AN: Enjoy everyone! The next set of snips for you all!
15.1
[Fate Grand Order]
Fate Grand Sworder (Conceptualist)
The initial chaos of the Fuyuki singularity was finally over. Things more or less happened as usual, with a few slight differences. Differences that Ritsuka had Pocketed herself and Mash to safely discuss.
"So," the changeling began. Ritsuka probably wouldn't keep this form long term; she had enough problems with the Fae from Fairy Britain. "Do you want to start or should I?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," Mash answered. "Could you repeat it?"
"I said-"
Brow furrowed in concentration, Mash held up a hand to interrupt Ritsuka. "Just… give me a moment Senpai. I can only pay attention to one of you two at a time."
Several minutes passed in patient silence, as Mash went through a rapidly changing series of expressions. Worry, anger, acceptance, humor, and eventually frustration danced across her face as Mash blankly stared off into the corner of Ritsuka's Pocket lounge.
Mash took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled to calm herself. Her eyes refocused and, speaking out loud for the first time in half an hour, she turned to Ritsuka and said "Okay, Senpai. Now it's your turn."
Ritsuka nodded. "Let's start with the first big change. Your Class."
Mash grimaced, turning to look at the Noble Phantasm that was laying on the table between the two of them. The gigantic thing looked very familiar, being that it was still made out of the Round Table like in most Loops. But "Lord Chaldeas," as it was still known at this point, usually wasn't a cross-shaped sword bigger and heavier than Mash.
Ritsuka continued after a momentary pause. "This 'Sworder' class has replaced the normal Shielder extra class. You start with more knowledge about the class system then me. Do your Loop memories show this as some kind of universal change or just a weird one off?"
Mash shook her head. "Universal. The Knight trio is Archer, Lancer, and Buckler in this Loop. Sworder is an extra class. And as far as I can remember, all the Servants who should be Sabers are now Bucklers instead." Mash shrugged helplessly. "The actual class vulnerabilities are the same, and it seems most sword based NPs are now shield based, and vice-versa."
"Right," sighed Ritsuka. Weird, but manageable. "And how are you dealing with having Buckler Galahad as the Grail mud corrupted Servant at the end of Fuyuki?" Yet another question Ritsuka would never have thought she'd ask. There were alot of those happening recently.
"That's actually what we were mostly talking about," Mash said, tapping the side of her temple. "Altria and I, I mean."
Ritsuka groaned. "She's Awake, I assume."
Mash nodded. Then her eyes widened, her face blushed, and she desperately whispered "Shut up," repeatedly to the voice in her head.
"Hey!" Ritsuka barked. "You're a guest in her head Altria, keep the sailor talk to a minimum."
"That wasn't- never mind," the embarrassed Mash said. "Altria has confirmed my earlier guess that Galahad and herself basically switched roles for this Loop's True Human History. King Galahad instead of King Arthur, basically. The details are different, but not that different. Everything else seems to have come from that one change."
Ritsuka nodded thoughtfully. "Anything else?"
"Well," Mash shrugged. "Expect any Altria-look-alikes to be Galahad-look-alikes instead?"
"Then this Variant Loop is more manageable than I feared," Ritsuka declared, standing up from the comfortable lounge chair, simultaneously shifting herself into a less objectionable species than one of the Fae. It had been a while since she used her Xian Identity, and she felt like stretching out her Pseudo-True Ancestor muscles this Loop. "Now let's get out of here. I don't want to linger outside his omniscience and make the King of Mages suspicious of us."
'You know, you're going to have to woman up and do something about this crush at some point.'
'Shut up about it already. I know that, I just…'
'Look. I'm not saying you tie her down and have your way with her or anything. But I can see exactly how much Ritsuka means to you from here.'
'But…'
'I won't say anything. Just keep in mind, you have literally forever to do something about it. Do it eventually, when you're ready. Just wait until I'm not stuck along for the ride, alright?'
15.2
[Fate Grand Order]
Shielder Wars
"Senpai! What is this madness!?" Mash screamed as Ritsuka tried to turn to talk to her, only to get splattered into paste a second later by a massive laser. Thankfully, as a Xian, she could just reform herself from the blood, and did so, joining Mash behind the cover of MHX's spaceship, alongside Galahad Lily, Mysterious Heroine X and Medea, who was also Awake.
"You're asking me?" Ritsuka replied as MHX poked her head out slowly, only to quickly duck back before it could get taken off by a laser.
"This is far worse than the Saber plague of my universe!" MHX declared very loudly. "What is wrong with this universe?"
"All their shields are shooting beams..." Medea muttered, shaking as she curled up into a ball. "All their shields are reflecting lasers..."
"Medea snap out of it, we need you!" Mash shouted, then grit her teeth. "Altria not now!"
"Is she okay?" Galahad Lily asked, Ritsuka rubbing his hair.
"She's fine, we're just gonna need to figure out how to survive this mess," she supplied, mentally noting at least the Servant Universe was oddly the same this Loop, since MHX was... well, still MHX.
Of course, that was the least of anyone's worries. as the Buckler class Servants waged a never ending war of shooting beams, and reflecting those beams back at each other bigger, stronger, and faster each time.
"Right, I have a plan, its a stupid plan, but it is a plan," Ritsuka supplied.
"WE'LL TAKE ANYTHING!" Everyone shouted. Anything to escape the Shielder Beam Wars.
15.3
[Fate Grand Order]
Catalysts?
"Senpai… what are those?" an unAwake Mash asked in confusion as she, Ritsuka and Altria were standing in the summoning chamber.
"Catalysts," Ritsuka admitted with a smile, carrying a small box of things into the actual summoning part of the chamber as Altria took a sip of her coffee.
"This is not going to work," the Saber said bluntly, rocking her 'Buster' T-shirt.
"I'm going to try it anyway," Ritsuka shot back, the currently female Master taking a book out of the box.
"...Senpai is that manga?" Mash questioned out of surprise.
"Yep!" Ritsuka threw it onto the summoning circle. "Hey Altria, throw the switch!"
"What manga was that?" Altria asked, trying to lean over the window to look at the cover.
"Demon Slayer," Ritsuka said as Altria threw the switch, the summoning chamber lighting up, the pillar of pure mana exploding into being. Only Mash averted her eyes… and when the light died down, an extremely confused looking Shuten Douji was holding the manga in her hands.
"What is this?" the Oni Assassin muttered as Altria spit out her coffee, Mash yelping as the window between the chamber and the control room was splattered with the brown liquid.
"That actually worked!?" Altria shouted as Mash started panicking, trying to find a towel before the coffee got all over the console.
"Hi Shuten!" Ritsuka waved. "I'll talk to you in a bit, we're testing something."
"Oh? You show no fear before an oni?" Shuten asked, still looking at the manga in her hands and stepping off the summing platform. "What is this strange thing?"
"It's manga," Ritsuka said, tossing a dagger up and down. Something Waver had given her last time around. She tossed it onto the summoning sigil as Shuten was engrossed in reading the story in her hands.
"Now I'm interested," Altria mused, Mash still wiping away the coffee with a towel as she threw the switch again. The summoning chamber lighting up with mana again.
When it died down, little Jack the Ripper was standing there, confused and holding the plastic knife in her hands. "Mommy what's this?" Jack asked, looking at Ritsuka, who smiled and picked the Assassin up, and put her on the ground.
"Toy knife. Give mommy a second, we're summoning more Servants," Ritsuka said, petting Jack on the head as the unAwake Mash's brain apparently decided to shut down at the sight of the tiny girl who was now calling her Senpai mommy.
"Ok!" Jack said with a smile, running into the control room with the toy knife.
"Try the Soul Eater Manga," Altria ordered, Ritsuka pulling said manga out of the box, and grimacing.
"Oh god I hope not…" Ritsuka mumbled, recalling their encounter with… him.
"Senpai, what is that face?" Mash asked, finally rebooting as Altria pulled the switch.
"Don't worry about it."
As she said that, the summoning Chamber exploded into Prana for the third time, heralding the summoning of yet another Servant. And when it died down… there stood Medusa, in her 'Lily' Form. The Lancer blinked, the manga draped over her head as she sent out a quick ping.
Ritsuka chuckled as Medusa pulled the manga off her hood. "Did you really summon me with this?" she asked, incredulously.
"I am still surprised it worked?" Ritsuka said with a shrug, Medusa about to speak before the lights sparked, and the entire room went dim. Moments later, the chamber was refilled with dim light.
"Ah we blew out the generators," Altria noted calmly, taking a sip of her coffee again as Mash panicked.
"What do we do!"
"We go get Da Vinci, and apologize for blowing the power, now come on!" Ritsuka ordered, running out, and grabbing Shuten by the shoulder as she passed the Oni by.
"Hey! I'm reading here!" she complained.
"You can keep reading, just come on!"
The Black King of Knights chuckled, shaking her head and leading Mash out into Chaldea's vast hallways. Jack the Ripper leaping down the hallways to follow her mommy, and Medusa joining them.
Altira was still quite interested in what other Catalysts they could use, but right now they had bigger problems. Like getting the power back on.
15.4
[Fate/Grand Order]
Release the Kittens!
"You and what army, Master of Chaldea!" the ghost of gamblers boasted. Ritsuka was alone at the moment, humming as he'd been locked into this run down casino in Vegas… run by a gigantic ghost.
He snapped his fingers. "I have one!"
"What do you mean! I have locked this place off from Serva-" the gigantic ghost started before Ritsuka reached behind their back, pulling out twenty cards from seemingly nowhere.
"RELEASE THE KITTENS!"
The ghost screeched in horror as sixty sphinx kittens manifested from the cards, all rearing up and growling before being swarmed by adorable divine beasts the size of large house cats. Ritsuka laughing maniacally all the way.
"Senpai! What's going on in there?" Mash called from outside in confusion.
"Just dealing with a rude person, don't worry about it," Ritsuka reassured through the door before going back to watching the mauling, the ghost trying to pathetically claw its way to a slot machine as it was being weighed down by housecat sphinxes.
"Yes my kitties… gooood…" Ritsuka cackled. It was rare to get Craft Essences that summoned sphinx kittens, but it was still fun to use them.
How often could one claim they had a small army of divine beasts at their beck and call! And actually use them on something that couldn't handle the adorableness… or deadliness.
15.5
[Fate Grand Order]
Team Phoenix
"Damn he's good," Ritsuka commented, taking a sip from her smoothie as she and Mash were in the commentator's box for this iteration of the Ishtar Cup.
They'd managed to arrange things so that a certain someone visited Chaldea early. Goredolf Musik, the future director, and even better, they'd managed to rope him into participating in the Ishtar Cup with a 'partner' sharing his car. Caenis unsurprisingly.
"I'm more surprised he's winning," Mash admitted as everyone kept their eyes on the screen.
In all honesty, Goredolf and Caenis' vehicle didn't hold a candle to the more… esoteric rides of any other team. It was a Nissan GT-R with only minor adjustments made, Goredolf's personal touches, which weren't even magical in nature. Compared to the rocket ship, the magic chariots, the steam train, single wheel motorcycle, whatever the hell Nitocris and Scheherazade were riding, the simple car was a bit out of place.
But that didn't stop its driver from putting the pedal to the metal, and drag racing with the best Chaldea's racers had to offer. Dodging missiles, Noble Phantasms, Nobunaga's bullet bombardment, and more.
Unlike almost every other racer, there was barely a scratch on the paintjob of his ruby red car, Caenis roaring for more speed and occasionally hanging out the side of the window to jab at another racer whenever Goredolf brought them in close.
Particularly impressive was him avoiding a spin out and driving up a volcano backwards, and even managing to jump the crater still going backwards. He was gaining quite the lead overall, with only Nero and MHX getting anywhere close to catching up to him. And they were the ones driving a magic formula one car and the rocket ship.
"Not really, I mean what's this compared to India?" Ritsuka asked, still watching the big screen as Goredolf actually slowed down just enough to allow Caenis a clear shot at taking out Nero's car, something Altria, Nero's partner put a stop to by deflecting the spear with a bullet, and trying to put some in Goredolf's tires.
Of course, 'The Phoenix Musik' was more than ready for the attempt, pulling back just enough to avoid getting shot, and then pulling a pit maneuver at high speed, spinning both his own car and the Tyrant Shooter out.
The difference was, his car had amazing ability to turn. While the Tyrant Shooter was spinning out and flipping, Altria and Nero hanging on for dear life, Goredolf recovered from the spin and shifted gears, rocketing back into the lead as the Demon Driver, Nobunaga and MHX's rocket car, was gaining on them.
"Holy shit he might actually do it…" Ishtar muttered in shock.
"...I can't believe you were right," Medea muttered as Shirou smirked, holding out his hand.
"Pony up," the visiting Anchor ordered as Medea huffed.
"The race isn't over yet, there's still a chance," the Caster said as Mash looked up.
"They're approaching the final stretch…" she noted. This was gonna be where the real race began.
But when the 'Guard Dog' Lobo came out, with the siren headed Hessian, Goredolf did something most racers didn't in the Ishtar cup.
He kept driving, Caenis hanging on for dear life as he drove over the bridge into the final stretch, the explosives underneath set by Medb going off behind him as he shifted gears one final time… and then he finally hit the turbo.
"He's had a turbo the whole time!?" Ishtar screamed in surprise as the crowd cheered, the other racers falling behind, literally, as Goredolf and Caenis drove for the finish line, Lobo leaping out of the smoke to give chase, and Goredolf spinning the car to drive backwards, allowing Caenis to climb out and onto the top of the car to fight Lobo and Hessian.
"I love the Ishtar Cup," Ritsuka noted with a smile as Ishtar began panicking over how things weren't going according to plan with Medb's intervention, even as Caenis was duelling Hessian in a high speed chase, Goredolf's expert driving being put to the test once more to avoid Lobo's assault as well.
Sure, it all came to a near crashing halt when Medb literally parked an entire army in front of him, headed by Quetzacoatl, but he'd gotten farther than literally anyone else had against Medb and her forces during the Ishtar cup before being caught. Even with godly driving in a pretty standard car, one couldn't simply drift through a thousand bodies, a goddess sitting right there, a hyperactive Avenger, Medb's authority, and a literal minefield of spike strips.
That it had taken that much to get him to finally stop, even after he and Caenis plowed through maybe a fourth of that, was still incredible.
"Now we get to see if his digging is as good as his driving," Shirou commented.
"Please, if those were equal, he'd be capable of digging all the way to China," Medea commented.
15.6
[Fate/Stay Night] [Fate/Grand Order]
Another: Stay Night
Illya chuckled, rubbing her hands together in glee. With the advent of the Grand Order… and the opportunity for hundreds of new Catalysts and Servants, she'd been waiting for a chance like this for a while.
To completely, and utterly, screw the entire 5th Holy Grail War six ways to sunday. By way of summoning a completely different set of Servants. Thankfully Shirou wasn't Awake yet, and no one except Waver was… and with his help, they'd planted all the pieces necessary to make this one of the more insane versions of the 5th War yet.
She personally couldn't wait to see the look on Gilgamesh's face.
"Oh Berserker~" Illya sang.
"What do you require?" Her Berserker for the war… Hijikata Toshizou asked, the man crossing his arms as Illya pulled out a pair of shades, grinning.
"We're gonna make sure everything goes according to keikaku."
He'd been summoned as a Caster… ah well.
"Yo, Servant Caster," Cu started, before sending off a ping, getting two in return before quickly dashing behind Bazett Fraga McRemitz, sweeping her off her feet and stabbing Kirei Kotomine through the heart with his staff in turn. He winked at her, his Master blushing. "Cu Chulainn."
"You're a Caster!? But- I was trying to… Kotomine!?" Bazzet started questioning.
"He was gonna kill you, but don't worry about that, I'm here," Cu slowly let her down, spinning his staff and showing off his earring. "So, Holy Grail War right?"
"Y-yes!" his Master, sadly she wasn't a Looper… a shame, he hoped she would be one day, even if that hope was slim. "I'm going to claim the Grail in the name of the Association."
"Ah come on, surely you've got a different wish?" he teased, and Bazett blinked, rubbing behind the back of her head. "Either way, I've only got one goal. Good fights, you up for that?"
"Entirely."
He grinned, this was gonna be fun, hopefully.
Shirou Awoke… to find a very different Saber looking down at him.
"Servant, Saber. You are my Master, yes?" the masked Saber, Sigurd asked him. Shirou wondered how the hell he'd been summoned when he looked outside.
"Yeah, I guess," Shirou admitted with a shrug. "Uh, are you in the middle of something?"
"I was. Excuse me for a moment Master," Sigurd spun around, holding his red sword, Gram, up and leaping out of the shed to return to his clash with Lancer.
Said Lancer being Caenis of all people. The normally extraordinarily angry Servant laughed as she and Sigurd dueled, spear and shield against the Demonic Sword as Shirou got up and out of the shed.
He blinked in utter confusion at the man at the other end of the school yard. What the hell was Wodime doing here?
"Archer!" he heard Rin's voice shout. "Take them out!"
Shirou dove back into the shed as Orion dropped in. The absolute mountain of a man smirking as he raised his bow and club. Both Caenis and Sigurd looked towards the new arrival in slight surprise.
'What the actual fuck?' Shirou questioned. This War was already looking to be an interesting one at minimum.
Archer, Lancer and Saber engaged in dialogue amid their fighting… and then a fourth Servant joined in.
"Targets acquired! Eliminating!" the Servant, who looked very much like a Kamen Rider, declared, diving in and trying to blast Sigurd and Caenis with energy, before attempting to engage Orion in a fist fight. Odysseus the Rider joined the battle as Sakura poked her very confused head through the hole in the wall her Servant had busted.
"This has gotten way out of-" Shirou started before yet another Servant decided to interrupt… by riding a pink Metal Gear through the damn high school.
"Hello everyone!" Koyanskya, the Assassin declared, her mech opening up on full auto, forcing all the other Servants on the defensive. "Presents from NFF!"
"This has already gone awry," Wodime noted, the magus ducking behind some rubble and reinforcing his position with a shield powered by the stars. Sakura similarly took cover.
"HEY DID YOU ALL START WITHOUT ME!?" Cu shouted, dropping in and dodging around various bullets and missiles, the Caster grinning as he started. "Alright! I'm gonna take on-"
"SHINSENGUMI!" And then the final wall exploded, Hijikata charging through it right towards Koyanskya's mech, ignoring the bullets and ripping a leg off with his sword. The foxy Assassin leaping off her current vehicle and landing atop what remained of the roof of the school.
"Oh this can only end poorly." Shirou finally got out. All seven Servants assembled, and only one of them the right one… of course he was in the wrong class anyway.
The seven assembled Servants all looked between each other. Weapons drawn, aimed and ready.
"Well this Grail War is about to explode," he commented before looking at Sigurd, "Don't die, please?"
"I won't Master. Now go, I shall hold them off," Sigurd responded, Shirou just apparatting out to watch the fireworks at this point.
How the actual hell the Grail War had turned into this mess was currently beyond him, but it was gonna be amusing nonetheless.
15.7
[Fate/Grand Order] [Legend of Zelda]
Fate/Courage: Part 1
Ritsuka Awoke in hiding, adjusting the helmet she was wearing suddenly and taking stock of the situation from behind a tree.
She was like… barely taller than two feet, and some sort of imp creature. A Twili, her Loop memories told her. Apparently she was some sort of cursed princess, and normally not this short.
Lack of clothes was also dealt with by lack of anything revealing anyway, she'd been worse.
The sounds of screaming drew her attention away from her thoughts. She poked her head out from her hiding place to see some teenager turn into a wolf, then get dragged off by a shadow beast. A corrupted Twili as her memories affirmed.
She frowned, floating out from her hiding spot… and realizing that her little imp form could float at all. "Ok, that's useful," she mumbled in her body's native tongue. A quick shrug at that. The wolf boy probably was going to need some help.
Ritsuka wasn't one to ignore people in need after all.
Link Awoke with a groan, shaking his head and quickly realizing he was currently a wolf.
'Huh, I Awoke here?' Link looked around, yep, dungeons under Hyrule Castle. Meant he was in the Twilight Princess era this time. He sent out a quick Ping, getting only one in return.
"Oh you're awake now," Link looked to his right, and saw… well it looked like Midna, but it wasn't her exactly. Her hair was a more solid, and brighter orange, and her iris was more orange than normal as well. In appearance, she actually looked a little different, but it was only minor details. Of course given she was wearing the fused Shadow piece, she didn't look amazingly different, except her ponytail was off to the side rather than directly behind her. "You doing alright mister?"
'Well she's certainly more polite than Midna tends to be,' Link thought. He was tempted to speak back to her, but the fact this… not-Midna was standing there, crossing her arms, kept him a bit silent.
He hadn't done pure Baseline in a while, and dealing with a nicer than normal Midna would be a change of pace perhaps. With that, he nodded to her slowly. "Well, good to see that whatever made you a wolf didn't rob you of your senses," the imp put her hands behind her head with a grin, fangs visible.
"So… hmm, how are we gonna get you outta this cell," the not-Midna mused, before looking at his leg. "Ok, I can get rid of that," she said, putting her hands together.
Rather than cast like how Midna would have, forming a small ball of dark energy and cutting it, she formed a similar orb, this one with black and green energy before firing it at the chain around his leg, snapping off most of it, save for the cuff. "There we go," the girl said with a smile before dancing backwards, and phasing through the cell door. "There's a bit of broken floor here, just enough you might be able to slip out, if you squeeze."
Link nodded, simply going over to the pile of dirt and digging his way through. Popping out of the dirt and shaking himself off. Unlike how Midna would normally just drop herself on his back, this other imp nodded, before hopping up, floating in the air before landing on his back gently. He growled. "Hey hey, it's faster if you do the walking. I might be able to float, but I ain't quick."
He just let her, the girl straddling him as her mount. "Right then, off we trot mister wolf!" she hummed. "Of course we can't use the way I followed you in… guess we'll be doing things the fun way," Twili giggled.
Ok, whoever this was, they certainly seemed a lot more helpful outright than an unAwake Midna was. "Come on, prison break time. Ain't my first, won't be our last knowing my luck."
Link carried this mysterious Twili throughout Hyrule castle. She seemed to be getting used to her abilities, a sign to him that she was probably the visiting Looper, having replaced Midna. Of course these same abilities seemed to excite her with just how they could be used to aid them both.
Of course her regular comments were quite amusing, and further reinforcing the idea that she was the visitor.
"Souls here are so much more chatty than they are normally. Course they aren't dead yet! Let's keep it that way," she'd commented upon them encountering that first formless guard. He was sort of making a game of it at this point, to see if he could figure out who this girl was before they outright said it. But the personality didn't exactly match anyone he interacted with normally.
"Hmm, there's something about a twilight sky that's so comforting right now. Could do without the rain though," the imp had said once they'd gotten outside. "Right, welcome to Hyrule Castle buddy. Come on, we've gotta make it to that tower before any guards catch us," he barked softly in affirmation.
She certainly was a bit more active than Midna tended to be. Actually making very liberal use of her hair to help in combat, as well as constantly pointing out enemies to him. Which he noted there seemed to be far more than usual from what he could remember, so the extra pair of helpful eyes and useful orders were a boon, not that he exactly needed it, but making her feel useful would probably do wonders in the long run.
"And up we go!" the imp had said cheerfully, using her hair hand to grab onto the window and with a leap from him, boosting them into the tower.
Reaching Zelda's prison from there was easy, and he didn't want to scare her, so he took things a bit slow. He still needed to guess who this girl was afterall. When they'd reached the top, rather than let him push the door open the girl leapt up, balancing on his back. "Hey, let me turn it."
He rolled his eyes, but obliged, letting the imp grasp the handle and push the door open slowly before settling back into her riding position. Walking into the room, he saw Zelda awaiting at the window. Well he assumed it was going to be Zelda.
"I'm back Princess," the imp said with a wave. "And I brought a new friend."
"Ritsu?" Zelda turned around, the cloaked princess looking towards them both in surprise as Link walked forward. The wolf was interested in the name… Ritsu.
"Indeed. Had a bit of a change of heart. But enough about that," the newly identified Ritsu said with a nod.
"So if he is not the one you were searching for?" Zelda questioned kneeling down to look at Link.
"Wouldn't know. But given he used to be a person, and he turned into a wolf not a spirit, better place to start than anywhere else, no?" Titsu surmised, putting her hands behind her head and adjusting the Fused Shadow helmet as she did so. "Course couldn't just leave him behind."
"He was imprisoned," Zelda noted, looking at the remains of the chain around his leg. "I'm sorry."
"He's been taking it rather well actually. You'd think he was normally a dog," the imp Ritsu noted with a giggle. Link actually growled at that one. "Hey, easy, keep it down buddy," she ordered, patting his head. "You've got more of the story about 'why' than I do, so think you can tell him your half miss princess?"
He heard Zelda sigh, and shake her head. "Listen carefully."
After hearing her tale, and beginning their escape, the newly named 'Ritsu' was quick on keeping him up to date. "Guards outside the window we came in… need a new exit," and she'd grabbed his ears when they'd neared the bottom of the stairs.
She'd dragged them both up, straining herself to get them to the window before floating out into the rain, hopping across the rooftop and crossing her arms. "Ok, that makes things much more understandable," she mumbled to herself. "Much easier than working off memory."
Link followed after her. He'd keep the silent treatment for now, let her get used to it all. "Right then, we've got a lot of work ahead of us, mister wolf, but I can only help you so much like this," she raised her hand, and looked it over before clutching it. "A provisional contract kinda," she giggled.
Ok now he was slightly worried. "Oh come now, don't get that look on your face," she tapped him on the nose. "It's a simple arrangement. Master and Servant."
He could literally hear the uppercase S. The Twili looked around. "Ok, nevermind. We'll have to make that later, if we don't go now we ain't going at all," she snapped her fingers, dragging him along for a teleport. "To the realm of light we go."
When he reformed in the spring of Ordon, she spoke up again. "Sorry about the lack of humanity, mister wolf, but I can't give you that one back. Not because I don't want to, I can't," she said hiding within his shadow.
He trotted out of the sacred spring, and once they were out of the water she emerged, turning his shadow into her form. "Just as well mister, you may be good, and I may be useful in the realm covered by twilight, but just the two of us can't fight a whole army. Maybe if we had a proper Contract, but I can't make those with humans. And if we get separated, well I can't say we'll be in a good spot. I can't enter the light without you, and you can't enter the shadow without me, capiche?"
He'd long since figured out how to actually do that on his own, but he'd humor her. Link nodded. "Of course if we find a way to turn you back into a human, you'd be pretty defenseless without those teeth and claws." The shadow imp put her hand to her chin. "Let's see… the simple way or the fun way… well, fun it is," she shrugged, before smiling, "Let's get some tools. That little village you're from should have some weapons. So village boy, I assume you've tended to fields, how do you fancy a spear? They got any of those?"
This of course was a bit different than normal, but hey, he'd done weirder. She was having fun, so he nodded. He could probably find a spear somewhere, or failing that just grab the sword and shield. "Well let's get on it, and by we, I have to mean you. Ain't physical here," she chuckled before returning her form to his shadow.
He was beginning to like this 'Ritsu'.
Of course, Ritsu was exceptionally chatty… but useful. "Let's see, a shield in the store, and weapons around town. Pick and choose, pick and choose… but only one, we don't want to leave these people defenseless. After all, there are more monsters than just us mister wolf."
She was certainly more emphatic to their plight than Midna was at first. "If those kids have been taking to the twilight, they're both in danger and somewhat safe. I mean, it's pretty hard to hurt a soul, but not impossible. But they can't defend themselves if something bothers to try."
And when they'd gone to Ordon Spring again, after obtaining a spear and the shield. The first Shadow Beast appeared… alongside two others, which was already more than he'd been expecting. Not unmanageable by any means.
Course the commentary was helpful. "Left!" he dodged, skidding through the water. "The two on the right are preparing a charge." He leapt up and over, using his tail like a blade to slash at them both. Of course the annoying part about Shadow Beasts were you had to beat all of them at once. "Ok, that's annoying… hmm. Ah, I've got it!"
She really was quite the tactician. "Alright, they're enjoying their charges, two at once while you're fighting one. Get them to ram each other and put that tail of yours to good use!"
Barely two minutes after the battle started, it was over. The portal of twilight formed for them, and Ordon spoke. Ritsu kept her lips shut for once. After Ordona spoke to them it was off to Faron woods. "Hang on buddy, I'll pull you in once I'm through."
Ritsuka, or 'Ritsu' as she'd decided to just keep going by (She liked new names. Even if it was mostly a variation on her normal one), hummed as she floated on the other side of the twilight barrier. "Will this even work?" she mused, forming her ponytail into the large hand she'd been growing accustomed to. Wolf boy was on the other side, and she was like 99% percent sure he was the one who'd pinged off at this point. His combat capability was amazing. She'd ask him later.
Right now, she needed to get him through. Reaching her hair out, she passed it through the twilight barrier. It stung a bit, but she felt something grasp pulled, dragging him out of the realm of Light, and into the realm of Twilight.
Once he was inside she returned to riding him, looking at the spear and shield on his back with her. "Well that's an issue. Gonna be hard to move with these… Although…" She patted his back. "You don't mind if I put these away for a bit, yeah? They'll be more useful whenever we get you back to human mister wolf."
The wolf rolled his eyes but nodded. She could have just Pocketed them, but trying out her new magic was more fun. A quick snap of her fingers and both wooden shield and iron spear were snapped into a little dimensional space created by her Twili magic. "You're pretty quiet, you know that?"
Another roll of his eyes. She spun around laying across his back and looking at herself over again. "Let's get to work, this work's light ain't going to return itself," she ordered. She could probably get used to the imp form, but her memories told her she had a much more… mature and powerful form. That would be interesting whenever they broke this little curse on her.
She snapped her fingers. "Right, our contract. Did you give it any thought? Master and Servant?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and adjusting her helmet again. The 'Fused Shadow', one of the pieces at least. The wolf barked. "That a yes or a no?"
The wolf shook his head no. "Ok provisional it is then. Let's get to it. Find that light spirit and get your human body back," he nodded, before taking off at a run. She nearly fell off, but she managed to quickly grab his back fur and hang on. "Sorry!"
Of course, barely a minute into the woods, another set of twilight stones dropped from the sky, a portal opening wide. "Oh great, more friends." As six Shadow Beasts decided to drop in from above, she looked down at her companion. "Think you can take em all at once?"
The smirk he gave told her he knew he could, or at least thought so. She was still wondering how the heck he knew her language, but they'd probably figure that out later. Worse came to worst it was just him being a Looper. "I'm still helping. Follow my orders and we'll get through this."
The wolf charged, and she grinned, raising her hair and using it to grab at the first Shadow Beast to jump at them. Wrapping the large fist around the monster's leg as the wolf jumped at another, ripping at its chest with his teeth as she rammed the one she had in her grip into another that tried to claw them.
Her companion leapt off the one he was mauling just as another tried to leap at them. "Behind!~"
He spun around, dodging just in the nick of time to avoid getting crushed by the fifth, the sixth lunging at them. She turned her head, using her hair to punch it into the barrier around them. It quickly got back up as the rest circled them.
She frowned. "Hey, how fast are you?" The wolf barked. "Let's find out buddy!" she held up her hands, grinning as she snapped her fingers with both hands, creating a field of energy around them and concentrating. Three of the shadow beasts gaining green marks on them. She turned, using her hair to point at the fourth, and snapping her fingers one final time to mark the last two, right where a nice set of teeth would probably rip their throat out.. "Weaknesses exposed! Gettem!"
The wolf growled. "One… final trick…" She grit her teeth, expending this much magic while she wasn't used to it at all was so taxing… "Bit of… a boost," she spent just a little bit more to give her companion one final boost, it wasn't an actual spell, just giving him some extra magic to follow through with the mass attack.
She yelped, barely hanging on as he leapt from beast to beast, ripping out the green marks with expert precision, bouncing from one monster to the next, and all six screeching within three seconds. All of them falling to the dirt, twilight energy flying off them as they fell to pieces, forging a new portal in the sky.
"Hah… ugh… well… that was fun, short too…" she offered weakly. Ok, she underestimated just how much power this body actually had… granted a majority of it was sealed. Maybe she wasn't used to it yet either.
The wolf growled at her as she laid on his back. "I'm… fine buddy," she closed her eyes. "Hehe… what I wouldn't give… for a Servant…"
The wolf huffed as she draped over him, falling into a fitful sleep.
'She really needs to stop pushing herself like that," Link thought as he slowly walked towards the small waterfall to meet the spirit of Faron. It was rare for someone to replace Midna… and even rarer for the circumstances they were doing it under.
He was honestly surprised how aggressive the enemies were being, and just how much more numerous they were. Three shadow beasts at once, then six? If he hadn't been holding back to wolf form, he was pretty such he could deal with them with ease… and bombs. But this was getting a bit insane.
Still, he liked a challenge, but he was getting a bit worried about Ritsu. She was pushing herself harder than Midna would have… not that he completely minded, normally she would just let him handle nearly everything.
He let her rest for a little bit, he could handle everything up to the miasma swamp without her, at least from what he remembered. But given the general difficulty spike, both in enemy interaction and number, he'd probably have to step up his game.
After obtaining the Vessel of Light, he kept his pace a bit slower than normal, to let Ritsu recover. She was up in a few minutes, yawning. "Ahhh… can't remember the last time… I got a nap without some sort of crazy dream," Ritsu muttered, adjusting her helmet. "How long was I out?"
He tapped his foot ten times. "Ten minutes huh?" she muttered. "Well, back to work. I miss anything?" He barked in response. "Yes huh? Well you can tell me all about it later. Whatever it is, I'll figure it out as we go."
She was quick to figure out what they were doing. "Ok, so we're gathering the light, easy enough. This vessel you got has what, sixty slots?" He barked. "Well, it just means we have to keep hunting, easy enough."
The hunt took quite a while, long enough that he was actually having to stop and take breathers. Ritsu thankfully didn't seem to mind, given she'd also been assisting in reaching the bugs who were a bit out of reach, usually with her hair or a bit of creative magic.
Of course he couldn't help but react to her already commentary. "Oh come on man, they're bugs, sure they're big but I've dealt with bigger with my fists!" She'd even punctuated that with punching her tiny hand into the other.
And when they'd encounter the miasma swamp, she'd put her snappy wit to work. "Oh joy, poison. Meh. Come on, follow me, put those legs to work buddy!" She'd used her hair to gesture playfully to him, so at least she wasn't a hundred percent serious.
If anything, she was taking the whole adventure in stride, and just enjoying being along with him for the ride. And when they'd returned the light she'd decided to stick around more obviously than Midna had. "Well that's one bit of light returned. Back to shadow land for me… On the other hand, I expect we'll finally be talking soon, mister wolf," she'd laughed, before returning to being his shadow as Faron appeared.
Of course she'd also commented on him too. "Chosen one huh? And here I thought we were just having a wonderful time without destiny at hand. Ah well." And then upon his name. "Oh, so your name is Link? Hang on… actually I'll hold that thought."
After Faron had finished talking, Ritsu and Link finally got to speak to each other… for the most part.
"Link, one of the three Anchors of Hyrule. That's who you are," Ritsu offered as she floated before him, still only a being of shadow. "And let me guess, you're Awake too?"
"Eh, close enough," Link said to kept it short and simple. "I don't know who you are though, but I have a guess."
"And that would be?" Ritsu asked, amused. She crossed her hands behind her head, not that she had a physical form to really do so with, but it was the gesture that mattered.
"If I had to guess… You'd be Ritsuka right? Altria told me about you," he returned.
She snapped two fingers at him, not that it made a sound. "Got it in one. Ritsuka Fujimaru, Chaldean Anchor," she waved at him and giggled "Pleasure to finally hear you speak."
"Well you've been chatty enough for the both of us," Link offered with a smirk. "I heard from her you've got a species problem?"
"Yeah a bit, but I manage. Won't lie, I've been finding this interesting, and pretty fun. I'm normally pretty close to the action, but not a super direct combatant. Still ain't the main one, so that's normal," she reclined in the air.
"...Are you not bothered by the-" Link began and she waved at him.
"Nah, I've literally spent entire Loops running around in a bikini, or technically less than this," she knocked on her helmet. "A bit worrying I've grown used to that," she mused, putting a hand on her chin.
"I mean we all go crazy in our own ways," Link said with a shrug. "So… what do you want to do?"
She started tapping her fingers together. "Could… we keep going? I was enjoying the adventure so far and… well I want to see it through."
Link smiled. "Only if you don't mind the mostly silent treatment from here?"
She laughed. "It'll be fine, I'll just have to talk for two. Oh any by the way, do call me Ritsu anyway."
"There a reason for that?"
She put a finger to her lips. "Secret." And then she vanished into his shadow.
At least this was a very challenging variant of baseline. This hopefully would be a fun adventure.
Thus the adventure continued, for the Hero of Courage and the new Twilight Princess.
AN: Another day, more snips, and more writers. We're starting to ramp things up now! I hope you all enjoyed, but if you want more, be sure to follow along. If you've got an idea, leave a review, if you have something to say, do the same. Thank you for being here!
15.1: Swords and Shields Swapping Sides.
15.2: SHIELD BEEEAAAMMMM!
15.3: Catalysts can be very weird things.
15.4: Cats.
15.5: NANI! GOREDOLF DRITFORU
15.6: Explosions imminent.
15.7: Gotta have some courage to fight.