Chapter 3
Lion-O and Ardrice stared off against the other Master and Servant. Rin slowly made a smirk at Ardrice as the boy only pointed his gun at them. "Ho, that's no way to greet a Lady, especially from a Nobleman like you Ardrice."
"You're no lady to me." Ardrice spat and the two stood again in silence. Should I engage or should I not…? Ardrice fought between the two choices. He was in a real standoff now. He was now in his first battle for the holy grail.
"Lion-O, attack!"
"Archer, counter him!" Tohsaka shouted as she pointed her left finger and fired a black magic orb. Ardrice shoot his gun and hit the orb. Lion-O didn't hesitated, he quickly drew his sword and lunged towards the red archer.
The red archer opened both of his hands, a pair of small swords appeared in both of his hands and he crossed, parrying Lion-O's attack. A spark of two shades of red, one light and the other dark, illuminated the roof top. And the two jumped back.
"Ardie, the space here is too small. We're at a disadvantage." Lion-O reported as Ardrice quickly looked down.
"To the ground Lion-O, take care of my landing!" Ardrice darted towards the edge and leap off the railings. Lion-O followed as he grabbed his master by his back. The two landed softly on a basketball court.
"Lion-O watch out!" Ardrice called and the two of them quickly jumped forwards, avoiding the Red archer and Rin who had followed them.
"You're not thinking of running away are you?" Rin said as Archer let her down from his arms, but then she stopped, puzzled, as Ardrice faced her with a grin.
"No, you're now at a disadvantage, position," all or nothing, here goes nothing! "Lion-O!" Ardrice raised his right hand and the three jagged lines shone brightly on his skin. "Unleash Noble Phantsm!"
Lion-O grinned as he stabbed his sword on the ground. His body then began to glow in green and soon he was covered in green aura. "NOBLE PHANTASM: ARMOR OF OMENS!" the green glow disappear and then a golden light burst from the red jewel on the servant's sword.
Whoa…Ardrice watch in awe as gold metallic armor started to materialized and covered his arms and then his whole upper torso, eventually his lower limbs. Ardrice stared at his servant now armored in gold aspects and sharp angular shapes that made it resemble that of a Lion.
"Lion-O, is that your Noble Phantasm?"
"Yes Ardie," Ardrice looked up and down and chuckled. "It has a tail!" he exclaimed.
"Rin, should I attack again?" Rin, who was watching the whole scenario, stared in disbelief. "What on earth, that's his Noble Phantasm." I can sense lots of mana coming out of it." Rin clicked her tongue. She was bested by Ardrice, she let him use a Noble Phantasm.
"Archer, go into defense!" she ordered as the Red Archer quickly pointed his swords. "Lion-O, attack!" Ardrice ordered again as Lion-O quickly charged. He swung his sword up and curved it down. Archer crossed his swords again and grunted in pain.
A crater caved in underneath his boots. What strength! The Red Archer screamed mentally as Lion-O pushed his sword down further, creating cracks along the Red Archer's two swords. The two swords broke and an explosion of red and gold flashed along the basket ball court.
Lion-O's sword slashed and damaged the right sleeve of the Red Archer who bended towards his left and jumped back beside Rin.
"He had stopped Archer's attack…now I see." Rin glared at Lion-O. "Rin, he had gotten stronger."
"It's because that armor is a noble phantasm that gives its user enormous strength and agility. Did you noticed his sized also increased. We're at a disadvantage indeed." Such a short time, she already analyzes Lion-O's noble phantasm! Ardrice gulped down to the intellectual prowess of Rin.
"You're right, Rin. My noble phantasm has indeed given me such enormous agility and strength." Lion-O commented straightly from underneath his armor.
"But it's more than that!" the Lion servant then pointed his sword up. "Thunder," his sword began to glow in light blue. "Thunder," the length of his sword slowly increased, its hue brightened more, "Thunder!" his sword, now emitting powerful electric charge, enveloping the night with blue. "NOBLE PHANTASM: THUNDERCATS-"
"Halt Lion-O, I command you!" Ardrice's right hand glowed in red. Lion-O's eyes widened as the command stopped the flow of mana inside his body. His sword slowly retracted into a medium length one.
"What the Hell!" Lion-O spatted and faced Ardrice who was looking at a corner, by the bushes, beside the basketball court. "Someone is watching us." Rin, by his word, quickly darted to the direction where he was looking. True enough a man, with a red hair, quickly jumped out of the bush and ran.
"Damn, there's a another person here!" Rin shouted but Ardrice sprang towards the running man.
"Lion-O follow me! We must stopped that man." Lion-O quickly sprint, armor disappearing one by one until he was clothed back into his original armor. "What would happen if a bystander saw us Servant's fighting?"
"I heard its worse!" Ardrice explained as he saw the man entered the building. "The Church, the overseer of the Holy Grail War, will disqualify us on the ground of negligence of the secrecy of the Holy Grail war!"
Lion-O absorbed his words. "Well that's not good! Here I'll give you a lift." The lion servant quickly grabbed Ardrice by his waist, and swung him by his right shoulder and resume his sprint.
30 mins earlier – Archery Field
And I think I'm done for today. Shirou stared and smirk at the clean floor of the archery club. He should be at home already, due to the curfew that was imposed to the school but he bumped into his old friend, Shinji who then asked him if he could clean the Archery clubroom, which was supposed to be the boy's job.
"Really Shinji isn't suit up for cleaning." He just shrugged off and looked at the target practice, far from him, on the other side of the field.
A reminiscing expression formed in his face, he remembered that he was once a member of the club. "Time to go home-"
*BANG!* Shirou darted to the loud sound. "That…was a gun!" he identified as he ran to the door. Outside he looked around but then a strong gush of wind almost knocked his footing, making him looked towards the basket ball cout on the right side of the Archery club.
"What—the!" a blinding golden light zap out from the court. Shirou ran and then hid in the bush as he stared at the source of the light.
Wait is that Tohsaka…and who's that guy with her? He recognized the back of his classmate, Tohsaka and a man taller than her, dressed in red clothes. But then he noticed another pair far from the two.
"Wait…is that Ardrice—what the hell is that thing!?" Shirou's eyes went wild after he saw Ardrice and a being, taller than the rest, all clothed in what seem to be a golden armor.
"What is this. Is this same kind of an anime?!" he asked as he saw the golden man pointed his sword up which began to emit blue sparks.
"NOBLE PHANTASM: THUNDERCATS-!"
"Halt Lion-O I command you!" Shirou gulped down in nervousness as he heard Ardrice's voice followed by the person in gold armor, cursing at him.
"Someone's watching us." Despite the thick bushes, Ardrice's eyes locked onto Shirou. The boy squirmed in fright as he jumped out of the bush and sprinted away.
"What the hell-what the hell!" Shirou ran like he never ran before. He climbed up the stairs of the school and ran more inside the corridor. Then stopped as he slammed onto a bulletin board and began to labor his breath.
"I-I must be dreaming—there's no way that kind of thing exist!" Shirou closed his eyes but the image of the Golden lion armor still showed clearly.
"And yet it did. What's more you saw it." A voice of a man answered him. Shirou swirled and looked behind him. A sharp pain stabbed through his heart as Shirou's eyes widened more at the other man that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The man's red eyes and sharp plain face looked back at him.
"I can't have anyone seeing a holy grail war match, so don't take this personally." He said as Shirou slowly closed his eyes and fell to the floor.
"Is he here!?" Lion-O jumped up the stairs and landed on the third floor of the school. He turned to his left and stopped. "Ardrice!"
Oh no… Ardrice saw the hallway. The boy earlier was now all bloodied and lifeless on the floor in front of another man. The other man possesses a blue, tight fit suite, with shoulder pad armor and blue hair. His red piercing eyes landed at them.
"Hoh, so this is the infamous eighth master. You're kinda cheeky for butting yourself in this war." Lion-O put down Ardrice and draw his sword. "Ardrice this man is-"
"-a servant." Ardrice finished as Lion-O shouted. "You shouldn't have stabbed an innocent civilian!"
"Why do you care-Do I smell a cat?" The blue servant used his nosed and then his eyes sharpened. "Disgusting!" Lion-O clicked his tongue and growled. "Any problem with that!?"
"Yeah. I hate cats, especially lions, GAE BOLG!" a red spear materialized in his right hand which then glowed in deep red. Spear…wait he's a Lancer-"Watch out Ardrice!" Lion-O pushed his master away and raised his gauntlet over his face.
"Shields up!" a bright wall of pink covered him but then the lion servant's eyes widened as the spear made contact and the pink wall shattered into million pieces. The spear slashed and destroy his left shoulder armor.
"How-!" Lion-O winced and kick the lancer servant with his right foot but the man just simply jumped back. Lion-O clutch his left shoulder with his right hand and starred at the Lancer, begrudgingly, who clicked his tongue and glared at him.
"I hate cats, especially those who dodge my undodgeable Noble Phantasm, Gae Bolg!" That's a noble phantasm…no wonder why I couldn't block it. "Well, for a noble phantasm, yours sure is weak." A taunting chuckle left Lion-O's mouth.
The Lancer servant growled at him more but he just turned away. "Why should I waste my time with you? You're somebody's problem." Lancer opened the window beside him and then made one last look at the two.
"Follow me and I'll kill you!" and then he jumped and disappear to the night.
"Where did he go?!" Seconds later, Rin also arrived and stopped as he saw Ardrice and Lion-O standing over the bloodied boy. No…Rin's eyes slowly widened in shock as she moved closer to the body. Her eyes quickly recognized who the boy was.
"Do you know this boy, Rin?" Ardrice, asked gravely as he kneeled ad touched the man's neck. "There's still a pulse." He looked to Rin who also kneeled at the boy.
"Rin, I would like to make a temporary truce. A civilian was hurt, I don't want any innocent blood being spilled on this war." He asked while Lion-O made a glanced at him. Rin heard his conviction in his tone, she only let out a heavy sigh.
"Me too," she said and took out a shiny red jewel pendant underneath her shirt and hovered it above the boy. "His name is Shirou by the way…and he's someone's special." She said and began to chant before Ardrice could ask more.
Red Jewel. The Tohsaka's thaumaturgy usually involves gems…interesting. The boy watched as Shirou's injury began to heal and the boy was restored, eventually, as if he wasn't hurt from before.
"That's my ace gem in healing." Rin stood up and faced Ardrice. "Let's fight tomorrow again…in discreet location this time."
"I definitely agree, my servant is hurt you see." Ardrice glanced at Lion-O who was staring at Rin, deeply. "Indeed, so heal your servant tonight. Tomorrow, let's have them battle." Rin turn away and walked but then stopped and made a side glance at him.
"Sorry for being rude about your family, Ardrice. But their crimes are still real, your servant is weird and you used up two command seals in one day, by the way." She said and then resumed her walked towards the stairs.
That the same thing I could say to your servant. Really, Archers using swords! Lion-O mentally asked and looked down at the boy. "What should we do with him, Ardrice?" Ardrice looked down again at the unconscious boy. "We'll leave him. Let the night swept away his memories of the battle."
Ardrice's Unit – Emerald Sky homes
After landing on the verandah of his unit, Ardrice quickly ushered Lion-O to the sofa. He has to heal to his servant right away for tomorrows battle.
"I wonder what should our strategy be?" Ardrice said as he took out a huge case of bottled elixirs, all emitting in strange colors, and put it down at the coffee table.
"He's an archer, he excels in range." Lion-O said after he pressed his right shoulder guard which disappeared along with his cape.
"And your noble phantasm: the Armor of Omens, is impenetrable against it…right?" Lion-O glanced at him and made an unsure grin. Ardirce only breathed hard. This is going to be a long night. "Ok, take of your upper armor, I need to bandage you."
Ardrice commanded as Lion-O pressed his upper torso armor which disappeared. What the-the boy stared, frozen. Despite having a well-toned and muscular upper body, Lion-O's chest had a large strange tattoo shaped into seven pointed star on the middle of his chest. It was emitting red glow, which was contrast to his cream-colored fur.
"Lion-O, what is that?"
"It's one of my skills, I'll show you." Lion-O softly took Ardrice's right hand and look at it. "You used two command seals on me tonight. Let me give it back to you." He said as he lowered his head and kiss the back of Ardrice's right hand.
"Ah…" Ardrice felt the heat coming from Lion-O's lips climbing up to his right hand and then it stopped after his servant rose up again. I used two and now I have four command seals! The boy stared at the four jagged lines on his right hand.
"Lion-O." his servant blinked at him as he smiled. "Thank you…now please allow me to heal you."
"That skill I used…its called God's resolution. It allows me to store up command seals. Do you think it's cheating?"
"No, you're also using up your storage. Your star is only four pointed right now." Lion-O glanced at his chest and the star tattoo had been reduced into four pointed one. Seven minus three huh. Lion-O only sat in silence as Ardrice continued bandaging Lion-O from the back.
Then suddenly he stopped. "Wait, the boy was alive when we left him right?" Lion-O turned to him, surprised to his question. "Yes."
"Why did the lancer servant attacked him?" Lion-O glanced at the T.V. in front of him. "Because he witnessed the grail war-"
"Lion-O, it's a mistake that we left him alone!" Ardrice shouted as quickly took out his gun. "Why Ardrice?" Lion-O asked again, in confusion to his Master's sudden unrest.
"He'll be hunted again, by that lancer servant. Because we undid his job which was a command to him." Lion-O eyes quickly widened in revelation. "That means Lancer was under the influence of a command seal which explains why he could use his noble phantasm quickly." Why did I not think of that!? Lion-O quickly stood up and summoned his armor and cape again.
"Wait we don't know where the boy live." He said but Ardrice quickly took out his phone. "I planted a GPS on him, now we know where he lives."
Somewhere above Fuyuki
"How much further?" Lion-O asked as he zoomed at the night sky. Ardrice was on his back, the boy was busy looking at his phone. "We're almost here, descend now." He commanded as Lion-O quickly pointed down towards a large, Japanese style house with a large lawn in front.
And in the lawn, Lion-O saw two familiar people, the red haired boy limping in front of a shed and a familiar glint of a red spear with its owner, the blue lancer. "Ardrice there's the servant and the boy again."
"Tally-ho!" Ardrice shouted before crashed landed on the lawn.
"Now that…was a landing." Ardrice said weakly as Lion-O put him down on the ground.
He looked around and turned to the shed where the panic stricken face of Shirou greeted him. "Oh hey Shirou, good evening." Ardrice began as Shirou shouted.
"How did you-what are you doing here?!"his eyes shifted tensely from Ardrice and to his Servant which he gasped, in fear, at.
"Uhm…we're here to save you of course." Ardrice's servant answered plainly before he turned around and looked at Lancer who was silent and watching them with boiling irritated look on his face.
"Why you sons of bitches…did you not hear my warning earlier?!" he growled and pointed his spear at the two.
"It is clear as day that they didn't heed your warning. Lancer." A voice of a woman interrupted the sullen mood. Lion-O and Ardrice shifted their gazed towards the shed were, slowly, a figure emerged from the doorway.
"Whoa…whiskers." Lion-O exclaimed as his eyes widened in amazement. The woman was clothed in blue gown-like dress, with an armor around her skirt and chest. She possess a sharp face, blonde hair and lush sharp green eyes.
She was beautiful in Lion-O's eyes. "What-who are you?" Lion-O spoke first, still lost in her sharp beauty. The servant hovered her eyes to him and stated plainly.
"I am Master Shirou's Servant." Ardrice and Lion-O blinked as they absorbed her words before the two reacted. "Eh!"
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Fate/Stay Night and Thundercats.
Hello everyone! Thank you for choosing to read my fanfic. For those who like it, thank you. For those who reviewed it, thank you too! So what do you think will happen next? Will Saber and Lion-O be comrades? Will Rin and Archer defeat the 8th master and servant? And what the deal with the Lancer servant? Stay Tuned for more!
:)