A/N: I'd love to say that this chapter was delayed due to me wanting to polish and perfect it, but the truth is that I've had exams, bought the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, and gotten back into Planetside 2.
Chapter 25
Lily hadn't been lying when she said that their match was early, Ichika mused as he stifled a yawn. The sun had technically risen, but the heavy cloud cover made it seem as though it was still night. He almost felt sorry for the many students who would be flying later that day, as they would almost certainly be dealing with heavy rain, wind and maybe even lightning.
"Did they really have to send us out so early?" Sakura griped from the seat beside him. They were currently on a bus destined for their launch point at Cape Nosappu, along with five other squadrons.
"They've got a ton of matches to go through, and they're trying to finish this in under two weeks. Makes sense for them to start early and end late." Theresa muttered from across the aisle.
"Looks like we're just about there." Ayane spoke up from the seat behind him. Ichika twisted around and saw her pointing at a tall, white tower. Sure enough, less than a minute later the bus pulled into the parking lot at Bokyonomisaki Park, which was illuminated by an array of portable floodlights. Their light revealed several large blue tarps set up over a wide array of turrets and drones, sheltering them and the technicians working on them from the coming storm.
Another pavilion, this one white, had been erected some distance away, sheltering a mix of IS Academy students and curious locals as they watched the currently ongoing match. Ichika tried to make out the details on the screen, but before he could catch more than a quick glance the bus pulled up alongside another, hiding the screen from view.
"Alright, everyone out!" Ichika stood at that, along with every other student onboard. One by one they exited the bus, and immediately found that their academy-issue pilot suits offered very poor protection against the cold winds blowing outside. As for Ichika, the cold struck him briefly before he remembered to activate his suit's climate control system. Designed to keep a pilot from freezing in the event of them being shot down in polar climates, it handled the current weather with ease.
"H-H-How d-do you a-a-activate the h-heating on t-this?" Rei asked through chattering teeth.
"Controls are on your wrist. The button marked with the campfire activates heating." Ichika replied, and his squadmate gave an audible sigh of relief a moment later.
"W-Wait, these suits get heating?" Ayane exclaimed, before pressing the button in question.
"Yep, they're heated." She said a moment later.
"Wait, your suits have heating?" One of the nearby girls exclaimed.
"D-Dammit Lily, why did we have to draw the s-short straw when it came to experimental p-pilot suits?" Another girl, evidently part of Lily's squadron, complained a moment later. Evidently, another company had attempted to follow WSI's example, although judging by the girl's words they were not nearly as successful.
"Come on, we should go and watch the ongoing matches." Theresa said before he could investigate any further, and soon enough he found himself under the pavilion. The match in question was rather unremarkable, its only known characteristic being that both participating squadrons lacked representative candidates. Fortunately for them, they had lucked out and managed to secure corporate sponsorships, although Ichika did not recognize the names of the companies shown on the screen.
The battle ended a minute later, after all the competitors had run out of ammunition and resorted to IS fisticuffs. As soon as the final blow was struck, Ichika spotted a series of flashes out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he was just able to spot the force of instructors taking off to retrieve downed IS pilots.
"Squadrons 022 and 119, you're up next. Be ready to launch as soon as the instructors return." At that, ten of the girls who had been on the bus with him stood and ran out towards a large concrete plaza, a good portion of which was occupied by a decorative arch of some sort. There, they deployed their IS suits, and much like the squadron before them they only had Blank Slates. One team had gone with a fairly normal black and red paint job, and while such a paint job would normally stick out like a sore thumb, Ichika reckoned that it would work surprisingly well among the thick clouds that were just barely illuminated by the rising sun.
As for the other squadron, they had clearly taken a cue from old dazzle camouflage and painted their suits with a zebra stripe pattern that was slightly painful to look at. He wasn't sure how effective such a scheme would be, but evidently the suits' operators thought so.
Shortly after deploying, the pilots exited their suits and headed over to one of the technicians' pavilions, where a turret and a large crate were being loaded onto a pair of carrying palettes. At the same time, two drones were being towed onto a large road, their technicians casting nervous glances at the sky. Eventually, they were positioned on either side of a grassy barrier, their noses pointed towards the nearby ocean.
Soon, the instructors began to fly back in, most of them carrying Blank Slates but a few carried large crates and one had a turret with her. The last thing to return to the island was a drone, which circled the park once before performing a vertical landing in the parking lot. A pair of technicians promptly ran out to tow it back to the maintenance tent.
Finally, a loud whistle sounded out and the two squadrons scrambled into their IS suits. A second whistle, and the drones began to accelerate down their makeshift runway. As they pitched up and began to gather altitude, a third whistle sounded out, and the two squadrons took off. A few minutes later, the theater screen flickered to life again, several technicians running over to watch the match as it did so.
"Starting over Habomai and calling themselves the Bloody Fangs, it's Squadron 022! They are sponsored by Edge Precision Industries and certainly look eager to make their combat debut!" The announcer was definitely a student and her voice was somewhat familiar to Ichika, but his focus was more on the panning shot of five black and red IS suits that was now playing out on the screen. Having skipped the first few matches in order to catch an extra hour of sleep, this was the first match he would be able to watch from start to finish. The Bloody Fangs were all armed identically, carrying some sort of IS-sized rifle, along with what appeared to be some sort of retractable tonfa blades on their arms.
"And over Shikotan, we have the Zebras with Big Guns, also known as Squadron 119! Their sponsor is the Edwin Kowalski foundation, and they look like they'd be a tough fight for anyone!" Now, the camera panned over the other team, their distinctive dazzle camouflage making them stand out even in the dim light. Each IS was equipped with a pair of large cannons, one on each arm. A mace strapped to each suit's thigh ensured that they wouldn't be helpless in close combat.
Both squadrons certainly looked well equipped, but Ichika did not recognize either of the makers of their weapons. That meant he couldn't be sure of their quality.
"And now, let the match... BEGIN!" The announcer shouted, and both squadrons sprang into motion. Thankfully there was a top-down map of the battlefield displayed in the bottom corner of the screen, as otherwise keeping track of the squadrons' positions would have been very difficult with the poor lighting and the camera constantly switching between teams.
"Enemy sighted. Time to hunt." The leader of the Bloody Fangs spoke up, her words being transmitted to both her squadron and to the audience. Her squadron raised their rifles and, as one, dove for Taraku-to. Four of them were flying unencumbered, but the squadron leader lagged behind. Somehow, she had managed to lash a large crate of ammunition to her back while tying a turret carrying harness to her legs, leaving her IS suit's arms free to engage in combat but severely hampering her agility.
"Zebra Lead here, activating radar drone... Shit, they're above us! Range is... Fuck it, fire! Fire! Fire!" Immediately, the five zebra-striped IS suits pointed their guns up and opened fire, although it was obvious that while they knew the approximate location of their opponents, they hadn't actually spotted them.
"They've opened fire. Weapons free." The Bloody Fangs' commander's words were punctuated by the shells airbursting all around them, although few were coming close enough to even pose a threat. As she spoke, her squadron took aim and opened fire. So far they had shown impressive coordination, but the battle had only just started.
The Bloody Fangs' rifles had a high fire rate, but it was almost immediately apparent that it came at a price. One of them barely fired three shots before jamming up, and judging by how its pilot was swearing it was not an easy problem to fix. In addition, their muzzle flashes illuminated their position, and the Zebras immediately focused their fire. Where before the airbursting cannons were barely a problem, they were now a lethal threat. A set of lucky hits and near-misses sent one Fang tumbling out of the sky, and the rest broke formation almost immediately. This left the Fangs' leader alone, as her over-encumbered IS was an easy target. The turret she was carrying sparked a moment later as it took a hit. Its ADS activated immediately, removing it from the match. A moment later, its carrier extended one of its arm-mounted blades and sliced through the cables holding it in place. All the while, the narrator gave her own opinion on the events of the match.
"God fucking dammit, not again!" One of the technicians swore behind him as the turret tumbled towards the island below.
"Let's hope it didn't land in the ocean again." Another one muttered.
The camera had just switched back to Zebra squadron when a bright flash of light briefly lit up the darkened sky. A few seconds later, the camera shook slightly.
"Woohoo! Nice shot!" One of the Zebra pilots exclaimed. It took Ichika a few moments to piece together what had happened, but it all came together when Bloody Fang squadron started calling out for their leader.
Evidently, one of the airbursting shots hit the ammunition crate that the Bloody Fangs' leader was hauling, and promptly set off all the ammunition packed inside. The resulting explosion was an instant kill on the IS carrying it.
With their commander gone and the numerical advantage in the hands of their opponents, the Bloody Fangs did not last for much longer. While the Zebras ran out of ammunition shortly after taking out the Fangs' commander, they were able to quickly resupply thanks to the ammunition drone they had taken with them.
"Squadrons 007 and 298, you're up next. Be ready to launch as soon as the instructors return." Ichika looked around to see the rest of his squadron, along with Lily's, standing up. Lily's squadron had been smart enough to bring coats to shelter them from the cold, but now they had to strip them off. Once he saw what was underneath, however, Ichika realized exactly how that squadron had drawn the short straw.
Technically, the skin-tight suits the other squadron was wearing covered more than the standard Academy Issue suits, they somehow also managed to be more revealing at the same time. They were certainly much worse than his own suits, as while those were also skin tight, they were also thick enough to hide the fine details of their wearer.
Shaking his head, he turned to Theresa and ordered her to acquire the items their squadron had agreed upon, namely the anti-missile laser turret and the radar drone.
Lily turned to face him once they reached the launch point, and thanks to the floodlights he was able to make out every detail of her suit... As well as a good portion of what lay beneath. Unlike the rest of her squadron the blonde showed no sign of being affected by the cold, and instead extended her hand to him.
"May the best squadron win." She said, smiling as he completed the handshake. Upon contact with the suit, he noted the presence of thin wires beneath the fabric.
"Yes. Good luck." He replied. Then, both to avoid embarrassing himself and to get ready for the coming match, he deployed his IS. Lily turned and walked a few steps away before doing the same, and Ichika contemplated flying to America and strangling the pervert who thought that making three quarters of an IS pilot suit out of transparent fabric was a good idea.
A moment later, he shoved those thoughts to the side and began to inspect the opposing squadron's IS suits. Lily's squadmates seemed primarily oriented around ranged combat, as each of their Blank Slates carried a large rotary cannon on one arm and a three-cell missile launcher on one shoulder. A round pod that looked like a radome was placed on the other shoulder, and in their free hand they carried what looked to be some sort of machete with a revolver built into its hilt.
Lily's IS, on the other hand, was a totally different matter. Much like Ichika, she had only deployed the frame of her IS suit while keeping her weapons stowed away. As such, the most distinctive features of the bright red-orange suit were its oversized wings. Looking closer, he was able to see small lines along the leading edge of the wing, potentially indicating covers for launchers of some sort.
Then his eyes were drawn lower by the armor that completely encased the suit's pilot, and he immediately knew that the IS in front of him was meant for real combat.
"Well, we now have some idea of what we're facing. Any ideas?" Ayane asked, just as Theresa ran back up to them and deployed her own IS.
"If my guess is correct and those are radars, they will probably see us first. That means we activate the radar drone immediately, not a minute in as we originally planned. Theresa, any idea what they are bringing?" He replied.
"They're bringing three drones with them. Spot Jammer, Ammo and Battery." Ichika frowned beneath his helmet.
"The jammer drone could disable our laser turret and our radar drone. Do you know if they are set to the same frequency?" He asked.
"Yeah, the guys back there told me that both the turret and our radar drone operate on the same frequency, and I would wager that the jammer drone does as well." Ichika nodded.
"Alright, do you know what the jammer drone looks like?" He asked.
"Yes. I assume you want me to take it out?" She asked in turn.
"Exactly. The sooner you take it out, the sooner our laser turret can get to work." Ichika replied, just as said turret was wheeled out onto the concrete.
"Alright, who is carrying this?" The technician beside it asked.
"I will take care of it." Ichika replied, making no move towards the turret. After a few moments, the technician shrugged and ran back towards his pavilion. Ichika absentmindedly noted that it had started to rain.
A few minutes passed before the Zebra squadron flew in, each member holding a disabled IS in its arms. Instructors brought the last two in, along with the dropped turret.
The first whistle came, although both squadrons were already in their IS suits. The second whistle came a few moments later, and the four drones began to take off, one at a time. Finally, the third whistle sounded out and Lily's squadron roared into the air, heading towards their assigned starting point over Shikotan island. Only then did Ichika deploy his carrier drones, which promptly grabbed hold of the laser turret's carrier palette and hauled it into the air. With that taken care of, Ichika engaged his suit's thrusters and shot into the air, his squadron following right behind him as they headed off to Habomai.
Given how it was the closer island, Archer Squadron had to wait for several minutes while their opponents reached their starting points.
"You all remember the plan, right?"
"We do." The four girls chorused.
"Good. Theresa, stay just below those clouds. If it comes down to it, you might be able to hide yourself in them. Rei, Ayane, stay low and make sure the carrier drones reach the island. Once they drop the turret off, they will begin searching for the flag. While they do so, you two are to engage any suits that dive too low. Keep them away from the island, and hopefully they will think that we're trying to turn this into a deathmatch and stop going for the objective. Also, if any of you see the ammo drone or the jammer drone, take it out immediately. I noticed that their Blank Slates have rotary cannons and not much in the way of ammunition reserves, so they will blow through their ammo very fast. If that happens and we can take out their ammo drone, all their cannons become dead weight."
"What about Lily? Know anything about her suit?" Rei asked.
"No, but if it comes down to it I believe I can handle her."
"Let the match... BEGIN!" Before any response could come, the starting call came in over the radio and Archer squadron sprang into action.
"Radar is active." Theresa reported as she began her climb.
"See anything?" Ayane asked as she dove towards the ocean.
"I... Yes! They just popped up! They're at the edge of the radar range, but they're moving in fast."
"What's their altitude?" Ichika asked.
"Hmm... One contact is holding steady at around three kilometers up while the other four seem to be diving. I'm also picking up their drones, which seem to be sticking to about two kilometers of altitude."
"Hmm, looks like Lily is having her squadmates rush the island while she provides top cover. Theresa, do you have a clear shot?" Ichika mused.
"I... I guess, but at this range my weapon won't do much." Theresa replied.
"Doesn't matter. Aim for the drones first, they don't have shields so one hit should be enough to knock them out of the fight." Ichika ordered.
"Roger. I'll see what I can do, but those drones might be difficult to spot." Theresa replied, before falling silent.
Not even a minute had passed before Ayane spotted the enemy.
"I see them! Four IS suits skimming the ocean dead ahead!"
"Good to hear, our radar is just about to enter its cooling period." Theresa replied.
"What about Lily?" Ichika asked.
"She was in the clouds two seconds ago, but the radar just cut out." Theresa reported.
"It did its job. Ayane, Rei, you are free to engage. Sakura and I will be right behind you."
"Roger... Wait, I think they've seen us! Enemy IS suits just started to climb- Shit! They're locking missiles!"
"Understood, reverse direction and climb towards me. Sakura, stay at your current altitude and be ready to engage as soon as they come into range." As Ichika spoke, a momentary flash of light erupted overhead.
"Scratch one drone! I think that was the ammo carrier." Theresa called out a moment later.
"Nice shot." Ichika complimented her, before pushing his suit's impulse drives to their limit and diving towards Ayane and Rei. In the distance, he was easily able to make out several missile launches.
However, while the missiles were fast, they weren't fast enough to reach their targets before they entered the radius of Ichika's point defense lasers, which made short work of them.
Another flash, and Theresa reported a second drone down.
"I think that was the jammer!"
"Good. Shift targets to the enemy Blank Slates, the battery drone is irrelevant." Ichika replied, before looking down to where his carrier drones were making their rush to the island.
"Laser turret is almost in position. Rei, rendezvous with Sakura and attack together with her. I will cover Ayane." He ordered, and his squadmate complied.
A few moments later, the first shot from Theresa hit home, its target erupting in a brief flash of light. Even before the light had faded, Ichika had already deployed his burst missile launcher and took aim, waiting several seconds for his targets to get in range before opening fire. Just over a second later, he saw the flashes of plasma warheads going off.
"Nice shot! One down, and the rest are scattering." Theresa reported.
"Good. Squadron, you have permission to fire as soon as they are in range." He replied, before swapping his missile launcher for his usual railgun and plasma cannon. He was in range a few seconds later, drawing a bead on a Blank Slate that had dove towards the ocean, away from its two squadmates who continued to climb towards the clouds.
"The laser turret has reached the island, drones are setting it down now." Ori reported as he opened fire. His first burst missed.
"Enemy radar lock!" Ori exclaimed as he fired again. Sure enough, the two climbing IS suits had taken the opportunity to fire off their remaining missiles at him. Unfortunately for them, the laser turret came online and opened fire. It took down two of the incoming warheads, while the other two came close enough to be taken care of by the Infinite Arsenal's lasers.
Ichika didn't bother to give them a second glance before he fired once more, and this time his shots made contact. His opponent's IS, already weakened by the burst missile strike, fell into the ocean after taking several direct hits.
Sakura and Theresa opened fire above him, their shots converging on the lower of the two climbing IS suits. As for the other, it had almost reached the relative safety of the cloud layer when a blinding flash, accompanied by a thunderclap shortly afterwards, sent it tumbling into the ocean.
"Holy shit, did you just see that? She just got struck by lightning!" Theresa exclaimed.
"That means it could happen to us too. Theresa, dive away from the clouds. We'll try to lure Lily in low." Ichika ordered.
"Roger, divi-" Theresa's voice suddenly cut off, replaced by static.
"Theresa? What just happened? Report!" Ichika called out, but there was no response. Cursing the tournament rules forbidding the changing of radio frequencies mid-match, he turned and looked up at his squadmate's last known position. Almost immediately, he saw her IS falling out of the sky.
"-ove you! Can you hear me?" Theresa's panicked transmission finally cut through the static a few seconds later.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"Lily came up behind me and took me out! I think she's using a cloak of some kind, as I saw her IS disappear while I was falling." Theresa replied.
"Alright, at least we know where she is. Everyone, circle up and watch the clouds." Ichika ordered.
"Roger." His three remaining squadmates chorused as they formed up on him.
About thirty seconds elapsed in silence before Ori spoke up.
"Drone Three has found the flag and I've retrieved it. Should we keep the other drones up as decoys, or should I stow them away?" She asked.
"Stow them." He replied.
"Got it. I'm sending the remaining drone back to base, ETA is two minutes and forty seconds."
"Good work." Ichika replied, but before he could relay the news to the rest of his squadron, Ayane spoke up.
"I see her! She's firing off flares and diving!" She exclaimed. Ichika pivoted around, and sure enough he was able to briefly see two wing-like plumes of fire surrounding Lily's IS before they went out.
"Fire!" The rest of his squadron were already shooting as he spoke, but before the shots could connect, Lily's IS vanished.
"Sakura, light up that area. Even if she's cloaked, she can still be hit." Sakura complied immediately, attempting to spread her fire over as much of the area as possible. However, there were no distinct flashes indicating hits on a shielded target.
"Behind us!" Ori's warning was all that allowed him to evade the surprise attack that came a few seconds later. Sakura wasn't so lucky, and her suit's shields flashed and broke under a stream of fire from what looked to be some sort of particle beam. Her IS tumbled down towards the island, having been quickly disabled.
Ichika pivoted just in time to see Lily fire off another barrage of flares and vanish in a flash of light. He knew that flash, having seen IS suits being stowed away hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
"She's not cloaking, she's hiding in IS-Space!" Ori exclaimed, having come to the same conclusion as he did.
"Behind you!" Rei exclaimed a moment later, and once again Ichika threw himself into an evasive roll, dodging a stream of gunfire as he did so. Rei attempted to return fire, but in an almost superhuman display of reflexes, Lily's suit fired off more flares and vanished, the bullets passing through empty air.
Ichika swung his IS around, raising his weapons in anticipation of another attempt at sniping him from behind.
That meant he heard, rather than saw, Lily's IS materialize directly above Ayane and deliver a powerful kick. He turned just as Lily fired off more flares, but instead of disappearing as before she accelerated towards Rei, who was still pivoting around to meet her. In that instant, Ichika was able to finally get a good look at Lily's choice of weapons.
In each hand her IS held a dagger, their blades glowing a bright orange as they met Rei's shield. Two more glowing blades stuck out of the suit's feet, although one was noticeably dimmer than the other. A large cannon was mounted on her back, and unlike most IS weapons it was aimed vertically along the suit's spine, designed to be fired when the suit was angled in a prone position rather than standing up.
He also noted that the ports on its wings were now open, and as Rei attempted to bring her gun to bear she vanished.
A split second later, she reappeared behind her target, oriented for a perfect cannon shot. Rei promptly went down.
"Ori! Drones! Now! Cover all sides!" He shouted as Lily vanished once more. As she did so, Ayane pivoted and, whether through luck or skill, one of her plasma swords slammed home as Lily reappeared. Her second and third strikes passed through empty air, and Lily reappeared behind her a moment later. Two more dagger strikes, and the match became a one-on-one duel. A moment later, Lily vanished as nearly one hundred gun drones opened fire, a storm of plasma passing through the space she had just occupied.
Not bothering to think, Ichika twisted around and rolled his IS out of the way of a cannon barrage. As expected, Lily vanished before he could bring his guns to bear. A second later, she reappeared above him, but before she could fire she was forced to evade fire from several drones.
"All angles are now covered. Sphere of fire setup complete." Ori reported, and Ichika noted that his drones were now pointing in every direction, ensuring that no matter where Lily decided to reappear, she would have at least one gun pointed at her.
As a result, he didn't even have to try to dodge her next two shots as they went wild, their shooter unable to aim properly before having to evade. She finally reappeared several kilometers away, evidently trying to buy herself time to think.
"Ori, can you analyze the system she's using to teleport?" Ichika asked as Lily kept her distance, teleporting out of the way of any shots he was firing at her. As he watched, he had to admit that, while she sometimes acted like some of the fangirls had back when he had first entered the academy, there was no doubt that she had earned her status as a representative candidate.
"I... It's no use. Every time she teleports I lose the lock! It would take weeks to finish a scan of such a complex system under these conditions!" Ori replied.
"Alright, focus on the drones for no- Woah!" He barely managed to roll out of the way as Lily reappeared nearby. However, where before she had held daggers in her hands, she now carried some sort of gun. A second later, a plume of white plasma swept through his previous position, destroying multiple drones as it did so. A few return shots connected, but before more significant firepower could be brought to bear, Lily fired off another volley of flares and vanished, reappearing on the other side of the drone sphere a moment later. Once again she took out several drones, but Ichika had plenty of reserves. Already, the ones destroyed by her first attack had been replaced, and once again Lily was quickly forced to fire off flares and retreat, reappearing a moment later near her previous position.
"Ichika, those aren't flares she's firing! I think those are beacons of some kind!" Ori exclaimed.
"Scan one and make sure." Ichika ordered, dodging another plasma blast and replacing the three drones it took out.
"Done. I was right, it is an IS deployment beacon." Ori replied a few seconds later.
"That was fast." Ichika commented as he returned fire.
"There wasn't much to ana-Look out!" Ori's warning came just as Lily fired off a barrage of teleport beacons directly at him. None made contact, but several passed within a few meters of the Infinite Arsenal. He dove as fast as possible, but he barely had a second before Lily appeared above him and scored a direct hit with her plasma cannon. She couldn't stay long, however, as a barrage of drone fire forced her to teleport away.
A moment later, she reappeared and fired off another barrage of beacons at him, but this time Ichika was ready. Every nearby beacon was now being monitored by the drones, and even before Lily finished her next teleport their guns were already firing. As soon as she reappeared, two plasma bolts hit home, and she teleported away to avoid further damage.
Once again, she appeared several kilometers away, firing off a burst of hurriedly-aimed particle beam fire before teleporting away and repeating the process. Plasma bolts flew to meet her, but she was always just fast enough to avoid them. However, aiming remained a problem for her, and Ichika was able to easily avoid what few shots she was able to send his way.
Then, his flag-carrying drone reached Habomai.
"Match Over! Archer Squadron Wins!" As soon as they heard the message, the gunfire and teleporting stopped. For a few moments both of their IS suits hovered in midair, Ichika taking the opportunity to catch his breath.
Then, Lily teleported once more, her IS reappearing a few meters away from his own.
"That was quite the fight, Ichika! Shame it had to end so suddenly." She spoke up, her helmet's speakers amplifying her voice.
"Likewise, Mallory-san. You're a good pilot." Ichika replied, leaving his opinion of her commanding skills unsaid.
"You're not that bad yourself! Maybe next time, we'll be able to see who's better." As she spoke, Ichika saw hundreds of small white flashes, and he realized that Lily had just stowed away all her teleport beacons, although he hadn't realized just how many she was able to deploy. Shrugging, he stowed his drones away as well.
"I'm looking forward to it. Now, do you need any help finding your teammates? Most of them went down in the ocean, after all." Lily shook her armored head at that.
"No, I've got them covered. Anyway, see you back on land!" As soon as she finished speaking, Lily teleported away, reappearing somewhere down below. Evidently, her squadmates all had beacons on their IS suits.
Seeing that his opponent didn't need any help, Ichika turned to look for Theresa, deploying several carrier drones as he did so. The drones went down to retrieve the turret, while he flew to where he had saw Theresa go down.
He found her face-down in the ocean, her ADS providing her with ample air while keeping her IS afloat.
"Why do I feel like I've missed one of the highlights of the tournament?" She asked as he pulled her disabled suit out of the water.
"Well... I don't think it was that impressive of a fight. I mean, my drone secured the flag before either of us won." Ichika replied.
"Wait, what? You mean she was able to take on our entire squadron?" Theresa exclaimed as they began the flight back to Cape Nosappu.
"She was able to take out everyone else in less than a minute. We weren't expecting her to be able to teleport like she did." He replied.
"Oh, so that's how she did it... But still, she was able to take out the rest of our squadron in so little time? She must be good!" Ichika nodded at that.
"She's a representative candidate for a reason... Honestly, I'm not sure if I would have been able to pull off some of the things she did."
"What? No way. I'll have to see it for myself, but I find that hard to believe." Theresa replied. In the distance, Ichika spotted a flight of instructors.
"I'll have to watch the replays as well." He replied.
Soon, they arrived at Cape Nosappu. He immediately recognized Charlotte in the crowd, her presence indicating that another bus had arrived. He set Theresa's Blank Slate down before landing beside it. Already, several technicians were running up with a thick cable, which they promptly plugged into his squadmate's IS.
He wasn't sure of the exact logistics involved, but somehow IS Academy had managed to link an IS charging station over one thousand kilometers away to their wireless power grid through a combination of wireless relay stations and existing superconductor lines. This made recharging disabled Blank Slates for stowage an easy process.
Charlotte ran up to him as soon as the Infinite Arsenal was stowed away. Several other girls followed behind her.
"That was incredible!" She exclaimed, a sentiment clearly echoed by the rest of the girls present.
Lily landed a moment later, dropping her squadmate off and stowing her own IS. Evidently, the battle had given her a few fans of her own, as she was promptly mobbed by several other girls.
"Please clear the landing zone! I repeat, everyone off the landing zone!" That quickly caused the small crowd to disperse, the girls heading back to rejoin their squadrons. Ichika walked back to the theater pavilion with Charlotte, who seemed to be unsure of what to say.
"So, are you looking forward to your own match?" He finally asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah! Not sure what to expect, but I'm definitely looking forward to it! Although I'm not sure if I'll be able to win if my opponent starts teleporting around like Lily was..." Charlotte trailed off, thinking for a moment.
"I find it strange that you weren't trying to shoot down the beacons. I mean, your lasers would have been able to make short work of them." Ichika shrugged at that.
"I thought they were flares at first, and once I figured it out... Well, I'm still not sure how she was able to transition in and out of IS-space like she was. I mean, some nations have been researching ways to send living things through IS-space for years now, and every time they come out as... Well, from what I've read, those mice were liquefied in the process." Charlotte gagged a little at that.
"But how was Lily able to do it then?" She asked.
"I don't know, which is why the last thing I wanted to do was shoot a beacon and cause some sort of lethal chain reaction that traps her in IS-space or spits her out in a not-so-solid state." He replied.
"I see, I see, can we please change the subject?" Charlotte exclaimed. Ichika gave a short laugh at that, earning him a glare from the French girl.
"Alright, alright! So, what about your IS? I take it there weren't any issues with installing the upgrade package?" He asked.
"It's better than ever! It handles even better than before, the new weapons are amazing, and if I push it hard enough I can almost break the sound barrier!" As she spoke, the rest of the instructors returned, carrying with them the rest of Ichika and Lily's squadrons. Meanwhile, the next two squadrons had deployed their IS suits and were waiting for the signal to launch. Finally, the three whistles sounded out and they took off.
A few minutes later, the pre-battle footage began to play and Ichika did a double-take when he saw the first of the competing squadrons. For starters, they did not have a corporate sponsor, but that hadn't stopped them from arming their Blank Slates anyway. It was also immediately clear that whoever had designed and built the weapons for those suits had no experience working with modern weaponry, and thus decided to go primitive instead. That was the only reason he could think of to justify the presence of what looked to be twenty-barreled percussion-cap muskets crudely bolted onto each Blank Slate's left arm. In the other hand, they carried equally primitive melee weapons, namely medieval-looking spiked maces.
"Over Habomai, we have Squadron 087!" The announcer spoke up.
Then, the camera switched to the other squadron, which also lacked a sponsor. Unlike their opponents, they had not armed their IS suits.
"And over Shikotan, we have Squadron 053!" The camera lingered over the unarmed squadron for a few moments, then the announcer called out the start of the match.
Both squadrons went low, clearly intending to rush the island. They reached it at approximately the same time.
"Prepare to fire!" The 087 Leader called out as they changed course. Both squadrons were now charging each other, the flag forgotten down below.
"Aim!" The command came when the two squadrons were barely two hundred meters apart.
"FIRE!" The command came a few moments later, the targets having charged into point-blank range. Four of the twenty-barreled monstrosities discharged successfully, generating a thick cloud of smoke in the process. The fifth exploded, although the IS holding it was still active afterwards.
Then, the melee began, as fists met improvised weaponry. Squadron 087's weapons broke within the first minute, turning the brawl into a fist-fight. Several minutes in, one of Squadron 053's pilots found the flag, only to turn and rush back into battle with it, wielding it like a polearm. Not even a minute later, its staff was bent at a right angle, and the disgusted pilot threw it like a boomerang. It bounced off its target's shield, and was promptly picked up. Its new user disengaged and bent the staff back into a roughly straight shape and returned to battle.
Squadron 087 eventually won the battle, although it was a close fight. Right before the cameras cut out, the sole surviving member of the squadron raised the flag, which had been bent in three different places, to the sky in a gesture of victory.
"Ichika, I just had a brilliant idea." Theresa spoke up as the match ended. He turned to her, a curious expression on his face.
"Well, you know how those two squadrons didn't have much in the way of weaponry, right?" Ichika nodded.
"Right, so I've been wondering, can your Infinite Arsenal build weapons and then transfer them to a different IS though an equalizer unit?" Ichika nodded, somewhat hesitantly. He had done so with Charlotte right before their match with Laura all those months ago.
"Yes, it can... Wait a minute, are you saying-"
"Yes! We can use your IS to build weapons for Blank Slates, transfer them to equalizers, and then sell them to unarmed squadrons!" Theresa cut him off.
"Where will we get the Equalizers..." Ichika trailed off. He answered his own question at the same time as Theresa did.
"Each squadron was given a set amount of empty equalizer units along with their Blank Slates, so it wouldn't cost us anything! Everyone wins! They get the weapons they need, and we get money and something cool to put on our resume!" She exclaimed.
"You do realize that, as the engineer of this squadron, I will be the one who has to do all the actual design work, right?" Ichika asked.
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Not to mention that, in addition to weapons, I would have to design chassis overhaul packages for Blank Slates in order to support those weapons, complete with impulse drives, shield generators and control systems, right?" Ichika continued.
"I know, but-"
"And finally, we will need to devote a significant amount of time to actually running the store, which will take away from our squadron's practice time."
"Please? I can design, build and run whatever store we get!" Theresa begged, giving him her best attempt at puppy-dog eyes."
"Yeah! It will be like a club! We can do clubs, right?" Sakura joined in. Ichika looked at the two of them for a long moment, before sighing.
"Fine."
"Yay!" Sakura cheered.
"Alright, we're in business! Capitalism, here we come!" Theresa exclaimed.
All the while, Charlotte watched the proceedings with a curious expression.
"Why do I feel like I just made a huge mistake?" Ichika asked.
"Probably because you did." She replied.
Before Ichika could respond, an unfamiliar girl approached them.
"Are you Charlotte Dunois?" She asked.
"Yes, and you are?" Charlotte replied, standing and extending her hand. The other girl shook it.
"I'm Leang Halim, representative of Indonesia. It's nice to finally meet you." She replied. In the distance, Ichika spotted the first returning IS.
"Ah, it's nice to meet you too! Do you know when our match is coming up?" Charlotte asked, although she obviously already knew the answer.
"Yes, there are two squadrons ahead of us. Don't expect me to go easy on you though!" Ichika turned away as the two girls continued to talk, choosing instead to watch the IS suits returning from their match.
"Attention! The next bus to the hotel is leaving in ten minutes! If you have already fought, please check your IS suit's charge and stow it away if possible!" At that, the girls who had already fought let out an audible sigh of relief as they stood. Some, having already stowed their IS suits away, ran for the heated bus while others, his own squadmates included, ran to where their Blank Slates stood at the charging station.
Ichika chose to head for the bus, finding himself an empty seat near the back. He didn't remain its sole occupant for long, however, as Lily soon sat down beside him.
"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" She asked a moment later.
"No, not at all. Go ahead." He replied. For a few moments, neither of them spoke. Then, Ichika asked the obvious question.
"Aren't you cold?" He asked. Indeed, while Lily had picked up her jacket, she had elected to sling it over her shoulder rather than put it on, leaving her with only a ridiculously thin pilot suit to protect her from the cold. She looked at him for a few moments, before laughing.
"It doesn't look particularly warm, does it? Believe me, the early models were even worse. Still, the cold's never really bothered me for some reason. Plus, I have my suit's climate shield." She replied.
"That does tend to keep the wind off, at least. Still doesn't do much about the cold, which is why having a heated suit is so nice. Anyway, enough about pilot suits. How are you finding IS Academy?" Ichika asked.
"Everything's been pretty fine so far. It's certainly not like it was back in RepCamp, that's for sure!" Lily replied.
"RepCamp? What's that?" Ichika asked.
"Oh, that's what we called the Stratospec Industries building where we were evaluated and trained. Back there it was all practice and drill and testing, then more practice and more testing followed by drill... You get the picture. Boring stuff." Lily explained.
"It seemed to have worked though. You're no pushover, that's for sure." Ichika replied.
"Meh, it's not like I was some sort of prodigy who blew everyone else there out of the water. Sure I was pretty good, but there were some girls who tested higher, others who shot straighter... Pretty much the only thing I was top in was reflexes, and as it turned out that was what Stratospec was looking for..." Lily trailed off before giving a short laugh.
"It certainly surprised us. I know at least one girl threw a tantrum when I got the position despite her scoring five points higher than me on damn near every other test."
"Ah... Well, it certainly wasn't like that for me. I just stumbled into a half-finished IS, turned it on by accident, and put a few dents in the floor when I started walking. It all just snowballed from there." Lily laughed again at that.
"I take it that the training afterward was pretty intense? It must have been, to get you into such good fighting shape in only a few months!"
"It wasn't as hard as it could have been. I mean, what with how I was using an IS I'd played a critical role in designing, learning its ins and outs wasn't as hard as it could have been. As for the rest, an abnormally high compatibility score and a good teacher made it pretty easy." Ichika replied.
"Oh? Must have been quite the compatibility score then! What was it, if you don't mind me asking?" Ichika shrugged at that question.
"The first test I had put me at one hundred and fifty six." Lily choked at that.
"W-What? That's impossible! M-Kaitlyn only had ninety seven when she started, and she was the top of my training group! I've been training for over a year now, and my score's just passed the one hundred mark!" Now it was Ichika's turn to laugh.
"Well, it's probably something I share with my sister. I mean, the last time I checked she had broken the six hundred mark, and my latest test put me at an even two-forty." He replied.
"W-Well, I-If I ever need super-human IS-pilot babies, I know where to go!" Lily replied, before blushing beet-red a moment later, evidently realizing what she had just said.
"Ah! F-Forget I said that!" She exclaimed, before looking away in embarrassment. Ichika didn't reply, having been equally embarrassed.
"A-Anyway, what kind of training did you go through? For me, it was mostly evasion training, as well as learning how to use the teleport beacons on the Blazing Phoenix." Lily finally spoke up, sounding eager to change the subject.
"Well, you certainly mastered that bit. I mean, you were dodging gunfire from less than five hundred meters away." Lily looked away at that, although Ichika caught the smile on her face. Evidently, she was proud of her skill.
"As for me, my instructors focused on making me learn through adversity. That meant flying in ace pilots and letting them have their way with me until I was able to hold out on my own." Ichika finished, continuing with his very edited story of what he had actually gone through.
"That must have been hard." Lily replied.
"Oh it was, but it paid off." Lily looked pensive for a second, before sighing.
"It certainly did, didn't it? I just wish they'd given me some leadership training. Honestly, I have no idea what to do with my squadron sometimes... They probably hate me for it, after I got them all shot down in that match."
"Well, there is a three-week leadership and team-building session happening once this tournament is over. I believe there are still some open spots, so if you sign up now you should be able to participate without issue." Ichika replied.
"Hmm... Will you be there?" She asked.
"Of course! I was one of the first to sign up!" He replied.
"Well then, that will make it worth it no matter what! Where do I sign up?" She asked, giggling a little as she finished.
"It's on the IS Academy student site. Just look for upcoming events and you'll see it." Ichika replied.
"Thank you, I'll do it as soon as we get back to the hotel."
As time went on, the bus began to fill up as more girls boarded. Finally, it began to move.
Lily didn't speak much during the ride, and indeed seemed all too eager to head back into the hotel when they returned, pausing only to thank him again before rushing out of the bus. Evidently, she was serious about improving herself.
"Took you long enough. You missed quite the match!" Tatenashi greeted him as he walked into the hotel room that she shared with her younger sister. The rest of the room's occupants, namely Cecilia, Rin, Laura and Houki, looked up from the holographic display they were watching and waved to him.
"Oh, really?" He asked as he closed the door behind him.
"Yeah! One of the participants was teleporting all over the place, while the other was able to deploy and control literally a hundred drones to counter her. Lost some money when neither of them won." Tatenashi replied.
"So, who was your money on?" Ichika replied.
"Why, you of course! Did you really think I'd bet against you, Orimura-kun?" Tatenashi replied.
"Knowing you, you would have." Ichika laughed, before looking for a place to sit. A few moments later, he settled down on a free part of one of the beds, next to Kanzashi. Cecilia and Rin had both claimed the room's chairs, while Houki sat on Kanzashi's other side and Tatenashi quickly settled down behind her sister. Finally, Laura had evidently been put in charge of camera control as evidenced by her standing beside the display, her fingers on a small screen that showed the locations of the camera drones that were observing the match.
While every IS Academy student was able to watch the tournament on one of the many screens located in and around the hotel, they were merely watching the same footage as Ichika had seen at Cape Nosappu's impromptu movie theater. However, Cecilia had been able to use her position in the Alcott Foundation to get herself classified as a VIP, meaning that she got access to less filtered footage of the matches, along with camera control to allow her to view the match from a perspective of her choosing, rather than at the discretion of the streaming staff.
Now that he thought about it, Ichika could have done the same given how he was technically also an engineer on WSI's payroll. However, he quickly discarded the thought as it would only bring his sister more headaches, not to mention that there was no need.
The currently ongoing match had just had its first exchange of fire take place, with both sides firing off their missiles. However, only one side had countermeasures, and the battle was decided a few seconds later, when one squadron had four of its members go down while the other released flares and chaff, avoiding most of the incoming missiles. The sole survivor made a run for the flag, but she did not get far before her opponents shot her down. Ichika made a note to add basic anti-missile countermeasures to the list of things to make.
"Well, that can't be good for their sponsor." Rin remarked as the feed cut out.
"It's not really good for either company involved. One had their entire squadron shot down in less than thirty seconds thanks to an obvious oversight, while the other hasn't been able to adequately demonstrate its capabilities." Cecilia replied.
"Well, at least the next match won't be like this. Charlotte is a capable fighter and she's going up against another squadron led by a representative candidate." Laura commented, changing the subject.
"So, any idea of what her Revive's upgrades are? I mean, she has been keeping them secret from us so far." Cecilia said.
"Like you're one to talk. You still won't tell me what your Azure Rain package has in it." Rin griped.
"I already told you, it's technology originally meant for the Silent Zephyrs that was modified for the Blue Tears after the Zephyrs was stolen." Cecilia replied.
"That tells us absolutely nothing." Houki deadpanned.
"She has a point. The Silent Zephyrs was kept secret while it was being constructed, and even now only the bare minimum information on it was released to the public. I somehow doubt that the details of in-development weaponry were shared." Ichika added.
"Well, excuse me for wanting to make it a surprise! Plus, you'll all see it soon enough. I am competing tonight, after all!" Cecilia replied.
The next match began approximately ten minutes later, and Laura briefly connected to the normal stream in order to hear the announcer.
"Starting over Habomai we have Squadron 104, Wasp Squadron, sponsored by Splitwire Electronics!" The camera panned over the squadron in question as she spoke. They were a rather diverse group, bearing five different flags on the right shoulders of their IS suits, although on their left they all bore the logo of Splitwire Electronics. In terms of armaments, their suits seemed almost all oriented towards ranged combat, with the notable exception of the Blank Slate with the German flag on its shoulder. That one was armed with a large sword, and was protected by a trio of shield drones that were almost certainly identical in function to the ones possessed by an Uchigane.
"And starting over Shikotan we have Squadron 003, Les Belles Furies! Their sponsor is Aero Infini Industries!" The camera switched just as the announcer mangled the French pronunciation, revealing Charlotte's squadron once more and giving Ichika his first good look at Charlotte's upgraded Raphael Revive.
The first thing he noticed were the four bulky pods that protruded from her wings, each one having two ordinance rails attached to the back half of its upper face. For the moment, those rails were occupied by missiles, but the existence of rails as opposed to more specialized launchers implied the capability to carry other ordinance. In addition, each pod appeared to contain two internalized guns, their barrels just barely protruding from the curved front of the pod. While he had no way of measuring their caliber, they seemed very large, with Ichika's guess being around forty millimeters.
The pods also appeared to have small impulse drives mounted in their rear, although the camera did not give him a good view of them.
Next, Ichika's gaze drifted lower to Charlotte herself. She was now equipped with a full suit of pilot armor in true Organization fashion, with the French flag emblazoned on her chestplate.
The final visible addition to the suit was that of a large module of some sort that was mounted on the Revive's left arm. Given how it was mounted on the forearm it could have been a shield of some kind, and it seemed to possess emitters of some kind all over its surface, but he ultimately could not pin down a solid function for the item.
The rest of Charlotte's squadron was mostly unchanged from when he had fought them during the eight-way practice match, but since then they had found time to repaint their IS suits in an orange tiger-stripe pattern. On one shoulder they bore the French flag, while on the other they wore the Aero Infini logo. Their armaments remained identical as well, as they still carried long twenty-five millimeter rifles with underbarrel shotguns. For close combat they carried a pair of short vibration-edged axes, and their wings bristled with missiles for engaging enemies at standoff range. Ichika also knew from experience that each suit carried a hidden canister of explosive gas.
All in all, both sides looked strong and ready for a fight.
"Now let the match... BEGIN!" At that announcement both teams sprang into action, and Laura adjusted the projector to display both squadrons in a split-screen configuration.
Charlotte's squadron began to ascend as one unit, coming to a halt just below the cloud layer. Evidently, they were confident enough in their luck to avoid getting hit by lightning. Her opponent, on the other hand, had elected to split her forces. Two of her IS suits, one of which bore an American flag and was armed with a large rifle of some sort, and the other carrying three triple-barreled rotary cannons and bearing a Japanese flag, began to climb into the clouds. The rest of the squadron, leader included, stayed below the clouds.
Evidently, Wasp squadron had the better sensors of the group as they were the first to spot their enemy.
"Ashley, Asaga, abort your climbs. All five of them are below the clouds, sending targeting data now." Leang's orders were immediately obeyed, with her two squadmates in the clouds immediately stopping their ascent and diving.
"Valentina, remember your job. Don't stop for anything, just secure us the flag. Trudy, keep her covered at all costs. I'm engaging in ten seconds." Leang continued, and her two low-flying companions promptly broke off, diving for Taraku-to.
"Three... Two... One... Engaging, targeting enemy squadron lead. Trudy, you're free to engage with the drone. "
"I'm being painted! It's... One contact, altitude is two kilometers, dead ahead!" Charlotte ordered. Leang fired a moment later, releasing a barrage of four missiles. A moment later, Wasp Squadron's missile drone opened fire, adding another two warheads to mix.
"I see two targets diving for the island! They're in range, locking on!" One of Charlotte's squadmates exclaimed as her leader reflexively dumped chaff and flares. She caught herself a moment later, realizing that those sorts of countermeasures would not work against laser-guided missiles.
Just as her squadmates were firing off their first missile volleys, Charlotte suddenly reversed direction. The missiles continued to track her, but just as they came close, the eight large caliber guns in her wing-pods opened fire. Evidently, instead of firing conventional shells, they were oversized, automatic shotguns. At such close range, the incoming missiles were shredded by the resulting cloud of shrapnel.
"I have a visual... It's the Tigress! Locking on!" Charlotte reported a moment later, giving a name to Leang's IS. Then, eight missiles flew off their rails towards their target. They made it halfway to her before two of them suddenly exploded.
"What was that?" Rin asked as another missile exploded.
"Hmm... Laura, can you change cameras to look at the two suits in the clouds?" Ichika asked. Laura nodded, and another screen appeared, this one displaying an infrared image of two IS suits. However, while one was relatively normal, the other glowed a bright white, with a long line of gold leading from her cannons down towards the battle below.
"Looks like a laser, probably infrared." Ichika mused as he looked back at the main battle. None of the missiles ended up reaching their target, but Charlotte had already fired off another eight, with eight more materializing on their launch rails.
Below her, the rest of her squadron enjoyed a numerical advantage against the two diving suits from Leang's squadron, only one of which was capable of returning fire at all. However, she was far from defenseless, as her squadmate in the clouds was able to take out a portion of the missiles heading for them, and the rest were intercepted by armor drones. However, one such drone was evidently damaged in such an interception, and it fell out of the sky.
In total, out of a total of twenty four missiles fired at them, five were shot out of the sky by lasers, four more were taken care of by drones, and the rest made it through. However, before they could strike their target, the second IS in the pair, which bore a Russian flag and was armed with a shotgun and a shoulder-mounted cannon of some sort, made its move. Turning to face the oncoming warheads, she raised her shotgun and reversed direction. Suddenly, one of the missiles stopped dead in the air, and was promptly destroyed by a shotgun blast. One by one, she worked her way through the missile swarm, taking out a total of nine before they came too close. One hit her, but it was clearly not enough to break her shields. The other five had locked onto her squadmate, and while her remaining two armor drones managed to get between her and the blast, her shields still clearly took some damage. Surprisingly enough, the two armor drones were still flying as well.
"Engaging boost! Cover me!" With those words, Trudy's IS accelerated forward towards Charlotte's squadron, screening itself with one armor drone while leaving the other behind to defend its comrade. A few seconds later, a stream of tracers came out of the clouds, catching Charlotte's squadron by surprise, but doing little damage. Glancing over to the IS suits in the clouds, he saw that both were now firing. The first was still focused on the missile exchange between Charlotte and Leang, ensuring that it remained a stalemate and that both squadrons' TIS suits were tied up and unable to intervene in the Blank Slate battle. The second was firing as well, supporting her squadmate as she charged into melee range.
"Incoming! Smoke, now!" At that, the four IS suits scattered, hiding themselves behind a familiar cloud of chemical smoke. Ichika winced as the incoming IS flew right into it, believing it to be a simple smokescreen.
"Now!" There was a bright flash of light, and the camera shook a few seconds later.
"Shit! Trudy is down!"
"Damn. Valentina, continue with the objective. Asaga, switch targets to hostile Blank Slates and close in for better effect. I can handle Charlotte's missiles." Leang ordered. Charlotte's next missile volley went through without interference, but before she could fire again one of her squadmates' IS suits flashed as its shields took a severe beating from an invisible source. She went down a few seconds later.
"Loire is down! Those shots came from the clouds!" Upon hearing that, Charlotte immediately disengaged and shot skyward into the clouds.
"Ignore what I just said! Asaga, Ashley, Charlotte's coming for you and she looks angry! I'll cover Valentina, you two take care of her!" At that, Leang dove towards the battle below, placing herself between her squadmate and Charlotte's remaining squadron. She fired off one more quartet of missiles before deploying a pair of IS-sized SMGs, holding one in each hand as she shot towards her targets. Even before she opened fire, her missiles converged on one Blank Slate and took it down. Then, she was in the midst of Charlotte's two remaining squadmates, one gun pointed at each of them. They immediately attempted to gain some distance and were thus able to avoid the worst of the barrage, but their shields still sparked as bullets hit their mark. They returned fire, first with both shotgun and rifle, and then, once they had gained enough distance, with rifle alone.
Leang's squadmates, on the other hand, were having less luck against Charlotte. The bulky module on her Revive's wrist turned out to be a supplementary energy shield, which had expanded itself to screen most of its carrying unit and glowed a bright green as it absorbed both laser fire and bullets alike. Even worse, while they could not see it, infrared imaging showed that Charlotte had swapped out the missiles on her rails for new items, although the infrared failed to give a clear image of what they were.
When eight solid streams of tracers flew upwards a moment later, he learned that Charlotte's Revive was now capable of mounting up to eight rotary cannons with theoretically infinite ammunition. Asaga, the pilot of the suit armed with rotary laser cannons, didn't even have time to curse before her IS was blasted out of the sky.
"Asaga's down!" Those were the only words Ashley was able to say before Charlotte switched targets to her, the four pods swiveling slightly to track their new target. Charlotte didn't even stop firing, the tracer streams visibly walking over to their next target. Much like her comrade, Ashley went down a few moments later. Only then did Charlotte stop firing.
"Whoa..." Rin breathed as she watched events unfold.
"If you think that's great, just you wait until you see me perform tonight!" Cecilia replied.
"Look at the island. Valentina's found the flag." Kanzashi's words caused them to shift their attention to another screen, just in time to see the flag fly through the air, coming to a stop right in front of Valentina's IS. She promptly snatched it out of the sky and turned away.
"Charlotte! The last Blank Slate has the flag! She's disengaging! We'll tie up the Tigress!" Charlotte changed direction when she heard that. Where before she was descending to reinforce her two squadmates, now she had a different target in mind.
"Incoming!" Leang barely had enough time to warn her remaining squadmate before Charlotte burst through the clouds... And suddenly froze in midair. Her target did the same.
Charlotte's guns roared a moment later, but her shots almost immediately lost speed and tumbled towards the ocean below.
"Wait a minute... That's impossible! It's like she has an AIC!" Laura exclaimed.
"I don't think so. You can still move while you have your AIC up, but she doesn't seem to be able to do that." Kanzashi pointed out.
"Maybe it's a different device that has similar effects?" Houki suggested.
"Maybe..." Laura replied, her eyes fixed on the two motionless IS suits. Ichika, on the other hand, turned his attention to where Charlotte's two squadmates continued to run literal rings around Leang's Tigress, their shields being slowly but surely worn down by incoming fire. However, they were also scoring a few hits of their own, and it was clear that, while Leang would probably be able to take them both down, her shields would be severely drained in the process, making her easy prey for Charlotte.
As for Charlotte, she was still pinned in place by her opponent, but she had the advantage of possessing an IS core, while her opponent ran on batteries. Indeed, soon after he had that particular thought, Valentina realized the same and stopped her immobilizing attack, instead attempting to run for the island. However, Charlotte was faster and she quickly took her opponent down.
In the meantime, Leang had taken one of Charlotte's Blank Slates down, and the other suffered the same fate by the time Charlotte entered weapon range. Leang fell out of the sky a moment later, caught in a cloud of tracers from Charlotte's new guns.
"Well that was definitely a close one, but it looks like Les Belles Furies has won the match!" The announcer spoke a moment later, just before the stream cut out.
"Hmm... I think that's another one that we'll be going over to make our end of year highlight reel." Tatenashi mused.
"It definitely came pretty close. We need more matches like that, where both teams are evenly matched. I mean, it's not their fault, but watching unarmed Blank Slates, improvised hacks and shoddy tech going up against each other in curb-stomp matches gets boring pretty fast." Rin replied.
"I agree. It can't be fun to fight in them either, knowing that you are most likely about to be humiliated on camera, and in front of important VIPs as well!" Cecilia added.
"As the tournament progresses they should become less common. Eventually, the teams with poor equipment will be eliminated." Kanzashi commented.
"Still, it seems pretty unfair to match completely unarmed squadrons in baseline Blank Slates against squadrons like ours." Rin said.
"There aren't enough companies out there to sponsor every squadron, and it's not like there is a retail market for IS-scale weaponry. They can't just buy themselves guns, they have to either make them or get lucky with a sponsor." Cecilia replied.
"Funny you should mention markets for IS weaponry when one of my squadmates had a pretty interesting idea regarding that issue." Ichika began, drawing the attention of the room.
"Oh? And what was that idea?" Tatenashi asked.
"Well, she realized that there is a huge untapped market here at IS Academy, as well as the fact that her squadron leader had what basically amounts to a factory built into his IS. Putting two and two together, she came up with the idea of selling Blank Slate weapons and upgrades. After some consideration, I agreed." Ichika replied.
"But you're the only person on your team qualified to make IS equipment! That's going to... Wait, never mind." Kanzashi sighed as Ori shimmered into being beside her.
"It would normally be an impractically huge amount of work, but with my help we can get months of work done in a week." The AI replied.
"That's certainly true. I remember the two of you designing and building a functional laser rifle in a matter of days." Laura commented.
"Yeah, I remember that as well... It was just a few months ago, but it feels like years have passed since then." Houki added.
"It sure has..." Ichika replied, thinking back to when he had first entered IS Academy. Back then things had been simpler, but now? Looking around at the girls gathered in the hotel room, without any of the petty drama that had followed him during his first few months at the Academy, he smiled.
Things may have been simpler, yes, but now he had a circle of friends and comrades that he would not trade for the world, and he knew that they would stand by him no matter what the future held for them. Only two and a half years of IS Academy were left before they would join the fight against Phantom Task in earnest, but until that day came, he figured that he might as well enjoy the time he had.
"Say, Houki, you're the next one of us to go, right?" Rin asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.
"Yes, but I don't have to leave for a few hours. We'll probably have lunch before then." Houki replied.
"Well, when the time comes, we'll all be expecting a match like that one." Cecilia said.
"Yeah! Ichika and Charlotte have both had amazing matches, so we expect the same from you." Rin agreed.
"Well, then I'll be sure to not let you down." Houki replied, a smile on her face.
The next match started a few minutes later.
A/N: Here it is, finally finished. Needless to say, my plans of having every girl go in this chapter were definitely not practical. Ultimately, practicality means that I will probably give each member of the cast one nice, detailed fight, then gloss over the rest of their matches until we reach the later stages of the tournament, as that would ensure the better, later matches remain interesting and that the story does not stall out in terms of narrative progression. After all, tournament arcs are good for action, but often act as cruise control for plot progress.
Now onto my commentary on the chapter. First and foremost, I have been waiting for AGES to finally showcase Lily's IS. It has gone over several iterations since I first came up with it, but one thing that has always stayed the same was its beacon-based teleportation. Originally, I would have had Ichika's squadron win through teamwork, but I ultimately decided that leaving things inconclusive would be better in the long run.
Next up was the Charlotte vs. Leang fight. Leang, along with the rest of Wasp Squadron, are all creations of Warmach1ne32, with their squadron's equipment page being located on this fic's forum (Link is below). I would like to thank him, as it made writing the match significantly more interesting for me, and hopefully it would also make it more enjoyable to read. In my case, I actually had to consider the two squadrons' loadouts, how they would interplay with each other, the tactics employed by Wasp squadron versus my plan for Charlotte's Les Belles Furies (Please correct me if I mangled the French, as I am not a native French speaker nor have I ever learned the language), and ultimately I had to decide on a victor. Much more entertaining than simply flipping a coin and writing up a match that was pre-determined from the start using bare-bones disposable OCs and half-baked IS concepts. Indeed, that's part of the reason I'm planning on glossing over a large portion of the tournament, as it's really hard to think of an entertaining IS squadron lineup.
Speaking of Charlotte, it's time to describe her upgrades! Her IS suit's Declassified Files entry will be updated to current specifications as soon as I have time. As for why I designed the upgrade the way I did, I chose to focus on the existing aspects of the Revive and build from there. Charlotte's Revive, and Revives in general, are stated to be very versatile multirole IS suits that can do pretty much anything if configured properly. As such, Charlotte's Revive was given an upgrade that not only boosted its somewhat lacking canon firepower, but also granted it the ability to utilize all sorts of ordinance. This includes the missiles and rotary cannons that I've showed in her battle, but it can also be expanded to include various air to ground munitions such as unguided rockets, ASMs, JDAMs, etc., thus making it significantly more useful in a real-world combat scenario. It also compensated for her suit's somewhat lacking close-quarters capability through the addition of a supplementary shield and four large-caliber automatic shotguns.
If you are curious about the appearance of Charlotte's new IS, I personally imagined the Anime variant of her IS, but with several features of the Light Novel design integrated into it. These features were the four large pods on its wings (Judging by how stripped-down the novel design is, I would assume that those pods were meant to be engines of some sort, but those would be mostly redundant on Charlotte's existing unit and thus they are now gunpods), and the bulky shield unit on its left forearm. It also has pilot armor, because pilot armor is awesome.
The final somewhat important detail brought up in this chapter was Theresa and co.'s new venture. I'm not going to lie, I came up with that idea partially because of just how many unarmed Blank Slate squadrons there were, which in turn would have meant a metric crapton of boring battles. For those who are curious, the numbers I ran indicate that there are 317 squadrons total, only 90 of which have a Rep. Candidate leading them. The rest are rather unappealing sponsorship choices, and those that do land sponsorships often get inferior equipment out of the deal. The result is a lot of boring, pointless battles between teams that are either equally underequipped, or are so uneven that the result is a curb-stomp. Theresa's idea was my way of ensuring that, in future tournaments (and there is at least one more planned in the current semester), all Blank Slates have a bare minimum of equipment that will ensure that they are able to perform competitively as opposed to just getting curb-stomped due to sheer disparity in equipment.
Anyway, next chapter will most likely contain the Houki vs. Ioana and Cecilia vs. Lise battles, and maybe a few others depending on how the wordcount goes. I hope you all enjoyed what I've written of the tournament so far.
As stated above, the FF extension to this fic's forum is: forum/Agent-Orimura-Discussion/195588/