Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Taylor

I liked computer class. I didn't have to put up with much bullying here since I didn't share this class with any of the Trio. Also, I was good at it-I missed a week of school and got caught up in just a few days. I mean, it was just basic programming, but I sometimes wondered if this wasn't something I could do with my life? Well, unless I end up deciding to be a cape and join the Protectorate as an adult. That or computers.

Mrs. Knott… She was arguably the best teacher here at Winslow. She um… she never made much effort to defend victims of bullying, but she didn't enable it or pander to the popular crowd like some other teachers did, so it kind of broke even. It's sad that that qualifies as best, but what are you going to do in a shithole like this? I liked her because, if you finished your work early, then she lets you work on your own things, which was an island of relief most days. Having finished programming a simple file sorting program, as was today's assignment, I found myself googling cowboys.

I never quite realized just how many famous figures there were associated with the wild west. Even limiting it to gunslingers left me with too many to count, but eventually, I managed to hit paydirt. Henry Mccarty, alias William H. Bonney, alias Billy The Kid. Famed for his skill with his revolver, a Colt M1877, also known as a "Thunderer." In particular, his speed on the draw was supposedly a legend in and of itself. If that wasn't enough, right there was the famous picture of him, and looking closely I could see just a touch of resemblance between the man in the photograph and the zombie I'd fought last night. I smiled, having found my Archer, and made a note to do more research later. Class ended soon after, and I could feel Opal wriggling around in my hair. I'd need to find a minute to let her out.

*F/KLPT*

Saito Repairs was housed in an old, relatively small, square brick building at the very edge of the docks. Toasters and the like could be seen in the windows, and above the white door was a simple neon sign that said "斎藤 Saito Repairs." I'd asked Mr. Saito what the symbols meant once when I was younger, and he said that it was how his family name was written in Japanese Kanji.

The bells chimed as I walked in through the door and into the shop. The front was a bit small, with mostly just salvaged clocks and microwaves and the like that Mr. Saito had for sale. A short bit away from the door was a counter that separated the front portion from the rest of the shop, filled with shelves upon which stood appliances marked with tags to show who had brought it in for repairs. At the far end, I could see a door, which I'd been told led to a basement workshop where Mr. Saito did the actual repairs.

Mr. Saito came out from around the corner, into my line of sight, and approached the counter. "Welcome to Saito Repairs," he said in a voice only slightly accented with his native Japanese, "We do in house appliance repairs and If it is too troublesome to transport I can come fix it on si-oh." He changed his stance and tone when he saw it was me. "It's just you Taylor."

Mr. Saito was a handsome Japanese man, over five and a half feet tall, in his mid-twenties. He had the figure-especially in the arms and chest, of a man who was an athlete in his younger days and worked quite a bit with his hands ever since. His brown eyes and short dark hair completed the image of a hard-working Asian handyman.

"Yeah, um," I said, hesitating without meaning to. "I just wanted to thank you, for finding me last week, I-"

He cut me off with a wave of his hand. "It was nothing." He smiled. "I was there and you were in trouble." He chuckled. "Really it was that cape that saved you," he said deliberately, "I just hope you don't need to be rescued in the future."

"I don't think I'll have to worry about that," I said with a smile. I placed a hand in my pocket, where Billy's card rested. Opal had said something about making a proper card holster, but until we could get that done I just had to carry them the old fashioned way.

"Hopefully," Mr. Saito said in reply. Then he looked to the door and windows behind me. "Are you here alone?"

I grimaced, knowing where this was going. "Yeah. I just… School let out, I had the time, and I just wanted to come in and thank you."

"And you're welcome," he said, "but you really shouldn't be out alone, especially after what happened." He looked around, then pulled his shop keys from his pants pocket. "Business has been slow recently, I'll close up for a bit and walk you home."

"You don't have to do that," I said a bit hastily. "I know how to get home from here without getting too close to Gang territory. Besides," I lied with a wide grin, "I'll be meeting a friend on the way home and we'll be walking together."

He just stood there, in silence, looking at me, and the door, while I just kept smiling, nervously. After a moment he asked plainly, "are you sure you don't want me to escort you?"

"Yes, I'm sure," I answered quickly.

"Well, if you're sure," Mr. Saito said as he pocketed his keys once more. "I just hope that this friend of yours is someone you can trust with something as important as your life."

I chuckled nervously at that ominous but well-meaning statement, waved, and left, taking the "safe" way home I mentioned. After a short while, Opal wiggled her way out of my hair and floated in front of me.

"Opal," I said to the wand, "What are you doing? Someone could see you?"

"Oh relax, Princess," she said in a tone that implied smiling. "I can't sense anyone nearby. Now," she said with a hint of mischief in her voice, "what was all of that about?"

I rolled my eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Opal"

"Oh don't play dumb with me, Princess." She'd have been grinning like a cat that ate the canary if she had a mouth right now, I just know it. "We both know you're a smart girl.'" Opal cleared her nonexistent throat and accepted a tone, not unlike a young, lovestruck schoolgirl. "Oh, Mr. Saito, I um… um, I just want to thank you for saving my life."

I blinked. "I don't sound like that Opal."

"Yet you don't deny my implications," Opal punctuated her sentence with a giggle. "And what about that hesitation when the nice gentleman offered to walk you home, hmm?"

"Opal..." I said.

"Admit it, Princess." Damn, the mischief dripping from her voice was palpable. "You like Mr. Saito."

"Okay, fine!" I shouted, the blood flowing to my face. "I had a crush on him when I was younger. But I grew out of it," I said with certainty, "and besides, he's like ten years older than I am."

Opal giggled again. "So the Princess likes kind, serious, hard working hero types with rippling muscles?"

"...yes." I feel like you could cook an egg on my face right now.

"Ohohoho! Don't worry Princess," Opal sounded consoling in a mocking way, "your first crush might not have worked out, but we'll find you your knight someday."

"Opal, I do not need your help finding a boy-" Princess, Knight… son of a- "You just wanted to make that joke, didn't you?"

"Hmm, maybe." Opal broke into giggles once again

"I hate you so much right now, Opal."

"Oh, cheer up, Princess," Opal said more seriously than she'd been these past few minutes. "I've located another Card and I think we should go and get it tonight."

"Oh," I asked, interested that we were getting down to business, "and where is it?"

"Why the beach of course."

*F/KLPT*

You know, I've lived in Brockton Bay for my entire life but I've never gone to the beach at night. It's not safe, with the gangs and all. Even now I expected to just stumble across a drug deal or pair of killers burying a corpse in the sand, though Opal assured me that there was nobody around.

"So, where's the entrance to the mirror world again?" I asked as I looked out to the dark bay.

"The entrance should be at the edge of the shore, about twenty feet the the right of where you are now." Opal was always precise about these things, it made working with her bearable. I flew to where she'd instructed and landed with her held out before me.

"I'm ready when you are." With my declaration, Opal began the process of shifting us into the Mirror World.

There was a much larger, more noticeable difference between this mirror world and the mirror world that Billy had been in: A small but clearly visible wooden ship, with wood a deep black color and red lines and markings across each side, parallel to the water in the bay.

"I'm going to take a wild guess," I deadpanned, "and say that that's where the Card is."

"Oh most certainly," Opal supplied. "Those markings seem vaguely familiar though."

"You've seen them before?"

"I think, but not on a ship… Oh well," Opal said while bending in what I think was meant to be a dignified shrug. "Onwards, to collect what I suspect to be the Rider Card."

One of these days, I was going to have to ask what the classes were. I flew up, high above the ship and slowly approached. I could make out a dark imposing figure standing near the center of the deck, a knight clad in thick black armor that clearly concealed their features. Their points of distinction were the red markings up and down their body, the dark red cloth I could make out on their arms, and dropping out from their front, the odd… I want to say skirt made of their armor-extra leg protection?-and the long bull-like horns on their helmet. The black knight was unarmed.

"Opal, how do we handle this?"

"Assuming that the ship and lack of weapons means that the spirit is Rider," Opal began, "then it probably but not necessarily has some low degree of magical resistance."

"So," I asked, "I can't blast it?"

"Not necessarily," Opal began, "magic resistance is keyed towards spells specifically, not raw prana. Unless the spirit has an abnormally high resistance or a variation on resistance, you should only have minor difficulty affecting it with a prana cannon."

I was about to ask if there was anything else I needed to know when the black knight looked right at me and-I kid you not-made the "bring it" gesture at me.

So I blasted them from the air, letting loose a moderately sized beam of prana as I swung Opal towards the knight. When the smoke cleared, the knight was unharmed and still staring at me. I got the feeling they were somewhat irritated.

"Okay," I said, "it's either got abnormal magic resistance or its armor is bullshit."

"Language, Princess," Opal chastised offhanded. "Now, maybe you just need a bigger or more concentrated prana canon, or perhaps you need to hit it from a closer range."

"Not point blank, I hope?" I was kind of suspicious, actually, that the knight didn't have weapons. I was half expecting the ship to turn into a giant wooden robot knight and start using me like a hacky sack.

"There's really only the one way to find out," Opal said, "now let's get in there and claim that card! I know you can do it, Princess."

So, with Opal held in a position I could easily swing her from, I landed on the deck of the ship. For a moment the knight remained passive, but then they charged at me at extreme speed-much faster than a knight in plate mail should be able to run. It was all I could do to get a barrier up with a shout of "physical protection!" before the armored fists began flying.

"So," I said to Opal as my boots scraped across the deck from the force of the armored brute striking and pushing at me, "you think it'll go down like Billy did If I push and blast it?"

"It's worth a try, Princess," Opal began, "but a spirit's power increases with the time since they've died." I started pushing forward against the knight. Opal didn't finish her statement, but the message was clear: A medieval knight would be a much stronger opponent than an outlaw from the old west

The knight and I struggled against each other for a few moments as I concentrated on hitting them with a big freaking blast. Rider here was a lot stronger than Archer was and I didn't have the element of surprise this time. After a moment I just dropped the barrier and fired my giant ship exploding prana canon… while standing on a ship… I'm an idiot.

Luckily, the ship didn't explode while I was on it, but I was blindsided by the knight rushing me as soon as the blinding light cleared and punching me in the face. Rendered sightless by the sudden pain and uncomfortably aware of the sensation of blood flowing through my nostrils, I retreated, flying up and back from the ship in order to get room to get my bearings.

"It's quite fortunate that your costume is a prana construct," Opal said as I tried to blink the stars out of my vision, "the blood will just slide right off."

"Leth tahlking, " I said, "mohr fikthing thith." Oh go, I hope my nose heals right.

"Already on it Princess," Opal said in a reassuring tone. "Just relax and lean forward so that the blood won't clot in your nose and block the airflow." I thought you were supposed to lean back so the bleeding would stop faster? Whatever, I just did what she said until the pain went away.

Once I could see clearly and there was no red fluid flowing from my nose, I took stock of my surroundings. I was floating back over the beach, out of the Knight's reach… but the ship was moving towards the shore. From here, I could see that I'd shattered Rider's armor. The last shards fell away before my eyes and… holy shit.

"The knight's a woman." A woman who was wearing far too small a top. Just a strap of dark red cloth really. "I didn't know that there were female knights… at least that actually went out and did knight stuff."

"So it seems," Opal replied as I held her out directly at the freshly unarmored knight. With a bit of concentration and a shout of "magi-lance," a concentrated prana cannon was flying right at the knight's exposed belly.

The Knight proceeded to step to the left and take a… surfing stance? "Prydwen!" I heard her shout, and then the ship started glowing and moving faster.

"Opal," I asked, "is that one of those Noble Phantasm things you were talking about last night?"

"Most likely," my wand replied, "I suggest you run."

However, before I could move, the glowing ship shrank and… turned into a surfboard. What the fuck? I was too taken aback by the surprisingly competent surfing knight to react until she's made it to the shore, somehow jumped from a wave into the air, did some kind of flip, and made to bash at me with the surfboard. I remembered myself just in time to raise Opal and invoke "physical protection," but in the brief moment where her board met my wand, the knight's sickly, evil, yellow eyes met mine and chilled me to the bone.

I flew higher as the knight fell to the sand until I could see the entirety of the beach from my vantage point.

"Opal," I asked, looking down at the weird surfing knight, "if I wanted to just nuke the whole beach with a prana cannon, do you think I could pull it off?"

"No," my wand replied, "even with the infinite prana I can grant you, your body can only hold so much power at a time. Blasting the whole beach with enough power to harm the spirit would require more energy than you're capable of safely storing."

Well, there goes that plan. I looked to the knight and saw her staring back up at me, holding the surfboard like an oversized oblong shield. I took a moment to think, and then… I aimed Opal dead at the knight and fired a small prana canon. The Knight responded by lifting the board-shield to block. Then I fired another one-a much larger one, just slightly askew, so that when the knight raised her shield to block, the blast would instead hit the sand to her left.

The resulting blast exploded on impact, sending Rider flying to the right. I smiled and flew straight down, head first, as fast as I could. Rider was beginning to push herself as I was closing in so I turned in midair and landed with a thunderous crash on her back in an improvised flying double kick.

I heard two sickening crunches and felt a great deal of excruciating pain in my legs causing me to fall off of the downed spirit. At least I hadn't been blinded this time. I could see Rider struggling, trying to pull herself away from me with her arms-her shield abandoned, but she suddenly coughed blood and began to fade away. After a moment all that was left of her was her card.

"Opal," I began, "what just-" I stopped to wince- "what happened?"

"You broke both of your legs and Rider's back by crashing into her feet first," Opal deadpanned, "I understand that you're a magical girl, but you're not that durable," she laughed even as I could feel my bones mending themselves, "so please, don't try to employ such anime-and-tokusatsu-inspired tactics until you've gotten more practice and familiarity with your powers." I made a note to look up what tokusatsu meant.

Okay, Opal had a point. In hindsight that was stupid. Especially since I wasn't trying to break Rider's back, I just wanted a clear shot at her head and standing on her back seemed like the best place to get that from. As soon as I felt like I could stand, I scrambled to my feet, collected the card-depicting and armored figure on a chariot with Rider written at the bottom-and stood. The Opal did her thing and we were back in the real world.

A thought occurred to me as I took off and flew into the sky on my way home. I thought of some books I'd read. "Opal," I said, "Rider shouted 'Prydwen' when she turned her ship into a surfboard-slash-shield. I've read some Arthurian literature, and that's the name of King Arthur's shield… Or sometimes his ship." I guess it was both? "So… does that mean I just fought King Arthur? Was King Arthur a woman? I mean, I didn't get a good look and Rider seemed pretty lean, but I'm pretty sure she was a woman."

"Well,"Opal began, "the markings on the ship were quite similar to markings on Excalibur, now that I think about it."

"You've seen Excalibur?"

"Well, not personally, no," Opal replied, "but my older sisters have, and I have access to that information."

"Okay."

"But I don't know the answers to the rest of your questions," Opal finished. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," I said. "It's not like I absolutely need to know, so… It'd be a bit weird to use someone's powers without knowing who they are though."

"Oh," Opal explained, "that reminds me. Now that you have a second card, I think I'll start teaching you how to use the Cards' powers soon" Opal laughed to herself. "Maybe tomorrow night."

I smiled, "Sounds like fun."