Considering I've been writing a lot for Sufficient Velocity in past weeks, I figure I might as well gather everything and put it in one place until I pick something up and run with it enough to make its own thread. One convient place, for all of my stories. Hopefully, I'll be able to add to one or two of them before I vanish.
Feel free to make comments. Who knows: a new insight for you might make for another tale to be told!
Luviagelita Edelfelt smiled as she examined the summoning array before her. While things weren't going according to her plan, they were going well enough that the plan to regain the Third True Magic would continue.
Fifteen years ago, the Fifth Holy Grail War occurred in Fuyuki, and five years ago, the Sixth Holy Grail War occurred as Lord El-Melloi II and her rival Rin Tohsaka tried to stop the Grail from being used as they tried to destroy it.
It was hopelessly corrupt, by an ancient evil that had been summoned in the Third War. If a wish had been made, it would have been twisted in a way to kill as many people as possible. Luviagelita didn't want to think about it being used to reach the Root. But the theory of the Grail was sound.
Speaking with the Matou head before he was killed and the Einzbern head, the latter and Edelfelt gathered what information they could and located a suitable place to perform the ritual. They choose a city in Japan, Mitakihara, because the Clock Tower believed that it was still a backwater country.
Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus Killer. Shirou Emiya, victor of the Fifth Grail War by default. Even Rin Tohsaka, as much as Luviagelita hated to admit it, one of the apprentices of the Wizard Marshall.
Those names should prove that Japan wasn't as backwater as the Clock Tower believed. Not anymore.
Luvia planned on reaching the Root to obtain the Third True Magic with one of those names by her side, jeweled necklace hanging from one of her hands and a vial of blood sneakily taken from the man that had caught the eyes of the entire Tower in the other.
Though he was a bit of an idiot for falling for Tohsaka instead of herself, in Luviagelita's opinion.
The woman was aiming to summon his Heroic Spirit counterpart in the Archer class, one of the six Classes that had been retained. Luviagelita hadn't managed to get all the information she could from the Matou, but she had managed to get the notes on the classes of Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. The ritual was designed for seven Servants, and seven Masters, and if the number of Servants was reduced to six, there would be a Master without a Servant. To patch the hole, the Einzbern head had filled it with the Avenger class. He had intended to fix the mistakes of the original designers of the class, but the Grail that Luvia had helped build activated sooner than expected, and the very first Servant summoned was Avenger.
Now she had to keep an eye out in case the 'Evils of all Mankind' was summoned again on top of winning the war itself.
But luckily for her, she was summoning the strongest Servant. Sure, he may not be the most powerful, but he always had a weapon for the situation; she just needed to keep an eye out for Rule Breaker. And to make it even better, no one would know of his legend yet, so only the Servants had a chance to identify him, a task made all the harder by his many weapons from many other Heroic Spirits.
Luvia glanced around the hotel room, double checking to make sure no one would be walking in during the summoning. The woman had reserved the room, and the two rooms next to it as a safety measure, for the week. Due to the time when the Magus Killer took down an entire hotel to attack one of the other competitors of his own Grail War, Luvia wasn't planning on staying in the hotel for more than a couple of days.
But it would do just fine as a starting point.
She placed the jewel and the blood sample into the circle, and started chanting.
"Bare and silver and iron," she intoned. "Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My great master Shveinorg for the ancestor. A wall for the descending winds. The four gates shall close and come out the crown. Let the three-forked road to the kingdom cycle."
The circle before her was glowing. She was summoning a Servant!
"Enclose. Enclose. Enclose. Enclose. Enclose," she continued, hand raised high. "Five times for each rep-."
At this point, there was an explosion. Not a simple 'boom' that would be occurring next door if someone popped an unusually large balloon, but an explosion of a fireball that rocked the earth, a 'KRACK-OOOOOOOOOOOOOM!' of a building near the docks. Such an explosion caused the girl to lose her balance, falling into the circle with a surprised squeal.
A much softer 'boom' occurred in the hotel, and Luvia heard shouts of confused men and a shout of surprise of someone she had thought left behind.
…And there was the link of Prana connecting her to a Servant in the building.
Groaning, Luvia got up and marched out of her hotel room, opening the door to the hallway and knocking over a little girl munching on some cheese. At the same time, the door across from the hall opened, where Luvia saw a face that she could recognize anywhere, even if the body it belonged to was slightly younger and the hair was gray.
"YOU!" Luvia and the other woman shouted simultaneously upon seeing each other, pointing fingers at each other.
"I never thought you would become a Heroic Spirit, my rival," Luvia stated, lowering her finger. "Tell me, what was it that finally put you on the Throne?"
The other woman sighed. "I'm not," she admitted, defeat in her voice. "Let's get this over with."
With that, Rin Tohsaka stared at her longtime rival, glaring at her. "Servant Caster. I ask of you, are you my Master?"
Archer stood and coughed, trying to regain his senses.
Normally, when he was summoned, he appeared in Rin Tohsaka's home with an explosion, ruining her living room. Normally, the explosion wasn't so big that it blinded and deafened a Heroic Spirit.
If there was an explosion like that in Rin's mansion, she wouldn't have a mansion left, bounded fields or no.
As Archer tried to see again and regain his hearing, information poured into his head. A Holy Grail War, with the goal of killing all six other Heroic Spirits. He was still summoned under the Archer class, his preferred class, so he had his bow instead of just having his Reality Marble throwing swords at his opponents.
Then more information, unexpected information, followed, revealing that the location of the War was a city he had never heard of, Mitakihara. It was also the Seventh Holy Grail War, the first in the city but the Seventh total. Why people were insistent on continuing the bloodbath… There was also shock that one of the classes that was summoned was Avenger, the class that had allowed the summoning of Angra Mainyu which had corrupted the Grail of Fuyuki.
But everything paled in comparison to a single demand that pounded into his head.
Prevent the Witch of Salvation from being born.
Archer groaned as he held his head. One of those missions, as a Beast of Alaya. At least he was being given some control as to how to go about it.
As he silently cursed his E-Rank Luck, he felt a small person pushing against him. He looked down and blinked, his vision clearing as he saw a girl no older than fourteen years, with long black hair and a dirty purple dress, a shield on her arm.
His surprise increased when he felt the tell-tale signs of Prana flowing from her to himself, with three marks on the hand that she was pushing him with.
With a sigh, he picked up his master and fled the rubble of what now appeared what used to be a warehouse near the docks. He'd be able to ask her a few questions about who she was later, if she tried to summon a Heroic Spirit, and if she was his Master. For now, it would be a good idea to avoid the local police and fire department; there was no way that the explosion was missed, and he had to get his Master out of there before the police closed in.
As the inferno blazed at the docks, a woman in a black dress made of feathers stood on the top of the hospital, watching from a distance.
'Thank you for informing me that Caster has been summoned, Nagisa,' the woman telepathically told one of her Servants. 'You are free to return to the shadows when you wish.'
There was silence on the other end of the conversation, but the woman felt the girl return to the shadows.
"Is there any chance of you releasing us?" begged the Incubator in a cage behind the woman. The cage was made of iron, but it was magically enchanted so that the Incubator could not use any magic, not even to use the three flower-like Command Seals on its back.
"No," the woman replied, not even turning her head. "You deserve so much more than this. You will not be released if I have anything to say about it, not before I can acomplish my goals."
"Could you please take away these emotions? Please?" Kyubey begged.
"No," the woman replied, voice falling deeply in memories of hatred. "You deserve so much more..."
"Magic and Hope and Despair. Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My great teachers Velvet and Tohsaka for the ancestors.
A wall for the descending winds. The four barriers shall close and out come the seeds. Let the three stages of Puella Magi cycle."
"Corrupt. Corrupt. Corrupt. Corrupt. Corrupt.
A hundred times for each repetition.
Just collect the enclosed time."
"Grief."
"...I announce.
Your body shall be under my command, my fate shall be determined by your sword.
Follow the call of the Holy Grail. If you would obey this mind and this reason, then answer my call."
"I make an oath here.
I am the one who shall become the bearer of all suffering.
I am the one who shall lay out the evil of the Incubators.
You are Seven Heavens clad in the Three Great Words.
Emerge from the ring of control, guardian of balance…!"
"Saber," Mami shouted, "could you help me with these familars?"
A woman in blue armor with a blue shield appeared next to the Magical Girl, holding up a scimitar. "What kind of hero of justice would I be if I let these monsters roam your school?" she asked.
This was originally created for Renascence: A Homura Quest, run by our friendly mod @Higure. For those who have little interest in the quest, it is a long-running quest where the players try to control Homura as she tries to save everyone, Madoka in particular. Amusingly, the actual Madoka hasn't been met yet in the quest, and its been nearly two years.
This omake was inspired by that quest's Sayaka, who recieved a certain sword that grants her the abilities of the Nasuverse Archer from a shop of equal exchange instead of making a Contract with Kyubey.
In my view for the direction this story, if continued, we would go bat to the start of the day, where Homura is having difficulty tracking down the Incubator that normally baits Sayaka and Madoka into the world of Puella Magi. This is because Avenger has sealed most of Kyubey's powers. It isn't until 'Saber' locates a body and stabs it before leaving it does Homura have any luck. Then Homura is dragged into the Barrier alongside Madoka and Sayaka when she investigates. Homura teams up with Mami and 'Saber', defeating the familiars, and when she prepares to leave when the job is done to do some investigation on 'Saber', Avenger appears and warns that Kyubey is not to be trusted.
The next big thing would be a fight between Lancer and Kyoko, which results in the girl's death. The master of Lancer, Sancraid Phahn, was not pleased with a teenage girl trying to lay claim to the church ruins he decided to use as a base for their operations, and wanted rid of her.
Of course, several of the Servants have agendas. 'Saber' wants Sayaka to contract, and then for 'Saber' to kill her. Avenger wants to prevent contracts, kill Homura, and protect Madoka. Archer and Caster want to find out more about the Witch of Salvation, and kill it.
As to how it turns out at the end... well, let's just say Homura resets the timeline.
The Strongest... At What Cost? (Touhou/Tales of Symphonia)
Marisa: You stole my hat because your friend hasn't been the same since she returned from wherever Yukari sent her, is that it?
Daiyousei: Yes, Marisa! She froze half the lake and hid in that ice cave she made!
Marisa: And you want me to fight her in a Danmaku duel to get some sense knocked into her? So she'll return to normal?
Daiyousei: Yes, Marisa!
Marisa: Eh, I haven't fought her for a few months, so I suppose I'll fight her. I wonder if she's picked up any new spell cards…
Cirno: You are not welcome here. Leave.
Marisa: Your friend stole my hat so I would beat some- are you sure that's Cirno?
Cirno: I am Cirno, the Angel-Fairy. I have faced many trials. I have fought alongside and against angels. I have fought against gods, and won. I have gained power, gained knowledge, and gained wisdom. But in the end, I lost the friends I had made.
Marisa: You've also gotten a creepy form change. And how did you learn all those words? I'd think that they were beyond you.
Cirno: Please, leave.
Marisa: You aren't simple fairy anymore, are you? No matter! I'll beat some sense into you anyway!
Daiyousei: Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…
Cirno: Leave. This is your final warning.
Marisa: I beat you before, and I'll beat you again!
Cirno: So be it. Icy powers…
Marisa: Fire your Danmaku!
Cirno: …Cast your cold upon this flaming soul…
Marisa: Fireball!
Cirno: Rest in peace, sinner!
Daiyousei: It's not Danmaku! Run!
Cirno: ICE JUDGMENT!
Hakurei Shrine
Priestess: We are gathered here today to bid farewell…
Reimu: Marisa should have been able to fight Cirno, even on Lunatic.
Yukari: They fought on Easy, dear.
Reimu: Easy?!? Cirno killed her! What happened?!?
Yukari: I was bored, and I sent Cirno to another world for entertainment. Things didn't go as I had hoped…
This was originally created for The Epic of Cirno! by the missing @Fuuya. For those who want a run-down, everyone's favorite Ice Fairy was sent to the world of Sylvarant to help with the Journey of Regeneration and whatever task that Yukari thought needed doing. Sad to say, but the author disappeared last November, so it is likely that it has become a dead quest...
Rather short, so not too much to say about it. The idea was that during the Journey of Regeneration that Cirno was dropped on, the group slowly lost numbers, until Cirno was the only one left, forcing her to try to complete the Journey in Colette's place, Chosen or not. For better or worse, Yukari intervened before she could claim power from the fourth Seal. Perhaps it would have been more merciful if the Journey had been completed.
Still, I rather miss the quest I made this for... the author has disappeared...
Symphonian Tales of Gensokyo (Introduction) (Touhou/Tales of Symphonia)
The magic which keeps Gensokyo alive is threatened… the boundaries which the Great Boundary Youkai put up are starting to fade, with more and more outsiders wandering in… the magic which allows all of the residents of Gensokyo to engage in Danmaku Duels and go about their lives is draining away from some unknown force…
And Yukari is hibernating, so no asking for help from her.
However, there are rumors of a ritual, one that would bring the magic back to Gensokyo, stronger than ever before. A Chosen to go beyond the known borders of the world to break four seals, granting them the ability to make the mana flow back into Gensokyo instead of away from it.
To go on this journey to break the seals, a group of five is going forth.
Representing the Human Village, Lloyd Irving, a traveling swordsman from beyond Gensokyo, has announced his plans to guide the Gensokyo Chosen on what he calls the 'Journey of Regeneration.' While most agree that his education could use some work, no one seems willing to stop him. A constant loser of Danmaku Duels, he can never get close enough to his opponents in order to hit them with his two swords, but he has proved surprisingly resilient to attacks.
Also coming from the Human Village, Keine Kamishirasawa, a were-hakutaku that normally protects the Village and runs the school for humans there. Originally the hider of the Human Village, due to the magic going away, her primary power of hiding history is also fading, exposing the Village. Believing that humans and youkai should be separated for everyone's safety, she is joining this 'Journey of Regeneration' that one of her students is going on in order restore the boundaries that keep humans outside Gensokyo from discovering the hidden world… and to keep the Youkai in Gensokyo from starting constant raids on the Human Village inside it. She is planning on relaxing her policy of not teaching Youkai for the Journey due to the fact that two of her Youkai companions, including the Chosen, are idiots.
From Youkai Mountain, comes Nazrin, a mouse Youkai. Her training to locate what was lost will allow her to find the seals that the group seeks to break. While lacking in power herself, she knows a few tricks in Danmaku Duels to keep herself in one piece… assuming she doesn't flee from battle at first.
From the Misty Lake, Daiyousei, a friend of the Chosen, is tagging along. The least informed of the world beyond the Misty Lake, let alone Gensokyo, this larger than normal fairy is following to make sure that her friend returns to the Misty Lake when done with the Journey. While needing lessons from Keine to 'smarten up', her constant pranks on those that they meet and pass by will either get some much needed humor… or the group run out of every town they come across.
Finally, also from the Misty Lake, is the Chosen of Gensokyo, Cirno. While at first glance an ice fairy, after a fight with the Ordinary Magician in which she won, rumors are being spread that she isn't a fairy anymore, but rather something more. Regardless of her pushing the boundaries of being a fairy or surpassing them, her attacks of winter's grasp will freeze any enemies in their tracks.
Together, all five will venture forth in an attempt to not only save Gensokyo from losing its magic completely, but also strengthen the failing borders.
Of course, with three idiots in the group, one of which is the Chosen, hope for the group is rather slim… Still, there is the slight hope that they get the job done before Yukari wakes up, and everyone suffers…
Again, this was originally created for The Epic of Cirno! by the missing @Fuuya. For those not willing to look up at the previous note, everyone's favorite Ice Fairy was sent to the world of Sylvarant to help with the Journey of Regeneration and whatever task that Yukari thought needed doing.
In this omake, I wanted to have the Journey of Regeneration take place for the sake of Gensokyo instead of the two worlds it was normally for. I also wanted to avoid using the traditional 'incident solvers'. Finally, I needed someone who knew what was going on, so I added Lloyd from a successful-post Sylvarant Journey of Regeneration. The only odd one out, in my opinion, is Nazrin, though I'm not entirely sure who would replace her. Perhaps the three fairies of light?
Makari Training Grounds is a strange hint corner.
If you would like to beat the game by yourself, or if you would like to keep the characters' images, please be warned.
The door opens to the Matou basement, with worms crawling all over the floor and walls. The clicking sound of insects is a constant sound, though it dims when Shinji looks at the two figures standing in the middle of the floor.
Zouken: Idiot grandson. You are nothing disappointment to the Makiri, even if you were brave enough to try your hand in the Grail War.
Shirou: Ojii-san, you are being too harsh on him. If he hadn't run away, I would have spared him.
Zouken: And face my wrath for being a failure?
Shirou: Well, do you have any advice for him to be less of a failure?
Zouken: Despite being a failure, you are a better magus than my grandson. If you are prevented from entering the Grail War until Shinji is prepared, he might have a chance to defeat you.
Shirou: I received Command Seals the day I summoned Saber. I don't think Shinji could prevent me from becoming a master, but there should be something he can do to delay me from getting involved as an opponent. Perhaps that day?
Zouken: Try to avoid being a disappointment, Shinji. If you allow Saber to be summoned as Emiya did this time, you will find it difficult to win the Grail War. Change the conditions so that he gets involved later and at a larger disadvantage than normally.
Shirou: That's all for the Training Grounds this time.
The door to the Makari Training Grounds closes, silencing the chittering of insects with it.
Day 3:
As Shinji approached Emiya, he scowled, unhappy with some reason that he couldn't recall.
Something was screeching at him in warning.
"Oh, you're still here, Emiya?"
Shinji quickly placed a smile on his face, trying to ignore the piece of him that was shouting in warning.
"You were still here even though you had nothing to do? Oh yeah, you were sticking up for the student council again, right? I envy you. You can get good reports from the school without doing any club activities."
Emiya shrugged in front of him. The two girls behind Shinji, Yuuko and Moriko, stood patiently behind him, but it was a matter of time before they got rowdy.
"I'm not helping the student council," Emiya replied. "It's only natural for a student to fix the school equipment, right? After all, we're the one's using them."
Shinji couldn't help but give a slight chuckle at Emiya's words. "Heh, keep talking like that. For you, everything is natural. Didn't I tell you that I hate how you act like a good kid?"
Emiya gave a look of slight confusion. "Hm? …Sorry, I don't remember that. I thought that was just the sort of thing you say, so I didn't really notice it."
Shinji couldn't stop himself from scowling. "Heh, fine. Then you're going to fix everything at this school?"
Emiya shook his head. "Fixing everything in this school would be impossible," he admitted. "The most I can do is take care of things."
The screeching in Shinji's head approached a crescendo. Suppressing a shudder, Shinji opened his mouth.
Get Shirou to clean the Archery building.
Get Shirou to treat the girls and clean the Archery building yourself.
As the screeching stopped, Shinji spoke.
"You're too good of a kid, Emiya," he stated. "I was going to ask you clean the Archery Club building, but asking you to do that would be too much."
"It would be no trouble for me to help out," Emiya replied.
"Well, good," Shinji stated. "You can still do us a favor. If the Tiger finds out I skipped cleaning, she'd be after me. At the same time, I can't leave these lovely girls on their own. So why don't you take my place with Yuuko and Moriko while I clean the building."
"Shinji," Shirou sighed. "If you want, I'll clean the building for you."
Shinji smiled as the two girls behind him started talking. He just needed to push the right buttons. "No no, I insist," he stated. "Ayako has been complaining that if you were a little more bad and if I were a little more good, she could get us both into the club and then she'd have a monopoly on the hottest guys in the school. Besides, I bet you don't know the first thing about being with a girl, do you?"
Shirou looked blankly at Shinji and the two girls standing behind him. "Err…"
"That seals it," Shinji stated, pulling Emiya forward and pushing him towards Yuuko and Moriko. "Take him in my place, girls. See if you can teach him, and try to convince him to come back to the club sometime."
With a grin, he left a stuttering Shirou and a surprised Yuuko and Moriko. Emiya was the second-hottest guy in the school, only second to Shinji himself. Now, if he would learn how to act around girls, he could be legitimate competition.
That wasn't his only reason to clean the Archery building, though. While he was cleaning the place on his own, he could give Rider freer reign to prepare her Noble Phantasm while everyone else was out. True, he was going to lose out on a scouting opportunity, but there was time before the War started to scout later.
Results:
That night, after Shinji cleaned the archery building, Rider saw Lancer and Archer fighting on the school grounds. While she didn't engage them, she watched from a distance to learn of their capabilities.
Meanwhile, across town, Shirou Emiya, Yuuko Moto, and Moriko Yamada encountered Yukika Saegusa, Kane Himuro, and Kaede Makidera, and the five girls joined together to try to get Shirou to be less dense. They were interrupted when Illya came along seeking to capture Shirou and defeat his Servant. She changed her plans to capture not only Shirou, but also the five girls that were with him.
By the time the sun rose, all six were in maid uniforms (even Shirou) and helping take care of the Einzbern Castle in fear of the black giant.
This comes from Fate: The Bad End Project. It... never got off the ground. If I ever continue this, and take complete personal control, I'll likely make the next Bad End Illya's, directly following from Shinji's choice. The right choice for her would be to leave her mansion to do some 'scouting' of the town, and purchase some french maid uniforms to see how they'd fit on her new servants. The scouting would give her warning of the eighth Servant, and thus know to watch out for him in particular.
A Sword of the Silver Millennium (Nasuverse/Sailor Moon)
There were hundreds of the demons left before him.
The Outer Guardians were all gone. Pluto had fled to the Gates of Time, sending herself and the Gates to a place where no one would be able to reach for a long time. Neptune and Uranus had both been killed in battle in space, their ships unable to withstand sustained assaults. And the last anyone saw of Saturn was when she charged into battle alone against a horde of demons, which was the last anyone saw of that particular horde either.
The Inner Guardians were all still alive, but with a failed assault to free the planet of Mercury, the people of Mars finally falling after they took half the enemy force to be put down, the planet of Venus being emptied and then cursed, and the people of Jupiter being slaughtered by a large number of demons, the Inner Guardians were basically on their last legs.
So was Shirou, but with the swords he kept swinging, he expected it.
Two of the remaining Majors shouted orders, and a hail of lasers flew around Shirou, impacting many demons that were trying to approach the palace. What remained of the Moon's people were taking shelter inside, and Shirou had no intention of letting them be killed.
The Empress was trying one last trick with the weakened Inner Guardians, one that Shirou, as a recently recruited Guardian of the Realm, was not privy to the details for. He had no idea what Empress Serenity was doing, but he was going to hold the line long enough for her to do it, and hopefully keep everyone alive.
As the volley of lasers faded, Shirou charged into the front of the demon horde, tracing her blade. Caliburn, the sword from the Stone of Selection, the Golden Sword of the Victorious. It had been bestowed on him from the memories of Saber back in the Holy Grail War all those years ago.
The blade cut into one demon, before instantly cleaving into another. The other demons that were within sword-reach backed off to avoid getting cut, allowing Shirou to call the sword's name.
"Caliburn!"
The blade came down, crashing into one more demon before unleashing a blast of energy in the direction of the thickest part of the horde, destroying many more demons as Shirou felt his energy begin to fade.
Dismissing the sword, and ignoring the pulling in the back of his mind, he called on Archer's favored scimitars, Kanshou and Bakuya. Charging to the nearest remains of the horde, he swung the two blades again and again, throwing them and keeping to trace ever more copies as the air became filled with steel.
Minutes passed, the pulling in his mind becoming stronger as the swords fell to the ground, landing embedded in various corpses as he pressed onward. His consciousness was starting to fade as he climbed the pile of dead demons, looking down at the remains of the army that had been trying to assault the palace.
The combined efforts of both himself and the army that had been placed with him had devastated the demon army, with only a couple dozen of the demons that had been set to attack the palace remaining.
Looking down as his vision started to fade, he saw where he was standing, on the hill of demon corpses and swords.
OOO
Kiritsugu warily eyed the woman in front of him.
"Why should I help the Magus Killer?" Touko Aozaki asked, leaning against the wall and taking another puff on her cigarette. "The Association and the Einzberns both have a bounty on you, and I'm sure that killing you would get those hunting me to quit for a few years."
"I can pay you," Kiritsugu stated. It was true, since he had access to a few dozen bank accounts filled to the brim with over a dozen different currencies from his days as an assassin. Though it would likely set him back in resources for supplies to save Illya down the line, he needed a new body soon in order to still have that chance.
"I'm not interested in any Yen," Touko replied. "There's not enough currency in the world to be worth it to make a deal with the Magus Killer."
Kiritsugu tiredly slouched forward a little more, watching Touko stand straight as she walked around the counter to speak with someone in the store that had gotten her attention.
Four years. That was how long it had been since he had been forced to destroy the Lesser Grail in Fuyuki and adopted Shirou in atonement. Four years since he had been cast out of the Einzbern, forbidden from reaching the castle and seeing Illya. Four years since he had been cursed so heavily that even a curse-master in Misaki had no clue about how to break it.
Kiritsugu had very little of importance left in his life. He had lost everything of worth to himself, and suffered greatly for it. Shirou was one the one bastion of sanity the elder Emiya had left; if it wasn't for him, Kiritsugu would have thrown himself completely into trying to get past the Enizbern's bounded fields to try to rescue Illya, and likely would have frozen to death.
It was concern for both of his children that he had finally followed up on the curse-specialist's advice and come to the Juuban district of Tokyo to see Touko Aozaki, the puppetmaster. If she could grant him a puppet body, one free of curses, he would be able to live longer to take care of Shirou better and have a better chance with rescuing Illya.
Touko returned to Kiritsugu with a smile on her face. "Red-headed boy, about ten years of age, your heir?" she inquired.
"Adopted son," Kiritsugu clarified.
"I see," Touko replied. "He's going to be a ladykiller when he gets older. Let's head to the back to discuss your matter further."
They walked into an office, where the red-headed woman sat behind the desk.
"Are you looking for work?" Touko asked. "If you are up for it, I am willing to make a body for you if you do something for me."
"What do you want, Aozoki-san?" he inquired.
"If you can kill Aozoki Aoko," Touko stated, "I will not only make you a puppet body, but also teach the basics of my thaumaturgy to your son. Because he's adopted, he can't inherit yours."
"I must refuse," Kiritsugu replied. "I cannot stand against a True Magician and survive."
"Worth a shot," Touko muttered to herself, reaching into one of the drawers on her desk. "If you want a puppet body from me, you will have to do a few favors for me first. Killing Aoko by itself would get you a puppet body, but if that is too risky for your liking, then a few smaller favors may get me in a good enough mood to make one for you."
"Then what are you requesting, Aozoki-san?" the tired man asked.
Touko responded by throwing a magazine onto her desk. "In the past couple of months, Juuban and London have become battlegrounds," Touko replied. "All of Tokyo could be considered a battleground, but Juuban in particular. It wouldn't be much if both sides weren't blatantly using magecraft in public. The participants cover it up by fighting for either a 'Moon Kingdom' or a 'Dark Kingdom', but it is only a matter of time before the Clock Tower sends a few enforcers to put both sides down. With the magecraft displayed by everyone involved, the Clock Tower has likely laid Sealing Designations against them for being Philosophers, and I don't see why they would have any problem making a few detours to also bring in a few Hermits as well."
"How do you want me to get involved?" Kiritsugu inquired, picking up the magazine. On its cover was an illustration of a young girl, a little older than Shirou's current age, posing in what appeared to be a sailor fuku.
"If you are up for it," the puppetmaster explained, "I want you to gather information about what is going on in this little public thaumaturgy war. If possible, I want you to end it. The tabloids have an outsider's overview of what's going on, but if you can find out the truth behind them, the Sailor Sensei's 'Moon Kingdom' and this… Queen Beryl's 'Dark Kingdom', I may be able to barter information with the Association so that they decide to lower your bounty and leave me alone for a few more years."
"And if I actually manage to bring a body in?" Kiritsugu asked, a more tired look appearing in his eyes.
"I'll research it, of course," Touko stated. "I might be able to transfer a degree of their powers onto a new body for one of us, or at least learn enough from their corpses to make at least one improvement on my work."
Closing his eyes, Kiritsugu sighed. "I'll have to think about this," he finally admitted.
He did not want to hurt a little girl. The girl on the cover of the magazine reminded him of Illya. He didn't want to see her die, not by his own hand. But with them publicly using magecraft…
OOO
Luna stood in the wind, claws desperately grasping the 'floor' of the white void she was in to try to avoid being blown away.
But she was not alone in the void.
A red-headed boy, younger than Usagi, stood on his feet looking at the back of a tall man with tanned skin and white hair, wearing black armor and a red cloak. The larger man was looking over his shoulder back at the boy, and an angry woman some distance behind the boy.
"You cannot save everyone," the man stated. "You can only save those you choose to save."
The boy looked at the man, and then started to press forward in the wind.
The woman shouted something unintelligible as the wind intensified, blowing against the direction the bodies of the two males were facing. The man stood there, watching the boy approach him, his gaze seeming to communicate a question.
'Can you keep up with me?'
Holding her mouth tightly closed, Luna sheathed the claws of one paw and lifted it, fighting against the wind as she slowly started to move forward, towards the man in the red cloak. The boy continued to move towards the man, working forward as the wind roared and continued to grow in strength. The boy stumbled a few times, but he never fell down.
When the child got a few meters away from the man, Luna finally realized that the gaze of the man wasn't communicating a question, but an order.
'You keep up with me!'
With renewed determination, Luna picked up the pace of her movements, fighting against the wind more strongly.
As the boy sought to move past the man on his left, a large black bow appeared in the man's hand and was held in the path of the child. The child looked up at the man's face as the man smiled at the boy, nodding.
The child grabbed the bow as it shrank to fit his smaller size. Luna saw two curved swords appear in the man's hands, white and black. Bakuya and Kanshou. Struggling against the wind, the boy put his left hand out as the black sword, Kanshou, appeared in it.
Nodding in approval, the swords of the man disappeared as his feet started to disappear as well. The boy nodded in thanks, the bow disappearing and being replaced by the white sword, Bakuya. With a burst of determination, he charged forward into a white light beyond the man.
Luna saw the legs and lower body of the man disappear as well, the vanishing of his form increasing in speed. With wind increasing, and the woman's angry shouts becoming louder and more intelligible, Luna thought that she might lose herself in the void.
But the boy had overcome the wind.
So would she.
Ignoring the wind, Luna retracted her claws and started to flat out run towards the light where the boy had entered, where the wind was blowing in from. The wind was an illusion, as powerful as the Dark Kingdom's. But she ignored everything about it, in an effort to not only catch up with the boy, but surpass the fading man.
The man's form continued to fade as Luna darted under what was left of his body, paws reaching one step further, ever one step further, as she finally dove into the light.
And finally heard the woman, Alaya, scream out one more word.
"EMIYAAAAAAAA!"
OOO
A Sword of the Silver Millennium: A Sailor Moon/Nasuverse Crossover
After the Fate route, Shirou continues to fight in the world, seeking to save as many people as possible. While hunting a Dead Apostle Ancestor who got out of hand, Shirou runs afoul of a trap that tapped on the Kaleidoscope, sending him to another world where war has broken out in the galaxy, with Queen Metalia on one side and the Moon Kingdom on the other. After a few explosive events, Shirou is recruited by Empress Serenity as a champion who had power only a rank below the Senshi, but even with his Noble Phantasms gathered over the years, it wasn't enough to turn the tide.
So Empress Serenity sends everyone she can to be reincarnated in the future, so that they have a better chance of fighting Metalia then, before sacrificing her life to seal Metalia away.
Cut to four years after the Fourth Holy Grail War, where Kiritsugu Emiya, following the advice of a curse specialist he met, goes to Tokyo with Shirou to meet Touko Aozaki the puppetmaster in the hope that he can get a puppet body so that he has a better chance to rescue Illya. This is the time when the Sailor Senshi are starting to fight the Dark Kingdom. Of course, the Mage's Association is not going to sit back and let this disregard for the masquade take place.
Hoping to earn enough favors from Touko, Kiritsugu starts to rent an apartment in Tokyo and starts to gather information about both the Sailor Senshi and the Dark Kingdom. End result: before the week is out, Jadeite himself chases Kiritsugu down in an attempt to drain the dark energy that Angra Mainyu cursed Kiritsugu with. The Sailor Senshi show up with Luna, Kiritsugu fights back with his gun and what magecraft he has left, and Shirou gets caught in the crossfire trying to protect his father. This results in EMIYA granting him his bow and the married swords to help fight back against Jadeite and the rest of the Dark Kingdom. After the Sailor Senshi manage to get Jadeite on complete defense, Kiritsugu shoots him with an Origin Bullet, allowing Jadeite to be slain.
After pulling everyone out of there, the Senshi take the Emiyas to the park, where Usagi tries (and fails) to purify Kiritsugu. Weakened, Kiritsugu has a few last words with Shirou, and asks the Senshi to take care of him, before Kiritsugu dies.
Beyond that, before the Clock Tower makes an appearance, I'm thinking that Nephrite manages to cross Touko in some way or another (perhaps targetting a customer of hers), causing the puppetmaster to sic... the beast of the suitcase on him, much to everyone's horror.
Then the Clock Tower finally manages to show up, creating a three-way war between the Sailor Senshi, the Moon Kingdom, and the Clock Tower.
This was originally posted in The Crazy Place! The Crack Thread 2: The Re-Crackening, on page 143. However, it was inspired by a Spacebattles (don't have an account there, and not making one) quest: Fall of a Silver Age: Unbroken Steel by Speaker4thesilent. (If one wants to connect this snippet to that quest, feel free, just make sure you give me credit.) While the dice love the players in that quest, here, things didn't work out so well. A lot of failure, with many deaths.
In the end, Shirou holds of a demon swarm while Empress Serenity casts a pair of last ditch spells. First to seal all the demons away to be dealt with in the future, and the second to reincarnate all the Senshi and Guardians when the seal would weaken. This includes Shirou.
Thankfully, in the future, when Shirou goes against Jadeite, the power of reincarnation gets EMIYA to grant him his bow and the married swords. With his own path averted, EMIYA gets out of being a Counter Guardian, much to Alaya's frustration.
Additions to the plot:
The girls and moon cats suddenly have an eleven-year-old orphan boy with magic that wants to help out on their hands. how are they going to explain this to their parents?
Shirou's got magic that does not go along with the Moon Kingdom. Different rules? Oh, why does that puppetmaker want to speak with them?
Endymon's the Prince of Earth? The King of Heroes has a few words to say to stake his claim.
The Dark Kingdom goes into a panic trying to deal with the hornet's nest they unleashed.
The Target (Fate/Stay Night / Assassination Classroom)
Issei Ryuudou performed his morning rituals before heading to school. Get washed, get dressed, say his daily prayers, pack his latest set of ideas for the class assignment, and head over to Shirou Emiya's for breakfast and a class meeting. Two months before, he wouldn't have considered going there near daily, but after the need for a study place away from their teacher developed and word got out about Shirou's and Sakura Matou's cooking, Taiga was kicked out of the household and the entire class quickly started gathering there daily.
Thankfully, with the combined help of a half-dozen other students in Issei's and Shirou's shared class, everyone was comfortably (and, at Shirou's orders, safely) fed every morning, allowing them to discuss various ideas and methods that might be used for their project.
A month before, Issei would not have participated in such a project; his Buddhist teachings ran contrary to the plot. But now, with the clock ticking, he grew accepting of the sin they were trying, and failing, to commit.
Shinji Matou twitched as Issei's eyes fell on him. The decoy Matou heir, for reasons that none of the Matous were willing to disclose, was once again quiet that morning. From what Shinji had claimed, there were a few 'secret family techniques' he was trying to get his grandfather to permit the use of for the project. From the looks of Shinji's face, though, no progress had been made on that front. While Shinji could try to sneak one of those techniques into their plans, according to him, it would bring down his grandfather's wrath, and he'd leave none of the class alive. Despite the lack of techniques being allowed, the teenager was one of their best bow-users, able to fire multiple arrows at once and in rapid succession at the cost of accuracy. But if the target was close and at least twice the size of a human, accuracy wouldn't matter.
Sayaka Koboyashi was the next person Issei looked at. A martial artist since a young age, Sayaka, while not the highest ranking student in her local dojo, was among the most fit for hand-to-hand combat in the class. Theoretically, she could literally tear someone's heart out with her bare hands, but had yet to actually put it to practice; her kind nature was working against her. And even if she was able to put her skill to use on a human, it was questionable whether it would be of use for the project.
Yori 'Aki' Watanabe was the next person at the table. He had taken up cross-dressing in the previous month, to mixed success with the project. While he seemed to prefer wearing girl's clothes, and was quickly becoming a master of disguise as a woman, it was his other primary talent that drew controversy from the rest of the class. Household cleaners, flower extract, insecticides… Yori gathered poisons and worked with them to try to figure out that 'one perfect poison' to complete the project. It wasn't until Yori had started looking around did Issei realize just how many toxins there were in everyday life. The only upside was that Shirou had put his foot down heavily on Yori doing research in his household, in determination to uphold his honor as a cook.
There was also Shirou Emiya himself. The teenager had been known as the 'fake janitor' before the assignment was given for his expertise with the school's mechanical equipment. If Issei had a guess as to how Shirou's skills would have developed beyond a chef, he would have guessed that Shirou would have become a master trap-smith. It was with surprise that Shirou went the other route with how he had been known at school, putting his skill with ranged weapons to use. Somehow, he had gotten a hold of a sniper rifle, and was training with it to replicate his success with the bow. So far, he hadn't missed a shot with it from several buildings away… but despite that, his shots hadn't had an effect for the actual project. Despite the lack of failure for the project, he managed to get the title of 'Magus Killer' for killing someone who had tried to interfere. While Shirou slowly worked on increasing the distance of his shots, he also taught three students about machines.
Issei himself was one of those Shirou taught directly. Having resigned from his position of Student Council President to focus on the project, Issei worked to understand how machines functioned, and in particular how to alter them. He was ashamed to admit it, but Issei was likely the best suited to create traps out of ordinary-looking machines, able to kill those that activated them. With all the equipment that he was destroying, even if the project was a success, Issei doubted he'd be let back onto the Student Council, even if that witch was removed from it at that time. He did manage to kill one of his teachers by accident in an attempt to complete the project, but Misaki had beat into Issei's skull to leave nothing that could be connected to him, not even fingerprints.
Misaki Nakano had been a delinquent in past years, often just showing up to class just often enough to avoid getting failed for absences, though that had started changing when the project had been assigned. While no one knew for certain, it was suspected that the Nakano family had Yakuza connections, and Misaki had skipped in order to perform some task or another for said Yakuza. Despite being near useless for the actual project (she had enough training with a pistol that she could conceivably kill someone she was aiming at, but at fifty-fifty odds), the girl was an expert at minimizing evidence that might point to specific students. With her help, the class could get away with non-permitted murder before the authorities even got involved. She also had connections (when pressed on them, she replied "Ask no questions, and I'll tell no lies") that allowed a steady stream of guns and ammunition that helped supply the class, combined with falsified weapons permits.
Ayako Mitsuzuri was one of Misaki's biggest customers. Having put aside the bow for the project, Ayako had taken up the use of a variety of guns. Pistols, rifles, shotguns, machineguns… if the gun could be carried by a human and was suited for mid to close range, she'd spend some time training with it and trying to use it. While not as accurate as Shirou, she was still one of the best shots with a gun the class had. Save for the project, her targets were often reduced to bullet-ridden shrapnel when she was through with them. There were rumors among the class about her crush on Shirou, and a few members in particular had decided to try to push them together.
Kichirou Ito was one of those leading the Shirou and Ayako 'ship' in the class. While he was one of Shirou's students in machine alterations, and had some small skill with a knife and a pistol, Kichirou's specialization came not from methods to actually kill, but rather gathering information that allowed others to kill more easily. Habits, hobbies, favorite dishes, capabilities… anything that could be used as information about targets, he would try to gather. For the sake of the project, though, his information supply was running rather thin. Kichirou hoped that as months passed, he'd be able to gather more information, and hopefully it would be useful enough.
There were eighteen others in the class, all training to be capable of murder one way or another, and several training to be capable of supporting those capable of killing. Twenty-six killers in the making, sitting around a table, eating breakfast, and calmly discussing ways to try to kill people, tossing ideas back and forth, and shooting various options down.
Ordinarily, they would be considered insane for their discussion, or at the very least locked up in several prisons all across Japan (since putting them all in one would be begging for a jailbreak). But for the class, it was a weekday.
The class, while varied with skills, was united as one. Though their methods differed, they all had one goal, one task, to achieve. They had one project to complete above all else, before their failure caused the world to be destroyed like the moon was.
Their goal: to kill their teacher, Type-Mars: Koro-Sensei.
Fate/Stay Night X Assassination Classroom
Background notes:
Koro-Sensei came from Mars as its Ultimate One, and, bored, decided to make things more interesting by taking ordinary students and try to teach them how to kill him.
Rin Tohsaka is a magus, but is not of the class that is trying to kill Koro-Sensei. Yukika Saegusa, Kane Himuro, and Kaede Makidera are also not in the class of growing assassins.
There are only two students in the class that have connections with the Moonlit World beyond Type-Mars: Shirou and Shinji.
After the stunt Koro-Sensei pulled on the moon, Dead Apostles start coming after him, alongside Magi. While he initially has no clue of the Moonlit World, the repeated attacks start getting his attention, and allow his students to get practice in killing. The students slowly realize something is hidden from the world, but aren't sure what until the Grail War.
Shirou gets a sniper rifle from his connections with the Fujimura Yakuza (of which Misaki Nakano's parents are also members of), which he uses to kill an unaware Magus from quite some distance away. When some magi look deeply at records, they see that A) Kiritsugu had a son, and B) that son is being trained as an assassin like his father. He is granted the title of Magus Killer.
While keeping the Matou secrets secret, Shinji starts to become a better person.
Class generally 'ships' certain pairs, most heavily focusing on Shirou X Ayako. They don't notice Sakura falling to despair.
Rin Tohsaka desperately tries to lay low, hoping that she doesn't get dragged into the mess, or, worse, none of the twenty-eight are dragged into the grail war close to the deadline.
Shirou summons Saber. Shirou gets injured by Berserker. Shirou calls the Classroom. Illya winds up dead and the other masters wind up ducking down to avoid assassination. Saber is not happy that an entire class is following Kiritsugu's methods. Rin Tohsaka starts to panic, Archer is confused and worried.
That's all I got right now. If anyone wants to take a crack or alter this, feel free.
When looking at the list of Types, I saw that there was no physical description of some of them, so I had Koro-Sensei come from Mars.
Additional plotlines:
Moon is blown up, leaving only a cresent floating in the sky. This plays havoc with the ocean, screwing a lot of lives up.
Koro-sensei is very public, due to his location in a public school. Assassination attempts come almost daily, but after the last idiot who tried going through his class to get to him, the classroom is reserved for only the assassins-in-training to make the moves.
Dead Apostles are pissed at Koro-Sensei for destroying their origin, coming at him in droves. Kirei and Gilgemesh like the entertainment that he brings, so they pick off just enough Dead to let the class get some experience with the remainder without risking them getting hurt too badly.
Magi seeking glory, thinking that they can deal with this so-called Type, try to hunt Koro-Sensei and a class that knows to much down. Again, Kirei and Gilgemesh deal with the most troublesome attackers and let the class and the teacher deal with the rest.
There's a lot of students, inside and outside the class. Going through their plotlines could be interesting.
The Church sends Ceil to deal with Koro-Sensei. They fail to kill each other. The classroom gets the Seventh Holy Scripture and a tight-lipped prisoner who simply doesn't die. She knows something about what's behind the odd attacks on Koro-Sensei and everyone, but she isn't talking. Kirei is amused.
Thinking to try to save the world long enough for him to get the Grail and grant his wish, Kirei requests a Black Barrel replica delivered to Fuyuki. He plans to give it to Shirou.
The Grail War is on, and there is this unusually large number of tourists lodging at the temple... And they seem familiar somehow...
Overview: The drama club of Homuhara Gakuen requested ideas for plays, and Yukika Saegusa, Kane Himuro, and Kaede Makidera were all to happy to provide one. Born from a series of dreams Yukika had after reading the latest work of Gen Urobuchi, the three girls wove a tale of conflict between mages and heroes of old, all fighting for a wish on the Holy Grail. Naturally, more students get pulled in to fill all the parts. Still, there are but two complications… a certain Wizard Marshall got interested, and the next Grail War is starting.
"Welcome to the first showing of Fate Zero!" Taiga called out, waving her free hand in the air as she held the microphone to her face. "Brought to you by the drama team of Homuhara Gakuen! Now, if you're not a teenager, this is not a show for children, so please leave the theater now. Otherwise, feel free to stick around and watch!"
There was applause from the hundred or so from the audience, to which Taiga grinned and bowed.
"Don't clap for me, they did all the hard work!" Taiga shouted. "Now, I give the stage to our bard, Issei Ryuudou, or, should I say, Wizard Marshall Zelretch!"
A large man walked onto the stage, with white hair and beard, cloaked in an outfit that clearly belonged to an older time in Europe.
OOO
"Issei, where were you?" Yori asked, turning away from watching the uninvited man walking onto the set.
Issei scowled. "Someone's done some slight sabotage with the props and costumes," he stated. "The cloth, the armor piece, and the snake skin have all replaced with real cloth, armor, and snake skin. And then there was the fact that they've also gone and added a few jewels to Saegusa-san's, Ito-san's, Matou-san's, and Abe-san's costumes."
Yori's eyes widened, his costume as a woman in white making him seem much more afraid. "Aren't those connected to the Velvet, Lagounav, Takahashi, and Maki roles?"
The class president nodded. Issei hadn't fully expected to be roped into the production of Fate Zero, but once he was, he had every intent of playing the roles of the old priest and the bard to their fullest. But now, with someone hijacking one of his roles, Issei wasn't entirely sure the play was such a good idea.
Yori shook his head. "Whatever," he stated. "Go and get our Waver Velvet to the stage. I hope Yukika Saegusa is ready; the show must go on."
As Issei hurried off, Yori turned back to the stage with the old man on it. He wasn't actually hurting anything, so far, and he even seemed to know the lines, but Yori had every intent of escorting him out of the performance if he did anything to go against it.
His Zelretch costume wasn't even very good…
OOO
"Welcome," 'Zelretch' stated, raising his arms above his head momentarily, before lowering them as the lights faded, leaving him in the only spotlight. "We are gathered here tonight to listen to a story. In a world hidden from your own, amoral magi, users of magecraft, research to find a way to the Root of all knowledge. Nearly two centuries ago, three magi families came together to construct the Holy Grail to help achieve that end. While it was not the cup Christ drunk from, its power was said to be able to grant any single wish, including a way to the Root. To determine who would be worthy to receive it, four more magi were invited to assist, and a conflict broke out, fought by summoning legendary heroes from the past. The summoners were labeled 'Masters', and the heroes were called 'Servants', and the last Master with a Servant standing was able to make a wish."
The man then threw his arms wide. "However," he continued. "Over the course of close to two centuries, not a single time has the Grail been claimed. Three times the Holy Grail War has been fought, and three times no one has been able to make a wish on it, despite several attempts at straight fights and even cheating attempts. We turn now to the Fourth Holy Grail War, which promises to be the bloodiest yet. This is a story of heroes and villains."
Two spotlights came on as Ayako in a battle-dress ran onto the stage with a transparent plastic pipe and a boy wielding two spears ran in from the other side. The two met behind Zelretch and clashed, the pipe connecting several times with the spears before both sides suddenly retreated behind the curtain.
"This is a story of pride," Zelretch continued, "and it leading to a fall."
The spotlights focused on an unknown boy, who was nodding to himself. "It is a great honor to fight in the war for the Holy Grail," he stated aloud. "As a magus from a long bloodline, it is my duty to win for the Clock Tower."
As the boy retreated, the old man spoke again. "Kayneth Weekes, Master of Lancer." A pause. "This is a story of self-discovery, and truly growing up."
The spotlights settled on a red-faced Yukika Saegusa, who stood still for several seconds. With a deep breath, she spoke. "I want to be judged equally by my peers at the Clock Tower!" she cried out. "Prove to them that bloodline doesn't matter, only talent!"
As the spotlight on her faded, Zelretch muttered, "Get yourself a drink, boy," prompting a few chuckles in the audience. Raising his voice, the man continued with what he intended to say. "Waver Velvet, Master of Rider. This is a story of the madness a human can sink to if permitted to, and how a monster can wear a human face."
Another boy walked barefoot onto the stage as the spotlight shone on him, giving a jolly wave to the audience as he did so. "Hello! I don't really care about the Grail," he stated, "but if my new buddy Caster wants it, I'll help him get it. It's the least I can do after he showed me new ways to make art."
The spotlight on the 'Master' faded, leaving Zelretch to be the only one illuminated on the stage again. "Ryuunosuke Uryuu, Master of Caster. This is a story of tradition, and how it brought a family to the brink of destruction."
Shinji walked onto the stage wearing a blue, old-fashioned suit, as the spotlight fell on him. "As one of the founding families of the Holy Grail," he proudly stated, "and the supervisor of these lands, it is the duty of a Takahashi to participate."
The light on him faded. "Tokiomi Takahashi, Master of Archer," Zelretch explained. "This is a story of a sacrifice, in an attempt to save a child from a terrible fate, which will fall to failure."
A boy limped onto the stage, wearing a baggy hoodie as the light suddenly shone on him. "Kotone…" he stage-muttered. "Please hold on… I'll get you out of Grandfather's training… please hold on…"
As the spotlight on the boy faded, Zelretch spoke again. "Norikita Lagounav, Master of Berserker," he stated. "This is a story of a search for who one is, when attempts at an honest life has left them unhappy."
A boy in a priest's outfit walked onto the stage, tightly grasping a golden cross on his chest as a spotlight shone on him. "The Grail chose me to participate, but I have no purpose for it," he stated. "Perhaps its purpose is for me to find a purpose in life."
The spotlight on him faded. "Yuudai Yamamoto, Master of Assassin," the old man stated. "Above all else, this is a story of a man who believed in his ideals more than anyone else, and by them was driven into despair."
As Zelretch started to move towards one of the edges of the stage, a boy in a trenchcoat stepped out from behind the curtains as the spotlights all moved onto him. "Kill one to save ten," he stated. "Kill ten to save a hundred. Kill a hundred to save a thousand and up. All for the sake of a better world."
"Risei Maki, Master of Saber," Zelretch stated. "As the war begins, remember this: the forbidden eighth Servant watches all."
OOO
"Slightly off script," Kichiro muttered, glancing down at the put-together script in his hands. "But he did get all the points that he was supposed to."
Yukika lowered the bag that she had been holding to mouth as she breathed into and out of it repeatedly. "Who was he?" she weakly inquired.
"Whoever he is, his costume needs work," Kane replied, shifting uncomfortably beneath the white mask she was wearing.
"Cheer up and focus, Yukika!" Kaede stated, handing her a glass of water. "Your character is one of the few that gets a happy ending here, so get your head in the game! This is our chance to impress Shirou! This is your chance to impress Shirou!"
"Ah, it was Yukika who mainly wrote the script, right?" Kichiro asked.
The girl acting the part of Waver nodded, slowing down her breathing as she tried to calm down. "Its mostly from a dream," she admitted. "Kaede and Kane made some changes, but I mostly wrote it from the dream."
"We're coming up on the Clock Tower classroom scene," Kichiro warned. "Yukika, Kaede, are you ready?"
OOO
Issei frowned as he exited the stage, Himuro as one of the Assassins following behind him. Next up was the scene of Yuudai Yamamoto and Risei Maki, or better known as Katsu Shun and Toro Hisakawa, where they described each other's characters.
Something was wrong. The class president acting as a priest for the play couldn't put his finger on it, but something was causing the monk-in-training to have doubts about the play.
"Emiya-san, got a moment?" Issei asked, looking upwards.
Above him, Shirou in a black outfit nodded, quickly climbing down from the set of spotlights he was controlling. "What is it, Ryuudou-san?" he inquired.
"Something is off about this play," he admitted. "I don't know what, but I'm getting an uneasy feeling about it. Maybe it is the prop-swapping, or the last-minute unauthorized costume altering, but it could all just be a harmless prank."
Shirou frowned deeply, thinking, casting a quick glance at Himuro before speaking again. "When you get the chance, tell Taiga to look out for summoning circles we didn't create," he suggested. "I did say that I thought this play wasn't such a good idea, but if there's actual evidence to convince the others to break it off, then it may be a good idea to do so."
"We can't call off the play," Himuro pleaded. "We've all worked so hard on it, Kichiro would kill us if we stopped the show."
"Just… look out for anything else odd, that isn't supposed to be there," Shirou suggested, starting to climb back up to the spotlights.
Issei's frown deepened. Something was terribly wrong, especially with Emiya's minimal reaction. He had to find out what it was, before something worse happened.
If only to make sure the boy in charge of the play didn't have cause to commit murder.
OOO
"Servants, ready?" Kichiro asked, looking over the four people that had been chosen to act out the parts of Saber, Rider, Archer, and Berserker. They had a difficult time trying to fill the role of Rider, with how big he was supposed to be, but they had managed. Ayako had been selected to fill one of the star roles of the show as Saber, while other students had filled out the last two roles.
Seeing four nods, Kichiro turned to face the other side of the stage, giving a silent hand signal to tell the four 'Masters' to begin their part of summoning.
Though why did someone start the wind machines early?
OOO
"Bare and silver and iron. Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My great master Shveinorg for the ancestor!" the boy playing Risei Maki called out, his right hand outstretched towards the audience.
"A wall for the descending winds. The four gates shall close and come out the crown. Let the three-forked road to the kingdom cycle," Norikita Lagounav's actor cried out, repeating the gesture.
Face red from nervousness, Yukika spoke, staying steady as she spoke. "Enclose, enclose, enclose, enclose, enclose. Five times for each repetition!"
Issei's eyes widened as he took in the scene. It was like it was straight out Yukika's script, with the growing wind and shining magic circle appearing before them, glowing from beneath the audience. The 'Servants' were supposed to appear on the four 'magic circles' that had been rolled out at the beginning of the scene, but it looked like they had been sabotaged beyond Issei's wildest dreams.
Quickly stepping forward, the boy acting as a priest quietly patted Shinji's side, trying to get his attention. It proved futile, however, when the actor behind Tokiomi Takahashi spoke the lines he was assigned. "Just destroy the enclosed time," Shinji shouted out. "Anfang! I announce!"
"Run with it, go go go!" Kichiro whispered, causing the actors playing the Servants to hurry around to try to get to the new summoning circle in a way that they wouldn't be noticed by.
All four of the Masters spoke in unison next.
"I announce! Thy body shall be under my command, my fate shall be determined by your sword!" all four shouted, trying to make themselves heard over the windstorm. "Follow the call of the Holy Grail! If thou wouldst obey this mind and this reason, then answer my call!"
Yukika gave a soft cry of pain while the other three speakers on the stage winced, the girl acting the part of a man a little older than herself grasping her outstretched hand with her free hand.
Issei saw what happened to Shinji in front of him, though, with a strange tattoo appearing on the back of Shinji's hand. It caused Issei to pale.
Yukika saw an actual summoning ritual in her dreams?!? Came Issei's panicked thoughts.
"Make an oath here!" all four of the callers cried out, Yukika's voice reaching a higher pitch. "I am the one who shall become the virtue of all afterworld! I am the one who shall lay out the evil of all afterworld!"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Issei cried out, breaking script. His words went unheeded as the Masters finished their incantation.
"Thou art Seven Heavens clad in the Three Great Words!" they cried out. "Emerge from the ring of control, guardian of balance!"
The light became blinding for several seconds, before fading, revealing four figures standing in the audience.
On the stage, Yukika fainted, while everyone else stared at the four human-looking beings that had been summoned.
"The Holy Grail War is real?!?" Issei cried out in horror.
I'm... not entire sure how to continue this. With so many on one side, its likely that a Great Grail War will break out. There is also the possibility of the three track girls getting glimpses of the routes of Fate/Stay Night, and they need to use the sights they see to help them navigate their own world, which has suddenly become much more hostile to them.
The Worst Nightmare (Harry Potter/Sailor Moon/Nasuverse/Undertale)
Hermione glared down at snake-face as she held her the point of her sword, Mimas Eclipse, to his throat. A broken wand made of elder wood lay in two pieces on the floor between them, cut by the sword moments earlier. On either side of her stood two of her knights, Draco and Ron, both pointing their wands at the man who had given Hermione such grief over the last two years.
Sure, Voldemort had done them a huge favor in taking apart the wizarding government, but he had replaced it with a brutal dictatorship that catered only to those he favored; everyone else would be doomed to live unpleasant lives in either serving Voldemort's institution or fleeing to the main continent. Hermione did not like having her future subjects downtrodden as they were, but it was an opportunity she fully intended to exploit to gain power. The prize of the conqueror would be command of the new government, one which Hermione, leader of the New Round Table, was eager to claim.
Of course, she had to depose the current, corrupt rulers first. Thankfully, Hermione had support from everyone the mad wizard was oppressing, on top of the dozen or so knights she had gathered for the New Round Table.
It had taken two years, and many lives lost, including Dumbledore's and Lockheart's, but finally, Voldemort had been cornered at last. Wand broken with a single swipe of the sword Ron had forged for her, Hermione had Voldemort surrounded, wandless, completely disarmed, and in a place where the Dark Lord couldn't use any of his myriad methods to escape.
"Aren't you going to kill him?" Draco asked, his free hand twitching towards his rapier Tethys.
"He's too far gone for me to try anything with," Ron stated. Unlike the others, Ron didn't bother with making any further moves with his melee weapon; the glaive he named 'Chinmoku no Ken' rested tightly in his off hand.
But the message that Hermione's second knight spoke of was clear: Ronald Weasley, a man who had convinced half of Voldemort's human force to turn to Hermione's side, a boy who had convinced the latest generations of the Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy houses to turn away from the paths their fathers intended, thought that Voldemort was too far gone for him to even make the attempt of redemption. There was only two other humans that Ron even made the decision that were too far gone to save; the first was ex-professor Snape, who had tormented Ron and his fellow knights to the point, refusing Ron's attempts to reach out repeatedly until the boy had decided to give up. It had been during an assassination mission the previous month with the intent to remove one of Voldemort's advisors permanently did they discover that the man they had killed had been acting the way he had to minimize the damage the Dark Lord was doing.
The second human to get the declaration of being too far gone was… much closer to home.
"Not yet," Hermione spat. "There are too few witnesses here; I want to kill him in a place where everyone witnesses his death. Malfoy, bind his hands and arms. I do not want him to get away before he dies."
The small crowd behind the three nodded as Draco cast several spells to create bindings on the defeated Dark Lord. In her off hand, Hermione flicked her wand as she pulled Mimas Eclipse back, pulling Voldemort upwards.
"Avada Kedavra."
The voice came from nowhere as a bolt of sickly green light flew from a point in midair and hit Voldemort in the back, causing the Dark Lord to fall over dead.
As everyone in the hall looked shocked at the unexpected spell, another person was made visible as his cloak was pulled off. Smiling, the man waved his wand and a half-dozen objects flew from various corners of the hall, which was starting to become covered in quickly growing plants.
"Potter!" Draco snarled.
"You know me," the revealed man stated, placing the diadem on his head. "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
Hermione grit her teeth as she eyed the man that had barged in and stolen her glory, her traitorous first knight Harry Potter. The killer of Dumbledore, Crabbe, and even Ginny, Harry was the second person Ron claimed was beyond redemption. An unrepentant murderer, Harry had disappeared in order to indulge his desire to kill just about everyone. After his betrayal showing his true colors, Harry had been darting all over the country searching for several somethings as he proved as big of a threat to the New Round Table and the other Resistances as the Death Eaters.
"I owe your New Round Table huge thanks," Harry stated, putting on a ring and locket. "You really did a number on Voldemort. I was at a loss on how to draw him out into the open. But now, with your help…"
With an evil grin, Harry raised a small golden cup.
"He's dead," the man gloated. "And with him, the wizarding government! Soon, I'll be able to truly show the world what its purpose is, to kill or be killed."
The plants started bursting into bloom, forcing Hermione and a few of the knights behind her to start slashing away at the growth.
"Of course," Harry sighed, "I can't just let you go and set up another government in place of what was torn down. So, I'm going to have to kill you down to the last."
"Stop this, Harry," Ron stated, stepping in front of Hermione. "You can't mean to destroy everything. I'll stop you before you can."
"You really think you can stop me?" Harry asked in slight surprise, a large plant suddenly sprouting around them and engulfing him in a large buttercup bulb.
Ron raised his glaive, glaring at the huge flower that contained Harry.
"Draco was right," came Harry's mocking voice, echoing from around the hall. "You really are an idiot."
Thick, thorny vines suddenly grew with tremendous speed, shooting quickly at the knights and knocking many of them down. Still Ron, with a look of regret of his eyes, called out the name of his weapon and brought it down.
And the world went black.
This was originally created for @Lunaryon 's Cairn of Souls 3: Potter Bugaloo. In it and two other quests, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger are all reincarnated from other beings. Harry was reincarnated as Asriel Dreemurr, Ron as Sailor Saturn, and Hermione as Mordred (from the Nasuverse). In this omake, I had Harry act out closer to Asriel's more widely known form, Flowey, performing backstabs in order to go for what he enjoys.
I performed some research for the weapons shown in this omake. Mimas and Tethys are both moons orbiting Saturn, and 'Chinmoku no Ken' is literally 'Silence Glaive' in Japanese. I figured with the Alchemy Ron is learning, he'd be able to forge the sword Hermione would prefer and the rapier that I figured would fit with Draco and his 'wizarding nobility'.
While Ron and Hermione have the potential to get to this point, with the way that Harry was designed in this quest, he is going to go down a much lighter path.
I was tempted to add to the end of this omake, with everyone on a train platform due to Ron accidentally destroying the world in order to kill Flowey!Harry, and Death chewing Ron out, but I lost steam before I could finish.
The Forbidden Crater (Harry Potter/Sailor Moon/Nasuverse/Undertale)
Something had gotten Hermione, petrifying her. She was only the latest in the string of attacks in the school, and the teachers seemed to be at a loss as to who, or what, was causing them. Harry and Rowan had decided to follow up on a lead they had uncovered, leading to Hagrid telling the pair of them to follow the spiders as he was arrested.
Leading to the current situation of the boy and the child of questionable gender.
"-arry," Rowan weakly mouthed, trying to make their voice heard.
Harry shuddered as he turned away from the spider-woman that had for some reason appeared off the path and looked towards the spider that was the size of the Weasley house. It was hard to make out the words that it was saying, over the aura of silence that seemed to follow Rowan around and strengthen in times of stress. Still, he would have preferred it to his own aura that seemed to cause reality to… shift in times of stress.
"Goodbye…" Aragog stated, the rest of his sentence fading out of hearing abilities.
"- we pan-," Rowan asked, a small purple glow starting to form in their dominant hand.
Harry looked at the spiders approaching, and then his head turned to Rowan and nodded, before making moves to back away from the spiders. Rowan followed suit, a long weapon forming from the light that they held in their hand. It was shiny in the light of the lamp that Harry had been carrying, but there was something about it that set the hairs on the back of his head on end.
Then the world around them suddenly had sound, spiders chitterling as they charged towards them, and Fang whimpering as he backed away. Above it all, Rowan's voice called out, highly pitched, squeaky even, as they swung their suddenly new weapon.
"Chinmoku no Ken!"
OOO
"No, Miss… Pluto," McGonagall stated again, glaring at the green-haired woman who had snuck into the castle and into her office. "I am not letting you withdraw Weasley from Hogwarts for your schemes. It does not matter how much you need him; his mother insists that he will be educated here unless the school closes down."
"I need her in Japan," Pluto replied. "She has a great destiny that she needs to fulfill, and she's not going to fulfill it here. All the threats to Crystal Tokyo she needs to deal with are focusing in on the current Tokyo."
"He's just a child," McGonagall hissed in displeasure. "I am not letting you take one of my Gryffindors and turn him into a child soldier; he may have gotten involved with the Stone last year, but that was a one-time thing. He will not-"
Their conversation was abruptly ended with an earth-shattering boom that shook the walls of the castle.
"Was that the heir?" the acting Headmistress asked in surprise.
"No," Pluto sighed. "I know what happened. Either that was the first time Saturn's used the Silence Glaive in this incarnation, or she was holding back."
McGonagall stared at Pluto, before the green-haired woman pointed out the window. Worried, the Transfiguration Professor had her eyes follow the direction of the stranger's finger.
The Forbidden Forest was gone. All that was left was a crater, with a small figure hurrying in the direction of Hagrid's hut and two more figures standing still close to the center of the crater.
"Now, perhaps you'll consider my request?" Pluto inquired again. "Now that you've seen how powerful she is compared to your normal students?"
This omake was originally made for @Lunaryon 's Cairn of Souls 2 -Reincarnate Harder! Like the title says, it is the second quest of the 'Carin of Souls' trilogy.
By this point, we've gotten character selection almost all out of the way, giving us some characteristics we can use. Of particular note is that all three characters that are being controlled share a drawback, titled Echoes: "Your magic effects the world around you with or without your meaning too. The severity of the Malus depends on how noticeable it is." Naturally, players chose to milk this drawback for as much as it was worth. For Herimone, it gives glimpses of a battlefield where Mordred fought King Arthur last. For Harry, things get glitchy. For Ron, things get silent. We'll get to see this fully in my next writing.
Still, with a phobia of spiders remaining, I placed this Harry and Ron in a situation their canon counterparts would find themselves in. However, this Ron's response was more... destructive, unlocking the Silence Glaive. It looks like Dumbledore is going to have to alter his opening speech next year...
Draco Malfoy, heir to the ancient and noble house of Malfoy, hated mornings. For a multitude of reasons, he hated them ever since he had arrived at Hogwarts.
First, he hated to leave his oh, so comfortable bed, and was usually had to be woken by Longbottom. The heir to the ancient and noble house of Longbottom may have been a blood-traitor, but Draco realized that it was a minor flaw, and that the other heir was a good person otherwise. Still, it rankled on Draco's nerves that he had to rely on Neville to get out of bed each morning.
After his daily hygiene routine, Draco followed Neville down to the Great Hall, where they sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, away from most of the glares of their fellow housemates.
Yes, Draco, when the Malfoy family had gone into Slytherin for generations, had been placed into Gryffindor. It had been a matter of valuing his life over his pride, and when the boy he had encountered on the train had been sorted into Slytherin, Draco had decided to go among the den of lions, whom he had been raised to treat as his enemy, over dealing with that boy.
The Gryffindors… weren't all that bad. Sure, most of the older years were unfriendly towards him, but they were the bravest of the school, and when they felt that they needed to do something, it would take more than the loss of a few house points, or even threat of expulsion, to stop them. And the lower years were slowly warming up to him, excluding him less and less.
Perhaps it was because they were just as scared of the reason that Draco had joined them as he was himself.
Regardless, midway through their meal, Neville and Draco were joined by Gred and Feorge Weasley. Though from a blood-traitor family, both were good people as well. And, well, they showed him how to have a little fun.
"Good morning, chaps!" one of them said.
"Up for another day of pranking?" the other asked.
"Only as long as word doesn't reach my father," Draco replied. "Merlin knows what he'll say when he finds out you've been corrupting me."
Both twins grinned, as a flurry of owls entered the Hall.
"Another waster!" Neville cried out, spotting an owl carrying a package that was flying towards the Slytherin table.
The announcement brought a sudden flurry of activity. All around the hall, students choked down their remaining breakfast and rapidly made their way out. At the teacher's table, Professor Snape stood up, ready to make his way to where the owl was headed.
"Do we stay?" Draco asked, watching Granger eagerly tear open the package.
At Neville's nod, Draco gripped the edge of his seat, willing himself to stay put, as Professor Snape snatched the wooden sword from Granger's grip.
They were on a battlefield, with men dead and dying around them. Their breakfast was on a corpse, and Draco's orange juice was balanced precariously on a broken sword nearby.
The red dawn vanished, being replaced by a starry sky. There was no moon visible; instead, the planet Saturn floated there ominously, silence filling the hall.
The ringed giant above them flickered a few moments, appearing on one side of the hall before teleporting to the other end. A thin layer of white dust settled on the battlefield, with a skeleton with a muggle hoodie and an orange scarf walking up to Draco, Neville, and the twins.
The skeleton looked at the four of them, before nodding his approval, tossing them a book and waving his hand, causing a bottle of ketchup to fly into it. The skeleton then walked off, drinking directly from the bottle before he disappeared.
And suddenly, as soon as the battlefield had appeared, it vanished, with the glimpse of Saturn disappearing as well.
"When will she stop asking for more swords?" Neville weakly asked.
"There's got to be a way to get her to stop that," Draco muttered, before turning back towards the twins. "Your Ravenclaw brother's aura is nice, if a bit quiet, and Potter's in Hufflepuff is merely confusing. But if they only pop up when the two of them are scared, and Granger is the one scaring them, we can't get any rest."
"It's only when she gets really angry," Neville pointed out, watching a shaky Snape walk back to the staff table, waster in hand.
"That's almost all the time, Longbottom," Draco pointed out. "Every time Professor Snape confiscates her latest sword, she's always mad until she gets her hands on another, and on the verge of… that. They only removed all the swords from the suits of armor in the castle last week. It is only a matter of time until she learns how to conjure swords, and then she'll have one all the time. There's a reason he doesn't have any friends besides Crabbe and Goyle, and even they have qualms about standing too close to him."
Of course, Draco had more reasons to be concerned. His father had served the Dark Lord in the last war, and on a bad day, few around him were left alive. Of course, the Dark Lord hadn't always been that way, but had grown into that power. Draco guessed that the Dark Lord had power like Granger's, but only greater. And if the Dark Lord in training could actually use that power, unrestrained by their emotions… One Dark Lord would be bad enough, but two would be a good reason to get out of the country.
"Hey, Fred?" one of the twins asked. "Think we should start wearing suits of armor to protect us from the swords?"
"An excellent idea for a prank, George!" the other replied. "Our little sister might be less afraid if she was protected, so we can stuff her in one!"
As Neville examined the new book that had appeared on the table (Time Pranks by sans), a voice called from closer to the entryway to the main hall.
"Hey! Where's the ketchup?"
An alteration on the train caused Draco Malfoy to meet Hermione Granger, an exchange which caused him to forget about finding Harry Potter and fear Hermione. Due to Hermione's ambition to be ruler, she was sorted into Slytherin after Crabbe and Goyle, which caused Draco to get in a house as far away as he could get: Gryffindor. There, he befriended Neville and the twins, and is slowly working his way to becoming a better person.
Harry got sorted into Hufflepuff due to his ability to get along with almost everyone, and Ro(wa)n was sorted into Ravenclaw due to their intelligence.
People know that there is something very off about those three, especially with Snape constantly taking away any swords Hermione gets her hands on. She gets mad, and the area becomes a battlefield. This sets off the other two, and alters the area further until she calms down.
There is a reason I didn't want Echoes to be too strong on all three of them.
As far as Draco knows in this omake, Hermione is a boy. He is also aware that Ron's gender is... questionable, but tries to default to a boy as well, though the twins try to get him to treat Ron as a girl.
This omake in particular was meant to show the potential path that we are heading down. This is the Echoes of all three of the known reincarnations, combined with Mordred!Hermione's compulsion to always be armed. Get a sword, feel at ease. Get sword taken away by teacher, get angry enough to bring the battlefield into the hall. This scares both Ron and Harry, setting off their echoes, the silent aura with Saturn and the glitch aura bringing things that should not be into existance.
This also shows my expectations that I seriously doubt the Golden Trio will form in these quests; I simply can't see Hermione getting along with Harry or Ron. Getting along with the Slytherins, on the other hand...
Also, Ron, or Rowan as we are starting to call them, has another drawback, 'Gender Disphoria', which makes them a girl trapped in a boy's body. This is touched on briefly in this omake, as Draco calls Ron a boy and the twins call them a girl.
[+4 CP] Gender Disphoria - You have a feeling that is... Really hard to explain. Imagine that uncomfortable feeling that you get from wearing clothes that are the wrong size. Only It's not the clothing that doesn't fit. It's you. It's like looking into a funhouse mirror every time you look in any mirror. You don't... fit. You are all wrong... Thankfully, as young as you are, it's much easier to pretend to be who you really are instead of what you are? Or something like that.
- Being misgendered is annoying, but you are used to it and it has to happen many times in a short period before it starts to fry at your temper. You are less Dexterous in the dark when you cannot see yourself, or when first waking up and you forget that the body you have is not your right one.
Looking back at this, I feel that I was a little rushed on this one. Perhaps in the future I can fix it up and add to it.
Last edited:
Kaleidoscope Online (Sword Art Online/Nasuverse/Multi)
Where Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg himself plays Sword Art Online.
The problem: this Kayaba is giving him far more than he bargained for...
"For once, I didn't see this coming.
...What an interesting world."
-Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg
0:00: Black screen
0:00-0:02: Multi-colored gemstones falling down in the darkness
0:02: Gemstones appearing hitting a wave of yellow code
0:03: Code changes into multiple colors as the gemstones disappear
0:03-0:05: Code thins to leave 'Kaleidoscope Online' in small English characters
0:05: Flash of light
0:06-0:11: ' カレイドスコプ オンラインKaleidoscope Online' on white background and multi-colored letters/kana, before they shatter into blue shards and disappear
0:11-0:15: Zelretch staring at a large mirror in the Clock Tower
0:16-0:22: Rain of multicolored code covering Zelretch while he looks at a miniature Aincrad, behind him showing enlarged versions of first Gem Sword Zelretch and then Kaleidosticks Ruby and Sapphire
0:23-0:25: Kirito and Asuna walking side-by-side down a cobblestone road
0:26-0:31: Rain of multicolored code covering Kirito and Asuna as they look at a flame at the tip of Asuna's rapier, Kayaba looking onto them in curiosity before a girl in a white dress replaces Kayaba
0:32-0:33: Madoka in pink light armor with Zelretch behind her and a Kyuubey knock-off on her shoulder look at a glass wall, showing Madoka in a Magical Girl outfit with Kyuubey on her shoulder and Homura behind her looking back
0:33-0:35: Hand reaching up towards an orange sky with clouds moving swiftly
0:36-0:37: Hand reaching up towards a sky with many shooting stars going in one direction
0:37-0:38: Hand reaching up towards a clam blue sky, before it fills with red hexagons, causing the hand to recoil
0:39-0:41: A view of a fountain in a red plaza filled with people, before the red beneath the people's feet disappears leaving a wire-frame
0:42-0:44: A hole forms, starting from beneath the fountain and rapidly spreading to the rest of the plaza, sucking everyone down
0:44-0:45: Waver falling backwards down into the darkness with a look of fear on his face
0:46-0:51: Zelretch appears in a flash of multi-colored light charging left at beings that are crosses between bird and men, slashing two of them with Gem Sword Zelretch and throwing a ruby that explodes at a third before turning around to face something off-screen to the right
0:51-0:54: Emiya Shirou fighting Archer on a hill covered with swords, with Kirito, Ilya, Madoka, and Asuna fighting off flying swords
0:54-0:56: Close up of Emiya Shirou backing away before swinging a black scimitar at the camera
0:56-0:57: Distant view of Shirou and Archer fighting, see a child genderbent Shirou running towards the fight
0:57-0:59: Child genderbent Shirou charging towards camera with a pair of scimitars forming in her hands
1:02: Klein grinning towards camera with guild
1:03: Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki glancing at camera together
1:04: Shiro and Sora back to back pointing swords at a pair of walking corpses
1:05-1:06: Three women (a little girl in a white dress, a woman in a red bishop's outfit, and a woman in a brownish dress) stand in blackness surrounded by many floating computer screens
1:06-1:10: Waver and Reines stand looking over a mass of fellow players, Waver and the players cheering with swords and hands raised high
1:11: Kayaba and Nobuyuki look at camera
1:11: Kyuubey glances at camera over shoulder
1:12: Walpurgisnacht floats over a city
1:12: Silhouette of a man in front of a red moon
1:13-1:14: Zelretch looking calm and smiling
1:14-1:16: Waver, Reines, Shiroe, Sora, Shirou, Kirito, Diabel, and Thinker talking pleasantly at a table, with Zelretch, Ilya, Asuna, Madoka, Akatsuki, Naotsugu, and Shiro watching nearby
1:16-1:19: Zelretch standing at the edge of Aincrad looking into the distance of the night sky, camera looking at the side
1:19-1:23: Zelretch standing at the edge of Aincrad looking upwards towards the camera
1:23-1:24: Kayaba standing in midair, looking downwards towards camera
1:24-1:30: A view of Aincrad floating in a night sky, with the heads of Zelretch and Kayaba fading in above it looking at each other before the image goes completely black
Players Remaining: 8,758/10,002
Current Floor: 1/100
Original Designers:
Sword Art Online: Reki Kawahara
Nasuverse: Kinoko Nasu
Log Horizon: Mamare Touno
Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Gen Urobuchi
No Game, No Life: Yuu Kamiya
Quest Designer: Random Tale
Quest Funders:
notmi
NotAlwaysFanfic
Vindictus
wdango
Namimani
Pensive Rumination
Eliwan
kinglugia
Ridiculously Average Guy
Heaven Canceler
Quest Index Designer: wdango
Hidden Text Spotter: Crow
Quest Analyzer: Zeranion
Quest Players:
notmi
Vindictus
Eliwan
NotAlwaysFanfic
AZATHOTHoth
Jiven
kinglugia
Pensive Rumination
Xkeizer
Styx
Ridiculously Average Guy
InfiniteDaze
Lilithium
ertniter
Amatsumi
veekie
wingstrike96
Unelemental
LordPanther14
Rmnimoc
Darklord.
ebolasos
Dark Lord Bob
Feng Lengshun
Avalon
TyrantYuyuka
Crow
Zeranion
wert1990
wdango
FelSpite
Happerry
One Classy Hydra
Sevarak
Ferian
Logos
Bozwevial
Mortifer
Hadiz
DimensionalGuy
Clock of Kronos
Dutch
Celestrail
EmpirePlayer
SiriusA
rybalov
Tonaris
Lunaryon
burningclaw2
edmantgoog
kellanved
Avoozl
Neo-Chan
BlackHadou
GilliamYaeger
Nicklance
Kaleidoscope Online, my entrance to this forum. Players control Zelretch, in Sword Art Online, as he tries to fight his boredom and find an appretice. Of course, Kayaba gave him a few surprises, because if things were easy, there wouldn't be too much of a quest.
It had a lot of potential, but numerous mistakes and misunderstandings of source materials brought down the quality, on top of high personal expectations of myself. Looking back at this, I believe I simply made it too big, and too dependent on dice and numbers. Future quests of mine relied and will rely on fewer, smaller dice. Luckily, I have ideas for a revision, cutting out extra parts, and speeding things along, but I'm not sure how it will turn out.
All right, I think I'm done for tonight. Feel free to post! I'll add a link to Emiya Family Quest and one of my never-before-seen on the internet scrawlings tomorrow.
Fate: The Emiya Family Quest (Fate/Stay Night / Fate/Zero / Multi)
You are Kiritsugu Emiya, fresh off the end of the Fourth Grail War. Because of the destruction of the Grail, you have adopted a child. Your goal, should you accept it, is to raise the child to adulthood, or at least see him well off before you die.
There are two currencies that are used in the game: Time and Resources. Time is spent on its own, representing how much time Kiritsugu has before he bites the dust, though certain actions have the opportunity to make this a non-issue. Resources represent all the money, equipment, and food that his family possesses. The more people in the family household, the bigger drain on Resources there is.
The opening choice is what kind of Fourth Grail War occurred. One leaves Kiritsugu well off with many resources, and his life force mostly the same as it was back when the grail was destroyed in the main timeline. The other Grail War… was a nightmare that resulted in most of Fuyuki getting wiped off the map. While due to the events of the Grail War that resulted in Kiritsugu getting a chance to live longer, Ea destroyed most of what the Magus Killer could call upon. On the plus side, there is an opportunity to increase the size of the Emiya Family right away with additional adults and a teenager.
One of the opening choices will be where to live. Such a choice will influence the opportunities of who Kiritsugu's children befriend and what events occur that they get caught up in. Players get the opportunity to choose who the children come into contact with once per game year.
Each year, Kiritsugu (and any other guardians in the Emiya household) each have one action, which they do for most of the year when not staying in the household. They might or might not be dragged into anything their children run into, depending on their relationship with them.
Omakes may give additional choices of what the family can do.
An epilogue is written and the game ends when either there are no more guardians (through all of them dying off), or there are no more children in the household (from either growing up and leaving, getting killed, or getting married into another family). Changes as to how Kiritsugu spends his time will result in different endings.
Behold! One of the greatest clusterBLEEP quests in Suffecient Velocity's history!
I originally started this quest in order to get a break from Kaleidoscope Online, and its still ongoing off and on a year later. While players try to raise a family, they also try to deal with all the small problems that keep popping up. Notably, it is one of the few instances where the masquerade is broken in the Nasuverse.
While there are definitely better quests out there, with better words, story, and stats, I am pleased at least that I've come up with a way to create different ways of multiple voting categories, so that its easier to read in the voting program. Despite a decay in all areas, the biggest flaw of the quest is the sharp decay in update rate; if a quest doesn't update frequently, you're going to lose voters, regardless of quality of the quest.
I'm going to try to finish this quest, but with the way votes are turning out, it seems doubtful that everyone of the family will recieve a happy ending.
One world's fiction is another world's reality.
One with knowledge of the story may be able to change it.
A single action could change the path of a world's story.
But can the changes be strong enough to make a difference?
Can the story even be changed?
How much of the story is set in stone?
Tossed across the multiverse, one man tries to find a place to live.
Cutting across the multiverse, one child tries to find a way to his goals.
But what must they sacrifice in order to attain their goals?
Prologue:
Curt kept his eyes on the board as he watched the man in the kimono on the other side of it move a bishop to take Curt's Queen.
"Really, Alfson-san," Jiro Oshiro stated as he moved the white piece off the board. "You are at least two decades beneath my skill level with this. Are you sure you aren't interested in a game of Go instead?"
Curt shook his head. "E-eh, Oshiro-san," he replied, moving his remaining rook to capture his opponent's queen piece. "I don't understand that game at all. I'd most likely play a half-dozen illegal moves before I ask to borrow a rule-book for later. Here, I have a chance to know what I'm doing."
"Are you sure?" Oshiro smirked, moving one of his knights on the board. "Check."
Curt looked at his king, sitting on the board after he had moved it that one time during castling. He couldn't move it any further, with it being trapped by one of Curt's own pawns and both of Oshiro's knights. With a sigh, Curt knocked his piece over. "Checkmate."
"I'd say good game," Oshiro admitted with a smile on his face, "but I feel that you don't exactly feel the same about it."
"E-eh," Curt replied, shaking his head. "I'm afraid I'm out of my league here. That's zero-go your lead."
With a sigh, Oshiro waved a hand in dismissal. "My English is perfect, Alfson-san," the man stated. "You don't have to try to use Japanese in my presence."
"Forgive me for my continued attempts, Oshiro-san," Curt replied. "I need the practice to make things easier out on the streets."
"I see, I see," the man in the kimono stated. "I'm surprised that Haggard-san sent a man like you over to conduct business for him. Why did he send you?"
"I've expressed an interest in Japan in the past," Curt admitted. "And my education made me a more ideal representative than most of my co-workers. But after I accidentally shredded a document he wanted a copy of…"
Jiro Oshiro let out a laugh. "So he wanted you out of his sight," he replied, giving a quick chuckle afterwards. "I suspect we'll be sending you back and forth across the Pacific if he gets his way. Haggard-san had a nasty temper a few years ago, but he has tamed his wrath enough to just put those he doesn't like in situations they don't like."
Curt sighed. "So, I should practice my chess skills and pick up Go while in Japan?" he inquired.
"I should think so," Oshiro stated. "While I doubt you'll ever beat me in chess, you might pose more of a challenge for me, and give me more entertainment."
Curt cast his gaze downward, admitting defeat for the moment. "I will live to serve you and Haggard-san," he replied. "Even if it means making an attempt to become better in a game you enjoy."
"Tut-tut, child," Oshiro stated, getting to his feet. "No need to make an oath of obedience to myself or your boss. Not yet; that's for my greatest employees. Stand up; I know you westerners have your ill-suited chairs, and you don't know how to sit properly."
With a wince, Curt slowly moved his body upwards, before giving a sigh and rolling to side, picking himself up off the floor afterwards. "It hurts, I'll admit that," Curt stated. "Shall we get down to business? I'm just supposed to be the messenger."
"Impatient, I see," Oshiro observed aloud, watching Curt bend down to pick up the large black handbag. "Very well. You have the papers he sent?"
Curt nodded, opening the bag and pulling out a binder covered in blue plastic marked 'Arcantech Proposal V1.3' on the front, and sealed red envelope. "Haggard-san is interested in keeping a supply of your specialty computers coming to our company," Curt explained, handing both to Oshiro. "The binder has the details of the proposal. When you have a response, I'll take it back over to the States."
"So desu ka…" Oshiro mused, flipping through the pages of the blue binder. "I'll look through it in detail later, but the price he seems to be demanding is too low for my services." With a clapping sound, the binder slammed shut, and the man turned and placed it on his main desk, European-style. "And the red envelope, Alfson-san?"
At this inquiry, Curt shook his head. "A last minute addition before I was sent over, Oshiro-san," he admitted. "I was given strict instructions that only you should open it, san. He said that its contents were only meant for your eyes."
"And you resisted the temptation to peak," the man in the kimono stated as he examined the unopened seal on the envelope. After a moment, he walked around his desk and sat in his chair, picking a letter opener from a pen-holder and using it to open the envelope. A few papers fell out of it, quickly grabbed and examined by the company president.
"Am I right to assume that I am not supposed to know about the contents?" Curt inquired, backing further away from the desk to stand behind the small chess table he had played at minutes earlier.
"There are a couple things here that I don't mind sharing with you, even if Haggard-san's intent was for them to be hidden from you," Oshiro admitted, giving a sigh and placing a typed letter to the side. "But yes, the important documents are above your status as an employee at either of our companies."
"So desu ka," Curt replied. "Do you need some time to sort through things? I can come back tomorrow, if that is what you wish."
"Come back at the end of the week, Alfson-san," Oshiro told him, examining another paper that fell out of the envelope. "It will take a little time to write appropriate responses to all this. I have a question for you, though: why do you think Haggard-san is singing your praises?"
Curt frowned. "I'm not sure, Oshiro-san," he admitted. "I may be the most well-meaning worker under him, but I do not know why he would praise me excessively."
The man behind the desk frowned as he started examining the red paper. "I'll be watching you on your stay here," he warned, reading the contents of the paper. "Try to impress me, and I'll take your words more than- duo falsi angeli?!?"
The salaryman looked at Oshiro in confusion. "Sir?"
The man in the kimono frowned, placing the paper face-down on his desk. After giving a few breaths, he responded. "A few months ago," he explained, "my daughter was celebrating her seventh birthday party, and I had ordered a special chess set for her. However, the deliveryman was attacked on route and the set was stolen. A month later, I learned the attacker created a gang near a prestigious school that she'll be attending in a few years, and Haggard-san has just written to me that the attacker's partner in crime has been spotted not only in the States, but more recently in my proud Nippon."
Curt sighed. "I wish I could help you there," he admitted, "but I'm not sure how I could help in a way that wouldn't get me killed. I'm a paper pusher, not a warrior."
"I doubt you could help in any way that's beneficial," Oshiro replied. "Most likely we'd be finding a new messenger if you went up against them. No, I want you nice and safe moving papers around."
"I am grateful that we are in agreement," Curt stated, inclining his head in gratitude. "Is there anything else I can do for you right now that won't end up in my death?"
That brought a slight chuckle from the man behind the desk. "That will be everything for today, Alfson-san," Jiro Oshiro replied. "Yamaguchi-san, could you please show him out?"
Like a ghost, a woman that Curt hadn't noticed stepped out of the shadows of the room, startling the man. "This way, please, Alfson-san," she stated, motioning towards the door of the office.
"I didn't know you hired a ninja in your company," Curt stated with wide eyes, casting a quick grin towards Oshiro. "I thank you both for honoring me with your presence, and for showing me a sight I haven't seen before."
The company head rolled his eyes and focused his attention to the papers on his desk, muttering a quick 'gaijin' under his breath. The woman, whom Curt assumed was 'Yamaguchi-san', was dressed in simpler kimono than her boss, one that seemed to blend into the background of the walls of the building that she worked in. In contrast, Curt Alfson himself wore more modern clothing, a suit with a matching pair of pants and without a tie.
A minute down the hallway, Curt opened his mouth. "So, Yamaguchi-san, do you actually have ninja training, or am I just that unobservant?" he inquired.
The woman slowed down as she processed the foreigner's words, before speaking. "Good with stealth," she admitted with poor English, "not that good."
They walked in silence for a minute more before they reached the reception room of the company, where Curt bade the woman a good day and left the building.
Out of sight of the building, on the sidewalks, it was then his attitude shifted towards frustration.
How the BLEEP was he supposed to know the boss wanted to copy the document, not shred it? How did the boss even confuse the copy machine with the shredder, anyway? Because of that mistake, Carl was stuck in a country where he only knew a very few basic words of the local language, only a few days worth of the local currency on hand, and he was likely to go back and forth between his home country and this one repeatedly. To twist the knife further, he was stuck on his own budget except for plane tickets, due to the spite of his boss.
Curt was not a happy man.
With a sigh, he let it go, for the most part, as he walked down the sidewalk towards a café he had spotted earlier. Perhaps there he could order a cup of tea, and plug his laptop in so that he could get online. There was a forum he frequented that had the most interesting mass role-playing games…
There was one thing he could do as he walking, to cool his temper down.
"Take cover… signs… don't show…" he murmured, "You drove me… off… the road…"
As he attracted stares of a couple of the locals, Curt gave a weak smile. He was likely tone deaf, and attracted attention that locals would probably prefer to avoid, but simply singing songs he had heard and remembered was one way to cool down.
He just needed to avoid singing a few certain songs in particular, or he'd likely be deported rather quickly and then fired.
"And you let go… 'cause your hope is gone…" he continued to sing. "And every-"
At this point, lost at eye-level for himself and in the song he recalled, he ran into something much smaller as his momentum barreled over the smaller object and he himself lost his balance, sending them both down to the ground.
"Omph!" Curt grunted, landing on top of what he recognized as a child. "Ah, sumimasen."
"Tada tachiaga tsu," the child grumpily replied, pushing Curt with more force than the grown man would have expected from one his size.
"Sumimasen," Curt repeated, getting to his feet and grabbing his bag, before extending a hand down towards the child. Idly, he noticed that the child on the ground was rather well dressed, and had long blonde hair and blue eyes. He was like a younger version of Curt, if Curt had decided to grow out his hair.
"Sorry?" Curt added in his own tongue, taking into account the boy's likely status as a visitor to Japan like himself.
The boy looked upwards at Curt, meeting his gaze, with at first frustration. Then his emotions changed rapidly to recognition, followed by rage.
"Kimi ga!" he roared, leaping up and slapping Curt's hand away.
"OW!" the man cried, bringing his hands together while backing into another pedestrian. That slap hurt far more than he had thought it would; though there was a definite mark on his right hand now, his arm was now aching from the sudden jolt.
"Watashi wa kanojo no senaka o motarasu tame no kokoromi o suru tabi ni, anata wa watashi no hōhōdedesu!" the boy continued to roar, pulling from his back a sword that shined in the sunlight.
"Uh… bye!" Curt replied, diving off into what looked to be a crowded allyway.
"Koko ni modotte moraimasu!" the child roared, much louder than the previous time. "Anata wa kono-jikan ni kanshō suru koto wa dekimase!"
Whatever he was saying, Curt had no intention of finding out. He just wanted to get away from the child that seemed much more dangerous than a normal kid.
Of course, he had to dive into an allyway that turned out to have a short but thick line for a ramen stall and be empty beyond that.
"Watashi wa anata ga dasshutsu sa semasen!" the kid's voice roared, this time from above.
Risking a moment, Curt cast a backwards glance and saw the blonde-haired kid leaping over the line of shocked people waiting for a meal. The man watched in shock as the sword, raised high above the child's head, shone even more greatly in the sunlight.
It was past time for Curt to go, but the child had other ideas.
"Tachisarimasu!" The child cried out as he landed, swinging the shining sword down. "Houseki no Ken Zelretch!"
A bell rang in Curt's head as there was a flash of light. There was a flicker of recognition, before everything went black.
And here we reach the first piece of new content!
Originally starting as a self-insert, Curt Alfson quickly went through rapid adjustments, making an entirely new character, an OC instead of a SI. He's just an average person, with some knowledge of popular media, bad luck, and, in the beginning, incompetence. By the end, after going through many, many, many worlds, he's likely to be desperately trying to hold onto what humanity he has left.
Throughout the story, there was intended to be two themes: music, and there is always a price that must be paid.
Also, for each world, Curt, or Akira Kita as he becomes known as, usually stays in each world for several months as a minimum, up to just over a decade, with the exception of a Sailor Moon/Ranma world, but there's a few reasons why his (percieved) visit there is cut short.
I might post the first chapter of The Eternal Gem Sword later, if I can get around to finishing it.
The Eternal Gem Sword Chapter 1: The Afterlife in the Desert? (Multiverse)
The Eternal Gem Sword Chapter 1: The Afterlife in the Desert?
Curt groaned as he raised his head, squinting as he regained consciousness.
"I'm dead, aren't I?" he murmured, raising a hand to wipe the sand from his face.
The child was strong, had a sword that shone in the sunlight, and sent a beam of energy at Curt when they had run into each other. Curt should have been killed; he had been a normal human, but the child had been anything but.
He had been so out of his league it wasn't even funny.
Groaning again, he got out of his position of lying on his belly to sit up as he looked around.
The afterlife wasn't much different than life, Curt quickly decided. He still felt pain, and his body was still in one piece, even though that blast of light should have had an effect.
With a sigh, he looked around his surroundings. Wherever he was, Curt was no longer in a city. Instead, he was in a desert, with sand as far as he could see.
Which wasn't too far, considering it was night out.
To his surprise, though, his handbag was with him. A quick examination of it showed that all of its contents were unharmed, even though the bag itself looked like it had taken a beating.
"I know it's in here somewhere…" Curt murmured, reaching in and moving papers about. After a moment, he pulled out his laptop. "Let's see if the afterlife has an internet connection."
While it wasn't fully charged, Curt believed he still had four or five hours worth of power on his portable computer, even if he had to dim the screen as much as possible to conserve electricity. If he could connect to the internet from the afterlife, he might be able to send a message to his estranged parents.
To say goodbye, if nothing else.
Booting up his laptop on his lap, Curt reached into his shirt pockets and pulled out his cell phone. There was another possibility, possibly one he should have thought of first, but it was so easy to forget about the small things. From the looks of the phone, though, no calls could be made or received. Out of five bars, the salaryman had a grand total of zero.
With a sigh, Curt turned the phone off and tossed it into his handbag. It was useless at the moment, but he might find use for it later. With that, he turned his attention to his laptop. Quickly inputting the password, he moved the cursor to look for networks he could connect to.
To his surprise, he found two. One had a weak signal, with only one bar out of the five present, but was identified with a string of numbers that held no meaning to Curt. As a local network, he wasn't going to touch it; not only would he risk annoying whatever guardians there were in the afterlife, but also, since it was local, it didn't have the internet connection.
Just before he turned his attention to the other network, he saw the network with the numbers for its name suddenly disappear.
Shrugging, he turned his attention to the other network, which had a name that he could read. The 'Cruxis' network had two bars, and was public, but like the now disappeared network, it was local.
Staring at the network name, Curt felt something tug at his memory. Something that he had forgotten, but he wasn't sure what the gap in his memory was.
Curt started to shut his computer down. Until he had more information, he didn't want to risk connecting to a network he had little information on, nor risk running out of power for his computer. He could make more reckless and desperate moves later.
Still, that left him in the middle of a desert, with no way of contacting anyone. He'd accomplish nothing by staying put where he was, since there was no water in sight.
Luckily, there was a pinprick of light that he could see in the distance. Lacking other ideas, he closed his laptop, packed it up, and then started walking in the direction of the light.
Minutes passed as Curt made his way casually towards the light source, seeing no need to exert himself too much. Ignoring the gust of cold wind, he walked onward, pulling his feet out of the sand with nearly every other step.
As he grew closer, he saw the light was flickering about, even though it stayed in one place. Judging from the movements of the light and the small shapes around it, Curt started to believe that the light he was approaching was a campfire, with a few shapes moving around it.
"So even the dead need warmth and comfort…" he mused aloud as he continued his approach.
After another minute, another light nearby caught Curt's attention as it appeared. It was pinkish-purple, from what he could see.
The fire, or the new light? He mused in his own head. After a moment of deliberation, he let his curiosity get the better of him and changed his course to start walking towards the pink light.
Slowly, he approached the source of the light, gradually seeing a figure come into view. Eventually, in the light that was next to it, Curt saw that the figure had a girl's shape. She was a teenager, from what Curt could tell, wearing what appeared to be white clothes.
But what surprised the man the most was the source of the light. About fifty meters away, he could see what was giving off the light that had lured him over.
The light was a pair of translucent purple and pink wings that floated just behind the girl's back, as the girl gazed out over a small lake, a small oasis in the desert.
With a sigh, Curt spoke. "An angel."
Suddenly, the girl turned her gaze towards the man, eyes widening in surprise.
"I didn't mean to startle you," Curt admitted, raising his hands and his bag in a sign of peace. It would have been difficult for a human to hear Curt at the current distance, but it seemed she had better hearing than the typical human. "It's just that if you're an angel, then that child really killed me."
The angel fluttered her wings and lifted off the ground, flying over to Curt. The man watched with tired eyes as she approached, not caring enough to approach further or to try to flee.
As the angel landed in front of the salaryman, he got a better look at her. She was much smaller than him; not as small as some of the women he had seen in Japan, but Curt had always been taller than the average man in the US, though just slightly. The angel was definitely a girl, not a woman, with waist-length blonde hair and eyes showing signs of concern. She wore a white outfit with lines of some sort on it.
Curt sighed, lowering his hands. "You can understand me, can't you?" he inquired.
At this, the angel smiled before him, concern vanishing from her eyes. "Yes," she admitted. "But you're not dead. I'm not dead, so you can't be dead yet."
Curt felt his eyebrows rise in slight surprise. "So I'm not dead?" Curt asked. "This isn't the afterlife?"
"No," the girl replied. "This is Sylvarant."
Curt sighed. "Definitely no longer on Earth anymore…" he muttered, watching the girl's smile turn to confusion as he mused. "What's your name, miss?"
"Colette Brunel," the girl replied, quickly placing a smile back on her face.
"Colette…" Curt mused aloud, trying to commit the name to memory. "Colette, could you help me out? I'm lost, I have no food or water, and I have no possessions except for the clothes on my back and the papers in this bag."
The girl brought a finger to her chin as she looked upwards, lost in thought. After a moment, the girl nodded. "Of course we'll help you out," Colette stated. "What kind of Chosen would I be if I didn't help the person in front of me?"
There is a price that must be paid.
Curt gave a weak smile in return, ignoring a pounding in his head. "Thank you… Colette," he stated. "If you hadn't decided to help me, I'd probably wind up wandering this desert for a few more hours. I'm Curt Alfson, from… let's say the United States."
"The United States?" Colette asked in confusion.
"Your world doesn't have a United States?" Curt replied. When the angel's expression of confusion didn't change, the man continued. "I'm not surprised; the odds of me winding up on another world with another United States would likely baffle minds greater than yours or mine."
With a shrug, the girl's wings vanished, and her feet touched down on the sand. "This way, Curt," she stated, turning to the side and motioning for the man to follow her.
They walked in silence for a couple minutes, approaching the fire that Curt had spotted earlier, with several shapes of humans becoming more and more defined. At the edge of the firelight, Colette gave a weak cough.
"Colette!" a boy in red stated, standing up from his place next to the fire. "You're-"
His eager face quickly fell as he got a glimpse of the man standing behind Colette, the boy's sudden silence catching the attention of his other three companions at the fire. A woman with white hair suddenly raised her staff, another man drew his sword, and a boy even younger than the girl widened his eyes.
"Wind blade!" The man with the drawn sword called out.
A green wave of energy burst from the man's sword, charging at Curt with surprising speed. The salaryman leapt out of the way into the sand next to him, feeling a sudden burst of wind blow sand across his back.
Quickly rolling to face his attackers, Curt suddenly had a blade at his neck and a staff raised above him, the man and woman looking down on him with some sort of unhappy look in their eyes.
"Wait!" Colette cried out.
The man holding the sword cast his eyes towards the girl. "Chosen, are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm fine!" Colette replied. "Let Curt go! He didn't do anything to me!"
Curt felt his eyes widen slightly. In almost every story he had heard, 'Chosens' were very important people, on whom the fate of their worlds rested on. If they were killed, then the world would likely become a terrible place, if it even survived whatever event the Chosen in question was trying to stop.
In short, he had unknowingly asked for help from the most important person in the world he had fallen into.
"If he really didn't harm her," the elder boy by the fire stated, "then we can let him go and see what he has to say."
"You don't have to kill him!" the younger boy called out. "If he had wanted to kill Colette, he would have done it while she was away!"
The man holding the sword to Curt's throat flicked his eyes back to him. "Explain yourself," he stated, his sword underneath Curt's chin as the woman nearby had her staff raised as to bash Curt's head in at a moment's notice. "The Chosen and her friends have offered terms more generous than I would have."
"I don't know what's going on!" Curt pleaded. "I had no idea she was that important to you! I'm lost, all I have are the possessions in my bag and the clothes on my back! Please don't kill me!"
The man stared at Curt for several more seconds, before he finally lowered his sword. "Fine," he stated, sheathing his blade. "But I will be watching you while you are with us."
As the woman lowered her staff as well, Curt breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he whispered.
With a sigh of frustration, the woman offered a hand to Curt, which he used to pull himself out of the sand. Once standing, he retained his grip, shaking it. "I'm Curt Alfson, and you are?"
"Raine Sage," the woman replied, letting go of Curt's hand.
Nodding, Curt turned to the man that had held him at sword-point moments before. "Kratos Aurion," he stated.
Nodding in recognition, Curt turned to the two boys boy the fire. "I'm Lloyd, and this is Genis," the larger boy stated, gesturing to the smaller boy next to him.
"Nice to meet you," Curt replied, smiling and reaching for their hands.
<O>
Curt gulped down the leftover tofu curry, feeling the stares of the group on him. Lloyd and Genis were watching in curiosity, while Raine and Kratos were watching him more warily. Colette was sitting away from the rest; she had wanted to be alone again, but both of the adults had put that down after she had brought Curt to their camp.
"Arigato gozaimasu!" Curt called out after finishing the bowl. "Thank you very much!"
"Ari gato?" Lloyd asked in confusion.
"Ah," Curt realized aloud. "Sorry. 'Arigato gozaimasu' is 'thank you very much' in the country I was visiting before I was tossed here. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to learn the language of that country has gotten my speech twisted somewhat."
Raine looked surprised. "But there haven't been any countries in Sylvarant for hundreds of years," she stated. "The only two languages in Sylvarant are Crux and Angelic, and Angelic is a dead language."
"We're speaking in what you call 'Crux', right?" Curt inquired. "It's called English where I come from, and 'Arigato gozaimasu' comes from the language of Japanese. And that's not going into the other myriad languages that are where I'm from."
The entire group continued to look at Curt, with Colette rejoining the main group and sitting next to Lloyd. Raine looked at the man with growing confusion, while Curt saw the eyes of Kratos narrow.
"I'm not from Sylvarant," Curt admitted.
For some reason, Kratos's eyes narrowed further, while Raine's eyes opened wide in surprise, with Lloyd's and Genis's following suit.
"If you're not from Sylvarant-" Genis started.
"I'm from a world called 'Earth'," Curt interrupted, answering what he believed to be the question Genis was going to ask.
Curt noticed that Kratos seemed to have closed his eyes. It was either that, or they had narrowed so much that they were nearly closed. "You come from another world?" he inquired, his deep voice intoning that he was expecting a quick answer.
"Impossible as it may seem, yes," Curt admitted. "Don't press me how; I don't know all the details myself. I tripped over a child, he pulled out a glowing sword, sent a beam of energy at me, and next thing I knew, I was waking up in what I took for the afterlife. If it wasn't for Colette convincing me otherwise, I would likely be convinced I was dead."
"How do we know you are telling the truth?" Raine asked.
"You don't," Curt sighed. "All I have for evidence are the clothes on my back, and my bag with its contents. Your clothing is different than mine, though I could have gotten a local tailor to make my clothes much different than common. My bag is in a similar-."
The man froze, thinking.
"Actually…" he mused aloud, "there might be a little more evidence in favor of me not being from this world."
Putting aside his bowl and eating utensils, Curt dug into his bag, pulling out his laptop.
"Colette was able to float in the air with her wings, right?" Curt asked, causing Kratos to send a glance at Colette's direction where she had rejoined the group. "Those wings are created by magic, right?" Seeing Raine nod, Curt continued. "In my world, we don't have magic. Instead, we have technology like this."
Opening the computer and turning it on, Curt watched as everyone looked on in some sort of curiosity. The laptop's fan rapidly spun as the screen lit up, showing the system's symbol on it.
"It takes a minute for this computer to turn on to the point where one can interact with it," Curt explained, continuing the watch the group of locals. "Afterwards, it takes another minute for it to fully start up, and then I can use its functions."
"This looks a bit like the magitech that the Desians in their base used," Lloyd admitted.
"I'm not sure that this computer is advanced as theirs," Genis pointed out.
"Well, that explains why I saw two networks when I tried scanning the area for the internet," Curt stated, observing the group in front of him. All of them showed some curiosity, save for Kratos, who looked indifferent. "I didn't bother connecting to either of them since I wasn't sure if it would be safe to. That, and one disappeared."
Shaking his head, Curt moved the cursor on the screen to shut the computer down. "As much as I want to show this off to you," he admitted, "I only have a few hours worth of electricity left for it, and in this world, I have no way to recharge. Maybe those Desians you mentioned have some way to do so, but considering this is from a different world, I doubt it. If I feel something important comes up, I'll use it then."
Casting another look over the group, Curt saw that Genis and Raine looked disappointed.
"Besides," Curt stated, "if you're going to go traveling tomorrow, using this before bed reduces the ability to sleep. You're going to be walking a lot tomorrow, and you'll likely feel better-rested if we all head to bed."
Kratos gave an approving nod. "We have a long way to go tomorrow," he stated. "We can either return to Triet to resupply, or make our way to the Ossa Trail. I'll take first watch; the rest of you get some sleep. Lloyd, I'll wake you in a few hours, and Raine can take the last watch."
With grumbles from the children, it was generally agreed to go to bed, and Curt found himself looking towards a very uncomfortable sleep.
<O>
Colette received the title 'Angel of the Afterlife'. (+1 Def, +1 Int)
Curt received the title 'Kaleidoscopic Salaryman'. (Default)
Progress! Not happy with how this ended, but I wanted to get started on the next chapter.
Yes, Tales of Symphonia is the first world this Curt Alfson visits. Once he realizes it, he'll be trying to do what he can with his limited knowledge of the plot (which cuts out just after the fourth seal). And then there's all the butterflies that will start with his presence, activities, and knowledge...
Fighting Back Against the Predators Prologue (Multiverse)
Akira raised his head as he regained consciousness from where he had landed on his chest on top of a pile of trash. He had hoped that his adoptive family and all their friends were all nearby, but his hopes were unfulfilled as he got to his feet.
Ten years of planning.
"There are a significant number of plots and dangers in this world, Curt," Kratos warned as he looked to the sky from the porch. "Here in Fuyuki, there's at least Kotomine, Matou, and Gilgamesh from that story you told us back on Sylvarant. Beyond that, there's the rest of the 'Moonlit World' as you called it to be wary of, especially since a few people may have old grudges against our host."
"You're leaving out that blonde-haired angel that was forced after us," Curt replied, looking up from his Hiragana chart and towards the full moon. "Yggdrasill, I think you called him?"
The auburn-haired man cast a glare at Curt. "The point remains," the ex-mercenary stated, "we are in a world where we don't speak the local language, with records forged by Mr. Emiya's contacts, without a single counterpart of Gald to our name, in a world where angering the wrong person will get us killed."
Curt sighed. "I'm aware," the younger man admitted. "We didn't get a choice of which world we got dumped in; that was the traitorous Cardinal's doing. And while we could try to settle anywhere in this world, we should settle here so that I know what's coming, and try to prepare for it. Besides, you decided to get personally involved with the coming events with your adopting of Shirou."
"He's going to be a master in the next Holy Grail War, isn't he?" Kratos inquired with a sigh. "Between you setting my original son into a useless profession-"
"Hey!" Curt intruded.
"-and filling the heads of himself and his friends with stories and songs that made him reject me at the tower," Kratos continued, ignoring the young man's outburst, "and the traitorous Cardinal Brugmansia appearing one day and slowly making my life with Cruxis hell, I have very little left to me. I would appreciate it if you left my adopted son out of your plans."
"I can't do that," Curt admitted, "but I promise you that a large number of my plans revolve around preparing him to survive what he's going to face."
"After the stunts you pulled in my world, I suppose that is all I could hope for," the ex-mercenary sighed in defeat. "But for the love of Martel, please don't get him killed."
Ten years of manipulations.
"Thaumaturgy for Dummies," Zouken mused as he eyed Curt Alfson, now Akira Kita of the Aurion Clan. "By bringing this to the Matou Clan, you have done us a great service, Kita."
"All I wanted was another set of eyes to check for errors and for an expert magus to make additions, Matou-san," Akira admitted, using a quick structural grasp on his tea to check for poisons and magecraft traps before drinking it. "As the senior magus of the area, I thought you would be able to help us the most before we start preparing it for the wider magi use."
"The older families will typically find little use for this material," Zouken pointed out, opening the yellow book in front of him to one of the opening chapters. "But it will quicken the growth of any first generation magus who heeds the words in these pages you have put together. You will be able to gain a small fortune from first generations by selling them this book."
Akira took another gulp of tea to hide his nervousness. The dreaded worm-that-walks was pleased for some reason, and while it sounded like it also benefited Akira's own plans, he needed to be cautious in order to avoid getting screwed over.
But this was a large chance to get into the evil man's good side, and set the stage so that eventually the Heaven's Feel scenario of Fate/Stay Night was rendered impossible.
"I am glad that it will be of great use to first generations," Akira stated. "I designed it with that exact intent, since I am a late first generation myself."
"But you want more from the Matous than just an editor, yes?" Zouken asked, giving a grin that spoke of torment of those that it was directed at.
"I wanted your interest in the project, Matou-san," Akira admitted. "Beyond an editor that's in on our side, I wanted to see if you could add to it. None of your Clan secrets, of course, but some suggestions for mysteries that you think every magus should know, what they should do and never do, that sort of thing. And then there's the issue of translating…"
With a grimace, Akira took another drink of tea. "Thaumaturgy for Dummies was written in my native tongue, English," Akira continued, "and while my Nihongo is improving, I am not yet confident enough to write the book in Japanese without too many errors. Furthermore, from what I understand you also know Russian. If you are willing to add to the book and willing to help translate it to both Russian and Japanese, the adults of the Aurion Clan are willing to give you a large cut of the profits."
The Matou head chuckled darkly, continuing to give the evil smile. "You have done us a great favor, Kita, and you still offer ideas to help benefit the Matous even further," Zouken stated. "I tentatively accept your proposal."
Ten years of trying to break a curse.
Akira looked down at the map on the table, frowning as he cast glances at the notebook in his hands.
"Give it up, Akira," Kratos stated, before sipping his tea. "If the Holy Grail War is going to start in less than a year, there's not going to be enough time for you to find someone to remove the curses on Emiya-san or myself."
"It looks hopeless, all right," Akira admitted. "The magus in Brazil knew nothing, I can't ask any of the three in the United States after what happened in Las Vegas…"
"I'm still not entirely clear on how the rumors about Fujimura-san got started," Kratos stated.
Akira pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know that week is a blackout for me," he admitted, trying to ignore memories of the events that were on either side of the blackout. "But I still want to keep what remains of Taiga's innocence intact. After Vegas, Monaco, Aylesbury, Egypt, Rome… I'm still not sure why she was declared number 14, the Roaming Moonlit Tiger."
"She is still human, right?" Kratos asked.
"That's why I don't know why she was declared a Dead Apostle Ancestor by the Association, the Church, and the other Ancestors," Akira stated. "I can only guess that her luck is why she's been able to stumble into the situations she has and remain unaware of the Moonlit World."
"I know you said she was lucky," Kratos mused, "but I still think that bankrupting an Ancestor and then killing him in self-defense without realizing that he wasn't human is ridiculous."
Akira had known the woman was lucky, and had tried to use it when he could to try to improve his odds of succeeding in getting what he wanted for his plans, but he had to agree with the weakening kendo teacher that the woman's luck was beyond what he had comprehended. Ignoring the returning sinking realization that Taiga might be able to take on Type-Mercury and survive the encounter (maybe even be lucky enough to kill it), Akira decided to go to what had become his standby in regards to the woman's luck: don't think about it.
Sighing, the man turned his attention back to the map.
"The sad thing is, if we're going to be able to afford all the materials for the Grail War, we're going to have to remain cheap, so we can't spend anymore on leaving the country and then returning," Akira stated. After a moment, he pointed at a spot in Japan. "I say we head to Misaki City this fall to see if the curse-master there can make sense of what we've gathered from all the other curse-masters and work out a cure for you two. I'll see about getting Shirou and Taiga to come along; the contact might be useful for Shirou when he's finally on his own in a few years, and hopefully Taiga will prevent anything from happening to us."
This declaration caused the older man to sigh himself. "With your manipulations, one of these days she'll end up killing another Ancestor," Kratos stated. "Maybe the Tenth this time, and I don't think she'll be kept out of the loop in the next incident."
Ten years of preparations.
"Welcome to the first official public convention of the Moonlit Tabletop System, and welcome to the fourth annual Excalibur War!"
A cheer rose throughout the school gym where Akira was holding the event. There were close to forty people in the event, including those who were running it.
Four years ago, using what he remembered of a half-dozen tabletop gaming systems, Akira put together a new game system inspired by the Moonlit World, calling it the 'Moonlit Tabletop System.' After testing it with the Aurion-Matou alliance, and adding Angels as representatives of 'Type-Solar' in the background of the system to throw off the trail, Akira had it released to the public.
Kratos had disapproved of Akira lazing around the compound that they lived in, working on whatever magecraft caught his fancy, and not doing any real work to bring in an income. True, the Dummies book brought a small profit, since beginning magi kept buying copies to get started to replace whatever copies they accidentally destroyed. But that wasn't enough to completely offset the increasing expenses Akira was making in his effort to prepare for everything.
So Akira decided to kill multiple birds with a single stone.
Sure, the Angels were a red-herring that he was pushing heavily, and some missing information had to be left out, as well as most of the more modern persons had identities hidden, but the background of the Moonlit Tabletop System was accurate enough so that it would serve as a half-decent intro guide to the Moonlit World.
Expose the Moonlit World, without said Moonlit World or the main world realizing what was happening before it was too late.
It also served as a warning, of the Land of Steel that people could play in giving a glimpse of what life would be like if things did not change to advert it.
In Fuyuki, though, the origin of the system, people had started to look forward to not the magi politics or executor tasks that made up most of the adventures that were published. Instead, due to word of mouth, the adventure that everyone looked forward to was the Excalibur Wars.
Magi called 'summoners' called forth 'eidolons' from the Holy Sword, and fought to have the last eidolon standing to be granted a wish. In-story, three families got together and sought to retrieve a lost True Magic, but needed more participants for the ritual. Eventually, it became a bloodbath as all the participants betrayed each other for a chance at a wish.
In reality, Akira needed to stress-test the system at first, and figured he might as well kill multiple birds at once by seeing potential strategies the players came up with to gain the sword.
Kiritsugu had forced a draw in the first war, having his eidolon destroy the Lesser Sword in order to prevent Sakura, the other last player with an eidolon, from winning after it was clear that her Spellmaster could easily overpower his Spearlord. Zouken had his Bowmaster achieve a mutual kill on Luvia's Driver in the second war, depriving them both of the Sword.
But like the Grail War that the Excalibur Wars were supposed to give Akira ideas for plans for, things got more interesting for the third war.
Shirou and Shinji were overheard tossing ideas back and forth in school, and Ayako and a couple boys asked if they could participate in the event. Then more people asked, and word started getting around. To solve the issue, Akira split control over the summoners and the eidolons to two different people instead of the one that had been the standard in the previous two Excalibur Wars.
While in the setup stages, Kratos and Shirou decided to play as a team, mimicking Luvia's Clan's special ability to have two Magic Crests. Akira permitted it, even as he kept Shinji focused on the role he had randomly received: eidolon Avenger.
Once again, no one won, with Shinji being the first one eliminated in combat and both the elder and younger Aurions coming the closest with Sakura and another of the girls from their school.
For the fourth Excalibur War, with so many people wanting to participate, Akira had to make more modifications to how it was run. There were ten eidolons, ten summoners, and ten or so significant people to work as allies or enemies to the other players, with ten gamemasters to help make things run.
Akira cast a glance at Shinji Matou, raising his hands in eagerness from his position in his wheelchair. The teenager's official role in the Fourth War was as a gamemaster, but the plan was to have a surprise reappearance of a much powered-up Avenger once there were only a couple eidolons remaining.
The boy had odd luck. Blow out his lower spine with a technique meant to convert nerves to magic circuits (a technique that Akira had expressively put down in the Dummies book as one not to attempt without supervision) and lose the use of his legs, and be able to convert the nerves of his now useless legs into circuits afterwards. Get stuck with the weakest eidolon in the third war, become the surprise greater villain in the fourth war.
Luvia, Shinji's arranged wife (to be married as soon as they both got out of high school), frustrated with participating in all three of the previous Wars and not winning, seemed to have decided to make what essentially was a Kiritsugu knock-off, complete with two non-eidolon allies, in order to force a victory for herself. Meanwhile, Issei seemed to be dragged in to fill the role of Kotomine. And then there was the biggest surprise.
"Are you sure the blonde foreigner is on the list?" Shinji asked, after Akira finished the speech introducing the war and everyone went to draw up day plans.
Akira cast a glance at the 'blonde foreigner' in question. Gilgamesh. The rarely seen adoptive father of Mithos Uruk. He spent most of his days traveling the world to judge it, but every now and then he dropped into Fuyuki to check on Mithos and 'Uncle' Kotomine, who served as the angel's guardian while Gilgamesh was out of town.
"Just trust me on this one," Akira nervously replied, not looking forward to the interaction between the Bowmaster and Issei. "He's on the list."
Ten years of research.
BOOM!
Coughing, Akira stepped out of his workshop.
"Just what runes are *cough* needed on that key crest?" he asked between coughs.
For nine years, all was going well. Deals were brokered, research was done, arguments and temporary jobs were had, friends were made…
But it was the tenth year, the most important year, that things started to go wrong. Akira had thought he had it under control, but the consequences of his schemes all came to a head all at once. He struggled, all of his allies struggled, and when he thought that they might just emerge victorious over all the challenges that had suddenly appeared in his way…
Where had everything gone wrong?
Enforcers had arrived backed by a Servant to specifically try to kill Akira to 'stop the bleeding'. Shirou had ended up with Kohaku instead of Sakura. Rin had summoned two Servants, both Counter Guardians and both different versions of Shirou. Illya was dead despite Akira's efforts to save her. Shirou summoned Scáthach as Lancer. The unexpected of Rin's Servants granted her a Cruxis Crystal without a Key Crest, forcing Akira to give her the one he had been planning for himself. Issei had summoned, with the original notebook of Moonlit Tabletop System planning, a corrupted Beast version of Colette.
Things were getting resolved, one problem after another being dealt with. Illya was a lost cause; despite the rescue attempt where Akira had gotten Kiritsugu to her face to face two years before, her grandfather had her convinced that Kiritsugu had betrayed her. Akira finished the copy of the improved Cruxis Crystal that Yggdrasill had given Kiritsugu in exchange for a chance to raid the Einzbern mansion. The Tamamo-No-Mae Assassin of the Enforcers suffered terminal disagreements over which one of them was the wife and who were the mistresses. Zouken was killed, even if Akira had to force a Crystal onto Sakura in order to save her life. Issei had even calmed Satsuki down enough so that the risk of anyone being killed by her, let alone turned, had become minimal. Shirou even defeated both of Rin's Servants when it turned out that both of them wanted to kill him to wipe themselves from existence.
But as the group prepared for a final confrontation at the temple, to end Gilgamesh, Kotomine, and the threat of the corrupt Grail once and for all, Rin unveiled the Mystic Code she and Yggdrasill had been working on for the past decade:
Gem Sword Zelretch.
…a misuse of the sword that had started the entire mess ruined everything, separating him from the bonds he had created.
Frowning, Akira allowed his Od to flow out his back, his faint, translucent silvery wings with a tint of red appearing behind him.
As much good as it had done back in the last few hours Akira had spent in Fuyuki, he found that the improved Cruxis Crystal that he had copied was still working as it was intended. Undamaged, and uncursed, despite the power and darkness that was thrown around.
That left the man with the problem of the expected side effects of the Crystal.
When Mithos Uruk had shown up on the doorstep of the Emiya compound five years ago, around the time Kiritsugu was supposed to die, he had come seeking the services of the Magus Killer to conduct a raid on the Einzbern mansion in Germany. The boy in the guise of a teenager (he had gotten a lot of practice of looking any age but his age over the years, all the better to blend in without people asking why he wasn't aging) wanted assistance in stealing there was left of the Einzbern research on the Heaven's Feel, promising that he would give the cursed man equal access to the notes that he managed to get ahold of.
For Kiritsugu, it was an opportunity to finally receive enough support to break through the bounded fields of the Einzberns and rescue Illya.
But even with Avalon returned to him, the curse that had been placed on him by the Greater Grail had greatly weakened the man. Luckily, as a good faith gift to encourage him to take up the offer, Mithos had given the clan an improved Cruxis Crystal, complete with frame.
After Akira had analyzed the thing, it was given to Kiritsugu to help him fight back against the curse more.
According to Kratos, in his world, the first Cruxis Crystals were advanced Exspheres. Common knowledge of the Exspheres was little, only known to 'bring out a being's full potential' by making them stronger in all attributes. For Akira, after he had looted Magius's Exsphere from his corpse, it became a way to focus his music to make it more powerful, allowing him to sing so that his allies became even faster and stronger, fighting more in synch with each other, and causing multiple effects.
Singing so that everyone in a fight fell asleep except for himself, Kratos, and Colette was amusing, while picking up a song he had by now forgotten allowed him to cause a whole squad of Desians to just grab Kvar's corpse and high-tail it out of the Ranch, although due to a previous experience with the traitorous Cardinal Brugmansia also caused recent ally Sheena to run away screaming until Lloyd and Colette managed to calm her down enough so she was able to return to the camp (though not without flinching at the sight of Genis or Akira; the child had also picked up the song).
What wasn't widely known was that the Exspheres were empowered into usable forms by draining people they were attached to. The Exspheres essentially drained the souls of their first bearers, allowing those with Key Crests to then use them without issue. It wasn't until Mithos brought the first improved Cruxis Crystal to the compound that Kratos finally explained that the Cruxis Crystal was an advancement on Exspheres.
Basically, a Cruxis Crystal was supposed to be an Exsphere that repeatedly had been activated again and again, draining soul after soul into it to make it more powerful, until their final bearers could sprout angel wings and gain light-based abilities. What Mithos had done with the improved version of the Cruxis Crystal was a repeat of the first four: the Crystals would only need one soul, the user's, for the power of the 'Angels' to be granted.
Of course, there were several additional side effects. Loss of appetite, relying on Prana (Mana from the environment or the user's own Od supply) instead of food and water, inability to sleep, loss of sensation in the body, loss of vocal cords, loss of emotion, and eventually becoming a lifeless being. Thankfully, Key Crests were able to nullify most of the negative side effects, save for the one where the Crystal had to be kept in contact with their bearer's skin or they would be unable to control their old bodies until placed back.
Since Mithos wasn't bothering to make any Key Crests, it fell to Akira to research what was needed for them, alongside repeatedly replicating the Crystal that Mithos had created. Using structural analysis, Akira was able to create a half-dozen Crystals using a series of runes and jewels, but it took years before he was able to craft the first prototype Key Crest, and it took a few words from a cursemaster to finally make a breakthrough only a few months before the Grail War started.
With the proper tools, references, and notes, and a lack of mistakes and distractions, Akira was able to effectively craft seven working Key Crests in as many weeks. It should have been more than enough to cover whatever accidents occurred.
But Emiya had been long overdue for a Key Crest, Aurion's needed to be replaced, Rin had surprised Akira by showing up at the Compound with a Crystal in her without a Crest, Sakura needed it to regain a semblance of humanity after Zouken had been forcefully removed from her, Shirou had forced one on Kohaku to make sure she didn't relapse into her 'doll' state of mind, Shirou himself had needed a Crystal for his fight against Caster and Archer, and the seventh had disappeared in the confusion of the Grail War.
And in the last day, when everyone was working to either prepare for the final conflict or to flee Fuyuki to gain some distance in case things went horribly wrong, Akira decided he needed the boost of the Crystal in order to stand against Kotomine, Gilgamesh, and the Grail, regardless of the side effects. If the assault failed, the side effects wouldn't even matter, and if he won, he'd be able to create the needed Key Crest later, even using the side effects to make it faster.
But with Mithos using the sword to accidentally invoke the power of the Kaleidoscope, the operation of parallel worlds, twice, the group was no longer in Fuyuki, and both Akira and Mithos had been separated from the rest of the group.
And considering that the distorted angel was nowhere in sight, he likely hadn't stopped using the sword in an effort to return back to Sylvarant and steal his main sword, the Eternal Sword, back.
Regardless, it left Akira with just the clothes on his back, his Cruxis Crystal, and whatever he had packed into his bag.
Standing up, and shakily fluttering off the pile of trash (how had Colette and Shirou made it look so easy to pick up?), Akira picked up the brown bookbag that he had brought with him and tried to fly safely to the ground at the foot of the pile.
Needless to say, Akira had another crash landing.
"No flying until I get a chance to practice in a safe place," Akira told himself, pushing himself off the ground and dismissing his wings.
Looking at himself, Akira saw that his body was covered in burns, cuts, and gashes, his clothes in shreds, and fatigue suddenly set in.
"Have some time…" he muttered, sensing that side effects of the Crystal weren't setting in yet. Still, if he didn't get healed soon, he was dead anyway.
Akira quickly dug through his bag, trying to find anything that could be useful to him.
The man knew magecraft, but if it wasn't for the fact that he had spent several months in danger in Sylvarant, he would have been completely hopeless. As it was, he had only a half-dozen circuits and the fire element, and it was only because of the Journey in Sylvarant that Akira was even capable of the mindset of a magic user.
In a straight magecraft fight, he was outmatched, so he usually went out of the way to avoid one. If Akira had to fight, he'd try to burn the enemy to a crisp before they could do anything, and likely risk killing himself to burn them before they could kill him. If he had the opportunity beforehand, Akira would do his best to make sure he had his fireproof scrolls with fire attacks loaded in them.
And if a magus was stupid enough to try to attack Akira in a crowd and let him survive… well, there was a reason Akira said 'never go solo against a crowd fight'.
The bag that Akira had brought to the temple had been emptied considerably, tossing aside blank fire-resistant parchment again and again as he unleashed stored mysteries of flame again and again, the runes on each scroll vanishing as each mystery was completed. It was a surprise at all that there was anything left in the bag.
The first item Akira dragged from the bag was a recorder, a woodwind instrument. While Akira had originally learned to prefer the lute on Sylvarant, allowing him to sing and play the instrument at the same time, considering the fates of the first three he had gotten his hands on, Akira needed a different instrument. Despite the fact that it prevented him from using his voice, the man had settled on the recorder; small enough to fit in a large pocket without drawing attention, cheap enough to replace or repair if the need arose, and simple enough to use magecraft to project a temporary copy if in a rush.
Nodding with approval, Akira placed the instrument back into the bag and shifted through the papers that had come with it. There were still a half-dozen scrolls that Akira hadn't gotten around to using, capable of causing a small explosion of flame where he pointed them at. If the locals of the world weren't friendly, Akira had a few one-off surprises to make sure they left him alone long enough to gain a footing.
Behind the papers, there was one more item, one that Akira knew that was originally not supposed to be there. Then again, he had rushed with packing for supplies, just grabbing the first available bag of his that wasn't obstructive to him to hold the scrolls and the recorder for the final battle. With a grin, the man pulled out a book from among a half-dozen papers in the bag, its frayed yellow cover providing him a beacon of hope. Thaumaturgy for Dummies the cover read.
He wasn't going to start from scratch, after all.
Putting the book back into the bag and getting up, pulling the bag after him, he started to search for the earth-bound exit to the area where he was. He had a plan to follow, and hopefully make his way in this new world.
First of all, identify where and when he was. If the world was close enough to his own Earth and the Earth he had just spent ten years on, that would make things easier for him. It would make it even easier if he had landed in a country where he understood the language, and he'd blend in better if it wasn't too far date-wise from 2004, when the Grail War had occurred. If Akira had landed in a world where the world wasn't Earth, well, that would make things more difficult, but he'd cross that bridge if it appeared.
Next, he'd have to make contact with someone important to the local government and come clean. If he had managed to get into another Nasuverse, finding a Second Owner was going to be necessary for settling down without drawing undue heat from them later down the line. At the very least, he needed to get someone connected to the local government so that they'd be less likely to obstruct him as he settled down. The police department or local counterpart would be a good start, and if there was a Second Owner that was worth their salt around, they'd have some sort of connection with the police chief.
After making contact, Akira needed to find a place to set up a semblance of living at, eventually an actual living space once the side effects of the Crystal was dealt with. Space for a workshop was not optional; without a workshop, he was not going to be able to function in any society within a few months.
Finally, get the necessary materials and make a Key Crest. Anything afterwards wouldn't matter if Akira didn't manage to get a functioning Key Crest on his Cruxis Crystal.
Giving a smile to himself, Akira exited the junkyard as the sun started to appear above the horizon. But as he finally located exit of the junkyard and left, he was unaware of being watched. Unseen by any eyes, a small white creature with four ears watched him leave, swishing its tail in thought.
I wanted to skip a few steps in the Eternal Gem Sword, and wind up with Akira appearing in Mitakihara with little to no build up or explanation. Why I'm dropping this particular path is because Akira is too powerful in the setting without showing how he got that power.
Still, he appeared in 2006, five years until Walpurgisnacht. That's a long time to make waves in the setting. After accidentally selling the Dummies book to Madoka and Sayaka in a crystal-induced burst of apathy during a job to gain funds for needed materials, the two girls start trying to become magic users. After getting the Crest issue sorted out, Akira runs into a Witch and defeats it, mistaking it for a demon. As a result, Akira starts training the police department he has allied himself with in magecraft. When Sayaka puts herself in the hospital after copying Shirou's technique (which was described as a last resort in the Dummies book), Akira finds out, and starts training the two girls in magecraft after reclaiming his book.
With demons keeping appearing, Akira tracks down a Puella Magi who has been using the local yakuza to collect grief seeds for her. When the police department, armed with Key Crests and Grief Seeds (known to them as Demon Spheres) on top of their magecraft, make their move against the girl they believe is a magus whose experiments are going too far, the Pullea Magi has to keep using Grief Seeds to withstand the stress of having the entire police department chasing after her, eventually witching out after leaving a trail of revived Witches to a point midway into the city.
Years pass, and the main show starts, giving more and more feelings of recollection of that hit on the web that Akira, and Curt, heard of over fifteen years ago. After an incident on the bridge, Akira asks some questions, and fully realizes what story he's in. He responds by trying to actively change things. However...
The Thaumaturgy System test, the Cruxis System test, and the Cruxis Perversion System test were all permitted to this point because of the initial projected potential for an increase of grief collection.
However, while the Thaumaturgy System was encouraged by us to be kept small in scope, those participating in the system did not recruit enough participants for substantive data creation. Despite the potential to cause magical girls to become witches more easily, those in control of who was allowed to enter the system only allowed those that met standards that were counterproductive to those ends. While magi up to our specifications are possible, they are many decades away from reaching them.
The Cruxis System is an alteration of the Puella Magi system. Due to surprisingly high standards of Curt Alfson, almost no data was collected. Until now, the only candidates of the Cruxis System were those unable to become Puella Magi for one reason or another. Furthermore, Cruxis Crystals allow the use of magic without generating grief, and make users ineligible for becoming Puella Magi. The magic used also allowed their users to fight witches, decreasing grief collected.
The Cruxis Perversion System, created by taking the aspects of the Cruxis, Thaumaturgy, and Puella Magi systems, further created a net loss of grief. Witches were defeated, and their grief seeds were collected so that more people could fight witches without relying on magic from Puella Magi. This resulted in a net loss of generated grief, but was tolerated for the sake of the Thaumaturgy system.
However, threatening to make the largest potential for the Puella Magi system unable to contract due to the Cruxis System is not going to be permitted. If the other systems had more promise, then we might have allowed it, but as it stands, the systems have cost us too much energy to allow Kaname Madoka to gain use of a Cruxis Crystal.
Furthermore, due to all three of the disappointing systems, simply removing the materials will not prevent Curt Alfson from carrying onwards. Even furthermore, due to knowledge gained from alternate worlds, just removing the Cruxis Crystal would not be enough stop him from interfering.
As such, we are removing all traces of all the magical systems, from electronic, written, or printed notes, to ongoing spells and devices, and all memories of the any of the systems from those that are not Puella Magi or Puella Magi candidates. Furthermore, we are going to erase most of Curt Alfson's mind to prevent him from having any memory that could be connected to the Puella Magi system, and will receive a block to prevent him from comprehending anything of the systems.
Goodbye.
In the end, I'm scrapping this and re-using a couple concepts in Traveller, Magus, Outsider. Curt/Akira will be much less powerful there, only going into the Nasuverse beforehand.
Last edited:
Traveler, Magus, Outsider: Outsider Part 1: Arrival in the Allyway
Curt regained consciousness to a splitting headache. Slowly, he raised his hand to forehead, trying to deal with the pain pounding in his head.
The man did not know how long it took, but slowly, the pain lessened, shrinking from the pickaxe to a dull ache. It could have been minutes or hours, but eventually it was small enough for Curt to open his eyes.
He was in an allyway somewhere. So he was in a city, but for the life of him, Curt couldn't recall the city's name. But the question was, how did he get there in the first place?
The man sat up from his position next to the dumpster, looking around some more. He was clearly far from home, but he didn't know how far they were from it.
…He couldn't even remember where home was.
Curt shakily stood up, starting to panic in his own mind.
He didn't know where he lived.
He didn't know where he was.
He didn't know even how he got to where he was from home.
Quickly, he searched his pockets, hoping desperately to find something resembling identification, to give some hint as to where he had come from, where he was supposed to be going, or what was going on.
Nothing. Not even a coin.
Fear quickly built up in him, but Curt shakily pushed it down and walked out of the allyway, looking around at the city proper. If he could recognize some of where he was, then he might-
He knew English.
The signs of the stores and streets were in another language. Chinese, with all the kanji around, though some were simpler than others. The language that was spoken around him he did not recognize, either.
Shakily, Curt stumbled back into the allyway, sitting down next to a dumpster. There, he pulled his legs up to his chest, and began to cry.
A grown man, crying in the streets. A grown man with no identification, lost in the world.
Curt remained crying for several hours, before a woman, two teenage girls wearing glasses, and a teenage boy entered the allyway. The woman and one of the girls had pink hair, the other girl had blue hair-
The woman and the girl who was probably her daughter had blonde hair, which might reflect pink if the sun hit it at the right angle, and the other girl had short blue hair-
Ignoring the growing of pain in his head, Curt narrowed his eyes as he observed the last two members of the incoming group. The second girl had blue hair, while the boy had dark brown hair. Of the group, he looked the most normal, even as he had a look of confusion on his face and a violin case in his hands.
The three teenagers started a conversation among themselves as they approached Curt, the adult woman following and looking on worriedly. Eventually, the blue-haired girl turned towards Curt.
"Nihongo hanashimas ka?" she seemed to inquire.
The silence that followed seemed uncomfortable to Curt, so he ended it. "Do you speak English?" he asked. "I don't know any other language."
The two girls looked horrified. After a moment, the girl with the tint of pink in her hair spoke. "What's your name?" she asked in reply.
Curt gave a slight sigh in relief. Someone who could speak English. "Curt Alfson," he easily admitted.
The woman spoke a few sentences in the local tongue, before the pinkish-haired girl replied back to her in the same language, pointing towards Curt as she did so. The other girl and the boy joined in the discussion, all four of them casting glances at Curt from time to time and the two girls casting glances further down the allyway.
The woman seemed disapproving of something, before her daughter's explanation caused her eyes to widen. The boy asked several questions, to which the blue-haired girl answered, occasionally pointing at Curt, and the boy was looking like he was in disbelief.
Eventually, the pinkish-haired girl asked a question while looking down the allyway, to which neither the woman or the boy answered, but the girls seemed to get a response that caused them to be downcast. The blue-haired girl said a couple things to the woman, before the woman seemed to sigh in defeat, speaking with grudging acceptance.
"Do you have anyplace to go?" the pinkish-haired girl asked.
Curt shook his head. "No," he admitted.
"Alfson-san, come with us," the woman stated. "We will help get you on your feet."
Curt looked around, and then sighed in defeat himself. "I don't have too much of a choice, do I?" he mused aloud. "Can I have your names, at least?"
The pinkish haired girl gave a sad smile. "Watashi wa Kaname Madoka," she claimed.
"I'm Sayaka Miki," the blue-haired girl stated.
"Kaname Junko," the woman intoned, with a small smile watching over the teenagers.
The boy shook his head, before giving his own name. "Kamijo Kyosuke."
Curt gave a weak smile himself, before getting to his feet. True, the group could have ulterior motives, but he didn't see what they would be, and he needed some support to get on his feet. He had no idea if someone else would come find him to help him, and his lack of identification would cause too many problems if he didn't get help.
And not only did this group actually seem to seek him in particular out, based on the discussions that they had, the girls seemed to have an idea of what was going on with him. Curt doubted he would be receiving a better offer from anyone else.
Standing a head taller than the woman, a slight memory appeared in his mind. It wasn't much, but a mere reminder that Asian cultures had formalities with bowing, and respect towards those of higher station. Giving a weak smile, Curt bowed. "Thank you for helping me," he stated.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011: 00:00:09:07:46:18
Overview: Sometimes, it is easy to understand the butterfly effect if you know what should happen and see the flap of the wings. But what if one's memories of events were shattered, and all one could see was the hurricane?
Slowly, the past will be revealed, granting us all the pieces. Things will get more interesting, and pieces of the tale will get longer, I hope.
Traveler, Magus, Outsider: Traveler Part 1: Arrival in the Flames
It had been a fandom cliché. A simple reason for additions and changes to the core stories of the Nasuverse: Zelretch was bored.
Now, if one did actual research of the available materials on the man, one would realize that the Dead Apostle Ancestor True Magician of the Kaleidoscope would not be very likely to actually make the changes. It was said that he had placed a geas on himself to prevent himself from 'playing god.' No, he'd be more likely to tutor an apprentice to get what he wanted done, or perhaps give a few words to encourage certain people to act in the way he wanted them to. Maybe he'd lend a tool if he was feeling generous, and if that happened, he'd likely been actually the cause of the mess that unfortunate people were in the center of in the first place.
And even then, he'd likely do his utmost to avoid getting further involved personally.
It was likely that the only reason the vampire would actively get involved in a situation would be if the threat was so powerful that literally no-one else of lesser power would be able to deal with the threat, and it was immanent. And in that regard, his geas would probably kill him promptly after the job was done.
So, what would constitute a threat powerful enough that Zelretch has to decide to get personally involved, even with the cost of dying afterwards?
The thing to note is that he is a True Magician, able to use a set of spells, or mysteries as the Nasuverse calls them, that are beyond the capabilities of modern science. The Kaleidoscope, the Operation of Parallel Worlds, is his domain.
And why is that bit important? Well, other worlds can have different capabilities. Sometimes the dominance of humans in one world is replaced by the dominance of butterflies, or perhaps the Nazi party pulled a surprise comeback in the Second World War and forced England to surrender instead of their leader killing themselves in our own. King Arthur is an actual king in some worlds, while in others he is actually a she.
In the main Nasuverse, Zelretch is an old man who sits on his power to try to teach others, on pain of self-destruction if he does nearly anything else. Outside the main Nasuverse, there was the possibility of, in at least one world, a Zelretch who didn't put a geas on themselves.
It was that particular Zelretch, free to act as a god as he pleased with all of the Kaleidoscope as his toybox, that appeared at the college that Curt was attending, before swinging his Gem Sword wildly at the locals to send them into other worlds.
Of course, he wasn't alone for long. Another Zelretch and a half-dozen women that Curt didn't recognize appeared shortly thereafter, casting spells to try to permanently kill the wild version of Zelretch.
Curt wasn't sure who cast what spell that hit him. It could have been one of the seven heroes that had decided that the Godzilla threshold had been reached and that they couldn't afford to care about civilian casualties (and one of the women had summoned Godzilla). It could have been the villain, who probably didn't care since he had infinite toys in his sandbox. It might have even been a third party joining the fray, or simply random luck.
All Curt knew was, one minute he was trying to find enough cover to shield him from the fight long enough for him to think of a way to get completely out of the firing range, and the next minute fire was everywhere, roaring as it tore through the buildings around him.
On the upside, at least Curt was now out of the crossfire, but it came at the cost of appearing in a world that was aflame.
Gasping again, he stood up, trying to regain his wits. His first instinct was to just get up and run out of the fire that surrounded him, but a piece of knowledge bubbled up in himself. Didn't objects, once burned, become much more difficult to burn afterwards? Ironically, one of the safest places from a fire could very well be where it had burned before.
But with the roaring of the flame, Curt felt that the idea of hunkering in a charred ruin was a bad idea.
With yet another roar from the fire, Curt dived through a curtain of flame and started running.
The starting penalty is five.
"Bleep," muttered the man, trying to follow a straight a line as possible in an effort to reach the edge of the area of flame. It had to have an edge, the fire had to have an edge in all directions. It was just a matter of staying on track to a single edge; going around in circles would not get him any closer to escape.
Life penalty, body penalty, freedom penalty, fame penalty, fortune penalty.
Curt had only gotten a glimpse of flames that dangerous-looking once before. It had been on a family vacation, and they had to evacuate the campground before the flames from the bone-dry forest could consume them. They had to leave behind their trailer to make sure nothing slowed them down too much, but every one of the family, as well as everyone else that had been resting in the campground at the time of evacuation, had survived.
Half of the firefighters that had gone to fight the blaze had not.
Give the penalty that extends so much punishment, mud, darkness, and malice. "Elimination of human rights by castration, exile, execution."
But a decade later, a year after Curt had read through a bleached version of Fate/Stay Night, he was actually caught in the inferno, with memories of what he had read, memories made rational thinking much harder.
"Torture and sadism upon the body through digestion." "Denial by consensus of the colony that eliminates all honor."
Memories of when Shirou had fought against the mud of the corrupted grail, from the will of Angra Manyu, made the fire seem so much worse. It was like the mere memory of the story had created a voice filled with hatred calling through the flames, telling Curt to stay down and-
Die.
"Scorn from judgment and selfishness takes away men's fortunes," Curt intoned, trying to prevent his sanity from eroding. "Death penalty, penal servitude, imprisonment, custody, fine penalty."
The fires roared as Curt saw a red-headed child slowly walking his way through the flames, even as Curt himself was running. Everyone else Curt had passed in the flames, ignoring their screams and pleas, were burnt beyond recovery, but the child walked on, untouched by the fires.
A sense of self-preservation boiled up in Curt's mind, a desire to continue fleeing by himself. A part of him just wanted to leave the child, as they would only slow Curt down.
Crime from a grudge, crime from self-interest, unconscious crime, self-conscious crime.
But the screams of those doomed to die around him made Curt pause. He had ignored them, because of his own self-interest to survive, and the lack of ability to help those that were dying. But the kid was well enough, possibly enough that if they got out of the zone of fire, they'd be able to survive.
And after seeing so many doomed cases around him, if Curt let the child go without helping them, Curt would be condemning them to share the fate of all those that were being killed by the fire around them.
And simply enough, Curt could not let that happen without staining his conscience.
He jumped over a fallen beam and ran over to the child, which Curt could then see was a boy. Quickly reaching down, he picked the boy up without as much of a squawk from him and positioned him in a bridal-style carry. "Hang on, kid," Curt muttered, looking around. "We'll get out together, all right?"
Not even looking at his load, Curt shakily leapt above another beam and resumed his desperate trek to escape the fire.
Violation, negligent homicide, mass violence, death at work, overconfident accident.
Desperation brought his legs to move like they had never moved before. Adrenaline from fear of urgency to escape the flames with the child before they were both burned beyond hope.
Die. Die. Die.
But even that wasn't enough to push Curt to completely escape, until he saw a crazed man up ahead in his path. The look may have been natural, or it may have been from desperation because of the fire. Regardless, Curt needed to get him out of the fire; none of the three were properly equipped for the fire that raged around them.
"Oy!" Curt called out, stumbling towards the older man with the child in his arms. "Which way out of here?"
The man turned his look towards Curt and the child, visibly starting to relax in relief at the sight of Curt, the crazed look of desperation fading from his eyes.
"Ikite imasu…" he sighed aloud.
Misdiagnosis, concealment, violation for benefit, violation for self-protection, violation for love, violation for respect.
"What are you standing around for?!?" Curt shouted. "Let's move!"
A distant part of Curt recognized the other man's language as Japanese, but he didn't have time to dwell on it; they needed to get out of the fire before the three of them died.
As Curt started to step forward again, the older, smaller man widened his eyes in realization as he eyed the boy in Curt's arms. "E-eh, E-eh…" he murmured. "Kare o shita ni okimasu. Put him down!"
Worried, Curt looked down at the child, and realized that he had stopped breathing in Curt's arms. The boy laid still; the smoke had claimed him.
With disappointment, Curt kneeled down and placed the corpse on the ground. He had hoped to save the child, but it seemed that he had been too far gone for Curt to save. Still, that did not stop the older man from bending over the child.
It was a light of hope, a light of peace. It was a light of calm, a light of relief. It was a light that purged the worries and fears of Curt, driving back the flames that brought the memory of a story of darkness, reminding of the hopeful end of reaching for utopia.
The light suddenly vanished, leaving the roaring of the flames, but at the same time, the dark memories that they had brought did not return with the fires.
The older man kept kneeling over the boy, watching with desperation, before the boy gave a gasp, opening his eyes.
"Ikite imasu…" the man gasped in relief. "Ikite imasu!"
The boy stared at the man for a few seconds, before closing his eyes, his chest slowly moving up and down as he fell asleep.
Before Curt could act, the older man picked up the boy, and turned, walking away from where they had been standing and onto a path that looked like it led out of the flames. Curt hurried after him, doing what he could to keep up with the man who seemed to have run into the fires to help save people.
There was something familiar about the area, but Curt didn't have time to think on it further. He would have a chance to look more deeply after he wasn't at risk of burning to death.
Monday, February 7, 1994: 09:18:11:23:56:34
Now, we get a first glimpse into the 'Traveler' section of the 'Traveler, Magus, Outsider' storyline. The first pieces of the history of this Curt is revealed, being dumped into the Fuyuki Fire by a brawl of users of alternate worlds. Though this version of Curt may be lost down the line, I've got a few plans for him. Magecraft-wise, he's going to be specializing in curses (making and breaking them) and breaking bounded fields.
Of course, we're not going to be continuing in Fuyuki directly; we're going to jump back to Mitakihara as we get glimpses as to the changes that have been wrought.
And, ah... no commentary on anything so far? At this rate, it's likely I'll fill the entire first page on my lonesome... Even constructive criticism would be welcome.
One night, I was trying to sleep in my bed at my apartment. The next morning, I was waking up on a forest floor, nothing familiar in sight.
Sure, a surprising number of stories start with the protagonist in an unfamiliar place, but they typically were related to fanfics. To make matters worse, all I had was the clothes (thankfully, instead of my pajamas) on my back. This was on top of my lack of capability of wilderness survival.
I tried calling aloud for help a few times, but no one answered my pleas. Instead of doing the smart thing, I decided to try to find my way to civilization on my own.
Which allowed me to stumble onto the scene of a conflict between a Furret and a Pidgey.
Yes, a battle between a couple of Pokémon in the middle of a forest.
So it turned out I was much further away from home than I first thought.
The Pidgey flew into the sky, dodging the Furret's tackle attempts. The bird then dived down to run into the Furret, before flying into the sky again. Both sides looked like they were tired out, with the battle having been going on a while. One more solid hit on either side could make the deciding factor.
I shouldn't have gotten involved, but a large black fruit was on the ground nearby. I had nothing to defend myself with, save that black fruit, but still, I tossed it…
Chapter 1 Purity: Furret
…at the Pidgey as it tried to pull out of the latest dive that had missed the Furret. With a fearful 'Pid!,' it kept its dive close to the ground longer, allowing the Furret to make a flying tackle at the bird. With a large thwack, the Pidgey was sent flying without wings, crashing into a tree trunk.
Apparently, that was enough for the tiny bird, which shakily got to its claws and took off amid the trees, flying away from the Furret and myself.
Puffing, the Furret walked on all fours as it came over to me, before standing on its two hind legs. I was surprised that it came up to my shoulders, showing just how big it actually was.
"Furret!" it cried out.
"Heh," I weakly chuckled. "You're welcome. You wouldn't happen to know the way to the nearest town, would you?"
"Fur!" it replied.
"Thought not," I stated. "See you around."
I glanced towards the sky, taking note that the sun was close to in the middle of it. With the comfortable temperature, I guessed I had around six hours before I ran the risk of running out of daylight. Still, with it being noon, I had no way to determine which direction I was going to head in.
Quickly shaking my head at myself, I pointed myself in a random direction and started walking amid the trees.
As the sun continued its way across the sky, I saw that I was heading northwards. At least, if the Pokémon world I was dropped in shared that similarity with my own.
In a small clearing amid the trees, I stopped as my stomach grumbled.
"Sooner I can get to a city, the sooner I can get some food…" I muttered, hand on my belly. I hadn't gotten an opportunity to get breakfast before being dropped in this world, and I didn't trust my forest survival skills to not lead me astray in eating something poisonous.
"Fur!"
I flinched, quickly turning around to face the Furret behind me.
"Hello again," I replied, looking over the Pokémon with me. "Are you following me?"
"Fur!" the Pokémon repeated, nodding.
"Do you want to come with me?" I inquired. "Is that it?"
"Fur!" came the reply.
"All right, then," I stated, turning back towards the forest before us. After a few moments thought, I looked back at the Furret. "Do you want to take the lead?"
Perhaps I'd have better luck with navigation following my new companion instead of wandering and hoping for the best.
With what I could best determine as a shrug from Furret, it turned westward towards the trees. Hopefully we'd be able to get out of the forest soon, before I starved to death.
Chapter 1 Corruption: Pidgey
…at the Furret, hitting it on the side of its head. It quickly turned to face me, ready to face the new threat, but its inattention on the old threat cost it. The tiny bird rammed into the back of the Furret's head, pounding the larger Pokémon's face into the dirt. The Furret didn't move, hopefully just knocked out instead of dead.
"Pid Pid!" the tiny bird chirped, glaring at the Furret, before turning to face me.
"I mean you no harm," I stated, slowly backing away.
I had just intruded on a battle between two wild Pokémon, and I didn't know for certain how the two of them would react to my presence. In hind-sight, it was probably a bad idea to just toss the black fruit into the conflict and take a side, but I was hoping at that point to just get away without provoking the Pidgey to attack me, much like the city birds back home fled from humans that got too close.
At a distance I judged safe, I finally turned my back and picked another direction, resuming my walk. Hopefully, I would avoid going in circles and actually find a way to get out of the forest and to civilization.
A couple minutes passed in my resumed trip, and I heard wing-beats rapidly approaching, but I didn't pay them any mind. At least, not until they were right on top of me, and a large weight settled on top of my head.
"I'm not a nest, you know," I stated, regaining my balance and angling my head upwards, trying to be clear that I was talking to the unexpected passenger on top of me.
"Pid Pid!" came the reply, with a hint of smugness.
"You're just going to follow me around until something happens, right?" I inquired upwards again.
"Pid!"
"At least you're light enough to not weigh me down too much…" I stated, looking around. "You wouldn't know where the nearest town is, would you? Hopefully, there'll be food for both of us."
"Pid!" came another reply, as the weight on my head suddenly lessened and the Pidgey took off to the northwest.
"Don't fly too fast!" I called out, picking up my walking pace as I tried to keep my guide in sight. "I can't move as fast as you!"
The quickest way to get from point A to point B was, quite simply, a straight line, one that is easily managed by flying over obstacles. If I could follow my new companion from the ground, I would likely get to somewhere I wanted to be.
Though, to be honest, considering the growing storm clouds to the south, I was really hoping to get to a city and shelter fast before I got caught in the rain.
Purity: Furret (Unnamed)
Corruption: Pidgey (Unnamed)
It's been over a month since I posted here? All right, here's something for you guys.
After reading @shadenight123 's Soul Splitter, I was inspired to toss something out to try to follow in his footsteps. The idea is about 'For Want of a Nail', where a single, small event (in this case, the choice of a Pokémon here) done differently creates two different timelines.
The Pokémon world that this story is taking place in is a mixture of Anime, Games of all generations, and Manga (thus explaining the Furret). However, as the story goes on, there is going to be a few surprises not present in any of the three or the original Soul Splitter... I didn't pull the names for the Timelines 'Purity' and 'Corruption' out of a hat, after all...
For the battle system, I'm likely going to use a variation of a certain Anime-Style Battling system I've been participating in under a different forum name.
Epic Battle Magica: Enter the Players (Epic Fantasy Battle/Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
The loop had started normally enough. Wake up in the hospital, run into Sayaka and her to-be boyfriend, find a place to live and work for the loop, and make a quick detour one evening in order to prevent Oriko from ever becoming a problem.
And then the thefts had started.
A group of four people had somehow smuggled a tank into Mitakihara, and started a four-person crusade to steal everything that had not been nailed down. Not everything, but staffs, swords, guns, and a lot of bullets and arrows, on top of huge piles of food, were among the targets taken.
Also a half dozen bags of cat food, oddly enough.
Normally, as long as events didn't impact Madoka or her family, Homura wouldn't have gotten personally involved. But among the group's first targets had been two Yakuza hideouts, stealing all their guns, food, and beer. Two hideouts that Homura normally stocked up from for her own purposes. And the four showed no sign of slowing down, with how destructive their attacks were when someone tried to fight back.
So, Homura used time stop to steal from them everything but the cat food.
After watching the JSDF come in and arrest the disarmed two men, two women, and an odd cat that just floated there with no legs, Homura slunk away to a warehouse to examine her new loot.
Swords, spears, staffs, and bows of varying condition and qualities were among the curiosities; while she had little inclination to use them herself, perhaps she could share them with others when they all worked together to fight a witch. There was also the large stockpile of food that Homura had confiscated from the four, which she believed would keep her fed for many loops to come.
Of more interest to her were the myriad firearms that she had taken from the group. Most of them were guns that Homura usually stole from the local Yakuza gangs, but there were about a dozen guns that she hadn't seen before. She'd have to do some research to figure out which ones were actually of some use and which ones could be tossed for scrap, but she had several loops more to identify which was which.
Of most interest to her was the tank she had stolen from the group. Named the Valkyrie Tank, it had a cannon, machine guns, and a nuclear warhead in its arsenal. It was the last of those that had Homura in a happy mood that night; it was a single shot that had the potential to wipe out Walpurgisnacht in one hit, without invoking any other weaponry. And even if the witch somehow managed to survive that, it would surely be weakened enough to allow other conventional weaponry to finish it off.
And even on top of the weaponry the Valkyrie Tank had, there was the fact that, as a tank, it was a mobile fortress for a girl like herself. Very little in the way of mundane weaponry would be able to get through it, and likely very little in the way of attacks from witches would get through either. If Madoka insisted on helping out, placing her in the tank would allow her to stay safe as she fired the guns and cannon.
Homura would have to stock up on radiation suits in the coming days, but for now, she could rest happily.
Tonight had been a good night.
OOO
Tonight had been a horrible night.
"Fogbank!" Lance spat out in frustration.
"My sword collection!" Matt cried.
"Who cares about your sword collection?" Lance responded. "They stole my fudge-pop tank!"
"Of all the places for karma to catch up to us…" Anna muttered.
"Well, if Matt hadn't fallen asleep on watch duty…" Natz replied, glaring at the blonde-haired man in their cell.
"I was awake, Natz!" Matt responded, turning towards the red-haired woman. "One second, everything is fine. The next, everything is gone!"
"Do we want to wait here for whatever judgment the locals give us?" Anna asked, standing up from her bunk. "Or do we want to break out, get all our gear back, and stop Godcat from taking over this world?"
"Natz, you have the spells for this, right?" Matt asked, turning to the red-haired woman.
Natz sighed. "I can't believe I'm going to use a Limit Break on this…"
OOO
Kyoko stared at the large, winged cross of light that had appeared in Mitakihara with a roar, before packing away the remains of her stolen meal.
She considered herself one of the big fish of the pond, but with that flashy and powerful burst of magic, she easily realized she was no longer the top of the food chain.
Perhaps another city far away would be better hunting grounds for her lifespan…
Just a quick omake, with connections to a game I've been playing recently.
Homura Akemi:
A Puella Magi with a limited control over time. Uses non-elemental and bomb attacks. Can buff herself. Has high evade. May summon the witch Homulily upon death.
Health: Boss (Weak)
Mana: Puella Magi
Physical Defense: Low
Magic Defense: Low
Evade: (Unreasonably) High
Elemental Resistance:
-100% Bomb
50% Wind
-100% Dark
Other Notes:
Uses (time) magic to increase Evade and Accuracy by 35% each turn (max 70%, and automatically decreases by 5% each turn), before attacking with one of her (many) stolen weapons.
Originally made as a (non-canon) omake for the quest Renascence: A Homura Quest, run by Higure. I've been replaying Epic Battle Fantasy IV recently (this time on Epic difficulty), and an idle thought struck me: how would the main cast of the games react if they found themselves in Mitakihara?
The answer: get up to their old tricks, and steal everything not nailed down.
The story plan, if I continue it, goes like this:
Sometime after IV, an unrelated powerful being (Yukari, Zelretch, or someone else with power to move people between worlds) appears before Anna, Lance, Matt, Natz, and their combat pet No Legs (a cat without legs, but able to do things as if they had legs) and tells them that their previous foe, Godcat, had made their way to an Earth to try to turn it into a world where cats were the dominant species over humans. The being offers the group a one-way trip to Mitakihara, which Matt accepts before listening to the details.
On Earth, it turns out that none of them understand the local language, and quickly start 'stocking up' on supplies so that they have a better chance of defeating Godcat than the previous time. Having an active tank when no one else has any on hand tends to help enable one's activities.
Homura, annoyed that a couple of her usual raiding places were raided by the outsiders before she could, robs them blind as much as possible, and is pleased with her loot.
Everyone in and around Mitakihara saw Natz's Genesis Limit Break, which devastates the police station they were being held in.
More and more cats are appearing in Mitakihara... both the normal kind and those with no legs...
The EBF group escapes containment and starts to make their way through Mitakihara, looting new gear along the way as they try to track down Godcat before they act.
Kyubey is confused: how are these four, who have never contracted and are inelligible to be contracted, capable of using magic?
Homura and the group come into conflict multiple times; the group keeps running into Witches, thinking they are just powerful bosses, and taking them down, beating Homura to them every time. After the four refuse to hand over the resulting Grief Seed of one of them, Homura tries to take it by force and uses some of her stolen weaponry, including Lance's tank, before being forced to retreat by incoming police officers.
During a routine scan of a Witch by the group, they get a little something extra. "An Incubator? What's an Incubator, and why is it invisible even on screen?"
Kyubey wants Madoka to contract. Godcat wants their Chosen Human of this particular Earth in one piece. Conflicts ensure.
Mitakihara Pest Control TV Ad: Cockroach Season (Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Gamer)
Scene: Abandoned, falling apart stone building, zoming in.
Voiceover: It is that time of year again.
Camera jumps to a concrete block on the building. A single cockroach walks into view.
*FWIP* *BUZZ* *SNAP*
Cockroach leaps out of frame, spreading wings, as a purple fly-swatter smacks against the concrete block.
Voiceover: It is that time when certain creatures bearing diseases and able to edge out the local wildlife start appearing in great numbers.
Scene: Night in Mitakihara, the camera looking over an apartment complex.
Enter Japanese Salaryman, with tired expression on his face.
Salaryman walks to the door of a dark apartment, and takes out a key. He unlocks the door, entering the apartment and closing the door behind him.
The apartment's window lights up.
Salaryman (like a little girl): YEEEEEEEEEEEEH!
Scene: Japanese Salaryman on ceiling, curled up and holding onto a ceiling lamp, looking down at floor.
Scene: A couple dozen cockroaches darting to and fro on the floor of an otherwise prestine apartment.
Voiceover: Darting just out of the corner of your eye, they can fit and hide in any crevice.
Scene: A cockroach squeezes out of a crack in concrete, center.
Voiceover: They can reach any crevice.
Camera zooms out to see the concrete is several floors up in the outside of a building. The cockroach flies out of sight while two more fly up and squeeze into the crack.
Scene: Homura standing outside her apartment complex, phone in hand, as a man unrolls a yellow DO NOT ENTER tape to block off access to the apartment. There are a few dozen cockroaches visable on the building from this position.
Voiceover: They threaten to push us out of our homes.
Homura (into phone): Mami, could I stay at your place for a few days? My apartment has been condemned because of a cockroach infestation.
Scene: Mitakihara Middle School, blocked off in front of a crowd of students by yellow tape. A swarm of cockroaches is spotted on one of the windows.
Sayaka: And that's just one of ten swarms in the school?!
Voiceover: They'll push our children from out schools...
Scene: Woman in a buisness suit with green hair shakes in fear as she looks blankly forward, curled up on a bench. There is a buzzing in the air.
Voiceover: ...and ourselves from our jobs.
Woman: So many... so many...
Scene: From behind the bench and the green-haired woman, looking on an office building. The entire side of the building is covered in cockroaches, and many more are flying about the building.
Scene: Cockroach on a rusty car in a junkyard.
*BANG*
Cockroach disappears from view.
Voiceover: They are capable of surviving almost anything that is thrown at them.
Homura glares directly at camera, with Sayaka and Mami standing next to her. Mami is holding a clipboard, and Homura is lowering a gun.
Sayaka: Did you get it?
Homura: I hit it.
Mami: It's still alive. (Shakes head and makes a note on the clipboard.) That's twenty-three survivals and... no deaths. Trial twenty-four is... nalpalm? You have that?
Scene: Newscaster speaking on a news channel. An image of a cockroach is next to them.
Newscaster: Residents are advised to evacuate Mitakihara due to the cockroach invasion that seems to be plauging the entire city...
Voiceover: It's cockroach season.
Scene: Walpurgisnacht crashes into the ground, choking as thousands of cockroaches crawl in and out of its mouth. The witch is covered from top to bottom with cockroaches, like all the buildings that surround it.
Voiceover: When you have an infestation this bad, call in the experts.
Scene: White screen with a cartoonish purple octopus holding a cockroach, rat, ant, and termite in four different arms. A name in katakana appears beneath the octopus, followed by a phone number.
Voiceover: Mitakihara Pest Control. Reasonable rates, for when you want those destructive pests gone.
This is the second edition of an omake from @pantherasapiens 's Puella Ludio Homura Magica quest, with the first edition of the omake here. In the quest, Homura's wish gave her gamer-like powers, and is trying her best to save everyone she can, but Madoka in particular (as usual). In the quest to avoid the need for Grief Seeds, the players have managed to uncover Mana Potions, and then the recipe for said Mana Potions, followed by summoning impossible ingredients (Silver Dragon Scales). In this way, as long as Homura's Corruption isn't close to maxing out, she effectively has an unlimited supply of Mana (though she is constrained by the time it takes to brew the required potions, and her small Mana and Corruption pools, limiting how much she can use at once).
However, in the third 'loop' of the quest (the first loop being ended by a reborn witch after filling a Grief Seed after a Lichbomb, and the second loop (effectively) ended by a hallucinating Sayaka), when Homura finally got into her position of potionmistress-in-training, there was a post of a log from Kyubey, describing how Homura and her work looked to the Incubators. The general feeling of voters at the time (myself not included, since I joined later) was that the information in the log was interesting, but not really relevant to their interests. Later, Homura discovered cochroaches in her apartment, and I, having recently joined and read through the archinves, was the first to bring up the connection of Homura's potion making to a cochroach problem in the first edition of the omake.
The gasses created as a side effect of Homura's potion-brewing were creating the problem of cockroaches in her apartment.
The rest of the thread then discussed the problem, and decided that some bug-zappers would solve it. While we haven't gone and actually gotten any bug-zappers yet, it is on the to-do list. In the meantime, I created the omake above, further enhancing it in the direction I wanted it to go.
There is a shout-out to another Magical Girl anime in this omake, if you care to look.
Finally, it was discovered in the last update that the side-effects of Homura's potion-making is not limited to cockroaches (even though Homura has no clue in character that the problem is her fault); a magically enhanced bird was spotted. Which brings me the question of: can we feed Mana Potions to ordinary humans to get them able to help out against Walpurgisnacht?
"Well done, Furret," I stated, rubbing a hand on its head. "This will make things easier for me."
"Fur!" the Furret chirped happily.
My new companion had taken me to a nearby river, flowing southwards. Considering humans tended to build cities and civilizations close to water, all I had to do was follow the river in one direction or the other; I'd either come across a town or a path leading to a town eventually, or come across the ocean, in which case I'd follow the coastline to the nearest town.
I decided to lead the way downstream, and I wasn't entirely surprised to hear the Furret following behind me.
In the games, you could catch a Pokémon, and it'd turn from wild, aggressive attacker to obedient, loyal follower after capture; even those Pokémon that hated their trainer's guts obeyed commands, unless they had been traded, in which case obedience was questionable, depending on the number of badges one got a hold of. However, in the anime and manga, the humans could befriend Pokémon outside of battle, and were actually their own beings; they mostly acted with human-like personalities, doing their own things with their own decisions.
Also, a lot of them tended to be befriended easily within one or two episodes or chapters. Help them out, do them a favor, fight off a persistent threat together (usually Team Rocket, at least in the anime), and the human protagonists had a new traveling companion loyal to their cause.
This appeared to be a case of following the anime more than the games or manga. I had helped the Furret, and it had decided to follow me as its new trainer.
"Are you sure you wish to come with me?" I inquired, turning around. "I'm planning on leaving the forest when I can, and trying to make my own way in this world. I don't belong here, and I don't know if or when that mistake will be corrected. Do you wish to risk being left alone far from this home of yours?"
The large Pokémon stared at me for several moments, meeting my eyes, unflinching. Instead, I flinched, breaking the eye-contact I had initiated.
"All right, you can stick with me as long as you'd like," I relented, turning my attention to direction I was planning on leading us. "Just don't tell me you weren't warned if something happens to me."
I started walking again, following the river as I heard my companion following behind me.
I held no illusions that trouble was going to follow me unless I died. I did not belong in this world, brought in by some unknown force that could take me away just as easily. My mind instantly jumped to Zelretch, one of the most powerful beings of the multiverse that gave birth to the world that my world knew as the 'Nasuverse'. Zelretch had the power of the 'Kaleidoscope, the Observation and Operation of Parallel Worlds', if my mind was correct. It would take a being with power equal to or greater than Zelretch's own to get me back to my own world.
And, to be honest, even if it meant that I wouldn't go back to my own world, I had no intention to seek out and bother any being with such power.
My life at my old home was, while not terrible, not anything to be excited about either. Day after day, class after class, meal after meal… life had worn me down. I had very little to tie me back to my old world, so I wasn't exactly eager to put myself in a lot of danger just to return to the same-old, same-old.
And, well, if a being brought me here, what's to say that it wouldn't toss me into another world that was neither this one or my original one?
No, just work on surviving in the current one and not poke one who had power to make my life miserable.
A rumble of thunder jerked me out of my thoughts as rain started to hit my head.
"Bleep it…" I muttered, pausing, my companion simultaneously freezing behind me.
We were about to get caught in a thunderstorm. For the life of me, I couldn't remember whether hiding under trees was a good thing or a bad thing. I knew the ideal place was to be indoors, or perhaps even underground in a pinch, but I doubted either of those were options.
"Run!" I shouted bolting forwards onto what I finally noticed was a dirt path that had started to run parallel to the river. "Nearest human building!"
We were getting close. Furret quickly sped ahead of me, its short legs hiding its true speed. I hoped that I got my desperate command clear enough, but for now, all I could do was run.
I'd been walking all day, but despite my tiredness, at another crack of thunder, I still put a speed into my legs befitting a desperate man.
My footfalls were loud compared to the quiet steps of my companion, whose sounds were rapidly disappearing over the growing distance between us and the increasing rain.
The wet dirt road grew larger as we passed a bridge, before a town of sorts appeared around a corner of trees. It was smaller than the towns of my own world, but it averted the suspiciously small town sizes of the games.
Which was good, because it gave more places for myself and Furret to duck under cover.
I gave my legs another push, spotting my companion up ahead trying to get into the nearest house through the nearest window. A crack of lightning lit up the area, and I saw a young-looking woman with wide eyes staring in my direction from the other side of the window.
"Open up!" I shouted, trying to get my voice heard over the storm as I sprinted around a picket-white fence and towards a door. "Please, let us in!"
To my great relief, the woman opened the door I was hurrying to, and I rushed inside, spotting Furret with a trail of water leading from another room behind it.
"What were you doing outside in a thunderstorm?!" the woman cried in anger as she slammed the door behind me.
"Got…" I gasped, hands on my knees, "lost… in… forest… couldn't… find… town… in… time… thank… you…"
"Stay right there, mister," the woman ordered, before hurrying into another room.
Between my gasps and Furret's panting, I noticed the sound of the rain on the roof, which had originally been like the sound of a thousand hammers was starting to fade in volume.
The storm was ending.
"Real…ly…?" I panted in disbelief, falling to my knees and pushing my hands forward to the floor.
Chapter 2 Corruption: Story-Bound
Following Pidgey, getting out of the forest was easy. I had to call out for Pidgey a few times to not go too far away from me, but it took very little time to follow my new companion to the edge of a city, just as I heard a rumble of thunder somewhere behind me.
I didn't want to stay outside much longer, but inside the city, I was relatively safe from being struck by lightning, if I stuck around tall buildings and the builders had any sense of lightning-rods like they did in my world. The major problem would be a non-issue, really, but that still left the issue of getting wet in the rain, and…
"Pidgey!" I called out, looking skyward.
As a weight settled on my head of hair, I heard a smug, "Pidg!" from on top of me.
"You really like it up there, don't you?" I asked, walking carefully deeper into the city.
"Pid!"
"Well, I suppose you've earned it," I replied. "Thank you for leading me here."
"Pid!"
Casting my gaze past a wanted poster and over a couple stores, as the sun started to set and the sky rumbled again, I lost patience and inquired with a passerby.
"Excuse me," I stated, walking over to the woman going the other direction. "Do you know the name of this fine city?"
The woman quickly turned to me with a smile, and opened her mouth to speak, only to suddenly close it and pull her hands to her mouth when fully saw me. Her eyes twitched upwards and her body shook in amusement, as she barely restrained her laughter.
"Apparently, I seem to be a good nest for my companion," I calmly explained. "I've got no Pokéballs, anyway."
"Pidgey!" the tiny bird smugly called out.
"Wee…" the woman squeaked out, bending over as she started to bring her amusement under control. "Sorry… it's just… you don't see that everyday!"
"I'm not entirely surprised," I admitted. "Most Pokémon would never be able to do something of the sort safely for their humans, with either being too heavy or having an incompatible body type."
The woman stopped trying to laugh, before looking up from her bent over form and giving me a solid look of confusion. Perhaps my choice words didn't go over well for her?
"Go ahead and laugh if it makes you feel better," I told her, trying to give a smile. "That look of amusement that was on your face before is a much better look for you than what you have now."
She gave me a weak smile as she straightened back up. "Did you miss the signs as you came into the city?" she asked. "You're in Viridian City, the eternally green city."
"I didn't come in by the main road," I explained. "My chief concern was simply getting out of the wilderness, and my guide took me from point A to point B."
The woman stared at me for several moments, before shaking her head in dismissal. "You'll probably be wanting the Pokémon Center," she admitted. "Go down this road for three blocks and take a right; it'll be straight ahead of you, the building with the large red dome."
"Thank you for answering my intended question," I stated, trying to give a teasing tone.
The woman frowned again, but before she could speak, I interrupted her.
"I see that I've bothered you enough," I stated. "Regardless, thank you for your guidance." I turned to follow the woman's directions.
"Wait," she stated.
I turned back to see her digging through her purse, before she pulled out a familiar red and white Pokéball.
"If the Pidgey is yours, you might want a ball for it so that no one else can catch it," she explained, holding the ball out to me.
"How expensive are those?" I inquired.
The woman shrugged. "You can get one for two-hundred Pyen," she replied. "You could get a dozen for a few hours work, so almost everyone can afford a few. But since you're out…"
I smiled what I hoped was a kind smile. "Thank you, miss," I replied, softly taking the ball out of her hands. "I'll use it on Pidgey once I get to the Center. I hope your evening is enjoyable for you."
The woman dully nodded as we turned away from each other, to go down our different paths.
It took five minutes with the woman's directions in order to reach the Center. Once there, I found out I had another problem.
"You have to be a registered handler in order to use the services of Pokémon Centers?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes," the nurse on duty at the front counter admitted. "You're welcome to drop into the Kanto Centers, but you need to be a registered handler in order to have access to our healing facilities outside of an emergency, our trading stations, and be able to rent one of our guest rooms for the night."
Frowning with an ease I found disturbing to myself, I thought a moment before speaking again. "What services can you offer those who don't have a Trainer License?" I inquired.
"You can still buy food from any cafeteria that a Center has," the nurse replied. "And you can still use our computers to make phone calls, but without a Trainer License, you need a little Pyen for those services."
I gave a mixture of a sigh and a growl of frustration. By now, I had figured out that 'Pyen' was the local currency, a mixture of 'Yen' (since the world of Pokémon originated in Japan) and Pokémon (for the obvious). Luckily for me, while the world around me had Japanese-like traits, the local language was English, so I was able to communicate with the humans of the world.
Unluckily, I was a complete unknown. I had no identification, no money, and only a Pidgey to support me, and I had doubts of anyone willing to support the Pidgey.
I had barely worked a day in my life, but if I was going to survive in this world, I'd need to buckle down and get to work.
"I don't suppose you need a short-term worker, do you?" I inquired, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Something for an untrained worker for a few hours to earn enough Pyen for food and a phone call or two?"
…
"Desperation is the mother of necessity," I muttered, swiping the mop back and forth down a hallway.
"Pid!" Pidgey called out from the top of my head.
"I think you'd agree that I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't in a bad spot, would I?" I inquired, lifting the mop to place it back in the bucket.
A janitorial job. Simply cleaning half-dozen non-critical hallways, and I'd get a couple thousand Pyen for my work. As I wasn't a full-time janitor, I wasn't allowed access to the rooms where trainers could spend the night, or into the medical wings of the building, and because I was unable to cough up any references, I wasn't allowed to work in the kitchen either, cleaning dishes there.
It turned out that the Kanto Regional Government had recognized that traveling trainers may run into money troubles, and had taken a few steps to encourage trainers to avoid running completely out of money. While it was a common, though discouraged, acceptance of betting on Pokémon battles, someone was going to end up on the short end of the stick and wind up without a Pyen to their name. That is where Kanto's Government stepped in, giving various businesses and organizations the authorization to hire workers for a few hours at the digression of the employer. I was lucky enough that the Viridian Center was one of those with a limited Digressionary Employee License.
While I was lucky enough to get the job for the evening, and get a few thousand Pyen, those with more permanent jobs in the Center typically got over ten-thousand Pyen a day, and that was for the least paying of the permanent jobs in the Center, like a permanent Janitor who had the responsibility of cleaning all the areas that a temporary janitor was not authorized to go.
There was more to it, but it wasn't relevant to my problem, so the permanent Head Janitor of the Center had spared me the rest of the lesson on Kantoesse Politics and simply told me to get to work.
Now, a couple thousand Dollars from the Americas or a couple thousand Pounds from the United Kingdom was a good chunk of change, allowing a single person to live off of microwave dinners each night for a month with enough money leftover to help pay a month's rent for an apartment, assuming you didn't buy anything else. However, a couple thousand Yen in Japan wouldn't get you nearly as much, only about a meal with inflation.
Luckily, even though the Kanto-Johto Pyen (which was generally accepted around the Pokémon world I had been dropped into, even though it might net a few raised eyebrows in other regions) had been based off of the Japanese Yen, after seeing food prices, and taking into account Pidgey, I was confident that I'd be able to afford dinner that night and breakfast in the morning, and sneak in for a cleaning job that morning to earn enough Pyen to start to build up enough to act with.
Even if it meant sleeping on the streets for a while, I'd have to make every Pyen stretch until I could stand on my own feet.
I cast a quick glance out of one of the windows to the south. "At least that storm died off before it could get here…" I muttered.
It was at that point that Pidgey let out a surprised "Pid!" just before the lights all died.
I stood there, in the growing darkness, for several seconds, before I spoke.
"Arceus, Bleep!"
More setup for Another Split Soul, and we can see more clear splits between the two. One has managed to get to Pallet Town, soping wet, while the other has gotten into the Viridian City Center for the evening. Can anyone guess what happens next in the two paths?
Delusion VS Walpurgisnacht (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Homura sat at a table on top of a skyscraper, calmly watching Walpurgisnacht move through Mitakihara with a high-pitched, squeaky laugh.
The laughing witch does not squeak with her laughs.
She had done it. Homura had gotten her friends out of Mitakihara, and away from fighting the impossible witch. It had taken a lot of work, but she had convinced the local Puella Magi it was better to run.
Do not lie to yourself; you used force to convince them to run.
Oriko had been easy to convince, and Kirika followed Oriko's lead. Homura then convinced Yuma's mother to let her child go, and Yuma followed Oriko and Kirika without contracting herself.
The Seer feared something worse than the stage-constructing witch, and you killed the elder Chitose to let her daughter go.
Nagisa had been trapped in the hospital, unable to leave. Homura had solved that problem within acceptable limits, and had even got supplies for herself out of it.
You had her Contract to save her mother, and then killed the resulting witch! You killed her!
The others... the ones that had really mattered to her... had taken a lot more convincing.
You didn't need to use that much tranquilizer!
Homura had spoken with Kyoko first, and while the red-head was reluctant to turn away from what promised to be the biggest witch of all time, eventually the girl's devotion to her stomach won out, and she had gone to eat the stockpiles of food that the emergency response teams possessed.
You dipped her Pocky in tranquilizer you magically enhanced! Of course she's with the medical teams because of that!
With Kyoko convinced to bail before she had showed up, Mami didn't have a battle-fanatic to convince her to fight. A quick discussion over tea, and the guardian of Mitakihara decided to go with the people in order to make sure nothing attacked them when they were evacuating.
You time-stopped and put tranquilizer in her tea! She's with the medical teams too!
Sayaka had been convinced for the sake of her family, with her mother driven into a panic when the storm surrounding Walpurgisnacht finally appeared. Mrs. Miki then decided to not let her daughter out of her sight.
You sniped Sayaka with a tranquilizer dart right in front of her mother! Of course the woman's in a panic!
Madoka was the hardest to convince. It took a lot of effort to convince her to simply stay with the medical teams and avoid contracting. Making a Contract with Kyubey was the absolute worst thing she could in the situation.
She saved you the trouble of hunting her down, when she ran to you after tranquilizing Sayaka. The medical teams were horrified when you dropped her off.
Homura sipped her tea as she watched the stage-constructing witch make its way further into the city, tearing down another... tree as it did so.
You will never be forgiven for this.
"This is fine," Homura stated, pouring herself another cup of tea.
Just water... and the witch just took down another building... you're losing it...
"Is it really, Homura?" Madoka asked from across the table, looking at Homura with concern.
She's not here. You knocked her out and brought her to the adults. Even your mind is trying to tell you something is wrong.
"I am okay with the events that are unfolding currently," Homura replied, not even flinching as a large leaf flew through Madoka. It left a scar on the rooftop and took out half the table, but Madoka was completely unharmed.
Liar.
"We could have helped you fight," Madoka admitted.
You are alone, forevermore, because of your actions.
Homura smiled sadly. "There was nothing we could do but run, Madoka," Homura stated. "It was too powerful for any of us to fight."
Homura turned her attention back to the now fleeing witch from her position. "As long as my friends are alive, I don't care what happens to me."
For this omake, I remembered a webcomic somewhere on the internet with a dog in a flaming house, calmly saying 'This is fine,' even as everything around him burns, and he starts to melt himself. I wondered if I could create a situation of a similar disaster scale where Homura could say that phrase.
The result: a Homura who no longer cares, has gone off the deep end in protecting those she values, to the point of knocking them out with chemicals and watching calmly as Walpurgisnacht goes by. As she's become delusional, her senses and thought process have become screwed up, perhaps permanently.
And, well, this isn't the first time I've been accused of having an avatar that matches me... or the second, now that I look back.
I am trying to get better with bringing despair, but despair is such a useful emotion for writing...
I was also tempted to make an Omake based on Homura acting on the follow-up comic of 'This is NOT fine'. However, the only way I could see that going would be with Homura witching out in horror with what she's done, eating Walpurgisnacht, and then taking over the world.
The Target: Prologue (Fate/Stay Night / Assassination Classroom)
"Maybe now those Americans will stop denying the existence of extra-terrestrials?" one Japanese Government agent asked, the male's voice deep.
"…Shut up," came the reply from another male, his voice not as deep as the first.
A third man spoke up. "This… Type-Mars, as it calls itself, blew up the moon so that it's a permanent crescent. It is capable of communication, thank the kami, and it has claimed that it has blown up the moon as a warning shot."
"Satellites have confirmed that the stunt with the moon is real," the second man stated. "Dozens of satellites fell out of the sky in a storm of falling rocks, and further examination confirmed that the moon is now just a crescent."
"This was a warning shot?!" a fourth man screeched. "It has blown up the moon, struck the Earth with a lunar meteor shower, and permanently ruined the tides of the world as a warning shot?!"
"That's what Type-Mars has claimed," the third stated. "It claims that it was called to Earth by the planet itself to destroy most of humanity."
"Did it say why the Earth called it?" a fifth asked.
"Simple:" the first stated. "There are too many humans, all of which are taking too many resources from the planet and slowly killing it."
"This should get the environmentalists around the world some momentum," the first agent observed.
"Apparently we were killing the planet millennia ago," the third continued. "And the planet does not want life from it to outlive it."
"So going the environmentalist approach won't be enough to save our necks," the first stated. "What can we do to stop Type-Mars?"
"Just kill it," the second man ordered.
"We've tried almost everything," the first man stated. "Dozens of missiles, a five-hundred man firing squad, poison, women… the only things we haven't tried are those that would cause as much damage to us and the Earth as Type-Mars itself."
"Is there anything we can do to at least appease it until we come up with a more permanent plan?" a fifth asked.
"It wants to become a teacher," the fourth muttered, somewhat in disbelief. "To teach a class of humans so that they will kill it."
"It wants to be killed by children?" the second asked. "Fine… Fine… That leaves the problem of which school and class to assign it to."
"I've got lists of schools here that may be what we're looking for," the fourth weakly stated, pushing four lists forward on the table. "The first is for elementary schools."
"Not even a chance," the third stated. "There would be a major outcry from parents all over the world."
"The second list is for middle schools and junior high schools," the fourth continued, picking up one of the lists as he spoke. "Before you warn about parents crying out, this would likely be better received by parents than elementary students being trained as killers. Old enough to have learned the basic concepts of schooling, but young enough to still be trained for something we need."
"Backup," the fifth stated. "Take one of the schools on that list, and train their worst class as assassins. That way, even if the primary class fails or disappears, we have another class to pick up the slack. If the primary class succeeds, we have a group of students we can turn to government use in the future. I'm assuming that a third list is for high school students, correct?"
"Yes," the fourth admitted. "The fourth list here is for college and university classes."
"Toss that last list out," the first stated. "Type-Mars is not interested in students that old. But the High School List may be useful to us."
"We don't want a class that's the elite," the third stated. "Those students are likely focusing entirely on learning the standard information; putting it to practice may be out of their reach, and there's nothing that Mars could teach them. We also do not want a class that's the worst of the academic barrel; we need a class that has a chance."
"So we're after a class that is in the middle of the pack?" the first man asked.
"Not only in the middle of everything, but has a balance of students from different perspectives," the third pointed out. "Some need to be good at intellectual matters, others need to be good at physical pursuits, but we need a class that does not, as a whole, excel in any one area."
"Homuhara Gakuen," the second man spoke. "It doesn't excel in any way, the city it is in, Fuyuki, is relatively out of the way, and it is quiet enough that the class can focus on trying to kill Type-Mars with few distractions."
"Pitch it to the alien, and we'll see what he thinks of it," the first stated. "Choose a class in the middle of the pack, and see if he goes for it. If not, ask what kind of class he wants to teach. If he does accept it, start making transfer plans… the school year starts next week…"
A follow-up on a previous note of The Target, speaking of how Shirou's class was selected to be the team of assassins to kill Koro-Sensei. High Schoolers capable of doing the job, not the smartest so that Koro-Sensei would be able to teach, but not the least intelligent either, so they wouldn't be lost, either. A group in the middle of the pack.
Of course, this being the Nasuverse, and the school year in which the fifth Grail War is supposed to occur, things get interesting...
'Get good quick, or die even quicker!'
Edit: An entire page to myself? Really? This is embarrassing...
