Fate/eternal cross

Saber

"G-get with Emily?" Tohka had to mutter the name to herself to get exactly what Ingrid meant by that. "No no!" she said that while she stood up to protect more at Ingrid but she had already walked away. "Um." she sputtered off a few more words before turning back toward the TV. 

Back onto her rear she goes to watch the TV. 

Passing thoughts made her look at the ground with a sigh. Really, how was this Grail War going to end up? That was the one thing that had her worried.

------------------

Rin Tohsaka

"Okay then, Emiya-kun, it's your house after all." Rin paced over to the other side of the kitchen to grab some vegatables. "I'll cut the vegatables for the soup while you set the table." she smiled slightly as she said that. Really, she was eating by herself for all this time so actually having this 'homey' atmosphere was comforting.

Too bad it was only for a few more days. Who knew what was going to befall everyone in the Holy Grail War since all of them were equally likely to perish in the battle. 

------------------

Berserker & Samuel

"W-what the..." Touma looked at Samuel, immediately realizing what was about to transpire. That thing was going to destroy the bridge, destroy peoples lives if they happened to be driving or crossing over it. Furthermore the entire city was in danger of being destroyed by that mechanical spider.

"Huh?" he then heard the Caster of Red shout his title to get him to run.

No.

Could he run?

Could he leave those people to die against something like that?

Even if I can't do anything...

Even if I die... I have to...

"STOP IT!" he leaned down, with the buff cast on him from his teammate, he leaped straight up into the air to get on top of the mobile death machine.

Samuel watched on with a smile on his face. As if he was proud.

Goku's attempts to study the strange "fighting style" he saw on the screen were interrupted when Bazett put her hands over his face.
 
"Hey! What are you doing? I was just trying to learn about their fighting style!" he said.
 
Deadpool, meanwhile; was rather disappointed at the change of programming. He had found the show to be rather enjoyably bad; whilst the show they'd changed to wasn't really holding his interest at all. Something to do with magical girls teaming up with cute things to fight monsters. It didn't even have fanservice-y transformation scenes like that other magical girl show he totally didn't watch.

He also didn't get invested in the plot and cry when the Sailor Scouts died.  

Ignoring his yellow, italicized thought-text; Deadpool got to his feet, and headed towards his room.

"I need to go 'make explosives'," said Deadpool. "Call me if there's a fight scene!"

--

"I'm not that kind of servant!" said Ryoma. "I am a Heroic Spirit! I have fought lizards and oni and freaking bugs from space to defend this planet! I. Am not. A butler!"

The Senator snorted as he watched the teenager leap through his barrage of missiles. "Slippery little bastard..."

Touma approached the cockpit rapidly, kicking off on each new missile as they came, and in the process deflecting them from populated areas. His attack was going nowhere now. Armstrong growled. "I don't have time for this."

The large pincer-like arms of Excelsus rotated with a groaning noise. Large coils hummed as the gigantic machine prepared to fire its trump card. Two high-voltage mounted plasma cannons. Originally designed to intercept missiles and other aircraft, the system had been refitted for use against large war machines like aircraft carriers and cargo planes. Just one of these could cut clean through an Aegis class warship.

Armstrong lined up the targeting system with the boy known as Kamijou Touma, and fired.

Illya felt it would be silly to turn around and watch the tv after it changed. And actually, when she glanced she noticed it was Magical Girls, and that just made her angry for some reason? So she left the living room and found herself heading towards the kitchen. It seemed Archer was going there too, but she knew Shirou was in there... She definitely needs to be there, to make sure Archer doesn't do something stupid to him.

Meanwhile, Shirou himself was just happily preparing food, completely oblivious to the fact he was alone with Rin, the school idol.

-----------

Sighing, Ryner shook his head at his teammate's decision. It was at this point that Ryner realized he would not be allowed to be lazy with this, much as he wanted to. He quickly buffed his own body. With this, he almost appeared to vanish as he dashed his way up onto the machine as well, and then drew a magic circle in the air.

"What I seek is thunder, IZUCHI!" He fired a lightning bolt into the side of each plasma cannon, blowing them in half. Ryner hoped that would be enough to keep them from firing, then turned to Touma, "I think it would be a good idea for us to get out of here at this point, don't you agree?" he pointed to a section of river bank where no people were, having already figured Touma's own reasoning, "We'll go that way, ok?"

----------

"A-ah, I'm not..." Alibaba blushed a bit too, feeling a little awkward at the misunderstanding, "Oh, not that I wouldn't mind it! Ahahahaha!" He had a hand behind his head in anxiousness at how awkward he was being suddenly, "Um, what I mean to say is- ...I'll have a tea too," he said as he turned his attention to the waitress, now just obviously trying to change the subject.

The waitress nodded with a small smile before jotting down the order before going off to get the refreshments.

Sakura was still flushing from what the waitress said and from Alibaba's own reaction to it. It was definitely getting awkward between the two as a silence hung between them. The girl placed her hands on the table and twiddled her thumbs nervously. She needed to break the silence before this got even more embarrassing, "Uhm..." Think of something to say, anything, "Have you been getting along well with any of our teammates, Saber?"

Touma Vs Armstrong

Touma stepped on the last missile. It angled down straight into the water below. It breached the surface. A large plume of water burst up to the sky as the missile detoned far off from its intended target. "Stop it..." he descended straight down to the 'cock pit' of the machine with his fist held backward. "NOW!" with his enhanced strength and speed, Berserker threw a powerful left hook into the machine.


Metal ripped.


And the air shook from the impact.

Touma's punch dealt a critical blow to the cockpit, disconnecting it from the main body. The war machine was crippled. 

Smoke poured from the cockpit as the man inside tried to open it to no avail. Something had gotten stuck and the doors wouldn't fully open. Great. Armstrong growled. He had had enough of this...

Throwing aside his restraint, Rider ripped the cockpit doors apart himself and tossed the crumpled metal sheets aside. "Alright kid, you want it? Come and get it." The senator rooted himself firmly in the ground, assuming a stance like a sumo wrestler. He flexed his muscles, pushing himself to the absolute limit.

"HRRRRAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!" Cables shot out from the body of the mechanical Noble Phantasm, linking up directly to Rider as they pulsed with a sickly green hue. Rider growled, allowing the energy to course through him, revitalizing and destroying, revitalizing and destroying. He could feel the strength he kept inside waking up.

Rider roared as the transformation was completed, pushing back the air in a gigantic shockwave that almost toppled the mech.

"Oh," Alibaba was glad of something to say suddenly. He hadn't had any luck coming up with a new topic himself, "Yeah, actually. Well, sort of. Me and Archer have been kind of talking," He didn't want to say the subject of what it was, but he didn't think it'd be a problem if he said he's been friendly with her right?

"Uhm, other than that though not really. We have some weirdos running around, you know?" He said half jokingly.

----------

"Shit," Was all Ryner could say. He definitely hadn't been given orders to finish off an enemy servant. Currently his job was only to assist Berserker with buffs, and he'd already gone beyond that order. He wondered what his 'master' was saying right now...

Well, that'll come later. For now, he made a sign with his hand, and refreshed the buffs to Berserker. Though even with this, the opposing servant appeared to be getting rather strong himself. Ryner resigned that he'd have to disobey orders very soon, and prepared for a proper fight alongside his teammate.

Alright, how was Berserker supposed to react to the now buffed out Senator? First he made a shocked expression while taking a few steps back. "Uh..." he started to mumble but then realized why he was fighting to begin with. This crazy ass almost nuked innocent people just to get to him. "Why?" he asked while raising his fists. "Why'd you endanger them!?" obviously he was talking about the people that lived on both sides of the river.

By now, he wondered, how many people were paying attention to the fight? He didn't have enough time to look around because if he took his eyes off his new opponent - he'd probably get decked so hard he'd be flying off the side of this overgrown metal crab. 

"Tch." Touma clenched his fist... yeah, there was no wasting time. The boy charged forward with left hand pulled back. He threw a powerful punch forward straight at Armstrong's head with the buff provided by Ryner. Hopefully this could do something to the giant man!

"Archer... that's Ryuudou-senpai's servant, correct?" Sakura had frankly been quite surprised that Issei had become a master. She hadn't thought it possible for him to become a Master. It was one of the reasons why she felt compelled to go to Shirou's house to know for sure. Sadly, her suspicions proved right.  No, she shouldn't let this get her down while she was with Saber. She did her best to put on a smile for Alibaba.

"I'm glad to hear you're getting along with someone, though you really shouldn't call the others weirdos," Even as she said that, she put her fist up to her lips and giggled lightly.

The Senator grinned, but he didn't block. He didn't dodge or sidestep, or even throw his own punch. Instead, he opted for what was clearly the most rational course of action and headbutted the incoming fist. 


"Come on, you little brat, it's easy. I did it to get to you. That's how it is with your type. I could kill your friends or your family and it wouldn't provoke you nearly as much as firing into an unarmed crowd. You'd run headfirst into a firing squad just to save little Timmy, and that's why you're weak. You won't make the tough calls. You won't do the sensible thing if it means you have to get your hands dirty." The Senator kicked Touma in the gut for good measure. "Face it kid, you don't have the stomach for this."

"Hehe, well they are a little strange, you have to admit," Alibaba had a lighthearted smile on his face, "I have to wonder about their social lives," he leaned back in his chair, finally getting over the embarrassment from before and relaxing.

---------

Ryner opened his mouth in shock at this man who headbutted the incoming fist. But the things he was saying... this was getting to him now, "Oi, this isn't even a large scale war. You're involving people that have nothing to do with this. Hell, it's against the rules of this war to reveal ourselves to civilians. Are you sure you're sane?" he wasn't sure his magic would be enough for this guy, but he figured he might as well try.

"What I seek is thunder... IZUCHI!" He shot off another one of his lightning bolts, directly at the senator.

Touma reeled back from the kick. Something 'snapped' under the force of the blow. "Aggghhh." Berserker took a few steps back. He fell to a knee. The throat flexed. Saliva and vomit splattered onto the ground. "Gegh... you.. what?" he did it simply to get to him? He did it just to GET HIM mad? "You're a LUNATIC!" Touma quickly recovered from the hit from the powerful Senator and threw a hay-maker right into his jaw. 

The sound echoed.

Did it work this time?

Did he actually manage to injure him?

"I'm sure they have very pleasant social lives," Sakura replied to be nice, but she honestly didn't believe her own words. She had to admit some of them were a bit odd. Not that she had any room to judge. She shook that sad train of thought away as the waitress returned with their orders and set them on the table.

There was a lot of stuff going on the outside. Of course - since everyone in the Emiya Residence is apparently deaf - no one's aware of it. Rin, feeling the need to go outside and investigate, took both Shirou's Saber Tohka and her own Servant outside. Rin departed into town. Tohka followed as did Kuro.

"So where exactly are we headed?" Kuro said as she looked toward Rin.

"There's something going on." 

"And you know this how?"

"A gut feeling, alright? Don't question me."

"Alright, alright, I won't." Archer relented with her hands up in the air.

"Mmm..." Tohka mumbled then looked to the side. There she was again. Sakura Matou. Memories flashed back.

Her head shook from side to side.

No, she couldn't dwell on the past. 

"L-let's keep going." Tohka nervously said as she walked ahead of the two.

"Sure sure," Alibaba said jokingly as their drinks arrived, "Thanks!" He began drinking the tea right away, having gotten quite thirsty actually. He looked out the window and noticed something peculiar. Oh, isn't that a servant? Ahhhh, they didn't notice him though so it's fine. He didn't want to end this with Sakura just yet unless there was a pressing need, and as far as he was concerned, there was no reason to end their fun.

As the waitress asked them what they wanted to eat, he asked for what he thought was the biggest sandwich on their menu.

"Is something wrong, Saber?" Sakura noticed Alibaba looking out the window and her own eyes followed his. Seeing Rin and Tohka reminded of things she'd rather forget. Hope that she should have never had. She pulled her gaze away from them, instead she had the waitress take her order instead of acknowledging that she had seen them. Though, the sinking feeling in her stomach told her that they would have to fight them soon. She wasn't sure if she was hungry anymore, now.

--

Shiho had been still clinging to her aggravated Master, pulling him around town. She mostly did this to annoy him, but she also felt the need to go on patrol. She had learned of Rider's plan earlier that day and she refused to let him best them. Besides, what better way to take out the opposing team when another member was idiotically creating such a great distraction. 

That's when she spotted them, the two girls from before.The third she didn't recognize, but she was definitely sure she was a servant. Shiho gritted her teeth, she knew as soon as she had noticed them, they would notice her in return. It was all a matter of leading them away from the populated area and to a more advantageous  and secluded place.

Rin remained silent as she thought about what to do next. There had to be someway to mitigate the numbers on the enemy team besides trailing around town at night which was something she was doing RIGHT now. Would Lady Luck show her good fortune?

What am I going to do?

She thought.

Then suddenly, she felt something.

Rin turned completely around, noticing Issei and Shiho. "A monk out in the middle of a night with a young girl?" Rin said with a hand on her hip, looking STRAIGHT at the Master/Servant duo.

Kuro looked at Issei and chortled. 

"Huh?" Tohka noticed the two of them. Those two! They were from earlier today. Her eyes turned to slits. She stepped in front of Rin as a cautionary measure.

"Ah, nothing wrong!" Alibaba assured her. Wait, did she notice the others outside? No, he didn't think so. She would have said something right? Right. Ok then, that's settled.

"So, any plans for the night?" Alibaba asked, sipping on his tea.

----

Issei was grumbling at Shiho, when suddenly he noticed the others. After Rin's comment, he responded, "Three witches strolling the night away?" 

He held the bridge of his nose between his fingers, realizing things were about to get very complicated. This wasn't just Tohsaka and himself meeting each other's gazes with hate while walking around school, this was.. a holy grail war. He didn't assume himself ready for the consequences of this, but now he didn't have time to think about it. Now things were about to happen.

"Nothing in particular," Sakura said idly as she ran her hand along the rim of the glass. She was glad Alibaba had not mentioned anything about the girls and took the change in subject in stride, "My grandfather expects me to be home later this evening." She didn't specify why, it was better that Alibaba didn't know. In fact, she'd have to find a reason for Alibaba to go out this evening, "What about you, Saber?"

--

"You know how these young sexually frustrated boys are," Shiho joined in Rin's quip, but none the less stood in front of Issei protectively, "They just can't keep their hands off young cute girls." Though her words were playful and teasing, there was an underlying tone to her voice. She was ready for this to turn into a fight. Her body was tense and her hand twitched ready to grab her gun at any minute.

"Oh, is that so? I pegged him as playing for the other team." Rin said that with a devious smile. In actuality - Rin was thinking of how to deal with this. They were in a public place so they couldn't do anything hasty. That goes against the rules of the Holy Grail War. She has two servants with her - Saber and Archer, so it's safe to assume she's secure for now. This gives her time to think.

What does she do?

Lead them somewhere else where they can fight. 

Yeah, just talk it out.

"So where are we taking this?" Kuro steps up, a frown on her face. "Because I don't think having a rumble in the middle of the street is a good idea." the tan girl looked around to see people walking past.

"What Archer said." Rin looked to Kuro.

"Um, other team?" Saber tilted her head to the side, completely oblivious. "Of course he's on the other team, Rin!"

"Ah, I don't know. I guess I could just go home with you right?" Alibaba assumed this much. Before, they had stayed at the Ryuudou Temple, but if Sakura was going home he figured he could just go with her.

"Your grandfather won't mind I hope? Or does he not know about the war?" Alibaba hadn't met the man yet, and therefore didn't realize that he was actually also a master.

-----

Issei was growing noticeably more irritable as the conversation went on, but as he had no comeback he decided to change the topic within his own mind. Wasn't he and Archer outnumbered here? "Archer, where is Rider? Wouldn't we be able to get his help?" He clearly didn't know what all Rider was up to.

No, Sakura couldn't have him come with her. She really couldn't. So when the opportunity arose to lie through her teeth, she took it, "Actually, yes, he doesn't know. Uhm, he's very old so I didn't want to worry him too much. I think it would be best if you stayed in the shrine tonight."

--

"Oh, so that explains why he's so terrible in bed," Shiho remarked offhandedly to Rin's retort, placing a hand to her cheek before speaking to her Master, "Rider is a little busy at the moment. I believe he was trying to take over Japan or some other ridiculous cliche villain plot." She kept her eyes on the others as spoke, "But yes, let's take this somewhere else, any suggestions?"

"Fuyuki Central Park. There shouldn't be anyone around at this time of night." Rin suggested as she turned around to walk in the opposite direction. Tohka looked to Rin then back to Shiho. Her eyes turned to slits then lost their luster. 

She thought, did they really have to fight? Was it worth it at all? 

Maybe because she was 'stupid' that she couldn't wrap her head around it, maybe she was just naive but maybe, just maybe it didn't have to end this way.

Kuro took note of Shiho. It was obvious. They were both Archers, both shared the same class so they thought alike. A back attack was coming. She smiled to herself.

Pretty predictable, don't you think? 

Kuro thought as Rin guided them to the place where the fight would take place.

--------------------------------------------

...

A scarce field with dead trees and malice floating in the air almost as tangible spirits. It was kind of like a Reality Marble in the way that it tampered with the nature of the world itself. It was the sight of the previous Grail War - where everything collapsed for Tohka and her former Master Kariya. 

"I still don't like this place." Tohka glasped her arm and bit her lip.

"'Still'?" Kuro caught what she said.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." Tohka corrected herself the best she could. Rin turned around toward Shiho. 

"This is good enough, right?"

Alibaba didn't like that, and was about to protest but the waitress brought them their food. He began eating his meal, having lost his chance to argue.

After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and went for a walk again. It was getting really late and it was clear they'd have to head towards Sakura's house soon, "You're at least letting me take you home, ok?" He stated, matter of factly.

----=-===---

Issei grumbled, "My first suggestion would be to stop mentioning that to EVERYONE WE MEET," While he was trying to keep calm and quiet he was having a lot of trouble with this right now.

When Rin suggested the park, he and Shiho had followed along for now. Upon reaching it, he shuddered, "This place... I always felt something was wrong with this park,"

As soon as Shiho had walked into this place she had seen it, all those strong desperate memories. It was almost like actual spirits manifesting that only she could see. Though, actually telling her that would be unwise. 

It was then that it caught her eye. No one else would be able to see what Shiho was seeing so they would maybe find it odd for her to be staring at nothing. But to her, it was far from nothing. It was actually a girl, one just like the one she was going to fight. Except she was covered in black and tears streamed down her eyes. The white haired girl shook her head and tried to get the image to disappear, she couldn't allow it to cloud her judgement, but that didn't stop her from looking over at Tohka curiously, "A Berserker from the last war....? Something really horrible happened to this place because of that thing, huh."

No, there was no dwelling on that. More than ever now, she needed to prevent others from getting their hands on the grail. This place was proof of that. She pulled out her gun as fast as she could, firing without aiming. She didn't need to aim, her power allowed her to know exactly where and when to shoot so she would never miss. 

"I'm sorry," She said under her breath after she had pulled the trigger and shot at Rin. 

--

"Of course, Saber," Sakura answered with a gentle smile as they passed the park. But that smile immediately faded when she sensed the presence of other servants and then had heard the gun shot. She knew at least one of those servants was Issei's, so it meant the others were either an ally she hadn't met or enemy servants. She glanced at Saber desperately, wondering what he would do.

The bullet hit thin-air. The surface of Tohka's force-field rippled like water. Berserker from the last war? How did she know that? Tohka looked to the ground then shook her head. That doesn't matter. What Shiho just did was unforgivable."I didn't want to fight but..." Tohka's form burst into a multi-colored fire. The blackened-outfit that Shiho saw in a vision appeared on Tohka but this time with a different design and a purple color. "But if you didn't hesitate, neither will I!" the thick-sword appeared in hand she charged straight at Shiho. No use holding back.

If she didn't kill Shiho, Shiho would kill Tohka and Kuro.

That would repeat again.

THAT would repeat again.

That was something that she couldn't allow. Not for Shirou, not for her friends or her teammates. Even for them... she would have to stain her hands.

'Come on, Tohka.'

His face, his voice. It had to come back now.

'Shido... I'll do it... for you to!'

Suddenly magic energy blast out of Tohka like flame. The distance had been closed. Her sword ripped through the air diagonally. The goal was to bissect her from shoulder to waist.

Kuro formed up a bow, pulling back a Noble Phantasm in the form of silver blade. The idea was to let Tohka attack, as soon as she cleared the way she would fire.

Rin sighed in relief as Tohka intercept the bullet. Now, what could she do? Did she have to kill Issei? No. Did she want to? ... No comment. Thing she had ot do was win this fight here and now.

Alibaba heard the gunshot. There was definitely no way he wasn't aware of what was happening. He gave Sakura an apologetic expression, before pulling out his dagger and dashing at full speed into the park.

Not even a second had passed before he saw the others, it seemed the opposing Saber was attacking... Archer!? Without wasting a moment, he transformed his dagger into a broad sword and...!

The ringing sound of metal clashing on metal resounded through the park. Alibaba had a grin that showed just how happy with himself he was that he made it in time, "Djinn Equip!" His whole body was entirely covered in flames, and waves of heat were washing off from his body. At this point in time, he was a master of fire.

"Fighting a bunch of girls leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth," Alibaba muttered, but it was mostly to himself, "Alright then, Saber of Red, hope you don't mind if I cut in on this fight," He smiled, and held his broadsword in both hands. Covering it in fire once again, it changes into a smaller dagger form as it was before, and Alibaba assumed his royal swordsmanship stance.

Shiho cursed under breath as her bullet as blocked by a force field. She'd have to react fast, working her mind as fast as possible, the girl moved to dodge the attacks just as soon as they came. As luck would have it, Saber had suddenly appeared and blocked Tohka's attack. But Shiho couldn't rest easy just yet, she rolled to the side to avoid the oncoming sword from Kuro.

"Impressive timing, Saber," Shiho noted standing back up and keeping her eyes on the fellow archer, aiming her gun, "I'd give you a reward, but we're kinda busy right now." 

With that, shots were fired. She wasted no time is shooting as much as possible at the other girl. If she even let up a bit, she would be in a lot of trouble.

Tohka reeled back as soon as the new Saber had appeared. That timing was amazing. If it was just a second to late - Shiho would have already lost her life. "Fighting a bunch of girls?" Tohka decided to question that comment while she leaped back away from the enemy Saber.

Kuro let go of the sword from the bow. It broke the sound barrier as it flew straight toward Alibaba. The space that Tohka left Kuro to fire was more than enough to let loose with the arrow.

"Archer!" Rin cried out.

Kuro nodded in affirmation. She sprinted straight at Shiho while projecting two swords known as Kanshou and Byakuya. She swung the blades in conjunction with Shiho's bullets that were fired. Each bullet that was deflected, the blades showed visible cracks. She threw the damaged blades straight Shiho. They swerved, spun and danced with each other. Kuro waved both hands into the air, projecting three swords on each side. She waved her hands a second time, commanding them to fly in orbit around Shiho. The blades flew forward acting s a makeshift shield for anymore bullets that Shiho should fire from her handgun.

Two more swords projected.

Archer grabbed two more swords, leaped up into the air and swung straight down on Shiho.

As this was happening, Rin open fired with Gandr shots. Invisible curses that would nail into Shiho from afar.