It was the dreams again. Every night it was something else, but they always featured the same man.
The Doctor.
Always the Doctor, always the mad man in a blue box.
He was a good man yes, but there were times when his methods or his thinking left much to be desired. Case in point, the Time War and the moment when he blew both Time Lords and Daleks into oblivion.
At least that's what he believed anyway.
But he was not the Doctor. His mind didn't block out the true events because by and large he was never a part of them and couldn't exactly worry about a paradox. He knew the truth.
Gallifrey lived. In another realm, another universe, Gallifrey lived.
Which was why he had found the planet and the technology still there. He was the only one who could access across space and time and alternate realms to touch it.
It was where he found the watch that could change his fate, and give him everything the Donna Noble had unknowingly locked when she gave up half her DNA to bring life to a cut off hand that the Doctor had poured his excess regenerative energies into.
It was what nearly drove him into the same madness that the Master suffered from.
He was the Doctor's double...but he would never be the Doctor. Even if he were to kill the man and take his place, he would be nothing more than a copy. A fake.
Humanity could be so insightful at times.
Case in point: a simple therapist, not even a very good one, came up with an ingenious way to cope with the fact he was a clone of the original.
Forget the fact he was a clone at all and change his name. If he could not be the Doctor, then he would have to discard the name of the original and come up with his own.
He would have the memories, but the life he lived wouldn't be a pale imitation of the Doctor. It would be his and his alone.
Many Time Lords took on a name that would embody who they were. He called himself the Doctor after a promise.
Which begged the question...what should he call himself?
Harry sat up with a gasp. It was those dreams again.
It always made him ask the same question.
What's my name?
You couldn't have a proper adventure across space and time without having a name for people to call you by.
"Nightmares again?" yawned Rory.
"Not sure if they're nightmares or memories. Either way they make it dreadfully hard to sleep," said Harry with an even bigger yawn.
Better than the nightmares of the green flash and the screams at any rate. He suspected it was the death of his parents, but there were some things an eleven-year-old should never confirm.
Harry eyed the sleep station.
Avalon allowed for students to skip a class provided they checked in to a sleep station which was basically a string of hammocks under a shade at just the right temperature to put someone to sleep. For those who had trouble sleeping at night, particularly during exams, they were the perfect place to catch a few Z's for an hour or two. They even came equipped with a 'dream-free' ward which prevented nightmares.
Harry had a stroke of genius. He looked up his point tally (which was pretty high) and then looked up how much casting the dream-ward spell over his bed would cost.
It was relatively low, because the teachers would rather encourage the students sleep in their own bed and not the sleep stations.
Harry considered whether or not to use his upgrade points, but he was getting tired of whatever was plaguing his precious sleep time. He purchased it...and did some long overdue upgrades on his avatar.
By the time curfew came around, the new ward was around his bed and he put his watches in the bedstand as usual. That night, no nightmares...memories...whatever it was.
Harry was eager. There was a reason why they were given Avatars, and it wasn't just to give the kids a reason to keep their grades up.
It was time for the Avatar Games. Once every two months the student body would enter into a competition where they battled each other's avatar until only a few remained standing. Those who survived to the top ten got a whooping ten thousand points to spend. The number one spot got twenty thousand.
For those who didn't like fighting, there was a competition for the most impressive avatar. You could earn points that way too.
Hermione was going that route, while Harry went the fighting route.
Thanks to Harry and Amelia, Hermione already had the basic general look of Reinforce Zwei. She still wasn't as big a fan of manga or anime as they were though.
Harry's avatar, on the other hand, looked almost identical to Archer EMIYA, except the coloring was a bit different.
Harry was going to call him Knight EMIYA. Or maybe King EMIYA.
"Welcome everyone to the monthly Avatar Games! Each student will either compete to show off their battling skills, or show off who has the best avatar! The prizes can help you win next the next games, but as always remember to keep your grades up and your nose clean! Here at Avalon we have a great list of prizes for our competitors! And to explain the prize list, our beloved leader of the sports and outdoor classes... MS. TORY!"
Ms. Tory took the stage.
"Thank you for that fun introduction Tess. For all you new students, here's the list of prizes. You get one of three free upgrades just for entering, and they change each month. You opt to pass on this month's set and save it for next month, but you can only have two passes. If you do that then you can get all three upgrades for that month. For those who get into the top twenty, you get five hundred points. For the top ten, ten thousand points. The top student or battler will receive a whooping twenty thousand points. For those who aren't interested in fighting, the competition to show off your creativity and avatar making skills is right after the battles. The prizes are as follows: for entering, one free upgrade from the same list as the fighters. Top twenty get a pick from the 'special' store at half off. Top ten get ten thousand points...and for the number one avatar as voted by the students will get ten thousand points plus an exclusive item! Please note the exclusive item changes each year, so if you don't win this go around, you have another shot!"
Ms. Tory took a drink of water, before continuing.
"Now, for the rules of the tournament. In order to win you have to defeat as many opponents as possible. There are three rounds, and once you've beaten one opponent you can't challenge them until the next time the Games are held. The scoreboard above me will keep a win-loss ratio, and those with the highest percentage of wins will move on to the next round. Here at Avalon we encourage our students to exercise, so you'll have to find your opponents in our holographic tower in order to fight them. Teaming up is acceptable, but please remember to register who's on your team for a collective score before entering the tower!"
Harry looked at Amelia and Rory, who were in the battle competition.
"Sign up as a team and take everyone else out?"
"Hell yes!" said Amy. Harry was part of the Hacker club, and statistically they tended to do better during the games than most.
"Rory, you're our healer. Amy, you're the spy and I'll be the one doing all the heavy damage."
"Gotcha," said Amy. She was an excellent actress, as was her avatar. Rory had a healer for his, but his skills did need upgrading.
"Mind sharing a few of your points so I can increase my avatar's healing rate?" asked Rory.
"How many you need?" asked Harry. He had a large stockpile always in reserve just in case.
Rory checked his bracelet before replying "About five thousand or so."
Harry transferred five thousand. He knew Rory could pay him back later. Or at the very least he would owe him a favor. Rory spent the next five minutes upgrading his Roman Centurion. He split them between his healing abilities, because despite what it looked like he was a healer at heart. It could deal damage, but only in extreme emergencies.
Those that heal often know the best way to take down their opponent. You don't piss off the people who fix you up to begin with. Not if you don't have a death wish at any rate.
The trio walked up to the area where teams could be signed up. Harry was designated leader of the group...which meant if they made it into the final round where the round-robin tournament was set up, he would be their fighter. If he got into the top ten, they all did...especially since it would be up to Rory to keep him alive during the round-robin.
Harry stared at his opponent. He, Rory and Amy had managed to secure a spot in the round robin tournament thanks to some strategic planning. Well that and all of Harry's extracurricular activities.
In between the Flying club, the Otaku club, the Hacker's club and oddly enough, the Dance club, he had a lot of extra points. Members of the Hacker club could 'overclock' their avatar's stats for five minutes. The problem? Overclocking an avatar took off a ton of points. It was mostly considered a last resort. And you didn't get the points back when it was over.
Rory was using plenty of his trying to keep Harry alive while his older, more experienced opponent tried to kill his avatar.
At this point it was a matter of who would tired first...Rory and Harry, or the fifth year?
Finally Harry did the only thing he could think of.
He set the Archer program loose on the man. Odds were EMIYA would know how to fight better than he could, and the reactions would be faster to boot.
The Otaku club, when they learned of his programming talent, immediately enlisted his aid in a long-held project of theirs.
Recreating the Servant system, including their stats and fighting skills. Considering Harry's avatar was a Servant, they started on Archer EMIYA first.
An odd light came into his Avatar's eyes. In an instant, the tone of the battle changed. His moves became more fluid, the strikes more solid. But it was the fighting style that changed the most.
Where Harry had been fighting to end it quickly, EMIYA fought like he had nothing to lose. He left vital spots open, only to suddenly turn the tables on his opponent by taking advantage of the 'opening'.
In short order, his opponent was turned into pixels.
However it was what happened next that very nearly gave Harry a heart attack and gave the Otaku club something to gush over for years to come.
Knight EMIYA turned to face Harry, and immediately said "Oh now what has that damn vampire done?!"
Harry's jaw dropped, before his mind quickly caught up to him. He face-palmed.
"Zelretch?" he asked.
"Zelretch."
Of course the Master of the Kaleidoscope and known troll would find it hilarious to attach Archer to Harry and turn him into a digital rendering. He probably caught the tail-end of Harry programming Archer's data in and thought it would be funny to make it so Archer ended up in the bracelet similar to the way Servants were summoned.
"Harry?" asked Amelia. Archer looked far more detailed than she remembered, and upgrades were locked if you were still part of the tournament. He even had his twin swords!
"Zelretch must have noticed our work recreating the Servants as our avatars, so he stuck Archer in mine," said Harry.
"Oh. OH. You do realize the others are going to have a field day with him being here right?" said Amelia.
"At least he has a fan base," said Harry.
Harry and his team didn't make the number one spot. Rory was down to the last points on his bracelet and couldn't keep healing Archer, so Harry forfeited his match. He was, however, still in the top ten, which was pretty good for his first time.
However it was Archer who took center stage. Hermione was disbelieving until she got the full brunt of his sarcastic personality.
No way would Harry make a personality that sarcastic and grumpy, not with how laid back he was.
"Explain. Now."
"Do me a favor and look up the name Zelretch, Fate/Stay Night," said Harry.
Hermione took out her pocket laptop, one of the first things she bought with her points.
She found a picture of a man with white hair, red eyes, and fangs.
"Read his bio."
"What exactly is a 'troll'?"
"Someone who takes generally goes out of their way to mess with others, or otherwise makes their lives more difficult. Like say a principal who uses their position to make up bizarre rules just to make their students jump through them for no other reason than for a quick laugh."
"Sounds about right."
"Does he still qualify as an avatar though?" asked Hermione.
"One way to find out," said Harry. He hadn't used any of his points since the tournament.
He went through his upgrade list and held out his laptop for Archer to look through.
"See anything you want?"
Archer raised an eyebrow, before he used his power to move the mouse. He found three upgrades that had his attention. He clicked on them and the effect was immediate.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Harry looked at the upgrades.
"Defense level ten, Speed level thirteen, and... Astralize level two?"
"If I'm going to be stuck here I want to stick with the familiar," said EMIYA.
"...Uh-huh. You do realize that you won't be able to physically effect the world outside the school for another four years right? And there are sensors to keep students from using their avatars to spy on others," said Harry. Archer blinked.
"...This is a school?"
"Welcome to Avalon, one of the top magical schools in Europe. They mix magic with technology, and every student and teacher has one of these, along with an avatar they can customize. By fifth year they give you the option to make a second one. Fifth years can also buy an upgrade that gives limited ability for their avatars to interact outside the school itself. Oddly enough we have the second highest class size in the UK, trumping Hogwarts."
"...Where in the Root did they come up with such a strange idea?"
"Every heard of a series called 'Baka and Test'?"
"Never really watched TV outside of the news."
"Well in the series there is a school where you get avatars that you can summon, and your grades determined the power level of your avatar. The teacher in charge of the Otaku club and the Library club suggested it as a way to bring the grade point average up. It was a major hit, and when they added the upgrades and the ability to purchase new tech after a certain period of time... well, the school rose rather quickly in the rankings within two years until it held the number one spot. It's held it for the past ten years or so," said Amelia.
Archer stared. It did sound like an effective system of keeping the students geared towards keeping their grades up and their noses clean.
"And the battles where I was accidentally summoned?"
"You have a better way to keep the students out of trouble? Gives them something interesting to do with their avatars insures they won't risk detention and gives them something to work towards. Easier than having to grade countless papers and tallying them up every year," said Harry shrugging.
Determining the top student position via a series of battles instead of grades. Less hassle and headache.
