Rider
As his summoning ritual ended with a presumed success, a powerful burst of raw prana sent Waver Velvet falling on his ass. The thick clouds of smoke that the runic array had released, was preventing him from seeing exactly what he had just summoned, but the young magus was quite sure that it was some awesomely-powerful entity that will ensure him a successful voyage through the dangers of the Holy Grail War.
When Waver had first discovered the existence of the Holy Grail War, he immediately knew that it was his place: a war, where only strength mattered and not titles and nobility. After all, in all of his time in Clock Tower, he had been looked down on because his family was a third generation Magus family. The fact that he possessed a lot of raw power didn't mean a shit to those inbred bigot fools, who dared to mock him for his rebellious thoughts that magus' powers depended on his personal potential and not on his breeding...
This war was his chance to prove them all wrong! Waver was sure that the omnipotent Grail will surely grant him the recognition and acceptance that he deserved. And the servant he had just summoned with his teacher's, Kayneth Archibald, catalyst will help him in this endeavor!
Waver Velvet was a bit disappointed, though, when the dissipating smoke revealed the servant he had just summoned. Instead of some big and powerful warrior form the ages past, in the center of the summoning circle stood a small girl that was a bit younger than him.
She had short blue hair and light skin. Her biggish blue-green eyes were hidden behind brown-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in what could be considered a school uniform: white shirt, black mini-skirt, white stockings and plain brown shoes. Over her shoulders she also wore an open cloak that was black on the outside and red on the inside. Leaning against her right side, there was a gnarled wooden staff which was at least a foot longer than the girl was taller. Finally, in her hands the girl was holding a tome written in a language that Waver could not understand.
And the girl appeared to be so engrossed in her reading that she didn't even notice that she was summoned... Well, she actually did notice this, but she still waited for her summoner to initiate the contact. Even though he was feeling quite uncertain about it all, Waver addressed the summoned female servant...
Maybe he had used not the best approach to the summoned heroic spirit, Waver Velvet mused as he and Rider were walking towards the house was staying at. Damn, his head still hurt from when the bluenette hit him with her staff – apparently, she thought that his wish of recognition by his peers was foolish at best and a waste of a miracle at worst... Considering that she was a queen, one that managed to get her throne back from usurpers, she might actually be right and one needn't anything but his own determination to get something as small as others' acceptance.
And as such, Waver's first quest was to earn his servant's acceptance. Through finding a more worthy use for his wish. Alas, it was actually far harder than the teen magus though – he wasn't sure that will find himself a new goal until the deadline Rider had set, which was in less than forty eight hours from now... No, Waver thought, he shouldn't give up just now. He still had a little bit time to think. Maybe, just maybe, some worthy idea will visit his head... But right now, though, he needed some rest after this tiring and eventful day...
~/ *** \~
Waver had failed to find a new, worthy, wish within the time frame set by his summoned servant, but Rider still accepted him as her master. According to the bluenette, she saw that he had been trying to think up some better wish to the Grail, and that was good enough for her. And with their contract finally complete, the young magus finally became a full-fledged participant of the Fourth Grail War.
The said war, though, had already started. Just the day before, Assassin got killed when he tried to sneak into Toshaka family's manor. Archer had obliterated him in a ridiculously-easy manner with his raining weapons. And even though the Assassin's master had been granted a sanctuary by the church, Waver Velvet had his suspicions that they'll see the servant of shadows again in the future: the scene at the Toshaka manor he had witnessed though a rodent's eyes smelled like a set-up to him. Rider was in agreement with him there: Assassin should have known better than attacking enemy position in the open like that.
And, tonight, the new battle will be happening. Both Waver and Rider could feel an enemy servant broadcasting his position from somewhere in the docks. The young magus was not sure that going there was a good idea – he was way too scared of the powers he had witnessed in Archer – but his blue-haired servant would have none of his cowardice and all but dragged the teen towards the docks.
The battle was already in the full swing: Lancer and Saber were exchanging blows at the speed that was beyond mere mortals. And even though they both were concentrated on each other, it didn't mean that they didn't notice a blue-haired teen girl armed with a gnarled staff entering the battlefield. They even noticed her master, who was hiding behind one of the containers in a distance. But just because they did notice, it didn't mean that they had stopped their fight.
They however, had to quickly jump far away from each other as the newly-arrived servant created a shower of tiny but deadly icicles. And while the two knights had avoided the worst of it, they both now spotted several minor cuts on their bodies, which had the two of them rather surprised – such a low-level magical attack shouldn't have had this much effect on them as they both had pretty high magical resistance.
Meanwhile, the blue-haired girl touched the ground with her staff, causing a mass of jagged ice lumps rise in a straight line, forming something like a wall, effectively separating the 'battlefield' into two parts... Choosing to go after Lancer first, the bluenette conjured a large sphere of very cold air around the hooked part of her staff, before throwing it at her chosen opponent.
It didn't travel very fast – hell, even a normal human would likely be able to dodge it easily – but it also wasn't that simple: something that Lancer learned the hard way when he tried to run past in attempt to get close to the casting servant. The girl had launched a single icicle at her earlier projectile, causing it to explode into cold powerful winds and tiny sharp snowflakes that created quite a lot of discomfort for Lancer and caused him to slow down as he shielded his eyes from the sudden snowstorm.
"You're quite a troublesome opponent, Caster." The spear-wielding servant remarked as he had to dodge an icicle the size of a century-old tree's trunk. A moment later Saber managed to destroy a section of the wall, thus she got to hear the blue-haired girl's answer:
"Oh, but I'm not Caster." Then the two knights were blown off their feet by powerful gusts of wind that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere as the bluenette hadn't cast any spells. The reason for these winds became clear a couple of seconds later, when a pretty large blue dragon with light-gray underbelly landed next to the staff-wielding servant. Then, much to everyone's shock, the said dragon transformed into a girl that looked like an older sister of her apparent summoner.
"Aw... Onee-chan's fighting again!" The dragonette-turned-human... whined? "Will there at least be a nice buffet after we win?" Somewhere behind the containers, Waver Velvet was already thinking about much emptier his wallet will become, if he had to feed another 'mouth'.
"But of course, Illococoo-chan." The dragonette nodded her head, before morphing back into that huge dragon form of hers. Her mistress climbed onto her back then, and the two of them rose into the air. "I'm Rider, by the way." Rider finally introduced herself to the two knights, before she and her familiar attacked them. Lancer and Saber found themselves subjected to a combination of powerful winds that swept them off their feet and raining ice shards that seemed to ignore their magical resistance. It was not a very nice feeling.
Next, another pair of servants arrived, causing the battle to escalate even further...
Rider
True identity: Charlotte Hélène d'Orléans de Gallia / Tabitha the Snowstorm
Series: "Zero no Tsukaima"
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Strength: D
Endurance: C+
Agility: B+
Mana: A
Luck: D
Independent action: C++
Magic resistance: C
Territory Creation: D
Battle Continuation: C+
Eye of the Mind (false): B
Riding: B++ - Tabitha can ride all normal creatures, as well as her dragon familiar, Illococoo. Other divine or phantasmal beasts are beyond her abilities, though.
Noble Phantasms:
Square mage: B, support, defensive, anti-person, anti-army.
Charlotte is an elemental mage who can control to some degree all four of the base elements. Her primary elements, however, are wind and water, which she skillfully combines in her ice and blizzard spells. Majority of her battle spells are a form of conjuration and as such are treated as physical attacks, making magical resistance only half as effective against them. Charlotte is incompatible with modern magics.
Sylphid: magical partner rhyme dragon: A, support, anti-person, anti-army.
This noble phantasm is actually what allows Charlotte to qualify as rider. Sylphid – or, more correctly, Illococoo – is a female rhyme dragon that is Charlotte's familiar. Illococoo's element is wind as she is capable of causing great destruction on her own, though, more often than not, she'll serve as her master's mount. Illococoo is a magical dragon with an ability to assume human form. While in human form, Illococoo pretends to be Charlotte's younger sister.
