Prologue: A New Era

"Mr. Michaelus, your 4:00 is here."

Anthony Michaelus sat in his office, staring at the most recent update on the machine. A smile came to his face as he heard the words of his secretary echo through his phone. Pressing a button, he responded with the short words. "Let her in."

The man sitting down leaned back in the deep-black-leather rolling chair with great comfort, as he enjoyed his office. He wore a strange suit of clothes for a man who resides at such a position in a company. A Long Trench-coat that went down to his mid-calves, with a nose-high collar. The coat itself was unfastened with belts that linked tightly inwards. His ebon hair was slicked back behind his head and swooped up around his neck, like a wave crashing on the shore. His eyes were a polluted blue as he looked at his computer screen. The display before him was very interesting indeed.

The room itself had clear glass shelves off to one side of the wall, each lined with mechanical parts; a saw, a screw, a metal plate. It looked like the prize-collection of a Scrap-heap, but tiny little plaques besides each prize had a name. "PROTOTYPE 1" was the first tag, while each other tag was labeled a greater numbered prototype. Were they the finished parts of some miniscule device, or perhaps the remains of some project gone wrong? Behind the man was a set of nine different monitors, each showing the view of a factory's exterior, the smoke rising into the sky, mixing into it a gray color. The glass desk he sat at had the computer screen, keyboard and mouse, wirelessly linked to it. On the side opposite the glass shelves, a framed painting of an extremely old factory hung on the wall. The teal wallpaper in the room might have even made the room homely.

He stared at the screen for a little bit more before hearing the door open. Glancing at who it was, a slight smile came to his face. "There she is." He said to himself, his voice as slick as oil as his smile shined.

The girl who walked in was young, perhaps sixteen. She had black hair hung back in a braid and green eyes that shone like forest leaves. Her body was voluptuously curved for someone of her age, like a well-carved piece of metal. A smile was missing from her face, but the feel of a smile seemed to come from her body as she stared ahead. She wore an IS Pilot's uniform; the regular Leotard, but this one of Black and Gunmetal-green lining. "I'm here for my appointment."

"Yes, sit down, darling." He said, directing her to the brown chair in front of her.

Casually, she looked at the man and walked to the chair, taking a seat and keeping her body properly straight. "Is my schedule prepared?"

"Yes," responded Anthony as he began scanning through windows on his computer. "You're all set. We prepared your travel for you, set up your dorm for how long you'll be staying there, and have clothes already on their way to the academy."

The girl would nod as she looked at the man. "Your scientists have added the final touches?"

A wide smile arose on the man's face as he reached beneath the desk and pulled out the small, black box. Placing it on the desk in front of him, he pushed it to her. The girl, glancing at the box, grabbed it and removed the lid. She looked at the contents, a cushion of black velvet rest inside, holding black ring. Taking it and holding it up to the light, she smiled as she admired the Gunmetal-green color of it, the inner-rim lined with a black metal that curved over the gunmetal green in some places. She smiled as she admired it before she slid it onto her right-middle finger, holding it up and turning her hand in the light. "Lovely. A Perfect fit."

"I should hope so." Spoke the man as he finished scanning the display, moving the mouse and beginning to enter data into the machine. "We've had to reconstruct the legs to tune in to your central nervous system, and it might seem strange when you perform it at the review. Once you try it a bit, you should get the hang of it."

The girl paused as she stood up and walked around the desk, behind the chair of the business-leader, looking at the information on the computer. Her eyes lit up as she looked at the information. "That's the revised information?"

The man smirked as he finished typing, staring at the screen. "Of course. I had to revise the information to suit the final details we'd made.

The girl continued staring at the information as she scanned the plans for the new device, but a smile came as she looked down at her ring once more. "This machine, having been upgraded… Will it help with the company?"

"If this tournament goes successfully," spoke the Businessman with his devious smile. "This will eliminate the need for IS's entirely."

(A.N:I know it doesn't show much just yet, but I'm going to see if I can keep this one going. I have a plan for these two. The events of this story follow the Anime series itself, so if you've read the light novel, then it doesn't follow that.)