float out.

"Mmm, Sorry master. I know I shouldn't be asleep when you open up the box, but there's nothing to do in there." The wand somehow made an expression akin to wiping the sleep out of its eyes. It didn't even appear to be as remotely bendable as it was making itself move!

"Uh, you are…?" Taylor asked, carefully approaching the wand.

"Hmm, Oh! That's right, you're my new master! Rin hadn't told you about me, did she?" The wand seemed to puff up. "I am the great and powerful Kalidostick Ruby! Created by the master of the 2nd True Magic, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg! Guardian and wielder of the 7 Class Cards!" Ruby then looked around, before seeming to take a peak into the lockbox it had come out of. "Uh, speaking of, where are the Class Cards?"

"The, uh, Class cards?" Taylor said, having a sneaking suspicion, dread slowly filling her form.

"Yes, the 7 Class cards. Golden Cards holding the Heroic Spirit of 7 legends throughout history. Those 7 Class Cards."

"Uh, yeah… About that…" Taylor glanced sideways, trying not to look at Ruby.

"...You don't have them, do you?" Ruby deadpanned.

"I mean, uh, they kinda just… flew out when I opened the box," Taylor explained.

"They… fley out? Wait, so we have an actual Magical Girl arc ready to go?" Ruby said almost excited.

"Huh?"

"Simple! We form a Contract and we hunt down the cards!"

"Wait wait wait, didn't you already call me your Master? Why would-"

"Minor details!" Ruby said, interrupting Taylor. "You're unofficially my Master until we make that Contract and you officially become my Master!"

"Hold up! Shouldn't you be worried about-"

"I am as worried as I need to be! I just need to guilt trip you into finishing the contract." Ruby said.

"Wait, guilt trip?"

"Yep! You're the one who opened up the box and let the cards fly out! It's your responsibility to get them!" Ruby said. Taylor groaned. She already knew she couldn't let the PRT chase after them. And letting just random Mystic Codes float about can easily spell disaster, especially if the PRT's advice on random Tinkertech was to be believed.

"You know, you typically don't need to say that part out loud," Taylor muttered. Still, it was her fault that the cards broke out like they did. And she didn't want to let Rin know this happened either. She took several more seconds to try to convince herself against agreeing but only came up with more reasons to agree. "Okay, what exactly does this Contract entail?"

"Simple! You become a magical girl and fight in the name of justice!" Taylor stared at the wand some more.

"...Contracts are never that simple." She said, starting to glare more and more at the wand.

"Ehh, it's all semantics. Do you want to get those cards or let poor, innocent people get hurt!" Ruby said, holding out its stick part for Taylor to grab.

Taylor felt one of her eyes twitch, her hand gripping and unwrapping itself. Now it was going through with its plan to guilt trip her, and Taylor knew she didn't have a good counter for it. "Fine, by the moment we get the cards, we're going over that damn contract again," Taylor said, grabbing the stick.

"Fine fine, now I'll just need a little bit of blood."

"Wait bloo- oww!" Taylor said, feeling a prick through her hand.

"Contract established! Beginning transformation sequence!"

"Wait wait wait!" Taylor's pleas went unanswered as her clothes dematerialized around her and her body was enveloped in a bright light. Then, one by one, new pieces of clothing started appearing, starting with a series of Maroon-colored sleeves, then a similarly colored dress. An array of white and light green frills soon followed, ending with Taylor's hair getting put into a high ponytail.

All told the entire sequence played out in about 30 seconds.

"Gah! Did we need to do that right away?" Taylor said, having only briefly looked at herself before turning her attention to the wand in her hand.

"Yep! I needed to get a good look at your outfit!" Ruby said, "Hmm, Could have done with a gem in the chest now that I think about it. Eh, we'll fix it later."

"Shouldn't we focus on function over form?" Taylor quickly tried to argue. "I mean, I don't have any protection!"

"That's what the barriers are for. All magical girls have barriers to protect them."

Taylor wasn't so easily convinced, but at this point was figuring it was easier to just go with the flow. "Okay, can we at least start hunting down the Class Cards then?"

"You bet! I think there's one in… That way!" Ruby said, practically dragging Taylor away.






"Have a good trip!" Taylor said over the phone

"And have fun sitting the house, bye." Emilya followed up, closing the phone with a sigh. "You know how much I don't like this." She then said, glancing towards Rin as she turned off the phone to begin boarding.

"I know," Rin said with a sigh, stepping on the boarding path. "I don't particularly like it either, but it was the best plan Zelretch and I came up with. And with everything lining up how it is…"

Emilya echoed Rin's sigh. "I know," the pinkhead said with a light groan. Important windows for their investigation were opening as quickly as they were closing. An investigation that's been hammered with delay after delay. Not just from setting into a new world, but from simply finding any sort of credible lead. Annette, rest her soul, had helped them get their feet steady on the ground and reach out to her old contacts, but didn't want to get involved beyond that.

And given what Rin found out about anyone who dug deep enough, she didn't blame the college professor.

"That makes it all the more important that Taylor's capable of defending herself. So many points of no return are approaching. Not just for us, but for the world as a whole." Rin reminded Emilya.

And Emilya knew why. She knew that they were going to be poking the boogyman soon. And Taylor was someone liable to get caught in the crossfire. "I just hope our training holds up." Emilya eventually said as they boarded the plane.

Rin smiled. "It should. Come, Sakura should have saved our seats."

Not too sure how much I like this little chapter. Overall, it's fine. Ruby was a treat to write, even if I don't think I particularly nailed her personality. That said, I haven't read or watched Prisma and Chloe makes it a slippery slope I'm weary to go down.

But yes, a chapter akin to this would likely be one of a few options for an opening chapter to a proper version of this fic. I do have one more idea for a scene in this series, but I do have other ideas I want to write, and said scene likely wouldn't be too long anyway. If I do write it, I might put it into side stories.

As for the chapter itself, we have a Magical Girl plot underway! 7 Dangerous Card MacGuffin's have been scattered across the Bay! And Taylor is the only one remotely qualified to retrieve them. I did want to try to have Taylor put herself on a 1-month long time limit since that's how long the Stay Night crew would be away for, but couldn't get it to play out. Also wanted to do a bit where Taylor panics more heavily, but Ruby just ended up being her own little storm.

In other news, I did some more research into some servants and realized that Nobu is far more bullshit than I initially gave her credit for, but that's for another time. For now, I'ma go to sleep.
 
Global Grail War 1 (Worm X Fate)
I dropped my bag as I just ran full bore down the hall. A glance behind showed the pink-haired girl effortlessly striding over my bag as she got closer and closer. Then, she suddenly blurred from my vision and suddenly appeared in front of me.

I tried to stop, only to find myself skidding on the floor! Did they wax the damn floor over the vacation? I skid into her large, white, furry cloak. With a smug grin, she lifted me up by the throat and pressed me against the wall. "It's a shame you rejected my Master's gracious gift."

What the fuck was she talking about, the locker? I grabbed onto the woman's fingers, trying to peel them off of my throat.

"Aww, you're trying to free yourself?" The woman said, her grip holding me up like steel. "Go ahead and keep trying," She then squeezed a bit tighter, before leaning in with a breathy voice. "I love it when people play hard to get~"

It was getting harder and harder to breathe under this tighter grip as I started to kick back at her. However, much like with her fingers, every time I kicked her, it felt like kicking hard steal. Nothing I seemed to do even phased this woman!

Eventually, though, she decided to drop me. The drop caught me off guard as I failed to get any footing and instead slid onto my ass. I leaned forward as I coughed up a storm, desperately trying to regain my breath, only to find myself getting pinned against the wall once again. This time by the woman's boot.

"Hmm, you are putting up a decent fight for what you are I suppose. No Cú Chulainn, but you're not a warrior, so I suppose I'll give you a passing grade." The woman said as something suddenly lifted my chin to look at her. Here, I get to see the woman in what was close to her full glory. Her large white, furry cloak opened to reveal what I think was some kind of a leotard and a skirt. She was using some kind of a stiff whip thing. "Hmm, I bet with the right training, you would have made for a fine warrior. I think I know what my Master sees in you."

Who was this Master this woman was referring to? The sudden application of pressure to my chest, however, stopped me from pressing further into it as I let out a cry of pain.

"Hmm, my Master did say not to do any lasting damage, so I shouldn't break or crack any ribs." the woman said as she stopped applying more pressure. "Still, you do deserve some more punishment." She said, putting a finger to her cheek as she looked up a bit.

With her focus elsewhere, I tried grabbing onto her furry boot in a desperate attempt to unbalance her. However, much like the rest of her body, it was held there like pure steel.

"I know! I'll-" The woman said as she was suddenly cut off by a bright light coming from the back of my left hand. A searing pain came from the exact same spot as I let out one more cry of pain. "I'm not doing that." She said as her eyes widened open.

Then just as the light on the back of my hand faded, another light lit up to my right, wind kicking as a magic-like circle appeared! A young, black-haired woman then started to materialize out of that circle, dressed in a black uniform with golden decorations, a katana at her side, and a red cape that fluttered in the wind. As she finished materializing, a demonic aura started to blast out from her, almost warping her appearance into a demon.

"Shit!" The pink-haired woman said in a panic as she narrowly dodged a series of sword slashes from the newcomer. "And a Saber too?" She seemed to curse between her teeth.

The black demon only seemed to press her advantage harder as the pink-haired woman somehow used her whip to defend herself. I used the opportunity to finally get away, gripping my chest as I slowly stumbled away. I could finally take a chance to look at my surroundings, only to see everyone in the classroom just peeking through the windows.

Bastards. Even when that bitch was visibly torturing me in the middle of the hallway, they didn't do anything. I felt my free hand grip in rage as I just tried to get to my bag, the sounds of the fight raging behind me for a while longer before a lull suddenly rang out.

"Tch, of course, she had to summon a Saber." I heard the pink one's panic and anger echoing in her voice.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure of that? I could be a Rider, or a Caster, or even a Berserker."

"I'm a Rider. I doubt the Mooncell would drop two Riders so close to each other." The woman rebuked. "You're not casting any magic, so you're clearly not a Caster. And you're far too sane to be a Berserker."

"Tch, I guess you've got me figured out." The black-haired woman said in a bit of anger before suddenly closing in on her again.

Before the swordswoman could close the gap, a decorated and lightly armored bull suddenly appeared, filling the hall with its presence, and started charging down the hall, ripping into the wall! "That said, my Master decided to call me back. Ta ta~" She said, leaping down the corner of the hallway.

The black-haired woman let out a loud cry as she was slammed into by the boar, sending her flying down the hall. After launching the black-haired woman away, the boar skidded to a halt, mere inches from my face. It let out a huff before vanishing just as quickly as it appeared.

I let out a deep sigh of relief as I rested against a wall, slumping down to the ground. Thank god it was all over. The lady in black started to approach me from down the hall, no longer carrying that oppressive aura about her. "Well, Master. Introductions would normally be in order, but we should probably save it for where there aren't any peeping eyes."

"Master?" I said. The pink-haired woman used that term repeatedly, and so was this woman now aswell.

"I am a Servant and you are my Master. We can go into details after introductions." She said, bending over and helping me on my feet. "We should get you home first and foremost." I then lean onto her, one arm around he neck as she starts to guide me.

"Not a hospital?" I asked.

"Nope, Home. Too many prying eyes at a hospital. Besides, most of your injuries appear to be around your chest. You should be able to shake it off in a few days." She then began to guide me to a set of stairs.

"Wait," I said, pushing off of her. "My bag," I said, pointing towards the said bag. She glanced towards it before letting out a light chuckle.

"Yes, Master."






Class: Saber?
True Name: ???
Master: Taylor Hebert

Parameters:
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Mana: B
Luck: B
NP: ???

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Independent Action: B

Personal Skills:
Strategy: B
Unifying the Nation by Force - Innovation: A
Demon King: A

Noble Phantasms:
???



Class: Rider
True Name: ???
Master: ???

Parameters
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: EX
NP: ???

Class Skills:
Riding: A
Magic Resistance: B

Personal Skills:
???

Noble Phantasms:
???

Keywords:
Cú Chulainn: Ireland's child of light and faithful guard dog. Considered by many to be Ireland's Heracles. Rider seems to view Cú as a sort of target.

Well, I'm surprised to have this out so quickly. Still, I've half been wanting to take another shot at a Grail War fic, so here we are. I've got plenty of ideas for where I could go with this. Many of them I've discussed over on my Discord Server.

I'm sure you already know who the Servants in question here are, which really just begs the question: Who's Rider's Master? And what's this talk about being 'a' Rider, or 'a' Saber about? Well, I'm sure the title almost gives it away, but I'm sure it'll be revealed in a follow-up chapter soonish.

Still, consider this little snip subseries a good way for me to practice a bunch of action scenes. Something I know I need to work on. On a separate note, I'm getting close to the end of my... first playthrough of Samurai Remnant and Iori just revealed his own trump card, which was a treat. Once I'm done with that, I'll have 2 more playthroughs for the other endings. Fun. Might just do some Extilla between playthroughs, not sure. Depends on how NG+ works.
 
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Global Grail War 2
I opened up the door and asked my Servant to just dump my bag wherever. It was still packed with all of my heavy text books and I didn't want to deal with that for now. My Servant was kind enough to do just that, throwing my bag to the side. I took off my coat, resting it on a nearby hanger before just dumping my body on the sofa.

"Okay, so, introductions," I grumbled, finally getting to learn the identity of my mysterious savior. "I am Taylor Hebert."

"And you can call me Archer, though in public, at least for a while, call me Saber." My savior said.

"Uh, why?" I asked. As I said that, the TV Suddenly turned on, On it was a white noise background and an icon of a 5 petal flower spinning with the word 'Now Hacking' under it.

"Perfect timing. I guess that means everyone's been summoned then." Archer said as she looked at the TV aswell.

Soon, 'Now Hacking' was replaced with 'Hacking Complete' which then disappeared, and the words BB Channel appeared on the screen!

Then, some very fake-looking newsroom appeared with a rather endowed lady with ankle-length purple hair and a red ribbon on its side standing at its center. Her white shirt offset the rest of her black outfit which I could best describe as something you'd expect from a female vampire. "Welcome to the first edition of the BB Channel citizens of Earth Bet! I am your wonderful host, BB. I'm streaming live to almost all 6,811,597,272 humans around the globe in your native language! That's a good 431,709,207 short of what that number should be. For shame, you humans need to do some more breeding! You're 5 years behind schedule!" She pulled out a baton of some sort, repeatedly taping it in the palms of her hand like some old school teacher about to beat a student.

"Is this seriously who the Moon Cell put in charge?" Archer said. I could practically see her eye twitch at what BB was saying.

"Though, I suppose that's to be expected when Aliens begin a covert invasion of a world, and you've got a group of idiots with too much power more than willing to help. Sadly, I'm still on probation, so the adorable BB can't go down and personally punish those morons," the latter half was filled with more malice. "However, I'm sure I'll be able to send some of my Sakura Five after them later on~"

BB then began to circle her office a bit as I processed what was happening in front of me. "What the fuck is going on?" I asked Archer.

"Just watch," Archer instructed.

"However, I didn't steal all of your soap operas and fake court shows just to tell you about my gripes about a group of stupid humans. Nope! I'm here to announce to the world the beginning of the Grand- Nope, not allowed to use the word Grand, the Global Grail War! Brought to you by the Moon Cell!" A little picture appeared much like a news anchor would have one, this time showing a weird cube with a cube appearing underwater.

"Now, most Grail Wars are kept a precious little secret from the general public. Though, given that the last one happened in 1970 and led to the end of most Magecraft, the reward here is a biiiiit different."

The picture of the moon cell transitioned to that of a ring. "The Moon Cell Regalia." It was a surprisingly simple ring. A simple silver band with a blue crystal. However, that simplicity made it appear more beautiful. "The Regalia is much like a crown or scepter for a kingdom. It makes you its monarch. Naturally, that would make you ruler of the Moon Cell! Access to all but the Moon Cell's dark, corrupted sectors! Oh, and it's core."

BB then leaned forward with a playful little smirk. "Of course, why would little ol' you want to be the ruler of the Moon Cell? After all, it's just a supercomputer on the moon. That sounds like diving deep into politics for no real reason. Well, for one, the Moon Cell is quite powerful! Capable of summoning hundreds of Servants. While some of you have already had a glimpse at your Servant's capabilities, I think you should see what a Servant is truly capable of."

The news box then changed to a picture of The Simurgh in orbit. "I'm borrowing this little camera from Dragon. She's been observing this particular thorn in your sides for a while." The camera then seemed to zoom in closer. BB then seemed to frown, turning to look at the picture, and squinted her eyes. "Hmm, that video quality won't do at all! Not even in 4K." The slightly blurry picture then suddenly sharpened, me the best view of the Simurgh I never wanted.






A blocky, blue plane began to form under the Simuragh. The Endbringer began to uncurl itself from its feathery ball and look around. While its facial expression was utterly neutral, anyone who had seen how the Simurgh had acted in the past could tell its movements were in confusion.

Then on the platform, a blond lady with both a bob cut hair and a long braid that reached down to her legs began to materialize. She was lightly armored, holding a pike-tipped flag that flapped in the non-existent winds of space. "So, you are the Simurgh, the false angel." She said, looking at the endbringer before her before briefly closing her eyes, holding her free hand up to her chest. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."[1]​ She opened her eyes, now glaring at the Endbringer, the Endbringer looking back. "I am Jeanne d'Arc, and you shall fall like the false prophet you all!"

It was barely a fraction of a second between Jeanne's declaration and her charging down the angel! And as quick as her declaration was, she was above the Simurgh, its emotionless face somehow showing surprise as Jeanne kicked the angel, the impact slamming into the angel causing the entire platform to shake as Jeanne lept off Simurgh's face.

She turned around with a slide, making sure to keep her eyes on her target as she lunged at the angel, making several swings at the angel, each one cutting straight into one of her wings. The Simurgh let out a loud cry as if trying to sing like it normally does whenever it descends. Jeanne simply scoffed, her numerous resistances rendering her immune to the angel's corruption. After a few more swings of her flag, the first wing of the Simurgh's 6 wings had been cut off.

Jeanne quickly glanced towards it. "Not there," she muttered, returning her attention to the Simurgh, just in time to see it swinging its hand down. However, Jeanne effortlessly parried it away with her flag pole, leaving another large gash in its wrist! Jeanne continued to press her advantage, slicing off another one of the Simurgh's wings.

As the 2nd wing came off, Jeanne appeared to have a revelation. "It's not in your wing." She said, looking directly at where its heart would be if it were a human. "Very well, I'll end this quickly then." She then leaped back up in the air again. However, when she slammed into the Simurgh this time, several things happened all at once.

First, Jeanne's flagpole, with its flag wrapped around it, dug deep into Endbringer. Second, the Simurgh's song turned into a singular Eldrich cry that would have shattered windows had there been any. Lastly, the entire platform the fight had been taking on shattered, sending the two of them plummeting down toward the earth.

Jeanne repositioned herself on the Simurgh such that the Endbringer was little more than a heatshield for her plummeting down towards the earth's surface. As they fell, Jeanne dug her spear deeper and deeper into the Endbringer's chest. However, the endbringer didn't offer any further reaction.

Eventually, she crashed down on the surface, landing in the middle of an empty forest, the impact created a powerful, fireless explosion. Then, when the dust began to settle, a crater could be seen, with Jeanne walking out of it.






"Bravo! Good show!" BB said, clapping as she took back control of her show. I was left flabbergasted at what I just saw. Did… Did one person just come along and kill the Simurgh? And… She just ripped the Simurgh apart like it was nothing. I glanced toward Archer, who had a smug grin on her face as she kept her arms folded.

"Now that you know what a Servant is capable of, you might have noticed how Jeanne announced herself," BB then iterated before giggling. "That's because every Servant that can be summoned is normally ​a historic figure!" Why did she almost whisper normally there? "From Joan of Arc to King Arthur and everywhere in between. And you're not just limited to warriors either. I'm sure Shakespeare is down there, writing… something," BB waved one of her hands in a show of disinterest.

"When summoned, their legends and perceptions shape how they appear. Napoleon could get summoned as a 3-foot-tall midget despite really being average height for his time." BB further explained. "However, just as likely as their known history can affect them, so too can the unknown parts of their story affect them." BB then stood straight, adjusting her glasses before putting her hands on her hips. Wait, when did she put on glasses? "So even if you somehow have a photograph of someone, don't expect them to look like that at all."

"However more important than their looks are their Classes." A board appeared behind BB as the purple-haired girl unfolded a collapsable rod. On the board was a series of old-style-looking pictures. "They can be put into one of Seven classes. Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker." She tapped each of the pictures as she mentioned them. "I won't go into details over them here, you should get the idea of what classifies as what based on their name, but I will warn you that the rules to qualify as a certain class are more guidelines than hard rules."

BB then flipped over a board, showing the picture of a sword. The first thing that came to mind when I looked at that sword was Excalibur. "More importantly, however, is a servant's Noble Phantasm. Think of them as parts of what truly made someone famous, such as," BB's stick then slapped the sword on the board, "King Authur's Excalibur." Wait, that sword really was Excalibur? "Noble Phantasms can take on multiple forms. While many are weapons, others can be key moments, strategies, or skills of one's legend, like Heracles' 12 Labors, Medusa's eyes, or Archilles' invincibility and heel. While most can be used in a limited capacity without tipping off what it is, if a Servant wants to unleash the true might of their Noble Phantasm, they will need to announce it."

"As you can imagine, keeping a Servant's identity a secret can be key to their success. After all, if you run into Achilles, and you know it's Achilles, well, his heel became famous for a reason" BB warned with an adjustment to her glasses. "As such, keeping your Servant's True Name hidden can often mean not fighting at your best capacity." BB giggled. "Such a tricky balance to maintain~"

"Of course, we can't talk about just the Servants, we need to talk about their Masters too!" The board was flipped again, this time featuring a small version of a girl in a school uniform with long brown hair and brown eyes, along with a picture of BB. Between them was a line that seemed to tie them together. Below the brown-haired girl was the word Master and below BB was the word Servant. "See, a Servant's existence," BB tapped the picture of herself, "is tied to their Master's life," She then tapped the picture of the Master. "Should my wonderful Master die." She then peeled the picture off the master off of the board. Seconds later, the picture of BB pealed itself off. "BB would die aswell!" BB then made a fake sob.

"Thankfully," BB suddenly perked back up putting the picture of her Master back on the board, "Since this war isn't happening within SE.RA.PH, the Servant dying doesn't mean the Master will die either." She tapped her master a few times with her stick. "So if poor little BB ever died, my wonderful little master would get to live!"

"Hmm?" BB then tilted her head as though she heard a question. "What's SE.RA.PH? It's not important right now." BB said, waving her hand dismissively. "BB's introduction to the Global Grail War is already pointlessly long as it is!"

"One more thing to go over. If you Masters could look at the back of your hands." BB paused for a few seconds as I then looked down at the back of my hands. On the back of one of them was a… well, I wasn't too sure how to describe its design other than both extravagant yet simple and broken into 3 clear segments. "Those are Command Seals. All Masters starts with three of them. For every 5 Servants your Servant eliminates, you get one more Command Seal." BB them hummed a bit. "Now, what can Command Seals be used for? Glad you asked. They can be used to give an Absolute Order that the Servant must obey. What does that mean? Well, you can treat them in two separate ways. Chains for a Master to keep their Servant in check, or Boosts to help a Servant win a difficult battle."

"Before we move on, there is one last matter to go over before we move on," BB said, fixing her glasses one last time before flipping the board over once again, this time revealing one more of the Class Icons as before. "See, little BB lied when she said there are Seven classes a Servant can have. In reality, there's an EEighth I hope you can forgive poor little BB." She said, looking downcast as she pouted, rubbing her two fingers together. "Oh? You'll forgive BB if she tells you about that class! Very well!" BB said, perking right back up. "The eighth class is Ruler. They serve as overseers for the conflict and can intervene as needed, ensuring the less hard-coded rules are followed." BB then nodded with a hum. "While BB is acting as a pseudo-overseer, she's on probation and cannot leave the Mooncell. She can send out her wonderful little Sakura Five after anyone who breaks those rules! However, the rest of the overseers for this war will be a Ruler class. They don't have a Master to answer to and instead answer to the Moon Cell directly. Jeanne is one such Ruler. And she won't be the only one either."

"Of course, if overseers are making sure the less hard-coded rules are being followed, what are those rules?" BB then asked, tilting her head and placing a finger on her cheek. "Well, BB's glad you asked!" She then giggled with a grin. "Thankfully, there's only a few rules. First, no unnecessary slaughter. That means no turning your Assassin into a Serial Killer." BB then leaned forward. "However, I said no Unnecessary slaughter. Naturally, Masters are fair game for the killing. But if you're being confronted by a big bad meanie," BB's grin then turned dark and savage, "Then feel free to reduce him to a pile of red goop." So that rule seems to boil down to 'Thou shalt not Murder' instead of 'Thou shalt not Kill.' "In addition, I'm sure you can imagine fights between Servants involving loads of collateral damage. Naturally, you don't need to worry about such collateral." She then let out a hum as she strolled away from her board. "However, keep in mind that many Rulers won't look kindly about using civilians as hostages and view it as breaking the Unnecessary Slaughter rule."

"Next, is a rule not just for the Masters of the Grail War, but also those not chosen." BB then leaned forward and glared at the TV. "No forced alliances. Much like the no Unnecessary Slaughter rule, no threatening a Master or Servant into joining you." She then let out a hum, straightening back up. "I believe you like to use the word 'gang press.'"

BB then did a fake cough into a fist. "Likewise, a non-master cannot pressure a Master into a War-related action, such as forcing them to drop out or otherwise working for them. Trying to circumvent this rule by, let's say making their life unnecessarily difficult, would be met with similar retaliation." BB then smiled. "Or in more normal speak, Masters cannot be punished just for being a Master. There needs to be an actual reason to punish a Master. If you're wondering if your action would count, just text the number on screen~" On screen, the number 1-800- 6666-2355. That was… longer the a normal phone number. "That said, to keep everything simple, we suggest Masters keep their participation a secret where possible."

Well, my cover was probably blown after that pink-haired woman attacked me. I think Archer called her a Rider. Actually, since Archer wants me to call her by her class name, I should refer to that pink-haired girl as Rider.

"That said, those are all the rules involved! Additional rules may be added or modified as the Global Grail War progresses. There are just a few last little things to do. First, a tool for every Master." A blue glow on the sofa grabbed Taylor's attention. There, a light blue smartphone began to materialize. "A special phone for all of the Master! Filled with all sorts of unique functions and, most importantly, a direct line to the Moon Cell." The phone then began to start up. And it started up fast. It already seemed to be set up, only requiring that I set up a password. "With it, you'll be able to keep track of everything that's happened to you during this 700-man worldwide murder death kill!"






Servant Sheet Update! said:
Class: Saber Archer
True Name: ???
Master: Taylor Hebert

Parameters:
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Mana: B
Luck: B
NP: ???

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Independent Action: B

Personal Skills:
Strategy: B
Unifying the Nation by Force - Innovation: A
Demon King: A

Noble Phantasms:
???

New Servant! said:
Class: Ruler
True Name: Jeanne d'Arc
Master: None

Parameters:
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: A
Mana: A
Luck: C
NP: A++

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: EX
True Name Discernment: B
God's Resolution: A

Personal Skills:
Revelation: A
Charisma: C
Saint: B

Noble Phantasms:
Luminosité Eternelle: A
La Pucelle: C/EX

[1]​1 John 4:1

Whoo boy, that was much, much longer then I expected it to be. Still happy that I managed to get this out in only a couple of days. In fact, I think this is the longest single chapter I've ever written. Still, I am very excited to start writing a Grail War. Again. (If you go digging, you might notice an old quest I effectively abandoned involving a Grail War where I was originally going to have Nobu as Taylor's Archer choice, but decided against it and went for EMIYA. Small mistake there that I decided not to repeat here.)

But yep, we have a 700-man battle royale on our hands. I was originally going to go for 128 like what's in the original Fate Extra, but I ultimately decided against it, feeling like it was too small for a war of such a global scale. Naturally, there will be plenty of eliminations that'll never be mentioned. I've been thinking of further Servants for Taylor and Archer to fight. Plenty of which we'd likely love to get beaten into a pulp, and others might be a slight surprise. But yeah, this Grail War is set to take a long time to complete. I'm imagining at least 6 months. This war is set to be a massive marathon.

Ultimately, this snip series has a pretty good chance to actually get converted into a proper fic. I do still want to get to 5 chapters in length, but I've just about hit what I consider the 'It deserves its own thread' milestone of 5k words. Thanks overly long 3k length chapter. Going over things most readers here already know. Ugh, with this done, I'm just going to take a break and relax. Perhaps finish Samurai Remnent or something. I don't need to 100% it on my first run-through. Of 3. After almost 30 hours of playtime.
 
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