A/N: Here it is, without anywhere near as much delay as the previous chapter. I've had some fun with this one, and I hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 30
Tatenashi's match ultimately wouldn't come until the day after the next. Of course, that meant waking up at an ungodly hour to see it happen. The sun was barely visible over the horizon when the screen flickered to life, showing off the two competing squadrons in all their glory.
"Starting over Habomai and sponsored by White-Sakamoto Innovations, we have Dolphin Squadron!" Tatenashi's squadron was aptly named, being very heavily optimized for underwater combat. Of course, with no submarines to hunt this placed them at a general disadvantage compared to most of the competition.
The Mysterious Lady was front and center, and as the camera panned over her, Tatenashi gave an elaborate twirl of her lance and winked at the audience.
"Show-off." Rin muttered.
"That's my sister." Kanzashi replied.
As for Tatenashi's squadmates, they flew two distinct variants of Blank Slate, both equally unsuited to the task ahead of them. The first was equipped with a pair of three cell launchers on its shoulders, but unfortunately for the pilot, they did not hold missiles. Instead, they held rocket-propelled torpedoes, designed to quickly deliver a killing blow to a distant underwater target by dropping a torpedo directly on top of it. Unfortunately, while the torpedo held sophisticated electroreception equipment and acoustic homing systems, it could not lock on to an IS in flight, making it completely useless in IS combat. The suit's only saving grace was a powerful lightning gun mounted in its right arm, although its atmospheric range was still very short, to the point where Ichika believed that even ShenLong's impact cannons could outrange it.
The last two of Tatenashi's squadmates had suits that were extremely optimized for melee. On each arm they had three long curved blades, each of which Ichika knew was electrified. In addition, tucked under each suit's left arm was a second pincer, designed originally to crush the hulls of ships and submarines but nonetheless still effective should they be able to catch an IS suit in their grasp.
All in all though, Tatenashi's squadron was at a severe disadvantage in almost every aspect compared to any potential opponent. Unless they could somehow drag their enemy into the water, it looked like it would take a minor miracle for them to even get into weapons range.
Then, the camera cut to her opponents, and Ichika let out a slight gasp of surprise.
"And over Shikotan, we have the Blue Meteors, sponsored by Bombardier Canadair division!"
By far the most distinctive feature of Tatenashi's opponents were the fact that they were all two-seaters, with two girls in each one. As far as he was aware, these were the only IS suits in the world to use such a configuration.
The lead unit, painted blue and purple, was armed with a pair of machine guns in its arms, and a pair of swords on its hips. In addition, its wings were large and held what appeared to be either cannons or drones of some sort. Its pilots were arranged side by side with the girl on the left, who had long dyed blue hair, having a mostly unobstructed view that indicated she was probably the main pilot. The girl beside her, who had bright ginger hair but otherwise looked identical, had a set of holographic displays in front of her, meaning that she was probably in charge of any supplementary weapon systems.
Her squadmates' IS suits were similarly armed, with two swords and two machine guns, but differed by having a large rotary cannon mounted on their right shoulders, while their left held what looked to be a radar pod. The tips of missiles could just barely be seen protruding from out behind them, the weapons being mounted under their wings. These suits were also narrower, the two crew members being arranged more conventionally with the pilot in front with an unobstructed view, while their co-pilot was situated behind her. All five IS suits had the Canadian maple leaf emblazoned on their shoulders.
"Looks like they actually built them..." Cecilia muttered.
"What do you mean?" Houki asked.
"Well, there were two other proposals competing with the Silent Zephyrs to succeed the Blue Tears, and one of them was a two-seater that placed the drones under the command of a co-pilot. Ultimately it was rejected due to the Silent Zephyrs bringing its guided plasma cannons and supersonic capability to the table, but it looks like the Canadians ended up building it anyway." Cecilia replied.
"Looks like quite a mismatch, maybe even worse than the one I had." Rin added.
"My sister is clever. She'll think of something to even the odds." Kanzashi replied, unconcerned.
"Are you kidding me? She'll be torn apart by missile fire before she even sees her opponents!" Rin exclaimed.
"You want to bet on that?" Kanzashi asked, her tone unchanged.
"You know what? I will! I'm betting that Tatenashi's squadron won't even land a single hit before being wiped out, and if I'm wrong I'm buying dinner!" Rin replied.
"And I bet that my sister will win the match without losing a single squadmate. Same stakes. Anyone else?" Ichika considered things for a moment before shrugging.
"My money's on Tatenashi's team winning by capturing the flag and losing four IS suits." He said.
"Anyone else?" Kanzashi asked.
"I'm betting Tatenashi secures the flag, but gets taken out before she can win." Cecilia replied. Houki looked like she wanted to say something as well, but ultimately decided against it.
"No thank you. I'm perfectly fine with being served dinner regardless of who wins." Charlotte replied, and Laura nodded beside her.
"Alright. Gladys, keep track." Kanzashi ordered her AI.
"With pleasure. We've already run our own probability analyses as well, and we've got a pool of our own going." The AI replied.
"Excellent." Just as she said those words, the match began.
Without any orders, Tatenashi's squadron immediately dove, leveling out at wavetop height and making a beeline for the island. Her opponents, on the other hand, seemed content with staying at high altitude, and quickly picked their opponents up on radar.
"I see them! They're flying low, heading straight for the island." One of the Canadian co-pilots reported.
"Confirmed, I see them too. Looks like they're trying for a flag rush." Another chimed in.
"Sounds about right. Comet Two, Comet Three, fire missiles as soon as you have a target lock. I'm releasing drones. This girl may be champion in the arena, but she's out of her depth now!" The blue-haired girl ordered. Evidently, in addition to controlling special equipment she was also in overall command of the squadron.
A moment later, twelve cylindrical drones detached themselves from her suit's wings and followed the missiles towards their targets.
"Incoming! Dive now!" Tatenashi ordered, and as one her squadmates dove into the water. Tatenashi did the same, although her head and the tips of her suit's wings remained above the water. The water thrown up by her squadmates' dives didn't fall back down though, and more water quickly rose to join it. In a matter of moments, five water sculptures in the rough shape of IS suits were performing evasive maneuvers and the missiles, none the wiser, all struck home.
The slackjawed look on Rin's face as the incoming missiles slammed into the decoys was priceless.
"Got 'em! No targets on radar!" The Canadian leader exclaimed.
"Clear." Tatenashi's squadmates promptly surfaced, and resumed their course towards the island.
"Wait, I'm picking them up again... Looks like they fell into the water but weren't taken out. I'll finish them with the drones."
"She seems very over-confident..." Cecilia muttered.
"I think fried chicken would be perfect for dinner." Kanzashi added as the drones closed in. Tatenashi spotted them well before they opened fire, and by the time the first plasma bolts were flying water voids were already springing up between them and their targets.
"So long as Tatenashi is near the water, she is practically invincible." Kanzashi continued as plasma bolt after plasma bolt slammed home into the walls of water.
"Is it even possible to get through those things?" Cecilia asked.
"Normally, what the Canadians are doing would actually be the right way of going about things. My sister's nanomachines have one critical flaw, namely their reliance on the water to cool them down. They can block or deflect projectiles just fine, but if someone were to start flash-boiling large chunks of each void with a plasma burst..."
"Then they'll be able to destroy the nanomachines faster than Tatenashi can replenish them... But why isn't it working now?" Cecilia asked as the water voids stubbornly refused to go down.
"Because now, the voids are connected to the ocean. My sister is now able to cycle cool water from the ocean in to replace the water heated by the plasma at a much smaller nanomachine cost, and any losses she does sustain, she can quickly replenish." Kanzashi replied, pointing towards the spheres of water that periodically flew from the Mysterious Lady to the water walls surrounding her squadron.
"Dammit, I can't get through!" The Canadian leader growled. Her drones continued to close, and the water voids responded by moving back, although Ichika noticed they left behind a faint mist that the attacking drones flew through without a second thought. As the ring of water around her contracted, Tatenashi summoned two more water voids, although Ichika noticed that these were not connected to the ocean.
"Serena, Natasha, fire at the floating barriers on my command." Tatenashi ordered.
"Roger!"
A moment later, thin filaments of water extended from the drones, linking them together like a web. Then, long spikes of water snapped outwards, connecting the floating barriers to the drones.
"Fire!" A moment later, two lightning guns discharged, and eight drones fell out of the sky.
"What the-" Their controller barely had time to process what had just happened before Tatenashi adjusted the water connections and the lightning guns fired again. The last four drones fell out of the sky, and Tatenashi's squadron resumed their run towards the island.
"Gonna have to try a lot harder than that!" Tatenashi shouted.
"My drones... They're all wiped out!" The Canadian girl exclaimed, panic now present in her voice.
"What do you mean?" One of her squadmates asked.
"I didn't even land a single hit..." Her commander continued, apparently not knowing that she was broadcasting her panic attack to the rest of her team.
"Emily, calm down. This isn't over." The lead unit's pilot replied, reaching up to pat her commander's leg.
"I... Thanks sis..." The orange-haired girl took a few moments to collect herself, before addressing her squadron again.
"Alright, long range attacks aren't working so time for plan B. Dive and rush for the flag. Fire at will as soon as you spot them." She ordered.
"R-Roger!" Her squadmates replied with varying degrees of cheer. Evidently the realization that they had likely failed to inflict a single hit so far had been somewhat demoralizing.
Still, they all followed their leader down towards the island. The two pairs that still had missiles fired them off, but once again they failed to inflict any damage thanks to walls of water springing up in the missiles' paths. Then the squadron entered gun range, and the long barreled cannons on the Canadian Blank Slates' shoulders opened fire, guided on target by their suits' radars, but still they failed to penetrate Tatenashi's defense.
"Having a little trouble, are we?" Tatenashi taunted, briefly opening a in her shields.
"Shut up!" One of the Canadian pilots shouted.
"Wait, they can hear each other?" Houki asked.
"The Canadians must have gone for tapping her team's communications. Come to think of it, Tatenashi hasn't spoken much at all, has she?" Laura replied.
"You girls are out of your depth, you know that? There is nothing you can do to me. I am invincible. You're better of forfeiting now." Tatenashi continued.
"This is insane! How are we supposed to break through that?" One of her attackers growled.
"There has to be a weakness... Keep firing!" Their leader ordered.
"There's nothing they can do, is there?" Houki asked.
"With a creative enough mind operating it the Mysterious Lady can do almost anything, and my sister has had a lot of practice." Kanzashi replied as the Canadian squadron closed to within a kilometer of their opponents. Their large cannons had already run out of ammunition, meaning that they were down to their machine guns and swords, and still not a single hit had been scored.
"What the- Dammit, my nanomachines are depleted, dive now!" Tatenashi exclaimed, and dove into the water. Her squadron followed behind her, and the water walls she was projecting collapsed.
"After her! Now!" One of the Canadians shouted, and the four Blank Slates of Meteor Squadron dove into the water. Their leader, who was higher up, began to dive as well, but pulled up at the last second.
"No! Get out of there, it's a trap!" She shouted, but it was too late. As she spoke, the water below flashed bright white, before erupting upwards as the explosions from plasma torpedoes reached the surface. Two IS suits soon followed suit, their ADS triggered.
"I can't move! My IS is- Ah!"
"Got one. Utsuho, need any help with yours?" One of Tatenashi's squadmates commented as a third IS floated up to the surface.
"No. Mine's been dealt with as well." Utsuho replied. A moment later, the last of Meteor Squadron's Blank Slates reached the surface.
"Alright, you four get back to the island with the flag. I'll deal with the last one." Tatenashi ordered.
"Roger!"
A few seconds later, the Mysterious Lady broke the waves and hovered just above them, holding its lance in one hand.
"You two seem a bit smarter than the rest of your squadron, so I'll take pity on you. Land even one hit on me, and I'll forfeit the match." Tatenashi taunted, beckoning towards her opponent with her free hand.
The Canadians replied with another barrage of machine gun fire that was quickly absorbed by a water barrier.
"Is that all?" Tatenashi asked, allowing her water barrier to drop long enough to fire a quick burst from her lance. It didn't connect, but it was enough to get the Canadians moving. The barrier moved with them, absorbing fire until suddenly the Canadian charged towards their opponent, drawing their swords.
They made it about halfway to their target before a spout of water came up from below and slapped her into the ocean. She struggled against it for a few moments before another IS surfaced behind her and latched on, pulling her fully beneath the waves. There were a few dim flashes of light, and then the Canadian IS floated back to the surface. The screen cut out a few seconds later.
"Wow... She didn't even get hit once!" Cecilia exclaimed.
"Tatenashi controlled the battle from the moment the first missile was fired. She was able to goad the enemy into acting exactly as she wanted them." Laura added.
"She practically soloed the entire enemy team! Just how overpowered is the Mysterious Lady?" Rin demanded.
"No more overpowered than most of our IS suits." Laura replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Think about it. In this room, we have an IS that can copy almost any technology used against it whilst simultaneously having access to a limitless swarm of autonomous drones, another that can fire homing plasma shots from one starting line to the other with near perfect accuracy, another that can dodge practically any attack fired against it and even if it is hit it can instamtly restore its shields, another that has access to the entire arsenal of the French Air Force with limitless ammunition and unmatched firepower, and another suit that can effectively block almost any attack it can see coming. All those suits are overpowered, and we're not the only ones. It all comes down to pilot skill and a bit of luck." Laura explained.
"I noticed you left the ShenLong and Uchigane Niishiki out of that list..." Charlotte commented.
"Just you wait, soon I'll be able to launch Aurora burst missiles... Then we'll see who's overpowered." Kanzashi muttered, loud enough for the rest of the room to hear.
"That's quite scary to think about..." Charlotte muttered in response.
"Yeah yeah, my IS is the worst in the room, laugh it up." Rin sighed.
"It's not that bad..." Charlotte replied.
"It's helpless against anything over a kilometer away and doesn't have any systems that allow for it to level the playing field like the Mysterious Lady. I'd say it's pretty bad." Rin stated as Cecilia patted her on the back.
"Sounds like China will have to give you an upgrade package. It's obvious that you lost primarily due to equipment poorly suited for the task, and unless they want to lose the next public tournament they will have to give you something to remain competitive." The British girl replied.
"I sure hope so... Anyway, how are any of us supposed to deal with the Mysterious Lady?" Rin said.
"That's Houki's problem. I have a few ideas of my own, but she's the one who's facing my sister in the next round." Kanzashi replied.
"Really?" Cecilia asked.
"I-I am?" Houki exclaimed.
"The brackets got rearranged, remember? You're up against my sister next round."
"Well then, that'll be a match worth watching." Cecilia replied.
"I... Alright." Houki took a few deep breaths, clearly trying to calm herself down.
"Are you... Scared?" Rin asked, voice incredulous.
"N-No I'm not, I'm just... Apprehensive about facing Tatenashi. Especially after that particular display." Houki replied.
"Relax, there's no shame in losing to my sister. Especially not after what she just pulled." Kanzashi said.
"No, I aim to win." Houki replied.
"That's the spirit!" Cecilia cheered.
"Still, it will be a difficult battle. Akatsubaki has plasma weapons, sure, but even they might not be enough if what we've seen here today is any indication." Laura commented.
"Don't worry, you have a day or two to plan things out." Ichika added.
"Right, right... I should really make use of that time." Houki replied, standing up and quickly sending a message to her squadron.
"Remember to be back for dinner!" Kanzashi called as the Japanese girl left the room.
Lily lay sprawled out on her hotel room bed, eyes half-closed as she listened to her squadmates chatting about whatever match had just ended. The second round of the tournament was just about wrapping up, with only one or two matches to go. Of course, the last of Ichika's associates had gone the day before, so Lily didn't feel quite as motivated to observe and memorize the details of these last few matches. The general feeling of lethargy pervading her body might have contributed to that as well.
"Lily? Are you alright?" Catelyn asked, looking down at her from where she sat at the foot of the bed.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't get much sleep last night." Lily replied.
"You sound like you're coming down with something..." Cai added.
"I said I'm fine, just a little tired." As if something as silly as the common cold could touch her.
Before anyone could respond, there was a knock at the hotel room door and Lily sprang up from the bed. She was halfway to the door before she realized she was only wearing a bathrobe, and it wasn't even tied closed at that. Then, after a quick glance through the peephole, she decided to have some fun. Holding the bathrobe shut with one hand, she opened the door.
On the other side stood a young boy of around twelve or thirteen, laden down with a pair of large thermally insulated food bags. His face blushed red upon seeing her, and his words died in his mouth.
"Hello, is this the food I ordered?" Lily asked after a few moments of silence that had to be incredibly awkward for the poor delivery boy.
"I-I- Th- W-Well- Yes! Yes it is!" He stammered out.
"Oh, thank you so much! Here, let me take them from you!" The boy was completely transfixed, and hardly moved as she took the first bag from his hands and put it down in the entryway.
"A-Ah..." The boy quickly scrambled to remove the second, larger bag from his back and handed it to her. She promptly put it down beside the first and waited for a moment. When the boy didn't speak, she cocked her head to the side.
"Ara? Are you feeling sick? Do you need to come in and lie down?" The subsequent giggle from one of her squadmates further back in the room couldn't have been better timed.
"I-I N-No! I don't n-need- Havaniceday!" The delivery boy was gone a moment later, and Lily was courteous enough to close the door and wait a moment before breaking down into peals of laughter. Her squadmates did the same.
"Did he even ask for money?" Catelyn exclaimed.
"N-No! You should have seen him!" Lily replied, carrying the two bags into the room.
"He didn't even ask for these bags back!" She continued, setting them down on the table. A blast of hot, delicious-smelling air hit her as she opened them, and she fought to maintain her composure.
"That was a bit mean of you though." Sarah pointed out and Lily shrugged.
"If the kid has the courage to come back here to get his stuff, I'll apologize. If not, I'll walk over to the restaurant tomorrow and return it." Lily replied.
"Fair enough." Sarah replied as Lily began unloading the food, handing her squadmates their orders first. Some fried chicken for Shizune, a hamburger for Catelyn, a chicken wrap and salad for Sarah, and a steak for Cai. Then, she began removing her own order. Five various permutations of burgers, all large, their accompanying fries, a large steak, more fries, a large bucket of fried chicken, two packs of sushi, a large salad, a brisket sandwich, a small pizza, a few slices of cheesecake and, from a separate pouch on the side of the bag, three separate milkshakes of varying types accompanied by a large bottle of mango juice all joined the food on the small hotel room table.
It was when everything was unloaded and the first burger was halfway to her lips that she noticed the looks on her squadmates' faces.
"Is... Is that the legendary American appetite?" Shizune murmured.
"That can't be just for her... Lily, are we expecting guests?" Cai added.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked before taking a bite of burger and chewing with as puzzled a look on her face as she could muster.
"You could feed a family for a week with that much food! You can't seriously be planning to eat it all!" Catelyn exclaimed. Lily swallowed before replying.
"I don't see the problem. You're all just eating small portions." She replied, hiding her mirth with practiced expertise.
"But you'll get fat! If you eat like that you won't be able to fit into your IS!" Cai shouted. Lily took a long sip of milkshake before responding.
"What do you mean? I always eat like this, and I don't seem to be getting fatter." She replied, standing up and twirling, her bathrobe flaring out around her. Her squadron, having long since resigned themselves to their leader's apparent lack of a nudity taboo, only glared mutinously at her.
Technically, that wasn't a lie either. While being a genetically-enhanced transhuman bombshell had its perks, it also came with a higher maintenance cost. Specifically, to keep her body functioning at optimum capacity, she needed far more calories than the average human. She was able to stick to normal portions while at IS Academy due to having a supply of extremely energy-dense nutrient bars stashed away in her room, but the supply she had brought with her to Nemuro had run out a few days prior and when she woke up that morning feeling like she could barely move, she knew her body wouldn't be able to keep all its enhancements running for much longer. Until she returned to IS Academy, she'd probably have to eat meals similar in size to the feast before her at least once a day to keep her body from shutting down its higher-maintenance portions.
With that in mind, she sat down and began to eat in earnest, quickly and efficiently clearing the table until, thirty minutes later, only crumbs and paper wrappers remained. She quickly cleaned the mess up, washed her hands and, feeling a fair few pounds heavier, plopped back down on the bed with a contented smile on her face.
"You look pregnant..." Shizune muttered, somewhat horrified as she poked at her leader's belly which was indeed bulging very noticeably where there was normally flat, toned muscle.
"It's not that big..." Lily replied, before looking over at the Japanese girl.
"Are you going to finish that?" She asked, pointing to the half-full bucket of fried chicken still in her hands.
"Gah?" Lily giggled at the girl's flabbergasted expression.
"Don't worry, I'm just joking." She said.
"Whew, that's a relief." Catelyn muttered. A moment later, Lily's hand snaked out with superhuman speed, grabbed a piece of chicken and flipped it into the air, allowing her to catch it in her mouth a moment later.
"I'll probably just steal a piece or two." She said with a cheeky grin as the Japanese girl briefly made as if to strangle her.
"We're doomed. By the time our next tournament comes around, our leader will be too heavy to fly..." Cai muttered.
"I wouldn't worry about it." Lily replied, stealing another piece of chicken. This was fun!
"Grr..." Shizune's angry face was adorable.
"Is the second round over yet?" Lily asked, tossing another piece of chicken into the air. This time though, Shizune was ready and slapped it down. It landed on Lily's chest, bounced once, and was quickly devoured.
"Yes. The last match ended while you were... Eating..." Sarah replied as Lily grinned smugly at her pouting subordinate.
"Hmm, then if I'm correct the next match should be-" The TV screen blared to life, cutting her off.
"Starting over Habomai, we have Squadron 007, Archer Squadron! Their sponsor is White-Sakamoto Innovations!" The camera panned over Ichika's squadron, and Lily quickly sat up.
"Looks like your crush is up~!" Catelyn teased.
"How she's going to impress him with that kind of appetite, I have no idea..." Cai muttered under her breath.
"Ouch, that hurts!" Lily exclaimed, clutching her hands over her heart.
"You have to admit, she has a point..." Shizune added. Lily's response was to steal another piece of chicken, tossing it higher before catching it.
"And over Shikotan, sponsored by Aero Infini Industries, we have Squadron 003, Les Belles Furies!" Now the camera panned over the opposition, which was led by none other than Charlotte Dunois. The French girl was an interesting character. Illegitimate daughter of the French IS Company owner Raphael Dunois, who gained custody after her mother died. Sent to IS Academy to conduct corporate espionage while cross-dressing for some odd reason, only for her mark to turn the tables, set off a chain of events leading to her father's imprisonment, and a new corporate sponsorship to boot. Rather good looking too. Shame that Ichika had gotten to her first, Lily mused. She would have been the perfect candidate for subversion, being isolated, under severe pressure, lacking friends and family and yet bound with chains that had been so easily broken...
"Scoping out the competition, are we?" Catelyn teased.
"That transparent, am I?" Lily replied.
"You looked like you were planning her murder..." Sarah pointed out.
"Well, you know what they say. All is fair in love and war!" Lily joked, stealing another piece of chicken while Shizune was distracted by the television.
"Sad thing is, I'm not sure if you're being serious or not." Sarah sighed, leaning back against a pillow she had propped up against the headboard.
"Let the match begin!" As soon as the match started, the air around Ichika's squadron flashed white as a hundred drones were deployed before fanning out in a wide search pattern. Ichika's squadron began to climb, leveling off at just below the cloud layer.
Charlotte's squadron did the same, making Lily wonder if they had made a prior arrangement to fight things out rather than go for the flag.
"Theresa, Contact! Bearing 012." Ichika ordered.
"Roger." His team's sniper fell out of formation a moment later, drones detaching themselves from her suit and ascending upwards into the clouds.
"Looks like he's trying a similar strategy as with us." Shizune commented.
"I wonder what Charlotte's counter will be." Lily replied as Ichika's drones began to converge on their target.
Suddenly, eight missiles leaped off of Charlotte's wing rails, streaking towards Ichika's squadron while turreted gunpods took their place. Tracers began to spew in all directions, aimed at the drones closing in towards her. As for her missiles, they made it halfway to their targets before several of Ichika's drones opened fire on them, striking them all from the sky.
"How are they doing that?" Catelyn exclaimed.
"What do you expect? They're Representative Candidates. They're on a whole different level compared to us regulars." Cai replied.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked. Cai stared at her for a moment before replying.
"Well, Ichika is out there, controlling and coordinating a hundred drones simultaneously well enough to intercept missiles in flight, Charlotte is operating all those guns of hers independently of each other and scoring kills on all those drones, the Student Council President was able to practically solo an entire squadron... Hell, you can dodge plasma bolts at near point-blank range. None of us can even come close!" Cai replied.
"I guess it does look impressive, doesn't it?" Lily asked rhetorically.
"That's an understatement." Shizune deadpanned. Lily stole another piece of chicken in response before replying.
"But... I'll let you in on a little secret. They're not doing any of those things you mentioned. In reality, it's a bunch of automation going on under the hood. Sophisticated adaptive targeting protocols for point defense, neural networks dedicated to drone control, perception boosters... Us RepCans are really just a bunch of con artists looking good for the crowd." Lily replied.
"I'm not buying it. Simple pre-programmed protocols can't do that." Cai replied, pointing to the screen as Ichika fired off his burst missiles, only for a stream of proximity-fused cannon shells to swat all missiles out of the sky.
"Holy shit, she got all of them!" Catelyin exclaimed as Ichika fired again. Once again, Charlotte shot the rockets down, but she was being kept at a distance. Any second now-
Charlotte's IS flashed white as the first sniper shot hit home.
"Got her!" Theresa crowed.
"Good work. Keep the pressure on her and we win!" Ichika replied as he fired again. Once more, tracers sliced the rockets out of the sky, but this time two of the guns stayed trained on target, placing a wall of hot lead between herself and the deadly burst missiles. The next missile barrage ran right into it.
"See? There's no way in hell such a specific protocol could have been programmed in beforehand!" Cai exclaimed as Charlotte's squadron began to press closer. The French girl's IS was now projecting a shimmering green barrier from her arm, which flashed white as it absorbed another sniper shot.
"Forward! We're almost in gun range!" Charlotte shouted.
"I can't get through! She's got a secondary barrier in the way!" Theresa reported.
"Switch targets to her squadmates. Everyone, fire at will!" Ichika ordered.
"Roger! A few moments later, Ichika's squadron opened fire. Charlotte's squadron did the same, and the two carefully arranged formations quickly degenerated into a chaotic melee.
"Lorie, now's your chance. Disengage." Charlotte ordered in French.
"Look at Ichika's drones... They're all going for Charlotte." Lily pointed out.
"What do... I see." Indeed, all the drones that Ichika was deploying were heading straight for the French girl, ignoring the rest of her squadmates.
"He must be trying to keep her guns occupied so they can't target him. With that much firepower, she could probably knock him out in a matter of seconds." Lily continued.
"Rei, lead her to me!" One of Ichika's squadmates, the one with the four-armed IS, called out. Her IS had managed to disengage and hide in the clouds.
"Roger!" Another, evidently Rei, replied, and her IS pivoted around and she streaked towards her teammate, firing backwards as she flew. Her opponent took the bait, and with bullets sparking off her shields she flew right into the trap. Like a spider, the four-armed, six-winged IS descended from the clouds. Ten plasma-coated blades slammed into their target, and Charlotte's squadmate fell out of the sky.
"Good work. Now let's hunt some bigger game!" The pilot replied as she retreated back into the cloud layer.
"Roger that!" Rei replied, her IS charging towards Charlotte.
"Wait a minute, Charlotte only has two squadmates with her!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Wait, really... Huh, you're right!" Shizune exclaimed.
"What happened to the last one?" Catelyn asked.
"She took advantage of the confusion to disengage and start hunting for the sniper about a minute ago." Lily replied.
"You saw that?" Cai asked.
"No, I heard Charlotte order it." Lily answered as another one of Charlotte's squadron went down to plasma fire from Ichika's last squadmate, who caught her at point-blank range with a long burst.
"Sorry for not being able to understand French..."
"Ayane, she's focused on Ichika! Strike now!" Rei reported.
Ayane's four-armed IS dove out of the clouds a moment later, only for a pair of guns to instantly swivel around and open fire. At such close range, the four-armed IS didn't stand a chance, and it quickly fell out of the sky. Rei's attack run was halted a moment later by Charlotte's remaining squadmate, who fired off her entire load of missiles into her at close range, leaving her with next to no time to dodge. A final burst of cannon fire, and she too was going down.
"What the- Ichika, they've found me!" Theresa shouted, and the camera briefly cut to a scene of missiles converging on the sniper IS. With no defensive systems to speak of, Theresa was a sitting duck. Her attacker flashed once as she managed to land a hit, but a few moments later Theresa went down.
"Dammit, Theresa's down! Sakura, stay close to me!" Ichika ordered. For the moment the numbers were even, but that wouldn't be the case for long as Charlotte's detached squadmate was even now making her way towards the main fight.
"We have to take Charlotte down, now!" Sakura exclaimed.
"I know. In a moment, I'll fire Aurora. At this close range, she won't be able to intercept it. While she's stunned, we close in for the kill. Understood?" Ichika ordered.
"Roger!" Sakura replied. A moment later, hidden by an unending torrent of drones, Ichika fired his burst missiles. They crossed the short distance in a moment, and the sky flashed white. However, Sakura had charged in a second early, and placed herself in range of the missiles as well. The explosion, not distinguishing between friend or foe, wiped out the vast majority of Ichika's drones in the area and caught his last remaining squadmate in their blast. New drones shimmered into being, but Sakura was caught out of position. The girl had barely a second to fire her guns before the full might of Charlotte's armament came crashing into her shields. However, that brief second was enough, and Charlotte's squadmate, stunned by the Aurora blast, was eliminated almost simultaneously. The two IS suits fell out of the sky together.
"Just you and me now." Charlotte murmured as Ichika closed. Her cannons continued to pick apart the drone storm, but there were simply too many.
"Looks like they're at a stalemate..." Shizune said, not noticing as Lily stole another piece of chicken.
"I have you now!" Charlotte exclaimed, and her cannons suddenly changed targets, suddenly ignoring the drones and instead targeting the Infinite Arsenal. At such close range, the sheer volume of firepower depleted the grey IS suit's remaining shield energy in under a second, and the Infinite Arsenal fell out of the sky. However, even as it fell, Lily noticed that the drones continued to move, and as one they slammed into their target, obscuring it in an immense explosion. Charlotte's Revive fell out of the sky a moment later, the two IS suits having eliminated each other.
However, Charlotte's squadmate remained airborne, and thus Les Belles Furies carried the day.
"Holy crap... Orimura-kun lost!" Shizune exclaimed.
"He's Orimura-kun now, is he?" Lily teased.
"I-I mean, everyone calls him that!" Shizune blushed, ignoring Lily's theft of another piece of her rapidly dwindling chicken supply.
"Don't worry about it, I don't mind sharing!" Lily laughed.
"W-Wha-?"
"In fact, I say the more the merrier..." Lily continued, leaning over until her face was inches away from her Japanese squadmate.
"I-You-"
"I always thought monogamy was rather silly. After all, if the genes are good, they should be spread around. Wouldn't you agree?" Lily continued, pushing her squadmate over and crawling on top of her.
"A-Ah! No! Get off!" Shizune shoved her off.
"Relax, I'm just teasing." Lily laughed as her squadmate huffed, before stealing another piece of chicken.
"Lily... Were you being serious just now?" Catelyn asked hesitantly.
"Possibly." Lily replied, not at all fazed.
"Damn it all, our squad leader is a gluttonous, nymphomaniac deviant." Cai exclaimed. Lily blinked for a moment before bursting out laughing.
"I think you're the first person I've met to say that to my face!" She exclaimed, before rounding on her squadmate.
"I like that kind of fire~!" She breathed huskily, enjoying just how quickly the Chinese girl's composure cracked.
"Wow... Do you care so little about Orimura-kun that you've already forgotten about him?" Shizune asked.
"Oh? What do you mean by that?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow as she turned back to face her.
"I mean, looking at how you watched his match I half expected you to rush down to the atrium to wait for him after he lost." Shizune replied.
"Yeah! And of course, once you met him you'd embrace him like a lover, whispering sweet, comforting words into his ear before dragging him upstairs, where you two would enjoy a romantic, candlelit dinner for twelve or more! Then, as the sun set, you'd pull an illicit bottle of wine or two from under that bathrobe of yours, get drunk, and then make sweet, sweet-" Lily plugged her squadmate's mouth with a piece of chicken before she could continue.
"And yet here you are instead, molesting your squadmates... For shame!" Sarah giggled, and the rest of her squadron quickly joined in, laughing at their leader's brief loss of composure. Lily moved to swipe another piece of chicken, only for her hand to scrabble against the bottom of an empty bucket. She looked over at Shizune, and the Japanese girl gave her a smug look before making a show of chomping down on the last piece of chicken.
For a few moments the room was silent, before a smile blossomed on Lily's face and she leaped forward, wrapping her four squadmates in a group hug.
"You know, when I first got assigned to you four, I had my doubts. I thought I'd been handed a bunch of randoms that were passed over for integration into the more elite squadrons." She said as the four girls made a show of struggling.
"But you know what? Right now, I don't think I'd trade you for the world." She finished. After a few shocked moments of stillness, her squadmates returned the group hug.
"Of course, that means that when we get back to IS Academy, we're stepping up our training. When I'm through with you all, you'll be RepCan material." She finished, and let out a small chuckle as the four girls froze in her grasp.
She held them for a few more moments, and while their faces were buried in her chest, preventing them from seeing it, for the first time since she'd come to IS Academy the happy smile on Lily's face was genuine.
Ichika was not the only one to be eliminated in the third round. As fate would have it, Houki and Tatenashi faced off against each other the very next day. Unfortunately for Houki, her plan to stall Tatenashi with Akatsubaki and the majority of her squadron failed, the student council president baiting Akatsubaki in close and dragging it into the water for the rest of her squadron to eliminate while she went after Houki's flag-carrying squadmate. The Kenran Buto served only to prolong the red IS suit's struggles, and Houki's squadmates were powerless to help their leader and unable to catch Tatenashi as she ran down their flag-carrying squadmate.
After the battle, Ichika had asked Houki why she hadn't personally gone for the flag, knowing that the superior speed of the red IS would have allowed it to win the match without ever fighting. Houki had sighed in response, before saying that she believed that there was no point in possessing an IS like Akatsubaki if all it allowed her to do was run. The two of them had a slight argument over this, with Ichika eventually backing down after Houki's squadmates intervened, saying that they believed it was better for them to fight and lose than be absolutely useless while their leader did all the work.
Then, Cecilia faced Tatenashi in the third round and did what Houki wouldn't, using her suit's superior speed to steal the flag without Tatenashi's squadron being able to fire a shot. The blue-haired girl had taken her loss in stride, congratulating Cecilia on her victory before resuming planning upgrades for herself and her squadron. Cecilia had in turn counted her blessings for getting her upgrade package in early and expressed her desire to face Tatenashi after her suit had been upgraded.
The fourth round began a day later, and soon Kanzashi found herself matched against Charlotte. The resulting match was a chaotic missile duel, with Kanzashi utilizing her missiles similarly to how Ichika had used his drones, keeping Charlotte at a distance and on the defensive while their squadmates exchanged fire with each other. Once more, Honne Nohotoke proved her worth, taking down two of her opponents before Charlotte focused fire and downed her. Eventually, Charlotte tried the same trick she beat Ichika with, waiting for Kanzashi to launch missiles before focusing fire on her with all guns. Unfortunately for her, at a longer range the attack was easier to evade, and by the time Charlotte realized her mistake it was too late. Kanzashi's full missile volley caught her directly, overwhelming her already depleted supplemental barrier and draining her shields to zero. Charlotte's one remaining squadmate stood no chance and was quickly eliminated as well.
Cecilia and Kanzashi would not fight until the semifinals, their battle taking place early in the morning. However, the dark did little to faze Cecilia, and almost as soon as the match started a barrage of homing plasma fire forced Kanzashi's squadron into evasive maneuvers. Cecilia's drones joined in soon afterwards, and in the time it took for Kanzashi's squadron to deal with them Cecilia's squadmates had nearly managed to reach the island. One of them grabbed the flag, while her teammates moved to skirmish with Kanzashi's squadron. When combined with Cecilia's support from afar, there was little Kanzashi could do to prevent her opponent from winning the match.
Kanzashi had returned to the hotel room shortly afterwards, while Cecilia remained behind to prepare for the final battle. She would arrive just as the second semifinal match was ending, an Italian third-year with an armament that appeared surprisingly similar to the Mysterious Lady's nanobot hives beating her opponents. However, where Tatenashi used hers to manipulate water, the Italian girl used hers to rapidly fabricate various items on the battlefield, ranging from melee weaponry to full-sized, combat-capable decoys of her IS suit. By the end of the match, there were nearly twenty identical IS suits flying around the battlefield, not counting the rest of the Italian squadron, which was armed somewhat generically with rotary cannons and missiles.
"I wonder whose nanomachines are better... Yours or hers?" Rin commented as the screen cut out.
"The Italians actually invented the technology, and used it in the second and third Mondo Grosso, the latter of which they won with the Tempesta, but the Uragano here takes it to a whole new level. Looking at it, it seems they've tried to mimic the Infinite Arsenal's on-site fabrication ability, rather than focusing on simple offensive manipulation like my own. Still, nanobots aside, the IS isn't really that impressive. I guess they either wanted to keep it simple for easier nanomachine cloning, or more likely they rushed it out the door in time for the tournament." Tatenashi replied.
"What do you mean?" Rin asked.
"It only arrived at IS Academy two weeks before the tournament under some rather odd circumstances. Apparently its pilot is only a provisional representative candidate for the duration of the tournament, which means the IS might get taken back to Italy after the tournament ends." Tatenashi replied.
"But then why would they bring it out in the first place?" Houki asked.
"Probably because of politics. Looking at the suit's development, it's been fraught with delays and is well over budget. Whoever was in charge must have decided that rushing it out now to give it some combat trials was better than continuing to pour money into an unpopular project. Evidently they gambled right. Making it to the semifinals with an incomplete IS would definitely work in its favor." Ichika replied, a holo-screen filled with information on the suit in question open in front of him.
"I keep forgetting my sister gave you that..." Houki said, glancing at the screen.
"It's certainly handy. It definitely pulls its data from the IS cores though, as all our entries are either outdated or, in my case, flat-out missing." Ichika replied.
"The simple fact that she gave you something like that as a birthday present terrifies me..." Laura muttered.
"You can say that again." Rin agreed.
"You know, the Orimura Curse has yet to rear its ugly head." Tatenashi commented.
"You're still going on about that?" Ichika sighed.
"Orimura Curse?" Charlotte asked.
"Apparently every tournament I take part in has to have something happen in it. First the Golem with Rin, then the Schwarzer Regen malfunction... But aside from that I don't think there was anything else." Ichika explained.
"That's because there hasn't been another proper tournament since then." Tatenashi pointed out.
"What about our match at the start of the semester?" Rin asked.
"That doesn't count, it was only an exhibition match." Tatenashi replied, waving her hand dismissively.
"That's not what you said at the time..." Ichika pointed out.
"Should you really be tempting fate like that?" Houki asked.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Tatenashi laughed.
The next match didn't start for a good half hour, presumably in order to give both sides time to recharge and resupply. Tatenashi ended up ordering lunch, which was delivered by a somewhat nervous-looking delivery boy who looked oddly disappointed to see the blue-haired girl. They had just paid for and sorted out the meals when the final match began.
"Starting over Habomai, we have Squadron 229, the Streghe Verdi, sponsored by Frascone-Glorioso Aerospace and OTO-Melara!" The camera panned over the Italian squadron first. At first glance, they seemed rather unremarkable. The four Blank Slates were all identical, carrying a conventional rotary cannon in their arms that was connected to an ammunion drum on their backs. At their hips hung short sabers, and four missiles were visible under each suit's wings. A respectable arsenal for a mass production IS, but nothing extraordinary by any means.
Their leader's suit was likewise unremarkable. A pair of long swords were positioned on either hip, a high-caliber conventional-looking cannon was held in its hands, and its wings were completely occupied by a large, fragile-looking array of antennae, which was likely a wireless power transmitter.
The entire squadron was painted an olive green, with the Italian flag framed in gold on their right shoulders.
"And over Shikotan we have Squadron 001, The Blue Spears, sponsored by the Alcott Foundation!" Now the camera panned over Cecilia's squadron, whose members waved to the audience.
"Now, let the final match of the IS Academy Northern Storm Tournament... BEGIN!"
"Northern Storm?" Ichika asked as Cecilia launched her drones before her squadron started climbing.
"The announcer must have dug through some old documentation to get that name... I thought we'd shot it down before this whole affair had started." Tatenashi sighed.
A moment later, Cecilia opened fire. The bolt flew straight at first, then began to maneuver as it compensated for its target's attempts at evasion. Then, just before it struck its target, there was a flash and the bolt exploded.
"Did anyone else catch that flash?" Tatenashi asked as Cecilia fired again.
"I think I did. What is-" The same thing happened once again, and this time Ichika spotted it.
"She deployed an ablative shield of some sort between herself and the plasma bolt. The bolt hit it, lost cohesion, and exploded harmlessly." He concluded.
"Must be her nanobots at work." Kanzashi concluded as another bolt exploded harmlessly.
"I can't get through. Switching targets." Cecilia reported. Her next shot was seemingly aimed at the Uragano once again, only to suddenly make a hard turn and slam into the Blank Slate to its left. She fired again a moment later, just as the Uragano made a gesture. In the time it took for Cecilia's plasma bolt to cross the distance, a large grey wall had flashed into being in between the bolt and its target. However, the plasma bolt made a sharp turn and struck another, unprotected IS.
In response, the nanobot wall grew even larger, covering the entire Italian squadron.
"That can't be good for her long-term supply." Kanzashi commented.
"You'd be surprised by how many nanobots my IS can hold. Furthermore, going by sheer size alone her wireless power transmitter is much larger than my own, which would indicate she can control a lot more nanobots than I can." Tatenashi replied.
"What really matters though is replenishment rate. If Cecilia were to destroy that wall completely, how long would it take for the Uragano to replenish the lost supply?" Ichika asked.
"Definitely a few minutes. More if Cecilia keeps killing bots off in the meantime." Tatenashi replied.
"She's deployed a large barrier! Open fire!" Cecilia ordered, firing off eight of her own missiles as she spoke.
"I bet she wishes she had Aurora at her disposal..." Charlotte commented.
"True, Aurora would make short work of that kind of defense. I happen to know that from experience." Tatenashi replied as the missiles converged on their target.
The Italian leader attempted to mitigate the damage, opening holes in her barrier to allow the missiles to pass through, but it only allowed the missiles to get deeper into the mass of nanobots before their proximity fuses went off. The immense grey wall shattered, with large chunks falling down into the ocean while others continued to hover, quickly reforming into smaller barriers to block Cecilia's next plasma bolt.
Then the Italians fired their own off missiles, and now it was Cecilia's turn to go on the defensive. Her drones formed the first line of defense, converging on the missile stream and opening fire, guiding their shots to their targets. However, the Italian missiles proved surprisingly evasive, dodging the streams of unguided plasma fire sent their way.
"Interesting... If I had to guess, those missiles have some nanobots inside them, allowing the Uragano to order them to evade." Tatenashi mused.
However, while the missiles could dodge the initial bursts of unguided plasma fire, they were more susceptible to single, guided shots. Several missiles fell out of the sky, but not all could be intercepted in time.
"Deploying barriers! Get behind them!" As Cecilia spoke, two larger drones detached themselves from her wings and positioned themselves in the missiles' paths. A moment later the missiles connected, and one drone went tumbling out of the sky. The second was still up, but it was clearly not going to withstand another barrage.
"They're out of missiles. Close into gun range and prioritize her squadmates. I'll provide support." Cecilia ordered.
"Roger." Her four squadmates left her side, railguns ready. Ahead of them, the Italians were also preparing to move into gun range. Suddenly their leader made a gesture, and a large mass of nanomachines flashed into being. In a matter of seconds, it had divided and sub-divided itself into ten pieces, each shaping itself into a copy of its parent IS.
"She's really going all in now." Charlotte commented.
"Just how precise are those copies?" Houki asked.
"Not as impressive as they look. They can engage in melee combat and disassemble themselves to attack from multiple directions, but those guns and missile launchers are just for show." Ichika replied, looking at the suit's data.
"I see." Houki replied as Cecilia's squadron opened fire. Railgun slugs punched clean through the decoys, which quickly patched themselves up.
"Ignore the decoys! Focus on her squadmates! Keep moving fast, they can't catch you!" Cecilia ordered. Almost simultaneously, the artillery piece in the Italian leader's arms opened fire, sending a long stream of proximity-fused rounds downrange. The subsequent explosions were comparable to the Aurora in power, and only stopped when Cecilia landed a rifle hit on her counterpart. Her squadmates had split up into pairs, and were now circling around their Italian counterparts, focusing fire on two of them. The Italians were at an obvious disadvantage, their rotary cannons not having the range to compete with their opponents' railguns. Their leader attempted to cover them, moving several of her decoys between them and their attackers, but the decoys proved too slow to catch up to Cecilia's squadmates and ended up acting as glorified shields.
Another shot from Cecilia was blocked by a conjured up nanobot screen, the Italian leader evidently keeping a supply in reserve for self defense. Cecilia promptly fired off another octet of missiles, which began to converge on their target from multiple directions. Six were intercepted by decoys, which were blown apart, but the remaining two came in close enough to require another pair of nanobot screens. The remnants of the destroyed decoys began to converge, intent on reforming, but Cecilia was able to land several direct hits on the blobs while they were in transit. Only one complete decoy ended up reforming, the rest moving back to the parent IS to act as a screen.
"Switch targets! Focus on the leader!" Cecilia ordered, firing off another barrage of missiles at the remaining decoys. This hit home once again, rapidly depleting the Italian nanobot supply even further. As the decoys attempted to reform, a heavy plasma bolt struck one of the weakened Blank Slates, taking it down. Simultaneously, two of Cecilia's drones scored another kill while the other two sprayed plasma fire at the reforming decoys, tearing chunks out of them until finally the remaining material pulled back to defend its parent.
Then, Cecilia's squadmates opened fire on their new target, and their railgun rounds punched clean through the nanobot screen, striking the IS shields beneath. However, they couldn't keep up attacks for long before being forced to evade a mix of high-caliber return fire and rotary cannon fire from one of the remaining Italian Blank Slates.
Another barrage of missiles from Cecilia came flying in a moment later, and with no more decoys to intercept them they tore into the the remaining Italian Blank Slates with ease. One went down immediately, while the other survived only to be finished off by a drone attack run.
That left the Italian leader alone, being circled by all five of Cecilia's squadron. A final barrage of missiles eroded what little remained of her nanobot screen, and the Uragano soon fell out of the sky, disabled by sustained fire.
The screen cut out a moment later.
"Huh, that wasn't-" Whatever Tatenashi was saying died on her lips as Ori's hologram shimmered into view.
"Golem attack on Nemuro may be imminent. Do not launch yet, but be ready to do so at a moment's notice. Cecilia is currently engaged with the Silent Zephyrs. Reinforcements are inbound." The AI reported.
"You just had to say it Tatenashi... Pilot suits, now!" Ichika ordered, scrambling to grab his own. He quickly changed, not bothering to run into a side room. The girls did the same, the urgency of the situation numbing any embarrassment on their parts.
"Ori, are there any other details?" Ichika asked, throwing open the blinds over the window, giving him an easier exit and a view of the outside. The sky was clear, with barely a cloud in sight. No IS or Golem was visible either, although for all Ichika knew they might simply come in from a different direction.
"An IS was detected on radar launching from Sakhalin. It moved towards the tournament area at high speed, where it was visually identified as the Silent Zephyrs. Planes, both ours and Japanese, are being scrambled to search for submarines and to hopefully preempt a larger-scale attack. We are to remain here and act as a last line of defense if all else fails." Ori replied.
"So nothing else. Great..." Ichika said, leaning against the wall.
"Is Cecilia alright?" Rin asked.
"She is currently engaged with the Silent Zephyrs. I will keep you updated as the situation changes." Ori replied.
"Got it."
With that said, the members of STS-01 settled down to wait.
Madoka gave an exasperated sigh as Squall cut the comm, having finally given the order to commence the operation. Of course she was going to wait until the last possible moment to give the order, regardless of the weather. She promptly stowed away the tent, noting that at the very least her cell's leader had been nice enough to pack all the camping gear into an equalizer unit for easy cleanup, and deployed the Silent Zephyrs.
It felt good to finally be in an IS again, and the fact that it was one as powerful as the Silent Zephyrs only made it better. Picking up the camera drone, she took a moment to switch it into active mode, then launched herself into the air. Within moments she had broken the sound barrier. She spent a few more seconds climbing before releasing the drone. It fell for about a second before its onboard motor engaged and it zoomed up and away to the north.
With the first part of the operation done, Madoka broke away to the southeast.
"Excellent work Madoka, the drone is transmitting perfectly. You are clear to engage, the final match looks like it's wrapping up." Squall reported a moment later.
"Roger."
At her top speed of near Mach 2, it was a matter of minutes before she spotted her target. The Blue Tears had just finished up with its opponent, leaving itself and four other IS suits in the sky. The other four had their backs turned to her, and she was coming out of the noonday sun. Madoka smirked as she launched drones. Time to introduce herself.
Her main gun opened fire at a range of forty kilometers, well within its effective range. Her drones opened up a few moments later. Almost immediately she saw the Blue Tears pivot, but the rest of her targets were oblivious. Her rifle took its first target down in a single shot, the IS having likely taken a few hits in its previous battle, and her drones quickly downed two more. The last one managed to turn around to face her, but a second plasma rifle shot, coupled with a quick burst of drone fire, took her down as well.
"Miss me?" She asked over an open channel.
"Go to hell." Her opponent growled. Madoka prepared a response, only to be notified that one of her drones was lost. Madoka quickly forced them into a series of evasive maneuvers, but the brief loss in focus caused her next rifle shot to miss. Her opponent's shot slammed into one of her shield drones, doing negligible damage. The Blue Tears fired again and again, just as Madoka lost another drone. A quick glance over showed that her drones were now engaged in a dogfight with her opponents' equivalents, only somehow the enemy drones were maneuvering individually while her own drones were moving in pairs according to her orders. Damn, the British just had to have delayed the installation of drone automation on the Silent Zephyrs...
Frustrated, she opened fire into the swarm. Her plasma bolt slammed home, taking one drone out while her opponent's return fire once again was parried by a remote barrier. A moment later, her drones claimed a kill of their own, only to lose another of their number to return fire. She cursed under her breath, realizing that for once, the enemy's equipment was superior. Still, since her opponent seemed content to try and break down her shields, she figured she might as well even the odds. Another shot, and another one of the enemy drones went down, leaving only one left. Her three remaining drones mopped it up easily, before turning to engage the Blue Tears. One of them went down a moment later, their target having finally realized what was going on. Madoka fired again, this time at the Blue Tears, only for her shot to strike a barrier drone as well. However, said barrier drone must have already been damaged, as it quickly plummeted out of the sky. Moments later, the Blue Tears fired again, claiming another drone.
By now, the Blue Tears was less than ten kilometers away. Her last drone opened fire, the violet plasma bolt zigzagging through the sky towards its target. Partway there, a blue bolt passed it by, heading in the other direction. Then, just as the drone's shot was about to hit, it stopped. Madoka blinked for a moment as the ball of plasma hung in front of the Blue Tears' rifle. A quick glance at her drone showed it still intact, the Blue Tears' return fire having missed its mark.
"Neat trick, girl. But is it repeatable?" Madoka replied, firing again only to have to redirect her plasma bolt as the Blue Tears fired off a set of four missiles at her. She nailed two with the first shot, and took out the rest with her second, but in that time the Blue Tears fired again, and this time she didn't miss.
Now the drones were out of the equation, and the two IS suits were within spitting distance of each other. Madoka fired again, landing a direct hit while her opponent swung fruitlessly with her rifle.
"Guess not." Madoka taunted. That was when her opponent fired off another set of missiles, and as she was distracted with eliminating them, the Blue Tears had enough time to deploy a new weapon. Shorter and held in one hand, it spat a stream of plasma bolts at her while its holder charged. The Silent Zephyrs' barrier drone absorbed the first second of fire, but under the sheer volume it quickly crumbled and was eliminated. Several shots made it through and struck the shield inches from Madoka's face before a second drone could be called up.
"Madoka, I have a launch. Aircraft are launching from Urup, ETA: four minutes. Get out of there." Madoka sighed. Just when it was getting fun too. The Blue Tears was on her tail now, its volume of fire competing with the precision of the Silent Zephyrs. Reluctantly, Madoka allowed her remaining barrier drone to lag behind and be destroyed before she scored another hit on the Blue Tears and accelerated away. Evidently the Blue Tears was slower, as it quickly fell behind. The plasma barrage became easier and easier to evade before it finally cut out, replaced by a missile volley and a single homing plasma bolt. Madoka shot the missiles down without issue, before dodging the plasma bolt. It made a sudden turn and hit anyway. She glanced at her shields, noting that they could probably take two, possibly three, more hits like that. Two would suffice, she though as she returned fire. Her shot missed by a hair, but her opponent seemed to lose focus, her plasma bolt streaming past above Madoka's head. A moment later, she felt it slam into her shield's back and cursed.
She returned fire once more, only to divert the fire again as her target fired off another pair of missiles. Then the Blue Tears fired again, and Madoka decided that now was the time to leave. The plasma bolt slammed home and Madoka promptly cut her engines, allowing her IS to fall out of the sky.
"Egressing now." She reported to Squall.
She slammed into the water dove a few moments later and dove immediately, knowing that as soon as her shield had flashed upon impact the deception was over. Looking over her shoulder, she breathed a sigh of relief when there was no pursuit and began to dive as deep as her IS could take her. All that remained now was to escape to the rendezvous point.
Even knowing that it would mean meeting up with Squall again, she found herself looking forward to a stay at a nice beach resort. A real vacation, rather than a good month spent in the Russian wilderness, would do her good.
Still, she wondered again just what the hell Squall had been up to while she was away. Probably gathering enough subordinates for her cell to replace Autumn's loss and then some. Being the daughter of one of the most powerful men in Phantom Task likely gave her first pick of operatives, after all. It would probably be a return to the status quo once she returned, Madoka mused. She'd be sent out to do the dirty work until one day she either got moved to a different cell or ended up like Autumn.
Still, no use worrying about that now. Worst comes to worst, she had the Silent Zephyrs, and now she had a location. Urup... That was in the Kuril island chain. Madoka was honestly tempted for a moment to defect then and there. A moment later, that thought was crushed by the realization that doing so would almost certainly lead to a long stay in a prison cell, with a possible bullet through the head for her trouble. Next to that, a few weeks at a beach resort with Squall sounded downright heavenly.
With that thought in mind, Madoka continued on her southerly course, surrounded on all sides by the darkness of the deep. Only a few more hours to go...
"Alright, we've searched the area and found nothing. The Silent Zephyrs is believed to have escaped after faking its defeat. We can stand down." Ori reported after a long, tense hour.
"What about Cecilia?" Ichika asked.
"She is fine. Her squadron is currently being debriefed, they'll be back soon." Ori replied.
"Whew..." Rin sighed. For a moment there was silence, then as one they all turned to Tatenashi.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?"
"Ah... Oops?" Tatenashi smiled sheepishly. Ichika sighed in response.
"IS Academy will probably try to hush it all up, won't it?" He asked.
"Yeah, probably. Only Cecilia's squadron and their opponents saw what happened, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep things quiet." Tatenashi replied.
"Am I the only one uncomfortable with all of this?" Charlotte asked.
"Hell no. But, as far as I'm aware, it's necessary to keep IS Academy operating, correct?" Laura asked, and Tatenashi nodded.
"I don't like it as much as you do, but it's necessary." She replied as Kanzashi got up from the bed and headed into the bathroom.
"We should change out of our pilot suits. No point keeping them on now." She said, changing the subject.
"Good point..." Laura replied before trailing off.
"Ichika... You know what I just realized?" She asked.
"What?"
"You just saw us all naked." She replied, and Ichika blinked.
"Huh, so he did." Tatenashi replied, before standing up and reaching behind her to unzip her pilot suit.
"What are you doing?" Rin exclaimed.
"What do you mean? It's nothing he hasn't seen before." Tatenashi replied with a cheeky grin. A moment later she was tackled onto the bed by Houki, and the two of them rolled around for a moment before Houki managed to pin the student council president's arms behind her back.
"No. I will not tolerate such shameless behavior in my presence! Cease and desist!" She declared.
"Yeah!" Rin exclaimed, jumping on as well.
"I fail to see what the problem is-" Laura began before Charlotte quietly shoved her down as well. However, the French girl was not quite up to the task and Laura quickly turned the tables on her. However, before the German girl could secure her arms, Charlotte managed to grab a pillow and smack Laura over the head with it. The commotion distracted Houki long enough for Tatenashi to squirm free and grab a pillow of her own. Seeing where things were going, Ichika dove for the nearest bed, narrowly avoiding a swing from a laughing Charlotte, and grabbed a pillow of his own. Expertly parrying an attack from Laura, he leaped off the bed only to be caught by Rin.
Kanzashi emerged from the bathroom a minute later to a scene of absolute chaos, shrugged, and grabbed a towel to join in.
By the time Cecilia walked in, the room was an absolute mess. Blankets had been ripped off the beds, most of the drawers were half-open, clothes were scattered across the floor, and the room's seven occupants, pillows still in hand, lay sprawled across the mattresses.
"I'm glad to see some people enjoyed themselves." She said reproachfully as she beheld the sight.
"Cecilia? You're back!" Rin leaped up from the bed and, followed by the rest of the squadron, embraced the blonde.
"Congratulations on your win!" Tatenashi shouted as they pulled her inside and shut the door.
"And I'm glad you're alright." Ichika finished, causing her to blush slightly and pull him closer..
"I take it you all have already been sworn to silence?" Cecilia asked.
"Yes. We know not to talk." Ichika replied, glancing at Tatenashi. They backed off, giving Cecilia some space, and the blonde smiled thankfully as she made her way to the unkempt bed and flopped down on it.
"You alright?" Rin asked, sitting down beside her.
"Just tired... Even not counting that damn IS thief I had two matches today. We're heading back for IS Academy tomorrow, right?" She asked.
"Tomorrow morning, yeah." Ichika answered.
"Damn... Looks like I still have to pack." Cecilia replied.
"Sorry about the mess..." Charlotte added.
"I'll accept your apology if you all fold those clothes neatly and pack them all up." Cecilia replied primly.
"Fine, might as well. We'll need to pack it all up anyway." Laura replied.
With that in mind, and Cecilia taking a nap, the remaining occupants of the room began gathering up the clothes and preparing to head back to IS Academy. Tatenashi ended up running out partway through to grab dinner. Still, with six people working, the packing was done surprisingly fast.
"I don't think I'll be missing this hotel room." Rin sighed as she flopped onto the bed, disturbing Cecilia's nap.
"Give it some credit. It was the first place we slept together." Tatenashi replied as she walked in, placing hot meals down on the table.
"Don't say it like that." Houki said as she grabbed hers.
"It's the truth... Why should I say it any other way?" Tatenashi teased as she settled down to eat her own meal.
"I'm more concerned with how you said it was the first." Cecilia replied.
"Well, when I realized that I would miss cuddling up with you all, I decided to use my authority as student council president to have our rooms rearranged! We'll all be staying together from now on!" Tatenashi exclaimed.
"Wha-?" Tatenashi broke down laughing at the girls' shocked expressions.
"That was a joke! Don't worry, it's just me and Orimura-kun sharing a room together again!" She laughed.
"That's even worse..." Rin muttered.
Ichika just sighed and turned to Cecilia.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked.
"Yeah. It's just that this is the third time I've faced the Silent Zephyrs already, and every time it keeps escaping." Cecilia replied.
"What about your squadron?" Ichika asked.
"They think I've got a target on my back now, and that Phantom Task wants to steal the Blue Tears next." She replied.
"That it?" He asked.
"Well, Sandra asked to be given more warning next time so she could shoot back, but aside from that they all seem to be taking it in stride." Cecilia replied.
"Really? Just like that? No complaints about keeping silent?"
"Oh they complained, but they all seemed to get it in the end, especially once I explained about the possibility of IS Academy being shut down over this. Lucrezia... The leader of the Italians, actually ended up putting it best. If we were to allow the terrorists to strike fear into our hearts, they will succeed. If we allow them to deprive us of the happiness we enjoy at IS Academy, they will have succeeded twofold. Only by remaining vigilant and stopping their next move in its tracks do we win. Her exact words." Cecilia replied.
"Makes sense." Ichika replied.
"My only worry is that we may not be vigilant enough. I barely had any warning before the Silent Zephyrs arrived. By the time the warning made it to me, the damn thing was about to open fire." Cecilia sighed.
"But you drove her off." Ichika replied.
"That reminds me, why didn't you pursue?" Laura asked.
"She hit the water pretty close to one of the Italian I'd downed earlier. I thought she might have been trying to take a hostage, so I tried to get her out of danger. Of course, she was just running away in the end." Cecilia replied.
"You made the right choice. Best to avoid any sort of hostage situation." Ichika replied, patting the blonde's back.
"Agreed." Laura replied.
"Thanks..." Cecilia sighed.
They finished dinner in relative silence, and then played a few games of cards before going to bed. The last night in Nemuro could have certainly gone worse.
A/N: Here it is, the conclusion to a tournament arc that took me over a year to write! Now to review.
First and foremost there is Tatenashi's battle against the Canadian girls from ISAB. My objective was to make it a curbstomp from the start, with Tatenashi demonstrating just how broken her water manipulation ability is with a skilled pilot in charge, while simultaneously showing how good Tatenashi is at manipulating the opposition into dancing to her tune. I hope I've managed to get this portrayal done adequately.
Secondly, there is the scene with Lily. Now this one I had some fun with, ranging from Lily's order, which was originally going to be Big Smoke's order, then her observation of the Ichika vs. Charlotte match, and finally the interaction within her squadron which served to humanize a bunch of characters that didn't really have much other than a name up until now. This is especially critical considering how Lily features in my future plans for the story, and is in severe need of humanization after being rather neglected for a while. Hopefully these past two chapters have done enough to actually make her interesting. My view of Lily has always been as a rather self-indulgent person, who, while she doesn't lose sight of the mission, is also a bit spoiled and prone to enjoying herself. She'll probably keep ordering immense amounts of food rather than returning to nutrient bars, and will enjoy driving her squadmates crazy with how she gains next to no weight from doing so.
Third there was the timeskip. It was a necessary choice, as otherwise the tournament arc would have dragged on for another year at least, and I hope that I managed to describe the matches that led up to the final adequately. This leads into the final as well. I do hope that the Italians didn't seem like too much of a pushover, but with the way I designed their squadron they ended up being the perfect enemy for Cecilia, being limited in range and vulnerable to plasma weaponry, leading to her winning fairly easily. This in turn led to the fight with Madoka, which I felt turned out well enough.
Hopefully this chapter is a fitting conclusion to the tournament arc. I hope you have all enjoyed, and as usual feel free to point out any inconsistencies.