Ichigo sits on the floor, of her shared room with Windy May, fiddling with odd looking tools, odd pieces of advanced tech and the disassembled parts of what use to be a PS3 console. She stops and reaches up over her shoulders, with both her arms, and scratches furiously at the two clusters at both of her shoulders.
"Damn it." Ichigo mutters as she stops scratching and goes back to fiddling. "I can't believe how fucking itchy these damn things are. How does anyone stand having them dug into their body?"
Cassie scratches the back of her right arm as she stands face to face with a first year student. The first year is Julia Burton a young lady of the same height as Cassie, with obsidian eyes, long raven hair done up in a high ponytail, placing her hair at mid-back, with a few strands of loose hair that frame her lightly tanned skinned face.
Julia stares at Cassie with a sharp glare of her obsidian eyes as if trying to burrow into Cassie's very soul. Cassie scratches her arm a little more frantically as a breeze ruffles her deep green locks of hair. That same breeze ruffles the skirts of their East Genetics uniforms as well as Julia's raven hair. Julia crosses her arms across her stomach, beneath her modest bust, before opening her mouth to speak in a manner that doesn't match her rather sharp glare.
"Why, Cassie-senpai?" Cassie scratches at her arm as if trying to get it to take her full attention. "Why won't you train me? I've followed your exploits since back in basic training. I've done everything to pattern myself after you and your amazing skills, so why?" Before Cassie can even think of something to reply with a siren goes off. Seconds later a voice comes over the siren.
"Alert. Alert. All Pandora and Limiters gear up and prepare for deployment." Julia and Cassie move from their spots in a burst of double accel. "Alert. Alert. All Pandora and Limiters gear up and prepare for deployment." Julia and Cassie come out of double accel in the deployment area. Neither of them has a limiter with them. "Alert. Alert. All Pandora and Limiters gear up and prepare for deployment." Glowing lines appear on Cassie and Julia's face, neck and hands, signifying the activation of their plasma stigmata.
Ichigo smiles as she rotates a black rectangle, about half the size of the original PS3 console, scrutinizing it with her eyes. A few stigmata lay scattered and forgotten on the floor around her. Her right thigh and upper left arm are in a state of partial convulsion, but she seems to pay it no mind.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. I knew I could downgrade the tech needed to..." Ichigo narrows her eyes and then drops the rectangle as she lets out a sharp cry of pain. She snatches her right thigh and the upper part of her left arm. All the stigmata, remaining in her body, totaling thirty-three - twenty in her back, five in her left thigh, four in her upper right arm, two in her right thigh and upper left arm- begin to glow.
Cassie and Julia come out of double accel in front of a group of twenty-five Pandora. Only eight of them have Limiters standing beside them. All of them have glowing lines along their faces, necks and hands. The large hanger doors of the deployment area slide open and Cassie, Julia and the seventeen Pandora, without limiters, take off out through the hanger doors with double accel.
Windy May, Cassandra, Rana, Satellizer and Kazuya burst into the bedroom one after the other. Ichigo rolling on the floor snarling in pain like a wounded animal is the sight that greets their senses. Kazuya and Satellizer rush to her side. Windy May calls out to them in a sharp authoritative voice.
"Leave her be." Kazuya and Satellizer freeze with their hands inches away from Ichigo's body. They rigidly turn their heads to look at Windy May. Windy May has a concerned smile on her face. "You'll just be brought down and hurt, sweeties. It's best to allow Cassandra and me to help her when the pain recedes." Windy May shifts her gaze to Ichigo who's clawing at every cluster of stigmata on her body. "If it recedes."
Cassie comes out of double accel with half the blade of the flachion plasma weapon on her right forearm in the face of one of the hundreds of Saurian Nova littering the main courtyard of East Genetics. She tears the blade out of the Saurian Nova's head causing it's head and part of its torso to split in two before it begins to disintegrate. As the first Saurian Nova fully disintegrates Cassie flings out her left blade and lodges it in the torso of another nearby Saurian Nova. Using double accel she rams through it splitting it in half.
As Cassie passes through her Saurian Nova Julia comes out of double accel behind a Saurian Nova with her plasma weapon, a plasma blade resembling a daito about three and a half feet in length from tip of the blade to the end of the pummel, held behind her back in a reverse grip. She straightens up as the Saurian Nova behind her begins to disintegrate. Twirling around she cuts through three more Saurian Nova, that were converging upon her, and stops facing the direction she came from seconds before her plasma daito still in a reverse grip. Cassie skids to a stop behind her both of her plasma falchion arm blades up in front of her ready to strike.
"Why do you need me to train you, Julia-san?" Cassie inquires as Julia reverses the grip on her plasma daito and cuts through a Saurian Nova to her left. "You seem to be quite skilled." Cassie lodges her left plasma flachion into the head of a Saurian Nova before twisting and slashing across its torso with her right plasma flachion. Julia replies as both of their Saurian Nova disintegrate.
"I have much to learn, Cassie-senpai. And you're the best one to learn it from." Julia twirls around Cassie and plants a nasty kick to the chest of an on coming Saurian Nova. Using the Saurian Nova's chest as a spring board she twirls back around Cassie and cuts a Saurian Nova in half with a vertical slice of her plasma daito. At that same time Cassie has shredded through the Saurian Nova Julia spring boarded off of seconds before.
"I don't think I'd be able to teach you much. Even if I could. I wouldn't be a very good teacher." Cassie states with a sad expression upon her face as she bifurcates a Saurian Nova in two. Julia thrusts her plasma daito into the chest of another Saurian Nova and slashes the blade upwards severing half the Saurian Nova's body in half and her eyes widen, but before she can make a reply Cassie has taken off, with triple accel, through several Saurian Nova. Julia smiles as she uses double accel to slash her way through three Saurian Nova who's bodies begin to disintegrate even before they realize what happened to them.
"You'd make a wonderful teacher, senpai." Julia kicks into triple accel right then and bifurcates several Saurian Nova as she passes through them. Her plasma daito held in a reverse grip as she goes.
As the Pandora and, the few remaining, Limiters battle the hundreds of Saurian Nova, flooding the main courtyard, the five larger S-Type Nova hover off in the distance behind their smaller brethren. Hovering above the middle one is the Maria Lancelot successor. She flicks her right arm out and in unison the S-Type Nova's cores begin glowing with a brilliant light.
Julia spins around a Saurian Nova running it through from behind with a reverse grip thrust of her plasma daito. As she slides the blade out and the Saurian Nova begins to disintegrate her eyes widen. Off in the distance the cores of five larger nova begin to glow. Gritting her teeth Julia kicks into triple accel and heads towards them. Cassie comes up alongside her, also using triple accel, and the two of them slash their way through Saurian Nova after Saurian Nova in an attempt to reach the larger ones before they can fire.
The other Pandora and the few Limiters notice this and begin to converge on the Saurian Nova left intact upon Cassie and Julia passing by them. Each of the Pandora slashing, smashing, and crushing Saurian Nova into bits using double accel to bolster their attacks. Cassie and Julia then kick into quadruple accel as the light at the five larger nova's cores brightens even more.
Ichigo rolls around on the floor, of her shared room with Windy May, clawing furiously at the stigmata clusters on her body. Windy May, Rana, Satellizer and Kazuya watch with concern written across their faces, but don't risk touching the young lady. Cassandra has a small frown upon her face as she stands behind the others watching Ichigo claw. Kazuya turns to Windy May.
"Can't you or Cassandra stop her, Windy May-chan? She's been doing that for an hour." Windy May tears her gaze from Ichigo and settles it upon Kazuya. Rana and Satellizer can't seem to pull their gaze from the girl as she practically tears her skin off as she rolls around on the floor.
"How do you expect us to do that, Kazuya-kun? We don't know how strong she is. We could end up being thrown through a wall and end up making things worse for everyone." Kazuya stares at Windy May with confusion written all over his face and in his dark brown eyes. Windy May sighs and gives him a small sad smile before turning her gaze back upon Ichigo.
Cassie and Julia near the larger nova right when all five of them unleash their fully charged plasma beams. Cassie and Julia close the gap between the two of them and collide with the plasma beam from the middle nova. As Cassie and Julia push through the plasma beam, with their plasma weapons brought forward, of the middle nova the other four beams rain down upon the battling Saurian Nova and Pandora. Just as the two of them are about to reach the S-Type Nova's core the Maria Lancelot successor slides in front of them and knocks them away with a wave of her right arm. With their guard thrown off the plasma beam slams into their bodies and blows them back towards the main courtyard and the middle of the chaos.
Cassie and Julia slam into the courtyard, smashing several Saurian Nova and a couple of first year Pandora, into the ground. The Saurian Nova are decimated while the first year Pandora simply act as cushions for Cassie and Julia who are only slightly singed from the impact of the plasma beam. Cassie and Julia climb off their kouhai and classmates, respectively, and help the two Pandora to their feet. Less than a second later Cassie and Julia are headed right back towards the larger nova using quadruple accel once more as the S-Type Nova begin charging their cores once again.
As the S-Type Nova begin charging their cores, for another round of plasma beams, the Maria Lancelot successor swings her left arm out to her side. She then swings her right arm in a sweeping arc downwards and to the right as a dimensional rift opens up behind her. The Maria Lancelot successor glides backwards into the the rift and as it seals up after her the S-Type Nova begin shedding human sized droplets as if they were sweating. The light, from their cores, continuing to get brighter with each passing second.
Julia falters, in her quadruple accel, as she sees the rift open and the Maria Lancelot successor slip through it, but manages to regain herself. Putting a little bit more effort into her quadruple accel she re-aligns herself alongside Cassie as they near the five larger nova once more. As they draw closer both of their gazes are drawn away from the S-Type Nova's cores and to their bodies. This time Julia, not knowing what's going on with the S-Type Nova's bodies, fully falters and falls out of quadruple accel. Cassie reverses course and heads towards Julia as the younger girl falls towards the horde of Saurian Nova below. Cassie snatches Julia up in her right arm as she lashes out, in a horizontal arc, with her left plasma flachion eviscerating several Saurian Nova.
The other Pandora and few Limiters continue to battle the Saurian Nova. Though, the sheer numbers, now ranging in the thousand, begin to push them back slowly, but surely. Cassie stops on a dime, coming out of quadruple accel, with Julia nestled in her arms.
"Fall back and re-group, ladies." The Pandora, closest to Cassie, nod their heads and proceed to double accel away from the Saurian Nova. Those with Limiters pick up their Limiters and dash away from the Saurian Nova. Cassie places Julia on her feet and the two of them stand shoulder to shoulder facing the onslaught of Saurian Nova who's numbers seem to be growing by the second.
After nearly two hours of furious clawing, rolling and snarling like a wounded animal the glow of the stigmata in Ichigo's body dims a bit and she begins to calm down. Windy May's concerned smile turns into one of slight joy as she moves to draw closer to Ichigo. Ichigo sucks in a deep breath and sits up as Windy May kneels beside her. Windy May gently places a hand on Ichigo's left shoulder as she can tell the young lady is still in pain.
"Is the pain bare-able enough that you can make it to the Recovery Center?" Ichigo sighs and rises to her feet. Small flashes of pain cross her face and it's clear to everyone in the room that her right thigh and upper left arm are having some sort of convulsion. Cassandra steps forward the frown upon her face deeper than before. Kazuya, Rana and Satellizer stare, as if in a trance, at Ichigo's partially convulsing right thigh and upper left arm.
"I'm fine. It's just been quite a long time since I experienced pain like that. I wasn't prepared for it and before I could shut it out it had control over me." Windy May nods her head as she rises up to her full height, which is a couple of inches shorter than Ichigo. Cassandra, being the same height as Ichigo at five foot eight inches, stares into her eyes with what seems like concern.
"Shall we take you to the Recovery Center, Ichigo-chan?" Windy May inquires with a tilt of her head. Ichigo looks away from Cassandra down to Windy May's smiling face. She chuckles and shakes her head.
"No worries, Windy May-san. I've got this, trust me." Ichigo gives her a small smile before looking back at Cassandra with the same smile. "I appreciate your concern for me, though." With a glance at the other three Ichigo bends down and picks up the black rectangle. She straightens up and tosses it to Kazuya. Kazuya's eyes widen and he almost drops it. "I promised you an awesome gaming experience and that will provide it, bro. Just press the little black circle, in the living area not here," Ichigo adds with a chuckle as she sees Kazuya begin looking for the black circle, "It will activate the device and put you through an in detail tutorial on how to use it." Ichigo walks pass Kazuya, Rana and Satellizer towards the bedroom door." Don't bypass it, okay? You won't understand how to use it if you do. It's quite technical." Ichigo passes through the doorway and disappears from sight. "Have fun, bro. I'll come kick your in game ass when I'm done at the Recovery Center." Kazuya chuckles as he looks the black rectangle over. Seconds later there's the sound of something hitting the floor a few steps from the bedroom.
Kazuya, Rana, Satellizer, Cassandra and Windy May all dash out of the bedroom. They see Lucie kneeling next to Ichigo's motionless body on the hallway floor. Windy May moves past everyone towards Lucie. "What happened?" Lucie glances up at Windy May for a brief moment before returning her gaze to Ichigo.
"I have no idea, sister. I had just turned the corner when she collapsed to the floor." Windy May kneels down beside Ichigo as Cassandra moves closer to them. Windy May sighs and removes a lock of hair from Ichigo's face.
"She told me she'd be okay." Lucie looks up at Windy May. Windy May has a small sad smile on her face as she stares down at Ichigo.
"Coma!" Windy May practically yells into Eliza's ear. Eliza cringes and pulls away from the shorter lady.
"Yes. She's in a coma that seems to have been brought on by a negative reaction to the stigmata in her body." Eliza looks at Ichigo as she lays in the bed as if she were just asleep. Not a single piece of equipment is hooked up to her. "Though, how this happened or how she's breathing on her own I haven't the first clue. Though, I speculate it may have something to do with the fact that she has thirty-three stigmata in her body." Windy May, Kazuya, Rana, Yumi, who happened to be with Eliza when Windy May and Cassandra rushed in with Ichigo earlier, and Satellizer's eyes widen at the stigmata count. "There's even the possibly she had forty of them at one point due to the clustering on her arms, legs and back."
"Forty!" This time it's Yumi who practically yells into Eliza's ear, even though the distance between them is greater than Windy May's earlier. Eliza cringes once again and moves further away from her best friend. Yumi gives Eliza a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Liza." Eliza chuckles and smiles. The others smile softly before settling their gazes upon their new friend laying on the bed in a coma. "How could she have so many stigmata? The most any Pandora has ever had was twenty and there's only been one Pandora who had that many."
Kazuya's eyes well up with tears upon the mention of his late sister, Kazuha. Windy May's eyes widen and she moves quickly to Kazuya's side and wraps her arms around him. Cassandra does the same, from behind, nestling the back of his head between her breasts. Rana and Satellizer pout upon seeing this show of affection and care. Whether it's because they were too slow in doing so or just because they feel it should be them not his aunts comforting him is left untouched as Ichigo springs up into a seated position with a nasty cry of pain, not unlike a wounded animal.