Mash stood at the center of a ruined stadium with Cu Chulainn and Ari. Ari seemed to have her usual smile, holding her helmet under her arm. Ari held Vexcalibur in hand, though she was missing her companion, Ghost, who was with the others checking on Olga.
Cu brought them here to train and to help Mash find her Noble Phantasm, Ari just came along.
"So how are we going to train, some Crucible, Trials," Ari paused for a second as stars entered her eyes. "Iron Banner!?"
Like clockwork, the two stared at her causing her to stop for a moment and sigh. "I did it again. They are games Guardians play, we face off, and ki-wait you two probably can't revive; plus you wouldn't want to see me play Trials."
Mash swore she heard screams for a second as she stared at them, though they were faint. Cu rolled his red eyes before looking at the pink-haired shielder.
"Anyway, for right now I simply want to see what you two can do," Cu explained with a slight smirk. Ari smiled thinking she knew what Cu was talking about, cracking her knuckles. "So I would like you both to spar with me."
Cu twirled his staff as his robe flew with the wind, along with Ari's. "If you can't handle me in my Caster form, I highly doubt you would survive King Arthur!"
"I dealt with Gods before, I think I can I can deal with a discount Iron Lord," Ari smiled earning a chuckle from Cu Chulainn.
Mash raised an eyebrow as she looked at the Guardian. She knew Ari was skilled from what she had seen but she couldn't imagine what she was like under different circumstances to fight something similar to gods. If anything she seemed to struggle with the average servant as seen with Taniks.
"If you think that, then why don't you go first," Cu smiled, focusing on the blond warlock. "and show the young lass how it's done."
Ari returned a smirk putting her knightly helmet on her head. Mash stepped back as Ari gripped Vexcalibur tightly. Mash felt a strange rivalry between the two already, though they hadn't met each other before today.
"So what's the term of victory," Ari asked stepping back into a curious stance. Only one hand-held Vexcalibur aimed at Cu; the other hung almost limp as flames traveled around her forearm.
"Well, I'm not my teach so the last one on their ass wins I guess," Cu shrugged with a smile.
Ari laughed for a second as there was a moment of nothing, and the two waited for the other to go first. Mash looked at them with anticipation as she stood near the edge of the stadium. Seconds past when Ari lept toward Cu with great speed compared to the average person.
Cu smiled before firing two balls of flames at the Lancer. Ari slid toward the right dodging the first one. She swings her glaive at the second one causing the flame to lose form.
Ari flicks her free hand's wrist sending a much smaller ball of flame at the Caster. The ball fell short of Cu who waited before he felt a sudden burst of light and heat in front of him.
Mash looked in awe as she saw the ball become a miniature star. It vomited flames and magma in a small radius. Cu covered his face with his free arm running from the small star.
Ari lept into the air like a bird; seemingly jumping once more in the air, she began to glide like one as well. Ari fired three shots from Vexcalibur before landing.
Cu heard the shots go off and quickly turned slamming his staff into the ground. Branches shot up and tanked the hits, though severely burnt almost as if the energy was eating it.
Ari landed and ran around the barricade, swinging Vexcalibur through the air.
Cu blocked the hit with his staff, gritting his teeth. Cu pushed Vexcalobur out of the way, jabbing Ari in the gut with his staff. Ari gasped at the sudden loss of air, leaning forward slightly.
Ari quickly maneuvered her glaive to be able to hit Cu in the face with the blunt side. She rammed it into his jaw as she regained her breath. The Caster stumbled back before Ari kicked him to the ground.
Ari pointed Vexcalibur at Cu, who smiled at her. "You're good, if I was a Lancer it might've been an actual fight."
"That was fun," Ari said placing the digital glaive on her back. She reached out a hand to help Celt.
The two grunted as the Warlock helped Cu up. "I didn't know you could use any kind of magic."
"I wouldn't call it magic, but yeah," Ari said with a nod before the two turned to Mash who watched them.
The fight was rather quick only lasting about a minute and a half. She was in pure awe, though it wasn't the biggest spectacle ever.
"Is it my turn?" Mash asked the two.
"Yep, though your condition is different, I won't stop until learn how to use your Noble Phantasm," Cu explained.
"You'll do fantastic, I know it," Ari said with a thumbs up.
Ritsuka and Gudako were in the lead as they marched on toward the stadium. Ghost flew by their shoulder before flying off toward Ari when they entered the ruined modern coliseum. Olga had her arms crossed when they entered. The three saw Cu talking to Mash, while Ari was bragging to the newly arrived Ghost. It took a moment for the Servants to notice them properly.
"So what is my hero doing," Gudako asked with a chirp.
Mash turned, giving a small wave and smile. "Cu is helping me learn how I use my Noble Phantasm."
"Cool!? How is it going thus far?" Ritsuka asked, looking at the two. "A bit slow, but I do have a plan for the lass," Cu said with a slight mischievous smirk.
"Ooo, what is it?" Gudako asked, leaning toward Cu, stars building in her eyes.
"Let's just say it involves you two," Cu responded pointing at the twin.
Gudako smiled widely while her brother gave a suspicious look. Mash had a somewhat confused expression meanwhile, attempting to understand why he needed them.
Olga marched toward Ari with Ghost, her pale hair flew with the breeze. The two noticed and Ari took a nervous step back with a nervous smile on her face. Her helmet was in her hand.
"Hello," Ghost chirped.
There was a brief moment of silence between the three, making Ari feel rather awkward. "I am tired of your surprises, so I simply ask for you to tell me more about your world," Olga ordered attempting to sound somewhat kind.
Ari and Ghost looked at each other before the Guardian sighed, sitting down on the dirt-covered ground and Ghost disappeared. "That is a long story," Ari sighed.
Olga crossed her arms and looked at her. "We have time, though why did Ghost leave?"
"Oh, he thought it was best for me to tell this story," she smiled before looking up at the sky.
Olga sat down next to Ari reluctantly. "I just want to know what we are up against, Taniks, and those things-"
"They're the Taken, beings who were stolen and twisted by the darkness. A few years after I rose I meant them, they turned an entire base against itself. They are Darkness, the Deep incarnate," Ari explains, with fear hidden beneath her eyes.
Olga raises an eyebrow before responding with a long sigh. "Do they have a weakness?"
"No, they aren't much stronger than the originals, but they usually have strength in numbers," Ari explained looking at the director. "Though I'm not sure how or why King Arthur would use the Taken. From what I heard thus far they are meant to be a hero."
Olga gave her a soft glare before letting out a chuckle. She seemed much more relaxed now to Ari. "Sometimes stories aren't how they are told," Olga muttered to herself. Ari furrowed her eyebrow in confusion. "It was something a friend told me."
Ari smiled then the sound of fire clashing with metal filled the air followed by a scream. Ari and Olga's eyes quickly shoot over to see Cu Chulainn firing a barrage of fire toward the young Shielder, who was protecting Ritsuka and Gudako.
Olga quickly stood up her calm eyes shifted to one of anger and irritation. "What is going on!?"
Cu looked over at them. "Training how my teacher taught me: You learn or you die!"
Olga's eyes widened as Ari quickly ran toward her Master and Mash. Gudako stood behind Ritsuka with pure terror and a slight bit of excitement in her eyes.
"Please stop," Mash mutters as she gritted her teeth from another barrage.
Cu twirled his staff as flames rose behind the Celt. He began to speak with his red eyes closed. "Burn it all..."
A giant man of burning wood rose like a zombie from the grave. "...giant of the trees..."
"Wiker Man!"
The wooden man raised his foot going to stomp down upon the group. Olga's eyes went wide as the twins looked up in panicked terror. Mash readied for impact.
"Master and friends, get down!" Ari ordered raising Vexcalibur and unleashing its translucent shield.
Ari gritted her teeth, holding back the tons of flaming wood. Ritsuka fell onto his bottom with Gudako crawling away slightly. Mash's eyes darted everywhere before she closed them. There was a moment of silence as energy surged through her body. She swore she could hear her heartbeat syncing to her raising her shield. A dome of pink glass-like energy shot out from around her.
Ari looked at it with surprise, followed by an audible gasp from Gudako. Ritsuka's mouth drops when the dome spreads over him. The foot of the wooden man shattered and splintered before disappearing into ash.
There was pure silence until Gudako spoke. "That was so cool!"
A/N: That concludes this chapter, we are in the home stretch now, meaning one to two chapters.
I want to say this, I will send the lore slightly for a cooler image as long as it doesn't break the world.
Fun Fact: I originally had Randal instead of Taniks, but I decided against it due to the power level of Randal and I don't know if I want to include joke characters.