Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to their respective franchise.

"Whoa..."

Kirchstaria couldn't keep his eyebrow from twitching, huddling closely with the others as they watched the woman enter the control room of the summoning chamber after the young Master.

"Nice place," Aoko remarked with a whistle. "You think a girl just landed on the Enterprise or something."

"The what?" Gohan asked, turning to her. Aoko raised a puzzled eyebrow.

"You know," she said with a tilt of her head. "Star Trek?"

Gohan stared at her. "I don't know what that is. Sorry."

Aoko blinked before shrugging, figuring that the boy was not unlike most magi. She then swept her eyes over the room until they landed on the Chaldeans, and her face seemed to light up upon spotting a certain blonde. "Kirschtaria Wodime," she called in recognition, putting her hands around her waist, a small smile developing on her lips. "As I live and breathe. It has been a long time."

Pepe brought a clenched hand to his mouth, turning his head away from the drama that was about to unfold. "Aozaki Aoko," the blonde said her name in turn, with probably a bit more bite than was needed. "To you, perhaps, but to me, it's only been a few years since Marisbury and I thought it prudent to recruit you. You may remember how that turned out."

"Do I?" Aoko asked, cupping her chin in thought before shrugging again and clasping her hands behind her head. "Must have been me from another timeline."

Kirschtaria rolled his eyes, but decided to focus on more pressing matters instead of dwelling. "I assume you have already been made aware of why you are here?"

"Yep," Aoko replied brightly, her eyes wandering once more. "The Throne filled me all in. Nothing like saving the world to get the old adrenaline pumping again." Her attention then fell on the young man who had summoned her, and she scrutinized him with that carefree smile still on her face as she folded her arms over her chest. "So, you're my Master."

"Yes," Gohan answered more confidently and bowed again in respect. He then blinked, his expression becoming curious, as if remembering something about his status. He looked down and raised his right hand where his command spells should be. Lo and behold, there they were, on the back of his hand, the red markings that indicated he was a Master with a Servant. They were supposed to come in three, but the pattern he found them in didn't exactly give that impression at first glance.

A single star, split down the middle, with the right portion shaded and the left a bare outline. What completed it was a circle that started at the bottom right and ended at the middle left, forming a gap around. He continued his scrutiny of the mystical stigmata when he was driven out of his reverie by the young woman…staring as well.

"Rad tattoo you got there," she commented with a grin, their eyes meeting again as she looked up at him, her form bent so that their heads were roughly level. She straightened up to her full height and continued to examine him when she blinked in surprise, spotting something behind the boy. Instead of commenting loudly, she leaned to the side where Gohan's tail was, causing the boy to recoil in reflex. "Uh…"

Kirschtaria sighed, now painfully aware of how tedious his day was about to get. "Your turn, Pepe," he directed to the effeminate mage.

"I'm gonna have to pass for now," Pepe declined with a light wave of his hand. "Sections of the facility are still in dire need of power. Maybe when everything is stable enough, only then."

Kirschtaria stared at his friend before nodding in agreement. He then turned a glance at Hinako in case she thought differently, only to similarly refrain. "Pepe has a point, and I'm not just saying that. The reports I've been getting from the engineers concerning the grid haven't been promising. At most, we can allow for just one more, but that carries the risk of taking us back roughly a week when we've barely gone past the red. And within that same week? Anything can happen."

Kirschtaria had no objections. If he had been honest from the beginning, the most they could realistically afford was one Servant. Any more than that would have robbed somewhere in the facility of its allotted power, not to mention preventing the engineers from meeting their projected deadline.

Besides, having to deal with Aozaki was just one headache too many. "Let's take this to the briefing room."

Gohan nodded wordlessly with the others and was about to head for the door when - "GYEEH!"

His whole body convulsed, every hair follicle rising as the familiar paroxysms shot through him. He sank to his knees and fell forward onto his face, barely able to pivot into a more comfortable position, his form twitching erratically as the others soon caught on and found none other than a stunned Aoko holding onto the boy's tail like a leash.

Panicked, the brunette darted between the boy and the tiny crowd before releasing the appendage like it was on fire, both hands raised in what could only have been a placating gesture. "I didn't do anything!"

Pepe snorted. "Already off to a good start." Kirschtaria could only shake his head, dearly missing being in a coma. When they arrived at the briefing room, a conference table was there waiting for them, able to accommodate about eight people. The room was a clean white, a common aesthetic that reflected the personal taste of Chaldea's founder, with everything set in an orderly fashion. From the refreshment counter where hot coffee was already brewing, to the tablets and water bottles neatly arranged by every seat. Aoko observed all of this and was admittedly impressed by how professional it all seemed, but nothing she hadn't experienced before whenever she had to report to the Clock Tower for jobs or just the general visit, which wasn't often.

Everyone soon took their seats as the lights dimmed, followed by cropping up of several blue holographic panels over the table showing the information pertaining to the Singularity.

"Singularity F," Kirschtaria began as he traversed the assembly, his staff making gentle taps. Romani and Caster stood off to the side in silence, content to simply observe the proceedings. "As most of you may already know, the crux of our mission is to investigate a divergence in the year 2004, which happens to be the same year as the Holy Grail War." He paused with a sharp tap of his staff. "The only Holy Grail War that ever took place based on proper history. At least in our timeline."

Aoko, who sat next to Gohan, carefully examined the holograms that showed the information and pictures of Fuyuki from the year 2004. Her young Master did the same with due diligence. Glancing down, she picked up the tablet that had been lying in front of her and tapped the screen open, and was greeted by an already open PDF of the same information, likely for her to have a more thorough grasp of the mission. Glancing back at the holograms, she could make out a series of attached photographs, one of which showed a broad backdrop of Fuyuki City, bringing back memories of her wanderings and occasional visits during her lifetime.

"Along with six others, Marisbury would be chosen as a Master to participate in this Grail War, becoming a focal point in Chaldea's transition from a humble observatory to the organization now dedicated to protecting the Human Order, all made possible by his emergence victorious. With the power of the Grail, he was able to secure the funds and resources necessary to finance this grand ambition."

"A little late on the eulogy there, Kirscht," Pepe piped up, his right hand tapping rhythmically on the armrest of his own swivel chair. "Marisbury would be tickled pink if he was still here."

Instead of an admonishment, this elicited only a slight snort from Kirstcharia. "True. But the mission requires a thorough understanding of what exactly a Singularity is and why it's dangerous to all involved." He looked at their newest and youngest member in particular as he continued to speak. "Due to what we suspect to be the influence of a corrupted Grail, the war in our timeline, which happens to coincide with that of a parallel Grail war, is slowly merging into an entirely new but abnormal sequence of events, far from their intended paths. To put it simply, a Lostbelt, an entirely new timeline that the Quantum Time Lock no longer recognizes as aligning with proper history."

Aoko sighed as she scrolled through the files on her tablet. "In other words, both timelines will go bye-bye if we don't get our hands on this broken Grail."

Gohan was similarly shaken, having studied the Quantum Time Lock at Kirshtaria's behest to get a better idea of what was really at stake, a clearer picture of Chaldea's overall mission. Did such a system perhaps exist in his multiverse? "So," he began, "me and Aozaki-san... are going to rayshift back to 2004 and win this Grail War?"

Kirshtaria shared a look with Romani and Caster. "If only it were that simple," the blonde said with a slight shake of his head. "According to the calculations we ran on the Singularity, the merger was already underway as soon as the corrupted Grail made contact with the past, triggering the so-called Human Incineration Incident, the extinction of all life on Earth."

Gohan clenched his jaw, having heard accounts of the various timelines the Returners came from as part of a previous briefing, with the incineration of humanity, of everything, itself being inevitable in order to set in motion the events that would lead to the restoration of humanity at Chaldea's hands. "The Fuyuki you will rayshift to will be little more than a ravaged shell of its former glory." As the director said this, the images and information on the holograms were replaced, showing the once beautiful city of Fuyuki now in ruins. A dark and ashen hellscape, with smoldering remnants that no longer clung to a shred of life.

Gohan bristled. "All this... all because Flauros couldn't accept humans for what they are?"

"I'm afraid this is about much more than just Flauros, Wùfàn," Kirschtaria boomed as he approached, and Gohan spun around in his chair to face the blonde. "For he was merely the prelude to a much larger conspiracy by the true mastermind behind the incineration, the one who originally tasked him with implanting the Grails at their respective checkpoints in history to create the other Singularities. The false Solomon. An Evil of Humanity, Beast I, or more commonly known to us as 'Goetia'."

A thought came to Gohan as images of this Goetia began to flood the screens. "But wait," he began, "I... killed Flauros. Doesn't that mean he can't do anything in the past?"

"We have considered that possibility, Wùfàn," Kirschtaria revealed. "But Goetia is far from a fool, nor would he be so complacent. What do you think he will do now that he's been robbed of his herald?"

Gohan's expression darkened. "Exactly," Kirstcharia explained. "Practically anything can happen at this point, which is why we need to be at our most vigilant right now. In all other timelines, the one constant has been the sabotage of Chaldea, resulting in the death of all but one of the Masters. With your arrival, this tragedy has been averted, if not mitigated. Fate has been tampered with, making this point in time a significant divergence."

"Thanks in no small part to the wizard Marshall," Pepe cheerfully reminded them. "One wonders what it is about this timeline that's so special that he's acting at all."

Aoko looked up from her tablet and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Zelretch? What the hell has that geezer been up to this time?"

"To be up to date, Aozaki, you can refer to your tablet regarding recent events," Kirschtaria sniped at her. "As well as properly acquainting yourself with your Master."

Master and Servant exchanged glances, the latter wearing a small smile. "Sorry about your tail earlier, kid."

Gohan just shook his head. "It's okay. You were just curious."

"Hm," Aoko hummed to herself as she looked him over, her arms crossed and her tablet still in her hand. "I get the feeling that you're not from around here."

Gohan returned her gaze with a wry grin. "You... could say that."

The rest of the early morning was dedicated to preparing for the Singularity, with a window of about two hours and thirty minutes to give both Gohan and Aoko some much-needed breathing room. The latter, who decided to kill some of that time by catching up on recent events, later found herself meeting her Master in the cafeteria, where she found him having breakfast, which, judging by the pile of bowls left in the boy's wake, consisted of a small feast. "Well, that certainly checks off the 'big appetite' part," she thought. "Hey, kid."

Gohan looked up from his fifth serving of Katsudon, the crispness and flavor of the pork cutlet relentlessly stimulating his palate. When it came to his personal taste in food, Gohan had always been partial to his mother's cooking, as any good son would be, with Mr. Popo coming in a close second after his training in the Room of Spirit and Time, but when Mr. Musik served him that first bowl and he took that first bite, it was as if a long dormant part of his taste buds had experienced some sort of awakening. To put it more succinctly, it was like wearing a fresh pair of socks on the first winter morning back on Mt. Paozu.

Combined with the steaming hot rice cooked to perfection, the mouthfeel alone harmonizing perfectly with the moist egg and onions, it was paradise in a bowl. The garnish of diced nori definitely didn't hurt. "Ah, Aozaki-san," Gohan greeted after swallowing a mouthful. "Are you here for some lunch?"

Aoko snorted, a grin dancing across her lips. "Thanks, but Servants don't actually need to eat food."

"Well," Gohan began, already knowing this particular detail, since Servants were not really 'alive' in the traditional sense. Through his studies, Servants could eat and drink, but it was more out of habit and personal enjoyment. In addition, their bodies functioned differently from normal humans in that whatever they consumed was simply digested into additional mana. Whether it was enough to supply the Servant was a matter of what class they were summoned in and their parameters, but there were, of course, exceptions. "Just because you don't need to, doesn't mean you can't. It's really good."

"I'm sure," Aoko conceded with a chuckle. "What with you scarfing it all down like that."

Some color came to Gohan's cheeks. "Is there something you want to discuss? About our mission?"

Instead of answering, Aoko just stared at the boy with an unreadable expression, one hand cupping her head as she propped one elbow on the table. Gohan's eyebrows creased, waiting for the young woman to speak or elaborate, but she just continued to stare, sweeping her eyes over him in an increasingly familiar manner, similar to the other staff members. Eventually, she did. "So, you're an alien? Or your dad's an alien?"

Gohan fought back his discomfort as the woman held his gaze. "Yeah. And my mother is human."

Aoko was quiet as she continued her scrutiny, which only made him more uncomfortable the longer she did it. "You don't look green."

"...Excuse me?"

"Sorry," Aoko intoned apologetically as she pulled her upper body back to relieve the tension. "Forget I said anything."

"...If you think that I actually have green skin on account of my alien heritage, you might as well look elsewhere," Gohan said. "Namekians for one, but not Saiyans."

That seemed to get the attention of the young woman, who looked to be no older than a high school student. She gave him a more intense look as she leaned back against the table. "Yeah, the report mentioned a bit of that as well. I've never been that much of a mage like my sister, so that's more her thing, but I know enough that a race of aliens with both magic and technology would cause quite a stir in the Moonlit World."

"Uh, right," Gohan replied. "You read the whole report on your tablet, correct?"

"Yeah, well, I'd rather hear things straight from the horse's mouth," Aoko shrugged. "Not that... you're a horse or anything..." She sighed, sinking into her seat. "I know, I know. Awkward."

A small smile appeared on Gohan's face. "It's just... it's not every day that you get to meet aliens from outer space. Although in your case, you were..."

"Born on Earth," Gohan finished. "Or at least my Earth. And, yes, going into space and meeting aliens can be quite an experience." His eyes dropped to the table. "If... they're not trying to kill you, that is."

"Yeah, I read about that, too," Aoko revealed. "So you went to an alien planet, waged war against an alien crime syndicate, just to get your hands on a bunch of alien knick knacks to wish your dead friends back."

"That's... pretty much a way to sum it up," Gohan agreed with the summary.

"Man, I wish something that exciting happened in my day," Aoko said with a sigh. "Going into space, fighting bad guys, saving the day."

Gohan kept his smile, but his features still betrayed some of his discomfort, which the brunette didn't miss. "Sorry," Aoko apologized. "It's... always been something of a passion of mine. Space, I mean. Seeing the stars up close, walking on the moon, all that stuff. I didn't mean to dredge up any unwanted memories."

"It's okay," Gohan said truthfully, as he had no problem telling Chaldea about his experiences. "It... wasn't all bad. Yes, we were in over our heads, but in the end, we were able to save the Namekians and our friends."

Aoko's smile widened a bit. When she had seen the boy for the first time, she had been thrown off by how young he actually was, but she reckoned that there wasn't really an age restriction when it came to being a Master. But it was his demeanor that made the most impression on her, because she could see some of the same qualities she could recall from Shiki.

Reading the boy's account, however, had disabused her of that notion. Since he was a boy no older than a toddler, when he should have spent most of his time in a hoikuen, her Master had fought for his life, endured hellish training that would break a lesser man, and been plunged into harrowing danger with the fate of his entire world and that of another at stake. She was initially of the belief that she could find a potential student in the young man, but from what she had come to learn, it seemed that he was the one who may have a thing or two to teach her instead.

"So," Aoko began again, "you wanna know what the deal is with me?"

Gohan tilted his head thoughtfully. "Uh, well, I read a bit of your profile on the tablet I got from the conference room, but," he paused, his cheeks gaining a little color, "I got hungry and made a stop here for a snack."

Aoko shifted her gaze from the boy to the stack of bowls on the table, a sharp eyebrow raised. This elicited a meek chuckle from the Half-Saiyan, who understood that it certainly didn't look like a mere 'snack' to her. "I'm not exactly a legendary or historical hero," Aoko said after collecting herself. "God knows how I got into the Throne, but it's probably just one of those things that happen for whatever reason."

"Uh, so does that mean...?"

"Yes," Aoko nodded. "Unless the incineration hasn't happened yet, the current me, or maybe just a version of me, is still alive out there. Which, I won't lie, feels weird, all things considered."

"That sounds familiar," Gohan empathized with a shrug. "Not personally, but..."

"Yeah, this Piccolo your file made mention," Aoko finished. "I have to say, his story sounds pretty crazy, even by my standards." Almost none of the information about the Half-Saiyan was classified to her, at least as far as being his Servant was concerned. Kirchstaria had allowed that much in order to properly account for the boy's unique circumstances, as well as to best avoid any potential hiccups they might come across along the way going forward. "Of course, that doesn't take into account that your world also happens to have magic, gods, demons, and dinosaurs. Hell, knowing all that, aliens just don't seem to have that much oomph in comparison."

"Well, I've lived in that kind of world all my life," Gohan thought. "So I guess it's not that strange to me."

Aoko snorted. "I bet. What I wouldn't give to tell the guys about all this."

"Guys?" Gohan repeated with a blink, splitting his attention between his Servant and his food, resuming in his meal.

"My friends," Aoko trailed off with a bit of nostalgia. "I wonder what they're doing right now. Where they are..." Her eyes wandered, memories of her past flooding in. In life, she rarely, if ever, reminisced during her travels, as contact with old friends and family (with the exception of one in particular) was only a letter or phone call away.

Gohan grew curious. "You could always call them."

Aoko shook her head. "We're practically in the middle of nowhere. Besides, if everything goes the way Chaldea thinks it will, the world's going to be a wasteland anyway."

Her Master bristled uncomfortably. "We are working to fix that, aren't we?"

Aoko smiled. "That we are. So, how exactly did you get here?"

"Mr. Schweinorg-"

Aoko cut him off with a snort. "Mr. Schweinorg?"

"Yes?" Gohan said questioningly. "That's…his surname, right?"

"It is, but he mostly goes by 'Zelretch'," Aoko explained. "As that is also how the Second Magic is referred to other than Kaleidoscope."

"Second Magic?" Gohan echoed. "Yeah, he did mention that being his form of magic."

"And it is magic," Aoko clarified. "True Magic. It's how he's able to traverse through different worlds and timelines. A feat that no other magus, living or otherwise, is able to thoroughly replicate. At least perfectly. That's a large part as to why he's such a bigshot at the Clock Tower, among other things he's known for. So, he made a stop in your world?"

"Yeah," Gohan answered with a nod. "He came to our world looking for someone who could help here at Chaldea."

"And he chose you?"

"Well, not at first," Gohan admitted. "Actually, we had to decide who could go with him before I volunteered."

Aoko's eyebrows furrowed. "And... your family just let you?"

Gohan paused as he was about to bite into another piece of his remaining katsudon. "Yeah," he answered simply, taking the brunette slightly aback.

"Couldn't... they have sent someone older?" Aoko wondered aloud. "I mean, no offense to you, kid, but..."

Gohan smiled despite himself. "I understand, Aozaki-san. Ideally, we would have had my dad go, but…"

"Yeah," Aoko understood after coming across that and finding herself having to ask Kirschtaria if every little thing in the dossier was on the level. The blonde could not have put it more succinctly that she would have to defer to the boy himself. "I still can't believe you have a way to bring back the dead. I mean, I happen to know a few mages who would literally give an arm and a leg for something like that. Or, someone else's."

"The Dragon Balls," Gohan reiterated. "It still comes with limitations, though. Since my dad didn't die a natural death, we could wish him back. He just didn't want us to."

"Your... father... didn't want to come back to life?" That was a first, if she had ever heard one. "Any reason why?" She asked with a hint of incredulity. The only ones she could fathom would accept death so easily were those who had nothing else to live for or were simply content to pass on. She still wanted to know which of the two the boy's father was operating on, otherwise she'd be making some plans to hitch a ride back to the boy's world and give the moron a piece of her-

"Wait," Aoko asked after it had occurred to her. "How exactly did he tell you if he was already gone?"

"Oh, he has King Kai transmit whatever he wants to tell us from the Other World," Gohan explained, as if it were normal that one's dead relatives just give them the mother of all long distance calls. "So it's not like we can't keep in touch."

Aoko stared at the boy with a raised eyebrow, her conversation with him only bringing up more questions than when they started. The two of them talked and got to know each other for most of the two hours until they only had about half an hour left. That was when Kirschtaria called for the duo to report to the simulation room.

Aoko went in first and found Kirschtaria and the others waiting for her, with Gohan coming in after, an idea for the reason for their summoning. "So what seems to be the problem, boss?" The brunette started to ask. "Some good luck kisses for us before we go?

"Far from it," Kirschtaria replied drily, an already tenuous grip on his self-control. Only exacerbated by Pepe's not-so-gentle cough in the backdrop. "You two have been called here to engage in a little sparring. To gain an idea of one another's capabilities for the battle you will undoubtedly face once you arrive in the Singularity."

Perhaps it was to be expected, but... "A Master... duking it out with a Servant?" To the common magus, the idea was nothing short of insane, never mind suicidal. Unless one had nothing less than the best buffs around, along with other additional enchantments to improve the odds, no one in their right mind would ever risk what was clearly certain to be a death sentence in all but name. Unless, of course, the mage in question was simply that arrogant, stupid, or overconfident.

Not necessarily in that order.

On the other hand, she was never your average, everyday mage. Not even in life. "Shouldn't the dossier be enough?" Aoko thought. "I reckon me and the kid are pretty even in terms of skill-set. Minus the flying, of course." That had always been more Alice's thing between the two of them.

Kirschtaria smiled and replied, "Reading about a subject hardly holds a candle to first-hand experience." He looked the brunette dead in the eye. "And don't even try to tell me that you haven't had the slightest itch for it since clearing the first paragraph."

Aoko held the blonde's gaze for about a minute before a grin slowly broke out on her face. "Let's say I accept. What about the kid?"

"I... wouldn't mind," Gohan answered with a shrug. "If Aozaki-san is okay with it, then sure. But wouldn't we be short on time?"

"Then we'll just make time," Kirschtaria countered. "Shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Give or take two."

Aoko cocked a brow. "Alright," she said, freely taking the bait, "let's give it a go."

Gohan wanted to request a change of uniforms, but Aoko shot him down. "Whether you're in your birthday suit or a pair of underwear, fashion should be the least of your worries in a fight." The boy heard that and nodded in agreement, because it was mostly the kind of thing Piccolo would say, and he had. Paraphrasing. The last time he had memorably fought in his uniform, it was completely burned off from the intensity of the energy clash between him and Flauros.

Without further ado, the duo entered the simulation chamber, blank and white from inactivation, but not for long. Caster would be the one to man the terminal, as most of the appropriate personnel were currently focused on the control room. "What would be the ideal stage for the two of you to fight on?" Da Vinci asked with a bit of flair, fancying herself an announcer. Mash was standing next to Romani, once again praying for Gohan's safety more than for his victory.

It would be up to Aoko to decide. "Urban environment," she voted, glancing at the one-way window as she and her Master faced each other to get ready. "We're going to Fuyuki anyway, so we might as well get a good handle on the terrain. The boy can fly, but in an environment where there won't be any clear and open spaces, that in itself can become a liability."

Caster hummed in thought, but it was more for show than anything, as she knew exactly the ideal setting. Her fingers thrummed over the terminal with smooth ease, all the while, the two would go on to assess one another.

"You good, kid?" Aoko enquired with a bit of pep, a confident smile dancing across her lips, and only then did she realize that in all the time she had been summoned, she had never once referred to the boy as 'Master'. Maybe it was because of how young he was, how he managed to evoke some nostalgia in her, and because she was never really into the whole 'Master-Servant' dynamic, but from wandering through the halls of Chaldea Day 1, and drawing recognition from a few of the other mages who knew of her reputation, perhaps it wasn't just an issue to get hung over.

"Yes," Gohan replied and bowed out of respect for her as his opponent. Aoko huffed through her nose, still unable to believe that the one standing before her, a mere flesh and blood mortal no older than someone in their last year of elementary school, could give some of the higher-tier Servants a run for their money, when the most she could accomplish when she was still in the prime of her life was maybe a bloody nose against a select number up to mid-tier. Oh, she could even out the odds with her trump card, but even the middle crop of Servants were far from fools or pushovers.

So here she was, about to engage in a friendly spar with her young Master. A friendly, non-lethal spar. Work up a good sweat, get the blood pumping for the journey ahead. No pressure. Soon, the blank white room shifted, particles of Spiritron matter began to rise and gather, forming shapes all around them, converging into constructs of light that glowed brightly enough to obscure everything for only a second before fading to reveal buildings, streets, roads. Gohan looked up to see a bright blue sky above them, the reflection of the sun shining off office buildings, and nary a cloud in sight.

"Welcome to Fuyuki City you two," Caster announced over the interphone, the one-way window no longer in sight. "Consider this to be a warm up session before the real thing. Now then, do as you will!"

Gohan was still in the middle of his sightseeing, memorizing as much of the area as he could. From the few landmarks he could make out in the distance with his keen eyesight, the simulation seemed to capture the city perfectly from the images in the conference room. This split in focus did not prevent him from casually swinging his entire body to the side to avoid a roundhouse kick that would have sent him straight into an adjacent parking lot of the hospital they were near. Aoko did not have the luxury of marveling at first impressions as she had to fluidly somersault back on one leg to dodge a sweeping kick from the boy. Riding on the momentum, she intended to use the same leg to stomp on him, but he caught the foot with his free hand and tried to twist it to throw her off balance, but she only spun in the opposite direction, using him as a fulcrum, but to her momentary alarm, he didn't let go, maintaining a firm grip that forcibly removed her shoe.

Landing on her hands, she pushed herself off the asphalt to put some distance between them, now missing the other pair of her combat boots. "He didn't even try." Her mind went back to how he had dodged her kick perfectly, only to counter it. "His reaction time is insane." His grabbing of her foot was no mere coincidence or simple act of reflex, for he truly seemed to anticipate her move before she even acted. The level of skill and talent he just displayed could only belong to a veteran, and even then, she doubted that some of the best masters alive today could even compare. And it didn't even seem like he was trying. "You're good, kiddo. Real good."

Gohan blinked before a small smile crept across his lips. "You're not so bad yourself."

Aoko inhaled sharply, her muscles tensing before she made a straight lunge for her Master who was more than prepared, her movement in his line of sight barely matching Nappa's, but instinct told him she might not be at her fastest yet. Pepe had shown remarkable speed near the climax of their spar, and only then because the man had released all restraints in a show of great effort to give him just enough of a challenge. But even without Super Saiyan, he still would have had little trouble anticipating his every move, as his usual spars with Piccolo could be even more intense. Aozaki Aoko, by virtue of being a Servant, was much faster and stronger than a human, even with the enhancements of magecraft. A fundamental weakness that they could overcome, but usually through great sacrifice. Mages, for all the power they possessed, still paled in comparison to the truly mystical and divine from his studies of the Moonlit World.

Perhaps in the future he could help Kirschtaria and the others remedy that.

He deflected a left hook with a single flick of his wrist, swatted away a right cross with the back of his hand, and hooked the next left between his elbow and knee, giving him an opening to catch her on the chin with an uppercut, only for her to snap her head back at the last second to avoid most of the damage. He released his hold to block an incoming kick from the side with his elbow, but something was different now, the girl adding just a bit more power. Another series of kicks gradually forced him onto his back foot, the ensuing strength of each one more intense than the last. He still grabbed hold of a leg with both hands, before letting go at a precise instant to throw her off balance for real, causing her to stumble back.

From there, it was Gohan's turn to shoot forward, forcing the woman onto the defensive with each of his quick but precise jabs, hooks, and kicks, each delivered with the accumulated experience from past training sessions and battles. Aoko tried to steady her breathing, to keep her center stable as she parried, dodged, and countered, grappling for the right rhythm that she could latch onto for the clutch, but against such an opponent with the strength and speed to actually challenge a Servant head on, she could do nothing but-

"Hm?" Gohan's eyes widened a fraction as he felt a sudden yet familiar premonition, and he jerked his body to avoid the Ki blast that would have hit him on the shoulder. It traveled at the speed of a bullet before veering into a building on the other side of the road from the hospital, the ball of energy exploding as soon as it crashed through the window. Why exactly they were situated in such an area, only Caster could say, though Gohan could guess that it was a means for them to practice caution.

"What do you think?"

Gohan turned to the voice as shards of glass rained down on them, the simulation so vivid as to follow actual physics. He found Aoko standing calmly from across him, hands placed on her hips, a proud smile etched across her features. "I saw the footage."

"Footage?" Gohan echoed in question.

"Of you fighting Lev," Aoko clarified, her gaze once again wandering as she trailed off. "Or…the guy that used to be Lev. I was thinking I could try to compare. Maybe see if I could hold a candle." She lifted her right hand in a familiar gesture, palm facing up, where a blue ball of Ki or Od soon came to life. "Just like you, I use raw Od instead of converting it into magical energy to cast magecraft, though only because I suck as an actual mage."

Gohan's face furrowed in curiosity. "That's right," Aoko continued. "Even in my later years, I was always just an inferior mage compared to all those stuck-ups at the Clock Tower. Not that I ever really cared. I'm terrible at all that thaumaturgical theory and other fancy stuff, but I can still do simple expressions of magecraft and the most basic of basics, and that's about it. Reinforcement? Sure. Hypnosis? Tricky, but doable." The Ki ball in her hand grew by a tiny fraction and Gohan, his senses flaring, began to pick up a sound.

A very clear sound that reminded him of high friction, or the grinding of a high-speed turbine. He had rarely heard such a sound in his life, so much so that it made his eardrums itch. He was more than certain that it was coming from Aoko when lines began to appear on the arm holding the Ki Ball, blooming into runic circles that spun around the limb, her own circuits activated. "The one thing I excel at above all else, however... is destruction." Moving that same arm into position, she took aim at her Master... and fired.

It flew at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye. But to Gohan, he merely deflected it as if he were swatting away one of his father's casual blasts, but Aoko anticipated that, having seen all of the footage of his fight with Lev. With a timely snap of her finger, before the energy could get within a meter away from him, it exploded. The blast was powerful enough to level the entire corner of the street Gohan was standing on.

Far from complacent, Aoko quickly dodged a barrage of Ki blasts from above as Gohan fired at her, the Half-Saiyan camouflaged by the smoke from the conflagration. She sprinted in random directions, making sharp turns to avoid the volley of shots that matched, if not surpassed, her own in speed and power, until she reached a building and jetted up its wall, then turned toward the source to unleash a barrage of her own into the smoke, which cleared enough to show Gohan dodging and deflecting her attack. He focused Ki in both hands after deflecting one and fired another energy ball, forcing Aoko to jump off the building and land back on the street before it could hit, but Gohan made a quick gesture with his right hand just as the ball was about to do so, telekinetically redirecting it to follow his Servant.

She gaped in surprise, for even she was incapable of remotely controlling her bullets in mid-flight. Her mind racing, she poured more Od into her hands faster than her circuits could rotate, desperately trying to meet his attack with her own. She fired just as the orb was within reach, the connecting energies detonating in a much larger explosion that shook the entire block. Aoko used the kinetic energy to propel herself back until she landed on both feet, parts of her clothes ripping to expose some of her skin as she skidded across the rough asphalt.

Gohan then raced down to finish the spar, but the brunette was nothing if not resilient.

As the carnage unfolded along the now ravaged town, she barely allowed a right hook to land had she not stopped the momentum by his wrist and elbow, then whipped her left leg to collide with the boy's side, barreling him a good distance before catching himself just inches from the now ruined road. Lunging at her opponent, Gohan ducked from a side kick and tried to grab the leg, but in her drawn back right hand, she fired another magic bullet that smothered him, hitting the mark and drawing out a painful cry. Not confident in her victory, she landed to deliver a devastating front kick that connected with the boy's chin, flinging him back and allowing Aoko to fire another blast with a snap of her finger that only punted him higher.

She then stepped forward to grab the boy by the neck and toss him around, seemingly too disoriented to fight back now. She jumped up and was about to bring him down with an axe kick infused with her Od, but Gohan caught the blow in midair, the girl's surprise enough for him to spin her around and throw her against a building, her collision smashing through the wall. Coughing, she opened her eyes to find herself on her back, smothered by dust and debris. Gohan entered through the hole the both of them made and landed on the floor. Upon seeing the state she was in, he placed his hands on his knees and asked, "You ready to call it?"

Another cough that turned into a choking laugh. She looked up at her Master and could see that, although his uniform was now tarnished, he himself hardly looked tired. If she didn't know better, she might think he was just putting on an act. "Fine. You got this one, kid."

With that, their surroundings began to fade. The debris that had once peppered Aoko's form vanished, leaving the two with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the evidence of their struggle. Mash, who had watched the whole thing with the others, breathed a sigh to calm her pounding heart, the spar; if she could even call it that, leaving the impression on all of them that they might have just been on the brink of an all-out war.

Kirschtaria must have shared in the tension, relaxing the grip around his cane that had been bone-white. He watched as the two exited the chamber, then shot a look at the timer on the terminal to see how long their spar lasted, and to his broadening eyes, it felt far longer than just a mere two minutes and eleven seconds.

Mash's cheeks gained some color as she found herself having to avert her eyes at the sight of Aoko with sections of her clothes torn, enough to show the white bra underneath. Gohan was similarly flustered in regret over how their spar went, but the brunette didn't seem to mind as she only needed some time to regenerate her clothing with mana. The two were allowed some last minute preparations for the Rayshifting, with Gohan now slipping into a standard issue Chaldea Combat Suit before he was to enter a Coffin.

Aoko, having recovered after a healthy absorption of mana provided by the facility, entered the Coffin next to her Master's. However, before the lids closed on them as the control room completed the rayshift process, she saw how nervous the boy was and called out to him, "Breathe, kid. No use coughing out now."

Gohan relaxed with a gasp, then fiddled with his suit to make sure everything was in order, including the case of capsules strapped securely in a holster at his waist. "Still can't help it. Sorry."

Aoko smiled. "Tell you what. When we get there, I'll protect you."

Gohan pouted, some color in his cheeks. He then looked around the corner, where Romani, Caster and Mash came to see them off, or in case something untoward were to happen. "Good luck, Sūn-kun," Mash said.

"Fou," Fou seemed to echo from her arms. Gohan nodded with a smile, appreciating the support. They then heard a blaring alarm signaling that the Rayshiting was about to begin, and the lids of their coffins began to come down. Once both were securely sealed, a voice began to call out, "Rayshifting preparations complete."

"Destination set to Fuyuki City, 2004 A.D."

"Unsummon Program, start."

Kirsctharia was in the control room, overseeing the staff with the terrifying acuity that befitted his position as director. Nothing would go wrong in this timeline. He would see to that.

"Commence Spiritron Conversion."

Fluid began to fill both Coffins as Gohan and Aoko simply waited patiently, the latter also having donned a Combat Suit as part of protocol.

"Sūn Wùfàn."

"Aozaki Aoko."

The screen of the terminals showed both their vital signs and their status as Master and Servant respectively, the indicator between them soon changing from "Start" to "Clear".

"Cleared all stages of Rayshift."

A nod from one of the staff, and Kirschtaria loudly announced, "First Grand Order, commencing operation!"

Even before that, Gohan felt his body becoming increasingly weightless, the warm liquid that engulfed him replaced by a soothing breeze that was his body being steadily transformed into Spiritron particles. In his mind's eye, Gohan could see a bright light erupt in the distance, which was soon replaced by a swirling portal that seemed to open for them, forcing them to enter through it as they flew. Closer and closer, the portal seemed to be in his grasp, when out of nowhere, another bright light flooded his vision.

As the light began to fade, he took a deep, calming breath, preparing himself for the worst, expecting to be surrounded by nothing but ruin. He inhaled again, and only then did he feel something was amiss. Opening his eyes, he found himself standing on solid concrete, no longer held within the confines of the Coffin. Looking down, he realized that he was somehow dressed in his Chaldean Mystic Code uniform, bringing a hand down to his waist to find the case of capsules still securely fastened, much to his relief.

He then lifted his eyes to take in his surroundings, only to find that he had ended up in the middle of an alley. Looking ahead, he shuffled forward to leave the narrow passageway. One of two things was immediately apparent as he stepped out into the open, and that was that the air was fresh. Really fresh, as if he had just stepped outside. The other was the sky above him, the brightest blue he could make out even as he approached the edge of the alley, the sight mesmerizing from being cooped up in Chaldea for too long.

The other thing that truly made him pause when he was out on the street was the people walking by. Living, breathing people, going about their day like nothing. A pit began to form as Gohan took it all in. He spotted a passing policeman on his bike waving to passersby, and as if to emphasize how completely wrong his first impressions had been, it was a group of excited kindergartners being escorted by who could only be their teacher, a woman in her twenties wearing a sweater to account for the chilly weather, all of whom were waving and calling back.

None of which painted a smoldering hellhole as the reports seemed to insist.

His mouth hanging down, the only thing he could voice out to all that he was now seeing was, "Eh…?"

A/N: Question of the day: Which Servant would Gohan get along with the least?