(This Is just a quick one-shot I thought of one day. Probably won't expand past this chapter. I don't own Infinite Stratos, or the characters, just my OC.)
John Randall stepped off the bus and almost fell from amazement. The IS academy was HUGE. From the school itself to the training fields, the school was huge. He took a deep breath and walked into the reception building. The secretary sat behind a large desk, filled with thousands of papers and one stone-age computer.
"Hello!" she said brightly, "Can I help you?"
"Yeah," he said, reaching into his inner pocket, pulling out a piece of paper, "I just transferred here. Could you help me find the right class?" The secretary looked at him in astonishment. He stole a glance at her to see a confused look on her face.
"You DO realize that this is a school for those who use IS units?" she asked quizzically.
"I know," John said, somewhat impatiently, "I was discovered to be able to control one while I was at my father's plant. I'm John Randall," The secretary's eyes became tiny little orbs, and she frantically typed away at her computer. She eventually stopped and looked back at him, a slight blush on her face.
"You're in Class 1-B," She said, "Sorry for the confusion,"
"It's no trouble," he said, smiling kindly. He began walking away, trying to ignore the steam of curses that were blaring inside his head.
-/\\\\-
Ichika sat at his desk, trying to get the events of this morning out of his head. Laura had been sleeping in his bed, not a stitch of clothing on her. Then Rin had come bursting in, and nearly killed Ichika. He put his head on his desk as the bell rang. Chifuyu was going to kill him, but it would be better than one of his friends killing him first.
"Alright, idiots!" his sister, also the homeroom teacher in his class, shouted, "Listen up! We have another transfer student today. Try not to scare them off. Meet John Randall, the second male to pilot an IS unit," No one walked in. The students looked at Chifuyu, confused. Ichika lifted his head off the desk and looked toward the door. No one walked through it. The assistant teacher looked at Chifuyu in confusion. She walked to the door, trying not to look embarrassed, and pulled a guy in. He was protesting, as she dragged him by his ear into the classroom. He had shaggy black hair that covered one eye, and his visible eye was green as the grass outside. He was wearing the male variant of the schools uniform, and he had a strange necklace on, with something that looked like a star made out of tiny seashells. He pulled Chifuyu's hand off his ear and straightened his hair.
"Hello everyone," he said pleasantly, "I'm John Randall. I plan to become friends with all of you," The classroom was silent. Then the girls started screaming like fan girls.
"OH! MY! GOD! HE REALLY IS A GUY!"
"IT'S ANOTHER BOY!"
"Quiet, idiots!" Chifuyu yelled. The classroom fell into a deep silence. Chifuyu glared around the room, satisfied. "Alright, Randall, take the seat behind Orimura," John walked to the seat and tried to ignore the gazes of all the female students as he did so.
"This is…" he struggled to find the right word; "way harder than I thought," he sat behind Ichika, resting his elbows on the desk, his head in his hands.
-/\\\\-
John sat alone at the lunch table, which really didn't bother him that much. He'd done this a million times. He sat there trying to get the stupid chopsticks to work right.
"I had trouble the first time I used them too," a female voice said, approaching him. He looked up and nearly fell over.
"Cecilia?!" he said in surprise and happiness, "I didn't realize you came to the IS Academy!" Cecilia smiled and laughed.
"I've been coming here since the start of the year," she said, sitting down, "I've become good friends with Ichika Orimura," she seemed to take a bit of pleasure in that comment.
"I take it you like him," John said, smiling mischievously. Cecilia immediately started blushing.
"N-no! It's nothing like that!" she said, waving her arms in front of her, "B-besides, he already has a girlfriend!" John smirked, sipping his soup.
"And yet, you still blush up whenever you hear his name," he smirked. He raised his eyebrows and looked behind Cecilia. "Oh, hey Ichika," Cecilia jumped about a foot in the air and whirled around. John laughed uncontrollably, slamming his fist into the table. Cecilia glared at him when she realized that he wasn't there. He wiped a tear from his eye, and his shoulders still shook a bit.
"What was that about?" someone asked, walking up. John looked up to see Ichika, his face trying to hide the laughter that he had probably had after witnessing the prank John just had pulled on Cecilia.
"Oh, hey Ichika," he said, "That was something I did," He held a hand before Ichika could ask what.
"Anyway," Ichika said, somewhat awkwardly, "We've got practice with Class 2 after lunch. I was going to get a jump on the girls and go early, and figured you might want to as well," John pondered what to do for a moment.
"Ah, what the hell?" he said, standing up, "Let's go. I'll see you on the field Cecilia!" he waved to her as he and Ichika walked away. She sighed, gazing after them. A pair of girls slid in behind her, smiles on their faces.
"So, you know Randall?" one asked, making Cecilia jump again.
"What type of girl does he like?" the other asked. Cecilia composed herself, and then turned to the two girls.
"He is my childhood friend, yes," she stated, totally poker-faced, "and no, I don't know what type of girls he likes, so don't ask!" she walked away fuming.
-/\\\\-
The two classes had assembled on the training field, and stood in order of Class. John himself had donned a black IS pilot suit with white trim around the edges.
"Alright people, listen up!" Chifuyu yelled, "Today we'll be demonstrating the combat functions of certain IS units. Randall, step forward!"
"Yes ma'am!" he said, stepping forward, his pendant dangling around his neck. He deployed his IS, White Angel, making everyone step back and gasp. His IS was a Rafael Revive, but a really customized one. It had extra armor on the legs and arms, and instead of the four wings, like the Custom II, it had eight instead. His body armor was the standard fitting for the unit, even the goggles on his head, but modified for a male pilot. The overall color of the IS was white with hints of black in its design. The display lit up, giving him status updates and ammo counts.
"Impressive IS, Mr. Randall," Chifuyu said, clearly impressed, "Alright, Dunois, step up!"
"Oui, Miss Orimura!" a girl said stepping forward, she had a pendant around her neck that was almost identical to John's and she deployed her Rafael Revive as well. Its orange color gleamed in the sunlight.
"Just so you know, I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl," John challenged, extending his hand and giving her a 'bring it' gesture.
"And I will not be going easy on you, tout va bien?" she challenged him, readying a pair of sub-machine guns.
"Enough trash-talking you two," Chifuyu said, "Let the match… BEGIN!" The two pilots flew at each other, John readying a shotgun in his left hand and a claymore in his right. He swung the claymore at Charlotte, and she ducked under the swing, leveling her guns at him. He smirked, anticipating what see would do next.
"Clock Up!" he shouted, and the IS disappeared, Charlottes bullets passing through the air. The other students looked around frantically for him. Charlotte whirled around, looking for her opponent. She felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled around to see John's sword in her face.
"You might want to give up now," he taunted.
"Not on your life!" Charlotte retorted, firing her shotgun directly into his stomach. He flew back a few feet, clutching his stomach in pain.
"Cheap shot!" he said, ditching his sword for a heavy assault rifle, "Now how about a lot of cheap shots?!" he opened fire, and Charlotte flew into the air to avoid the projectiles. He followed her up, the gun still spitting bullets. She spun in midair, landing behind him and sweeping his legs out from under him. Before he hit the ground, he flew away, putting his weapon back in his IS.
"What's wrong?" Charlotte taunted, "I thought you wouldn't hold back, droit?"
"Admittedly, I was holding back just a bit," John said, shrugging, "But it seems I have to use my finisher to end this," Charlotte lifted an eyebrow curious to see what he was going to do. "Alright, White Angel," he shouted, "Cast Off!" His armor hissed and loosened in multiple places. The pieces flew off his IS, disintegrating a few seconds after release. The heavy armor had disappeared, leaving only two wings out of his six, and slightly less armor on his legs. He smirked at Charlotte and disappeared. She looked around frantically, trying to get a bead on him, but her shield was being assaulted by his swords slashes. She whirled in a circle, and had the good luck to see John end his speed run.
"Found you!" She said, bringing her sniper around and firing.
"Dammit, not now!" John shouted as the round found his mark. His shield level hit zero and the IS deactivated. He landed on the ground, face first. Charlotte floated down to him and noticed his head was stuck in the ground. She started laughing, and the rest of the students joined in. Cecilia rushed over to her friend and pulled on his legs, pulling his head out of the ground.
"Charlotte!" she shouted, pointing at her, "You said you would go easy on him!" she stopped yelling at her, and blushed as John sat up, giving her a quizzical look. She shrugged, giving him a nervous smile.
"Good fight, Randall, Dunois," Chifuyu said, walking up.
"Merci, ma'am," Charlotte said, deactivating her IS and landing on her feet next to John, putting her hands behind her back and giving Chifuyu a smile.
"However," she said, closing her eyes, and starting to get angry, "Randall! You activated your finisher too early! Given, it gave you an edge against Dunois, but you misjudged your timing!" John cringed in fear and shrunk away from her wrath.
"I'll work on it ma'am," he said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
"You'd better. Now!" she said, turning her attention to the rest of the students, "divide into groups, the ones with personal IS units are the group leaders. You will enter one of our practice IS's and fly a lap around the course. Understood?"
"Understood!" The students replied. Chifuyu let them lose and they massed around John.
"I want to be in YOUR group!"
"Please let me join!"
"I got here first, I'm in his group!"
"Guys, guys!" he said, holding up his hands. The girls grew quiet and waited for his next words, "I can't have ALL of you in my group. There's… seven of us with personal units. Count off from one to seven, one being Ichika, two being Cecilia, and so on. Now, you!" he pointed to a random girl at the end of the crowd.
"One!" she squeaked, the girl next to her calling out her number.
'What have I gotten myself into?' John thought, trying to keep a smile on his face.
-/\\\\-
John fell onto the bed in the room he now shared with Cecilia. He had spent the remainder of the day lifting girls into the IS unit and his arms were burning. He opened his eyes slightly and saw a pillow on an intercept course to his face. His protest was drowned out by the pillow, which he proceeded to tear off his face.
"What the hell, Cecilia?" he demanded, getting off the bed. He froze as he saw her holding a towel in place, her face a combination of slight fear and embarrassment.
"Y-you need to knock before you enter next time," she said in embarrassment, turning away.
"Sorry," he said, going to the door, "I'll just… wait out here until you're ready," he practically ran out the door, slamming it shut. He put his back against the door and let himself slide to the ground. He rubbed the bridge between his eyes.
"You walked right into that one," his AI muttered, a grudging admiration for Cecilia in her voice.
"Come on, ATI," John sighed, "I thought you were my friend,"
"I was assigned to keep an eye on you so you didn't do anything stupid," she scolded, "And that's exactly what I've done. Feel grateful that I haven't left you to your own devices," He reached up to his IS in standby and twisted it in his fingers. Right behind it was a small locket, one that no one ever noticed.
"I didn't realize you'd kept that," Cecilia said through the door.
"You noticed it, huh?" John said, gripping the tiny locket. He heard Cecilia slide down the door and sigh.
"I never let it out of my sight," she said, "Not for a minute," John opened his locket and stared happily at the picture inside. It was of him and Cecilia when they had been kids, the picture from when he had visited London with his father. He and Cecilia had sat in a tree for hours on end, just talking and comparing lifestyles. The picture was of the both of them frozen in the middle of a laugh, Cecilia with her arms around John.
"You never forget something like that," John muttered, "Do you?" he rested his head against the door and heard Cecilia do the same. He let the locket fall to his chest. "So, can I come in now?"