Morphin' Fate

Face front, true believers! It's time for another instalment of Morphin' Fate! Beta'd and approved by Psyga 315 over at TvTropes! Incidentally, I've been informed that this fic has an article on said website, so for further, more in-depth analysis of the fic, you can head on over there after the show. Before that, however, IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!

'It is true that I'd normally hesitate to authorize using your Noble Phantasm under such circumstances, but it seems that every Servant in the War already knows each other on sight, making such secrecy rather pointless. We're going to have words about this later.'

Ignoring Kiritsugu's irritation, Saber resumed what he was doing and brought the Dragon Dagger to the mouth on his helmet, and played a series of six notes, before repeating the string twice more.

Upon doing this, the sea boiled, and from the depths emerged a giant machine.

As displaced water fell from the titan, it unleashed a mighty roar that sent a chill down Kiritsugu and Irisviel's spines.

Dragonzord.

Upon the dragon-mech's arrival, the Dark Shogunzords began heading in its direction, intent on stopping the Zord before it could truly get started.

A futile effort, that had started far, far too late.

Teleporting into the Dragonzord's cockpit in order to assume direct control of the giant machine, Saber seemed to observe the Dark Shogunzords for a moment before he darkly muttered, "You should've run away."

As the Dragonzord began lumbering forward, each step creating a fierce tidal surge, Irisviel worked very hard not to get distracted by how awestruck it left her. With some degree of effort, she managed to keep herself focused on fighting Caster's Putties.

Making liberal use of her extraordinarily sharp wire and the ability to manipulate it with magecraft, the Einzbern homunculus had already cut apart a number of the Putties. Even so, their bodies were far more durable than she would've expected, and she was beginning to run out of steam.

Fortunately, she had Kiritsugu providing sniper support, and Lancer was fighting alongside her anyway. Irisviel couldn't really be sure of the reasons behind that, but since Lancer and Saber apparently knew each other and had been comrades in life, she assumed that Lancer's rather easily-gained cooperation was related.

And even though Lancer wasn't 'morphed' or whatever the term was, she had to admit he was still displaying speed worthy of an Epic Hero - every time he moved, seemingly, every Putty in his path would explode.

Before too long, only one Putty remained, which then exploded as Lancer nailed its chest emblem with a flying drop kick. Immediately after which, the Servant of Spear dodged three feet to his left as Kiritsugu tried to put a bullet through his brain.

The young man turned to face where the Magus Killer had shot from and demanded, "Dude, what's your problem?! I just helped save your partner's butt over here!"

The only answer was another gunshot, which Lancer was again able to evade with minimal apparent effort thanks to his abilities.

Lancer scowled in Kiritsugu's general direction before returning to spirit form as he muttered, "my Master's not a load of fun either, but he's not half the jerk this guy is..."

Three of the Dark Shogunzords attempted to attack the Dragonzord at once, from different directions - one each from the left and right, and another came at it head-on.

Had Saber been controlling it from outside, using his flute, this strategy may have meant something.

As it was, they didn't stand a chance. The Dragonzord promptly caught the left attacker with its drill tail and flung it into the sea, knocked away the one on the right with a backhand from its short and stubby arm, and then met the evil Zord in front with a headbutt, stopping it in its tracks.

Spinning around, the Dragonzord then pointed its arms at a Zord that had been keeping its distance. Five lights quickly flashed on its chest, before the Dragonzord shot out its claws as rockets.

As its torso was hit by several explosions, the target stumbled backward.

"You might have the shape of the Shogunzords," Saber roared, "BUT YOU'RE JUST TWO-BIT KNOCKOFFS!"

To punctuate that declaration, the Dragonzord bellowed out a challenge, as if demanding that the Dark Shogunzords start fighting for real.

In answer, the five Dark Shogunzords leapt into the air, before they quickly transformed and combined midair into a machine even more massive than the Dragonzord.

Dark Mega Shogunzord.

A moment later, the humongous mecha made its landing, completely crushing the marina beneath its weight and sending a huge wave out to sea.

Stepping forward into the sea, the DMS brought back its fist to gather power, before punching the Dragonzord in its chest with enough force to send it flying back several hundred feet as a shower of sparks burst from the impact.

From over half a mile away, Irisviel cheered, "You can do it, Saber! Kick that other... thingie's... butt!"

As if in response, the Dragonzord quickly climbed back to its feet, seawater once again cascading off of the formerly submerged areas.

Meanwhile, still on his rooftop, Kiritsugu observed the battle between the Zord and Megazord.

Saber's Dragonzord had an overwhelming advantage over Caster's individual Zords, but when they combined into that... Megazord... it laid out the Dragonzord with one punch. In addition to its superior size and weight presumably making it harder to damage, it's clear that the enemy has more physical power than the Dragonzord does.

What Kiritsugu didn't know - or rather, what he couldn't have known - is that Saber had been a pilot of several combined Megazords - indeed, he had been a pilot of the true Mega Shogunzord itself for a brief time.

His teammate had even stolen it from Lord Zedd in the first place.

This meant, that, among other things, Saber knew the Mega Shogunzord's weakness.

Specifically, he knew the location of its power source, and which joints to target in order to disable the limbs.

"You ready, Dragonzord?" he asked.

The quasi-intelligent machine growled in affirmation, before it charged the Dark Mega Shogunzord at full speed.

Which, admittedly, did not look all that fast compared to how big it was, but in reality was still really really fast.

The DMS took another swing at the Dragonzord, but Saber's mech just ducked beneath the punch before jamming its claws into the shoulder joint and detonating the rockets in them.

Sparks fell from the targeted area like an American Fourth of July celebration as the arm promptly fell limp. Seizing the opportunity, the Dragonzord completely ripped the arm out and then used it as a bludgeon, repeatedly whacking the Dark Mega Shogunzord in the head with its own hand.

"I know that being evil sucks," Saber began, before yelling "BUT YOU SHOULDN'T KEEP BEATING YOURSELF UP OVER IT!"

Then, with all its strength, the Dragonzord clobbered the Dark Mega Shogunzord so hard it fell on its back, the displaced water becoming a tidal wave that completely destroyed whatever was left of the docks that wasn't made of steel or concrete.

Before the larger machine could attempt a counterattack, the Dragonzord climbed up and began to ruthlessly rip and tear into the chest area, flinging sparks everywhere.

Just as the power core was exposed, the Dark Mega Shogunzord's eyes lit up as it tried to dislodge its assailant using its remaining arm.

Saber saw it coming from a mile away, however, and focused all the Dragonzord's power into its tail drill.

The drill stopped the hand in its tracks and, without much visible effort, drilled straight through the arm until it was glorified scrap metal.

Saber yelled, "All right, time to end this!"

With that, the Dragonzord shoved its claws into the Dark Mega Shogunzord's chest, tore out the power core with both hands, and then ripped it in half, roaring in victory all the while.

Meanwhile, Risei was watching the late-night news, when suddenly the station cut to a live feed offshore, and treated him to a battle between two giant robots.

Assassin, who had just been watching TV for its own sake, regardless of what was on, said, "Oh hey, that's the original Dragonzord, Saber's NP. Looks like he's throwing down with the Mega Shogunzord, but it looks all evil and stuff. Wonder what's up with that?"

Risei, completely and utterly horrified, gaped at the television. "God in Heaven, they aren't even trying to preserve the secret, are they?"

Assassin confusedly asked, "Why would you wanna hide the good guys beating up the bad guys?"

Risei turned to him and explained, "It's not about that! If word of magecraft gets out, do you have any idea of what the ramifications could be?"

Assassin stared blankly at the aged priest for a few seconds. At least, he seemed to be. Risei couldn't really be sure of his expression because of the helmet, but a blank stare was the impression he got from the yellow ninja's posture.

Then, as if speaking to a very young child, Assassin said, "Dude. They're giant robots, not magic. We're cool. So don't, like, freak out or anything."

Quickly becoming frustrated with his son's Servant, Risei loudly said, "That is my point exactly! GIANT ROBOTS came out of nowhere and are tearing each other apart!"

The Yellow Ranger tilted his head to the side a little bit and asked, "What's so weird about that? Happens, like, at least once a week at home."

Risei screamed in frustration. The worst part of it was that he couldn't tell if Assassin was seriously that clueless, or just messing with him.

At that time, Kirei came up from the cellar, having been cleaning around the wine stores. "Is there a problem, Father?"

Pointing an accusing finger at Assassin, Risei roared, "THAT SERVANT IS AN IDIOT!"

Assassin put his hands on the older priest's shoulders and said, "Dude, chill. It's just a giant robot fight. There's nothing to get so excited about. Tomorrow, yeah, it'll be all over the news, but nobody's going to bat an eye at it."

Risei, practically frothing at the mouth, demanded, "AND HOW CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT WITH SUCH CONFIDENCE?!"

Assassin's posture indicated a great big grin as he gave a thumbs-up and explained his careful, well thought-out reasoning, his voice bearing all the sincerity and faith in the universe.

"It's 'cause we've got the power of positive thinking!"

Kirei opened his mouth, found he couldn't even speak in the face of something that ridiculous, and sighed in exasperation, before resolving to try and prevent his berserk father from strangling Assassin.

The next morning, Waver Velvet came downstairs in the abandoned house they'd taken for a base, and found Rider at the table sipping tea.

"So, did you have any luck last night?"

Rider seemed rather pleased with himself. "All the Servants are still in play, but I've gained valuable information on them all, and I have spies across the city gathering further intelligence as we speak. Barring any unforseen abilities that completely change the situation, I'm confident that this world's finest treasure will be mine in ten days or less."

Waver was amazed by Rider's self-assuredness, before he registered what the Servant had just said. "Wait, you're telling me you've already found the other Masters?"

Rider nodded. "A few of them. That said, I don't plan on starting a fight unless the odds are stacked strongly in my favor. No sense picking fights I can't be sure of winning, after all."

Kirei was heading out of the Church for a while to go out for some groceries - partly because a trip had to be made, and partly to see if he could get any recon on the competition while he was out.

Preparing to cross the street at the light, the young priest observed some children dancing around a bishounen homeless man, who was apparently sleeping beneath a public bench.

The children taunted, "Hobo-san, hobo-san!"

Though he didn't really care, Kirei's duty as a man of the cloth - even though his current affiliation was with the Magus Association and not the Church - was obvious. With a frown... or rather, his typical expression... he went to scold the children for their rudeness. As soon as the runts saw Kirei, however, they bolted on the spot.

As 'hobo-san' quit feigning sleep, the priest said, "My apologies for the younger generation."

Then, expression becoming one of feigned concern, he asked, "Do you need direction to a shelter of some kind?"

'Hobo-san' cracked his stiff neck. "No thank you. As long as I've got a handful of change and clean pants for tomorrow, I'm good."

Kirei wasn't entirely convinced, but nodded, and went on his way.

There was something else, unrelated to the homeless vagrant, that was bothering the priest. But no matter what, he couldn't seem to figure out what precisely it was.

Not long after, Kirei was passing by a group of people at a riverside café. One young lady with brown hair excitedly asked, "So, what did you guys think about that news report last night? You know, the one with the giant robots fighting out by the harbor? Pretty awesome, right?"

A serious-looking man with a permanent scowl replied, "It's just some kind of publicity stunt, Fujimura. You shouldn't get so excited over trivial things."

The newly-named Fujimura adamantly replied, "So what if they're not real! I recorded it on my VCR so I could watch it again and again, because even if it's fake, it's still cool!"

Kirei felt despair at that moment, because he suddenly realized what had been bothering him.

Indeed, the entire city of Fuyuki had seen the news coverage of the Zord fight in the harbor, and the populace were calmly chatting about it as if giant mecha battles were a normal part of the daily routine.

"God in Heaven, Assassin was right."

It had taken two hours for Berserker to shake Avenger's pursuit the night before. Normally it shouldn't have been such a problem, given her ability to teleport, but Avenger apparently had some type of skill or ability that allowed him to track an enemy even after they disengaged from battle. As a result, she'd had to unceremoniously toss her Master in a dumpster somewhere after about forty minutes, and then lead Avenger on a chase across half the damn city before she finally managed to escape him.

Kariya had dug himself out of the trash heap and wasn't particularly pleased, but since they escaped Avenger's wrath, he didn't complain about it.

Between having been hauled around the Fuyuki business district like a sack of potatoes and having had to fuel Berserker's Mad Enhancement during the previous night's battle, Kariya was totally exhausted and had fallen asleep, the Mad Servant keeping watch.

When he woke up, he found an ice cream truck parked in their alleyway, the inside of the cab covered with splatters of dried blood, and Berserker lounging on the roof. In the middle of eating some chocolate ice cream, she observed that Kariya had awoken, and she looked imperiously at him. "Morning, Master. I see that a night of undisturbed beauty sleep hasn't done you any good."

Ignoring the barb at his deformity, Kariya sighed and asked, "I have a feeling that I already know the answer to this, but... why do you have an ice cream truck?"

Nonchalant as could be, Berserker replied, "You were asleep and I found myself with a sugar craving. This vendor was passing by, so I took it."

Kariya massaged his forehead in exasperation. "I get that you're selfish and probably wouldn't have paid the man even if you had the money, and also that you can't adopt a form better suited for blending in with civilians, but why did you have to kill the driver and take the entire truck?"

Berserker shrugged. "I killed the driver because he knew too much."

She paused for a second, before then saying "Actually, I killed him because he tried to club me with a handgun when I demanded that he give me the goods. I would've had to kill him anyway for having seen me, though, so there's not really a difference. As for taking the whole thing, what if I wanted more later? Would you have had me rob another ice cream truck, when we still have this perfectly good one right here?"

Kariya scowled at Berserker in a way that reminded her of her father, causing the insectoid woman to avert her eyes. Berserker wasn't sure of why she kept projecting her regrets with about her relationship with her father onto Kariya. Maybe it was because, despite his mostly noble personality, she kept sensing a great malice from within him, that - combined with his stern attitude - simply reminded her of Scorpius too much.

Or, possibly, the Grail had screwed with her head and kept highlighting what few similarities there were between her Master and her father, so that she would be more obedient and controllable.

Regardless of the reason, Berserker found that she couldn't take his scowl anymore, and pouted. "I'm sorry."

"No," Kariya sternly replied, "you're not sorry for your actions. You're sorry that I'm disappointed with you."

Plopping back down onto a garbage bag, he muttered, "Still, nothing that can be done about it now."

Much as it galled him, the fact of the matter was that Kariya didn't really have that much in the way of money. And while he would never, in a million years, approve of Berserker's actions, he still needed food if he wanted the slightest hope of rescuing Sakura. And while ice cream was far from what he really needed, it was better than scavenging for garbage.

As Kariya ordered Berserker to toss him a bucket of vanilla, the sheer absurdity of the situation hit him, and the deformed Master started laughing.

Cautiously pleased with his newfound humor, Berserker raised an eyebrow at her Master.

"Good grief... I'm sitting in a back alley, eating stolen ice cream with an insect-alien as my Berserker-class Servant. That's... that's the kind of nonsense you'd expect from a children's television series."

"Everything that could've ruined my plans last night, did. We were the only Masters to appear, and we weren't able to remove any of the competition. Still... we have some idea of most of the other Servants' capabilities..."

Saber rolled his eyes at Kiritsugu as he said, "I've actually met most of those guys in life, or otherwise have a general idea of what their capabilities are going to be, now that they've been summoned as Servants. If you feel like working as a team instead of acting like a lone wolf, we might have a chance at saving the world."

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes at the long-haired teenager. Really, he should've left dealing with the Servant entirely up to Iri, since there was no way that the two men could ever agree on a course of action - their ideals were just too different. As it was, Saber insisted on being equal partners in 'the team' - like the protagonist of some children's television series, Kiritsugu scoffed - and Irisviel had taken it to heart. Still, Saber's words just now stirred something in the Magus Killer.

"What do you mean, 'save the world', Saber?"

Was it possible that Saber had already dreamed some of Kiritsugu's past, and that their goals actually somehow coincided, even if their chosen methods couldn't be further apart? If Saber really had such a goal, then the Servant's adherence to his own rules only served to prove how foolishly naïve he was.

Saber grabbed a few loose sheets of paper, and as things occurred to him, he wrote them down.

"Obviously, the biggest threat right now is Lord Zedd, who more than likely was summoned as a Caster. As you saw, he's powerful enough to face four Rangers head-on - or, to you, four Servants, including all three Knight Classes - as well as fight Rider's construct to the bloody death, and he was still in good enough shape to walk away. On top of that, we know he can create Putty Patrollers - which I would've expected - and he was also able to recreate the Shogunzords, which took me by surprise."

"You know Caster well, I take it." It wasn't a question.

Saber replied, "For two years, we were archenemies. It really bites that our powers as Servants are determined by our legends as Epic Heroes. Especially since Zedd was the one who destroyed my Green Ranger powers, putting me out of action for a few months. I later returned to the fight with new powers as the White Ranger, and actually fought Zedd in person a year later. To my knowledge, that was the only time Zedd ever fought one of his enemies personally, instead of creating a monster to do it for him."

Kiritsugu nodded. He'd taken to consistently thinking of Saber as some kind of children's television superhero, and the behaviour Saber described fit with what one would expect from the villain of such a program.

At that time, Irisviel came into the room and brightly asked, "And then you took him down, right?"

Saber hung his head, looking at the floor. "No, Iri. I was at the height of my power at that time, and he completely annihilated me."

Kiritsugu and Irisviel were both alarmed at that revelation. Then he continued, "So basically, Zedd's legend gives him a natural advantage against me, twice over. And if you think that's bad enough, well, it isn't. It gets worse. Zedd's probably got Serpentera as a Noble Phantasm. If he gets a chance to power it up, Earth is doomed. And as far as I know, there's not one thing we can do to stop it."

Irisviel was horrified, and even Kiritsugu was stunned by Saber's claim, though he didn't show it. Iri asked, "Even your Dragonzord can't stop it?"

If they weren't discussing the fate of the entire Earth and every living thing on it, Saber might have laughed at how ridiculous that idea was.

"Serpentera dwarfs normal Megazords. I've seen it blast an entire planet to atoms in a matter of seconds. While the Zord was still on that planet, and it then pursued us back to Earth without a scratch on it. Unless you've got a weapon so powerful that it could potentially atomize Earth, then we have nothing that can damage Serpentera's exterior armor."

Something occurred to the Magus Killer, and he asked, "If Serpentera is so powerful, then why hasn't Caster used it already, or in the past in order to kill you?"

With a sigh, Saber explained, "The only point in our favor here is Serpentera's insane power usage. Usually, by the time it arrived on Earth, we were able to somehow drain its energy or otherwise stall for time until Zedd had to retreat, with his only alternative to be stranded on Earth. I'm hoping that invoking Serpentera now would require just as much mana, so that he won't be able to summon it. Or at the very least, it'll take him a lot of time."

Kiritsugu nodded gravely. While his original priorities had been to eliminate a few of the other Masters - primarily Kayneth Arcihbald El-Molloi and Kirei Kotomine, since he considered them the greatest threats - this new information changed things, as Caster was obviously the more pressing concern now.

Irisviel asked, "Saber, if Zedd is so powerful, then how do you propose we put a stop to him?"

Saber remained silent for a few seconds, thinking. "If he can manage to invoke Serpentera, we've lost. Our mutual legend gives him a lot of advantages over me, and he knows my strengths and weaknesses just as well as I know his - moreso because Servant system makes it so that he practically is my weakness. We have to team up with at least the other Ranger Servants if we want to beat him. Best case scenario, we manage to get all the Servants to join forces in order to take him out as soon as possible."

Looking up to face Kiritsugu, he said, "Master, we need to get a move on now, and pray that Zedd's not already in the mood to start drawing power for Serpentera."

Kiritsugu frowned in contemplation. On the one hand, it seemed ridiculous that the planet would allow the calling of a Servant who could destroy the entire world. On the other hand, the idea of the Grail summoning Epic Heroes from a parallel universe that fought with giant robots - as well as another Epic Hero whose entire strategy was to summon new Epic Heroes out of nothing - seemed equally improbable.

"I doubt the planet would allow something as powerful as Serpentera to exist... but regardless, Caster should definitely be one of our primary concerns at this time."

Unbeknownst to the pair, Kamen Rider Wing Knight was eavesdropping on their conversation from the reflective silverware that Irisviel had set on the dining table, and telepathically relaying everything he observed to Servant Rider, aka Kamen Rider Diend.

Lancer had, rather predictably, gotten bored just sitting around the hotel room doing nothing. Normally, he'd have gone out to a soccer field to blow off some steam, but it wasn't really an option, since he was recovering from his battles against Rider's female goons, and then the team-up against Lord Zedd.

So he instead, he was watching a re-broadcast of the previous year's World Cup on TV.

Just as Spain scored a goal against the UK, a slightly morose Kayneth came into the room. "Lancer, have you seen Sola-Ui anywhere?"

Not taking his eyes off the tube, Lancer nodded. "Been in the bathroom for a while now. Probably taking a shower, bro."

Kayneth twitched a little at being called 'bro', before taking a seat on the cushiest chair in the room with a depressed sigh.

Lancer smirked a little. "What's the matter, trouble in paradise?"

"I just... I love my fiancée, and can't understand why she won't seem to give me a chance."

Lancer turned to face his Master, having not expected the man to suddenly be so... out of his usual character.

Confused, Lancer asked, "Well, if she agreed to marry you, doesn't that mean she likes you?"

Kayneth shook his head. "It was arranged by our families, actually. I care for that woman more than anything in the world, but no matter what I do, I only feel as though I'm... unworthy of her."

Lancer hadn't really had that much in the way of lady trouble in his lifetime, so of all Epic Heroes in the Throne, he wasn't particularly qualified to advise his Master on the subject.

Regretfully tuning out the TV as the UK began an epic counterattack on Spain, Lancer mused, "Well, you said before that you wanted the Grail for her, right?"

Kayneth nodded with fervor. "What greater way could I have to prove my dedication, than to risk my life for the Holy Grail in her honor?"

Lancer scratched his head. "I'm not Trent, so I can't be sure, but maybe she's ticked because you're having her provide me with mana. Again, I'm not Trent - so don't take my word as fact here - but... I dunno, maybe Sola thinks you're just using her for a battery to keep me powered up?"

Kayneth furrowed his brow in thought. Indeed, that was a possibility that hadn't occurred to him. When he'd devised the revolutionary method of Servant control, with the Master bearing Command Spells and using another person to provide the necessary mana, Kayneth had envisioned it as a symbol of Kayneth and Sola-Ui working together, a shared effort as husband and wife to win the War with honor.

But if Sola did indeed hate her fiancée, as Kayneth was increasingly beginning to believe, then - in retrospect - why would she think of it in the same way that he did?

Kayneth smiled at the irony. "To think of it - me, a magus prodigy, being educated by a schoolboy..."

Lancer twitched a little at being called a schoolboy - probably his Master's revenge for the Servant's rather cavalier and familiar attitude - before shrugging it off. "All I can say for sure is, talk to her, maybe try and do more... normal stuff. You know, to make her feel like she's special, or whatever. If Trent's any indication, girls eat that 'sensitive guy' kind of stuff right -"

Kayneth realized what was on TV and triumphantly seethed, "Yeeees! Annihilate those damned Spaniards!"

One of the British forwards had just made a seemingly-impossible kick into reality, tying up the score.

Lancer asked, "Grudge against Spain, huh?"

Eyes blazing with a passion Lancer hadn't seen before, Kayneth declared, "Oh yes, Spain has humiliated us for the last three years running. You have no idea how good it feels to see those smug bastards get their asses handed to them like this."

And then Master and Servant were pretty much consumed by the game, united in the love of soccer.

Unbeknownst to the boys, however, Sola-Ui had finished her shower some time ago. She had been about to return to her room and get dressed, when she heard them talking, and had instead chosen to remain behind the bathroom door and eavesdrop on them.

To be honest, Sola held them both in some amount of disdain, though she had to admit that perhaps... just possibly... she hadn't given either of them enough credit.

When the topic turned to soccer, however, Sola just shook her head in exasperation, before finally drying herself off with a towel and starting to dress. "Boys will be boys," she muttered, completely oblivious to the voyeur hiding in the mirror, Kamen Rider Odin.

Rider examined a card that appeared in his hand, weighing his options as the information from Odin, Wing Knight, and civilian-form OOO were transmitted directly into his mind. Further, Rider was pretty sure that there was a Master-Servant duo or two hiding out in the sewers, so he also had Amazon and Shin hunting there, as well as TheBee patrolling the Tokiomi estate in a constant state of Clock Up. He hadn't been able to track down Berserker's Master yet, but it was surely just a matter of time.

The information Wing Knight had transmitted about Caster - or Lord Zedd, rather - concerned Rider. Even if he had known a certain Destroyer of Worlds, surely the Grail would weaken such a weapon, preventing it from being used at its full potential.

Still, Rider had to consider Waver's desire to see Kayneth, Master of Lancer, humiliated.

As Diend continued to stare at the card he'd drawn on a whim, a plot began to form.

Rider lacked the means to see it through himself, but if he could make use of another Servant's powers for a short while, then the first phase would fall into place, and everything else would fall into place one step after another.

Seeing the Servant deep in thought, Waver asked, "What are you planning?"

Rider didn't say anything at first, although his calculating expression soon morphed into a grin. Rising out of his chair, Rider headed for the door, grabbing Waver by the collar of his shirt on the way.

"You'll find out soon enough, Master. Now come on. It's time that we trade in one of my pawns and upgrade to a queen."

Lord Zedd sat upon his throne in the cavern in the sewers, impatiently waiting for his injuries to heal. Far too often, in the past, had he lost to the Power Rangers by being careless and/or delegating duties to his incompetent minions. However, the situation had changed. Now, Zedd no longer had time for mistakes. Much as he longed to see the Rangers' demise immediately, as much as it irked him, Zedd knew he had to wait.

There was a time for subtlety, and that time was now.

Zedd was many things. Evil. Sadistic. Petty. Proud, to the point of arrogance. But he was neither stupid, nor insane.

A sinister plan had come to mind, one that could be carried out even as Zedd recuperated in solitude. And though the waiting would be hell, thinking of the result once it went through made it all worthwhile. The looks on the Rangers' faces when they realized the scope of his plot...

Still, the endgame wouldn't happen on its own, and there were several objectives still in need of completion. With that in mind...

"RYUUNOSUKE!"

The young man came from a cavern to the left, arms covered with blood as far up as his elbows. "Yeah, boss, what's up?"

Using magic to draw a glyph in the air, Zedd commanded, "Until I have further recovered from my battle with those accursed power punks, you will have to lay low for a while. However...!"

As the Servant Caster began to lay out his plan, Ryuunosuke promptly fell on his ass. Awestruck by his friend and boss's diabolical mind, Ryuunosuke could only mutter, "So... so cool..."

At that time, a sarcastic voice cut in. "Yeah, cool as all hell."

Zedd immediately rose, readying his scepter to attack. Before he could challenge the new arrival, however, the trespasser held up a hand. "Just a moment, I'm not here to cause trouble. You see, I've got a score to settle with Servant Rider, and I'm sure you're in line to get a piece of him too. Thing is, he's got other Riders he can summon, that are as powerful or stronger than the one that put you in your current sorry state."

If Zedd had eyebrows, he would've raised one. Able to sense that he could use this stranger to his advantage, he maintained a sense of relative calm. "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!"

Smirking, the newcomer declared, "You're a Caster, right? For the small cost of whipping me up a potion, I'll lend my power to you as a weapon for use in the War."

Suddenly finding himself massively pissed off, Zedd slammed his scepter into the ground and sent streams of electricity throughout the room, demanding, "AND JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TO PITY THE EMPEROR OF EVIL?!"

The man pulled a strange buckle out from his jacket, before slapping it on his waist as it transformed into a belt and then slotting a card into it.

KAMEN RIDE:

Slamming home the handles on his belt to activate the transformation sequence, the upstart declared, "Just a passing-through Kamen Rider. Remember that! Henshin!"

DECADE!

Beneath his faceplate, Zedd growled for a few moments as he considered his options. Normally, the Caster would have simply thrashed Decade and used sorcery to enslave him, but not under the present circumstances. While Decade was certainly not as powerful as Kuuga in its Ultimate form had been, the passing-through Rider was roughly as powerful as Tommy Oliver in his Ranger form. Further, as a Caster, Zedd could intuit that Decade probably had even stronger forms as well.

The time and effort needed to brew up a simple potion would be a small price to pay in the short term. And as Zedd's powers continued to grow, so too would his hold over Decade.

Zedd sneered beneath his faceplate as he shook Decade's extended hand, sending a small tether of magic into the passing-through Rider's form.

Voice condescending and full of false courtesy, Zedd boomed, "VERY WELL, DECADE! Now then, just what sort of a potion did you have in mind...?"

Angra Mainyu, Master of Avenger, looked over Fuyuki from his perch, and smiled.

Even if he couldn't truly control his Servant without resorting to a Command Spell, it wasn't necessary.

After all, why bother trying to force obedience, when such a trivial thing was meaningless in the grand scheme?

Avenger, by his very nature, was helpless to do anything other than to advance his Master's design.

Between Saber's Zord fight, Assassin driving Risei nuts, Lancer hanging out with Kayneth, Rider and Zedd setting things up for their nefarious plots, and Berserker projecting her daddy issues onto Kariya, I think I'm satisfied with this chapter. Also... HOLY CRAP lookit how LONG this thing is!

Odin is one of the antagonist Riders from Kamen Rider Ryuki, and his Dragon Knight counterpart is Wrath. Wing Knight, meanwhile, is himself from Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, with his Ryuki counterpart simply named Knight. 'Hobo-san' is my personal nickname for Eiji Hino, the titular protagonist of Kamen Rider OOO. TheBee is from Kamen Rider Kabuto. Decade is, naturally, the titular antihero of Kamen Rider Decade.

Servant Berserker:
Real Name: Trakeena (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy)
Alignment: Neutral Evil (Chaotic Evil while under Mad Enhancement)
Theme tune: Power Rangers Lost Galaxy opening theme
Alternate classes: Lancer
Strength: B+ (A+)
Endurance: B+ (A+)
Agility: C (B)
Mana: A-
Luck: C

SKILLS

Mad Enhancement: C: Strength, Endurance, and Agility are given a Rank Up while active, at the cost of greatly increasing Berserker's sadism, ruthlessness, and thirst for destruction to the point that her rational mind is largely overwhelmed by bloodlust.

Independent Action: D: Can remain in this world for around two hours without a Master. Berserker has this skill as a reminder of the many, many times she deployed or otherwise engaged the Power Rangers despite her father's orders not to.

Charisma: D: The galactic conqueror Scorpius was held in great esteem by his minions. As his daughter, Berserker gets a diluted effect due to the inheritance of his empire. However, because she has yet to make any great conquests of her own - and also because of her early reputation as something of a brat - the ranking of this skill has been greatly reduced.

Disengage: C

Monstrous Strength: A

NOBLE PHANTASMS

Coccoon: A Support: Trakeena can rest in her father's coccoon for a period of time in order to rapidly heal her injuries and fatigue. She can also throw other people into it to achieve a similar effect at the risk of inflicting them with intensive body mutations. If more than one individual being is in the coccoon at once, then those beings will be fused into one composite being.

Trakeena's Revenge: A++ Anti-Fortress: Berserker, upon unleashing this Noble Phantasm, goes completely and utterly insane with a lust for destruction to the point of becoming a wild animal intellectually, while transforming into a tentacled hell-demon of size and power comparable to an Ultrazord. Appropriately, she is incredibly difficult to damage while in this form, though holy weaponry or the Lights of Orion can affect her much more easily.