Chapter 2: Touchdown

Disclaimers: The Infinite Stratos isn't mine.

Weeks later after the ordeal that was becoming an IS student, things were finally cemented down as they were treating the second male would-be IS pilot like merchandise. He was to be sent there to gain both reputation and the income that comes with it. Apparently whether he learned or not was something they weren't concerned about as long as he projected a good image about his motherland, though he personally thinks not a single cent of the bucketloads will reach his fellow countrymen in the lower statures anyway.

Thinking all this as he munched on, he waited for their flight boringly.

"Hey." His seatmate and companion, Elaine Castillo, nudged him.

"What?" He stopped, a chip held on his hand.

"See, that's the reason why you keep getting fat. You just never stop eating yet you don't work out all the cholesterol." She reprimanded him, but ironically took a chip herself.

"Shut up. It's been three hours since we went here and I'm bored as hell. At least you have your own gaggle of girlfriends to chat with. Besides, I'm not fat anymore."

"Just be careful from eating too much."

"I know." Just as he said that, the announcer overhead called all the passengers of their flight using the speaker. A stewardess appeared to lead the VIPs to their corresponding aircraft. The sky outside was dark at four-thirty in the morning. Cool and crisp winds flowed through the air, sweeping past the faces of the passengers making their way to the plane.

Elaine then suddenly grabbed his necklace, the IS he formerly activated on standby mode, and peered at it.

"What?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Hmm…Wow, this looks great! You're really lucky, to have personal contact and even connection with Miss Shinonono Tabane." She murmured in awe.

"It's not really that big of a deal. But, hey, stop doing that. You're gonna give people ideas."

"We're in a jet plane headed for Tokyo, Japan full of IS Academy students, G. Chill. Besides, we're not that many anyways. We're more or less just ten students going there plus instructors and some staff. And guards too. We're VIPs, apparently." She explained as they entered the plane. Inside the hulking steel machine was a beautiful interior. There was an expensive rug covering the floor. The main compartment was split onto four areas, with four round tables each area and four L-shaped sofas surrounding each table. Sitting farthest from the entrance, the two slumped on their seats.

"Well, I'll sleep for now. I woke up at one in the morning and my eyelids are heavy. Good night…" Sinking her face on a pillow, Elaine fell to sleep.

"Eh, might as well sleep. Nothing to do anyways." Leaning back, Emmanuel put on his earphones and soon followed suit as the stars twinkled between the clouds.

The radiant sunlight roused the sleeping boy from his sleep as it shone through the window. The clouds outside were like a sea of fluffy marshmallows just waiting to be jumped on, rolled on and be eaten.

"…ey…man…shma…wa…"

What?

Out of nowhere, he felt a pillow smack onto his face.

"&^#%!" He nearly shouted in an area full of sleeping girls. Thankfully there was a familiar feminine hand covering his mouth.

"Shh! Wakey wakey~." Elaine winked playfully.

"Ugh…It's too early for bull, Elly…jeez." Guevarra murmured as he slumped back on the soft couch, trying to gain entry back to dreamland.

"Uh…sorry. I thought you were just daydreaming there, seeing that your phone's music is on full blast and all…" She apologized sheepishly, looking at his phone. Taking both earphones off, Emmanuel stood up slowly and got a sandwich from a food tray near the door of the pilot's cabin.

"Hey G, look!" She called to him, but it fell on deaf ears as he didn't even turn, too busy choosing between iced mocha and hot cocoa.

"Shh, wait." He raised his right hand as he reconsidered the mocha.

"You have a message here that looks a bit, um, weird." She said as she hovered over the message.

"What's it say?" Guevarra replied as he finally opted for the coffee.

"Hmm, let's see…it's from…there's, there's no sender!" She exclaimed.

"What you talkin' about?" He approached her and tossed her a sandwich, taking the laptop from her hands.

"Hmm, let me see…a password? Who the hell sends e-mails with—" At his moment of realization, his phone started blaring loudly, disturbing a few girls.

He muttered a whisper of apology and answered the phone.

"Hello—"

"Hi-hi! It's the genius inventor T-T-T-T-Tabane! Tan ta tan tan!" The hyper-energetic Tabane exclaimed, imitating drums.

"Oh, you called. I'm in a plane, as you can—"

"Did you open the mail yet? Open it already!"

"There's no need to shout Tabane. You talking about this sender-less e-mail? Needs password."

"Just press Enter."

"Ever the enthusiastic, huh? Well, what is this e-mail for? It's kinda unlikely of you to have such an easy security."

"Okami-kun, if it was anybody else who clicked on that, their device would explode! Teehee~."

Hearing this, Elaine gulped very loudly, realizing the bullet she just dodged. Or an explosive in this case.

"That's a bit…harsh, don't you think? What if that hacker was in a mall, or it was one of my friends who opened it?"

"Bad luck! But I'm not that stupid, Okami~. Go ahead and open it. Oopsie, I need to go now. Ja!"

Just as sudden as she called, Tabane hung up.

"Eh, typical Tabane. Hm? What's up with you? C'mon, unfreeze. Beep boop beep boop." He poked at Elaine's cheek. By the third poke, she snapped back to reality.

"Ow!" She winced, massaging her left cheek.

"Ok, you're awake. Time to open this thing." He said. Just before he clicked the message, he felt Elaine cling to his arm.

"What the..." A bulb lit in his head as he smiled mischievously to himself. Teasing her for a bit, Guevarra kept pulling his finger off the last minute. The result was seeing Elaine nervously biting her lip, scared out of her wits.

Elaine then noticed the barely laughing boy staring at her.

"…"

"…"

She pulled away instantly out of embarrassment, picked up a stray pillow and threw it on the hysterical trickster's face.

"Oomph."

"Just…just shut up and open the file. It's not funny…" Or so she claims, but the continual hysterics of her friend made even her bite her tongue.

"Ooh hoo…that was funny." Guevarra hooted as he calmed down and opened the file. Out popped a long questionnaire, with Tabane's fingerprints all over it. Little rabbit emojis, IS models, and a lot more. Despite the design however, the wordings and such are quite formal, and the overall picture looked like a surreal clash of personality.

"Eh…is Tabane high when she made this thing?" Guevarra commented as he read through the instructions.

"Please fill out the form in an orderly manner. A reminder, once the form has been set, it is final and cannot be changed nor be saved, edited and resent for future circumstances. Failure to comply will cause the invalidity of the request and instead the machine will be built to Tabane's liking."

"What the…is this even…" He gasped as he skimmed over the file over and over again. True enough, he wasn't imagining things as he saw it.

A form for a Custom IS Request! Normally, these things are given only as a formality to handpicked candidates by mega-corporations or national governments. With it having Tabane's persona drawn all over it, he can be sure that Tabane will deliver. If there's one thing constant in Tabane is that she always delivers to her word. No matter how impossible the situation might be.

"Oh, oh!" Guevarra squealed like a little kid as he started filling in the form so fast, it seems like the keys will come off at any second.

Now it was Elaine's turn to poke fun as she laughed and taunted, but it all fell on the deaf ears of an enamored kid.

"Let's see, first question." Emmanuel hummed.

"Offensive, Defensive or Utility?"

Offensive.

"Close Range, Mid Range or Far Range?"

Close to Mid Range.

"Exotic Weapons?"

Guevarra thought for a bit. On one hand, "exotic weapons" sounded enticing and convincing. Tabane's wild imagination might just bring him his newest favorite weapon. On the other hand, that's also the very same thing he worries about. What if Tabane brought something that's not compatible with him or, God forbid, give him a joke weapon?

Pondering for a good 5 minutes, he concluded that Tabane, while being a wild bag of tricks, is for him, not against him. Might not be too bad to take a risk every once in a while.

Yes, please.

"Experimental Functions?"

His decision was made already, mind racing with anticipation and excitement.

Bring it on.

"Are you sure your decision is final? All functions, should this mode be activated, are still in prototype stage and not fully reliable."

A bit of hesitation and Guevarra clicked the "Yes" button. A second and the form was gone from his inbox, as if it wasn't even there.

"Heh, having a change of heart? Or perhaps because choosing the "risky" option is not actually risky at all?" Elaine teased.

"Eh, it's Tabane. She's got my back. She'd better." Emmanuel resigned to himself, putting on the earbuds and letting his mind float free with the clouds.

A few hours later, the group has finally touched down to Narita Airport at 7:30 AM. The weather was beautiful, with the fresh April air sweeping them with cool, brisk wind…perhaps a bit too chilly.

"I think it's too…nippy here…" Guevarra commented, shaking his body like a wet dog. In contrast, Elaine felt just like home. Because of her parents' business and her close relationship to them, she was often travelling to different parts of the world…most of them with cold climates. As such, she didn't really have any qualms with the temperature.

"Oh get over yourself, onion skin, and let's get to the hotel rooms and get our stuff dropped. I want to go shopping!" She exclaimed, taking a long, deep breath as they made their way through the airport. Meanwhile, Emmanuel was busy taking in the sights. Being to Japan for the first time, he was really hyped. Sure, he wasn't really in Akihabara, but nevertheless the experience was very exciting. He made a mental note to himself to visit the district sometime soon.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that they had already got out of the airport, together with the group. They were led to a VIP area by an escort official while the person was giving a brief description of the IS Academy.

"Hey." Elaine whispered to Guevarra as they were walking.

"Yeah?"

"We have free time later. Let's shop?"

"Nah, gonna sleep. The trip made me tired, and besides—" He started ranting, but he was halted in his tracks by a seemingly unsurmountable obstacle.

"Eat-all-you-can grill place at the mall, my treat." Elaine smirked triumphantly, like a chess master finally seeing his, or rather her, plans come together.

"Grr…fine." The defeated teen resigned. Besides, it's not as if he didn't want the food, and he's not that tired anyways.

After that, she got called by her girlfriends.

"Ahaha~!" Just before she was able to leave, Guevarra held her wrist rather abruptly.

"Hm?"

"Do you really have to go with them? Here I am, with no one else to be with and you're going away too…tsk tsk." Emmanuel shook his head in mock remorse.

"G, you know I have to bear with these kind of people because of my dad's business. Sure, they're the solitary two friends I have that are this irritating but…that girl is the daughter of one of my dad's business partners and the other one is a mutual friend of ours. Really, I have no choice. Just until tomorrow, then I can escape and hang out with you and my other less…ignorant friends. Y'know, like Christine over there." She explained, clearing her throat with each knowing pause.

"Promise you won't invite those two over? Last time we did, they insulted me, albeit snidely, for wearing my Outland sandals instead of shoes or loafers from that famous brand they keep buying from."

"Yeah, it'll just be you, me, and a few others, including Christine as well." She nodded to him as she donned a fake smiling face and approached the two others.

When the three are finally out of earshot, he sighed and chuckled.

"I do not envy her fate…"

Later that evening, after the shopping spree Elaine and her friends pulled out, they all returned to their respective hotel rooms to bunker down for the next day. Turns out they will be picked up by an entourage as early as 5:00 AM to bring them to the IS Academy. Five uniforms per person were given earlier in the evening, and most of them are already done packing.

"Until now, I still don't see the point of bringing so many stuff around. One, it's heavy. Two, it's bothersome. Three, it's a hassle. Four, there are shops nearby if we need anything so I don't think you need all that." Guevarra pointed at a medium-sized travel bag.

"Well, yeah…oh, there'll be lots of cute girls at the Academy, y'know~." Elaine nudged roughly.

"No need to keep rubbing it on my face." He shoved back, hiding his blush.

"The girls were also talking earlier about how early you got your machine. And it's a Personal IS too! Gosh, what's between you and Ms. Shinonono? Are you her lover, perhaps~?" She teased once again.

"Whatever, I'll just go to sleep. Good night." With that, Emmanuel left his sole close friend in the country and went to sleep.

It was still early morning as Guevarra was roused to life. Taking a quick cold shower and a rushed morning ritual, he dressed up to his uniform and waited for the queue outside the morning buffet, which will open just a few minutes later. Thankfully, it's not very long.

"Wow…I knew the Japanese were disciplined but…the only person I know that wakes up this early without any sleep extensions is myself." He observed as what few people are in line are all Japanese. Minutes later foreigners much like himself came in, wearing athletic outfits. Some were sweating buckets, others not so much.

"Ah…so that's where they were. Wait, isn't it too early for workouts?" Gradually, the line kept filling up until it was almost time for breakfast. As the people entered the hall, Elaine arrived downstairs carrying her travel bag with a backpack compliment and Guevarra's training bag.

Later on, around 7 am they were able to reach the monorail station leading to IS Academy. There weren't as many people there as they thought, but at least it saves them time.

"So it's really happening, huh? I hope Tabane's got my back on this."

Suddenly, he felt another tap on his shoulder as he sat on the window seat.

"What, you gonna sleep on me again?" Elaine slumped, drinking some milk tea.

"Ey, were did you get that?"

"Somewhere. Just kidding, it's at the terminal. It's really cheap."

"Yet you didn't get me one…some friend…" He joked. Seeing his seatmate place a small booklet on his lap, he took it and opened it.

"So, what does this say…hm, it's an introductory booklet." He commented.

"Wait, what does this say?" Seeing her friend peering closely at the book, Elaine asked him in concern.

"You sure you don't need glasses? You keep doing that lately. How many times did I tell you to rest your eyes often?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Ah, there will be Representative Candidates in there with the same ages as ours. Well, whatever. I feel sleepy." He tucked the booklet away and drifted to sleep.

"I'll wake you up when we get there." Elaine reassured as Guevarra closed his eyes.