Rayshift Mishap

Fujimaru stood in the center of the changing room, lockers that should have belonged to the other male Masters recruited by Chaldea stood at attention on either side of him empty since the disasterous rayshift to Singularity F. Fujimaru stripped off his undershirt, exposing his muscular chest, and dropped it into the circle of discarded clothing around him. In front of the young man, laid out on a bench, was Chaldea's combat uniform. A skintight black and white jumpsuit held to the body by a series of belts and clasps. Fujimaru found it a bit embarrassing wesring such a tight outfit, but he could deal with it. He only had to wear it for a short time, after Rayshifting it would transform into his chosen Mystic Code.

Fujimaru placed his thumbs into the seams of his black briefs and effortlessly pulled them to the floor. Another feature of the combat suit is you had to be au natural underneath. He stepped forward and picked up the combat suit, zipping it open at the front and stretching the material so he had plenty of room to place his foot in and find a leghole.

"Um Senpai?" A familiar female voice called. Fujimaru froze, he know Mashu's unmistakable voice better then anyones. He looked down at his naked body and for a second though she had walked in on him. However, when he looked up the master of Chaldea saw no one. However, he still heard her voice. "Senpai, can you hear me?"

Fujimaru followed the sound of his Kouhai's voice to a vent above the lockers. With a sign, he regained his composure. Earlier that year he and Mashu had discovered the vent between the male and female changing room could allow them to speak to one another. Although they had rarely used it for obvious reasons.

"Yeah, I'm here." Fujimaru replied blushing slightly. They couldn't see each other but speaking to Mashu while completely naked was still really awkward for the young man. Especially when it brought up worrying thoughts. Was Mashu also naked right now? The young master's cheeks blush until he managed the shake the idea fron his mind. "I-Is something wrong?"

"N-no," Mashu said in a soft voice. "I just wanted to talk for a minute. About the training mission. Or is mission even the right term for this?"

Ritsuka wasn't sure himself. He was still trying to wrap his head around this whole thing. DaVinci had recreated the 7 singularities they had repaired over his first year at Chaldea all to be used as a training exercise for them. Or at least that's what she claimed. He thought back, trying to remember everything Da Vinci had told them in the control room.

***

"Da Vinci," Mashu spoke, "What do you mean you've recreated the 7 Singularities?"

"Don't we already do that with the simulator." Fujimaru chimed in.

"Not exactly" Da Vinci answered. She smiled seemingly excited to explain herself. "The simulator can only create a limited facsimile of Singularities. Specific regions and NPC enemies we program in. But this one's the whole Sabang. The full affected territory with flora, fauna, phantasmals, even people."

"But how is that possible?" Mashu gasped, "I mean TRISMEGISTUS is fully capable of generating such a thing but the amount of time it would take. It's impossible"

"Right as usual, Mashu," Da Vinci explained. "Normally it would be impossible. However, we recently deciphered some interesting data from SHIVA. We'd never seen anything like it before! Best I can tell it was some kind of temporal imprint. As though the imaginary moment in time a Singularity represents has left a permanent mark on the Collective ****!"

Fujimaru only partially understood some of the words Da Vinci had used. He looked over to Mashu and saw her mouth agasp with shock. As he expected, she underatood fully.

"Th-that incredible," Mashu smiled. "So, you used this imprint as a basis for the reconstructed singularities."

"Exactly, and once we got the ball rolling TRISMEGISTUS was able to do most of the reconstruction on its own. It took a few weeks to recreate them all but now that its complete its time to put all this effort to good use." Da Vinci stood from her commander's seat and made a triumphant pose. "Fujimaru Ritsuka. Mashu Kyrielight. Prepare to depart on an epic survival and endurance test like no other. You two will be dropped into the first of our simulated Singularities where you must battle your way through your past opponents to secure mock holy grails. Each one will send you to the next Singularity then back to here to Chaldea. So, what do you say, Last Master of Humanity. Are you ready for your ultimate challenge!"

Da Vinci pointed at Fujimaru, face practically beaming. Ritsuka returned her with an oddly cross expression.

"Something wrong Senpai?" Mashu asked confused by her master's disinterest.

"Da Vinci," He said. "You made these simulations JUST to create a test for us?"

"O-of course," Da Vinci said feigning certainty. "Why else would I do all this."

Mashu's face suddenly stiffened with understanding. "Da Vinci? Did you create the simulated singularities on a whim and now need to justify all the effort and Chaldean resources you expended in a practical way?"

A long silence overtook the control room. The only sound was the occasion clicking on a holographic keyboard by one of the staffers.

"Alright then," Da Vinci finally says with a clap. "You two head down and get really while I warm the coffins up!"

"YOU'RE JUST GOING TO MOVE ON LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED!!!" The pair yelled a unison completely dumbfounded.

***

"Test," Ritsuka sighed. "This is definitely a test."

"Yeah," Mashu said in an unusually flat tone. "But I'm sure it'll be fine. Da Vinci wouldn't put us in any real danger, and it will likely still be some good training."

"You're right Mashu," Fujimura nodded, finally pulling up his uniform up to his waist before sticking his arms into the sleeves. "In the end this is just another challenge. We'll overcome it together."

"Together," Mashu repeated genuine joy in her tone. The pair, finally dressing, moved from the locker rooms to the Command Room, a large empty of crystalline blue metal. In its center sat the CHALDEAS globe, a massive model of the Earth used to monitor the future status of the world. The pair of Klein Coffins they used to assist in Rayshift back in time sat right beneath it in stand by mode.

"So why do we need to Rayshift?" Fujimaru asked looking up at the observation room where Da Vinci was. "Can't we just enter the simulator like normal?"

Da Vinci actived the loudspeaker function of her consule allowing her voice to come booming in throughout the room. "Unfortunately, the size and makeup of these simulations make them impossible to render in real-space but being based on Singularities we were able to render them in a single moment of time."

"A single moment?" Mashu pondered. "But then how will we communicate with Chaldea if time isn't naturally flowing where we are."

"Well, that's the thing...." Da Vinci smiled. "We won't. Chaldea and the away team will observe radio silence for the length of the training exercise. Think of it as part of the survivalist training. On the bright side that also mean little to no time will pass in real-space so while it might take you a few weeks to reconquer the singularities, only a few hours will pass here. So don't rush yourselves"

"She definitely didn't make the sim for training purposes." Fujimaru muttered to himself.

"Wait so for this entire excursion Senpai and I will be... alone." Mashu asked sounding somewhat bashful. "For Weeks!"

Fujimaru suddenly froze. He hadn't even considered that. The two of them were as thick as thieves but the idea of being alone with her for weeks. Unsupervised. His eyes wandered towards Mash standing beside him in her matching Combat uniform. Designed much like his, except orange instead of black, it was form fitting showing off Mashu's curves. Their eyes met briefly and they quickly looked away from one another with a blush. Fortunately, Mashu's outfit would also change after the Rayshift.

"Don't worry you two," Da Vinci teased. "You won't be alone. A Servant has been sent ahead to each Singularity to aid you. Although you will have to find them first."

Silently the two youths released simultaneous sighs of relief. Having at least one Heroic Spirit with them would certainly help break the tension. Although most of the Servants were a bit excentric, both Mashu and Fujimaru had learned how to get along well with them.

"Well then are you two ready or not?"

With a shared nod Mashu and Fujimaru headed for the coffin as they had done so many times before. As the cylidrical pods opened and they climbed in Fujimaru heard the familiar sound of the staff calling out the status

"Rayshift preparation complete. Destination Sim Singularity One."

"Unsummon Program, start. Commence Spiriton Conversion."

"Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mashu Kyrielight... Cleared all stages of Rayshift."

Mashu and Ritsuka closed their eyes and the chambers filled with clear liquid. They held their breath for only a moment as their souls began to shift out of their physical bodies and into the timestream itself.

"We're ready," Da Vinci commanded. "Begin the Special Singularity Training Mission... Now!"

A circle of light bursted forward and the pair felt themselves being blasted forward into a whirlpool of blue light. The crew watched with batted breath as they disappeared celebrating the success. Meunière spun around in his chair to chat with his neighbor. Barely missing the ERROR that popped up on his screen.