AN: I recently discovered that Megaman X Dive was available in my region for nearly a year and downloaded it and of course, Fate Grand Order was also in Europe for some time… In my defense, I was with Honkai, PGR and Bayonetta… That, and I had my eyes on Bayonetta 3 (great game) and Battle Network Legacy Collection… Not talk about the rest of my studies. Well, I've been reading the Turas Realta manga (incredible adaptation and hope they'd do an anime) and discovered the web version of Fate Stay Night sooo I think I'll manage. Anyways, I'll be heading deeper and deeper into the Gacha Abyss, may RNGesus be with me. F2P forever, amen.
Not to talk about downloading EXTRA for my Vita.
Besides, didn't anyone think of a Master-Servant relationship being akin to a NetOp with their NetNavi? Well, I think it's easier to see in the EXTRA timelines. Now we need a Customization program and an arsenal of Battle Chips/Cards to complete the analogy, oh, wait, EXTRA's Alteration of the Soul and Code Casts as well as Chaldea's Ascension and Palingesis as well as Mystic Codes are a thing, too. Though Servants tend to have more raw power, NetNavis are more versatile. Or powerful. Or powerful and versatile. Like a certain digital blue bomber with too many transformations and other ridiculous power ups to count.
By the way, if there is any doubts, this version of Ritsuka is somewhat based on Rikku from Fate Gamers Only by u/namtap032892 if only for both of them being huge (if somewhat crazy) nerds. Recommend the comic!
And of course, I have to thank Wyran Cost for all the ideas they are bringing to the fic, which you may have read a few so far in SB and FF. We're brainstorming at the same time we're playing the games, searching the wikis and devouring any other media possible related to the franchises involved.
And this opening? I'm experimenting. And KR Zero-One's themes (as well as the OP's lyrics) have very much in common with how I (or we) plan to go with the direction of this fic. NOW LET'S START!
Experimental Opening: REALxEYEZ from Kamen Rider Zero-One
After explaining everything (again) to Olga and her admonishing both Roman and Ritsuka (and giving orders to cryogenically preserve the rest of Master Candidates among other things), they consequently made preparations for a Servant summoning ritual, all while explaining it all to the Magus newcomer.
"For the last time, Ritsuka. This isn't like Shin Megami Tensei!"
"Really?" Ritsuka asked skeptical. "Then what about the magitek computer system that replicates and simplifies a ritual that summons supernaturally powered beings shaped by humanity's beliefs from a plane beyond time and space and binds them to your will like a Mon? And let's not talk about those RPG-like classes!"
Roman facepalmed "... By the Lord. In the first place, the FATE system is fundamentally different from the Demon Summoning Program. And unlike the Expanse and the Sea of Souls, the Throne of Heroes only records the souls of influential individuals combined with people's perception of them which while they may fall under many archetypes, they're not purely the result of people's imagination or subconscious desires. And the class containers are the compromise we have in order to summon even a portion of a Heroic Spirit power."
Ritsuka spent a few seconds thinking "Can I still summon gods and demons?"
"Of course not!" Shouted Olga in fury. "At least, not completely. In the first place even summoning a Divine Spirit should be impossible! Their Spirit Cores are leagues beyond what a Servant vessel could support, like the Heroic Spirits true self. And the same goes for demons that could be considered Divine Spirits, too. Like Satan himself."
"And what about demigods?" Ritsuka countered.
"Oh, those?" Olga put her hand on her chin. "As long as they're not full blown gods, they'd be summonable though I predict their magical energy upkeep would be expensive."
While the others were discussing the underlying mechanics and other theoretical stuff of summoning, Mash was preparing the last touches for the actual summoning ritual: her shield, a Noble Phantasm in its own right that would serve as the catalyst that allows FATE to call upon Servants. All under the watch of Fou and Zero.
"Mr. Zero-"
"No need for Mr. Just Zero."
"Huh, Zero. I've been curious about something. How were you and Senpai able to merge together?" Mash asked. "For me to be able to share my existence with a Heroic Spirit, it was necessary rigorous genetic, mental and spiritual conditioning. And even with that, it wasn't guaranteed to work." She went silent for a few seconds as if in thought. "Unless technology in your time has advanced enough to mass produce individuals like Demi-Servants and Megamen, I can't help but think about compatibility as the main issue."
"I am curious about that, too." Ritsuka entered the conversation, accompanied by Olga and Roman's hologram, who hold the same sentiments, aside from more unspoken questions the Chosen One has about the whole Demi-Servant thing. "I mean, I doubt anyone could freely enter that whole "Game of Destiny" battle royale between "Chosen Ones" that Master Albert conspired."
Zero floated silently for a few seconds, as if thinking what to say.
"While mental compatibility is a must for Biometals and their Biomatches, one of the other ways to call a Biometal user, there's a design feature, or flaw, depending on how you view it, that all Biomatches must have a very specific genetic configuration, a certain person's DNA, whether by blood relations or organ donations."
Everyone blinked. "And whose person's are we talking about?" Olga asked.
"The creator of the original Biometal, Model W, the one where all other models were reverse-engineered from. Master Albert."
Everyone widened their eyes in surprise, especially Ritsuka. "Wait a minute, but… but wasn't that guy from the future?! And a bad guy?! How the heck would I be related to him?!"
"Think about what you just said, Ritsuka." Roman said. "They come from OUR future. Or at least, a version of it. Therefore, anyone from that time period would consider our present, past Singularity aside, THEIR past. I… guess you had the astronomical luck of being Master Albert's ancestor… or not, given he was, or will be, a megalomaniac mad scientist."
"My own descendant is a supervillain…" Ritsuka muttered with comically soulless eyes at the revelation of her own future.
"Complicated family issues aside… at least we have a mystery solved." Olga said now more confident, like a Magus of her class should be. "Any chance of removing that DNA lock to raise the number of compatible individuals? The ability of merging with machinery and the cybernetic equivalent of Heroic Spirits at a genetic and mental level would prove very useful for Masters or any other field operative. Not to talk about the potential such a research would have." Especially for Magi, though she didn't say it out loud.
"If you're able to completely decipher and rewrite the black box that the M.E.G.A. System is based around, which by the way, comes from one of the most eldritch and evil artifacts ever known in a future of everconstant technological singularities, refined by a genius as brilliant and twisted as the cursed soul of Dr. Weil that should have gone to Hell instead of fused to the junk of his doomsday weapon and opened a whole new can of worms in a recovering future that has already suffered, or will suffer, too many apocalyptic events and wars, with magical technology from early 21st century, then sure. Be my guest." Zero sarcastically said. Whether from the herculean difficulty of the task or his own biased opinion about the whole thing, it wasn't clear.
Everyone was left silent, especially Olga, who blanched at what the remains of the legendary Reploid implied, especially the part of the bloodshed that involved the Biometals creation from what was basically an incredibly powerful cursed artifact, even if it was a technological one.
"Challenge accepted." An unknown feminine voice sounded from the communicator.
"Gah?! Da Vinci?! What are you doing here?" Roman's surprised face turned towards an unseen visitor who made her appearance in the hologram by pushing the poor doctor aside. She was a beautiful young woman with long brunette hair that couldn't be appreciated due to the hologram coloring. Ritsuka was sure that she'd seen that face before… And that name…
Olga facepalmed. "Great the pervert's here…"
Flippantly ignoring the Director's remark, she at least deigned to answer the fluffy doctor's question. "Well, duh. You don't need to be a genius to realize el grossoimpatto an explosion could have in a location so full of sensitive equipment like CHALDEAS and the Rayshifting system, especially during a critical mission, leaving most of the staff dead and 99% of Master candidates dead or cryogenized. So excuse me, everyone if I get out of my workshop once in a while." She sarcastically pointed out though she let out a smile. A very interested and if you think much about it, INTELLECTUALLY PERVERTED smile. "... Though I have to recognize that it got more interesting than I imagined. And you would be a fool to reject the opportunity of studying black-boxed, cutting-edge, super-technology from a probable, highly-advanced future."
"Da Vinci. You're beginning to drool…" Roman deadpanned towards his colleague.
"..." "..." Zero floated a little bit away from the crazy italian woman while Ritsuka had a complicated expression on her face. "Annnnnd, who are you?"
"Oh!" The woman turned to Ritsuka. "Where were my modals? My name is Leonardo da Vinci, genius and artist extraordinaire and technician at Chaldea."
Ritsuka blinked and turned to the ideas, whispering. "Who names their daughter Leonardo da Vinci? I mean, sure, she has the whole Renaissance attire but artist and genius, too? Seriously?"
Mash, Olga and Roman winced and turned away their eyes while Da Vinci was trying too hard to contain a laugh.
Zero remembered a certain thing about Chaldea and historic figures. "Wait. Is she a Servant?"
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Ritsuka turned to him in almost comical shock. "But Leonardo was a man! Not a woman! There are even portraits of him with a huge beard!"
"And what a magnificent beard it was…" Da Vinci interjected. "Yes, I was a man while I was alive, the History books can attest to that. Though somehow, I was in this form when I was summoned. I theorize it is because it represents the beauty of the divine proportion present in the human body that I've been seeking in my life." She adopted a sexy pose, not unlike a fashion model, as if wanting to show her body to everyone. "And since having worn this body years after my summoning, I knew I wasn't wrong trying to reach this beauty!"
"The beauty that you were searching for…" Gears clicked in Ritsuka's head.
"YOU'RE BASICALLY IMPERSONATING MRS. GIOCONDA!"
"Well…" Da Vinci blinked at the outburst. "Of course. She was the model for my painting."
"Which was basically a commission you never finished up. Heck, you even spent years working on it despite the guy calling it off." Ritsuka paused for a second. "I don't know if that would be considered artistic motivation or creepy obsession."
"It's not my fault if Francesco didn't recognize that true art needs time!" Da Vinci retorted, flippantly ignoring the 'creepy obsession' part. "And I could have finished it if I didn't get my hand paralyzed. In fact, now that I have a new, perfect, functional body I can-"
"ENOUGH!" Olga exploded in bottled up rage, making nearly everyone jump, especially the doctor, and interrupting the two bickering artists. "We're on a freaking mission in the middle of a city in flames, full of familiars and whatever else that made this whole parody of Hell into a Singularity that will cause irremediable damage to time and space. And I expect everyone, especially those working for my Chaldea, to act with the fucking gravitas that is expected of the situation! Damn it!"
The whole outburst made everyone silent, observing in astonishment a heavily breathing Olga.
"And Vinci." She turned to the Renaissance (wo)Man. "You were already warned. You're forbidden to go outside Chaldea without permission. Much less for the purpose of going to the Louvre or anywhere were your works are in the modern era. Much less as a curator or even a consultant!" Annnnnd, she returned to shouting. "Not only would it be a violation of the secrecy of magecraft but would generate a spiral of chaos in the world of Art and History, especially related to an influential historical figure returning from the grave as a transexual!"
"Yeah, yeah." Da Vinci rolled her eyes. "I know the rules, why they're so important, yadda, yadda…" And then, the obviously adult woman(man?) pouted like a child when they hear something they don't like. "You're no fun…"
"Leo, please, stop antagonizing her!" Roman pleaded. "And Director, you said it. We need to solve this situation ASAP!"
"Uh…" Olga stood befuddled for a moment (seeing your slacker doctor grow a spine tends to do that) though she recovered. "Right. Master Candidate No.48! Biometal Model Z!" She turned towards Ritsuka and Zero in an authoritative tone. "Until we crack open the M.E.G.A. System's black box or discover a workaround to the DNA lock, you're hereby forbidden to show your ability to Megamerge to anyone outside Chaldea's staff for potential risk of Sealing Designation!" She fiercely looked directly to Ritsuka's eyes. "Am I clear?"
"Uh…" Conclusion: Ritsuka. "Sorry but what is a Sealing Designation? And why do you look so scared, Mash? Doctor? Vinci?!"
Olga's face fell once more in worry and turned towards the holographic Roman, who was wincing in guilt. "She's from the civilian batch, Olga. She doesn't anything." At that, worry turned into fear.
Fear towards what could happen to the rookie magus.
"The only thing I understood is that it involves sealing of some sorts and that it is bad, isn't it?" Zero commented.
"Oh, it's much worse than bad." Da Vinci started to explain, joking tone utterly forgotten. "You're condition is so unique that the Mage Association would probably be willing to kill and torture in order to capture you both and turn into bodiless glorified test samples, magically preserved to the point of not being able to die or even see the sun again for an eternity, without even a mouth to scream." She paused in afterthought. "Though that is only for extreme cases. Given the aptitude of being a Biomatch is mostly genetic, you'd probably only be put on heavy observation in an eugenics programs, including periodical extractions of genetic material, while the Biometal would be put under lock and key in between research sessions. Nevertheless, you can never be too careful with magi. Whether it's research or politics, most of them are quite willing to go to the extremes if it benefits them. Even if it backfires on them."
Too late, the damage was already done.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?" Ritsuka shouted out, understandably scared out of her wits.
"A whole lot apparently-OW!" Romani began with a resigned tone, until he received a jab in the stomach from Da Vinci "You know that even physically weak Servants are still magnitudes stronger than normal humans!"
"Jeez, don't be an eeyore, Romani." Da Vinci snarked. "Thankfully for our resident Megaman, Chaldea does not condone any kind of inhuman research, at least, not anymore. So you're still safe as long as you do not babble anything about the subject to anyone. We'll even alter the official reports so there won't be any proof of it at all as far as the higher ups are concerned!"
Ritsuka let out a deep breath. "Ahhh, tasukatta…"
Zero thankfully expelled out any kind of thoughts about bloody genocide unto magi society. "And Mash also has the same protection?"
"She's property of Chaldea, which is owned by the Animusphere, MY family, which leads the Department of Astromancy of the Clock Tower. Not to mention that this whole operation is backed by the UN so we have political clout of both the magical and not magical kind to not allow anyone to kidnap anyone from our staff, especially from our elite A-Team!" She passionately declared. Unbeknownst to her, Mash felt her admiration to the Director to increase as well as more questions to raise between Ritsuka and Zero about the Shielder's condition.
"Besides." Olga continued. "You'd have to be a whole new brand of crazy to go all the way to a heavily guarded and remote facility in the frozen wastes of the South Pole to try something like that."
"Wait, we were in the South Pole?" Ritsuka whispered to Mash in the background.
"Not it mattered too much to the saboteur who planted the bomb." Snarked Zero, making Olga's face to pop out an angry vein.
"We'll investigate the bombing when possible from our side, right now, it's time to summon some Servants for reinforcements." Roman said.
"Usually, summoning and maintaining a single Servant would be pretty exhausting without a Holy Grail's support. Thankfully, with FATE serving in place of the Grail, a single Master, even a third-rate like you, can safely supply three of them. And Mash's physical existence and empowered Magic Circuits means she won't be too much of a strain without losing combat effectiveness. Combined with the excess of ambient mana and the bodily enhancements of a Megaman, it means that there won't be any problem at all so go wild!"
"Oookay, then." Ritsuka prepared herself. "Megamerge."
Once more in her red armor, Ritsuka approached the lying shield and extended a hand to it, reading the spell sent to her from the control room, thankfully available to her in her HUD.
[Point Zero - Fate Zero]
"Let silver and steel be the essence.
Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
Let red be the color I pay tribute to.
Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let the four cardinal gates close.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
"Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling."
"My will is your body, your sword, my fate."
"I swear to embody all the good of the world.
So Guardian of the Balance, come forth!"
Even in her Megamerged state, Ritsuka couldn't help but feel the unnatural heat that her recently awakened, sub-par Magic Circuits generated when they became the conduits through which FATE channeled the magic energy necessary for the summoning, followed by alert warnings for overheating while the combined life support systems of both the Biometal and her Chaldea uniform working overtime to maintain her body stable.
If that's how bad it was even as a half-machine being, what would happen if she were a normal human of purely organic flesh and blood?!
"Whoah! Those numbers! Da Vinci, is that supposed to be normal?!" Ritsuka could barely hear Roman shouting from her communication device.
"I… don't think so. Even first grade Servants would seldom possess these statistics." Da Vinci replied puzzled. "Be careful, Ritsuka, one of these is not normal at all even for Servant standards!"
One of the lights went out, revealing a young teenage girl with violet hair and eyes, wearing a form fitting black short dress with white lace collar and sleeves and red highlights, along with a red belt, as well as a black and red cap on her head.
"Servant Caster, Helena Blavatsky, at your servi- what the?!" The Servant began enthusiastically before taking a double take at the even brighter light of the second summon.
Which eventually revealed another violet eyed and haired teenager but with a more curvier figure, longer hair, asian traits and wearing a blue silk sari wrapped upon her waist area and a blue top-like blouse with short sleeves embroidered with gold as well as a veil extended trailing on her back fixed by a golden circlet.
Oh, and she was wielding a tuning fork-like polearm that, despite its unorthodox form, was emitting an incredible feeling of power.
"Phew!" She rubbed her forehead as if she was clearing away sweat. "I didn't know if it was going to work." Then she presented herself with an impossible air of dignity and a gentle smile. "I am the goddess Parvati, I have heard your call and manifested as Servant Lancer." She blinked when she saw the others disbelieving expressions and grew self-conscious, blushing a bit. "Is-is there something on me?"
Ritsuka, one of the few still ignorant of the multiple intricacies of the moonlit world, recovered first and asked the others with a doubtful and confused as hell tone.
"Are Summoning Accidents common here as well?"
AN: Weeeell, this was an exposition only chapter. I could have continued but felt this ending was appropriate to finish the chapter.
And yeah, Ritsuka is able to Megamerge due to being a Big Bad's ancestor! Plot twist! Not really. I know that genetics don't work that way but Fate and Megaman are the sort of series that ignore proper science unless it's to appear cool. So no big deal, especially if that probable future is centuries in the making.
And if Da Vinci drools over Biometals just wait to see her reaction to the rest of Megaman technology (and possibly Gunvolt and Blaster Master Zero). And let's not talk about the other scientific-minded Servants…
And Ritsuka and Da Vinci's banter? Well, it's scientifically proven that artists have really skewed priorities. Followed after mad scientists and wannabe revolutionaries and genociders.
And, yeah… Ritsuka and Zero had their own exposition about the unnecessarily huge dark side of the magic world as well as huge interrogation marks about Mash's nature.
As for the choice of first Servants? Well, Helena Blavatsky was the Four Star-Servant that I obtained in the tutorial and which I performed the free full Ascension near immediately. She's been incredibly useful and her lore, which makes a lot more sense in the Nasuverse than in the real world, makes it so she has some important role in this story placed in a fusion fic, especially when a certain lost advanced continent with the syllable "mu" in its name.
Those who know your Megaman lore, will know.
And Parvati? Well, she's one of my favourite Servants in the game and wanted her to appear the sooner the possible. *shrug* Besides, it helps that she was part of the Four Star-Servants for the tutorial which justifies it. Kind of.
