IS: The Future, and What Lies Behind It Chapter 3

A/N: I was going to put this story on hiatus, until I realized how many people urged me to keep writing this. Then I realized that Infinite Stratos was a small section of FFnet. That inspired me to keep writing for you little dudes out there, trying to find a good IS fic. Well, here it is, a completely new chapter since 4 (or 3? I forgot :P) months ago!

Remember, reviews are encouraged, but limited to improvements of the story, along with anything you'd like me to do for this fanfic. Any flaming will not be tolerated (LOL, I sound like a teacher).

Without further ado, let us begin!

In the Hospital Wing (Should be one if I remember correctly.)...

Ichika was in a comatose state of figure. Figuratively speaking of course, because he was knocked rather hard in the face by his own sister, who loved since he was a child. Though she was a little rough around the edges, he considered as a good sister. He sighed. It's only been the 1st period, and he was tired. "Must be a new record." He thought. He tried to sleep, and was just about to when the door to the room was opened rather rudely, with it bringing Houki outside his bed. "Geez, is it odd that I see you here every other day? You need to take more care of yourself, Ichika, or you're never going to stop being a kid!" Not a day goes by Ichika without thinking about how much Houki changed over the summer, and well, here she was, lecturing him like it was only the 2nd year at IS Academy. "Ahhh...Good times." He thought, remembering his second year at IS Academy. He got 2nd Place for the School-Wide IS Tournament, a tournament similar to the Tournament his sister won in. Houki won first, and they were arguing days after the tournament weather it was a matter of specs or skill. It settled to a truce in the end, neither admitting winning or losing. Partially because Chifuyu put an end to it - She got annoyed the more they argued.

Unfortunately, Ichika was spacing out while this was happening, since his senses were still pretty knocked up from the morning, so he wasn't aware of Houki yelling, "WAKE UP, ICHIKA!" repeatedly in his ear. She sighed. "He really didn't change much." She thought with disappointment. "I wished he get a grip on reality. He can't act like he is right now forever. Eventually, we're all gonna part ways...No, no! Houki, you must think like that! Besides, Ichika...I'm not even sure about leaving Ichika alone, let alone my friends" She thought, now sadness within her mind. "I...I don't want to leave him. Not ever. But...I don't have any sort of feeling for him! So why...why do I get this feeling of-"

"Houki, why are you crying?"

She blinked. Ichika had stopped his trance, and was looking at her with concern. "What's wrong? I didn't do anything, did I?" She sniffed, then punched him in the shoulder. "Stupid Ichika...It's all your fault!" She cried, then sprinted out of the room. Ichika blinked, then winced. Houki's punches hurt like hell, but what was that all about? His pondering thoughts kept his pain out of check. He ended up asking about it to her later, and tried to rest off 2 injuries now. "What a start to the year. I pissed off my best friend, and my sister punches me for slacking off as usual. Do I have some sort of bad luck charm or something?" He thought.

The next day...

Ichika woke up to the sun blazing into his eyes. He groaned, then touched his injury. It was a lot better than yesterday. An hour later, the nurse came over to check him out. "These injuries take time to heal. Just wait it out. You'll be fine after a few days or so." He nodded. It was good to know it wasn't too serious. He got out of the bed, changed into his uniform, then got out of the hospital wing. He slightly stretched out his arms, then started to run, because he was almost about to be late for his first class.

He ran into the room, sat down, and looked the front. Chifuyu papers were flying, and Chifuyu herself was blinking. Ichika practically was moving at lightning speed, and that might actually set a new record in running. She shook her head. She must be dreaming, she thought, and shook it off as a hallucination. "Orimuru, Dunois, Shinonono. Come with me." The three mentioned stood, and followed Chifuyu out of the room, thinking about what they did. "I don't remember what I did." Ichika thought, confused. Did he piss her off that much? And why was Charlotte and Houki dragged into this?

They arrived in a briefing room, where no one else was present. Cecilia was already in the room. She looked as confused as they were. When Chifuyu asked them to gather around the briefing screen, they did so without question. Once everything was organized, Ichika asked what's on everyone's mind: "Chifuyu-nee, are we going on a mission?"

Chifuyu looked at his brother. Looks like his brains improved slightly. "I suppose you could call it that. Though, it's really just an area we need you to check out. Since you all have personal IS, the board decided you 4 were the fittest."

"Wait, what about Rin and Laura-san then?" Cecilia asked.

"I'm afraid they were lacking a little experience. It's just the 4 of you this time." Chifuyu replied. "Now, I'd like you to look at the screen above you." A digital screen popped up, showed a small area of forestry. "This is a forest. Obviously, we aren't looking at it specifically. But take a look when I zoom out." The picture went outwards, and the paths that didn't have trees formed an arrow; an arrow that was pointing off towards the right. "We were quite suspicious; After all, this arrow-looking path appeared yesterday overnight." Now there were 2 pictures, one that was taken yesterday, and the current today picture of the forest. The difference was quite clear. There never was a path yesterday, then the arrow just appeared over one night.

"We followed the arrow, and moved the image." The current day picture started to shift towards the right. "Eventually, we found this." The image stopped at a small cave opening. "We measured the arrow's direction; It was directly pointed towards the cave, and if further, goes inside of it."

"Let me guess, we're suppose to go in and find what's in there?" Ichika asked. "In general, yes. I have permission to send you off right now." Ichika got ready to go, but Chifuyu-nee said, "But be careful. I have a really bad feeling about all this." Ichika started to fear what's ever in that cave, because rarely did Chifuyu get a bad feeling. The other time was when he got kidnapped. "Got it." Ichika had to muster what courage he had to say that confidentially. He then nodded to the other girls, and they ran out of the room, and into the change rooms to change into Spandex suits. Chifuyu prayed, and she rarely does that. "Please, whoever's up there, protect those kids."

A/N: And that's it for today. Now, to those who are still familiar, this Fanfic is based off of the Future Arc in Katakyo Hitman Reborn, though with my own OCs and such, simply because of the fact that the Arc was simply that amazing. Here's a small disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Future Arc of KHR, nor do I own Infinite Stratos. All credit goes to...who ever created those, since I have no idea what their names were.

We're going to start kicking this off now. If you can guess what's in there, well...I dunno, a chapter preview? Whatever you say, put it in a review and make sure you put in your opinions too. Also, no flaming! It's not liked. But criticism is allowed, as long you keep the minor insults to a minimal.

Thank you for supporting this story, and I apologize for the long hiatus. I hope you'll stick with me to the end, which might a take a while. Remember, Reviews are highly recommended! Cya till next chapter~

The One Who Speaks Ideals,

Ice.