Chapter 2
Selenas' gaze switched back and forth between the blank screen on her desk and her teacher up at the front of the class, confused and lost on what she should do next. Her teacher, Miss Yamada, asked the class to take notes, but she didn't have any line papers or even a pencil to write it all down, all she had in her school case were a couple of books and a letter. The only other thing she has is the futuristic desk that's currently not on to be taking notes.
"Miss Trent, is there a problem?" Chifuyus' voice chimed, causing her to squeak and shrink into her desk. She felt the eyes of her classmates looking at her.
"Um… uh… h-how do you… turn this thing on?" she asked as her volume lowered to a whisper, while also blushing with embarrassment.
Chifuyu looked at the student that sat next to her, "Dunois, can you help out, Trent?" she asked, and the blond girl nodded with a smile.
"Oui." She said in a French accent before she stood next to Selena, leaning over her. "Bonjour, Miss Trent. My name is Charlotte Dunois, but you can call me Charlotte if you like." she introduced herself while holding out her hand with a small, friendly smile.
Selena gently shook her hand timidly, "Um… hi, Charlotte… I'm Selena." Charlotte nodded at her.
"Nice too meet you, Selena. Now let's figure out how this works, no?" Selena nodded and tried to scoot to the side with her chair to make room for her classmate, but the chair stayed put. Selena blushed a little more, just now noticing all the chairs were bolted to the floor. Charlotte kneeled down beside her instead with a small chuckle, "Now, to turn it on, you just tap the screen." She whispered, Selena did as told and the screen lights up, but most of all, a holographic screen lit to life in front of her, surprising her once more with an 'Eep!'. Charlotte giggled a little and looked at the floating screen, "Now type in your first and last name, and make up a password." She looked away as Selena looked down at her lit desk, a flat keyboard now on display. She typed in her name awkwardly, but stopped when she didn't see a mouse to scrawl down on the blank box.
"H-how do I?" she tried to look a little closer at the foreign instruments, trying to figure out what does what.
Charlotte points at an empty ring on the dashboard, "You simply move the little arrow by sliding your finger on this and tap or press down on it to select." Selena made an 'O' of understanding and quickly moved the arrow and selected the empty box. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out on what password to choose from her list, or make a new one entirely. With a spark of a smile she quickly typed in and tapped enter. The floating screen then showed the logo of the IS Academy emblem while spinning, but froze in place after a second and a few files spun into existence.
"Bon! Oui, now you just select 'Note Book', start a new entry, and that's all, Selena." Charlotte finished.
Selena nods thankfully at her, "Th-thank you… Charlotte." Charlotte nods back and went back to her own desk to get some work done. Selena looked at her screen and started typing awkwardly, accidentally slipping her fingers on occasion, but continued on typing on what her teacher was saying, determined to learn as much there is to know about the IS. But to some degree, she felt giddy and proud of herself about figuring out on how to use the desks' technology, with some help of course. Now she just needs to remember holograms popping out into existence to scare her in the future.
The school bell chimes; lunch time. The rays of sunlight cut through the classroom with a warm glow, but for Selena's thankful liking, the windows had adjustable shading to keep the classroom from getting too bright for her eyes. The small, adjustable air conditioning on her desk was weird at first, but it helped nonetheless. Though, she had to put it on full blast to get her to a comfortable temperature.
Selena finished typing in her last few notes awkwardly, but stopped when she noticed she didn't know how to turn it off.
While she tried to figure out where the 'Off' button was, Cecilia stood and noticed Selena inspecting her desk intently with a small frown. She goes up to her without Selena noticing-even if she was right in front of her-and looked at the holographic screen to see if she was done.
"Oh! Um… h-hello, Miss Alcott." Selena greeted, her cheeks lightly flushed pink, but continued to stare at her desk with searching eyes. Cecilia giggled and pointed at a small circle at the top right corner of the touch screen.
"Tap that twice to turn it off when you're done, and you can call me Cecilia, dear." She said. Selena tapped the small circle as instructed while Charlotte now stood by Cecilia. "Would you like to have some lunch with me and my friends, Selena?" she asked.
"Um, uh…" and before she could answer, her stomach answered with a growl, making her blush increase a few shades darker while she played with her fingers, embarrassed yet again. She missed breakfast this morning to get ready and go with her escort. "Yes… please." She answered.
Charlotte looked back at another student that had long silvery hair and an eye patch covering her left eye, "Are you ready, Laura?"
"Ja! We are ready." She replied.
"Now, come a long, Selena. We don't have all day." Cecilia said. Selena quickly stood with her case in hand and followed them out. As they walked through the halls, Charlotte took her place beside her with the eye-patched-girl.
"Selena, this is Laura Bodewig, from Germany." Charlotte introduced them both while Cecilia took lead.
Selena starred at the tense looking girl, reminding her of their Instructor Chifuyu Orimura and her commanding officer back home to some degree.
"Greetings, Selena Trent." Laura brought out her hand, still keeping her stone-cold expression with a business woman like stance.
"Um… h-hi, Laura Bodewig." She took her hand, but like her stance, her grip was hard and commanding.
"Wait up!" the four stopped and looked back to see a male student and another girl jogging up to them. Selena knew whom the male student was, Ichika Orimura, from her briefing in Canada, but the girl with a splitting ponytail didn't quite click, though, a nagging feeling started bugging her. She saw her somewhere before. "Huh! What's up, new girl?" Ichika leaned in closer to Selenas' face with squinting eyes, making her to take a step back and put her gaze down to look at something else other than his unnerving stare.
The girl with a ponytail smacked him up across the head, "She does have a name, Ichika." She scowled at him, Cecilia and the rest of the girls gave him glares as well while moving in a little to get into protective positions around the girl, but not completely.
"Oh, uh, sorry." he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly but brought out his hand with a cheerful smile, "My name's Ichika Orimura."
Selena gently took his hand while he shook it firmly, "Selena Trent." She murmured.
The new girl brought out her own hand with a friendly smile, "You can call me Houki." They both shook hands. The nagging increased hearing her name.
"Hey!" the small group looked down at the end hall to see a short girl with Pigtails and a snowy blue haired girl with glasses beside her, "Are we going for lunch or what!?" she yelled at them while bringing out her arms to her sides.
Selena quietly looked around the large, pleasantly smelling room as food cooked a few meters away, with faint sounds of sizzling pans. The place was littered with tables; some going against the walls, by the windows and a few out in the open, and that's where her little group was sitting around in a rather big roundtable. A few columns stood here and there and she even saw a few plants sitting around idly by. New faces surrounded her, giggles, laughter and whispering could be heard, and she heard some were talking about the new student of the IS Academy and taking quick, curious glances at her. It unnerved her but it's nothing she could bear.
Selena felt out of place on the Cafeteria roundtable, but thankful that she wasn't the only shy student to be there.
She looked to her side at the blue haired girl and smiled shyly while bringing out her hand, "I'm Selena Trent." She murmured.
The girl gently shook her hand with an equally timid, but kind smile, "Hi, Selena. I'm Kanzashi Sarashiki." She replied with a murmur.
Cecilia squealed, surprising both of them and making them blush, "Oh, such innocents in, you both!" she brought her hands onto her cheeks and squealed once more like a little girl getting her first puppy or kitten.
"So… you're the new transfer student, huh?" Lingyin said then slurped up noodles and Cecilia quickly frowned at her from the unladylike sound, while Selena nodded from across the table. Lingyin brought out her hand over the table, "I'm Lingyin Huang, but everyone calls me Rin." They both shook.
"S-Selena Trent." She replied shyly.
"So, what's your story?" Houki said.
She goes ridged on her seat and sat up strait, "Oh, um… Uh, I-I lived in a small town called P-Pond Inlet, in the Territory of Nunavut all my life… ah-I was tr-training to become a Canadian Ranger like my dad, but, um… Miss Tabane Shinonono and Miss Chifuyu Orimura came by during my training in White Horse, Yukon, looking for someone and e-everything changed after that." She finished while feeling a little tense from the attention she was getting.
"Hm… I guess we know now what happened to Miss Shinonono and Miss Orimura than, no?" Charlotte said and looked at Houki and Ichika with a smile.
"Yeah… I guess we do." Houki replied and continued eating her meal in peace, but unbeknownst to her, Selena had set her eyes on her in realization; eyes wide and a slight gape in her lips.
"A-are you Houki Shinonono?" she asked and brought up her school case onto her lap. Houki nodded with a 'Mhm' while slurping her noodles, much to dismay of Cecilia. Selena swiftly unzipped her case and quickly brought out a letter towards Houki, surprising everyone on the table with how fast she did so. "Miss Tabane wanted me to give you this." She blurred out with a cheeky smile, but once she noticed the stares she was receiving, she gradually shrank into her chest like a scared turtle.
"Oh… thank you." Houki received her letter, looked at it for a good moment before she puts it away in her own case.
Loud clapping echoed across the room, gaining the attention of all the students in the cafeteria towards its source, "Hurry it up, everyone!" Chifuyu yelled, "Class one-one will have Practical Training in Arena Three in twenty minutes!"
The small group then quickly looked back, hearing strange noises, only to see Selena shoveling down her lunch like a starving bum, and just a minute after they started eating again she was done with hers.
Ichika whistled, "Wow, I didn't know a girl like you had a big appetite-ah!" He received yet another smack from Houki while Selena quietly wiped her mouth with a deep blush going across her cheeks.
"Uh… j-just old habits." Selena replied.
"How's your throat, Selena?" Charlotte asked.
"It's… okay, I guess." She cleared her voice, "I still feel the swelling but i-it's not hurting. Tickles a little." She then quickly looked around and saw the time on a wall mounted clock. She takes out her little kit from her case and ended her new routine with a quick sprits.
"That's why your voice sounds a little scratchy?" Rin said and Selena nodded while putting away her things.
"So what did you do with Chifuyu and Tabane in Canada?" Ichika asked while slurping as well, making Cecilia groan a little while she ate like a well trained Princess Noble.
"S-sorry… it's classified…" she apologized and looked down at her bag.
"Oh? Okay, than what's your IS' name?" Rin asked.
"The Blind Owl." Selena answered.
To say Selena was shy in the Locker Room was an understatement. She waited patiently, sitting on a bench and looking down at the floor while the rest of her classmates changed in front of their own lockers. Charlotte, Cecilia and the others asked her what was wrong and why she wasn't changing into her IS suite, but she'd just blush and mumble, telling them she could wait. When they were finished and went out into the field, Selena quickly came jogging out just a moment later, took her place within the rows and stood at attention like a statue, though, she had her eyes squinting a little from the sun. Her suite was white with cool gray trims. Chifuyu and Maya stood before them in their sweat shirts and pants.
Selena took a quick look around at the large space of the arena with squinting eyes and its bleachers, and right above she could see the blue sky lined with a few small clouds. It reminded her of the Roman Coliseum she learned about in her younger days in Elementary School. It was hard for her to believe there were a couple more of these arenas around the Academy.
"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" Chifuyu yells. "Now that we have a faster opponent in our little ranks, we're going to learn how to evade and strike more agile and faster IS." She looked at Ichika, "Orimura, take out your IS and move to one end of the field." She pointed to her right. She then looked at her new student, "Miss Trent, you move on over to the other end." She pointed back the other way with her thumb.
While Ichika took out his white IS with a flash; the Byakushiki, and moved into place, Selena stopped herself and looked at her Instructor questioningly.
"Miss Orimura?" she asked, but Chifuyu smiled and nodded at her.
"All out until I say so." She said and grabbed her stopwatch that's wrapped around her neck. Selena saluted at her at attention and started running to the other side and jumped, willing her IS out as her snowflake hairclip glowed brightly.
Her vision darkened into a shade of blue as a visor shaped like large eyes covered her own and the white rim curved back on the sides of her head with ridges coming out, forming short horn like appendages point out and back. Light armor covered her collarbone and another one covered her teats starting from her ribcage and up to the middle with a curve like a bra. Her arms extended out into white, mechanical appendages, though her fingers ended with larger claws with icy blue stripes and large feather like appendages going back from her elbows. On her legs, its feet split into two toes and two more going back and two more feather like appendages were going back from the sides of her legs. Around her hips and on her backside were shaped like a tail of a bird with one feather on her hips and three going back on her back, but between them were small, dual Rail Guns attached to her armor. Two shoulder pads floated around her shoulders and large wing like stabilizers floated just behind her. To finish it all off, her IS had just the right amount of blue, intricate, and smooth, wavy patterns all over the machine like war paint, as if it was made to move with cold winds of the tundra.
Selena comes to a stop as the feather like appendages swiveled around to stabilize her and twisted around to face her opponent while being goggled at by her classmates. She balled her mechanical hands out of reflex and stared down at Ichika, not blinking an eye and stayed completely still. While they waited for the word, she pondered out her plan of attack, and the way he was fidgeting she knew her opponent didn't feel too comfortable with her starring like a hungry wolf, and maybe because the 'feathers' of her IS were pointing to make a threatening display.
Chifuyu brought her right leg a little further to her side and looked at Maya and her students, "Prepare for heavy winds." she said before shouting, "Begin!" and chopped the air with a swipe.
Selena suddenly rocks forward with her Ignition Boost like a blur, nearly breaking the sound barrier in the process and making her opponent freeze up and open for strikes, so she tackled Ichika into a wall, burying him a few inches in with large cracks spider webbing out. She quickly raised her dual Rail guns from her sides and shot uncharged around to her target head on and drained his shields to nearly zero with her quick combination, but vaporized his IS back into his bracelet anyways. He fell on the ground and got down on his hands and knees while breathing heavily and coughing.
Chifuyu looked down at her stopwatch while the dust started to slowly settle down, the students and Maya coughing behind her. "Three seconds." she voiced while the group of students and the teacher gapped in shock and awe at the news like they just witnessed Selena kick a cute puppy, some covering their mouths.
"It's always the quiet ones." Charlotte whispered and Cecilia nodded in agreement, now not feeling too keen on how to feel about her new roommate but shook those thoughts away. She finally got her own roommate and she was damn sure she was going to be a proper host to her new, if only a little terrifying, friend.
Authors' Note: Hello, Everyone! I hope you enjoyed the Edited version for this one.
Let me know what you think.
And please give a round of applause to Tawins for helping me out with this story. He's been a great help.
So any thoughts on this story so far? Good? Bad? Okay? How I'm doing with writing it?
Anyways, till next week for chapter 3, have a nice day/night, and good reading, everyone. :)
James: (Both James and Ichika race through out the academy nearly naked, running from a raging pair roommates while both boys wore blond and silvery wigs, bras with water balloons, speedoes, and as well as makeup) Run, B****, Run! (Yelled James)
Selena: (Both Selena and Cecilia were in their ISs, ready to murder both boys with their weapons) Time to make a Motha' F***a' Sufa'!
Cecilia: Preach it, Sister!