Nine Months Later
"Hamburgers or hotdogs?"
Ichika scratched his chin. "Hamburgers."
"Death by drowning or immolation?"
"That's a tough one, drowning would be more pleasant I guess. Well, as pleasant as drowning can be," Ichika replied.
Monika shrugged. "Probably, death by burning sounds way cooler though."
A few seconds of silence passed as Monika thought up more pointless questions.
"Football or baseball?"
"I know you like football, but baseball takes more skill. Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with baseball."
"Well, you're completely wrong, but whatever," Monika said with a frown.
The girl paused for a moment before giggling. "How about this one, French girls or German girls?"
Ichika saw Schaefer fidget from across the warehouse.
"Uhh…"
"Answer the damn question Ichika, or are you just a chicken?" Monika snorted.
"Well, German girls I guess. Someone told me that all french girls do is smoke all day. Also, I guess I like how Germans are hardworking and prioritize punctuality," Ichika relented. He saw Schaefer give him a discreet smile and a thumbs up.
"I guess you Japanese like that sort of diligent lifestyle. If you and Germany ever want to make another Tripartite Pact alliance, invite America this time. With us three, we could surely take over the entire world!" Monika boasted, raising her fists dramatically.
"Yeah, I'll make sure to bring that up to a country I'm no longer a citizen of," Ichika deadpanned.
"Alright alright, make fun of me if you want. But in all seriousness do you think we could do it?" Monika asked.
"What, take over the world? No way, we'd need way more than just America, Japan, and Germany," Ichika retorted, shaking his head.
"Owl's right," Schaefer said, joining the conversation. "We'd need more European nations. Remember the big war? Even with America's help, Germany wouldn't be able to fight off all the central European nations alongside Britain and France."
"Ok listen to this. The U.S would back out of NATO and launch a surprise invasion on Britain before they could mobilize while Germany marched for Paris. From there we'd link up and rough up Spain and Portugal before Eastern Europe can make up their minds about what's going on. We'd have most of Western Europe in the bag before we ever had to worry about a multi-front war," Monika proposed.
"And Japan?"
"Well, I guess they'd start with the Philippines and move down towards Australia. With America, we'd have Pacific dominance and could stage an invasion of China."
Ichika sighed. "You left out so many logistics out of the picture. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't France be able to fight Germany to a standstill? They're not the same as they were during the Big War. Even if the Dunois Family is on the decline, they're still plenty powerful. Second generation or not, the Rafael Revive models aren't anything to scoff at."
Schaefer scoffed in offense, making Ichika chuckle. "Those rust buckets? Surely those things don't stand even a single chance against superior German engineering."
Ichika sighed.
"Well I suppose it does-"
"Owl, Shepherd, stop talking," Monika commanded, activating her IS.
Ichika and Schaefer followed her example and activated their own IS. Soon Ichika's Fukurō, Monika's Vestige, and Schaefer's Schwarzer Adler stood in a loose triangular formation.
"Sitrep Bloodhound," Ichika demanded, eyes darting around the warehouse's entrances. The mission was to rendezvous with Phantom Task pilots for an information exchange. Due to Schaefer's insistence, they had arrived much earlier than the meeting's designated time.
Ichika supposed it would be a shame if things went south and they had to retreat back to America. The meeting point was in Japan and Ichika was looking forward to showing Monika and Schaefer at least a little of his old home.
Monika received a transmission from intelligence. "Masks on for now, Phantom Task has backed out because the site's been compromised."
The three slid on gas masks that they all had clipped onto their tactical gear. They were operating without insignias but the masks were for the comfort of having their faces concealed. Monika had in fact petitioned to have themed masks depending on their aliases, but Ichika had immediately shot that idea down. Honestly, he'd be too embarrassed to fight properly. Plus, gas masks were just more tactically viable.
Monika flipped down Vestige's multi-purpose goggles over her mask. "Seems clear..."
She looked up. "Pilot coming from above!"
Just as Ichika and Schaefer registered their companion's words, a blue IS came crashing through the warehouse's roof. It seemed the IS and the merciless destruction of roofing went hand in hand.
The three FOXHOUND operators immediately opened fire. Monika's miniguns roared while Schaefer deployed her built in rockets. Ichika for his part fired into the IS with his wrist mounted machine guns. Their barrage proved ineffective however as the IS suddenly burst into… water?
"Cease fire, it's a decoy," Monika demanded. "I can see the real one though, she's hanging back."
Ichika trusted his friend and her IS as he squinted at the cloud of smoke generated by Schaefer's rockets that covered the hole in the warehouse's roof.
Monika materialized her sniper rifle and took aim at the smoke cloud.
"I can see you dumbass," she whispered, centering her sight on the pale outline of the 'real' blue IS past the smoke screen.
She began unloading her clip into the IS, the first two shots bouncing off the automatic shield.
Noticing she no longer had the element of surprise, the pilot of the blue IS rushed through the smokescreen. She blocked all the oncoming sniper shots with a barrier created from water manipulation.
The blue IS's lance thrust forwards towards Monika who threw herself backwards to avoid the blow. The pilot of the blue IS tisked as another IS body checked her, sending her IS skidding away. It seemed these three Phantom Task pilots had some talent.
Where was the third? The pilot of the blue IS swore there were three of them. She was startled from her thoughts as a sudden weight crashed down on her shoulders, talon shaped blades latching onto the armour plating that covered her arms. The pilot, wearing a gas mask like their companions pinned her in place with those talons while firing shots into her shield with wrist mounted guns. She didn't sense the thing at all, how did it get above her?"
"Get off her Owl, two more are inbound!" Monika shouted.
However before Ichika could untangle himself with the blue IS, another IS rocketed through the top of the warehouse and tackled him off their companion. The new IS was primarily white in colour with certain parts painted blue.
"More third generations, this is bad," Monika muttered.
Just before the pilot of the white IS could plunge its energy blade into Ichika's shield, it was blown to the side courtesy of one of Schaefer's rockets.
Taking some deep breaths, Ichika scrambled to his feet and moved to stand by Scahefer and Monika's side.
Schaefer and Monika both had long range orientated IS, he would have to act as not only the vanguard but their protector so they could get their shots off. But before Ichika could throw himself back into the fray, yet another IS descended from the hole in the ceiling.
The new arrival was a jet black IS with a very large and very scary looking shoulder mounted railgun. The new IS made Ichika hesitate and rethink his battle strategy. Soon, the six IS faced each other in a standoff, neither side looking to back off.
Monika's miniguns spun menacingly, Schaefer's heavy duty missile launchers primed themselves, and Ichika's feathers fanned out, the teen mentally preparing himself should he need to individually control several of his feathers at once.
Monika analyzed her enemies and bit her lip in irritation, drawing blood. "That's the Brunhilde, retreat is now our highest priority."
Ichika's eyes widened as he swiveled his gaze to the white IS. It was indeed the Brunhile, the winner of the Mondo Grosso, it was Chifuyu-nee. This was wrong, this wasn't supposed to be how they reunited. Was Chifuyu-nee the enemy now?
Monika noticed her friend fidget slightly. "Calm down Owl, our highest priority is retreat. We don't want to be fighting sovereign pilots… they are not the enemy."
"Listen, we are not here to fight you people," Monika began, raising her hands in a placating manner. Usually she would be the first to encourage conflict, but this was her best friend's sister, she wanted to make a good impression. Plus, she wasn't looking to sortie with the Brunhilde herself.
"I am aware-"
Monika was cut off as the Brunhilde's IS's fold out armor activated and the woman lunged at her in a blisteringly fast attack. She grit her teeth as she watched the energy blade slice towards her in slow motion. She could register the attack, but it was just too fast to react to,
However just before she was cut, she was tackled out of the way by Schaefer who raised an energy shield to block the attack. Monika's eyes widened in abject horror as the energy blade negated the energy barrier like a hot knife through butter.
Schaefer coughed up blood, her IS stumbling back.
"Fuck! Cover me Owl, we're leaving!" Monika screamed, taking hold of her friend who was holding her hands over the gash in her stomach.
Ichika couldn't help throwing a quick glance at Schaefer's wound before launching himself at his sister, talons outstretched. As the White IS blocked his strike, Ichika sent a couple of his feathers soaring towards the other two IS in hopes to distract them.
Before he could back away however, Chifuyu grabbed hold of his ankle and slammed him into the ground.
Ichika immediately pushed himself back up and recalled his feathers, he'd need all his concentration just to stand a small chance against his sister. He charged forwards once more whilst firing blindly from his wrist mounted machine guns.
He acted as if he was going to lunge forwards with his talons once again but broke off last second. Circling behind the white IS, he deployed both his grappling hooks which wrapped around the back of Chifuyu's arms before rapidly reeling the hooks in. With his sister off balance, Ichika lunged forwards in earnest with his razor sharp talons.
Chifuyu grunted as she heaved on the cables pulling both of her arms back. With sheer strength, she flung the pilot using their own cables off course and into the ground for the second time.
"Laura, restrain her," Chifuyu commanded, scouring the warehouse for the other two. They were eventually spotted, the two making a hasty retreat. That was fine, she only needed one anyways.
"Ja mentor," the pilot of the black IS responded.
As Ichika tried to pick himself up once again, he was met with the enormous barrel of a rail gun pointed directly at his face.
"You have lost," the pilot spoke with a heavy German accent.
The railgun rumbled, gathering electromagnetic power, before firing its payload point blank.
Ichika's vision went white.
"..."
"..."
"The pilot of the first core, formidable prey is she not?"
Ichika's eyes blurrily opened before snapping to attention. He quickly found his footing and searched his surroundings. He was… in a forest? Where was his team? What happened with him and his sister? Something was definitely off.
Looking up, Ichika saw a young girl sitting on a tree branch. She was dressed in a long brown cloak with a hood that came up and over her head. The girl was looking down at him with brilliant amber eyes with her head tilted to the side.
"Was I… knocked out?" Ichika muttered, still regaining his bearings.
"Indeed you were pilot, for a whole two seconds infact. No matter, that's more than enough time for me," the girl responded, dropping down from the tree branch to softly land on the ground.
She gracefully stalked up to him and looked up at him with a smile. "Can you guess who I am?"
Ichika gave the girl a once over. Her brown cloak had black feather-like textures tapering the bottom of her cloak. To further his suspicion, there were two cute owl-like ears that protruded from the hood of her cloak.
As the girl looked up at him expectantly, Ichika took in her features under the hood. She had straight brown hair and pale skin. Her large amber amber eyes seemed to glow as she waited expectantly.
"You are… the IS," Ichika stated evenly.
"Bingo! Got it in one pilot."
"Hm, call me Ichika. We've been partners for about five years after all," Ichika said, scratching the back of his head.
"As you say Ichika. Call me Fukurō then, I quite like the name you gave me that day," Fukurō chirped.
Ichika nodded.
"You're taking this a lot better than expected. I was prepared to be all mysterious and mess with you until you figured it out," Fukurō remarked, holding a hand in front of her mouth as she giggled.
"It's not that far fetched, we were told IS were sentient after all. And even if this is just a weird dream, I'll just wake up feeling stupid," Ichika replied with a shrug.
"Interesting indeed. It fills me with joy that you were selected to be my pilot."
Ichika slightly blushed. "I feel the same Fukurō, I wouldn't have gotten to this point if it wasn't for you. I am only truly strong when we're working together."
"Ha, it seems we are the two pieces that result in an apex predator when joined. What an amusing concept if I do say so myself. Onto pressing matters however, there is something I wanted to discuss when I called you here," Fukurō stated.
Ichika straightened and schooled his visage into a serious one.
"I've felt a sensation deep within myself. I am unsure how to explain it in human terms, but it is as if I realized something about myself as you fought those three pilots. My point, we have unlocked second shift. You know the significance of this, correct?"
Ichika nodded.
"Good, I'll spare you the details then. Today is a momentous day for the both of us Ichika, we have unlocked what you humans call a one off ability. When you activate it, everyone else will become flightless birds, we will be the only hunter in the sky. In addition, you will be gaining six more 'feathers' as you call them. Don't you dare use them like the others though, these are our precious tail feathers. They will greatly improve our aerial mobility," Fukurō lectured, pacing back and forth in front of Ichika.
Once she finished her rant, she looked up to Ichika with a predatory smile. "It seems our time is up. Off you go my pilot, I want to hunt."
Ichika's eyes snapped open for the second time. He was lying on his back and the black IS was just beginning to turn away from him. He made his move.
"Second shift," he muttered and he could feel his IS hum as if in agreement. In accordance with his command, six feathers, smaller than his serrated ones, materialized behind him, fanning out from his waist.
The serrated edges of the feathers that made up his 'wings' glowed with energy, becoming sharper. His IS's frame and torso piece became larger and more pronounced. He felt power surging through his very core, it was an ecstatic feeling, he felt like an apex predator.
A hud appeared in the corner of Ichika's vision. [One Off Ability: Lone Hunter]. Ichika targeted all three enemy IS. "Activate".
Laura's head whipped around as Ichika rose to his feet. "Sceisse, how tough are these pilots?"
She charged her railgun once again and tried to fly back to create distance. She ended up stumbling as her IS's flight capabilities refused to activate. "A malfunction!?"
The girl had no time to dwell on it however as Ichika flew into the air and latched his talons onto the shoulder mounted railgun. With a sharp tug, the girl's beloved railgun was torn off her IS. Ichika's talons then found themselves lodged in her armour plating.
Using his newfound strength, Ichika hurled the girl across the warehouse into the blue IS that had similarly lost flight capability. The two collided in an entanglement of metallic limbs.
"Bloodhound, I've disabled enemy flight capability with my IS. Let's get out of here," Ichika called out.
Monika landed next to Ichika, breathing heavily and supporting a still wounded Schaefer. "Wha- how? It doesn't matter. I've got Shepherd stabilized but she's in no condition to fight. Let's go."
The three began retreating through the hole in the roof before Ichika was suddenly yanked backwards. He looked down and saw a glowing purple wire wrapped around his ankle.
"You're not getting away," Laura spat, deploying five more cables that latched onto Ichika's immobilized form.
Ichika grimaced. "Get out of here Bloodhound, I'll catch up."
"No fucking way I'm leaving you behind!" Monika retorted, firing her miniguns at the black IS.
The blue IS jumped in front of the fire however, raising a shield made of water.
"Go Bloodhound, you have to get Shepherd out of here. Please, my one off ability takes a lot of energy to maintain, I can't hold them for much longer."
Ichika saw his sister running across the warehouse. He desperately sent six of his feathers in a frantic attempt to stop her. They were cut down with ease and he was forced to send his remaining six feathers to suffer his sister's wrath.
"Please."
"Shut the fuck up and let me get you out of these things," Monika spat, grabbing hold of Ichika's IS and tugging as hard as she could. She screamed in frustration as the purple cables held strong, anchoring Ichika's hovering IS.
"Please Mo- Bloodhound. We're friends, best friends even. I won't die, I promise, so god damn it Bloodhound, get the fuck out of here," Ichika hissed, Saphire meeting dark brown as he looked Monika in the eyes.
Monika paused, her friend never sweared to liberally unless he was dead serious. "Fuck shit fuck fuck FUCK. Y-You better keep that god damn promise."
Tears pricked her eyes as she finally let Ichika's IS go. "When I find you, I'm going slap you so hard your head is gonna fly the fuck off!"
With that, she rocketed through the ceiling with Schaefer in tow, continuing to shout further profanities along the way.
Ichika smiled as Monika's form disappeared over the horizon. Now all he had to do was buy time. "Chifuyu Orimura, I know where your brother is."
Chifuyu growled, making Ichika wince. "Don't play games with me. You'll spill every damn thing you know in an interrogation room."
"Tatenashi, take this little owl out."
"With pleasure Ms. Orimura," Tatenashi purred, creating two water clones which hurled the original into the air and towards Ichika.
However, utilizing his six metallic tail feathers, Ichika suddenly reversed his flight path. Laura fell on her back as the weight she was pulling on suddenly disappeared and Ichika landed squarely on her shoulders, talons tearing away at her energy shield.
He was thrown off the black IS as a hand roughly grabbed his torso piece. His sister promptly flung him over her shoulder and into the concrete ground for the third time that day.
"You know what? I think I've changed my mind. How about I interrogate you right here and now?" Chifuyu declared, shattering Ichika's shield with her energy blade.
Ichika gasped, the wind had been knocked right out of him. "T-That won't be necessary… Chifuyu-nee."
"W-What?" Chifuyu gasped, ripping off Ichika's gas mask.
Ichika coughed up some blood, it seemed he was more injured after all. The automatic energy shield only activated for fatal attacks and the many times he had been tossed around by his sister was starting to catch up to him.
"C-Chifuyu-nee, it's been so long… I've m-missed you."
Darkness enveloped his vision and the last thing he felt was his sister clutching him in her arms.