If you want, this is the original TPDWWA, enjoy.

It's also got the original A/N's, except this chapter. Also, chapter 1 and 2 were on an old computer, which is broken, and may be lost. I was able to get the rest since they were on Google docs, so enjoy this classic original piece, worth about...maybe one bean.

Somewhere in Middle East…

Tehran was a smoldering wreck. At least, it wasn't before the invasion. Now, it laid in ruins. Hammond force had been shelling it for days on end. Two months, two whole months of continuous bombardment. But today, the guns were silent. Now, for any other time, this would be a great time, but the people of Tehran knew better. Today, Hammond forces would invade the city, and remove its central government by means of excessive force. And the citizens knew that Hammond would go all out. This city was the last of the Middle Eastern Coalition forces' base. Hammond would take the city, and annex the entire Middle East to its country. Now, it was just a matter of time until Hammond forced itself to the center of town. And today, the first units would move in, and strike. Suddenly, the first explosion went off. A lone T-72 tank with a small squad of soldiers just became the first casualties of the battle.

The long awaited Battle of Tehran just began.

[Scene Skip]

Gio was hanging out in his dorm room, he was reading some reports on his TCC. One came to his attention that caught him off guard. It was in regards to the upcoming doubles tournament.

He was partnered with Laura.

He raised an eyebrow at this. What high deity above, or below, decided this? The two military IS pilots? One with a suit summoned with anger and the other with the VT System? Someone was having a laugh at his expense. Gio got up from his bed and went to go find Laura. He was walking along the dorms when he found her talking to Chifuyu. The two seemed to be arguing. Gio listened in.

"Instructor, why do you stay here with these brats? Come back to Germany, you are needed there!" Laura exclaimed.

"Little girl, what I did for Germany was a repayment. I'm staying here." Chifuyu responded back. Laura visibly flinched, and Gio decided to step in.

"Laura, Chifuyu has made it clear that she is not going back. So you need to stop trying to get her to go back." Gio told her. Laura looked shocked, when did the Hammond pilot get here? "You and I have more important matters to discuss." He explained. "We happen to be partners for the doubles tournament, and I have a plan that I think you need to hear." Laura raised an eyebrow, and walked towards Gio. She motioned to hear it, and Gio explained it.

Gio and Laura were training in the arena the next day, and they were both getting good at their combos. They just finished their ultimate combo when Cecilia and Rin walked in with their ISs. The two started training, their teamwork skills painfully evident that they didn't work together at all. Laura and Gio let out a small chuckle, but Rin heard it. She turned towards Laura.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" She asked rudely. Laura shrugged, she was about to make a snarky comment about Rin's skills when Gio pulled her back. Let Rin ignite the fight. And do that she did.

"You two barely know each other, and already you had fought with each other in the first ten minutes of seeing each other! Cecilia and I could beat you!" Rin exclaimed, but Cecilia looked doubtful at that. Rin and Cecilia, nevertheless, got in a fighting stance. Gio and Laura looked at each and nodded, and did the same. Rin counted down.

"3...2...1...Go!"

Gio rushed forward, slashing at Rin. Laura fired at Cecilia with her rail gun. Gio caught Rin's melee weapon in his hand, and ignited his flame shield. Rin's shield points decreased significantly at this, jumping back at the realization that the flame shield was an attack as well as a defense weapon. Rin fired her impact cannons, and Gio blocked the shots with his broadsword. Cecilia, on the other hand, was having a hard time fighting Laura, her sniper rifle wasn't doing any good against Laura's AIC. Cecilia lunged at Laura, hoping for a devastating attack with her missiles when her IS suddenly jerked sideways, her shield points dipping into critical. She looked at where the shot came from, seeing that Gio's rail gun had fired from his IS. How? His rail gun moved on a separate turret then his actual IS suit. The gun had a full 360 degree firing capability. Cecilia rushed at Gio, until Laura's trap wires wrapped themselves around her knees. Cecilia was lifted up and thrown towards Gio, who forcibly pushed Rin away and turned to where Cecilia would land. He slashed at her IS suit, crippling. Simultaneously, he fired a salvo core at Rin as she was recovering from the push. Both were knocked out instantly. Laura landed next to Gio, nodding her head in approval. He would make an excellent soldier. The pair deactivated their ISs, Laura walking out of the arena and Gio walking towards the defeated duo.

Ichika was steaming mad at Gio, he had deliberately attacked the two girls! He and Gio were in the infirmary, Ichika was called in by Gio and Gio had carried the two here in his IS. Rin and Cecilia were both resting, Gio and Laura had rocked them violently. Gio, guiltily, laughed inside his head. Here was two Contenders who couldn't even work together, or even defeat another Contender separately. Gio hadn't taken any damage with Laura taking minimal. Ichika looked at Cecilia and Rin, closing his eyes, looking deep in thought. He turned to Gio, opening his eyes to make sure he could see his anger.

"How could you? Are you jealous or something? They were just training! Did Laura make you? I-" Ichika started to say, but Gio cut him off.

"I was training with Laura when the two walked into the arena. Rin had made a comment, and challenged Laura and I to a duel. We won, but I went a bit overboard." Gio explained, "I'm sorry I did that." Ichika looked at Gio, recognizing he was sincere with his apology. He nodded, his anger at Gio dissipated, but he was going to get Laura. He had a feeling she wasn't going to apologize.

"Welcome one and all to the doubles tournament!"

The crowd cheered, excited to watch the upcoming fights. Meanwhile in the loading hangars, teams prepped for fights. Gio and Laura were going over some last minute designs when Gio pulled something out of Laura's IS. He looked at it closely, and realized he had pulled out her VT System. He shrugged, pocketing it for later study. Laura came up to him, made some final checks, and got into her IS. Gio did the same, powering up the suit. He and Laura were up, fighting Ichika and 'Charles'. Gio wished this chick would just give it up already. Seriously, what was the point of this cross dresser? Gio went over the plan one more time with Laura. She would fight Ichika, while Gio ran Charles to the ground. If Laura got into trouble, then Gio would intervene. As the two were walking out, Gio felt a pain in his head. He knew that feeling, it happened before.

Something bad was going to happen, but Gio didn't know when. He and Laura walked to the shootout point in the hangar, and there waiting for him was Kanzashi. She ran up to Gio, who kneeled to be level with her.

"Good luck out there. Kick his butt!" She told him, kissing him on the cheek. She then ran to Laura. "You keep him safe, alright?"

"Of course, but I don't think he will need it. He seems to be very affluent in the role of the IS pilot." Laura told her, "I'll bring him back in one piece." With that, Kanzashi nodded and got it of the way of the two ISs. The duo powered up, and shot out of the hangar into the arena. They landed right in front of Ichika and Charles. Laura looked Ichika up and down, and Gio sized up Charles. His IS was a Gen 2 Raphael Revive, Gio had fought a couple in his training days.

"So..Raphael Revive, huh? I must say, Hammond almost put in an order for them." Gio stated.

"What stopped them?" Charles asked.

"We developed our own IS, we got one Raphael Revive and built our newer models from our titans using it. I admit, it doesn't lose to the Gen 3s by much." Gio explained. Charles thanked him. Ichika and Laura, meanwhile were doing their standoff dialogue thing.

"I get to fight you in the first match, now I don't even have to wait." Laura said.

"Yeah...rather convenient isn't it?" Ichika responded. The countdown began, Gio and Laura got into their fighting stances, as did Ichika and Charles.

"3...2...1… Begin."

Ichika lunged at Laura, and Gio boosted away. He landed in front of Charles, and pulled out his 40mm cannon. Charles summoned an assault rifle, and the two began an explosive duel. Meanwhile, Ichika was having trouble with Laura. He needed Charles to intervene, but he was busy with Gio. Ichika dodged a slash from Laura, who snickered at him.

"Your plan won't work, not with Gio and I's skill. Charles will give out eventually. Give up." Laura told him. Ichika slashed at Laura, who caught his weapon with her dagger. "Why do you persist?"

"Because, Gio can't beat Charles. Hammond IS lack adequate shields to stop the one weapon that breaks them." Ichika stated defiantly. Laura's eyes widened.

"NIEN, NOT THE SHIELD PIERCE!" She yelled. Gio heard it and went pale, stopping completely. This gave Charles his opening, and brought out the said weapon. He rammed it into Gio's IS, and Gio visibly recoiled. Charles went to ram him again until he pulled out the weapon, and saw it smeared with blood. Charles' eyes went wide, Gio's IS didn't stop the shield pierce, and Charles had just stabbed Gio, right in the midsection. Charles looked at Gio , who was holding his stomach, probably keeping his insides in. Gio looked up, hate filled his eyes. Ichika felt the anger from his position. Laura could sense it, and was actually afraid. This… didn't seem like a natural anger. It seemed primal, uncontrolled, and explosive. She backed towards Ichika, and for the first time in her IS pilot life, was afraid.

Chifuyu looked at Charles in shock from the control room. Charles had just unwittingly released the Hammond pilot that she actually was a bit afraid of. She watch as Charles backed away from Gio, who was standing straight up, still clutching his stomach. His body let off a red hue, and his hand glowed. Suddenly, it stopped glowing, and the blood was gone. He had just healed the stab wound, stunning the whole crowd. Gio pulled out the broadsword, and raised it above his head. He quickly shoved the broadsword into the ground, and a wave of dark red spread through the arena, thankfully not hitting the grandstands. Gio's armor disappeared into a silhouette and reappeared just as quickly. His armor suit now was in it's Canto 34 look. Gio's broadsword had a new look. It had a longer handle, which required two hands and was held like a baseball bat, and the blade was longer and wider. Gio boosted towards Charles, and slashed at him. The sword broke the ISs chest piece, and Charles backed away. He looked down, thankful that there was no blood. Gio suddenly backed up, his eyes had a wild look in them. His IS brought out two high capacity missile launchers, and Chifuyu quickly hit the lockdown button. The arena's grandstands had their shield come down, protecting the crowd, just as Gio let loose and Salvo core with no set direction. The missiles landed all over, Laura being hit in the process. Her IS lost its railgun, and her shield dipped into critical. Ichika, however, took the chance, as Gio was reloading, to activate his ultimate ability, and sliced at Gio. Gio's IS visibly recoiled, but Gio turned and slashed as Ichika. Ichika fell, his IS was completely out of shield and shut down. Gio, who had fully lost all control of himself, let loose another barrage in no particular direction. Gio sprinted straight at Laura, and right as he was about to stab her, as katana batted Gio away from her. Laura turned to see Ichika with a partial deployment, using the last of his IS energy to protect her. Gio stumbled, his IS was losing its control over Gio. Gio, with looked around, and Ichika saw one eye was still in a normal state. Gio reached for his broadsword, and slashed his midsection, right where he was stabbed. Gio doubled over, and fell to the ground with a loud THUD. His IS shut down, and it was over. Laura looked at Ichika, and felt… maybe he was worthy after all. She saw him take down the only thing that scared so far, and was still standing unhurt. She figured, he was worthy of being Mentor's brother. Ichika himself could be something to her, as well. Not friends, but something...more.

Gio woke up, and found himself in the hospital again. He sighed, he was getting tired of ending up here. That fight… he forgot about the shield pierce! Hammond IS were powerful, but the shield pierce was the only weapon that could hurt it. Though, any pilot that tried to get close to Hammond pilot was defeated long before they could use the damn thing. He thought about contacting Hammond when he heard rapid footsteps, and was suddenly tackled by a blue and white blue.

"Gio! You're okay!"

Kanzashi was hugging Gio, the latter losing oxygen. He signaled to be let go, and, hesitantly, she did. Gio rubbed his sides, they were aching from the fight and from the hug. He sighed, and patted Kanzashi's head. He then heard another set of footsteps, and in the doorway appeared Charles and Chifuyu. Charles walked a bit closer, causing Kanzashi to hug Gio protectively, and Charles looked down in shame.

"I… came to apologize. I had forgotten about Hammond ISs and the shield peirce. Though I think your girlfriend won't forgive me, she proved that by chasing me around the campus with her IS gun blazing, but I hope that you can." Charles apologized. Gio thought it over, Charles sounded sincere and looked it too. He was visibly shaken at the realization he had almost killed a fellow pilot, and the fact that he walked in here after Kanzashi had tried to murder him was speaking volumes to Gio. Gio knew how mad Kanzashi could get. She almost destroyed an entire arena once after she lost a game against Gio, and it took Gio and Chifuyu an hour to calm her down. So Gi shrugged and accepted the apology. Chifuyu started talking next.

"Gio, the Canto 34 IS seems more stable now than it was when I first saw it. Have you been training with it?" She asked. Gio nodded, he told her how he trains using that form, but has Kanzashi stand on the side to calm him down if he gets out of control. Gio had vowed never to use it in an academy battle, as it would overpower anyone at the school. Kanzashi was blushing a bit, Gio had never explained why she was at the training sessions. She was ecstatic at his reason however. Chifuyu nodded at the explanation. "Just make sure you show up to class tomorrow, alright?" Gio nodded in reply, and she and Charles left the room. Kanzashi kissed Gio on the cheek one last time and left as well. Gio quickly left the bed and changed into normal clothes, and left for his dorm. He arrived in his room and didn't even change into clothes, he just fell on the bed and slept like a dead person.

Gio sat down in his chair, and looked around. He immediately noticed that Charles wasn't in the class. Gio watched as everyone took their seats, and Ms. Maya walked in, albeit with a nervous look on her face.

"So class, I have another transfer student to introduce...sorta." And with that, Charles walked in. Except he was a girl, and she reintroduced herself as Charlotte Dunois. The class went from shock to realizing she and Ichika used the new male bath together, which Gio whistled at. Suddenly, Rin burst into the room clad in IS form.

"ICHIKA!" She shouted, charging a cannon shot.

"NO! PLEASE! I'M REALLY GONNA DIE!" He shouted, and Gio turned, waiting for the shot. But it never came. Gio turned around, and saw Laura had protected Ichika with her AIC.

"Laura! Thank you, I would've died if it weren-mmph!" That was all Ichika got out before Laura had turned around and kissed him.

On the lips.

The whole class, especially Cecilia, Houki, and (now) Charlotte, were shocked. Gio was rather impressed. Laura released Ichika, and made a rather firm statement.

"No, I have decided to make you my bride. That is final and I will no objections from you."

"WHAT?!" went the whole class. Gio walked up to Ichika, patting him on the shoulder.

"You should probably start running." He whispered to him. And that, Ichika did, with Cecilia, Rin, and Houki hot on his tail. Gio chuckled, and thanked his lucky stars he didn't have Ichika's problem.

So that ends another chapter! Yeah if it seems rushed, or grammar (grammer?) seems off, then put it in the reviews. I will try to work on it. Also, I think I need a beta reader. If you, pm me and we can talk it over. Until then, read and review! The 'Beach Arc' starts next chapter! I have it open in another tab right now, so hyped for it! H4mmond out, peace! (overused i know but i didn't know what else to say)