19.1
[Fate Grand Order] [Pikmin]
Little Adventure
Lavinia and Abigail, for once, were alone. At least they didn't know where the Anchor was, since no one had responded to their Pings. It was just the two of them, here on a planet.
Playing with these little creatures called 'Pikmin' and gathering all sorts of things as 'treasure' to pay off a staggering debt apparently.
"Okay uh…" Lavinia poked her head over Abigail's shoulder, both of them wearing little space suits and looking at the list Abigail was holding. "So we got most of the treasure in this area… I think."
"You think?" Lavinia asked, looking back for a moment and waving over her current squad of Pikmin, mostly red with a few intermixed blues.
"Yeah, I think so," Abigail said with a smile, before stowing her notebook. "So let's move onto the next area, we've got more treasure to find!"
Lavinia just smiled, "This time don't get half our Pikmin crushed in a cave, alright?" she joked.
Abigail puffed out her cheeks, crossing her arms. "I said I was sorry…"
Patting her back, Lavinia walked on, whistling to draw more Pikmin towards her. Abigail wasn't the most… tactical person. So it fell to her to make sure the job at least got somewhat done, and they didn't lose too many Pikmin.
Of course Abigail was also very good at growing more of them and leading the Onions around, but it still hurt to lose the little guys.
But it was off to the forest to get more treasure. All these earthly objects so much bigger than they were.
It was fun to have a peaceful Loop of exploration and treasure gathering.
"We never speak of this again," Lavinia ordered as she was having a large group of purple Pikmin cover the hole. They're already grabbed everything, but she didn't want to touch that place again.
"I think that place was some sort of Dreamland," Abigail mused.
"Could have been, don't want to know, not going back." Lavinia pointed out.
She wasn't dealing with the steamroller plasma frog again. No, just… no.
The Submerged Castle could stay submerged, and that extremely minor eldritch creature could stay there.
She personally hoped it wasn't gonna get out. It ticked all the hallmarks of some sort of minor being of another world, and it had been highly aggressive.
Of course there were more of the damn things. Lock one up and two more get out.
"We really need to find the Purple Onion, assuming such a thing exists," Lavinia pointed out. This planet was beginning to go to heck because of all these Wraiths.
"No more games," Abigail commented, closing her eyes. Lavinia waved over a purple Pikmin, to give her something to focus on. A bit of cheating was required if these 'Wraiths' were gonna keep invading.
A few moments later the purple Onion dropped out of a portal, practically shaking as it joined their other Onions. If Purple Pikmin were the only thing that could somehow damage creatures from beyond the veil, they needed more of them.
Abigail had fun growing them at least.
"Well this turned out far more exciting than expected," Abigail admitted, actually amused as Lavinia sat with her inside their spaceship, finally taking off from the planet that they were fairly sure, at one point, had been Earth.
"Came in expecting a vacation to gather treasure, ended up discovering the place was filled with the Eldritch, just our luck no?" Lavinia questioned, a bit jokingly. Nothing they couldn't handle, since such things were their wheelhouse.
Time stopped caves, creatures from beyond the veil, their little pikmin evolved to battle such beings and even more stuff like the gravity manipulating Plasm Wraith. It was certainly a more fun and colorful romp against scary creatures than expected.
"So you wanna go back?" Abigail asked as they were flying away.
"Oh yeah, there's still so much more to find… and more creatures to study," Lavinia giggled. For others, such horrors were perhaps a nightmare. For them, you got used to it, you studied it, and then you beat it back. Such was the way of the Foreigner, and the way of Lavinia Whatley.
She still had a score to settle with the Plasm Wraith after all, that thing wrecked the giant teddy bear she'd wanted to Pocket.
19.2
[Fate/Grand Order] [Legend of Zelda]
Fate/Courage: Part 2
Their journey across Hyrule had been rough… and difficult.
"Ok, whoever in Hylia's name is responsible for this mess, I'm beating their ass into the next six Loops!" Link complained with a huff.
"I take it that things normally aren't as hectic as they have been?" Ritsu commented, coming out of his shadow as they approached the next area grasped in darkness' grip. Two of the three Fused Shadows had already been grabbed, and Ritsu had been improving her power usage as they'd gone on…
Link had already gone through no less than five different weapons after the original spear they'd grabbed, all because of just how aggressive and numerous the enemies were. "No, but this wouldn't be the first time someone's screwed with the past and affected the future, our Loop's weird like that," Link commented, making a mental note to find out who to blame for this, if anyone.
Probably Malon or Vaati.
"So uh…" the shadow floating beside him spun around him to float before the next curtain of twilight. "I've been useful right?"
"I mean it ain't a null Loop, but I'll take what help I can get. Besides," he hefted his stolen hammer over his shoulder. "We're doing this Baseline. It's a challenge at this point."
"That doesn't answer the question," she pointed out, crossing her arms.
Link frowned. He recalled the time Navi had felt she'd been falling behind, becoming… irrelevant. So this wasn't the first time he'd seen someone worried about that. It would be rude to say he didn't need her help.
Course it would also be wrong to say he'd have gotten this far without her. Midna was an exceptionally helpful companion normally, and Ritsu had been similarly helpful, if not more so… especially since the most annoying part of this adventure had forced him not to rely on memory.
Outside of the villages and towns, everything kept shifting between the realms covered in Twilight and Light, entire dungeon layouts were completely different, and even more complex than usual. "Yeah you've been useful."
Ritsu sighed, before spinning around to look at the twilight curtain. "Well, one more place to cleanse of twilight, and one more piece of Fused Shadow to go. Shall we?"
Link nodded, and she passed through the barrier. A few seconds later, the large hand formed of her hair came out, reaching for him to grasp. He put the hammer away and took her 'hand', being pulled through.
A few moments afterwards, he was back to being a wolf, and she was on his back. "Ah, back to solidity. Let's get to work shall we mister wolf?" she giggled, patting his back as he barked in affirmation. Of course, said confirmation attracted the usual attention. "Hey, heads up, we got company again."
Link growled as he turned back towards the path before them, then blinked at what was flying through the air before them.
'What the heck are those?' Link thought in confusion at the pair of giant eyeballs floating through the air with the Keese. The swarm of bats flying around the two eyeballs as the Ritsu smacked him.
"Left! Now!" she ordered, and he obliged, dodging to the left just as both eyes flashed, small explosions going off right where he'd been standing. "Rush! If they get a lock on you ain't dodging!"
He barked, taking off into a run as the eyeballs started spinning around, trying to get said lock as the Keese screeched, diving towards him as Ritsu turned her head, raising one hand off his back and gathering twilight energy in it. As they were running, she kept firing small blasts from the palm of her hand, blasting bats out of the sky. "Those two eyes are Gazers, creatures from my world, what are they doing here?"
'Good question,' Link thought, dodging another explosion before a barrage of lasers fired in front of him. He skidded to a stop before he could ram into said lasers. 'Ah crap,' the wolf braced for the attack he was probably about to eat.
Instead, Ritsu grunted, and she spun around, her hair hand being used as a shield for them. She retracted it, smoke coming off of her hair as Link barked. "I'm fine," she retorted, eyes scanning the sky as Link took off into a run again. They had to deal with these monsters anyway.
Ritsu closed her one visible eye for a moment, creating a snapshot box with her fingers and charting a course. "Follow the seals!" she ordered, Link looking up as several kese gained little green marks on them. He barked, leaping into the air, ripping one keese apart, and then leaping to the next, basically bouncing off the tiny bats as Ritsu kept making new marks for him to leap to. However once they were high enough, the two gazers just floated higher, their eyes flashing.
Ritsu floated off his back, whipping her hair out and grasping both gazered by the tentacles as Link began to fall, having run out of targets to leap between. "Follow up!" she ordered, spinning her hair around and tossing the two gazers downward.
Link righted himself midair, landing on one of the speeding eyeballs and ripping into it with his jaws, the creature screeching as it crashed into the ground, fading into sparks of twilight energy. The second was quick to begin ascending again, Link growling as he spun around at it. Ritsu dropped onto his back again however and held her hand out, a green mark appearing over the eyeball's pupil. Said pupil was shrinking in response, as it looked at the small seal. Link smirked, and then roared as he leapt for it, Ritsu hanging on with a grin as he rammed the gazer, pinning it to the ground and ripping to shreds.
"Well that's done," Ritsu admitted, stretching with a sigh. "You holding up?" Link barked in the affirmative. She patted his back, chuckling before rubbing between his ears. "Still that was something from my place… what were they doing here?" she muttered, putting her hand on her chin.
Link kept walking down the canyon path, until they reached Hyrule field. Off in the distance, Hyrule Castle off in the distance… and the field covered in roaming monsters. "Hey, mind giving me a moment?" Ritsu offered, leaping off Link's back and floating through the air.
He raised a paw, waving to her. She saluted and took off, floating upwards and to a nearby tree before vanishing from sight. He laid down for a moment. 'Ok, maybe not Malon or Vaati… Maybe it's just because the fused Loop dragged along some stuff from her place,' Link mused.
Ritsu appeared a few minutes later, leaping out of the trees and landing on the ground in front of him. "Back mister wolf," she said, giving a small salute and a cheeky grin, then crossing her arms. "So I've got some bad news."
He waved a paw at her, a gesture to go on. "So the gazers aren't the only monsters from home." She adjusted her helmet. "I spotted other 'old friends', like a spriggan, demonic boars, a strange twilight efreet, and the usual suspects like ghosts," she raised her hand, and a finger with each one she brought up. "Of course that is what I'm familiar with, there was more than that I'm sure you probably will recognize," she crossed her arms again.
Link barked, gesturing to her to get on. She flipped over, spinning through the air and landing on his back. He howled, the duo riding off on a more evasive path. Course given the sheer number of monsters, they weren't evading them all. Nevermind the fliers besides the keese.
The twilight infecting them certainly made them even more aggressive, so it was a running fight most of the way through to Castle Town.
"Well that was fun wasn't it?" Ritsu complained as Link climbed out of Lake Hylia, shaking his coat. Those monsters were extra crafty, having forced them to take an alternate route to avoid their pursuit. Course Link didn't seem to mind, rushing up towards the monster up on the shore of the drained lake, leaping for the monster and ripping out it's throat. "Yesh savage ain't you?"
Link growled, Ritsu looking around. "Well he wasn't the only one, we've got company again." Link leapt backwards just as a few arrows tried to hit his position, a trio of shadow karagoks being ridden by shadow bublins, a fourth karagok circling overhead as well. Ritsu hummed as Link began running again, dodging flaming arrows as he ran around the basin.
She formed the hand from her ponytail. "Hey, spin!" she ordered. Link barked, spinning around and running again. As they passed under one of the karagoks she grabbed its tail, chuckling as she whipped her head to the right, dragging the monster from the sky with a shriek, Link spinning around and leaping onto it, tearing at it's chest as the bublin rolled off, running away to find a better position to fire from.
Before it could do that however, Ritsu snapped her left hand up, her hair going for another karagok. With a blast of magic she struck down the bublin, while simultaneously dragging one of the three remaining karagoks in front of them, using it to block the arrows from the third bublin rider.
Link leapt off the dying karagok that had been grounded, just as Ritsu pulled down the karagok that she'd grasped this time. It's rider clung on, Link leaping up and onto the karagok's back, tackling the rider off. He clawed at its face, the monster screeching as it was ripped apart by the wolf until it dissipated into purple smoke.
The last rider flew upwards before taking off, shooting away on its mount towards the upstream. Ritsu looked at the karagok she was still grasping by the tail. "So they've tamed these things… can't be too different from riding a demonic beast!"
She floated off of Link's back and onto the injured beast, the karagok flailing as she let go of its tail and instead used her hair to grasp the creature's helmet, hanging onto the saddle with her normal hands. "Settle down! We're gonna be needing your services, so heel. Heel!" She grabbed it by the helmet's rim, the beast slowly settling down. She sighed in relief before looking down at Link and waving with her hair.
The wolf grinned, before motioning towards the cave where the third rider had escaped to, barking and running towards the edge of the small hill they'd been fighting on. Ritsu grinned, snapping her fingers and urging the karagok forward, catching Link in its claws as he leapt into the air, and shooting off after the bublin, and hopefully wherever Link was directing them towards this time.
Flying into the cave, she yelped, forcing the karagok into a dive as arrows started flying. The bulbin was still on its own karagok holding up a horn and blowing as the small army of bublin arrows began firing at them. "Hang on Link!"
She urged her mount upward, the monster eagerly following that order to avoid getting pincushioned. The bublin with the horn flying away on its own mount further down the cave. Gritting her teeth she patted her karagok's neck, the monster surging forward, swerving to avoid some arrows as explosions started going off.
Ritsu looked around, seeing parts of the cave starting to fall apart, bublin's shooting explosives tied to massive stalactites and stalagmites. She ducked to avoid an arrow nearly knocking her helmet off. "You still down there Link!"
A bark alerted her that he still was, and she snapped her head, looking around at a few pillars. If her magic could enhance Link's speed and direct him… then could it?
Deciding to test her theory, her mount avoiding another stalactite falling from above, she zeroed in one a line of archers. Her mount soared upwards, nearing the cave's ceiling before diving. "Follow!" She ordered, snapping her fingers and drawing small green symbols in the air. The karagork screeched, diving for the sigil.
The bublin panicked and dove off the pillar it was on and she snapped, making a new sigil above another nearby bublin, the karagork diving for it rapidly. Grinning, she snapped a third into existence, the archer aiming at a stalactite further up the cave, only to get bowled over by her charging mount. "Alright!"
She refocused, locking back onto the bublin riding its own karagork. It pulled out its horn again, blowing it as more archers poured onto the wooden scaffolding around the cave's walls. Narrowing her eyes she saw several cages, bulbins working at the locks and releasing monsters. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."
Link barked in surprise as she ordered the karagok back into a dive, just in time too. A pair of explosions went off where they would have been, a swarm of gazers marked with red Twilight emblems shooting out in pursuit, a shreech also drawing her attention towards a shantak, a beast from her own world, wearing a helmet like the karagoks were. "Of course,"
She grinned though. "Link! Prepare to leap!" She ordered, catching sight of a small area where half a dozen bublins were all lined up, directly in their path. She snapped a sigil into the air, her mount charging for it before she bopped it on the head.
It released Link, the boy turned wolf jumping onto a bublin and leaping between the six of them rapidly, using teeth, claws and his tail to send them flying as the swarm of gazers started bombarding his position with explosions, Ritsu and her karagok circling around, swerving around arrows as Link growled.
Ritsu and her mount flew overhead, a field of energy expanding around her, snaring all of the gazers inside a net of green energy. Link blinked in surprise, before Ritsu forced her karagok to spin around. "Leap!"
Link surged forth, darting through the air of rapidly striking through the entire swarm of snared gazers. He burst out of the net just in time to be caught by the karagok's claws again. "It's not over yet!" She noted, the two still flying higher and into a new section of the cave, where the bublin was still blowing his horn. "Hope you're ready for a hell of a time Link!" she said, smiling. She certainly was.
Link howled in triumph as they landed just inside Zora's domain. 'Okay, that was fun,' he thought with a grin as Ritsu landed on his back, their battle hardened karagok flying away, arrows still sticking out of it from the few it hadn't been able to dodge, or Ritsu hadn't deflected.
Sure it had taken the better part of like twenty minutes to actually get up to Zora's domain through the cave. While the flight typically tended to be a bit hectic, that hadn't been exciting in a long time. 'King Bublin stepped up his game this Loop,' he mentally mused.
Ritsu stretched. "Ah! That was exciting, and tiring. You holding up alright?" he just barked in response. "Good, because from here we're hoofing it. And by we, I mean you," she said with a giggle.
He rolled his eyes at that, walking down towards the frozen river. "Well that don't look right does it?" She mused, and Link rolled his eyes, trotting around the ice towards the frozen waterfall. It was actually a bit unsettling that there were only two keese in the area, easily dealt with.
After scaling the waterfall with Ritsu's aid, they entered together into the frozen chamber, expecting probably six or so Shadow Beasts.
Instead Ritsu grabbed his ears as they trotted in, forcing him to yelp and leap out of reflex, just in time to avoid being impaled by spikes of ice. He turned, growling as he looked at whatever had shot at them, and blinking in surprise.
A masked creature, a mask similar to the Shadow Beasts, but not the same. It was perhaps three feet tall and made of what appeared to be blue flames. In fact, just being around it made the air colder, even as it began to raise a hand again. "A efreet… no, it's not anymore," Ritsu commented. "It's been reversed, ice in place of flame!"
Well, new enemies were always fun. He started running, dodging spikes of ice as Ritsu yelped, ducking to avoid getting her head taken off by a spike of ice. The creature raised its hand, creating a pillar of ice between him and it
He dodged around it, leaping at the monster, only for it to do something unexpected…
It kicked him in the face.
'What,' the surprise of being kicked in the face had shocked him a bit, only for Ritsu's hair to come out from behind him and wrap around his muzzle, squeezing, and crushing the ice that had formed around it.
"Oi! Keep running!" she ordered, and he yelped, barely avoiding a blast of ice that would have pierced his side. Great, so touching this thing made ice. That was an issue. "Just keep dodging," Ritsu ordered, holding up her hand and beginning to fire small blasts of twili magic at the creature.
It dodged through the air, dancing and creating ice as it did so. It spun, kicking an icicle at him, and dove its foot into the ice containing all the zora. It blossomed outwards, waves of ice that he leapt over one at a time, following the rhythm as Ritsu kept shooting at the thing.
The dance of war continued, Link making constant adjustments for his movements as the creature danced through the air, making all sorts of ice sculptures to try and take him and Ritsu out. This thing would probably be a lot more fun to fight when he actually had a weapon, though the fire rod would probably roast it easily.
Of course, Ritsu was getting good practice out of it, and it wasn't like he was just dodging. She was summoning sigils for him to strike at and using her energy field to keep it still long enough to blast it with a small burst of magic. The thing also kept summoning little ice pebblits.
"Hammer time," Ritsu snapped, summoning the hammer he'd originally brought into this section of the Twilight covered Hyrule. Link grabbed it between his jaws, Ritsu straining to create a new energy field, marking all the targets for him to leap between and entraping them in fields of green.
Link growled before rushing, smashing the ice pebblits to shards and spun, smashing the head of the hammer into the helmet of the ice creature. It screeched, rearing backwards, the head of the hammer freezing over from contact. Leaping back with what was effectively a block of ice on the end of the hammer, he growled, careful not to let his tongue touch the handle. It would be annoying to get off later.
"Throw it up." He obliged, and a hand made of hair caught the hammer, before smashing the frozen tool into the icy flames of the monster before them. That finally was too much for the creature, which screeched before collapsing, puffing into twilight particles, creating a portal high in the sky.
Ritsu stretched, letting go of the hammer. "Well that worked out well," she offered, snapping her fingers and causing the frozen hammer to vanish into sparks. "So what's… oh."
Link realized she'd looked down, now that the fighting was over, meaning she was probably seeing all the frozen souls of the Zora. He'd gotten used to it by now. He barked, pointing up at the portal. "Hang on, I'm thinking…" She muttered, tapping her hand to her chin, and running her other hand along his head, rubbing between his ears. "It's not good to leave them frozen like this… wait, hang on." she giggled, looking up.
Link barked, rolling his eyes before they were warped away to Death Mountain. At least her train of thought had been on the right track.
It had been a bit of a trip trying to catch all the bugs containing the Light, mainly just due to how spread out over Hyrule they'd been, as well as some of them actually being guarded by various monsters and puzzles of the terrain.
Of course they managed it, with trials and tribulations abound, finally returning Link to his human shape. They returned the light to the corners of Hyrule, and with that behind them, they had a bit of time to talk again.
"So, have you been enjoying the adventure?" Link asked, sitting against a tree and polishing his current weapon. Their latest replacement being a trident they'd bought off a Zora for when they were going to take a dive again.
Ritsu, who was a shadow at the moment, looked down from the tree branch she was 'laying' on, one leg crossed over the other. "Oh yeah." She sat up, kicking her legs in the air. "Thanks for letting me actually experience it," she said with a smile, and Link frowned.
"What, others tend to derail things all the time?" Link questioned jokingly. He knew the answer to that one well enough, after all, he was guilty of it. Heck, he was fairly sure most younger Loopers didn't exactly get to see the Baselines of their elders outside of Nulls. They tended to be pretty boring. This wasn't Baseline either, but a… mostly Variant Fused Loop, but at least the story was similar.
"I mean I don't get a lot of Fused Loops in the first place." She floated down. "Well, more accurately, we don't get a lot of Loops out of our home. We get a lot of visitors though, typically one at a time, and they try their darndest to cause chaos," she shrugged. "Not all of them have succeeded at that."
"I could imagine, I've played your game," Link said, before rubbing the back of his head. "Wasn't exactly lucky with it."
"You mean the summoning chamber?" Ritsu questioned.
"Yeah, that one. Didn't exactly get a good team overall," he shrugged. "So how many Fused Loops have you had out?"
"I think this is like… maybe my fortieth," she admitted, spinning around in the air. "But so far I think it might be the fourth that actually matters." she started tapping her fingers.
"Matters?" Link looked up at her as Ritsu shook her head.
"Let me ask you a question, Link…" she put her hands on her hips. "How do you… not just you, other people, pick up new abilities?"
"Just pick them up, nothing too special about it," he shrugged. He didn't tend to use too much out of Loop stuff anyway, preferring to combine stuff from across his Baseline to get more powerful effects, but he still had most of the general stuff. The Force, Chakra, magic from Harry Potter, the basics and the works.
Ritsuka shook her head. "I suppose that's where I differ, a bit," she leaned back, completely flipping over and hanging upside down to look at him. "I only pick up and use what matters to me." He was about to speak, but she continued. "And what matters to me is the Identities I pick up. I've been to Harry's world, to Tanya's world, I've not been to a lot of places across the Loops, but very few of them have 'mattered' to me." she tapped her head. "Alucard said it was like some sort of mental block. I just can't accept something that isn't 'a part of me'."
Link followed with a nod. "And unless you internalize an identity around it, you don't keep what you pick up."
"That's more just a bonus," she flipped over again. "What actually matters to me is the identities themselves. The bonds I build, the memories I share with others, that's what makes up-" the shadow tapped her chest. "Me."
"I think I get it," he stood up. "You don't build a lot of those I guess?"
"I mean I could tell you all about my visit to Harry's world, but I didn't build any bonds there. Yeah I met Harry and his friends, but… they aren't important people to me, nor did anything that happened there matter to me." she put a hand to her chin. "It's really hard to explain it. I'm not even sure how I build identities myself."
'Probably an unconscious thing, given it's a mental block.' he stretched, keeping that thought to himself. 'You don't build them, they just happen. Making bonds that help build who you are, Ritsuka Fujimaru.' Link smiled, keeping that thought to himself. "Don't think too hard about it. Just let it happen." He hefted the trident and smiled at her. "After all, how can you know you're Ritsuka Fujimaru if you try to force things to be important to you?"
She smiled at that one, before diving back into his shadow. Cracking his neck, he got ready for the next challenge. The Lakebed Temple awaited.
"This ain't right," Link commented practically the moment he ended the Lakebed Temple proper. As in right after the first room, instead of the expected multi-layered cavern, what lay before them was more…
Ritsu decided to pop out of his shadow, crossing her arms. "It's quite Greek," she commented, before turning to look at him. "Labyrinth, I expect we might be seeing an old friend, or an enemy, depending on what state he's in. Or perhaps no one at all but the monsters." She snickered. "Hope you brought some string."
Link groaned as she returned to being his shadow. Well there were still water features, and the marble certainly looked eroded, so this probably still wasn't going to be a simple dungeon crawl by any metric.
"Well, time to be Theseus," Link commented, spinning his trident and beginning to walk.
"Mind if I ask a question?" Link started as he was in the process of thinking through the latest puzzle. Said puzzle being a seemingly moon based puzzle, given the dial in the center of the room, and the fact that mild adjustments to the dial changed the false moon at the top of the room. This of course altered the water level and activity both in this room and in the previous room, but he could only turn the dial so far to alter the moon's phases.
Of course said previous room was also multi-layered madness with other puzzles in it that most certainly corresponded to water level, and given the lack of water throughout the dungeon aside from mild drops, turning the moon dial was probably going to raise the water level of the entire temple.
"What's up?" Ritsu appeared beside him, turning his shadow into her form as he thought about how far he could turn the dial. Looking up at the moon, which was currently in it's 'new' phase, and would be 'waxing' as he turned the dial.
"How have you been dealing with the whole 'not human' thing?" Link asked Ritsu, humming as she thought about that one.
"I like to think I've taken it pretty well actually," she admitted with a shrug, Link walking up to the dial and beginning to turn it.
"Ok wrong question," he started, watching as the water level began to climb. "I mean, how do you deal with it? Most Loopers just tend to pick a species and stick with it, adding on bits and pieces as needed or as they like?" he adjusted his sleeves to make sure the Zora Tunic was on properly, he was going to need it.
She hummed at that one "Well it sorta ties back to my identity thing," she said with a giggle. "It's hard to explain, but while I may use their powers in other identities, I tend to pick an identity's species and stick to it for the Loop. If I want to, I usually don't bother unless I'm something I can't stand being." She admitted, before frowning "Like a fairy."
"You got a problem with fairies?" He asked in bemusement., pulling up the mask of the tunic before walking towards the door, ready to actually begin the next part of the puzzle, one that seemed like it would be a temple spanning one.
"Like you wouldn't believe. You'll see when you get there." She returned to his shadow with that, leaving him to wonder what the heck made her so miffed about fairies she couldn't stand being one.
Boss room time. Link looked at the hole that would likely be leading to their foe. "Ritsu, analysis."
She popped out of his shadow, crossing her arms and frowning. "All I can really say definitively is that's one heck of a drop, and it's probably going to smart," she snarked before shaking her head. "But if you're asking what you might be fighting… well given what we've fought so far?"
Link thought back on those. Rather than the standard monsters of sorts, there had been a few… advanced enemies. Of course there had been aquatic monsters, but there had also been mechanical ones, unaffected by the water. "Something probably more related to your place than mine."
"Most likely. I'd take bets, but…" she snickered. "Knowing our luck, it's not gonna be what we expect."
"Only one way to find out," he muttered, allowing her to morph back into his shadow before he pulled his mask up and put on the iron boots.
Down into the depths they dropped. To face whatever foe was before them.
It was indeed not what they expected.
"...I don't know what that is," Ritsu pointed out as they hit the bottom of the room. Link just… stared at the biomechanical monster that slowly began to rise, chained between the six pillars.
It roared at him, Link removing the Iron Boots and starting to swim for his life from the struggling monster. It looked like some sort of massive serpent lined with harpoons across its back, but also with two crab-like pincers near the front, and a massive amount of legs.
Yeah he had no clue. Time to kill it.
It wasn't as hard a fight as he expected, but it was certainly tougher than Morphell normally was. If only because of the increased danger of getting pinched in half or harpooned.
And when the monster was slain, and the Fused Shadow claimed… Link had to make a choice as Ritsu appeared before him.
"Well that's all three, good work!" she gave him a thumbs up, a smile on the shadow's face. "Shall we get going then?"
"Yeah about that," Link started, Ritsu tilting her head. "When we leave, do you think you can direct the portal somewhere specific?"
"Somewhere you have in mind?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Yeah. To Zora's domain, to be specific." She hummed after his answer, before nodding.
"I can do that, I think. Should be close enough," she snapped her fingers, making a portal in the sand of the now drained water chamber. "One portal to Zora's Domain." she floated over to it, waving him over with a smile.
He nodded. Sure it was a bit of a diversion, but he'd rather not get ambushed by Zant and Ritsu put in mortal peril. So he walked towards the portal, for them to be teleported away.
He wasn't exactly certain how the hell what happened next occured.
19.3
[Fate/Grand Order]
Drunk as I Like
Ritsuka Fujimaru was used to unexpected and surprising turns. Of facing down situations and scenarios never before witnessed across time. Somehow, some way, her Loop would find a way to surprise her, constantly.
This was not one of those cases. The Rashomon Singularity. The Demonic Capital, literally overflowing with alcohol. Of course Ritsuka had her hefty poison resistance if not outright immunity alongside Mash to thank for not getting smashed within this Singularity…
Of course the same protection was not granted to her allies… which meant they were, as usual, going into battle Ibaraki piss drunk, save Kintoki. The collateral damage was going to be off the charts.
"FUWAHAHA!" The fearsome banana Oni laughed as Ritsuka smiled. To think this was their first encounter with Ibaraki every loop. She really was trying too hard, it was cute. "Cower in fear humans! Rah!" the tiny blonde oni declared, pointing her blade at Ritsuka.
Eh, what the hell. "Nobunaga!" Ritsuka called out.
"EH!" A slurred voice came, stumbling out of a nearby building holding a gourd. "What hic does the hic Demon King! Need!" Nobunaga cried out, a luminous red blush across her face… and her pants were missing for some reason. Least her jacket was preserving her decency.
"Where are your pants!?" Ibaraki shouted in confusion, Nobunaga looking down as Ritsuka shook her head, Mash mumbling something as she was laying on the ground, also still blushing… She was a sleepy drunk.
"The Demon King hic requires no pants!" Nobunaga declared, summoning an array of muskets and blindly firing, nailing several walls. Ritsuka had to duck to avoid getting hit by stray musket balls.
"Ok, uh… Okita!" Ritsuka called. Less than a second later there was a crash. Okita having gone face first through a window, her butt hanging out, and snoring beginning to come from the building as well.
"I think the booze is getting to them Master," Kintoki noted Ibaraki grinning as Ritsuka sighed.
"Yeah… it is."
"I hic I can hit her! All twelve of her!" Nobunaga declared, opening fire again, Ritsuka just stepping aside and letting Ibaraki take the brunt of the bullets. No that they did much to the powered up Berserker.
"Hey!" Ibaraki shouted, Ritsuka taking a very deep sigh as Nobunaga and Ibaraki started to get into a shouting match, the drunken Archer still shooting with the Oni was directing the massive hands she had as backup to try and swat Nobunaga away.
"Hey keep me guarded for a moment Gold," Ritsuka ordered, shoving her hand into her Pocket to find what she was searching for.
"Sure Master." Kintoki gave a thumbs up to her, completely unfazed by her hand disappearing into thin air as she was rummaging around. Of course he didn't have to do much, as another drunkard joined the battle.
Ushiwakamaru, the Rider screaming and careening completely past Ibaraki, slamming face first into a wall. The Oni blinked as the girl picked herself up, dodging a bullet with a drunken sway.
"Hey Ushi hic am I hitting?" Nobunaga questioned, still firing volley after volley, which at this point was just shooting into the sky.
"I dunno~ Gonna get the demon head for Fujimaru-dono~" Ushiwakamaru sang, stumbling towards Ibaraki. The Oni scowled.
"You won't take my head!" she ordered, commanding one of her large flaming hands to assault Ushiwakamaru.
Of course, despite being drunk, the moment she got a bit of focus on the hand that was attempting to grasp her, she leapt into the air, spinning downward like a buzzsaw. Within seconds, she sliced the grasping arm to ribbons, Ibaraki flinching as the Rider laughed, fumbling with her katana in an attempt to sheath it. So failed at that, instead settling for attempting to leap at Ibaraki.
"Hey Ibaraki!" the Oni turned, about to shout at the 'human' that dared call her name, only for a strange food to be flung into her mouth. She started choking, spitting it out of her throat and into her mouth.
Of course her sudden hacking meant when Ushiwakamaru leapt at her, she ended up completely missing, barreling into Nobunaga, sending the Archer sprawling. At that point Okita woke up, trying to drag herself out of the window she'd ended up in. "I'm awake!" she shouted, popping out of the window and plopping on the ground, and starting to hiccup. "I'm hic okay! Okita-san can hic still fight!" she tried sitting up, only to fall over clutching her head and groaning.
"See this is what happens when we bring Servants into a town that's literally filled with grail powered alcoholic gas," Ritsuka joked, and looked to Kintoki, who was only unaffected because he'd dealt with such things in life.
"What was that thing!?" Questioned Ibaraki loudly, still chewing on whatever it was that had been chucked at her.
"It was candy," Ritsuka started, already prepared to take out Ibaraki with a single blow. The one thing this Oni could never resist.
"I want more!" she just ran over. "I demand more human!"
Ritsuka just laughed, holding up a bowl of Candy and kneeling down to Ibaraki, the oni practically drooling as Kintoki smiled. As she began to dig into the various candies, Ritsuka chuckled.
Knowing her friends well meant she knew exactly how to deal with their various quirks.
Thus, this Loop, the 'Fearsome Banana Oni' joined Chaldea a bit earlier than usual. And Mash was extremely embarrassed about not being able to withstand the super heavy magic alcohol.
Ritsuka still wondered why she was immune to it, but hey, more power to her, it was better she never got drunk.
19.4
[Fate/Apocrypha]
RE:An Apocryphal Experience
—
Fiore looked around confused. She was just coming from the store and suddenly found herself in Yggdmillennia castle. And before her lay a familiar sight.
The seven Servants of Black, all kneeling before their masters. And she couldn't feel her legs… no, she was back in her wheelchair.
'Am I dreaming?' she thought, looking down at her arm as the Servants all stood up. Rider… Astolfo started talking, but she wasn't concerned with their antics at the moment. Slowly, she reached for her left arm with her right, pinching herself. She winced from the pain… so she wasn't dreaming.
Of course, someone, her brother, had to notice. With concern in his eyes, Claules spoke. "Are you alright Fiore?"
"Ah! Do not worry, I only need some rest right now," she offered, even as the other Masters were beginning to order around their Servants, paying little attention to her and Claules. Berserker and Archer did come to join them however. "Come on Archer, let us go too my room"
He seemed a bit surprised, before nodding. "Yes Master," Chiron responded, taking the handles of her wheelchair and following her directions to her room, leaving behind a bewildered Claules and Frankenstien's Monster.
/
"Archer, I know this might sound like I'm crazy, but I believe I went back in time, or I have been transported to another timeline," She wasn't certain how to break it lightly, or even at all. Instead, Fiore opted for the blunt approach with Chiron, hoping that the teacher of heroes might have an answer.
Chiron frowned at that. "...That is... hard to believe, Master," he started, and her hope began to fade, but he snapped his fingers. "However, it is far from impossible. After all, I know of the existence of the Second Magic, such a thing could have caused this." He looked down at her. "What proof do you have that we have met before Master?"
This one was easy. "Your wish is to regain your immortality. The reason you want it is because it was a gift from your parents." She'd been willing to let him get his wish… before all hell had broken loose. The ways this Grail War twisted and turned were a bit crazy, to put it mildly.
Chiron nodded. "That is indeed my wish," he put a hand to his chin. "But that wasn't a hard answer, so what else do you know?"
"I know the identities of the Servants of Red," she closed her eyes. It had been a while since she'd thought back on them, since she'd abandoned the moonlit world. "Their Saber is Mordred, and her Master is Kairi Sisigou," Chiron nodded, it was useful information. "This next part is… more concerning."
"How concerning?" Chiron questioned.
"The remaining six Servants are all contracted to one Master. Lancer, Karna." Chiron frowned at that one. "Archer, Atalanta." He nodded, familiar with her. "Caster, Shakespeare." Chiron just nodded again, absorbing the information. "Assassin, Semiramis, Dual summoned as Caster."
Chiron hummed. "The Assyrian Queen?" he questioned.
"The very same," Fiore provided. "Berserker is Spartacus… and Rider is Achilles." That last one had Chiron's eyes go wide, one of his greatest students was an enemy in this war.
"I see…" Chiron took a deep breath. "Knowing is half the battle Master… and I suppose I should ask, who is their Master?"
"Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, the Ruler of the third Holy Grail War, incarnated as a human and having taken the name Shirou Kotomine," she said bluntly.
Chiron raised a hand, his mouth wide… and spent the next few seconds thinking on that, slowly closing his mouth and lowering his hand. After one more deep breath he turned around. "This is what your memories say?"
"It's the memories of this war… the Great Holy Grail war that I've had to live through once before," Fiore muttered, closing her eyes. Did he not believe her? Was Chiron?
"Final question Master," Chiron started, Fiore looking up at him, the man now looking out at a window, arms crossed. "What happened to me?"
"After… a lot of things, you, Mordred, and Astolfo were the final Servants we had in the Faction of Black. We were going to assault the Hanging Gardens, Semiramis' Noble Phantasm, to stop Tokisada's plan for the Greater Grail. While we were flying towards it, Achilles intercepted us."
"I assume I died fighting him then."
"You did… removing his invincibility from him at the cost of your life." Fiore revealed.
Chiron was silent, for several moments, before turning around. Fiore looked down again he didn't-
"Master… hold your head up high." Fiore looked up, the currently disguised centaur smiling at her. "Think of it this way… you've been given a second chance." he kneeled down, and tapped her forehead. "Within that head of yours lies everything we need. You, Master, hold the key to winning this war. Knowledge, after all, is power."
"Darnic will never believe me, none of the others will." Fiore muttered, before Chiron smiled.
"Then allow me to instil a lesson in you." Fiore blinked, and looked up to Chiron. "In your memories, I was your soldier. This time, I shall be your teacher." He held out his hand to her. "Master, I ask of you… will you be my student?"
She reached up slowly, gripping his hand. "I will… together, we will win this war to save this world."
/
With Chiron's aid, Fiore had went for a different strategy to turn the Faction of Black mostly to her side. Rather than revelation, they went for misdirection. But the thing about the plans best laid, was that they had quite the chance of being waylaid.
Namely by a certain goofy Rider and his heroic heart and knightly honor. Astolfo had brought the Homunculus… Sieg, to them. Chiron had in turn informed her… and she was reminded of his role in this war.
It was Siegfried, or Sieg. The mighty hero, or the young homunculus… both had their advantages. Sieg had been the one to ultimately kill Amakusa, just as well, he was a far better Master for Rider than Celenike. He was also their key to gaining Jeanne D'Arc's aid.
Siegfried was powerful, but he'd died so early on in the war that she had no idea how him surviving would actually affect the outcome. But she'd very quickly come to a startling realization.
Almost every member of Black, save her brother, was going to be against her. They were Magi, through and through. Gordes only got better because of losing Siegfried, Darnic was a monster, Celenike was just as bad, Roche was practically more golem than human in personality… and even their Servants weren't exactly great.
When it came down to it, there would be too many unknowns going forward, while the benefits of this one act were laid clear. She could either take a chance with the rest of her monstrous family, and fight them for the Grail in the end.
Or let things play out, and alter them further down the line.
"Chiron… we're going to save his life."
"Of course, my student."
/
Chiron took a very deep breath as he stood across from his student.
"Achilles," Chiron started, in this world of stopped time, atop an airplane. The place, according to his latest student, he had died.
"I'm surprised, that's the first time you've called me anything but Rider, teach," Achilles commented, Chiron closing his eyes, but raising his fists anyway.
"Allow me to tell you a story, before we do battle." Chiron started, Achilles raising an eyebrow as Chiron smiled.
"What kind of story, Chiron? This ain't gonna be one of those tales you filled my head with when I was a kid is it?" The Rider questioned with a pleasant smile, recalling those bygone days.
"Nothing like that. In fact, it is a tale both happening, and has already happened," he started, Achilles raising an eyebrow in confusion, as Chiron began his gambit.
Fiore had told him that last time, he had died to remove Achilles immortality.
With this story, and with this battle, he now knew he was going to die for a very different purpose. As much as they had known, they'd managed to change quite little overall. Too unwilling to experiment, and the stakes far too high. Amakusa Shirou Tokisada had to be stopped, but with the sheer firepower behind him, his revelations from God, and the lack of compatibility among the Masters of Black, both with each other and among their Servants… it fell to him to make one actually important change, where his latest student could not.
"Let me tell you the story of the girl who has fallen through time."
/
"Chiron…" she'd wanted to go with them, but… she still had a duty.
But when she'd felt her connection to him break, she knew she hadn't done enough. That she should have done more… but Amakusa had remained one step ahead of them near the whole way, with her having to rely upon the information she knew, following it to make what minor changes they could.
Now, she could see the battle off in the distance, the mighty warriors clashing. Karna and Sieg, as bright as the sun amid the night sky.
But as she was watching… there was a dot amid the sky, the wind began to howl, unless it picked up around her. She gasped in surprise as something, no, someone swept her out of her wheelchair.
When she opened her eyes, she was in a chariot. "Hang on kid," Rider… Achilles started, nodding to her. She looked down, she was standing, but only due to hanging onto the chariot. "Teach told me everything." Achilles looked ahead. "So… you're gonna be a hero right?"
"Yes," Fiore answered. "We're going to stop him, and save our human world."
Amakusa's plan to use Heaven's Feel, the Third Magic, to materialize all the souls in the world… she wouldn't let him make that silent world. None of them would. That was the mission of the remnants of Black.
"Good, now then, swear that to me." Achilles ordered with a grand grin as they began to approach the fight Sieg and Astolfo were now winning. The light began to die after the World of Greece had been shattered by the God Slaying Spear.
"Rider! Will you work with us? Will you be the hero you always wanted to be?" Fiore asked, hanging on tightly. Chiron had given her a gift… from teacher to student.
"You're damn right," he smiled, "Now burn it onto those spells Master. For the rest of this War, I'm with you. Just like our teach wanted."
"We have one more person to pick up. Let's go!" Fiore ordered. If her hunch was right, and Chiron's killing of Reika and Jack had the intended effect.
Then this time, they'd be able to take two of Red to their side instead.
/
"You dare betray our Master. Archer! Rider!"
Semiramis was utterly livid, as she should be. Kairi was carrying Fiore, and standing before the Assassin queen, Mordred, Atalanta and Achilles all stood.
"Shut your mouth hag," Mordred ordered, pointing her sword at Semiramis. "We've got work to do."
"I made a wrong choice… but then my Teacher showed me what would be the right one," Achilles spun his spear. "I'm going down a hero."
"We all are," Atalante nocked an arrow. "If his plan works, then there won't be a world worth living in anymore."
"Like that matters to us," Semiramis seethed.
"Maybe not…" Achilles looked to Fiore, smirking as she spoke. "But it matters to the people who still live. We can't let our fate be decided by another's hands. The world he'd made would be one of silence… the Crystallization of all human souls. To keep our human world alive, filled with human lives. We'll fight."
"So be it, girl." Semiramis growled, snapping her fingers and summoning a massive beast. "I'll just drown you all here!" At the height of her power, the seat of her influence, she could hurt them all. Even Achilles, sharing a rank of Divinity high enough to bypass his immortality.
"Then we'll just have to kill you here, won't we?" Achilles smirked, before charging, dodging the breath of the beast she had summoned and leaping for the ceiling. He rebounded off of it, only for a field of chains to manifest, attempting to spear him.
As he flipped through the air, bouncing off the chains in an attempt to avoid being grasped, Atalanta started running, firing arrows with every step, the witch queen's array of magic windows shooting down the arrows with lasers of purple prana. Mordred charged as well, shouting as she swung her sword at the neck of the beast, striking it down. "Come on bitch queen! You've gotta do better than that!"
Semiramis growled, snapping her fingers, three more portals opening as Achilles charged again, throwing his spear directly through one of the Bašmu before it could launch a poison attack at him. Atalanta similarly pegged the second in the eyes and mouth, slaying it. The third however got off its breath weapon, Mordred raising her sword and sheathing it in lightning. Both Achilles and Atalante got behind her in an instant, the Saber shouting as she swung downward, splitting the breath attack with her lightning wreathed blade.
The Bašmu reared back to breath again as Semiramis sent out a wave of chains and flying windows. The three Servants all split from each other, Atalante striking down the third Bašmu as Achilles ran for his spear, retrieving it before spinning out of the way of a tide of metal.
"We've gotta be wearing her down," Achilles commented, only for her to huff.
"Hardly. Now why don't we end this," she noted, blocking a barrage of arrows from Atalante before opening another portal directly by the Masters.
Fiore looked on in shock and horror as a Hydra's heads rose from the portal, Kairi gritting his teeth and putting her behind him as the nine heads began to plunge…
"Indeed. We're putting an end to this, Queen Semiramis."
"Wait, that voice," Fiore looked up, as Kairi gasped. Standing in the hole in the wall was someone she thought dead. Bow still raised… and a large thump around them.
Chiron, blooded, battered… but alive. The currently one eyed man winked at Fiore, before looking to Achilles. The Rider nodded, chucking his spear towards the ceiling, blasting a hole in it as Semiramis growled. "Archer of Black… you still live… How!?"
"It's amazing what one can do when they can teach themselves near any skill. For my plan to work, I had to break my own contract. After all, it allowed me to get this close to you," Chiron commented as Semiramis kept casually blasting arrows out of the way, Atalante refusing to stop shooting even during the dialogue.
"And what are you going to do at close range, Archer?" the Assassin growled. Chiron dropping his bow and pointing outside towards the night sky.
"Simple. You're the scorpion in this case. My arrow has already been unleashed."
A flash of light came from above, everyone looking towards the sky. Semiramis gasped, trying to summon something to block the shot…
"「Antares Snipe!」"
The arrow passed clean through the windows and the Bašmu she'd tried to use as a shield. When the light was gone, everyone stood stock still.
The Assassin, Semiramis, was still standing, but with a hole through her head. Her body slumped to the floor. "Ama...kusa…" she let out weakly, before finally fading into golden dust.
"Chiron!" Fiore tried to break away from Kairi, the mercenary not letting her go for fear of her getting hurt. The Archer smiled as he closed his eyes, turning towards the night sky, and the rising sun.
"Don't worry my student," Chiron said softly, as everyone watched the golden dust begin to fly off of him. "You've still got a long journey ahead of you. That journey we call life. Achilles… take care of her for now."
"You've got it, Teach," Achilles said with a smile.
"But… I wanted to-" Fiore started.
"You wanted to win this war without my sacrifice. Don't worry Fiore." Chiron turned to her one final time, opening his eyes with a serene smile. "I just know, we'll meet again someday. Now go, and grow."
She opened her eyes… and nodded. He waved as he faded away, from his injuries and his lack of prana. "Let's go. Sieg and Jeanne need us."
"You're the Master kid. You give the orders," Achilles came over, lifting her onto his shoulders as Atalante joined them.
"We're with you," Kairi stood up, the mercenary pulling up a cigar as Mordred stood beside him, smirking.
"Let's kick that priest's ass." Mordred grinned, giving a thumbs up. Fiore looked forward… she looked ahead.
It was time to end this.
/
She looked on as the dragon Fafnir was soaring away. Astolfo, her brother and Laeticia, the girl whom Jeanne d'Arc had been possessing, were all riding the Hippogriff.
She, Kairi, Mordred and Atalante were all packed onto Achilles' chariot, watching as the Greater Grail was being carried away to the Reverse Side of the World.
"Brother!" she called out, Claules looking back and waving to her with a tired smile on his face.
"We did itttt!" Astolfo finally cheered, the Rider laughing as the survivors of the Great Holy Grail War began to dive for the ground.
Together they all landed, watching as Fafnir… Sieg took off. Amakusa had made his wish, but it wouldn't come to fruition. "So, we've saved the world right?" Achilles asked as he helped Fiore onto the ground, the parapalegic magi nodding.
"We did it," she responded. Achilles chuckled as Atalanta and Mordred joined them.
"Certainly feels like we did," Mordred commented as Kairi huffed.
"Came here looking for a wish… left a hero huh," he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Ya got a problem with heroics Master?" Mordred punched him in the shoulder, grinning.
"Not at all," he shook his head.
"But with the Grail gone… and your Masters gone?" Claules asked.
"We'll fade away, save dumbass here," Achilles commented, grabbing Astolfo and giving him a noogie.
"Hey! Quit it!" the Rider of Black tried to grab Achilles' hand, the green haired Greek laughing before looking to Fiore.
"So kiddo, what are you going to do?" he asked.
Fiore thought about that… she'd done… well, but not as well as she would have liked to. They'd saved the world, but… it had remained pretty close to her memories until the end.
But a miracle like this only came once, so she'd just have to take it. "I'm going to walk. On my own two feet… Astolfo?"
"Eh?" The pinkette blinked in confusion.
"Once my legs are fixed… Can we meet again?" she asked. "I want to travel with you, to see the world."
"But what about-" Claules started, but Fiore shook her head.
"You'll be a better head than me. I've got a different path," she smiled. "You'll do great, I know you will."
Before he could retort, Achilles took a deep breath. "It's time," he noted, raising a hand, golden wisps of light coming off of him. "Fiore, as short as it was, it was nice working with you." the Rider grinned waving as he wrapped an arm around the now fading Atalante.
"The same miss Fiore," the Archer commented, only for Achilles to whip around and kiss her. Everyone stared in surprise, Atalante sputtering as the Rider laughed, and faded away completely. "Oh! You stupid, dunderheaded!" she steamed, blushing like made, making her exit from the Grail War a blushing mess.
"You ain't leaving yet Mordred?" Kairi asked, the Saber of Red scoffing as she dismissed her armor and weapon.
"Nah," she threw her hands behind her head. "I'll stick around as long as I can. Besides, if idiot over there-"
"HEY!"
"Can last a while, so can I. Besides I still got you Master," she said with a smirk.
The Mercenary smirked before bending down and picking up Fiore. "How about we get back to the castle first, then we'll all split up from there, alright?"
"Agreed," Fiore offered with a smile.
Thus the Great Holy Grail War concluded, on a much happier note.
/
Fiore blinked as she awoke again. She'd spent the past few months traveling with Astolfo, after she'd regained the ability to walk. With Chiron's teachings, and the physical therapy she'd been taking, she'd made rapid progress in that endeavor.
And… now she was back in her wheelchair again, save that this time she was in her room. Confused, she looked at the date.
"It's… two months before the Grail War…" she muttered. She was back in time again?
"Sister," She looked towards the door, Claules walking in. "Grandfather wants us for a meeting."
"Okay brother," she offered with a smile. So she'd been brought back a second time… another chance.
Another chance to see her teacher, her friends… but she would have to fight the war again…
But she was up to the challenge, and as Claules came and began to push her wheelchair, she smiled at him, holding up her right arm. He grasped her hand with a soft smile.
Her story only just beginning. To repeat again and again.
19.1: Pikimin, now with more Eldritch
19.2: Ritsuka makes a good Midna-Type companion
19.3: Drunk on battlefield ain't no way to be.
19.4: Please welcome our newest Anchor. Fiore! And welcome the Great Holy Grail War to the Loops.
I hope you've all enjoyed once more. Really we go for quality over quantity here. Or at least try to. More to come soon!