Rider (Fate/Crossover - Meta Knight)

**Rider** (ライダー, *Raidā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

*"The time has come. The time to show our power!"* - Meta Knight

## Profile

### Identity

Rider's true identity is **Meta Knight**, an enigmatic swordsman with a mask who is the respected leader of the Meta-Knights. He acts as a protector of peace, constantly perfoming heroic deeds and occasionally taking questionable actions if judged necessary. A competent individual, Meta Knight has a certain appreciation for strength, often training to become stronger and seeking the same for others, ideas alike filling him with excitement. He remains honorable against foes even when pushed too far and can relax with friends at times, but he also prefers to be alone on most occasions, is a bit reserved and proud, always fleeing when his mask is broken and his face revealed. Because of his attitudes and despite his heroism on most occasions, Meta Knight's deemed to have a "slightly evil heart". His similitudes with Kirby create mystery and his origins are unknown.

### Appearance

Meta Knight has some of the various characteristics that Kirby has: a spherical body, feet and stubby arms (albeit longer than Kirby's and with actual digits), tall and thin eyes, and also features blushes. Meta Knight also wears his trademark attire; his silver mask and his blue or dark purple Dimensional Cape with gold trimmings, as well as a pair of patched or metallic shoes. He has retractable bat-like wings and flies with them in the games. The wings' first prominent use is in Kirby Super Star, where Meta Knight chased Kirby near the end of Revenge of Meta Knight. In Kirby Air Ride, he can fly with them whenever he takes part in a race. Meta Knight's weapon of choice is usually Galaxia, a spiked golden sword with an embedded ruby in the hilt.

One of Meta Knight's most well-known traits is the fact that he is almost never seen with his mask off. In a few games, his mask is split into two upon defeat, revealing a face with bright yellow eyes (however, in older games, Meta Knight sported white eyes and pink cheeks, making him appear similar to Kirby). In the event that should he be ever unmasked, he immediately departs from the field of battle.

Meta Knight's similarities to Kirby have led to speculation that he is a member of Kirby's species or is somehow related to them. Despite this, Meta Knight possesses body parts, such as hands (since Kirby's Avalanche) and wings, that no known Kirbys have. Still, a connection is implied in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, where Kirby is given an alternate palette that makes him look like Meta Knight. Furthermore, at Palutena's Temple, Pit and Viridi can converse about Meta Knight; they discuss his resemblance to Kirby and question if he also can inhale and copy abilities. However, Meta Knight's relation to the Kirby species has never been officially revealed.

### Personality

Meta Knight is what can be described as a passionate swordsman, and a well-intended extremist. He features a quite combative personality and is constantly striving to be the best sword fighter in Dream Land. This is shown in Kirby Super Star Ultra, where he wishes to best Galacta Knight, the 'Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy'. He also seems to despise laziness, as shown by his attempt to take over Dream Land in Kirby Super Star and its remake. Meta Knight is very well known for following a stern warrior codex, and when he challenges someone, he is usually looking for a fair and equal match. Whenever Kirby has to fight him for different reasons depending on the situation, he provides him with a sword for protection and insists that Kirby uses it. Meta Knight also has a habit to conceal his face for unknown reasons. Whenever his mask breaks during a fight, he hides his face in his cape and instantly leaves the battlefield.

Meta Knight appears to be quite prideful and relies heavily upon his image as a stern and mysterious swordsman (which would explain why he hides his cute face). Despite his desired image, however, he is often brash and short-tempered. In the spin-off title Kirby Battle Royale for instance, one of the Channel PPP Crew members remarks that Meta Knight has a tendency to curse when he is stressed out during the games (though obviously, the player doesn't hear this happening). Additionally in Kirby Star Allies, Meta Knight will lose his temper if Kirby refuses to pick up the Sword given to him before his boss fight, causing him to kick the sword away.

## Abilities

A gifted warrior, Meta Knight is an expert swordsman, who is able to fight and give Kirby (assuming he has the Sword Ability) a hard time. His blade appears to be very powerful, as he is able to generate electricity, whip up tornadoes, and can shoot sword beam attacks. Whenever he is playable in some of the games, his attacks deal a lot more damage than Kirby's.

He also has a legion of followers, such as the other trained knights and his own personal platoon. Many characters (including his own soldiers) respect his strength, although some villains wish to covet his power for their own purposes.

His Dimensional Cape can manipulate space and can transform into wings, allowing flight and when airborne, he moves in an aerodynamic fashion. It also has the power of teleportation, as seen when he is defeated; he will cover himself up before jumping away off-screen.

### Skills

#### Class Skills

* Riding (B+ Rank): As an experienced pilot and trained Star Warrior, Meta-Knight is capable of riding most anything, but is noticeably better with nonliving and/or supernatural mounts than with conventional ones.

* Magic Resistance (E+ Rank): Cannot cancel spells, but magic damage is reduced somewhat.

#### Personal Skills

* Charisma (C+ Rank): Suitable for a particularly charismatic military commander. Even those he tries to kill are left with the impression on some level that he had their best interests at heart, though not well enough to get them to join his cause. Recieves a half-rank penalty for low self-esteem.

* Eye of the Mind (True) (B-- Rank): Meta-Knight has had years of experience fighting battles of a kind where those without excellent instincts and insight would suffer fates far worse than death, but he receives a two-rank penalty for the years that have passed since then and for survivor's guilt.

* Military Tactics (C+ Rank): Meta-Knight is the commander of his own medium-size private army, as well as occasional ventures as the military adviser to his local monarch and has all the skills one would expect of such a position. Receives a one-and-a-half rank penalty for failures in the Nightmare War.

* Star Warrior (E Rank): One who was trained to fight against incomprehensible horrors in defense of entire worlds and species. At this rank, functions as an E- rank in Pioneer of the Stars, and gives a half-rank boost to strength, speed, and endurance against beings whose internal and/or native reality is different than the one they are in. Ranked down from A rank due to years of retirement and disassociation from the role.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **Dimensional Cape; "The Cape Enclosed by Darkness"**

A cape which can manipulate spatial distances for a given target while leaving said distances the same for the rest of reality. Primarily used to enable flight by increasing distance between air molecules above the user and decreasing distance below, but can also be used for teleportation by removing distances between two points, and paralyzing or slowing opponents by increasing distance between them and their surroundings, which has the side effect of blinding them as light cannot reach them. Can also be molded and reshaped for aesthetic effect by altering distance between its own threads; Meta-Knight has been known to make it look like bat wings when using it for flight, and made it look to disappear when using it for teleportation.

#### **Galaxia; "Sword of the Prideful Knight"**

A golden, multi-pronged sword capable of shooting small beams of prana. It devours the prana of anything it slays, channeling part of it into Meta-Knight's speed parameter to increase its rank, into healing any wounds Meta-Knight may have, and storing the rest. When storage is full, the stored prana is released in the form of tornadoes which can be aimed to a small degree, though not controlled.

#### **Halberd; "The Warship of the Skies of Dreamland"**

A large arial battleship, of which Meta-Knight is the captain, armed with one large and several smaller conventional cannon and an array of lasers. While its crew, the Meta-Knights, are not summoned along with it due to their nature as separate sapient beings, its armies of non-sapient robots are, though they must either each be powered by Meta-Knight's master's prana individually or else find an alternate source.

#### **Upper Calibur; "Illusional Storm of Blade Strikes"**

Meta Knight charges his power for a bit, and upon activating the Noble Phantasm, he moves forwards trying to hit a target. If it lands, it somehow drags them upwards with the tip of his sword to then hit them consecutively at fast speeds from many directions while either teleporting around instantly or moving around faster than normal. Meta Knight then finishes them with a final blow downwards. Meta Knight can clash swords with Kirby when trying to start this move, being able to continue to use it like normal if he overpowers Kirby in said clash.

### Trivia

* Meta Knight is a very unique boss in the games that he stars in, (Excluding Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby: Planet Robobot) because he always gives Kirby a sword before fighting, making him a very honorable character. He will also thank Kirby for fighting his best instead of going on easy on him, as shown in Kirby: Battle Royale.

## References

https://kirby.fandom.com/wiki/Meta\_Knight

https://wikirby.com/wiki/Meta\_Knight

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Meta\_Knight\_(Kirby)

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Meta\_Knight

https://characterprofile.fandom.com/wiki/Meta\_Knight

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/summon-a-servant-fate-stay-night-crossover-ideas.196067/page-37?post=6471889#post-6471889