Yoshiki-909: I'm not gonna say which ones you got right and which you got wrong, but lemme say, you've got good picks!
Avenger of Sleepy Hollow
"Do you have an actual name?"
Saber turned to Reimu, who had asked her the question out of nowhere during their check of the Human Village's perimeter. In response to her question, she nodded.
"Yes, all Servants have real names," Saber told her. "Are you not sure exactly what a Servant is?"
Reimu shook her head. Saber gave her a patient smile.
"Well, before I answer that, what do you call this world?" Saber asked.
"Gensokyo," Reimu replied.
"Thank you. Well, we're from a different world..."
Reimu neglected to mention that Marisa already told her about how Servants came from the Outside World, but she didn't interrupt Saber.
"...and so, each Servant, or more specifically, Spirit, came from Earth's history, mythology, or literature. Famous figures in our world are usually summoned during a Holy Grail War, an event where one Servant of each class is summoned by a mage, or Master, and everybody fights honorably to win the Holy Grail, and the winning Servant and Master get a wish from it."
"A Servant of each class? What does that mean?" Reimu asked.
"Each Spirit is put into a class based upon their skills they had in life... or legend. For example, I am a Saber due to my prowess with a sword. Then there's the Archer class, Rider class, Lancer, Assassin, Caster, and Berserker. The way they're classified into these groups is... really in the name."
Reimu glanced at the mist that Saber was holding. Remembering the sword that Saber had when she had entered Gensokyo, it would stand to figure that the mist she was holding was her sword.
"Of course," Saber continued, "...some Spirits can be summoned in different classes as well. I can be summoned as an Archer, Rider, Lancer, and I definitely cannot be summoned as an Assassin."
Reimu's eyes narrowed with that last part. "You can be summoned as an Assassin, can't you?"
Saber's eyes didn't meet her own as she lied, "No."
Deciding not to press it, Reimu looked straight ahead into the forest.
"So what is your real name?" Reimu asked bluntly.
Saber's earlier willingness to give info away clearly didn't extend this far, because she replied, "Not to be impolite, but I don't know you very well, and I'm not willing to give that up just yet."
Shrugging, Reimu dropped it.
"So, do you mind explaining what this world is like?" Saber then asked. "Usually I am able to discover what a world has to offer, but this is an unusual case."
Reimu considered her question for a moment before answering, "Okay, so in Gensokyo, we have humans, fairies, youkai, and others that don't usually appear. Youkai tend to make trouble, so I, as the Shrine Maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, have to go out and deal with that crap. Sometimes others will screw around and I have to beat them down too."
"Do you have to kill them?"
"Pfft, no. I beat up a lot of my friends."
Saber had no response to that.
.
Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.
.
While Reimu and Saber were patrolling the outskirts of the Human Village, Marisa was actually in the village's market, looking for something to buy. Looking at her grocery list, the witch went over to a stall that was selling greens and contemplated what she should get and when the shopkeeper would look away.
"You don't want to get that one," the guy next to her said.
Marisa looked up at him. Orange hair, orange eyes, and an attentive expression as he studied a bundle of lettuce. And, of course, he was taller than her.
She realized that her gaze had been pointed at a potato covered in dark spots.
"Oh, right!" Marisa exclaimed, pretending that she wasn't going to steal the really good potato behind it. "I was just wondering if it was redeemable, ze!"
The guy looked down at her and then at the potatoes before taking the good one she was looking at. He smiled and said: "This one would do better."
Now her plan was ruined, and Marisa managed a delighted face as she took it and said, "Thank you!"
The guy nodded and went back to looking at vegetables. Marisa reconstructed her plan to steal her groceries if this guy was gonna watch her.
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Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.
.
"I sense a Servant," Saber hissed. "Don't make a sou-"
"COME OUT ALREADY!" Reimu howled at the top of her lungs.
Saber gave her a look of exasperation as they heard something snarl.
"The Shrine Maiden, it's good to see you."
A massive wolf padded towards Reimu and Saber, and riding atop it was a dullahan wielding two long, wicked sickles and Sekibanki.
"Careful," Saber mouthed to Reimu. "That Servant... it's unusually strong."
"Great, on the first target, too," Reimu grumbled.
Sekibanki leaped off the wolf and bowed mockingly, her head floating slightly as it tried not to hit the ground.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves," she said, standing up straight. "I am Sekibanki, the one who's gonna give you a good scare. That's my Servant, Avenger."
The wolf snapped its jaws in recognition. The dullahan's collar shifted like it nodded.
"An Avenger?!" Saber cried out in shock. "How did you summon an Avenger?!"
Sekibaki shrugged and replied, "I guess that I'm luckier than anyone else. I mean, it's not like I summoned a Servant from one of the strongest classes."
Reimu was already getting tired of Sekibanki's smug attitude.
"Do you mind, like, not scaring people?" Reimu requested.
Sekibanki quirked an eyebrow up, and Reimu realized that, today, everybody would be getting smug with her.
"Say, do you know what the difference is between you and me?" Sekibanki asked.
Saber held her sword in a guard position, and Reimu whipped out her miko stick.
Sekibanki's lips curled into a sneer as she answered her own question: "I am way ahead of you."
Too late, Reimu saw the eight Sekibanki heads surrounding her and Saber. Their eyes glowed as each head charged up before firing blasts from each eye. The area around the two erupted in a plume of smoke and dust, everything within outside of either Sekibanki or her Servant's field of vision.
The rokurokubi's heads immediately went into the cloud and searched for their victims, and Avenger, both rider and steed, shuffled restlessly.
Lobo looked up into the sky and snarled. Hessian and Sekibanki followed their gaze.
And Saber drove her sword through the wolf's throat, and at the same time Reimu bashed the main Sekibanki's head off with her stick. Lobo began to fade into little golden particles as Sekibanki's head bounced off a tree and into Hessian's arms, and without a ride, the dullahan and disembodied head crashed into the ground.
Both Reimu and Saber stalked towards Sekibanki and Hessian, their weapons drawn and aimed at the youkai and Servant.
With a sigh of annoyance, Reimu growled, "Listen, can you please stop? I want to get my job done so I can get my roof fixed, capiche?"
Sekibanki glanced up at her and, with a look of disbelief, floated her head to where Hessian's would be.
And a neck attached her to the body of the Avenger Spirit.
Sekibanki stood up, clashing her sickles together, and smirked at them.
"Now we're neck-in-neck," she taunted.
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Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.
.
Both Reimu and Saber hid behind a bush, rocking themselves back and forth.
Though it was daytime, the sky had turned dark with clouds (Reimu figured Iku was doing something nearby), and the forest itself having too many leaves to offer much light certainly didn't help.
This was all well and good, but what really scared them was the dullahan that was stalking them.
"Come on out, little ones..." Sekibanki called out into the darkness.
They jumped at the sound of a tree crashing down.
Snapping out of it, Reimu shook her head, wondering why she was cowering from some youkai and her Servant. "Why are we just hiding?" she grumbled, standing up. "It's a Servant and a youkai. Not a big deal."
Saber, waking up from her stupor, got up and raised her sword. "You're right. We should be facing them."
Shink.
Reimu looked at her feet. A short sword, hardly longer than a dagger, was buried in the soft dirt in front of her. Taking it, she held it in front of her, considered the silvery blade, and squinted at a note attached to its pommel.
"Hi, Reimu! I heard about your job, and I had my Servant give you this! Make sure to hit the youkai with it! From, Yukari and co.!"
Drawn on the bottom was smiley pictures of Yukari, Ran, and Chen. Reimu crumpled up the paper and held the small sword.
"Okay, so I gotta stab her with this, whatever," Reimu grumbled. "Fine."
Saber frowned at the sword, but dismissed it. "Okay, so how about this: I'll fight the Servant head-on..."
Reimu snorted. Saber frowned at her.
"Anyways..." she continued, "...be sure to assist me. Then get that good hit in."
"Sure," Reimu grumbled.
Somebody cleared their throat behind them. Both turned around.
"So, done hiding?" Sekibanki taunted. "I'm about done here, so..."
She swung both sickles down at them. Saber parried with her sword.
Taking a few steps back, Sekibanki snarled and multiple of her heads appeared from the trees. In response, Reimu launched her danmaku in all directions, causing the heads to float back, dazed. Sekibanki herself swatted them aside and charged straight at Saber, and the two began to duel sword-on-double sickles.
"Switch!" Saber called.
Reimu took her cue and, as Saber fell back, she flew straight at the demi-Servant. As Sekibanki swung her sickles, Reimu deflected it off her miko stick and drove the short sword between her eyes.
Then everything went dark.