Okay, this chapter ended up taking longer to complete that it should have.
My apologies for taking so long on this update. I had a lot to deal with when it came to school since my last update, and for some reason I had a bit of writer's block as well. It also didn't help that I've also been lazy now that it's summer for me. I've also had to revise this chapter more than normal due to it not turning out how I wanted it to originally. Oh well, the update is here now. Hopefully the quality of the chapter will be enough to make up for having you wait for so long.
One thing that I want to mention here is that I noticed a mistake that I made in Shido's description of him as Shiori. You see, the flower hair clip in his hair is supposed to be green and not light blue (it is even in the cover picture for this fanfic and I still messed it up, fail!). This detail has been fixed in the last chapter as well as I want to try and match his canon appearance as Shiroi from the anime and light novels as much as possible (yes, he had to do this in the light novels as well). Anyway, I just thought that I'd let you all be aware of this change. I may have to make more changes at some point if I feel like it needs it, though I'll let you know if I do.
Like last time, if there are any mistakes that I notice afterwards (or if there is a part that I'm not satisfied with for some reason), I'll be sure to go back and try to fix it as needed.
Now that that's put of the way, let us begin:
I do not own either Infinite Stratos or Date A Live (though I honestly wish I did). I only own the Technician (and her powers) and any other OCs that I may add later on.
As soon as the group was done eating their lunches, Ichika and the girls invited Shido to go do some IS training with them at one of the arenas. It didn't take much convincing as Shido was actually looking forward to trying out his IS. He wasn't completely sure how it was able to work for him (with him being a male and all), but it apparently had something to do with this IS being able to react with the manna that was stored up in his body from sealing away spirits' powers. It didn't make a lot of sense to him, but that wasn't important to him as he had other matters on his mind, like what to do when the spirit finally arrives.
After the group left the roof, they made their way to Arena 3 and the locker rooms. Ichika actually ran off ahead of the group in order to change quickly before Shido and the girls could get there (as there are only female locker rooms). As soon as the group made their way there, Ichika was already out of the locker room, sweating just a little in his training uniform from his rush. "Okay, it's all yours'!" he huffed out with his usual smiley demeanor. And with that, Shido and the girls entered the locker room to change, much to the some-what reluctance of the blue-haired cross dresser. He didn't want to risk the girls finding out what he is, and he also felt embarrassed at the prospect of seeing the girls changing. He wasn't a pervert after all. Luckily for him, he was able to grab a locker away from the girls so they couldn't see him change and vice versa.
After securing the locker, Shido quickly changed into his training uniform, which was custom made special to hide the fact that he was male, much like his IS Academy uniforms. This uniform is dark gray in color with blue trim. He also put on a pair of thigh-high leggings that match his training uniform, a pair of white sneakers, and a red braid to tie up his faux-long hair to keep it out of his face, though his bangs still hung down in front allowing him continue to wear the flower hair clip. After he had finished getting dressed, he made his way back over to the other girls, who had also finished getting dressed before they each headed out to the arena.
Once arriving in the arena, they were greeted by a waiting Ichika who was eager to start training. "Alright, now that we are all dressed, I guess we can get started," the dense male said to the rest of the group, "Hey Shiori, if you want to, you can go first. I'll even be your sparring partner if you want," Ichika also added, this time directed at Shido. At this, the girls in the group showed a slight hint of jealousy in their faces towards the "girl", though neither he nor Ichika actually noticed it. As the two sparing partners walked over to get into starting positions, Rin turned towards the other girls and whispered, "Hey, I know that they just met, but does anyone else get the feeling that Ichika is getting a little too friendly with the new girl?" At this the rest of the girls remained silent, and the group simply looked over at the sparing pair, each with a questioning glare on their faces.
As the two pilots were walking to their positions, Shido could hear a familiar voice in his ear once again, *Shido, do you remember your training in how to use your IS?* his younger sister Kotori asked. "Yeah, if you call that training." Shido quietly replied, "I just sat there while Tabane-san told me how it worked, and that's it." *Don't worry my stupid older brother. I've obviously never done it, but I doubt it's as difficult as you think. Besides, you won't be piloting it completely. We'll be in partial control of your IS from here as well, so don't worry too much* she replied with her usual confident grin. "If you say so," the blue-haired "girl" whispered with a sigh.
As soon as Shido and Ichika were in position in the center of the arena, they began deploying their IS's. Ichika activated his Byakushiki first, causing it to materialize around him. By now, Shido was basically used to seeing amazing things like this. Between the spirits and their powers and the AST and their combat realizers, so he should be used to this type of thing. However, that still didn't stop him from being amazed at the sight of Ichika's IS materializing before his eyes. Before he could get too lost in this sight though, he realized that he had to activate his IS as well in order for their match to begin. Luckily for him, Tabane did instruct him on how to activate it.
Doing as he was instructed to do, Shido quickly brushed his index and middle fingers across the front of his hair clip, causing his own IS, Seishin Herupa, to materialize around him. His IS was actually quite a sight to see. It looked similar to most IS's except that it was green in color with a bluish trim, except for the pair of metallic angel-like wings on the back, which were a darker shade of green than the rest of the IS. The head-piece looked exactly like the one from Tohka's Astral Dress, except in this case it was colored to match the rest of Shido's IS.
Unfortunately, Shido didn't even have time to take in his IS before they had to fly into the air in order for the fighting to begin. As soon as the pilots were both in the air, Ichika quickly deployed his signature Yukihira and got into his ready position. Shido, with a little guidance from the Fraxinus, immediately followed suit by deploying his own sword, Moeru Hikari, which resembled a cross between Tohka's Sandalphon and one of the AST-issued swords. No sooner that he did this did Ichika charge forward, swinging his Yukihira at his opponent, who was able to quickly dodge it in response. As soon as he was able to dodge it, Shido, acting on instinct that he didn't always show, charged in for his own attack with his Moeru Hikari. Unfortunately for Shido, this attack was easily blocked by Ichika's Yukihira.
Not wanting to be outdone, Ichika quickly struck again, this time almost catching Shido off guard from the speed of the strike. It might have even connected to his body had the Fraxinus not been quick enough to help him react in time with a quick block. This block was then turned immediately into an equally quick strike that actually connects and drains part of the Byakushiki's already partially drained shields. After a quick recovery from the attack, the dense male quickly retreated in order to try to regroup, knowing that he likely didn't have much power left in his shields, thanks in part to the Yukihira's shield leaching effect.
After a quick glance at his shield gauge, it was as he suspected; he only had enough shield energy left for one or two strikes left from his Yukihira without his remaining shield energy being completely depleted. He was actually a little surprised that his opponent could actually do as much damage to his shield with just a single hit. Regardless, he knew that his next attack had to count or it was all over.
With this in mind, Ichika quickly readied himself and charged in for the attack, this time activating his ignition boost to give himself more speed. Shido tried to block the attack, but the speed Ichika gained from his ignition boost prevented him from being able to do so in time, even with help from the crew of the Fraxinus. As soon as the attack connected, Shido's shield energy dropped almost immediately to zero, ending the match. As soon as he was able to recover from the hit, Shido let out a deep sigh, thankful that it was over. "Well, I guess you won Ichika!" Shido said with a slight laugh. "Yeah, it looks like it," the dense male replied with his usual smile.
-Quick scene transition to the Fraxinus-
"Shido may not have won, but we at least helped him make a good show it," Kotori said with her usual confident demeanor. "Agreed, if it wasn't for us, that battle would have ended a lot sooner," Reine calmly replied. "Well then…" Kotori started before she eyed Kyouhei starring at her, which resulted in her stomping hard on his foot, "…it looks like our job is done for now." Kotori stomping on her vice commander's foot caused him to jump slightly in the air with glee. However, instead of falling to the side like he would normally do, he instead fell forward onto Kotori's control panel, hitting one of the controls for Shido's IS. "…well, that can't end well," Kotori said with a sweat drop, a reaction similar to that shared by the rest of the crew.
-Quick scene transition back to the IS arena-
Ichika and Shido were about to head back to the ground and deactivate their IS's, when Shido's IS began to dematerialize for seemingly no reason. Before either Ichika or Shido could act appropriately towards this development, Shido began to fall towards the ground, screaming as he fell. "Oh crap…SHIORI!" Ichika yells and flies down after him. The girls on the sidelines witness this as well with shocked looks on their faces, and they deploy their own IS's in order to try and save him as well. However, before they can leave the ground, Ichika had already made his way to Shido, catching him in the process. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time for a safe landing, so Ichika, thinking quickly, rolled his IS on its back, shielding both Shido and himself from the fall.
The two pilots landed with a loud crash, forming a small crater on impact. When the dust settled, the two pilots could be found on top of each other; Ichika somehow finding himself on top despite the fact that he landed first, his IS also dematerialized. "Are you all right Shiori?" the dark-haired male asked after getting up a little bit, shaken slightly from the landing. "Yeah, I am. Thank you," the blue-haired cross dresser replied, shaken up as well; neither one of them having yet registered their awkward position.
Before the two pilots could do anything else, a laser blast flies past Ichika's head at a downward angle, hitting the ground nearby. After looking over to where the shot hit, the two simultaneously look back over to its origin, and see the girls with their IS's deployed, one of Cecilia's optical drones also deployed and floating near her. Each girl is starring daggers at the duo, each with a dark aura around them, visibly upset at the duo for being in such a compromising position. Both Ichika and Shido are simply deer in headlights for the time being due to their current situation, both unsure of what to do. After a few seconds, the girls almost in unison yell, "ICHIKA!" Realizing what is about to happen to them, both Ichika and Shido simultaneously scream, "OH CRAP!"
Not wanting either him or his companion to get hurt, Ichika quickly grabs Shido by the wrist, and jumps up, pulling Shido up with him. They then take off running with Ichika pulling Shido along, all while trying to avoid the various bullets and blasts being fired at them; neither male completely sure why the girls are shooting at them. Well, mostly in Ichika's case anyway.
I have to say, that wasn't an easy chapter to write.
I hope that you enjoyed it, and that fight scene ended up turning out better than I think that it did. I'm not used to writing those so it's probably not my best work (the same could probably be said about the chapter as well), so forgive me if it's not that great. Hopefully I'll get better when/if I have to write another one.
I hope that people like the idea of Shido getting help from the crew of the Fraxinus in controlling his IS. The idea is actually from one of my readers. I'm not sure if they want me to mention them here or not, but if you do just let me know! Anyway, considering that Shido likely wouldn't know how to completely control it yet and that he has that resource available to him, it just makes sense to me, you know? Anyway, let me know what you think about it.
Also, I hope that you guys like the names that I gave Shido's IS and weapon. I'm not very creative or used to creating Japanese names, so you'll have to forgive me if they're not that great.
To answer a question that was asked real quick:
Q: "So how will you put the Yamai sisters and Miku into this story?"
A: Truthfully, I wasn't planning on including them in the beginning when I started writing this. I really only wanted to include the spirits from the first season and not the second season for simplicity's sake (that and when I started writing this I knew next to nothing about Miku or the Yamai twins). Now, I was thinking about possibly referencing them in the story, but not much more after that. However, after talking with someone about it, I've started to think about possibly expanding my story to include the spirits from season two as well in some way (possibly as actual characters). We'll see what happens about that though.
One last thing, I just want to point out that I'm not trying to create anything romantic between Ichika and Shido. I did that just for the comedy and to potentially set up for something else later. That is all!
Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed it! Be sure to review, favorite, follow, or whatever. All feedback is appreciated (just nothing flaming or too rude), thanks!
Until the next chapter (hopefully it won't take as long next time, lol!
