"SUSPEND THE MATCH! ORIMURA! FAN! GET OUT OF THERE IMMEDIATELY!"
("You remember when I said that the topic of space travel would be saved for a later date?")
("Yes, ma'am.")
("Well, now would be a good time to address it, and there's a very good reason. Most countries saw the Infinite Stratos as a weapon with an unlimited potential for destruction, as evidenced by the White Knight incident years ago, when a single IS, 1st Generation, singlehandedly destroyed more than 2300 missiles and numerous aircrafts and carriers that were all aimed at the capital of Japan. The IS was seen by most as a dangerous weapon, but a select few individuals saw it as a profitable commodity and started various underground organizations for the purpose of redistributing the IS and its components as they saw fit, though some of those organizations were using the IS for terror's sake.")
("So, the governments are scrambling to find a way to protect their ISs?")
("Yes, to put that very nicely. The IS may be used for competitions now, but it's still a weapon~~~")
That couldn't be any more true than now. In all the years that the IS Academy remained open, nothing like this had ever happened this brazenly. This wasn't a drill, or an exercise. It's not even a crime.
"What's happening?! What in the hell's going on?!"
It's way past that. This was a terrorist attack, made by someone trying to kill as many people as possible. The IS emerged from the crater it created. The stands were closed off by protective shutters. The holding areas were sealed off from the rest of the arena. And Ichika and Rin were the only ones on the scene when it barged into the arena. They're the only ones who can fight it off.
But Lincoln, Strong Suit, and Akina were the only ones on the outside. Only they could break the students free.
"COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!" Lincoln and Strong Suit kept bashing the door, but nothing happened, "WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE?!"
"It's no use, Ace," Strong Suit said, "It's not gonna-" Full power slam "-BUDGE!"
"Hello?!" Someone heard the banging, "Who's there?!"
"I'm here!" Lincoln shouted, "Just...trying to get you out!"
"Oh, thank god! Can you find a way inside?!"
"Uh...let me think, um-"
"Lincoln, goodly bad news," Akina got off her phone, "The security people are cracking the code, and the shot troops are coming soon."
"How soon?"
"Didn't tell me."
Strong Suit panicked, "Ah! What! Did they say anything useful?!"
"Well," Akina said, "They'll storm the arena once they have the deflection program under control..."
"By the time they've done that, someone will have already died!" Lincoln screamed, "No, no, we need to get in there now!"
"But How..."
Lincoln was rattling his mind for anything to get around that deflection thing, when he noticed that...
"How about we just disrupt it from outside?" NEW ALLY: HIGH CARD (SUPPORT TYPE) — SHIELD 20%
...his shield energy suddenly went down.
"Gonna need a really heavy tune to pull that off." NEW ALLY: NIGHT CLUB (SUPPORT TYPE) — SHIELD 18%
Twice.
"Wha..." Lincoln swerved his head around, "Luna?! Lori?!"
"Who's Luna?" Night Club said.
"Oh! Oh, right..." Lincoln dinged himself before putting his mind to work, "How's your guitar with that shield thing?"
"Hmm..." Night Club looked at the arena and heard the ensuing chaos inside, "It's alright, but it ain't enough. Maybe some drums might help me out a little."
"I know how to play drums," Akina said, "But how can we get a-"
"Easy sleazy," Night Club snapped her fingers, "Like this." And materialized a drummer and sticks for Akina to use.
"Ooh, neat!" Akina said, "So, together, we can bring down the shield and let them through."
NIGHT CLUB - SHIELD 6/18% (WARNING)
"Ok, then that's our plan!" Lincoln floated to Akina's side, "Akina, Night Club, play something loud enough to fizz the shield a little and lead everyone out. High Card, call everyone in the arena and tell them to back away from the doors. Then, when the shot troops get here, let them know where I am."
"Ooh, mission operator!" High Card clapped, "Just the right amount of tension."
"Wait, We're not gonna help Ichika and Rin fight that thing?" Akina asked.
("Come on, have a little faith in me. I'll see it to the end, no problem.")
("Maybe...instead of always being the one that needs to be protected, I should start being the one that's doing the protecting.")
"I think he'll be ok," Lincoln said.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Lincoln!" Ichika suddenly called over, "Lincoln, where are you?!"
"Ichika?! I'm outside the arena! I've got a plan to evacuate everyone inside!"
"You do?! How's it gonna-"
"Hey, you idiot!" Lincoln heard Rin shout, "You need to let go of me right now!"
"Agh!"
"Let go already!"
"Stop kicking!"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up ~"
"Hey, watch the face!"
"Shut up and let go!"
"Ah, here it comes!"
-BLAOW!-
"Whoooaaaaa!"
"Screw it! Lincoln, commence Operation Shield and Sword!" Ichika shouted to Lincoln, "Rin and I will buy you time to get everyone out!"
"Right...Ok, Strong Suit," Lincoln carried her on his back, "Once we get inside, you go left, and I'll go right. Meet up at Holding Area 5-3 and make our way around the stands."
"Roger!" She said.
High Card pushed the home button on her cellphone and called everyone in the Arena who had means of electronic communication.
HIGH CARD - SHIELD 12/20%
Kim was inside trying to calm the girls down when her cellphone went off. "Hello? Akina-san?...Oh, you're...Oh, I'll tell them, then."
"Kim?" One of the students whimpered, "Who was that?"
"That was...someone. Her friend will get us out, but we have to back away from the door."
"Why?"
"That's how we're getting out..."
"Wha!..." the student was excited, "Everyone, we're getting out of here! But they're gonna bust down the doors, so we have to make room!"
Soon, word spread throughout the interior that the escape routes were about to be opened, but cleared first.
Meanwhile, On the outside, all five team members were waiting for the moment of deliverance.
"Night Club, We're ready!" Lincoln shouted before backing up to a far enough distance to charge the door off.
"Hey," Akina asked, "I don't have to play exactly, right?"
"Hell, naw!" Night Club said, "You can go wild with that sucker all you want!"
"My kind of style!" Akina clacked her drumsticks, "And 1! 2! 3!" Then, together with her drums, and Night Club's two-neck guitar, they slowly worked their disruptive magic on the deflection shield.
And the students inside.
"What's that music?"
"Why now?!"
"That must be the signal!" Kim shouted, "Everyone back away!"
The students scrambled away from whatever door they were near.
Lincoln and the others saw the deflection shield falter.
"That's it!" Akina shouted, "Go now!"
"Keep playing!" Lincoln screamed as he rocketed towards the front door, with Strong Suit screaming for dear life when the music hit a pause,
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
In the control room, Chifuyu and Maya were wondering where that rocky racket was coming from. They were about to change cameras when-
-BAM!-
Lincoln flipped over and kicked the door down, breaking the shield and opening up the first exit, "Everyone out now!"
The students ran for their lives, but one of them stopped by to say, "Omigod thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Go, follow the music!" Strong Suit hopped off, "That'll be our holding area!"
"Ok, everyone move quickly!" Lincoln shouted, "We don't know when the next strike is, so just-"
-BOOM!-
The stadium rattled a bit. Some of the girls freaked out.
"Hekuva fight they're having up there," Strong Suit commented.
"Ichika and Rin can handle it," Lincoln said, "Have a little faith, yeah?"
"They're fighting that big thing?!" A student stammered, "Are they gonna be ok?!"
"They'll be fine," Strong Suit said, "Just go."
"Take the left!" Lincoln charged at another sealed door, forcing Strong Suit to slam her barbell right at the other side. They both knocked down their doors, freeing more students and guiding them out. They shuttled them out the same way, while tending to anyone who couldn't move.
While Lincoln was leading the rescue operation, Ichika and Rin were leading the counter-offensive operation, opting to buy the students time to escape. They initially had hiccups, but they were able to work out a plan in which Ichika would charge the opponent while Rin provided cover fire. The IS flew over them and fired multiple full power shots at them, but Rin was able to block them and return fire. When it dodged, Rin chased it into the giant cloud of smoke.
"Rin, wait!" Ichika followed them inside, but the IS turned around and fired at him, stopping him from moving closer. The smoke was so unstable that every single attack caused lightning to erupt. He used the lightning's color to find Rin. When he saw continuous yellow lightning flashes, he blasted in that direction.
"RRAAAAAAAGH!" Rin's Shock Cannons engaged in a shooting battle with the IS, but there were so many purple and yellow lightning flashes caused by their fight that she could barely see the IS from far away. She only caught a glimpse of it when it tried to punch her. She was able to block it and return with her dual blades, but it dodged her point-blank shot and snuck around to her back.
Luckily, Ichika found them and swung his sword at the IS, forcing it on the defensive. When it caught his sword, it caused a giant blue lightning storm, letting Rin know where to shoot.
"OUTTA THE WAY!" Rin blasted her cannons at it, breaking its concentration and allowing Ichika to get a solid hit in. But it wasn't enough, as it was able to counter the attack before Ichika could fully destroy it.
Back in the control room, everyone except Chifuyu was freaking out.
"WHAT IS THAT IDIOT DOING?!" Especially Houki, who saw Lincoln utterly destroy school property, "DOES HE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE'S DOING TO THE ARENA?!"
Cecilia stood silent, agonizing over the fact that she was unable to do anything, except wait for the door behind them to come down, given the shield is still at maximum security and the shot troops would not mobilize until the shield comes down.
"Orimura! Fan! Loud!" Maya screamed over the communication channel, "If you can hear me, please respond! Are any of you listening?!"
Chifuyu was going through every corner of her mind how to handle two separate operations being led by two naive boys. Whatever Lincoln was doing to the deflection shield wasn't enough to bring it under control, and Ichika and Rin were currently the only ones available to take that mysterious IS on. She sighed, "They said that they could handle it, didn't they? So, I say we let them go for it."
"Wha?!...Please, tell me you're not serious!" Maya was taken aback, "How can you say something like that at a time like this?!"
"Oh, calm down," Chifuyu went loopy to counteract Maya's panic, "Just chill and have a cup of coffee, or something," and she wasn't looking at what she-WHERE DID THAT COFFEE COME FROM? "You're only stressing because your body's running low on sugar."
"Um, before you drink that," Maya said, "what you actually added was the salt..."
Chifuyu stopped and blushed from a simple mistake she made in front of her peers.
Ichika lost Rin and landed back on the ground, "Gghh...where is she?..." He was hoping that a lightning strike caused by a cannon blast could direct him, but he was blindsided by a surprise punch, "Wha-GRRAAAAAAAAAGH!" The IS forced him out of the smoke.
"Ichika!" Rin heard him shout and escaped the smoke.
"Please give me authorization to use my IS!" Cecilia begged, "I can move out right away!"
"Well, I wish I could, but..." Chifuyu directed everyone's attention to the shield window, which was fizzling back and forth between level 4 and 3.
"Huh?!" Houki gasped, "Lincoln did that?!..."
"It seems so," Chifuyu said, "but whatever he's doing isn't working. And we've already declared an emergency, but the shot troops can't move in unless the shield fully under control..."
"And all the doors will remain shut..." Houki whispered, "which means..."
"For right now," Cecilia said, "As things stand now, all we can do is wait."
"That's right," Chifuyu said, "but you couldn't help the shot troops in any case, so there's no~~~"
In the arena hallways, Lincoln managed to burst his way through to the end, even bust open a few extra doors.
"Go! Get outta here!" He shouted. As the students rushed out, one of them cried and hug-tackled him. "ACG-ACK...ok, you're acting not right..."
"Nohohon!" Suddenly, Kim in the Uchigane! "You have to go now!"
"The music'll lead you out," Strong Suit eased her off, "They're waiting. Go."
"Kim!" Lincoln said, "You're helping out?"
"Yeah. Your friend opened the hangar, so I helped with evacuation while several others are sweeping the stands."
"Oh, good, that's a relief," Lincoln showed her the energy stats of all his party members: he was sitting at 27%, Strong Suit had 7%, and the longer Night Club (3%) played the less she had to go on.
"Oh, wow," Kim said, "Really good timing, huh?"
-BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!-
"And really bad timing, too!" Strong Suit jolted.
"Ok, spread out!" Lincoln shouted before going back to Kim and Strong Suit, "I'll check the stands! You guys sweep the under area one more time! Any doors to the arenas, if they're not open, force them open!" Then they high fived each other and broke off to their respective areas.
Rin kept blasting away at the IS until she got in a hit, "Ichika, do it now!"
"HAAAAAA-GGG!" Ichika charged it, only to get blocked and knocked away. He tried again to hit, but it kept dodging and eventually escaped.
"Oh, you idiot!" Rin shouted, "Aim that thing like you're supposed to!"
"Hey, I am aiming it, dammit!" Ichika checked his shielding,
BYAKUSHIKI - SHIELD 8/100% (CRITICAL)
"Aw, great," he thought, "I dunno if I'll be able to use the Barrier Disabling Attack just one more time-" His thoughts were cut off by the IS's laser blasts.
"Ichika, break away!" Rin said.
"Ah-right!"
The IS hovered around the field, blasting its shoulder cannons away at the two pilots.
"What are we going to do?!" Rin screamed while avoiding the laser streams, "We'll never beat her without some kind of strategy!"
"Hey!" Ichika threw out a joke now of all times, "You can still run if you want to!"
"Who said anything, you jerk?!" Rin snapped, "I'm still a Representative Contender, you know!"
"Alright, then how's this sound?" Ichika met her back to back, "You take the point and I'll cover your rear end."
Rin took one look at him and realized how serious he was about the fight. And what he said, and she didn't know if he was aware of it. She blushed a little, "Um...that's appreci-" Her thoughts were cut off by the IS's laser blasts.
"Stay focused, Rin!" Ichika escaped sooner than she did.
Rin narrowly avoided that shot, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know!"
Both pilots kept dodging and scrambling for any potshots they could take at the IS, while Lincoln circled the stands for any stragglers. He found one group trying to help a student who injured her leg when the IS caused a shockwave in the arena, when he received a call, "Huh? High Card, come in!"
"Ace, we have a problem," High Card commed over the still open channel, "The shot troops arrived earlier than expected."
"Huh?! Can they pass through the shield as they are now?!"
"Lemme check," High Card turned to one of the pilots on standby, "How's the senior elite team doing?"
"Thanks to your pilot, they were able to hack into the shield system a few minutes ago..." the captain waited until she received a notification, "And...they have control now."
High Card peeered over at the stadium wall, and a new message popped up:
SECURITY ALERT: LEVEL 2 DEFLECTION SHIELDING
MAIN FIELD PROTECTION ONLINE; ARENA LOCKDOWN
"Ok, Night Club!" High Club shouted, "You can stop now!"
"No way!" Night Club was having too much fun with her escapee concert, "Can't leave them lost like this!" Then she and Akina started shredding their instruments like mad women.
NIGHT CLUB - SHIELD 2/18% (CRITICAL)
"Ugh, why do I bother..." High Card commed back to Lincoln, and unwittingly Chifuyu, "Shield's under control. We're going in right now."
Lincoln was about to respond, when a string of bullets was about to break the barrier between the injured and the open field. He quickly nudged them out of the stands and into the bunker, using his arms to protect them and unconsciously moving his wing units together to act as a shield. Just in time for the barrier to break down and the lasers to come in and shred that section of the stands. He stood guard, making sure the students got out safely.
"HURRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" He screamed. Amazingly, he held out until the IS stopped. But when it ended, he was smoking all over, unable to stand due to the intensity of the aftershock, and the high risk of enduring another pelvic cramp, "ACK-HHHHHHHH...welp...I had a couple aces...they weren't up my sleeve..."
SAVVY SUITE - SHIELD 4/137% (CRITICAL)
In the control room, they heard and saw everything.
"Loud! Come in, Loud!" Maya screamed, "Loud, can you hear me?!"
"This is ridiculous! We should be out there helping with the operation by now!" Cecilia said, "Not trapped in a steel room!"
"Are you sure you'd be able to handle it?" Chifuyu told her, "How exactly are you going to support the team without accidentally shooting out one of your own?"
"Uh-I...well..."
Strong Suit ran through the metal halls, "Where is the good door? Where is the good door-Olo?" She stopped in front of the door leading to the control room, "High Card, I found them. Send someone to 5-2 control room," and prepared to bust it open.
Chifuyu walked to the control panel, "Not only do you need to know your teammates better, you also need to take a tactical position and develop a workaround to better contribute to their team strategy," and opened the door.
Right before Strong Suit could knock it down and ended up barging in like a moron, "YOGLOGLOGLOGLOGLOGOLOBOD-uh, huh?"
Chifuyu smirked, "You can't just take unnecessary potshots like you would when you're by yourself."
"Uhhhh..." Strong Suit got rid of her barbell, "Heheh..."
"What are you doing here, little one?" Maya asked.
"Miss Orimura, are you alright?!" The captain of the shot troops came in.
"I'm fine," she answered, "Where are the others?"
"Wait, you got through?!" Houki beamed.
"Yes, but you can't-"
Houki didn't bother listening and just ran away.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Strong Suit ran after her.
"I need to go as well," Cecilia said, "Where's the closest entrance to the arena field?"
"Miss Alcott?" The captain recognized her, "How's your IS?"
"Fully shielded and operational."
"There's a hole in the stands right now, down that way," the captain said, "Time your shot just right."
"Understood," Cecilia promptly left for the proposed point of entry.
"Miss Orimura?" Maya asked, "Aren't you gonna say something to her?"
"Hmm, no I'm not," Chifuyu said, "If she actually plays with the team..."
Outside, everyone had escaped to the mini concert.
"Seriously, Night, you can stop now!" High Card communicated, "The Arena's fully evacuated!"
"Dangit..." Night Club had no choice, "Akina, last one!"
"I hear you!" Akina let out her last drum riff to transition into the final line of the concert. And the two went out on a bang. When the last note played, the entire crowd cheered for an encore.
NIGHT CLUB - SHIELD 0 (EMPTY)
"Thank you, IS Academy!" Night Club threw her arms up in the classic rocker pose, "I will see y'all down the road of destiny! Good niiiiiiiiiight!" The crowd screamed a joyous chorus.
"It's afternoon," Akina said.
"You know what I mean," Night Club fizzled out of sight, along with the drums, guitar, and any accessories she brought over.
"Um...just wondering..." Maya muttered, "did you happen to notice how the IS moves?..."
"Like, eerily mechanical, as if it was automated?" Chifuyu said, "I noticed. But what I'm wondering is-"
"-if there's really anyone piloting that thing," Ichika said.
"What?" Rin doubted, "But an IS won't work without a pilot."
"If that's the case..." Lincoln panted, "then, why isn't it attacking right now?...while we're just sitting here?..."
"Perhaps it's curious about Orimura and Fan's interactions," Chifuyu thought.
"I guess that would make sense..." Maya agreed somewhat.
But Rin didn't believe it, "There's no way it can be unmanned...Someone has to be in an IS, or it won't move. That's just how it is."
"Yeah..." Ichika thought, "but think about it. What if..."
"What if..." Lincoln muttered, "...there really is no one inside?..." before someone walked past him.
"Wait, then..." Maya shivered, "They can pound it...all the way?!"
"Exactly," Chifuyu explained, "The Byakushiki has a One-Off Ability that quote-unquote "powers up" the Barrier Disabling Attack, to a power level far beyond what's allowed in a typical competition."
Strong Suit was chasing after Houki through the arena halls, "Hey! The hangar's That way?! Wanna grab a sword at least?!"
"Reiraku Byakuya...that's Yukihira Nigata's All-Out attack," Ichika said, "The full force of the Yukihira Nigata's normally too powerful, so you can't go all out during training... or class matches, for that matter. However, you could if your opponent is unmanned."
"That's sounding overpowered," Rin remarked, "but you keep hitting like it's a plastic bat instead of a darn sword."
"Oh, I'll strike it down. Just you watch."
"There they are," High Card entered holding area 5-1 with three soldiers, while two other groups occupied 5-3 and 5-4.
"Looks like they stopped," one of the soldiers noted, "did they destroy it?"
"No. It's just standing there..."
Rin thought Ichika went off the deep end, "Haaa, well, you sound pretty determined...So, even though I don't think it's a possibility, let's just say the thing is unmanned and attack it head on."
"Alright," Ichika prepped his sword, "So, the plan is that you shoot the cannon at full blast, but only when I give the signal. Are we both agreed on that?"
Cecilia deployed her IS. The soldiers readied and aimed their weapons just in case they had to finish the job.
"Sure, but it'll miss it," Rin smirked.
"It'll be fine even if it does miss," Ichika took his battle stance, "Alright! Let's-"
"ICHIKA!"
"Huh?!"
At the worst possible second...Houki out of holding area 5-2, "If you're a man...IF YOU'RE A MAN, YOU'D BETTER DEFEAT THE ENEMY COMPLETELY!"
The IS turned its laser weapons to her.
"Oh no!" Ichika was out of time, "HOUKI! RUN!"
Houki chose to stand her ground.
"THAT DUMBASS!" Strong Suit grabbed her barbell and made a mad dash to protect Houki.
"Take the shot!" High Card fizzled her way to Strong Suit.
"Not yet..." Cecilia saw two caricatured girls jump in front of Houki.
"Rin! Do it now!" Ichika shouted.
"You got it!" Rin began charging her Shot Cannons when Ichika suddenly got in her way, "Hey, you stupid idiot! What're you doing?! Get outta my line of fire!"
"JUST SHOOT, DAMMIT!"
"Huh?!" Rin didn't have a choice, "You crazy jerk! Whatever happens, it's not my fault!" She fired full blast right at Ichika.
But the blast that hit Ichika didn't damage him in the slightest; quite the opposite, it gave him the power he needed to unlock the full potential of the Yukihira Nigata. He saw the giant laser Come right at the holding area 5-2, only to be completely deflected into multiple rays and bounced off to the field around them. That gave him the feeling he needed to make that potential his own.
BYAKUSHIKI - SHIELD 12/100% (WARNING)
POWER SYNC 100% — YUKIHIRA NIGATA - REIRAKU BYAKUYA ONLINE
His IS became enveloped in a golden aura. He used the force of the cannon's collision to blast off towards the IS,
"This is for Rin...Houki...Chifuyu...and everyone else I care about...I will protect all of you!"
He took one swing and sliced off the IS's right arm, interrupting the IS's laser blast. He was about to swing again, but the IS used its other arm to sock him straight to the wall of the crater. He collapsed on the floor as he saw the IS approach him, arm cannon ready to charge.
"Now..." Cecilia released her drones.
"Ichika, get out of there!" Rin screamed, "Hey, Ichika!"
But he wasn't the least bit worried, "How's your aim?"
"Perfect, of course," Cecilia's drones unleashed a barrage of shots. Every single one hit the IS square in the head and interrupted its attack.
"FIRE!" The captain shouted, and every soldier in the arena shot at the IS, blowing off its shoulder weapons.
Houki and Rin caught off-guard by the sudden assist and turned to their left, "Cecilia?! But when did you-"
"Hey, bambooboo brain."
Houki was confronted by...
...a headless...and neckless High Card, "You owe me a new phone, lady."
HIGH CARD - SHIELD 0 (EMPTY)
...and Strong Suit, who lost the left side of her head, an arm, a leg, and half her barbell, "And you owe me some new equipment!"
STRONG SUIT - SHIELD 0 (EMPTY)
They both fizzled out of existence...
...while Cecilia fired off a fully charged sniper shot right at the center of the IS's chest area. Combined with the rest of the troops shooting at the other parts of the IS, the fight was just about over. The IS fell on its back, unable to move.
While the students and soldiers cheered, Ichika and Cecilia relaxed themselves.
"It looks like we've all assembled with not a second to spare," Cecilia commed to Ichika.
"I knew you'd come through in time," Ichika complemented.
"Oh? You really mean that? I mean, it is to be expected of a Representative Contender, after all."
"Well, it's over now," Ichika smugly said, "Looks like we can all go-Eh?!"
Suddenly, everyone who had a weapon of any kind received an emergency notification:
HOSTILE ALERT
-UNKNOWN IS MANDATORY UNLOCK HAS BEEN ACTIVATED-
"Oh, you're kidding me!" Ichika said.
The IS's arm had been triggered by the Mandatory Unlock.
"Ichika, get out!" Rin shouted, "It's still moving!"
"Getcha groin cups here!" Lincoln flew out into the field.
The arm charged its laser beam to the max. Ichika rushed to stop it, but he was too slow. It fired a full prolonged blast at him, yet he didn't feel a thing, "Rrrgh!...What in-"
Lincoln blocked the laser with his wing shield, "GRAB ON!" He helped him up.
Ichika and Lincoln pushed forward against the energy tide, even as the laser increased in intensity. Ichika helped push the shield along with his left hand, "JUST A...LITTLE MORE!..." Lincoln gave what little energy he left to the sword with his right hand. Together, they made it to the end of the beam, and with a hearty shout, "RAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~" they swung down the blade and ended the struggle...right before losing consciousness.
BYAKUSHIKI - SHIELD 0 (EMPTY)
SAVVY SUITE - SHIELD 0 (EMPTY)
Some time later...
"...mm...mmmmm..."
The soft sloshing of the waves...the gentle whisper of the winds...
"Nnnn...uhhhh..."
The clarion call of the seagulls...the grainy awakening of the sand...
"ARRRRRRRRRRIBAAAAA!"
"AAA, WHAT THE-"
And the interruption of all of that by the Lincoln-lookalike girl, "Sorry, did I startle you?"
"Yeah...you did...HHHHhhhhhhhh..." he sat up, "Hm...I recognize this place..."
"Yup. You were here two and a half months ago."
"Two and a-IT'S ONLY BEEN TWO AND A HALF MONTHS?!"
"Well...maybe three. It's never made clear."
"Guuhuhuhuh..." Lincoln gasped before looking around, "Where's all the people at?..."
"People?" The girl blinked, "It's just the four of us the whole time."
"Four?" Lincoln looked around and saw three familiar faces. The blonde woman was relaxing her worries away under a beach umbrella. The two brunettes of vastly different heights were playing tag in the water.
"Night, you're literally in the water," the one under the umbrella said, "You don't need the face paint."
"Whaaat?!" Night Club whined, "It separates the loungers from the rockstars!"
"Wow," Strong Suit snuck behind her, "You need to royally-" WATER SPLASH "-flush out your quirks!"
"Why you!" Night Club swam after her for cleaning out her face, "How about I flush out your hair with my own brand of paint?!"
"NYEEEEH!"
Lincoln was somewhat disturbed. Without the costumes and makeup, the three allies he called upon to assist with the rescue operation look exactly like...them.
"Oh hey, you two made it!" High Card noticed his presence, "Come on, have a seat."
"Uh...ok," Lincoln walked to High Card's umbrella and sat beside her.
"Why so tense?" High Card asked.
"He's probably zonked by his very first RESCUE MISSIOOOOOOON!" the girl smirked.
"Ears..." Lincoln cleaned out his earlobe.
"Or maybe it's one guy vs four bikini-clad girls?" High Card joked.
"It-Wuh?" Lincoln blinked and realized he was in his swim trunks, "AAAAA! WHERE'S MY CLOTHES?!"
"Hmhmh, we're at a beach," High Card chuckled, "What'd you need clothes for?"
"Uh..." Lincoln cringed, "do you know what you just said?..."
"I'm aware. I still want an answer."
-HONK-
The girl honked a toy horn at the same time Lincoln gave the "WTF..." look, "And you said this was useless, haha! HONK HONK HONK!"
"O...k..." Lincoln Just about-
"I'm just kidding!" High Card laughed, "Take a load off, already! We finished our mission, so what gives!"
"Uh...I don't know..."
"That's new," Strong Suit had Night Club in a headlock when he heard Lincoln say that, and dragged her over to the umbrella, "What don't you know?"
"Well...It's weird. Everything...One moment, I was just about to die...and the next, I'm alive and well, inside a dream world."
"Oh, I get it," Night Club sat beside him, "The adrenaline rush is gone. No one's in any more danger, so now you have time to ask what the hell happened."
"I did," Lincoln rubbed his head, "I almost died."
"But you didn't!" The girl hugged him, "And you're a hero now!"
"What's that gotta do with "we almost died"?..."
"I thought that's what a hero does," High Card said, "Am I missing anything here?"
"Well...uhhh..."
"You know I keep tabs on everyone, including you. And I know you covered those girls escorting an injured person out of the stands."
"Well, I didn't want anyone to get hurt. What was I-" he stopped himself after hearing what he just said.
"And I bet they will remember it for a long time," the girl said.
Lincoln thought about the moments where he was one on one with a fellow student thanking him for busting the doors down. And another where the students who escorted the injured girl out split into two pairs to open a passage to get him out, "Heh...they definitely won't forget..."
"Bet you didn't expect to go on a mission at 11, huh?" Strong Suit said, "I mean, look at Robin! He's been doing this kind of crud since...what, 11? 12?"
"Uh," Lincoln flinched, "I wish you wouldn't lump me in with those kinds of heroes."
"Ahem," High Card got everyone's attention, "Being realistic here, there's no way that a person of your age, stature, and mentality should be able to pull off that kind of stunt. You couldn't have called us out without knowing full well that you'd be risking a lot more than just your life. For one thing, there's Ichika and Rin's lives on the line; the Absolute Defense isn't completely absolute. And another thing, you witnessed firsthand the tremendous power of the IS. And then, there's the students' lives, the soldiers' lives, property damage...the list goes on. You had to have known what you were getting into, right?"
"Uhduh?..." they were all lost. She lost them at mentality.
"My point exactly. You just jumped into it. That'd be ok if it was like today, but what if, say, you were called to fight, instead of Ichika? Or there really was somebody in that thing?"
"You're kinda ruining the vibe, High," Night Club griped.
"Well, it's something you have to think about every time you go on a mission."
"Yeah, but-"
"Ok, we're getting really heavy now," the girl said, "Can we just scratch this and talk about something else?"
"What she said," Lincoln said, "Something else like...what am I doing here?"
"I thought you wanted to come here sometime," Strong Suit said.
"Well...not anymore."
They all saw him feeling down again.
"Yeah," the girl said, "Whaddaya say we take it one step at a time? Don't bombrush it like last time?"
"Good plan," Night Club, "So, What's our first move?"
"Ooh! Ooh! I know!" The girl shoved Lincoln out and huddled the girls together.
"Uh...what-" Lincoln saw the three House members give disapproving looks. Then they chased after the girl. "Welp...what do I do now..."
He walked out into the open, where the water met the sand and washed away the earth. Then, he observed every object placed in the beach. Those memories resurfaced, especially that certain costume, the one he swore he would burn to ashes. He replayed the moment when Lori literally lied to him to save him from death's door.
("This is Lucy's Luck-b-Gone! She finished it the morning!")
("I did not finish the potion.")
It was the weirdest feeling ever. Maybe that's why he still has no clue where the ends of existence were. It was a lie that got him in this mess... and it was a lie that virtually got him out of it. Paradox at its finest. "Ugh...there's gotta be a reason why..." As soon as he said that, he didn't want to think on it anymore. He just wanted to get some alone time in the water.
Which was clocked by the sudden interruption of a four-woman mariachi band blaring their instruments while colliding their wagon into every giant rock, only skidding to a stop when they passed Lincoln. The group hopped off and blasted one last off-pitch chord.
The girl nudged him, "Eh? Eh? Get it?!"
"Oh, I got it," he scowled, "I ain't laughing, but I got it."
"Hahaa, I told you it was a stupid joke," Night Club stuffed her stuff on the girl.
"Come on, give it a chance!" The girl begged.
"We did," High Card massaged the girl's shoulders, "Now, just take it easy, like you said," and made her drop everything in the water.
"I need a cold bath after that..." Strong Suit threw her mariachi crud away.
"Let me throw some cold water on the situation!" Lincoln splashed her with beach water and lured her into a sea battle against the Night shark. While the girl and High Card spent their afternoon gossiping under the umbrella.
Lincoln kept playing to his heart's content...until...
"...zzz...zzzzzz...zzz..."
"...he...lets...down..."
"...keep it down...sleeping..."
"So brave...never...chemistry..."
"I can't tell who's the sidekick! They were like a dynamic duo!"
"He took on the enemy! He was a tank!"
"While he hid in the shadows and cleared the field!"
"It's right from the manga! Play by freaking play!"
"Can you keep it down..." Lincoln murmured, "I'm trying to sleep-" FREEZE "-AHPHPHPHPH..." He and Ichika were in the infirmary. On beds surrounded by everyone from Class 1-1. "Uhhhhh...hi?..."
"Uh, hi," a student approached him, "Are...are you holding up ok?..."
"I'm fine...but what about-" Lincoln looked to his right. Ichika was still conked out. "What happened to him?..."
"He's fine. He's just knocked out. And injured, maybe-"
"Not helping!" Rin covered her mouth.
"Well...Nothing bad happened to him," Kaoruko said, "Just some minor aches and pains."
"Oh..." Lincoln sighed, "Good deal..."
"Ahem."
"*GULP*" Everyone gulped at the sound of the Brunhilde.
"For injured students, you all seem to be very lively," Chifuyu made everyone whimper in desperation to avoid punishment. But, "Well, since this was an unforeseen disaster, I'll let it slide this time. Next time you pull another fast one, it'll be 15 laps around the school for the entire class. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am..."
"Fan, clear the room," Chifuyu turned around and left, "Loud, with me."
Lincoln twitched.
"Ok, people. Move along," Rin pushed everyone out, "If she says we gotta go, then we gotta go."
While everyone else groaned, Lincoln racked his mind through every possible argument that Chifuyu could make against him. Luckily, it didn't get to that level.
Chifuyu was leading him down the hallway, past the peering eyes, "That was beyond reckless."
"What was?..."
"Knocking down structures that belong to the Academy, directly interfering with government matters, and a trifecta of self-endangerment that could very well be considered by many morbid minds to be suicide, at which point, the age question will come into consideration...what were you thinking?"
"I...I was thinking about how helpless the other students were."
"But did you think about anything else? Like how your presence may affect the battle? How much it would cost to restore the arena back to normal conditions? Or what if someone actually died, and that someone wasn't a helpless student?"
"Well...no. I was just focused on evacuating the arena."
"That singlemindedness often spells disaster for the parties involved. You have to be mindful of the consequences your actions have, and their area of impact. Wasn't there an overused cliche that describes the situation?"
"Blugh...Don't say it..."
"Take it from me... I know what it feels like in the IS. I know a woman who's paralyzed from the waist down who could pilot an IS with uncanny precision. And it doesn't come free-"
Their little discussion was cut short by the whispers of the students nearby:
"Look, it's him!"
"He saved her life!"
"That rock band duo was so cool!"
"They planned the attack and escape?!"
"Whoa..." Lincoln whispered, "They're talking about us..."
"Indeed, they are," Chifuyu responded, "You're gonna stir them up even more if you don't watch what you do. Now, everyone has their eyes on you."
Lincoln realized that he and Ichika would now be monitored by virtually every single girl in his class, in and out of it, "Guess I should have thought about that..."
"And the first day of class is just half a percent of the tip of the iceberg. You'll have to be more aware of what you're doing with what you have. You and Orimura both."
"Well, you know what they say," and suddenly Maya, "With great power comes great responsibility-"
"GAAAAAYOUSAIDIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Lincoln wailed.
"Well, since you did evacuate the students and bring in the troops, I'll overlook this incident." Chifuyu said, "But next time disaster strikes, don't literally use the environment around you as collateral."
"Oh...got it..."
"Ma'am, what about Shinonono?" Maya asked.
"I'll deal with her later," Chifuyu said, "Right now, there's something we have to look into."
Back in the infirmary, Rin was all alone with a sleeping Ichika. She seemed to have softened up since the surprise fight, but out of the sea of emotions that erupted from the promise that couldn't be, she didn't know which emotion to feel. All she knew was that she had to get her feelings out. She leaned over in an attempt to join her lips with his.
But he started to awaken when she came within tonguing range. When he fully opened his eyes, she backed away from him.
Ichika sat up, "Rin, what were you doing just then?"
"Uh, were you awake?..." Rin was nervous.
"What are you acting all nervous for?"
"What makes you say that? I'm not nervous," Rin quickly regained her composure, "That is a ridiculous thing to say."
"Oh...what happened to the IS?"
"It got shut down. Don't worry, you and Lincoln were the only ones who got hurt; everyone else made it out safely."
"Oh..." Ichika sighed in relief, "Good deal..." then, he looked out the open window, out to the sun withdrawing its brightened glaze over the ocean, "You know, now that I think about it...wasn't it a night just like this, back in elementary school ~~~"
She remembered...
("So, if I become a better cook, will you eat my Sweet and Sour Pork every day?")
"Oh, yeah..." Rin said, "That promise... you know, it kinda surprised me how you still remembered it."
And he just came out with it, "Yeah...had I known what that promise really meant, I would never have said yes..."
"Whaaaat, pbbtt, come on. I think you're reading way too deep into it," Rin chuckled, "I just meant that, you know, when you cook for someone else, your cooking improves. That's all it was. Haha-"
"No, it wasn't," he said, "You said that I would eat your Sweet-n-Sour pork every day if you became a better cook. You really meant that I would be your boyfriend-slash-husband if you became a stronger person."
"*GULP*..." Rin had been had, "Yeah...that's what it meant...since when has your density decreased all of a sudden?"
"Um...being unconscious gives you a lot to think about, and a of time to think. I don't think I'm ready to make that kind of commitment yet..."
"I'll bet..." Rin set her head on the bed.
"Uh..." Ichika had to follow up quickly, "That doesn't mean I can't hang out with you, does it?..."
"Huhwuh?"
"I mean, no matter what happens, we're still childhood friends; that will never change. So... I know that-"
"There's still a chance!" Rin unknowingly blurted.
"Huh?"
Rin quickly retracted her statement, "I mean, uh...Of course, we can still hang out! Well, I can't really compete with my father, but you know, I don't make just Sweet and Sour Pork! So, if you wanna-"
"Oh I do, but it's gonna be hard to top your father's cooking!"
"Uh, well..." Rin got a little somber, "he doesn't work there anymore."
"What? Why'd he stop?"
"Well. The thing is...my parents got a divorce. That's one of the reasons why I went back to China..."
"Geez..." Ichika thought he had a lot of catching up to do. And he does have a solution, but... he has to take a stand against the impending storm that was sure to erupt from the other two girls... "You, maybe, wanna hang out this weekend? I mean, if you're not doing anything, we can just talk or something..."
Rin brightened up, "Just the two of us?...Yeah. Heheh, that sounds like fun."
"Surprise, Ichika dear!" And in came Cecilia to ruin the moment, "I hope you're feeling much better, but I've come to look after you-uh?!" She locked eyes with Rin, "What is this?..." Confrontation, "Just what do you think you're doing? Remember, we've decided that no one can make a move on Ichika until he wakes up."
"And what about you?" Sneak attack from Houki! "Because from my view of your fat ass, it looked like you were trying to get ahead of me."
While Cecilia stammered for a plausible excuse, Rin became very agitated, "Get outta here, both of you! Can't you see he's~~~"
Ichika's ears twitched, "Make a move on me? Get ahead of her? Wait ..."
("How did you manage to confess to your girlfriend?")
("Eh, I just did it. In front of so many people, too. I let everyone know why, and then I made a move on her. Well...not really, she we just kissed in full view of the entire restaurant, so I think that counts.")
("How did it feel?")
("All sorts of exhilarating, joyful, and...If I count what my classmates did the very next day...disgusting.")
"Crap," he whispered while the girls started bickering about friendship levels again, "I really have to watch myself now..." that makes two girls who are confirmed to be pining over him, and one girl who might be. He thought about asking Lincoln for advice, but if today has proven anything, it's that they cannot rely on each other 24/7. He'll have to learn as much as he possibly can if he wants to stand on his own to feet.
Like now, when he hasn't returned, "Hey?"
The girls stopped arguing.
"Where's Chifuyu?" Ichika asked.
Cecilia gave it some thought, "Now That you ask..."
"I haven't seen her since she took Lincoln somewhere," Rin said.
"Where do you think she took him to?..." Houki sounded worried...
...for good reason. In an IS diagnostic room, Maya was analyzing the IS with Chifuyu and Lincoln standing behind her. What they saw was very telling.
"Unmanned..." Lincoln muttered, "And no one was controlling it remotely or anything?"
"No," Maya checked the report, "And what's more is that it has an unregistered core..."
"What does that mean?..."
"In the entire world, there are only 467 IS cores. And yet, here's a core we know nothing about."
Chifuyu just looked on, "In other words...this could be an entirely new core..."
So many questions filled their heads. But probably the most disturbing one was: Since no one else but Tabane can create cores, was this all her doing?