The Son of the Great

[burningclaw2]

Iskander needs a new army and is having trouble recruting.

[ArcherEMIYA]

Nah Broskander and Gil have spent the last 10 years conquering the world and are just waiting for the 5th war to duke it out and decide who is the best. Meanwhile Him and Gil have trained Shirou to make his RM not only contain all the greatest 'swords' in history (courtesy of Gil) but also all the heroes who wielded them (thanks to power of Broskander's broness) so that Shirou can take over once the winner between Gil and Broskander either get to old or get bored of ruling and pass it down to him.

[Agailius]

Nah Broskander and Gil have spent the last 10 years conquering the world and are just waiting for the 5th war to duke it out and decide who is the best. Meanwhile Him and Gil have trained Shirou to make his RM not only contain all the greatest 'swords' in history (courtesy of Gil) but also all the heroes who wielded them (thanks to power of Broskander's broness) so that Shirou can take over once the winner between Gil and Broskander either get to old or get bored of ruling and pass it down to him.

Iskander needs a new army and is having trouble recruting.

To prove you BOTH incorrect, allow me to take a snip from the second chapter: Broskander has named Shirou his successor.

[burningclaw2]

So he is getting old.

[ArcherEMIYA]

Mine was more meant as a joke.

[Agailius]

So he is getting old.

Also, Waver is getting Rin in this one.

[Mike1984]

Also, Waver is getting Rin in this one.

Really?

Rin is pretty young....

[burningclaw2]

This Rin may prefer brains overall.

Also no one has disputed Shirou getting Rider, Sakura, and Saber.

[Mike1984]

Well, having all three is a little odd, honestly. Rider and Sakura I could see, but pleasing three girls is hard, and somewhat unfair on the girls....

[Lycodrake]

...I see Saber freaking out about having to deal with Iskander again. XP

[hanashinobi]

The problem is that a servant can't really act as a real master or an anchor. Caster worked around that by cheating somewhat, but she still didn't get what she'd have wanted to get a "proper" servant, and she had to anchor him to the gate.

Actually Iskander's reality marble is an EX noble phantasm because it summons thousand of low level heroic spirits that is his army so he may be able to get past this rule since he is corporal and has a reality marble based on summoning. Another arguement against his summoning though is that Iskander can barely use his reality marble because of the high mana cost so he probably would rather not have a servant himself since it would weaken his own ability to fight and use his army.

[Imaginary]

...I see Saber freaking out about having to deal with Iskander again. XP

Its probably not going to help her that Iskander's "son" probably isn't going to be as indecisive about any feeling he might have towards her as in canon. Also...

Also, Waver is getting Rin in this one.

This better be something more like Waver gets Rin as his ward. After all, Kiritsugu probably informed Waver and Iskander about his suspicions regarding Kotomine. Shipping WaverxRin is just plain creepy. Especially since there is an 7-10 year age difference with Rin being a teenager.

[burningclaw2]

Teenagers are known for making adultsbash their heads when it comes to romance. Plus it can always be worse.

[Tabron]

I have this picture of Saber looking at Shirou whilst in the shed with the moonlight shining down on her from behind (the same as the VN) only with Shirou standing up, and she says the line everybody expects her to say:
"Are you my Master?"
Shirou is overwhelmed by the image because of one simple fact......
"Yo, lighten up would ya, King of Knights?" His dad doesn't look anything like her.
Saber's face pales (if it were possible), one could even see strands of her hair beginning to stick upwards and at odd angles (her adhoge not included).
"I think I have the wrong address, goodbye!"
Saber runs off, forgetting that she has just been contracted to the man who was named Iskander's successor....
Iskander scratches at his boxers.
"Was it something I said?" he asks. Shirou just stares.
"Can you put on some pants please, Dad?"

[Garlak]

He'll have it. Rider spent ten years slowly gathering up his prana, so it should be safe to say he'd be properly knitted by the time the 5th War happens--though he'll have to be careful with how he uses it.

And, yes, Gil and Alex are aware of each others existence, and are on rather good terms. They're still Worthy Opponents to one another, and actually are drinking buddies. They made a deal, you see: to wait until the 5th Grail War to continue their battle. Zouken, on the other hand, has no idea. Waver and Alex are actually doing a damn good job keeping a low profile.

In the meantime, the two Kings pick up up chicks and start bar fights for the heck of it.

If Iskander has been slowly fixing his Gordius Wheel, does that mean that in response to that, Gilgamesh would have been fixing his Vimana?

I've only watched the Fate/Zero anime and not read the books so I dunno, but... I think Vimana vs Gordius Wheel never happened, right?

And I'm imagining that, once Shirou's expertise with weapons and fixing stuff in general was found, he was assigned fixing the Gordius Wheel as a long-term final project too. Maybe the Vimana too...? Or Gilgamesh probably went out to find somebody to fix his vehicle as a response I guess.

Or does Gilgamesh have another vehicle in his vault? It's far from impossible I'm sure. It was actually a BROB Quest on Spacebattles.com that brought up the possibility though, where Gilgamesh took out a Chariot of the Sun type of Noble Phantasm, but after that it felt real obvious.



Also. Who is Sakura going to summon here? Still Medusa?

[2Bad]

I was about to say something about that actually:

Swap out some Servants. Like Sakura for example, give her Extra Rider.

ALL THE SWORDS
ALL THE SHIPS
ALL THE SOLDIERS
CONQUEST IS A GO

Also Drake/Arturia interaction would be pretty funny in my mind, to say nothing of the further alcohol binges with Drake/Iskander.

[Lycodrake]

Meh, I'm not sure about the personalities doing well with Sakura and Extra-Rider.
And I tend to enjoy Extra-Shinji and Extra-Rider's interaction more than most others.

[2Bad]

Sakura needs a wild big sister. It's all about contrast man, contrast.

[Lycodrake]

Sakura needs a wild big sister. It's all about contrast man, contrast.

Fair enough, I can understand that.

[Agailius]

Fifty-thousand feet above the earth, the air-liner Suzuki was nearing the end of it's long trip from London, readying to disembark at Fuyuki airport.

Within the confines of the second-class section, Waver Velvet, or, rather, as he was now known, Lord El-Melloi II, sighed, wishing he could smoke one of his signature cigars right at that moment. The trip had been long, and he was anxious to find some way to pass the time. His apprentice and student, Tohsaka Rin, had somehow managed to sleep most of the ride through in the seat adjacent to his, and, knowing her morning tendencies, he was not too keen to awaken her just yet.

Ah, he mused to himself, I suppose I could recollect on these past few years.
--BGM: Fate/Stay Night OST, Whirlpool of Fate ver. 2--
After the Fourth Grail War had met it's disastrous end, Waver had been forced to take on the title of his former teacher-turned-foe, Kayneth, though he had afterwords changed his base of operations into Fuyuki city; taking up residence in the Shourisha household to simultaneously help look after Shirou, stay by Rider's side, and, until recently, to act as substitute supervisor of the city until the young Tohsaka Rin was of proper age and training for the task. Having discovered Kotomine Kirei's part in betraying her father, and his facade as Rin's fellow disciple, Waver was quick to take in the small, pig-tailed child as his charge, and to keep her as unaware of Kirei's involvement in her orphaning as possible--he couldn't risk her attempting to take revenge. So, he had created a ruse: That Tohsaka Tokiomi and he had honorably battled as Masters in the War, and he had managed to defeat her father. Upon his death, Waver felt guilt for leaving her orphaned, and thus felt obligated to take her in as his own.

It had been considerably rough on them both, at first. Having the man who had openly said he had killed your father suddenly adopt you was understandably a crucible for little Rin, though she eventually was able to overcome her previous distrust of him after years of sincerely raising her and training her the best he could. It was difficult for himself in regards to making sure he was a responsible enough individual for her, so he strove to become a dignified, mature individual at an early age. They soon became rather close as a master and student, and Rin's conviction to become a magnificent magus drove her to meet and surpass his every expectation. She had an amazing talent, one which he was proud of.

Which made it all the more odd when he compared it to his surrogate nephew, Shourisha Shirou.

The boy that his Servant, Rider--or, rather, his King, Iskandar--had taken in under his wing was also under Waver's tutelage. Shirou was, understandably, not nearly as talented a magus as Rin was, as he had no Magic Crest to speak of. It was synonymous to a creature of water suddenly sprouting wings, and trying to fly through the air with them. Whereas Rin's Crest extended back more than two hundred years, Shirou had only begun to tap into his potential as a magus.

But, there inlaid the key word--potential. Though he had considerably far less exposure to the world of magic, Shirou had adapted quickly to whatever Waver was able to expound upon him. Within a matter of ten years, he had become adept at various types of magcraft--nothing flashy like throwing fireballs or causing things to levitate in the air, mind you, but rather practical, more subtle techniques. Shirou seemed particularly proficient in the utilization of magecraft dealing with analysis, such as Reinforcement, Structural Grasp, and Projection. By now, Shirou could easily augment his body to give him superhuman enhancements to his senses, speed, strength, and brain activity.

However, what was most astounding in Shirou's development was his creation of his own brand of Projection magecraft, which the boy had coined as, 'Tracing'. However, like most of the time when inventing a new field, Shirou's progress was somewhat slow. But the lad was learning in leaps and bounds nevertheless, and he expressed he'd be ready to project pieces necessary to completing the repairs on the Gordius Wheel. His frankly frightening speed of learning and unrivaled work ethic was something even Rin could learn from.

Shame he had to train them separately.

Rin and Shirou shared a single master in magecraft, but both were too involved with two different aspects of his life. As Rin's legal guardian and chief mentor, he was Lord El-Melloi II, and visited her estate about ten times a year--he could count on her to further the training he gave her each visit. However, as Waver Velvet, Shirou was his surrogate nephew. Were the two to ever meet, the possibility of a clash was never out of sight.

He would have time to attend to that matter later, he shrugged to himself, sighing. A lady over the intercom announced that they were due to arrive in about thirty minutes, so Waver decided that it was time to awaken the sleeping beauty... well, she wouldn't be a beauty for long, as her crankiness in the mornings was something he had come to not terribly like much.

"Oi, Rin." He said in a somewhat quiet voice, though the discretion was doing little to hide his somewhat gruff tone, lightly tapping her shoulder. "Rin. We're nearly their. Wake up."

The girl winced with a groan at her awakening, as she slowly opened her eyelids, revealing a pair of deep, aquamarine orbs. "Oh... morning, Sensei." She said in a somewhat horse voice. The lines seeming to form under her eyes seemed to much belie the peaceful expression she had earlier. "Did they already serve breakfast?"

"'Fraid so, kiddo. But I managed to save you some lemon-bread." He indicated the pastry laying on the collapsible table attached to his seat.

"You know, I'm not a kid any more..." She sighed.

"Well, it was the cheapest thing they had besides nuts, so deal with it." He retorted. Among other things, Waver was known to be an advent penny-pincher. After a moment of silence, Waver continued on with a more serious tone, "You're sure you wanna do this?"

"It's my job, Sensei, as the head of the Tohsakas to take part. If I didn't, it'd be an insult to my father." Rin tiredly looked out the window. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"Well," Waver grunted as he crossed his arms, "You're about to jump into some seriously deep stuff here. As both your mentor and a surviving Master of the previous War, I can't help but feel worried."

"Even so, I have to go. My pride's on the line, you know?"

"Well, then all I can do now is wish you luck. And be careful. I don't want you dying out there. Wouldn't do for all my efforts these last ten years being wasted."

A small, but genuine smile graced Rin's lips at the comment. "Thanks, Sensei. I will."

Young Tohsaka would not allow herself to die. She would fight in the Grail War, and prove herself to her mentor by claiming the Holy Grail. She would surpass him. She would make him proud.