Now, I'm pretty sure you've probably read this kind of fic before, right? Well, I felt like doing my own take on this, rather obviously inspire by several others on the site, most famously Fate Zero Sense by The Infamous Man. To try and keep it a little original, I've mixed up the Class/Master pairings. Let's see if any of you can guess who the Servants are, eh?
The first thing Kiritsugu Emiya noticed, was that the Servant he had summoned was clearly not Arthur Pendragon, King of Knights. The man who stood before him was dressed in what appeared to be late 20th century combat fatigues, with ragged brown hair and an untidy beard. His right eye was covered by an eyepatch, and curiously, his left arm had been replaced by a crimson prosthetic.
"I am Servant Assassin" the man said, in a deep, gravelly voice, "I ask of you...are you my Master?"
This Servant was not the individual Emiya had endeavoured to summon, nor was he even in the class he would have preferred...however, Assassin WAS rather suited to his own underhanded style of combat, and this Servant's abilites, at first glance, were nothing to sneer at; Presence Concealement ranked A+ was formidable indeed.
"Yes, Assassin, I am your master" replied Kiritsugu, "I look forward to working with you".
Assassin nodded in response.
"Well then" he said, "I'd like to get an idea of the area we'll be operating in".
Emiya was by no means the only one who had received an unexpected Servant. In a forest clearing, chosen for its secrecy, Waver Velvet had summoned what appeared to be, by all means, an ordinary boy in his late teens. The young man wore a simple black shirt and red trousers, and atop his head were a pair of white headphones. The only strange thing about him was his dark blue hair.
"Uh...so, are you my master then?" asked the boy.
"I suppose...I am?" replied a very confused Waver.
"Alright! So, you wanna go get something to eat? I'm starving!" said the Servant with a wide grin.
"You haven't even told me what class you are!" said Waver, now annoyed as well as confused, "what kind of Heroic Spirit are you, anyway?"
"Me? I'm Servant Caster, boss man, and I'm here to kick ass and...well, I can't think of the rest, so I'll just kick ass for now".
"Well...at least you're not some raging lunatic..." sighed Waver. He did wish his Servant was a bit more serious though.
"So, you coming or not?" asked Caster.
Tokiomi was, to put things simply, rather displeased. Instead of the mighty King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, he had apparently summoned a bored looking young woman in peculiar dress. Over her white hoodie, she wore a brown jacket with the emblem of a green Unicorn's head on the back, and white trousers with an arrangement of belts and straps on them. Her short blonde hair was tied up at the back.
"I suppose you're my Master then?" she sighed, "I'm Servant Rider..."
Tokiomi wasn't quite sure what to say, so he went with his usual careful negotiation.
"Well...I hope we can work together satisfactorily" he said, with a polite smile. Rider did not smile back.
"Call if you actually need me for something" she said, Astralising and fading out.
Tokiomi was definitely not a happy man, but it could be worse.
Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald was in a far worse situation. He had summoned not Diarmuid, the legendary Lancer, but some reckless punk with no respect for any kind of authority. The Servant wore a dark green shirt and black trousers from some kind of school uniform, with the blazer tied about his waist, and two katana sheathed at his belt. His hair was flaming red, and across his face was a large X-shaped scar.
"Oh for fuck's sake...you're my Master?" snarled the young man, "well, whatever, as long as you don't get my ass killed..."
Kayneth, as he often did, took offense immediately.
"You dare!" he roared, "I am your Master, and you will treat me with respect as such!"
"Ah, piss off" scoffed the Servant, "I'm Servant Saber, and although I may not like you, and you clearly don't like me, we gotta work together on this!"
Kayneth calmed himself somewhat.
"Well...as long as you obey my instructions, this will not be TOO hard" he sneered.
"Tch, just point me at the enemy and we'll be fine" replied Saber, "when I'm fighting, we won't have to deal with each other, eh?"
Kayneth was inclined to agree...well, all might not be lost. Saber's stats were above average, particularly his Agility, and he possessed an immensely powerful Noble Phantasm. He would have to restrain himself for the good of winning the war, it seemed.
Kiritsugu lead Assassin out of the Einzbern castle to a car, joined by his wife, Irisviel.
"So, from what I can make out, you are an expert in Infiltration and firearms?" asked Emiya, wanting to know what he had to work with.
"In my life, they called me the greatest soldier of the 20th century" replied Assassin, "there isn't a weapon I can't use, or a place I can't sneak in to". Kiritsugu grinned.
"So, your skills complement mine quite nicely" he replied, "eliminating the enemy Masters should be easy enough".
"So you've come to the same conclusion as me, that the Master is the obvious target rather than the Servant?" replied Assassin, "good to see we're thinking similarly".
"Ideally, we should wait for other Servants to engage each other, then pick off the Masters one by one as they're distracted" continued Assassin, "My Noble Phantasm will give us an edge in terms of intelligence gathering and information". Kiritsugu was interested in that.
"You have a Phantasm for the gathering of information?" he asked.
"Indeed" said Assassin, producing a black and yellow device from a pouch on his belt, "The iDroid, giving me access to whatever my Intel team knows; local maps, predicted enemy locations, weather patterns, whatever I need".
"With this, and our own skills, we'll have the edge over the other masters...but only as long as we have the element of surprise" mused Emiya.
"Don't worry about that" replied Assassin, "they won't see us coming".
In a decidedly less formal discussion, Caster and Waver were chatting idly over a meal at a cheap cafe in downtown Fuyuki.
"How's a guy like you end up in the Grail War then?" asked Caster, "I mean, no offense, but you're a kid and all, and you don't seem like the fighting type".
"You really want to know?" said Waver, "my teacher, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, always looked down on my, because I wasn't of one of the 'noble Magus familes'. I stole the catalyst he was using to enter this War, to get back at him for what he did..." Waver looked down, "It was a stupid idea...he'll be back for me, and I won't stand a chance". Looking up, he saw determination in Caster's eyes.
"Boss, if this asshole shows his face here, he's finished, and that's a promise! You got me?" he said, "you might not think it, but you're a pretty good guy...and what you did? Dude, that's not stupid, it's awesome! Not to mention pretty damn brave!"
"Y-you really think so?" spluttered Waver, surprised.
"Hell yeah! I'd say I would never have done something like that, but I kinda did something even stupider, so yeah..." Caster replied, "chin up, buddy, we've got a war to win, you know!"
"Yeah..." said Waver. He might still not be convinced, but Caster's words had clearly has some sort of effect on him.
"You had a chance to look at my skills yet, Waver?" asked Caster.
"Uh...no, sorry, I've been kind of distracted" said Waver. He took a quick look at his Servant's stats...well, they were rather ludicrous. Physically, he was pretty average, but then again, he WAS a Caster. His Magic stat was A++, ridiculously strong, and his Summoning Magic skill was ranked EX, of all things! Who was this Heroic Spirit?
"I'm not exactly of your world, so it's no wonder you don't recognise me" said Caster, answering Waver's unvoiced question, "you'll see my summons in action when we find an enemy, no doubt...they're not really suited for everyday use".
Another summoning, this time by the Matou family of Magi, had seemingly gone awry.
"Kariya, you fool!" hissed Zouken Marou, "you couldn't even summon a Servant of the right class, never mind the one that I intended!"
No vicious Berzerker had been summoned. An ordinary looking female student emerged from the summoning circle instead, in a plain looking black school uniform. She had medium length black hair, and wore glasses.
"Um...I'm Servant Archer..." she said quietly, "which one of you is my Master?"
"That's...me" coughed Kariya, the Matou Magecraft already taking its toll on his body.
"Tch...well, at least you actually summoned a Servant" scoffed Zouken, "now, be off with you! Win me the Grail, and Sakura is free to leave...if you fail, on the other hand..." he left the unspoken threat hanging.
Kariya staggered out of the Matou basement, followed by a worried looking Archer.
"Master, what's wrong?" she asked.
"It's nothing" sighed Kariya, "just...the family's Magecraft is less than pleasant...".
"Don't worry Master, we'll win this War, and then you can be better again, right?" asked Archer.
Kariya managed to conjure a small smile.
"Right..." he said.
Kirei Kotomine had been the first to summon his Servant, which meant he had to put up with Lancer's attitude for the longest. Even for a man of his patience, his Servant was beginning to get on his nerves.
A red-haired girl in a teal hoodie materialized next to Kirei, chewing on a stick of Pocky.
"Are you gonna tell me when I can fight something yet?" she asked.
Kirei sighed...this was going to be a long Grail War...and despite all this, he still didn't know what wish he could hold that the Grail had picked him.
Uryuu Ryunosuke stepped back and admired his handiwork. The circle flared to life, and a barely visible shape blurred out of it, before coming to stop before the summoner.
"I ask, are you my master?" came the voice of the Servant. The Servant wore what seemed to be a Jockey's outfit, complete with the signature hat. His blonde hair was reasonably long, and he held himself in a way that belied his arrogance.
"Master? I dunno, but do you want to eat this kid?" grinned Uryuu. The servant growled, and his hand transformed into bestial claws. A lizard like tail grew from the base of his back, and his grin contorted into a reptilian snarl. With a flash, he sprang on the offering and shredded it in seconds, faster than the eye could see. All that was left was blood and tatters of clothing.
"COOL!" gasped Uryuu, "dude, you have to show me more!"
The lizard man grunted in response. Being summoned as the Berzerker class will do that to you.