When Thompson Says Yes!

With Zelretch and Kiritsugu…

"Are you finished yet, Zelretch?"

It sounded like a question but, it was actually a demand. Yet who would have the necessary figurative balls to talk to one of the most powerful beings on earth with such irritation loaded into the tone enough to seem condensing?

"Of course it's done, quite some time before you even brought it here Mister Magus Killer"

A mischievous laugh followed the frozen expression of the former assassin, who was still gazing upon Zelretch's intent gaze. This gaze rested upon the special material Zelretch had begun tests upon to fulfil Kiritsugu's request of mass producing it. Which in fact he already knew of due to his visit to the Root.

"Y-you knew. Then why did you need to waste our time faking the experiments!"

His tone had barely controlled irritation, and for a man used to looking upon the death of millions and not flinching away, that was saying something. It also said things how important to him this was. The Wizard Marshal simply chuckled as he reached through whatever temporal paradox he'd stashed the SASSEF Mk.3, and retrieved it into normal space.

"It was not for no reason, though I do admit it was fun pitting it against the various cosmic powers that make up the universe" Hence, while there was a purpose, it was merely entertainment. "What I wanted to see was how important it was to you, this little trinket that must have cost you nearly half your fortune at the very least."

"I could care less about the money, so long as it serves its purpose I won't hesitate to make use of it." The words were cold and factual with little inflection to indicate whatever turmoil birthed the bubbling irritation from earlier.

"Pragmatic as ever, aren't you, Magus Killer?" Zelretch said as he began procuring more SASSEF Mk.3 material from somewhere, all of them in the same form of blocks they had been originally. Dozens were pouring from a hole in the space-time reality, into a simple brown rucksack that did not even bulge from the sheer volume poured inside.

"I never leave a job unfinished…" Kiritsugu slowly drifted off into his fading memories. A night with his lovely wife, a time where he poured out the heart he though the killed, the very first time he chose one person over the many…

"Oh? Was there a job you have not yet closed, and still trying to finish it even in such a state?" The Wizard Marshall did not look up from his task, his other versions constantly shared their experience with him, and vice versa.

"Don't waste your breath with praise Zelretch, it doesn't suit you at all" A hint of amusement tinged the words, but they were as mist and just as intangible. "Now since you know of this, I assume you know of my plans?"

"Who knows? Perhaps I was just lucky in guessing. I while I do enjoy sneaking previews of events to come, I do not care much for spoilers, especially ones as unique as this." The cryptic reply was all the assassin received, as well as a brown rucksack flying towards his face. "Now why don't you continue your peaceful life? I assure you that while I keep your son busy, you too will be busy."

The next thing Kiritsugu knew after swiping his requested bounty out of the air was the smell of a warm cup of coffee.

With Sakura…

Dear Diary,

I'm proud to say that you've become my best friend! I know it may sound weird, but everyone around me seems to either be mean or so… distant.

Grandpa is so distant whenever he's training me, and Shinji is becoming meaner, I can't help but feel things will begin escalating…

I know this may sound dumb and if anyone were to read this they would simply point and laugh at me for having an imaginary friend. They are wrong, I'm not lying to myself, and I just use this to vent away all the frustrations that have been building up inside me.

My body hurts…and even I know that such a thing would not have been possible were it not for the 'training' I've had to endure from grandpa.

Now, it's not so hard. I actually feel nothing as I step into the training grounds. Recently I have been fainting and awakening only after the sessions, with only the occasional spasms to show whatever happened. My mind may be blank, but my body remembers. I don't know how this small mercy came to be, but I hope it continues for uncle Kariya's memory.

Anyways, today I went to school after a week of re-adjustment into my new home. I had hoped to find at least solace in the childish community, but that frail dream shattered easily under the wind that was two girls. Remember when I told you I had a sister before I was adopted?

She was there, as well as a blonde foreigner I've never seen before. They did not see me, thank goodness for small mercies, as I don't think I could have help up at the sudden curve ball thrown my way. However, there was a boy they were paying much attention to I believe he had red hair and a strange look- no it was a devoid look as if he felt nothing at all.

I was in a blender of emotions. I was happy I did not have to deal with my former sister, but I was quite jealous of the attention my sister was giving both the other boy and girl. However, I admired the boy and hated him as well. I wondered how would have been like to not feel anything, not feel betrayal of family as they sold me off, to feel neglect as I am trained in a way I knew I should not, and to feel warm at the thought of the strange boy himself.

I wondered though why the three of them left later than we all did. It seemed strange, but I thought nothing of it. It felt nice to be around him.

For all his terror, grandpa is definitely wise.

Sakura Matou

P.S. Not that I will ever do something to escape this place if given the chance…

With Shirou…

He felt a strange weightlessness encompassing him, a feeling of subservience to the forces around him. It was odd, he was sure that this feeling…

He was absolutely powerless here.

He knew this feeling, it was ingrained into his very being just from one experience. He simply hated this feeling of powerlessness, of drifting at the whims of a flow he could not understand.

Again he could feel others like him around, but it was different this time. Where the last time felt scattered, now, he felt joined, merged, less fractured. He felt whole, he felt good.

At least this time his group was pulled into a more coordinated fashion through the endless pathway beyond. He was not completely powerless, and he relished in that fact.

The once- dark red stream continued to pull him into a tighter formation with the others, and once again he caught a glimpse at what he knew to be his body as the brightened stream pulled him forth. His was more collected now, and there was no way to mistake his own body for anyone else's.

However, there was a major difference in it now than before. Where he could once see 'himself' he could also see 'something else' in the form that was unmistakably his. It was hard to explain, but he knew it instinctively, and he was wary of that 'something else' lurking beneath his skin, no sleeping his body.

Only his heart, seemed to contain the pure 'himself' in it. It did not beat as a heart would, rather it seemed to be a compression of the essence of 'himself'. It was not vulnerable like human was, in fact it was quite durable, but that was nothing when compared to the new 'body' that encompassed it.

He could not help but compare it to a sheathed sword.

The bright images were the last he saw before he felt himself collide with something, hard.

With Zelretch…

"You know what?"

"What is it?" Zelretch answered as Zelretch asked, both alternate versions of the mighty Kaleidoscope looking slightly worse for wear than they had previously. This was due the fact that their source of entertainment was doing nothing but absorbing the planet, and while that may have been fascinating in the first hour, the novelty wore off at each successive hour he did nothing but that. Many Zelretch's had begun leaving their seats to sample more food out of sheer boredom. Now only two remained.

"I'm going to skip to the next part" He declared loudly so all his analogues could hear him. This of course got the attention of the other analogues, who began to excitedly pour into their seats in anticipation. "Now we start the ultimate obstacle course!"

With Shirou…

He became aware that he was into an awkward angle. There was little meaning in the up or down, orientation did not matter where he was currently residing. There was do gravity telling his where the correct way to stand was, no way for his human body to tell.

Fortunately, while he was not human, he was far enough from it to easily adapt into this weightless circumstance.

His eyes opened and in front of him was a stranger, an adult staring right at him.

No, this was not a stranger… this was a reflective surface.

Shirou scanned the polished surface he was staring into, it was smooth and shined a golden hue. It was like a brass mirror, yet it somehow projected an image that seemed far less biased than the reflective mirrors at his home bathroom.

The reflection showed a fully grown male that had an uncanny resemblance to his younger form if one were to drain all baby fat and place hardened muscles in its place.

His skin pigment was a shade of brown that was common among Asians exposed to a healthy amount of sunshine for several generations, like the barks of an oak tree. His hair was in the same cut and style it was before a semi-kept bundle of strands that never reached past several inches, but now it was blinding alabaster as if some insane metal worker had somehow infused burning phosphorous into an opaque container, which were the strands of his hair. His eyes seemed undecided upon which colour to pick, for they too took on a strange hue of molten gold on his right and frozen steel on his left.

He wore no clothes, so every inch was visible to be seen. Even leaning to the side, he estimated that the body was one point seventy meters in height alone from the top of his scalp to the bottom of his soles. His build was neither top-heavy like most bodybuilders, nor lithe like the agile gymnasts, it was somewhere in between, with the benefits of both sides and downsides of neither. The body was well muscled in all the right places, but they seemed rather subdued despite the excellent physique of the body. A quick check showed that they were yet undecided upon the current adaption to make.

It could not be described as the 'Perfect body', rather it could be described as the 'Ideal body', the difference being that it would be able to adapt to any situation approaching the 'Perfect body that can perfectly suit the situation', but never reaching as opposed to the "Perfect body that can perfectly suit the situation', but is unable to change. This was due to the instinctive feeling that let him know minute changes could be made towards the body. It could be that he would need to evade faster, thrust a spear faster or reach an objective past any obstacles, and his body would react. The uncountable infinitesimal building blocks of his body working under his direction that is the Blacklight virus, to make these instant and minute changes.

For all his true weight, however, he seemed like a well-built man weighing no more than eighty kilograms. All that mass in such a condensed frame, however, created gravitation and in such a compact frame would cause great pressure on whatever surface he was on.

So the question remained, where was he that he was weightless enough for the surface to not be affected, yet enough for air to be breathable?

Seeking an answer, he moved his planetary body into a sitting position, noting how smooth the movement was compared to his child form. Already his abs were shifting to accommodate the stress to better perform again should the need arise.

Looking around, he saw the world he had come into and realized that this was Zelretch's work.

For whoever could locate such a distorted world within the uncountable folds in between dimensions but the Kaleidoscope himself?

Behind him was an infinite wall of polished brass that stretched on to the sides and the sky. He stood upon its only platform, a raised dais with an all-encompassing view of the world before him.

The winds blew wildly, but that was given to the fact that the opposing temperatures created immense currents as they clashed. Far below him was an ocean of Magma that flowed as freely as any viscous fluid, yet even from the distance he was viewing that made it look like a flowing, red desert, he could feel the immense heat wash over his skin.

Far above him was a white haze that chilled him even as he looked upon it, it was frozen air. The cold went down while the warm went up. This conflict created the terribly powerful drafts he had to continuously resist.

Even as his body began to quickly adapt to the environment of contradicting elements and harsh wind pressures there was yet another, or rather a whole lot of obstacles left.

In fronts of his eyes, above the ocean of fire and Icy air was a levitating platform of obstacles, traps and mazes. Razor sharp axes swing in a pendulum arc over platforms no wider that the flat of a blade, with a tempo comparable to a great Maestro. Impossible-looking traps awaited him, and that was only before the entrance into the maze far, far off in the distance. There was only one entry point and it branched out to several different locations.

This was certainly going to be difficult for sure, but if it meant protecting the smiles of those he loved, then he would do so, no matter how irrelevant it seemed.

First he took a step to the middle beam, noticing how his once initial forward wobble shifted into a normal-paced walk over the course of several steps. His steps quickened, and his feet strayed less from the edge and approached the centre of the beam.

He arrived upon the first obstacle course, the chaotic tempo of razor axes barring his path for several meters at a time. He could not simply jump over as their length toward into the icy clouds above, and the way down was sealed by a massive wheel rotating underneath whose only gap disappeared just as the massive pendulum struck the platform enough to destabilize anything on it.

Fortunately, his body had already developed stability enough that it was comparable to standing on a flat ground as things were now. He would not be thrown off without first getting through the first one at least.

As well as the dozen or so variations of it afterwards…

With Zelretch…

"Ha! This is entertainment, it took a while, but I found that little location after shifting through several dimensions where particularly Deities of crafting tended to congregate. This is what I found!"

"Oh, I see, is there a name for it?

"Not that I know of, only that it is one of a kind, a Deities sandbox for their prototypes if you will, a testing ground. I shall simply refer it as Trap for convenience sake!'

"Such a great Idea I have!"

"Indeed, I was very lucky to find such a thing. Now let us continue to enjoy!"

With Blacklight Shirou…

The obstacles were strange, they stretched from bladed instruments to the landscape itself. Oddly enough though, he had the constant feeling that none of them were incomplete. Rotating axes that spanned the entire sky were sometimes deformed, the beams that made the walkway had vital components that were essentially missing. Yet everything kept working as it was intended to, even though it was structurally impossible to do so.

Every obstacle made him stronger though.

With each axe he passed through successfully, his reflexes became better, to the point where they were almost precognitive upon experiencing each of their constant, if variable oscillations.

With each step he took upon the narrow beam separating him from certain incineration, his sense of balance and natural rhythm increased, now it was like walking on a wide, flat ground. He had no fear of tripping over.

Sometimes the oscillating axes changed their speeds, once, twice and thrice he had seen it happen, and all of them had enough impact to very nearly throw off his planetary mass had it not been for his rapidly developing sense of balance. His body strengthened with each blow he weathered marginally, and by the sixth surprise axe swing he watched impassively as it bounced off his body and made a reverse rotation.

Now he was standing at the entrance to the maze, whose smooth walls reached halfway up into the sky as well as the ocean. As he was right now, he could not scale these walls. He would have to manually enter and exit it. No doubt it was ridden with traps.

He looked past the rather plain gate and saw a simple hallway ending in a T-intersection. The walls reached high but the floor was just a simple floor, no visible traps were present. However judging from the size of the bottom half, he just knew that there were a great many things hidden inside.

With Zelretch…

"Ha! I've really outdone myself haven't I?" Zelretch laughed hysterically as he viewed a real-time motion his most recent apprentice outdoing himself.

"Oh is that a boulder I see rushing towards him?" Zelretch asked sceptically as he saw Shirou run away as fast as he could from the mass of rock chasing him.

"If only, it is a boulder… made of many more boulders! It only looks small since it is actually far away."

"Flaming darts, lava pitfalls and avalanches form above? I'm loving this!" Zelretch laughed as he watched his apprentice deal with each one of the unpredictable traps."

"Oh, was that Acid pie? And a storm of poisoned petals? Quite interesting…"

Life at Zelretch's was as normal as it would get.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I have entered a critical phase in my University. This is as much as I can get out right now. However, I wish to hear your opinion on whether to skip his power gathering or continue it. Now don't expect much updates soon, maybe in a month or two, Later!

Confirmed abilities:

Ability Name: Phantom Chain-Blade of the Feeding Feelers

Passive/Active: Active

Manifestation Location: External Sphere

Description: Manifests countless blades connected end to end like a chain over the skin surface. Anything they touch will be Structurally Grasped down to their metaphorical base components for a smoother assimilation into the main body. These act of analysing the environment up to three hundred meters accurately, as well as assimilate biomass in large quantities. It can be forced to perform at a higher rank if actively used. They are composed mainly of Prana but make use of Biomass when assimilating surrounding Biomass. It is costly to use, so recommended to only use when vast amounts of Biomass are available to prevent simply breaking even. Despite their low rank, they can easily tear a normal human apart without effort.

Magical Energy Units Consumed upon activation: Five per individual length.

Magical Energy Units Consumed to maintain activation: 1 per minute per individual length.

Magical Energy Units Consumed if actively used: 10 per minute per individual length.

Biomass Units consumed upon activation: One per individual length.

Biomass Units consumed to maintain activation: One per minute per individual length.

Biomass Units consumed if actively used: Three per minute per Individual length.

Rank: E

Type: Anti-Unit

Range: 1-20

Maximum number of targets: EX (due to being dependent upon users' current reserves of Biomass and Prana)

Ability Name: The Ideal body that encroaches Upon the Perfect Body

Passive/Active: Passive

Manifestation Location: Internal Sphere

Description: Passively learns from external stimuli to enhance performance, performing instances of bodily enhancement or modification necessary to prevent failure. The body will evolve with the first instance, and fine tune itself perfectly with the following instances, yet never truly reaching a perfect state no matter how many instances there are. Any modifications made are permanently recorded and can be recalled at will if dismissed due to an instance overlapping it should this event ever occur. This cannot be directly controlled, but is rather lead on by the external stimulus given to it. Example: if pierced by a piercing weapon the first time, it will rapidly recover and gain an initial strong resistance to being pierced by any weapon, but if pierced again, the resistance gained will decrease, like an inverse exponential curve, the marginal gains will decrease with every recovery. This weakness is offset by the fact that multiple instances may be present, so long as they do not overlap one another.

Magical Energy Units Consumed upon activation: 10 per Modification instance

Magical Energy Units Consumed to maintain activation: N/A

Magical Energy Units Consumed if actively used: N/A

Biomass Units consumed upon activation: 5 per modification instance

Biomass Units consumed to maintain activation: N/A

Biomass Units consumed if actively used: N/A

Rank: EX

Type: Anti-Unit

Range: 1

Maximum number of targets: 1

Omake Three: Shirou Emiya, meet Shirou Emiya!

"Master, get back, even though Lancer has fled, I feel the presence of another Servant nearby"

I saw her rush off, her face a mixture of seriousness and embarrassment as she willed he hand to grip her own blade rather than wringing his neck. It was a struggle I saw lasted several moments before she hurriedly sped off. Whether it was to protect me by not being near me or defeating the enemy servant I had no Idea. All I knew was that a Servant was nearby, and surely a master must have as well.

I speedily got up and ran normally to where I heard the sounds of blades clashing, just outside of my home.

There I met a man in red garments, tanned skin, and stark white hair battling with Servant Saber wielding a pair of Chinese falchions. I froze where I stood when our eyes met, as did he. Saber and the unknown female Master froze up as well. But that was to be expected, however.

Because it was as if I was staring at my own 3D reflection.

It was Saber who broke the awkward silence first as if realizing for the first time is several seconds just who the opponent she was fighting looked like.

"WHO IS MY MASTER?"