Fate: All Riders.
Chapter 2: Pose and Poise.
Assassin was peculiar, split into several servants each one individually was weaker than the average heroic spirit. Considering that Assassin was already considered a physically weak class this Assassin was surprisingly even weaker. However what the Servant lacked in raw power it made up with numbers and stealth, at least to some degree.
Kotomine soon found that underneath the suits of armour were several normal looking human beings. Two of which were females and if he didn't know any better one of which was raised by wolves judging how he would occasionally growl.
Their obedience and professionalism was most welcome and though Kirei had no idea which figure from history he had summoned he did however have a few theories. It was known that the old man of the mountain had multiple personas, it was possible that he had summoned several of the most similar ones in regards to combat style.
In this case said combat style was rather straight forward. The only thing subtle about Assassin was their alternate civilian forms which Kotomine admitted were very well camouflaged, it was as if they lived in the modern age. With the concealing presence class feature they could easily hide amongst the populace gathering information without danger hiding in plain sight.
Furrowing his eye brows the priest was concerned for his teacher, he was afraid that the blue armoured figure was not actually Gilgamesh. He had brought this up with Tosaka earlier but his mentor rebuffed him.
"Kotomine, I understand your scepticism but who else could this be? You must remember how time distorts truth, for all we know Lancelot could have been king while Arthur his vassal." Chuckling he sipped his wine. "History does have a way of twisting things, who knows maybe it will remember the Mage Slayer as a hero of justice!" He chuckled.
Kotomine was not amused. The subject of Kiritsugu Emiya wasn't exactly off limits, but in the presence of Kotomine it wasn't exactly advisable.
"Sir, all that I ask is that you cross reference facts, you're simply too trusting and though that is a good quality for all you know I could stab you in the back! You must be more careful." Smiling at his student Tokiomi was touched by his concern.
"I trust you completely, so in that regard I'll take your warning more seriously, I'll keep an eye on my Servant and if things do not add up I will take the appropriate measures." Smiling he emptied his wine glass.
-Some time later-
Kotomine planned to stab his master in the back, his servants at the ready.
"Assassin, are you sure you can do this?" He spoke to the serious man behind him.
"Of course sir, I have promised to defeat him, there is no way I can fail." Overlooking the Tosaka mansion the pair stood atop a cliff.
"Henshin!" Bringing the golden knuckle duster to the palm of his hand he then intoned the words of power.
*FIST ON!* an artificial voice spoke as he inserted the weapon into his belt. In a flash of light the armour was upon him once more. "Do not worry master, I will return his life to god." Nodding grimly it had to be done.
Jumping down the cliff the priest watched on as Assassin approached the mansion, blasting apart the defences with well-placed strikes. For a heroic spirit said to be stealthy this servant was rather loud about the way he operated. Another trap was disabled as he kicked a fountain into dust, the water continued to spurt into the air albeit at a crooked angle.
Suddenly the presence of another servant was felt. It was for a lack of better term huge.
The figure was huge standing over three meters tall it dwarfed the assassin in size. Taking a step forwards the white soldier did not hesitate, the enemy in front of him was his natural enemy.
To all observers the holy warrior was fighting a giant armoured demon. His class was obvious; in his hand he held a vampiric golden bow. It was a little small for the giant and could only be considered a short bow for the behemoth. To the average human being however said bow would easily match their size.
"PLEASE RETURN THAT LIFE TO GOD!" Assassin shouted as he rolled out of the way of a deadly arrow. Archer was simply too strong, there was no way to get past his guard. Or at least there wouldn't be if this wasn't all choreographed.
"SEAL OF SOLOMON!* I COMMAND THY DEMON TO DIE!" Detaching the knuckle duster from his belt the servant squeezed on the small pellet hidden in the handle setting the small flash bang off.
Swinging his fist the blinding light covered the area before revealing the giant archer staggering backwards clutching his heart.
"NO HOW COULD I BE DEFEATED?!" And with that he and his bow began to fade. No trace of the servant could be detected, archer for all intents are purposes was now dead.
-Later-
"That was quite the performance Gilgamesh, I had no idea you could summon other servants." Sipping his wine the Tosaka sighed, content with how things were.
"But of course, as a king I must always have my loyal servants on hand." Shrugging in amusement he continued. "As king I never have to do anything as long as there's someone else to do it for me but don't worry you'll see me in battle eventually after all I'm the strongest there is." The way he acted was in accordance to how he expected the king to behave. It seemed that Kotomine's paranoia though well-meaning was unneeded.
"Apologize my king but I must speak with Kotomine now, he does not trust you, I would be relieved if I could contact him privately for now." He himself trusted his Servant completely so this act was more of a favour to the priest if nothing else. Nodding the blue hero decided to go off and amuse himself somewhere else.
"Kotomine, are you there?" Tokiomi asked.
After a moment of silence he was answered. "Yes sir, your servant is indeed powerful, I am unsure if mine is needed honestly." So modest, Tosaka was proud to call him a student.
"Your servants are useful make no mistake." Sipping his wine he continued. "To have summoned so many that are so loyal, perhaps you are fated to be king yourself?" Tosaka enjoyed teasing the serious man sometimes.
"The only king I serve is him in heaven." Tokiomi could almost imagine the priest bowing at the moment in fact he could almost imagine his servants doing the same behind him. The image was amusing.
"Regardless we should move onto the next stage of the plan, with Archer's independent class feature we can-"
Kotomine was more dangerous than ever now. In order to secure his life the cowardly Tosaka had given all three of his command seals to the priest in exchange for sparing him. However the man opted to stay at his mansion, the place was for the moment considered neutral ground.
Turning his head away in disgust Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald disposed of the reports. "To think one of the great houses of Magus brought low by a dog of the church." Sola-ui only nodded. She didn't really involve herself with clock tower politics but she understood that this defeat was somewhat of an insult to all Magus in a sense.
Standing up dramatically Kayneth then spoke. "I Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald will avenge the Tosaka family and restore their honour!" It was a sharp turn from his plots to kill the man earlier. The blond lord was as pompous as ever.
"Milord is such a hot head, perhaps I should call you peach?" The voice came from the blue armoured figure standing against the doorway.
"LANCER!" Calming himself down he then presented himself with more poise. "Lancer, please do not disrespect me, you are my Servant, thus your actions reflect mine."
"Oh, I suppose that means you're swimming in women then?" Gritting his teeth Kayneth could not for the life of him understand how such a letch could become a heroic spirit. Sola simply giggled in response. GIGGLED! She never giggled from his jokes!
"PLEASE! Enough joking, we must devise a plan to defeat Assassin, the priest's servant is most unorthodox. Honestly King Solomon as an Assassin, how does that even work?" Turning his head thoughtfully Lancer looked out the window, the city was quite beautiful this time of night.
"Well if he really is Assassin going out looking for him would be a bad idea then." The blue spearman continued. "I mean for all you know we could all walk into a trap and into his net, the whole thing is quite fishy." Pausing for a moment Kayneth nodded.
"Yes, appearing so honourable as if a knight, I can see how this would be a deception, very well Lancer I have a new plan." Pulling out a map of the city he put his finger on the docks.
"I want you there, waiting, if we must battle a servant it must be in a place where they could not have prepared, we shall fight them on our terms." Sola raised an eye brow, if that was the case why not set the trap here? Her husband always boasted about the defences he had set up.
"Oh? It seems I have a most tactically minded master, very well I shall wait there and reel them all in for you my lord." Smirking it appeared his Servant was finally showing him the proper respect that he deserved.
"Damn it Rider are you listening?" Waver Velvet was yelling at his servant once again. "Archer was defeated don't you understand?" Rider continued to ignore him and watch Super Sentai, for some reason the Heroic spirit liked the show.
"RIDER!" He tried once more. This time he had indeed got the man's attention.
"Yeah, yeah I heard a demon right? Tosaka managed to summon some sort of heroic demon I get it." Well at least he paid attention. For the time being Rider was not wearing his usual armour, rather he wore modern day clothes.
Rider's shirt was a superman shirt with the large red 'S' emblazed on the front. When asked why he wouldn't wear anything else he replied. "Because I can't find a shirt with a normal 'S' on the front." And he left it at that. Another strange wardrobe choice was the gloves, apparently shaking hands with the man using your bare hands was a bad idea.
When Waver's 'Grandfather' asked about them Rider simply said that he was in a horrible accident and needed them to cover the injuries. Thanks to the power of tact the subject was quickly dropped. Ah yes his 'Grandfather' an elderly couple Waver had hypnotised earlier into believing that he was their grandchild.
Rider didn't like the deception honestly but saw no harm in it at least not until later. Judging how worked up he had become over it Waver almost thought that the servant would blurt out the truth.
"So Archer's dead, the guy was a bad guy anyways and the guy who killed him didn't seem evil so we don't have to worry about him at all." Right Rider had a whole white and black view on justice.
"Why do you keep watching these kid shows? They're for kids!" Finding himself on his ass once more as pain blossomed through his face the boy was struck silent.
"Shows for children shape what they dream in the future, laugh at their dreams and you no longer are human!" He spoke seriously defending his beloved pieces of entertainment. "Besides kids watch football and that's not a kid show at all." There were several things wrong with that statement but for all intents and purposed Waver could not think what.
Lancer was a patient man. Anyone who loved fishing had to be. Standing in the docks was rather refreshing actually; in fact standing anywhere close to large quantities of water was quite relaxing. If things went sour he could use the sea to his advantage, not many heroes were known for their sea faring abilities and those that were….. Well he'd think of something when the time comes.
-Somewhere else-
Saber and Irisviel had sensed the presence of the heroic spirit earlier. It was an obvious challenge and with Assassin still in the war things could get tricky.
"It could be a trap Iri, we should be careful." Shaking her head she was unafraid.
"Kiritsugu will have a plan, he might not beat Assassin but I trust he'll find a way to give us warning so that we can do it for him." Her faith in her husband was absolute. Under such show of loyalty Saber could do nothing but agree and simply believe in the man he called Master.
Speaking of which he was to call Irisviel that title from now on, he didn't like the idea of having her pretending to be a Master but she herself had insisted. Was there nothing this woman would not do for her man? If he didn't know any better he could swear that she would die for him without even being asked to.
Turning around the corner the pair soon found themselves face to face with a lone Servant. The blue armoured figure radiated power as all Servants did. The class was obvious, the long spear marked him as a knight class, specifically Lancer.
"Oh? What's this? Here I wait expecting a battle but instead I find myself blessed with a white haired beauty." The Einzbern blushed a little at that. She was flattered of course but she had Kiritsugu, nothing would tear her away from her husband not even that smooth voice, that mysterious- NO she had Kiritsugu Emiya no other man would do!
"S-S-SABER!" She yelled shaking the thoughts from her head.
Stepping forwards he shielded his master from the man in front of him.
"Saber is it? You don't need to do that, I am gentlemen if nothing else, I'd never strike a lady especially one so… Beautiful." Raising an eyebrow the way he talked and the way he stood reminded him of a certain blue monster he had fought before.
"Lancer we're here to fight, you should know this." Revealing a strange belt with three slots on the top Saber then pressed it against his waist. A flash of light later and the belt was now attached.
"Mind if I string you along then Saber?" Iri blushed again, he had no idea Lancer had swung that way.
"HENSHIN!" Tipping the buckle onto a tilted angle he grabbed a yellow disc like object and ran it over the belt. Words that weren't his own announced the coming change.
*TAKA- TORA-BATA! TATOBA-TATOBA-TATOBA!*
Everyone watching the scene had the same thought running through their minds at that moment.
'Why did the belt sing?'
Before there was a hobo. Now there was an armoured warrior, his head the Color of red adorned with the image of a hawk. His arms and chest were yellow that featured the image of a tiger. His legs covered in green mimicked the style of grasshoppers. Standing before the blue servant the traffic light warrior stood ready, his blue and silver blade by his side.
"Oh? What's this? A belt? A cry of Henshin?" Casually leaning on his lance the Servant continued with his observations. "Are you by any chance a Kamen Rider?" Saber at this moment froze confused on why the warri- "OW!" the question was enough to distract him as he found himself pushed back by a flurry of attacks. The tip of the spear continued to rain death upon him. If not for his armour Saber had no doubt he would've been killed. Parrying a straight jab to the side he jumped back to give himself more room, he had never fought an opponent like this before. Readying his blade for the next strike he found that it never came. Lancer was once again leaning against his weapon.
"Not bad but you have no initiative, you're a bit too timid Saber." Putting too much weight on his lance he soon slips. Surprised at the sudden movement the Naïve hero tries to help only to find Lancer catching himself at the last moment using the momentum from falling down to deliver the next strike once again at his chest.
Staggering backwards he swore. "Damnit Lancer stop tricking me!" Aggravated he swung the sword through the air.
"But lies are just so much more interesting then even a thousand truths no?" Gripping his weapon he went into a fighting stance. "But I suppose if you insist we can fight properly." Watching for signs of deception Saber slowly circled around for an opening. He didn't trust the man one bit any more.
"Maiya do you see the target?" Through the scope of his sniper rifle Kiritsugu had found Kayneth, Lancer's master. By the look of things Saber was having a hard time, it wasn't a question of power it was a question of skill. If this war was measured by sheer strength alone Lancer would never win but as it stood he easily compensated with deception. Saber being the naïve fool that he was fell for every feint. Lancer would bring his weapon in for an attack; Saber would go to block it when suddenly the weapon would strike from a completely different angle.
His Servant was incompetent but tough, a dozen blows and he was still fighting or at least trying to.
Kayneth had stood in the shadows overlooking the battle, it was technically a clear shot but it appeared that he was covered by his mystic code the Volumen Hydragyrum. To get past that Emiya would have to use his own mystic code, the Thompson Contender however at this range the pistol's accuracy would most likely miss. Wasting one of his origin bullets on a shot that would certainly not find its mark was not something he was willing to risk.
"This is Maiya, I can't see him from this angle but I do see someone else, I'm not sure who it is though. Asian, middle age man, fit, judging by the way he carries himself I'd say he's got military training, interestingly enough he doesn't seem surprised by the events so far he's most likely aware of the presence of magic in the world, he could be a Magus." Frowning Emiya wasn't sure what to make of that.
"I don't sense anything from the man, he's clearly not a Master but keep an eye on him." It could be a Servant. King Solomon was no Assassin, this Servant was most likely adept at disguising himself as other heroes. That golden crown he wore when he had fought Archer was most convincing. Yet something about that whole encounter seemed wrong, it was why he had sent familiars to spy on the Tosaka estates despite it being declared neutral ground.
Suddenly thunder struck.
A thunderbolt created a smoking crater between Saber and Lancer separating the two and stopping the battle for the moment.
Before the dust could clear a voice rang out from the darkness.
"The heavens cry out!" The smoke began to clear.
"The earth cries out!" The glint from his helmet could be seen through the dust.
"The people cry out!" Waver began to cough and complain about the mode of transport.
"They cry out for me to destroy evil!" The smoke had mostly cleared up by now to reveal a bug like face.
"Listen up, evildoers...I am the warrior of justice, Kamen Rider Stronger!" A wind passes by flicking the white scarf he wore behind him in a dramatic fashion clearing the rest of the smoke from the area.
A bug faced hero with a ludicrously large chest plate that covered even his shoulders was revealed to be sitting on a strange motor bike. His Master which sat behind him quickly got off only to collapse to the ground in a coughing fit.
"Kids these days, if I didn't know any better you'd think explosions was a rare thing around here."
"THAT'S BECAUSE THEY ARE RIDER!" Still trying to catch his breath he could swear that his servant was powered by explosions judging how they kept happening around him.
"Another Rider? Well this is an interesting war indeed." Said a very amused Lancer.
"Hey you're one of the seven!" Saber's hand trembled; he remembered Stronger and his companions quite clearly. After he had freed them from their 'Medal' prisons they had helped him and another hero save the day. Pausing for a moment recognition seemed to have flared in Stronger's eyes.
"Nope don't know who you are." Almost tripping over Saber wasn't sure how to respond.
"You must've fought with my alternate universe double or something." Shrugging he grabbed his master and pulled the poor coughing boy to his feet.
Coughing Lancer interrupted them. "This is quite the touching reunion but I don't suppose we- BLEGH!" Thrown several feet into a shipping container by a ball of exploding energy Lancer made a rather large dent in the metal.
Jumping away Rider and Saber found themselves facing another armoured man. This one had the appearance of dragonflies covering his form. Wrenching himself from the container Lancer wondered what the hell had happened.
*RIDER SHOOTING!* A synthesized voice announced.
Another energy ball was fired this time at the already injured Saber. Dodging out of the way as best he could the explosion carried him into the water.
"LANCER help the servant deal with Saber." A voice rang out.
"What? After what he did to me? No way!" He yelled angrily.
The brat had the GALL to back talk him? Very well, it seemed a demonstration was in order.
"Lancer I COMMAND you to kill Saber with the help of the new Servant." Feeling the actions of his body that weren't his own he soon flung himself into the water with the dragonfly servant following soon after.
Turning to his servant Waver spoke. "Rider can you swim?" The silence was deafening.
A certain thief was watching the fight between Saber and Lancer.
"Hmm I already have his card…. But the traffic light….. never seen a rider like him before….. doesn't seem that strong." The link between him and his master had been cut, with the combination of his presence concealing ability and the independent class feature it was the perfect way to play dead. Of course the plan was on a limited time frame, with the Prana restrictions he had Archer could only summon so many Servants before he would fade away.
After seeing Rider's entrance he made up his mind.
*Kamen Ride DRAKE!*
The silver blue figure stood before his summoner awaiting orders.
"I want you to blast the blue guy then I want you to play around with traffic light, I want to see what kind of treasure he's hiding, leave the loud one for now." Nodding the Drake simply followed his orders.
It seemed that the Gunman and the Lancer were both adept at fighting within the water.
Saber obviously wasn't.
"SABER!" Yelling out in worry Iri used as much prana as she could to heal his wounds. However the damage he was taking outstripped what she could undo, it was almost frustrating.
An explosion and the broken form of her servant had found its way back onto land. Despite being wet his armour was smoking with damage, he couldn't compete with two heroes in the water.
Trying to get back up he felt something grab his foot, Lancer was going to drag him back in.
"EIJI!" A voice rang out.
*The Seal of Solomon is a magical signet ring said to have been possessed by King Solomon that had the power to control demons. Commanding one to die would give the appropriate effect. Of course this is all an act.